(15) Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

(1) It came to pass then, when Mary had heard the Saviour say these words, that she rejoiced with great joy and exulted exceedingly and said unto Jesus: "My Lord, by how much greatness then is the second Helper greater than the first Helper? By how much distance is he distant from him, or rather how many times more does he shine than the latter?"

(18) And that inward sight likewise perceiveth what is best and noblest in all things, and loveth it in the one true Good, and only for the sake of that true Good. Behold! where there is this inward sight, the man perceiveth of a truth, that Christ’s life is the best and noblest life, and therefore the most to be preferred, and he willingly accepteth and endureth it, without a question or a complaint, whether it please or offend nature or other men, whether he like or dislike it, find it sweet or bitter and the like. And therefore wherever this Perfect and true Good is known, there also the life of Christ must be led, until the death of the body. And he who vainly thinketh otherwise is deceived, and he who saith otherwise, lieth, and in what man the life of Christ is not, of him the true Good and eternal Truth will nevermore be known.

(65) Thus the Word in the holy Ternary let itself into the Earthliness, and received to it a true Soul out of the Essences of the Soul of Mary (like all other Men) in the Time, viz. in the End of three Months, not out of the holy Ternary, but our Soul; yet not our Body, wherein the Kingdom of this World and Sin did stick.

(4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

(2) The other Mary came forward and said: "My Lord, bear with me and be not wroth with me. Yea, from the moment when thy mother spake with thee concerning the solution of these words, my power disquieted me to come forward and like-wise to speak the solution of these words." Jesus said unto her: "I bid thee speak their solution." Mary said: "My Lord, 'Grace and truth met together,'--'grace' then is the spirit who hath Of the spiritual and material bodies of Jesus. thy mother, and Elizabeth, mother of John, whom I have met. 'Grace' then is the power of Sabaōth in me, which went forth out of me, which thou art. Thou hast had mercy on the whole race of men. 'Truth' on the other hand is the power in Elizabeth, which is John, who did come and hath made proclamation concerning the way of Truth, which thou art,--who hath made proclamation before thee. And again, 'Grace and truth met together,'--that is thou, my Lord, thou who didst meet John on the day when thou hadst to receive the baptism. And again thou and John are 'Righteousness and peace kissed Of the incarnation of Jesus. each other.'--'Truth hath sprouted forth out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven,'--this is, during the time when thou didst minister unto thyself, thou didst have the form of Gabriēl, thou didst look down upon me from heaven and speak with me. And when thou hadst spoken with me, thou didst sprout up in me,--that is the 'truth,' that is the power of Sabaōth, the Good, which is in thy material body, that is the 'truth' which 'sprouted up out of the earth.'" It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard his mother Mary speak these words, that he said: "Well said, and finely. This is the solution of all the words concerning which my light-power hath prophesied aforetime through the prophet David."

(45) He who knoweth and understandeth Christ’s life, knoweth and understandeth Christ Himself; and in like manner, he who understandeth not His life, doth not understand Christ Himself. And he who believeth on Christ, believeth that His life is the best and noblest life that can be, and if a man believe not this, neither doth he believe on Christ Himself. And in so far as a man’s life is according to Christ, Christ Himself dwelleth in him, and if he hath not the one neither hath he the other. For where there is the life of Christ, there is Christ Himself, and where His life is not, Christ is not, and where a man hath His life, he may say with St. Paul, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”47 And this is the noblest and best life; for in him who hath it, God Himself dwelleth, with all goodness. So how could there be a better life? When we speak of obedience, of the new man, of the True Light, the True Love, or the life of Christ, it is all the same thing, and where one of these is, there are they all, and where one is wanting, there is none of them, for they are all one in truth and substance. And whatever may bring about that new birth which maketh alive in Christ, to that let us cleave with all our might and to nought else; and let us forswear and flee all that may hinder it. And he who hath received this life in the Holy Sacrament, hath verily and indeed received Christ, and the more of that life he hath received, the more he hath received of Christ, and the less, the less of Christ.

(4) ¶There arose a reasoning among the disciples: for by the way [to Capernaum] they had disputed amongst themselves which of them should be the greatest. In the house Jesus asked,

(68) But who are the two or three gathered in the name of Christ in whose midst the Lord is? Does he not by the "three" mean husband, wife, and child? For a wife is bound to her husband by God. If, however, a man wishes to be undistracted, and prefers to avoid begetting children because of the business it involves, "let him remain unmarried," says the apostle, "even as I am." They explain that what the Lord meant was this. By the plurality he means the Creator, the God who is the cause of the world's existence; and by the one, the elect, he meant the Saviour who is Son of another God, the good God. But this is not correct. Through his Son, God is with those who are soberly married and have children. By the same mediation the same God is also with the man who exercises continence on rational grounds. According to another view the three may be passion, desire, and thought; another interpretation makes them flesh, soul, and spirit.

(1) And Mary drew nigh unto him, fell down, adored his feet and kissed his hands and said: "Yea, my Lord, reveal unto us: What is the use of the ways of the midst? For we have heard from thee that they are set over great chastisements. How then, my Lord, will we remove or escape from them? Or in what way do they seize the souls? Or how long a time do they spend in their chastisements? Have mercy upon us, our Lord, our Saviour, in order that the receivers of the judgments of the ways of the midst may not carry off our souls and judge us in their evil judgments, so that we ourselves may inherit the Light of thy father and not be wretched and destitute of thee."

(8) "Putting on, therefore, bowels of mercy, gentleness, humbleness, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if one have a quarrel against any man; as also Christ hath forgiven us, so also let us. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye are called in one body; and be thankful." For there is no obstacle to adducing frequently the same Scripture in order to put Marcion to the blush, if perchance he be persuaded and converted; by learning that the faithful ought to be grateful to God the Creator, who hath called us, and who preached the Gospel in the body. From these considerations the unity of the faith is clear, and it is shown who is the perfect man; so that though some are reluctant, and offer as much resistance as they can, though menaced with punishments at the hand of husband or master, both the domestic and the wife will philosophize. Moreover, the free, though threatened with death at a tyrant's hands, and brought before the tribunals, and all his substances imperilled, will by no means abandon piety; nor will the wife who dwells with a wicked husband, or the son if he has a bad father, or the domestic if he has a bad master, ever fail in holding nobly to virtue. But as it is noble for a man to die for virtue, and for liberty, and for himself, so also is it for a woman.

(29) Now, Christ did not attain thereunto, before He had passed through and suffered His natural death, and what things appertain thereto. Therefore no man can or ought to come to it so long as he is mortal and liable to suffer. For if such a state were the noblest and best, and if it were possible and right to attain to it, as aforesaid, in this present time, then it would have been attained by Christ; for the life of Christ is the best and noblest, the worthiest and loveliest in God’s sight that ever was or will be. Therefore if it was not and could not be so with Christ, it will never be so with any man. Therefore though some may imagine and say that such a life is the best and noblest life, yet it is not so.

(1) Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator Assumed the willing office of a teacher, And gave beginning to these holy words: "The wound that Mary closed up and anointed, She at her feet who is so beautiful, She is the one who opened it and pierced it. Within that order which the third seats make Is seated Rachel, lower than the other, With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest. Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole Of the misdeed said, 'Miserere mei,' Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending Down in gradation, as with each one's name I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf. And downward from the seventh row, even as Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women, Dividing all the tresses of the flower; Because, according to the view which Faith In Christ had taken, these are the partition By which the sacred stairways are divided. Upon this side, where perfect is the flower With each one of its petals, seated are Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

(5) "A perfect life and merit high in-heaven A lady o'er us," said she, "by whose rule Down in your world they vest and veil themselves, That until death they may both watch and sleep Beside that Spouse who every vow accepts Which charity conformeth to his pleasure. To follow her, in girlhood from the world I fled, and in her habit shut myself, And pledged me to the pathway of her sect. Then men accustomed unto evil more Than unto good, from the sweet cloister tore me; God knows what afterward my life became. This other splendour, which to thee reveals Itself on my right side, and is enkindled With all the illumination of our sphere, What of myself I say applies to her; A nun was she, and likewise from her head Was ta'en the shadow of the sacred wimple. But when she too was to the world returned Against her wishes and against good usage, Of the heart's veil she never was divested.

(2) "Now, therefore, Mary, not only ye, but every man who shall accomplish the mystery of the raising of the dead,--that which healeth the demons and all pains and all sicknesses and the blind and the lame and the maimed and the dumb and the deaf, which I have given unto you aforetime,--he who shall receive [that] mystery and accomplish it, thereafter then, if he ask for all things, for poverty and riches, for weakness and strength, for . . . and healthy body, and for all healings of the body and for the raising of the dead and for healing the lame and the blind and the deaf and the dumb and all sicknesses and all pains,--in a word, he who shall accomplish that mystery and ask for all the things which I have just said, then will they quickly come to pass for him."

(11) Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. He abode two days in the place where he was; then saith he to his disciples,

(1) And Mary again started forward and said: "Yea, my Lord, I understand in what manner thou dost discourse with me, and I will comprehend them all [ sc. thy words]. Now, therefore, concerning these words which thou sayest, my mind hath brought forward four thoughts in me and my light-man hath led me and exulted and seethed, desiring to come forth out of me and enter into thee. Now, therefore, my Lord, hearken that I may tell thee the four thoughts which have arisen in me.

(19) Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him; but Mary was still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her,

(28) ¶There was a strife among the disciples, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And Jesus said unto them,

(7) Now the choosing of the Better not only proves a lot most fair for him who makes the choice, seeing it makes the man a God, but also shows his piety to God. Whereas the [choosing] of the Worse, although it doth destroy the "man", it doth only disturb God's harmony to this extent, that as processions pass by in the middle of the way, without being able to do anything but take the road from others, so do such men move in procession through the world led by their bodies' pleasures.