(74) He said, "O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern."

(4) Therefore, persuaded always that God is everywhere, and fearing not to speak the truth, and knowing that it is unworthy of him to lie, he is satisfied with the divine consciousness and his own alone And so he lies not, nor does aught contrary to his compacts. And so he swears not even when asked for his oath; nor does he ever deny, so as to speak falsehood, though he should die by tortures.

(3) I stood even as the friar who is confessing The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, Recalls him, so that death may be delayed. And he cried out: "Dost thou stand there already, Dost thou stand there already, Boniface? By many years the record lied to me. Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe?" Such I became, as people are who stand, Not comprehending what is answered them, As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. Then said Virgilius: "Say to him straightway, 'I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.'" And I replied as was imposed on me. Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation Said to me: "Then what wantest thou of me? If who I am thou carest so much to know, That thou on that account hast crossed the bank, Know that I vested was with the great mantle; And truly was I son of the She-bear, So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth Above, and here myself, I pocketed.

(19) And he said not a single word regarding the rumour in the land how that God had said that He would give it to him and to his seed after him, and he begged a place there to bury his dead ; for he was found faith- ful, and was recorded on the heavenly tables as the friend of God.

(3) Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven. "And when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think not: beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say." In explanation of this passage, Heracleon, the most distinguished of the school of Valentinians, says expressly, "that there is a confession by faith and conduct, and one with the voice. The confession that is made with the voice, and before the authorities, is what the most reckon the only confession. Not soundly: and hypocrites also can confess with this confession. But neither will this utterance be found to be spoken universally; for all the saved have confessed with the confession made by the voice, and departed. Of whom are Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. And confession by the lip is not universal, but partial. But that which He specifies now is universal, that which is by deeds and actions corresponding to faith in Him. This confession is followed by that which is partial, that before the authorities, if necessary, and reason dictate. For he will confess rightly with his voice who has first confessed by his disposition. And he has well used, with regard to those who confess, the expression 'in Me,' and applied to those who deny the expression 'Me.' For those, though they confess Him with the voice, yet deny Him, not confessing Him in their conduct. But those alone confess 'in Him,' who live in the confession and conduct according to Him, in which He also confesses, who is contained in them and held by them. Wherefore 'He never can deny Himself.' And those deny Him who are not in Him. For He said not, 'Whosoever shall deny' in Me, but 'Me.' For no one who is in Him will ever deny Him. And the expression 'before men ' applies both to the saved and the heathen similarly by conduct before the one, and by voice before the other. Wherefore they never can deny Him. But those deny Him who are not in Him." So far Heracleon. And in other things he seems to be of the same sentiments with us in this section; but he has not adverted to this, that if some have not by conduct and in their life "confessed Christ before men," they are manifested to have believed with the heart; by confessing Him with the mouth at the tribunals, and not denying Him when tortured to the death. And the disposition being confessed, and especially not being changed by death at any time, cuts away all passions which were engendered by corporeal desire. For there is, so to speak, at the close of life a sudden repentance in action, and a true confession toward Christ, in the testimony of the voice. But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony with the voice alone?

(3) To Him the (Divine Righteousness) answered with his sanctity. (Great was our perplexity); a chieftain who war capable of smiting back (their fury), and who was himself without hate (was not to be obtained by us); among such things as these, those things are not to be known (by beings such as we) which are the influences which approach (and move) the lofty fires (revealing the favour and the will of God ). Of beings He is the mightiest to whom those who have performed their actions approach with invocations. (He has no need to ask!)

(306) He who says what is not, goes to hell; he also who, having done a thing, says I have not done it. After death both are equal, they are men with evil deeds in the next world.

(12) His past year's sins of fornication, fraud, and deceit; In order that the priest may absolve him of those sins; He thinks the priest's absolution the same as God's! That priest is unable to condemn or to absolve; But faith and love are a mighty enchantment! God's dealings visible to the spiritual. The wine is from that world, the vessels from this; The vessels are seen, but the wine is hidden! Hidden indeed from the sight of the carnal, But open and manifest to the spiritual! O God, our eyes are blinded!

(4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

(10) Therefore let not my Master of Arts (in his lHood and Tippet) think himself so cunning in this Matter, nor pour out his Mockings so presumptuously [against the Children of God,] for so long as he is a Scorner [or Mocker] he knows nothing of this. He ought not to think his Cap becomes him so finely; nor ought he to boast of his human Calling, as if he did sit in his Calling by the Ordinance of God, whereas he is not set or confirmed therein from God, but by the Favour of Man. He ought not so much to prohibit [and forbid] the Way to Paradise, which himself does not know: He must one Day give a heavy Account of his Ordination by the Favour of Man; because he boasts of a divine Calling, and yet the Spirit of God is far from him, therefore he is a liar, and belies the Deity.

(82) I only said, "Is it right? " and He forsook me. Why dost Thou flee from the cries of us on earth? Why pourest Thou sorrow on the heart of the sorrowful? O Thou who, as each new morn dawns from the east, Art seen uprising anew, like a bright fountain! What excuse makest Thou for Thy witcheries? O Thou whose lips are sweeter than sugar, Thou that ever renewest the life of this old world, Hear the cry of this lifeless body and heart! But, for God's sake, leave off telling of the Rose;

(5) To cure him of the fever of his pride. Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent, Because his words appeared inebriate. And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid; Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me How to raze Palestrina to the ground. Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock, As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two, The which my predecessor held not dear.' Then urged me on his weighty arguments There, where my silence was the worst advice; And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me Of that sin into which I now must fall, The promise long with the fulfilment short Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' Francis came afterward, when I was dead, For me; but one of the black Cherubim Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong; He must come down among my servitors, Because he gave the fraudulent advice From which time forth I have been at his hair; For who repents not cannot be absolved, Nor can one both repent and will at once, Because of the contradiction which consents not.'

(391) son of Zeus, going forth as they did to perpetrate a horrid rape; or of any other hero or son of a god daring to do such impious and dreadful things as they falsely ascribe to them in our day: and let us further compel the poets to declare either that these acts were not done by them, or that they were not the sons of gods;—both in the same breath they shall not be permitted to affirm. We will not have them trying to persuade our youth that the gods are the authors of evil, and that heroes are no better than men—sentiments which, as we were saying, are neither pious nor true, for we have already proved that evil cannot come from the gods. Assuredly not. And further they are likely to have a bad effect on those who hear them; for everybody will begin to excuse his own vices when he is convinced that similar wickednesses are always being perpetrated by— ‘The kindred of the gods, the relatives of Zeus, whose ancestral altar, the altar of Zeus, is aloft in air on the peak of Ida,’ and who have ‘the blood of deities yet flowing in their veins 35 .’ And therefore let us put an end to such tales, lest they engender laxity of morals among the young. By all means, he replied. But now that we are determining what classes of subjects are or are not to be spoken of, let us see whether any have been omitted by us. The manner in which gods and demigods and heroes and the world below should be treated has been already laid down. Very true. And what shall we say about men? That is clearly the remaining portion of our subject. Clearly so. But we are not in a condition to answer this question at present, my friend. Why not? Because, if I am not mistaken, we shall have to say that

(31) But he who is able to renounce them shows that he is from the generation of the Son of Man, (and) has power to accuse them. [...] he restrains [...] part(s) in a [...] in wickedness, and he makes the outer like the inner. He resembles an angel which ... ... (1 line unrecoverable) ... power [...] said them. But the one ... ... (5 lines unrecoverable) And having withdrawn [...], he became silent, having ceased from loquacity and disputations. But he who has found the life-giving word, and he who has come to know the Father of Truth, has come to rest; he has ceased seeking, having found. And when he found, he became silent. But few are the things he used to say to those that [...] with their intellectual mind the [...].

(65) He said, "There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, 'Perhaps did not recognize .' He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. Then the owner sent his son and said, 'Perhaps they will show respect to my son.' Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, they seized him and killed him. Let him who has ears hear."

(12) And these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent.

(13) For from thenceforward they could not speak (with Him) nor lift up their eyes to heaven for shame of their sins for which they had been condemned.

(5) Avaunt! We have not a High Priest, "Who cannot be touched with our infirmities, but is both without sin and merciful." "He shall not strive nor cry, and is Himself meek, and Himself propitiatory for our sins; so that we will not approve your unenviable attacks, not if you should allege a thousand times your Phineas and your Elias. For, when the Lord Jesus heard these things, He was displeased with the disciples, who at that time lacked the meek and good spirit. For, even our most divine preceptor teaches in meekness those who opposed themselves to the teaching of Almighty God. For, we must teach, not avenge ourselves upon, the ignorant, as we do not punish the blind, but rather lead them by the hand. But thou, after striking him on the cheek, rustiest upon that man, who is beginning to rise to the truth, and when he is approaching with much modesty, thou insolently kickest him away (certainly, this is enough to make one shudder), whom the Lord Christ, as being good, seeks, when wandering upon the mountains, and calls to Him, when fleeing from Him, and when, with difficulty, found, places upon His shoulders. Do not, I pray, do not let us thus injuriously counsel for ourselves, nor drive the sword against ourselves. For they, who undertake to injure any one, or on the contrary to do them good, do not always effect what they wish, but for themselves, when they have brought into their house vice or virtue, will be filled either with Divine virtues, or ungovernable passions. And these indeed, as followers and companions of good angels, both here and there, with all peace and freedom from all evil, will inherit the most blessed inheritances for the ever-continuing age, and will be ever with God, the greatest of all blessings; but, the other will fall both from the divine and their own peace, and here, and after death, will be companions with cruel demons. For which reason, we have an earnest desire to become companions of God, the Good, and to be ever with the Lord, and not to be separated, along with the evil, from the most Just One, whilst undergoing that which is due from ourselves, which I fear most of all, and pray to have no share in anything evil. And, with your permission, I will mention a divine vision of a certain holy man, and do not laugh, for I am speaking true.

(2) " What then," thou sayest, "is it not necessary to correct the priests who are acting irreverently, or convicted of something else out of place, but to those only, who glory in law, shall it be permitted to dishonour Almighty God, through the transgression of the Law? "And how are the priests interpreters of Almighty God? For, how do they announce to the people the Divine virtues, who do not know the power of them? or how do they, who are in darkness, communicate light? Further, how do they impart the Divine Spirit, who, by habit and truth do not believe whether there is a Holy Spirit? Now I will give thee an answer to these things. For truly my Demophilus is not an enemy, nor will I tolerate that thou shouldst be overreached by Satan. For each rank of those about God, is more godlike than that which stands further away. And those which are somewhat nearer to the true light, are at once more luminous, and more illuminating; and do not understand the nearness topically, but according to God-receptive aptitude. If, then, the order of the priests is the illuminating, entirely has he fallen from the priestly rank and power, who does not illuminate, or perhaps rather (he becomes) the unilluminated. And he seems, to me at least, rash who, being such, undertakes the priestly functions, and has no fear, and does not blush, when performing things Divine, contrary to propriety, and fancying that God does not know the very things of which he is conscious in himself, and thinks to mislead Him Who is falsely called by him Father, and presumes to repeat his cursed blasphemies (for I would not say prayers) over the Divine symbols, after the example of Christ. This one is not a priest,--No!--but devilish--crafty --a deceiver of himself--and a wolf to the people of God, clothed in sheep's clothing.

(11) But to say of secret sins, "What do they matter?" Hair by hair and jot by jot they learned of him Fraud of soul, as roses might learn of garlic. Hair-splitters and all their disciples The Christians gave their hearts to him entirely, In their inmost breasts they planted love of him, And fancied him to be the Vicar of Christ; Yea, him, that one-eyed and cursed Dajjal! Save us. O God ! who art our only defender! O God, there are hundreds of snares and baits,