(5) And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committeth much, of him they will ask more.

(2) And if knowledge belong not to all (set an ass to the lyre, as the proverb goes), yet written compositions are for the many. "Swine, for instance, delight in dirt more than in clean water." "Wherefore," says the Lord, "I speak to them in parables: because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, and do not understand; " not as if the Lord caused the ignorance: for it were impious to think so. But He prophetically exposed this ignorance, that existed in them, and intimated that they would not understand the things spoken. And now the Saviour shows Himself, out of His abundance, dispensing goods to His servants according to the ability of the recipient, that they may augment them by exercising activity, and then returning to reckon with them; when, approving of those that had increased His money, those faithful in little, and commanding them to have the charge over many things, He bade them enter into the joy of the Lord. But to him who had hid the money, entrusted to him to be given out at interest, and had given it back as he had received it, without increase, He said, "Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest to have given my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received mine own." Wherefore the useless servant "shall be cast into outer darkness." "Thou, therefore, be strong," says Paul, "in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." And again: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

(47) In the mean Time, thou consumest the Sweat and Blood of the Needy, and thou gatherest all his Miseries and Necessities on a Heap in thy Soul; thou takest his Sweat to maintain thy Pride therewith, and yet thy Doings must be accounted holy; thou givest Scandal to the Poor, so that by thy Example and Doings, he comes to be vile [and wicked,] and to do that which is not right in the Presence of God; he curses thee, and therewith causes himself to perish also; and thus one Abomination generates another, but thou art the first Cause thereof. And thou settest forth thyself never so wisely and handsomely, yet the Driver is still before thee, and thou art the Root of all those Sins, [which thou causest in others by thy Hardness or Oppression.]

(31) And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

(7) His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

(13) If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

(37) What does thy Knowledge avail thee, thou Opposer of Christ, that thou knowest how to speak of the Kingdom of Or stir up. Heaven, of the Suffering and Death of Christ, and of the New- Birth in Christ, when thou art without it, sticking merely in the History? Shall not thy Knowledge be a Witness against thee, which shall judge thee? or wilt thou say, Thou art not the Antichrist of Babel? Surely thou art the Hypocrite, and thou fattenest thy evil Beast yet more and more, and thou art the Devourer in the Revelation of John. Thou dwellest not only at Rome, but thou hast possessed the Breadth of the Earth. I have seen thee in the Spirit, and therefore it is that I write of thee, thou Wonder of the World, of Heaven, and of Hell.

(6) Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed; and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

(2) Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

(44) It is the manner of life which shows up those who know the commandments; for as a man's word is, so is his life. The tree is known by its fruit, not by its blossom and leaves. Knowledge, then, comes from the fruit and from behaviour, not from talk and from blossom. We say that knowledge is not mere talk, but a certain divine knowledge, that light which is kindled in the soul as a result of obedience to the commandments, and which reveals all that is in a state of becoming, enables man to know himself and teaches him to become possessed of God. What the eye is in the body, knowledge is in the mind. Let them not call bondage to pleasure freedom, as if bitterness were sweet. We have learnt to recognize as freedom that which the Lord alone confers on us when he liberates us from lusts and desires and the other passions. "He who says, I know the Lord, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him," says John.

(24) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

(9) When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth: but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?

(17) But if you have not got this Garment on, and will prattle and talk much of God, then you are a Thief and a Murderer, and you enter not into the Sheepfold of Christ by the Door, but you climb over into the Sheepfold with Antichrist and the Robbers, and you will do nothing but murder and steal, seek your own Reputation, Esteem, and Pleasure, and are far from the Kingdom of God. Your university Learning and Arts will avail you nothing: It is your Poison, that you are promoted by the Favour of Man to sit in great Authority and Place, for you sit upon the Stool of Pestilence; you are but a mere Servant or Minister of the Antichrist. But if you be new born, and taught by the Holy Ghost, then your Place or Office is very pleasing and acceptable to God, and your Sheep will hear your Voice, and you shall feed them and bring them to the chief Shepherd: God will require this at your Hands, therefore take Heed what you teach and speak of God without the Knowledge of his Spirit, that you be not found to be a Liar. Now here follows the Chapter.

(4) And again, those also are likewise unclean that part the hoof, but do not ruminate. For these point out the heretics, who indeed go upon the name of the Father and the Son, but are in capable of triturating and grinding down the clear declaration of the oracles, and who, besides, perform the works of righteousness coarsely and not with precision, if they perform them at all. To such the Lord says, "Why will ye call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

(23) "Not every one," therefore, "that says Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God; but he that doeth the will of God." Such is the gnostic labourer, who has the mastery of worldly desires even while still in the flesh; and who, in regard to things future and still invisible, which he knows, has a sure persuasion, so that he regards them as more present than the things within reach. This able workman rejoices in what he knows, but is cramped on account of his being involved in the necessities of life; not yet deemed worthy of the active participation in what he knows. So he uses this life as if it belonged to another, - so far, that is, as is necessary.

(49) O thou Knave, if thou bringest not another Man than such to it, stay away from the Testament of Christ; thou art but art in such a Way; thy Prayer is false, it comes not from the Bottom of the Heart; thy Heart desires only the Pleasures of this World, and the a Driver receives thy Prayer, he is thy God; therefore consider what thou dost.

(15) But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smit his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(29) I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labor.

(3) This deceit of false feeling, and of false knowing following thereon, hath diverse and wonderful variations, after the diversity of states and the subtle conditions of them that be deceived: as hath the true feeling and knowing of them that be saved. But I set no more deceits here but those with the which I trow thou shalt be assailed if ever thou purpose thee to work in this work. For what should it profit to thee to wit how these great clerks, and men and women of other degrees than thou art, be deceived? Surely right nought; and therefore I tell thee no more but those that fall unto thee if thou travail in this work. And therefore I tell thee this, for thou shalt be wary therewith in thy working, if thou be assailed therewith.

(30) Thou boastest that thou hast the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and yet thyself is in the Abyss; thy Heart hangs on thy Keys, and not on the Heart of God, thou hast the Keys of the Chest of Gold, and not of the Breaking through, by Confidence in God; thou makest many iLaws, and yet thyself keepest none, and thy i Law is to as much Purpose as the Tower of Babel, which should have reached to Heaven, and thy Laws reach to Heaven as much as that did. 3 1. Thou prayest before God, but in thy wolfish Beast; the Spirit of this World (and not God) receives thy Prayers; for thy Heart is a Devourer, and enters into the Devourer; thou desirest not earnestly to enter into God, but merely with thy historical hypocritical Mouth, and thy Heart presses earnestly into the Spirit of this World; thou desirest only much temporal Goods, Honour, Power, and Authority in this World; and so thereby thou drawest the Region of this World to thee.