(3) "Praying at the same time for you, that God would open to us a door to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am bound; that I may make it known as I ought to speak." For there were certainly, among the Hebrews, some things delivered unwritten. "For when ye ought to be teachers for the time," it is said, as if they had grown old in the Old Testament, "ye have again need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. For every one that par-taketh of milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe, being instructed with the first lessons. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, who by reason of use have their senses exercised so as to distinguish between good and evil. Wherefore, leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection."

(2) 'And he who desires the world of the mothers, by his mere will the mothers come to receive him, and having obtained the world of the mothers, he is happy.

(508) 1107 To say: He ascends, who ascends; N. ascends. 1107 Let the lady of Buto rejoice; let the heart of her who dwells in el-K�b be glad 1107 the day that N. ascends there in the place of (or, as representative of) R`. 1108 N. has trodden down for himself thy splendour, 1108 as stairs under his feet, 1108 that N. may ascend thereon to his mother, the living uraeus which is on the head of R`. 1109 Her heart has pity for him; she gives her breast to him, that he may suck it. 1109 "My son," says she, "take to thee my breast, that thou mayest suck it," says she, 1109 "since thou comest not on every one of thy days." 1110 Heaven speaks, the earth quakes; the gods, of Heliopolis shudder 1110 at the voice of the wdn.t-offering (made) before N. 1111 His mother has nourished him-she of Bubastis; 1111 she who dwells in el-K�b has reared him; 1111 she who dwells in Buto has given him her arm. 1112 Behold, he is come; behold, he is come; 1112 behold, N. is come, for life and joy, 1112 and he makes his repast on figs 1112 and on wine which is in the divine vineyard. 1113 The chef who is beside him, he prepares a repast of it for him. 1113 N. runs; his herdsman runs; 1113 his sweetness is the sweetness of Horus; his fragrance is the fragrance of Horus. 1114 To heaven, to heaven, together with the gods of the house of the lion and the falcon; 1114 to heaven, together with the gods of the house of the lion and the falcon, 1114 those at my side accompanying me! 1115 So says Geb, as he seizes N. by his arm, 1115 and as, he guides him through the portals of heaven. 1115 The god is on his throne; it is well that the god is on his throne. 1116 Satis has washed him 1116 with her four bt-pitchers from Elephantin�. 1116 Ho, whence, pray, art thou come, my son, O king? 1116 He is come to the Ennead, to heaven, that he may eat of its bread. 1117 Ho, whence, pray, art thou come, my son, O king? 1117 He is come to the Ennead, to the earth, that he may eat of its bread. 1117 Ho, whence, pray, art thou come, my son, O king? 1117 He is come to the dnddndr-boat. 1118 Ho, whence, pray, art thou come, my son, O king? 1118 He is come to these his two mothers, the two vultures, 1118 They of the long hair and hanging breasts, 1118 who are on the hill of . 1119 They draw their breasts over the mouth of N., 1119 but they do not wean him for ever.

(470) 910 To say: N. knows his mother; N. forgets not his mother; 910 the white crown, the shining, the broad, which dwells in el-K�b, the lady of the great house, 910 the lady of the land worthy of honour, the lady of the secret land, 910 the lady of the marsh of fishermen, the lady of the valley of tp.tiw, 911 the red-coloured, the red crown, the lady of the lands of Buto. 911 "Mother of N.," so said I, 911 "give thy breast to N., that N. may suck therewith." 912 "(My) son N.," so said she, "take to thee my breast; that thou mayest suck it" said she, 912 "that thou mayest live again," so said she, "that thou mayest be (again) small," so said she. 913 "Thou shalt ascend to heaven as a falcon, 913 thy feathers shall be as those of a goose," so said she. 913 Hdhd, bring this to N.; 913 he is the great wild-bull. 914 "Bull of offerings, bow thy horn, 914 let N. pass by; it is N." 914 "Where goest thou?" "N. goes to heaven, in possession of life and joy, 915 that N. may see his, father; that N. may see R`." 915 "Thou are on the way to the high places, to the places of Set." 916 The high places will put him on the places of Set; 916 (even) on that high sycamore cast of the sky, it having bent down, on which the gods sit; 917 for N. is indeed the living falcon, who has explored b.w; 917 for N. is indeed the great helmsman, who has voyaged over the two t-parts of heaven; 917 for N. is indeed he of the great foot, with long stride. 918 N. purifies himself in the Marsh of Reeds; 918 N. dresses himself in the field of Khepri; 918 N. finds R` there. 919 If R` comes forth in the East, he finds N. in the horizon; 919 if R` comes to the West, he finds N. in the possession of life and endurance; 919 every beautiful place where R` goes, he finds N. there.

(92) 'And now, my son Methuselah, call to me all thy brothers And gather together to me all the sons of thy mother; For the word calls me, And the spirit is poured out upon me, That I may show you everything That shall befall you for ever.'

(13) Is it any wonder that You, the child, feel that instinctive reverence for THE ALL, which feeling we call "religion"--that respect, and reverence for THE FATHER MIND? Is it any wonder that, when you consider the works and wonders of Nature, you are overcome with a mighty feeling which has its roots away down in your inmost being? It is the MOTHER MIND that you are pressing close up to, like a babe to the breast.

(17) And she bare him a son, and he called his "name Nebaioth ; for she said, " The Lord was nigh to me when called upon him." Mastema proposes to God that Abraham shall be put to the Proof (xvi. -). 2003 a.m.

(25) And as thou hast refreshed thy mother's spirit during tmyt * ne» The womb of her that bare thee blesseth thee, [My affection] and my breasts bless thee And my mouth and my tongue praise thee greatly.

On account of this it is said concerning her that she said, I am part of my mother, and I am the mother. I am the wife, I am the virgin. I am pregnant. I am the midwife. I am the one who comforts during labor pains. My husband produced me, and I am his mother, and he is my father and my lord. He is my potency; what he desires he speaks with reason. I am becoming, but I have borne a lordly man. Now these things were revealed by the will of Sabaoth and his Christ to the souls who will come to the fashioned bodies of the authorities. Concerning these the holy voice said, “Multiply and flourish to rule over all the creatures.” And these are the ones who are taken captive by the chief creator according to their destinies, and thus they were locked in the prisons of the fashioned bodies until the consummation of the age.

(79) A woman from the crowd said to Him, "Blessed are the womb which bore You and the breasts which nourished You." He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"

(18) And I called to him from heaven, and said unto him : "Abraham, Abraham"; and he was terrified and said : " Behold, (here) am I." II. And I said unto him : " Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him ; for now I have shown that thou fearest the Lord, and hast not withheld thy son, thy first-born son, from me."

(2) When they wanted wine, his mother saith unto Jesus, They have no wine. Jesus saith,

(4) "Is the babe born, the power is feeble in it, and the soul is feeble in it, and also the counterfeiting spirit is feeble in it; in a word, the three together are feeble, without any one of them sensing anything, whether good or evil, because of the load of forgetfulness which is very heavy. Moreover the body also is feeble. And the babe eateth of the delights of the world of the rulers; and the power draweth into itself from the portion of the power which is in the delights; and the soul draweth into itself from the portion of the soul which is in the delights; and the counterfeiting spirit draweth into itself from the portion of the evil which is in the delights and in its lusts. And on the other hand the body draweth into itself the matter which senseth not, which is in the delights. The destiny on the contrary taketh nothing from the delights, because it is not mingled with them, but it departeth again in the condition in which it cometh into the world. "And little by little the power and the soul and the counterfeiting spirit grow, and every one of them senseth according to its nature: the power senseth to seek after the light of the height; the soul on the other hand senseth to seek after the region of righteousness which is mixed, which is the region of the commixture; the counterfeiting spirit on the other hand seeketh after all evils and lusts and all sins; the body on the contrary senseth nothing unless it taketh up force out of the matter. "And straightway the three develop sense, every one according to its nature. And the retributive receivers assign the servitors to follow them and be witnesses of all the sins which they commit, with a view to the manner and method how they will chastize them in the judgments.

(4) But should they say that this takes place by His mother, or should they say that they, along with Christ, war against death, let them own their secret dogma that they have the hardihood to assail the divine power of the Creator, by setting to rights His creation, as if they were superior, endeavouring to save the vital image which He was not able to rescue from corruption. Then the Lord would be superior to God the Creator; for the son would never contend with the father, especially among the gods. But the point that the Creator of all things, the omnipotent Lord, is the Father of the Son, we have deferred till the discussion of these points, in which we have under taken to dispute against the heresies, showing that He alone is the God proclaimed by Him.

(17) Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

(14) Now the fact that even children, not yet able to understand the things Divine, become recipients of the holy Birth in God, and of the most holy symbols of the supremely Divine Communion, seems, as you say, to the profane, a fit subject for reasonable laughter, if the Hierarchs teach things Divine to those not able to hear, and vainly transmit the sacred traditions to those who do not understand. And this is still more laughable--that others, on their behalf, repeat the abjurations and the sacred compacts. But thy Hierarchical judgment must not be too hard upon those who are led astray, but, persuasively, and for the purpose of leading them to the light, reply affectionately to the objections alleged by them, bringing forward this fact, in accordance with sacred rule, that not all things Divine are comprehended in our knowledge, but many of the things, unknown by us, have causes beseeming God, unknown to us indeed, but well known to the Ranks above us. Many things also escape even the most exalted Beings, and are known distinctly by the All-Wise and Wise-making Godhead alone. Further, also, concerning this, we affirm the same things which our Godlike initiators conveyed to us, after initiations from the early tradition. For they say, what is also a fact, that infants, being brought up according to a Divine institution, will attain a religious disposition, exempt from every error, and inexperienced in an unholy-life. When our Divine leaders came to this conclusion, it was determined to admit infants upon the following conditions, viz.: that the natural parents of the child presented, should transfer the child to some one of the initiated,--a good teacher of children in Divine things,--and that the child should lead the rest of his life under him, as under a godfather and sponsor, for his religious safe-keeping. The Hierarch then requires him, when he has promised to bring up the child according to the religious life, to pronounce the renunciations and the religious professions, not, as they would jokingly say, by instructing one instead of another in Divine things; for he does not say this, "that on behalf of this child I make, myself, the renunciations and the sacred professions," but, that the child is set apart and enlisted; i.e. I promise to persuade the child, when he has come to a religious mind, through my godly instructions, to bid adieu wholly to things contrary, and to profess and perform the Divine professions. There is here, then, nothing absurd, in my judgment, provided the child is brought up as beseems a godlike training, in having a guide and religious surety, who implants in him a disposition for Divine things, and keeps him inexperienced in things contrary. The Hierarch imparts to the child the sacred, symbols, in order that he may be nourished by them, and may not have any other life but that which always contemplates Divine things; and in religious progress become partaker of them and have a religious disposition in these matters, and be devoutly brought up by his Godlike surety. So great, my son, and so beautiful, are the uniform visions of our Hierarchy, which have been presented to my view; and from others, perhaps, more contemplative minds, these things have been viewed, not only more clearly, but also more divinely. And to thee, as I fancy, more brilliant and more divine beauties will shine forth, by using the foregoing stepping-stones to a higher ray. Impart then, my friend, thyself also, to me, more perfect enlightenment, and shew to mine eyes the more comely and uniform beauties that thou mayst have been able to see, for I am confident that, by what has been said, I shall strike the sparks of the Divine Fire stored up in thee. Thanks be to God. JOHN PARKER.

(4) Behold my mother and my brethren! My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it. For whosoever shall do the will of God my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

(1) WHILE Jesus yet talked, behold, there came his mother and his brethren, desiring to speak with him, and could not come at him for the press. Then one said unto him, Thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. But Jesus answered him that told him,

(3) Then the god who created us created a son from himself and Eve, your mother. . . . I knew a sweet desire for your mother. And the vigor of our eternal knowledge was destroyed in us, and weakness pursued us. The days of our life were few. I knew that I had come under the authority of death.

(49) But hear, thou simple mother, who bringest all the children into this world, who afterwards in their rising up are ashamed of thee and despise thee, and yet are thy children whom thou hast brought forth.