(38) Now when the Worm of Darkness saw the Command of God, it thought with itself, here thou wilt not prevail, thou art Spirit without Body, and contrariwise, Adam is corporeal, thou hast but a third Part in him, and besides, the Command is in the Way; thou wilt even slip [or creep] into the Essences, and flatter with the Spirit of this World, and take a creaturely Form upon thee, and send a Legate [or Ambassador] out of my Kingdom, clothed in the Form of a Serpent, and wilt persuade him to eat of the earthly Fruit, and then the Command destroys his Body, and the Spirit remains [to be] mine. Here now the Legate [or Ambassador,] the Devil, was very willing [and ready] at this, especially because Adam in Paradise was in his Place, where he should have been; and he thought with himself, now thou hast an Opportunity to be revenged; thou wilt mingle Lies and Truth so together, that Adam may not [observe or] understand it, [the Treachery,] and so thou wilt tempt him. Of the Tree of Knowledge [of] Good and Evil.

(99) We know, that the Devil slipt into the Serpent, and spoke out of the Serpent; for God did not mean [by it] that the Treader upon the Serpent should tread upon the Head of the bestial Serpent; but that he should destroy the Devil and the Abyss of Hell. But that was the Punishment of the bestial Serpent, that it should remain a poisonous Worm without Feet, and eat Earth, and have Communion with the Devil; for so all evil Spirits in Hell appear, in their own Form, according to their Source [or Quality,] as Serpents, Dragons, horrible Worms, and evil Beasts.

(14) And the evil spirit shouted thus: 'I will not depart, I will not provide assistance for thy creatures, I will not offer praise among thy creatures, and I am not of the same opinion with thee as to good things. I will destroy thy creatures for ever and everlasting; moreover, I will force all thy creatures into disaffection to thee and affection for myself.'

(92) Here it may be seen very plainly, that the Devil had lost his angelical Image; and comes now in the Form of a Serpent, with his murderous Lying, and beguiles the Woman. Because he had not been able to overthrow Adam wholly, therefore he sets upon the Woman; and promises her Wisdom, and the Riches of this World, and that she should be therein like God; the Devil mingled Lies and Truth together, and said, She shall be as God; but he meant, according to the Kingdom of this World, and according to the first Principle of the [fierce] Wrath, and let Paradise out; but Eve understood it, that she should continue in the Paradise, in the divine and pleasant Joy.

(93) Therefore it is not good to tattle with the Devil, he is a Liar and Murderer from the Beginning of his Kingdom, and a Thief also; he comes only to murder and to steal, as here [with Eve.] And the Devil is the highest Cause of the Fall; for he strewed Sugar upon Adam, so that he imagined [or lusted] Adam and Eve. after the Kingdom of this World; though Adam indeed did not see him, yet he slipt into the Essences of the [fierce, sour] Sternness; and did there throw Hell's paradisical Sugar before him, so that Adam lusted.

Mo'avia, the first of the Ommiad Khalifas, was one day lying asleep in his palace, when he was awakened by a strange man. Mo'avia asked him who he was, and he replied that he was Iblis. Mo'avia then asked him why he had awakened him, and lblis replied that the hour of prayer was come, and he feared Mo'avia would be late. Mo'avia answered, "Nay! it could never have been your intention to direct me in the right way. How can I trust a thief like you to guard my interests?" Iblis answered, "Remember that I was bred up as an angel of light, and that I cannot quite abandon my original occupation. You may travel to Rome or Cathay, but still you retain the love of your fatherland. I still retain my love of God, who fed me when I was young; nay, even though I revolted from Him, that was only from jealousy (of Adam), and jealousy proceeds from love, not from denial of God. I played a game of chess with God at His own desire, and though I was utterly checkmated and ruined, in my ruin I still experience God's blessings." Mo'avia answered, "What you say is not credible. Your words are like the decoy calls of a fowler, which resemble the voices of the birds, and so lure them to destruction. You have caused the destruction of hundreds of mortals, such as the people of Noah, the tribe of 'Ad, the family of Lot, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Abu Jahl, and so on." Iblis retorted, "You are mistaken if you suppose me to be the cause of all the evil you mention. I am not God, that I should be able to make good evil, or fair foul. Mercy and vengeance are twin divine attributes, and they generate the good and evil seen in all earthly things. I am, therefore, not to blame for the existence of evil, as I am only a mirror, which reflects the good and evil existing in the objects presented to it." Mo'avia then prayed to God to guard him against the sophistries of lblis, and again adjured lblis to cease his arguments and tell plainly the reason why he had awakened him. Iblis, instead of answering, continued to justify himself, saying how hard it was that men and women should blame him when they did anything wrong, instead of blaming their own evil lusts. Mo'avia, in reply, reproached him with concealing the truth, and ultimately brought him to confess that the true reason why he had awakened him was this, that if he had overslept himself, and so missed the hour of prayer, he would have felt deep sorrow and have heaved many sighs, and each of these sighs would, in the sight of God, have counted for as many as two hundred ordinary prayers.

(105) Also he is a Murderer and Father of Lies, and a Founder of Hell, a Spoiler and Corrupter, and Destroyer of all that is Good, and an eternal Enemy of God, and of all good Angels and Men; against whom I, and all Men that think to be saved, must daily and hourly struggle and fight, as against the worst and archest Enemy. The final Condemnation.

(3) And the serpent said unto the woman, " Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that on the day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as gods, and ye will know good and evil."

(32) And there the Devil bestirred himself, and slipt into the Serpent, (which he himself is, in his own proper Form,) and laid himself at the Tree, and strewed Sugar upon it; for he saw well that Eve was a Woman, and that she was infected with the four Elements; and although she did strive a little, and objected God's command [against the Devil,] yet she suffered herself very easily to be persuaded, when the lying Spirit said, That the Fruit would make her wise, and that her Eyes should be opened, and she be as God, knowing Good and Evil; yet he told her not, that (if she eat thereof) she must die; but [he said] she should be wise and fair; which Disease [Desire or Lust] sticks still in the Brains of the Woman, that she would fain be the fairest Beast.

(106) But seeing God has accused him as an eternal Enemy, and condemned him to eternal Imprisonment, where he now sees his Hour-Glass more and more plainly before his Eyes; and seeing his hellish Kingdom is revealed to me by the Spirit of God; so I curse him also together with and among all holy Souls of Men, and renounce and defy him as an eternal Enemy, who has often spoiled and torn up my Vineyard.

(17) Wilt thou say, the Devil beguiled him? Yes indeed, and he beguiles thee too, so that thou enviest the Comeliness and Beauty of others. Has God made thee a Degree higher? Art thou not a Child of Eve? Pray tell me the Truth, Art thou not the Antichrist, which under a Cloak [of being counted the Minister and Servant of God] ridest upon the Devil's Horse? Methinks I see thee. Hearken! When thou wentest out of Paradise into this World, why didst thou not continue in one [only] Love? Why didst thou not rejoice in thy Neighbour? Why didst thou not love the Members of thy Body? Why dost thou not adorn thy Brother with thy Ornament? Didst thou not see him plainly? Was not the Earth thy own? Thou mightest have made what thou wouldst of it. Who did hinder thee in it? Why didst thou not eat with thy Brother? Thou mightest have had fully enough; there would never have been any Want. If thy Humility towards thy Brother had continued, then his also had continued towards thee. And then what a fine Habitation and Dwelling had there been upon Earth? What need had there been for thee to have coined Silver and Gold, if Unity had continued? Thou mightest have made thy Ornaments of it well enough; if thou hadst adorned thy Brother and Sister, then they would have adorned thee again with their ready serviceable Love. Dost thou think it had been of thy Brother, and to the Honour of the great God?

(1) Satan's snares for mankind. Thus spake cursed Iblis to the Almighty, "I want a mighty trap to catch human game withal." God gave him gold and silver and troops of horses Saying, "You can catch my creatures with these." Iblis said, "Bravo!" but at the same time hung his lip, Then God offered gold and jewels from precious mines To that laggard in the faith, Saying, "Take these other traps, O cursed one." But Iblis said, "Give me more, O blessed Defender." God gave him succulent and sweet and costly wines,

(2) "'1. Why doth the mighty [one] boast himself in his wickedness? "'2. Thy tongue hath studied unrighteousness all the day long; as a sharp razor hast thou practised craft. "'3. Thou lovedst wickedness more than goodness; thou lovedst to speak unrighteousness more than righteousness. "'4. Thou lovedst all words of submerging and a crafty tongue. "'5. Wherefor will God bring thee to naught utterly, and will uproot thee and drag thee out from thy dwelling-place, and will root out thy root and cast it away from the living. (Selah.) "'6. The righteous will see and be afraid, and they will mock at him and say: "'7. Lo, a man who made not God for his helper, but trusted to his great riches and was mighty in his vanity. "'8. But I am as a fruit-bearing olive-tree in the house of God. I have trusted in the grace of God from all eternity. "'9. And I will confess unto thee, for thou hast dealt faithfully with me; and I will wait on thy name, for it is auspicious in the presence of thy holy [ones].' "This then is now, therefore, my Lord, the solution of the eleventh repentance of Pistis Sophia. While thy light-power hath roused me, I have spoken it according to thy desire."

(27) But whether Lucifer has done right, in that he has awakened and stirred up the Fierceness in the Salitter of God, whence this World is become flinging, venomous, thorny, rocky, envious, and evil, false, or wicked, let the Attorneys, Proctors, Advocates, and Defenders of Lucifer, answer, plead, and justify it if they can; if not, then this third bitter, stinging, venomous Spirit shall be condemned also. Of the Fourth Kind, Species, Form or Manner of Sin’s Beginning in Lucifer.

(5) Therefore ye would beguile mankind of happy life (upon earth) and of Immortality (beyond it), since the Evil Spirit (has ruled) you with his evil mind. Yea, he has ruled you, (ye) who are of the Demon-gods, and with an evil word unto action, as his ruler (governs) the wicked !

(63) He [the Devil] supposed, [saying;] The Kingdom of this World is thine, thou shalt sport thyself according to thy Power with the Image of Man, which should have possessed thy Throne, his Spirit is in thy Kingdom; and so [the Devil] mocked God in his Mind, [saying.;] Where is now thy noble Image, which thou didst create to rule over my Throne? Am not I Lord of the great Might of the Fire? I will rule over thy Throne, the Might [or Strength] and Virtue is mine: I fly up above the Thrones of Virtue and Strength, and no Might [or Power] can withstand me.

(109) Dost thou ask why? Behold, I will tell thee, thou art Cain the Lord of the World, for thou hast made thyself so; and now Abel is thy Servant, who is entered into this World as a Guest, yet he stands and desires to be gone out of this World into his native Country, which thou canst not endure; thou pressest him to the Ground, two Manner of Ways, very subtilly, and in Self-Power. First with thy hypocritical false Doctrine, [teaching or preaching] Babel, where he shall and must believe whatsoever thou P prescribest him, without the Spirit of God, that thereby thou mayest but strengthen thy gorgeous fat Kingdom, whereby thou drawest him away from God, into the Spirit of this World, so that he must gape upon thy Prating; and if he does not so, then thou murderest him, as Abel [was murdered.] 1 10. And secondly, thou hast set thyself to be Lord over him, and hast made him thy Slave, and so bravest it over him, as the proud Woman of this World, thou vexest him Day and Night, and consumest his Sweat in High-mindedness, all according to the tFury of the Wrath [or Fierceness.] And so he sticks not only in the Darkness, but [also] in great Misery, Cares, and Perplexity, and seeks Ways to get out of them, and how to come to the Light again, and escape the Driver.