On the Second Coming

On the Second Coming of Our Lord A Memra, Twenty-Third On the Second Coming of Our Lord and on the Conduct of the World to Come The good hope of the world to come troubled my thoughts, and I desired to know when the world of time would end. Time hinted to me about that world which brings times to an end. Look, O man, how the world passes from the world! Quickly the world passes to the world of time, and there is no interval between one and the next, not even a hint. Like a shadow, the world full of time passes away, and the world without time endures, the world in which there is no toil. There is no toil in the world that will be at the end of times, nor is it bought and sold, nor does it profit from surplus. Without end is the world that makes the toiling world pass away, and without limit is the span of life that is bound up in it. There is no measure for the course of life whose years are long, in that there is no measure for the days of the sun and moon. One day is destroyed in that conduct, and there is no change of passing for the course of its constancy. Its constancy, which has no end, they forgot, their thoughts, and they stood to marvel at the breadth of all that has an end. He brings this earthly conduct to an end, and extends the sign of the heavenly and earthly ones. He is the great harbor full of peace that has no end, and in it the ship of the world, which toils have troubled, is anchored.

The toil-worn world and its inhabitants have grown weary, and behold, the one who is weary has rested his hope on the coming of the Judge. Concerning that world which the Judge will bring to pass, I desire to speak: And the one who is weary desires to reveal in brief words his history. His history the one who is weary seeks to reveal to man, that they may fashion the image of his coming in their minds. The mind is able to fashion a form without substance, and it would see hidden things with the eyes of the flesh. Not with hidden things does one speak in words of revelation, but rather the hearers perceive the hidden through the revealed. Come, hear the account of the world that will dismiss the world of time, and it reveals the hidden and shows them to the eyes of the seers. Come, be present on the day which is the end of days, and no longer does it give a day that will be after its day. Come, look well at the beauty of the splendor of his glories, which is wondrous and glorious and makes man fair with the beauty of his splendor. Hear accurately, like interpreters, the report concerning him: when it will be and how it will be in the great order. The great order will be on the day of the great day, and it will dismiss the world and bring forth the world in which there is no toil. World will replace world on the day of that revelation, and there will no longer be another day that resembles its day. The greatness of its day is revealed, and even the Lord revealed in his revelation that its day is more terrible than all the days that were and will be.

Our strength, the height, is shaken in it, as it is written, And it trembles like a day that has no peace. The sign of the king who erred, the head of the orders of the heavens, And he shows his victory to the eye of all creatures. In the face of the height, the forces of the height are prepared, To receive the king of the height with great trembling. Before these, which are said to be on earth, And then that revelation which reveals the hidden is shown. There will be famines, plagues, and pestilences, also deaths, And the fire will burn the wicked in their pits. Evil increases and deceit prospers, and sin is strong, And love diminishes, hope withers, and faith. Openly, deceit, the beloved of the deceitful, triumphs, And it condemns the truth, the open truth of the truthful. The evil time finds the evil one for his evil, And it helps him to accomplish the design of his bitterness. All his inheritance, the erring one, devours before the erring, And he errs and leads astray until the day of his time. At the known time, the time of that one who reveals is restrained, So that he may not boast that there is no will of his to establish his error. The power of the Creator manifests from him at the end of times, And brings to revelation that thought which was hidden in him. Evil brings its evil to revelation, not all, And shows it to the eye of the earth and the heavens.

In this he does not cease from his wickedness, For he knows every man, how evil is his wickedness, the erring one. His wickedness, his evil, slew his body from the beginning, And he extends his wrath until the sacrifice of the end of sacrifices. At that sacrifice, the herald, the apostle Paul, saw and examined the hidden mystery of his iniquities. The mystery of evil, a true fruit, he revealed to the revelation of the deceivers, And he showed what is prepared to be revealed of wickedness through man. Through man, he completes his desire, the slayer of man, In that pattern of error, and he leads astray in the place of the faithful. Man chooses from humanity, the helper of man, And interprets through him like the Creator in the man from him. Into the temple of flesh, he enters, dwells, presses his thought, Like the likeness of the word of the Father in the temple of the body. In man, he conceals his wickedness, his evil, that evil one entirely, And in that man, he seizes the rank of the name of the Creator. In the name of the Creator, he covers himself, the evil servant, And he boasts and says, "I am the one who anoints the Messiah to renew the worlds." This blasphemy, Paul heard, the good hearer, And beforehand he showed him the just one who blasphemes, that blasphemer. The voice of his blasphemies, the righteous of all teachings hear, And they praise him as the chief of falsehood. To the four directions, the sign of his falsehood goes forth, And the diverse peoples of all languages hunt for him.

In every scheme of deception he speaks with them, And heedlessly they listen to the words of his falsehood. He arranges false signs, placing them before their eyes, And by means of death he scatters words full of wickedness. He shows false signs on the earth, And by illusions and taking hold of eyes he establishes his error. All his desire the erring one directs toward the erring ones, Until the citizen goes out to the census of his people. The citizen goes out to the path of the son of perdition, And he dismisses the military service by the power of the spirit. The spirit arms the man of flesh with the armor of the spirit, And sends him to make a census with Satan. A great wonder the people and the heavens see, When demons and people contend with one man. He alone takes up a generation with many, And they are defeated by him in the arenas of battles. Like an athlete he descends, standing between their ranks, And raises his voice, and the evil forces tremble from him. In the stadium creation becomes for his athletic contest, And the world hastens to see a generation of one with thousands. Within the arena of the contest he stands, And earthly and heavenly ones are confounded in him. Woe to the spiritual contest that occurs on the earth, In which thousands of spiritual ones are defeated and the people conquer.

Alas for the victory that will be in a world full of sins, That truth may conquer and the side of error and its followers may lose. Alas for that voice which the evil one raises before the wicked, And from it the hardened hosts of demons and men tremble. In the likeness of a sword he flashes his word among the inhabitants, And the army flees and cannot stand before his utterances. His words are like sharp arrows full of poison, And they scatter the camp of demons that surround him. Thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads are slain by him, And they flee and hide like foxes in their dens. He makes a treaty of force with them, of the evil powers, Until the king of Rome descends and helps him. The king of Rome is confined from the height of his royal palace, And he sends forth the hardened world from his body. Like lightning he casts his light among the lands, And creation sees a new vision that it has not seen. A new vision shall men and angels see, The gates of Rome when they are opened before his revelations. The sound of the trumpet of the angels resounds from Sheol, And the world cannot hear the sounds of their sanctities. Thunders of voices shall be all of them, as many as they are, And they shall terrify the king who rules over their ranks. A great order and a vision of power shall appear on earth, And the gaze of their thoughts shall be suspended toward the command.

At the command of the king, the heavens tremble and hasten to accomplish his words, and his word becomes easy for them from all blessings. By the word of his mouth, the erring son of destruction is finished, and he perishes and is lost entirely, in his body and his soul. Complete destruction receives from that man, and he utterly perishes from life. The demons see a great ruin at his destruction, that like a destroyer, the spirit of life of the living soul is lost. In wonder and amazement, creation stands at that time, and the pangs of the power of the new-born one astonish her. The sound of the trumpet shakes the earth and its inhabitants, and after it, the mighty voice that commands to rise. One daughter of voices cries out from the king who is over all, and everything is renewed and changed quickly. All the dead rise before the living, and the lives of the living are changed to the likeness. In one death, the dead rise and the living live, and there is no difference between one and another, not even in a sign. One sign raises the dead and gives life to the living. And in that vision, the righteous and the wicked rise. The good and the evil are raised by the command that prevails over all. And how will one be separated from his companion in the judgment of fire? The judgment of fire separates the righteous from the wicked, and prepares the way to the high kingdom and to Gehenna.

With a small sign, all the beings of that day come to be, and the swiftness that is accomplished in him is not spoken of. There is no likeness to the swiftness of that command, except the likeness of that salvation which is to be of the worlds. That command which created creation from nothing is the one that commands and renews her in the twinkling of an eye. In that same manner by which he commanded and it came to be from nothing, by it he commands that she become something better than something. The renewal that he works for her at the end of times is better than the beginning that he worked for her at the start of times. That greatness of the beginning is nothing when compared with the glory of the end. Her end is more glorious than her beginning, without measure, and the smallness of her glory is not spoken of by speakers. He alone knows how both are, and in him was concealed the coming-to-be of the world and the renewal of the worlds. Those that are to be were seen by him, and also their renewal at the end was formed before him. The great order preserves their comings-to-be and their renewals, and a small mouth is unable to say how great it is. He alone knows that they are also of the future, and they are from his being without beginning. Without beginning they were concealed in him when they were not created, and they came into being and were renewed as it pleased him.

His beauty shines forth and shows his love toward the creatures, and through his signs and his oneness he proclaims his power. From his creatures he taught his creatures about his hiddenness, and if he had not created, they would not have known his works, his power. It is not that I said this because they would not have known, but that there were no works to testify to his greatness. He showed his power in his workmanship to the work of his hands, so that from his signs they might learn his love toward his signs. He does more than this, that he makes, creates, and renews, and through both of these he taught the power that is hidden in his labor. The greatness of his love, which is not subject to becoming or to oneness, taught how his love is bound in the work of his hands. To the work of his hands he revealed his will in the beginning and the end, and from his labor he made a mediator between his creatures. Through the mediation of a single man he renewed the world, not because it was difficult, but because he mingled his own with his own. He mingled his own with that which is his, one from all, and renewed with his hands a world that had perished in mortality. Mortality wore out his labor, which renews all, and through mortality he renewed a world that had died in sin. One mortal he chose from all the order of mortals, and made him lord over the earthly and the heavenly. He fashioned his image in the image of a man while he renewed him, and now he gives him the high name of his divinity.

In his own name he comes for the end, that he might unite all, and by the power of his might he draws all toward his knowledge. He silences the name of error from the mouths of the dying, and he breaks the horn of the demons that oppose the truth. He abolishes the Antichrist, the head of the erring, and no longer does he err and lead the people astray through his deceit. It is he who opens the high gates on the day of his revelation and hunts down the whole nature of rational beings. It is he who discerns by the decree of his knowledge the good and the evil, and gives reward according to the deeds of the house of good and evil. It is he who makes that distinction between one and another, and one is exalted and one is cast down into the abyss below. The two were not equal when they were in equal labor, and one is separated from his companion by the blink of an eye. Oh, how powerful is the hour of the power of that distinction, and there is no measure that can compare to its dreadfulness. Oh, how grievous is the drunken vision of those who remain on earth, and there is no intoxication like the intoxication of their standing. Oh, how harsh is the confusion of the mind that is bewildered by it, and there is none who explains or brings forth a fitting arrangement of words. It is a harsh contest that is waged in body and spirit, and its contest is more severe than all contests that are waged.

Weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth and the sound of lamentations, a fire that does not burn and a boiling that does not seethe and a darkness that does not cease. Hallelujah is said by the companies to the side of the evil ones, and if it is true, evil is their company, even from Hallelujah. As if not evil to the evil ones who do not depart from evil, when the gates of the height are closed before their faces. As if not evil when they are separated in the company of the chaste, who fly in the air and sink into the depth of the earth. The earth becomes the dwelling place of the sons of the earth, and they weep and wail who have remained from the blessedness of the heavens. The blessedness of the good they see every hour in their minds, and they are tormented by it and the desire in them is not filled. From them and in them a seeking of repentance for their sins, and they become masters of judgment over their thoughts. Their sin magnifies over their companies, and when they are divided, again they are divided without end. From the root of the companies their thoughts become there, and they pursue always their standings without cessation. Distinctly it is spoken in that distinction, and it inclines to drunkenness without satiety. This knowledge which the good stand in the dwelling above, it is that which the sinners also stand in the dwelling of the earth.

They are equal in knowledge, in that the resurrection is also equal for them. And there is no distinction in the mercy of the goodness of their thoughts. There is no distinction, neither in the resurrection nor in the knowledge, for together they rise and together they know the mysteries of wisdom. In a place alone the orders are separated, one from his companion, and they are not permitted to mingle the evil with the good. Equality was separated from equality, and rejoicing was separated from the delight that is with the righteous. Their deeds made them strangers to the blessings of the good, and they were not worthy of being among the heirs of the heavens. On earth the earthly ones who loved the earth remain, and the heavenly ones become priests who desired heaven. Up to heaven the priests who love the truth ascend, to where Christ, the king of righteousness, is. Christ the king performs these things on the day of his revelation, and he gives gifts to the good and crowns to the evil. In him are revealed the hidden and secret things, and the examination of his sign shows to everyone the mysteries of his deeds. Naked and revealed stands the whole assembly of speakers, and there is no thought that is not revealed and laid bare before his examination. A burning examination is the day of his revelation, and he chooses and rejects like the examination of his sign, the priest. A single voice sounds in the earth to all creatures, and creation trembles as if from the hour of judgment.

The sound of his command the dead hear, not sluggish, and they cast off the garment of death and rise to life. Life without corruption rises for corruptible bodies, and again the pain of death does not approach their members. Death does not rule over the nature of the dead, and a wonder occurs in it through the renewal that rises over nature. The whole human nature raises the son of Adam, and the dead and the living put on a garment of immortality. All the senses of the dead body rise to life, and not one of its members remains in Sheol. That same body which fell and decayed in death, it is that which stands and rises to life without death. That same soul which put on the body and acted in it all, it is that which lives and moves in it without confusion. In body and in spirit the whole man rises in his entirety, and in his members and the movements of his soul he repays the debt of his skill. In the same vessel that served well and performed the service, in it he receives the rewards of glory and woven crowns. In the same vehicle, bodily and spiritual, in it body and soul are renewed together in the fullness that stands. In that same form in which Christ, the head of our life, stood, in it the body stands revealed and the soul hidden. In body and soul our life-giver and renewer stood, and in his resurrection he became for us a type of our day of renewal.

This is the cause also of the resurrection of the First of Life, who confirmed for us the hope of life without death. For just as through Adam death came to be, so also through the Second Adam there is no death. The Second Adam showed us the way to new life, and he first opened the gate of the high kingdom. To the high kingdom he ascended, first in body and soul, and confessed to us that we shall enter with him as he did. In this, the lower nature will follow him at the end of times, when he raises his body to the place where his royal house is. In the likeness of the sun, the light of the day of his revelation shines, and it conceals the light of the sun by the greatness of its light. The high powers run in the air before his coming, and they make way for him as for a king who rules over all. He is the king over all because of the king who gives him his rank, and like the Creator he creates in the sign a new creation. For the power of the Creator, the Second Adam creates a creation, not that he creates, but that he renews that which was created. A great renewal he renews for the speaking and the silent, and they no longer pass away in the passing of this world. There the limbs of the body and soul rest from their passions, and the evil desire of the senses does not return again. There the limbs of the body and soul rest from their passions, and the evil desire of the senses does not return again.

There the fierce war of the evil demons ceases, and they no longer err and lead men astray in the mystery of their error. There death, the snatcher, remains from swallowing, and sin no longer oppresses man in the yoke of iniquity. There the race of the dead glows in death and evil, and men say, "Where is your yoke, O death the snatcher?" There equality comes to be for the living and for men, and it is not justified from the confession of one Creator. One confession without division confesses there, and the Holy One comes in a threefold manner in their minds. One essence that is three at all times, and as much as they come, they come again to it without satiety. Through the Mediator from whom the confession of their hearts comes, and with the essence, he also comes in name and rank. He who comes through the sign of these without end, and like a mediator fills the pure, hidden order. Not essence comes to them through division, but the true door of divisions from place to another. Not the Creator makes judgment of the judged, but the Messiah who also receives all judgment. He who comes through the division from place to another, and opens the gate of the Holy of Holies before the mourners. All creation is blessed in him when it is revealed, and praises him with that power that gives him glory.

Glorious is his revelation and high his command, and small is the mouth of all creation to utter his glory. In the splendor of his glory, man and the spiritual ones shine, as he commands and renews all with a small sign. With a small sign he commands the earth, and it gives birth to man, like that sign which commanded it at the beginning and it gave birth to Adam. The soul hears the voice of his command, all of it, when it comes, and it enters the temple of the body from which it departed. By that command which he breathed into Adam, he also makes him like himself, and draws her from all limbs into the interior of the members. By that command which he breathed into Adam, he also makes him like himself, and draws her from all limbs into the interior of the members. Body and soul are combined to stand as one human being, in that form which man was at the beginning of times. Complete and perfect is all nature, in that perfection which was fulfilled in him, even the Anointed One. In him, through the Anointed One, all is renewed and all is fulfilled, and all is subjected under the authority of his dominion. In his hands he wields hidden power over all and in all, and there is no thought that does not submit in him to the fear of truth. Toward the divine will he directs all, and he leads it to the side of the good, to the high kingdom. To the high kingdom he brings with him the watchers and man, all those who loved the day of his divine revelation.

In the earth, the evil men and the demons are condemned, as the guilt of the sins they committed and were convicted is exacted. They are neither dead nor suffering, all of them, in the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the earth in one equality. In this alone, the evil side is equal with the good, when it casts off mortality and the passions. There ceases the passion of the soul and the desire of the body, and the craving for the treasures dries up from its discipline. One craving that demands from all of humanity: the mercy of humanity and the perfect love towards the Creator. One Creator is called there in one equality, and the three in one and one in three are contemplated in him. The brilliant book teaches there the good and the evil, and interprets the power of the Creator in his creation. Truly, all of them are by our renewal, that there is nothing in creation that is without death, something that is lacking. It is one thing that is lacking, in which equality is not for all: the great boundary between the house of the righteous and the sinners. A great boundary is established there for both sides, and no man can cross the abyss of its depth. A high mountain is from the earth to the heights of the summit, and its distance is not measured by measures. In its distance, the wonder of the terrestrials is there, and they are confounded by it and cannot cross its great boundary.

The abominable filth ever defiles their thoughts, while they are tormented and their filth is never filled. This is the filth that torments them more than the torments, that they see glory and cannot approach the gate of glory. Oh, how great is that praise of the praised ones, and how vile is the vileness of the torment of the tormented! Oh, how bitter is that burning of Gehenna, and how sweet is that delight of the high kingdom! Oh, how foul is the foul sight of the sons of darkness, and how fair is the fair sight of the sons of light! Oh, how harsh is that echo of those who went down to Gehenna, and how beloved is that of those who received the high kingdom! Oh, for that hour when the just are separated from the wicked, and one is exalted and one is cast down—a great wonder! The wonder of power falls from on high upon the sinners, when it is accomplished by the swiftness of the standing just. A great wonder, how the abominable labors are performed, that move the wings of swiftness to their performers. The wings of the spirit of the standing just on the day of judgment, and like spirits they fly in the air to the face of the height. Spiritually they advance in the spiritual air, and behold the wonder that from on high the swiftness stands. A great wonder, and its swiftness is unspeakable, that when one is good and evil, they are not one.

The judgment of the good and the evil on the day of judgment. And what is this that from it they fly and from it they remain? Iniquity is the cause of this separation between one and another, and it sinks the side of the evil in the abyss of iniquity. Righteousness is what gives the just flight, and through it the pure bodies ascend to the height above. Sin is what weighs down their members, which are not steadfast, because they did not walk on the path of the high kingdom with their companions. The weight of iniquity drags down its burden from righteousness, and sinks them in the deep abyss of their deeds. As from the foundation, the good and the evil stand together, and they marvel and are astonished at the swiftness of that separation. All of them cast off the weight of the body and the pains of the soul, and when they cast off the good, the likeness of their persons is not equal. The vision that is in them separates them from their companions, and through it they learn the secrets of the ways between the good and the evil. There they learn the secrets of the good and the hidden things, and there is none who inquires, nor one who learns the conduct of his life. Over the limbs are spread the coverings of the labors of the soul, and from the revelations every one learns the secrets of the hidden things. The proof of the judgment brings to light deeds and words, and as with words they examine the person in the defects that are in them.

the blemishes of the judgment that judges with the guilty and hides them with the faults of their standing. O how sharp is that test which chooses all, that even the guilty justify his judgment, that his judgment is true. O that power which empowers mortality that it may know and cover its blemishes from the eyes of the beholders. O the wisdoms that teach man in the renewal of man and make the childhood of man wise with the wisdom of truth. The wisdom of truth is that which makes them wise with the power of her wisdoms, and she teaches them to refute the falsehoods of the sects. With love and passion they judge their standing and justify the decree of judgment upon their faults. With their faults they judge every hour separately, while they are separated in the dwellings of the soul, good from the members. The dwelling of thought is severe upon them from all the members, and more severe when the doors of height are closed. Unspeakable is that grief which is in that time when it is revealed in that separation which will be from me. In the eyes of the body and the mind it is revealed in him, and weeping bitterly they mourn over their separation. The heavens are high and the earth is low, unpassable, and they go to that echo of the rich voice. Sharply they perceive that word, and rejoice that he holds the key of forgiveness before their faces.

The king opens the gates of the height before the guilty, and they enter and rejoice in that delight which is indestructible. They see wonder and glory there in the palaces of the kingdom, and they marvel and are astounded at the splendors which are unspeakable. That delight is not to be spoken by the tongue of man, nor can spirits depict it as it is. No one can describe its beauty in the fairness of its loveliness, as one who looks upon its radiance passes from one to another. Bitter is its story from those who sought to tell its story, for when they sought it, they turned and seek it as if they had not sought it. In the search for it, in my weakness I also have wearied my strength, and I sought to know and found much more than can be known. I found much more than can be attained, the abundance of the good things of that delight which the Good One has prepared for the lovers of his love. With words I thought to depict an image of his love, and I composed words, but my likeness did not suffice for his beauty. How can one make images without forms? And how can one compare a likeness to a likeness which has no likeness? There is no likeness for that spiritual abode, just as there is no measure for the essence which passes through his hands. There is no measure for the divinity which created all, nor for that dwelling of the heavens which is like a likeness.

The dwelling of the earth is not like that dwelling, for the dwelling of this world passes away, its manner of life passes, but that one does not pass. It is not a passing thing, nor is this world of which I spoke passing, for it is not that which passes, but the order that is used in it. The order of this earthly life passes away, and it gives way to the order of that life which does not change. That life does not change from what it is, and Paul bears witness, calling it the house that is not destroyed. He stands at the head of this house like a high priest, and he confesses to us that we entered with him on the day of his revelation. On the day of his revelation he opens the door of the Holy of Holies and brings in with him those who loved the day of his revelation. This day I desired to narrate before the hearers, and behold, the beauty of his revelation covers me before the beautiful ones. His beauty stirs me and draws me to his story, that I might open the boat of my speech at what time the sea is calm. The great sea is filled with a calm that has no end, and in it the ship of the world is tossed, whose waves are sufferings. The sea of sufferings has tossed the earthly dwelling, and behold, the boat of his revelation is saved in the dwelling above. Dwelling and dwelling the Creator created from the beginning, so that when one is tossed, it might rest in that which endures. To that which endures, he calls and summons the enduring ones, the race of men and the spirits that have no body.

In this world and the next, he bound up hope of the rational order. When he established that they might receive the reward of their intentions. A good reward was acknowledged for good intentions, and he gave to the treasury of confession his words to one of the people. One of the people made a treasurer over that dwelling, and made him a distributor of gifts and an arranger of feasts. In his hands he placed the entire treasury of the will of his love, and gave him the high name of his divinity. In his name he comes at the end to know all, and like a creator renews the world that perished in error. Evil error destroyed the world from the beginning, and the world erred from the name of the creator who established all. This error Christ dissolves on the day of his revelation, and turns all toward the knowledge of the one creator. The name of the creator rules there over all and in all, and no longer do those who err in the name of a non-god exist. This name they sanctify at all times in their minds, and there is no end to the constancy of their sanctity. In this exercise, spiritual and bodily beings exercise, and however much they practice, they again become weary of practicing well. That is the labor of that spiritual conduct: holiness and glory in the constancy that is never sated. Never sated is that praise of those who praise, for there is no satiety there, nor cessation of self.

The evil intention of the passions ceases there, and the whisperings of the ranks of sins are stilled and silenced. Sin is uprooted, death settles, and the tumult is quieted; the chain of grievous pains and evil demons is abolished. There is no memory of evil passion, nor any at all, nor is it reckoned, nor does anything that disturbs come to mind. A new creation comes to be there, the whole creation, and the old name is effaced from every thought. There also the distinction of orders and ranks ceases, and there is none who asks whether one is a servant or a free person. There is no distinction between Judaism and paganism, nor between the circumcised and the uncircumcised in shameful blemishes. There is no blemish in it, nor the name of blemishes, at that time, for it has passed beyond mortality, which is full of blemishes. Without mortals there is no name of blemishes nor of defects, but it receives a new state, the old things. The old things are abolished in Christ, the king of all, and he renews the world in a new world without mortality. In that world there are no names and words of mortality, nor memory of ranks and earthly things. One memory is fixed there in all thoughts: the name of the Creator and the love of the sign of the cross without division. In love and mercy, the sign of the cross and spiritual ones are established, and they are not separated from the answer of the goodness of his love.

It is only the debt that remains in that place, and the bond of the passion of the soul is bound there and cannot be loosed. The passion of desire has no power to be loosed, nor does it permit the two thoughts to be reconciled. Only the desire for good things flows from it, and the remembrance of evil deeds does not occur, nor any of them at all. There is no evil, nor even the name of evil, in the high land, nor in the thought of the evil ones who dwell in the lower land. That thought which the good stand in in the high kingdom becomes that in which sinners also stand in their repentance. One thought stands for the righteous and also for sinners, and there is no division between thought and thought. With one thought they praise the name of the one Creator, and they love him and honor him without ceasing. There is no cessation, no weariness, nor any of it at all, nor anything that is loosed from the sweetness of the name of goodness. Goodness alone is what is practiced in that conduct, and it is peacefully engaged in and delights in it. The great wealth of the great world stands there, when the beginnings and the ends are remembered. Before their eyes the conduct of the two worlds is depicted, and these things that have been and those that are to come are not hidden from them. They know the earth and also the heaven clearly, and they interpret the power of the understanding of the world and the world.

They are like creatures from nothing, and the cause that renews the debt at the end of times. They know to look into the great expanse of the four directions, and they extend it in height and depth by their thoughts. They see the signs of the wicked who are late and the righteous who judge. And not one of these that were and will be escapes them. Swiftly their vision runs with their movements, and they are not hindered from the discipline of the mountain of fire. Equally they look upon the distant and the near, and together they see the visible and the invisible. The vision of the torrent stands from the cessation of sensations and movements, and they see the signs of their standings and their companions. Everyone knows what he knows, and does not know it, and there is none who asks what and whose son and where his place. One knowledge that cannot be passed over receives all of them, and there is no tongue that does not interpret the power of the Creator. To this equality all tongues come, and they are not hindered from learning anything from their companions. The whole nature sees the nature of Adam, and in its thoughts it weeps for the limit of all Adam. From Adam, man begins to measure Adam, and extends the whole nature within his thought. And when man speaks, the number of what man brings is limited, so that even the number of spiritual things is determined by it.

The end of all becomes a man at that time, and he completes his hunt, that which is spoken and the hidden one is sealed. Like a creator he examines the taste of the hidden mysteries, and he attains the vision of seeing the nature of spiritual beings. The great wonder that is difficult for his wonder to be believed, that he sees a nature standing, a height without a body. And he also sees his own self, how it is, and he raises it to its bodilessness at the time of its being. And if a man says that this is difficult to be believed, he asks that he might see Christ for the spiritual ones. And if he does not see the exact spirit without a body, how does he run to the things that are known, which are hidden from him? And if he does not run to the spiritual ones, those who have sinned, where is that city that is written of, of him who runs to all? It is a great wonder that receives judgment of the knowledge of all, and it is not permitted for him to see the natures of the things that are known. For the judgment that is upon him receives a true one for himself, and for seeing the things that are known there is no division. And if he who sees the bodiless one, as he sees, how is this vision also given to us? For we see the exact spirit and our souls, and the wonder itself in the clear things that are for its hunt. It is a great wonder that sees our nature without a body, and our vision runs over all creatures quickly.

And it is difficult for him to believe the sign of hearing. His vision, the second one of the great one, is better than these. Christ the king who reigns over all and rules over all, they see him truly as he is. For the man sees the king over all, and he does not see the ministers of his mysteries. He sees the king Christ and the spirits, and there is nothing in creation hidden from their sight. Only one thing they do not see truly: that which is above nature, whose glory is hidden from the seers. Only that one they do not see, nor can the whole eye of all that is created see him. The divinity is not visible from its signs, neither to mortals nor to spirits without a body. For even spirits are created, however high they may be, and they are not able to see the nature that establishes them. They are not able to see their own kind, nor we ours, in that we are placed in one sign from the Creator. From the Creator a vision of the door is given to us, and we are examined by that sign through the eyes of the spirit. They see the great door there, a man in a man, and they are not hindered from seeing the height and depth. They stand in the height and see where the sinners are settled. Even the sinners run, their vision toward the height above.

In this vision the evil one is greatly pained, and he is silenced more than by the cords of the judgment. Cords are woven abundantly over the sons of the earth when they are revealed in the greatness of the glory of the heavenly ones. And if a man says that the pained do not feel, he says that it is as if the nature of the demons feels. And if again he says that even the demons do not feel at all, he says that there is no judgment of justice. And if there is justice, there is also pain for the judged; and if there is pain, justice is null and the name of righteousness is void. And if there is no justice and no righteousness that judges a man, the whole race of the righteous and the angels is null. For if it were fitting for the earthly and the heavenly, the Creator would not have acted righteously in what he did. He did not rightly cast the thought of labors upon speech, and turn and equate the good and the evil in one equality. Why then did he multiply the signs of warning concerning evils, and decree them without penalty upon sinners? O, this is not true, the lie of the mother of wantonness, and wantonly she also deceived the man at the righteous sign. For righteous is the judgment of that judge who judges all, and truly he gives rewards and arranges cords. Rewards and cords fill his judgment as it is written, and there is no sign that is not righteously inscribed in his books.

The wantonness of the lie is compared to the truths, in that it is accustomed to being wantonly compared. The true judgments of the day of judgment are good, and in the mysteries they are revealed as they were spoken. The day of judgment reveals the power of their understanding, and the fools who compared the lie wantonly are shamed. And again, in their standing they learn the power of the true judgment, when they are convicted by the guilt of their comparisons. The wanton ones cease from comparing, filled with pride, and they listen accurately to the narrative of the judgment that will be at the end. The true judgment is one that cannot be spoken, a little of its truth, and even the wicked bear witness to its truth. The good and the evil together do not deny its truth, and they seal the decree of its judgment with their minds. Their minds become a furnace of testing there, and they judge their standings without error. The word they heard, the judge with them as it is written, and it follows them, the interpretation of its name, and they turned its shadow. The chief of judges sealed and said with the word of amen, that every mouth that does not speak truth speaks in judgment that enters. Judgment is truth, truth that at the end silences all on the day of judgment, and in its truth it separates the true from the wicked. One is led and another is left behind; this is what happens: one to heaven and one on earth, a great abyss.

Where the body is wholly pure, it is said that it will be the body of Christ, and the pure ones who enter with him. Where the body of Christ is, the pure ones enter, and they delight in that pleasure which has no toil. There is no toil in that spiritual pleasure, and spiritually the body and soul are renewed in it. The body and soul live wholly free from their labors, and they no longer toil bodily and spiritually. In spirit they are renewed in that renewal which has no renewal, and they do not become weary over the darkness of the body and soul. Spiritually they live a life without end, and with the angels they rejoice and labor in spiritual things. In spiritual things they wholly rejoice like spirits, without the hateful toil of earthly things. It is a great wonder that they live wholly buried in the earth, and they are sated with it, and its satiety is not satiated. Continually they wonder and marvel at their joys, how great they are and how glorious their rewards are. And this agrees with the word of Paul, with Paul himself, that the pains of the contest are not equal to the crowns of glory. Their pains are small when compared with their rewards, and the world of the contest is nothing compared with the praise. Glorious and excellent is the reward they receive in the kingdom, and it is not diminished, nor is it diminished as to how great it is.

In the senses and movements they see the glory of the glory wherein he is, and they praise his praiseworthiness in body and spirit. They see his praiseworthiness at all times in truth, and they offer sacrifices to him, sacrifices of the pure thoughts of their minds. To that one who is from them they see with eyes and air, not to the essence that has not been seen and is not seen. To the one whose being is not able to see the work that is made, in that essence whose nature is high above the beholders. To that high priest from whom they see the visible ones, to that one who speaks the greatness of the mystery on behalf of the living. In this pattern the apostolic herald and priest called them, and true and one to that one who does good more than Moses. In this he chose him from all that chariot, which fills the place of his hand for the work of his hands. The place of the Lord fills the man and the spirits, and when he saw him, the brothers saw his light in the limbs of his body. In the light of his body the brothers see his vision as in light, and they delight in him, one essence for one creator. To the creator he was desirous that he might see the work of his hands, and without being able to rest he went to form his image. As to the image he set the image of Adam of the two, and placed upon it the high kingdom in the place of his hand.

His place fills the heavens and the earths, and they are not diminished by the hidden depth that cannot be grasped. With the depth of the hidden, the worker seeks where he is and how he is, and all of them run to the depth of his self in the visible. As if to a house, they go in the city of his kingdom, so that the temple of his body may suffice for those who worship him. The worshippers of his coming are works that were from the worker, and he, like a peacock, is honored in the name of workmanship. With the worker, he is honored in name and authority, when the Son of God is worshipped like God. The Son of God calls the Son of man, and with the substances he brings him without distinction. One substance they understand, that it is three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one equality. With the measure of one person, they bring him, with that which is as he is without beginning. This is the cause of the greatness of the rank of that man, who in his greatness raised creatures to the Creator. In him, the whole is honored with the worker, for when one worships him, he knows that also she is worshipped in him. From her, he is a gift, he who receives the worship of all, and it is possible for him when he is worshipped with the Creator. With the Creator, creation receives the worship of love, and this is the wonder: when one worships him, he is worshipped in him.

A great wonder the Creator performed for his creatures, that they might share in the glory of his divinity. The greatness of his love he revealed to his servants in this that passed, that they might know how much he loves the work of his hands. Beloved is the good one who made the work of his hands that which sets aright all that he made in the inheritance of the glory of his body. The heirs of glory, the man made with the son of man, and they glorify him and are glorified by him through the power of the worker. The power of the worker is that which made his glory glorious and glorified, and without it he would have increased the sorrows of his kind. God gave him the rank of his divinity and made him lord also of the judgment of all creation. He it is who judges the spiritual and the corporeal, he it is who distributes crowns to the good and chains to the evil. He it is who brings into the kingdoms of the height those of the kingdom, he it is who leaves among the darkness those in the darkness outside. By the fullness of his love he gives rest to the weary who loved his love, and in Gehenna he torments the evil who scorned his commandments. By his glory he glorifies the glorifiers of his proclamation, and by the sword of judgment he abases the pride of his adversaries. In the house of his kingdom the king of the height delights his lovers, and to the end of all he makes known the light of their ways. The light shines from them among the lights, and they marvel and are astonished at the light of the glory of their standing.

The glory of him he shows the labors of their conduct, and according to the labors he prepares the vision of their standing. And when all is good for the righteous, the glory that is indestructible, not all is equal in one vision as they are. Less and more is the glory of him, one than his companion, as the growth of a star is less than its twin. The fashioner of the soul performs this at that time, and he is the one who increases and he is the one who diminishes the degrees of praise. He is the fashioner who shows it also to the side of the evil, and not equal are the degrees of the ranks that are arrayed in one equality. According to the will of the wicked one, many are the degrees of the thorns, and according to the soul that is pure, it is less in distance. Great is the wonder that the fashioner of our soul performs, that he praises us and he condemns us on the day of judgment. He raises us to the high kingdom that is higher than all, and he sinks us in the depth of debts in the lower earth. Therefore, well does our Lord say, the Lord of all, that not he who knows, but the one who knows him is the one who knows. He himself knows every person on the day of judgment, and from him come the degrees of goods and the hardness of degrees. He himself places the crown of victory on the eyes of the seers, and he himself makes the shame of faces before the multitudes. His are the heavy and light things, and he makes us among the kingdoms and among the darknesses.

And if it is clear that the Creator rules over both, he does not contend with the harshness of the boundaries that are fixed for him. For the Creator works like a potter who separates the two, because why is the light of his separation not equal? The great light of separation shines in him, and better than the sun its rays run to the four directions. The sun that is in the firmament runs in the sky and shows us the forms of goods and evils. As by the light we see in it two modes, and by it we learn what is the cause of the world and the world. Behold, see how great is the power that is in man, who knows to discern distant and near things. Come, see how much freedom his soul possesses, and he is able to do good and evil things. It is very easy for him to judge himself truly, and to choose the good and reject the evil according to his choice. For choice is of good and evil things, and better than a furnace it purifies from it hidden blemishes. Come, then, remove the forms of our evils by the furnace of our soul, until the test of the judgment of the mighty one comes. Come, let our Creator seat our soul like a judge, and let him bring near the accusation of the sins that we have committed. Come, let us gather for ourselves a scholastic under the mind, and let us enter our words before the judge who examines all.

The potter makes a wondrous vessel, and arranges the pains of body and soul one after another. The mouth fills the middle space between one and another, and the limbs cry out to the parts that are firmly set. The soul says to the senses of the body that it should act, that they should not pursue violently like beasts. The eye shall be like a guide to the visible things, and shall prepare the path before the limbs that pursue well. The soul shall take the key of the treasuries of wisdom, that its treasures may not be plundered by evil ones like robbers. The whole body keeps the order of its corporeality, and the hidden soul interprets in it the treasures of wisdom. The senses become like horses for its action, and it is above them like a charioteer upon a chariot. The commands of the order it casts upon the visible senses, and they pursue well towards the goal of love and faith. Soul and body keep the order of a single human being, and they do not depart from the conduct of a man. A single human being is a man in body and spirit, and he is bound to know what is the cause of his name and his nature. His name is interpreted as body and soul, a hundredfold united, one corporeal and one spiritual, which together find a man. The finding of a man is a man by his constitution, and in him the creation of the deaf and the mute is completed.

And if the one who holds the measure of all things is guilty, how much more so are the vessels within him, and also the good things. A good example: fashion in his person for those who see him, and he is adorned in him as in a divine image. God formed him, God called him in the beginning of his creation, and he gathered around him eloquent ones of the heads of the order established in him. Come, O human, see how much your honor has increased, that from the living one you received a divine title. Come, be adorned in the greatness of the rank that was given to you, and repay the favor to the honor of your second state. See that from the beginning your riding was on a chariot, and now you rule over lands and seas. From you is the king who rules over all creatures, and to him heaven and earth and everything in them are obedient. A king, a lord, and also a judge is of your kind. See that you do not wrong the honor of your second state. See that you are destined to enter the dwelling that is prepared for its inhabitant, to pay there the penalty of the sins you have committed. See that all who enter there are examined for the blemishes of every person, and as the sun looks upon a person, so do the blemishes of a person. Hear that on earth the evil ones of the evil deeds remain, and keep away from iniquity so that you do not remain in the earth with the iniquitous. Hear that to the height of the kingdom the good ascend, and enter with the good into that delight that is filled with blessings.

See that the Messiah is about to come and show the vessels and the priests, and purify yourself from the stains so that you too may see him. See that the stains of the soul do not enter where he is, and cleanse yourself from the stains and enter to see him. Hear the voice of weeping and the sound of tears in the darkness, and tremble and withdraw from that hearing whose hearing is fearful. Hear that the spiritual comfort does not cease, and cast away everything and enter and be comforted in the place of the end. Behold, I have set before you the ways of good things and the names of evil things; flee from evil and love good, for the good of its doing is great. Behold, I have shown you that the labors of the world pass away; do not hang upon them outside the order, lest you be deprived. Behold, I have taught you that there is another treasure in heaven; love its doing so that you may be an heir with its heirs. Behold, I have shown you a way to ascend to the high place, until you yourself ascend beautifully to the face of the height. Behold, I have told you that labors require a way of height; prepare labors and strengthen your journey with the travelers. I have heard for you the good news that there are two ways in creation; see that you do not journey with the many on the one that is wide. I have heard for you that it is written that good is the narrow way of life; resist the stomach and receive life that does not die. All these and many more, better than these, are inscribed in the memory in the writings of the books of the spirit.

...the books teach me that I also might learn something from the teaching, so that every person who travels the path of the books may ponder their thoughts. The books show me how to follow the path of their words, and they teach me to learn the truth of their meanings.