Four gospels harmonized, translated. Tolstoy”s summaries.

Notice: This book is exactly Tolstoy’s summaries extracted from his complete work, Chapters I-XII, here https://archive.org/details/FourGospelsTranslationHarmonizedTolstoyIXIIComplete

PREFACE

Having been brought by reason without faith to despair and negation of life, I looked around at the living humanity and convinced myself that that despair was not the common lot of men, but that men have lived and still live by faith. I saw all about me men who had that faith and who deduced from it a meaning of life which gave them strength to live and die quietly and joyfully. I could not explain that meaning through reason. I tried to arrange my life like that of the believers ; I tried to blend with them, and to do all that they did in life, even as to the external worship of God, thinking that in that way the meaning of life would be revealed to me. The more I cultivated the acquaintance of the masses, and lived as they did, and executed all the external rites of divine worship, the more I became conscious of two forces which had diametrically opposite effects upon me. On the one hand, there was revealed to me a meaning of life which more and more satisfied me, and which was not destroyed by death ; on the other hand I saw that in that external confession of faith and worship there was much deception. I saw that the masses, because of their ignorance, lack of leisure, and unwillingness to think, failed to see the lie, but I could not help seeing it, and, having once beheld it, I could not shut my eyes to it, as educated people who were believers advised me to do. The longer I lived, fulfilling the obligations of a believer, the more did that lie startle me and demand an investigation of where that lie ended and truth began. I no longer doubted that in the Chris-

tian teaching was the truth of life. My internal discord finally reached such a stage that I no longer could intentionally shut my eyes, as I had done before, and was inevitably compelled to investigate the doctrine which I wanted to make my own.

At first I asked for explanations from priests, monks, bishops, metropolitans, learned theologians. There were explained to me all the obscure passages, and these explanations were frequently unscrupulous, and more frequently contradictory: all of them referred to the holy fathers, to catechisms, to theology. And I took the theological books and began to study them, and that study led me to the conviction that the faith which our hierarchy confessed, and which it taught the masses, was not only a lie, but also an immoral deception. In the Orthodox doctrine I found an exposition of the most unintelligible, blasphemous, and immoral propositions, which were not only incompatible with reason, but were also entirely incomprehensible and contrary to morality, and not the slightest teaching about life, nor about its meaning. I could not help noticing that the exposition of the theology was clearly directed, not to the explanation of the meaning of life and to the teaching about life, but only to the confirmation of the most incomprehensible and useless of propositions, and to the refutal of all those who did not recognize those propositions. That exposition, which was directed to the refutal of other teachings, involuntarily compelled me to turn my attention to those other creeds. These refuted creeds proved to be of the same character as the Orthodox, which refuted them. Some are even more stupid, others are less so, but all of them alike affirmed incomprehensible propositions which are useless for life, and in their name deny each other and violate the union of men, — the chief foundation of the Christian teaching.

I was brought to the conviction that there was no church at all. All the differently believing Christians call themselves true Christians and deny each other. All these separate collections of Christians call themselves exclusively the church and assure us that their church is the true one, and that the others have departed from it, while it alone has remained intact. All the believers of whatsoever denomination entirely fail to see that the church is not true because their faith has remained such or such, but that they call it true because they were born in it or have chosen it, and that all the others say precisely the same about their own faith. Thus it is evident that there has never been one church, that the churches count by the thousand, and that they all deny each other and only assert that each one of them is the true and only church. They all say one and the same thing: Our church is the True, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Universal Church. Our Scripture is holy. Jesus Christ is the head of our church and the Holy Ghost guides it, and it alone comes by direct succession from Christ the God.

If we take a twig of a spreading bush, it will be quite correct to say that from twig to twig, from twig to branch, and from branch to root, every twig is derived from the trunk, but none of them is so exclusively. They are all alike. It will be absurd to say that every twig is the only true twig, but that is exactly what the churches say. Indeed, there are a thousand traditions, and each denies and curses all the others, and regards its own as the true one: Catholics, Lutherans, Protestants, Calvinists, Shakers, Mormons, Greek Orthodox, Old Believers, the Popish and the Popeless sects, Milkers, Mennonites, Baptists, Mutilators, Dukhobors, etc., etc., all of them equally assert about their own faith that it is the only true one, that in it alone is the Holy Ghost, that its head is Christ, and that all the others are in error. There are a thousand faiths, and each calmly considers itself to be holy; and all of them know that, and each man who confesses his faith as the only true faith knows that every other faith is just as much a stick with two ends, regarding itself as true and all the others as heresies. It will soon be eighteen hundred years that this self-deception has been going on.

In worldly matters men know how to discover the most cunning of traps and not to fall into them, but in this deception millions have been living for eighteen hundred years, shutting their eyes against it, both in our European world and in America, where everything is new. All, as though by plotting together, repeat one and the same stupid deception: they confess each his own truths of faith, regarding them as the only true ones, without noticing that all the others do precisely the same.

More than that. Long, very long ago freethinking men have cleverly and sharply ridiculed that human stupidity and showed to what extent it is stupid. They have clearly proved that that whole Christian teaching, with all its ramifications, has long ago outlived its day and that the time has come for a new faith, and some of them have even invented new faiths; but nobody listens to them or follows them, and all believe as of old, each in his own special Christian faith: the Catholics in their own, the Lutherans in their own, our Popish dissenters in their own, our Popeless dissenters in their own, the Mormons in their own, the Milkers in their own, and the Orthodox, those whom I wished to join, in their own. What does that mean ? Why do men not give up that teaching ? There is one answer to it, and in this all the freethinking people, who deny religion, and all men of other religions agree, and that is, that Christ’s teaching is good, and so it is dear to people and they cannot live without it. But why have men, who believe in Christ’s teaching, all divided into all kinds of creeds, and why do they keep dividing more and more, and denying and condemning each other, and why are they unable to agree on one confession of faith ?

Again the answer is simple and obvious. The cause of the division of the Christians is precisely this teaching about the church, a teaching which asserts that Christ has established the one, true church, which, in its essence, is holy and infallible, and can and must teach others. If this conception about the church did not exist, there could be no division among the Christians. Each Christian church, that is, the creed, incontestably rises from the teaching of Christ himself, but it is not the only one to come from it: all the other doctrines come just as much from it. They have all grown from one seed, and what unites them, what is common among them all, is that from which they have grown out, that is, the seed. And so, in order properly to understand the teaching of Christ, we must not study it, as the only creed does it, from the branches to the trunk; nor must we, as uselessly as science, the history of religion, does it, study this teaching by starting from its foundation, by going from the trunk to the branches. Neither the one nor the other gives us the meaning of the teaching. The meaning is given only by the knowledge of the seed, of the fruit, from which they have all come, and for which they all live. They have all come from the life and works of Christ, and all live only in order to reproduce the works of Christ, that is, the works of good. And only in these works will they all meet.

What brought me in particular to faith is the search after a meaning of life, that is, the search after a path of life, — how to live. When I saw the works of the life of men who professed Christ’s teaching, I clung to them. Such men, who profess Christ’s teaching by works, I meet without distinction among the Orthodox, and among the dissenters of all the sects, and among Catholics, and among Lutherans, so that obviously the general meaning of life, as given by Christ’s teaching, is not received from the creed, but from something else which is common to all creeds. I have watched good people of more than one creed, and in all I saw the same meaning, which is based on the teaching of Christ. In all those different sects of Christians I saw a complete agreement in the conception of what is good, what evil, and of how one ought to live. All these men declared this conception of theirs through the teaching of Christ. The doctrines have multiplied, but their foundation is one; consequently, what is lying at the foundation of all faiths is the one truth. It is this truth that I am trying to find out now. The truth of faith is not to be found in the definite interpretations of Christ’s revelation, those interpretations which have divided the Christians into a thousand sects, but is to be found in the very first revelation of Christ himself. And so I turned to the study of the gospels.

I know that according to the teaching of the church the meaning of the teaching is to be found not merely in the Gospel alone, but also in the whole Scripture and Tradition, which are guarded by the church. I assume that after everything said before, the sophistry, which consists in this, that the Scripture which serves as the foundation for my investigation is not subject to investigation, because the true and holy interpretation belongs exclusively to the church, that this sophistry cannot be repeated, the more so since every interpretation is destroyed by the contrary interpretation of another church, and because all holy churches reject one another. The prohibition to read and comprehend the Scripture is only a sign of those sins of interpretations, which the interpreting church is conscious of in its own case.

God has revealed the truth to men. I am a man, and so am not only entitled, but also compelled, to make use of it and stand face to face with it without any mediation. If God speaks in these books, he knows the weakness of my mind and will speak in such a way as not to lead me into deception. The argument of the church that the interpretation of the Scripture by individuals must not be permitted, lest those who interpret it be led astray and the interpretations multiply greatly, can have no meaning for me. It might have had a significance, if the interpre- . tation of the church were intelligible, and if there were but one church and one interpretation ; but now, since the interpretation of the church about the Son of God and about God, about God in three persons, about the virgin who bore a son without losing her virginity, and about the blood of God which is eaten in the form of bread, and so forth, can find no place in my sound mind, and since there are thousands of different interpretations, this argument, no matter how often repeated, can have no meaning whatever. Now, on the contrary, an interpretation is needed, and it has to be such that all could agree on it. But an agreement will only then be possible when the interpretation is rational. All of us agree on what is rational, in spite of our differences. If this revelation is the truth it cannot and must not fear the light of reason, if it wishes to be convincing, and is obliged to invoke this light. If the whole revelation will turn out to be absurd, so much the better, and God help it. God can do anything, but this: he cannot talk nonsense. And it would be stupid to write a revelation which cannot be understood.

I call revelation what is revealed to reason which has reached its highest limits, the contemplation of what is divine, that is, above the reason of the standing truth. I call revelation what gives an answer to the question, insoluble to reason, which has brought me to despair and suicide, the question as to what meaning life has. This answer must be intelligible and must not contradict the laws of reason, as would the assertion that an infinite quantity is even or odd. The answer must not contradict reason, for I will not believe a contradictory answer, and so it has to be not only intelligible and the contrary of

wilful, but also inevitable to reason, as inevitable as is the assumption of infinity to him who can count.

The answer must reply to my question what meaning my life has. If it will not give this answer, it is useless for me. The answer must be such that, although its essence, in relation to God, may remain incomprehensible in itself, all the deductions of the consequences, derived from it, should correspond to all rational demands, and that the meaning ascribed to my life should solve all the questions of my life. The answer has to be not only rational and clear, but also true, that is, such as I can believe in with my whole soul, inevitably, as I believe in the existence of infinity.

Revelation cannot be based on faith, as the church understands it, as a trust in advance in what I shall be told. Faith is the consequence of the inevitableness and truth of the revelation, which fully satisfies reason.

Faith, according to the conception of the church, is an obligation which with threats and enticements is imposed on the soul of man.

According to my conception, faith is this, that the foundation on which every action of reason is reared is true. Faith is the knowledge of the revelation, without which it is impossible to live and think. Revelation is the knowledge of what man cannot attain by reason, but what is carried away by all humanity from what is hidden in the infinitude of the beginning of everything. Such, in my opinion, is to be the quality of the revelation which fosters faith, and such I seek in the Tradition about Christ, and so I turn to it with the sternest and most rational of demands.

I do not consider the Old Testament, because the question does not consist in this, what was the faith of the Jews, but what does the faith of Christ consist in, for there men find that meaning which makes it possible for them to live. The Jewish books may be interesting for us as an explanation of those forms in which Christianity has been expressed; but we cannot recognize any consecutiveness of faith from Adam to the present, for previous to Christ the faith of the Jews was local. The faith of the Jews is as foreign and as interesting to us as the faith of the Brahmins. But the faith of Christ is the one we live by. To study the faith of the Jews in order to understand the Christian religion is the same as studying a candle before lighting it in order to understand the significance of the light which proceeds from the burning candle. All that can be said is this, that the character and quality of the light may depend on the candle itself, just as the form of the expressions of the New Testament may depend on its relation to Judaism; but the light cannot be explained from the fact that it proceeds from this, rather than from that, candle. And so the blunder made by the church, in acknowledging the Old Testament as much a divinely inspired Scripture as the New Testament, is in the most obvious way reflected in this, that the church recognizes this in words, but not in fact, and so has fallen into contradictions from which it would never extricate itself, if sound reasoning were at all obligatory for it. And so I leave out the writings of the Old Testament, the revealed Scripture which, according to the expression of the church, is expressed in twenty-seven books. In reality, this tradition is not expressed in twenty-seven books, nor in five, nor in 138, just as the revelation of God cannot be expressed in a number of pages or letters.

To say that the revelation of God is expressed in 185 pages on paper, is the same as saying that the soul of such and such a man weighs fifteen hundredweights, or the light of the lamp measures seven bushels.

The revelation was expressed in the souls of men, and men transmitted it from one to another and wrote a few things down. From what has been noted down, it is known that there existed more than one hundred gospels and epistles, which were not accepted by the church. The church selected twenty-seven books and called them canonical. It is evident that some books expressed the tradition better, some worse, and that there is no break in the gradation. The church had to draw a line somewhere, in order to separate what it regarded as divinely inspired. But it is evident that no such line could sharply separate the full truth from the full lie. The tradition is a shadow from the white to the black, or from the truth to the lie, and no matter where the line may be drawn, the shadows would inevitably be separated where the black is. This is precisely what the church did, when it separated the tradition and called some canonical and the rest apocryphal. This was done remarkably well. The church chose so, well that the newest investigations have shown that nothing is to be added. From these investigations it became clear that what is best known and is best has been included by the church in the canonical books.

More than that: as though to correct the inevitable error, which was due to the drawing of the line, the church has accepted some of the traditions from the apocryphal books.

Everything which could have been done was done excellently. But in this separation the church erred in this, that, wishing more emphatically to reject what was not received by it, and to give more weight to what it did receive, it put one general seal of infallibility on what it accepted. Everything is from the Holy Ghost, and every word is true. With this it ruined and harmed everything which it received. By inevitably accepting in this strip of the tradition the white, the bright, and the gray, that is, the more or less pure teaching, and by imposing on everything the seal of infallibility, it deprived itself of the right to combine, exclude, elucidate what was accepted, which, indeed, was its duty to do, and which it has never done. Everything is sacred: the miracles, the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s advice concerning the wine, and the delirium of the Apocalypse, and so forth, so that after the eighteen hundred years of their existence these books lie before us in the same coarse, clumsy, absurd, contradictory form in which they have ever been. By assuming that every word of the Scripture is sacred truth, the church tried to combine, elucidate, solve the contradictions, and understand, and did everything which could be done in this sense, that is, gave the greatest possible meaning to what is absurd. But the first mistake has been fatal.

By recognizing everything as sacred truth, it was necessary to justify everything, shut the eyes, conceal, make false deals, fall into contradictions, and, alas, frequently tell an untruth. While accepting everything in words, the church has been compelled to reject certain books in fact. Such are the whole of the Apocalypse and parts of the Acts, which frequently not only fail to be instructive, but are even offensive. It is evident that Luke wrote about the miracles in order to strengthen people in the faith, and no doubt there were some who were confirmed in their faith by such reading, but now it is not possible to find a more blasphemous book, one which more undermines faith. Perhaps a candle is needed where there is darkness. But if there is light, there is no sense in illuminating it with a candle, for it will be seen without it. Christ’s miracles are the candles which are brought into the light in order to illuminate it. If there is light, it will be seen anyway; and if there is no light, then it is only the candle which is shedding light.

And so it is impossible and unnecessary to read the twenty-seven books in succession, recognizing each word as holy, as the church reads them, for one would only arrive at what the church has arrived at, namely, at the negation of self. In order to comprehend the contents of the Scripture which belongs to the Christian faith, it is necessary first to solve the question which of the twenty-seven books that are given out as constituting Holy Scripture are more or less essential and important, and then to begin with those that are most important. Such unquestionably are the four gospels. Everything which precedes them may, in a large measure, be only historical material for the comprehension of the Gospel, and everything subsequent only an elucidation of these books. And so it is not necessary, as the churches do, inevitably to harmonize all the books (we are convinced that that, more than anything else, has led the churches to preach unintelligible things), but in these four books, which, according to the teaching of the church, expound the most essential revelation, to find the most important bases of the teaching, without conforming with any teaching of the other books, not because I do not wish to do so, but because I am afraid of the errors of the other books, which offer such a bright and palpable example.

What I shall try to find in these books is this: (1) What is comprehensible to me, for no one can believe what is incomprehensible, and the knowledge of what is incomprehensible is equal to ignorance; (2) what answers my question as to what I am, what God is; and (3) what the one chief basis of every revelation is. And so I am not going to read the incomprehensible, obscure, halfintelligible passages as I want them to be, but so as to bring them most in agreement with entirely clear passages, with which they can be reduced to one basis. By reading in this manner, not once or twice, but many times, both the Scripture itself and what has been written about it, I came to the conclusion that the whole Christian tradition is contained in the four gospels; that the books of the Old Testament can serve only as an explanation of the form which Christ’s teaching has chosen, and that they can only obscure, but in no way elucidate, the meaning of Christ’s teaching; that the epistles of John and James are teachings which were called forth by the peculiar condition of the private elucidations, and that it is possible to find in them at times Christ’s teaching expressed from a new side, and nothing more. Unfortunately, we frequently can find, especially in the epistles of Paul, an expression of the teaching which is liable to fill the reader with doubts, which obscure the teaching itself. But the Acts of the Apostles, like many of the epistles of Paul, not only have nothing in common with the Gospel and with the epistles of John, Peter, and James, but frequently contradict them. The Revelation absolutely reveals nothing. But the main thing is that, no matter at what different times they were written, the Gospel forms the exposition of the whole teaching, and everything else is only an interpretation of it.

I read the Gospel in Greek, in the language in which we possess it, and I translated as the sense and the dictionaries demanded, now and then departing from the translations which exist in the modern languages and which were made when the church had comprehended and defined the meaning of the tradition in its own way. Besides translating, I have inevitably been led to the necessity of harmonizing the four gospels, since they all expound, though variously, the same incidents and the same teaching. The new proposition of exegetics, that the Gospel of John, being exclusively theological, should be discussed separately, had no meaning for me, since my aim is not historical, nor philosophical, nor theological criticism, but the finding of the meaning of the teaching. The meaning of the teaching is expressed in the four gospels, and so, if all four are the exposition of one and

the same revelation of truth, then one must confirm and elucidate the rest. And so I considered them by uniting them, without omitting the Gospel of John.

There have been many attempts made at combining the gospels, but all those which I know, Arnolde de Yence, Farrar, Eeuss, Grechulevich, harmonize them on a historical basis, and are all equally unsuccessful. Not one of them is better than another in the historical sense, and all are equally satisfactory in the sense of the teaching. I leave the historical meaning entirely alone, and harmonize only in the sense of the teaching. The harmonization of the gospels on this basis has this advantage, that the true teaching represents, as it were, a circle, of which all the parts determine their mutual significance, and for the study of which it is immaterial from what place we begin. In studying in this manner the gospels, in which the historical events of Christ’s life are so closely connected with the teaching, the historical consecutiveness appeared quite immaterial to me, and for the historical consecutiveness it made no difference to me which harmonization of the gospels I took as my basis. I selected two of the latest harmonizations, by authors who made use of the labours of all their predecessors, Grechulevich and Eeuss, but since Eeuss has separated John from the synoptics, Grechulevich’s harmonization has been of greater use to me, and I took it for the basis of my work, collating it with Reuss and departing from both whenever the sense demanded it.

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Introduction ending.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF GOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
This announcement is written in order that men might believe that Jesus Christ is a son of God and that, by the very faith in the same which he was, they might receive life. No one has ever comprehended or ever will comprehend God. All we know about God, we know because we have the comprehension, and so the true beginning of everything is the comprehension. (What we call God is the comprehension. The comprehension is the beginning of everything, — it is the true God.)
Nothing can exist without the comprehension. Everything has originated through the comprehension. In the comprehension is the force of life. Even as the whole diversity of things exists for us only because there is light, so there exists for us the whole comprehension of life, life itself, only because there is the comprehension. The comprehension is the beginning of everything.
In the world, life does not embrace everything. In the world, life appears as the light amidst the darkness. The light shines so long as it shines, and the darkness does not retain the light and remains the darkness. Even
thus in the world, life appears through death, and death does not retain life and remains death.
The source of life, the comprehension, was in the whole world and in each living man. But the living men, living only because the comprehension was in them, did not understand that they originated from the comprehension.
They did not understand that the comprehension gave them the possibility of blending with it, since they were not living from the flesh, but from the comprehension. By understanding this and believing in their sonhood to the comprehension, men could have the true life. But men did not understand that, and the life in the world was like the light in the darkness.
God, the beginning of all beginnings, no one has ever comprehended, or ever will comprehend, but the life in the comprehension has pointed out the path to him.
And so Jesus Christ, living among us, has declared the comprehension in the flesh, in as much as life originated from the comprehension and is of one birth with it, just as the son originates from the father and is of one birth with him.
And looking at his life, we comprehended the complete teaching of the godliness in fact, because, on account of his perfection, we comprehended the new godliness in the place of the old. The law was given by Moses, but the godliness in fact originated through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen, or ever can see, God, but the son of God in man has pointed out the path to him.

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Chapter I

JESUS CHRIST’S BIRTH, CHILDHOOD, AND BEGINNING OF PREACHING
The comprehension was made incarnate in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ announced the true good to men. But the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they began to live together as husband and wife, Mary turned out to be with child. Joseph was a good man and did not wish to disgrace her, so he accepted her as his wife. And he had no relations with her until she bore her first son, whom she called Jesus. And the boy grew and became manly and was intelligent above his years.
Here is what happened with him in his childhood. Jesus was twelve years old, when Mary went with Joseph to Jerusalem to celebrate a holiday, and they took the boy with them. The holiday was over, and they went home and forgot about the boy. Then they thought of him, and it occurred to them that he might have walked off with some children, and they asked about him along the road. The boy could not be found, and they returned to Jerusalem after him. Not until two days later did they find him in a church, and he was sitting with the teachers and asking them questions and listening. And all marvelled at his intellect.
His mother saw him, and said, What hast thou done with us ? Thy father and I have been worrying and looking for thee.
And he said to them, Where did you look for me ? Do you not know that the son must be looked for in the house of his father ?
And they did not understand his words. They did not understand that he, knowing that he had no carnal father, regarded God as his Father. After that Jesus lived with his mother and obeyed her in everything, and he increased in stature and understanding, and was in favour with God and man.
Thus he lived until he was thirty years of age. And all thought that Jesus was Joseph’s son.
This is the way Jesus began to announce the good. The prophets had predicted that God was to come into the world. Prophet Malachi had said, My messenger will come before me to prepare the way for me.
Prophet Isaiah had said, A voice is calling to you : Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness, make his path even; let there be no hollows, nor mounds, nothing high, and nothing low. Then God will be among you and all will find their salvation.
In accordance with these words of the prophets, a new prophet, John, made his appearance in the time of Jesus Christ. John dwelt in the prairie of Judea on the Jordan. His raiment was of camel’s hair, girded with a leathern girdle, and he fed on tree bark and on herbs. He called the people to a new life. And they confessed their errors to him, and he bathed them in the Jordan as a sign that their errors were corrected. He said to all, If you have observed that you shall not escape the will of God, be renovated. And if you wish to be renovated let it be seen from your works that you have changed. John said, Heretofore the prophets have said that God will come. I say to you that God has already come. He said, I purify you with water, but after me the one who is mightier than I will purify you with the spirit. When he comes he will purify you, as the master cleans his threshing-floor: the wheat he will gather, but the chaff he will burn. If a tree does not bring forth good fruit, it is cut down and burnt up. And the axe is already laid upon the root of the tree.
And the people asked him, What shall we do ? He answered, He that has two coats, let him give one to him who has none; and he who has food, let him give it to him who has none.
Farmers of taxes came to him, and asked him, What shall we do ? He said, Exact no more than is your right.
And the soldiers asked, What shall we do ? He said, Offend no one. Do not cheat. Be satisfied with what is given you.
And many other things he proclaimed to the people about what is the present good.
Jesus was then thirty years old. He came to the Jordan to John, and heard his preaching about God’s coming, about the necessity of being renovated, about people being purified by water, and about their future purification by the spirit, when God would come. Jesus did not know his carnal father and regarded God as his Father. He believed in John’s preaching, and said to himself, If it is true that God is my Father, and I am a son of God, and if what John says is true, I need only to purify myself by the spirit that God may come to me.
And Jesus went into the wilderness to test the truth of his being a son of God, and of God’s coming to him. He went into the wilderness and there lived for a long time without food and drink, and finally grew thin. And then doubt came over him, and he said to himself, Thou sayest that thou art a spirit, a son of God, and that God will come to thee, and yet thou art tormented because thou hast no bread, and God does not come to thee: consequently thou art no spirit, no son of God. But he said to himself, My flesh craves for bread, but not bread is needed for life: man lives not by bread, but by the spirit, by what is from God.
But hunger kept tormenting him. And he was overcome by another doubt, and he said to himself, Thou sayest that thou art a son of God, and that God will come to thee, and yet thou sufferest and canst not make an end to thy sufferings. And he imagined that he was standing on a roof of the temple, and the thought occurred to him, If I am a spirit, a son of God, I shall not be killed if I cast myself down from the temple, but an invisible power will preserve and sustain me, and will free me from all evil. Why should I not cast myself down, so as to cease suffering hunger ?
But he said to himself, Why should I tempt God whether he is with me or not ? If I tempt him, I do not believe in him and he is not with me. God the spirit gives me life, and so in life the spirit is always within me. And I cannot tempt him. I may stop eating, but I cannot kill myself, because I feel the spirit within me. But hunger continued to torment him. And it occurred to him, If I must not tempt God by casting myself down from the temple, I must not tempt him by starving when I want to eat. I must not deprive myself of all the appetites of the flesh. They are given to all men. And he imagined he saw all the kingdoms of earth and all men, as they lived and worked for the flesh, expecting a reward from it. And he thought, They work for the flesh, and the flesh gives them all which they have. If I shall work for it, the same will happen with me. But he said to himself, My God is not flesh, but spirit; by him I live, him I know always, him alone I worship, for him alone I work, and from him I expect my reward.
Then the temptation left him, and the spirit renovated him, and he knew that God had come to him and was always in him, and, having learned that, he returned to Galilee in the strength of the spirit. From that time on, having learned the power of the spirit, he began to announce the presence of God. He said, The time has come, renovate yourselves, believe in the announcement of the good.
From the wilderness Jesus went to John, and was with him.
When Jesus went away from John, John said of him, He is the true son of God (the chosen one). Two of John’s disciples, hearing these words, left their old teacher and followed Jesus. Jesus saw that they were walking behind him, and so he stopped, and said, What do you want ?
Teacher, we wish to be with thee and to learn thy teaching. He said, Come with me, and I will tell you everything. They went with him, and remained with him the whole day, staying until the tenth hour.
One of these disciples was called Andrew. And Andrew had a brother Simon. Having listened to Jesus, Andrew went to his brother Simon, and said to him, We have found the chosen one of God. Andrew took Simon with him, and brought him to Jesus. This brother of Andrew Jesus called Peter, which means a stone. And these two brothers became the disciples of Jesus.
And Jesus walked on with his two disciples. After they had gone a distance, Jesus saw some fishermen in a ship. Those were Zebedee the father with hired servants and with two sons, James and John. They were sitting and mending their nets. Jesus began to speak with
James and with John, and James and John left their father with the hired servants in the ship and went with Jesus and became his disciples.
Later, just before entering Galilee, Jesus met Philip, and he called him. Philip was of Bethsaida, of the same village with Peter and Andrew. When Philip recognized Jesus, he went to find his brother Nathanael, to whom he said, We have found the chosen one of God, of whom Moses has written, He is Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth. Nathanael was surprised to hear that the chosen one was from a neighbouring village, and he said, Brother, it is queer that a messenger of God should come from Nazareth. Philip said, Come with me to him, and thou shalt see and hear for thyself. Nathanael agreed to it and went with his brother and met Jesus. When he heard him, he said to him, Yes, now I see that it is true that thou art the son of God and the King of Israel
Jesus said to him, Thou wilt learn what is more important than this. Thou wilt learn that the kingdom of God has come, and so I tell you truly that the divine power will descend to all men, and from them will emanate the divine power. From now on God will no longer be separate from men, but men will blend with God.
And from the wilderness Jesus went to his home in Nazareth. And on a holiday he went, as usual, into an assembly and began to read. And they gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled it and began to read. In the book it was written, The spirit of the Lord is in me: he has chosen me to announce the good to the unfortunate and the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom, light to the blind, and salvation and rest to the weary, to announce to all the time of the salvation, of God’s mercy. He closed the book and gave it to the servant, and sat down, and all waited to hear what he would say. And he said, Now is the Scripture fulfilled in your eyes. God is in the world. The kingdom of God has come, and all the unfortunate, the broken-hearted, the blind, the weary, — all shall receive salvation.
And many wondered at the goodness of his speech. And some said, But he is a carpenter and the son of a carpenter. And his mother is called Mariam, and his brothers, James, Simon, Judas, and Joses, and we know them all: they are as poor as we are. And he said to them, No doubt you think that because I say that there are no longer any unfortunate and weary, and I have a poor father and mother and brothers, I am telling an untruth, and that I ought to make them happy. If you think so, you do not understand what I am saying. And thus, a prophet is never understood in his own country.
And Jesus went to Capernaum, and on a Sabbath entered an assembly and began to teach. And all the people marvelled at his teaching, because his teaching was quite different from the teaching of the scribes. The scribes taught the law, which must be obeyed, and Jesus taught that all men were free.

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CHAPTER II.
GENERAL REMARK. THE NEW WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT BY WORKS. THE REJECTION OF THE JEWISH GOD
THIS second chapter contains a negative definition of God. John said, When you are purified by the spirit, God will he in the world. Jesus went into the wilderness, recognized the power of the spirit, returned to the world, and announced that God was in the world and his kingdom had come.
The meaning of the kingdom of God in the world Jesus expressed with the words of the prophet Isaiah. The kingdom of God is happiness for the unfortunate, salvation for the sufferers, light for the blind, freedom for those who are not free. Jesus told his disciples that the kingdom of God consisted in this, that henceforth God would no longer be that inaccessible God that he had been heretofore, but that he would be in the world and in communion with men; if God is in the world and in communion with men, what kind of a God is he ? Is he God the Creator who sits in heaven, who had appeared to the patriarchs, and who had given the law to Moses, the revengeful, cruel, and terrible God whom men knew and worshipped, or another God ?
In this chapter Jesus defines what God is not. In order that this may become clear, it is necessary to reestablish the real significance of the discourses of Jesus Christ, a significance which all the churches have carefully obscured. The significance of the words and actions of Jesus Christ, as adduced in this chanter, is this, that Jesus Christ
denies the whole, absolutely the whole Jewish faith. In reality this is so clear and unquestionable that one feels ashamed to have to prove it. It was necessary for our churches to succumb to that terrible historical fate, which contrary to common sense compelled them to combine into one the non-harmonizing, absolutely opposed teachings, the Christian and the Jewish, to permit them to affirm such an absurdity and to conceal what is manifest.
It is enough, not to read through, but only to run through the Pentateuch, in which all the actions of man are determined in tens of thousands of most varied circumstances, down to the minutest details, in order to see clearly that with such a detailed, petty definition of man’s actions there can be no place for any continuation or completion of the teaching of the law, as the churches assert. There might be room left for some new law, if it were said that all the laws were human. But no, it says clearly and definitely that all this, as to how and when to cut off, or not to cut off, pimples of the extreme flesh, as to how and when to kill all the women and children, as to what people are to be reimbursed, and in what manner, for an ox accidentally killed, it says clearly that all these are the words of God himself. How can such a law be enlarged ? Such a law can be enlarged only by new details about pimples of the extreme flesh, about who else may be killed, and so forth. But, by accepting this law as inspired by God, it is by that very fact impossible to preach the doctrine of Christ, or even any other teaching, however insignificant it may be. Everything is determined, and there is nothing to preach about.
For the first word of any sermon with the Pentateuch in view, it is necessary to destroy the Pentateuch, the law of the Pentateuch. And yet the church had to convince itself and others that the Pentateuch and the Gospel were both from God. What, then, could it do but close its eyes to what was manifest and strain all the powers of
the glibness of mind in order to unite what cannot be united ? That was done in consequence of Paul’s false teaching, which preceded the knowledge of Christ’s teaching, and by which the ill-understood teaching of Christ was represented as a continuation of the teaching of the Jews. But when this took place and the problem was no longer in the comprehension of the meaning of Christ’s teaching, but in uniting what cannot be united, there was nothing left to do but look for subterfuges and utter those misty, incoherent, flowery discourses, such as Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, and all that rigmarole of the same character which for eighteen hundred years has been preached by the so-called fathers of the church and the theologians. Indeed, we may as well imagine that men have proposed to themselves to harmonize Volume X. of the Code of laws and the works, say, of Proudhon, regarding both works as true to the very last line. I have selected Volume X. and Proudhon, but these works can much more easily be harmonized than the Pentateuch and the Gospel. Indeed, let us take anything we please:
In the Gospel we are prohibited not only from killing any one but even from bearing any one any ill-will; in the Pentateuch: Kill, kill, kill women, children, and cattle.
In the Gospel wealth is an evil; in the Pentateuch it is the highest good and a reward.
In the Gospel bodily purity consists in having but one wife; in the Pentateuch, Take as many wives as you please.
In the Gospel all men are brothers; in the Pentateuch, all are enemies, except the Jews.
In the Gospel there is no external divine worship; in the Pentateuch, the greater half of the books defines the details of the external ministration of God.
And this teaching of the Gospel, we are assured, is an enlargement and continuation of the Pentateuch.
In another place we shall speak of the lie and the inevitably false comprehension of Christ’s teaching, which result from this absurd assertion in regard to other passages of the Gospel; now we are concerned with the external divine worship, against which Jesus contended.
According to the interpretations of the church all those' passages which are put down in Chapter II., the rejection of the ablutions, of the non-communion with , those who are not cleansed, of everything considered impure, the rejection of the fasts, the rejection of the most important covenant of the Jews with God, of the Sabbath, the rejection of all sacrifices, of the necessity of the hand-worked temple, the rejection even of the city most precious to the Jews, of Jerusalem, and finally the rejection of God himself as something external, and the recognition of God as a spirit, who must be served in the spirit, — all that, according to the interpretations of the church is some unnecessary, superfluous finesses invented by some Pharisees.
In the first place, if all that is merely a verbal contest' with the Pharisees, it is superfluous; in the second, to every man who knows how to read and who reads the Pentateuch, and who can reason with his own mind, the assertion that Jesus contended with the Pharisees, and not with the law of Moses, becomes obviously false.
Jesus was contending against all the laws of the Pentateuch, with the exception, of course, of some truths, which could not help but be in that mass of monstrous and absurd things. Thus he understood the command to love one’s father and mother, and one’s neighbours. But the fact that the Pentateuch contained two or three sentences which Jesus could accept does not prove that he enlarged and continued it, just as nothing is proved by the fact that a man, in contending with another, uses a few of his antagonist’s words in order to confirm his proofs. Jesus did not contend with the Pharisees, but with the whole law, and in his rejections of the external divine worship he took up
everything which formed a dogma of faith of the external divine worship for every adult Jew.
This is the way the divine worship of the Jews was defined according to Deuteronomy:
On Purification. Lev. xvii. 7. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring: This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.
8. And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt-offering or sacrifice,
9. And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.
Num. xix. 13. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord ; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
14. This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.
15. And every open vessel which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
16. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with the sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17. And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
18. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
19. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
20. But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him ; he is unclean.
21. And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes ; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.
22. And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean ; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
On Fasting. Lev. xvi. 29. And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev. xxiii. 27. Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement; it shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
On the Sabbath. Exod-. xxxi. 13. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep : for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
It is not worth while to quote passages in reference to the sacrifices, since a good part of the Pentateuch is filled with definite decrees by God himself as to what kind of sacrifices are to be brought to him.
The same may be said about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city of God. God lives there. That God is not a spirit, but an external being with arms, eyes, and legs, is to be seen from all passages where only God is mentioned. And so, rejecting the purification, and the fasts, and the Sabbath, and the sacrifices, and the temple, and the carnal God, Jesus did not continue the faith of Moses, but denied everything to the root.

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Chapter II ending.

THE NEW WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT BY WORKS.
THE REJECTION OF THE JEWISH GOD
And Jesus showed to all people that the former worship was a he, and that God ought to be served by works and by compassion toward men.
He happened on a Sabbath to walk with his disciples across a field. On their way the disciples plucked some ears of corn, and rubbed them in their hands, and ate them.
The Pharisees, the Orthodox, saw that, and said, It is not proper to do that on a Sabbath. It is not lawful to work on a Sabbath, but you rub the ears. Jesus heard that, and said to them, If you understood what is meant by the words said by God to the prophet, I rejoice in the love of men among themselves, and not in the sacrifices which they bring me, you would not be condemning the innocent. The Sabbath has not been established by God, but by man, consequently man is more important than the Sabbath.
It happened another time on a Sabbath that, as Jesus was teaching in an assembly, a sick woman went up to him and asked him to help her.
And Jesus began to treat her. Then a lawyer, an elder of the assembly, grew angry at Jesus for it and said to the people, In the law of God it is written, Six days in the week are for work, but on the Sabbath God has not

dan ; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, -when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. and from Idumea, and from Jerusalem, and from beyond the Jordan, and people from Tyre and Sidon.
Matt. ix. 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. 35. And he went about the cities and villages proclaiming in the assemblies the announcement about the true good of the kingdom of heaven.
permitted men to work. Thereupon Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, Is it according to you not permitted to aid a man on a Sabbath ?
And they did not know what to say.
Then Jesus said, Does not each one of you untie the cattle from the stall aud take them to drink on a Sabbath ? Or if one of your sheep should fall into a well, would you not run quickly to pull it out on a Sabbath ? And is not a man much better than a sheep ? What, then, according to you, is a man to do on a Sabbath, good or evil ? To save the soul or to let it perish ? One must always do good, even on a Sabbath.
Pharisees and lawyers came to Jesus from Jerusalem. And they saw that his disciples and he himself were eating bread together, with unwashed hands. And the scribes began to condemn them, because they themselves lived strictly as of old, washing their vessels, and without washing them they would not eat. Nor would they eat upon returning from the market, unless they first washed their hands.
And the lawyers asked him, Why do you not live according to the old customs, and why do you take and eat bread with unwashed hands ? And he said to them, Well has the prophet Isaiah said of you. God had said to him, Because these people cling to me only with words, and worship me only with their mouths, while their hearts are far from me, and because their fear of me is only a human command, which they have learned by heart, I will make a wonderful, unusual work over this people. The wisdom of their wise men shall disappear, and the reason of their thinking men shall be obscured. Woe to them who bestir themselves to conceal their desires from the Eternal One, and who do their works in the dark. Even so you omit that which is important in the law, that which is the commandment of God, and observe your own commandments, which is, to wash the
cups. Moses said to you, Honour your father and your mother, and who will not honour his father or mother shall be put to death, but you have invented what any one may say, I give to God what my parents have given, and fail to provide for your father or mother. Thus you destroy the commandments of God by human enactments. You do many such things.
And Jesus called all the people, and said, Listen all, and understand, There is nothing in the world which, going into man, can defile him, but that which comes out of him will defile a man. Let there be love and mercy in thy heart, and then all will be pure. Try to understand that.
And when he returned home, his disciples asked him what those words meant. And he said, Have you really not comprehended them ? Do you not understand that nothing external and carnal can defile a man, because it enters not his soul, but his belly. It enters the belly, and with the excrements comes out of the back. Only that can defile a man which comes out of his soul, for from a man’s soul come: fornication, lust, murder, theft, selfishness, malice, cheating, impudence, envy, pride, and every foolishness. All that evil comes out of the soul, and this alone can defile a man.
Jesus teaches the people that a new life has begun and that God is in the world upon earth, and this he tells everybody, and he tells his disciples that between man and God there is always a communion. This he teaches to all. And all are delighted with his teaching, because he teaches differently from the lawyers. The lawyers teach men that they must obey the laws of God, but he teaches them that they are free.
After that the passover came, and Jesus went to Jerusalem, where he entered the temple.
In the hall of the temple there were cattle, cows, oxen, and sheep, and baskets with doves, and behind counters
sat changers with money. All that was necessary for the offerings to God. The animals were killed and sacrificed in the temple, and the money was offered there. In that consisted the prayers of the Jews.
Jesus entered the temple, plaited a whip, and drove all the cattle out of the hall, and let out all the doves, and scattered all the money.
And he commanded that no one should carry those things into the temple. He said, the prophet Isaiah has said, the house of God is not the temple in Jerusalem, but the whole world of God’s people. And the prophet Jeremiah has also said to you, Do not believe the lying words that here is the house of the Eternal One, the house of the Eternal One, the house of the Eternal One. Do not believe that, but mend your life, do not judge falsely, do not oppress the stranger, the widow, and the orphan, do not spill innocent blood, and do not come into the house of the name of God, and do not say, Now we can calmly commit evil things. Do not make of my house a den of robbers.
And the Jews began to dispute, and they said to him, If thou prohibitest our prayer and our image of God, what kind of prayer wilt thou give ?
And turning to them, Jesus said, Abandon this temple, and in three days I will call to life a new, a living temple to God.
And the Jews said, How canst thou make at once a new temple, since it took forty-six years to build this one ?
And Jesus said, I am speaking to you about what is more important than the temple. You would not be speaking thus, if you understood the words of the prophet, I, God, do not rejoice in your sacrifices, but in your love among yourselves. The living temple is the whole world of the men of God, when they love each other.
And then many people in Jerusalem believed in what he spoke.
But he himself did not believe in anything external, because he knew everything whieh was in man.
He did not need to have any one to teach him about man, for he knew that the spirit of God was in man.
And the lawyers and the elders heard all that and sought how they might work his ruin, but they were afraid of him because all the people marvelled at his teaching.
And Jesus went again from Judea to Galilee. And it happened that he had to pass through Samaria. He was going past a Samaritan village, Sychar by name, near the place which Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, and he sat down near the well; but his disciples went to the town to buy bread.
And there comes a woman from Sychar to fetch water. Jesus asks her to give him to drink.
She says to him, How is it thou askest me to give thee to drink? You Jews do not have dealings with us Samaritans.
And he says to her, If thou knewest me and knewest what it is I teach, thou wouldst not say that, but wouldst give me to drink, and I, too, would give thee living water. He who drinks of this water will want to drink again, but he who drinks of my water will be satisfied for ever, and this water of mine will lead him to life eternal.
The woman understood that he was speaking of divine things, and said to him, I saw that thou art a prophet and want to teach me; but how canst thou teach me divine things since thou art a Jew, and I a Samaritan ? Our people pray to God in this mountain, and you Jews say that it is necessary to pray in Jerusalem. Thou canst not teach me divine things, because you have one God, and we another.
Then Jesus said to her, Believe me, woman, the time is near when neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem will they pray to the Father. You pray to him whom you do not know, but we pray to the Father whom it is impossible not to know.
And the time has arrived and is already here when the true worshippers of God will worship the Father in the spirit and with deeds. The Father needs such worshippers. God is spirit, and he ought to be worshipped in spirit and with deeds.
The woman did not make out what he was telling her, and she said, I have heard that a messenger of God will come, the one who is called the anointed. He will tell everything.
And Jesus said to her, I who am talking with thee am he. Wait for nothing else.
After that Jesus came into the land of Judea, and there he lived with his disciples, and purified.
At that time John purified men near Salim in the river Enon, for John had not yet been cast into prison.
And there arose a dispute between the disciples of John and those of Jesus as to which was better, John’s purification in water, or the teaching of Jesus.
And they came to John, and said to him, Now thou purifiest with water, but Jesus teaches only, and all men go to him. What dost thou say about it ?
And John said, A man cannot teach of himself, if God does not instruct him. Whoever speaks of earth is earthly; and whoever speaks from God, is from God.
It is impossible to prove in any way whether words that are spoken are from God or not from God. God is spirit. He cannot be measured nor proved. He who understands the words of God by that proves that he has comprehended God.
At one time Jesus saw a farmer of taxes collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus spoke with him, and Matthew understood him and liked his teaching and invited him to his house, and entertained him.
When Jesus came to Matthew, there came also Matthew’s friends, tax-collectors and corrupt people. Jesus did not loathe them, but sat down himself with his disciples. And the lawyers and Pharisees saw that and said to the disciples of Jesus, How is it your teacher is feasting with tax-collectors and corrupt men ? Jesus heard that, and said, He who boasts of being well does not need a physician, but he who is sick needs one. For this reason I do not wish to convert those who regard themselves as just, thinking that they are living in the truth, but teach those who think that they are living in sin.
While he was sitting in Matthew’s house, there came a city woman, who was a whore. She had heard that Jesus was in Matthew’s house, and came thither, and brought a vial with perfume. And she knelt down at his feet, and wept, and washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and poured the perfume out of the vial upon them.
Matthew saw that, and thought, He is hardly a prophet; if he were really a prophet, he would know what manner of woman is washing his feet; he would know that she is a whore, and would not permit her to touch him.
Jesus divined it, and turned around to Matthew, and said, Matthew, shall I tell thee what I think ?
Tell me, he said.
And Jesus said, Listen. Two men considered themselves debtors of the same master: one to the amount of five hundred pence, and the other of fifty. And neither the one nor the other had any money to pay his debt. The master forgave both. Well, according to thy judgment, which of them will love the master and tend on him ?
And Matthew said, of course, the one who owes most.
Jesus pointed to the woman, and said, Even thus it is with this woman. Thou considerest thyself a small debtor. I came to thy house, and thou didst not give me water with which to wash my feet, while she washes them with her tears and dries them with her hair.
Thou didst not kiss me, but she kisses my feet. Thou didst not give me oil with which to anoint my head, but she is rubbing costly ointments on my feet. He who thinks that he has nothing to be forgiven does not love. He who thinks that he is very guilty loves much. But for love everything is forgiven.
And he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven thee. And Jesus said, the whole thing is what each considers himself to be. He who considers himself to be good will not be good, and who considers himself bad is good.
Two men once came to the temple to pray, one of them a Pharisee, the other an infidel.
The Pharisee prayed like this, I thank thee, 0 Lord, that I am not as other men are, neither stingy, nor a cheat, nor a debauchee, nor such a worthless man as this tax-collector. I fast twice a week, and of my possessions I give away a tithe.
But the infidel stood at a distance and did not dare to look up to heaven, and only struck his breast with his hands, and kept saying, 0 Lord, look down upon me, worthless man !
Well ? The infidel was forgiven more than the Pharisee, because whoever exalts himself shall he humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
After that John’s disciples came to Jesus, and said, Why do we and the lawyers fast much, while thou and thy disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, As long as the bridegroom is at the wedding no man mourns. Only when the bridegroom is not there do they mourn. If there is life there is no need of mourning.
And Jesus said also this, No one tears off a piece of a new garment to sew it on an old garment, for the new garment will be tom and the old one will not be mended. So we cannot accept your fasts. And we cannot pour new wine into old bottles, for the bottles will be torn, and the wine will run out. New wine has to be put in new bottles, and then both will be preserved.
And after that a Pharisee came to him, and called him to lunch at his house. He went in and sat down at the table. The Pharisee observed that he did not wash before lunch, and was surprised. Jesus said to him, Pharisees, you wash all the time from without, but are you clean from within ? Be merciful to men, and everything will be clean.
And the fame spread about Jesus, and he was respected by all, so that the people kept him that he might not go away from them. But he said that he came to announce the good not only to one city, but to all men. And he went on to the sea.
And a large multitude followed him from various cities. And he helped all. And he walked through cities and villages, everywhere announcing the kingdom of heaven and freeing men from all sufferings and vices.
Thus in Jesus Christ were fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah, namely, that the people who had lived in darkness, in the darkness of death, saw the light; that he who received this light of truth will do no violence and nc harm to men; that he is meek and humble; that, in order to bring truth to men in the world, he does not dispute and cry; that his loud voice is not heard; that he will not break a straw and will not blow out a night candle, and that the whole hope of men is in him.

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Chapter III end.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Jesus announces that the kingdom of God has come, and yet no visible change has taken place. He announces to his disciples that from now on heaven is open, and between heaven and men there is a constant communion. He announces that it is not necessary to separate ourselves from corrupt people, that they are not guilty, and that those only are guilty who think that they are good because they execute the law of God.
He announces that no external purification is needed, that only that which comes from within can defile, and that only the spirit purifies.
He announces that it is not necessary to observe the Sabbath, that this observance is foolish and false, and that the Sabbath is a human institution.
He announces that not only are fasts useless, but that nil the old external rites are harmful for his teaching.
Finally, he announces that it is not right to serve God with sacrifices. We do not need oxen, nor sheep, nor doves, nor money, not even the temple itself; that there is a spirit; that the spirit does not want sacrifices, but love ; and that the spirit is to be served — by all, always, at all times — in the spirit and with deeds.
When the Pharisees saw and heard all that, they came to Jesus and began to ask him how he preached the kingdom of God, since he rejected God. And he answered them, The kingdom of God, as I preach it, is not the same as what the former prophets preached about. They said that God will come with all kinds of manifestations, but I say that the kingdom of God is such that its coming cannot be seen.
And if you are told that it has come or is coming, or that it is here, you do not believe. The kingdom of God is not in time and not in any place; it is like lightning, — here and there and everywhere, and it has no time and no place, because here it is, within you.
After that a Pharisee, a Jewish elder, Nicodemus, came to Jesus in secret, and said to him, Thou teachest that the kingdom of God has come, and that it is within us, and yet thou dost not order men to fast and to offer sacrifices, but destroyest the temple; so what kind of a kingdom of God is yours, and where is it ?
And Jesus answered him, Thou must understand that if a man is begotten by God the Father, he sees the kingdom of God. Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus told him, that every man was already begotten by God, and said, How can a man, if he is begotten from the flesh of the father and has grown old, again creep into the womb of his mother and again be begotten by the flesh by God ?
And Jesus answered him, Understand what I say, I say that man, besides the flesh, is begotten by the spirit, and so each man is of flesh and of the spirit, and so each man can enter the kingdom of God. Of the flesh is flesh. Of the flesh can not the spirit be born; only of the spirit can there be the spirit The spirit is that which lives in thee, and it lives freely and rationally, and it is that for which thou knowest neither beginning nor end. And every man feels it in himself. And so why dost thou wonder when I tell thee that we must be begotten from heaven by God, by the spirit ?
Nicodemus said, Still I do not believe that that could be possible.
Then Jesus said to him, What teacher art thou if thou dost not understand that ? Thou must understand that
I am not talking of any recondite things; I am talking of what we all know; I assure men of what we all see. How wilt thou believe in what is in heaven, if thou dost not believe in what is on earth, in thyself ? No one has been in heaven, but there is on earth in man the son of God, the spirit, the one which is God.
The very son of God in man must be worshipped, as you worshipped God, when Moses in the wilderness exalted not the flesh of the serpent, but its image, and that image became the salvation of men. Even so we must exalt the son of God in man, not the flesh of man, but the son of God in man, in order that men, relying upon it, may not know death, but shall have non-temporal life in the kingdom of God.
Not for the ruin, but for the good of the world has God given his son, who is like himself. He gave him for this, that every man, relying upon him, might not perish, but might have noji-temporal life. He did not bring his son, life, into the world of men, in order to destroy men, but that the world of men might live by it and be in the kingdom of God.
And he who relies on God is in the kingdom of God, in the power of God; and he who does not depend on him destroys himself, by not relying on that which is life. Destruction consists in this, that life came into the world, but men themselves walk away from life. Life is the light of men. The light came into the world, but men prefer darkness to light, and do not walk toward the light. The light is the comprehension, and so he who does evil evades the light, the comprehension, that his deeds may not be seen, and remains in the power of God.
In his remarks to the Pharisees and discourse with Nicodemus Jesus explains what he means by the kingdom of God and by God.
God and the kingdom of God are in men. God is the non-carnal principle which gives life to man. This noncarnal principle he calls the son of God in man, the son of man. The son of man is the comprehension. It has to be exalted and deified, and by it we must live. He who lives in the comprehension lives non-temporally; he who does not live in it does not live, — he perishes.
What, then, is this God the Father, who is not the creator of everything and not separate from the world, as the Jews understood him to be ? How are we to understand this Father, whose son is in man, and how are we to understand his relation to men ?
To this Jesus replies in parables.
The kingdom of God is not to be understood as you think, namely, that for all men the kingdom of God will come in some one place and at some certain time, but that in the whole world there are always some people who rely upon God, who become the sons of the kingdom, and others, who do not rely upon him, who are destroyed.
God the spirit, the Father of that spirit which is in man, is God and the Father of those only who recognize themselves as his sons. And so only those exist for God who have retained within them what he has given them.
And Jesus began to talk to them about the kingdom of God, and he explained it by examples. He said, God the Father sows in the world the life of the comprehension, just as the farmer sows his seeds in his field. He sows in the whole field, without paying any attention to where each seed will fall.
And some seeds fall by the wayside and the birds come and pick them. And other seeds fall on the stones, where they grow indeed, but soon wither, because they cannot take root. And others again fall into the thorns, and the thorns choke the wheat, and the ears will grow, but will not fill up. And others again fall in good ground, and these spring up and make up for the lost seeds and grow full in the ears, and some ears give a hundredfold, and some sixty and some thirty.
Just so God has scattered the comprehension among men. In some it is lost, and in others it bears a hundredfold, and they form the kingdom of God.
Thus the kingdom of God is not such as you imagine it to be, namely, that God is ruling over you. God is only the comprehension, and the kingdom of God will be in those who will take it. But God does not govern men.
As the farmer casts the seeds into the ground and does not think of them, but the seeds swell and sprout themselves, and grow into blades and ears, and fill up, and the master sends the reapers to cut them down, when they are ripe; so also has God given his son, the comprehension, to the world, and the comprehension grows of itself in the world, and the sons of the comprehension form the kingdom of God.
As a woman puts the leaven into the trough and mixes it with the flour, and does not mix it any more, but waits for it to leaven of itself and rise ; so God does not enter into the life of men, as long as they live. God gave the comprehension to the world, and the comprehension lives itself among men and forms the kingdom of God. God the spirit is the God of life and good, and so there are no death and no evil for him. Death and evil are for men, and not for God.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared with this: a farmer has sowed good seed in his field. The farmer is the spirit of God; the field is the world; and the seeds are the sons of the kingdom of God.
The farmer lies down to sleep, and the enemy comes and sows tares. The enemy is temptation; the tares are the sons of the temptation. And now the servants come to the farmer and say, Hast thou sowed bad seed ? Many tares have sprung up in thy field. Send us to weed them out. But the farmer says, It is not necessary, for when you weed out the tares you will tramp down the wheat. Let them grow together; when the harvest comes, I will tell the reapers to pick out the tares and will have them burned, and the wheat I will gather in my barn.
The harvest is the end of human life, and the reapers are the power of God. And as the tares will be burned and the wheat will be cleaned and garnered, even so at the end of life everything will perish which was the deception of time, and there will be left only the true life in the spirit. For God there is no evil. God preserves that which he needs, which is his own; and what is not his does not exist for him.
The kingdom of heaven is like a drawnet. The net is cast out in the sea and brings up all kinds of fish. Then, when the drawnet is pulled out, the spoiled fish are taken out and cast into the sea. Even so it will be at the end of time. The power of God will pick out the good, and the bad will be rejected.
And when he finished speaking, his disciples began to ask him how these parables were to be understood.
And he said to them, These parables have to be understood in two ways. All these parables I speak because there are some, like you, my disciples, who understand what the kingdom of God consists in, who understand that the kingdom of God is within us, and who know how to enter it, but others do not understand that. Others look and do not see, and listen and do not understand, because their hearts have grown fat.
And so I speak in parables for two purposes; I speak to both. To some I say what the kingdom is to God, and I tell them that some enter the kingdom, and others do not, and they can understand me. But to you I tell how to enter the kingdom of God. And look and understand the parable of the sower as is proper. For you the parable means this:
Every man who hears the teaching of the kingdom of God, but does not take it to his heart, is overcome by deceit, and he destroys the teaching in his heart, — it is the seed sown by the wayside. What is sown on the stones is he who hears the teaching and accepts it with joy. But there is no root in him, and he receives it only for a while, and when pressure is brought to bear and offence is offered him for his teaching, he himself takes offence. What is sown among the wormwood is he who hears the teaching, but the cares of the world and his eagerness for wealth chokes the teaching and it gives forth no fruit. And what is sown on the good ground is he who hears the teaching and understands and brings forth fruit, some a hundredfold, and some sixty, and some thirty.
For he who holds on will get much, and he who does not hold will be deprived of the last.
And so see to it how you understand the parables. Understand them in such a way that you do not submit to deception, offences, cares, but bring forth fruit a hundredfold and enter the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God grows large in the soul from nothing, but gives everything. It is like a birch seed, which is the smallest of seeds; when it grows up it is greater than all the trees, and the birds of heaven make their nests in it.
After that there came the disciples of John to ask Jesus whether he was the one of whom he had said that he opened the kingdom of God and renovated men by the spirit.
Jesus replied, and said, Look and listen, and tell John whether the kingdom of God has come and whether men are renovated by the spirit. Tell him how I preach the kingdom of God. In the prophecies it says that when the kingdom of God comes, all men will be blessed; tell him, then, that my kingdom of God is such that the poor are blessed, and that every man who hears me becomes blessed.
Having dismissed the disciples of John, Jesns began to explain to the people what kingdom of God John had announced.
He said, When you went to be baptized by John in the wilderness, what did you go to see ? If you wanted to see a man dressed in rich raiment, such men live here in palaces. What, then, is it that you saw in the wilderness ? Do you think that you went because John was a prophet ? Do not think so. John was not a prophet, but the one of whom the prophets have written. He is the one who has announced the coming of the kingdom of God.
Verily I tell you, No greater man has been born than John. He was in the kingdom of God, and so he was greater than all.
The law and the prophets were needed before John; but since John, and even now, the kingdom of God upon earth is announced, and he who makes an effort enters into it.
The lawyers and the Pharisees did not understand what it was John was announcing, and they had no regard for him. This tribe, the lawyers and the Pharisees, regard as truth only what they themselves invent. They learn their law by rote and listen to each other. But what John has said and what I say they do not hear, nor understand. Of all that John has said they understood only so much, that he fasted in the wilderness, and they say, The devil is in him. Of what I say they have understood only this much, that I do not fast, and they say, He eats and drinks with the tax-collectors, and is a friend of corrupt people.
They are like children in the street, who prattle with one another and wonder why no one listens to them. Their wisdom is seen by their works.
Everything which I teach men to do is easy and simple, for the kingdom of God is announced as bliss.

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Chapter IV. End.

THE LAW
John announced the coming of God into the world. He said that men must be purified in the spirit in order that they may know the kingdom of God.
Jesus, who did not know his carnal father and who recognized God as his Father, heard John’s sermon and asked himself what this God was, how he came into the world, and where he was. And, departing into the wilderness, Jesus learned that the life of man was in the spirit, and having convinced himself of this, that man always lives through God, that God is always in men, and that the kingdom of God has always been and is always, and that men need only recognize that, Jesus left the wilderness and began to prophesy to men that God has always been and is always in the world, and that to know him we need be purified or regenerated in the spirit.
He announced that God wants no prayers, sacrifices, or temples, but that what he wants is serving him in the spirit, doing good; he announced that the kingdom of God must not be understood in this way, that God will come at some particular time and in some particular place, but that in the whole world and at all times all men, having purified themselves in the spirit, may live in the power of God. He announced that the kingdom of God does not come in a visible manner, but that it is within men. To be a participant in the kingdom one must be purified in the spirit, that is, exalt the spirit within oneself, and serve it. He who exalts his spirit enters the kingdom of God and receives non-temporal life. The possibility of exalting the spirit and becoming a participant in the kingdom of God lies in every man, and ever since John announced the kingdom of God, the Jewish law has become unnecessary. Every man who understands the kingdom of God, by his own efforts, having exalted the spirit in himself and working for God, enters into the power of God.
To work for God and live in the kingdom, that is, to submit to him and fulfil his will, it is necessary to know the law of this kingdom. And so Jesus announces wherein the exaltation of the spirit and the work for God must consist, what is the law of the kingdom of God.
Jesus prays all night long, and choosing twelve men, who understand him completely, goes out to the people with them, and tells them what the exaltation of the spirit and the service of God consists in, what the law of the kingdom of God is.
The law of God’s power consists above all in this, that the whole man should give himself over into the power of God, and Jesus, casting a glance at the people and pointing to the disciples, says:
Happy are you, vagrants, you are in the power of God. You are happy. What of it if you are hungry now ? After you have been hungry, you will eat. You are happy. Even though you are mourning and weeping now, you will have your consolation later. You are happy. Let men esteem you little and drive you away from everywhere. Be glad of it, for thus did they drive all those men who announced the will of God.
But unfortunate are you, rich men, for you have received everything which you have wished for, and shall receive nothing more. If you are filled now, you will be hungry. If you are merry now, you shall be sad. Unfortunate you are, if all praise you, for all men praise only liars.
Happy are you, vagrants, for you are in the power of God; you are happy only when you are vagrants not only in appearance, but with your soul; just as the salt is good only when it is salt not merely in appearance, but is salty in itself. You know yourselves that true happiness lies in being a vagrant. But if you are vagrants only in appearance, you are like unsalted salt, and are good for nothing. If you understand this, then show by your deeds that you want to be vagrants, and be not like others.
If you are the light of men, show your light, and do not hide it, so that men may see indeed that you know the truth, and, looking at your deeds, may understand that you are the children of the Father your God.
Do not think that being a vagrant means being lawless. I do not teach in order to loosen your hands from the divine law; on the contrary, I teach you to fulfil the divine law. As long as there are men under heaven, the law as to what may be done, and what not, exists for men. There will be no law when men will naturally do everything according to the law. Here I give you some rules for the fulfilment of the law.
If a man shall not fulfil a single one of them and shall teach you that it may be left unfulfilled, he will be farthest away from God; but he who fulfils them all and teaches you to do so will be nearest to God. For, if in the fulfilment of the law by you there will not be more truth than in the fulfilment of the law of the Pharisees and the scribes, you will not unite with God.
Here are the rules:
First rule: The justice of the scribes and the Pharisees consists in this, that if a man kills another, he must be tried and sentenced to punishment.
But my rule is that it is as bad to grow angry with your brother as it is to kill. I forbid anger against a brother with the same threat with which the Pharisees and scribes forbid murder. Still more severely and with a greater threat do I forbid you cursing a brother, and still more severely and with a still greater threat do I forbid your insulting a brother.
I forbid this, because you consider it necessary to go to the temple, to offer sacrifices, and you go and offer sacrifices and regard the sacrifices as important; still more important are peace, concord, and love among yourselves for the sake of God, and you cannot pray or think of God if there is even one man with whom you are not at peace.
Second rule:
The Pharisees and scribes say, If thou committest adultery, thou and the woman are to be killed together, and if thou wantest to commit adultery, give thy wife a writ of divorcement.
' i
But I say, If thou leavest thy wife, thou art not only a debauchee, thou also causest her to commit debauchery, and him also who takes her up. If thou livest with thy wife and takest it into thy head to fall in love with another woman, thou art already an adulterer, and art worthy of having that done to thee which is done with an adulterer. And I forbid this with the same threat with which the Pharisees and scribes forbid committing fornication with another woman, because every debauchery causes the soul to perish, and it is better for thee to renounce carnal pleasure than to cause the ruin of thy life.
And so the second rule is: Satisfy thy lust with thy wife and do not think that love of woman is good.
The third rule is this :
The Pharisees and scribes say, Do not pronounce in vain the name of the Lord thy God, for jGod will not let go unpunished the man who uses his name in vain, that is, Do not invoke God in a lie, and again, Do not swear in my name in a lie, and do not dishonour the name of thy God. I am the Lord (your God), that is, do not swear by me in untruth, so as to defile your God.
But I say that every oath is a defilement of God, and so do not swear at all. Thou canst not promise anything, for thou art entirely in the power of God. Thou canst not make a single gray hair black, how then canst thou swear in advance that thou wilt do so and so, and how canst thou swear by God ? Every oath of thine is a defilement of God, for if thou hast to carry out an oath which is contrary to the will of God, it will turn out that thou hast promised to act against his will, and so every oath is an evil. Besides, an oath is foolish and meaningless.
So here is the third rule: Never swear to any one about anything. Say, Yes, when it is, Yes, and, No, when it is, No, and know that if thou art required to swear, it is evil.
Fourth rule:
You have heard that it has been said of old time, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The Pharisees and scribes teach you to do everything which is written in the old books as to how you are to punish for all kinds of crimes. It says there that he who destroys life must give his life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, an ox for an ox, a slave for a slave, and so forth.
But I tell you, Do not struggle against evil with evil, and not only do not demand an ox for an ox, a slave for a slave, life for life, but do not even resist evil. If a man wants to get thy ox by a lawsuit, give him two; if a man wants to get thy coat away, give him also thy cloak; if a man knocks a tooth out of one jaw, offer him also the other jaw. If they compel thee to do a certain amount of work, work twice as much. If they take thy property from thee, give it to them. If they do not return thy money to thee, do not ask for it, and so, do not judge and do not litigate, and do not punish, and you will not be judged and punished. Forgive everybody and you will be forgiven, for if you are going to judge men, they will judge you. Besides, you must not judge, because all of us men are blind and do not see the truth. How can I with dust-filled eyes see the dust in my brother’s eye ? First I must clean my own eyes, and whose eyes are clean ? If we judge, we are ourselves blind. If we are going to judge others and punish them, we are like the blind guiding the blind.
Besides, says Jesus, What do we teach? We punish by force, with wounds, maiming, and death, 'that is, with malice, precisely what is forbidden in the commandment, Thou shalt not kill. And what comes of it ? We want to teach men, and we corrupt them. What else can there be but that the pupil will learn from the teacher and be exactly like him ? What will he do after he has learned everything? The same that the teacher does: he will commit violence, and will kill.
And do not think that you will find justice in the courts. To turn the love of justice over to the courts is the same as throwing precious pearls before the swine, for they will tread them underfoot and will break them.
And so the fourth rule is: No matter how much they may offend thee, do not put out the evil by evil, do not sit in judgment or go to court, do not punish, and do not complain.
Fifth rule:
The Pharisees and scribes say, Make no war on thy brother in thy heart; arraign thy neighbour, and thou wilt not bear his sins; kill all the men, and take all the wives and the cattle from thy enemy, that is, Eespect thy countrymen and have no regard for strangers.
But I tell you, Do good not only to thy countrymen, but also to strangers. Let strangers esteem you little, let them attack and offend you, respect them, and do them good. Only then will you be true children of your Father. To him all are alike. If you are good to your countrymen alone, you are doing what all nations are doing, and that leads to wars. But be the same to all nations, and you will be the children of God. All men are his children, consequently all are your brothers.
And so the fifth rule is: Observe toward foreign nations what I have told you to observe among yourselves. There are no hostile nations, no different kingdoms and kings. All are brothers, all are children of the same Father. Make no distinction among people according to nations and kingdoms.
So: (1) Do not be angry; (2) do not amuse yourself with the lust.of fornication; (3) do not swear to any one about anything; (4) do not sit in judgment and do not litigate; and (5) make no distinction between the different nations; know no kings and no kingdoms.
And here is another instruction, which includes all these rules: Everything which you wish that men should do to you, do you to them. When you will execute this, it is clear that your life will be changed. You will have no property, and that is not necessary. Do not build up your life upon earth, but build it in God. The life on earth will perish, and the life in God will not perish. And do not think of the life upon earth, for if you will think of it, you will not be able to think of the life in God. Where the soul is, there is the heart also.
And if there is no light in your eyes, you are all in darkness. So if you wish and look for the darkness, you will enter the darkness. It is impossible to look with one eye upon heaven and with the other upon earth; it is impossible to repose your heart in an earthly life and to think of God. You will work either for the earthly life, or for God. And so: Beware of every selfishness. Man’s life is not from what he has, hut from God, so that if a man should take the whole world, there would he no profit to his soul from it. And foolishly will act the man who will cause his life to perish in order to obtain as many possessions as possible.
Consequently, do not trouble yourselves as to what you are going to eat and drink, and how you are going to clothe yourselves. Life is more important than food and raiment, and God has given it to you.
Look at God’s creatures, at the birds. They do not sow, nor reap, nor collect the grain, but God feeds them. And is not man as much as the birds before God? If God has given life to man, he will be able to feed him also. And you know yourselves that no matter how much you trouble yourselves, you are not able to do anything for yourselves. You cannot lengthen your life for one little hour. (The thought is beyond the mountains, but death is behind the shoulders.)
And do not trouble yourselves so much about your raiment. The flowers of the field do not work, nor spin, and yet they are adorned as Solomon never adorned himself. If God has so adorned the grass, which grows today and to-morrow will be mowed down, will he not clothe you ?
Do not have any care and trouble yourselves; do not say that you must think of what you are going to eat and what you will wear. All men need that, and God knows the need of every one.
Even so do not trouble yourselves as to what will be, as to the future. Live for the present day. Take heed that you are in the will of God. Desire only the one thing which is important, and the rest will come to you itself. Try only to be in the will of God, and you will be in it. He who knocks, to him it will be opened; who asks, to him it will be given. If you will ask for what is present, what you need, it will be given to you.
Is there a father who would give his son a stone instead of bread, or a snake instead of a fish ? How, then, will your Father refuse to give you what you really need, if you ask him for it ? But what you really need is the life of the spirit, so ask for that alone.
To pray does not mean to do what the hypocrites are doing in the churches, or in the sight of men. They do so for men, and from them they receive their praise, and not from God. But if thou wishest to enter into the will of thy Father, go there where no one can see thee and pray to thy Father the spirit, and the Father will see what there is in thy soul, and will give thee the true spirit. And do not uselessly wag thy tongue, as the hypocrites do. Thy father knows what thou needest, before thou openest thy mouth.
This is the way you ought to pray: Our Father! Let me be in thy kingdom, that is, let thy will be in me. Give me such food as I need. And forgive me my faults, as I forgive them in others.
If you ask God for the spirit, find no fault with men, and God will forgive you your faults. And if you do not forgive men, God will not forgive you.
Do nothing to be praised by men. If you do so for men, you will receive your reward from men.
So if thou art compassionate toward men, do not sound thy trumpet about it before men, for the hypocrites do so, that men may praise them. They receive what they wish. But thou, if thou art compassionate to men, do good in such a way that no one may see it. Amd thy Father will see it, and will give thee what thou needest.
And if thou sufferest oppression for the sake of God, do not weep and complain before men, as the hypocrites do, that men may see and praise them, for they receive what they want. But do differently: if thou sufferest for the sake of God, go about with a happy face, that men may not see, but thy Father will see, and will give thee what thou needest.
Such is the entrance into the kingdom of God. There is but one entrance to the will of God, and it is narrow. There is always but one entrance, and all around is a large and broad field, and if you walk over it you will not come to the haven. Only a narrow path leads into life, and only a few walk over it.
Do not lose your courage, though a little flock you be. You will enter into it, because the Father will teach you his will.

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Chapter V end.

THE EXECUTION OF THE LAW GIVES TRUE LIFE
And Jesus was sorry for men, because they perished not knowing wherein the true life was, and suffered and were harassed, themselves not knowing why, like abandoned sheep without a shepherd. And Jesus says to the people, You worry about the life of the flesh: you are hitched to a wagon which you cannot pull, and have put on a yoke which was not made for you. Comprehend my teaching and follow it, and you will know rest and joy in life. I give you another yoke and another wagon,
— spiritual life. Hitch yourselves to it, and you will learn of rest and bliss from me.
You must be meek and humble, and then you will find bliss in your life, for my teaching is a yoke which is made for you, and the execution of my teaching is a light wagon, made according to your strength.
And Jesus went through cities and villages, and taught all the blessedness of life according to the will of God. Then he chose seventy men from among those who were near to him, and sent them to those places where he wanted himself to be. He said to them, Many men do not know the good of the true life, — I am sorry for all of them and wish to teach all, but as the master is not able to attend to the harvest of the whole field, so I cannot attend to it. Go to different cities, and in all places announce the coming of God and the law of God. Say that to be blessed one must be a vagrant, and that the law is all in five rules against evil: (1) not to be angry; (2) not to commit debauchery; (3) not to swear, to make no promises whatever; (4) not to resist evil, not to go to court; and (5) not to make any distinction between men, and to disregard kings and kingdoms.
.And so execute these rules yourselves. First of all, be mendicants, vagrants. Take nothing with you, neither scrip, nor bread, nor money. All you must have is raiment on your body, and footgear. Announce the blessedness of the mendicants, and so, above all, be an example of mendicancy. Choose no hosts to stop with, but stay in whatever house you enter first. When you come into the house, greet the hosts. If they receive you, all is well; and if not, go to another house. You will be hated for what you will say, and they will attack and drive you away. And if they drive you away, go to another village; and if they drive you from it, go to another still. They will drive you, as wolves drive the sheep, but do not lose your courage and do not weaken to the last hour. And they will take you into court and will judge you, and flog you, and take you before the officers, that you may justify yourselves before them. And when they will take you to court, do not lose your courage, and do not think what you are going to say. The spirit of God will tell you what to say. Before you will have gone through all the cities, men will understand your teaching, and will turn to you.
Be not afraid. What is hidden in the souls of men will come out. What you will tell to two or three will be scattered among thousands. Above all, do not fear those who may kill your body. What of it if they kill your body ? They can do nothing to your soul. So do not fear them. Bear this, that your body and soul may not perish, if you depart from the law. This is what you want to fear.
Bor one cent you can buy five sparrows, and even they do not die without the will of God. And a hair of the head will not fall without the will of God, so what are you to fear, if you are in the will of God ? God will be with him who before men will be one with the will of God; but who before men will renounce the will of God, him God will renounce also. Not all will believe in my teaching, that it is necessary to be a mendicant, a vagrant, not to be angry, not to commit debauchery, not to swear, not to judge or go to court, not to wage war. And those who will not believe will hate it, because it deprives them of what they like, and there will be dissension.
My teaching will, like a fire, burn up the world. And so there must be dissension in the world. There will be dissension in every house. Bather will be against son, mother against daughter, and the housefolk will be haters of those who will understand my teaching. And they will kill them. Bor he who will understand my teaching will see no meaning in his father, or mother, or wife, or children, or all his property. He who thinks more of his father or mother than of my teaching has not comprehended my teaching. He who is not at all times ready for all kinds of sufferings of the flesh is not my disciple. He who will care for this carnal life will cause the true life to perish, and he who will cause this carnal life to perish according to my teaching will save his life.
The seventy disciples went out over the cities and villages, and did what Jesus had commanded. When they returned, they told Jesus with joy, The devilish teaching about anger, adultery, oaths, judgments, and wars is everywhere giving way before us.
And Jesus said to them, Do not rejoice because the evil is yielding to you, but because you are in the will of God.
And then Jesus rejoiced on account of the power of the spirit, and said, From the fact that my disciples have understood me and that the evil is vanquished by them, I see that thou art the highest spirit, — the beginning of everything, truly the Father of men, — because what the wise and learned men could not understand with all their learning, the unreasoning have comprehended by recognizing themselves to be the children of the Father. And thou, as the Father, hast disclosed everything to them, through the love which is between a father and his son. Everything which a man needs to know is disclosed to him through the love of the Father for the son and of the son for the Father. Only him who recognizes himself as the son does the Father recognize.
And the people of his house came and wanted to bind him, for they thought that he was mad.
And the Pharisees and the lawyers came from Jerusalem, and said, He is mad: he wants to mend a lesser evil with a greater evil. That there may be no mendicants, he wants to make all men mendicants, and he wants nobody to be punished, and the robbers to kill everybody, and to have no wars, though then the enemies will kill everybody.
And he said, You say that nay teaching is evil, and at the same time you say that I destroy the evil. That cannot be, for evil cannot be destroyed by evil. If I destroy evil, my teaching cannot be evil, for evil cannot go against itself. If evil went against itself, there would be no evil. You cast out the evil according to your law. How do you cast out the evil ? By the law of Moses, and this law is from God. But I cast out the evil with the spirit of God, which has always been in you. It is only for this reason that I can expel the evil. ' And the fact that I expel evil is a proof to you that my teaching is true, and that the spirit of God is in men and is stronger than the carnal lusts. If that did not exist, it would not be possible to vanquish the lust of evil, as it is impossible to enter the house of a strong man and rob it. To rob the house of a strong man, it is necessary first to bind the man. And thus are men bound by the spirit of God.
He who is not with me is against me. He who does not harvest in the field only loses the corn, for he who is not with me is not with the spirit of God, — he is an adversary of the spirit.
And so I tell you that every human mistake and every false interpretation will be forgiven, but the false interpretation about the spirit of God will not be forgiven. If a man says a word against another, that will pas3; but if he will say a word against what is holy in man,— against the spirit of God, that will not pass unnoticed; scold me as much as you please, but do not call evil the good which I am doing. Man will not be forgiven for calling the good evil, that is, the works which I do. One has to be with the spirit of God, or against it.
Either consider the tree good, and its fruit good, or consider it bad, and its fruit bad, for by its fruit is the tree esteemed. You see me expel evil, consequently my teaching is good. Every man who expels evil, no matter what his teaching may be, cannot be against us, but is with us, for one can expel evil only with the spirit of God.
After that Jesus came for the holiday to Jerusalem. And there was then a pool in Jerusalem. And they said about this pool that an angel stepped into it, and that caused the water of the pool to well up, and if one leaped into the water immediately after it began to well up, he was cured from whatever disease he may have had.
And there were porches built around this pool. And on these porches lay all kinds of sick people, waiting for the water in the pool to well up, in order to leap into it.
Jesus came to the pool, and saw a man lying on a porch. Jesus asked who he was. The man told him that he had been ailing for thirty-eight years, and that he had been waiting for a long time to be the first to leap into the pool, after the water had begun to well up, but that he could never succeed, for others got in before him.
Jesus looked at him, and said, In vain dost thou wait here for a miracle from the angel. There are no miracles. There is one miracle, and that is, that God has given life to men, and it is necessary to live with all one’s powers. Do not wait for anything at this pool, but take thy bed, and live according to the divine law, according to the strength which God will give thee.
The sick man obeyed him, and got up and went away.
Jesus said to him, Thou seest thyself that thou hast the strength. See to it that thou wilt not believe again in all this deception. Do not make this error again, but live according to the power which God gives thee.
And the man went and told everybody what had happened to him. And all those who had been working the deception of the pool and were making a living thereby grew angry, and they did not know how to wreak their vengeance and to annoy the sick man and Jesus for having disclosed their deception. They found a pretext for doing so in its being a Sabbath, for on the Sabbath it was not permitted, according to their law, to work. At first they attacked the sick man, and said, How didst thou dare take up thy bed on the Sabbath ? It is not lawful to work on the Sabbath.
The sick man said to them, He who raised me up told me to take up the bed.
They said, Who ordered thee to do so ?
He said, I do not know. A man came up to me and went away again.
The Pharisees made their way to Jesus, and, finding him, they said, How couldst thou order the man to rise and take up his bed on a Sabbath ?
To this Jesus said to them, My Father never stops working, and so I will never stop working, whether it be a week-day or a Sabbath. The Sabbath did not make man, but man made the Sabbath.
Then the Jews grew angrier still, because he dared to call God his Father. And they attacked him, and Jesus replied to them, A man could not do anything of himself, if God the Father — the spirit of God in man — did not point out to him what to do. God, the Father of man, lives and works always, and man lives and works always. God the Father gave men reason for their own good, and showed them what is good and what bad.
Just as God gives life, so also the spirit of God gives life. God the Father does not choose and decide anything himself, but, having taught men what is good and what bad, he leaves everything to man to do, so that men may honour the spirit of God and obey it within themselves, as they honour and obey God. He who does not honour the spirit of God in himself does not honour God. You must understand that he who has completely abandoned himself to my teaching has exalted the spirit in himself, and in it reposes his life, he has non-temporal life and is already freed from death. It is clear that now the dead, having comprehended the meaning of their life, that they are the sons of God, will live. For as God is alive in himself, so is the son alive in himself. The freedom of the choice is the same as that the spirit of God is in man, — it is the whole man.
Do not marvel at this teaching; the time has come when all mortals will be divided. Some, who do good, will find life, and those who do evil will be destroyed.
I cannot choose anything of myself. What I have comprehended from the Father, that I choose. My choice is correct, if I do not hold to my own wish, but to the meaning which I have comprehended from the Father. If I were the only one to assure you that I am right, because I want it to be so, you might not have believed me. But there is another who gives the assurance about me, — that I am doing right. That is the spirit of God, and you know that this assurance is true.
You see by my works that the Father has sent me. God the Father has shown concerning me in your souls and in the Scriptures. You have not comprehended his voice, and you have not known him. You have not his firm comprehension within you, for you do not believe that which he has sent, — the spirit of God in your souls.
Try to comprehend it: you expect to find life in your souls, and you will find there within you the spirit of God.
But you will not believe me that you will have life.
I esteem little your praying in your temples, and your observing the fasts and the Sabbaths according to human laws; the true love of the true God is not in you.
I teach you in the name of my Father and of yours, but you do not understand me. If a man will teach you in his own name, you will believe him. What can you rely upon, since you receive your sayings from one another, and do not seek the teaching as to the Father of the son. I am not the only one who shows you that you are wrong before your Father. That same Moses, in whom
you trust, shows you that you are wrong and do not understand him. If you relied on what Moses said, you * would rely also on what I tell you. If you do not rely on his writings, you will not believe my teaching, either.
And that they might understand it, that they might understand that it is possible to enter into the will of God without an effort, he told them a parable: A king received an inheritance. In order to receive this inheritance, the king had for a time to depart from his kingdom. And so the king went away.
But before his departure he distributed his possessions among his subjects, giving to each according to his ability: to one five talents, to another two, to a third one, and he commanded them to work without him and to gain by these talents as much as each could.
When the king went away, each man did with his property whatever he could. Some worked, and he who had five talents earned other five talents; another with his one talent gained ten more; others with their two talents gained two, or with their one gained five more or only one more; and others again did not work with the money given to them by their master, but hid the money away in the ground. Those who had taken five talents had the five talents left; those who had taken two had two, and those who had taken one had one left. And others again, who did not work with the master’s money, did not want to appear before the king, but sent word to him that they did not wish to be under his power.
When the time came, the king returned into his kingdom, and he called all his subjects to give accounts of themselves, what each had done with what had been given him.
And one servant came, the one to whom five talents had been given, and he said, With the five talents I have gained five more. And another came, to whom one talent had been given, and he said, Here, with the one talent
I have gained ten more. And then came he who had received two talents, and he brought two more, and the one who had received one brought five more. And still another to whom one talent had been given brought one more.
And the master praised them all alike and rewarded them alike. He said to all alike, I see that you are good and faithful servants: you have worked over my possessions, and so I receive you as equal participants in what is mine. We shall rule together.
After that came those subjects who had not worked over the master’s possessions. And one of them said, Master, thou gavest me a talent at thy departure. I know that thou art a hard man and wantest to take from us what thou hast not given us, and so I was afraid of thee and from fear hid away thy talent. Here it is in full. What thou hast given me I return to thee. And others who had received five talents, and those who had received ten talents, brought back the master’s talents, and they said the same to him.
Then the master said to them, Foolish people! You say that out of fear of me you hid your talents in the ground and did not work with them. If you knew that I was a hard man and will take what I have not given, why did you not try to do what I commanded ?
If you had worked with my talent, your possessions would have been increased, and you would have done my will, and I might have had mercy on you, and you would not have fared worse. But now you have not got away from my power anyway.
And the master took the talents away from those who had not worked with them, and told his servants to give them to those who had gained more.
And the servants said, Master, they have enough as it is. But the king said, Give to those who have earned for me, for to him who looks after his own it shall be added, and from him who does not look after his own even the last shall be taken from him.
But drive away these foolish and lazy servants. Let them not be here. And drive away those also who sent word to me that they did not want to be in my power, and let them not be here.
This king is the beginning of life, — the spirit. The world is the kingdom, but he does not himself govern the kingdom, but, like a peasant, he casts out the seed and leaves it alone. And the field brings forth blades, ears, and kernels of its own accord. The talent is the comprehension in every man. God the spirit has put the comprehension in every man, and leaves men to live according to their will.
God himself decides nothing, but having instructed man in everything, leaves it to every man to decide for himself. Not all have the same talent, but each receives according to his ability. Not to all is the same comprehension given, but it is given, and for God there is no greater and no lesser. All God needs is work over the comprehension. Some work with the talent of their master; others do not work for their master; others again do not work and do not acknowledge the master. Some men live by the comprehension; others do not live by it; and others again do not acknowledge it. The master comes back and asks for an account. That is the temporal death and accounting of life. Some come and say that they have worked with the talent, and they enter into the life of the master. And the master does not count who has worked more, and who less. All become alike participants in the life of the master. He who accepts the comprehension has life.
He who has the comprehension and relies on him who has sent it has non-temporal life and knows no death: he has passed into life. Others come and say that they have not worked with the talent: they do not refuse the talent; they only say that there is no sense in working, for, whether they work or not, they will meet with punishment. They know the severity of the master. Other men have the comprehension, but do not rely on it. They say to themselves, Whether I work or not, I shall die, and nothing will be left, and so there " is no sense doing anything with it. To this the king says, If thou knowest that I am severe, thou oughtest so much the more to have done my will. Why did you not try to do it ? If men know that temporal death is inevitable, why should they not try to live by the doing of the will of God, — by the comprehension ? And the king says, Take the talent from them, and give it to those who have. It makes no difference to the king where the talents are, so long as they are, just as it makes no difference to the peasant what kernel will bring forth ears, so long as he has a harvest. If the comprehension gives life to men according to their will, then those who do not hold it cannot live and stand outside of life. And after the temporal death nothing will be left of them. And of the men who do not acknowledge the king’s power, the king says, Throw those men out. These other men not only fail to work with the comprehension and life, but even despise the Father of the spirit who has given it to them, — they, too, cannot live, and are also destroyed with death.

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Chapter VI end

TO RECEIVE THE TRUE LIFE MAN MUST RENOUNCE THE FALSE LIFE OF THE FLESH
For the life of the spirit there can be no difference between relatives and strangers. Jesus says that his mother and brothers signify nothing to him as mother and brothers: close to him are only those who do the will of the common Father.
Man’s blessedness and life do not depend on his domestic relations, but on the life of the spirit. Jesus says that blessed are those who keep the comprehension of the Father. For a man living by the spirit there is no home. Animals have homes, but man lives by the spirit, and so cannot have a home. Jesus says that he has no definite place for himself. To do the will of the Father one does not need any definite place, — it is everywhere and at all times possible. Carnal death cannot be terrible to men who give themselves to the will of the Father, for the life of the spirit does not depend on the death of the
31. Which of the two did his father’s will? They say to him, The first.
flesh. Jesus says that he who believes in the life of the spirit cannot be afraid of anything. No cares can keep a man from living by the spirit. To the words of the man, that he will later fulfil the teaching of Jesus, but that first he wants to bury his father, Jesus replies, Only the dead can trouble themselves about burying the dead, but the living always live in the fulfilment of the will of the Father.
The cares about family and domestic matters cannot interfere with the life of the spirit. He who troubles himself to find out what his carnal life will profit from doing the will of the Father, is doing the same that the ploughman does, when he ploughs and looks backward, and not forward. The cares for the joys of the carnal life, which seem so important to people, are a dream. The only real work of life is the announcement of the will of the Father, the attention paid to it, and the fulfilment of it. To Martha’s rebuke that she is attending herself to the supper, while her sister Mary is not helping her, but is listening to his teaching, Jesus says, Why dost thou rebuke her ? Look after thy cares, if thou needest that which thy cares give thee, but let those who do not need carnal pleasures do that one thing which is necessary for life. Jesus says, He who wants to attain the true life, which consists in doing the will of the Father, must first of all renounce his personal wishes: he must not only keep from arranging his life as he wishes, but must also be prepared for all privations and sufferings. He who wants to arrange his carnal life as he wishes will lose the true life of the fulfilment of the will of the Father.
There is no advantage in acquiring for the carnal life, if this acquisition causes the life of the spirit to perish. Nothing causes the life of the spirit to perish so much as selfishness, the acquisition of wealth. Men forget that, no matter how much wealth and how much property they may acquire, they are liable to die at any moment, and their possessions are not needed for their life. Death hangs over every one of us: sickness, murder, unfortunate accidents, may at any second cut our life short. Carnal death is an inevitable condition of every second of life. If a man lives, he must look at every hour of his life as at an hour of grace, given to him by somebody’s favour. We must remember this, and not say that we do not know it. We know and foresee what happens in heaven and on earth, but we forget the death which, we know, is lying in wait for us at any second.
If we do not forget this, we cannot abandon ourselves to the life of the flesh, — we cannot count on it. In order to follow my teaching, a man must count up the advantages from serving the carnal life of his will and the advantages from doing the will of the Father. Only he who has clearly figured that out can be my disciple. He who has made the correct account will not be sorry to give up the seeming good and the seeming life in order to obtain the true good and the true life.
The true life has been given to men, and men know and hear its call, but deprive themselves of it, as they are distracted by momentary cares. The true life is like a feast, which a rich man gave, when he invited the guests. He called the guests, just as the voice of the spirit of God calls all men to him. But some of the guests were busy with commerce, others with their farms, and others again with domestic matters, — and they did not come to the feast. But the poor, who have no carnal cares, came to the feast and were made happy. Even so men, being distracted by the cares of the carnal life, deprive themselves of the true life. He who will not completely renounce all cares and terrors of carnal life cannot do the will of the Father, for it is impossible to serve oneself a little and God a little. It is necessary to figure out whether it is advantageous to serve one’s flesh, whether it is possible to arrange life as one wants to arrange it. We must do the same that a man does who wants to build a house or go to war. He will make his account, to see whether he can finish building, or whether he will obtain a victory. When he sees that he cannot, he does not waste his labours, nor his army. Or else he will waste it and will become a laughing-stock of people. If it were possible to arrange the carnal life as one wants to arrange it, one ought to serve his flesh; but, since it is impossible to do so, it is better to abandon everything carnal, and to serve the spirit, or else it will be neither this nor that. You cannot arrange your carnal life, and the life of the spirit you will lose, and so, to do the will of the Father, it is necessary completely to renounce the carnal life.
The carnal life is that seeming wealth which is entrusted to us by others, and which we must use in such a way as to obtain the true wealth. If a steward is living with a rich man, and knows that, no matter how much he may serve his master, the master will discharge him and leave him without anything, the steward acts wisely if, as long as he is still in charge of the wealth, which is not his own, he will do good to people. If then the master will abandon him, those to whom he has done good will receive him and will feed him.
The same ought men to do with their carnal life. The carnal life is that foreign wealth of which they are in charge for but a short time. If they make good use of this wealth, they will receive their own true wealth. If we do not give up our false possessions, we shall not receive the true possessions. It is impossible to serve the false life of the flesh and the spirit, — one has to serve the one or the other. One cannot serve wealth and God. What is great before men is an abomination before God. Before God wealth is evil. The rich man is guilty for the very reason that he eats much and luxuriously, while the poor starve at his door. Everybody knows that the property which thou dost not give up to others is a non-fulfilment of the will of the Father.
An Orthodox rich chief once came to Jesus, and began to boast of keeping the commandments of the law. Jesus reminded him that there was a commandment to love all men as oneself, and that in this consisted the will of the Father. The chief said that he kept also this commandment. Then Jesus told him, That is not true. If thou wantest to do the will of the Father, thou wouldst not have any possessions. It is impossible for thee to do the will of the Father, if thou hast any property which thou hast not distributed to others. And Jesus said to the disciples, People think that it is impossible to live without possessions, but I tell you, The true life consists in giving to others what belongs to one.
A man named Zaccheus heard the teaching of Christ and believed him. He invited him to his house, and said to him, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and I will give fourfold to whomsoever I have offended. And Jesus said, Here is a man who does the will of the Father, for there is not any one position in which a man does the will of God, but our whole life is its fulfilment, and this man fulfils it.
The will of the Father is that all men should return to it.
The good cannot be measured: it cannot be said who has done more, who less. The widow who gives away her last mite gives more than the rich man who gives away thousands, Nor can the good be measured by its being useful or useless. As an example of how the good ought to be done may serve the woman who pitied Jesus and senselessly poured three hundred pence’ worth of oil on his feet. Judas said that she acted foolishly, that with that money the poor could have been fed. But Judas was a thief: he lied and, speaking of the carnal profit, was not thinking of the poor. What is needed is not profit, not quantity, but the doing of the will of the Father: to love and to live for others.
One day Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him, and could not see him, for there was a great multitude about him. And a man, seeing them, went up to Jesus and said:
Thy family, thy mother and thy brothers, are standing outside: they want to see thee.
My mother and brothers are those who understand the will of the Father and do it.
And a woman said, Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the teats which thou hast sucked. To this Jesus said, Blessed are always those who have comprehended the comprehension of the Father, and who keep it.
And a man said to Jesus, I will follow thee, wherever thou mayest go. And Jesus said to him, There is no place for thee to go to, for I have no home, no place, where I live. Only animals have lairs and dens, but man is spirit, and he is everywhere at home, if he lives by the spirit.
One day Jesus was sailing in a ship with his disciples. He said, Let us sail to the other side.
A storm rose on the sea and began to drench them, and they were almost drowned. But he was lying at the stern, and sleeping. They awakened him, and said, Teacher, does it not make any difference to thee that we are drowning ? And when the storm subsided, he said, Why are you so timid, and have no faith in the life of the spirit ?
Jesus said to a man, Follow me. And the man said, My old father has died. Let me first bury him, and then I will follow thee. And Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury the dead: and if thou wishest to be alive, do the will of the Father and proclaim it.
And another man said, I will he thy disciple, and will do the will of the Father, as thou commandest, but allow me first to arrange matters at home. And Jesus said to him, If a ploughman looks back, he cannot plough. No matter how much you may look back, you cannot plough. A man must forget everything but the furrow which he is making, and then only will he be able to plough. If thou discussest what it will profit the life of the flesh, thou hast not comprehended the real life, and thou canst not live by it.
After this it once happened that Jesus and his disciples entered a village. And a woman named Martha invited them to her house.
And Martha had a sister Mary, and she sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened to his teaching. And Martha was trying to give them a good entertainment. And Martha went up to Jesus, and said, Thou dost not even care that my sister has left me alone to serve. Tell her to work with me.
And Jesus replied to her, Martha, Martha, thou carest and troublest thyself about many things, but there is only one thing necessary, and Mary has chosen the one thing which she needs and which no one will take from her. For life nothing but the food of the spirit is needed.
And Jesus said to all, He who wants to follow me must renounce his will and must be prepared at all times for all privations and for all sufferings of the flesh, and then only can he follow me.
For he who wants to care for his carnal life will lose the true life. But he who loses the carnal life, doing the will of the Father, will save the true life; for what profit is it to a man if he has the whole world, and loses or injures his life ?
And hearing this, a man said, It is well, if there is a life of the spirit; but how if we give up everything, and there is not that life ?
To this Jesus said, You know that the doing of the will of the Father gives life to all; but you are drawn away from this life by false cares, and you reject it. You do like this: a man prepared a dinner, and sent out the servants to call the guests, but the guests excused themselves.
One said, I have bought a piece of land, and I must go and see it. Another said, I have bought some oxen, and I must go and try them. The third said, I have married, and I am going to have a wedding.
And the servants came, and told their master that no one was coming. Then the master sent the servants out to call in the beggars. The beggars did not excuse themselves, but came. And when they came, there was still room left.
And the master sent the servants to invite more men, saying, Go and tell them all to come to my dinner. Let there be as many as possible at the dinner; but those who have refused on the ground of being busy will miss it.
Everybody knows that the doing of the will of God gives life, but they do not come, because they are distracted by the deception of wealth.
And Jesus said, Beware of riches, for thy life does not depend on having more than others have.
There was a rich man, and he had a good harvest of corn. And he said to himself, I will build new barns, I will make them large, and will gather all my wealth in them. And. I will say to my soul, Here, soul, is everything in abundance for thee: eat, drink, and live for thy pleasure.
And God said to him, Fool! This very night will thy soul be taken, and everything which thou hast gathered will be left for others. Thus is done to all who prepare for the carnal life, and do not live in God.
And Jesus said to them, You say that Pilate killed the Galileans. Were these Galileans worse than other men, that this has happened with them ? Not at all. We are all such men, and all of us will perish in the same way, if we do not find salvation from death. And those eighteen men who were killed by the tower, when it fell in, were they some special men, worse than the rest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem ? Not at all. If we do not save ourselves from death, we shall die in the same way, if not one day, then another.
If we have not yet perished like them, we ought to think in this manner: a man has an apple-tree growing in his garden. The master comes into the garden to look at the tree, and sees that it has no fruit on it. So the master says to the gardener, I have been coming here these three years, and the apple-tree is still barren. It has to be cut down, for it wastes the ground. And the gardener says, Let us wait awhile, master. I will dig it round, and will put manure all about it, and we shall see whether it will give fruit next summer. If it does not, we shall cut it down then.
Even so we are a barren apple-tree, as long as we live in the flesh and do not bear the fruit of the life of the spirit. Only through somebody’s favour are we left until the next summer. If we do not bear fruit, we shall perish like the one who built the barns, like the Galileans, like the eighteen, men killed by the tower, and like all who do not bear fruit, dying an everlasting death.
In order to understand this, no wisdom is needed, for anybody can see it. Not only in domestic matters, but in everything which is going on in the world we are able to reflect and guess in advance. If the wind is from the west, we say, It is going to rain, and so it happens. How is this ? The weather we can predict, and yet we cannot foresee that we shall all die and perish, and that the only salvation for us is the life of the spirit, the doing of its will.
And a great multitude went with Jesus, and he once
more said to all, He who wants to be my disciple must esteem little his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and all his property, and must at all times he prepared for everything. Only he who does what I am doing follows my teaching, and only that man will be saved from death.
For each man will figure out, before he begins anything, whether what he is doing is profitable, and if it is, he will do it; and if not, he gives it up. Every man who builds a house first sits down and figures out how much money he needs, how much he has, and whether he will have enough with which to finish building it, lest he begin and do not finish it, and men laugh at him.
Even so he who wants to live the carnal life must first figure out whether he can finish what he has begun.
Every king, who wants to wage war, first considers whether he can go with ten thousand against twenty thousand. If he figures out that he cannot, he will send messengers to make peace, and will give up the idea of fighting. So let.each man, before giving himself up to the carnal life, consider whether he can wage war against death, or whether death is stronger than he. And if it is, let him make peace with it in advance.
Thus every one of you must first settle with what he considers to be his own, his family, his money, his possessions, and when he figures out what advantage he will derive from them, and understands that there is none, he will be able to be my disciple, and not before.
The kingdom of heaven does not come in an external manner. Of the kingdom of heaven, which saves from death, we cannot say that it has come, or that it will come; that it is here, or there; it is within you, in your souls.
For, if the time comes and you want to find salvation in life and you look for it in a certain time, you will not find it. And if they will tell you, Salvation is here, salvation is there, do not look for it anywhere, but within yourselves, for salvation is sudden, like lightning, and everywhere; there is no time and space for it, — it is in your souls.
And as salvation was for Noah and for Lot, so it is always for the son of man. Life remains the same for all men: all eat and drink and get married, but some perish, and others are saved.
There was an evil judge, who feared neither God nor man, and a poor widow begged him; but .the judge did not decide in her favour. The widow begged the judge day and night. The unjust judge said, What shall I do? I will decide as the widow wishes, for she gives me no rest. .
You must understand that even the unjust judge did what the widow asked him to do. How, then, will the Father refuse to do what men ask him for day and night without cessation ?
But besides the Father there is the son of man who is seeking the truth, and we cannot fail to believe in him.
He who will give up the false, temporal wealth for the true life according to the will of the Father will do the same as did the wise steward.
A man was a steward of a rich master; he saw that his master would discharge him, and that he would be left without bread and without a home.
And the steward said to himself, This is what I will do: I will quietly distribute the master’s goods to the peasants and will cut down their debts; then, if the master sends me away, the peasants will remember the good I have done to them, and will hot abandon me.
And so the steward did. He called up the peasants, those who were in debt to the master, and rewrote their bills. Instead of one hundred he wrote fifty, and instead of sixty he wrote twenty, and so he did to all.
And the master heard of it, and said to himself, Indeed, he has done wisely, for else he would have to go a-begging. He has caused me a loss, but he has calculated well, for in the carnal life we all understand how to calculate correctly, but in the life of the spirit we do not wish to comprehend.
Even so we must do with the unjust wealth: we must give it away in order to receive the life of the spirit. If we shall regret giving up such trifles as wealth for the life of the spirit, it will not be given to us. If we do not give up the false wealth, our own life will not be given to us. It is impossible to serve at once two masters, God and wealth, — the will of God and our own will. Either the one, or the other.
When the Orthodox heard that, they laughed at Jesus, for they love wealth.
And he said to them, You think that because men respect you for your riches, you are really respected. No, God does not look without, but within, into the heart. What is high before men is insignificant before God. The kingdom of God is now on earth, and great are they who enter into it; but it is not the rich, but the poor, who enter. That has always been so according to your law, and according to Moses and the prophets. Hear what the rich and the poor are according to your faith.
There was a rich man. He dressed himself in costly garments and made merry every day. And there was a vagrant named Lazarus, who was scurfy. And Lazarus came into the yard of the rich man, thinking that he might get the remnants from the rich man’s table, but he did not get even those; for the rich man’s dogs ate the remnants clean and even licked the wounds of Lazarus.
And both Lazarus and the rich man died. In hell the rich man saw Abraham a long way off, and Lazarus the scurfy was sitting with him.
The rich man said, Father Abraham, Lazarus the scurfy is sitting with thee: he used to wallow at the gate of my house. I dare not trouble thee. Send Lazarus the scurfy to me: let him dip his finger in water and refresh my throat, for I am burning in fire. But Abraham said, Why should I send Lazarus to thee, in hell ? Thou hadst everything thou wantedst in the other world, while Lazarus saw nothing but sorrow there. It is time for him to have pleasure now. Even if he wanted to do it for thee, he cannot, for between you and us there is a great gulf, and it is impossible to cross it. We are living, but you are dead.
Then the rich man said, Father Abraham, at least send Lazarus the scurfy to my house: I have five brothers, and I am sorry for them: let him tell them how dangerous wealth is, or else they will have to suffer torment themselves. But Abraham said, They know, as it is, that wealth is dangerous, for Moses and all the prophets have told them that.
But the rich man said, Still it would be better if one risen from the dead came to them, for that would bring them to their senses. And Abraham said, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not listen to one risen from the dead.
All know that we should divide with our brother and do good to men, and the whole law of Moses and all the •prophets say nothing else. You know it, but do not wish to do it, because you love wealth.
And a rich Orthodox chief went up to Jesus, and said to him, Thou art a good teacher! Tell me what I must do that I may receive eternal life.
Jesus said, Why ’dost thou call me good ? Good is only the Father. If thou wishest to receive life, do the commandments.
The chief said, There are many commandments; which must I keep ? Jesus said, Do not kill, do not commit debauchery, do not steal, do not lie, and also honour thy Father and do his will, and love thy neighbour as thyself.
And the Orthodox chief said, All these commandments I have been keeping from childhood; but I ask what else I must do according to thy teaching.
Jesus looked at him, at his rich garments, and he smiled and said, Thou lackest one little thing: thou hast not fulfilled what thou sayest. If thou wishest to do these commandments, Do not kill, do not commit debauchery, do not steal, do not lie, and, above all, the commandment, Love thy neighbour as thyself, go and sell thy estate and give it to the poor, and then thou wilt do the will of the Father.
When the chief heard this, he frowned and went away, for he was sorry to part from his possessions.
And Jesus said to his disciples, You see that it is absolutely impossible to be rich and do the will of the Father.
The disciples were frightened at these words. But Jesus repeated, and said, Yes, children, he who has wealth cannot be in the will of God. Much easier it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to do the will of the Father.
And they were frightened more than before, and said, If so, it is impossible to save one’s life.
And he said, To a man it seems impossible to save one’s life without possessions, but God will save a man without possessions.
One day Jesus happened to pass through the town of Jericho. In this city there was a rich farmer of taxes named Zaccheus. This Zaccheus had heard of Jesus’ teaching and believed in it. When he heard that Jesus was in Jericho, he wanted to see him. There were so many people all about him, that it was not possible to make one’s way through them.
Then he ran forward and climbed a tree, that he might see Jesus as he passed by.
And indeed, as Jesus went by, he saw Zaccheus, and, having learned that Zaccheus believed in his teaching, he said, Climb down from the tree and go home, and I will go to thy house. Zaccheus climbed down, ran home, and prepared a reception for Jesus.
The people began to judge and to say about Jesus, He has gone into the house of a tax-collector, a rascal.
In the meantime Zaccheus said to Jesus, Sir, this is what I will do: I will give half of my possessions to the poor, and from the rest I will pay all whom I have injured.
And Jesus said, Now thou art saved. Thou wert dead, and art alive; thou wert lost, and hast found thyself, for thou hast done like Abraham, when he wished to sacrifice his son, in order to show his faith. For the whole life of man consists in finding and saving what is perishing in one’s soul.
It is impossible to measure a sacrifice by its size. One day Jesus and his disciples happened to sit opposite a money-box. Men were placing what they had into the box for God. And rich men walked up to the box, and placed a great deal in it. And then a poor widow came up and placed two mites in it.
And Jesus pointed to her, and said to his disciples, you saw the poor widow put in two mites: she has put in more than the rest, for the others put in what they did not need for life, while she put in everything she had, her whole life.
Jesus happened to be in the house of Simon the leper. And a woman entered the house. This woman had a pitcher with precious oil worth three hundred pence.
Jesus said to his disciples that his death was near. When the woman heard this, she took pity on Jesus, and wanted to show him her love and anoint his head with oil. And she forgot everything, how much her oil cost, and broke the pitcher, and anointed his head and feet, and spilled all the oil.
And the disciples began to judge her, saying that she had done badly. And Judas, the one who later betrayed Jesus, said, How much has been wasted !
The oil could have been sold for three hundred pence, and so many poor might have profited by it. And the disciples began to rebuke the woman, and she was troubled and did not know whether she had done right or wrong.
Then Jesus said to them, In vain do you trouble the woman, for she has truly done well. Why do you mention the poor ? If you wish to do good to the poor, do it: they are always present, so there is no need of speaking of them. If you pity the poor, go and pity them and do good to them. She has pitied me and has done me a real good, for she has given me everything which she had. Who of you can tell what is needed, and what not ? How do you know that it was* not necessary to pour the oil over me ? She has at least poured oil over me, so as to prepare my body for burial, and so it is necessary. She has truly done the will of the Father: she forgot herself and pitied another; she forgot the carnal calculation and gave away everything which she had.

END BOOK ONE.

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Chapter VII end.

THE PROOF OF THE TRUTH OF THE TEACHING
To receive the true life one must give up the carnal life. The carnal life is the food for the true life. The teaching of Jesus consists in giving up the carnal life for the true life.
The Pharisees and learned men began to ask Jesus, Thou sayest that it is necessary to give up the carnal life and all its pleasures in order to receive the true life, but how dost thou prove this ?
And Jesus groaned from pity for these men. Their asking for proofs showed him that they did not understand him. And he said, Men want proofs, and proofs cannot be given to them.
And he said to them, What carnal proofs do you want for a non-carnal life ? Have you no proofs for everything which you know ? Looking at the beautiful evening glow you assume that next day there will be fair weather, and when it looks gloomy in the morning, you assume that it will rain. You have no proofs, but you judge of this from the appearance of the sky, and you are able to draw your conclusions. Why, then, do you not draw the same correct conclusions in regard to yourselves ? If you judged just as correctly about yourselves as you do about the signs of the weather, you would know that just as certainly as the west wind brings rain, death follows after the temporal life.
And so there is no other proof, and there can be none, for the proof of my teaching, except the teaching itself.
There can be no proofs of the comprehension.
The southern queen went to see Solomon, not to ask for proofs, but to listen to his wisdom. The Ninevites did not ask Jonah for proofs, but listened to his teaching, and were converted; even so you must do, and must not ask for any proofs.
After this the Jews tried to sentence Jesus to death, and Jesus went into Galilee, and there lived with his relatives.
There came the Jewish feast of the tabernacles.
The brothers of Jesus got ready to go to the feast, and asked Jesus to go with them. They did not believe in his teaching, and said to him, Thou sayest that the Jewish way of serving God is not right, and that thou knowest the right way of serving him with deeds. If thou truly believest that none but thee know the true service of God, go with us to the feast, for a large multitude will be there. There thou canst announce in the presence of the whole people that the teaching of Moses is false. If all of them will believe thee, all thy disciples will see that thou art right. What is the sense in con-
cealing thyself ? Thou sayest that our service is wrong, that thou knowest the true way of serving God, so show it to alL
And Jesus said to them, For you there is a special time and place for serving God; but I have no such special time and place. I always and everywhere work for God. It is this that I show people: I show them that their service of God is false, and for this they hate me. Go yourselves to the feast, and I will go whenever I wish.
And the brothers went away, but he remained at home; later he went to the feast when it was half over.
The Jews were troubled, because he did not honour their holiday and did not come. And they disputed a great deal about his teaching: some said that he was telling the truth; and others said that he only agitated the people.
In the middle of the holiday Jesus entered the temple and began to teach the people, saying that their worship was false, and that God must be worshipped not in the temple and with sacrifices, but in the spirit and with works. All listened to him and marvelled at his wisdom.
And Jesus, hearing that they marvelled at his wisdom, said to them, My wisdom consists in this, that I teach what I know from my Father. My teaching consists in doing the will of the spirit, which gives me life. He who does this will know that it is the truth, for he will not do what seems good to him, but what seems good to the spirit which lives within him. Your law of Moses is not the eternal law, and so those who follow it do not execute the eternal law, and do wrong and what is untrue. I teach you to do the one will, and in my teaching there can be no contradiction, but your written law of Moses is all filled with contradictions. I give you a teaching, with which man stands higher than all decrees and finds the law within himself.
And many said, They have said that he is a false prophet, and he has been condemning the law, and yet no one says anything to him. Maybe he is indeed real, and maybe the rulers have acknowledged him. There is one thing, however, which does not fit: it is said that when he who is sent by God shall come, no one will know whence he comes, but we know whence he comes, and we know his whole family.
The people did not understand his teaching, and kept looking for external proofs.
Then Jesus said to them, You know whence I come in a carnal way, but you do not know whence I come in the spirit. You do not know him from whom I come in the spirit, and it is only him that you ought to know. If I said that I am Christ, you would believe me as a man, but you would not believe God who is in me and in you. You must believe in the one God. I am here among you for a brief space of time: I show you the way of salvation, the return to that source of life from which I came. And you ask me for proofs and want to condemn me. If you do not know the way, you will certainly not find me when I am gone. You must not condemn me, but follow me. He who will do what I say will find out whether what I say is true or not. He for whom the life of the flesh has not become the food of the spirit, who does not seek the truth, as the thirsty person seeks water, cannot understand me. But he who thirsts for water may follow me and drink. And he who will believe in my teaching will receive the true life. He will receive the life of the spirit.
And many believed in his teaching, and said, What he says is true and from God. Others did not understand him, and kept looking in the prophecies for proofs of his being sent by God. And many disputed with him, but could not prevail against him. The Pharisees and learned men sent their assistants to contend with him. But their
assistants returned to them, saying, We can do nothing with him.
And the high priests said, Why did you not accuse him ?
And they replied, Never has a man spoken like him.
Then the Pharisees said, It does not mean anything, that you cannot prevail against him, and that the people believe in his teaching. We do not believe, and none of the rulers believe, but the accursed people are always stupid and ignorant.
And Jesus said to the Pharisees, There can be no proofs of the truth of my teaching, just as there can be no illumination of the light. My teaching is the true light, that light when men see what is good and what bad, and so it is impossible to prove my teaching: it proves everything else. He who will follow me will not be in the dark, but with him life and light is the same.
But the Pharisees still demanded proofs of the truth of his teaching, and said, Thou art the only one who says this.
And he replied to them, If I am the only one who says this, I am still in the right, for I know whence I come and whither I go. Besides, not I alone teach this, but the Father, my spirit, teaches it also. But you do not know him, and so this proves the falseness of your teaching. You do not know whence you come and whither you go. I am leading you, but, instead of following me, you discuss who I am; and so you cannot come to salvation and to life, to which I lead you. And you will perish, if you abide in this error and do not follow me.
And the Jews asked, Who art thou ?
He said, I am not any special man; as a man I am nothing; but, above all, I am what I tell you: I am the way and the truth, — I am the comprehension. And when you make the spirit of the son of man your God, you will know what I am, because what I do and say
is not from me, as a man, but what my Father has taught me.
Only he who keeps the comprehension, who does the will of the Father, can be taught by me. To comprehend the truth, it is necessary to do good. He who does evil loves the darkness and goes toward it; he who does good goes toward the light. And so, in order to understand my teaching, it is necessary to do good. He who will do good will know the truth, and he who will know the truth will be free from evil and from death; for every man who errs becomes the slave of his error.
And as the slave does not always live in the house of his master, while the master’s son is always there, even so a man, who errs in life and becomes the slave of his error, does not live for ever, but dies. Only he who is in the truth lives for ever. But the truth consists in being a son, and not a slave. And so, if you err, you will be slaves, and you will die; but if you abide in the truth, you will be free sons, and will live.
You say of yourselves that you are the children of Abraham, and that you know the truth; and yet you want to kill me, because I tell you the truth. Abraham did not do so. If you wish to do this, — to kill a man, you are not the sons of God the Father, and you do not serve him, but serve your father. You are not with me the sons of the same Father: you are the slaves of error, and its sons. If you had the same Father with me, you would love me, for I, too, come from God. I was not bom of myself, but am also from God. For this reason you do not understand my words, and the comprehension has no place in you. If I am from the Father, and you are from the same Father, you cannot wish to kill me. But since you wish to kill me, we are not of one Father. I am from God, but you are from the devil. You want to do the will of your father: he has always been a murderer and liar, and there is no truth in him. If he, the
devil, says anything, he says his own personal matters, and not what is common to all, and he is the father of lying and error; and so you are the slaves of error, and his children.
You see how easy it is to accuse you of error. If I err, accuse me; but if there is no error, why do you not believe me?
And the Jews began to scold him, and said that he was mad.
He said, I am not mad, but honour my Father, and you want to kill me, the son of the Father; consequently you are not my brothers, but children of another father. Not I affirm that I am right, but the truth speaks for me. And so I repeat to you, He who will grasp and execute my teaching will not see death.
And the Jews said, Do we not tell the truth, when we say that he is a mad Samaritan ? Thou accusest thyself. The prophets are dead ; Abraham is dead, and thou sayest that he who will execute thy teaching will not see death. Abraham is dead, and thou wilt not die! Or art thou greater than Abraham ?
The Jews kept discussing whether he, Jesus of Galilee, was an important prophet or not, and forgot everything which he had said, and that he said nothing of himself as a man, but spoke of the spirit of God which was within him.
And Jesus said, I make nothing of myself. If I spoke of what seems good to me, everything I say would be without meaning; but there is a beginning of all things, which you call God, and of him I speak. You have not known the true God, but I know him. I cannot help saying that I know him. I should be a liar, such as you are, if I said that I did not know him. I know him, and I know his will, and do it. Your father Abraham is holy for this reason only, that he saw my comprehension and rejoiced in it.
The Jews said, Thou art thirty years old; how could you have lived in the days of Abraham ?
He said, Before Abraham was, I was, that I, of whom I have told you, — the compreheusion.
The Jews picked up stones, to stone him, but he went away from them.
I am the light of the world. He who will follow me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. If a man does not see the light, neither his parents, nor he, are to blame; but if he has light, it is his duty to shine for others. While we are in the world, we are the light of the world. If we see men who are deprived of light, we reveal the light to them from the principle which has produced us. And if a man sees the light, he will all be changed so that no one can tell him. A man remains the same man ; hut there is this difference that, having learned that he is a son of God, he receives the light and sees what he never saw before.
A man who did not see the light and has come to see it can say nothing as to whether it is true that he has regained his sight; all he can say is, I am regenerated; I am different from what I was; before this I was blind and did not see the true good, hut now I see it. I do not know how I came to see, but I think that he who revealed the light to me is a man from God.
And no matter how much they may say to a man who has seen the light, that it is not the true light; that he must pray to another God, the one he does not see; that he who gave him the light is mistaken, the man will not believe it. He will say, I know nothing about your God, nor whether the man who opened my eyes was mistaken, or not; but I know that formerly I did not see, and now I see.
And no matter how much you may ask such a man how his eyes were opened, he will tell you the same. They were opened in this way, that I found out that the
beginning of my life is the spirit, and, having learned this, I was regenerated. No matter how much you may say that the law of Moses is the true law of God; that God himself revealed it to Moses; that God communes with the saints, and that he who opened his eyes is a sinner, the man will repeat the one answer, I know nothing about all that, but I know that I was blind, and now I see. And I know that he who opened my eyes is from God. For, if he were not from God, he could not do it.
Such a man trusts only in the spirit of the son of God, which is in him, and that is all he needs.
And Jesus said, The teaching separates men: the blind receive their sight, and those who think that they see become blind. If men do not see the light from their birth, they are not to blame, and they may receive their sight. Only those who affirm that they see, when they see nothing, are to blame indeed.
And the Jews began to dispute. Some said, He is simply mad; and others said, A madman cannot open men’s eyes.
Men abandon themselves to my teaching, not because I prove it to them: it is impossible to prove the truth, but the truth proves everything else. But people abandon themselves to my teaching, because it is one, and familiar to people, and promises them life. My teaching is for people what the familiar voice of the shepherd is for the sheep, when he enters to them by the door, and gathers them, to drive them into the pasture. But nobody believes your teaching, because it is foreign to men, and men see in it your lusts. It is for men what for the sheep is the sight of a man who does not enter by the door, but climbs over the enclosure: the sheep do not know him, and they feel that he is a robber.
My teaching is the only true one, as one door is for the sheep. All your teachings of the law of Moses are a lie, — as the thieves and robbers are lies for the sheep.
He who abandons himself to my teaching will find the true life, just as the sheep will go out and find food, if they follow the shepherd. For a thief comes only to steal, rob, and destroy, while a shepherd comes to feed and give life. And it is only my teaching which promises the true life.
The shepherds are masters, whose lives are formed by the sheep and who give their lives for the sheep; they are true shepherds. But there are hirelings, who do not trouble themselves about the sheep, because they are hirelings, and the sheep are not their own, such as, when a wolf comes, forsake their sheep, and these are not true shepherds. Even so there are untrue teachers, such as have no thought for the life of men, and true teachers, such as give their souls for the life of men. I am such a teacher.
My teaching consists in giving the life for other men. No one takes it from me, but I of my own will give it for men, in order that I may receive the true life. This commandment I received from my Father. And as the Father knows me, so I know the Father, and so I lay my life down for the sake of men. And so the Father loves me, for I fulfil his commandments.
And all men, not only here and now, but all men, will understand my voice and will all come together, and will be one, and the teaching will be one.
And the Jews surrounded him, and said, Everything which thou sayest is hard to understand and does not agree with our Scripture. Do not torment us, but tell us outright, Art thou that Messiah who according to our books is to come into the world ?
And Jesus replied to them, I have already told you who I am. I am what I have told you; but you do not believe my words. Believe my works, — the life in God, which I lead, — you will understand by them who I am, and wherefore I have come. But you do not
believe, for you do not follow me. He who walks in my path and does what I say understands me. And he who understands my teaching and fulfils it will receive the true life. My Father united them with me, and nobody can sever them. I and the Father are one.
And the Jews were offended by this, and laid hold of stones to stone him.
But he said to them, I have shown you much good through my Father, so for what deed do you want to
stone me?
They said, Not for a good deed do we wish to stone thee, but because thou, a man, makest thyself a God.
And Jesus answered them, But the same is said in your Scripture: it says that God himself said to the bad rulers, You are gods. If vicious people were called gods, why should you consider it a blasphemy to call God that which God, loving it, sent into the world ? Every man according to the spirit is a son of God. If I do not live in godly fashion, do not believe that I am a son of God; but if I do, believe according to my life that I am in God. And then you will understand that God is in me, and I am in God, that I and the Father are one.
And Jesus said, My teaching is the awakening of life. He who believes in my teaching retains his life, though he dies carnally. He who lives does not die.
And the Jews did not know what to do with him, and were not able to sentence him.
And he went once more beyond the Jordan, and remained there. And many believed in his teaching, and said that it was as true as John’s teaching. And so many believed in his teaching.
And Jesus once asked his disciples, and said, Tell me how people understand my teaching about the son of God and the son of man.
They said, Some understand it like John’s teaching; others, like the prophecy of Elijah; others again say that
it resembles the teaching of Jeremiah, and take you to be a prophet.
He said, And how do you understand my teaching? And Simon Peter said to him, In my opinion thy teaching consists in this, that thou art the chosen son of God, of life. Thou teachest that God is the life in man.
And Jesus said to him, Happy thou art, Simon, to have understood this. No man could have revealed this to thee, for God within thee has revealed it to thee. Not carnal reflection and not I with my words, but God, my Father, has directly revealed it to thee.

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Chapter VIII end.

THERE IS NO OTHER LIFE
You will be mendicants and vagrants, you will be humbled. But he who loves father or mother, son or daughter, more than me, has not comprehended my teaching. He who is not prepared for all carnal sufferings has not understood me. He who acquires everything which is best for the carnal life will lose the true life. And he who loses the carnal life will receive the true life.
In response to these words Peter said to him, That is true, and we have listened to you, and have given up all cares and all property, and have become vagrants, and have followed thee. What will be our reward ?
Jesus said to them, Thou knowest thyself what thou hast given up; and every man who gives up his family, sisters, brothers, father, mother, wife, children, and property, and follows my teaching of the true good, will he not receive a hundred times more even in this life, now, sisters, and brothers, and fields, and everything which he needs ? and besides, in this life, he receives the life outside of time. But thou art mistaken in supposing that thou wilt get a reward for what thou hast done. There are no rewards in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the aim and the reward. In the kingdom of God all are equal, and there are no first, and no last.
The kingdom of God is like this: A master went out in the morning to hire labourers for the garden. He
hired them at a penny a day, and brought them to the garden, where he set them to work.
And he went out again at noontime, and hired more labourers, and sent them to the garden to work. And he agreed with all of them to give them a penny.
When the time for paying came, the master commanded that all the labourers be paid an equal amount, first those who came last, and then those who came first.
When the first saw that the last were getting a penny each, they thought that they would get more. But the first received but a penny each. And they murmured, and said, How is this ? They have done but one plot, and we have done all four, and yet we are paid the same: this is not fair.
And the master came up, and said, Why do you grumble ? Have I not treated you right ? I have paid to you as much as we agreed upon. Take what belongs to you, and go. If I want to pay the last as much as I have paid you, have I not the right to do so? Or are you envious, because you see that I am good ?
In the kingdom of God there are no first and no last, — all are the same. He who does the will of God and gives up the carnal life has the life of the spirit. And those who fulfil it are in the will of God. Nobody else can bring man nearer to the will of God. The kingdom of God is taken by assault.
One day, two of the disciples, James and John, came up to Jesus, saying, Teacher, promise us that thou wilt do for us what we shall ask thee.
He said, What do you wish ?
They said, We want to be as thou art.
And Jesus said to them, You ask what is not in my power. You can live like me, and be regenerated in spirit like me, but it is not in my power to make you like myself. All men are variously born, and to each a dif-
ferent degree of the comprehension is given, but all may
alike do the will of God and receive life.
When the other disciples heard this, they grew angry at the two brothers, because they wanted to be like the teacher, and the eldest of the disciples.
But Jesus called them up, and said, If you, brothers James and John, asked me to make you like myself, in order to be the leading disciples, you were in error; if you, the other disciples, are angry at them, because these two want to be of greater authority than you, you, too, are in error. Only in the world do they count by kings and rulers, who are of greater authority, to rule the nations; but among you there can be no greater and no smaller. In order that one of you may be greater than another, he must be a servant to all, for the teaching of the son of man consists even in this, that he does not live to be ministered to, but to minister to all, and that we should give up our life as a ransom for the life of the spirit. God the spirit seeks the salvation of him who perishes. God wishes the salvation of men, and rejoices at it, as rejoices the shepherd, when he has found his lost sheep. And when one has been lost, he leaves the ninety-nine, aud goes to save the one which is lost. And if a woman loses a penny, she will sweep her whole house, until she finds it. God loves what perishes and calls it to himself.
And he told them another parable, saying that those who lived in the will of God should not exalt themselves. He said, If thou art called to a dinner, do not seat thyself in the front corner, lest some one more honoured should come, and the host say to thee, Go away from there, and let him sit down who is better than thou; and then thou wilt be put to shame. Rather seat thyself in the lowest place, for then the host will find thee and call thee to the place of honour, and thou wilt be honoured.
Even thus there is no place of pride in the kingdom of
God. He who exalts himself, by that very act abases himself, and he who humbles himself (considers himself unworthy), by that very act raises himself in the kingdom of God.
A man had two sons. The younger one said, Father, give me my portion. And the father gave it to him.
The younger son took his portion and went to a foreign country, where he squandered his possessions, and fell into misery. And he became a swineherd in that foreign land. And he suffered so much hunger that he ate the acorns with the swine. And one day he reflected on his life, and said to himself, Why did I leave my father’s house? my father has plenty of everything. At my father’s the labourers get their fill to eat, while I eat the same food as the swine. I will go to my father, fall down before his feet, and say, Father, I have sinned before thee; I am not worthy of being thy son, so take me as a labourer.
So he thought, and went to his father. And as he was coming near to the house, and his father saw him in the distance, he ran to meet his son, and embraced him, and began to kiss him.
And the son said, Father, I have sinned before thee, I am not worthy of being thy son.
But the father would not listen to him, and said to the servants, Go and bring at once the best raiment, and the best shoes, and dress him. And run and catch the fatted calf and kill it: we shall rejoice, because this son of mine was dead, and has been made alive. He was lost, and now he has been found.
The elder brother was returning from the field, and as he came near the house he heard them singing at home. He called up a boy, and asked him, What merriment is this in our house ?
And the boy said, Hast thou not heard ? Thy brother has returned, and thy father is rejoicing, and has com-
manded that the fatted calf be killed, to make merry at the return of his son.
The elder brother was angry, and did not go into the house. But the father came out to him, and called him.
Father, I have worked for thee these many years, and have not disobeyed thee, but thou hast never killed a calf for me. My younger brother left the house and spent all his portion with drunkards, and thou hast ordered the fatted calf to be killed for him.
And the father said, Thou art always with me, and everything I have is thine. How can I help lejoicing, since thy brother was dead, and has come to life; be was lost, and has been found.
Even thus your Father in heaven does not want a single man, not even the least worthy, to be lost, but wants him to live.
The life of men, who do not understand that they are not living in this world that they may eat and drink and make merry, but that they may all their life work for God, is like this: a master planted a garden, got it into good shape, and did everything that it might bring forth fruits. And he sent labourers into the garden, to work, to gather the fruits, and to pay him for the garden according to the agreement.
This master is God, the garden is the world. The labourers are men. God created the world and sent men into it that they might give to God what is God’s, the comprehension of life, which he has placed in them. The time came, and the master sent his servant to collect the rent. God is in the souls of men, continually speaking to them of what they ought to do for him, and continually calling them.
The labourers drove away the messenger of the master without anything, and continued to live, imagining that it was their own garden, and that they were settled in it for their own sakes. Men have driven away the admoni-
tion of the will of God, and continue to live, imagining that they are living for themselves, for the pleasures of the carnal life.
Then the master sent more of his favourites, and his son, to remind the labourers of their duty. But the labourers entirely lost their reason and imagined that if they killed the master’s son, who reminded them of the fact that the garden was not theirs, they would be left in peace, and so they killed him. Men do not like to be reminded of the spirit which dwells within them and shows them that it is eternal, while they are not, and they have killed, as much as they could, the consciousness of the spirit, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and hid in the ground the talent which was given to them.
What was the master to do ? Only this, to drive the labourers away, and to send others in their place. What is God to do ? To sow while there is any fruit. And this he does. Men have not comprehended that the consciousness of the spirit, which is in them, and which they are hiding, because it interferes with them, is the very comprehension which is the foundation of life. They reject the very stone by which everything is supported. And those who will not take the spirit as the foundation of life, do not enter into the kingdom of God and do not receive life. In order to receive life and the kingdom of God, a man must remember his situation, not wait for rewards, but feel himself under obligations.
Then the disciples said to Jesus, Increase our faith. Tell us something which will make us believe more firmly in the life of the spirit so that we may not regret the life of the flesh. See how much we must give away, and it is necessary to give up everything for the life of the spirit. And thou sayest thyself that there is no reward.
And to this Jesus replied, If your faith were as strong as is your faith that out of a birch seed there will grow up a large tree, you would believe that within you there
is the only germ of the life of the spirit, out of which grows the true life. Faith does not consist in believing in something miraculous, but in understanding our condition and that in which our salvation is. If thou under-standest thy condition, thou wilt not be waiting for rewards, but wilt work to retain what has been given thee. If thou comest from the field with thy labourer, thou wilt not seat him at the table, but wilt command him to put away the cattle and get thy supper ready, and only then wilt thou say to him, Eat and drink. Thou dost not thank the labourer for doing his duty. And the labourer is not offended, but works and waits for his due.
Even thus do what is right, and think that you are worthless labourers, and have done only what was right, and wait for no reward. The care ought to be, not about receiving the reward, but about not being a guilty and bad labourer. We must not have a thought for this, that we believe that there will be a reward and that there will be life, — this cannot be otherwise; but we must have a thought for this, that we may not lose this life, and that we may not forget that it is given to us, that we may bring forth its fruits and do the will of God. We must not think of what we have accomplished, and that a reward is coming to us.
Only then will you understand that there is a kingdom of God, of which I tell you, and that this kingdom of God is the only salvation from death, and will not appear in such a way as to be visible. Of the kingdom of God which saves from death we cannot say, Here it has come, or, It will come ; Here it is, or, There it is. It is within you, in your soul: and so, if the time ever comes that you wish to find salvation in life, you will be searching for it in some time, and you will not find it. And if they tell you, Salvation is here, salvation is there, do not seek this salvation anywhere but within you; for salva-
tion is like lightning, sudden, and for it there is no time, and there is no death, — it is within you.
And as was salvation for Noah, and as it was for Lot, such it always is for the son of man. Life remains the same for all men : all eat, drink, marry, but when the flood comes, and the rain from heaven, when carnal death comes, some perish, and others are saved. When the kingdom of God within you shall come, each one of you will no longer think of the carnal; and do not look around, like Lot’s wife. It is impossible for you to plough, if you look back. Remember only the present.
Then the disciples asked how they could tell that the day of salvation had come and that we had attained eternal life.
And Jesus replied to them, Nobody can know when and where this is going to happen to man. It is impossible to show and prove it. The one thing which we can know is that, when this takes place in you, you will feel the true life. What will happen to you, is what happens to a tree in the spring: it was dead, and now you see the branches growing soft, and the buds filling up, and the leaves growing. It is this that you will feel in yourselves. You will feel in yourselves life which proceeds from you. When you feel this, you may know that the kingdom of God and the day of salvation are near. Consequently, have no thought for the carnal life. Seek only to he in th6 will of God, — everything else will come of itself.
And he said that it was necessary to wish for this one thing only, and not to lose courage.
And the disciples said, Teach us to pray.
And he said, Your prayer shall be this only: Father, thy spirit be holy in us, thy will be in us. Let us feed on the carnal life for the life of the spirit. Do not importune us, asking for what we owe thee, as we will not importune those who are indebted to us. Have no accounting with us.
If a son asks his father for bread, his father will certainly not give him a stone; nor will he give him a snake instead of a fish. If we, evil men, give to our children what is good, and not what is bad for them; how then will our Father, from whom we come, the Father of the spirit, refuse us that spirit, for which alone we ask him ? Not ouly no father, but no stranger can refuse another, when he is persistently asked to give him a thing. If thou goest at midnight to thy neighbour to ask him for bread, in order to entertain thy guest, thou knowest that, if not out of friendship, certainly out of shame, he will give thee what thou wantest, if thou askest him persistently. If thou wilt ask, thou wilt receive; if thou wilt knock, it will be opened to thee. Certainly you cannot expect God to give you of the spirit, which saves from death, if you do not seek, and ask him.
And Jesus said, There was an evil judge, who feared neither God nor men. And a poor widow begged him, but he would not pass judgment. And the widow clung to the judge day and night, begging him all the time. And the judge said, What can I do ? I will settle the case as the widow wants me to, or else she will give me no rest.
Consider this, that, though the judge was unrighteous, he did it. How then will God refuse to do what they pray to him for day and night ? If there is God, he will do it. If there is no God, and instead of God there is an unrighteous judge, there is still the son of man, who is seeking truth, and we cannot help but believe in him. Seek the kingdom of God and his truth at all times, in every place, and all else will come of itself. Do not trouble yourselves about the future, and try only to avoid the present evil.
Be always ready, like servants waiting for the master, to open the door, the moment he comes. The servants do not know when he will return, whether early or late, and must always be ready. And if they meet the master and have done his will, they fare welL The same is in life: always, at every minute of the present, we must live the life of the spirit, without thinking of the past and the future, and without saying to ourselves, I will do this or that at such and such a time. If the master knew when the thief would come, he would not sleep; even thus you must not sleep, because for the son of man there is no time: he lives only in the present, and does not know when the beginning and the end of his life are. Our life is like the life of a slave whom the master left as a watchman in his house. Happy is the slave who always does the will of his master. But if he says, My master will not come back immediately, and forgets his master’s business, the master will return unawares, and will drive him away. And so do not lose your courage, but always live in the spirit in the present. For life there is no time.
Look after yourselves, lest you burden and bedim yourselves with too much eating and drinking and with cares, and lose the time of salvation. The time of salvation is thrown over you like a snare, — it is always here. And so always live the life of the son of man.
The kingdom of heaven is like this: Ten maidens went out with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, and five foolish. The foolish girls took the lamps, but forgot the oil, while the wise maidens took both the lamps and a supply of oil. As they were waiting for the bridegroom, they fell asleep.
When the bridegroom came near, the foolish maidens saw that they did not have enough oil; they begged the wise girls for some and went to buy it; while they were gone, the bridegroom came, and the wise maidens, who had oil, went in with him, and the doors were closed. The only reason the maidens had to go out was to meet the bridegroom with their lamps, and they had forgotten that what was important was that the lamps should burn at the proper time. But that they should burn then, it was necessary for them to have burned all the time. Life is given only for the purpose of exalting the son of man, and the son of man is always; he is not in time, and so we must serve him outside of time, in the present only. And so make an effort, do works, that you may enter into the life of the spirit; if you make no effort, you will not enter into it.
You will say, We have said this and that, but you will not do good deeds, and so there will not be the whole life: for the son of man in his power will give to each what he has done.
Men are all divided according to their manner of serving the son of man. By their works they are divided into two classes, as a flock of sheep is separated from the goats. Some will live, and others will die. Those who have served the son of man will receive what belonged to them from the beginning of the world, — the life which they have preserved. But they have preserved their life by serving the son of man: they have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, received the stranger, visited the prisoner. Some have lived the life of the son of man, feeling that he is one in all men, and so loved him. He is one in all. But those who have not lived the life of the son of man did not serve him and did not understand that he is one in all, and so they have not united with him, and have lost the life in him, and perished.

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Chapter IX end.

MAN LIVES THE LTFE OF THE SPIRIT IN THE
FLESH
If a man lives for the flesh, he perishes, like all flesh. If he lives in the spirit, he acquires the true life, but the flesh offends him.
Beware of offences. For it is better that one of thy members should perish than that the whole body be lost. It is better to be deprived of a momentary joy than of the true life. The true life is given to us, and we all know it, but the deception of the flesh ensnares us.
One day they brought children to Jesus, that they might be with him. But the disciples drove the children away, saying, What is our teacher to do with the silly children ?
Jesus saw that they had no respect for the children and drove them away, and he was grieved at the disciples, and said, You have no reason to drive these children away, — they are the best of people, for they all live in the will of God. They are certainly already in the kingdom of God. You must not drive them, but learn from them, for, in order that you may live in the will of God, you must live like children. Children always execute the five rules, which I have given you: children do not scold, do not harbour evil against men, do not commit adultery, do not swear, do not resist evil, do not litigate, do not know the difference between their own nation and another, and do not wage war. Children execute the five rules, and so they are better than grown people and are in the kingdom of God.
If you will not abandon all the deceptions of the flesh and will not become like children, you will not be in the kingdom of God.
Only he who understands that the children are better than we, because they do not break the law of God, comprehends my teaching. Only he who understands my teaching understands God.
We cannot despise the children, for they are better than we, and their souls are pure before God, and are always with God. They are all good. And not one child perishes through the will of God; they all perish through men, who entice them away from the truth.
And so we must guard them, and not entice them away from the Father and from the life of truth. And badly acts the man who entices them away from purity. To entice a child away from what is good, to offend him with anger, adultery, oaths, courts, war, is as bad as hanging a millstone around his neck and throwing him into the water: he will hardly swim out, but will rather be drowned. Even so it is hard for a child to get away from an offence into which a man has led him.
The world is unfortunate only through offences. Offences have always been in the world and always will be, and a man perishes through offences.
And so give everything away, sacrifice everything, if only you can keep out of offences. When a fox falls into a trap, he wrenches off his leg and runs away, and lives. Even so must you do: give everything away, so long as you can get away from an offence. Offences are put up against all five rules, and you must guard yourselves against all of them.
Beware then! Here is the offence against the first rule, Be not angry.
Do not ask how many times thou shalt forgive thy brother; do not imagine that thou must forgive him seven times, and mayest wreak vengeance after that. Forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven, and then forgive again.
For the kingdom of God may be likened to this: A king was settling his accounts with the proprietors. And they brought to him one who owed him a million dollars. And he could not pay what he owed. And the king would have sold his estate, his wife, his children, and himself; but the proprietor began to beg the king’s mercy, and the king had mercy on him, and forgave him his whole debt.
This proprietor went home and saw a peasant who owed him fifty cents. The proprietor took hold of him,
began to choke him, and said, Give me what thou owest me. And the peasant fell down at his feet, and said, Have patience with me, and I will give thee all But the proprietor did not have mercy on him, hut put him in prison, to let him stay there until he paid all he owed.
When the peasants saw this, they went to the king, and told him what the proprietor had done. Then the king called the proprietor, and said to him, Thou dog, I forgave thee the whole rental, because thou didst beg me, so thou oughtest to have forgiven thy debtor, because I forgave thee. And the king grew angry and turned the proprietor over to be tormented, till he should pay what he owed.
Even so God the Father will do with you, if you will not forgive with all your heart those who are guilty toward you.
When a man offends thee, remember that he is the son of the same God the Father, and a brother of thine. If he has offended thee, go and admonish him face to face. If he listens to thee, thou art the gainer, for thou wilt have a new brother.
If he does not listen to thee, admonish him, and call two or three with thee to admonish him. If he does not listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if he does not listen to the assembly, then he will be as a stranger to thee: forgive him, and have nothing to do with him.
Thou knowest that if a quarrel is taken up with a man it is better to make peace with him without letting it come before the courts. Thou knowest this, and dost so, because thou knowest that if it comes to litigating, thou wilt lose more. The same is true of any quarrel: if thou knowest that it is bad and that it will remove thee from God, then get rid of the evil at once and make thy peace, as long as he has not yet left, with whom the evil was started.
You know yourselves that as it is started on earth, so will it be before God; and if you loose it on earth, you will be loosed in heaven.
Again you must understand that if two or three have agreed in everything on earth, they will receive from their Father everything for which they shall ask. For where two or three are united by my teaching, they execute my
teaching.
Beware 1 Here is the offence against the second rule,
Do not commit adultery.
One day self-styled pastors went up to Jesus and, tempting him, said, May a man leave his wife ?
But he said, Man was created male and female from the beginning, — this is a natural law. And so a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and man and wife unite into one. Consequently a man must not break the natural, divine law, and separate what is united. But if according to your law of Moses it is permitted to send away a wife, this is untrue, for according to the natural law it is not so. And I tell you that he who sends away his wife drives into debauch both her and him who takes her up.
And the disciples said to Jesus, If it is necessary to keep the same wife which a man has once taken to himself, and never to abandon her, that is so difficult to do that it is better not to marry at all.
He said to them, You may not marry, but you must understand what it means. If a man wants to live without a wife, he must be pure and not touch a woman. There are such people who have no use for women ; but if a man loves women, let him bind himself to one woman, and keep her all the time, and have nothing to do with other women.
Beware! Here is the offence against the third rule, Make no promises to any one about anything.
Your self-styled pastors travel about everywhere and cause the people to swear that they will be true to the
law and the authorities, but they only subvert them in this manner. It is impossible to promise your body for your soul, for in your soul is God, and men cannot make promises to men for God.
And one day the tax-collectors went up to Peter, and asked him, Well, does your teacher not pay his taxes ?
Peter said, No, he does not pay, and he went and told Jesus that he had been stopped and told that all must pay their taxes.
Then Jesus said to him, A king does not receive tribute from his sons, and they have to pay no one but the king. Even so it is with us. If we are the children of God, we are under no obligations to any one but God, and are free before everybody. We are not bound by anything, but if they ask thee to pay taxes, give them to them, not because thou art obliged to, but because thou shouldst not resist evil. And if they want to take thy cloak away, give them also thy coat
At another time the pastors came together with the officers of the king, and went to Jesus, trying to catch him with words.
They said to him, Thou teachest in truth, so tell us whether we are obliged to pay tribute to Caesar or not.
Jesus saw that they wanted to condemn him for opposing himself to the oath to Caesar. He said to them, Show me that with which you pay tribute to Caesar.
They showed him a coin. He looked at the coin, and said, What is this ? Whose image and superscription ?
They said, Caesar’s.
And then he said, If so, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but what is God’s, your soul, do not give to any one but God. Money, property, your labour, everything give to him who will ask you for it, but do not give your soul to any one but God. And make no promises to any one, for you are all in the power of God, and your soul give to God alone.
Beware! Here is the offence against the fourth rule,
Do not judge, and be not judged.
One day the disciples of Jesus entered a village and begged permission to stay overnight. They were not allowed to remain. Then the disciples came to Jesus to complain about it, and they said, May they, be killed by lightning.
Jesus said, Still you do not understand of what spirit you are. I do not teach how to destroy, but how to save people.
One day they brought a woman to Jesus, and said, This woman was caught in adultery. According to the law she ought to be stoned to death. What dost thou say ?
Jesus made no reply, and waited for them to change their minds. But they stuck to him, and asked how he would judge this woman.
Then he said, He who among you is without error, let him cast the first stone at her. Then the Pharisees looked at each other, and their conscience smote them, and those who were in front stepped behind the others, and all went away.
And Jesus was left alone with the woman. He looked up, and saw that no one was there. Well, he said, Has
no one accused thee ?
She said, No one.
And he said, Neither can I accuse thee. Go, and err no more.
No matter how clear, how bad the case is, there is no one who can accuse a man of it. Only he who has not erred can accuse, but accusing is already an error.
Once there came a man to Jesus, who said, Order my brother to give me my inheritance.
Jesus said to him, No one has made me a judge over you, and I do not sit in judgment over any one. Neither can you judge any one.
Beware ! Here is the offence against the fifth rule, There are no different nations; all men are brothers, children of one God the Father.
A lawyer wanted to offend Jesus, and said, What must I do, in order that 1 may obtain the true life ?
Jesus said, Thou knowest what: love God thy Father and thy brother, no matter what his nationality may be.
And the lawyer said, This would be well, if there were no different nations, for how can I love the enemy of my nation ?
And Jesus said, There was a Jew who fell into misfortune : he was beaten, robbed, and thrown out into the road. A Jewish priest passed by, and he looked at the beaten man, and went his way. Then a Levite passed by, and he looked at him, and went his way. Then a man of a hostile nation, a Samaritan, passed by. This Samaritan saw the Jew, and he did not consider this, that the Jews had no regard for the Samaritans, hut had pity on the Jew who was beaten. He washed his wounds and dressed them, and took him on his ass to an inn, and paid the innkeeper for him, and promised to come later and pay more. Even so treat foreigners, those who have no regard for you and destroy you, and then you will get the true life.
Jesus said, The world loves its own, but despises the things that are of God, and so the people of the world, priests and scribes, will torment those who keep the law of God. And I, too, am going to Jerusalem, and shall be tormented and killed, but my spirit cannot be killed,— it will live.
When Peter heard that Jesus would be tormented and killed in Jerusalem, he was grieved. He took the hand of Jesus, and said to him, If this is so, thou hadst better not go to Jerusalem.
Then Jesus said to Peter, Do not say this. What thou sayest is an offence. H thou art afraid for me, lest I
should be tortured and killed, that means that thou art thinking of human, and not of divine things.
He who lives by the light of the comprehension can have no evil befall him, for he is always in the light; evil can befall only him who comes out of the light of truth into the darkness of the offence of the flesh.
And calling up the people with his disciples, Jesus said, He who wants to live according to my teaching must renounce his carnal life; let him be ready for all carnal sufferings, for he who is afraid for his carnal life will lose his true life, and he who neglects the carnal life will save the true life.
And again he told them that when they kill a man who lives by the comprehension, the comprehension does not die, but will live.
And they did not understand it. And the Sadducees came up, and he explained to all what was meant by the true life in God, and by the rising from the dead. The Sadducees said that after the carnal death there was no life. They said, How cau all rise from the dead ? If they did rise, they could not all live together. For example, we had seven brothers. The first married and died. His wife married the second brother, and he died; and she married the third, and so on, until the seventh. How are the seven brothers going to live with one wife, if they shall all rise from the dead ?
Jesus said to them, You purposely mix up matters, and do not comprehend what the life after death is. In this life people marry and are given in marriage; but those who will earn the life after the carnal death will not marry and be given in marriage, for they do not have to continue life in others: they themselves do not die, for they unite with God, having become his children.
In your Scripture it says that God said, I am the God of Abraham and Jacob. And this God said when Abraham and Jacob were already dead for men. Con-
sequently, those who are dead for men are alive for God. If there is a God, and God does not die, those who are with God are always alive. The reestablishment from death is the life in God. The life in God is the fulfilment of the will of God in the carnal life. He who fulfils the will of God unites with God. For God there is no time, and so, in uniting with God, man passes out of time, consequently out of death.
When the pastors heard this, they did not know what to invent in order that they might silence him, and so united with the laymen and began together with them to tempt him.
And one of them, a pastor, said, Teacher, which, in thy opinion, is the chief commandment in the whole law ?
The pastors thought that Jesus would get caught in the answer according to the law.
But Jesus said, the chief commandment is to love the Lord our God, in whose power we are, with all our soul, and another follows from it: to love our neighbour, for in him is the same Lord. In these two commandments is contained everything which is written in all your books.
And Jesus said again, Who, in your opinion, is Christ? Is he anybody’s son ?
They said that according to them Christ was the son of David.
Then he said to them, How, then, does David call Christ his master ? Christ is not the son of David, nor the son of anybody else, except the same Lord our master, whom we know within us, as our life. Christ is that comprehension which is in us.
After that they asked him no more questions.
And Jesus said, Beware of the leaven of the self-styled pastors. Beware also of the leaven of the worldly, and of the leaven of the royalty. But, above everything, beware of the leaven of the self-styled pastors, for that is deception.
When the people understood whereof he spoke, he said, Above all, beware of the teaching of the learned self-styled pastors. Beware of them, for they have usurped the place of the prophet who announces the will of God to the people. They have usurped the power to preach the will of God to the people. They preach words, and do nothing. And it turns out that they say, Do this and that, but there is nothing to do, for they do not do anything good, and only talk. And they talk of what cannot be done, but themselves do nothing. All they care to do is to retain the right of their teachership, and so they try to distinguish themselves: they dress up and want to receive honours. And so know that no one ought to call himself teacher and pastor. None but our Lord is a teacher and pastor. But the pastors call themselves teachers, and thus prevent our entering the kingdom of God, and themselves do not enter into it.
These pastors think that it is possible to lead to God by external ceremonies, by oaths, and, like blind people, they do not see that the external things do not mean anything, that everything is in the soul of man. They do those external things which are easiest, but what is necessary and difficult, — love, compassion, truth, — they leave out. All they care for is to be externally in the law, and to lead others externally to the law. And so they are like whited sepulchres, apparently clean without, but an abomination within. Externally they honour the holy martyrs, but in fact they are those who torture and kill the saints.
They have always been the enemies of what is good. From them proceeds all the evil in the world, for they conceal the good, and instead of the good bring forward the bad. Most of all fear these self-styled pastors. For you know yourselves that any mistake may be corrected; but if men err in what is good, such a mistake can no longer be corrected. And it is this that the self-styled pastors do.
And Jesus said, I wanted here, in Jerusalem, to unite all men into one comprehension of the true good, but the teachers of this city know only how to kill the teachers of good. And so they remain the same godless people that they were, and do not know God, unless, loving, they accept the comprehension of God.
And Jesus went away from the temple. Then his disciples said to him, What about this temple of God with all its adornments, which men have brought as an offering for God ?
And Jesus said, Truly I tell you that this whole temple with all its adornments will be destroyed, and nothing will be left. There is one temple of God, — the hearts of men, when they love one another.
And they asked him, When will this temple be ?
And Jesus said to them, It will not be soon. Many people will deceive through my teaching, and there will be wars and disturbances on account of it. And there will be great lawlessness, and little love. But when the true teaching shall be disseminated among all men, there will be an end to evil and to offences.

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Chapter X end.

THE STRUGGLE WITH THE OFFENCES
After this the pastors, the chief priests, sought with all their might to get at Jesus, so as to destroy him. They assembled in a council, and began to judge; they said, We must in some way put a stop to this man; he proves his teaching in such a way that, if we let him alone, all will believe in him and will abandon our faith. Even now half of the nation is believing in him. And if people will believe in his teaching, that man, the son of God, is not obliged to obey any one, that all nations are brothers, that there is nothing special in our Jewish nation which distinguishes us from the other nations, then the Romans will completely vanquish us, and will destroy all our laws and our whole faith, and there will no longer be any Jewish kingdom.
And the pastors, chief priests, and learned men took counsel for a long time, and could not devise what to do with him, for they could not make up their mind to kill him.
Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest during that year, devised this: he said to them, We must remember that it is advantageous to kill one man, in order that a whole nation should not perish. If we let this man alone, the nation will perish, — this I prophesy to you, — and so it is best to kill Jesus. Even if the people will not perish, they will scatter and will abandon the one faith, if we do not kill Jesus, and so it is best to kill him.
When Caiaphas said this, all decided that there was nothing to reflect on, and that they ought by all means to kill Jesus. They would have taken him at once and killed him, but he hid from them in the wilderness.
But at this time the feast of the passover was at hand,
and many people used to gather in Jerusalem for the feast. And the pastors, the bishops, counted on this, that Jesus would come to the feast with the people. And so they announced to the people that if they saw Jesus they should bring him to them.
And, indeed, six days before the passover Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go to Jerusalem; and he went with them.
And the disciples said to him, Do not go to Jerusalem.
And Jesus said to them, I cannot fear anything, for I am living in the light of the comprehension. And as any man can walk in daytime, and not at night, that he may not stumble, so any man may live by the comprehension, that he may not doubt or fear anything. Only he doubts and fears who lives in the flesh; but for him who lives in the comprehension there is nothing doubtful or terrible.
And Jesus came into the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem, to Martha and Mary, and the sisters prepared a supper for him. And as they sat at supper, Martha served them, and Mary took a pound of costly, precious, perfumed oil, and rubbed Jesus’ feet with it, and wiped them with her hair. And when the odour of the oil spread in the room, Judas Iscariot said, In vain has Mary wasted this oil. It would have been better if the oil had been sold for three hundred pieces, and the money given to the poor.
But Jesus said, You will have the poor with you, but me you will soon not have. She did well, for she has prepared my body for burial.
In the morning Jesus went to Jerusalem. There was a great multitude there for the feast. And when they saw Jesus they surrounded him, and broke off branches from the trees, and threw their garments on the road, and cried, Here he is, our true king, who has taught us about the true God. Jesus sat down on a young ass and rode
on it, and the people ran before him, crying. And thus Jesus rode into Jerusalem. And when he entered into the city, all the people were agitated, and asked, Who is he? And those who knew him said, It is Jesus, the prophet out of Nazareth of Galilee.
And Jesus entered the temple, and again drove all the buyers and sellers out of it.
And the pastors, the bishops, saw all this, and said among themselves, See what this man is doing. All the people are following after him.
But they did not dare to take him away from the people, for they saw that the people clung to him, and they devised how they might take him by stratagem.
In the meantime Jesus was in the temple, teaching the people. Among the people there were not only Jews, but also pagan Greeks. The Greeks had heard of Jesus’ teaching and understood that he was not teaching the truth to the Jews alone, but to all men, and so they wanted also to be his disciples; and they told so Philip, and Philip told Andrew. The disciples were afraid of bringing Jesus and the Greeks together. They were afraid that the people would be angered, because he did not recognize any difference between the Jews and the other nations, and so they could not for a long time make up their mind to tell Jesus so.
When Jesus heard that the Greeks wished to be his disciples, he said, I know that the people hate me, because I make no difference between Jews and Gentiles and because I recognize myself to be just like a Gentile; but now the time has come when the teaching of the son of God has to be recognized among all men. And if I perish for this, I must tell the truth. A grain of wheat brings fruit only when it perishes. He who is afraid for his carnal life loses the true life, and he who despises the carnal life will make this temporal life true, not in time, but in God.
And turning to Andrew and to Philip, he said, He who wants to serve my teaching, let him do the same as I. And he who does as I do, will be loved by my Father. Now it will be decided whether my life will be carnal or spiritual. Now, when that toward which I have been walking has come, shall I say, Father, free me from what I ought to do ? I cannot say this, for I have been walking toward it. And so I say, Father, manifest thyself in me.
And, turning to the whole people, Jesus said, In the present alone is the power of the spirit over the flesh; in the present alone is the power of flesh vanquished. And if I lift myself up above the earthly life, I shall draw all toward me.
And they said to him, According to the law, we have heard, Christ is something especial and definite, which remains always the same, so how dost thou say that thou, Christ, wilt be lifted up as the son of man ? What is meant by lifting up the son of man ?
To this Jesus replied, To lift up the son of man means to live by that light of the comprehension which is within you; to lift up the sou of man above what is of earth means to believe in the light of the comprehension, while there is this light, in order to be the son of the comprehension. He who believes in my teaching does not believe me, but the spirit which gave life to the world. He who understands my teaching, understands the spirit which gave the light to the world. My teaching is the same light of life which has brought men out of the darkness. And if one hears my words and does not fulfil them, I do not condemn him, for my teaching does not condemn, but saves. He who does not receive my words is not condemned by my teaching, but by the comprehension which is in him. It is this which condemns him. For I did not speak my own words, but what my Father, the spirit which is within me, has inspired. What I speak is what the spirit of the comprehension has told me. And what I teach is the true life.
Having said this, Jesus went away, and again concealed
himself from the chief priests.
Among those who heard the words of Jesus there were many powerful aud rich men who believed in his teaching, but were afraid to acknowledge it before the chief priests, for not one chief priest acknowledged that he believed, for they judged in human, and not in divine fashion.
After Jesus had again concealed himself, the chief priests and the elders again met in the yard of Caiaphas and counselled how they might secretly seize Jesus and kill him. They were afraid to seize him publicly. And there came to counsel with them one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, who said, If you wish to seize Jesus secretly, so that the people may not see him, I shall find a time when there will be but a few with him, and will show you where he is, and then you can seize him. What will you give me for it ? They promised him thirty dollars. He agreed to it, and after that tried to find a time to take the chief priests to Jesus, in order that they might seize him.
In the meantime Jesus concealed himself from the people, and only his disciples were with him. When the first day of the feast of the unleavened bread came around, the disciples said to Jesus, Where shall we celebrate the passover?
Jesus said to them, Go to some person in the village and tell him that we have no time to prepare the pass-over, and ask him to allow us to take the passover with him.
And so the disciples did. They asked the permission of a man in the village, and he let them in.
And they came and seated themselves at the table. Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot had already promised to
betray him to death; but be did not accuse Judas, or avenge himself on him; as he had taught love to his disciples all his life, so he rebuked Judas in love even now.
When all twelve of them were seated at the table, he looked at them, and said, Among you sits he who has betrayed me. Yes, he who drinks and eats with me will cause my destruction.
And so they did not find out of whom he was speaking, and began to eat the supper. As they were getting ready to eat, Jesus took a loaf, broke it into twelve parts, and gave each disciple a piece, saying, Take it, and eat it. He who is betraying me, if he eats this piece, will be eating my body.
Then he filled a cup with wine, and offered it to his disciples, saying, Drink you all out of this cup.
And when they had all drunk, he said, He who is betraying me has drunk my blood. I will shed my blood that men may know my testament, — to forgive others their sins. For I shall soon die and shall no longer be with you in the world, and shall unite with you only in God.
After this Jesus arose from the table, girded himself with a towel, took a pitcher of water, and began to wash the feet of all the disciples.
When he came up to Peter, Peter said, Art thou really going to wash my feet ?
Jesus said to him, Thou thinkest it strange that I am washing thy feet; but thou wilt soon learn why I do it. I do it because not all of you are clean, and because among you is my betrayer, whose feet I want to wash also.
And when Jesus had washed the feet of all of them, he sat down again, and said, Do you understand why I did it? I did it, that you may do likewise to one another. If I, your teacher, do it, you certainly must
serve all and not hate any one. If you know this you are blessed. I am not speaking of all of you, for one of you, whose feet I have washed, and who has eaten bread with me, will betray me. Having said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and confirmed that one of them would betray him. And again did the disciples look at each other, but they did not know of whom he was speaking. One of the disciples was sitting near Jesus, and Simon Peter beckoned to him to ask him who the traitor was. He asked him.
Jesus said, I will dip a piece, and he to whom I will give it is the traitor. And he gave it to Judas Iscariot, saying to him, Whatever thou wilt do, do it at once; and Judas understood that he ought to go away, and when he took the piece, he went away at once, and it was not possible to run after him, for it was night.
When Judas was gone, Jesus said, Now it is clear to you what the son of man is; now it is clear to you that God is in him, that he can forgive his enemies and do good. Children! I have but a little while to stay with you. Do not philosophize on my teaching, as I have told the pastors, but do what I do. I give you one new commandment: As I have loved you and Judas the traitor, so you love one another. Only thus shall you be distinguished: be distinguished from other men in that you love one another.
After this they went to the mount of Olives. On the way Jesus said to them, Now the time comes when that will happen which is said in the Scripture, that the shepherd will' be killed, and the sheep will scatter. And thi3 will happen this very night: I shall be taken, and all of you will abandon me and run away.
And in reply Peter said to him, Even if all are frightened and run away, I will not deny thee. I am prepared to die with thee.
And Jesus said to him, But I tell thee that this very
night, before cockcrow, when they will take me, thou wilt deny me, not once, but thrice.
But Peter said that he would not, and the disciples said the same.
And then, seeing that the disciples were with him, Jesus was tempted. He felt sorry, because they wanted to kill him without cause. And he said to his disciples, At first neither you nor I needed anything. You went without a scrip and without reserve footgear, and I commanded you to do so; but now, since they regard me as an outlaw, it can no longer be so, and you must provide yourselves with everything and with knives, lest you be destroyed without cause.
And the disciples said, We have two knives.
And Jesus said, Very well.
And they went beyond the river Cedron, where there was a garden, and entered that garden.
And Jesus said to his disciples, I am weakened, and I must pray. Be with me.
And he seated Peter and the sons of Zebedee near him, and began to groan and feel sorrowful, because he had fallen into an offence and wanted to struggle against eviL
He said, I am pained and grieved. Help me, rise in spirit together with me.
And he knelt down and prayed.
He said, My Father, spirit, thou art free: strengthen me that the offence of struggle may leave me; that everything may be as thou wishest, and not as I wish it, and that I may unite with thy will.
The disciples were not praying and were dispirited, and Jesus rebuked them, and said, Pray; be strong in spirit, lest you fall into the temptation of timidity or struggle. There is strength in the soul, but the body is powerless.
And he began to pray a second time, saying, Father, spirit, let everything be as thou wilt.
And again the disciples did not pray with him, but
were dejected And he prayed for a third time in the same way, and then, when he was strengthened in spirit, he said to his disciples, Now I shall soon be given into the hands of worldly men.

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Chapter XI end.

THE FAREWELL DISCOURSE
The personal life is a deception of the flesh. The true life is the life which is common to all men.
When Jesus, feeling himself prepared for death, went out, in order to deliver himself, Peter stopped him and asked him whither he was going. Jesus replied, I go whither thou canst not follow me. 1 am prepared for death, but thou art not yet prepared for it. Peter said, Nay, I am even now prepared to give my life for thee. Jesus replied, A man can make no promises. And he said to all the disciples, I know that death awaits me, but I believe in the life of the Father, and so am not afraid of it. Let not my death agitate you, but believe in the true God and in the Father of life, and then my death will not appear terrible to you. If I am united with the Father of life, I cannot be deprived of life. It is true, I do not tell you what and when and where my life after death will be, but I point out to you the way to the true life. My teaching does not say what kind of a life it is going to be, but it reveals the only true way of life. It consists in this, that we should unite with the Father, for the Father is the principle of life. My teaching is this, that we should live in the will of the Father and do his will for the life and good of all men. Your teacher after me will be your recognition of the truth.
By keeping my teaching, you will always feel that you have the truth, that the Father is in you and you are in the Father. And by recognizing the Father of life in you, you will experience that peace which nothing will take away from you. And so, if you know the truth and live in it, neither my death, nor yours can trouble you. Men imagine themselves as separate beings, each with his own will of life, but that is only a deception. The only true life is the one which recognizes the will of the Father as the principle of life. My teaching reveals this unity of life and represents life not as separate shoots, but as one tree, on which all the shoots grow. Only he lives who lives in the will of the Father, as a shoot on a tree; but he who wants to live by his own will, like a shoot broken off, dies. If you will live in the will of the Father, you will have everything you wish, for life is given to man for the good. The Father has given me life for the good, and I have taught you to live for the good. If you will fulfil my commandments you will be blessed. The commandment which expresses my whole teaching is only this, that we should love one another. But love consists in sacrificing our carnal life for another. There is no other definition of love. By keeping my commandment of love, you will not fulfil it as slaves, who do their master’s will without understanding it, but you will live like free men, even as I, for I have explained to you the meaning of life which flows from the recognition of the Father of life. You have accepted my teaching, not because you have chosen it by chance, but because it is the only true one, and the one with which alone men are free.
The teaching of the world consists in doing evil to men ; but my teaching consists in loving one another, and so the world hates you, even as it has hated me.
The world does not understand my teaching, and so it will persecute you and cause you harm, imagining that it thus serves God; so do not marvel at it, and understand that it must be so. The world, which does not comprehend the true God, must persecute you, and you must affirm the truth. You will be grieved, because they will kill me; but I shall be killed for establishing the truth. Thus my death is necessary in order that truth may be established. My death, when I will not recede from the truth, will confirm you, and you will know wherein the lie is, and wherein the truth, and what come3 from the knowledge of the lie and of the truth.
You will understand that the lie is this, that men believe in the carnal life, and do not believe in the life of the spirit; that the truth is in the union with the Father; and that this results in the victory of the spirit over the flesh. When I shall no longer be in the carnal life, my spirit will be with you. But, like all men, you will not always feel in yourselves the power of the spirit. At times you will weaken and lose the power of the spirit: you will fall into temptation; at other times you will awaken to the true life. You will be overcome by the enslavement of the flesh, but that will be only temporary; you will suffer for awhile, and then you will again be regenerated in spirit, even as a woman wbo suffers in labour and then feels joy, because she has brought a man into the world. The same you will feel when, after the enslavement of the flesh, you will rise in spirit: you will then feel such bliss that there will be nothing for you to wish for.
Know in advance, and know this, in spite of persecutions, and inner struggles, and dejection of spirit, that the spirit is alive in you, and that the one true God is
the comprehension of the will of the Father, as I have revealed it. And turning to the Father, the spirit, Jesus said, I have done what thou commandedst me: I revealed to people that thou art the beginning of everything, and they comprehended me; I taught them this, that they all have come from the one principle of endless life, and that, therefore, they are one and, as the Father is in me, and I in the Father, so they are one with me and with the Father. I revealed this to them, that, as thou, loving them, hast sent them into the world, they also must live in the world by love.
And Peter said to Jesus, Whither dost thou go ?
Jesus replied, Thou wilt not be able to go whither I am going; but later thou wilt go thither thyself.
And Peter said, Why dost thou think that I am not able to follow thee; I will give my life for thee.
And Jesus said, Thou sayest that thou wilt give thy life for me, but thou wilt deny me thrice before cockcrow.
And Jesus said to his disciples, Let not your spirit be troubled and lose courage, but believe iu the true God of life and in my teaching. The life of the Father is not only the one which is on earth; there is also another life. If there were only the life which is here, I should have told you that, when I die, I shall go to the bosom of Abraham and prepare there a place for you, and will come and take you, and we will be in bliss together in the bosom of Abraham. But I show you only the way to life.
Thomas said, But we do not know whither thou goest, and so we cannot know the path. We must know what will be there after death.
Jesus said, I cannot show you what will be there; my teaching is the way, the truth, and life, and it is impossible to unite with the Father of life, except through my
teaching. If you will fulfil my teaching, you will know the Father.
Philip said, But who is thy Father ?
And Jesus said, The Father is that which gives life. I do the will of the Father, and so thou canst understand from my life wherein the will of the Father is. I live through the Father, and the Father lives in me, and everything I do and say, I do by the will of the Father. This is my teaching, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. If you do not understand the teaching itself, you see me and my works, and so you can understand what the Father is. And you know that he who will follow my teaching can do the same as I do, and even more, for I shall die, and he will still live. He who will live according to my teaching will have everything he wishes, for then the son will be the same as the Father.
Whatever you may wish according to my teaching you will have; but you must love my teaching for that. My teaching will give you an intercessor and comforter in my place. This comforter will be the recognition of the truth, which the men of the world do not understand, but you will know it in yourselves. You will never be alone, if the spirit of my teaching is with you. I sha1) die, and the men of the world shall not see me; but you will see me, because my teaching lives, and you will live by it. And if my teaching will be in you, you will understand that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. He who will fulfil my teaching will feel the Father in himself, and my spirit will live in him.
And Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, But why cannot all live by the spirit of truth ?
And Jesus replied to him, Only him who fulfils my teaching does the Father love, and only in him can my spirit take up his abode. He who does not fulfil my teaching is not loved by my Father, because this teach-
ing is not mine, but the Father’s. This is all I can tell you now. But my spirit, the spirit of truth, who will take up his abode iu you after me, will reveal everything to you, and you will recall and understand much of what 1 have told you.
Thus you may always be calm in spirit, not with that worldly peace which men of the world seek, but with the peace of the spirit, with which you will no longer have any fear. And so, if you will fulfil my teaching, you will have no cause for grieving at my death. I will come to you as the spirit of truth, and together with the recognition of the Father will take up my abode in your heart. If you fulfil my teaching, you must rejoice, for instead of me the Father will be in your heart, and that is better for you.
My teaching is the tree of life. The Father is he who tends the tree. He cleans and watches the branches on which there is any fruit, so that they may bring forth more.
Keep my teaching of life, and life will be in you. And as a shoot does not live of itself, but of the tree, even so you must live by my teaching. My teaching is the tree, and you are the shoots. He who lives by my teaching of life brings forth much fruit, and outside of my teaching there is no life. He who does not live by teaching withers and perishes, and the dry branches are cut off and burned. If you live by my teaching and fulfil it, you will have everything you wish : for the will of the Father is that you should live the true life and have what you wish. As the Father has given me the good, even so I give you the good. Keep this good. I live, because my Father loves me, and I love the Father, and you must live by the same love. If you live by it, you will be blessed. My commandment is that you should love one another as I love you. There is no other love than that we should sacrifice our life for the love of others, even as I have done.
Let us love one another, for love is from God. And he who loves was born of God and knows God. And he who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love for us has shown itself in this, that he has sent his son, such as he himself is, that we might live through him.
His love for us is seen in this, that it is not we who have come to love God, but God loves us, and we must love one another. God can never be seen. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is accomplished in us. We recognize one another only because we remain in him, and he in us, because he has given us his spirit.
Love is accomplished in us, when we are sure and calm on the day of death, for such as God is, we are in this world. Love does not know fear; on the contrary, complete love destroys fear, for fear causes resistance, struggle. And he who fears is not perfect in love.
We love God only because he has loved us first. (Consequently we first know love toward men.) And so, if one says, I love God, but will not love my brother, he lies, for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, cannot love God, whom he has not seen and cannot see. The commandment is for one who loves God to love his brother.
You are equal to me if you do what I have taught you. I do not regard you as slaves, who are commanded, but as equals, for I have explained to you everything which I know about the Father. You do not choose my teaching of your own will, but because I have pointed out to you this only truth, by which, if you live in it, you will have everything you wish. The whole teaching is in this, that we should love one another. If the world shall hate you, you must not wonder, for it hates my teaching. If you were one with the world, the world would love you; but I have separated you from the
world, and for this it will hate you. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
They will do all this, because they do not know the true God. I have explained to them, but they would not even listen to me. They have not understood the Father. They have seen my life, and my life has shown them their error, and for this they have hated me even more. The spirit of truth, which will come to you, will confirm the same. And you will confirm it. I tell you this in advance, that you may not be deceived, when they shall persecute you. They will make you apostates. All will think that killing you they do something pleasing to God. They cannot help doing it, for they do not understand my teaching, nor the true God. All this I tell you in advance, that you may not marvel, when all this shall happen.
And so I now go to this spirit who has sent me, and now you understand that you must not ask whither I go. Before this you were grieved, because I did not tell you whither, to what place, I go. But I tell you truly that it is good for you that I am going away. If I do not die, the spirit of truth will not appear to you; and if I die, it will take the abode in you. He will take his abode in you, and it will be clear to you wherein the truth is, wherein the solution is. The lie is this, .that men do not believe in the life of the spirit. The truth is this, that I am one with the Father. The solution is this, that the power of the carnal life is destroyed.
I could tell you many things more, but it is hard for you to understand them. But when the spirit of truth shall take his abode in you, he will show you the whole truth, for he will not tell you anything new, that which is his, but that which is from God, and he will in all conditions of life show you the way. He will also be of the Father, as I am of the Father, for he will speak the same as I speak. But when I, the spirit of truth, shall be in you, you will not always see me. At times you will hear me, and at other times you will not.
And the disciples said among themselves, What does this mean which he says, At times you will see me, and at other times you will not see me ? What does this mean: at times you will, and others you will not ? What does h§ say ?
Jesus said to them, Do you not understand what is meant by, At times you will see me, and at other times you will not see me ? You know how it always is in the world, that some are sorrowful and lamenting, while others rejoice. You will be sorrowful, and your sorrow will pass into joy. When a woman bears a child, she is sorrowful in her labour, but when the labour is over she does not remember her pain for joy, because a man is born into the world.
Even so you will grieve, and suddenly you will see me: the spirit of truth will enter into you, and your sorrow will be changed into joy. Then you will no longer ask anything of me, for then you will have everything you wish. Then a man will have from his Father everything he wishes in his spirit. Before this you asked nothing for the spirit, but then you will ask what you want for the spirit, and everything will be given you, so that your blessedness will be complete. Now I, a man, cannot explain all this in words; but when I shall live in you as the spirit of truth, I will clearly announce to you about the Father. Then everything you will ask of the Father in the name of the spirit will be given you not by me, but by your Father, for he loves you, because you have received my teaching. You have understood that the comprehension proceeds in the world from the Father and returns from the world to the Father.
Then the disciples said to Jesus, Now we understand, and we have nothing more to ask. We believe that thou art from God.
And Jesus said, I told you all this that you may have assurance and rest in my teaching. No matter what calamities may befall you in the world, fear nothing, for
my teaching has conquered the world.
After this Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, My Father, thou hast given thy son the freedom of life, that he may know the true life Life is the knowledge of the true God, of the comprehension discovered by me. I have revealed you to men on earth. I have done the work which thou commandedst me. I have declared thy essence to men on earth. They were thine even before this: they have understood that everything they have, that their life, is only from thee; and that I have taught them not of me, but that I and they have proceeded from thee. I pray thee for those who recognize thee. They understand that all mine is thine, and thine mine. I am no longer in the world, but return to thee; but they are in the world, and so I pray thee, Father, keep thy comprehension in them. I do not ask thee that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst deliver them from eviL Confirm them in thy truth. Thy comprehension is truth.
My Father, I wish that they should be such as I am, that they should understand, even as I do, that the true life began before the beginning of the world; that they should all be one, as thou, O Father, art in me, and I in thee, — that they should be one in us; that I in them and thou in me should unite into one; and that men should understand that they were not bom of themselves, but that thou, loving, hast sent them into the world, as thou hast sent ma
Righteous Father! The world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and they know thee through me. I have explained to them what thou art. Thou art this,
that love, with which thou lovest me, should be in them. Thou hast given them life, consequently thou lovest them. I have taught them to know this and to love thee in such a way that thy love for them should return from them to thee.

…….

Chapter XII end.

THE VICTORY OF THE SPIRIT OVER THE FLESH
Having said this, Jesus went with his disciples into the garden of Gethsemane. And when he came into the garden, he said, Let us stay here, I want to pray.
And he went up to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and was sorrowful and grieved. And he said to them, My heart is heavy, I shall be sorrowful before my death. Stay here, and he not dispirited, as I am.
And he went a little distance away, and lay down on the ground on his face, and began to pray, and said, My Father, spirit, let it not be as I wish it, that I should not die, but do as thou wishest: let me die, but to thee, as a spirit, everything is possible, and so let me not be afraid of death and have the temptation of the flesh.
Then he got up, and went up to his disciples, and saw that they were dispirited, and said to them, Can you not for one hour be strong in spirit, so as not to fall into the temptation of the flesh ? The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.
And again Jesus went away from them, and began to pray, and said, Father, if I must die, let me die, let thy will be done.
And having said this, he again walked over to his disciples, and he saw that they were even more dispirited than before, and were ready to weep. And he went away from them again, and said for the third time, Father, thy will be done.
Then he returned to the disciples, and said to them, Sleep awhile and rest yourselves, for now the son of man will soon be delivered into the hands of the men of the world. Then wake up, for he who will betray me is coming already.
And when he had said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, suddenly appeared, and with him there was a large crowd of people with clubs and knives.
Judas knew that Jesus and his disciples frequently came to this garden, and so he brought there the guards and the servants of the chief priests. He said to them, I will bring you where he is with the disciples, and that you may be able to recognize him, watch whom I shall kiss first, for it is he.
And he went up to Jesus, and said, Hail, teacher, and kissed him.
And Jesus said to him, Didst thou come for this ?
Then the guards surrounded Jesus, and wanted to take him. And Peter took a knife away from one of the servants of the chief priests, and cut off his ear.
Jesus said, We must not resist evil; let this be. And he said to Peter, Give the sword back to him from whom thou tookest it; he who takes up the sword will perish by the sword.
After this Jesus turned to the whole crowd, and said, Why did you come against me with weapons, as against a robber ? Have I not been every day amidst you in the temple, teaching you ? Why did you not take me then ? You could do nothing to me in the light of the day, for your power is only in the darkness.
When his disciples saw that he was taken, they fled. Then the chief commanded the soldiers to take Jesus and bind him, and to take him first to Annas, who was Caiaphas’s father-in-law, for Caiaphas was the high priest in that year, and was living with his father-in-law. It was the same Caiaphas who had been planning to destroy Jesus. He considered it useful for the nation to destroy Jesus, for if he did not destroy Jesus, it would have been worse for the whole nation.
And Jesus was brought into the yard of the house, where the high priest was living.
While they were leading Jesus there, one of the disciples, Peter, walked behind, to see where they were going to take him. When they took him into the courtyard of the high priest, Peter went there himself to see how it would all end. And a girl in the yard saw Peter, and said to him, Art thou also with Jesus of Galilee?
Peter was frightened, lest he should be also accused, and said in a loud voice before all the people, I do not know what thou sayest
Then, when Jesus was taken into the house, and Peter entered the vestibule with the people, and a woman was warming herself at the fire, and Peter went up to her, the
woman looked at him, and said to the people, Behold, this man looks as though he belonged to Jesus of Nazareth.
Peter was frightened even more than before, and swore that he had never been with Jesus, and did not know what kind of a man Jesus was.
A little while later some men walked over to Peter, and said, It looks, though, as if thou wert one of these seditious people; we can tell by thy speech that thou art from Galilee.
Then Peter began to curse and swear that he had never seen or known Jesus. And the moment he had said this, a cock crew. And Peter recalled the words which Jesus had spoken, when Peter swore that though all might deny him, he would not deny him. Jesus had said, Tonight thou wilt deny me thrice before cockcrow. And Peter went away from the yard, and wept bitterly.
And the pastors, chief priests, scribes, and rulers assembled at the house of the high priest. And when all were assembled, they brought Jesus, and the chief priests asked him what his doctrine consisted in, and who his disciples were.
And Jesus replied, I have always spoken before all, and have never concealed anything from men. What askest thou me about ? Ask those who have heard and understood my teaching, and they will tell thee.
When Jesus said this, one of the chief priests’ servants struck Jesus in the face, and said, With whom art thou speaking ? Is this the way to answer a chief priest ?
Jesus said, If I spoke badly, say so; but if I did not speak badly, why do you beat me ?
The pastors, the chief priests, tried to accuse Jesus, and at first did not find any good cause for which he might be sentenced. Then they found two false witnesses. These false witnesses said of Jesus, We ourselves heard this man say, I will destroy this hand-made temple of yours,
and in three days will build you up another temple oi
God, one which is not made by hand.
But even this was not sufficient cause for an accusation. And so the chief priest called out Jesus, and said, Why dost thou not reply to their testimony ?
Jesus was silent, and said nothing.
Then the chief priest said to him, Tell me, then, art thou the Christ, the son of God?
Jesus answered him, and said, Yes, I am Christ, the son of God. And you will soon see for yourselves that the son of God is equal to God.
Then the chief priest called out, Thou blasphemest God, and now we need no further proofs: we have all heard thee blaspheme God.
And the chief priest turned to the assembly, and said, You have heard yourselves that he blasphemes God, so what do you sentence him to ?
And all said, We condemn him to death.
And then all the people and the guards pressed forward toward Jesus, and began to spit into his face, and strike him, and scratch him. They covered his eyes, and boxed his ears, and asked, Well, prophet, canst thou guess who has struck thee ?
And Jesus was silent.
After they had mocked him, they bound him and took him before Pontius Pilate.
And he was brought to the court. Pilate, the governor, came out to them, and asked, Of what do you accuse this man ?
They said, This man is doing evil, and so we have brought him before thee.
Pilate said to them, If he does evil, judge him yourselves according to your law.
And they said, We have brought him to thee that thou shouldst put him to death, for we may not kill
And so that which Jesus had wished was fulfilled: he
had said that he must be prepared to die 0n the cross at the hands of the Romans, and not by his own death, or at the hands of the Jews.
When Pilate asked him of what they accused him, they said that he was guilty in that he created sedition among the people, forbidding them to pay taxes to Caesar, and calling himself Christ and king.
Pilate listened to them, and commanded that Jesus be brought to the court. When Jesus came in to him, Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews ?
Jesus said, Why dost thou ask ? Dost thou ask in thy own name whether I am the King of the Jews, or dost thou ask whether what they say of me is true ?
Pilate said, I am not a Jew, and it makes no difference to me what thou callest thyself, but I ask thee only what thou hast done ? Didst thou call thyself king ?
Jesus replied, I taught the kingdom which is not of earth.
To this Pilate replied, Still thou considerest thyself a king.
Jesus said, Not only I, but even thou canst not help considering me a king. All I teach is to reveal the truth to you. And every man who lives by the truth will understand me.
Pilate did not wish to listen to Jesus, and said, Thou speakest of truth; what is truth ? and having said this, he turned around and went again to the chief priests, and said to them, In my opinion this man has done no wrong.
And the chief priests were persistent, and said that he had done much wrong and was creating sedition in all of Judea as far as Galilee.
Then Pilate began to question Jesus once more in the presence of the chief priests, but Jesus made no reply.
Thou seest how they accuse thee, so why dost thou not justify thyself ?
But Jesus kept silence, and did not say another word, so that Pilate marvelled at him.
Pilate happened to think that Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and so he asked, Is he from Galilee ?
He was told, Yes.
Then he said, If he is from Galilee, he is under Herod’s
jurisdiction, and I will send him to Herod.
Herod was at that time in Jerusalem, and Pilate sent Jesus to Jerusalem to Herod, that he might get rid of him. When Jesus was brought to Herod, Herod was very glad to see him. He had heard a great deal about Jesus, and wanted to know what kind of a man he was. Herod called him up, and began to question him concerning everything he wanted to know, but Jesus did not answer him. But the chief priests and teachers accused him fiercely, as before Pilate, saying that he was a rioter. And Herod regarded Jesus as a worthless man, and, to rail at him, ordered his servants to put a red robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate.
Herod was satisfied that Pilate had respected him by sending Jesus to his court, and so they made peace, for they had been at odds before. When Jesus was brought back to Pilate, Pilate once more called the chief priests and rulers of the Jews, and said to them, You brought this man to me, saying that he created sedition among the people, and I questioned him in your presence, and do not see that he is a rioter. I sent him with you to Herod, and you see that nothing harmful was found there against him, and so it is my opinion that there is no cause for putting him to death, and that it would be better to set him free.
When the chief priests heard this, they cried out, No, put him to death, put him to death in Roman fashion. Crucify him.
Pilate heard what they said, and replied to the chief priests, Very well; but it is your habit to pardon a
criminal at your feast. There is a murderer and rioter, Barabbas by name, who is sitting in my prison. One of the two you must release: whom will you pardon, Jesus or Barabbas ?
Pilate wanted to save Jesus, but the chief priests instructed the people to cry, Barabbas, Barabbas!
And so Pilate said, And what will you do with Jesus? And they cried again, In Roman fashion, on the cross, crucify him!
And Pilate tried to persuade them, saying, Why do you urge me so? He has not done anything for which he should be put to death, and he has done you no wrong. I will release him, for I see no guilt in him.
The chief priests and their servants cried, Crucify him, crucify him!
And Pilate said to them, If so, take him and crucify him, for I see no fault in him.
The chief priests replied, We demand that which comes to him for calling himself the son of God.
When Pilate heard these words, he was troubled, for he did not know what was meant by the words, Son of God. And he went back to the court, and called Jesus, and asked him, Who art thou, and whence dost thou come ?
But Jesus made no reply to him.
Then Pilate said, Why dost thou not answer ? Dost thou not see that thou art in my power, and that I can crucify or release thee ?
Jesus answered him, The evil is that thou hast the power; if thou wert not entrusted with power, the He-rodians would not have enticed thee and led thee into offence, both thee, and themselves and the teachers with thee.
Pilate wished to release Jesus, but the Jews said to him, If thou lettest Jesus go, thou wilt prove that thou art not a faithful servant of Caesar, for he who makes himself a king is Caesar’s enemy.
When Pilate heard these words, he understood that he
could not help but put Jesus to death.
Then Pilate went out to the Jews, took some water, washed his hands before the people, and said, I am not guilty of the blood of this righteous man.
And the whole people cried out, Let the blood be on us and on our children.
Thus the chief priests prevailed Pilate sat down in his judgment seat, aud ordered Jesus to be flogged. When he was flogged, the soldiers who flogged him put a crown on his head, and gave him a stick into his hands, and threw a red robe over his shoulders, and begau to mock him. They bowed before him in mockery, and said, Rejoice, King of the Jews; and they struck his face and head, aud spit into his face.
Pilate said to them, How can you have your king crucified ?
But the chief priests cried out, Crucify him; our king is Cassar, — crucify him.
Jesus came out iu the crown and the red robe, and said, Behold, here is a man.
Then Pilate ordered that he be crucified.
The red robe was taken off Jesus and his own was put on him, and he was told to carry his own cross to the place called Golgotha, in order that they might crucify him there. And he carried his cross and came to Golgotha. And there they stretched Jesus out on the cross, and two men with him, one at each side of him, and Jesus in the middle.
As they were crucifying Christ, he said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
And when Jesus was already hanging on the cross, the people surrounded him, and mocked him.
They came up, and shook their heads, and said, Well, thou wouldst destroy the temple of Jerusalem and build
it up again in three days, so save thyself and come down from the cross.
And the chief priests and pastors stood there, and mocked him, and said, Thou hast saved others, but thou canst not save thyself. Show us that thou art Christ, come down from the cross, and then we will believe thee. He has been saying that he is the son of God, and that God would not leave him, so why has God left him now ?
And the people and chief priests and soldiers mocked him, and so did one of the robbers who were crucified with him.
One of the robbers, mocking him, said, If thou art Christ, save thyself and us.
But the other robber heard this, and said, Dost thou not fear God ? Thou art thyself on the cross, and yet railest at an innocent man. Thou and I are being punished for what we have done, but this man has done no wrong.
And turning to Jesus, this robber said to him, Sir, remember me in thy kingdom.
And Jesus said to him, Thou art blessed with me at once.
In the ninth hour Jesus, being worn out, cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which means, My God, my God, in what hast thou left me ?
And when they heard this among the people, they began to speak and laugh, He is calling Elijah the prophet; let us see how Elijah will come.
Then Jesus said, I want to drink, and a man took a sponge, dipped it in vinegar, for a vat of it was standing near by, and raised it up to Jesus on a reed.
Jesus sucked the sponge, and said in a loud voice, It is finished. Father, into thy hands I give up my spirit.
And inclining his head, he gave up the ghost.
CONCLUSION TO THE INVESTIGATION OF THE GOSPEL
With the words, It is finished, the Gospel is ended. To those who saw the divinity of Jesus in this, that he was not like other men, the resurrection may have been convincing, that is, may have proved to them that he was not like other men, and only that he was not like other men, and nothing else; but only to those who saw Jesus die, and were convinced that he was dead, and then saw him alive, and were convinced that he was alive. But, according to the description of the evangelists, except Luke, who suddenly mentions his ascension in the presence of five hundred men, there were no such people, for according to their description he came as a dream, as a vision.
Let us even assume that he came in the flesh, and that Thomas put his fingers into his wounds, what did this prove to Thomas ? That he was not like other men. But what follows from his not being like other men ? Only this, that other people, such as all are, would find it very hard or impossible to do what a special being did. But if even it were necessary to convince people that he was not like other men, his appearance to Thomas and ten other men and later to five hundred men could not have convinced others, who had not seen this resurrection ; it was only the disciples who told of the resurrection, but one can tell anything one wishes; to believe the stories of the disciples, one must have the assurance that these stories are true. And to confirm the truth of their stories the disciples tell that tongues of fire descended upon them,
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and that they themselves wrought miracles, healed, and raised from the dead. Again, that the tongues came down and that the disciples raised from the dead and healed, the disciples of the disciples prove by new miracles, and so until the present relics and saints heal and raise from the dead; and it turns out that the divinity of Christ is based on the story of unusual events. But the stories of unusual events are based on stories of other unusual events, and the last unusual events have not been seen by men in their sound senses.
Very well, Christ was raised from the dead, made his appearance, and flew to heaven: has this explained anything ? has it added anything to his teaching ? Nothing, absolutely nothing, except the necessity of inventing new, unnecessary miracles, in order to confirm this invented, unnecessary miracle. We have seen and read the teaching about Christ’s life previous to the resurrection, and in the most corrupt parts of this teaching there shines always the light of the truth which he announced to the world. No matter how crudely the recording evangelists comprehended the teaching, they rendered the words and actions of the man Jesus, and the light startles us. Now what is added to the teaching after the resurrection by what Christ did and said after the resurrection ?
He appears for some reason to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils, and tells her not to touch him, for he has not yet entered to his Father.
Then he appears to the women, and tells them that he will come to his brothers.
Then he appears to his disciples, and explains something to them of Moses in the whole Scripture.
And now they see him, and now they do not see him. Then he appears to his disciples, rebukes them for not believing, shows them his side, and breathes on them, and this causes the sins to be remitted, to those to whom they remit them. Then he appears to Thomas, and says nothing. Then he catches fish, a large amount of them, with his disciples, and says three times to Peter, Feed my sheep, and predicts Peter’s death.
Then he appears to a crowd of five hundred at once, and again he says nothing. Then he says that to him is given power in heaven and on earth, and that therefore they must bathe people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that he who is bathed will be saved, and that those to whom they will transmit this spirit will take up snakes and drink poison without harm, and speak in all languages, which they naturally have never done. Then he flies to heaven. He said nothing more. What sense was there in his resurrection, since he did and said only these foolish things ?
And so:
1. The resurrection, like any story about something incomprehensible, cannot prove anything.
2. The resurrection, like any miracle, if a man has seen it, can prove only that something contrary to the laws of reason has happened, and that a man who has been subject to a miracle has been subject to something unusual, and nothing else. But if on the basis of a miracle the conclusion is drawn that a man who is not subject to the laws of reason is an unusual man, such a conclusion is correct only for those who contemplate the miracle, and only as long as they contemplate it. A story about a miracle cannot convince any one, so that the truth has to be confirmed by a miracle which has taken place with the one who tells about it. The confirmation of the truth of a miracle by another miracle inevitably leads to the fabrication of new miracles, up to our own time, in order to confirm the truth of the narrator, though in. our time we see clearly that there are no miracles, and that, as miracles are invented for the present time, they must have been invented for the past. The story about the miracle of Christ’s resurrection betrays its untruth in that
it sharply differs in its primitiveness, insignificance, and, simply, stupidity from all previous descriptions of Christ’s life, and shows clearly that the story of Christ’s real life had for its foundation actual life, full of depth and holiness ; but the story of the resurrection and the supposed actions and speeches after it no longer had life for its basis, and is altogether a fabrication. No matter how crude and primitive the description of Christ’s life is, the holiness of his life and the elevation of his personality shines through the crudeness and primitiveness of the writers; but when there is no longer anything real at the basis of the description, but only mere inventions, this primitiveness and crudeness appear in all their nakedness. They have evidently managed to raise him from the dead, but they cannot make him say or do anything worthy of him.
3. The miracle of the resurrection is directly opposed to the teaching of Christ, consequently it was hard to make Christ say anything characteristic of him after the resurrection, since the very idea that he could rise from the dead is contrary to the whole meaning of his teaching. We must fail to comprehend his whole teaching, in order that we may conceive of the possibility of his resurrection in the body. He even directly denied the resurrection, explaining how we were to understand the resurrection of which the Jews spoke.
How the dead are raised, he said, Moses showed in the bush, when he called God the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; God is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for to God all are living. He said, The spirit brings to life, and the flesh is of little avail He said, I am the living bread, which has come down from heaven. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life He said, I am the resurrection and the life. And him who taught that he was that which was sent from God into the world, to give
life to men; that which gave life; that which is the spirit; that which does not die; that which will return to men as the spirit of truth, — him they understood to say that he was to rise from the dead in the flesh. Indeed, what could that Jesus do, who was glad to return to the Father, that Jesus who, dying, said, Into thy hands I give up my spirit ? What could he do and say, when he wa3 imagined to have risen from the dead in the flesh, except what was contrary to his teaching ? And so it was.
This legend of the resurrection, which is expressed in the last chapters of the gospels, which did not have Christ’s life and words for its basis, and which wholly belongs to the views held by the recorders of the gospels on the life and teaching of Jesus, is remarkable and instructive in that these chapters clearly show the depth of the layer of misunderstanding, with which the whole description of Jesus’ life and teaching is covered. It is as though a precious painting were covered with a thick layer of paint, and those spots, where the paint got on the bare wall, showed clearly the depth of the layer which covered the picture itself. The story of the resurrection gives the key for the comprehension and explanation of all miracles, of which the Gospel is full, and of those contradictory words and conceptions by which the meaning of the best passages of the teaching is frequently destroyed.
It is not known who wrote the fourth gospel, and the history of criticism has come to the conclusion that we shall never find that out. There may be more or less probable suppositions as to time, place, persons; suppositions as to what gospel, or what part of what gospel, is copied from another, but their origin is unknown. We cannot judge of the historical trustworthiness of the Gospel, but we are able to judge of the quality of the books themselves. We can judge as to what formed the foun-
dation of the Christian beliefs of men, and what did not have any influence on the beliefs.
From this side we see in the gospels two sharply distinguished parts of the expositions: one the exposition of the teaching; the other, an attempt at proving the truth of the teaching, or, more correctly, the importance of the teaching, such as are the miracles, prophecies, and predictions. The teaching has passed the centuries unimpaired, — all agree on this. The proofs, which, no doubt, were proofs, now form the chief stumbling-block in the acceptance of the teaching.
To this part belong all the miracles and the chief miracle, the resurrection. In the description of the resurrection, as in an event fabricated without any foundation, it is easiest of all to follow out the methods of the formation of such legends, and the causes of their acceptance, and the methods of their exposition, and their significance, and their consequences. The origin of the legend of the resurrection was a confirmation of the veracity of the writers (except Luke), and it is written down in the gospels so clearly that every unbiassed man cannot help but see the most natural germ of the legend, such as around us spring up every day in the stories of miraculous relics, saints, magicians. The stories and articles of spiritualism, of the girl who materialized and danced, are told more definitely and more circumstantially than the story of the resurrection. Nothing could be clearer than the history of the growth of this legend. On the Sabbath they went to see the grave. The body was not there. Evangelist John tells that they said that the disciples had taken out the body. Women come to the grave, one of them Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven devils have been cast, and she is the first to say that she saw something at the grave, something like a gardener, or an angel, or him himself. The story passes from gossips to gossips, and then to the dis-ciples. Eighty years later they tell that such and such a man saw him there and then, but all the accounts are contradictory and indefinite. The disciples do not invent them, — so much is evident, — but none of- the men who revere his memory dare contradict what, in their opinion, tends to add to his glory, and, above all, to convince others that he is from God, and that God produced a miracle in his honour. It seems to them that this is the best proof, and the legend grows and spreads.
The legend aids in the dissemination of the teaching, but the legend is a lie, while the teaching is truth. And so the teaching is no longer transmitted in all the purity of the truth, but intermingled with the he. One lie provokes another for its confirmation. New false legends of miracles are told in confirmation of the first false legend. There appear legends of miracles wrought by the followers of Christ and of miracles which preceded him, — of his procreation, his birth, his whole life,— and the whole teaching is mixed with lies. The whole exposition of his life and teaching is covered up by a thick layer of paint of the miraculous, which dims the teaching. New believers join Christ’s faith, not so much in consequence of his teaching, as of the faith in the miraculousness of his life and actions. And there comes that terrible time, when there appears the conception of faith, not of iof which Christ speaks (the inward inevitableness of conviction, which becomes the basis of life), but as a consequence of an effort of will, when one can say, I command you to believe, I want to believe, you must believe. There comes the time, when all the false legends take the place of the teaching, all are gathered into one, are formulated, and are expressed as dogma, that is, as decrees. The crowd, the rude crowd, takes possession of the teaching, and, smearing it over with the false legends, obscures it.
But, in spite of all the efforts of the crowd, the chosen people see the truth through all the mire of lies and carry it in all its purity through the ages, by the side of the lies, and in this form the teaching reaches us. He who in our day, be he Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Milker, Stundist, Khlyst, Eunuch, Rationalist, or of any other creed, reads the Gospel, finds himself in a strange position. He who does not purposely shut his eyes cannot help but see that, if there is not everything in it which we know and live by, there is at least something very wise and significant. But this wisdom and significance is expressed in such a monstrously bad way, as Gothe says, that one cannot find a worse written book than the Gospel, and is buried in such a lumber of monstrous, stupid, even unpoetical legends that one does not know what to do with this book. There is no other interpretation in this book than what the different churches give to it. These interpretations are all filled with absurdities and contradictions, so that in the beginning one is confronted with an alternative: either, as the Russian proverb has it, to get furious at the lice and chuck the fur coat into the stove, that is, to reject the whole as absurd, as ninety-nine of every hundred men actually do, or to subvert reason, as the church commands us to do, and accept everything stupid and unimportant with what is wise and important, which is actually done by the remaining hundredth of men, who either have no vision, or know how to squint in such a way that they do not see what they do not wish to see. But this alternative is not firmly grounded. It is enough to show these people what they did not wish to see, and they involuntarily reject with the lie the truth which was mixed in with it. What is terrible in this case is this, that the lie, which is smeared in with the truth, is not smeared in by the enemies of truth, but by its first friends: that this lie was considered of importance and served as the first instrument for the dissemination and propagation of truth is proved by this, that the lie about Christ’s resurrection was, during the times of the apostles and the martyrs of the first centuries, the chief proof of the truth of Christ’s teaching. It is true, this same fable of the resurrection was also the chief cause of unbelief in the teaching. The pagans in all the lives of the first Christian martyrs call tiiem men who believe in this, that their crucified one rose from the dead, and quite legitimately rail at them for this.
But the Christians did not see this, just as the popes in Kiev do not see that their straw-stuffed relics are on the one hand an incitement to faith, and on the other an obstacle to it Then, during the first times of Christianity, it cannot be denied that they were necessary; I am even willing to admit that they cooperated in the dissemination and confirmation of faith. I can imagine how, thanks to faith in the miracle, men came to see the importance of the teaching and turned to it. The miracle was not a proof of the truth, but of the importance of the matter. The miracle attracted attention, — the miracle was an advertisement. Everything which happened was foretold; a voice speaks from heaven, the sick are healed, the dead rise, — how, then, can one help directing his attention to the teaching, and trying to grasp it ? Its truth enters the soul, but the miracles are only an advertisement. Thus the lie was useful. But it could be useful only in the first time, and only because it attracted men to the truth. If there had been no lie, the teaching might have been disseminated more quickly still. But there is no need of considering what might have happened. The life of that time concerning the miracles may be compared with this, as if a man sowed a forest, and in the sowing put up a sign saying that God sowed this forest, and that he who does not believe that there is a forest here will be eaten up by monsters. Men are to believe it, and must beware of tramping down the forest. This might have been useful and necessary in its time, when there was not any forest there, hut when the forest grows up, it is evident that that which was useful became unnecessary and harmful, as a lie. The same is true of the belief in miracles, which is connected with the teaching: the belief in them aided in the propagation of the faith, — they may have been useful; but the teaching has been disseminated and confirmed, and the belief in miracles has become useless and harmful. So long as they believed in miracles and in the lie, it happened that the teaching itself took such firm root that its stability and dissemination became an essential proof of its truth. The teaching has passed unimpaired through the ages, — all agree to this, — and the external, miraculous proofs of its truths now form the chief stumbling-block in accepting the teaching. To us now the proofs of the truth and importance of Christ’s teaching are only an obstacle which prevents our seeing the significance of Christ.
Its existence of eighteen hundred years among billions of people sufficiently attests its importance. Maybe it was necessary to say that the forest was planted by God and that a monster guarded it and God defended it; maybe it was necessary to say so as long as there was no forest; but now I live in this forest of eighteen hundred years of existence, when it has all grown up and surrounds me on all sides. I need no proofs that it exists: it does exist. So let us leave out what was necessary at some past period, in order to make the forest grow, — to form the teaching of Christ.
Many things were necessary, but the question is not the investigation of how the teaching was formed; the question is as to the significance of the teaching. It is the business of history to investigate how the teaching was formed; but for the comprehension of the meaning of the teaching we do not need any reflections on the methods used for the confirmation of the truth of the teaching. These two parts are sharply separated in all the gospels;
As I have said, the four gospels are like a wonderful painting which for temporary purposes is all covered up with a deep layer of paint. This paint is continued to both sides of the painting: the layer over the bare wall, — previous to the birth of Christ, — all the legends about John the Baptist, about the procreation, and about the birth; then follows the layer over the painting, — miracles, prophecies, and predictions; and then the layer over the bare wall again, — the legends of the resurrection and the acts of the apostles, etc. Knowing the thickness of the layer and its composition, we must scratch it off where it runs over the bare wall and is particularly evident in the legend of the resurrection, and carefully scrape it off from the whole painting, and then only shall we understand the painting in all its significance, and it is this that I have been trying to do.
My idea is as follows: The Gospel consists of two distinct parts so far as purposes are concerned. One is the exposition of Christ’s teaching; the other is the proof of the importance and divinity of this teaching. All the churches agree on this. The proofs of the importance and divinity of Christ's teaching are based on the consciousness of the truth of Christ’s teaching (on which all the churches also agree) and on external historical proofs of the significance, importance, and divinity of the teaching, such as were collected in the gospels in the first time of the teaching and such as, by their essence, could have been convincing only to the eye-witnesses, but in our time attain the opposite result, by repelling from the comprehension of and belief in the teaching of the church, not the enemies of Christ, but the men who are sincerely devoted to the teaching. Nor can the churches help admitting that the aim of these proofs of the importance is the conviction of the truth of the teaching, and if there presents itself another, not an internal, but an external, historical proof of the importance of the teaching, which
is complete, incontrovertible, and clear, then we must reject those proofs which call forth incredulity and which serve as an obstacle in the propagation of the teaching, and hold on to the incontrovertible and clear external proof of the importance. Such a proof, which did not exist in the first times, is the dissemination of the teaching itself, which penetrates all human knowledge, serves as a foundation of human life, and is constantly expanding. Thus, in order that we may understand the teaching, we not only can, but must inevitably put aside from the teaching all those proofs of its truth, which give way to other indubitable proofs, and which give nothing for the comprehension of the teaching and serve as a chief obstacle to its acceptance. Even if these proofs were not harmful, they are no longer necessary, since they have an entirely different purpose and can add nothing to the teaching.
;
………

SHORT EXPOSITION OF THE
GOSPEL
*
1882
(The Short Exposition of the Gospel is an abbreviation of tne preceding work, from which it differs but slightly in wording, hence all that is given here is the Preface and the Conclusion, which arc not in the larger work, and a synopsis of the Gospel verses which are quoted in this Short Exposition. —Translator's Note.)
SHORT EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL
PREFACE
This Short Exposition of the Gospel is an extract from a large work which is lying in manuscript and cannot be printed in Russia.
This work consists of four parts :
1. An exposition of that course of my private life and of my thoughts which have led me to the conviction that the truth is to be found in the Christian teaching.
2. An exposition of the Christian teaching according to the interpretations of the church in general, — the apostles, the councils, and the so-called fathers of the church, and proofs of the falseness of these interpretations.
3. An investigation of the Christian teaching, not according to these interpretations, hut according to what has reached us from the teaching of Christ, as ascribed to him and recorded in the gospels, and a translation and harmonization of the gospels.
4. An exposition of the real meaning of the Christian teaching, of the causes why it was distorted, and of the consequences which its preaching was to have.
This Short Exposition of the Gospel is an abbreviation
307
of the third part The harmonization of the four gospels is made in accordance with the meaning of the teaching. In this harmonization I had hardly to depart from the order in which the gospels are expounded, so that in my harmonization there are rather fewer transpositions of the verses of the Gospel than in the majority of concordances known to me, and fewer than in the harmonization of the four gospels by Grechul^vich.
In the Gospel of John there are no transpositions in my harmonization: it is expounded in the same order as in the original.
The division of the Gospel into twelve chapters, or six (if each two be united), resulted naturally from the meaning of the teaching.
Here is the meaning of these words:
1. Man is the son of the infinite principle, the son of this Father, not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
2. Therefore man must serve this principle in the spirit.
3. The life of all men has a divine beginning. It alone is holy.
4. Therefore man must serve this principle in the life of all men. Such is the will of the Father.
5. Only the ministering to the will of the Father of life gives the true, that is, the rational, life.
6. Therefore the gratification of one’s will is not necessary for the true life.
7. The temporal, carnal life is a food for the true life, — a material for the rational life.
8. Therefore the true life is outside of time, — it is only in the present.
9. The deception of the life of time, of the life of the past and of the future, conceals from men the true life, — of the present.
10. Therefore man must strive to destroy the deception of the temporal life of the past and of the future.
11. The true life is not only outside of time, — a life of the present, but it is also outside of personality, — it is the common life of men.
12. Therefore he who lives in the present the common life of all men unites with the Father, the beginning and foundation of life.
Each two chapters have between them the connection of cause and effect. In addition to the twelve chapters there are added to the exposition : the introduction from the first chapter of John, in which the writer speaks in his own name about the meaning of the whole teaching, and a conclusion from the epistle of the same writer (written, no doubt, before the gospels), which contains a general deduction from everything which precedes. The introduction and conclusion do not form any essential part of the teaching. They are only general views of the whole teaching. Although the introduction and the conclusion may be omitted without any loss to the meaning of the teaching (the more so since these two parts were written in the name of John, and not of Jesus), I have retained them, because in a simple and rational understanding of Christ’s teaching these parts, confirming one another and the whole teaching, in contradistinction to the queer interpretations of the church, furnish the simplest indication of the meaning which ought to be ascribed to the teaching.
In the beginning of each chapter I have placed, besides a short definition of the contents, the words of the prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples to recite, and which befit the particular chapters.
When I finished my work, I discovered to my surprise and joy that the so-called Lord’s prayer is nothing but a briefly expressed exposition of the teaching of Jesus in the very order in which the chapters were arranged by me, and that each expression of the prayer corresponded to the meaning and order of the words.
1. Our Father Man is the son of God.
2. Which art in heaven, God is the infinite spiritual principle of life.
8. Hallowed be thy name. Let this principle of life be
holy.
4. Thy kingdom come. May his power be realized in
all men.
5. Thy will be done, as in heaven, May the will of this infinite principle be done in himself,
0. So in earth. So also in the flesh.
7. Give us our daily bread The temporal life is the food for the true life.
8. To-day. The true life is in the present.
9. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And let not our transgressions and errors conceal the true life
from us.
10. And lead us not into temptation, Let them not lead us into
deception,
11. But deliver us from evil: And so there will be no evil.
12. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. And let there be thy dominion, and power, and reason.
In the extensive exposition of the third part, which is in manuscript, the Gospel, according to the four evangelists, is translated and explained in full, without the least omissions; but in the present exposition the following verses are left out: The procreation and birth of John the Baptist, his imprisonment and death, the birth of Jesus, his genealogy, his flight with his mother to Egypt, the miracles of Jesus in Cana and Capernaum, the casting out of the devils, the walking on the waters, the drying up of the fig-tree, the healing of the sick, the resurrection of Christ himself, and the indications of the prophecies which took place in Christ’s life.
These verses are omitted in the present short exposition because, not containing any teaching, but only describing events which took place before, during, and after the preaching of Jesus, they add nothing, and complicate and surcharge the exposition. No matter how these verses may be understood, they contain neither contradictions to the teaching, nor confirmations of it. The only significance of these verses for Christianity was this, that they proved the divinity of Christ to him who did not believe in it. But for a man who does not see the convincingness of the story of the miracles, and who besides does not doubt the divinity of Jesus, according to his teaching, these verses fall off, of their own accord, as being unnecessary. In the large exposition every deviation from the usual translation, every added explanation, every omission is explained and proved by the collation of the different variants of the gospels, by contexts, and by philological and other considerations. In this Short Exposition all such proofs, and the rejections of the false comprehension of the church, as also the detailed notes with the quotations, are omitted on the ground that the reflections on each separate passage, which at times are very long, are not the chief proofs of the true understanding of the teaching. The main proof of the truth of the understanding is the unity, clearness, simplicity, fulness of the teaching and its correspondence with the ’ inner feeling of every man who is seeking the truth.
In respect to all the departures in my exposition from the text as accepted by the churches, the reader must not forget that the customary conception that all four gospels, with all their verses and letters, are sacred books, is, on the one hand, a very gross error, and on the other, a very gross deception.
The reader must remember that Jesus never wrote any book himself, as did Plato, Philo, or Marcus Aurelius; nor did he ever, like Socrates, transmit his teaching to educated people; he spoke to those uneducated men whom he met in life, and only much later, long after his death, did people come to realize that what he had said was very important, and that it would not be bad if they jotted down a few of the things which he said and did,
and it was nearly a hundred years later that they began
to write down what they had heard about him.
The reader must remember that there was a large, a very large number of such notes; that many have disappeared ; that many were very bad, and that the Christians made use of all of them, and by degrees picked out what to them seemed to be better and more sensible; that, in selecting these best gospels, out of the enormous literature about Christ, the churches, according to the proverb which says, “ You can’t cut a stick without knots,” could not help but take in some knots also; that there are many places in the canonical gospels which are as bad as in the rejected apocrypha, and that in the apocryphal literature there is some good.
The reader must remember that what can be sacred is Christ’s teaching, but by no means a certain number of verses and letters, and that certain books cannot become sacred from the first to the last line for the very reason that men say that they are sacred. Only our Russian readers of the educated class can, thanks to the censorship, ignore the labours of the historical criticism of the last hundred years, and say naively that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as they are, were written by the evangelists, each separately and in full.
The reader must remember that to say this in the year 1880, ignoring everything which science has worked out in this matter, is the same as when in the past century they spoke of the sun as turning around the earth.
The reader must remember that the synoptical gospels, as they have reached us, are the fruit of slow accretion by means of copying and interpolation, and reflections of thousands of different minds and hands, and by no means the productions of the Holy Ghost who spoke to the evangelists.
The reader must remember that the ascribing of the gospels in their present form to the apostles is a fable,
which not only cannot stand any criticism, but has even no foundation but the desire of pious people, who want it to be so. The gospels were selected, complemented, and expounded through the ages. All the gospels of the fourth century that have reached us are written in a continuous script, without signs of punctuation, and so were after the fourth and fifth centuries subject to most varied readings; that they count as many as fifty thousand such different evangelical books.
All this the reader must remember, in order that we may not be driven to that customary view that the gospels, as they are now understood, have come to us in that form from the Holy Ghost.
The reader must remember that there is nothing prejudicial in rejecting from the gospels the useless passages and in illuminating some of them by others, that, on the contrary, it is prejudicial and godless not to do so, but to consider a given number of verses and letters holy.
On the other hand, I beg the reader of my exposition of the Gospel to remember that, if I do not look upon the gospels as upon sacred books, I at the same time do not look upon them as upon mere documents of the history of religious literature. I understand both the theological and the historical view of the gospels, but I look differently at them, and so I beg the reader, in reading my exposition, not to be switched off on the church view, nor on the historical view of the gospels, which of late has become the fashion with cultivated people, a view which I did not hold and which I find equally incomplete.
I look on Christianity not as on an exclusive divine revelation, nor as on a historical phenomenon, but as on a teaching which gives us the meaning of life. I was led to Christianity, not by theological or historical investigations, but by this, that when, being fifty years old, I asked myself and the wiseacres of my surroundings what
I am, and wherein lies the meaning of my life, and received the answer, “ Thou art an accidental concatenation of particles, — there is no meaning in life, and life itself is evil," — I was brought to the point of despair and wanted to commit suicide; but, recalling that formerly, in my childhood, when 1 believed, there had been for me a meaning in life, and that the believing men around me, the majority of men, who are not corrupted by wealth, believed and lived an actual life, I doubted the correctness of the answer given me by the wisdom of men of my class, and I tried to understand the answer which Christianity gave to those who live a real life.
But, while I studied Christianity, I found, together with this source of the pure water of life, mud and ooze, which is illegitimately connected with it, and which alone concealed its purity from me; by the side of the profound Christian teaching I found connected with it the foreign, monstrous teaching of the Jews and of the church. I was in the position of a man who has received a bag of stinking mud, and who only after prolonged struggle and labour discovers that in this dirty bag there lie costly pearls; he understands that he is not to blame for his aversion to the stinking mud, and that the men who have collected and preserved these pearls together with the mud are not to blame, but deserve love and respect, and yet he does not know what to do with the pearls which he has found mixed with the mud. I was in an agonized state, until I discovered that the pearls were not grown over with the mud, but could be cleared of it.
I did not know the light, and thought that there was no truth in life, but, having convinced myself that men live by that light alone, I began to look for its source, and found it in the gospels, in spite of the false interpretations of the churches. And when I reached this source, I was blinded by the light, and received full answers to my questions as to the meaning of my life and of the life
of other men, answers which fully agreed with those I knew of the other nations, and which, in my opinion, surpassed them all.
I was looking for an answer to the question of life, and not to the theological and historical questions, and so it did not make any difference to me whether Jesus Christ was a God, or not, or from whom the Holy Ghost descended, and so forth; and equally unimportant and unnecessary it was for me to know when and by whom the gospel or this or that parable was written, and whether it may be ascribed to Christ, or not. What was important to rde was the light, which for eighteen hundred years has been illuminating humanity, and which has illuminated me; but what I should call this source of light, and what its materials are, and by whom it was lighted, were a matter of indifference to me.
And I began to look closely at this light and to discover everything that was opposed to it, and the farther I proceeded on this path, the more indubitable did the difference between truth and untruth become to me. In the beginning of my labour I had doubts and attempts at artificial explanations, but the farther I proceeded, the clearer and more undoubted did the matter become to me, and the more unquestionable the truth. I was in the position of a man who is picking up a statue that is broken in pieces. In the beginning there can be some doubt whether this or that piece is a part of the leg or the arm, but when the legs are put together, and the piece certainly does not belong to the leg, and when, besides, it fits in with another side piece and with its curves coincides with a lower part, there can be no doubt as to where it belongs. This I felt in proportion as my work proceeded, and if I am not insane, the same feeling will overcome the reader of the longer exposition of the Gospel, where each proposition is at the same time confirmed by philological considerations, and by variants,
and by contexts, and by agreement with the fundamental idea.
The preface would have ended here, if the gospels were books that were revealed at the present time, if Christ’s teaching had not been subject to the false interpretations of eighteen hundred years. But now, that we may understand the true teaching of Christ, as he himself must have comprehended it, it is necessary to recognize the chief causes of the false interpretations, which have distorted the teaching, and the chief methods employed by the false interpretations. The chief cause of those false interpretations, which have so distorted Christ’s teaching that it is difficult to see under their thick crust, consists in this, that Paul, who did not properly understand Christ’s teaching and did not know it as it was later expressed in the Gospel of Matthew, connected it with the teaching of the Pharisaic tradition and so with all the teachings of the Old Testament. Paul is generally regarded as an apostle of the Gentiles, as a protestant apostle. Such he was indeed externally in respect to the circumcision, and so forth. But the doctrine of the tradition, of the connection of the Old Testament with the New, was introduced into Christianity by Paul, and this doctrine of the tradition, this principle of the tradition, was the chief cause of the distortion of the Christian teaching and of its misunderstanding.
From the time of Paul begins the Christian Talmud, which is called the doctrine of the church, and Christ’s teaching becomes, not the one, divine, and full teaching, but one of the links of the chain of revelation, which begins with the beginning of the world and which lasts in the church up to the present time.
These false interpreters call Jesus a God; but the fact that they recognize him as a God does not cause them to ascribe a greater significance to the words and teachings, which are ascribed to God, than to the Pentateuch, the
Psalms, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, the Revelation, and even the (Ecumenical Decrees and the writings of the Holy Fathers of the church.
These false interpreters do not admit any other understanding of the teaching of Jesus Christ than such as are in agreement with the preceding and the subsequent revelation, so that it is not their aim to explain the significance of Christ’s preaching, but only to find the least contradictory meaning in the most diversified writings, the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, and everything which is regarded as Holy Scripture.
It is evident that? with such a view of Christ’s teaching the understanding of it is unthinkable. From this same false view results an endless diversity in the understanding of the GospeL
Naturally there can be an endless number of such explanations, which have for their aim, not the truth, but the harmonization of what cannot be harmonized, that is, of the writings of the Old and the New Testaments, and there is a large number of them. And so, all that is necessary in order to acknowledge a certain harmonization as true, is to have recourse to external means, to miracles, to the descent of the Holy Ghost, and such like.
Different men have harmonized in their own way; but each in his harmonization affirms that his harmonization is the continued revelation of the Holy Ghost. Such are the epistles of Paul, the decrees of the councils, which begin with the phrase, "It pleased us and the Holy Ghost;” such are the decrees of the Popes, the synods, the Arians, the Paulicians, and all the false interpreters, who affirm that the Holy Ghost speaks through their mouths. All of them use the same crude method of confirming the truth of their harmonization by saying that their harmonization is not the fruit of their thoughts but a confirmation by the Holy Ghost.
Without entering into the analysis of the creeds themselves, each of which calls itself the true one, we cannot help but see that in their common method of recognizing the enormous quantity of the so-called Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments as equally sacred lies the insurmountable, self-set obstacle to the comprehension of Christ’s teaching, and, also, that from this error results the possibility, and even the necessity, of endlessly diversified hostile sects.
Only the harmonization of an immense number of revelations can be endlessly diversified; but the interpretation of one person, considered as God, cannot lead to the evolution of sects. The teaching of God descended upon earth cannot be understood differently. If God descended upon earth to reveal the truth to men, then the least which he could do was to reveal it in such a way that all might understand it; and if he did not do so, he was not God; but if the divine truths are such that even God could not make them comprehensible to men, men certainly will not be able to do so.
If Jesus is not God, but a great man, his teaching can to a still lesser degree be the cause of sects. The teaching of a great man is great even because it is comprehensible and clearly enunciates what others have not enunciated clearly and intelligibly. What is not comprehensible in the teaching of a great man is not great, and so the teaching of a great man cannot bring forth sects. The teaching of a great man is great in that it unites all in the one truth.
Only the interpretation which affirms that it is the revelation of the Holy Ghost, that it is the only, true revelation, and that all the rest are false, produces hatred and the so-called sects. Let the sectarians of all the creeds say as much as they please that they do not condemn another creed, that they are praying for their union with the others, and that they do not hate them,
they are not telling the truth. Never has any assertion of any dogma, beginning with Arius, resulted from anything but an accusation of falsehood against a contrary dogma. But the proclamation that the expression of a given dogma is divine, of the Holy Spirit, is the highest degree of pride and stupidity: of the highest pride, for nothing more haughty can be said than that the words which I utter God himself spoke through me, and of the highest stupidity, because nothing more stupid cau be said than to reply to the assertion of a man that God is speaking through his mouth, “ No, God is not speaking through your mouth, but through mine, and he says the very opposite of what your God has said.” And yet it is precisely this that all the councils, all the symbols of faith, all the churches say, and from this has resulted all the evil which has been committed in the world in the name of religion. But, besides this external evil of the sects, there is also another important, internal defect, which is inherent in all the sects, and which invests them with an indistinct, indefinite, and unscrupulous character.
This defect consists in this, that, having recognized as the last revelation the Holy Ghost, who came down on the apostles and has passed over a specially chosen people, the false interpreters nowhere show directly, definitely, and conclusively wherein this revelation of the Holy Ghost consists, and yet continue to base their faith on this supposed revelation, and call it Christ’s.
All the sectarians who acknowledge the revelation of the Holy Ghost, like the Mohammedans, assume three revelations: the Mohammedans have Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed; the church men have Moses, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. But according to the Mohammedan religion Mohammed is the last prophet, the one who explained the meaning of the revelations of Moses and of Jesus, and he is the last revelation, which explains everything
which precedes, and every righteous believer has this revelation before him. It is not so with the faith of the church: like the Mohammedan, it accepts three revelations, — that of Moses, of Jesus, and of the Holy Ghost; but it does not call itself the Holy Ghost religion, from the name of the last revelation, but affirms that the basis of its religion is Christ’s teaching. Thus they confess one doctrine, and ascribe the authority of this doctrine to Christ.
The Holy Ghost sectarians, who recognize as the last revelation, — which explains everything which precedes, — some Paul, others these or those councils, or the Popes, or the epistles of the patriarchs, or the private revelations of the Holy Ghost, ought to say so and call their faith by the name of him who had the last revelation, and if the last revelation is the fathers, or the epistle of the Eastern patriarchs, or the decrees of the Popes, or the syllabus, or Luther’s or Filardt’s catechism, they ought to say so and call their faith accordingly, for the last revelation, which explains everything which precedes, will always be the chief revelation.
But they do not do so and, instead, preach doctrines which are foreign to Christ, affirming that Christ preached these doctrines. Thus it turns out from their doctrine that Christ announced that he redeemed with his blood the human race which fell through Adam; that God is a Trinity; that the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles and passed through the laying on of hands to the clergy; that seven sacraments are needed for salvation, etc. It turns out that all this is the teaching of Christ, whereas there is not as much as a hint of all this in the teaching of Jesus. These false teachers ought to call their teaching and their faith the teaching and the faith of the Holy Ghost, and not of Christ, for we can call Christ’s faith only the faith which recognizes Christ’s revelation, which has come down to us in the gospels, as the last revelation,
even as they must recognize it according to Christ’s words, Call no one teacher but Christ.
One would think that this is so simple that no mention ought to be made of it; but, strange to say, up to the present men have not come to see this. Instead of directing all their attention to separating Christ’s teaching from all the artificial, unjustifiable harmonization with the Old Testament, and with those arbitrary additions to his teaching, which have been made in the name of the Holy Ghost, all the efforts are directed toward finding the greatest possible meaning in this harmonization. And, strange to say, in this error two extreme camps meet: the camp of the churchmen and of the freethinking historians of Christianity. The first, by calling Jesus the second person of the Trinity, understand his teaching only in connection with the supposed revelations of the third person, which they find in the Old Testament, in the epistles of the councils, in the decrees of the fathers, and preach the strangest faiths, asserting that they are Christ’s.
The second, who do not regard Jesus as God, understand the teaching in the same way, not as it may have been preached by him, but as it is understood by Paul and the other interpreters. While regarding Jesus as a man, and not as God, these interpreters deprive Jesus of the most legitimate human right of being responsible for his own words, and not for those of his false interpreters. While trying to explain the teaching of Jesus, these learned misinterpreters foist on Jesus what he never had in his mind to say. The representatives of this school of interpreters, beginning with the most popular among them, Renan, have not troubled themselves about sifting out of Christ’s teaching that which Christ himself taught, and not that which his interpreters have lied about him; they have not tried to understand the teaching more profoundly than the churchmen, but attempt to understand the meaning of the appearance of Jesus and of the dis-
semination of bis teaching from the events of his life and
the conditions of his time.
One would, however, think that the historians ought not to make this mistake. The problem which they ought to solve is like this: eighteen hundred years ago there appeared a poor man who said so and so. He was flogged and hanged, and all forgot about him, as millions of similar incidents have been forgotten, and for two hundred years the world did not hear anything about him. But it turns out that some one had made a note of what he had said, and had told it to a second and a third person. And so it went on, until billions of wise and foolish men, of the learned and the unlearned, cannot get rid of the idea that this man, and no other, was God. How is such a remarkable phenomenon to be explained ? The churchmen say that that was due to the fact that Jesus was really God. If so, everything is intelligible. But if he was not God, how are we to explain that this simple man was acknowledged by all to be God ?
The learned men of this school carefully investigate all the details of the conditions of this man’s life, without noticing that no matter how many details they may discover (in reality they have discovered nothing but what is given in Josephus Flavius and in the gospels), no matter how they may reconstruct Jesus’ life down to the minutest details, and may find out what he ate and where he slept, the question as to why he and no one else had such an influence on people still remains without an answer. The answer is not this, in what circle Jesus lived, who educated him, and so forth, and still less, what was going on in Rome, and that the people were predisposed to superstitions, and so forth, but only in this, what this man preached that was so peculiar as to cause people to separate him from all the others and to recognize him as God at that time and even now.
One would think that if we want to understand this, the first thing which we must do is to try to understand the teaching of this man, to understand, of course, his own teaching, and not those coarse interpretations of his teachings which have been disseminated since his day. But this they do not do. These learned historians of Christianity were so glad to find that Jesus was not God, and they are so anxious to show that his teaching is not divine, and so not obligatory, that they forget that the more they prove this, that he was a simple man and his teaching not divine, the farther will they be from the comprehension of the question which interests them. They strain all their powers to prove that he was a simple man and that, therefore, his teaching was not divine. If we wish clearly to see this remarkable aberration, we need only think of Renan. Havet naively affirms that Jfaus Christ n'avait rien de chrStien. And Souris proves with enthusiasm that Christ was a coarse and stupid fellow.
The question is not to prove that Jesus was not God, and that, therefore, his teaching is not divine, and not that he was not a Catholic, but to understand wherein the teaching consisted, which has been so elevated and so dear to men that men have recognized the preacher of this teaching to be God. It is this that I have tried to do, and have done, at least so far as I am concerned. And this I offer now to my brethren.
If the reader belongs to the immense majority of cultured men, educated in the faith of the church, who have rejected it on account of its incompatibility with sound reason and with conscience (whether he has still left love and respect for the spirit of the Christian teaching, or, according to the proverb, being furious at the fleas has chucked the fur coat into the stove, that is, considers all Christianity a dangerous superstition), I beg such a reader to remember that what repels him and presents
itself as a superstition is not Christ’s teaching; that Christ cannot be blamed for that monstrous tradition which has been foisted on his teaching and has been given out as Christianity. We must study only Christ’s teaching, as it has reached us, that is, those words and actions which are ascribed to Jesus, and which have a didactic significance.
Such a reader, in perusing my exposition, will find that Christianity is not a mixture of what is profound with what is base, not a superstition, but, on the contrary, a very strict, pure, and complete metaphysical and sesthetical teaching, above which human reason has not yet risen, and in whose circle, though not conscious of it, all human activity is moving, whether political, scientific, poetical, or philosophic.
If the reader belongs to that insignificant minority of cultured men who keep the church faith, confessing it, not for external reasons, but for the sake of inward peace, I beg such a reader, before reading this, to decide in his soul the question as to what is dearer to him, spiritual peace, or truth. If it is peace, I ask him not to read this, but if it is truth, I beg him to remember that Christ’s teaching, as expounded here, in spite of the sameness of name, is an entirely different teaching, and that, therefore, the relation of him who confesses the church faith to this exposition is the same as the relation of a Mohammedan to the preaching of Christianity; that the question for him is not whether the proposed teaching is in accord with his faith, or not, but only what teaching is more in accord with his reason and his heart, his church teaching, or the one teaching of Christ. The question for him is whether he wants to accept the new teaching, or prefers to remain in his faith.
But if the reader belongs to those men who externally profess the church faith and who value it, not because they believe in its truth, but from external considerations, because they consider this profession and the preaching of it profitable for themselves, let him remember that, no matter how many brethren of the faith they may have, no matter how strong they may be, on what thrones they may seat themselves, by what high names they may call themselves, they are not the accusers, but the accused, and not through me, but through Christ. Such readers must remember that there is no need for them to prove anything; that they have long ago said what they had to say; that if even they proved what they want to prove, they prove only what all the hundreds of mutually excluding church creeds have proved long ago; that they must not prove, but justify themselves. They must justify themselves for their blasphemy, by which they have assimilated the teaching of Jesus the God to the teachings of Ezdra, of the councils, of a Theophi-lactes, and have allowed themselves to interpret God’s words wrongly and to change them on the basis of men’s words; to justify themselves for slandering God, by burdening Jesus the God with all the superstition in their hearts and giving it out as the teaching of Jesus; to justify themselves for their rascality, with which they concealed the teaching of God, who came to give the good to the world and substituted for it their own Holy Ghost faith, and by this substitution have deprived billions of people of the good which Christ brought to men, and, instead of the peace and love, brought to them, have introduced into the world sects, condemnations, and rascalities of every kind, covering them up with the name of Christ.
For these readers there are only two ways out: humble repentance and renunciation of their lie, or prosecution of those who accuse them for what they have been doing.
If they do not renounce the lie, there is but one thing left for them to do: to persecute me, for which I, finishing this writing, am prepared with joy and with fear for my weakness.
CONTENTS OF GOSPEL IN BRIEF
Introduction : Mark L 1. John xx. 31; L 1-5, 9-18. Chapter I.: Matt. L 18-19. Luke ii. 40-52 ; iii. 23. Matt. iii. 1. Mark i 4. Matt iii: 4. Mark i 4. Luke iii 4-6, 10-14. Matt iii 5-8, 10-13; iv. 1-3. Luke
iv. 3. Matt. iv. 3. Luke iv. 4. Matt iv. 4. Luke iv.
9- 11. Matt. iv. 7-8. Luke iv. 5-6, 9, 7-8. Matt, iv. 10. Luke iv. 13. John i 36-47, 49, 51. Luke iv. 16-21.
Chapter II.: Matt xii. 1. Mark ii. 23. Luke vi 1. Matt xii. 2, 7, 8. Luke xiii 10-14; xiv. 3, 6, 5. Matt xii. 11-12; ix. 9-13; xv. 1. Mark vii. 1. Matt. xv. 2. Mark vii. 3-5. Matt. xv. 3. Mark vii 10-13. Matt, xv. 7-9. Mark vii. 8, 14—15. Luke xi. 41. Mark vii 16-21, 23. John ii. 13-20. Matt. xii. 6-7. John ii. 23-25; iv. 4-6, 8, 7, 9-10, 13, 14, 19-21, 23-26; iii. 22-27, 31-36. Luke xi 37-39, 41 ; vii. 37-48; xviii.
10- 14; v. 33-38.
- Chapter III.: Matt. xi. 2-7, 16, 18-19, 16, 17, 19, 8-9, 11. Luke xvi. 16; xvii. 20, 23-24, 21. John iii. 1-6, 8, 7, 9-13, 15-21. Matt, xiii 3-5, 7-8. Mark iv. 26-29, 33, 24-25, 27, 29-30, 47-48, 10-11, 15, 18, 19-23, 12. Luke viii. 18. Matt. xiii. 31.
Chapter IV.: Matt. ix. 35-36 ; v. 1-2. Luke vi. 20-25, 20. Matt. v. 13-24; xix. 7, 9; v. 33-34, 37-41. Luke vi. 30, 37. Matt. vii. 1, 3. Luke vi. 39-40. Matt, vii. 6; v. 39, 43-44, 46; vii 12; vi. 1-12. Mark xi. 25-26. Matt, vi 16-34. Luke xi. 9. Matt, vii 9-11, 13-14. Luke xii 32. Matt. vii. 15-17. Luke vi 45.
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Matt. vii. 21-27. Luke iv. 32. Matt. iv. 14, 16; xii. 19-21.
Chapter V.: Matt. xi. 25, 28-30. John iv. 31-38;
v. 1-2, 4, 2-3, 5-11, 15-17, 19-31, 36-40, 43^4. Luke xix. 11-22. Matt. xxv. 26-27. Luke xix. 23-24. Matt. xxv. 28. Luke xix. 25-26. Matt. xxv. 30. John
vi. 1-3, 5, 7. Matt. xiv. 17. John vl 9-11, 26-33, 35-57, 60-63. Luke x. 1-3. Matt. x. 16. Luke x. 4. Mark vi 10-11. Matt. x. 22-23, 19, 23, 26-34. Luke xii 49, 51-53; xiv. 26. Matt. xii. 15, 24, 26-29, 31-32, 30, 33.
Chapter VI.: Luke viii. 19. Matt. xii. 46. Luke viii. 20-21; xi. 27-28 ; ix. 57-58. Mark iv. 35, 37-38, 40. Luke ix. 59-62; x. 38—12 ; ix. 23-25 ; xii. 15-21; xiii. 2-8; xii. 54-56; xiv. 25-33, 15-16, 18-23; xvi. 1-6, 8, 9-11, 13-17, 19-31. Mark x. 17-27. Luke xix. 1-10. Mark xii. 41-44. Matt, xxvi 6-13; xxi.
28— 29
Chapter VII.: John vii. 1-3, 5, 3, 4, 6-9, 11-12, 14-19, 21-29, 33-34, 38-40, 42-52; viii. 12-14,18-19, 21, 24-26, 28-29, 31-32, 34-44, 46, 48-59; ix. 1-3, 5-9, 11, 13-21, 24-31, 33-34; xi. 25; x. 1-3, 1, 5, 7-14, 17-18, 15, 17, 16, 24-38, 20-21, 39-42. Matt, xvi. 13-18.
Chapter VIII.: Matt. x. 38-39 ; xix. 27. Mark x.
29- 31. Matt. xx. 1-3, 8-16. Mark x. 35, 37—40. Matt. xx. 23. Mark x. 41-42. Matt. xx. 25-27. Mark x. 45. Matt, xviii 11-12. Luke xv. 8, 10; xiv. 8-11; xv. 11-13, 15-18, 20-32. Mark xii. 1-8. Matt. xxi. 40-43. Luke xvii 5-10; xii. 35-39. Matt. xxiv. 45-46, 48-51. Mark xiii 33. Luke xxi. 34. Matt. xxv. 1-7, 10. Luke xiii. 24-25. Matt, xvi 27; xxv. 32, 34.
Chapter IX.: Matt. xix. 13-14. Luke xviii. 17. Matt, xviii 3, 5. Luke ix. 48. Matt, xviii 10, 14, 6-8. Luke xvii. 3. Matt, xviii. 15-16. Luke xvii. 4. Matt, xviii. 17, 23-35; v. 25 ; xviii 18-20. Mark x. 2. Matt.
xix 3-6, 8-12; xvii 24-25, 27; xxii 16-21; xxiii 15-22. Luke ix. 52-56; xiL 13-14. John viii 3—11. Luke x. 25, 27, 29-35. Matt, xvi 21. Mark viii
32- 34. Matt. xxii. 23-25, 28. Luke xx. 34-36. Matt.
xxii. 31-32, 34-37, 39-40, 42-43. Luke xii 1. Mark viii. 15. Matt. xvi. 11-12. Luke xx. 46. Matt, xxiii. 2-8, 13, 15-16, 23, 28, 27, 30-31. Mark iii 28-29. Matt, xxiii. 37—38; xxiv. 1-4, 12, 14.
Chapter X.: Luke xi. 53-54. John xi. 47-48. Luke xix. 47—48. John xi. 49-50, 52-57, 7-10; xii. 2-5, 8, 7, 12-14. Matt. xxi. 10-11. Mark xi. 15. John xii. 19. Mark xi. 18. John xii. 20-28, 31-32, 34-36, 44-45, 47-50, 36, 42-43. Matt. xxvi. 3-5, 14-16, 17-20. John xiii 11. Matt. xxvi. 21. Mark xiv. 18. Matt, xxvi 23, 26-28. Luke xxii 18. John xiii. 4—7, 10, 12, 14, 17-18, 21-27, 30-35. Matt. xxvi. 30-31,
33- 35. Luke xxii. 35-36, 38. Matt, xxvi 36. John xviii. 1. Matt. xxvi. 37-45.
Chapter XI.: Johu xiii 36-38; xiv. 1-28; xv. 1—2, 4-27; xvi. 1-13, 15-31, 33; xvii. 1, 3, 6, 4, 7-11, 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25-26.
Chapter XII.: Matt. xxvi. 46-52, 55. Luke xxii 53. Matt. xxvi. 56. John xviii. 12-14. Mark xiv. 53. Matt. xxvi. 58, 69-75. Mark xiv. 53. John xviii 19-23. Matt. xxvi. 59-61. Mark xiv. 59. Matt, xxvi 62-68; xxvii 2. John xviii. 28-32. Luke xxiii 2. John xviii. 33-38. Luke xxiii. 5. Mark xv. 3-5. Luke
xxiii. 6-15. Matt, xxvii. 23, 21-23. Johu xix. 4, 6-15, 12, 15, 13. Matt, xxvii. 24-25. Luke xxiii. 23. John xix 13. Matt, xxvii. 26, 28-29. John xix. 16. Matt, xxvii. 31. John xix. 18. Luke xxiii. 34-35. Mark. xv. 29-32. Luke xxiii. 39-43. Matt, xxvii. 46-48, 50. John xix. 28-30. Luke xxiii 46.
CONCLUSION
THE COMPREHENSION OF LIFE IS THE DOING OF GOOD
FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
The announcement of good by Jesus Christ is the announcement of the comprehension of life.
The comprehension of life is this, that the principle of life is the perfect good. And so the life of man is just such perfect good. In order that we may attain this principle, we must understand that the spirit of life in man came from this principle. Man, who did not exist before, was called to life by this principle. This principle has given the good to man, and so the quality of this principle is the good.
Not to deviate from the principle of his life, a man must keep the only, comprehensible quality of this principle, — the beneficence of love. And so man’s life must consist in the good, that is, in doing good, in love, but good can be done to men only.
All the personal lusts do not correspond to the principle of the good, and so man must sacrifice them and all his carnal life for the principle of beneficent love for his neighbours.
From the comprehension of life, as revealed by Jesus Christ, results the love of our neighbours. There are two proofs of the truth of this comprehension: one is this, that if we do not recognize it, the principle of life presents itself as a deceiver that gave to men an unsatis-
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factory striving toward life and the good; the other is this, that man in his heart feels that love and doing good to his neighbour is the one true, free, and eternal life.
Chap. I. 1, 2, 3. This is the announcement about the comprehension of life, wherein men have communion with the Father of life, and so eternal life.
4. This is the announcement of good.
5. The comprehension of life consists in this, that God is life and the good, and that in life and in the good there is no death or evil.
6. If we should say that we have united with God and live in evil and death, we should either be deceived, or not be doing what we ought to.
7. Only if we live the life which he lives, do we unite with him.
Chap. II. 1. We have a teacher in this life in Jesus Christ the righteous.
2. He has delivered us and the whole world from untruth.
3. Hereby do we know the teaching of Jesus Christ, if we keep his commandments.
4. He who says that he knows the teaching of Jesus Christ, and does not keep his commandments, is a cheat, and the truth is not in him.
5. But he who keeps his commandments has the love of God. Through the love alone do we know that we are united with God.
6. He who says that he is united with Jesus Christ
must live as Jesus lived.
9, 10, 11. He who says that he is in the life and the good, and hates his living brother, is not in the life and the good, but in death and evil, and does not know himself what he is doing; and blind is he who hates the life which is in him.
15. In order that one may not be blind, one must remember that everything of the world is a lust of the flesh or vanity, and all this is not of God;
16. That it passes away and dies;
17. But that he who does the will of God, love, abides for ever.
23. Only he who recognizes his spirit as the son of God unites with the Father.
24. And so keep that comprehension that according to the spirit you are the sons of God the Father, and then you will have eternal life.
Chap. TTT. 1. God has given you the possibility of being his sons, and such as he is.
2. Thus we in this life become the sons of God. Though we do not know what we shall be, we know that we are like him, and that we unite with him.
3. The hope in this eternal life frees man from error and makes him pure, even as the Father is.
4. Whoever commits a sin acts contrary to the will of God.
5. Jesus Christ appeared to teach us the liberation from sin and the union with God.
6. And so he who has united with him can no longer sin. Only he who does not know him commits sin.
7. And he who lives in God does righteousness.
8. He who has not united with God does not do righteousness.
9. Whoever acknowledges his birth from God cannot lie.
10. And so men are divided into those who are of God and those who are not: into those who know the truth and love their brothers, and into those who do not know the truth and do not love their brothers.
11. For according to the announcement of Jesus Christ we cannot help but love our brothers.
14. From the announcement of Jesus Christ we know
392 SHORT EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL
that we pass from death to life, for we love our brothers, and that he who does not love a brother is in death.
15. We know that he who does not love his brother does not love life. And he who does not love life cannot have life.
16. From his announcement we know love to be this, that life is given to us, and so we know that we must lay down our life for a brother.
17. So that if a man who has life and sees that his brother is in need, and does not lay down his life for his brother, the love of God is not in him.
19. And he who loves thus has a peaceful heart, for he is united with God.
20. If his heart struggles he subdues his heart to God.
21. For God is more important than the desires of the heart. But if the heart does not struggle, he is blessed.
22. For he does everything he can, the very best he can, and he does what he is commanded to do.
23. But he is commanded to believe that he is the son of God, and to love his brother.
Chap. IY. 4. Those who act so unite with God and become higher than the world, for what is in them is greater and more important than the whole world.
7. And so we shall love one another. Love is of God, and every one who loves is a son of God, and knows God.
6. And he who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.
9. That God is love we know from this, that he sent his spirit, such as he himself is, into the world, and gave us life through it.
10. We were not, and God did not need us, but he gave us life, the good, consequently he loves us.
12. No one can know God. What we can know of him is that he loves us and through this love gave us life.
11. And so, to Ire in communion with God, we must
be the same as he, and do the same that he is doing, that is, love men.
12. If we love one another, God is in us, and we in him.
16. Understanding God’s love to us, we believe that God is love and that he who loves is united with God.
17. And understanding this, we are not afraid of death, for we have become in this world like God.
18. Our life has become love and is freed from fear and from all sufferings.
19. We love, because he loves.
20. And we must love, not God, whom we cannot love, because no man sees him, but the brother, whom we can love. He who says that he loves God, and hates his brother, is deceiving, for if he does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see?
21. For we have the commandment to love God in our brother.
Chap. V. 3, 4. The love of God is, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not hard for him who, recognizing his birth from God, becomes above the world. Our faith rises above the world. Our true faith is that which Jesus, the son of God, has taught us.
8. And the spirit is in us and confirms us in the truth of his teaching.
9. If we shall believe in what men affirm, how, then, can we fail to believe in the spirit which is in us ?
10. He who believes that the spirit of life in him is a spirit that has come down from above, has satisfaction in himself. But he who does not believe that life is a spirit that has come down from above, from the Father, makes God a deceiver.
11. The spirit confirms that the life in us i* the eternal life.
12. He who believes that this spirit is the son of the eternal spirit and like him, has eternal life.
14. He who believes in this has no obstacles in life and everything he wishes according to the will of God is accomplished for him.
18. And so, he who believes that he is the son of God does not live in the lie and is pure from eviL
19. For he knows that the world is a deception.
20. That in himself (in man) there is understanding, so that he may find out that truth exists. But the truth is that only the spirit, the son of the Father, exists.
THE END.