On the Triune nature of God (unknown date and author - VIII century probably)

On the Triune nature of God

[Note: the … and *** mean that in those points it miss some words or, even, whole lines from the original manuscript. It seems in the 50’s another work on the original paper has been done, bringing back these new lines, but I’ve been unable to find it.]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, one God. O God, we rejoice in Thy mercy in truth and right.

Praise be to God before whom nothing was, and who was before everything, after whom there is nothing, and He is the heir of all things, and to Him all things return, who by His knowledge kept the knowledge of all things, and nothing but His work is sufficient for this, in whose knowledge is the end of all things, and He counts everything by His knowledge. We ask Thee, O God, by Thy mercy and Thy power to put us among those who know Thy truth and follow Thy will and [fear] Thy wrath and adore Thy excellent names in Thy sublime attributes. Thou art the compassionate, the merciful; seated upon the throne Thou art worthy; Thou art higher than the creatures and Thou fillest all things. Thou doest good and art not done good to; Thou judgest and art not Judged; Thou art rich towards us and we are poor towards Thee. Thou art near to those who approach Thee; Thou answerest those who call on Thee and implore Thee. Thou, O God, art Lord of all things, God of all things, Creator of all things. Open our mouths, loosen our tongues, soften our hearts, and open our breasts to the praise of Thy noble and high and great and blessed and holy name. Verily there is no god before Thee, and no god after Thee. To Thee (shall we] return; Thou art the Almighty. To Thee be the praise, O God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, and of all that is therein by Thy Word and Thy Spirit.

To Thee be the praise, O God, who dwellest in light, Creator of the angels and the spirit that they may adore Thy name, Thy holy name; for the message of Thy name and for the authority of Thy power, and they do not weary of Thy majesty and Thy holiness, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the mighty Lord, who filleth the heavens and the earth with His honour.

Verily they adore Thee, and set their seal to one Lord, that men may know that the angels adore God and His Word and His Spirit, one God and one Lord. We worship Thee, our Lord and our God, in Thy Word and Thy Spirit. Thou, O God, by Thy Word hast created the heavens and the earth and all that is therein, and by the Holy Spirit Thou causest to live the hosts of angels; we praise Thee, O God, and we adore Thee and we glorify Thee in Thy creative Word and Thy holy life-giving Spirit, one God and one Lord and one Creator. We do not distinguish God from His Word and His Spirit. We worship no other god with God in His Word and His Spirit. God shewed His power and His light in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms and the Gospel, that God and His Word and His Spirit are one God and one Lord. We will shew this, if God will, in these books which have come down to him who wishes intuition and perceives things and knows the truth and opens his breast to believe in God and His Scriptures, as the Christ said in the Gospel, "Search the Scriptures, and verily ye shall find eternal life in them." And He said also, "To him that asks shall be given, and he that seeks shall find, and to him that seeks an opening it shall be opened." It is written also in the beginning of the Law, which God sent down to His prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Then he said, "The Spirit of God was upon the waters." Then He said, by His Word, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Then He said, "Let there be a firmament," and there was a firmament, which is the lower heaven. Then He said, "Let the earth bring forth the grass and the green herb and the tree with fruit and other things, and let the earth bring forth the living soul of wild beasts, and cattle, and lions, and creeping things," and it was so. Then He said, "Let the waters bring forth every creeping thing that hath life, and every fowl that flieth in the heavens of their kind and sex," and it was so. Then He said, "Let us create man after our own image and likeness."

So God shewed in the beginning of the book which He sent down to His prophet Moses, that God and His Word and His Spirit are one God, and that God, may He be blessed and exalted! created all things, and gave life to all things by His Word and His Spirit. We do not say three Gods ...God: but we say that God and His Word and His Spirit are one God and one Creator. This is like the disc of the Sun which is in the heaven, and the rays which issue from the Sun, and the heat which comes from the Sun, each from the other. We do not say that these are three suns, but one Sun, and these are three names not to be distinguished from one another. Also like the eye, and the pupil of the eye, and the light which is in the eye; we do not say that there are three eyes, but one Eye with three names in it. Also like the soul and the body and the spirit; we do not distinguish them each from the other; we do not say there are three men but one Man and three names in one person. Also like the root of the tree, and the branches of the tree, and the fruit of the tree; we do not say that these are three trees, but one Tree, one part of it from another part. And when it begins to appear to men in its season, we know that all this is in the tree when it appears and before it appears. Also like the fountain of water, which springs up from the fountain and flows from it a river, and some of the water of the river collects and becomes a lake. You cannot distinguish one part from another; and, though its names are different, we do not say that it is three waters but one Water in the fountain and the river and the lake.

Man and his mind and the word which is born from his mind, one from the other, and the spirit which is in the mind, and the word from the mind, one from the other; we do not distinguish between them, and each of them has its beginning from the other and is known from it. Also like the mouth and the tongue which is in the mouth, and the word which issues from the tongue; so is our saying about the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. By it the prophets prophesied, and said, "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken." This all is the proof of our faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. We know God to be one Lord in His Word and His Spirit. And in Him we adore and praise the Word of God and His Spirit. Thus man ought to believe about it. Yet we ought to know that we understand nothing about the power of God nor His majesty by speech nor by figures nor by word, but by faith and piety and the fear of God and purity of spirit. If there be any man who hopes to understand anything of the majesty of God, let him seek the protection of Him whom he can never understand, and every one who thinks he will tell the exact power of God. Verily He is able to stretch the water of the ocean in the hollow of His hand, and verily God, may His name be blessed, and His fame be exalted! is more glorious in power, and greater ...than that minds or eyes can understand Him; He understands and is not understood; and thus ...is due to the High God and His Word and His Spirit. Verily everything relating to God is very wonderful.

We do not say that God begat His Word as any man begets; God forbid! but we say that the Father begat His Word as the Sun begets rays, and as the mind begets the word, and as the fire begets heat; none of these things existed before what was begotten of them. God, may His name be blessed! never existed without Word and Spirit, but God was ever in His Word and His Spirit; His Word and His Spirit were with God and in God before He made the creatures. We do not say how this is. Verily everything relating to God is majesty and might. As no man can understand anything of God, neither can he understand the Word of God and His Spirit. Thus God said in the Law, "Let us create man in our image and likeness." God, may His name be blessed! did not say "I create man," but said " We create man," that man may know that God by His Word and His Spirit created all things, and gave life to all things. He is the wise Creator. You will find it also in the Coran, that "We created man in misery, and we have opened the gates of Heaven with water pouring down, and have said, And now are ye come unto us alone, as we created you at first" He said also,

"Believe in God, and in His Word; and also in the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost has brought it down a mercy and a guidance from thy Lord," but why should I prove it from this and enlighten [you] when we find in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms and the Gospel? and you find it in the Coran? that God and His Word and His Spirit are one God and one Lord? Ye have said that ye believe in God and His Word and the Holy Ghost, so do not reproach us, O men! that we believe in God and His Word and His Spirit: and we worship God in His Word and His Spirit, one God and one Lord and one Creator. God has shewn also in all the Scriptures, that the thing is so in guidance and true judgment. Who contradicts this and nothing else? In the Gospel also it is written, when the Christ was baptized in the holy river of Jordan, that the Father bare witness from Heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him," and the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven and abode upon Him, that men might know that God and His Word and His Spirit are one God and one Lord among the first and the last. And say not that God is removed from His place, or that there is of Him one thing without another: God forbid ! but we say that God is all complete in Heaven, and all complete in the Christ, and all complete in every place. Seest thou not the Sun which God created,...and light to the people of the world?

that it is in heaven, and in the wadys and the mountains and on the hillsides and the seas, it is not divided and it is not removed from place to place, but wherever it wills it exists as it wills; it fills all things with its majesty and its might and there is nothing more glorious than it. Thus also David the prophet prophesied about the baptism of the Christ, saying, "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth, God is upon many waters." What do I prove from this prophecy about the baptism of the Christ? That the Father bare witness from Heaven, and the Son was on the water, and the Holy Ghost came down upon Him, and this is all one God and one might. This then is our faith and our testimony in God and His Word and His Spirit. He is the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, one God and one Lord; but in the Christ He saved and delivered men. We will shew this also if God wills, how God sent His Word and His light as mercy and guidance to men and was gracious to them in Him. There came down to Adam and his race from Heaven no Saviour from Satan and his darkness and his error. For God, may His name be blessed and sanctified and exalted! created of His bounty and His great mercy the heavens and the earth and all that is therein in six days, and created Adam of dust, and breathed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul.

Then He made him to dwell in the garden, and created his wife for him out of his rib. He commanded them to eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of good and evil they should not eat, for verily in the day that they should eat thereof they should surely die. And Satan envied them and wished to put them out from the honour of God, and he came to Eve the wife of Adam and said to her, "Thus hath God said, Eat not of the tree of knowledge, for He knoweth that when ye eat of it ye shall become gods like Him." And Satan made himself fair to them and deceived them, and Eve ate of it and gave her husband to eat; and they were naked and became aware of their nakedness, and covered themselves with fig-leaves. God drove them out of the garden, and they lived over against it. God made a wall of fire to the garden, and Adam inherited disobedience and sin and death. This ran on in the race of Adam; no man, prophet or other person was able to save the race of Adam from disobedience and sin and death. Between Adam and Noah there were ten fathers, and this was a thousand two hundred and seventy years. They did not remember God nor serve Him until Noah, and who among them loved God or obeyed Him?

And Noah warned and called them to God, and they mocked him; they opposed him; then God brought the Flood on the sons of Adam and on all beasts in the time of Noah, and drowned all the people of the world, and saved. Noah and his household, eight persons, in the ship which God commanded him to make. There was with him in the ship of every beast and bird as God commanded him. Then after a year God brought out Noah and his household from the ship, and the earth was inhabited by his sons and his household. He offered an offering to God and God accepted that offering. Then there were between Noah and Abraham the good, whom God chose for his obedience, ten fathers, and that is a thousand and two hundred years. And men served the Devil instead of God, and went after things that were forbidden and were in rebellion against God, except the saints of God, and there were few of these in their time to warn them and call them to God. Some of them met with grievous trial and open enmity from their neighbors and jealousy from men. Then between Abraham and Moses, the Prophet of God, there were four hundred and [thirty] years. Men became worse than they had ever been, wickeder in deed and uglier in look. Evil was wrought among men, the work of wicked Satan appeared among them. The people of Sodom, among whom Lot, the son of Abraham's brother, dwelt, wrought the lewd and wicked and ugly deed, so God destroyed them by a rain of fire and naphtha, and not one of them was saved; and God delivered Lot and his daughters from destruction. Verily God is with those who fear Him and do right.

Then Israel and his sons went into Egypt, and they were seventy-five souls, men and women and boys. God multiplied and increased them till they became 600,000 and more. There arose over Egypt another Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. He separated them and brought them heavy work, and he wished to destroy the children of Israel. He made himself a god and caused them to work at heavy building, made them toil to the utmost and killed their sons. But God saved Moses, and Pharaoh's daughter brought him up. The children of Israel implored God to save them from the toil they were in, and from the hand of Pharaoh. And God answered them and appeared to them in His mercy. And Moses fled out of Egypt, and God led him till he reached Mount Sinai, and God verily spake with him from the right side of the mountain and said to him, "The wailing of the children of Israel has come up to Me, and their toil wherewith Pharaoh and his people make them toil." So God sent him to Pharaoh and strengthened him by great and mighty signs and strong power. Then God clave the Sea for the children of Israel and made them pass through the midst of it, and drowned Pharaoh and his hosts. And God was terrible in vengeance, and God led them in the night by a pillar of fire and in the day He shaded them by the cloud. He fed them with manna and quails, and was gracious to them for forty years in the desert land. Thereupon they were disobedient to God, and committed things displeasing to the Lord. Nor did the Devil cease to reproach them till he tempted them and they worshipped the golden calf instead of God. When Moses was with God in Mount Sinai receiving the Law, God wished to destroy the children of Israel in their wicked works, and Moses entreated God and asked Him to forgive them and spare them from destruction. And God received the intercession of His servant and prophet Moses and forgave them and spared them from death. Then God said to Moses and the children of Israel, "I will raise up unto you a Prophet like unto Me; obey him in all that he shall command you. Whosoever shall not obey him, his name will I wipe out and will destroy him from the children of Israel." That Prophet was the Christ, the Word of God and His Spirit whom He sent from Heaven, a mercy and a guidance to the race of Adam and their salvation. Then God shewed Moses to be His prophet. And Moses lived a hundred and twenty years.

And the children of Israel returned to be worse than they had ever been, worshipping the Devil in every place, not remembering God, and sacrificing their sons and daughters to the Devil and his hosts, even after He had brought them into the land of Palestine, the Holy Land. God sent to them His prophets and His apostles; and multiplied prophets unto them, and they preached to them and called them to God and shewed to him (sic) the work of the Devil and his temptation and his error. The Devil conquered the children of Israel and all people, and made them poor and led them astray and took people for (his) servants instead of God, and turned them aside and seduced them in every wicked work. And the people hastened against God's prophets and His apostles, and their hearts were blinded that they should not understand the speech of the prophets of God. Some of them they killed; some of them they stoned; and some of them they told lies about.

The work of Satan and his error appeared in every nation and every people. They worshipped fire and images and beasts and trees, and served living things and sea-monsters and every beast of the earth. God was not content with this for His creatures. God was more merciful than the merciful amongst His creatures. He appointed One who should preside over their salvation and their redemption from the temptation of Satan and his error. When the prophets of God saw this, that the children of Adam were lost, and that the Devil had conquered them, and that no man could save the race of Adam from error and destruction, the prophets and apostles of God entreated God and asked Him to come down to His creatures and His servants, and to preside in His mercy over their salvation from the error of the Devil. One of them said, "Lord, bend the heavens, and come down to us." One said, "O Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, shew Thyself to us, stir up Thy might, and come for our salvation." And one of them said, "There is no intercessor and no king, but the Lord will come and save us." Another prophesied saying, "The Lord sent His word and healed us from our toil and saved us." Another prophesied saying openly, "He shall come and not tarry." The prophet David prophesied saying, "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, God is the Lord, and hath appeared unto us." He said also, "The Lord shall come and shall not keep silence: fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." What shall I shew and make clear from this prophecy about the Christ? when the prophets prophesied and said that He is God and Lord and Saviour. It is He who came down from Heaven a Saviour to His servants. The throne is not divided, for verily God and His Word and His Spirit are on the throne, and in every place complete without diminution. The heavens and the earth and all that is therein are full of His honour. When God saw that His creatures were destroyed and that the Devil had prevailed against them, and that all nations and people served him * * * * * If God, to Him be glory and power! wished to destroy Satan, (He is on the throne,) should act, for He is everywhere [and is] the Almighty, there is nothing He is not able for that He wills in the heavens or the earth, but Satan had already allured Adam and tempted him, and caused him to inherit death and disobedience and made him go out of the garden, and boasted over him and his race. The Wicked One thought that he would not cease to conquer the race of Adam and weary them, and that no one could save them from his error. It pleased God to destroy him and to trample on him by that Man whom he had tempted and sought to weaken. God destroyed him and put him beneath Him in his disobedience through what he intended. God sent from His throne His Word which is from Himself, and saved the race of Adam and clothed Himself with this weak conquered Man through Mary the good, whom God chose from the women of the ages. He was veiled in her, and by that He destroyed the Evil One, and conquered and subdued him and left him weak and contemptible. He boasts not over the race of Adam, for it was a terrible grief when God conquered him by this Man with whom He clothed Himself. If God were to destroy Satan without clothing Himself with this Man by whom He healed him, Satan would not have found grief and remorse. "Behold," said verily the Wicked One, "I have allured and tempted and sent out of the garden the Man whom God created by His hand in His image and likeness. I have snatched him from God and caused him to inherit *  *"   "*  *  * thou shalt give birth to the Christ, the Saviour of Israel." And Mary said, "How shall I have a child, and a man hath not touched me?" And Gabriel said, "The Spirit of God shall come down upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall rest upon thee, and He who shall be born of thee shall be called Holy, the Son of the Highest. Thou art blessed among women." What truer witness can there be than [that] from Gabriel the Archangel, who stands beside the throne, and is sent to all evangelists and prophets from God? The Christ was born of Mary the pure by the Holy Ghost without any man touching her, God of God and Light of His Light, His Word and His Spirit, perfect Man in soul and body without sin. Mary remained a virgin after she gave Him birth. If the Christ had not been God of God and Light Mary would not have remained a virgin after she had given Him birth; but she gave birth to the Light of God and His Word, mercy and guidance and salvation to His creatures. He saved Adam and his race from the error of Satan. He raised up Adam from his stumbling and healed his wound and repaired his affliction and mended his rupture and liberated him and his race from the hands of Satan. He put an end to his darkness and wandering and broke off our hearts from the service of the Devil. He crucified sin by His cross, and by His death killed the Death which Adam had inherited by disobedience.

He brought to light the Resurrection, He raised up truth and righteousness and guidance by His mercy and His favour towards men, and towards the creatures of God. His light is among men, and shews them His majesty. He taught them to worship God and His Word and His Spirit, one God and one Lord. He taught that the Christ did not come down from Heaven for His own salvation, for verily the Word and the Spirit were with God from all eternity, and the angels adored God and His Word and His Spirit, one Lord who makes all holy, but He came down a mercy and a salvation to Adam and his race from Satan and his error. The throne is not divided with God. The God of God was in Heaven ordering things and shewing mercy to His creatures as He willed. And the Christ wrought signs, the work of a God, that men might know from His work that He is God of God and Light. Thus the Christ said to the children of Israel, "If ye believe not in Me, believe in My work which I do." The Christ created, and no one creates but God. You will find in the Coran, "And he spake and created from clay like the form of a bird, and breathed into it, and lo! it was a bird by permission of God." He forgave trespasses, and who forgives trespasses but God? He satisfied the hungry, and no one does that nor provides food but God. You will find all this about the Christ in your Book; He gave the Apostles the Holy Ghost, and gave them authority over devils and over all sickness. No one gives the Holy Ghost but God, He who breathed into Adam, and lo! he was a man with a living soul. He went up to Heaven from whence He had come down, on the angels' wings. No one can do that but God, He who came down from Heaven upon Mount Sinai and talked with Moses and gave him the Law. He is in every place, that perfect Man!, nothing is awanting in Him. Then the Christ will come on the day of the Resurrection and will judge men by their deeds. He will cause the righteous to inherit the kingdom of Heaven, and continual life without interruption. The Christ is Mediator between us and God; [He is] God of God and [He is] Man. Men could not have looked towards God and lived. God willed mercy to His creatures and honour to them, and the Christ was between us and God, the God of God, and a Man, the judge of men by their deeds. Thus God was veiled in a Man without sin, and shewed us mercy in the Christ, and brought us near to Him. All this the Prophets of God have said, and they spoke of the Christ before He appeared to men. We will shew all this from their sayings and their writings and their gospel in the Christ as the Holy Ghost inspired them at the end of this our book if God will. But we will begin by one sign which we take from the sayings of the Christ. When He said to the Apostles as He went up to Heaven from the Mount of Olives1 and commanded them to disperse themselves in all the world and preach about the Kingdom of Heaven and repentance in His name, the Christ said to them, "I send you this day as sheep among wolves, but tarry ye in the Holy City2 until ye are clothed with power from Heaven. I go to where I was and I will send you the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, the Righteous One whom men cannot look on, Him who will bring Me to your remembrance and everything of which I have spoken to you. He will speak in your mouths, and ye shall be led before kings of the earth and rulers. Be not at all troubled about what ye shall speak, for the Spirit whom I shall send unto you, He shall speak in your mouths." They tarried in Zion, that is, the Holy City2 and the Holy Ghost whom the Christ had promised came down upon them like a rushing wind. That was on the day of Pentecost after the ascension of the Christ to Heaven in ten days.  All the Apostles spake with tongues of fire, to every tongue there was a nation in the world, seventy-two tongues; so the Christ kept his promise when He went up to Heaven, and He did not break His word. Who is He that can decree in Heaven, and bring his decree to pass save God, and that by His Word and His Spirit? The Christ decreed in Heaven, and decrees. He sent to the Apostles the Holy Ghost as He had promised them. If He were like Adam or like any man, prophet or otherwise, He could not decree in Heaven, nor could He go up to Heaven and remain on the earth as Adam remained, and Noah, and Abraham, and Moses and the Prophets and the Apostles, all of them. But He is the Word and the Light of God, God of God; He came down from Heaven for the salvation of Adam and his race from Satan and his error. He went up to Heaven where He had been in His honour and His dignity, and filled the hearts of the men who believed in Him with strength and the Holy Ghost that they might adore God and His Word and the Holy Ghost in Heaven and in earth. Thus the Christ taught us to say, "Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so in earth. Give us sufficient bread day by day; forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive whoever trespasseth against us. Lead us not into trial, O Lord, but save us from the Devil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for evermore, Amen." The Christ shewed the light of God amongst men, and made them like angels of God in the earth. They have conquered the lusts of the world and its love. The will of God was among them as it is among the angels. Then the Apostles went forth, and portioned out the whole world among them; they preached about the Kingdom of Heaven and repentance in the name of the Christ. They wrought all signs by the Holy Ghost. They healed every sickness and disease, they cast out devils from the children of Adam, they raised the dead in the name of the Christ; they brought to nought the idols and the worship of Satan from among the children of Adam. The Light and the Truth of God appeared amongst all nations, and they led them to the worship and obedience of God. Verily they were twelve poor men, weak, strangers among men, without possessions, without authority in the world, with no property to bribe with, and no knowledge and no relationships with which to make claims upon anyone.

* * * * * * * * *

Lord of the children of Israel ...much knowledge ...from them ...the children of Israel called the people; they did not make any reservations amongst themselves between what they said and what they taught. If their cause was from God, their religion would last, and it would be established to them, but if their cause were not of God, God would destroy it, and would not establish it to them. Be not of those who oppose and strive against the cause of God, and verily they have no power therein. Verily before them others from among the children of Israel came out to call to another religion. God brought their work and doctrine to nought. Most of the children of Israel were pleased with this saying of their brethren, and they left the Apostles and their doctrines. This was all from God alone. If the cause of the Christ were not true, and if He were not God of God, the cause of the Apostles would not have been established, nor their doctrine, and they could not have led the nations, who had never worshipped God. But the Christ strengthened the Apostles by the Holy Ghost, and they wrought all signs, and by this they led the people to the light of God and His worship. Their cause was established in all the world; they being strangers and poor, and God raised their fame * * * * * * * * * by His Word He created all things * * * * * * * * * God said by the tongue of the prophet David also about the Christ, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and I will cause Thee to possess the uttermost bound of the earth; Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron." Observe in what land of those which God created in the world the name of the Christ has not travelled and His authority is not attended to. Verily the Christ has inherited all nations as God said by the tongue of the prophet David, "His name and His authority have reached unto the uttermost part of the earth." That was when the Word of God became flesh of pure Mary, and He was God and Man. He is the Hope of the nations, and they are the treasure of the Christ. David also prophesied by the Holy Ghost and said about the Christ, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy footstool." The Christ went up to Heaven, and Heaven was not divided, and sat at the right hand of the Father. He put His enemies who were disobedient to Him below His footstool, and below the feet of those who believe in the Christ Thus you will find in the Coran, "I have appointed Thee and raised Thee up to Myself, and have purified Thee from those that are unbelievers. I will make those who follow Thee above the unbelievers until the day of resurrection." Say not that we believe in two Gods, or that we say there are two Lords. God forbid! Verily God is one God and one Lord in His Word and His Spirit.

Nevertheless God inspired His servant and prophet David and shewed him that the Christ is the Word and the Light of God when He appeared to men by His grace. Verily He is God of God, though He has put on flesh. He who obeys Him obeys God, and he who is disobedient to Him, God will put him below His feet, that men may know that God and His Christ are on a throne and [have] one honour. Nothing of God is without any other part. Thus you will find in the Gospel that the Christ asked the Jews, trying them, and said to them, "What think ye of the Christ, whose son is He?" The Jews said, "He is the Son of David." And the Christ said to them, "How did the prophet David prophesy by the Holy Ghost about the Christ, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I put Thine enemies below Thy footstool? If the Christ be the Son of David, then how does David call Him Lord?" The Jews were perplexed, and answered Him not a word. If the Christ were not God of God, He would not have dared to make Himself Lord of David, but the Christ was God of God, He was made flesh of Mary the daughter of David, for she was of the lineage of David, and therefore He was named the Christ. God had promised to David His prophet that the Christ should be of his race. Everything that David the prophet had said happened; verily he spake by the Holy Ghost, who revealed everything to him. God honoured David in the Christ, when He was made flesh of his race. Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet prophesied, he who saw the heavens opened, and saw the Lord high upon the throne, and the cherubim around Him crying to one another, and saying, " Holy, holy, holy is the Mighty Lord; the heavens and the earth are filled with His glory." He said by the Holy Ghost about the Christ, "There shall come from Zion the Saviour, and shall turn away error from Jacob." He said also by the Holy Ghost, "There shall be also from the root of Jesse [one, who] shall stand as a chief of the nations, and the nations shall trust in Him." Verily Jesse begat David the prophet; Mary the good was from the race of David, and from the root of Jesse, and from her was born the Christ, Word and Light of God, on whom the nations trust; He was their Hope and their Saviour from error. Isaiah said also by the Holy Ghost, "There is no angel and no intercessor, but the Lord will come and save us"; because it was more suitable that no angel and no intercessor could save us, until He appeared to us in the Christ and saved us, and He led the nations and had authority over them and reigned over them like God, and was gracious to them in guidance. He is the Lord who came to us from Zion, and turned away error from us, and was a Saviour to us and a Deliverance from the Devil. No intercessor could lead us from error and no angel from among the angels of God, and none could save us from the Devil nor from his snares, until our Lord came to us from Zion. He was born of the race of David the prophet, as God had promised him; He saved us with power and authority and guided us to the light of God and He fulfilled the obedience [due] to Him; He was mercy to His creatures. Isaiah also prophesied by the Holy Ghost about the birth of the Christ, saying, "A Maiden shall be with child, and shall bear a son and He shall be called Emmanuel, the interpretation of which is Our God with us."

The Maiden is the Virgin who is of the race of Adam. She gave birth to the Christ, Emmanuel, God of God, and mercy to His creatures. We do not hear of one man from Adam till this our day who was called "God with us" or who was called the Word of God. He was born of a Virgin without any man touching her. Is not He the Christ? and do they not lie regarding what God has bestowed on creatures in the Christ? Isaiah also prophesied by the Holy Ghost about the birth of the Christ, saying, "To us a Child is born, and He gave us Him by His authority, and His name shall be called King of glorious counsel, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Strong God, the Mighty, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father." God shewed by the tongue of Isaiah His prophet that the Child that should he born to men is the Christ, who shewed Himself to us God of God and mercy. When the Prophet says, the Strong God, the Mighty, the Wonderful Counsellor, the Everlasting Father; this is the Judge. What child was born among men since the day that God created men and the world until this day of men who was called the Strong God or the Everlasting Father, or of whom it was said that his government was upon his shoulders, and this because He was God of God, was there not government upon Him? Doubt not, O man, about the Christ. Let not His humility mislead thee. By this He raised us to the Kingdom of Heaven, and He overthrew Satan beneath the feet of His saints. What is the punishment of him who falsifies the word of God by the tongues of His prophets? Let us fly for refuge to God from this and ask Him to make us of those who believe His word and the word of His prophets. Verily this is mercy and favour from God and grace for well being.

Then fear God and follow the word of the Christ. Do not doubt Him. Isaiah also prophesied by the Holy Ghost saying, "Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and truth from the Holy City." The Law that went forth from Zion is the Gospel which the Christ brought, and brought it out to the people a new law and a light and guidance. Wise and learned men have known this, let no one doubt about it that wellbeing is in it. But the Law which God brought down to Moses and the children of Israel is the first Law, which He brought down on Mount Sinai. We do not know that any of the prophets came down with a new law from Zion save the Christ with the Gospel, a guidance and a mercy, and a proof of the work of obedience to God. The perfection of the work is by purity of spirit and the approach of the soul to God, and temperance in the world and longing for the next world. This is the perfection of knowledge and of worship which God desires from men without their disliking it. Thus said the Christ, "I am not come to destroy the example of Moses but to fulfil it, and to give myself a ransom for many." In truth He has redeemed us from death and sin and the error of Satan. To Him be praise and thanks for this. God said by the tongue of David the prophet, "God reigneth over the nations. He reckoneth up the government of the peoples; they shall come and worship before Thee." That is because the nations did not worship God, and did not know who He is, till the Christ came, the hope of the nations, and God did not reign over the nations through obedience and worship till the Christ redeemed them, and reigned over them and saved them from error and made them the friends of God and of His Word and His Spirit. God reigned over the heavens and the earth and all that therein is with power and authority; none of His creatures has outwitted Him in anything that He willed. But God, may He be blessed and sanctified! willed to reign over men by hearing and obedience, and that He should be liable for the reward of their obedience.

Verily God does not wish that any one should serve Him unwillingly. He is too great and glorious for any of His creatures to dislike Him, and to serve Him unwillingly. God spake by the tongue of Micah, the prophet who disquieted Ahab king of the children of Israel, about his rebellion and error in the time of Elias the prophet, and he was killed by king Joram son of king Ahab, the rebel son of the rebel, whilst he was accompanying him from his error; seeing him opposed to the obedience of God and the word of His prophets, he prophesied, saying by the Holy Ghost about the birth of the Christ according to what God revealed to him, "And thou, Bethlehem, thou shalt not be despised in the dominion of Judah, for a chief shall come forth from thee, and He shall rule the nation of Israel, and His going forth is from the first days of time." The learned men and all the people knew that the Christ was born in Bethlehem a mercy and a guidance, and from it He ruled Israel, He ruled all nations, He shepherded them and He drove them to the noblest mansions of the kingdom of heaven. His going forth was from before the days of time, because He is the Word and the Light of God; He was with God before all time. When the Christ was born in Bethlehem, God sent down one of His Angels to shepherds who were watching near Bethlehem, and he said to them, "I bring you good tidings to-day with great joy, it is a joy to all nations, that a God is born to you to-day, the Christ the Lord in the city of David, which is Bethlehem; and this is the sign unto you that you shall find a babe in the cradle." Whilst the Angel told them the good tidings, they heard the voice of angel-hosts in a multitude adoring God and saying, "Glory to the most high God, on earth peace, and good will among men." The Christ came down upon earth and there was good will to them and peace and mercy; the good will of God dwelt among them. The Christ when He appeared to them purified their hearts, and the Holy Ghost dwelt in them, brought them near to God and shewed them light and leading.

Then the Christ caused a star to arise in Heaven; when the people of the East saw it, and the Magi saw it ...its light, and the glory of the stars of Heaven, and it was ...to them day or night, they knew that it was the star of a great King whose kingdom was greater than [that of] the kings of the people of the earth. The East believed that they should follow the light of the star, in it ...and the King who was born. They had gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, and they travelled till they entered the Holy City, and the star departed from them. And they asked the people of the Holy City, saying, "There is a great King born among you; we have seen His star in the East; we have come to worship Him, and we have gifts." Their business reached Herod king of the Israelites, and this frightened him; and he asked the priests of the Jews, "Where should the Christ be born when He comes?" They said to him, "In Bethlehem, as God said by the tongue of His prophet Micah, And thou, Bethlehem, shalt not be despised in the dominion of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Prince, and He shall shepherd the people of Israel, and His going forth is from before the days of time." Who was that that was born among the people of the world, O ye company of men, who had signs like this? among the kings of the earth? or among the prophets of God? The Christ was born of a Maiden, and she remained a virgin after she gave Him birth, without any man having touched her. What sign could be greater or better than this? Then a star arose to Him in heaven, its light like the light of the sun. Then the Angels adored Him when He was born and announced to men, "There is born to you this day a Christ a Lord in the city of David." The Angels adore none but God, and His Word and His Spirit. The gifts to the Christ were frankincense. Verily frankincense is brought only to God; and verily gold is brought to kings. Thus the Christ was God of God, and He is the King who shall reign over all nations, and He led them away from error. Everything relating to the Christ was signs and wonders, from the day that He was born and in His mercy raised us up to Heaven, and lifted us up to the light of God and His honour. Praise be to God who lifted us up in the Christ.

David also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "The Lord shall come down like rain upon the mown (grass), and as drops that drop upon the earth; righteousness shall dawn in His days, and abundance of peace so long as the moon appeareth. He shall reign also from the sea to the sea, and from the going out of the Rivers unto the ends of the earth. Wisdom shall fall down before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. All kings of the earth shall do Him homage; all nations shall serve Him, for He hath saved the needy from the tyrant, and the poor who hath no helper. His name is honoured among them, His name shall be blessed for ever; His name endures before the sun and before the moon throughout all ages." The Lord came down to us, and righteousness did not dawn to us men until the days of the Christ, nor good works nor abundance of peace by obedience to God and temperance in the world for evermore. He has reigned over the nations from the East to the West; we find no place in the world where the name of the Christ is not worshipped and honoured as the prophet said, "His name shall be honoured amongst them, the nations shall serve Him, and He is blessed for ever, He who brought blessing upon His friends. His name endures before the sun and before the moon, and before all things throughout all ages." About whom among men did God's prophets prophesy, or among the kings of the earth whose name is blessed among the nations, or whose name endures before the sun and before the moon, save the Christ the Word and the Light of God? If the Christ were not God of God, He did [not] come down to His creatures; but He was among them before that, and He appeared to them a mercy and guidance. Did not David the prophet exalt Him, and did he not speak about Him according to this word? It would not have been fitting that such a word should have been spoken to a man, or that he should have been exalted like a god. Yet David prophesied about the Christ, saying, "Verily God shall come down to His creatures, and shall lead them away from error, and righteousness shall dawn in their hearts and abundance of peace. The kings of the earth shall worship Him, and all the nations."

Isaiah also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "Behold, the Lord sitting upon a light cloud, and He will come to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be shaken." The Christ went into Egypt clothed with pure flesh from Mary whom God purified, and by this He honoured us, as a king honours his servant when he clothes himself with his garment. Then He it was who shook the idols of Egypt and brought to nought the work of the Devil through it, and led them away from the error of Satan to the truth of God and His merchandise; and He has made His light to dawn in their hearts. Look, when was Egypt saved from the worship of idols and the error of Satan, save when the Christ trod it in His mercy and appeared to them in His light? Understand, O men, the prophecy of the prophets and the work of the Christ and look, what is more excellent? the correspondence of the works of the Christ and the prophecy of the prophets. The faithful Job also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, he whom God remembered, saying, "We have found him faithful and righteous and eschewing every evil work." He prophesied, saying, "God who alone spread out the heavens, and walketh upon the sea as upon dry land." We do not know that any man ever walked upon the sea save the Christ; verily He walked upon it and shewed to men that He is the Word and the Light of God by which He made the heavens and the earth and all that is therein, as the faithful Job prophesied about Him by the Holy Ghost.

The prophet David also prophesied thus by the Holy Ghost, saying, "By the Word of God were the heavens built, and by the Spirit of His mouth He gave life to all the angel-hosts." If God, blessed be His name! established the heavens by His Word, and gave life to the angels by His Spirit, the Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit, as ye bear witness, and do not reproach us when we believe in the Christ, the God of God; He created the heavens and the earth, and by Him He gave life to the angels and to all people. The faithful Job also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "It is the Spirit of God that hath created me, and in His name He reigns over all; it is He who hath taught me understanding." The prophets and saints of God have shewn that God and His Word and His Spirit established all things and gave life to all things, and it is not fitting for any one who knows what God hath sent down to His prophets, that he should disdain to worship God and His Word and His Spirit, one God. It was revealed to His prophet Daniel whom God made wise and gave him understanding and shewed him the knowledge of the time, and revealed to him by means of Gabriel the Archangel, and told him about the Christ the Word and the Light of God, after he had fasted twenty-two days and called on God, saying to him, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the city, and upon the house, the Holy City, to make an end of sins, to destroy falsehood, to wipe out iniquity, to forgive trespasses, and He shall come in everlasting righteousness, and shall seal up the revelation and the prophecy, and anoint the most Holy," that he might know and understand that from the going forth of the decree of the renewal and the building of Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince is seventy (weeks), and this four hundred years before. When was sin cut off, and... sealed up, and iniquity wiped out, and trespasses forgiven, save when the Christ ...in everlasting righteousness ...and the confirmation of this is that He sealed up every inspiration and prophecy which was among the children of Israel from the days ...of the Holy of Holies ...and their prophecy ...thus said the Christ ...He brought them near ...the Holy of Holies ...If He were not the Christ ...the Christ more holy than ...He would have brought authority and prophecy to nought ...the children of Israel when they disobeyed Him and did not follow His word. [God] gave Him another people; as He said, and His word is faithful. We shall not find that there is one name among the kings of the children of Israel, nor among the prophets that is Most Holy. David was a king and so were others. Of the children of Israel some were prophets and kings, and none of them were called Most Holy save the Christ who reigns over the nations by guidance and obedience;

He sanctifies them by the Holy Ghost. Blessed is he who does not doubt the Christ, and keeps his faith; thus the Christ said in the Gospel, "Blessed is he who does not doubt Me." He said also, "I am the Light and the Life and the Resurrection. He that believeth in Me hath passed from death to everlasting life." Isaiah also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. O ye that are weak of soul and mind, be strong, fear not; behold, your God will reward with wisdom, He will come and deliver you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear, the lame man shall come on like a hart, and the dumb tongues shall speak clearly." When were weak hands and feeble knees strengthened, till our God came to us as the prophet said and delivered us from destruction? He healed every disease and sickness among men. When did the eyes of the blind see, and the ears of the deaf hear, and the feet of the lame come on like a hart, and the tongues of the dumb speak plainly, save when the Christ appeared to us, the Word and the Light of God, and there was mercy and deliverance to men? He wrought every sign among the children of Israel, and other people, and rewarded men in wisdom and righteousness. He rewarded those who believed in Him with everlasting life and the Kingdom of Heaven, and He rewarded those who rejected Him and did not believe in Him with contempt and sore punishment. Look how it corresponds with the strength that is in the works and signs of the Christ which are written in the Gospel. One day the Christ passed a lame man, who had been upon his couch for thirty-eight years, who did not turn himself except as others moved him upon his couch. The Christ had mercy on him, and said to him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The lame man said to Him, "Yea, Lord, but I have no one to move me." The Christ said to him, "Rise, carry thy bed, and return to thy house." The lame man rose at the command of the Christ, and carried his bed, and returned to his house. Then the Christ went into a house, and there were gathered to Him the priests of the Jews and the children of Israel, till the house was filled, and no one could enter the house for the crowd of people, and another palsied man was carried to Him on his couch. They wished to bring him in to the Christ, and they could not for the crowd of men. He was carried, and they brought him up by the back of the house, then they uncovered the roof and let him down upon his couch till he was laid before the Christ; and around him were the priests of the Jews and the people. The Christ said to him, "Thy sins are forgiven thee." The priests and they that were round Him said, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" The Christ said unto them, "O company of priests, which is it easier for Me to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, O thou palsied man, rise, carry thy bed, and go to thy house?" The palsied man rose before them, carried his bed, and went off to his people as the Christ commanded him. None of them could answer Him a word. The Christ shewed them by the sign which He did to the palsied man that He had authority to forgive trespasses, and none forgives trespasses but God. Verily all the works of the Christ were with authority and power. Then the Christ passed by also, and the disciples with Him, and a number of the children of Israel, and behold upon the way was a beggar man who was born blind. The disciples asked the Christ, "O Lord, who did sin, this (man) or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Christ said to them, "This man hath not sinned, nor have his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." The Christ called him, spat upon the ground, made clay, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with it, and He said, "Go to the fountain of Shiloah and wash in it, and, behold, thou shalt see."

The blind man went off, and washed in the fountain of Shiloah, and returned seeing. The Jews said, "We never heard from (all) time of a blind man seeing before this," and a number of the children of Israel believed in Him. Then He met one who had been struck deaf and dumb; He laid His finger upon his ear, He spat upon his tongue and chased away that devil. It went out of him and he was made whole by the command of the Christ; he heard with his ears and spake with his tongue. Then the Christ met also a leper, and the leper said to Him, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean from my leprosy." The Christ said, "I will," and immediately he was clean as the Christ had said. Who among men, among the prophets of God and His saints, was able [to do] what the Christ was able [to do], to work signs and to heal all diseases and sicknesses by power and authority, to create what He wished and to forgive trespasses? and all this is of the works of God, no one among men is able for a thing like that. By my life! we do not find one among men, among the prophets of God or others who worked signs by authority, only by invocation and by his power in humility and prayer. Some of them received an answer, and some of them never received an answer at any time. Then the Christ went also into a synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath-day, and the children of Israel were gathered unto Him, and He began to judge and to warn them, and behold a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand. The Christ said to them, "What is it right to do on the Sabbath-day, to do good, or evil? that life should be saved, or destroyed?" They said, "Nay, let us do good on the Sabbath and let life be saved." The Christ said to them, "Ye speak truly." Then He said to him who had the withered hand, "I say unto thee, Stretch forth thy hand," and he stretched it forth, and, behold, it was like his other hand. The children of Israel who saw it were amazed, and they knew that no man can work the work of the Christ, and many people believed on Him. It is thus that God wishes men's faith. He does not wish that any one should believe in Him unwillingly; there is certainly no reward in unwillingness; but God wishes men to believe in Him obediently, and that God should be liable for their reward in truth. God is greatly to be praised, who sent us the word of His prophets in correspondence with the works and signs of the Christ, and He shewed to men that He is God of God, and it is He who has delivered and saved us from error and destruction. He cured all diseases and sicknesses, and led us to His light and honour. Jacob, that is Israel, prophesied when his death drew near; he called his sons, prophesied unto them, speaking about Reuben his firstborn as God inspired him, about Simeon and about Levi.

Then he called Judah, who was his fourth son, and he prophesied, saying, "Judah is a lion's whelp; there shall not fail from thy glory a prophet nor a ruler nor a captain, until He who is looked for come, and He is the hope of the nations." We see that every prophet and king failed from the children of Israel from the time that the Christ came, the Hope of the nations; and the prophets and kings of Israel were from the tribe of Judah. God ruled over the nations because they were the treasure of the Christ. The children of Israel fled into the eastern and western parts of the earth; fire flamed up in their Temple and their city because of what they had chosen concerning God and His Christ as David prophesied, saying, "The kings of the earth were assembled and those that had dominion in it; they took counsel together against the Lord and against His Christ. He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision; then shall He speak to them in His wrath and vex them in His displeasure." God did this to them in their disobedience to the Christ. Jeremiah the prophet prophesied, he of whom God bare witness, saying, "Before I saw thee I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of thy mother's womb I sanctified thee"; he prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying," This is our God, we will worship no God but Him. He knew all the paths of knowledge, and gave them to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His saint. After this He looked upon the earth and mixed with the people." We do not know that God looked upon the earth or mixed with the people except when He appeared to us in the Christ, His Word and His Spirit. He veiled Himself in flesh, He who is not of us. Men saw Him and He mixed with them. He was God and Man without sin. It was He who knew the paths of good and of knowledge and judgment, and who taught them and made them spring up to those who follow His command and His word. The speech of the Christ was the speech of light and life, as the Apostles said to Him, "Thy speech is the speech of light to those who go and call on Thee." Let us ask God in His mercy to make us of those who follow the commands of the Christ and let us believe in Him as the prophets prophesied about Him and preached about Him. They said, "Your God will appear to you and will come to you in salvation and guidance and mercy, He is your God, the Most Merciful of the merciful." God said by the tongue of the prophet Habakkuk, him whom the Angel met when he was going with breakfast to his reapers. The Angel said to him, "Go with this thy breakfast to Daniel the prophet in the land of Babylon." Habakkuk said to him "[What is] the way? for Babylon is far from me." Then the Angel forthwith took him by his forelock till he put him immediately at the den into which the Persians had thrown Daniel among the lions. Then said the prophet Habakkuk to Daniel, "Rise and take the breakfast which God sends thee." They breakfasted together; then the Angel made Habakkuk go back to his land, which was Palestine. He prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One shall be shaded by the wooded mountain." This is the plain and healing prophecy, when God shewed by the tongues of His prophets from what place the Christ should come and from whom He should be born, when His Word and His light should appear to men. Verily Teman is Bethlehem, it is on the right hand of the Holy City. The shady wooded mountain is Mary the Holy,

whom God the Holy Ghost overshadowed, and the power of God rested upon her, as the Archangel Gabriel said, when Mary said to him, "Whence shall I have a boy, when a man hath not touched me?" Gabriel said to her, "The Spirit of God shall come down upon thee, and the power of God shall rest upon thee." God agreed to the saying of His Prophet, and His Angel Gabriel when they say this saying about the Christ, and their saying is true. They shewed to men from what place He should come and from whom He should be born, and that God should come for the salvation and guidance of His creatures. Praise be to God who created us; let us receive and believe in the saying of His angels and prophets about the Christ. Thus God shewed to Daniel the prophet with Gabriel the Archangel when he saw the stone that was cut from a mountain without hands, which smote on the foot of the idol, and broke the clay and the iron and the brass and the silver and the gold, and it became like dust when it is scattered in the harvest, and the force of the wind blows upon it, and no more trace appeared to them. The stone which smote the idol became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

The Angel Gabriel shewed to Daniel that the idol whose head was of gold, his breast and his hands and his belly and his thighs of brass, and his legs and his feet of iron and clay; these were the kings of the world who reign in this world; but the stone which was cut from a mountain without hands, was verily the Word and the Authority of God, who subdues the kings of the world and reigns for ever and ever, and His authority fills the whole earth, and reigns over the nations in obedience and guidance. But the mountain is Mary from whom the Christ was born without a man approaching her. He subdued the authority and the error of Satan, and led men to righteousness and godliness and a knowledge of the truth of God. Zechariah the prophet prophesied by the Holy Ghost, saying, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy King cometh unto thee, riding upon an ass and her foal." The Christ came in when He entered the Holy City, sitting upon an ass, on the day of the palm-trees. The children of Israel met Him with olive-trees and palm-branches with their wives and children; the babes and sucklings adored Him, saying, " Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who cometh King of Israel." The priests of the Jews said to the Christ, "Hearest thou not what these say, doth not their saying exalt thee when they adore thee as God is adored?" The Christ said to them, "Have ye not read in the psalms of the prophet David, that he said by the Holy Ghost, `Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast preordained Thy praise'?" This is in the eighth psalm. The prophet David prophesied and said, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Thou hast created Thy glory above the heavens; from the mouths of youths and boys Thou hast perfected Thy praise." What shall I shew from this prophecy about the Christ? that He is God of God, and perfect Man; when He went into the Holy City riding upon an ass, as David the prophet prophesied about Him and the babes and sucklings adored Him, they who do not speak nor understand. God opened their mouths and they adored the Christ, as David prophesied about Him, saying that He was blessed, and that He was the King of Israel. The Jews lied who opposed the obedience and the word of the Christ, and did not believe in what David the prophet had prophesied about the Christ, saying that He is Lord, and that His excellency soars above the heavens, and that His praise is perfected out of the mouths of babes and sucklings; and by my life! He gave an example of faith to those who are godly and receive the truth, when ye hear from God's Book that babes and sucklings adored the Christ. Who could make sucklings adore save God who created them and gave them speech without ...and His light? and they will bring it down from God in His dwelling. Verily the Word of God is of God, and God is the Father of His Word. Praise be to God! what is greater than the prophecy of the prophets about the Christ? I will shew their sayings about Him, that He is God of God and His light, and that He appeared to men as mercy and compassion, and was Man without sin. No man has been seen in the world from Adam till this our day, a prophet, nor any one else without sin, save the Christ our Saviour, who guides us and delivers us from sins, and works for us the forgiveness of trespasses through our faith in Him. God shewed by the tongues of His prophets by the Holy Ghost who inspired them about the Christ, and shewed whence He should come and from whom He should be born when He appeared to us, and the signs that He should work, and taught by them that He was the Christ, and that He was God of God as the prophets have preached about Him; and they said that He should forgive trespasses and should create what He willed by His command, and should know hidden secrets, and appear to the absent, and prophesy to them about what they should remember, and walk upon the sea like the dry land like a God, and He should satisfy from hunger, and He should heal all diseases and sicknesses with authority and power. All this the prophets had said about the Christ, that He should do these signs to men. By this we trust the Christ and believe in Him and follow Him, and we know that none works the works of the Christ save God. Praise be to God who hath helped us to this, and hath made us [to be] among the friends of the Christ, and hath saved us from error and the service of the devil, to His light and His mercy and His great bounty wherewith He abounded towards us.

This was somewhat of what God's prophets prophesied about the Christ, the Word and the Light of God, when He should appear to men in His mercy and should save them and deliver them from the error of Satan to light and guidance. This is some of their prophecy. Nevertheless everything that the prophets prophesied about the Christ is greater than that any man should speak of it or should comprehend it. But have we loved to aim at that? In everything the aim is the best and most beautiful thing. If we wished to extract from the sayings of the prophets about the birth of the Christ, we are able by God's help for what we wish in that; this is our plea with God in the day of the resurrection before the Archangels and the former and the latter prophets; "We believe in Thee and Thy Word and Thy Holy Spirit, one God and one Lord as Thou hast brought [it] down and shewn [it] to men in Thy books: save us from the punishment of Gehenna, and in Thy mercy make us to enter with Thy Angels and Thy Saints and Thy Prophets, O God." This is the saying of God's prophets about the immersion of the Christ in baptism, which God commanded, and appointed in it for us the forgiveness of trespasses, and shewed about it by the tongues of His prophets. The Christ is a fortress in regard to it, and commanded us about it, saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto you that none shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven save he who is born of water and spirit." We remember also the prophecy of King David the prophet in the beginning of this our book about the immersion of the Christ, when he prophesied, saying, "The voice of the Lord is upon the water, the God of glory thundereth, God is upon many waters." That was when the Christ was baptized, and the Father bare witness from Heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, obey ye Him," and the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven and abode upon the Christ. God shewed that day to the children of Israel that God and His Word and His Sprit are one God in Heaven and earth and in every place. This is the proof of what God's prophets said about it of old time. Verily he who believeth not in God and His Word and His Spirit, one God, hath not kept the faith in God and hath not accepted the word of God's prophets, when they speak about everything that He sent down to them, that God's Word is His strength and His wisdom, and that the Holy Ghost is the life of everything.

John son of Zacharia, the prophet son of a prophet, about whom the Christ bare witness, saying to the children of Israel, "Verily, verily I say unto you that among those whom women have borne there is none greater than John the son of Zacharia, the Baptist" This was because he baptized the Christ, and heard the voice of the Father from Heaven, bearing witness and saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and saw the Holy Ghost descending from Heaven and it abode upon the Christ. The Christ said that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. This [was] because the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the great of the people of the earth, in order that men might know that the despised people of Heaven are greater than the great people of the earth, and that men might long for the Kingdom of Heaven, and might lead a temperate life in the earth and all that is therein. In the Coran there is a written mention of John the son of Zacharia, saying, There Zacharia called on his Lord, saying, "Lord, give me from Thee a good offspring, for Thou hearest prayer." And the Angels called [to] him while he was standing praying in the niche, "God promiseth unto thee John, confirmer of the Word of God, a chaste lord and one of the good prophets." He bare witness, speaking about the Christ, when [the message] was sent to him from the wilderness to baptize the children of Israel, and to proclaim to them the Christ. The priests of the Jews and the children of Israel came from every place. When the children of Israel saw him they said to him, "Art thou the Christ whom we look for?" He said unto them, "I am not the Christ." They said, "Art thou the prophet whom God told Moses at Mount Sinai that He would raise up unto you a prophet like unto me; obey him?" John said unto them, "I am not the prophet." They said unto him, "Who art thou?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, and make His path even, as God said by the tongue of Isaiah the prophet about the Christ, and about John the son of Zacharia, I will send my Messenger before thee, and he shall prepare thy ways. I have come before the Christ that I may prepare His paths and proclaim Him to man. I baptize you with the water of a pure baptism, but there standeth one among you whom ye see not, who cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." When it was the morrow, behold, there was the Christ, and he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. This is He of whom I said to you that He cometh after me, and He is present with me, for He was before me; and I knew Him not, but He who sent me to  baptize, He said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, He is the Christ, the Son of God, who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost, and taketh away the trespasses of men, and cleanseth them from their sins."

John the son of Zacharia bare witness that He was before him, God of God, and that He wipeth out the sins of men and cleanseth their hearts, and He baptizeth those who believe in Him with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This is because the Christ cleanseth souls, and purifieth them and enlighteneth them by the Holy Ghost; He burneth up sins and killeth them by means of forgiveness, as fire burneth thorns and destroyeth them and one sees no trace of them. Sins and trespasses are like thorns. The Christ said in the Gospel, "Verily, verily I say unto you that he who is not born of water and Spirit shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven"; but he who is born of water and Spirit is he who is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, one God and one Lord. Let it not take thee aback when thou hearest, "the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." Verily the Father is God; the Son is the Word which is from God; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God through whom He sanctifieth everything; as water cleanseth the defilement of the body, so the Holy Ghost cleanseth the defilement of souls and spirits and purifieth them from sins and trespasses, so that he who is baptized in faith is cleaner than when he was born from his mother's womb, he has no sin and no iniquity. Therefore said John the son of Zacharia "Verily the Christ will baptize you with fire and Spirit."

Therefore the Christ said, "He who is not born of water and Spirit shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven." God made the forgiveness of trespasses the second birth. David also prophesied by the Holy Ghost, about the immersion of the Christ and His destruction of Satan and his hosts, saying, "Thou hast broken the heads of the dragons on the water. Thou hast broken the head of the Dragon," that is, Satan and his hosts, when the Christ destroyed them by the immersion of baptism, and broke ...from men, who conquered ...by his error, and he tempted them, .....The Christ opened to men the door of repentance and forgiveness of trespasses, as He said in the Gospel to the Apostles, "Go out into all the world, and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven amongst the nations, and repentance in My name, and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." He that believeth and is baptized is saved and delivered and pardoned; he who believeth not hath not been baptized, and there hath been decreed against him contempt and remorse. Praise be to God who hath delivered us from the Dragon and his error, and saved us from our sins and trespasses by the immersion of baptism and our faith in the Christ, the Word and Light of God. God said by the tongue of Ezekiel the prophet, one of the chief prophets, who prophesied to the children of Israel in the land of Babylon, saying, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from the worship of idols and from your sins." We do not know with what God sprinkled men, and cleansed them from their sins, and from the worship of idols, save the immersion of baptism, by which He cleanseth him who believeth in the Christ, and is baptized and obeys God's prophets. Men were never saved from the worship of idols save when the Christ, the Light of God, appeared to us, and received us in baptism. God said by the tongue of Isaiah the prophet, "Wash you, make you clean; put away your sins from before the Lord." What bath or washing puts away the sins of men from before the Lord save the confession of sins and repentance towards God and the immersion of baptism in the name of the Christ? .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

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1 Cod. oil.  

2 Literally: house passim.