"First of all, BELIEVE THAT GOD IS ONE, even He Who created all things and set them in order, and brought all things from non-existence into being, Who comprehends all things, being alone incomprehensible. Believe Him therefore, and fear Him, and in this

fear be continent. Keep these things, and you will cast off all wickedness from yourself, and will clothe yourself with every excellence of righteousness, and will live to God, if you keep this commandment."
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He said to me; "KEEP SIMPLICITY AND BE GUILELESS, and you will be as little children, who don't know the wickedness which destroys the life of men.

"First of all, speak evil of no man, neither take pleasure in listening to a slanderer. If you believe the slander, you yourself also will have a grudge against your brother. So then you will be responsible for the sin of the one who speaks the evil.

Slander is evil; it is a restless demon, never at peace, but always having its home among factions. Refrain from it therefore, and you will have success at all times with all men. But clothe yourself in reverence, wherein is no evil stumbling-block, but all things are smooth and gladsome.

"Work that which is good. Give freely of your labours, which God gives you, to all who are in want, not questioning to whom you should give, and to whom you should not give. Give to all; for to all God desires that there should be given of His own bounties. They then who receive shall render an account to God why they receive it, and to what end; for those who receive in distress shall not be judged, but those who receive by false pretence shall pay the penalty. He, then, who gives is guiltless; for as he received from the Lord the ministry to perform, he has performed it in sincerity, by making no distinction to whom to give or not to give. This ministry then, when sincerely performed, becomes glorious in the sight of God. Therefore he who ministers thus sincerely shall live to God. Therefore keep this commandment, as I have told you, that your own repentance and that of your household may be found to be sincere, and your heart pure and undefiled."
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Again he said to me; "LOVE TRUTH, and let nothing but truth proceed out of your mouth, so that the Spirit which God made to dwell in this flesh, may be found true in the sight of all men. Thus shall the Lord, Who dwells in you, be glorified; for the Lord is true in every word, and with Him there is no falsehood. Those therefore who speak lies set the Lord at naught, and become robbers of the Lord, for they do not deliver up to Him the deposit which they received. They received from Him a spirit free from lies. If they should return this to him as a lying spirit, they have defiled the commandment of the Lord and have become robbers."

When I heard these things, I wept bitterly. Seeing this, he said, "Why do you weep?"

"Because, Sir," I said, "I don't know if I can be saved."

"Why so?" he said.

"Because, Sir," I said, "never in my life have I spoken a true word, but I always lived deceitfully with all men and dressed up my falsehood as truth before all men; and no man ever contradicted me, but confidence was placed in my word. How then, Sir," I

said, "can I live, seeing that I have done these things?"

"Your supposition," he said, "is right and true, for it behoved you as a servant of God to walk in truth, and no complicity with evil should abide with the Spirit of truth, nor bring grief to the Spirit which is holy and true."

"Never, Sir," I said, "have I clearly heard words such as these."

"Now then," he said, "you've heard. If you keep these things, and from now on speak nothing but truth, you will be able to secure life for yourself. Whoever shall hear this command, and abstain from falsehood, that most pernicious habit, shall live to

God."
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"I charge you," he said, "to KEEP PURITY, and don't let a thought enter into your heart concerning another's wife, or concerning fornication, or concerning any other such evil deed; for in so doing you commit a great sin. Remember your own wife always, and you will never go wrong. Should this desire enter into your heart, you will go wrong, and should any other as evil as this, you commit sin. This desire in a servant of God is a great sin; and if any man does this evil deed, he works out death for himself. Therefore look to it. Abstain from this desire; because, where holiness dwells, there lawlessness ought not to enter into the heart of a righteous man."

I said to him, "Sir, permit me to ask you a few more questions."

"Say on," he said.

"Sir," I said, "if a man who is faithful in the Lord, and has a wife, detect her in adultery, does the husband sin in living with her?"

"So long as he is ignorant," he said, "he doesn't sins; but if the husband know of her sin, and the wife doesn't repent, but continue in her fornication, and her husband live with her, he makes himself responsible for her sin and an accomplice in her adultery."

"What then, Sir," I asked, "shall the husband do, if the wife continues in this case?"

"Let him divorce her," he said, "and let the husband abide alone: but if after divorcing his wife he should marry another, he likewise commits adultery."

"If then, Sir," I said, "after the wife is divorced, she repent and desire to return to her own husband, shall she not be received?"

"Certainly," he said, "if the husband doesn't receive her, he sins and brings great sin on himself; nay, one who has sinned and repented must be received. For the sake of her repentance therefore the husband ought not to marry. This is the manner of acting enjoined on husband and wife.

"Not only," he said, "is it adultery, if a man pollutes his flesh, but whoever does things which are like what the heathen do, commits adultery. Therefore if a man continues in such deeds as these and doesn't repent, [the wife must] keep away from him, and don't live with him. Otherwise, you [the wife] also are a partaker of his sin. For this cause you were enjoined to remain single, whether husband or wife; for in such cases repentance is possible.

"I," he said, "am not giving an excuse that this matter should be concluded thus, but to the end that the sinner should sin no more. But as concerning his former sin, there is One Who is able to give healing; it is He Who has authority over all things."

I asked him again, saying, "Sir, declare to me this further matter also."

"Say on," he said.

"If a wife, Sir," I said, "or it may be, a husband fall asleep, and one of them marries, does the one that marries sin?"

"He doesn't sin," he said, "but if he remain single, he invests himself with more exceeding honour and with great glory before the Lord; yet even if he should marry, he doesn't sin.

"Preserve purity and holiness therefore, and you will live to God. All these things, which I speak and shall hereafter speak to you, guard from this time forward, from the day when you were committed to me, and I will dwell in your house. But for your former transgression there shall be remission, if you keep my commandments. Yes and all shall have remission, if they keep my commandments, and walk in this purity."
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1. "BE LONG-SUFFERING AND UNDERSTANDING," he said, "and you will have the mastery over all evil deeds, and will work all righteousness. If you are LONG-SUFFERING, the Holy Spirit who abides in you will be pure, not being darkened by another evil spirit, but dwelling in a large room will rejoice and be glad with the vessel in which he dwells, and will serve God with much cheerfulness, having prosperity in himself.

"But if any ANGRY TEMPER approaches, the Holy Spirit, being delicate, is straitened, not having the place clear, and seeks to retire from the place; for he is choked by the evil spirit, and has no room to minister to the Lord as he desires, being polluted by angry temper.

"The Lord dwells in long-suffering, but the devil in angry temper. Thus both spirits dwelling together is inconvenient and evil for that man in whom they dwell. For if you take a little wormwood, and pour it into a jar of honey, is not the whole of the honey spoiled, and all that honey ruined by a very small quantity of wormwood? It destroys the sweetness of the honey, and it no longer has the same attraction for the owner, because it is rendered bitter and has lost its use. But if the wormwood is not put into the honey, the honey is found sweet and becomes useful to its owner. You see then that long-suffering is very sweet, beyond the sweetness of honey, and is useful to the Lord, and He dwells in it. But angry temper is bitter and useless. If angry temper is mixed with long-suffering, long-suffering is polluted and the man's intercession is no longer useful to God."

"I would like to know, Sir," I said, "the working of angry temper, that I may guard myself from it."

"Yes, truly," he said, "if you don't guard yourself from it -- you and your family -- you have lost all your hope. But guard yourself from it; for I am with you. Yes, and all men should hold aloof from it, all who as have repented with their whole heart, for I will be with them and will preserve them; because they all were justified by the most holy angel.

2. "Hear now," he said, "the working of ANGRY TEMPER, how evil it is, and how it subverts the servants of God by its own working, and how it leads them astray from righteousness. It does not lead astray those that are full in the faith, nor can it work on them, because the power of the Lord is with them; but those who are empty and double-minded, it leads astray.

"When it sees such men in prosperity it insinuates itself into the heart of the man, and for no cause whatever the man or the woman is embittered on account of worldly matters, either about meats, or some triviality, or about some friend, or about giving or receiving, or about follies of this kind. All these things are foolish and vain and senseless and inexpedient for the servants of God.

"But LONG-SUFFERING is great and strong, and has a mighty and vigorous power, and is prosperous in great enlargement, gladsome, exultant, free from care, glorifying the Lord at every season, having no bitterness in itself, remaining always gentle and tranquil. This LONG-SUFFERING therefore dwells with those whose faith is perfect.

"But ANGRY TEMPER is in the first place foolish, fickle and senseless; then from foolishness is engendered bitterness, and from bitterness wrath, and from wrath anger, and from anger spite; then spite being composed of all these evil elements becomes a >great sin and incurable. When all these spirits dwell in one vessel, where the Holy Spirit also dwells, that vessel cannot contain them, but overflows.

"The delicate spirit therefore, not being accustomed to dwelling with an evil spirit nor with harshness, departs from a man of this kind, and seeks to dwell with gentleness and tranquillity. Then, when it has removed itself from that man in whom it dwelt, that man becomes emptied of the righteous spirit, and henceforward, being filled with the evil spirits, he is unstable in all his actions, being dragged about hither and thither by the evil spirits, and is altogether blinded and bereft of his good intent.

"Thus then it happens to all persons of ANGRY TEMPER. Refrain therefore from ANGRY TEMPER, the most evil of evil spirits. But clothe yourself in LONG-SUFFERING, and resist angry temper and bitterness, and you will be found in company with the holiness which is beloved of the Lord. See then that you never neglect this commandment; for if you master this commandment, you will be able likewise to keep the remaining commandments, which I am about to give you. Be strong in them and endowed with power; and

let all be endowed with power, as many as desire to walk in them.
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