1. When the priests and the elders heard Issa, they decided among
themselves not to give judgment against him, for he had done no harm to
any one, and, presenting themselves before Pilate--who was made Governor
of Jerusalem by the Pagan king of the country of Romeles--they spake to
him thus:
2. "We have seen the man whom thou chargest with inciting our people to
revolt; we have heard his discourses and know that he is our countryman;
3. "But the chiefs of the cities have made to you false reports, for he
is a just man, who teaches the people the word of God. After
interrogating him, we have allowed him to go in peace."
4. The governor thereupon became very angry, and sent his disguised
spies to keep watch upon Issa and report to the authorities the least
word he addressed to the people.
5. In the meantime, the holy Issa continued to visit the neighboring
cities and preach the true way of the Lord, enjoining the Hebrews'
patience and promising them speedy deliverance.
6. And all the time great numbers of the people followed him wherever he
went, and many did not leave him at all, but attached themselves to him
and served him.
7. And Issa said: "Put not your faith in miracles performed by the hands
of men, for He who rules nature is alone capable of doing supernatural
things, while man is impotent to arrest the wrath of the winds or cause
the rain to fall.
8. "One miracle, however, is within the power of man to accomplish. It
is, when his heart is filled with sincere faith, he resolves to root out
from his mind all evil promptings and desires, and when, in order to
attain this end, he ceases to walk the path of iniquity.
9. "All the things done without God are only gross errors, illusions and
seductions, serving but to show how much the heart of the doer is full
of presumption, falsehood and impurity.
10. "Put not your faith in oracles. God alone knows the future. He who
has recourse to the diviners soils the temple of his heart and shows his
lack of faith in his Creator.
11. "Belief in the diviners and their miracles destroys the innate
simplicity of man and his childlike purity. An infernal power takes hold
of him who so errs, and forces him to commit various sins and give
himself to the worship of idols.
12. "But the Lord our God, to whom none can be equalled, is one
omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; He alone possesses all wisdom
and all light.
13. "To Him ye must address yourselves, to be comforted in your
afflictions, aided in your works, healed in your sickness and whoso asks
of Him, shall not ask in vain.
14. "The secrets of nature are in the hands of God, for the whole world,
before it was made manifest, existed in the bosom of the divine thought,
and has become material and visible by the will of the Most High.
15. "When ye pray to him, become again like little children, for ye know
neither the past, nor the present, nor the future, and God is the Lord
of Time."