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Pistis Sophia, by G.R.S. Mead, [1921], at sacred-texts.com
When then Jesus had said this, he said unto his disciples: "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." |71.
Mary interpreteth the words of Jesus concerning the three witnesses.Mary started forward again, stepped into the midst, placed herself by Philip and said unto Jesus: "My Lord, my in-dweller of light hath ears, and I am ready to hear with my power, and I have understood the word which thou hast spoken. Now, therefore, my Lord, hearken that I may discourse in openness, thou who hast
said unto us: 'Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.'
"Concerning the word which thou hast spoken unto Philip: 'It is thou and Thomas and Matthew on whom it hath been enjoined--to you three by the First Mystery, to write all the discourses of the kingdom of the Light and thereto to bear witness '; hearken, therefore, that I may proclaim the solution of this word. This is what thy light-power prophesied aforetime through Moses: 'By two or three witnesses shall every matter be established.' The three witnesses are Philip and Thomas and Matthew."
Philip is now given permission to speak.It came to pass then, when Jesus had heard this word, that he said: "Well said, Mary, this is the solution of the word. Now, therefore, do thou, Philip, come forward and proclaim the solution of the fifth repentance of Pistis Sophia, and thereafter take thy seat and write all the discourses which I shall speak, until the number of thy portion which thou hast to write of the words of the kingdom of the Light is completed. Then shalt thou come forward and speak what thy spirit shall understand. But do thou |72. then now proclaim the solution of the fifth repentance of Pistis Sophia."
And Philip answered and said unto Jesus: "My Lord, hearken that I may speak the solution of her repentance. For thy power hath prophesied aforetime concerning it through David in the eighty-seventh Psalm, saying:
Philip interpreteth the fifth repentance from Psalm lxxxvii."'1. Lord, God of my salvation, by day and by night have I cried unto thee.
"'2. Let my weeping come before thee; incline thine ear to my supplication, O Lord.
"'3. For my soul is full of evil, my life hath drawn nigh to the world below.
"'4. I am counted among them who have gone down into the pit; I am become as a man who hath no helper.
"'5. The free among the dead are as the slain who are thrown away and sleep in tombs, whom thou no more rememberest, and they are destroyed through thy hands.
"'6. They have set me in a pit below, in darkness and shadow of death.
"'7. Thy wrath hath settled down upon me and all thy cares have come upon me. (Selah.)
"'8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; they have made me an abomination for them. They have abandoned me, and I cannot go forth.
"'9. My eye hath become dim in my misery; I have cried unto thee, O Lord, the whole day and have stretched forth my hands unto thee.
"'10. Wilt thou not surely work thy wonders on the dead? Will not surely the physicians arise and confess thee?
"'11. Will they not surely proclaim thy name in the |73. tombs,
"'12. And thy righteousness in a land which thou hast forgotten?
"'13. But I have cried unto thee, O Lord, and my prayer shall reach thee early in the morning.
"'14. Turn not thy face away from me.
"15. For I am miserable, I am in sorrow from my youth up. And when I had exalted myself, I humbled myself and arose.
"'16. Thy angers are come upon me and thy terrors have brought me into delusion.
"'17. They have surrounded me as water; they have seized upon me the whole day long.
"'18. My fellows hast thou kept far from me and my acquaintances from my misery.'
"This is then the solution of the mystery of the fifth repentance which Pistis Sophia hath uttered, when she was oppressed in the chaos."