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Book II. now.

I fuppofe there is a certain Power of an immenfe and ineffable Light, whofe Greatnefs is to be efteem'd Incomprehenfible; which Power the Creator of the World himself is ignorant of, as was the Legiflator Mofes, and your Mafter Jefus

L. Then Peter faid, Don't you think it a piece of Madness for any one to pretend to affert, that there is another God befides the God of the Univerfe: And then to fay, I fuppofe there is a certain Power? And before a Man is fure of what he fays, to pretend to affure others of it? Is any body fo rafh as to give credit to your Words, while he fees you your felf doubtful about them? and to admit that there is any Power unknown to God the Creator, and to Mofes, and to the Prophets, and to the Law, and to Jefus our Mafter? Which Power is, it feems, fo good, that it is not willing to be known to any but to One alone, to you, one of fuch a Character? Befides, if this Power be new, how is it that it does not give us fome new Senfe, befides those Five which we have already? that by the help of this Senfe, thus newly beftow'd on us, we may comprehend and understand this new Power? Or, if it cannot beftow fuch an one, how has it bestow'd any fuch thing on you? Or, if it has reveal'd any thing to you, why not alfo to us? But if you have of your felf perceiv'd, what the very Prophets themfelves were not able to per ceive and understand, Come on, tell us now what every one of us has in his Thoughts. For if fo powerful a Spirit be in you, that you know what is above the Heavens, even when it is un known to all, and to all incomprehenfible, yo certainly do much more easily know the Thought of Men, which are upon the Earth. But you are not able to know our Thoughts wh

ftan

i

ftand here, how can you fay that you know Book II.. what is known to none?

LI. Believe me, you would never have known what Light is, unless you had receiv'd from the Light both the Senfe and Perception of Seeing; and fo of the reft. Now when you have got this Way the Notion, you invent, in the way of dreaming, fomewhat greater and more fublime; but only by an hint taken from your five Senfes, to the Beftower whereof you are ungrateful. But affure your felf, that while you are unable to find out fome new Senfe over and above thofe Five, the ufe of which we all enjoy, you can never affert a new God. Then faid Simon, While all Senfations poffible belong to one of the five Senfes, that Power which is fuperior to all things cannot add any new one. Then faid Peter, That is false; for there is a fixth Senfe, that of Prefcience: for the other five Senfes are capable only of Knowledg, but the Sixth of Foreknowledg; which Senfe the Prophets had. How therefore can you know a God unknown to all, when you have not been vouchfaf'd the Prophetick Senfe, which is that of Foreknowledg? Then Simon began to fay, That neither did anyt one of the Angels, or of the Damons, or of the Jews, nor indeed any Creature which fubfifted by the Power of God the Creator, know this Power; which was incomprehenfible by, and fuperior to them all, even to that God that made the World. For how could the Law of the Creator himself difcover to me that Power, which the Creator himself never knew; while unacquainted with what it fhould dif

it was

cover?

LII. Then Peter faid, I wonder how you can learn more out of the Law than the Law could teach, or knew; and how you pretend to draw Argu

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Book II. Arguments out of the Law for your Affertions, when you affirm, that neither does the Law know what you fay, nor he that gave the Law; that is, the Creator of the World. I do alfo wonder how you, who alone know these things, ftand here with us, and are confin'd within the Limits of this fmall Court. Then Simon perceiving Peter, and all the People to laugh, faid, Peter, Do you laugh, when we are difcourfing of Things of fuch great Moment and Confequence? Then faid Peter, Be not in a Passion, Simon; for we do nothing contrary to our promife: we neither fhut our Ears, as you faid we would; nor are we running away upon the first hearing you talk of your Ineffables. No, we keep our places ftill; for indeed you have not spoken things fo much as probable, which might in fome fmall degree have affected us. At leaft we expect that you should explain to us this Notion, How you have attain'd the Knowledg of that God from the Law, which it knows nothing of; and whom he that made the Law is ignorant of. Then faid Simon, If you will leave off laughing, I will prove it by plain Reasons. Peter reply'd, To be fure I will leave off, that I may learn from you how you have attain'd the knowledg of that from the Law, which the Law is a ftranger to, and which the God of the Law himfelf is ignorant of.

LIII. Then faid Simon, Hearken; 'Tis manifest to all, and certainly known, tho after an ineffable manner, that there is One God, the Best of all Beings; from whom every Thing that is, deriv'd its Original; and that all Beings that are after him are fubject to him, as to their Governor, and One Superior to them all. When therefore I perceiv'd that this God that created the World, in the manner defcrib'd in the Law,

was

was in many things an infirm Being, while yet Book II. Infirmity is far remov'd from a perfect God; and I withal obferv'd that this God was not perfect, I was forc'd to allow that there was another who was perfect. For, as I faid, according to the account of the written Law, this God appears to be infirm in many things: and first because the Man whom he formed was not able to remain in that state which he defir'd; and because he is not a good God, who gave a Law to the first Man, that he might eat indeed of all the Trees of Paradife, but should not touch the Tree of Knowledg; but that if he touched it he should die. For why fhould he forbid him to eat in order to know what was good, and what was evil; that when he knew them he might avoid the evil, and chuse the good? Yet would he not grant this liberty. And becaufe, contrary to that Command, he did taft of it, and thence understood what was good and what evil; and learn'd out of reverence to cover his fecret Parts, as perceiving it undecent to ftand before his Creator with his fecret Parts uncovered, he condemns him to die, who had given honour to God; and curfes the Serpent, who had fhew'd him what to do. Now certainly, if Man was to be hurt on this account, why did He at all put the caufe of his Hurt in Paradife? but if it was a good thing which he put in Paradife, 'tis not the part of a good Being to forbid that which is good.

LIV. So then, whereas he that made Man and the World, in the manner defcrib'd in the Law, must be Imperfect,this gives us to understand that there is another who is Perfect. For of neceffity there muft-be One Being fuperior to all the reft, on whofe account every Creature keeps its own order. When therefore I knew that there must needs be one that is more benign and more powerful

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Book II. erful than that imperfect God who gave the Law; and I understood by the comparison with an imperfect Being, that there was one perfect, I gather'd from the Scripture the existence of that God of whom the Scripture did not fpeak. And by this means, O Peter, was I able to learn that from the Law which the Law knew nothing of. And indeed, tho the Law had afforded no indications whence it might have been collected that the God who created the World was imperfect, I was able, even from the Evils that are done in this World, and not corrected, to gather that either its Creator was not all-powerful, who did not correct what was done amifs; I mean if he were not able to correct them; or that if he were able, and would not take the Evils away, he is an evil Being himself. But if he neither could nor would, he was neither powerful nor good. And hence are we forc'd to gather that there is another God, better, and more powerful than all other Beings. Now if you have any thing to reply to this reafoning, let us know it immediately.

LV. Peter answered, O Simon, fuch Opinions, which reflect upon God, ufe to be advanc'd by fuch as read the Law, not as deliver'd by their Masters, but setting up. for their own Teachers: and they fuppofe that they can understand the Law without the expofition of any one that has learn'd it from a Master. But for the prefent, to follow the written Law according to your interpretation of it, fince you affirm that the Creator of the World is thereby fhew'd not to be powerful, and not to be good, how can you avoid feeing that that Power of yours, which you fay is fuperior to all Beings, is liable and expos'd to the very fame reproaches? For in the fame manner may it be faid of it, that fince it

does