THE SAYINGS OF JESUS. ..... We are told that it was after his resurrection that Christ revealed the true gnosis to Peter, John and James[850]. But it was only the spiritual Horus or Christ that could reveal the true gnosis, which is here admitted versus the historic personage. This revelation is post-resurrectional, the same as with the gnostic Jesus in the Pistis Sophia who expounds the mysteries to his twelve apostles on Mount Olivet after he has risen from the dead. The Manifestation of Truth is the title of the great work of Marcus the Gnostic in the third century[851]. The lost work of Celsus was the Word of Truth or Logos Alethea[852]. In these instances the gospel is that of truth, the word of truth; the true gospel. And the gospel of Mati, we repeat, is equivalent to the gospel or the sayings according to Matthew which had been heard of by Papias as the nuclei of the canonical gospels. Epiphanius, in speaking of the Sabelian Heretics, says, The whole of their errors and the main strength of their heterodoxy they derive from some apocryphal books, but principally from that which is called the Gospel of the Egyptians (which is a name some have given to it) for in that many things are proposed in a hidden, mysterious manner as by our Saviour,[853] just as they are in the sayings of the Ritual, the sayings of Hartatef, Iu-em-hetep or the sayings of Jesus. In his tirade against Gnosticism Augustine echoes the name of Mati (for truth) and shows its twofold nature in a peculiar way as The Truth and Truth. He says of the Gnostics: They used to repeat Truth and Truth, for thus did they repeat her name to me, but she was nowhere amongst them; for they spoke false things, not only concerning thee who art the Truth in Truth but even concerning the elements of this world of ours, thy creation; concerning which even the philosophers, who declared what is true, I ought to have slighted for love of thee, O my father, the supreme God, the beauty of all things beautiful. O truth! truth! how inwardly did the marrow of my soul sigh after thee even then, whilst they were perpetually dinning thy name into my ears, and [p.905] after various fashions with the mere voice, and with many and huge books of theirs.[854] The Book of the Dead or Ritual of the resurrection virtually contains the Gospel of the Egyptians which was assumed to have been lost. This is the gospel according to Mati or Matiu, the original, as we maintain, of that which Papias attributes to one Matthew, and which was a collection of the sayings assigned to the Jesus whom the non-Gnostic Christians always assumed to be historical. The Ritual preserves the sayings of the Egyptian Jesus who was Iu the su, or Sa of Atum-Ra and Iusaas at On, and who was otherwise known as the Lord in different Egyptian religions. This was the sayer to whom the sayings are attributed in the Festal Dirge[855], and also in the Ritual and other Hermetic scriptures. And now we have a form of the genuine Gospel of the Egyptians in the Ritual itself. This is the original Evangelicum Veritas: the gospel according to Mati = Matthew to Aan = John; or Tum Thomas. From this we learn, by means of the comparative process, that the literalizers of the legend and the carnalizers of the Egypto-gnostic Christ have but gathered up the empty husks of Pagan tradition, minus the kernel of the gnosis; so that when we have taken away all which pertains to Horus, the Egypto-gnostic Jesus, all that remains to base a Judean history upon is nothing more than an accretion of blindly ignorant belief; and that of all the gospels and collections of sayings derived from the Ritual of the resurrection in the names of Mati or Matthew, Aan or John, Thomas or Tum, Hermes, Iu-em-Hetep or Jesus, those that were canonized at last as Christian are the most exoteric, and therefore the farthest away from the underlying, hidden, buried, but imperishable truth. masseiana.org/aebk12.htm ----- [850] [Clement Alexander, Stromata, bk. 6.8. For we now dare aver (for here is the faith that is characterized by knowledge) that such an one knows all things, and comprehends all things in the exercise of sure apprehension, respecting matters difficult for us, and really pertaining to the true gnosis such as were James, Peter, John, Paul, and the rest of the apostles. For prophecy is full of knowledge (gnosis), inasmuch as it was given by the Lord, and again explained by the Lord to the apostles. And is not knowledge (gnosis) an attribute of the rational soul, which trains itself for this, that by knowledge it may become entitled to immortality? For both are powers of the soul both knowledge and impulse. ANF, vol. 2. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, bk. 2, 1. The course pursued by the Apostles after the ascension of Christ. First then, in the place of Judas the traitor, Matthias was chosen by lot, who, as was shown above, was also one of the disciples of the Lord. There were appointed also, with prayer and the imposition of hands, by the apostles, approved men, unto the office of deacons, for the public service; these were those seven of whom Stephen was one. He was the first, also, after our Lord, who at the time of ordination, as if ordained to this very purpose, was stoned to death by the murderers of the Lord And thus he first received the crown answering to his name, of the victorious martyrs of Christ. Then also James, called the brother of our Lord, because he is also called the son of Joseph. For Joseph was esteemed the father of Christ, because the Virgin being betrothed to him, she was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together, as the narrative of the holy gospels shews. This James, therefore, whom the ancients, on account of the excellence of his virtue, surnamed the Just, was the first that received the episcopate of the church at Jerusalem. But Clement, in the sixth book of his Institutions, represents it thus: Peter, and James, and John, after the ascension of our Saviour, though they had been preferred by our Lord, did not contend for the honour, but chose James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem. And the same author, in the seventh book of the same work, writes also thus: The Lord imparted the gift of knowledge to James the Just, to John and Peter after his resurrection, these delivered it to the rest of the apostles, and they to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one. There were, however, two Jameses; one called the Just, who was thrown from a wing of the temple, and beaten to death with a fuller s club, and another, who was beheaded. Paul also makes mention of the Just in his epistles. But other of the apostles, says he, saw I none, save James the brother of our Lord. About this time also, the circumstances of our Saviours promise, in reference to the king of the Osrhoenians, took place. For Thomas, under a divine impulse, sent Thaddeus as herald and evangelist, to proclaim the doctrine of Christ, as we have shown from the public documents found there. When he came to these places, he both healed Agbarus by the word of Christ, and astonished all there with the extraordinary miracles he performed. After having sufficiently disposed them by his works, and led them to adore the power of Christ, he made them disciples of the Saviour s doctrine. And even to this day, the whole city of Edessa is devoted to the name of Christ; exhibiting no common evidence of the beneficence of our Saviour likewise to them. And let this suffice, as taken from the accounts given in ancient documents. But let us pass again to the Holy Scriptures. As the first and greatest persecution arose among the Jews after the martyrdom of Stephen, against the church of Jerusalem, and all the disciples except the twelve were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria; some, as the Holy Scriptures say, coming as far as Phoenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, they were not yet in a situation to venture to impart the faith to the nations, and there fore only announced it to the Jews. During this time, Paul also was yet laying waste the church, entering the houses of the believers, dragging away men and women, and delivering them over to prison? Philip, also, one of those who had been ordained to the office of deacons, being among those scattered abroad, went down to Samaria. Filled with divine power, he first proclaimed the divine word to the inhabitants of that place. But so greatly did the divine grace co-operate with him, that even Simon Magus, with a great number of other men, were attracted by his discourses. But Simon had become so celebrated at that time, and had such influence with those that were deceived by his impostures, that they considered him the great power of God. This same Simon, also, astonished at the extraordinary miracles performed by Philip through the power of God, artfully assumed, and even pretended faith in Christ, so far as to be baptized; and what is surprising, the same thing is done even to this day, by those who adopt his most foul heresy. These, after the manner of their founder, insinuating themselves into the church, like a pestilential and leprous disease, infected those with the greatest corruption, into whom they were able to infuse their secret, irremediable, and destructive poison. Many of these, indeed, have already been expelled, when they were caught in their wickedness; as Simon himself, when detected by Peter, suffered his deserved punishment. For as the annunciation of the Saviour s gospel was daily advancing, by a certain divine providence, a prince of the queen of the Ethiopians, as it is a custom that still prevails there to be governed by a female, was brought thither, and was the first of the Gentiles that received of the mysteries of the divine word from Philip. The apostle, led by a vision, thus instructed him; and he, becoming the first fruits of believers throughout the world, is said to have been the first, on returning to his country, that proclaimed the knowledge of God and the salutary abode of our Saviour among men. So that, in fact, the prophecy obtained its fulfilment through him: Ethiopia stretcheth forth her hands unto God. After this, Paul, that chosen vessel, not of men, nor through men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, is appointed an apostle, being honoured with the call by a vision and voice of revelation from heaven. Cruses tr.] [851] [The Manifestation of Truth, cited in Irenaeus Against all Heresies. See also the Marcions Gospel, and Valentinus Gospel of Truth.] [852] [The Word of Truth (or The True Word or A True Discourse), quoted in Origens Against Celsus.] [853] [Epiphanius, Adverses Haeres, (or Panarion), 26, 2. Their whole deceit (error) and the strength of it they draw from some apocryphal books, especially from what is called the Egyptian Gospel, to which some have given that name. For in it many such like things are recorded (or attributed) as from the person of the Saviour, said in a corner, purporting that he showed his disciples that the same person was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I have used the quote in M. R. James, Apocryphal New Testament, p. 11.] [854] [King, The Gnostics and their Remains, pp. 156-7. So it came to pass that I fell in with men full of pride, dotards, too carnal, and great talkers, in whose mouth is a snare of the Devil, and bird-lime made up with a mixture of the syllables of Thy Name, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Paracletes, our Comforter the Holy Ghost. All these names did not proceed out of their mouth except as far as the sound and echo of the tongue go, but their heart was utterly void of truth. And they used to repeat Truth and Truth, and so did they repeat her name to me, but she was nowhere amongst them, but they spoke false things, not only concerning thee who art the Truth in truth, but even concerning the elements of this world of ours, thy creation; concerning which even the philosophers, who declared what is true, I ought to have slighted for the love of Thee, my Father, the Supreme Good, the Beauty of all things beautiful. Truth! Truth! how inwardly did the marrow of my soul sigh after thee even then, whilst they were perpetually dinning thy name into my ears, and after various fashions with the mere voice, and with many and huge books of theirs. And these were the dishes upon which were served up to me who was hungering after thee, nothing but the Sun and the Moon, thy fair works indeed, but not thyself, and not even the first amongst thy works. For thy spiritual works are before those corporeal works, however splendid and heavenly they may be. But even for those, thy higher works, I hungered and thirsted not, but for thee only, Truth! wherein there is no change, neither shadow of turning. And again there were set before me, in those same dishes, splendid phantoms, than which it were even better to love the Sun himself, for he was true as far as regards ones eyes, rather than to love those fictions whereby the soul was deceived through the eyes. And yet because I believed them to be Thee, I ate thereof though not greedily, because Thou didst not taste in my mouth as thou really art, for thou wert not those empty fictions; neither was I nourished thereby, but rather weakened. Food in dreams is like to the food of one awake, yet the sleepers are not fed by the same, for they sleep on: but those dishes were not in any wise like unto Thee as thou now hast spoken to me, &c.] [855] [Goodwin, Festal Dirge of the Egyptians, RP, 4, 115.] [p.727] ANCIENT EGYPT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD BOOK 12 THE JESUS-LEGEND TRACED IN EGYPT FOR TEN THOUSAND YEARS. Gerald Massey.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:19:01 +0000
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