wisdom, but in those taught of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him."[1] And these are, he says, the ineffable mysteries of the Spirit, which we alone are acquainted with. Concerning these, he says, the Saviour has declared, "No one can come unto me, except my heavenly Father draw some one unto me."[2] For it is very difficult, he says, to accept and receive this great and ineffable mystery. And again, it is said, the Saviour has declared, "Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."[3] And it is necessary that they who perform this [will], not hear it merely, should enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, he says, the Saviour has declared, "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you."[4] For "the publicans," he says, are those who receive the revenues[5] of all things;[6] but we, he says, are the publicans, "unto whom the ends of the ages have come."[7] For "the ends," he says, are the seeds scattered from the unportray- able one upon the world, through which the whole cosmical system is completed; for through these also it began to exist. And this, he says, is what has been declared: "The sower went forth to sow. And some fell by the wayside, and was trodden down; and some on the rocky places, and sprang up," he says, "and on account of its having no depth [of soil], it withered and died; and some," he says, "fell on fair and good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty fold. Who hath ears," he says, "to hear, let him hear."[8] The meaning of this, he says, is as follows, that none becomes a hearer of these mysteries, unless only the perfect Gnostics. This, he says, is the fair and good land which Moses speaks of: "I will bring
1 1 Cor. ii. 13, 14.
2 John vi. 44.
3 Matt. vii. 21.
4 Matt. xxi. 31.
5 The word translated "revenues" and "ends" is the same — τέλη.
6 Τῶν ὅλων: some read τῶν ὠνίων.
7 1 Cor. x. 11.
8 Matt. xiii. 3-9; Mark iv. 3-9; Luke viii. 5-8.
