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of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said, these I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him, we will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate, shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate, shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
And the Lord said, who shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man, here am I, send me. And another answered and said, here am I, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate, and, at that day, many followed after him. And then the Lord said, let us go down; and they went down at the beginning, and they organized and formed (that is, the Gods) the heavens and the earth. And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the faces of the water.
And they (the Gods,) said, let there be light, and there was light. And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness; and the Gods called the light day, and the darkness they called night. And it came to pass that from the evening until morning they called night; and from the morning until the evening they called day; and this was the first or the beginning of that which they called Day and Night.
And the Gods also said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters. And the Gods ordered the expanse, so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so, even as they ordered. And the Gods called the expanse Heaven. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called Night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called Day; and this was the second time that they called Night and Day.
And the Gods ordered, saying, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the earth come up dry; and it was so, as they ordered; and the Gods pronounced the earth dry, and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they, great waters: and the Gods saw that they were obeyed. And the Gods said, let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass; the herb yielding seed; the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his
