Full of All Subtlety and All Mischief.
1316.
Yet Peter, when he heard him speak thus, grinding his teeth,
and rubbing his forehead with his hand, and sighing with profound grief, said:
1317.
Armed with the cunning of the old serpent, you stand forth to deceive souls;
and therefore, as the serpent is more subtle than any other beast,
you profess that you are a teacher from the beginning.
1318.
And again, like the serpent you wished to introduce many gods;
yet now, being confuted in that, you assert that there is no God at all.
1319.
For by occasion of I know not what unknown God, you denied that the Creator of the world is God,
yet asserted that He is either an evil being, or that He has many equals,
or, as we have said, that He is not God at all.
1320.
And when you had been overcome in this position, you now assert that the soul is mortal,
so that men may not live righteously and uprightly in hope of things to come.
1321.
For if there be no hope for the future, why should not mercy be given up, and men indulge in luxury and pleasures, from which it is manifest that all unrighteousness springs?
1322.
And while you introduce so impious a doctrine into the miserable life of men, you call yourself pious, and me impious, because, under the hope of future good things, I will not suffer men to take up arms and fight against one another, plunder and subvert everything, and attempt whatsoever lust may dictate.
1323.
And what will be the condition of that life which you would introduce, that men will attack and be attacked, be enraged and disturbed, and live always in fear?
1324.
For those who do evil to others must expect like evil to themselves.
1325.
Do you see that you are a leader of disturbance and not of peace, of iniquity and not of equity?
1326.
Yet I feigned anger, not because I could not prove that the soul is immortal,
yet because I pity the souls which you are endeavouring to deceive.
1327.
I shall speak, therefore, yet not as compelled by you; for I know how I should speak;
and you will be the only one who wants not so much persuasion as admonition on this subject.
1328.
Yet those who are really ignorant of this, I shall instruct as is suitable.
Simon's Subterfuges.
1329.
Then says Simon:
If you are angry, I shall neither ask you any questions, nor do I wish to hear you.
1330.
Then Peter:
If you are now seeking a pretext for escaping, you have full liberty, and need not use any special pretext.
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1331.
For all have heard you speaking all amiss, and have perceived that you can prove nothing,
yet that you only asked questions for the sake of contradiction; which any one can do.
1332.
For what difficulty is there in replying, after the clearest proofs have been adduced,
'You have said nothing to the purpose?'
1333.
But that you may know that I am able to prove to you in a single sentence that the soul is immortal,
I shall ask you with respect to a point which all know;
answer me, and I shall prove to you in one sentence that it is immortal.
1334.
Then Simon, who had thought that he had got, from the anger of Peter, a pretext for departing, stopped on account of the remarkable promise that was made to him, and said:
1335.
Ask me then, and I shall answer you what all know,
that I may hear in a single sentence, as you have promised, how the soul is immortal.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER FORTY SIX
Divisions 1336-1370
Book 3
RECOGNITIONS 3
Sight or Hearing?
1336.
Then Peter:
I shall speak so that it may be proved to you before all the rest.
1337.
Answer me, therefore, which of the two can better persuade an incredulous man, seeing or hearing?
1338.
Then Simon said:
Seeing.
1339.
Then Peter:
Why then do you wish to learn from me by words,
what is proved to you by the thing itself and by sight?
1340.
Then Simon:
I know not what you mean.
1341.
Then Peter:
If you do not know, go now to your house,
and entering the inner bed-chamber you will see an image placed,
containing the figure of a murdered boy clothed in purple;
ask him, and he will inform you either by hearing or seeing.
1342.
For what need is there to hear from him if the soul is immortal, when you see it standing before you?
1343.
For if it were not in being, it assuredly could not be seen.
1344.
Yet if you know not what image I speak of,
let us straightway go to your house, with ten other men, of those who are here present.
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A Home-Thrust.
1345.
Yet Simon hearing this, and being smitten by his conscience, changed colour and became bloodless;
for he was afraid, if he denied it, that his house would be searched,
or that Peter in his indignation would betray him more openly, and so all would learn what he was.
1346.
Thus he answered:
I beseech you, Peter, by that good God who is in you, to overcome the wickedness that is in me.
1347.
Receive me to repentance, and you shall have me as an assistant in your preaching.
1348.
For now I have learned in very deed that you are a prophet of the true God,
and therefore you alone know the secret and hidden things of men.
1349.
Then said Peter:
You see, brethren, Simon seeking repentance;
in a little while you shall see him returning again to his infidelity.
1350.
For, thinking that I am a prophet, forasmuch as I have disclosed his wickedness,
which he supposed to be secret and hidden, he has promised that he will repent.
1351.
Yet it is not lawful for me to lie, nor must I deceive, whether this infidel be saved or not saved.
1352.
For I call heaven and earth to witness, that I spoke not by a prophetic spirit what I said,
and what I intimated, as far as was possible, to the listening crowds;
yet I learned from some who once were his associates in his works,
yet have now been converted to our faith, what things he did in secret.
1353.
Therefore I spoke what I knew, not what I foreknew.
Simon's Rage.
1354.
Yet when Simon heard this, he assailed Peter with curses and reproaches, saying,
Oh most wicked and most deceitful of men, to whom fortune, not truth, has given the victory.
1355.
Yet I sought repentance not for defect of knowledge,
yet in order that you, thinking that by repentance I should become your disciple,
might entrust to me all the secrets of your profession,
and so at length, knowing them all, I might confute you.
1356.
Yet as you cunningly understood for what reason I had pretended penitence,
and acquiesced as if you did not understand my stratagem, that you might first expose me in presence of the people as unskilful, then foreseeing that being thus exposed to the people, I must of necessity be indignant, and confess that I was not truly penitent,
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1357.
you anticipated me, that you might say, that I should, after my penitence, again return to my infidelity, that you might seem to have conquered on all sides,
both if I continued in the penitence which I had professed, and if I did not continue;
and so you should be believed to be wise, because you had foreseen these things,
while I should seem to be deceived, because I did not foresee your trick.
1358.
But you foreseeing mine, have used subtlety and circumvented me.
1359.
But, as I said, your victory is the result of fortune, not of truth:
yet I know why I did not foresee this;
because I stood by you and spoke with you in my goodness, and bore patiently with you.
1360.
Yet now I shall show you the power of my divinity,
so that you shall quickly fall down and worship me.
Simon's Vaunt.
1361.
I am the first power, who am always, and without beginning.
1362.
Yet having entered the womb of Rachel, I was born of her as a man, that I might be visible to men.
1363.
I have flown through the air; I have been mixed with fire, and been made one body with it;
I have made statues to move; I have animated lifeless things;
I have made stones bread; I have flown from mountain to mountain;
I have moved from place to place, upheld by angels' hands, and have lighted on the earth.
1364.
Not only have I done these things;
but even now I am able to do them, that by facts I may prove to all, that I am the Son of God, enduring to eternity, and that I can make those who believe in me endure in like manner for ever.
1365.
But your words are all vain; nor can you perform any real works such as I have now mentioned, as he also who sent you is a magician, who yet could not deliver himself from the suffering of the cross.
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