The Great Gospel of John
Volume 2
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
First journey of the Lord: Kis - landing place at Sibarah - Nazareth
- Chapter 5 -
History of the discovered treasure.
Faustus, clasping his hands above head, summon Pilah over, saying, "Had you no knowledge, since you said nothing? Speak, or you shall fare miserably!"
2
Says Pilah "Lord! Of this I knew nothing, and had not ventured this far into the cave before! The old ones shall indeed have known about it but kept their silence in order to have a ransom out for any possible imprisonment. But take delivery of it all, as it is yours henceforth, thanks to God!"
3
Faustus asks Me as well, as to whether Pilah spoke the truth and I confirm Pilah's statement, saying to Faustus, "Friend, when someone has taken the daughter from a respected house as his wife then he has also the right to expect a dowry. You have now had much to do, and yet at the distribution of the previous goods nothing came your way - and so take this entire treasure as your rightful possession; terrestrially it is worth a thousand times a thousand pounds.
4
Of the greatest worth however are the pearls each of which is the size of a hen's egg. An entire trove, (measuring a volume of one thousand Drachmas) is filled with the big pearls of which each is by itself of inestimable worth. Such pearls no longer occur on earth as newly formed, because such crustaceans besides many other primordial animals no longer exist. These pearls however were not fished out of the sea, but King Ninias, also called Ninus, found them in the earth when building the city of Nineveh, during the excavations. Due to diverse wheels of fortune they ended up in Jerusalem already in David's but mainly Solomon's time. But they ended up in this cave when the Romans as conquerors of Palestine (actually nearly half of Asia) took possession of them.
5
The High Priests, to whom the cave had already been known for a long time, when hearing of the Roman invasion at once gathered together all the biggest and movable Temple treasures, happily getting them into the cave. The golden lions however which carried Solomon's throne and stood guard at its steps, ended up in the rubble during the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Babylonians, but were found during later re-construction and taken into possession by the Priests on behalf of the Temple. These for a large part are found here; because everything of superior value that could be gathered together in the hurry was brought here during the Roman invasion, just as during the invasion of the mighty Babylonians, a substantial mass of Temple treasures was brought to the familiar cave at Chorazim, notwithstanding the fact that the Babylonians later found plenty of vessels and treasures permanently consecrated for the Temple, to take with them to Babylon. Command your people now to move all this out of the cave; afterwards Archiel shall seal the entrance to this cave so that no man shall ever enter it again."
6
Faustus now commands the servants to move all these treasures out; but on starting to lift them they realise they don't have the strength to lift the many heavy iron troves. They ask Me however to bestow strength upon them.
7
I however call Archiel, saying, 'so move out all this filth, and that to the great storehouse at Kis!" Instantly the many heavy cases disappeared, but Archiel was also back in an instant. So that no one had become aware of his absence.
8
Says Faustus thereto, "This surely surpasses everything! My servants would have needed three days to do that - this however was an imperceptible moment, and not a single one of all those cases can be detected! Here I no longer wonder about the capability for such deed; a godly sense is required to understand and assess such appearances properly!"
9
The Lord says, "Yes, yes, you are right. However, for man it is not very advantageous if he would immediately understand everything which manifests itself to him. Since it is written: 'If you eat from the tree of knowledge, you will die!' Therefore it is better, to accept every miraculous act in the light of its actual manifestation, vividly realising that with God nothing is impossible, rather than attempting to explain it from the ground of its effect in which case one will comprehend as little after the explanation as one did prior to it.
10
It suffices for you to see that the earth exists and is suitable for carrying and supporting mankind. If you knew how it was basically made, it would lose its attraction for you and you would not find pleasure in it, but have an inordinate desire to investigate some other earth globe right to its foundation. And if there you discover the same basis for its existence and permanency and the same with a third, fourth and fifth one, you would no longer be interested in exploring a sixth and seventh. As a result you would become indolent, indifferent, scornful of life and begin to angrily deplore life and curse the hour that began to enrich you with such knowledge; and such a state would then be actual death for your soul.
11
However, since according to divine order everything is arranged in such a way that man as well as every angelic spirit can only gradually, and even then only to a certain extent, gain an insight into the divine nature within him and also within all created things, and retains an ever growing interest in life and the love for God and the neighbour through which alone he can and will become eternally happy. Have you grasped this truth?"
12
Says Faustus, "Yes, Lord and friend, I have grasped it fully. And so I will not ask You any further about the reason for the formations in this grotto."