First question. Again the same religious appeared, standing on his rung as before and saying: "O Judge, I ask you: Why, according to the word of the Gospel, will the goats be placed at your left and the sheep at your right? Surely, you do not delight in such things?"

Second question. "Item. Since you are God's Son, coequal to the Father, why is it written that neither you nor the angels know the hour of judgment?"

Third question. "Item. Since your Holy Spirit spoke in the evangelists, why is there such great discrepancy in the gospels?"

Fourth question. "Item. Since, in your incarnation, there is so great a salvation for the whole human race, why did you delay so long a time to take on flesh?"

Fifth question. "Item. Since man's soul is better than the whole world, why do you not send your friends and preachers everywhere and at all times?"

Response to the first question. The Judge answered: "Friend, you do not ask in order to know but so that your malice may be known. Now then, in the Godhead there is nothing carnal, or carnally portrayed, because my Godhead is spirit. And with me, the good and the wicked cannot dwell together at one time any more than light can dwell together with darkness. Neither is there in my Godhead a right or a left - portrayed, as it were, corporeally - nor will they be happier for being at my right rather than at my left. These things have been said as a similitude. For, by 'right,' the loftiness of my divine glory is understood; by 'left,' the lack and loss of all good. Neither sheep nor goats exist in that wonderful glory of mine, where there is nothing corporeal or stained or changeable. However, the behavior of mankind is many times described in similitudes and in the figures of animals.

Just the sheep signifies innocence, the goat signifies wantonness, i.e., incontinent mankind, and must be placed at the left where there is a lack of all good. Therefore, know that I, God, sometimes use human words and similitudes in order that the little one may have something to suck and that the perfect may become more perfect and for the fulfillment of the Scripture, which says that the Son of the Virgin has been set in place for contradiction so that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed."

Response to the second question. "Item. As to why I, the Son of God, said that I was ignorant of the hour of judgment, I answer: It is written that Jesus advanced in age and wisdom. Everything that waxes and wanes has mutability; but the Godhead is immutable.

Therefore, the fact that I, God's Son, coeternal with the Father, advanced was the result of my human nature. What I did not know was what my humanity did not know. In my Godhead, I knew and know all things. For the Father does nothing other than the things that I, the Son, do. Or does the Father know things unknown to me, the Son, and to the Holy Spirit? Not at all. But only the Father - with whom I the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one substance, one Godhead, and one will - knows that hour of judgment - not the angels and not any creature."

Response to the third question. "Item. If the Holy Spirit spoke in the evangelists, why is there such great discrepancy among them? I answer: It is written that the Holy Spirit is manifold in his operations; for to his elect he distributes his gifts in many ways. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is like a man who has a pair of scales in his hand, and, in many ways, balances and adjusts its extremities until the very movement of the scales arrives at stability. Such a pair of scales is handled in different ways by those accustomed to it and by those not accustomed, in different ways by the strong and by the weak.

So too the Holy Spirit - in the manner of the scales - now ascends in human hearts and now again descends. He ascends when he elevates the mind through subtlety of understanding and through devotion of soul and through the inflaming of spiritual desire. He descends when he permits the mind to be involved with difficulties, to be worried by superfluous matters, and to be perturbed by tribulations. And as the scales have no fixity without the moderation of their loads and the application of the hand that controls them, so too, in the operation of the Holy Spirit, moderation is necessary, and a good life and simplicity of intention and discretion of works and virtues.

Therefore, when I, God's Son, visible in the flesh, preached different things in different places, I had different imitators and hearers; for some followed me out of love, others to find opportunity and because of curiosity. And some of those who followed me were subtle by nature; others were simpler. Therefore, I spoke simple things by which the simple were instructed; and I also spoke higher things at which the wise wondered. Sometimes, too, I spoke in parables and obscurely - about which some received an opportunity of speaking.

Sometimes I repeated things previously said, and sometimes I expanded or condensed them. Therefore, it is no wonder if those who arranged the narrative of the gospels have set down things that are different, but nevertheless true, because some of them set down word for word and others set down the sense of the words, but not the words themselves. Some wrote things that they had heard but had not seen. Others wrote earlier things later. Some wrote more about my divinity. And each one of them wrote just as the Holy Spirit enabled him to speak. However, I want you to know that acceptance is to be given only to those evangelists whom my Church accepts.

Many who had zeal tried to write, but not in accordance with my own knowledge. For behold, I said that which was read today: 'Destroy this temple and I shall rebuild it.' Those who testified that they had heard these things were truthful according to the word that they had heard, but they were false witnesses because they did not attend to the sense of my words.

For I spoke that word that it might be understood in reference to my body. Similarly, when I said: 'If you do not eat my flesh, you shall not have life,' many went away because they did not pay attention to the conclusion that I spoke: 'My words are life and spirit,' i.e., they have spiritual meaning and power. It is no wonder that they erred, for they did not follow me out of love. And so the Holy Spirit, in the manner of the scales, ascends in the hearts of mankind, now speaking corporeally and now spiritually. He descends when man's heart is hardened against God or becomes involved in heresies or worldly things and is darkened."

Then, at that same moment, the Judge said to the inquisitive religious, who was sitting on a rung of the ladder: "You, O friend, have so often asked me subtle questions. Now, for the sake of my bride who is present nearby, I ask you: Why does your soul - which has discretion and understanding of good and evil - love decadent things more than the things of heaven and not live in accord with those things that it understands?" That religious mentioned above answered: "Because I act against reason, and I make the senses of the flesh prevail over reason." Christ said: "Your conscience, then, shall be your judge." Finally, Christ said to the bride: "Behold, daughter, how greatly there prevails in man not only the devil's malice but also a depraved conscience! This comes about from the fact that man does not wrestle against his temptation as he ought.

But this was not the behavior of that Master known to you. In his case, the Spirit descended by testing him with temptations to such an extent that it was as if all the heresies stood before him and said, as it were, with one mouth: 'We are truth.' However, he did not trust his senses and did not think thoughts that were beyond him. Therefore he was liberated and was made knowledgeable from 'In the beginning' right through to 'Alpha and O,' just as it was promised to him."

Response to the fourth question. "Item. As to why I delayed my incarnation for so long a time, I answer: My incarnation was truly necessary; for through it the curse was undone and all things were pacified in heaven and on earth. Nevertheless, it was necessary that man first be taught through the natural law and, then, through the written law. For through the natural law, the quantity and quality of man's love appeared. Through the written law, man understood his weakness and misery and then began to require medicine.

It was therefore just that the physician came then, when the infirmity was aggravated, so that where disease abounded, medicine might even more abound. Nevertheless, both under the natural law and under the written law, there were many who were just; and many had the Holy Spirit and foretold many things and instructed others in all that was honest and waited for me, the Savior. These met with my mercy and not with eternal punishment."

Response to the fifth question. "Item. As to why, since the soul of man is better than the world, preachers are not sent everywhere and at all times, I answer: Truly, the soul is more worthy and more noble than the whole world and more stable than all things. It is more worthy because it is spiritual and equal to the angels and created for eternal joy. It is more noble because it was made, in the image of my Godhead, both immortal and eternal. Therefore, because man is more worthy and more noble than all creatures, man ought to live more nobly than all; for he, in preference to others, has been enriched with reason. But if man abuses reason and my divine gifts, what wonder is it if, at the time of justice, I punish that which was passed over in the time of mercy?

Therefore, preachers are not sent everywhere and at all times because I, God, foresee the hardness of many hearts and spare the labors of my elect lest they be troubled for an empty purpose. And because many who sin intentionally and with sure knowledge deliberately resolve to persevere in their sins rather than be converted, they are not worthy to hear the messengers of salvation. But, O friend, now I will end, with you, my response to your thoughts; and you shall end your life. Now you shall experience the profit that you have had from your wordy eloquence and the favor of man. Oh how happy you would be if you had paid attention to your profession and your vow!"

Item. The Spirit said to the bride: "Daughter, he who was seen to have asked such things at such length lives still in the body; but he is not going to remain alive one day. The thoughts and affections of his heart have been shown to you through similitudes, not for his greater reproach but for the salvation of the souls of others. But behold: together now with his thoughts and his affections, his hope and his life will end."