[0.5] In the springtime the tree blossoms wondrously and is alive with activity. After the blossoms have fallen the tree again seems to be inactive. But towards fall the tree reemerges in its greatest activity: the fruits, the surely wondrous, are flavored - and colored more beautifully than formerly the blossoms - and thus ripened, and the blessing bestowed on them is freed of its bonds and falls as such into the lap of the hungry little children.

[0.6] This parable may be discerned with the eye of the heart, but never with the eye of worldly wisdom. The passages open to question are quite readily discerned - if the Deity of Jesus is not denied but is upheld by the faith of the heart, which is a light of love toward God ... For as soon as the heart of man becomes pure it easily understands that the complete union of the fullness of the Deity with the man Jesus was not consummated at one time, as if in an instant but, like all things under the guidance of God, only progressively, like the gradual (successive) awakening of the divine spirit in the human heart. And this consummation was fully achieved only through His death on the cross - although the Deity in all Its fullness already dwelt in the Child Jesus, but made Itself manifest in wondrous works only in time of need.

[0.7] 3. THE TEMPORAL DEATH OF JESUS is the utmost condescension of the Deity into the judgment of all matter and therewith makes possible an entirely new establishment of relations between Creator and creature.

[0.8] Only through the death of Jesus does God Himself become altogether man and created man by means of this divine, supreme grace a newly conceived child of God - that is, a God - and only thus as the Creator's perfected likeness can the created being stand face to face with Him and see, speak, recognize and beyond measure love Him as its God, Creator and Father, and only thus gain the perfect eternal, indestructible life in God, from God and beside God ... And therewith the power (that is: will) of Satan is broken to the extent that he no longer can prevent the full approach of the Deity to the children of men, and conversely their approach to the Deity.

[0.9] To say it more briefly: Through the death of Jesus every man now can fraternize with God in fullest measure, and never again can Satan intervene - for which reason the word to the women visiting the grave states: Go and tell it to My brothers! - The rule of Satan in the outer form may well be constantly discerned, but eternally never again can he restore the once torn curtain between the Deity and mankind and thus rebuild the old impassable gulf between God and mankind.

[0.10] And from this brief exposition of the subject every man who thinks and sees with his heart can very easily and clearly appreciate the boundless gain inherent in the temporal death of Jesus. Amen.

From the Time that Joseph Took Mary into His House

[0.11] JAMES, A SON OF JOSEPH, originally made this record, which in time was so greatly distorted that it could not be accepted as authentic for the Scripture. I will now give you the original Gospel of James, but beginning only with the above-mentioned time, for James had also included Mary's biography from her birth as well as that of Joseph. So then write as the first chapter: