Book V - Snyder Bible

The Preaching of Simeon Kefa 181
Chapter III: Faith and Unbelief
Whereas therefore some men suffer and others cure those
who suffer, it is necessary to know the cause at once of the
suffering and the cure. And this is proved to be nought else
than unbelief on the part of the sufferers, and faith on the part
of those who cure them. For unbelief, while it does not believe
that there is to be a judgment by Elohim, affords license to sin,
and sin makes men liable to sufferings; but faith, believing that
there is to be a judgment of Elohim, restrains men from sin;
and those who do not sin are not only free from demons and
sufferings, but can also put to flight the demons and sufferings
of others.
Chapter IV: Ignorance the Mother of Evils
From all these things, therefore, it is concluded that all evil
springs from ignorance; and ignorance herself, the mother of
all evils, is sprung from carelessness and sloth, and is nourished,
and increased, and rooted in the senses of men by negligence;
and if any one teach that she is to be put to flight, she
is with difficulty and indignantly torn away, as from an ancient
and hereditary abode. And therefore we must labor for a little,
that we may search out the presumptions of ignorance, and
cut them off by means of knowledge, especially in those who
are preoccupied with some erroneous opinions, by means of
which ignorance is the more firmly rooted in them, as under
the appearance of a certain kind of knowledge; for nothing is
worse than for one to believe that he knows what he is ignorant
of, and to maintain that to be true which is false. This is as
if a drunken man should think himself to be sober, and should
act indeed in all respects as a drunken man, and yet think himself
to be sober, and should wish to be called so by others.
Thus, therefore, are those also who do not know what is true,
yet hold some appearance of knowledge, and do many evil
things as if they were good, and hasten destruction as if it
were to salvation.