Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. 499
"[His Word] can be spoken against or changed
"like that of a man, for His Divinity is abiding
"therewith, and with one utterance We created the
"whole world. And there was no time when I
"was not with Him, and by His Will He made
"Me to put on the covering of Adam and to appear
"unto every one whom We had created; for before
"the Devil and Adam were created He made Me
"to know of the pride of the Devil and the error
"of Adam. And this wise counsel was hidden before
"the world was, so that on account of the pride of
"the Devil Adam might be created to praise and
"glorify the Trinity, but the Devil, together with
"his hosts, rebelled. And, moreover, because of
"Adam's error, I put on flesh and appeared unto podappears
"all [men], and I went about, and I wrought a
"sign which no man had wrought. And the Devil
"threw [the blame of] the [p. 308] sin which he
"had brought upon Adam upon the priests of the
"temples, and in [his] pride he choked them. And
"certain men said unto Me, 'By Whose power doest
"thou the like of this, for thou art not of the race
"of Levi?' And they crucified Me, imagining Me to
"be a man who had no power over death and
"life; now death and life belong unto Me. And
"it is of Me that Moses wrote these words, saying,
"I kill, and I "make alive; I punish, and I shew
"mercy; I bring down into Sheol, and I bring up
"therefrom." And again he said, 'All the angels
' Deuteronomy xxxii. 39;
i. Samuel ii. 6.
RRR2