t before
the world was, he and his Father were one, and that his great love of
man induced him to separate himself----

At that moment a man came out from the shadow of a rock and approached
the wayfarers, who drew back quickly, thinking they were about to be
attacked. It is Judas, Joseph whispered, one of the apostles. You have
seen Jesus? Judas asked breathlessly, and when Nicodemus told how Jesus
had said he would go up to Jerusalem for the Passover he cried out: to
lead us against the Temple? He must be saved. From what? Nicodemus
asked: from his mission? He must go on to the end with the work he has
been called out of heaven to accomplish. I can see that you have been
speaking with him. Called out of heaven to accomplish! And then,
clasping his hands, Judas looked with imploring eyes upon them: save
him, he cried, save him, for if not, I must myself, for every day his
pride redoubles and now he believes himself to be the Messiah, the
Messiah as sent by God, Judas cried. By whom else could he be sent?
Joseph replied. If he be not taken by the priests and put to death he
will be driven by the demon into the last blasphemy; one which no Jew
has yet committed even in his heart, and if that word be spoken all will
be accomplished, and the Lord will choose another nation from among the
Gentiles. He will declare himself God, Judas continued. Nicodemus and
Joseph raised their hands. He speaks already of the time before the
world was, when he and his Father were one; and setting aside the
Scriptures in his madness he has begun to imagine that the angels that
revolted against God were changed into men, and given the world for
abode till their sins so angered the Father (remark you, of whom Jesus
was then a part) that he determined to destroy the world; at which Jesus
in his great love of men (or of fallen angels, for betimes he doesn't
know what he is saying) said he would put Godhead off and become man,
and give his life as atonement for the sins of men. Sirs, I'll ask you
how God or man may by his death make atonement for the sins that men
have committed? Hear me to the end, for as many minutes as you have
listened, I have listened hours. By this sacrifice of his life his
teaching will become known to men and he will reign the one and only
king till the world itself crumbles and perishes. Then he will become
one with his Father, and from that moment there will be but one God.
These are the thoughts, noble Sirs, on which he