Gospel of Mary 4

1Desire said, “I did not see you going down, but now I see you going up. So why are you lying, since you belong to me?”

2The soul answered, “I saw you, but you did not see or know me. To you I was just a garment, and you did not recognize me.” When it said these things, it left, rejoicing greatly.

3Again, it came to the third power, called “Ignorance.” [It] questioned the soul and [said], “Where are you going? You are bound in wickedness. Since you are bound, do not judge!”

4[And] the soul said, “Why do you judge me, since I have not judged? I was bound, even though I have not bound. They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that everything will dissolve—both the things of the [earth] and the things of [heaven].”

5When the soul had overcome the third power, it went up and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms:

6The first form is Darkness;

7The second, Desire;

8The third, Ignorance;

9The fourth, Zeal for Death;

10The fifth, the Kingdom of the Flesh;

11The sixth, the Foolish “Wisdom” of Flesh;

12The seventh, the “Wisdom” of Anger.

13These are the seven powers of Wrath.

14They ask the soul, “Where do you come from, you murderer, and where are you going, conqueror of space?”

15The soul answered, “What binds me has been killed, what surrounds me has been overcome, my desire is gone, and ignorance has died. In a [world] I was released from a world, [and] in a type from a type which is above, and from the chain of forgetfulness, which exists only for a time. From now on, I will receive the rest of the time of the season of the age in silence.”

16When Mary had said these things, she fell silent, because the Savior had spoken with her up to this point.