Page:LostApocryphaOfTheOldTestamentMRJames.djvu/62

 when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee.'"

Origen (De Principiis, iii. 2): "The serpent in Genesis is represented as deceiving Eve, à propos of which, in the Ascension of Moses (a book mentioned by the Apostle Jude in his Epistle), Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, says that the serpent, inspired by the devil, was the cause of the transgression of Adam and Eve."

These are certain quotations. So are the next three, but the source is not named. Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vi., xv. (§ 132, p. 498, Stähelin):

"With good reason, then, did Jesus the son of Nauë behold Moses being taken up in two forms, the one companying with angels, the other being honoured with burial in the glens of the mountains. But Jesus saw this sight below him, being lifted up by the spirit, with Chaleb also: but not in like manner do they both behold, but the one descended rather quickly, since he bore with him much that weighed him down, while the other, descending after him, related subsequently the glory which he beheld, having been able to discern more than the other, inasmuch as he was purer. The story indicates, I suppose, that gnosis is not for every man, since some look to the body of the Scriptures, the words and names, corresponding to the body of Moses, and others discern the thought, and what is signified by the names: such are concerned with the Moses who companied with angels.

"...The story about Moses teaches that contemplation is not given in full even to those in whom knowledge is at home, until, grown accustomed to looking directly at it, as the Hebrews on the glory of Moses and the holy men of Israel upon visions of angels, we become able to gaze upon the flashing light of truth."

Two other passages speak of the same episode: Origen (on Joshua ii. 1): "In a certain book, though it be not in the canon, a figure of this mystery is described. It is related that two Moses' were seen, one alive in the