“I am David; king and prophet.”
The sinner did not despair, nor did he leave the gates of paradise, but said:
“Have pity on me, King David! Remember man’s weakness, and God’s mercy. God loved thee and exalted thee among men. Thou hadst all: a kingdom, and honour, and riches, and wives, and children; but thou sawest from thy housetop the wife of a poor man, and sin entered into thee, and thou tookest the wife of Uriah, and didst slay him with the sword of the Ammonites. Thou, a rich man, didst take from the poor man his one ewe lamb, and didst kill him. I have done likewise. Remember, then, how thou didst repent, and how thou saidst, ‘I acknowledge my transgressions: my sin is ever before me?’ I have done the same. Thou canst not refuse to let me in.”
And the voice from within the gates was silent.
The sinner having stood a little while, began knocking again, and asking to be let into the kingdom of heaven. And a third voice was heard within the gates, saying:
“Who is this man, and how has he spent his life on earth?”
And the voice of the Accuser replied for the third time, recounting the sinner’s evil deeds, and not mentioning one good deed.
And the voice within the gates said:
“Depart hence! Sinners cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
And the sinner said:
“Thy voice I hear, but thy face I see not, neither do I know thy name.”
Then the voice replied: