(3) [We give] Thee grace, Thou highest [and] most excellent! For by Thy Grace we have received the so great Light of Thy own Gnosis. O holy Name, fit [Name] to be adored, O Name unique, by which the Only God is to be blest through worship of [our] Sire,—[of Thee] who deignest to afford to all a Father’s piety, and care, and love, and whatsoever virtue is more sweet [than these], endowing [us] with sense, [and] reason, [and] intelligence;—with sense that we may feel Thee; with reason that we may track Thee out from the appearances of things ; with means of recognition that we may joy in knowing Thee.

(18) Ye powers that are within me, hymn the One and All; sing with my Will, Powers all that are within me! O blessed Gnosis, by thee illumined, hymning through thee the Light that mond alone can see, I joy in Joy of Mind. Sing with me praises all ye Powers! Sing praise, my Self-control; sing thou through me, my Righteousness, the praises of the Righteous; sing thou, my Sharing-all, the praises of the All; through me sing, Truth, Truth's praises! Sing thou, O Good, the Good! O Life and Light, from us to you our praises flow! Father, I give Thee thanks, to Thee Thou Energy of all my Powers; I give Thee thanks, O God, Thou Power of all my Energies!

(2) Arrived I saw me where a wondrous thing Drew to itself my sight; and therefore she From whom no care of mine could be concealed, Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful, Said unto me: "Fix gratefully thy mind On God, who unto the first star has brought us." It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us, Luminous, dense, consolidate and bright As adamant on which the sun is striking. Into itself did the eternal pearl Receive us, even as water doth receive A ray of light, remaining still unbroken. If I was body, (and we here conceive not How one dimension tolerates another, Which needs must be if body enter body,) More the desire should be enkindled in us That essence to behold, wherein is seen How God and our own nature were united. There will be seen what we receive by faith, Not demonstrated, but self-evident In guise of the first truth that man believes. I made reply: "Madonna, as devoutly As most I can do I give thanks to Him Who has removed me from the mortal world.

(4) Thou art my Genius, who art by me, the Artist who givest soundness to my limbs

(11) And when, O Father, shall I hymn Thee? For none can seize Thy hour or time. For what, again, shall I sing hymn? For things that Thou hast made, or things Thou hast not? For things Thou hast made manifest, or things Thou hast concealed? How, further, shall I hymn Thee? As being of myself? As having something of mine own? As being other? For that Thou art whatever I may be; Thou art whatever I may do; Thou art whatever I may speak. For Thou art all, and there is nothing else which Thou art not. Thou art all that which doth exist, and Thou art what doth not exist - Mind when Thou thinkest, and Father when Thou makest, and God when Thou dost energize, and Good and Maker of all things. For that the subtler part of matter is the air, of air the soul, of soul the mind, and of mind God.

(30) But I recorded in my heart Man-Shepherd's benefaction, and with my every hope fulfilled more than rejoiced. For body's sleep became the soul's awakening, and closing of the eyes - true vision, pregnant with Good my silence, and the utterance of my word (logos) begetting of good things. All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I unto Father-God.

(1) The glory of Him who moveth everything Doth penetrate the universe, and shine In one part more and in another less. Within that heaven which most his light receives Was I, and things beheld which to repeat Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends; Because in drawing near to its desire Our intellect ingulphs itself so far, That after it the memory cannot go. Truly whatever of the holy realm I had the power to treasure in my mind Shall now become the subject of my song. O good Apollo, for this last emprise Make of me such a vessel of thy power As giving the beloved laurel asks! One summit of Parnassus hitherto Has been enough for me, but now with both I needs must enter the arena left. Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his. O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me So that the shadow of the blessed realm Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,

(59) I set my face towards this hope, Seeing that Thou gayest me my being first of all; Thou gayest me the garment of being unasked, When he thus enumerates his sins and faults, God at last will grant him pardon as a free gift, Saying, "O angels, bring him back to me, Since the eyes of his heart were set on hope, Without care for consequences I set him free, And draw the pen through the record of his sins!"

(20) [For] Thou art God, Thy Man thus cries to Thee through Fire, through Air, through Earth, through Water, [and] through Spirit, through Thy creatures. 'Tis from Thy Aeon I have found praise-giving; and in thy Will, the object of my search, have I found rest. Tat: By thy good pleasure have I seen this praise-giving being sung, O father; I have set it in my Cosmos too. Hermes: Say in the Cosmos that thy mind alone can see, my son. Tat: Yea, father, in the Cosmos that the mind alone can see; for I have been made able by thy Hymn, and by thy Praise-giving my mind hath been illumined. But further I myself as well would from my natural mind send praise-giving to God.

(81) And forthwith I blessed the great Lord the King of glory for ever, in that He has made all the works of the world, And I extolled the Lord because of His patience, And blessed Him because of the children of men.

(32) Give ear to me who pray that I may ne'er of Gnosis fail, [Gnosis] which is our common being's nature; and fill me with Thy Power, and with this Grace [of Thine], that I may give the Light to those in ignorance of the Race, my Brethren, and Thy Sons. For this cause I believe, and I bear witness; I go to Life and Light. Blessed art Thou, O Father. Thy Man would holy be as Thou art holy, e'en as Thou gave him Thy full authority [to be].

(1) "Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son, Humble and high beyond all other creature, The limit fixed of the eternal counsel, Thou art the one who such nobility To human nature gave, that its Creator Did not disdain to make himself its creature. Within thy womb rekindled was the love, By heat of which in the eternal peace After such wise this flower has germinated. Here unto us thou art a noonday torch Of charity, and below there among mortals Thou art the living fountain-head of hope. Lady, thou art so great, and so prevailing, That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee, His aspirations without wings would fly. Not only thy benignity gives succour To him who asketh it, but oftentimes Forerunneth of its own accord the asking. In thee compassion is, in thee is pity, In thee magnificence; in thee unites Whate'er of goodness is in any creature. Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth Of the universe as far as here has seen One after one the spiritual lives,

(2) "'1. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, for thou art a saviour; thou art a deliverer for all time. "'2. I will utter this song to the Light, for it hath saved me and saved me out of the hand of the rulers, my foes. "'3. And thou hast preserved me in all the regions, thou hast saved me out of the height and the depth of the chaos and out of the æons of the rulers of the sphere. "'4. And when I was come out of the Height, I wandered round in regions in which is no light, and I could not return to the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place. "'5. For there was no light in me nor power. My power was utterly weakened (?). "'6. And the Light saved me in all my afflictions. I sang praises unto the Light, and it hearkened unto me, when I was constrained. "'7. It guided me in the creation of the æons to lead me up into the thirteenth æon, my dwelling-place. "'8. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me, and for thy wondrous works unto the race of men. "'9. When I failed of my power, thou hast given me power; and when I failed of my light, thou didst fill me with purified light. "'10. I was in the darkness and in the shadow of the chaos, bound with the mighty fetters of the chaos, and no light was in me. "'11. For I have provoked the commandment of the Light and have transgressed, and I have made wroth the commandment of the Light, because I had gone out of my region. "'12. And when I had gone down, I failed of my light and became without light, and no one had helped me. "'13. And in my affliction I sang praises unto the Light, and it saved me out of my afflictions. "'14. And it hath also broken asunder all my bonds and led me up out of the darkness and the affliction of the chaos. "'15. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me and that thy wondrous works have been wrought in the race of men. "'16. And thou hast shattered the upper gates of the darkness and the mighty bolts of the chaos. "'17. And thou didst let me depart out of the region in which I had transgressed, and my light was taken, because I have transgressed. "'18. And I ceased from my mysteries and went down to the gates of the chaos. "'19. And when I was constrained, I sang praises to the Light. It saved me out of all my afflictions. "'20. Thou sentest thy stream; it gave me power and saved me out of all my afflictions. "'21. I will give thanks unto thee, O Light, that thou hast saved me, and for thy wondrous works in the race of men.' "This then is the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered in the midst of the four-and-twenty invisibles, desiring that they should know all the wondrous works which I had done for her, and desiring that they should know that I have gone to the world of men and have given them the mysteries of the Height. Now, therefore, who is exalted in his thought, let him come forward and say the solution of the song which Pistis Sophia hath uttered."

(3) Such in this place was the fourth family Of the high Father, who forever sates it, Showing how he breathes forth and how begets. And Beatrice began: "Give thanks, give thanks Unto the Sun of Angels, who to this Sensible one has raised thee by his grace!" Never was heart of mortal so disposed To worship, nor to give itself to God With all its gratitude was it so ready, As at those words did I myself become; And all my love was so absorbed in Him, That in oblivion Beatrice was eclipsed. Nor this displeased her; but she smiled at it So that the splendour of her laughing eyes My single mind on many things divided. Lights many saw I, vivid and triumphant, Make us a centre and themselves a circle, More sweet in voice than luminous in aspect. Thus girt about the daughter of Latona We sometimes see, when pregnant is the air, So that it holds the thread which makes her zone. Within the court of Heaven, whence I return, Are many jewels found, so fair and precious They cannot be transported from the realm;

(4) If I was merely what of me thou newly Createdst, Love who governest the heaven, Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light! When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal Desiring thee, made me attentive to it By harmony thou dost modulate and measure, Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river E'er made a lake so widely spread abroad. The newness of the sound and the great light Kindled in me a longing for their cause, Never before with such acuteness felt; Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself, To quiet in me my perturbed mind, Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask, And she began: "Thou makest thyself so dull With false imagining, that thou seest not What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off. Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest; But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site, Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest." If of my former doubt I was divested By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, I in a new one was the more ensnared;

(7) I'll give thee a corollary still in grace, Nor think my speech will be to thee less dear If it spread out beyond my promise to thee. Those who in ancient times have feigned in song The Age of Gold and its felicity, Dreamed of this place perhaps upon Parnassus. Here was the human race in innocence; Here evermore was Spring, and every fruit; This is the nectar of which each one speaks." Then backward did I turn me wholly round Unto my Poets, and saw that with a smile They had been listening to these closing words; Then to the beautiful lady turned mine eyes.

(3) And it continued: "Hunger long and grateful, Drawn from the reading of the mighty volume Wherein is never changed the white nor dark, Thou hast appeased, my son, within this light In which I speak to thee, by grace of her Who to this lofty flight with plumage clothed thee. Thou thinkest that to me thy thought doth pass From Him who is the first, as from the unit, If that be known, ray out the five and six; And therefore who I am thou askest not, And why I seem more joyous unto thee Than any other of this gladsome crowd. Thou think'st the truth; because the small and great Of this existence look into the mirror Wherein, before thou think'st, thy thought thou showest. But that the sacred love, in which I watch With sight perpetual, and which makes me thirst With sweet desire, may better be fulfilled, Now let thy voice secure and frank and glad Proclaim the wishes, the desire proclaim, To which my answer is decreed already." To Beatrice I turned me, and she heard Before I spake, and smiled to me a sign, That made the wings of my desire increase;

(17) Let every nature of the World receive the utterance of my hymn! Open thou Earth! Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me. Stir not, ye Trees! I am about to hymn creation's Lord, both All and One. Ye Heavens open and ye Winds stay still; [and] let God's deathless Sphere receive my word (logos)! For I will sing the praise of Him who founded all; who fixed the Earth, and hung up Heaven, and gave command that Ocean should afford sweet water [to the Earth], to both those parts that are inhabited and those that are not, for the support and use of every man; who made the Fire to shine for gods and men for every act. Let us together all give praise to Him, sublime above the Heavens, of every nature Lord! 'Tis He who is the Eye of Mind; may He accept the praise of these my Powers!

(53) unto my petitions, I give humble and hearty thanks unto Almighty God in whose Name I called and thou camest, and now thou mayest depart in peace unto thine orders and return unto me again at what time soever I shall call thee by thine oath, or by thy name or by thine order, or by thine office which is granted thee from the Creator, and the power of God be with me and thee and upon the whole issue of God, Amen.

(50) Yea, a hundred times as wicked as Thou sayest. But in mercy Thou veilest my sins, But, independently of my own works and warfare, Independently of my faith or unfaith, good or evil, Independently of my poor devotion to Thee, And of my thoughts and the thoughts of hundreds like me, Whether Thou adjudge me upright or rebellious, O Lord, who art gracious without thought of consequence, I set my face towards that free grace of Thine;