(65) And a command has gone forth from the presence of the Lord concerning those who dwell on the earth that their ruin is accomplished because they have learnt all the secrets of the angels, and all the violence of the Satans, and all their powers--the most secret ones--and all the power of those who practice sorcery, and the power of witchcraft, and the power of those who make molten images for the whole earth:

(16) Chapter IX. We have a magic writing, copied from that divine alphabet with which God writes His will upon the face of celestial and terrestrial Nature. With this new language we read God's will for all His creatures, and just as astronomers predict eclipses so we prognosticate the obscurations of the church and how long they shall last. Our language is like unto that of Adam and Enoch before the Fall, and though we understand and can explain our mysteries in this our sacred language, we cannot do so in Latin, a tongue contaminated by the confusion of Babylon.

(95) Thus I speak and declare unto you: He who hath created you will overthrow you, And for your fall there shall be no compassion, And your Creator will rejoice at your destruction.

(2) Languages diverse, horrible dialects, Accents of anger, words of agony, And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands, Made up a tumult that goes whirling on For ever in that air for ever black, Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes. And I, who had my head with horror bound, Said: "Master, what is this which now I hear? What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?" And he to me: "This miserable mode Maintain the melancholy souls of those Who lived withouten infamy or praise. Commingled are they with that caitiff choir Of Angels, who have not rebellious been, Nor faithful were to God, but were for self. The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair; Nor them the nethermore abyss receives, For glory none the damned would have from them." And I: "O Master, what so grievous is To these, that maketh them lament so sore?" He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly. These have no longer any hope of death; And this blind life of theirs is so debased, They envious are of every other fate.

(1) For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the rulers do not know that this is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the children of light, of which they made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, and having joined themselves in their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship, being small and ignorant, since they do not contain the nobility of the truth. For they hate the one in whom they are and love the one in whom they are not. For they did not know the knowledge of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain of truth and not from slavery and jealousy, fear, and love of worldly matter. For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and freely. They do not desire because they have authority, and they have a law from themselves over whatever they will wish.

(71) If Thou findest fault with Thy slaves, Verily it is right in Thee, O Blessed One! If Thou shouldst call sun and moon obscure, If Thou shouldst call the straight cypress crooked, If Thou shouldst declare the highest heaven base, Or rich mines and oceans paupers, All this is the truth in relation to Thy perfection! Thine is the dominion and the glory and the wealth! For Thou art exempt from defect and not-being, Thou givest existence to things non-existent, and again

(59) Therefore, when thou sayest God created thee thus, or that he has without sufficient cause spewed thee up out of thy place, then art thou a liar and murderer; for the whole heavenly host or army bears witness against thee, that thou hast thyself erected and prepared this fierce quality for thyself.

(16) "Shame upon thee, O soul, for thy overweening love of the world! If thou dost not believe in heaven or hell, at any rate thou believest in death, which will snatch from thee all worldly delights and cause thee to feel the pangs of separation from them, which will be intenser just in proportion as thou hast attached thyself to them. Why art thou mad after the world? If the whole of it, from East to West, were thine and worshipped thee, yet it would all, in a brief space, turn to dust along with thyself, and oblivion would blot out thy name, as those of ancient kings before thee. But now, seeing thou hast only a very small fragment of the world, and that a defiled one, wilt thou be so mad as to barter eternal joy for it, a precious jewel for a broken cup of earthenware, and make thyself the laughingstock of all around them?"

(11) They were stronger than them in the lust for power, for they were more honored than the first ones, who had been raised above them. Those had not humbled themselves. They thought about themselves that they were beings originating from themselves alone and were without a source. As they brought forth at first according to their own birth, the two orders assaulted one another, fighting for command because of their manner of being. As a result, they were submerged in forces and natures in accord with the condition of mutual assault, having lust for power and all other things of this sort. It is from these that the vain love of glory draws all of them to the desire of the lust for power, while none of them has the exalted thought nor acknowledges it.

(4) "'1. I have cried unto thee, O Light of lights, in my oppression and thou hast hearkened unto me. "'2. O Light, save my power from unjust and lawless lips and from crafty traps. "'3. The light which was being taken from me in crafty snaring, will not be brought unto thee. "'4. For the traps of Self-willed and the nooses of the merciless [one] are spread out. "'5. Woe unto me, that my dwelling was far off, and I was in the dwellings of the chaos. "'6. My power was in regions which are not mine. "'7. And I entreated those merciless [ones]; and when I entreated them, they fought against me without a cause.'"

(34) The birth or geniture of light, munificence and welldoing to be an eternal hellish pain and torment; the food of pleasing relish to be an eternal abomination and stink, a loathing of all fruits; and the house of Lebanon and cedars to be a stony and rocky house of fire; the sweet scent or relish to be a stink, and a house of ruin and desolation, an end of all good; the divine body to be a black, cold, hot, eating, corroding, and yet not consuming devil, who is an enmity against God and his angels: And so he has all the heavenly hosts or armies against him. Now observe:

(106) Now God has therefore kindled nature so much and so hard, and did so kindle the burning in his wrath therein, that he might thereby build a dwelling-house for the devils, and keep them prisoners therein, in that they were the children of wrath, in whom he ruleth, with his fierce zeal or jealousy, and they rule in the wrath.

(31) And out of other earth madest the father of mankind, Thy business is changing things and bestowing favors, Change my mistakes and forgetfulness to knowledge; I am altogether vile, make me temperate and meek. O Thou that convertest salt earth into bread, And bread again into the life of men; Thou who madest the erring soul a guide to men, And him that erred from the way a prophet; Thou makest some earth-born men as heaven, And muitipliest heaven-born saints on earth!

(35) But seeing the devils kindled themselves out of pride, wantonness and wickedness; therefore they were quite thrust out from the birth or geniture of the light; and they can neither lay hold of nor comprehend it eternally.

(17) It is lord Lucifer who has thus spoiled it, that it rageth and raveth so in this world, which so runneth and floweth, and is so thick and dark, and moreover if it runneth not, it becometh stinking; of which I shall treat more largely when I shall write of the creation.

(23) Behold the earth will be destroyed on account of all their works, and there will be no seed of the vine, and no oil; for their works are altogether faith^ss, (and they will all perish together, beasts and cattle arid birds, and all the fish of the sea, on account the children of men.

(71) The outward earth is a bitter stink, and is dead; and that every man understands to be so. But the Salitter is destroyed or killed through the wrath; for thou canst not deny but that God's wrath is in the earth, otherwise the earth would not be so astringent, bitter, sour, venomous and poisonous, neither would it engender such poisonous, venomous, evil worms and creeping things. But if thou shouldst say that God has created them thus out of his purpose, that is as much as if thou shouldst say that God himself is evil, malice, malignity or wickedness.

(34) Thou art as reason, we like the tongue; 'Tis reason that teaches the tongue to speak. Thou art as joy, and we are laughing; Our every motion every moment testifies, So the revolution of the millstone, so violent, O Thou who art above our conceptions and descriptions, Dust be on our heads, and upon our similitudes of Thee! Yet Thy slaves never cease devising images of Thee; They cry to Thee always, "My life is Thy footstool!" Like that shepherd who cried," O Lord!

(13) Now when these evil, devilish spirits (understand the centre of the genitrix) moved or boiled in God's Salitter, and made havock, or spoiled all therein, then there was nothing but stinging, burning, murdering, robbing, and a mere opposite or contrary will.

(80) Behold here the wickedness and malice which is the cause; viz. when king Lucifer did sit in his kingdom, like a high-minded proud bride, then his circuit, circle or orb contained or comprehended the place or space where now is the created heaven, which is made out of the water: