(2) Nor is it without cause the Muses’ choir hath been sent down by Highest Deity unto the host of men; in order that, forsooth, the terrene world should not seem too uncultured, had it lacked the charm of measures, but rather that with songs and praise of men accompanied with music, He might be lauded,—He who alone is all, or is the Sire of all; and so not even on the earths, should there have been an absence of the sweetness of the harmony of heavenly praise.

(2) And if he ask thee, “What is that God?” say thou, that it is God that made thee and bought thee, and that graciously hath called thee to thy degree. “And in Him,” say, “thou hast no skill.” And therefore say, “Go thou down again,” and tread him fast down with a stirring of love, although he seem to thee right holy, and seem to thee as he would help thee to seek Him. For peradventure he will bring to thy mind diverse full fair and wonderful points of His kindness, and say that He is full sweet, and full loving, full gracious, and full merciful. And if thou wilt hear him, he coveteth no better; for at the last he will thus jangle ever more and more till he bring thee lower, to the mind of His Passion.

(6) Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed; and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

(3) I say not that it shall ever last and dwell in all their minds continually, that be called to work in this work. Nay, so is it not. For from a young ghostly prentice in this work, the actual feeling thereof is ofttimes withdrawn for divers reasons. Sometime, for he shall not take over presumptuously thereupon, and ween that it be in great part in his own power to have it when him list, and as him list. And such a weening were pride. And evermore when the feeling of grace is withdrawn, pride is the cause: not ever pride that is, but pride that should be, were it not that this feeling of grace were withdrawn. And thus ween ofttimes some young fools, that God is their enemy; when He is their full friend.

(35) For when men speak of the mercy of God the Father, they speak of his power, of his fountain spirits, of the qualities which are in the Salitter, out of which his most richly loving Heart or Son is generated. Observe here:

(7) And do Thou, O Lord, the Great Creator! come to me with Thy Good Mind; and do Thou, who bestowest gifts through Thy Righteousness, bestow alike long-lasting life on us. And (that this life may be spent aright, do) Thou by means of Thy lofty words (bestow) the (needed) powerful spiritual help upon Zarathustra and upon us , whereby we may overcome the torments of the tormentor.

(128) If he buffeteth me, then I must retire and draw back, but the divine power helpeth me again; then he also getteth a blow, and often loseth the day in the fight.

(8) But seeing somewhat is lent me from the Grace of the Power [or divine Virtue] of God, that I might know the Way to Paradise; and seeing it behoves every one to work the Works of God, in which he stands; of which God will require an Account from every one, what he has done in the Labour of his Day's Work in this World; and will require the Work (which he gave every one to do) with Increase, and will not have them empty; or else he will have that unprofitable Servant to be bound Hand and Foot, and cast into Darkness; where he must be fain to work, yet in the Anguish, and in the Forgetting of the Daylabour which was given him to do here, [or of the Talent which he had received here,] wherein he was found an unprofitable Servant; therefore I will not neglect my Day-labour, but will labour as much as I can on the Way.

(5) Lo, I collect [38] this my Word of Power from every quarter in which it is, in behalf of every person whom it concerneth, more persistently than hounds of chase and more swiftly than Light; the same who create the gods out of Silence, or reduce them to inactivity; the same who impart warmth to the gods

(97) But here thou must know that the Deity does not stand still, but works and riseth up without intermission, as a pleasant wrestling, moving or struggling.

(1) NEVERTHELESS, somewhat of this subtlety shall I tell thee as me think. Prove thou and do better, if thou better mayest. Do that in thee is, to let be as thou wist not that they press so fast upon thee betwixt thee and thy God. And try to look as it were over their shoulders, seeking another thing: the which thing is God, enclosed in a cloud of unknowing. And if thou do thus, I trow that within short time thou shalt be eased of thy travail. I trow that an this device be well and truly conceived, it is nought else but a longing desire unto God, to feel Him and see Him as it may be here: and such a desire is charity, and it obtaineth always to be eased.

(13) Therefore I will not bury his talent in the earth, but lend it out upon usury or interest, lest he should say to me at that time of his requiring it of me, Thou wicked, slothful servant, why hast thou hid my talent in the darkness, and didst not put it out upon use, and so now I might have received it with usury, gain, and profit? For then he would take it quite away from me, and give it to another, who has gained many talents with his one. Therefore I will sow, let him water it, I leave the care to him. Now observe:

(6) Shine thou upon me, oh gracious Power; as I draw nigh to the divine words which my ears shall hear in the Tuat; let no pollution of my mother be upon me; deliver me, protect me from him who closeth his eyes at twilight and bringeth to an end in darkness

(2) But the right performance of actions which are effected in a divine manner, is entirely to be ascribed to some one of the more excellent natures. For since it is not possible to speak rightly about the Gods without the Gods, much less can any one perform works which are of an equal dignity with divinity, and obtain the foreknowledge of every thing without [the inspiring influence of] the Gods. For the human race is imbecile, and of small estimation, sees but a little, and possesses a connascent nothingness; and the only remedy of its inherent error, perturbation, and unstable mutation, is its participation, as much as possible, of a certain portion of divine light. But he who excludes this, does the same thing as those who attempt to produce soul from things inanimate, or to generate intellect from things unintelligent. For without the cooperation of a cause, he constitutes divine works from things which are not divine.

(3) Oh ye gods who give ear to the words; ye foremost ones, ye who are in the train of Osiris; hush ye up, gods, that which a god speaketh with a god who is giving ear to a case of Divine Law!

(8) Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

(5) Yet would I not thy neighbours thou shouldst envy, Because thy life into the future reaches Beyond the punishment of their perfidies." When by its silence showed that sainted soul That it had finished putting in the woof Into that web which I had given it warped, Began I, even as he who yearneth after, Being in doubt, some counsel from a person Who seeth, and uprightly wills, and loves: "Well see I, father mine, how spurreth on The time towards me such a blow to deal me As heaviest is to him who most gives way. Therefore with foresight it is well I arm me, That, if the dearest place be taken from me, I may not lose the others by my songs. Down through the world of infinite bitterness, And o'er the mountain, from whose beauteous summit The eyes of my own Lady lifted me, And afterward through heaven from light to light, I have learned that which, if I tell again, Will be a savour of strong herbs to many. And if I am a timid friend to truth, I fear lest I may lose my life with those Who will hereafter call this time the olden."

(9) O thou who guidest the hearts of the gods, protect me and let me have power in heaven among the starry ones

(3) Now if God took to Himself all men that are in the world, or ever were, and were made man in them, and they were made divine in Him, and this work were not fulfilled in me, my fall and my wandering would never be amended except it were fulfilled in me also. And in this bringing back and healing, I can, or may, or shall do nothing of myself, but just simply yield to God, so that He alone may do all things in me and work, and I may suffer Him and all His work and His divine will. And because I will not do so, but I count myself to be my own, and say “I,” “Mine,” “Me” and the like, God is hindered, so that He cannot do His work in me alone and without hindrance; for this cause my fall and my going astray remain unhealed. Behold! this all cometh of my claiming somewhat for my own.

(6) Oh ye gods who draw along the Bark of the Eternal one: ye who lift up above the Tuat, and who raise up the Sky: ye who enable the Souls to enter into the mummied forms; ye whose hands grasp the cordage, hold firm with your ropes and stop the adversaries that the Bark may rejoice and the god proceed in peace