(8) Another recension of this chapter has been incorporated into chapter 149. The differences lie chiefly in the order assigned to each of the component sentences

(144) But what the total sequel is, which may follow upon and after this, I do not fully know: Only sometimes, future Mysteries in the depth are shewn to me.

(8) But that thou may understand what manner of substance and condition all these things and births or genitures have, I will describe all in order one after another, that thou may rightly understand the ground of this Mystery.

(45) Here begins the second version of the chapter which has been added to the other one

(1) We have concluded, then, that the most reverend Order of the Minds around God, ministered by the perfecting illumination through its immediate elevation to it, is purified, and illuminated, and perfected by a gift of light from the Godhead, more hidden and more manifest--more hidden, indeed, as being more intelligible, and more simplifying, and more unifying; more manifest, as being a first gift and a first manifestation, and more complete, and more affused to it as transparent. And from this (Order) again, in due degree, the second, and from the second, the third, and from the third, our Hierarchy, is reverently conducted to the super-original Origin and End of all good order, according to the self-same law of well-ordered regularity, in Divine harmony and proportion.

(100) VII. Now when it is melted the seventh time, then there belongeth to, and is required for, the process, a yet more subtile fire, for therein the life riseth up and rejoiceth in the love, and will shew forth itself in infinity, as it has done in heaven before the time of the wrath.

(32) In conclusion, you are asked to once more consider the Seventh Aphorism: "The Soul of Man is Sevenfold, yet but One in essence: Man's spiritual Unfoldment has as its end the Discovery of Himself beneath the Seven-fold Veil."

(2) First, then, is Fate, which, as it were, by casting in the seed, supplies the embryo of all that are to be. Follows Necessity, whereby they all are forcibly compelled unto their end. Third, Order [comes], preserving warp-and-woof of [all] the things which Fate and [which] Necessity arrange. This, then, is the Eternity, which neither doth begin nor cease to be, which, fixed by law unchangeable, abides in the unceasing motion of its course.

(101) Concerning this, much higher things are to be written, which you will find concerning the creation of this world: This is only brought in for a similitude, and described in the briefest manner.

(2) Our Writing also will serve in its due Time, when the a noble Rose-bud, which at present (because of the great Darkness in Babel) cannot be known; but there is a Time, wherein it shall stand according to its Spirit.

(117) Yet thou shouldst know this, that always in a place now one quality sheweth itself more powerfully than the others, now the second prevaileth, now the third, then now the fourth, now again the fifth, now the sixth, then again now the seventh.

(44) VII. The seventh generating is, and keepeth its birth or geniture and forming in, the Holy Ghost; and so when that goeth through the sharp births or genitures, then it goeth forth with the tone, and so formeth and imageth all manner of figures, all according to the wrestling of the sharp births or genitures one with another.

(25) But here I will shew thee: 1. How the body of this world came to be; and 2. How it is at present; and then, 3. How the regimen or government therein is.

(19) So now, in the same sound that is gone forth (which now subsisteth, being dried) is the power of all the six qualifying or fountain spirits, and it is as it were the seed of the other six spirits, which they have there compact-ed or incorporated together, and made one spirit thereof, and which has the quality of all the spirits: and that is the seventh spirit of God in the divine power.

(15) The following quotations from a celebrated occultist may prove of interest to the student in connection with the particular subjects considered in the present chapter: "At the half-way point of the fourth round here the polar point of the whole seven-world period is passed. From this point outwards the spiritual ego begins its real struggle with body and mind to manifest its transcendental powers. In the fifth round the struggle continues, but the transcendental faculties are largely developed, though the struggle between these on the one hand with physical intellect and propensity is fiercer than ever, for the intellect of the fifth round as well as its spirituality is an advance on that of the fourth. In the sixth round humanity attains a degree of perfection both of body and soul, of intellect and spirituality, which ordinary mortals of the present epoch will not readily realize in their imaginations. The most supreme combinations of wisdom, goodness, and transcendental enlightenment which the world has ever seen or thought of will represent the ordinary type of manhood. Those faculties which now, in the rare efflorescence of a generation, enable some extraordinarily gifted persons to explore the mysteries of Nature and gather the knowledge of which some crumbs are now being offered to the ordinary world, will then be the common appanage of all. As to what the seventh round will be like, the most communicative occult teachers are solemnly silent. Mankind in the seventh round will be something altogether too Godlike for mankind in the fourth round to forecast its attributes." "The earth, while at present inhabited by fourth-round humanity—by the wave of human life on its fourth journey round the circle of the worlds—nevertheless contains some few persons, few in relation to the total number, who properly speaking belong to the fifth round. Now, in the sense of the term at present employed, it must not be supposed that by any miraculous process any individual unit has actually travelled round the whole chain of worlds once more often than his compeers. Under the law by which the tide-wave of humanity progresses, it will be seen that this is impossible. Humanity has not yet paid its fifth visit even to the planet next in advance of our own. But individual monads may outstrip their companions as regards their individual development, and so become exactly as mankind generally will be when the fifth round has been fully evolved. A man born as an ordinary fourth round man may, by processes of occult training, convert himself into a man having all the attributes of a fifth-round man, and so become what we may call an artificial fifth rounder."

(107) Thus one tasteth and feeleth another, and in the sound one heareth another, and the tone presseth forth from all the seven spirits towards the heart, and riseth up in the heart in the flash of the light, and then rise up the voices and joyfulness of the Son of God; and all the seven spirits triumph and rejoice in the Heart of God, each according to its quality.

(6) But, I well know you will further ask that the propitious sleep of Almighty God, and His awakening, should be explained. And, when we have said, that the superiority of Almighty God, and His incommunicability with the objects of His Providence is a Divine sleep, and that the attention to His Providential cares of those who need His discipline, or His preservation, is an awakening, you will pass to other symbols of the Word of God. Wherefore, thinking it superfluous that by running through the same things to the same. persons, we should seem to say different things, and, at the same time, conscious that you assent to things that are good, we finish this letter at what we have said, having set forth, as I think, more than the things solicited in your letters. Further, we send the whole of our Symbolical Theology, within which you will find, together with the house of wisdom, also the seven pillars investigated, and its solid food divided into sacrifices and breads. And what is the mingling of the wine; and again, What is the sickness arising from the inebriety of Almighty God? and in fact, the things now spoken of are explained in it more explicitly. And it is, in my judgment, a correct enquiry into all the symbols of the Word of God, and agreeable to the sacred traditions and truths of the Oracles.

(31) And as in the midst or centre of the seven spirits of God the heart of life is generated, whence the divine joy riseth up; thus also is the order of angels.

(88) Now in this rising up of the six spirits, there riseth up also the Mercurius, tone or sound of all the six spirits, and in the seventh nature-spirit it subsisteth as in the mother; and then the seventh generateth all manner of fruits and colours, according to the operation of the six.

(1) at the time of the consummation [and] of the ascension of the universe.' The twelve saviours of the Treasury and the twelve orders of every one of them, which are the emanations of the seven Voices and of the five Trees, they will be with me in the region of the inheritances of the Light; being kings with me in my kingdom, and every one of them being king over his emanations, and moreover every one of them being king according to his glory, the great according to his greatness and the little according to his littleness. "And the saviour of the emanations of the first Voice will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the first mystery of the First Mystery in my kingdom. "And the saviour of the emanations of the second Voice will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the second mystery of the First Mystery. "In like manner also will the saviour of the emanations of the third Voice be in the region of the souls of those who have received the third mystery of the First Mystery in the E inheritances of the Light. "And the saviour of the emanations of the fourth Voice of the Treasury of the Light will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the fourth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the fifth saviour of the fifth Voice of the Treasury of the Light will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the fifth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the sixth saviour of the emanations of the sixth Voice of the Treasury of the Light will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the sixth mystery of the First Mystery. "And the seventh saviour of the emanations of the seventh Voice of the Treasury of the Light will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the seventh mystery of the First Mystery in the Treasury [ sic ] of the Light. "And the eighth saviour, that is the saviour of the emanations of the first Tree of the Treasury of the Light, will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the I eighth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the ninth saviour, that is the saviour of the emanations of the second Tree of the Treasury of the Light, will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the ninth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the tenth saviour, that is the saviour of the emanations of the third Tree of the Treasury of the Light, will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the tenth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "In like manner also the eleventh saviour, that is the saviour of the fourth Tree of the Treasury of the Light, will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the eleventh mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the twelfth saviour, that is the saviour of the emanations of the fifth Tree of the Treasury of the Light, will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the twelfth mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light.