(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.

(6) But the variety of disposition arises from inordinate affection to material things. And for this reason, as they appear to me, to have called night Euphrone; since then the soul, released from the perceptions of sense, turns in on itself, and has a truer hold of intelligence (Fronhsis). Wherefore the mysteries are for the most part celebrated by night, indicating the withdrawal of the soul from the body, which takes place by night. "Let us not then sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as an helmet the hope of salvation." And as to what, again, they say of sleep, the very same things are to be understood of death. For each exhibits the departure of the soul, the one more, the other less; as we may also get this in Heraclitus: "Man touches night in himself, when dead and his light quenched; and alive, when he sleeps he touches the dead; and awake, when he shuts his eyes, he touches the sleeper." "For blessed are those that have seen the Lord," according to the apostle; "for it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light." By day and light he designates figuratively the Son, and by the armour of light metaphorically the promises.

(13) Yet it is not possible to hold, conjointly, qualities thoroughly opposed, nor that a man who has had a certain fellowship with the One should have divided lives, if he clings to the firm participation in the One; but he must be resistless and resolute, as regards all separations from the uniform. This it is which the teaching of the symbols reverently and enigmatically intimates, by stripping the proselyte, as it were, of his former life, and discarding to the very utmost the habits within that life, makes him stand naked and barefoot, looking away towards the west, whilst he spurns, by the aversion of his hands, the participations in the gloomy baseness, and breathes out, as it were, the habit of dissimilarity which he had acquired, and professes the entire renunciation of everything contrary to the Divine likeness. When the man has thus become invincible and separate from evil, it turns him towards the east, declaring clearly that his position and recovery will be purely in the Divine Light, in the complete separation from baseness; and receiving his sacred promises of entire consort with the One, since he has become uniform through love of the truth. Yet it is pretty evident, as I think, to those versed in Hierarchical matters, that things intellectual acquire the unchangeableness of the Godlike habit, by continuous and persistent struggles towards one, and by the entire destruction and annihilation of things contrary. For it is necessary that a man should not only depart from every kind of baseness, but he must be also bravely obdurate and ever fearless against the baneful submission to it. Nor must he, at any time, become remiss in his sacred love of the truth, but with all his power persistently and perpetually be elevated towards it, always religiously pursuing his upward course, to the more perfect mysteries of the Godhead.

(1) Whenever by delight or else by pain, That seizes any faculty of ours, Wholly to that the soul collects itself, It seemeth that no other power it heeds; And this against that error is which thinks One soul above another kindles in us. And hence, whenever aught is heard or seen Which keeps the soul intently bent upon it, Time passes on, and we perceive it not, Because one faculty is that which listens, And other that which the soul keeps entire; This is as if in bonds, and that is free. Of this I had experience positive In hearing and in gazing at that spirit; For fifty full degrees uprisen was The sun, and I had not perceived it, when We came to where those souls with one accord Cried out unto us: "Here is what you ask." A greater opening ofttimes hedges up With but a little forkful of his thorns The villager, what time the grape imbrowns, Than was the passage-way through which ascended Only my Leader and myself behind him, After that company departed from us.

(3) Now ope thine eyes to what I answer thee, And thou shalt see thy creed and my discourse Fit in the truth as centre in a circle. That which can die, and that which dieth not, Are nothing but the splendour of the idea Which by his love our Lord brings into being; Because that living Light, which from its fount Effulgent flows, so that it disunites not From Him nor from the Love in them intrined, Through its own goodness reunites its rays In nine subsistences, as in a mirror, Itself eternally remaining One. Thence it descends to the last potencies, Downward from act to act becoming such That only brief contingencies it makes; And these contingencies I hold to be Things generated, which the heaven produces By its own motion, with seed and without. Neither their wax, nor that which tempers it, Remains immutable, and hence beneath The ideal signet more and less shines through; Therefore it happens, that the selfsame tree After its kind bears worse and better fruit, And ye are born with characters diverse.

(12) But the third Kingdom is not also in the Eternity, but is generated out of the one Element in the Time of the Kindling of the Fiat; that now is corruptible, and has a certain Seculum, Limit and Time, [how long it shall last;] and so this Region in the Soul (when the Light of Life kindles itself) has also a certain Seculum, and Time of its Breaking; and that Kingdom brings Man up, and gives him the Source of his Manners [Conditions and Disposition,] Will and Desires to Evil and Good, and sets him in Beauty, Glory, Riches and Honour, and makes him an earthly God; and it opens to him the great Wonders i in him, and runs along with him inconsiderately to the End of his Seculum, Term, and End, and then it departs from him; and as it helped Man to his Life, so it helps him also to Death, and breaks off from the Soul.

(14) Now the Scripture kindles the living spark of the soul, and directs the eye suitably for contemplation; perchance inserting something, as the husbandman when he ingrafts, but, according to the opinion of the divine apostle, exciting what is in the soul. "For there are certainly among us many weak and sickly, and many sleep. But if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged." Now this work of mine in writing is not artfully constructed for display; but my memoranda are stored up against old age, as a remedy against forgetfulness, truly an image and outline of those vigorous and animated discourses which I was privileged to hear, and of blessed and truly remarkable men.

(8) When the supremely Divine love towards Man has thus been religiously celebrated, the Divine Bread is presented, veiled, and likewise the Cup of Blessing, and the most Divine greeting is devoutly performed, and the mystic and supermundane recital of the holy-written tablets. For it is not possible to be collected to the One, and to partake of the peaceful union with the One, when people are divided amongst themselves. For if, being illuminated by the contemplation and knowledge of the One, we would be united to an uniform and Divine agreement, we must not permit ourselves to descend to divided lusts, from which are formed earthly enmities, envious and passionate, against that which is according to nature. This unified and undivided life is, in my opinion, established by the holy service of the "peace," which establishes like in like, and separates the Divine and unified visions from things divided. The recital of the holy tablets after the "peace" proclaims those who have passed through life holily, and have reached the term of a virtuous life without faltering, urging and conducting us to their blessed condition and Divine repose, through similarity to them, and, announcing them as living, and, as the Word of God says, "not dead, but as having passed from death to a most divine life."

(667) 1934 + 1 (Nt. J�quier, XXX 766). O N., take to thee thy head, 1934 + 2 (Nt. 766). to thee thy teeth, to thee thy hair; 1934 + 3 (Nt. 766). thou has opened the neighbouring doors of the people, enduring for ever and ever. 1935-1 (Nt. 766). O N., thou goest forth, thy face towards the sea; 1935-2 (Nt. 766). thou sittest chief of the great ones, with thee; 1935 (Nt. 767). thou hast preserved the sky, thou hast caused the earth to tremble, thou hast protected the imperishable stars. 1936a (N. IX 730). I am come to thee (in) secret places, seeking thee (even) to heaven, 11936b (Nt. 768). but (in) the secret (place) there is no spirit there, 1936b + 1 (Nt. 768). from the peace of heaven to, the peace of earth, 1936b + 2 (Nt. 768). the peace of the two lords (Horus and Set), the peace of high (heaven), the peace of peace. 11936b + 3 (Nt. 768). The mowing of corn (is) for thy wg-feast, 11936b + 4 (Nt. 768). the nri-corn (?) for thy years (livelihood, cf. 1950b); thy white bread, Anubis, for (thy) flat-cakes, and this its dough, 1936b + 5 (Nt. 768-769). thy drink, First of the Westerners, thy warm bread, 1937 (Nt. 769). N., (are) before the gods. 1938a (Nt. 769). O N., raise thyself up, 1938b (Nt. 769). raise thyself from thy left side, put thyself (lit. sit) on thy right side, 1938b + 1 (Nt. 769). sit thou on the seats of R`. 1939-1 (Nt. 769). Purify thy back, even to the vertebrae; let thy hand be upon thine altar, 1939-2 (Nt. 770). thy thousand of bread, thy thousand of beer, thy thousand of cattle, thy thousand of birds, 1939-3 (Nt. 770). thy thousand of all (kinds) of linen, thy thousand of every thing, which the god eats, 1939-4 (Nt. 770). thy thousand of clean (things), also within the dwelling, 1939 (Nt. 771). that thou mayest eat the leg (of meat), that thou mayest pass the cutlet (over thy mouth), that thou mayest devour the double rib, 1939+ 1 (Nt. 771). at the place of slaughter for ever and ever. 1940 (Nt. 771). O N., they defend thy name, with thee. 1940+ 1 (Nt. 771). Thou shalt not speak to them, crying out, 1940+ 2 (Nt. XXX 771). what, say they, is done to thee, 1940+3 (Nt. 772). by "the throne" it was done, sayest thou, 1940+4 (Nt. 772). ss, his grave, ruling his brick, sayest thou. 1940+ 5 (Nt. 772). An offering of his cake (?) in the castle (?). 1940+ 6 (Nt. 772). Hail, he himself (i.e. she herself, the queen)! 1941a (Nt. 772). O N., eat this for thyself alone; 1941b (Nt. 773). thou shalt not give (it) to those people; these by thy side. 1946 + 1 (Nt. 773). O N., this hour of the morning, of this third day, is come, 1941b + 2 (Nt. 773). when thou surely passest on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars. 1941b + 3 (Nt. 774). O N., be it said to thee: "in peace; 1942a (Nt. 774), thou art beautiful; great is that which thy position does for thee as First of the Westerners." 1942b (Nt. 774). The seated one is put near the king. 1942b + 1 (Nt. 774-775). Thou choosest among (?) the first of thy land those who will make thy halls. Utterance 667 A. 1943a-1 (Nt. 775). To say: It is beautiful to see, it is peaceful to hear that Osiris stands at the door of the gods. 1943a-2 (Nt. 775). Thy sanctuary, N., 1943a-3 (Nt. 775). is to thee as (?) a heart of secret places; 1943a (Nt. 775-776). it opens for thee the double doors of heaven, it opens for thee the double doors of the way; 1943b (Nt. 776). it makes for thee a way, that thou mayest enter there among the gods, 1943b + 1 (Nt. 776). that thou mayest live as thy soul. 1944a (Nt. 776). O N., thou art not like the dead, who art dead, 1944a + 1 (Nt. 776-777). thou art living, thou art alive, together with them, the spirits, the imperishable stars. 1944 + 2 (Nt. 777). The time of inundation comes, the wg-festival comes, to the uplands, it comes as Osiris. 1944a + 3 (Nt. 777). Horus is purified with the eye of his brother Set; 1944a + 4 (Nt. 777-778). Set is purified with the eye of his brother Horus; 1945b (Nt. 778). N. is purified from every evil thing; 1945c (N. X 736). the Watchers of Horus are purified in his reed-float. 1945c + 1 (Nt. XVII 487). Father Osiris dawned over the sea, upon his throne, named "brilliant" for him, like his spirit; 1946a-1 (Nt. XXX 779). he was warned against Hr.ti lest he be not given to Osiris, (so) 1946a-2 (Nt. 779). there was opened for him the opposing door; 1946a-3 (Nt. 779). there was done for him that which was done (for him) as an only (unique) star without its equal 1946a (Nt. 779). among them, the gods, thou who sittest upon thy great seat. 1946b (N. X 737). Thy bread is t-wr (bread); thy bread is in the broadhall (temple hall). 1947a (N. X 737). The Watchers dance for thee, 1947b (Nt. XXX 780). as the mourning-women of Osiris call for thee. 1947b + 1 (Nt. 780). Raise thyself up, N.; 11947b + 2 (Nt. XVII 489). collect to thee thy bones; 1947b + 3 (Nt. XXX 781). take to thee thy head--a command of the Ennead, 1947b + 4 (Nt. XVII 490). sit thou for thy great bread; 1947b + 5 (Nt. XXX 781). choose thou the leg of meat on the great place of slaughter; 1947b + 6 (N. X 738). let there be given to thee the double-rib piece on the place of slaughter of Osiris. 1948a (Nt. XVII 490). O N., raise thyself up like Min. 1948b (N. X 738). Thou fliest up to heaven; thou livest with them; 1948c (N. X 738). thou causest thy wings to grow; 1948c + 1 (Nt. XVII 491). thy feathers on thy head; thy feathers on thy two arms. 1948c + 2 (Nt. XXX 782). Thou hast made the sky clear; thou givest light to them, like a god; 1948c + 3 (Nt. XVII 491). thou remainest chief of heaven like Horus of the D.t. Utterance 667 B. 1948c + 4 (Nt. XVII 491-492). Vigilant (?) is this eye of Horus, which he gave to Osiris; 1948c + 5 (Nt. 492). he gave (it) to thee, that it may destroy thy face. 1948c + 6 (Nt. 492) -------------- smell 1948c + 7 (Nt. 492). this word of Horus is, for it, says Geb. Utterance 667 C. 1949-1 (Nt. XXX 783). To say: I am N. of secret places; 1949 (Nt. 783). I ascend (as) thy good messenger from b.w; 1950a (N. X 739). I have threshed the barley, I have reaped the spelt, 1950b (N. 739). that thy livelihood may be secured thereby. 1950c (Nt. 783). Thou ascendest; thou art complete, N. 1950c + 1 (Nt. 784). Thou art powerful in ----1950c + 2 (Nt. 784). I did not see thee, (it is) thou who seest me. 1951-1 (Nt. 784). This Great One has seen the face of that Great Onethe seeing of two eyes. 1951-2 (Nt. 784). 'Iw who binds hair is his avenger; 1951a (Nt. 785). he stands, like Horus, who is on the shores, 1951b (N. X 740). his two sisters, at his side--Isis and Nephthys. 1952 (Nt. XXX 785). Raise thyself up, N., 1952 + 1 (Nt. 785). unite thy bones, collect thy limbs. 1952 + 2 (Nt. 785-786). Raise thyself up, N., 1952 + 3 (Nt. 786). receive thy head --1952 +4 (Nt. 786) ------- thy face ------- born of Nwn.t, 1952 + 5 (Nt. 786). thy mother, who makes thee glad. 1952 + 6 (Nt. 786). She cleanses thee like a papyrus roll of the flesh (skin?) of Mrw. 1953a (N. X MI). Shu, Shu, he passes by the walls, 1953b (N. 741). he outdistances the walls, 1953c (Nt. 787). N. is enclosed in secret places. 1954. --------------------------------------------1955a-1 (Nt. 787). when she does not pass you by, (when) she does not outdistance you. 1955a-2 (N. 742) -----------------1955a-3 (N. 742) ----------- mw.t 1955a (N. 742). four ---------1955b (N. 742). they pass by the walls; they outdistance the walls; 1955c (N. 742). thou, N., art enclosed in secret places. 1956 (N. 742) --------------------------------------1956 + 1 (N. 742) -----------------------------------1956 + 2 (N. 742) ------------- nn.wt 1957a (N. 742). thy thousand of -------- of stone vessels, 1957b (N. 743). thy thousand of all (kinds) of linen, 1957c (N. 743). thy thousand of cattle, thy thousand of birds, thy thousand of all sweet things, 1958a (N. 743). that thou mayest carry thyself in a festive manner as a god ---- 1958b (N. 744) ---------------- by thee, w ------------1958b + 1 (N. 744) --------------------- to Pdw-s.

(8) "In thy power shall it be to exalt and to abase

(3) Beautifully then, the super-wise and Good Wisdom is celebrated by the Oracles, as placing a mystical bowl, and pouring forth its sacred drink, but first setting forth the solid meats, and with a loud voice Itself benignly soliciting those who seek It. The Divine Wisdom, then, sets forth the two-fold food; one indeed, solid and fixed, but the other liquid and flowing forth; and in a bowl furnishes Its own providential generosities. Now the bowl, being spherical and open, let it be a symbol of the Providence over the whole, which at once expands Itself and encircles all, without beginning and without end. But since, even while going forth to all, It remains in Itself, and stands fixed in unmoved sameness; and never departing from Itself, the bowl also itself stands fixedly and unmovably. But Wisdom is also said to build a house for itself, and in it to set forth the solid meats and drinks, and the bowl, so that it may be evident to those who understand things Divine in a manner becoming God, that the Author of the being, and of the well being, of all things, is both an all-perfect providence, and advances to all, and comes into being in everything, and embraces them all; and on the other hand, He, the same, in the same, par excellence, is nothing in anything at all, but overtops the whole, Himself being in Himself, identically and always; and standing, and remaining, and resting, and ever being in the same condition and in the same way, and never becoming outside Himself, nor falling from His own session, and unmoved abiding, and shrine,--yea even, in it, benevolently exercising His complete and all-perfect providences, and whilst going forth to all, remaining by Himself alone, and standing always, and moving Himself; and neither standing, nor moving Himself, but, as one might say, both connaturally and supernaturally, having His providential energies, in His steadfastness, and His steadiness in His Providence.

(2) And it will prove a burden unto men; and on account of this they will despise and cease to love this Cosmos as a whole,—the changeless work of God; the glorious construction of the Good, comprised of multifold variety of forms; the engine of God’s Will, supporting His own work ungrudgingly; the multitudinous whole massed in a unity of all, that should be reverenced, praised and loved,—by them at least who have the eyes to see. For Darkness will be set before the Light, and Death will be thought preferable to Life. No one will raise his eyes to Heaven; the pious man will be considered mad, the impious a sage; the frenzied held as strong, the worst as best.

(10) For as all in the Fiat was held and created according to the [Will of the] a Fashioner, which was the sole and total Workmaster in all Things, in the seven Spirits of Nature, which broke nothing when he fashioned it, nor threw one [Part] from the other when he had made it, but every Thing separated itself, and stood in the Source of its own Essences, so there shall not need much Blustering, Thunder and Lightning, and Breaking, as this World in Babel teaches, but every Thing perishes in itself; the Source [or Flowing forth] of the Elements ceases, as a Man when he dies [ceases from working,] and all passes into its Ether [or Receptacle.] 1 1. And at the Time (before this Fabric [of Heaven and Earth] perishes and passes into its Ether) comes the Judge of the Living and the Dead; there all Men must see him in his, and in their Flesh; and all the Dead must rise through his Voice, and stand before him; and there the angelical World shall be manifested. And all the Generations of the Earth (which are not comprehended in the Body of Christ) shall howl, and then they shall be separated into two Flocks; and the Sentence of Christ passes over all, both Good and Bad; and there will be Howling, Trembling, Yelling, Roaring, and cursing themselves, the Children cursing their Parents, and wishing that they had never been born.

(6) My Leader, who could see me bear myself Like to a man that rouses him from sleep, Exclaimed: "What ails thee, that thou canst not stand? But hast been coming more than half a league Veiling thine eyes, and with thy legs entangled, In guise of one whom wine or sleep subdues?" "O my sweet Father, if thou listen to me, I'll tell thee," said I, "what appeared to me, When thus from me my legs were ta'en away." And he: "If thou shouldst have a hundred masks Upon thy face, from me would not be shut Thy cogitations, howsoever small. What thou hast seen was that thou mayst not fail To ope thy heart unto the waters of peace, Which from the eternal fountain are diffused.

(16) Thou completest the hours of the Night, according as thou hast measured them out. And when thou hast completed them according to thy rule, day dawneth

(5) But we have spoken of these things in our Symbolical Theology. Let us now then celebrate the spiritual Name of Light, under Which we contemplate the Good, and declare that He, the Good, is called spiritual Light, on the ground that He fills every supercelestial mind with spiritual light, and expels all ignorance and error from all souls in which they may be, and imparts to them all sacred light, and cleanses their mental vision from the mist which envelops them, from ignorance, and stirs up and unfolds those enclosed by the great weight of darkness, and imparts, at first, a measured radiance; then, whilst they taste, as it were, the light, and desire it more, more fully gives Itself, and more abundantly enlightens them, because "they have loved much," and ever elevates them to things in advance, as befits the analogy of each for aspiration.

(103) Though this great work in man has remained hidden till this very day, yet God be praised, it will now once be day, for the dayspring or morningredness breaketh forth. The breaker through, or opener of the innermost birth, sheweth and presenteth itself with its red, green and white flag, in the outermost birth upon the rainbow. Observe: Now thou objectest, How then could there be day and night, and not also morning and evening? Answer.

(64) Only thou must not think that the angelical kingdom with its creatures was so rolled, wheeled and turned round about, as now the stars are, which are only powers, and in regard of the birth or geniture of this world are thus wheeled or turned about, whose birth or geniture stands in the moving, boiling anguish in evil and good, in corruption and redemption, till the end of this enumeration, or till the last day. Now observe:

(8) The same multitude of beings, coming forth again and again, merge, in spite of themselves, Ο Pārtha, at the approach of the night, and remanifest themselves at the approach of the day.

(5) The ice, that was about my heart congealed, To air and water changed, and in my anguish Through mouth and eyes came gushing from my breast. She, on the right-hand border of the car Still firmly standing, to those holy beings Thus her discourse directed afterwards: "Ye keep your watch in the eternal day, So that nor night nor sleep can steal from you One step the ages make upon their path; Therefore my answer is with greater care, That he may hear me who is weeping yonder, So that the sin and dole be of one measure. Not only by the work of those great wheels, That destine every seed unto some end, According as the stars are in conjunction, But by the largess of celestial graces, Which have such lofty vapours for their rain That near to them our sight approaches not, Such had this man become in his new life Potentially, that every righteous habit Would have made admirable proof in him;