(9) And therefore we also have longed to seek after that Pearl, of which we write at present; and though now the Unregenerated (in the Kingdom of this World) will give no Credit to us (as it has happened to our Forefathers, from the Children of this World) we cannot help that, but it shall stand for a witness against them, which shall be a Woe to them eternally, that they have so foolishly ventured [and lost] so great an eternal Glory and Holiness, for a little Pleasure of the Eye, and Lust of the Flesh.

(3) For scarcely could anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the multitude; nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him." But the wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason in council. "But what ye hear in the ear," says the Lord, "proclaim upon the houses;" bidding them receive the secret traditions of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and conspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to whom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without distinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sowed sparse and broadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will germinate and produce corn.

(78) Though indeed here we shall be as one that is dumb to the World, yet we have written it for ourselves, for we understand it very well; and it is plain enough to the Tree of the Lily. But that the Person of Christ, with his Deeds and Essence, might be rightly demonstrated to the Reader, that he might apprehend it right, I therefore direct him to the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness after his Baptism; whereat thou shouldst open thine Eyes, and not speak like the Spirit in Babel, which says, we know not what his Temptation was, and lay the Fault upon the Devil, that he was so impudent to presume to tempt Christ; saying moreover, we ought not to dive into it, [nor be so inquisitive about it,] we will let that alone till we come thither, [into the other Life,] and then we shall see what it is. Besides, they forbid him that has Eyes to see, none must search into it, [if they do,] they are called Enthusiasts, and are cried out upon for Novellists [such as broach new Opinions and pretend to new Lights] and for Heretics.

(53) And this we set before your Eyes, in the Knowledge of God, and in true earnest Sincerity; not that we will despise any Man, and exalt ourselves; we would rather be banished from this World, than that we should seek our own Praise in Pride; that is but Dung and Dross, and the Spirit of Knowledge would not stay with us; this ought well to be considered. Therefore we will write in our Knowledge for ourselves, and leave the Event to God.

(2) But seeing it is his eternal Will and Purpose to do us good, and to open his Secrets to us according to his Counsel, therefore we ought not to withstand, nor to bury the bestowed Talent in the Earth, for we must give Account of it in the Appearing of his Coming. Therefore we will thus labour in our Vineyard, and commend the Fruit to him, and will set down in Writing a Memorial for ourselves, and leave it to him. For we can search or conceive no further, than only what we apprehend in the Light of Nature; where our Gate stands open; not according to the Measure of our Purpose, when and how we will, but according to his Gift, when and how he wills. We are not able to comprehend the least Sparkle of him, unless the Gates of the Deep be opened to us in our Mind; where then the zealous [earnest] and highly desirous kindled Spirit is as a Fire, to which the earthly Body ought to be subject, and will grudge no Pains to serve the desirous fiery Mind. And although it has nothing to expect for its Labour but Scorn and Contempt from the World, yet it must be obedient to its Lord, for its Lord is mighty, and itself is feeble, and its Lord leads, [drives,] and preserves it, and yet in its [Ignorance, or Want of] Understanding, it knows nothing of what it does, but it lives like all the Beasts. And yet its Will is [not] to live thus, but it must follow the worthy Mind, which searches after the Wisdom of God; and the Mind must follow the Light of Nature; for God manifests [or reveals] himself in that Light, or else we should know nothing of him.

(2) For only to those who often approach them, and have given them a trial by faith and in their whole life, will they supply the real philosophy and the true theology. They also wish us to require an interpreter and guide. For so they considered, that, receiving truth at the hands of those who knew it well, we would be more earnest and less liable to deception, and those worthy of them would profit. Besides, all things that shine through a veil show the truth grander and more imposing; as fruits shining through water, and figures through veils, which give added reflections to them. For, in addition to the fact that things unconcealed are perceived in one way, the rays of light shining round reveal defects. Since, then, we may draw several meanings, as we do from what is expressed in veiled form, such being the case, the ignorant and unlearned man fails. But the Gnostior apprehends. Now, then, it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have not even in a dream been purified in soul, (for it is not allowed to hand to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious efforts); nor are the mysteries of the word to be expounded to the profane.

(1) IF we consider ourselves in the noble Knowledge, which is opened to us in the Love of God, in the noble Virgin of the Wisdom of God, (not for our Merit, Honesty, [Virtue,] or Worthiness, but merely of his own Will, and original eternal Purpose) even in those Things which appear to us in his Love, then we must needs acknowledge ourselves to be unworthy of such a Revelation; and seeing we are Sinners, we are deficient in the Glory that we should have before him.

(49) But since Man is so slow of Apprehension, it may be, we shall not sufficiently be understood, and therefore we will once more set it down briefly and accurately, how these great Mysteries are; for we know what Adversary we have, viz. the Prince of this World; he will not sleep, but try what he can to suppress this noble Grain of Mustard-Seed.

(7) There are those who have criticized this attitude of the Hermetists, and who have claimed that they did not manifest the proper spirit in their policy of seclusion and reticence. But a moment's glance back over the pages of history will show the wisdom of the Masters, who knew the folly of attempting to teach to the world that which it was neither ready or willing to receive. The Hermetists have never sought to be martyrs, and have, instead, sat silently aside with a pitying smile on their closed lips, while the "heathen raged noisily about them" in their customary amusement of putting to death and torture the honest but misguided enthusiasts who imagined that they could force upon a race of barbarians the truth capable of being understood only by the elect who had advanced along The Path.

(115) Beloved Mind, we write no Conceits and Tales, it is in Earnest, and it is as much as our Bodies and Souls are worth; we must give a strict Account of it, as being the Talent that is committed to us. If any will be i scandalized at it, let them take Heed what they do; truly it is high Time to awake from Sleep, for the Bridegroom comes.

(3) But to pass over the mystical things there, both as forbidden to the multitude and as known to thee, when it was necessary to communicate to the multitude, and to bring as many as possible to the sacred knowledge amongst ourselves, he so excelled the majority of sacred teachers, both by use of time and purity of mind, and accuracy of demonstrations, and by his other sacred discourses, that we should scarcely have dared to look so great a sun straight in the face. For we are thus far conscious in ourselves, and know, that we may neither advance to understand sufficiently the intelligible of Divine things, nor to express and declare the things spoken of the divine knowledge. For, being far removed from the skill of those divine men, as regards theological truth, we are so inferior that we should have, through excessive reverence, entirely come to this--neither to hear nor to speak anything respecting divine philosophy, unless we had grasped in our mind, that we must not neglect the knowledge of things divine received by us. And to this we were persuaded, not only by the innate aspirations of the minds which always lovingly cling to the permitted contemplation of the supernatural, but also by the most excellent order itself of the Divine institutions, which prohibits us, on the one hand, from much inquisition into things above us, as above our degree, and as unattainable; yet, on the other hand, persistently urges us to graciously impart to others also whatever is permitted and given to us to learn. Yielding then to these considerations, and neither shirking nor flinching from the attainable discovery of things Divine, but also not bearing to leave unassisted those who are unable to contemplate things too high for us, we have brought ourselves to composition, not daring indeed to introduce anything new, but by more easy and more detailed expositions to disentangle and elucidate the things spoken by the Hierotheus indeed. Next: Caput IV. Sacred Texts | Christianity « Previous: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On Divine Names: C... Index Next: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On Divine Names: C... » Sacred Texts | Christianity

(68) Come hither, ye contentious Shepherds of Babel, open your Eyes, and consider what his Testaments of the Baptism and his Last Supper are: I shall show you well enough, if you be but worthy; however, we write for the Children of the Lily; therefore let every one see where he harbours; it is in Earnest. We slight not the Understanding of the Ancients. It may be, it was purely generated in the Beginning, but we find how Antichrist has set up himself upon it, and made Gods of the Creature.

(61) Although we may be hard to be understood, in our high Knowledge; (because a Soul that desires to see it, must enter into the new Birth, or else it stands behind the Vail [of Moses,] and asks continually, Where is the Place?) Therefore we will set it down for the Sake of the Lily-Rose, where then the Holy Ghost will open many Doors in the Wonders, which Men now hold for impossible P; and in the World none is therein, but they are rin Babel

(79) So that they elude the clutches of greedy thieves; Many are the copper coins gilded with gold, We who regard the inside of the world, The judges who confine their view to externals And base their decisions on outward appearances, As they testify and make outward show of faith, Therefore these heretics, who regard only externals, Strive then to be old in wisdom and in faith, That, like Universal Reason, you may see within."

(1) Let these notes of ours, as we have often said for the sake of those that consult them carelessly and unskilfully, be of varied character - and as the name itself indicates, patched together - passing constantly from one thing to another, and in the series of discussions hinting at one thing and demonstrating another. "For those who seek for gold," says Heraclitus, "dig much earth and find little gold." But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to understand it. The Miscellanies of notes contribute, then, to the recollection and expression of truth in the case of him who is able to investigate with reason.

(1) But since they will believe neither in what is good justly nor in knowledge unto salvation, we ourselves reckoning what they claim as belonging to us, because all things are God's; and especially since what is good proceeded from us to the Greeks, let us handle those things as they are capable of hearing. For intelligence or rectitude this great crowd estimates not by truth, but by what they are delighted with. And they will be pleased not more with other things than with what is like themselves. For he who is still blind and dumb, not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative soul, which the Saviour confers, like the uninitiated at the mysteries, or the unmusical at dances, not being yet pure and worthy of the pure truth, but still discordant and disordered and material, must stand outside of the divine choir.

(6) These men have never sought popular approval, nor numbers of followers. They are indifferent to these things, for they know how few there are in each generation who are ready for the truth, or who would recognize it if it were presented to them. They reserve the "strong meat for men," while others furnish the "milk for babes." They reserve their pearls of wisdom for the few elect, who recognize their value and who wear them in their crowns, instead of casting them before the materialistic vulgar swine, who would trample them in the mud and mix them with their disgusting mental food. But still these men have never forgotten or overlooked the original teachings of Hermes, regarding the passing on of the words of truth to those ready to receive it, which teaching is stated in The Kybalion as follows: "Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide." And again: "When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with wisdom." But their customary attitude has always been strictly in accordance with the other Hermetic aphorism, also in The Kybalion: "The lips of Wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding."

(22) Seeing then the Mystery presents itself to us, therefore we will open the Blossom of the Sprout: Yet we would not have our Labour given to the Wolves, Dogs, or Swine, which root in our Garden of Delight, like [wild] Boars, but to those that seek, that the sick Adam may be comforted.