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“Before the Beginning”
“FOR this cause is Christ manifest, that he may
destroy the works of the devil.”
3. Now the devil, or old serpent, the
enemy of God, is that which gives pre-eminence to matter.
4. He is disorder, confusion,
distortion, falsification, error. He is not personal, he is not positive, he is
not formulated. Whatever God is, that the devil is not.
5. God is light, truth, order,
harmony, reason: and God’s works are illumination, knowledge, understanding,
love, and sanity.
6. Therefore the devil is darkness,
falsehood, disorder, discord, ignorance; and his works are confusion, folly,
division, hatred and delirium.
7. The devil is therefore the
negation of God’s Positive. God is I AM: the devil is NOT. He has no
individuality and no existence; for he represents the not-being. Wherever God’s
kingdom is not, the devil reigns.
8. Now the Great Work is the
redemption of spirit from matter; that is, the establishment of the
9. Jesus being asked when the
11. The
12. His design was therefore to
destroy the dominion of matter, and to dissipate the devil and his works.
13. And this he intended to
accomplish by proclaiming the knowledge of the Universal Dissolvent, and giving
to men the keys of the
14. Now, the
15. There is a power by means of
which the outer may be absorbed into the inner.
16. There is a power by means of
which matter may be ingested into its original substance.
17. He who possesses this power is
Christ, and he has the devil under foot.
18. For he reduces chaos to order,
and indraws the external to the centre.
19. He has learnt that matter is
illusion, and that spirit alone is real.
20. He has found his own central
point: and all power is given unto him in heaven and on earth.
21. Now, the central point is the
number thirteen: it is the number of the marriage of the Son of God.
22. And all the members of the
microcosm are bidden to the banquet of the marriage.
23. But if there chance to be even
one among them which has not on a wedding garment,
24. Such a one is a traitor, and the
microcosm is found divided against itself.
25. And that it may be wholly
regenerate, it is necessary that Judas be cast out.
26. Now the members of the microcosm
are twelve: of the senses three, of the mind three, of the heart three, and of
the conscience three.
27. For of the body there are four
elements; and the sign of the four is sense, in the which are three gates;
28. The gate of the eye, the gate of
the ear, and the gate of touch. (1)
29. Renounce vanity, and be poor:
renounce praise, and be humble: renounce luxury, and be chaste.
30. Offer unto God a pure oblation:
let the fire of the altar search thee, and prove thy fortitude.
31. Cleanse thy sight, thine hands, and thy feet: carry the censer of thy worship
into the courts of the Lord; and let thy vows be unto the Most High.
32. And for the magnetic man (2)
there are four elements: and the covering of the four is mind,
in the which are three gates;
33. The gate of desire, the gate of labour, and the gate of illumination.
34. Renounce the world, and aspire
heavenward: labour not for the meat
which perishes, but ask of God thy daily bread: beware of wandering
doctrines, and let the Word of the Lord be thy light.
35. Also of the soul there are four
elements: and the seat of the four is the heart, whereof likewise there are
three gates:
36. The gate of obedience, the gate
of prayer, and the gate of discernment.
37. Renounce thine
own will, and let the law of God only be within thee: renounce doubt: pray
always and faint not: be pure of heart also, and thou shalt
see God.
38. And within the soul is the
Spirit: and the Spirit is One, yet has it likewise
three elements.
39. And these are the gates of the
oracle of God, which is the ark of the covenant:
40. The rod, the host, (3)
and the law:
41. The force which solves, and
transmutes, and divines: the bread of heaven which is the substance of all
things and the food of angels; the table of the law, which is the will of God,
written with the finger of the Lord.
42. If these three be within thy
spirit, then shall the Spirit of God be within thee.
43. And the glory shall be upon the
propitiatory, in the holy place of thy prayer.
44. These are the twelve gates of
regeneration: through which if a man enter he shall have right to the tree of
life.
45. For the number of that tree is thirteen.
46. It may happen to a man to have
three, to another five, to another seven, to another ten.
47. But until a man
have twelve, he is not master over the last enemy.
48. Therefore was Jesus betrayed to
death by Judas: because he was not yet perfected.
49. But he was perfected through
suffering: yea, by the passion, the cross, and the burial.
50. For he could not wholly die:
neither could his body see corruption.
51. So he revived: for the elements
of death were not in his flesh; and his molecules retained the polarity of life
eternal.
52. He therefore was raised and
became perfect: having the power of the dissolvent and of transmutation.
53. And God glorified the Son of Man:
yea, he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
54. Thence also the Christ shall come
again: in power like unto the power of his ascension.
55. For as yet the devil is undissipated: the Virgin indeed has crushed his head; but
still he lies in wait for her heel.
56. Therefore the Great Work is yet
to be accomplished.
57. When the leaven shall have
leavened the whole lump; when the seed shall have become a tree; when the net
shall have gathered all things into it.
58. For in the same power and glory
he had at his ascension, shall Christ Jesus be manifested from heaven before
angels and men.
59. For when the cycle of the
creation is completed, whether of the macrocosm, or of the microcosm, the Great
Work is accomplished.
60. Six for the
manifestation, and six for the interpretation: six for the outgoing, and six for the
ingathering: six for the man, and six for the woman.
61. Then shall be the Sabbath of the
Lord God. (1)
(137:1) Commenced in
(138:1) 2 Ep.
Clement, v. 1.
(139:1) Smell and taste are modes of touch,
as all three involve contact with the object itself that is perceived, while
sight and hearing involve contact with vibrations set up by that object in an
intervening medium (see Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. ii, pp.
170, 171). S.H.H.
(139:2) I.e. the magnetic or astral part of Man, which is accounted a person or
system in itself. E.M.
(139:3) The Sacramental bread called by the
Hebrews “Shewbread.” E.M.
(140:1) See note to Part 1, No. L (8): also Appendix, “Second Coming.”
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