<This sermon is a fairly
straightforward Hermetic version of the "argument by design", a standard
approach since ancient times to a proof of the existence of God. Typically,
for a Hermetic tractate, its choice of evidence includes a paean on the
beauty and perfection of the human form. - JMG>
1. I will recount to thee
this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the
mysteries of the God beyond all name. And mark thou well how that which to
the many seems unmanifest, will grow most manifest for thee.
Now were it manifest, it
would not be. For all that is made manifest is subject to becoming, for it
hath been made manifest. But the Unmanifest for ever is, for It doth not
desire to be made manifest. It ever is, and maketh manifest all other
things.
Being Himself unmanifest,
as ever being and ever making-manifest, Himself is not made manifest. God is
not made Himself; by thinking-manifest <i.e., thinking into manifestation>,
He thinketh all things manifest.
Now "thinking-manifest"
deals with things made alone, for thinking-manifest is nothing else than
making.
2. He, then, alone who is
not made, 'tis clear, is both beyond all power of thinking-manifest, and is
unmanifest.
And as He thinketh all
things manifest, He manifests through all things and in all, and most of all
in whatsoever things He wills to manifest.
Do thou, then, Tat, my
son, pray first unto our Lord and Father, the One-and-Only One, from whom
the One doth come, to show His mercy unto thee, in order that thou mayest
have the power to catch a thought of this so mighty God, one single beam of
Him to shine into thy thinking. For thought alone "sees" the Unmanifest, in
that it is itself unmanifest.
If, then, thou hast the
power, He will, Tat, manifest to thy mind's eyes. The Lord begrudgeth not
Himself to anything, but manifests Himself through the whole world.
Thou hast the power of
taking thought, of seeing it and grasping it in thy own "hands", and gazing
face to face upon God's Image. But if what is within thee even is unmanifest
to thee, how, then, shall He Himself who is within thy self be manifest for
thee by means of [outer] eyes?
3. But if thou wouldst
"see" him, bethink thee of the sun, bethink thee of moon's course, bethink
thee of the order of the stars. Who is the One who watcheth o'er that order?
For every order hath its boundaries marked out by place and number.
The sun's the greatest
god of gods in heaven; to whom all of the heavenly gods give place as unto
king and master. And he, this so-great one, he greater than the earth and
sea, endures to have above him circling smaller stars than him. Out of
respect to Whom, or out of fear of Whom, my son, [doth he do this]?
Nor like nor equal is the
course each of these stars describes in heaven. Who [then] is He who marketh
out the manner of their course and its extent?
4. The Bear up there that
turneth round itself, and carries round the whole cosmos with it - Who is
the owner of this instrument? Who He who hath set round the sea its bounds?
Who He who hath set on its seat the earth?
For, Tat, there is
someone who is the Maker and the Lord of all these things. It cound not be
that number, place and measure could be kept without someone to make them.
No order whatsoever could be made by that which lacketh place and lacketh
measure; nay, even this is not without a lord, my son. For if the orderless
lacks something, in that it is not lord of order's path, it also is beneath
a lord - the one who hath not yet ordained it order.
5. Would that it were
possible for thee to get thee wings, and soar into the air, and, poised
midway 'tween earth and heaven, behold the earth's solidity, the sea's
fluidity (the flowings of its streams), the spaciousness of air, fire's
swiftness, [and] the coursing of the stars, the swiftness of heaven's
circuit round them [all]!
Most blessed sight were
it, my son, to see all these beneath one sway - the motionless in motion,
and the unmanifest made manifest; whereby is made this order of the cosmos
and the cosmos which we see of order.
6. If thou would'st see
Him too through things that suffer death, both on the earth and in the deep,
think of a man's being fashioned in the womb, my son, and strictly
scrutinize the art of Him who fashions him, and learn who fashioneth this
fair and godly image of the Man.
Who [then] is He who
traceth out the circles of the eyes; who He who boreth out the nostrils and
the ears; who He who openeth [the portal of] the mouth; who He who doth
stretch out and tie the nerves; who He who channels out the veins; who He
who hardeneth the bones; who He who covereth the flesh with skin; who He who
separates the fingers and the joints; who He who widens out a treading for
the feet; who He who diggeth out the ducts; who He who spreadeth out the
spleen; who he who shapeth heart like to a pyramid; who He who setteth ribs
together; who He who wideneth the liver out; who He who maketh lungs like to
a sponge; who He who maketh belly stretch so much; who he who doth make
prominent the parts most honorable, so that they may be seen, while hiding
out of sight those of least honor?
7. Behold how many arts
[employed] on one material, how many labors on one single sketch; and all
exceeding fair, and all in perfect measure, yet all diversified! Who made
them all? What mother, or what sire, save God alone, unmanifest, who hath
made all things by His Will?
8. And no one saith a
statue or a picture comes to be without a sculptor or [without] a painter;
doth [then] such workmanship as this exist without a Worker? What depth of
blindness, what deep impiety, what depth of ignorance! See, [then] thou
ne'er, son Tat, deprivest works of Worker!
Nay, rather is He greater
than all names, so great is He, the Father of them all. For verily He is the
Only One, and this is His work, to be a father.
9. So, if thou forcest me
somewhat too bold, to speak, His being is conceiving of all things and
making [them].
And as without its maker
its is impossible that anything should be, so ever is He not unless He ever
makes all things, in heaven, in air, in earth, in deep, in all of cosmos, in
every part that is and that is not of everything. For there is naught in all
the world that is not He.
He is Himself, both
things that are and things that are not. The things that are He hath made
manifest, He keepeth things that are not in Himself.
10. He is the God beyond
all name; He the unmanifest, He the most manifest; He whom the mind [alone]
can contemplate, He visible to the eyes [as well]; He is the one of no body,
the one of many bodies, nay, rather He of every body.
Naught is there which he
is not. For all are He and He is all. And for this cause hath He all names,
in that they are one Father's. And for this cause hath He Himself no nome,
in that He's Father of [them] all.
Who, then, may sing Thee
praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee?
Whither, again, am I to
turn my eyes to sing Thy praise; above, below, within, without?
There is no way, no place
[is there] about Thee, nor any other thing of things that are.
All [are] in Thee; all
[are] from Thee, O Thou who givest all and takest naught, for Thou hast all
and naught is there Thou hast not.
11. And when, O Father,
shall I hymn Thee? For none can seize Thy hour or time.
For what, again, shall I
sing hymn? For things that Thou hast made, or things Thou hast not? For
things Thou hast made manifest, or things Thou hast concealed?
How, further, shall I
hymn Thee? As being of myself? As having something of mine own? As being
other?
For that Thou art
whatever I may be; Thou art whatever I may do; Thou art whatever I may
speak.
For Thou art all, and
there is nothing else which Thou art not. Thou art all that which doth
exist, and Thou art what doth not exist - Mind when Thou thinkest, and
Father when Thou makest, and God when Thou dost energize, and Good and Maker
of all things.
For that the subtler part
of matter is the air, of air the soul, of soul the mind, and of mind God.
