THE DAWN AT ITS RISING
CHAPTER ONE TREATMENT
OF BLESSED THOMAS AQUIN:
THE DAWN, GOLDEN HOUR BEGINNING OF
THE TREAT ENTITLED: THE DAWN AT ITS RISING
With her, with the Wisdom of the South, all good things have come to me, with this Wisdom which cries through the streets, which in the public squares raises its voice, which in the middle of the crush shouts, which on the threshold of the doors of the city says: "Come to me, accept enlightenment, and nothing will disturb your operations. All of you who desire me, you will be filled with my riches.
Come then, my sons, listen to me, it is the science of God that I will teach you”. What wise man understands this Wisdom, of which Alphidius says that men, that children graze it on the roads, on the squares, that beasts of burden, herds trample it daily in the filth?
Senior writes: “Nothing is more base in appearance, nothing more precious in nature. God himself refused to have a price fixed for him”. From her Solomon wants to make his light, when he places her above all beauty and all salvation. He did not compare it to the virtues of the precious stone; all gold, by comparison, is only mediocre sand, and silver is only mud. This is not without reason: its acquisition is preferable to the traffic in silver and the purest gold; its fruit is more precious than the riches of the world, and nothing you desire can compare to it.
His right conceals longevity and health, his left glory and infinite riches. His ways, beautiful and praiseworthy operations, neither contemptible nor deformed. His paths are not hasty: they have the slowness and assiduity of labor that perseveres.
She is the tree of life: perpetual light for those who apprehend her. He who holds it holds happiness, for the science of God will never perish, as testified by the words of Alphidius: “The inventor of this science will have legitimate and eternal nourishment”. As for Hermes and the others, this is what they affirm: a man who would hold this science for a lifetime of a thousand years, and who every day would have to feed seven thousand men, would never experience lack. Senior confirms it:
"To be as rich as the owner of the stone from which one draws the fire, is to be able to give this fire to whoever wants it, in the desired quantity and at the desired time, without the slightest deprivation".
Aristotle expresses identical wishes in his second book on the soul: “All bodies constant by nature are limited in their volume and in their growth; the fire, meanwhile, grows infinitely, as long as we feed it”. Happy the inventor of this science, he to whom the prudence of Saturn flows! On your paths, think of her, she will guide your steps.
Senior says: “The sage understands it, one whose judgment is subtle and ingenious, as long as the treatise on aggregations clarifies minds. The spirit comes alive, it follows its desire: happy who reflects on my words”.
Solomon adds: “My son, attach it to your neck, write it on the tablet of your heart, and you will find. Say to Wisdom: "You are my sister, and give the name of friend to prudence!" Thinking about it is a perfectly natural act, a subtle act that brings it to perfection. He who dedicates his vigils to him quickly will be sheltered from worry. Clear it is for those who have intelligence: it never fades or fades. Easy it appears to those who know it, because it inquires itself of those who are worthy of it, all around, because it appears to them in joy in every way, she anticipates them with all her foresight. Its prologue is the most authentic nature, the nature that ignores fraud.
CHAPTER TWO
WHAT IS WISDOM
If therefore thrones and scepters of kings please you, to reign eternally, all love the light of science, and pursue research, all of you who distinguish yourselves by your knowledge of nature. It is for you that the sage scrutinizes the Wisdom of all the elders: his leisure he dedicates to the prophets. He also penetrates into the detours of the parables, he seeks the hidden meaning of the proverbs, he is concerned with the secret of the parables. Now, what science is and how it is made,
I will explain it to you without hiding anything from you. It is a gift, a sacrament of God, a divine thing that the symbolic words of the wise hide in a thousand ways. So I will bring his knowledge to light, so I will not run away from the truth, so I will refuse to walk with the envy that withers. Indeed I followed in his footsteps from the beginning, ignoring however that she was the mother of all sciences, she who preceded me.
Countless dignities she gave me, she whom I learned without pretending anything, she whom, without envy, I will communicate, without concealing the truth. For all it is an inexhaustible treasure, concealed by its inventor, exclaiming in joy: "Jerusalem, rejoice, all you who love me, assemble yourselves, enter into jubilation, for the Lord God has had mercy of its poor.
Senior also says: “There is a stone on which the connoisseur lays his eyes, above all a stone that he avoids throwing away. This medicine chases away destitution, for man, after God, it is the best”. she whom I learned without pretending anything, she whom, without envy, I will communicate, without concealing the truth.
For all it is an inexhaustible treasure, concealed by its inventor, exclaiming in joy: "Jerusalem, rejoice, all you who love me, assemble yourselves, enter into jubilation, for the Lord God has had mercy of its poor.
Senior also says: “There is a stone on which the connoisseur lays his eyes, above all a stone that he avoids throwing away. This medicine chases away destitution, for man, after God, it is the best”. she whom I learned without pretending anything, she whom, without envy, I will communicate, without concealing the truth. For all it is an inexhaustible treasure, concealed by its inventor, exclaiming in joy: "Jerusalem, rejoice, all you who love me, assemble yourselves, enter into jubilation, for the Lord God has had mercy of its poor.
Senior also says: “There is a stone on which the connoisseur lays his eyes, above all a stone that he avoids throwing away. This medicine chases away destitution, for man, after God, it is the best”.
THIRD CHAPTER
OF THOSE WHO IGNORE AND WHO DENY THIS SCIENCE
This glorious science of God, this doctrine of the saints, this secret of the philosophers and this medicine of the physicians, fools despise it, they ignore its nature. They refuse the blessing, and it will depart from them. To whoever lacks experience, such a science does not suit, because whoever ignores it is his enemy: not without reason. Speculator indeed says: “The contempt of science is the cause of ignorance.
Let's not give donkeys lettuces, when they are satisfied with thistles! Let us not feed children's bread to dogs, and let us not sow pearls among pigs! To this illustrious science, such scoffers cannot accede. It would be breaking the celestial seal to divulge to those who are not worthy the mysteries of this science. In a gross body the spirit of this Wisdom will refuse to enter. The fool is not able to perceive it: perverted is his reason. The wise did not address fools. To speak with a madman is to speak with someone who is sleeping”.
Morien himself says: “If I wanted to develop the exact situation of things, there would be no room for caution. The fool would become the equal of the wise. Under the lunar circle, against poverty, his stepmother, no mortal would mourn the anguish of his destitution any longer: in this science, the number of fools is infinite.
FOURTH CHAPTER
OF THE NAME AND TITLE OF THIS BOOK
This volume, we baptized it: “Aurore à son riser”. For four reasons. Dawn, first of all, is the golden hour. Likewise, science reserves, for a golden end, an hour for good workers. The dawn then occupies an intermediate position between night and day. It glows in a double hue, red and yellow. Likewise, science donates yellow and red hues, which are intermediate between black and white. Third: During the dawn, the sick experience an alleviation, a respite from their nocturnal sufferings.
During the dawn of science, in the same way, all the bad smells, all the bad vapors which affected the spirit of the laborer are eclipsed and decline. The psalm says well "In the evening the visit of tears, in the morning cries of joy". Fourth and finally, it is said that the dawn is the end of the night and the beginning of the day, or even, the mother of the sun. Likewise, at the acme of the red coloration; our dawn is the end of all darkness, the expulsion of night, of that winter longevity in which the walker stumbles if he is not careful. It is written: “And the night reveals knowledge to the night, and the day to the day utters the word, and the night like the day in its delights illuminates”.
FIFTH CHAPTER
PRODUCE THE INSENSE!
Does not Wisdom cry out in the squares, does not prudence raise her voice in the books of the wise, crying out: “Humans, it is you I call on, and my voice is addressed to the sons of intelligence! Understand, you fools, pay attention to the parable, to the interpretation, to the sayings of the wise and to their riddles!”
The sages used various expressions, when they established the similarity of all the creatures of this earth, in this science, they multiplied the parables, under the circle of the moon. A wise listener will gain wisdom; he will understand ; understanding Wisdom, he will possess it. Here she is, Wisdom, therefore the Queen of the South, who is said to have come from the East, like the dawn at its rising, to listen, to understand, to see also the Wisdom of Solomon. And she holds power, honor, virtue and authority. She wears a gleaming crown, rays of twelve stars, like a bride adorning herself for her husband. His garments bear inscriptions of gold, in Greek, in a foreign language, in Latin. Queen, I will reign, and my kingdom will have no end, for all my inventors, for all who seek me, subtly, ingeniously, constantly!
SIXTH CHAPTER
THE FIRST PARABLE: THE BLACK STONE IN WHICH THE SEVEN PLANETS ARE ROOTED
Looking away, I saw a large cloud that darkened the whole earth. He had absorbed the cloud that covered my soul. The waters had penetrated to my soul, putrefied and corrupted as they were by the spectacle of the infernal abysses, and by the shadow of death: it was because the storm had engulfed me. Before me will bow the inhabitants of the desert, and my enemies will lick the land that is mine. But in my flesh there is nothing intact, and the sight of my iniquity has upset all my bones.
It's because I exhausted myself screaming for entire nights; hoarse is my throat. Who will live to know, to understand? He will snatch my soul from the clutches of Sheol. Those who enlighten me will gain eternal life, I will make them eat from the tree of life placed in paradise, I will give them to take their places with me on the throne of my kingdom. Indeed: for who will have unearthed me like silver, and acquired me like a treasure, for who will not have poisoned my food or my drink, soiled in stupor my bed, violated either my whole body, very delicate , nor above all my soul, a dove all beautiful and without gall, pure and spotless, for those who have not damaged my seats and my thrones, in short: for those who love me to languish, for those whose ardor melts, whose smell makes me live, whose flavor restores me, whose milk is the nourishment to which I consent, whose embrace restores my youth, for that of the kiss from which I receive the breath of life, for the one whose loving embrace completely exhausts my body, for him I will be a father, and he will be a son for me. He is wise, the one who gladdens the father, the father whom I will place at the head of the kings of the earth, the father whom I will exalt and to whom my covenant, for eternity, will remain faithful.
And yet: if he forsakes my law, if he does not follow the paths which are mine, if he profane my commandments and my precepts, if the adversary pursues him, and if the son of iniquity start hurting him! If, on the contrary, he walks by my paths, he will not fear the coldness of the snow. All his household will wear clothes, byssus and purple. He will laugh that day, and I will be satisfied, and my glory will be shown. It is that he will have watched over my paths and refused to eat the bread of the idle.
So the heavens above him opened, and his voice sounded like thunder, the voice of one who holds seven stars in his hands, the seven spirits sent throughout the earth, to preach and to witness. He who believes, he who is baptized, will be saved, condemned the unbeliever. As for the signs that the believers and the well-baptized will bear, here they are: at the moment when the king of heaven pronounces his judgment on them, they will be white with snow at Mount Sombre; the wings of the dove will be covered with silver; the wings on their backs will have the pallor of gold. This will be my beloved son! Look at the!
He is the most beautiful of the children of men. The sun and the moon contemplate its beauty. He is the privilege of love, this heir in which men place their trust, and without which they are capable of nothing. He who has ears hears what the spirit of the doctrine says to the sons of discipline, of the seven stars which allow the completion of the divine work.
SEVENTH CHAPTER
THE SECOND PARABLE: THE FLOOD AND THE DEATH, WHICH THE WOMAN BROUGHT AND HUNTED OUT
When the multitudes of the sea have flocked to me, when the torrents have flooded my face, when the arrows of my quiver have been drunk with blood, when my vats have exhaled the perfume of the best of wines, when my granaries have overflowed with wheat, when the bridegroom will have crossed the threshold of the nuptial chamber in the company of the ten virgins, when my belly will have swollen under the caress of my beloved, when the hinge of my door will have opened to the beloved, when Herod will have killed in his anger a legion of children, when Rachel has mourned her sons, and when light has come out of darkness, when the sun of righteousness in heaven has ascended, then the fullness of time will come, then God will send his son, as it is written.
This son, God established him universal heir, and by him he made the centuries. He once said to him: “You are my son, today I have begotten you”. To him the Magi brought three presents from the East. On this day which the Lord has made, behold for us joy and joy, for the Lord on this day has considered my affliction. He sent redemption.
In Israel indeed, he is the pretender to the kingdom. On this day the woman chased away the death she brought. The locks of hell have popped. Death will henceforth cease all domination. The gates of Hades will not stand against her, for she is found, the tenth drachma lost, for she has been brought back, the hundredth sheep from the wilderness, for our brethren have found their concert, since the fall of the angel. On this day which the Lord has made, behold for us joy and joy, for the Lord on this day has considered my affliction. He sent redemption. In Israel indeed, he is the pretender to the kingdom. On this day the woman chased away the death she brought.
The locks of hell have popped. Death will henceforth cease all domination. The gates of Hades will not stand against her, for she is found, the tenth drachma lost, for she has been brought back, the hundredth sheep from the wilderness, for our brethren have found their concert, since the fall of the angel. On this day which the Lord has made, behold for us joy and joy, for the Lord on this day has considered my affliction. He sent redemption. In Israel indeed, he is the pretender to the kingdom. On this day the woman chased away the death she brought. The locks of hell have popped.
Death will henceforth cease all domination. The gates of Hades will not stand against her, for she is found, the tenth drachma lost, for she has been brought back, the hundredth sheep from the wilderness, for our brethren have found their concert, since the fall of the angel.
My son, rejoice therefore on this day, because it is the end of the lamentations, it is the end of the pain, because the old world is gone. Whoever has ears hears the words of the spirit of doctrine to the sons of discipline, about the woman who brought death, and cast it out!
The philosophers say it like this: “Take away his soul, before giving it back to him, because the corruption of one is the generation of the other. Take away from it the humor that corrupts, before nourishing it with the humor that is natural to it! It is the way of perfection and of life”.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE THIRD PARABLE: BRONZE LEAFS AND IRON BARS OF BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
Who will have smashed my bronze leaves and broken my iron bars, moved my candelabra, who will have thus torn the chains from the prison of darkness, who will have fed my hungry soul, my soul which hastens, the mouth devoured by faith, fed of the seed of the wheat and of the honey of the rock, which will have, for the wanderer that I am, prepared a banquet hall, will allow me to sleep in peace, and to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, in his mercy, d extend their rest over me.
Indeed, they will gather me from all the earth, to sprinkle pure water on me, and I will be purified from the greatest of faults and from the demon of noon: it is that, from the soles of the feet to the head, nothing, nothing more, is intact. I will thus be purified of my turpitudes, hidden and foreign, I will no longer even remember the iniquities that I have committed: God gave me an anointing with the oil of gladness, so that on the day of my resurrection the power of penetration and liquefaction cohabit in me, when from God I shall acquire glory.
So the ages come and go until the arrival of the messenger, until the arrival of the one who will lift the yoke of captivity, of these seventy years of sojourn by the rivers of Babylon. We wept there, we nailed our instruments there, because the daughters of Sion were full of pride, because they went away, their gait high and their gaze provocative, because they chatted, because they worked on their approach.
But the Lord will make their skulls mangy and bald: from Zion shall come the law, and from Jerusalem the Word of the Lord. That day, when the seven women will have snatched a unique man, crying: "We provide for our food, we dress ourselves, why do you not protect our blood, this blood which like water we poured around Jerusalem?" a little longer, until our brothers, whose number is specified in the book, are complete!” All then that remain of Zion shall be called saints, when the Lord shall have washed away the defilement of his daughters of Zion by the spirit of wisdom and understanding. Ten arpents of vines will give one barrel and thirty muids of seed three measures. Who understands these words, nothing for eternity will shake him. Let him who has ears hear what the spirit of the doctrine says to the sons of discipline about the captivity of Babylon, which lasted seventy years and which the philosophers designate by these words:
CHAPTER NINE
THE FOURTH PARABLE: THE FAITH OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, WHICH IS BASED ON THE TERNARY NUMBER
To him who will have accomplished the will of my father, thrown this world into the world, I will yield a place at my side on the throne of my kingdom far above the seat of David and those of the tribes of Israel. This is the will of my father, so that it may be known that it is he, and no one else, the true God, he who gives to all with generosity and without skimping, to all nations in truth; that his son is his only son, God born of God and light born of light; that his Holy Spirit is born of the father and the son, and that in divinity he is their equal.
In the father dwells eternity, in the son similarity; the Holy Spirit is eternity and the bond of sameness. Now, just as it is said, "Like father, like son, like also the Holy Spirit", just as these three persons are one, so also — this is what the philosopher means — body, mind and soul are one: all perfection therefore rests on the ternary number, in conformity with number, weight and measure. On the other hand, the father was born from nothing, the son was born from the father, the Holy Spirit from both.
To the father belongs the wisdom which governs and orders everything in its leniency, whose decrees are unfathomable and whose ways incomprehensible. The son returns to the truth: when he appeared, he assumed nothingness, both God in perfection and man, with his flesh of man and his soul of reason; by following the precept of the father and with the support of the Holy Spirit, he restored a world lost by the sin of our parents. Goodness is entrusted to the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to him, what is earthly becomes heavenly, triply: by his flow, by blood, by the flames indeed he baptizes. First of all, by its flow, it animates and washes, it chases away all miasma from souls, it cleans all harmful vapours, as it is written: "You fertilize the waters, by vivifying the souls".
Water, in fact, is the food of everything that grows: when it descends from the sky, it saturates the earth, it gives the earth the strength that allows it to master all metals; the earth therefore always implores water, and it says: “Send your breath (meaning: water), so that creation may begin, so that the face of the earth may be renewed”; for God sends the spirit to the earth, he makes it tremble, he touches the mountains and he makes them smoke. By the baptism of blood then, the Holy Spirit nourishes, as it is written: "The water of saving wisdom has made me drink" and "his blood is true food".
The seat of the soul is in the blood, as Senior says: "The soul of which we speak dwelt in the water, in which all life rests, that water which now resembles the soul in heat and humidity. Lastly, by the baptism of flames, the Holy Spirit infuses the soul and brings about the perfection of life: the fire gives form and fills everything, as it is said: "Then Yahweh breathed into his nostrils the breath of life , and the man, from death that he was, became a living soul”.
The philosophers bear witness to these three operations: water protects the fetus for three months in the womb; the air nourishes it in the following three months, and the fire keeps it during the last three months. The child will never see the light of day until these months are consumed; only then he is born and the sun nourishes him, he who gives life to all that is dead. This is why it is said that the Holy Spirit, thanks to the perfection of his sevenfold gifts, possesses, when he acts on earth, seven virtues. First of all: it warms the earth, dead of cold and parched, like lime.
The prophet on this subject: "My heart burned in me, by my operation, the fire began to blaze".
In the book of the quintessence, we read: “Fire, by its heat, which penetrates and which subtilizes, consumes the earthly particles which are too material and too insubstantial. As long as it is nourished, it continues its action, for it seeks to imprint its form on the passive substance”! Caled Minor adds: "Warm the cold with warmth from elsewhere!" Senior: "Put the male on the female, the hot on the cold!"
Second: the spirit extinguishes the intense fire, threatening by its very conflagration.
The prophet on this subject: “A fire is kindled in the synagogue, a flame kindles the renegades on earth”; this fire, the spirit extinguishes it in the name of the very equilibrium which engenders it: the ardor results in fact from an equilibrium. Caled Minor: “Quench the fire of one with the frigidity of another!”
Avicenna: "The first thing that is released is the conflagration, and this conflagration releases an igneous virtue, which is sweeter and more worthy than that of the other elements".
Third: the spirit softens, it liquefies the hardness of the earth, dissolving the parts that are too dense, too compact, as it is written: “The rain of the holy spirit melts”.
And the prophet: "He will send his word, he will melt, his spirit will breathe, and the waters will flow."
In the quintessence book, we read that the air will open the pores of the earth, to gather the virtue of fire and water.
It is said elsewhere: "It is the woman who dissolves the man, and the man who fixes the woman, the spirit dissolves the body, it softens it, while the body gives it hardness".
Fourth: the spirit illumines, after driving out the darkness, as the hymn says, "Dispel the terrifying darkness from our spirit, illumine the senses!"
And the prophet, "He guided them all night with a glow of fire," and the night will shine like the day. As for Senior: "He will whiten all blackness, and redden all whiteness, because water whitens and fire illuminates". It has the brilliance of the ruby, thanks to the spirit of dye, which procured for it the igneous virtue: also the fire is given the name of: dyer.
In the Peat of the Philosophers, it is written: the clouds, when they have whitened the surface, they will also certainly whiten the private parts.
And Morien: “We have already discarded blackness and created whiteness, with natrum, that is to say with the spirit”. Fifth: the spirit separates the pure from the impure, removing from the soul all accidents, harmful vapors and stench, as it is written: "Fire separates the heterogeneous to pile up the homogeneous".
The prophet: "You have searched me with fire and found no iniquity in me."
Hermes: “You will separate the dense from the subtle, the earth from the fire”.
Alphidius: “The earth liquefies and it turns into water. The water liquefies and it turns into air, the air liquefies, and it turns into fire, the fire in its turn liquefies, and it is converted into glorified earth”.
Razi, him, specifies that the implementation of the perfect preparation is preceded by a certain purification of the bodies, which some call treatment, or purification, others, rectification, enema or still separation. This spirit indeed, whose office is sevenfold, separates the pure parts from the impure parts, so that the work may be accomplished thanks to the pure parts, after the rejection of the impure parts.
This is what Hermes alludes to in his secret, in the sentence: "You will separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the dense". Sixth: the spirit exalts what is below, when it brings to the surface the deep soul, hidden in the viscera of the earth.
The prophet: "It is you who snatched my soul from the abyss of hell". Isafe “The spirit of the Lord has exalted me”.
The philosophers: "Anyone who manifests the occult knows the work in its totality, whoever knows our cinnabar, our fire, he is our philosopher”.
Morien: "He who will have raised his soul, will see his colors".
Alphidius: “If the vapor does not rise, it will be of no use to you, because the whole work passes through it, it is done with it, and in it”. Seventh and finally the spirit inspires, since it makes the earthly body spiritual, as we read in this hymn: "By your inspiration, spiritualize men!"
Solomon: “The Spirit of God has filled the universe”.
The prophet: "All their power emanates from the breath of his mouth".
Razi in Light of Lights: "Heavy can only be lifted with the help of the light, light can only be lowered with the help of the heavy."
In the Peat: “Make the bodies incorporeal, the fixed volatile. Our spirit completes and accomplishes all this, for he alone can purify what the impure seed has conceived”.
Doesn't the Scripture say, "Wash, purify yourselves"?
And the messenger to Naaman: "Go and bathe yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will recover its purity".
There is in fact only one baptism, to wash away sins, faith and the prophet are the witnesses. Let him who has ears hear what the Holy Spirit of doctrine says to the sons of discipline, about the sevenfold virtue of the Holy Spirit, which allows the fulfillment of all Scripture, what the philosophers say with these words: "Seven times, distil, you will thus remove the corrupting humidity". and your flesh will recover its purity”.
There is in fact only one baptism, to wash away sins, faith and the prophet are the witnesses. Let him who has ears hear what the Holy Spirit of doctrine says to the sons of discipline, about the sevenfold virtue of the Holy Spirit, which allows the fulfillment of all Scripture, what the philosophers say with these words: "Seven times, distil, you will thus remove the corrupting humidity". and your flesh will recover its purity”.
There is in fact only one baptism, to wash away sins, faith and the prophet are the witnesses. Let him who has ears hear what the Holy Spirit of doctrine says to the sons of discipline, about the sevenfold virtue of the Holy Spirit, which allows the fulfillment of all Scripture, what the philosophers say with these words: "Seven times, distil, you will thus remove the corrupting humidity".
CHAPTER TEN
THE FIFTH PARABLE: THE TREASURE BUILT BY WISDOM ON THE ROCK
She has built her house, Wisdom, whoever enters it will be saved, he will find his pasture there.
The prophet testifies to this: "They are drunk with the fat of your house, for a day in your courts is worth a thousand".
How happy are the inhabitants of this house! Who in it asks, receives, who seeks finds: knock, and it will be opened to you. It is that Wisdom stands at the door, and she says: “I am at the door, and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house so that we can have supper together”. How great is the profusion of your sweetness, you have reserved it for those who will enter this house: yet the eye has not perceived it, the ear has not heard it, nothing is mounted in the heart of man. Holiness, longevity to those who open this house, it has its foundations on rock.
But this rock, only the best goat's blood can split it, or else, the triple blow of the branch of Moses: the waters then gush forth in abundance, and the entire community drinks, men and women. They will no longer be hungry or thirsty. He whose house science opens will find within an inexhaustible fountain, living water and youth, whose baptism will bring salvation and prevent decay.
Unfortunately, few are those who are capable of it: they are children, and they are aware of it!
When they have communicated their teaching, when they have mastered the thrones, those of the twenty-four elders — they are worthy of it and they have the capacities for it —, face to face, and eye to eye, they will be able to contemplate the clarity whole of the sun and the moon; without the help of the old men, they will be able to do nothing.
Those who have the keys of the kingdom of heaven will have everything they have bound and loosed: it will be so! Everywhere, wherever he goes, they will follow the lamb. Now the decoration of this house cannot be described: its vestibules, its walls are of the purest gold, its portals shine with pearls, with the most precious gems, the house has fourteen corner stones, which designate the fourteen virtues. which provide its foundations.
First virtue: health, of which the prophet says: "He who heals broken hearts and bandages their wounds", and the philosophers: "His user preserves the vigor of the body".
Second virtue: humility, of which it is written: “Because he cast his eyes on the humility of his servant, all generations will henceforth call me blessed”.
And the prophet: "The Lord straightens up those who are bowed down."
Aristotle to Alexander "With this stone, it is not good to fight".
And Alphidius “The Wisdom of the humble man will attain perfection”.
Third virtue: holiness.
Of her the prophet says: "Holiness and magnificence in her sanctification."
And Alphidius "Know that you will not be able to acquire this knowledge, as long as you have not purified your spirit for God nor destroyed in your heart all corruption".
La Tourbe: “I renounced pleasures, I begged God; so that he would show me 'this pure water, which I know to be only vinegar'.
Fourth virtue: chastity.
We read about him: "If I love him, I will be pure, when I touch him, I will be chaste".
Her mother is a virgin, her father has not slept with her, because it is a virgin's milk that feeds him!
Avicenna in Minerals: "Certain clever minds use a water, which has the name: virgin's milk.
Fifth virtue: energy. It is said of her that she is the ornament of the soul.
Hermes: "He collects the energy of the higher and lower planets, his energy penetrates all that is solid".
In the treatise on the quintessence: “Never enough will I admire this celestial energy which you will have inserted and infused into it”.
John in the Apocalypse: "To the overcomer I will give the hidden manna, the new name pronounced by the mouth of the Lord".
In the book on the quintessence: "When the stone of victory is realized, I will teach how to manufacture thanks to it, from its material, emeralds, jaspers, true chrysolites, more perfect and superior in color, in substance, in virtue, to natural stones”.
Seventh virtue: faith, about which we read: “It is faith that saves; without her, no one can acquire salvation”.
To have faith is to understand the invisible.
Peat: "It is invisible like the soul in the body", and: "Two elements are visible, earth and water, two invisible, air and fire".
Paul: “He who believes in him will not be confounded; for the unbelievers, the stone is a stumbling block, a rock that makes you fall”.
And the Gospel: “He who does not believe is already condemned”. Eighth virtue: hope, of which it is said: “A lively hope brings joy, hope is guaranteed a happy ending”.
Morien: “Hope, hope again, you will get there”.
The prophet: "Trust him, people, at all times, our fathers put their hope in him, and they were set free".
Ninth virtue: charity, of which the Apocalypse says: "Charity endures everything, it does nothing wrong", and the Evangelist: “I love those who love me, my friend, he is the one whose love never ceases”.
And Alphonse: “The true friend is the one who doesn't bring you down when the whole century has failed you”.
And Grégoire: “The proof of love is the revelation of the work”.
Job: "All that a man has, he will give it up for his soul, that is, for this stone".
Who sows sparingly, reaps the same! To share the consolation, you must first share the sufferings.
Tenth virtue: kindness, of which it is said: “Do you not know that kindness leads you to repentance? He is a good judge who renders to each according to his works”. Kindness returns good for evil, the maximum for the minimum, when benevolence alone returns good for good, for little for little.
Eleventh virtue: patience, of which it is said: “Learn patience, if you desire victory!
And the apostle: "By patience, and by the consolation of the Scriptures, let us have hope!"
Morien: "Let the impatient keep his hands away from the work!"
Caled Minor: “There are three necessities: patience, circumspection, technical skill”.
And the apostle: "Be patient, for the coming of the Lord is near!"
Twelfth virtue: balance, of which it is written that it nourishes everything, that it promotes everything, that it is the universal guarantor of health. As long as the elements keep balance, the soul is happy in the body. In case of disagreement, she hates her stay. Balance, in fact, is the reciprocal mixing of the elements, the cold tempers the hot, the humid the dry. The philosophers have put all their zeal into avoiding any excess of one over the other, and they say "Avoid the escape of the arcane, prevent the vinegar from going up in smoke, avoid chasing the king and his wife with an excess of fire, beware of anything that exceeds measure, put it on the fire of putridness, in other words of balance , up to the spontaneous junction”.
Thirteenth virtue: spiritual discipline, or intelligence, of which the apostle says “The letter kills, the spirit gives life.
Renew yourselves by a spiritual transformation, and put on the new man, let us understand the subtle intelligence”. If your intelligence is spiritual, you are sure to know the spirit. Let each of you examine his own work, let him examine whether it serves perfection or destruction! Man reaps what he sows. O, the legion of those who do not understand the sayings of the wise! It was their stupidity that caused them to perish, the intelligence of the spirit failed them, they found nothing but pain.
Fourteenth stone: obedience, of which it is written: "Be obedient to your superiors, as Christ was in obedience to the father, and this until death!" Obey therefore the precepts and sayings of the wise, all their promises will then obey you, and they will come true with the consent of the Lord God. Let him who has ears hear what the spirit of doctrine says to the sons of discipline, concerning this house which Wisdom has set on fourteen corner stones! Twenty-four elders will open it with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Senior declares it in the prologue of his book, where he explained what the eagle of the roof is, and the figures of the different properties, on the walls of side.
Alphidius spoke in his book of the treasure house, which four keys can open, the keys of the four elements. Senior states this in the prologue to his book, where he explained what the roof eagle is, and the figures of the different properties, on the side walls.
CHAPTER ELEVENTH
THE SIXTH PARABLE: THE HEAVEN, THE WORLD, AND THE SITES OF THE ELEMENTS
He who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks earthly; he who comes from heaven surpasses all. Here already, the earth is seen as the principle of the elements.
The heavens, on the other hand, refer to the higher elements. It is therefore appropriate to speak a little about the earth and the sky, since this is the principle and the mother of the different elements, as the prophet testifies: "A long time ago you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands,” the heavens, that is, water, air, and fire. After their death, the elements separate from the earth.
They return there to be quickened. It is that the agent of the composition of a body is also the place of its resolution, witness the holy word: “Man is ashes, and will return to ashes”. It is this ash that the philosophers have learned to mix with permanent water, which is the ferment of gold.
Their gold is the body, this earth that Aristotle says coagulates, because it coagulates water. It is this land of the holy promise, in which Hermes ordered gold to be sown, so that a rain of life would rise from it, this warming water, as Senior says: "When they wanted to extract this divine water, which is fire, they heated it thanks to their fire which is water, this fire, they regulated it until its end, and they hid it because of the foolishness of the fools”.
The philosophers in fact have sworn never to speak of it clearly in any of their writings, they have abandoned to the God of glory the care of revealing it or forbidding it to whoever he wishes, he who conceals great wisdom and the obscure mysteries of the wise. Now when the heat of this fire reaches the earth, the earth will dissolve, it will begin to bubble, to turn into vapor, before returning to its first terrestrial form.
This water, it therefore moved the earth, and the heavens melted above it, they became everywhere mellifluous, and they told the glory of God. This glory, only he knows who understands how the heavens were made of earth, and the earth remains for eternity, while the heavens are based on it, as the prophet testifies: "You are the one who laid the land on the foundations, unshakable for ever and ever.
You cover the abyss like a garment. The waters, the fiery air, stood on the mountains. The birds of the skies will make their stay there. They will water the earth with the superior elements, so that it may be satisfied with the fruit of their works. It is that the seven planets have plunged their roots into the center of the earth, and they have deposited their energies there. The earth is therefore water which causes all kinds of colors and fruits to sprout, it produces bread, wine which fills the body of man with joy, grass for animals and plants for the use of humans.
This earth, I say, made the moon to mark time. Then very early the sun rose when the Sabbath was past, it followed this darkness that you placed on earth before sunrise it was night. Tonight, all the beasts of the forests will roam it, because they have a limit not to cross until whiteness. In this order, they will persevere until redness, because everything is at the service of the earth. All who walk it will live to be seventy years old, for the earth bears everything, by the verb of his divinity, as it is written in the Peat of the Philosophers: "Weighted, the earth bears everything, it serves as the foundation of the whole sky, for it revealed its aridity when the elements were separated". It is then that a free passage is formed in the Red Sea, that great and spacious sea which shook the rock: and from the rock sprang forth the metallic waters. Then the rivers disappeared in the dry sand, the rivers that gladden the city of God. That which is mortal will then have put on immortality, and the corruption of that which lives incorruptibility. In the universe will come true the words of Scripture:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where is it, O death, your victory? Where sin multiplied, grace abounded all the more”.
As all die in Adam, all also will live again in Christ, for, death having come from a man, it is through a man, Jesus, that the resurrection of the dead comes. Adam and his sons took their origin from the corruptible elements, it is necessary that the compound be corrupted; the second Adam, who is called: philosophical man, started from the pure elements, to pass to eternity.
What consists of a simple and pure essence remains for eternity. It is Senior who says it: "There is only one thing which never dies, because it perseveres in perpetual increase, when the body will have been glorified at the resurrection of the dead on the last day: so faith testifies- her of the resurrection of the body and of eternal life after death. Then the second Adam will say to the first Adam and to his sons: "Come, blessed ones of my father, inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the beginning of the operation, eat the bread that is mine and drink the wine that I have prepared for you, because everything is ready for your coming”.
Let him who has ears hear what the spirit of the doctrine says to the sons of discipline, about the earthly Adam, about the celestial Adam, about what the philosophers allude to with these words: "When you possess water springing from the earth, air springing from the water, fire from the air and earth from the fire, you will possess the fullness and perfection of our art”.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE SEVENTH PARABLE: THE CONVERSATION OF THE TWO LOVERS
The beloved: — Turn to me with all your heart, do not repudiate me, black and swarthy as I am! It's the sun that burned me, and the abyss that covered my face!
Through my operations, the earth has known infection and defilement. It is because darkness has mastered it, for in the mire of the abyss I sink, and my substance has not been opened. From the depths therefore I have cried, from the abyss of the earth, to all of you who pass the way. Pay attention, look at me, and if anyone ever sees my like, I will give him the morning star. In the night, on my couch, I sought consolation. I did not find it. I called. I did not get any answer.
The beloved: — So I'll get up. I will enter the city. In the streets, through the squares, I will go in search of a wife, a modest virgin, beautiful in face and body, well made, well dressed. It is she who will roll away the stone that closes the entrance to my tomb. It is she who will give me wings like a dove, with her I will fly to the heavens, and I will say: “Eternally I live, in her I rest, she stands at my right hand under the golds of Ophir!
» Listen, my daughter, look and listen to my supplications: with all the desire of my heart I seek your beauty. In my language, I say: “Reveal to me my end and the measure of my days, that I know my fragility, because with a span you made my days, and before you my substance is nothing”. It is you who will enter by the ear, will pass my territory, I will put on a purple robe, which will come from both of us. Like the bridegroom coming out of his pavilion, I will advance.
You will adorn me with springtime and sparkling gems, you will clothe me with garments of salvation and glory, so that I can put nations and all enemies out of action, you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated.
O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words.
Like the bridegroom coming out of his pavilion, I will advance. You will adorn me with springtime and sparkling gems, you will clothe me with garments of salvation and glory, so that I can put nations and all enemies out of action, you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals.
This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated. O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words.
Like the bridegroom coming out of his pavilion, I will advance. You will adorn me with springtime and sparkling gems, you will clothe me with garments of salvation and glory, so that I can put nations and all enemies out of action, you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated.
O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. you will clothe me with garments of salvation and glory, so that I may put nations and all enemies out of action, you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated. O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness!
You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. you will clothe me with garments of salvation and glory, so that I may put nations and all enemies out of action, you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated.
O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated.
O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. you will gird me with a crown of gold marked with the sign of holiness; You will encircle me with a robe of justice, you will pledge your ring to me, you will put on me golden sandals. This is what she will do, my friend, perfect, in her great beauty, in her charm, oh delights, she whom the daughters of Sion, queens and concubines, have seen and celebrated.
O queen on high, come, run, friend and wife, tell your beloved who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. come, friend and wife, tell your loved one who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words. come, friend and wife, tell your loved one who you are, tell your qualities and your greatness! You will not be silent about Zion, about Jerusalem you will not stop talking to me, because your beloved hears your words.
The beloved: — Listen to this, nations, hear, inhabitants of the earth! My beloved, ruddy, has spoken. He begged and he was heard. I am the flower of the fields and the lily of the valleys, I am the mother of beautiful love, of knowledge and of holy hope.
I am the vine with fragrant fruit, my flowers are flowers of honor and honesty. I am the bed where my beloved rests, sixty valiant men surround him, sword at his side, for they fear the terrors of the night.
All beautiful I am, spotless, I watch through the windows and I spy through the latticework of my beloved, I hurt his heart with a single glance and with a single hair on the back of my neck. Because I am the perfume of ointments, and the best of perfumes, cinnamon, balsam and chosen myrrh. I am the very chaste virgin, I rise like the dawn, glowing, elected like the sun and beautiful like the moon, without what is behind the veil.
I am upright cedar and cypress of Mount Zion, crown with which my beloved will gird me, on my wedding day, on the day of jubilation, for my name is an overturned vial of perfume. David's slingshot, the stone of which ripped out Goliath's big eye and even ended up chopping off his head. Scepter of the house of Israel and key of Jesse: it opens and no one closes, it closes and no one opens. Chosen vineyard to which the father of the family sent the laborers, at the first, at the second, at the third, at the sixth, at the ninth hour, saying: "You also go to my vineyard, and I will give you wages fair at the twelfth hour!” Land of holy promise, milk and honey flow there, and it bears in its time the sweetest fruits.
Also the philosophers have recommended to sow in me their gold, their silver, their grain that nothing consumes. Unless the grain falls into me and dies, it remains alone; if it dies, it bears much fruit. Three times as much, and good for three reasons.
First: the grain will fall into good ground, land of pearls.
Second: he will fall into a better land: a land full of leaves.
Third: he will fall in the best of lands, a land of gold; a thousand times then the harvest will be multiplied!
Now the fruits of this grain will be used to bake the bread of life, which comes from heaven. Whoever eats this bread forever will be satisfied; of this bread the poor shall eat, and they shall be satisfied; they shall praise the Lord, those who seek him, and their hearts shall live forever.
So I give and I don't take back, I nurture and never lose heart, I protect and never fear. What then shall I say to my beloved? I am the mediator of the elements, I reconcile opposites. I cool what is hot, and vice versa. I moisten what is dry, and vice versa. I soften what is hard, and vice versa. I am the term. My beloved is the principle. In me are hidden the whole work and all the science, the law in the priest, the word in the prophet, the advice in the wise. I will give life and I will kill, and from my hand no one can deliver.
To my beloved I extend my lips, he pressed his against me, he and I are one who will separate us from love?
Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! What then shall I say to my beloved?
I am the mediator of the elements, I reconcile opposites. I cool what is hot, and vice versa. I moisten what is dry, and vice versa. I soften what is hard, and vice versa. I am the term. My beloved is the principle.
In me are hidden the whole work and all the science, the law in the priest, the word in the prophet, the advice in the wise. I will give life and I will kill, and from my hand no one can deliver. To my beloved I extend my lips, he pressed his against me, he and I are one who will separate us from love? Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! What then shall I say to my beloved?
I am the mediator of the elements, I reconcile opposites. I cool what is hot, and vice versa. I moisten what is dry, and vice versa. I soften what is hard, and vice versa. I am the term. My beloved is the principle. In me are hidden the whole work and all the science, the law in the priest, the word in the prophet, the advice in the wise. I will give life and I will kill, and from my hand no one can deliver.
To my beloved I extend my lips, he pressed his against me, he and I are one who will separate us from love? Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! I soften what is hard, and vice versa. I am the term. My beloved is the principle. In me are hidden the whole work and all the science, the law in the priest, the word in the prophet, the advice in the wise. I will give life and I will kill, and from my hand no one can deliver. To my beloved I extend my lips, he pressed his against me, he and I are one who will separate us from love?
Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! I soften what is hard, and vice versa. I am the term. My beloved is the principle. In me are hidden the whole work and all the science, the law in the priest, the word in the prophet, the advice in the wise. I will give life and I will kill, and from my hand no one can deliver. To my beloved I extend my lips, he pressed his against me, he and I are one who will separate us from love? Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! he and I are one that will separate us from love? Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death! he and I are one that will separate us from love? Nobody, no strength. It's because our love is as strong as death!
The beloved: — O beloved, loved more than loved, sweet is your voice and it is melody to me. Your perfume exceeds that of the richest ointments. How beautiful is your face! Your breasts more beautiful than wine, my wife, my sister, your eyes, pools of Heshbon, your golden hair and your ivory cheeks! Your cratered belly, full of wine, your clothes whiter than snow and clearer than milk, redder than an old ivory, your whole body delectable and desirable to everyone!
Daughters of Jerusalem, run and see, tell what you have seen, say, what will we do to our sister, she is small and her breasts are not yet formed on the day of the meeting! In her I will deposit all my strength, I will seize her fruits and her breasts will be like bunches of grapes! Come, my beloved, we will go out into your countryside, we will delay in your farms, in the morning, we will go up to the vineyard, because the night has advanced and it is very close, the day! Let's see if the vine is budding and if the flowers are bearing fruit! There you will entrust your breasts to my lips, for you I have kept all my fruits, new and old alike.
We will enjoy it, we will use our goods with the ardor of youth. Let us intoxicate ourselves with wine and perfumes, let no flower pass without it having served us as a crown, the lilies, then the roses, before they fade! Not a meadow that our orgy will not avoid! None will be missed! Everywhere we will leave signs of jubilation, because this is our part. Let us enjoy our loving coupling, and let us cry out in the joy of our dance: “Behold, how sweet, how pleasant it is to live two in one! So let us pitch three tents, for our use, the first for you, the second for me, the third for our sons! A triple rope resists better!”.
Let him who has ears hear what the spirit of the doctrine says to the sons of discipline, of the maintenance of the two lovers! It was that he had sown his seed, to ripen a triple fruit, of which Calid, the author of the three words said: "These are three precious words, they conceal the secret of all science, they must be entrusted to men of piety, that is to say, to the poor, from the first to the last of men”. END