Corpus Hermetica

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made any should be more ancient than all, but only that which is not made.
8. He is stronger, and One, and only knowing all things indeed, as not having any thing more ancient than
himself.
9. For he bears rule, both over multitude, and greatness, and the diversity of the things that are made, and the
continuity of the Facture and of the Operation.
10. Moreover, the things that are made, are visible, but he is invisible; and for this cause, he maketh them,
that he may be visible; and therefore he makes them always.
11. Thus it is fit to understand and understanding to admire and admiring to think thy self happy, that
knowest thy natural Father.
12. For what is sweeter than a Natural Father?
13. Who therefore is this, or how shall we know him?
14. Or is it just to ascribe unto him alone, the Title and Appellation of God, or of the Maker, or of the Father,
or of all Three? That of God because of his Power; the Maker because of his Working and Operation; and the
Father, because of his Goodness.
15. For Power is different from the things that are made, but Act or Operation, in that all things are made.
16. Wherefore, letting go all much and vain talking, we must understand these two things, That Which is
Made, and Him Which is the Maker; for there is nothing in the middle, between these Two, nor is there any
third.
17. Therefore understanding All things, remember these Two; and think that these are All things, putting
nothing into doubt; neither of the things above, nor of the things below; neither of things changeable, nor
things that are in darkness or secret.
18. For All things, are but two Things, That which Maketh, and that which is Made, and the One of them
The Seventeenth Book. To Asclepius, to be Truly Wise. 60
The Corpus Hermetica
cannot depart, or be divided from the Other.
19. For neither is it possible that the maker should be without the thing made, for either of them is the
self-same thing; therefore cannot the One of them be separated from the other, no more than a thing can be
separated from itself.
20. For if he that makes be nothing else, but that which makes alone, Simple, Uncompounded, it is of
necessity, that he makes the same thing to himself, to whom it is the Generation of him that maketh to be also
All that is made.
21. For that which is generated or made, must necessarily be generated or made by another, but without the
Maker that which is made, neither is made, nor is; for the one of them without the other, hath lost his proper
Nature by the privation of the other.
22. So if these Two be confessed, That which maketh, and that which is made, then they are One in Union,
this going before, and that following.
23. And that which goeth before, is, God the Maker, and that which follows is, that which is made, be it what
it will.
24. And let no man be afraid because of the variety of things that are made or done, lest he should cast an
aspersion of baseness, or infamy upon God, for it is the only Glory of him to do, or make All things.
25. And this making, or facture is as it were the Body of God, and to him that maketh or doth, there is
nothing evil, or filthy to be imputed, or There is Nothing thought Evil or Filthy.
26. For these are Passions that follow Generation as Rust doth Copper, or as Excrements do the Body.
27. But neither did the Copper-smith make the Rust, nor the Maker the Filth, nor God the Evilness.
28. But the vicissitude of Generation doth make them, as it were to blossom out; and for this cause did make
Change to be, as one should say, The Purgation of Generation.
29. Moreover, is it lawful for the same Painter to make both Heaven, and the Gods, and the Earth, and the
Sea, and Men, and brute Beasts, and inanimate Things, and Trees; and is it impossible for God to make these
things? O the great madness, and ignorance of men in things that concern God!
30. For men that think so, suffer that which is most ridiculous of all; for professing to bless and praise God
yet in not ascribing to him the making or doing of All things, they know him not.
31. And besides their not knowing him, they are extremely impious against him, attributing unto him
Passions, as Pride, or Oversight, or Weakness, or Ignorance, or Envy. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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