CMCD OF HERMES HYMNS THE ECHOES BY GNOSIS BT 1390 .M44 1906 FROM THE MEAD VOL.11. G.R.S. v.2 c. 1 ROBARTS . . .THE HYMNS OF . . . HERMES. .DID JESUS I^IVE ioo B. (2 vols.) - ..) FRAGMENTS OF A FAITH FORGOTTEN APOI..C. AND THE GOSPELS .WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR THRICE GREATEST HERMES (3 vols.ONIUS OF TYANA THE GOSPEI.PLOTINUS THE UPANISHADS Net.I. ? .. 307- 10/6 3/6 4/6 p/I/ 3/- .... ECHOES FROM THR GNOSIS MEAD VOL n G R BY S THE HYMNS OF HERMES THE SOCIETY THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING LONDON AND BENARES 1907 . . LONDON.PRINTED BY PERCY LUND. AND 97. AMEN CORNER. I . MANCHESTER. BRIDGE STREET. HUMPHRIES A CO. LTD.. E. BRADFORD. 8.G. THE COUNTRY PRESS.. M. is proposed to publish drawn from. and who long for the light of gnostic illumination. the stepping-stones to higher things. so as to make more easily audible for the ever-widening circle of those who love such of the mystic experiences and things. but who are not sufficiently equipped to study the writings of the ancients at first hand. more difficult literature of and it is they even may become heard of hoped that at the same time for some. not Gnosis. S. initiatory some echoes are many who love the life of the spirit. or based the mystic. who have. are therefore These little volumes the intended to serve as introduction to the study of the subject. There lore of their spiritual ancestry. or to follow the labours of scholars unaided. . G. Under this general title it a series of small volumes.ECHOES FROM THE GNOSIS. of the ancients. theosophic and gnostic writings upon. R. as yet. 1906). .HYMNS OF HERMES CONTENTS PAGE THE SERVICE OF SONG 9 30 A TRIPLE TRISAGION A HYMN TO ALL-FATHER GOD SECRI-. (London. 3 with Prolegomena. THE HYMNODY . vols. Commtntaries and Notes. A HYMN OF GRACE FOR GNOSIS A SONG OF PRAISE TO THE ^ON .T 44 57 71 . . Translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments the of Trismegistic Literature. 78 The in references in this \ olume are to the recently: published work Hellenistic Thrice Greatest Hermes Studies Being a Theosophy and Gnosis. THE HYMN OF JESUS. II.ECHOES Voi. GNOSIS MIND.. FROM THE OF THE GNOSIS THE Voi. THE CHALDEAN ORACLES. I. SOME PROPOSED SUBJECTS FOR FORTHCOMING VOLUMES THE VISION OP ARID^US.. THE HYMNS OP HERMES. A MITHRIAC LITURGY. SOME ORPHIC FRAGMENTS. . THE HYMN OP THE PRODIGAL. some which apparently were carried in the . the wisdom. he informs us further. discipline and multi farious arts and sciences of the Egyptian priesthood was contained in the Books of Hermes. who were distinguished by appropriate symbols of of music. were classified under forty-two heads and divided into a number of groups according to the various septs or divisions of the priests. In describing a certain sacred cere monial a procession of priests in their various orders Clement tells us that it was headed by a representative of the order of Singers. that is of Thoth. These Books.THE HYMNS OF HERMES* THE SERVICE OF SONG. Clement of Alexandria tells us that the whole of the religious philosophy that is. namely. and some of them are most noble out-pourings of the soul in praise of the majesty and transcendency of the Supreme. OF HERMES. and Encomia or Hymns in Praise of the Kings (iii. just as he was indubitably mistaken in thinking that they were collections lost the hymn-books But. alas scriptures. of course. are of Hermes. in terms that may be not unfavourably compared praise of the to us. to which Clement refers. Many specimens of similar hymns in with similar praise-giving in other great ! Gods are preserved to us in Egyptian inscriptions and papyri. hymns composed by a 10 single individual.hands and others embroidered on the . 222). two of the divisions of the Books of Hermes.M JriYMNb v robes. These Singers had to make themselves masters of.. He may. of Thoth. learn by heart. those which contained collec tions of Hymns in Honour of the Gods or of God. . that is. have been mistaken in so definitely designating them. Hermes. Thoth. they so felt the inadequacy discipline. in the change of Godtranslate names. ii .Thoth". as Jamblichus tells us. name which was to be common a ". they were forced to .". J5 s OF HERMES. held by the Egyptians that to all priests a is to say. ". as the inspirer of writings all sacred and the president of all priestly was. Thoth was thus the Oversoul of all and when some of the Greeks priests came to know better what the inner discipline of the true priestly mysteries connoted. ". by ". ". every priest as priest was Thoth.The grandiose conception of Thoth as the inspirer of all sacred writings and the teacher of all religion and philosophy was Egyptian and not Greek and it was but a sorry equivalent that could find in their own the Greeks pantheon when. . because he showed forth in his sacred office some characteristic or other of the Great Priest or Master Hierophant among the Gods whose earthly name was Thoth Tehuti. ". trained in Greek thought. This may perhaps 12 have been . scattered through the pages of the Trismegistic literature which have escaped the jealousy of an exclusive bibliolatry.". ".". through minds of the Hermes that Hymns I Egypt. this Thriceshall treat in greatest the present small volume hymns that were inspired by the still living tradition of what was best in the wisdom of ancient as ". that they qualified ". The main Gospel of the Trismegistic Gnosis is contained in a sacred sermon which bears in Greek the title Pcemanin . we have no collection of such hymns preserved to us and all we can do is to gather up the fragments that remain. But here again. ". unfortunately. this great ideal. HYMNS * P* am Hermes as a suitable equivalent Egyptian Hermes ". and set forth the fair speech of golden-tongued Hellas. dres. with the honorific of epithet It is Thrice-greatest.for the Egyptian name which designated OF HERMES.philosophised". : I. of Light and Life and Goodness.gt. it OF HERMES. or the Great of all Man or Mind.. / \ i- r . of the singlehearted lover of the Beautiful. And was so. Mind.the Greek transliteration of but from an Egyptian name (n. but Divine Humanity ". 50) originally T-&. Myself am present with . the inspirer wisdom and hierophant of all This majestic Reality or Essence of Certitude was conceived of as a limitless Presence. or Man-shepherd. in His instruction to one who a striving to reach the true self-conscious Hermes. the treatise itself it is manifest that ". spiritual initiations. which enwrapped the contemplative mind of the pious wor shipper of God or the Good. was understood by the Greek followers The Shepherd of this Gnosis to mean This Shep of Men.". herd was no man. and of the unwearied striver for the knowledge of the True. or Person.". grade of Poemandres declares ". : soul the Mind doth to the Gnosis Light. mount and guide all But on the pious it deed to men. And such a soul doth never tire in songs of praise to God and pouring blessing on ". conditions for reaching this consummation. men who gd. and chanting hymns. ". and by their pure lives. 14). (ii. so devoutly to be wished. ".. the pure and tnerci- and straightway they gain Gnosis win the Father s love and give Him thanks. HYM s n ly men an d ful. And Key. in word and its in imitation of Sire ". are here laid down sole : The 14 . invoking on Him blessings. and doing good all.OF HERMES. repeated the same instruction is practically in the sermon called The where we read ". of all things.". an To such My Presence doth become live piously. intent on Him with ardent love aid. phrases it . come to the good!".The good alone can know the Good even as one of the invocations to Hermes as the Good Mind. is that Pure which remains in itself. . Land ". ". ". The merciful alone can know the Merciful. the source of the infinite variety of the Divine Love. ". the balanced state. and is neither . 86). in the self-cultivated soil 15 . Thou altogether good. ". ".Thee I invoke! Come unto me. O Good. The pure alone can know the Pure and by Pure I think Hermes some times meant far more than is generally connoted by the term. (i. and is their simultaneous source and ending the Divine Justice. the mysterious something that reconciles all opposites. preserved in the Greek Magic Papyri. ".. : OF HERMES. To such the Divine Presence becomes an aid it is in the field of this Good too . alone. much nor too little it is the equili brium. or Womb being manifested for them in its reversed mode. the conscious contact with the Divine Pre sence which is thus effected. as indeed it is a hindrance for others. Divine Presence can HYMNS * t ^ie s pi r * tua-l nature and merciful nature of the good and pure man. by means of the con straints of Fate.OF HERMES. But when man reverses his own freewill mode and revolves with the motion of the heavenly spheres instead of spinning against them. stirs the 16 . before of of his life. or Right Will. so that from this Virgin of Virtue come to birth the true Man. of to their falling into greater ignorance and The soil must be cleared tares and ploughed. the may child of Freedom. but unknowingly . that the sow the self-con scious seeds of the heavenly Gnosis. Good To Will. limitation. the Divine Presence is also an aid. the many consider it a hindrance. to those who are still in ignorance of spiritual things. it can be sown. There is also a . . this is the basis of all liturgy even in their crudest forms in reflections sleeping writings are dealing with the self-con scious realization of true Gnostic Passion.whole nature to respond sunlight pours into the true heart of the man from all it wakes sides. even as He and that does to the dead Osirined unspoken speech is a continual praisegiving of right deeds. The singing of hymns on earth is the reflection of a the man heavenly mystery. THE OF HERMES. becoming articulate in praise and of a piety is that answers to the Divine and thus Indeed and or cult. The Great God gives speech to . and his heart answers from the dead and begins to speak true words. Before can really sing in proper tune 17 . spoken human words in hymns of thanks to God the liturgy responsible. speech. the heart in the Invisible. dreams of men s But the Trismegistic the where feeling has to be consciously transmuted into knowledge. hearts. sonable oblations shrieking. . to use the language of the ancient Egyptian myth. ". the members of his true body or heart has not yet been completed or perfected they are still. shall complete the taxis. ". The of ". scattered abroad. The Isis of his . and the New Man shall ing the last spiritual nature is still weeping and mourning. arise from the dead. ". by his Typhonic passions the limbs of his body of life are scattered in his body of death. only of his are harmonized and properly articulated that he has an instrument for cosmic It is ". crying. and so offering to God. rather singing articulately. the organ of Gnosis. await it were. when these limbs ". articulation ". cursing. Hitherto he has been sing ing out of tune. when the member. ". than ". or fit order. gathering them together.T VM s ^ e mus ^ have harmonized his lower nature and transformed it into cosmos OF HERMES. chaotically howling. rea ". or order. or band of his members. as day of the New Dawn. 18 . man is in two in ". of Rdvan. . g/ M HERMES. configured And therefore when this change of gnostic tendency is wrought. even as are his physical of every freedom as cosmicly one in all things. THE ". or rather transmuted into the God. man. the ". * ". It tells ". there a marvellous transmutation of the is whole nature.matters not whether the old us of the fourteen limbs of myth the dead Osiris. the energizings of the nature that has battled with God. or the later instruction speaks of the seven spheres of the creative Harmony that fashion forth the limbs music. and views them as each energizing in two modes. in order that what the anonymous writer of that mystic passions. so Divine Catastrophe may be precipitated. Man in limitation is two-fold. masterpiece finely calls The Dream ". and the Titan in him may be the more rapidly destroyed. ". He abandons his Typhonic limbs . according as the individual will of man goes with them or against them it all refers to the same mystery. and so gradually perfects a form that shall be capable of imaging forth the Perfect Man. according to our For the Divine Trismegistic tradition. we look upon them as born of powers that fight against God. that perpetually produces forms in substance for consciousness. but which now seem rags that he would inimical . . The natural energies that have been hitherto working through him uncon sciously.For though these passions now seem Devil.". are. nature of the natural energies of the Divine Harmony that mysterious En gine of Fate. and though OP HERMES. 20 . however. which is the seven-fold means of manifestation. they are not really evil they are the experiences in our VM to us to be of the ". in order that self-consciousness they have woven for him garments that have brought experience. Harmony is the creative instrument of the Divine Energy. as may come through to form birth. in the first stages of his gnostic birth. regarded by the neophyte. he .ain strip off. The subsequent beati fication is set forth in the following graphic declaration to arise from the downward mode of : ". as following on the stripping off of the vices of the soul. in order that he may put on new robes of power and majesty. THE OJ HERMES. with 21 all the energizing of Harmony stript from him. M now joyfully learning gnosticly to follow the plan of the Great Weaver. and so exchange the sackcloth of the slave for the raiment of the King. which are said of the the seven spheres of the energies Harmony of Fate. and so cheerfully unravels the rags of his past fine imperfections to reweave them into ". Though the new garments are from the same yarn and woven by the energies of the same loom. And the then. linen ". fit for King Osiris. This gnostic change is in our treatise described by the Great Mind teaching the little mind. the weaver is now labouring to he is change the texture and design . ". The ancient Egyptians divided man ". singing their songs of praise to ".OF HERMES. HYMNS cometn to tnat nature which belongs unto the Eighth. that are hymneth the Father. And then they. which Hermes characterizes as a pro cession of Fate.". This is the change of gnostic tendency that is wrought in the nature of one who passes from the stage of ordinary man. doth further hear the Powers who are above the nature that belongs unto the Eighth. This the good end for those who have gained Gnosis to be made one with God". and there with those .. go to the Father home of their own selves they make surrender of themselves to Powers. made coming there with joy like to them that sojourn there. 16). and thus becoming Powers they are in God. in a band. (ii. God in language of their own. . 22 . to that true manhood which leads finally to Godship. They who are there welcome his and he. the Divine shading and diffusing the but we generally translated power. 76). . earth s atmosphere shades and diffuses the solar rays (i.The words clothed Power refer. as ". into at least nine forms of manifestation. was formed the khaibit. or by whatever phrase we choose to name these categories of his natures. his proper is ". which in its regenerate life could assimilate itself to the glory of the Godhead. shadow though generally translated is perhaps the (i. or spheres of being. natures of man. have no description of it whereby we may and satisfactorily check the translation so I would suggest that the khaibit. or modes of existence.". consisting of a series of ethereal envelopes.. for Thoth. I believe. mystery to which our text refers. for in the teaching of Egypt. or luminous atmosphere. This was typified by the linen swathings of the mummy. ". at once ". ". Now ".. in THE JJp M HERMES. 89). to one of these the sekhem its flaming lustre. ". around the radiant being [perhaps the ren or name]. ". 23 . 24 .THE HYMNS Wisdom. even as in a certain sacred . 71).. wraps the spirit of the Justified .. who has ascended to clothe himself with the Robe of Glory.. It is the mystic description of a wonderful metamorphosis or transformation that is wrought in the inner nature of the The same mystery is shown forth in Master. the marvellous passage which describes the transfiguration of Jesus in the Gnostic gospel known as the Pistis Sophia.. ". ". . . r a million times in a garment of fine OF HERMES.". linen.proper Plutarch tells us that linen was worn by the priests on account of the colour which the flax in flower sends forth. Jesus act girt himself with a linen cloth which Tertullian characterizes as the ". (i. and who returns to the consciousness of his lower powers. ". which is of almost pure Egyptian tradition. or disciples. And garment of Osiris". ". 265). resembling the ethereal radiance that sur rounds the cosmos (i. clad in his Robe of Power.. one surpas The sing the other in infinite manner.They saw Jesus descending shining there was no measure to exceedingly . like to the light which came upon Jesus before he ascended into the heavens. sur passed the two below it. shining exceedingly . 8). 7. but they were of every figure and every type. some being more admirable than the others in infinite manner. for he shone more brightly than when he had ascended into the heavens. which was in the midst. nor were his rays of light equal together. excelled the first which was below it. was of three pure light And they every part at the third. THE the light which surrounded him. M rays his rays were without measure. so that it is impossible for any in this world to de scribe the light in which he was. and the same time.It degrees. 25 . He shot forth QF HERMES. second. and was very regular as to its own ". in were all ". light (pp. the most admirable of all. The first glory was placed below all. This vehicle was atomic and not molecular. . ". according to Platonic tradi tion. HYMNS ^^ S trip* 6 gl r y &. simple and not compound. with those that are he He now knows the language of nature. and therewith sings praise continually 26 hymneth the Father. the eighth. other light. which was the vehicle of the pure mind. spheres . was the text the I in the scale of the perfect ten. and he begins to sing in harmony with the ". In our Power ". eighth. ". very regular as to its own And so when this gnostic change is wrought in the man s inner nature there is an accompanying change effected in the substance of his very body. I believe. ninth and tenth spheres of glory ". ". clothed in his proper ". be referred to the powers of the seven spheres unified into one. ". based originally. same and not ".of the nature of the OF body of light HERMES. in all probability. think. to use the terms of present-day science.".". ". ".gt. must. on Egyptian tradition. ".".". of daimones and gods in their many grades. M They sing back to him and and what they sing him welcome give invisible. But already the man has begun to realize the freedom of the cosmos he has . As yet. read in the in the ".consciousness of the joy of life. But this is not all for higher still and higher. same the lover of such things Pistis may Powers Come unto Us when they welcome the returning exile on the Great Day of that name. . to feel himself a true cosmopolitan or world-citizen. how ever. Hymn of the ". there being many tongues of angels and archangels. sings the song of joy. the newly born cannot understand or bear. . are other choirs of Powers of even greater Sophia (p. transcendency who sing. for they sing in a language of their own. their song. beyond and yet beyond. and to thrill in harmony begun with the Powers. 17). and so singing hears the joyous songs of the Sons of God who form the first of the choirs in full THE He op HERMES. He experiences an . and so at last becoming a God was with the Great God in the Boat of service. the final Sacred Marriage when he will perform the great sacrifice. It is thus evident that our Hymns of Hermes are in direct contact with a life tradition which regarded the spiritual and as a perpetual service of song this is quite in keeping with the belief . whereby man grew like unto the Gods. consummation of longs OF HERMES. all that has ever been and is and and so one with God. the All will be and One. ". by union with Those alone who truly are. and of him ineffable union and for that the self make joyful surrender of all that he has been in separation. 28 . of the for the the Gods and rendering them pious The whole duty of man was thus conceived of as an utterance of or a continual singing of a true words of harmony of thought and word song and deed. to become. Egyptians that man was created sole purpose of worshipping ". ".THE removes all fear. part of our hymn consists divided by their subjects 29 .^Eons. and not the heavenly yet understanding that it was been made. HERMES. all by man earth-praising. of the terms of the nature of the Praise-giving Powers to which reference has just For. thinking in their ignorance that it was some hymn resembling those of earth.the millions of Years. was safe for ".". Poemappended to the and was evidently andres treatise. J F NS eternity. intended to give some idea in human The ". whether ex or animal. fervently desired to have revealed to them the words of this Song. as we shall see later the less instructed of the community on. liturgy. type of pressed stone. And now we will hymns preserved to the hymn-book first is of turn to the four us in Greek from this truly sacred ".". or Barque of the . by tree or The first of nine lines. in other words. Holy art Thou. Holy been art Thou. Who wiliest to be Holy art Thou. fects itself TRISAGION.". thus in the form of a three-fold Holy. of Whom All-nature hath made an Image.^ three groups. known and art known by Thine own. and we may thus. the Universal art Thou. ! ". Who didst by Word make Holy art to consist the things that are. Holy want of a proper title. God. God. God. ". A TRIPLE Holy Father. Whose Will per by means of its own Powers. for Holy. 30 . Trisagion. ! ". ". call it A Triple HYMNS m ". Thou. every sentence beginnin g with H ty art Thou It is OF HERMES. 31 . and with this Grace of Thine. more powerful than all Holy art THE OF HERMES. Thy Man would Thou. unspeakable. e en as Thou gavest him Thy full authority to be. Thou unutterable. Thou better than soul my reason s offerings pure. transcending all pre all eminence. Blessed Father. Holy art Thou. be as Thou art holy. my Brethren ne er of Gnosis fail and Thy Sons ! For this cause I witness. that I may give the Light to those in ignorance of the Race. and I bear holy I go to Life and Light. Whose Form Nature hath never made. ^ power. Holy Holy praise. Whose Name naught but the Silence can express I Accept and Give ear to me who pray that I may Gnosis which is our common being s nature and fill me with Thy Power. from heart for aye stretched up to Thee.Thou. art believe. Thou. art art Thou. Thee ". God by means of its own Powers. ". ". the Universals HERMES. perfects itself next praised as the Power or Potency of all things for Will is regarded by our Gnostics as the means by which the Deity reveals Himself unto Himself by the Great Act of perpetual Selfcreation of Himself in Himself. From is . For this Will is the Divine Love which is the means of Self-perfection. the source is Through Thee are all things when of all certitude initiates consummation and satisfaction. of and bliss. the JEomc Immensities.gt.". God &. God is first praised as the Father of the Universals. when God . O God. are all things ". or Supreme Mysteries that are plural yet one the Subsistencies of the Divine Being in the state of pure Divinity.art Father. . is thought of as Divine Fatherhood and God regarded as Divine Motherhood.". The Deity for ever Himself into His 32 own Mysteries. Holy art Thou. Thou &. Whose Will ".gt. that is of the Greatnesses of all things. that is by the Divine Sonship. no all The next three things. as Philo by and our Gnostics and others of the same ides. Holy art Thou.". surrender of themselves to Powers. the Christian Gnostic. OF HERMES. praise-givings celebrate 33 . or the Race of the Sons of God.". The Divine Purpose is God consummated in Self-knowledge.". in and thus becoming Powers they are God. longer separated one from another and for using divided senses and organs constitute the Intelligible Word they or Reason (Logos) which is also the of Intelligible World (Kosmos) or Order . and not an individual. The Sonship is a Race. as Basilto ". known and known by Thine . period phrase it. They are one with another. because they of the Sonship made have ceased from separation and have ". *NS He wills The Will of God is Gnostic be known. O art God. calls it. His own. Who willeth to be own. but only by is knowable.". The species. OF HERMES. as Plato calls her. the that in them which causes them to be what they are. The final trisagion sings the praise of 34 . for lack of enformation in space and time and sub stance of the Sensible Universe. because it is this Word or Reason that established the being of all things. the All-receiver or Nurse. All-nature and Form. the Ever-becoming which while Form is the Image of Eternity is the impression of the Divine Intel ligence. the Giver of Bliss. the essential reason of their being Allnature is the ground or substance of their being. or Cosmos of forms and three hypostases or hyparxes or subsistences of this mode of the Divine self-manifestation are suggested by the terms Word. but now in another mode the mode of manifestation or appropriate terms. trinity of what. who nourishes them. Bliss and Intelligence. Word is the Vice-regent of Being. .THE the same we may call Being. the source of all transformation . and metamorphosis. or Sige. this Silence. The the realization is for Gnosis. declaring the powerlessness of human speech adequately to sing the praise of God. for. The Name of God can be expressed by Silence alone. It is the continual raising of the tension of the whole nature whereby the man is drawn ever closer and closer to God. and it is the Divine Spouse alone who can give full expression to the Divine Son. or Divine Man. Therefore is it said that the sole fit liturgy.transcendency. the Logos. in the s God THE OF HERMES. as we known from the remains of the Christian ized Gnosis. rapt silence of ecstatic contemplation when alone he goes to the Alone. is the Spouse of God. the image of the Image. for the the state of Sonship. as Plotinus says. the Name or Logos of God. or service of God. the reason or logos which is the Divine prin ciple in man. is to be found in the offerings of reason alone. or self-consciousness of the common prayer of 35 . the traveller. 36 achieved by the descent of the Great Power upon him. by the Blessing of God s Goodwill. ment of the man s whole nature. as are all men. whereby he be comes the Fullness or Wholeness (Pleroma) the ^Eon or Eternity. who are ignorant of the Race of Wisdom. This is to be consummated by the fulfilOF HERMES. feels within him the certitude that he is indeed on the Way of Return.being which the Son has wit*1 the Father. And so in this ecstasy of praise. as he sings upon the Path of the Divine. but . The prayer is not for self but for others. who as yet do not know of the Glad Tidings of the Divine Sonship. that Charis or Grace or Love. that so the man may become the means of illumination for those still in dark ness. This is to be who nevertheless are. but which now becomes his Divine Spouse or Complement or Syzygy. which has been all along his Divine Mother. by the HYMNS completion of his insufficiency or im perfection (hystercma). brethren of the Christ and sons of God. Finally as God has been praised throughout in His nature of holiness. that is. the praise-giving of some lover of this Gnosis who had. ". THE HERMES. that is as most worshipful. or the Divine in man. and so been made a Hermes ". according to the Purpose and Commandment of the Father Who has destined him for this very end. as he expresses it. so that which has proceeded from Him. capable of interpreting the inner 37 .forward to the True Goal he is going to Light and Life. or Divine Father-Mother. meet to be adored. 19). indeed. the One Desirable. or come into conscious contact with the reality of his own Divine nature. now longs consciously to become of like nature with Him. praiseworthy and the object of all wonder. reached the Plain of Truth (i. the eternal fatherhood and motherhood that are ever united in the Good.. three in one. It is indeed a fair psalm this Hymn of Hermes. two in one and his face set . His Man. and bestowed on him power over all things. and of leading souls back from Death to Life a true psychIt matters little who wrote it . it may have borne this or that. his meaning of religion. all this is of consequence except for historians of the bodies of men. that has been mummified and laid in the tomb so many ages of lives that have been living deaths. He is telling us how it is possible for a man to learn to know God .op HERMES. have lived precisely or from some other to some other year. and so unfold the flower of his spiritual nature and unwrap the swathings of the im memorial heart of him. by first learning to know himself. name from little body may have been Egyptian or Greek or Syrian. What concerns us here more nearly is the outpouring of a we have here a man manifestly soul pouring forth from the fulness of his heart the profoundest experiences of his inmost life. agogue. it this year may to that. It is pass to our next found in a beautiful little 38 . And now we may hymn. father". Greek phantasia. The Phantasy of God is thus the Powei (Shakti in Sanskrit) of perpetual selfmanifestation or self-imagining. unless its we venture root-meaning to take this illusion in of Sport and Play . and is This the means whereby all comes into from the unmanifest existence or as our treatise phrases it That ". God of Though Unmanifest and to is most Manifest.son". a discourse Tat.". tion of its subject. Illusion ". ". title the enunciais THE HERMES. ". that ". : 39 . equivalent of ntdya is which. I have translated by thinking-manifest. ". term in English to represent it rightly. Hermes ". for in its highest sense the Creative Will. Maya is the Sport the World-Drama of or God The in activity.treatise which bears as ". for lack of a single ". The subject of this sermon is mys terious manifestation of the Divine Energy which is now so well known by the Sans krit term Maya.". so erroneously trans lated into English as ".. ". ". nay. He is and things that are ". for ". many body. or rather in our eternal nature. ". 104). He of all Naught is there which are He. one of every ". and so be said to create out of nothing 40 He may as far . rather. ".. ". and He is all He (ii. are He hath made manifest. the as well. From the things that are not He ". and all that are not in our consciousness. both things that are not. is not. He the most mani He whom the mind alone can fest contemplate. there memory He is both the Manifest and Hidden hidden in the manifest and manifest in the hidden. . The things that OF HERMES. He is the God beyond all name He the unmanifest. bodies. are .THE Himself. manifest in all we have been and hidden in all we shall be. maketh things that He is both things that are here in our present consciousness. He keepeth things that are not in Himself. He visible unto the eyes He is the one of no body. OF HERMES. and from many others as many points of view indeed.". He is corporeality and . or that constituted in His Divine Being which the divided senses cannot perceive and also all that which the senses. polytheistic and pantheistic point of view. He is to be conceived simultaneously from a monotheistic. can perceive sible Universe. perpetual union. for He is It is indeed difficult to understand in ". which He is not. He all. and yet is He in every body and Naught is there every body is in Him. as the mind of man can conceive. not to speak of an infinitude that he cannot ever imagine. for no body can contain Him. He is both that which the mind alone can contemplate that is the Intelligible Universe. dread why so many the in the West so of very thought greatly allowing .indeed He creates as we are concerned out of nothing but Himself. both physical and superthe whole Sensiphysical. HYMNS incorporeality is in no body. THE pantheistic ideas to enter into their conception of God. This fear is in reality OF HERMES, over-daring or rash presumption, for they have the hardihood to dare to limit the turbance of their self-complacency when it is pointed out that He will not fit the Divine according to their own petty notions of what they would like God to be, and so they bitterly resent the dis miserably narrow cross on which they would ? It But they will reply it is we not God who is excluded who exclude ourselves from God. Indeed try as we may, we cannot do so. This is the impossible, for we cannot exclude ourselves from ourselves. And have we, who in our ignorance are but puny creatures of a day, to exclude God from any one or right What fain crucify Him. any thing : is ; ; Did we are we apart from God ? create ourselves ? And if we did, then we are God, for self-creation is the prerogative of the Divine alone. But the pious soul will still object who 42 that will ; God is Good ? Is Good our or the Good of all creatures ? good only, And if God is the Good of all creatures, then equally so must He be the Evil of but what is good alone. Agreed, if you ] NS OF HERMES. all is for the good of one creature creatures the evil of another, and the evil of one the good of another and so the Balance It is a limited view to is kept even. that God is good alone, and then to say ; some special define this as meaning form of good that we imagine for our selves, and not that which is really good for it is good that there should for all be such apparent evil in the universe as pantheism, and that man s notions ; of apparent good should so is far fall short of the the striving after Gnosis, is he who can see in the Good and Evil as conceived by man good in every evil, and evil or insufficiency in every good. All with Hermes that But if we " man who reality. The wise man, or rather are He and He that we know say is all," we do not assert what 43 this really means, THE assert that we are in this declaraface to face with the ultimate OF HERMES, mystery of all things before which we we only tion can only for all bow the head in reverent silence, words here fail. And so the mystic who wrote these sentences continues his meditation with a magnificent hymn, expressive of the inability of the learner s mind rightly to sing God s praises, which, for lack of a better title, we may call A Hymn to All-Father God." " A HYMN TO ALL-FATHER GOD. 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. 44 and FatJier when Thou makest. and Good and Maker of all things (ii. again.. Mind when Thou thinkest. shall I Thou mine own ? As being other ? For that Thou art whatever I may art whatever of myself? hymn Thee? As As having something be . and Thou art what doth not exist. all Thou Who givest all and takest naught. Thou art all that which doth exist. for Thou hast all and naught is there Thou hast not. / M FOR WHAT. and God when Thou dost energize. And WHEN. Father. or things Thou hast concealed ? How. I may do . 45 . being of further. 105). may speak. shall I sing hymn ? For things that Thou hast made.All are in Thee . are from Thee . or things Thou hast not ? For things Thou hast made manifest. shall I hymn Thee ? For none can seize Thy hour or time. Thou art whatever I else For Thou which art all. THE HERMES. and there is nothing Thou art not. to sing the praises of God in any truly adequate manner ? HYMNS ^k is when it then. what man. Is God again to be limited by space Who.capable of singing God s praises. is He may 46 special place be said to be. ". ". ". spatial whither ". requires the whole universe of OP HERMES. Being. spaces are in Him. and the countless universes of all the beings that are. has the under standing wherewith to praise God fitly. ". who he he yet begins to realize that the must inevitably be God and really is no other ? In what manner can the Divine sing praises of itself as of some I and Thou other than itself. for all any and He places and cannot be said . ". ". when though in his separated conscious ness he knows he knows not who he is. considerations in respect to ? Is ? there God Cer tainly there cannot be where the Divine in all places. when must essentially be one. and a ". and the utter ance of praise as of some other one seems to be a departure from the blessed state of that Divine intuition. evil evil thoughts. he who has ex perienced this change of gnostic ten will reply that the only evil he dency now knows is not to be conscious that God is in all things. for He is to be seen in every direction of thought in which the mind can proceed and if . for He is in all things and all things are in Him.F HERMES. there are ". to be in the heart more than in any other organ or limb of the body. and that with the dawning of this true self-consciousness the right side of every thought presents itself with the wrong side in the joy of ". is The idea of the next praise-giving perhaps somewhat difficult to follow.we say mind. Equally so is there no special direction in which the eyes of the mind can turn. THE ". turnings of the pure thinking. human thought diction all is and paradox. because is the state of reconciliation of all opposites. It might be said that if God is He 47 . seeming contra it as it appears to be a contradiction in But in these sublime heights of terms. in that He has no need of anything. the idea of giving and receiving. On account of what. but should view all things with equal eye. any one time only. . for God manifestly takes nothing. for all things are equally from God. . but must be sung should have no preferences. Therefore the true Gnostic Te Deum cannot be sung at by the thought of all and nothing as by the man must transform him eternally self into a perpetual song of praise in every thought and word and deed. again. Nor can the Deity be hymned for one thing.W^ &i yes a^ tnm g s equally so must He HYMNS be He who receives all things but the OF HERMES. equally so is it impossible that He can be conditioned by time. antithesis can be equally well declared &. and he who would make himself like unto God . seeing that He already has all things. And if God cannot be limited by space.gt. and embrace them all with equal love. rather than for another. as regards himself in distinction from the world. whatever the man . it is in him. or because of the powers and faculties and possessions that are his. the in man . the Being of does. he and the devotee of Wisdom brushes them all aside in splendid outburst For that Thou art whatever I may be Thou art whatever I may do Thou art There is no whatever I may speak : ". or because he is other than.Gnostic praise God ? Shall the Divine for the fact of his hymn own self-existence. more than sciousness God in devising and planning . God is Mind when we think of Him as thinking. . . of it God is him him whatever the Working of God in . separation in the reality of things. pre sumably. the many who are not in Gnosis ? The uselessness of all such distinctions becomes apparent in the doubt that shall the THE QF HERMES.". to such a con truth all things very both manifest and hidden. God is Father 49 . this Nay. ever the man is in this ecstatic it is What state. the Word God is speaks. the very asking of such questions awakens. . This Rebirth or Regeneration was. ritual ". the mystery of the Spiritual Birth or Birth from Above. but which might very well be is Our next hymn initiation ". lous found in the marvel which now bears the title The Secret Sermon on the Con Mountain. the subject of the instructions 50 . The Initiation of Tat. called ". the object of the greater mysteries.wnen we conc eive Him as willing and OF creating and bringing all things into HERMES. of all things.". existence and God is Good when we HYMNS . and is. even as He is the Beginning or Maker of all. regard Him as energizing or in working or breathing in all things to give them He is the Good or End Light and Life.". with the sub-heading cerning Rebirth and the Promise of Silence.".". even as in the lesser mysteries. to which we referred under its Egyptian equivalent . the mystic rite of the laying on of hands. the rite of invocation by Hermes. the light and Ray virtue of which drive out the darkness of the soul s vices and prepare the way for transforming the fleshly body into the true ray-like or star-like body of a God the augoeides or astroeides. whereby the Hands of Blessing of the Great Initiator. the Good Mind. even as they are symbolized in the well-known Egyp tian frescoes of the Atem-cult. the conIt is ". didate. THE OF HERMES. are laid upon the head of Tat. These Hands of Blessing are no physical hands. his son. the means of re-becoming a pure spiritual being. or how a man comes into physical birth. the hierophant or father on earth. but Powers. the secret of genesis.was concerning the Birth from Below. The one was the birth or genesis into matter. Each is a Gnostic Power.". Rays of the spiritual Sun. the other the essential birth or palingenesis. but only feels. however. Hermes. foretold that he should hear this In answer to Tat Heaven-Song . is said to have heard when he came to the Eighth Sphere or Stage in his ascent of the Holy Mountain or Sacred Stairs. replies the Divine Mind. O father. and he commends Tat 52 .e Beginning * this little volume. who as yet neither hears nor sees. Eight. but a baby God. brings the God in man to birth he is at first. to ended. s request Hermes that it is quite true the Shepherd. hear the praisegiving with hymn which thou dost say thou heardest when thou wert at the ". I would.". Tat begs as a great privilege be told the marvellous Song of the Powers of which he has read in his studies. at his own still higher initiation into the first grade of masterhood. and which his father. And so when the rite is duly M s at ^ . This mystic rite of Gnostic initiation op HERMES. There is no one Song of the Powers written in human speech and kept secret no MS. has hitherto imprisoned his daimonic as the Pythian Oracle says of soul. and so rise from the tomb which ". the final rite of purification has for hastening to ". But. Mind of all masterhood. the cathartic or purifying virtues have descended upon him. Wherefore the Powers within me. hath not passed on to me more ". .". for full well did He know that I should of myself be able to learn all. He left to me the things. the powers of the power to strike his tent. strike his tent ".". so that he now has operated in Tat. now HERMES. no oral tradition.now been that he has been made pure. it is not quite as Tat supposes. than hath been writ down.. of some physically uttered hymn. and see all things. ** The Shepherd. adds Hermes. or free himself from the trammels of the body ". of vice. That is to say. Plotinus. 53 making of fair . and which were more suited to one in the state of faith. and The Song can be sung many modes many But Tat with longing to hear some echo of the Great Song. OF HERMES. and proceeds to give him a model of such praise-giving which he now can use in substitution for the prayers he has pre ". The inspiration man who is reborn becomes a psalmist and a poet. I wish to hear I long to know these things And so Hermes is at last persuaded. break into in song.". and is no longer a repeater of the hymns of others. his soul is filled .r HYMNS T e en as tne Y are in all. according to the of the illumined singer. ! viously employed. Father. tongues. and cannot do otherwise than sing God s He becomes a maker of hymns praises. for now is he tuned in har mony with the Great Harmony. persists . ". Hermes bids Tat calm himself and so await in reverent silence the hearing of the potent theurgic outpouring of the 54 .TH r?. HY HERMES. my son that keeps the soul in tune. 220). but only to those who had got made the thought themselves ready and in them a stranger to the world-illusion purification of . 55 . Hymn giving a hymn I would not have of Rebirth thought fit so readily to tell. This is no ordinary hymn of praise but a theurgic operation or gnostic act. ". of course.whole nature of the man in praise of God.". F Hermes commands ! : Hear the praisestill. Such hymns the Gnosis. and ". but the end of the probationary path of Be which is the faith. the end of all Gnosis. which shall open a path throughout all Nature straight to the Divine. (ii.. There fore. had st thou not reached the end of all. ". beginning were taught only to those who had been not to those who were made pure slaves of the world or even to them who were still struggling with their lower vices. Not. It is a hymn that must be used cere Wherefore. about the sinking of the setting sun. still ! 56 . And so Hermes.". son. when he doth rise. stand in a place uncovered to the sky. with face unto . them stand perfect naked.THE this is says Hermes. once more utters the solemn injunction ". Thus then. Now. facing the west. monially at sunrise and sunset. ". make thy worship too. : ".". not taught. with all the garments of false opinion stripped from them. naked in the midst of High Heaven s clear sphere. the east.". be ". and so in like manner. but is kept hid in silence. or the Eye of Mind that illuminates the Great Sphere of our spiritual nature in the stillness of the purified intelligence. And for those all who cannot let the rite on planes.". OF HERMES. before he sings what is called The Secret Hymnody. ". my son. facing straight with the Spiritual Sun. Let us together all give praise to Him. of every nature Lord ! Tis He who is the He the accept the praise of these my Powers ! Ye Powers that are within me. both All still . and those that are not. may One and All . hymn Eye of Mind . for the support and use of every man . open. thou Earth ! Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me ! Stir not. who made the Fire to shine for gods and men for every act. and ye Winds stay s Deathless Sphere re who fixed the Earth. sing with my Will. and gave command that Ocean should afford sweet water both those to the will sing the praise of Him who Earth. 57 . sublime above the Heavens. Let every nature of the world receive the utterance of THE HERMES. my hymn ! Open. ye Trees ! I am about to hymn creation s Lord. and One. Ye Heavens ceive For I and let God my word ! . and hung founded all up Heaven. to parts that are inhabited.THE SECRET HYMNODY. sing thou. into Thy Take back through me the All Reason my reasonable oblation ! Thus cry the Powers in me. the oblation. God. flow f Father. of all my Powers sings . OF HERMES. through me all. the praises of Truth. praises. to Thee Thou of all Energy thanks. Thy Reason through me Thy All. FROM THEE. my Righteousness. my Self-control . . I give Thee thanks. Thy Receive they do . by thee illumined. Truth s praises ! Good. Thou All . sing thou through me. all ye Powers / Sing praise. To Thee. from us to you our praises sing. the Good / Sing thou.Powers all that are within me ! blessed Gnosis. I joy in Joy of Mind. Will is Thy Will. the praises of the Righteous . Thou Power I give Thee my Thy Energies. Sing with me praises. Life. hymning through thee the Light that mind alone can see. They sing praise. from all The All that 58 their reasonable in us. Life and Light. my Sharingthe All . God. cries to can see at once that this is no ordinary hymn. through Water. have I found Rest (ii.. 230-232). through Thy creatures. no hymn conceived in the mode of the psalms to which we have been used.. illumine i it . through Earth. . inspirit It is to it ! -A riYMNb r. based on the tradition of what is best in Egyptian theurgy. Thee. through Fire. the object of my search. Bestower Thy Word. . For Thou art God . Tis from Thy . Thy Man thus OF HERMES. but the gnostic outpouring of a man who has begun to realize the nature of his We own proper place in the universe.Eon I have found Praisegiving . of the Spirit upon all.. and through Spirit. . Light.preserve . through Air. or that Divine energizing which 59 spiritual dignity and . Thy Mind that plays the Shepherd Thou Creator. and in Thy Will. serve the man who is the lawful liturgy of his whole nature. the Heaven above. will open all the gates of their secret ways to let the true of word true words of him who is pass onwards to the Deathless Sphere of the True God that is. He is about to utter words that are true. and is the source. words that from the true go unto the True. without let or hindrance. not to some space of Heaven or of Earth or of the Abyss. Every nature will therefore receive such words and hand them on. The Earth in the midst. but the Trees of Paradise. the Abyss beneath.". ". Not only the trees also 60 . will rest in reverent silence as the potent praise of end of all of them. op HERMES.THE sends forth words of command that all nature willingly obeys. of the earth. but to that which transcends them. preserver and will hasten to serving God with ". All elements ". to the Mon itself wherein the True God dwells. the Divine Beings that dwell in ^Eonic Bliss. All. the Cosmic Elements of Earth and Air and Water and Fire Father Heaven and Mother Earth. The man sings with that created. Father Fire and Mother Ocean. or service of harmony praise. but unto the Lord of All and they. Obedient Ones. them the glory of their common Lord. For the praise-giving is not poured forth to this or that daimon or god. the still . of the four great primal natures. all THE themselves. 61 . whose life consists in praising God. of is The hymn is in praise of the One and the One Lord of all creation. cannot but rejoice that the Disobedient One should at last of his own freewill join in the unwearied liturgy of nature.proper reverence passes to the end of adorations. The winds of earth will gJF HERMES. who both the One who creates and the All is It is a hymn sung in with the liturgy. the Intel ligent Breaths in the inmost chambers of man s Greater Mind. and also the Winds of Heaven. countless suns in space. Self-control. namely Gnosis. through which the AllBrilliancy of the One and All shines forth in a septenary of Powers or Virtues. HYMNS the EyC f Mind ~that is the Mind the &. for unto Truth is and Life and Light. joined Good The nature is of the persons of the latter trinity still further revealed and the 62 . illumined by the Light of Gnosis. Continence. Unrighteousness.gt. and so a prismatic trinity of Good and Light and Life. Intemperance. whose eyes are the OF HERMES.True Spiritual Sun. Avarice and Error. This True Sun is the True Light. the Light that mind alone can see the little mind of man. And with the coming of Truth the measure of the Good is filled full. Desire. Sorrow. Righteous ness. becomes of the nature of the Great Mind. Sharing-with-all. given in our hymnody in the exact classification in which they stand in the text of the mystic rite. . These Powers are. and Truth which severally drive out Not-knowing. : now Joy. with one exception. transmutability of these hypostases. . nature of the cosmos which refunding the himself into the source It is the consummation of his Being. Thou from Thee proceeds Thy Will . and Life the feminine nourisher. the Son of God. the Good. is the Song of the Logos the Reason. the Logos or Reason of all OF HERMES. singing through the whole . Thy Love through Spouse. That is. ing of a reasonable oblation in final analysis. that is.". the father-motherhood of God. things. . . whom 63 Thy Will. Light the mascu line energizer. 11 From Thee Thy Will To Thee the is . Thy and Thy Will is Thy are all things. art the Source of Desire. And so the gnostic psalmist at last resolves his praise-giving into the offer which. man and All. by praising God as the Energy of all Powers and the Power of all Energies. the Alonebegotten. the Will of God is of the Great Return now the sole will of the man. as Light and Life again. the offering of his true self.". For the man is now no longer a single Letter or a Procession of Fate. ordered in due and lawful harmony by the conversion of his ". ". HYMNS ^e W^^ e un i verse Thy Alone-begotten. a proper Cosmos. a Word of God. ". is Son. a free Man. ".. the whole that there is of him.". : ". For as another mystic hymn of the From Thee period phrases it (i.whose end also as well as beginning is OF HERMES. &.". but a true Name. may be preserved or saved by Life the Mother. for He is Thyself eternally. ". . illumined or irradiated by Light the Father. so the hymn-singer continues with reasonable oblation. Thyself. ". of his that perpetually beholds the Face angel of the Father. the logos within him. praying that his whole cosmos.". 146) is Father and Through Thee is Mother to which we may add and To Thee ". And ". and inspirited or inspired or spiritualized by the Great Breath of God that eternally and simultaneously outbreathes and inbreathes.gt.". self-will into Will . which is the Spirit or Breath of God. Shepherd. the twin of the Great Soul. or Harmony. For having attained unto this true . natures sing together with the elements and the quintessence great of all of them. or THE OF HERMES. Saving Life. and thus he can make his own theosophy. or Illu minator. or Feeder He who gives the Divine nectar. or Angel. the Atman of Indian purified become a perfect Cosmos or Order. or God. both of which are bestowed upon us by God the Creator. or Light. whose energy is expressed in living ideas that can be impressed upon the souls and minds of men. the Inspirer and Preserver. by which that Word is nourished is the Great Mind. The man has now become a Man. and the of a willing union with God s that Word. a Word. a true Being of Reason. or spiritual food. and lived out in a life of example from an imperfect man he has . and so rebecoming his own true Self he expresses his natural joy in songs of praise. the Motherhood a child stature. of which. the Greek original has been lost. refreshed with the eternal youth of the Gods. He is Christ as born anew. an ^on. God. an Eternity. of . unfortunately. and. change from mother into spouse.". We are dependent solely on an Old Latin Asclepius and Tat and Ammon are gathered 66 . Perfect Sermon. and mode finds his rest in the Great Peace. The intro duction informs us that Hermes and version. towards who has The remaining hymn that has been preserved to us in the extant Trismegistic The literature is found at the end of ".THE of breathing breathing and thinking with the Great Life and Great Mind op HERMES. This sermon is by far the longest of our extant Trismegistic logoi. of things the man is no longer a man but a Man. he grows in full manhood. so will hitherto been his mother. she. which is frequently unsatisfactory. master, who delivers a long instruction on the Gnosis, with the pur pose of perfecting them in the knowledge of spiritual things. The discourse is, to their together in the adytum or holy place. There the three disciples reverently listen THE QF HERMES, therefore, Sermon," Asclepius, Tat and Ammon stand for three types of disciples of the Gnosis, three natures of man. Asclepius is the man of intellect, skilled in the knowledge of the schools, of the arts and sciences of Tat is intuitional rather than the day. intellectual ; The Perfect rightly called or The Sermon of Initiation." " " he ; is " Ammon greater heights of illumination. is the practical man of affairs, the king, the doer, not the scientist or the mystic. It would, however, be a mistake to keep these types too clearly distinguished 67 with Asclepius nevertheless it is he who succeeds Hermes as teacher, when Hermes is taken to the Gods, for he has the spiritual nature more strongly developed than Asclepius, so that he can soar to young " compared m ur * n ^ * or mvs ti cally all three are in each of us, and the true illumination OF HERMES, of our three-fold nature depends upon HYMNS ; m James, John and Peter who must each complete each other, and sub ordinate themselves to one another, and vie with one another in love of their teacher, the purified mind, or Hermes, through whom alone the instruction of the Great Mind, the Shepherd, can as yet come to them. find the conditions of right contemplation dramatically set forth in their proper balance and harmony, upon the brotherly love of the three disciples And so we the last sentence of the introduction of the sermon in the words : and with God s goodly Presence to them, sunk in fit silence reverently, their souls and minds pendent on Hermes lips, thus Love Divine began to speak (ii., 309). 68 When Ammon, too, had come within the holy place, and when the sacred group of four was now complete with piety " This Love Divine is that same Presence, the Highest Mind, or Shepherd of men, which illumines Hermes, or the higher mind within us, directly but these ; HERMES. immediate living words of power have to be passed on in human words to the three natures of Asclepius and Tat and Ammon in us, who are the learners and hearers. After the instruction is ended and they have come forth from the holy place, the narrative tells us that they turned their faces towards the setting sun, before uttering their our lower mind, the That is ceasing from contemplation, in which the outward energies have been caught up to the heights, or turned within, and stilled by the higher in the intercourse of Love that has been blessed with the Presence of the Divine, these energies, before hymn of praise. to say mystically, the mind betaking themselves to their appointed separate tasks, all unite in a hymn of praise, with their eyes still turned to the now apparently departing glory of the : k * . us worship. proposes to Tat. to offer incense ". and the rest. ! is there of which He stands in need. in that He is all things. But Hermes recalls them to the gnostic nature of their spiritual cult. the Asclepius who is wise in the sciences HYMNS settin S spiritual Sun. But our thanks. Asclepius words For this is like to propitious profanation of our sacred rites when thou dost pray to God. OF HERMES. and arts. should say their prayer to God with added incense and with unguents. all are in let Him.Hereupon the knower of forms in us. Whom when Thine greatest heard. pouring forth For this is the best incense 70 . that they sug gest to their father Hermes. For naught * and ". in whispered words. the ritualist. and ceremonies.". nay. ". that they ". This is the suggestion of the mind that still clings to outward forms. he grew distressed and said speak more Nay. in God Him by And ". fit Name to be adored. A HYMN OF GRACE FOR GNOSIS. 388). Thou highest and most excellent ! For by Thy Grace we have received the so great Light of Thy own Gnosis. holy unique. are given to THE HERMES. and intelligence . and reason. by which God only must be blest through worship of our Sire. with reason that we may track Thee out from the appearances of things . and whatsoever virtue is more sweet than these. We give Thee grace. of Xame Name. which for lack of a better title we may call A Hymn of Grace for Gnosis. with means of ..". and care. endowing us with sense. when thanks (ii. and love. with sense that we may feel Thee . Thee who deigncst to afford to all a Fathers piety. so they begin their praise-giving. s sight men". Thou Eternal ! We every nature Constancy the whole of this our prayer in worship of Thy Good.oy in knowing that us in all Thou For worthy Thy Power divine.TZ. 390).. to Womb that giveth birth filled have known Thee. sole festival of know Thy Majesty. by the Single Sense of our intelligence. let us Thou hast shown Thyself to Thy Fullness. from this \kind of Life (ii. yea.XT HYMNS recognition that we may . we have perceived Thou True Life Thy Light supreme. Saved rejoice . Fecund ! of man to Eternity.^ Thee. and in our Love-ofus ne er be cut off 389. praise of life. still hast deigned to this is entombed in bodies. the to We know Thee . OF HERMES. Let us rejoice that by consecrate us. this favour only of Thy Goodness do we crave : that Thou wilt For in keep us constant let knowing-Thee. 72 . Thou completely with the Conception from Thyself of Universal Nature ! We have known Thee. and the ". or of power faction.give Thee thanks. the unique obscure. goodwill of God. The Goodwill of God is. in that it is He who pours out on us the treasures of His piety and care (religio in Latin) and love. though indeed all of these words really fall short of expressing this Divine efficacia. since these are the natural expressions of thanks to God. 73 . effable Name of God is Father. He endows us with sense and reason and intelligence. love of knowing very sentence is by other passages and by the context.". that He willeth to be known. stint. grace for Grace. We THE MNS gJ HERMES. the three means of with sense to feel God in knowing Him with reason to track out the all things of giving utter satis for He alone gives without : . piety and love. The worship of God as Father is true religion. in that He bestows His Fullness upon us.". The Latin of the next but judging ". as we have already learned. goodwill for Thy Goodwill. man is his ". God .". THE manifestation of the Divine in all and with intelligence. while still in the and so their very tomb of the body bodies have been consecrated as fit temples of the Son of God. Eternity. the Intelligible Cosmos. ". for it is the manifestation . Therefore the sole festival of worthy of man praise in his divine nature. . intuition. the JEon or ". The holy four sing with joy in that they have been made holy. whereby He willeth to be known. that is to say. or God in the of the Goodwill. that is to say. when objective and subjective. God is the Will of God. nature of His Alone-begotten Son. that 74 . and when object and subject blend and there is the complete joy and . the Purpose of and this brings joy which is Gnosis and rejoicing. the manifestation of the Pleroma. mena pheno- satisfaction of The Power of God to man in all His Fullness. hallowed as priests of the Most High. which is the means of face to face recognition. Self-knowledge. or spiritual OF HERMES. ". is achieved not by the Single Sense of the intelligence but by sense alone. that 75 He who . This Knowing. nor by mind alone. in which by a means superior to both.Fecund Womb that giveth birth to every nature.is. of the Light of God. again. tion. that is. Finally. Sameness. of God. or the Over-Soul of all things. or Fullness. of all things. Stability. And so this beautiful gnostic thanks ends with the one prayer or grace giving of those in Gnosis. God is praised for being known Dura as the Eternal Constancy. This is the Gnosis of the Divine as the Pleroma. Unchangeableness. and so become conscious with a new consciousness. which latter is graphically described as the ". the JEon. in his true is Great Mind manhood or union with to know God s Majesty or Greatness. and of the Life Over-mind . OF HERMES. the twain blend in Gnosis. or Gnosis. or or the self-knowledge. namely. which is replete with the Conception of universal nature from God Himself. 76 . therefore. because the world was not ready to appreciate them. nothing to do but to of the Hermeses of follow again the the past. the jealousy of part of the most beautiful monuments of man s gnostic genius perchance.THE Constancy. how ever. and hymns worthy that are these four. for what Providence has kept from us the major Way ". and betake ourselves once more to the making of fair things. There is. as doubtless once existed in this excellent community of servants of God and Gnostic liturgists But alas while the indifference of time has preserved for us so much of the classical writers that we could not un! ! frequently well spare. keep them constant in the Pure and Single Love. will ever energy op HERMES. that is best in worthiest in the ! If only we worshipper of God had a psalter of such psalms. the Love of knowing God. or God in His ^Eonic Sameness. is Eternal of What true noble all hymns of all is man.". in the second half of the first century of our era. Magic Papyri. 403). perhaps one of the Communities of the sEon the Highest and Supercelestial One which Philo of Byblos. the times are again becoming ripe for such true poesy.". A Song of Praise to the which a ".man in has once achieved if We have no more Hymns of Hermes wherewith to make glad the hearts of our readers as we would fain hope they have gladdened them but we will add another hymn It is accomplish. of so like a nature that it might very well have been penned of the Trismegistic faith. 77 ."..Eon. by a Hermes . my augury. and. and doubtless were also existing in Egypt The text is found in the Greek (i. is said to have been inscribed on tablet. I am he can again not mistaken OF HERMES. secret by some unknown Brother of a forgotten Order. ". tells us were in existence in Phoenicia in his day. Thou Disk of the night- Thou End Hail shining Moon.THE HYMNS Ur OF A SONG OF TQ TH cethereal PRAISE HERMES. who doth enter into me. Spirit ! unto Thee. Thou Liturgy unweariable of Nature s Elements ! Hail unto Thee. Thou Beginning and of Nature naught can move ! unto Thou. who doth extend from Heaven to Earth. Thou Illumination of the Solar Beam that shines to serve the world ! Hail unto Thee. that shines unequally ! Hail. Spirit. who clingeth unto me or who doth part Thyself from me according to the Will of God in goodness of His heart ! Hail unto Thee. Thou All-Comos of Hail Spirit. Hail unto Thee. and from the Earth that s in the middle of the orb of Cosmos to the ends of the Abyss / Hail unto Thee. Ye Spirits all of the (ethereal Statues of the Gods ! . Settlement and shakings of the earth. who matfst the Water eddy round in circles ! Thou who raisest up the Fiery Whirl wind. and scatter est the Air with Thy self-moving Blasts. unto light. and makest thunder. and coverest the Heaven with Thy golden everlasting wings.tether eal. most inter. doth the store the God of gods.Hail praise / to You Sisters all. hot. who fixest Heaven and Earth apart. and makest firm the Earth on everlasting Thrones ! Thou who hangest up the /Ether in the lofty Height. like ! ness like. whom and holy hail holy Brethren in giving of their HERMES. One. God of 79 . water-like. Cosmos. air-like. earth-like. lightning. hail ! celestial. mighty Spirit. to dark moist. fire-like. Mighty circling and incomprehensible Configura tion of the Cosmos. who ever and who doth Depth away upon its Throne of no eye can see. shining as do the Stars cold Spirit restore 1 praise Thee. czthereal. rain. Mighty OF HERMES. Lord God.. It is this Spirit. and not our mixed elements. ". pure Fire and Air and Water and Earth. strides. Heaven. that is the out-breath and in-breath of the s manifold existences. the All-Cosmos of Ethereal Quintessence. Master All! 408. ". (i. takes ". born. from death and also from life into death is . like Vishnu in the Purana s.three Spirit or from the Sensible Cosmos ". as distinguished of the four Great Elements. The reader has only to compare the The opening and closing sentences of with the first para Secret Hymnody graph of our hymn to see that we are in precisely the same circle of ideas. Earth and the Abyss. of the art Thou. for the life of the body 80 is the death of . man When Spirit breathes out he into life. the Great Breath of Life. through which the Spirit. The ^Eon is the Invisible Intelligible Cosmos. 409). the three worlds. eternal revolution. or Effective Working. and begin where they end they dance in ". . that which transcends dictated all our human ideas of Love the goodness of His heart. the Universe. for their everlasting is in the Vortex of the revelling-place Ceaseless Liturgy. For the Energy. for all the Spheres of Being but both the Will of is .the Spirit inbreathes he becomes dead. 81 of atoms. of God. ". for it is the Monad or Elements.". The ^Eon is neither Beginning nor End. the JEon. but alive to the things of the soul. The JEon Supreme Atom of all atoms and all combinations The JEon is the Illumination or Source of Light for all the Lights of Heaven. end where they begin. And when THE HERMES. dead to things of the body. F of God in goodness of His heart. And all this is according to the Will the soul. which ever by wills the good of all beings. God which it energizes. for the Heart of God is the Good Itself. or Service. of the is the Cause of the the Mighty Whirlpool of Magna Vorago. ". the countless suns in space. of Light and Life and so Father-Mother of all whose true Bodies are the fiery spheres.- The Spirits. the sidereal bodies ray-like. into a decad of which Spirit is the beginning and the end. in a septenary of three quint four essential elements. star- Therefore. existing in three modes 82 . and no-colour.*ke ^ un anc* Moon and all the rest the Ethereal Statues of the Gods OF HERMES. essential and which are completed by the all-colour. ". even as the Brethren and Sisters are endeavouring to become saints on earth. is Spirit. of this the Brethren and Sisters of gnostic servants of God rightly praise all the Gods. for these Gods are the true community of saints or community holy ones in Heaven. Mon consisting. The ^Eon is the Great Paradigm or One Exemplar of all things. holy as they are holy. the Eternal Configuration of the Cosmos and all cosmoi. HYMNS of ". Darkness. like. Light. cold black red. as it were. each and all. hot. in its threefold nature of Height and Midst and Depth the endoderm. The Great Work of the God of Gods is perpetually to restore the Cosmos. to renew it. THE HERMES. this And from comes forth brooding being the . of millions of months. or threenature of Prakriti or Nature in Indian theosophy moist. to refresh. in their cosmic nature. Rajas and Sattva. Egg of the Universe. . of the cosmic germ-cell over which the Spirit broods with its golden everlasting wings. seeing cosmo-genesis of all things that all beings come forth from the JEon. are ^Eons as well. as the Great Bird who perpetually hatches forth the fold . so that the JEon is also into God of millions of years.reminding us of the Trigunam. 83 . mesoderm and ecto derm. there ever perpetual and. white Tamas. and millions of days whether those time-periods be of the earth or of the universe and so God of the God of He is ons. after all. twentieth for prejudice would have us believe. even as Eternity of all beings. Hermes and Christ are not in reality such strangers to each other as traditional theological in this . existences. in the hope that some may be found to sing in response to the Hymns of Heathen Hermes even century of Christian grace perhaps. . all He is God of the And here we must bring our little hymn-book to a close.THE O HERMES. . . 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