Collectanea Hermetica (Volumes 1-10) - William Wynn Westcott

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Apparel, wherewith thou art clothed, which draws and pulls thee downward by its own self; lest looking up, and seeing the beauty of Truth, and the Good that is reposed therein, thou shouldst hate the wickedness of this garment, and understand the traps and ambushes, which it hath laid for thee.

      9. Therefore doth it labour to make good those things that seem and are by the Senses, judged and determined; and the things that are truly, it hides, and envelopeth in such matter, filling what it presents unto thee, with hateful pleasure, that thou canst neither hear what thou shouldst hear, nor see what thou shouldst see.

      The Ninth Book

       A Universal Sermon to Asclepius

       Table of Contents

      1. Hermes. All that is moved, O Asclepius, is it not moved in some thing, and by some thing?

      2. Asclepius. Yes, indeed.

      3. Hermes. Must not that, in which a thing is moved, of necessity be greater than the thing that is moved?

      4. Of necessity.

      5. And that which moveth, is it not stronger than that which is moved?

      6. Asclepius. It is stronger.

      7. Hermes. That in which a thing is moved, must it not needs have a Nature, contrary to that of the thing that is moved?

      8. Asclepius. It must needs.

      9. Hermes. Is not this great World a Body, than which there is no greater?

      10. Asclepius. Yes, confessedly.

      11. Hermes. And is it not solid, as filled with many great Bodies, and indeed, with all the Bodies that are

      12. Asclepius. It is so.

      13. Hermes. And is not the World a Body, and a Body that is moved.

      14. Asclepius. It is.

      15. Hermes. Then what kind of a place must it be, wherein it is moved, and of what Nature? Must it not be much bigger, that it may receive the continuity of Motion? and lest that which is moved should for want of room, be stayed, and hindered in the Motion ?

      16. Asclepius. It must needs be an immense thing, Trismegistus, but of what Nature.

      17. Hermes. Of a contrary Nature, O Asclepius; but is not the Nature of things unbodily, contrary to a Body.

      18. Asclepius. Confessedly.

      19. Hermes. Therefore the place is unbodily; but that which is unbodily, is either some Divine thing or God himself. And by some thing Divine, I do not mean that which was made or begotten.

      20. If therefore it be Divine, it is an Essence or Substance but if it be God, it is above Essence; but he is otherwise intelligible.

      21. For the first, God is intelligible, not to himself, but to us, for that which is intelligible, is subject to that which understandeth by Sense.

      22. Therefore God is not intelligible to himself, for not being any other thing from that which is understood, he cannot be understood by himself.

      23. But he is another thing from us, and therefore he is understood by us.

      24. If therefore Place be intelligible, it is not Place but God, but if God be intelligible, he is intelligible not as Place, but as a capable Operation.

      25. Now everything that is moved, is moved, not in or by that which is moved, but in that which standeth or resteth, and that which moveth standeth or resteth, for it is impossible it should be moved with it.

      26. Asclepius. How then, O Trismegistus, are those things that are here moved with the things that are moved? for thou sayest that the Spheres that wander are moved by the Sphere that wanders not.

      27. Hermes. That, O Asclepius, is not a moving together, but a counter motion, for they are not moved after a like manner, but contrary one to the other; and contrariety hath a standing resistance of motion for resistance is a staying of motion.

      28. Therefore the wandering Spheres being moved contrarily to that Sphere which wandereth not, shall have one from another contrariety standing of itself.

      29. For this Bear which thou seest neither rise nor go down, but turning always about the same; dost thou think it moveth or standeth still?

      30. Asclepius. I think it moves, Trismegistus.

      31. What motion, O Asclepius?

      32. Asclepius. A motion that is always carried about the same.

      33. But the Circulation which is about the same, and the motion about the same, are both hidden by Station; for that which is about the same forbids that which is above the same, if it stand to that which is about the same.

      34. And so the contrary motion stands fast always, being always established by the contrariety. 35. But I will give thee concerning this matter, an earthly example that may be seen with eyes.

      36. Look upon any of these living Creatures upon Earth, as Man for example, and see him swimming; for as the Water is carried one way, the reluctation or resistance of his feet and hands is made a station to the man, that he should not be carried with the Water, nor sink underneath it.

      37. Asclepius. Thou hast laid down a very clear example, Trismegistus.

      38. Hermes. Therefore every motion is in station, and is moved of station.

      39. The motion then of the World, and of every material living thing, happeneth not to be done by those things that are without the World, but by those things within it, a Soul, or Spirit, or some other unbodily thing, to those things which are without it.

      40. For an inanimated Body, doth not know, much less a Body if it be wholly inanimate.

      41. Asclepius. What meaneth thou by this, O Trismegistus, Wood and Stones, and all other inanimate things, are they not moving Bodies?

      42. Hermes. By no means, O Asclepius, for that within the Body which moves the inanimate thing, is not the Body, that moves both as well the Body of that which beareth, as the Body of that which is born; for one dead or inanimate thing, cannot move another; that which moveth, must needs be alive if it move.

      43. Thou seest therefore how the Soul is surcharged, when it carrieth two Bodies.

      44. And now it is manifest, that the things that are moved are moved in something, and by something.

      45. Asclepius. The things that are moved, O Trismegistus, must needs be moved in that which is void or empty, Vacuum.

      46. Be advised, O Asclepius, for of all the things that are, there is nothing empty, only that which is not, is empty and a stranger to existence or being.

      47. But that which is, could not be if it were not full of existence, for that which is in being or existence can never be made empty.

      48. Asclepius. Are there not therefore some things that are empty, O Trismegistus, as an empty Barrel, an empty Hogshead, an empty Well, an empty Wine- Press, and many such like?

      49. Hermes. O the grossness of thy Error, O Asclepius, those things that are most full and replenished, dost thou account them void and empty.

      50. Asclepius. What may be thy meaning, Trismegistus?

      51. Hermes. Is not the Air a Body?

      52. Asclepius. It is a Body.

      53. Hermes. Why then this Body doth it not pass through all things that are and passing through them, fill them? and that Body doth it not consist of the mixture of the four? therefore all those things which thou callest empty are full of Air.

      54. Therefore those things that thou callest empty, thou oughtest to call them hollow, not empty, for they exist and are full of Air and Spirit.

      55. Asclepius. This reason is beyond all contradiction, O Trismegistus, but what shall we call

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