THEOSOPHIC
CORRESPONDENCE :
Saint-Martin and Kirchberger
Section 4: Letters 31 -49
LETTER XXXI. -- (From K.)
Louesch en Valais, 8th August, 1793.
WITH the liveliest satisfaction, Sir, have I received your sublime letter
of 21st ult. Your theory on the use of the Great Name of names is very high;
it seems, however, quite clear to me, and entirely conformable with my own
ideas. The distinction also which you make between the intellectual sight,
and that which is external and physical, appears also clear and distinct,
though I am but a gentile. So true is it that Sophia can manifest herself
externally and physically, that the first physical manifestation J. Lead
had was that of Sophia. She describes this communication at large in her
'Fountain of Gardens.' If I do not succeed soon in finding her works for
you, I will avail myself of some leisure moments to translate the passage
for you. Pordage, in his 'Angelic World,' insists strongly on the use and
importance of physical communications, the great point being to avoid the
shoals. As for me, I look upon manifestations, when they are real ones,
as an excellent mean for advancing our inward work; and I believe that a
lifting up of the soul to the Supreme Being, adherence to the active and
intelligent Cause, purity of will which desires only to approach more nearly,
and unite with, the source of all light, without any return to ourselves;
and the Name of Names, -- are infallible means of receiving these gifts
without mixture or illusion. Pordage shows me the importance of physical
communications; but what the English of to-day, not Pordage, call second
sight, which they acquire by tradition or initiation, appears to me always
to lead into a region where the good and bad orders are mixed and seek society
with us. I imagine different sorts of progress amongst men of desire, each
of whom produces effects more or less elevated and pure. But must we pass
through the second sight to arrive at pure communications? Your advice on
this would be very acceptable. . . .
The above letter was followed by one of 6th Sept., 1793.
LETTER XXXII -- (From S. M.)
Petit Bourg, 9th Sept. 1793.
. . . . YOUR letter, 8th Aug., has been forwarded to me here. I see, by
it, that what torments you most is the question of communications, and you
will not rest till it is settled. You know all I have said to you on the
subject; you have agreed to it, so I will not return to it. But, not to
leave your last question about second sight unanswered, I will say that
I know no general law about it, and to answer affirmatively or negatively
would be making one. I think there are as many ways in this as there are
points of departure for different travellers. I think the matter itself
has acted variously on the elect, giving to some, merely internal communications
without any external; to others, external ones only and no internal; to
others, both. I believe that the traditions or initiations called second
sight may have misled some men, and been useful to others, because, with
upright beginnings and a well-intentioned heart, God sometimes leads us
to the light, even over precipices. But, with the information you now possess,
you ought to be certain that no tradition or initiation of man can ever
be sure of leading you to pure communications, because God alone gives them.
Hold fast therefore where you are; seek only to strip yourself of all Ichheit
(I-hood), of all Selbheit (self-hood); employ your faculties only to place
them altogether in His hand who only seeks to rule them all, and laissez
faire, be passive; He will know better than all the savants of the world
where you ought to go, and how you ought to go.
. . . . I have received from Strasbourg some extracts in French from Jane
Lead. . . . What little I have thus seen fills me with admiration, and I
am sure that whatever you can send me of this author, whether in English,
or German, or French, will only add to my pleasure. . . .
Farewell, Sir: I commend myself to your love and your prayers. I am now
reading the 'Mysterium Magnum' of our friend Boehme. What depths this author
opens to me! If he had not condemned even the smallest desire in man, I
should indulge one, that I might be permitted to converse with people who
know his doctrine and his language well, for I have nothing of the sort
near me. But the will of God be done! There is no situation from which fruit
may not be gathered, for God is everywhere, and there is not a point in
the atmosphere which is without the vegetable soil of the garden of Eden.
I write little at present on these subjects; the gates of wrath are those
which are now opened on the earth; we must wait for days of peace to open
to us the gates of love. Alloys here might have fatal consequences; I exhort
you to the like reserve.
LETTER XXXIII. -- (From K.)
Morat, 18th Sept. 1793.
. . . . I FEEL with you the necessity of denudation; the grand thing is
to give it the right direction and measure, without which we fall into a
labyrinth which may lead to discouragement. To have no will but the will
of God, requires the previous knowledge and discernment what is the will
of God. There is a means which protects us from disquietude, desires, bitter
internal reproaches, self-will, temptations, &c., and greatly furthers
our work of self-denudation by killing all the external seductions which
counterweigh the benefits we might receive elsewhere; it is a return to,
a refuge in our centre, in our heart, the interior of our soul. If we there
seek Him who treadeth on the serpent's head, and crushes it with His heel,
suffering Him to fight for us, He will do it most successfully. Our sublime
friend B. shows all this by one energetic word, and calls our hero the Serpent-bruiser.
I should not have time to translate Jane Lead's account of her first external
communication with Sophia; but, instead of that narrative, I will give you
Pordage, who was J. Lead's friend and director; it will show you something
of this man's principles. It is taken from the preface of his treatise on
'Sophia.' This preface is a summary of the work itself.
"Happy are they who hunger and thirst for Sophia, for they will see,
in the following treatise, that she promises to descend into them with her
divine principle and her World of Light. A considerable time, however, may
pass, sometimes twenty years or more, before the eternal Wisdom really communicates
and reveals herself so as to shed tranquillity and peace in the soul of
him who desires her, for, after vainly seeking different ways to get to
her, the soul, disappointed in its hopes, falls at last, without any strength
left, in lassitude and discouragement. If then, neither fervent prayer nor
religious meditation can do anything, and no entreaty, however earnest,
avails to induce her to come down and abide in our souls, we are then convinced
that, by our own efforts, our acts of faith and hope, or by the activity
of our mind, it is utterly impossible for us to break through the wall of
separation which is between us and the Divine Principle, all these keys
being powerless to open the door to this principle. And when our soul then
finds that, in hitherto following the road of Ascension, it has always missed
its object, it concludes that this was not the right way (even though it
may have been treated on the way with communications and heavenly revelations),
but that the only path to arrive at Divine Wisdom and her principle, is
by descending, to sink inwardly into one's own ground, and look no more
without.
"When the soul takes this road, and sinks into itself, then the gates
of the depths of Wisdom open, and the soul is introduced into the holy eternal
principle of the world of light; in the new magical earth, in which the
virgin Sophia, or Divine Wisdom, shows herself, and discloses her beauties.
'But if the soul here is not sufficiently watchful, and firm enough to concentrate
itself continually in its centre of nature (Centrum naturae), and, through
its passive tranquillity, it do not so sink into this abyss, this chaos,
out of which the new paradise is formed, as to rise again, and fly up on
high, it is then in the greatest danger of being surrounded, and cruelly
tempted by a crowd of innumerable spirits; from either the dark world, or
from the elementary astral principle. But, in its extremity, its heavenly
protector appears again, to strengthen it, and repeat and confirm its first
lesson," &c.
Well, Sir, what do you say of Doctor Pordage? He was chief of a little school
of elect, amongst whom were Jane Lead and Thomas Browne; all of whom enjoyed
manifestations of a high and distinguished character. . . .
Towards the end of your letter, 9th inst. you speak of a vegetable earth,
and say that there is not a point in the atmosphere which does not contain
it. Have the goodness to communicate some particulars of the nature of this
earth, and the way to acquire it. Will it be the light hidden in the elements
which you mentioned in one of your last year's letters? Is it a real substance,
or only a power, an intellectual representation? Is it the Ternarius Sanctus,
the sacred element, the holy land of our friend B.? Pray tell me whether
you possess it, and the shortest way to obtain it; whether it is visible
and palpable to our external senses, or whether it can be seen, touched,
and felt only by our inward man. . . . I beg you to have me in your prayers,
that I may be strengthened in the conflicts in which we have continually
to engage. 'We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and powers, against the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high
places.'
P. S. If your vegetable earth is the pure element, and the outward elements
enclose the pure, the atmospheric air must therefore contain the pure element,
the Ternarium Sanctum, the body of Sophia, the vegetable earth; consequently,
in breathing the air, we ought to be able to nourish ourselves, even physically,
with the heavenly body of the active and intelligent Cause, &c. And
if our heart opens itself, it may and ought, at each breath, to receive
the spiritual nourishment contained in this divine manner; thus the air
would be the great Vehicle?
LETTER XXXIV. -- (From S. M.)
Paris, 23rd Oct. 1793.
I HAVE hardly time for more than one word on the two important passages
of your last letter. One, the denudation: I find your description perfectly
correct, and I can vouch that our uncertainty as to the will of God, in
regard to ourselves, vanishes gradually, in proportion as we seek it and
desire it with all our faculties, and regulate all our acts and conduct
to that end. The second is the vegetable earth; it is all that you describe,
at once.
My meaning, in my letter, referred only to Sophia, and the glorious body
I spoke of before; and you know enough of this to see that it is truly the
promised land. This does not prevent the word vegetable land applying to
all regions. Thus, there is a vegetable land which is material, that of
our fields; there is a spirituous one, which is the pure element; there
is a spiritual one, which is Sophia; there is a vegetable land divine, which
is the Holy Spirit and the Ternarium Sanctum. You see, Sir, our views hereupon
are much the same.
As for the possession of this holy land, I can indicate no other means of
attaining it, than those mentioned above, and one which I have spoken of
fully in all our correspondence. I shall still refer you to it, that you
may so continue to seek for everything in God, as to expect nothing but
from him. Watch and pray, and do not doubt, that, if you belong to a tribe
of Israel, or conform to the law of the Spirit which rules that holy people,
you will obtain admittance amongst them, and, like them, have your portion
in the heritage of Abraham.
Farewell, Sir. . . . I beg you will in future suppress the title of Monsieur
on your letters, and substitute that of Citoyen; this is the present style
of every one belonging to the French nation, and I am zealous to conform
to it.
LETTER XXXV. -- (From K.)
Morat, 30th Oct, 1793.
YOUR letter of 23rd inst. has relieved me from great anxiety, not knowing
whether some accident might have happened to you. . . . For the next three
months please direct your letters for me at Bale, chez M. Lucas Serazin.
. . . I have employed an agent to ransack Schafhausen, Zurich, and Bale,
to find the works of Pordage and Jane Lead, and those you want of Boehme.
To Providence and you, Sir, I owe my knowledge of these chosen ones; and
you must esteem as one amongst the good actions of your life the pains you
have taken to bring me into their society; it is one of the greatest benefits
I ever received.
Thank you for your elucidations in regard to the different sorts of vegetable
earth, and, that there may be no misunderstanding between us, on our ideas
and names of things, I will set down, in abstract my chain of thoughts on
the subject.
Our sublime Repairer, whose name I pronounce only in prostration of spirit
before Him, said: He that believeth in me hath eternal life.
Our friend B., in his xlvi. chap. 39 v., explains what true belief is. A
proof, how correct this explanation is, occurs immediately after the passage
I have just quoted. Jesus Christ says: I am the bread of life. And, in v.
53 of the same chap., John vi., the Repairer adds: Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. And, chap.
iii. v. 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life. Thus we see the identity of the
means for having the life, and the correctness of B.'s explanation. Now,
the great question is: how can we obtain this heavenly nourishment? And
on this important point our friend B. is very luminous: he calls the sacred
body Sophia (V. his xlvi. Letter, v. 40). This Sophia, which is animated
by the Holy Spirit, is substantial, without being corporeal, like our bodies.
('Threefold Life,' v. 50.) The substantiality comes from the pure Element
which serves for her envelope (v. 53). It is the spirit of the pure Element
(Three Principles,' 22, No. 26). The pure Element is nearest to our world
('Clavis,' 106.) And I, I believe that the subtile ether is what approaches
nearest to the pure element, because it is in the air that the Holy Spirit
is hidden, as in his heaven, through the gradation I have just indicated;
and this heaven is in our heart. (See Aurora,' xxiii.70.) The air being
the cause of all life and movement, the Holy Spirit ruling in the sweetness
of the air (Aurora,' i. 15 and 16).
Thus, every time we breathe with entire abandonment of self, and full trust
in the loving kindness of our divine Master, we receive the sacred body,
which is everywhere, and we saturate our hearts with the pure element, in
which, and by which alone, we can be born again to a new life.
This is a great and important truth, and generally most hidden from man.
It is founded, not only on the doctrine of Boehme, but also on experience.
. . . . Farewell, &c. . . .
The Letter which followed the above is dated 20th November, beginning with
"I have just forwarded by the diligence a volume of Jane Lead,"
&c.
LETTER XXXVI. -- (From S. M.)
THE two volumes have just arrived; accept, Sir, my thanks for the precious
gift. I have already run over them sufficiently to see that, with some labour,
I shall get to understand them, and I promise myself happy results from
the reading. My most valued Boehme will lose nothing in my mind from this
new acquaintance, and I perceive with pleasure that the translator has read
him and thought highly of him.
I have to blame myself for not having replied sooner to your letter of 30th
October, the more so that I was so much interested to see by it the progress
you are making in understanding our friend B. My only excuse is that I was
expecting J. Lead and Pordage would arrive soon enough for me to acknowledge
their receipt at the same time. . . .
Your descriptions of the vegetable earth, and your progression of different
regions and operations of the spirit, suit me well. There is only the ether
on which my eye does not yet seem to fix so readily as yours. Ether is only
a modification of the mixed elements, and, as such, is no more fit than
they to be the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. You said everything, it seems
to me, in placing Him in the pure element by means of Sophia. He cannot
dwell elsewhere essentially, and what proceeds from Him, in the mixed elements
and the ether, is only a ramification of His powers by which everything
moves and exists in the universe. Unhappily they are corrupt influences,
of a very inferior order, that dwell in all these aerial elementary regions,
as St. Paul tells us. That does not prevent our souls from receiving it
essentially from the Holy Spirit, because the soul also has the Sophia,
and the element by which the Holy Spirit and we may unite, even without
the breathing, which belongs to the animal creature. These, however, are
only my observations, on which you will make your own reflections. . . .
Write me still at Paris, my departure is yet uncertain. The great picture
of our wonderful revolution rivets me; I am best situated here to contemplate
it en philosophe. For all that, I long for my cottage in the country, to
which to return when the season permits. But, when peace is restored, and
we Frenchmen may travel, I shall fly to be near you, where we can study
at our ease.
LETTER XXXVII. -- (From K.)
P., near Bale, 4 Nivose, 24th Dec. 1793.
. . . . WHAT has particularly struck me in the doctrine of the air and the
vegetable earth, spoken of in my letter 30th October, is No. 10, chap. vi.
'Aurora.' According to this passage, the powers themselves are obliged to
receive their heavenly nourishment by breathing, just like men. It appears,
also, that the purest part of the mixed elements, the air we breathe, dephlogisticated,
igneous air, without any mixture of mephitic or fixed air, or any sort of
gas, is the substance which comes nearest to the pure element from which
all the other elements were derived. A friend of mine, whose intelligence
I greatly respect, wrote to me last year, 6th September, from Petit Bourg,
that J. C. wrapped himself in the Sophia to incorporate himself in the pure
element, and then descend into the region of mixed corruptible elements.
In reading that letter again, I find it contains exactly my doctrine. If
we follow the gradation, we find that, of all the mixed corruptible elements,
the igneous air, or the air we breathe, which I called ether in my last,
is really the purest of substances, without which no man can live. That
the incorporation of the Holy Spirit in the mixed elements is necessary
for our spiritual nourishment, is a thing which friend B. seems to say positively
('XL. Questions,' xiii. 2). We see even in v. 3 that he threatens to get
angry with those who will not believe it. I have only one observation to
make on the passage in question, in your letter of 1st December, which is,
that all souls, even good ones, do not possess Sophia. See 'Forty Questions,'
21, 7. I found, moreover, after writing my letter, 30th October, some traces
of my opinion as to pure air being regarded as a vehicle of the Sophia,
in a note of Jane Lead's. I always presume, however, that the grand means
for enjoying her is magical.
I am here quartered in a village, for the defence of our frontier, and to
enforce our neutrality. I have more leisure here than in town, where, for
a month past, I had not been able to read a word of our friend B., and I
consider myself very happy to be able to enjoy this retreat. I found some
old acquaintances at Bale, who, to my surprise, were very advanced in the
theory and practice of communications. They told me of an event which has
just occurred to a celebrated ecclesiastic of Zurich, whom I formerly knew;
his name is Lavater. He has received an invitation to go to see some persons
of the highest rank in a northern court; not the one you mentioned in one
of your letters, whose Cabinet would not move a step without physical consultations
(Berlin, Tr.); the one in question is further north (Copenhagen, Tr.). Lavater
arrived there last summer; he met with men of education engaged in public
business and living in the world, occupying high positions -- men of acknowledged
probity, who, in inviting him, could have no motive but one of goodness,
for they even defrayed the expense of his journey. These men assure him
that they have immediate communications with the active intelligent Cause;
they assure him that one of his friends, dead some time ago, will, through
his medium, enter their society. These men promise to enlighten him on subjects
on which he had prayed for light for a long while -- on the doctrine of
the heavenly food, the great mystery, where it is said: "Take, eat,
this is my body; drink, this is my blood; he that eateth not the flesh I
have given for life, the bread which came from heaven, will not have life
in him." In L.'s narrative, dated 26th Oct. 1793, which has been sent
to me here, and I have before my eyes, he says on this subject: "He
who understands these words understands the deepest mystery and most essential
part of Christianity; he will be perfectly convinced of an union, real,
positive, and intimate, "mit der gekreuzigten Menschen person, J. C."
These men tell him that, when they are assembled, and even some of them
when alone, they receive, at once, answers to questions they ask; at least
a yes or a no, which leaves no room for mistake; that often, even without
preliminary inquiry, they receive communications and revelations by which
several important matters have been cleared up. They tell him also, what
is very remarkable, that whenever they are together they have a most intimate
experience of the truth of the promise, "When two or three are met
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"; since, then,
a cloud, white as snow, descends, and for about half-an-hour, rests upon
them. They were convinced that these manifestations were signs and emanations
of the active and intelligent Cause:
1. Because these communications were always had after prayer had been offered
to that Cause, and the answers came immediately after the petitions.
2. Because these manifestations enjoined their love for that Cause.
3. Because the manifestation which they called Lord, Spirit of the Lord,
Image and Symbol of the Lord, received their adoration, which no good virtue
would have dared to do.
4. Because the answers were given at the same time, in many places, to different
persons, and in the same manner.
5. Because it judged them with severity, and on their sincere repentance,
it immediately blessed them, and that visibly.
6. Because whenever they asked it, Art thou the active intelligent Cause?
they were answered, Yes! which no power, good, or bad, would have dared
to say.
7. Because they were quite able to distinguish him from the good and evil
intermediate beings which surrounded him.
These are significant signs and characters. The only thing which greatly
embarrassed our L. was a singular doctrine which he finds established in
this circle, that of the return of souls. All men now alive, said the members
of this school of new Pythagoreans, have already lived under many forms
and different names; the holiest of men being obliged to appear again in
this world in the form of the most ordinary. I confess I am like our Zurich
friend; this doctrine, on the part of a society of elect, who believe that
they are living in real union and intimacy with the active intelligent Cause,
embarrasses me also; for, notwithstanding all the good the author of the
'Manual de Hefolius' says of this doctrine, it does not seem to me in consonance
with the mind of our friend Boehme. Has this Northern school misunderstood
its oracle? or what is this anomaly? Farewell. &c.
LETTER XXXVIII. -- (From S. M.)
Paris, 17th Nivose (6th Jan.), 1794.
I WAS not without fear for the fate of my last letter, and your answer has
come very opportunely to relieve me. I knew of the Zuricher's journey to
the court of D., but I did not know its object. This Zuricher and I know
each other only by name; he, like you, Sir, honours me with his kindly feelings.
What he has learnt by his journey must have pleased him without surprising
him, for he must have known of all these things long ago.
I cannot form a very decisive idea of this new branch of commerce which
you bring to my acquaintance; only I think I can see a great similarity
to that of Avignon, of which you have heard me speak. Though all the characters
of this new branch do not seem to me to be defective, still I think it might
become more central; our much-prized readings lead me to think so. The ruling
doctrine of that circle will then be purged of its metempsychosis, a system
which never fails being taught in the lower schools, and is, daily, by our
somnambulists, but which agrees with none of the great principles of the
divine spiritual theory, unless you call metempsychosis the possible and
repeated return of God's great Elect, such as Elijah, Enoch, Moses, &c.,
who may, indeed, appear at different epochs, to bear witness to, and assist
sensibly, the advancement of the great work, because good always flows in
the channels it has once selected; but evil and pollution, on leaving this
world, find new regions more vital than the earth, which purify or defile
us still more, so that the terrestrial trials would no further suffice;
which makes me more than ever regret this sort of metempsychosis, which
seems to me nothing more than a reflux of the different sidereal faculties
which the astral zone causes to pass over us, and which, thereby, shows
us to ourselves under the different forms which they impress upon us, and
yet no more belong to us than the names, titles, and decorations in a theatrical
character belong to the person who represents it for the moment. A letter
does not allow me to enlarge on this point. I am, however, well pleased
with what you tell me; I like to see honourable people turn towards the
holy regions; their souls cannot fail to profit greatly by it. . . .
To leave no doubt as to our opinions in regard to air, I again repeat what
I wrote to you in my letter of 6th September. But I add, that the mixed
elements are the mantle which the Christ had to put on to come to us, whilst
we have to break up and break through these elements to go to Him; and as
long as we lean or rest in them, we are still behind.
The most perfectly dephlogisticated air, we agree, is still very gross compared
with that which the Spirit dephlogisticates: when he is pleased to fill
it with his presence; we say, these physical considerations are beneath
him, yet hold of him; and although the air of the chamber where the Apostles
were was somewhat mephitic, considering their number and the heat of the
season and the climate, that did not prevent the Holy Spirit from there
accomplishing the most characteristic of his manifestations. I will say
further, that, in the elementary order of the principles, fire seems to
be superior to air, which, in fact, is only its son and minister; therefore,
fire has taken the lead in the manifestations, good and bad, with which
the earth has been filled; which is the cause that the idolatry of fire
has reigned, and still reigns, amongst men, whilst we see no idolatry of
air, though we do that of the winds, to avert their anger, rather than to
implore their favour. Forgive me, Sir, if I dwell so much on these subjects;
it is my dread of the mechanical which urges my pen, it is the profound
feeling that we must un-earth ourselves completely, if we would attain to
say to God, Habitavit in nobis, Amen.
I advance very slowly in the two books you have sent me, for want of assistance.
I discover in Jane Lead a vivacity of the sublimest and sweetest love. Happy
they who can attain her height, especially in what she says of the magism
of faith! I am yet only half through the book.
I have only skimmed through Pordage; he seems to be more scientific than
Jane Lead, and I think another hand must have made the translation. I confess
that my well-beloved Boehme, in my eyes, is a prince to them both, as he
is to all who walk in this way. But as they are all three very profound,
I will marry them together, and I hope to have some of their progeny.
In my dearth of aid in German. . . . I have lately called on Madame Schweitzer,
a niece of our Zuricher (Lavater), . . . who has promised to introduce me
to a person who knows the two languages well. . . . Farewell, Sir, &c.
I commend myself to your prayers.
LETTER XXXIX -- (From K.)
P. . . , near Bale (26 Nivose), 15th Jan. 1794.
I HAVE received your interesting letter of 17th Nivose. Still in my quarters.
To-morrow I am to be relieved, and I return to the turmoil of Bale, where
I shall lose much time.
I thank you for elucidating the new branch of intercourse going on in the
North. The great difficulty remains as to the conclusions of our Zuricher:
"Art thou the active, intelligent Cause? They were answered, Yes! which
no intermediate power, good or bad, would have dared to say." Is this
conclusion right or not? -- that's the question. I have seen a letter of
twenty pages written by the daughter of Lavater to one of her intimate friends,
on the occasion of her journey to Copenhagen, where she accompanied her
father. This daughter is an angel; but, as she does not believe in the metempsychosis,
any more than you or I, she is greatly perplexed.
I am nearer to your views of the descending scale, Sophia, and the pure
element, than perhaps you think. As for the air theory, we will speak of
that when we meet. Meanwhile, do not fear the mechanical for me. . . . There
are some initiates here who pretend that the dazzling white cloud which
appeared in the phenomenon of the North is a characteristic and inimitable
sign of the truth of the phenomenon. They pretend to have seen it themselves
once, with the figures 4 and 8, the quaternion and double quaternion. These
are not only figures, but chiffres arabes for me; and why should they be
"not to be imitated'?
LETTER XL. -- (From S. M.)
Paris (Pluviose), 26th Jan. 1794.
To satisfy you, Sir, as to your difficulty about the active intelligent
Cause, here is the answer.
I believe that they who are called to the work directly from on high have
no trouble in judging all that they get, and that without any other operation
of their own, besides the development of their inward divine sense. They
are an universal cupel which purifies everything, and suffers no corrosion
itself.
I believe that one who enters upon the work by an initiation, whether human
or spiritual, may also arrive at the truth of what he gets; but he will
require great labour for that; such is the fruit of theurgical labours and
operations, when conducted by pure, enlightened, and potent masters. But,
alas! how rare they are! As for me, I know not one; and I am very far from
having any virtuality of this kind, for my work takes the inward direction
altogether.
I believe that those who receive external gratuitous communications, like
those at Copenhagen, may possibly not be deceived; but I have no means whereby
to assure it. Those at Copenhagen do not seem to me to have sufficient proof
to justify their confidence. 1st, I do not believe that they are elects
of the first degree, mentioned above, for if they were, they would have
had no uncertainty, and had no need to ask questions; 2nd, I notice that
they are passive in their work -- acted upon, not acting -- therefore without
the needful active virtuality to "bind the strong one, and clear out
the house," to make it fit for honest folk to live in; 3rd, The answer
they receive, when they ask: Art thou the active intelligent Cause? proves
nothing to me, for the enemy can imitate everything, even our prayers, as
I have said in 'L'Homme de Desir'; and it is to discern these terrible imitations
that the use and practice of true theurgic operations lead, if, after all
these doings, recourse is not at once rather had to the internal who teaches
all things, and protects from danger; 4th, In short, I do not see in these
elect of Copenhagen, the signs given in the Gospel as characteristic of
true missionaries of the Spirit: "They will heal the sick, cast out
devils, and swallow poisons which will not hurt them."
This, Sir, is all that my intelligence affords me for the elucidation of
the point in question. I cannot judge, because I have not witnessed; and
I can be only reporter, without wishing my opinion to be decisive. I trust
Providence will open the eyes of these well-meaning people to the illusions
which crowd the path they have taken in good faith; but it is impossible
for me to affirm anything as to the nature of what occupies them, without
examining and confronting them. Now, I am not in a position to do this,
and, if I were, I doubt whether my extreme caution as to what is external,
and my ever-increasing taste for what is internal, would not prevent my
entertaining these subjects without being sent by another order than that
of my own desire or curiosity. I ought to add, that, if the evil power can
do anything and everything, the good intermediate power often speaks as
the Supreme Power itself. This we saw on Sinai, where simple Elohim spoke
to the people as themselves God, the jealous one, &c. -- another reason
why we should be careful as to what we conclude from the answer, "Yes."
If all these reflections are likely to help the interesting daughter of
your Zuricher to set her mind at rest, you can communicate them to her,
and, on the other hand, I shall be glad if you will let me know whatever
you may learn on all sides. . . .
You do well not to take, as your initiates do, the dazzling cloud and the
figures 4 and 8 as characteristic or inimitable proofs of the truth of the
phenomenon. Those initiates may be such in their teachers' documents, but
in the experience of the matter they are not. Farewell. &c.
LETTER XLI. -- (From S. M.)
Paris (15 Pluviose), 3rd Feb. 1794.
I TAKE the pen merely to tell you what may assist your researches for J.
Lead and Pordage, in which you are kindly interested for me. M. Forster,
who circumnavigated the globe with Captain Cook, has just died here. . .
. Before his death, he stated that he had the works of Lead and Pordage,
which he had left at Mayence; that since the Prussians had taken that city,
they had put seals on his library, and that a Prussian prince had taken
away several works, both printed and MS. Now I am informed M. Forster's
widow lives at Neufchaatel or at Zurich. . . . This, then, is the purport
of my letter. . . . 'The Dark World of Pordage, which I am now reading,
impresses me in a way I cannot describe. If I had it in English, I think
I would undertake to translate it into my own tongue. . . . Adieu, Sir;
do not mind the expense.
LETTER XLIL -- (From K.)
Bale (29 Pluviose), 12th Feb. 1794.
I HAVE duly received your two letters. . . .
Your observations on the intercourse in the North appear to me perfectly
correct; one amongst the rest ought, I think, to be printed in letters of
gold: The internal teaches everything and protects from danger. The substance
of this theory has been communicated to the young lady at Zurich. It was
her friend's father, who is here, who showed me her letters, in which there
reign a frankness and purity of mind which have pleased me greatly. I am
intimate with the two sisters, who, especially the elder, of about twenty,
are friends of our young lady of Zurich (Lavater): they have been initiated
themselves, and assisted at all the proceedings. Their mode of intercourse
was by means of one of such pupils, who was consecrated at each seance,
and who, after prayer was offered, entered alone into direct communication.
The master of the lodge directed the questions, and the answers were communicated
to the pupil, who was the third youngest sister.
I have succeeded in proving to them, and convincing them, that, notwithstanding
the plausible appearance of these transactions, they were often of very
doubtful, and sometimes very dangerous character. I have also made them
see that the central road, the road of love, was infinitely preferable to
these external fascinations. The father, notwithstanding his attachment
to these subaltern initiations, has been gradually led round to my way of
thinking, by his daughters. What completely gained me the confidence of
these young ladies, who may yet open all their souls to the truth, was reading
the xii. and xiii. chapters of 1 Cor, which the eldest of them opened accidentally.
But with the other men, members of this society, and who are men of a certain
age, nothing of consequence can be done. They are infected with the idea
of the prerogative of having this direct intercourse with the powers. The
first master they all had was Count Cagliostro, who was intimately connected
with the father of the pupils. This father is the younger brother of M.
Serazin, whose address you put on my letters. . . . I will not fail to inquire
for the widow Forster. . . . I hope to see another letter from Zurich before
I leave, on Wednesday next. . . .
P.S. -- The letter from Zurich has arrived: the father, i.e. S., received
it, and his eldest daughter read it to us. It contains very detailed accounts
of the intercourse in the North. I shall have a copy to send you shortly;
it probably will be circumstantial enough to enable you to pass definitive
judgment on the proceedings. Farewell. &c.
LETTER XLIII. -- (From S. M.)
Paris, 27 Ventose.
. . . THE house I am in has become national property; and we must leave
it immediately. I do not yet know where I shall go. I refer you to my next
letter for information as to my new address. Accept my thanks for the books
you have procured, and tell me how I can pay the amount.
From the details of your last letter I am more than ever confirmed in my
opinion of the bad state of those affairs. Another time I will say more
about these philosophical matters. . . . I have no time for more. &c.
&c.
LETTER XLIV. -- (From K.)
11th March.
Announcing the discovery of more of Browne's and Pordage's works.
LETTER XLV. -- (From S. M.)
Paris, 30 Germinal.
Announces his immediate departure for Amboise . . . in consequence of a
decree against the privileged and proscribed class, amongst which it was
his lot to be born. . . .
LETTER XLVI. -- (From K.)
Bale, 30th April, 1794.
I HAVE just received your letter, dated from Paris, 30 Germinal. . . . I
am afraid a previous letter of yours must have been lost. . . . I expected
your opinion about the writing I sent you, of Browne's, which, to me, seemed
to be much akin to Boehme's system on the regeneration of man. I expected
your opinion of the studies they are pursuing in the house at Bale, which
I told you of, and of the new direction I had given to these studies. I
have since received through that channel further news of Miss Lavater: her
father seems to be still enchanted with his journey, although in reality
he still has some doubts. That school in the North (Copenhagen) carries
its idea of the metempsychosis so far as to pretend that St. John is still
living bodily amongst them. They have even announced that he will probably
make a journey to Zurich, to visit our young lady's father. Judge from this,
what they are about. I have received a quire full of details of the experiences
at Copenhagen. They still glorify themselves in the belief that the light,
which, after their questions, gives out the sign yes or no, is a whitish
phosphoric colour, and not red, because red, or the colour of fire, would
be of a bad species. . . . just as if it was not as easy to ape a whitish
colour as a fiery colour!
Sometimes they see a star, by the side of the light which is their oracle:
they know this star represents a virtue. Then they ask: 'Dare it remain
there?" According to the answer, yes or no, the scholars order, the
star obeys.
They sometimes put questions on points of doctrine; for instance, they ask:
"Is there a passage in Scripture which indisputably proves the metempsychosis?
Yes, and no." Some understand this to mean that such passages may be
found in the Old Testament, and they again ask: 'Is there any in the New
Testament? Yes. In the four Evangelists? Yes. In St. Matthew? Yes. In the
1st chap.? No. In the 2nd? No. In the 4th? No. In the 11th? Yes. . . . In
the four first verses? No. In the four next? No. In the 14th? Yes."
I at once made the objection that this fashion of question and answer did
not seem to me at all suitable to the dignity of the Being they supposed
they were interrogating. Those who are permitted to ask questions receive,
conjointly or separately, in different places, answers which entirely agree.
The signs which accompany the principal light vary with the different questioners,
but the exterior manifestation of the principal light never varies.
What mainly contributes to make their belief, as to the nature of this miraculous
light, which they take for the Active Cause Himself, immovable, is that
several predictions which appeared to them very improbable, have been accomplished,
so they now consider it a temerity to entertain any doubt about it.
They also receive a sign of benediction, when their oracle is pleased with
what they have done, or proposed doing. These details, added to the other
particulars, will make it easy for you to judge the proces.
I have heard from Madame Forster, who is now at Zurich. She hopes to get
the books left by her husband: when she does she will let me know.
M. D. . (Divonne), whom you introduced to me last year, has left Switzerland:
while he was at Berne I told him of my admiration of the works of Boehme.
He procured me a superb edition in English, in 4to. I have gone over one
volume of it, which appears to me faithfully translated. Since he has left
Berne he assures me he has entirely given up all external manifestations.
I have learned, accidentally, that B.'s works were a favourite study of
the great Newton, who made copious extracts from them: what is quite certain
is, that I have found the theory of the attraction of celestial bodies clearly
expressed in B. . . , I think, in his 'Signatura Rerum.' Now, you know,
our friend lived a hundred years before Newton.
Unless connected with duty or my calling, I nauseate all readings which
have no relation to the Holy Scriptures, or are not of the nature of friend
B.'s. Since this has been so, theosophical works come to me almost without
looking for. Amongst others, I have become acquainted with those of a French
author, named De Marsay, printed without his name, in Berlebourg, 1738,
1739, and 1740, under the title of Temoignage d'un Enfant de la Verite.'
It is simple, frank, and very clear; it is easy to see that he writes after
his own experience. I do not find any sign of his having known Boehme's
works. Nevertheless, though ignorant of the division of the three principles,
in results, he is quite in conformity with him.
I have ten volumes of this author; and, for sample, I will add his 'Traite
de la Magie Divine, Naturelle, et Charnelle,' to the German translations
mentioned in my last letters: the parcel will reach Bale on Sunday next,
and go on by the diligence to Paris, and thence to Amboise. Be good enough
to let me have your opinion of this work, and the other points of my letter,
as soon as your occupations permit. . . . May our divine Master be daily
more and more closely united with you, and preserve you, is the prayer of
my soul.
LETTER XLVII. -- (From S. M.)
Amboise, 24 Floreal (14th May).
YOUR letter of 30th has reached me here. . . . The parcel of books not yet
arrived. . . . Your letter was read at the Comite de Surveillance at Paris,
and sent to me under their seal. . . .
I must close. &c.
LETTER XLVIII. -- (From K.)
Morat, 24th May, 1794.
I HAVE just received your letter 24 Floreal. . . .
I hope you will soon have news of the parcel of books. . . . It must be
delayed by some oversight. . . . . Please let me know when you receive it.
Since I was relieved from my post on the frontiers I am living in the country,
in the midst of my family, my library, nature, and repose. J. J. Rousseau,
who showed me some friendship when I was young, was not far wrong when he
wrote to me: "Your home must suffice you, or nothing will." You
will see this letter in his 'OEuvres Posthumes,' vol. vii. I see with pleasure
in his 'Confessions' that he still remembered me many years after his departure
from Switzerland. . . . I am struck with a passage, 'Threefold Life,' x.
48 to 50, which shows not only so plainly the way to keep in peace through
every event of life, but also the way to make the most decided progress
in the higher sciences; lucidly confirming what you once wrote me on this
subject. Farewell. &c.
LETTER XLIX. -- (From S. M.)
Amboise, 3 Prairial (23rd May).
I HAVE at last, Sir, just received Marsay's book, printed 1739, Pordage's
two volumes, and one volume of Browne. I have been able, hitherto, merely
to glance at the first, yet I see how much his doctrine agrees with that
of our beloved Boehme. I hope I shall be at least equally pleased with the
others; but I shall not for some time be able to devote myself to them so
assiduously as formerly, having been commissioned by my district to make
a list of the books, manuscripts, and other monuments of the arts and sciences
which the law has given to the nation in this territory, a work which is
being done at once throughout the republic; the result of which will be
a national library for every district. This will take me somewhat from my
own labours, but, as I am not in a position to serve the republic in any
other way, I must, at least, devote to it what little means I have. I have,
at all events, time enough to thank you, Sir, for this new philosophical
present. My only fear is that you should have deprived yourself of Marsay
to send it to me. I beg you will not do this, except when you have duplicates.
. . . I pray God to reward you for all the treasures you have procured for
me. I will say nothing of the Northern School, of which your last speaks.
I spoke to you of it myself in my last, and you and I ought to be in step
on this branch of philosophical study. Their mistake about the metempsychosis
has a foundation which renders it excusable; and J. Lead would plead for
them; but men will ever make haste to go from a possibility to the fact,
and the parties in question have not counted at what cost those favours
are to be purchased. Do not question me on this subject; a letter would
not suffice to answer you. I also have the English copy of Boehme, in 4to.
It is incomplete; the 'Send Brief,' to my mind one of the choicest of his
writings, is wanting, besides others.
Thank God, I begin to be tolerably familiar with our author's German; and
I go on, when I have time, with my translation into French of the 'Threefold
Life,' which I have undertaken as a provision for my old age, for my eyesight
is failing, and, if I were to lose it, I could find no one, in this place,
able to read it to me in German.
I should not be surprised if the great Newton was a reader of Boehme; but
I do not think he derived from thence his system of attraction, because
his system is altogether physical, and does not go deeper than the bark,
whilst that of Boehme goes to the centre. Farewell, Sir; bear me in your
prayers. I am all with you, heart and spirit, and God is our rallying point.
Amen.