THE SECRET SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN
CONCERNING REBIRTH AND THE PROMISE OF SILENCE
OF THRICE-GREATEST HERMES UNTO TAT HIS SON
1. Tat. [Now] in the General Sermons, father, thou didst speak in riddles most unclear, conversing on Divinity; and when thou saidst no man could e’er be saved before Rebirth, thy meaning thou didst hide.
Further, when I became thy Suppliant, in Wending up the Mount, after thou hadst conversed with me, and when I longed to learn the Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth (for this beyond all other things is just the thing I know not), thou saidst, that thou wouldst give it me—“when thou shalt have become a stranger to the world.”
Wherefore I got me ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the world-illusion.
And now do thou fill up the things that fall short in me with what thou saidst would give me the tradition of Rebirth, setting it forth in speech or in the secret way.
I know not, O Thrice-greatest one, from out what matter and what womb Man comes to birth, or of what seed.
2. Hermes. Wisdom that understands in silence [such is the matter and the womb from out which Man is born], and the True Good the seed.
Tat. Who is the sower, father? For I am altogether at a loss.
Her. It is the Will of God, my son.
Tat. And of what kind is he that is begotten, father? For I have no share of that essence in me, which doth transcend the senses. The one that is begot will be another one from God, God’s Son?
Her. All in all, out of all powers composed.
Tat. Thou tellest me a riddle, father, and dost not speak as father unto son.
Her. This Race, my son, is never taught; but when He willeth it, its memory is restored by God.
3. Tat. Thou sayest things impossible, O father, things that are forced. Hence answers would I have direct unto these things. Am I a son strange to my father’s race?
Keep it not, father, back from me. I am a true-born son; explain to me the manner of Rebirth.
Her. What may I say, my son? I can but tell thee this. Whene’er I see within myself the Simple Vision brought to birth out of God’s mercy, I have passed through myself into a Body that can never die. And now I am not what I was before; but I am born in Mind.
The way to do this is not taught, and it cannot be seen by the compounded element by means of which thou seest.
Yea, I have had my former composed form dismembered for me. I am no longer touched, yet have I touch; I have dimension too; and [yet] am I a stranger to them now.
Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand [even] with fullest strain of body and of sight.
4. Tat. Into fierce frenzy and mind-fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer do I see myself.
Her. I would, my son, that thou hadst e’en passed right through thyself, as they who dream in sleep yet sleepless.
Tat. Tell me this too! Who is the author of Rebirth?
Her. The Son of God, the One Man, by God’s Will.
5. Tat. Now hast thou brought me, father, unto pure stupefaction.
Arrested from the senses which I had before, . . . . ; for [now] I see thy Greatness identical with thy distinctive form.
Her. Even in this thou art untrue ; the mortal form doth change with every day. ’Tis turned by time to growth and waning, as being an untrue thing.
6. Tat. What then is true, Thrice-greatest One?
Her. That which is never troubled, son, which cannot be defined; that which no colour hath, nor any figure, which is not turned, which hath no garment, which giveth light; that which is comprehensible unto itself [alone], which doth not suffer change; that which no body can contain.
Tat. In very truth I lose my reason, father. Just when I thought to be made wise by thee, I find the senses of this mind of mine blocked up.
Her. Thus is it, son: That which is upward borne like fire, yet is borne down like earth, that which is moist like water, yet blows like air, how shalt thou this perceive with sense—the that which is not solid nor yet moist, which naught can bind or loose, of which in power and energy alone can man have any notion,—and even then it wants a man who can perceive the Way of Birth in God ?
7. Tat. I am incapable of this, O father, then?
Her. Nay, God forbid, my son! Withdraw into thyself, and it will come; will, and it comes to pass; throw out of work the body’s senses, and thy Divinity shall come to birth; purge from thyself the brutish torments—things of matter.
Tat. I have tormentors then in me, O father?
Her. Ay, no few, my son; nay, fearful ones and manifold.
Tat. I do not know them, father.
Her. Torment the first is this Not-knowing, son; the second one is Grief; the third, Intemperance; the fourth, Concupiscence; the fifth, Unrighteousness; the sixth is Avarice; the seventh, Error ; the eighth is Envy; the ninth, Guile ; the tenth is Anger; eleventh, Rashness; the twelfth is Malice.
These are in number twelve; but under them are many more, my son; and creeping through the prison of the body they force the man that’s placed within to suffer in his senses. But they depart (although not all at once) from him who hath been taken pity on by God ; and this it is which constitutes the manner of Rebirth. And . . . . the Reason (Logos).
8. And now, my son, be still and solemn silence keep! Thus shall the mercy that flows on us from God not cease.
Henceforth rejoice, O son, for by the Powers of God thou art being purified for the articulation of the Reason (Logos).
Gnosis of God hath come to us, and when this comes, my son, Not-knowing is cast out.
Gnosis of Joy hath come to us, and on its coming, son, Sorrow will flee away to them who give it room. The Power that follows Joy do I invoke, thy Self-control. O Power most sweet! Let us most gladly bid it welcome, son! How with its coming doth it chase Intemperance away!
9. Now fourth, on Continence I call, the Power against Desire.
. . . . This step, my son, is Righteousness’ firm seat. For without judgment see how she hath chased Unrighteousness away. We are made righteous, son, by the departure of Unrighteousness.