aise Thee.

O Thou who sustainest all light and givest life to every soul, I praise
Thee.

O Thou Repose of them [? who seek repose], I praise Thee.

O Thou [Father] of all Paternity from the beginning unto this day, I
praise Thee.

They [? Thy children] search for Thee because Thou art their [Father].
Hear the prayer of [Thy children], for [Thou art He who is hidden] in
every place, He who is the [Desire] of all hearts.

[1] The title and the opening part of the work are lost.

NOTES

(1) The centre of the Universe, which is everywhere and nowhere; the
ideal unity in diversity, from which all things flow out and into which
all things return. Just as Jerusalem was held to be the centre of the
earth, so was this "City" held to be the hidden centre of the Universe;
hence it is often named "Jerusalem Above, who is the Mother of us all."
It is the principle at once of universality and individuality, the real
"ground" or centre of the soul. It is called the "House of the Father"
because it is the abiding place of the Presence; the "Robe of the Son"
because it is His Body of Manifestation (_cp._ 2 Clem. xiv.); the
"Power of the Mother" because it is the "Energy" by which man is reborn
into Divine consciousness; and the "Image or Archetype of the Pleroma"
(the World of Eternal Ideas in their "Fullness"), because it is the
Wisdom which is the basis of all consciousness.

(2) This term rather suggests the use of a vibratory formula to induce
certain interior states as a practice of the School to which the Greek
MS. belonged. Perhaps this may have been IAO, the meaning of which is
given elsewhere as "I, because the All (or Pleroma) hath gone forth.
A, because it will turn itself back again. O, because the consummation
of all consummations will take place." This may be taken to mean
exoterically, "I, the Incarnation of Jesus, Who is the Pleroma. A, the
Crucifixion. O, the Ascension." Taken esoterically, it may mean, "I,
the Soul, has come forth from God into generation. A, it is started or
"Initiated" on its return journey through the Life of the Cross. O,
there is union with God in the Eternity of Eternities as the
consummation of all things" (_cp._ note 18). The work we are studying
might almost be considered an exposition of this formula, though I do
not suggest that it literally is so. We begin by reading it from right
to left, beginning with the God "beyond Name," that is He whose being
cannot