Magic, or the Secret System

XIII

Preface.

reaches further than individual little stars, which do not yet make a day.

They also know very well why their teaching can arouse the attention of only a very few in this thinking age, and yet they preferred to make themselves known now, while spirits are in ferment original: où les esprits fermentent, rather than later.

Moreover, they recommend themselves through the excellent qualities of the heart, of which both writings—especially the Tableau Refers to Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin's Tableau naturel des rapports qui existent entre Dieu, l'homme et l'univers (A Natural Table of the Relations between God, Man, and the Universe), published in 1782.—give the most undeniable proof. In the latter, passages occur that must necessarily make the author original: Verf., abbreviation for Verfasser dear to anyone who still possesses some sense of human worth and true enjoyment. If precisely such hearts—souls so purified and fortified—are a salt of the earth A biblical reference to Matthew 5:13, suggesting these individuals are the moral and spiritual essence of society. and a magnet for beneficial forces; yes, if this purity and dignity of disposition were precisely the fruit of a doctrine and a way of knowing way of knowing: Erkenntnißart, referring here to the specific intuitive or mystical epistemology championed by the Saint-Martin circle that can count this among its advantages: that it produces such fruits—