you will receive to your astonishment the full number of the leaves of which the Book of Thoth consists.

O! you admirers of all higher knowledge and especially of Hermetic philosophy hermetischen Philosophie, which is the only true science of nature; you who purchase other useless unholy volumes and writings at great cost! Come here, and draw for some time from the true well of wisdom!

Second Instruction.

Second Section.

In my first instruction I have, following the example of the Egyptian wise men and one of their pupils, the great lawgiver of the Hebrews Moses, sought to make clear and to prove that one must not have the belief and the pride that one can obtain the keys to the secrets of nature directly from God, but that one

must also not degrade oneself so much as to call upon hellish spirits and to conjure them for the discovery of the future.

The Deity has indeed placed the key in our hands which unlocks the garden of all nature before us; but this key is not an immediate gift, but rather the faculty with which God has equipped us to recognize and distinguish evil from good.

Revelation is an immediate gift. Not everyone can boast of it; rather it is reserved only for him who can penetrate into the divine disclosures and who knows how to reveal them. It would be folly for man, and proud arrogance, to request the honor, the gift, of being a revealer of the divine oracles and secrets!

Yes, in the center of the immense garden in which God has placed us—but not in heaven or in hell, from which the Deity has removed us—we must seek and search for this science. Senses and understanding are the guides for us, to lead and steer us on this path of nature.

Translator's note: The number "3" at the bottom of the page is a signature mark for the printer.