Pernety - A Treatise On The Great Art.pdf - cyjack.com

The Great Art page 61Philosophical CounselsWorship God alone; love Him with all your heart ,and your neighbour as yourself. Have always theglory of God as the aim of all your actions; call upon Him; He will hear you, glorify Him, He willexalt you.Be slow in speech, and action. Do not rely upon your own prudence, upon your knowledge, or uponthe word and riches of men, especially of the great. Put your trust in God alone. Cultivate the talentwhich He has intrusted to you. Be avaricious of time; it is infinitely short for a man who knows howto use it. Do not put off until tomorrow, which is not yours, that which you should do today.Associate with the good and the wise. Man was born to learn; his natural curiosity is a palpable proofof this; and to stagnate in idleness and ignorance, is to degrade humanity. The more a man knows themore closely he approaches the Author of his being, who knows it all. Therefore profit by theknowledge of the Wise; receive their instructions with gentleness, and their corrections always ingood part. Flee from the association of the wicked, the multiplicity of affairs, and the multitude offriends.Sciences are acquired only by study, by meditation, and not by dispute. Learn a little at a time;repeat often the same study; the mind can do all when concentrated upon one sole object, but nothingwhen trying to embrace too many.Knowledge, joined by experience, forms the truest wisdom. Lacking it, one must have recourse toopinion, to doubt, to conjecture and to authority.The subjects of Science are God, the Universe, or Macrocosm, and Man. Man has been made forGod, Woman for God and Man, and the other creatures for Man and Woman, (Sap. Chap. 9, v.2 andfollow.), so that they should make use of them for their occupations, their own preservation, and theglory of their common Author. Above all act so as to be always in harmony with God and yourneighbour. Vengeance is a weakness in Man. Never make an enemy; and if one does evil to you, itwould be better and more noble, to avenge yourself by doing good to him.Aphorism. Of the Truth of the SciencesThere are two kinds of sciences, not more. Religion and Physics; that is to say, the Science of Godand the science of Nature: all others are only branches of these. There are even spurious ones; theyare errors rather than sciences.God gives the first in its perfection to Saints and the children of Heaven; enlightens the mind ofman so that it may acquire the second, and the Demon throws into it clouds to suggest the spuriousones.Religion comes from Heaven, it is the true Science, because God, the source of all truth, is itsAuthor. Physics is the knowledge of Nature, with it Man can do wonderful things. Mens humanamirabilium effectrix.The power of Man is greater than one would imagine. He can do all with the help of God, nothingwithout it, except evil.