“And I,” said
Abramelin
, “trusting in the mercy
of the Lord, I grant and accord unto thee this Holy Science, which thou must
acquire in the manner which is prescribed unto thee in the two little
manuscript books, without omitting the least imaginable thing of their
contents; and not in any way to gloss or comment upon that which may be or
may not be, seeing that the Artist who hath made that work is the same God
Who from Nothingness hath created all things. Thou shalt in no way use this
Sacred Science to o
ff
end the Great God, and to work ill unto thy neighbour;
thou shalt communicate it unto no living person whom thou dost not
thoroughly know by long practice and conversation, examining well whether
such a person really intendeth to work for the Good or for the Evil. And if
thou shalt wish to grant it unto him, thou shalt well observe and punctually,
the same fashion and manner, which I have made use of with thee. And if thou
doest otherwise, he who shall receive it shall draw no fruit therefrom. Keep
thyself as thou wouldst from a Serpent from selling this Science, and from
making merchandise of it; because the Grace of the Lord is given unto us free
and gratis, and we ought in no wise to sell the same. This Veritable Science
shall remain in thee and thy generation for the space of seventy-two
18
years,
and will not remain longer in our Sect. Let not thy curiosity push thee on to
understand the cause of this, but
fi
gure to thyself that we are so good
19
– that
our Sect hath become insupportable not only to the whole human race, but
even to God Himself !”