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Secrets of the Art
Revealed
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Introduction
My very dear
Confreres and fellow Disciples, wherever you dwell on
this earth, now and in future times, since GOD has
touched your Hearts and enlightened your Minds to learn
this Science of all Sciences and Art of all Arts, I now
address you; and first of all I address those of you who
are privileged more than myself and all others because
you live in Maiorca, under the Great Patronage of Our
Lady where you constantly enjoy the aspect and supernal
influence of the very bright star that shines on your
land, namely our Doctor Illuminatus and Blessed Martyr
RAYMOND LULL; may I be granted the favor of being among
you as the last in line, not only mentally but also
physically present to bow before the Altar of my most
loving Teacher, kiss his footprints and give my thanks,
inadequate as they be when compared to his merits, for
all the great benefits that his most munificent right
hand deigned to bestow as it reached out and opened
itself wide to me, his unworthy client, in this far away
country.
Who will
give me a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths so that
loudly and with many voices I can proclaim before the
whole World the praises of the most Enlightened Doctor,
most Faithful Teacher, most Loving Parent, most Glorious
Martyr, most Excellent Physician, most Profound
Philosopher, most Sublime Theologian, Leader, King and
Emperor of all the noblest Sciences and Arts! Here I do
not intend to relate his Piety and Virtues, nor the
labor, persecution, revilement, imprisonment and wounds
that he suffered entirely for the love of his Beloved and
in his zeal to spread afar and aloft the Holy Catholic,
Apostolic and Roman faith, all these things would give me
ample occasion to praise him in countless ways; nor will
I expound upon his Merits and the Glory that he now
receives from his Beloved, his supreme Beloved who now
continually provides splendid testimony on this earth in
favor of his Lover in order to honor him and avenge the
calumnies, revilement and injury dealt out by evil men.
All these
things are well known to you as Spectators and
sufficiently expounded before the whole world in Books by
Illustrious Men relating his Deeds and his Cause, and I
will refer to them in a more appropriate place, namely in
the Great Book of Divine Contemplation.
At this time
I will defend only his Science and Wisdom by expounding
it to you because it is too little valued by his
abovementioned Friends and Defenders who have little
knowledge of it, if any at all; and I respect and
venerate it as a GOD - given Science and Wisdom (as I
devoutly believe, having been convinced by continuously
reading so many Works over the years) which is all the
more lofty and perfect as it is equipped with a ministry
so universal and powerful that it extends not only to any
one man, any one Science or Art, but to all natural
sciences and Arts for their Renewal and ultimate
Perfection, for extirpating heresy, converting all
Unbelievers, and spreading the Most Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Faith all over the world: and I hope that the
time so longed for by our Blessed Teacher is now at hand
and that "the Science with which the truth of our
Faith can be so easily proved and with which straying
humanity can be brought to GOD's Salvation will no longer
remain hidden." (Lib. Desol. n. 22) "whereby
our Holy Catholic Faith can be raised aloft so that many
Unbelievers can be brought to true conversion."
(ibid. n. 3) Now is the propitious time, the day of
salvation (as I trust in our Lord's Mercy) to bring to
perfect fulfillment "this holy task at which our
Doctor Illuminatus labored for thirty years without ever
seeing its completion." (Lib. Desol. n. 3, Arb.
Scient. prol.) "The task of greatly honoring the
Greatness of our GOD and saving the nations." (ibid.
n. 7)
Now let this
Art be brought to light: our most excellent Teacher was
so afraid it might be lost after his death, that he
expressed the sorrow in his heart with these words worthy
of our greatest compassion: (Lib. Desol. n. 35) "O
glorious Lord! is there any martyrdom in this world as
great as mine when I cannot serve you and have no one to
help me! How can this Art that You gave me, and from
which so much good can follow, be preserved? I am afraid
that it will be lost after my death, for my judgment
tells me that no one understands it and I cannot compel
anyone to hear it out. Woe is me, if it is lost! What
will I say to you, Lord, as you gave it to me so I would
spread it? "
Most loving
Father, let not this Art that your Beloved gave you be
lost, lest thousands be lost; now I am not anxious about
your Art, rather, I rejoice in it because GOD has given
it and Justice and Virtue will make it multiply in its
legitimate Lovers as by GOD's grace, the prediction that
the Hermit made to console you is now nearing its
fulfillment: "although you now experience
hardships on account of it, there will be other, better
times when you will have Helpers who learn it and
overcome the errors of this world with it, and do many
worthy deeds." (ibid. n. 10) Now the Shepherd's
prediction draws close to its auspicious fulfillment,
since the day he saw your books and knelt to kiss them
and water them with his tears, saying that great good
would come to the Church of Christ through them. (Vita
cap. 2 n. 2)
Therefore,
Venerable Father and most Wise Teacher, reveal now to
your Sons and Disciples, my Brothers and fellow
Apprentices, the Secrets of your Art; for it is improper
for me as a
Disciple to
teach my fellow Disciples and I should rather learn
together with them. I must therefore consider you as the
source, and that whatever I impart to them comes not from
me but from you: and as your voice no longer resounds in
our ears since you left this mortal body, I beseech you,
my Father, to let your threefold Spirit minister to us
and manifest to us the Truth that you investigated for so
long in so many different ways and when you finally
learned the Truth that you so greatly desired to know,
you bequeathed it to us in your Books: although your
books are held in low esteem and some even consider you a
fool, without ever having known you or your Books. (in
Prol. Arb. Scientiae, in Lib Desol. n. 16. 47. in Lib.
Disput. Petri).
However, as
your Disciples, we see this in another light since reason
and experience have convinced us of the ineffable value
of your Volumes and we prefer to be regarded with you as
fools so that we can partake of the Wisdom, Science and
Prudence so plentifully infused in you by GOD, because
our love for them makes us impervious to slander given
that we neither seek praise, nor fear blame from men.
(S.Hier. in Prol. ad 1. Est.)
And we are
much less discouraged from studying your books by those
who claim that your Latin is barbaric, since this is not
true and only appears to be so to those who have never
learned the barbaric and irrational Grammar of the
Romans, but are only accustomed to the rules established
"ad placitum" by Ethnic writers. Nor do they
know anything about your Art of forming a rational system
of Grammar and their objections are easily refuted by
considering the sublimity of your Doctrine: "Fools
conveniently adopt the habit of always belittling any
Doctrine too sublime for them to understand, whereas they
really ought to be more attentive and rise to the subtler
level of the matter at hand, on the contrary, they get
depressed and say that the style is too difficult
although they should stand in admiration of it. Therefore
they act exactly like toothless infants who choose softer
foodstuff even though it is of lesser quality and they
bitterly complain about any solid, better quality food:
thus they carefully conceal their weakness; deprived of
any acumen, they loathe any science that has to be
conquered through intensive study and much work. (Saint
Cyril in John 21).
And thus
your Disciples are pleased to join you and Saint Gregory
in "not shunning mixed metaphors and the confusion
of barbaric grammar, and in disregarding rules of style,
rhythm and punctuation, because we firmly believe that it
is unbecoming to constrain the words of the Heavenly
Oracles to the grammar rules of Donatus. And it is far
better for us to be picked apart by grammarians, than to
fail to convey our meaning to the people." (Saint
Gregory, Letter to Leander) And Saint Augustine writes:
"The best teaching ensures that the listener hears
the truth and understands what he hears. The outstanding
mark of good intelligence is a love for the truth that is
conveyed by words rather than for the words themselves;
of what use indeed is a golden key that cannot open what
we want to open, and what is wrong with a wooden key if
it can open it? After all, don't we simply want to open
something that is closed?" (S.Aug. de Verb. del.)
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