Chapter 1, Section 1k

) with our hearts predisposed unto the vision of God, and let us bring holy ears to the exposition of God’s holy Names, implanting holy Truths in holy instruments according to the Divine command, and withholding these things from the mockery and laughter of the uninitiate, or, rather, seeking to redeem those wicked men (if any such there be) from their enmity towards God. Thou, therefore, O good Timothy, must guard these truths according to the holy Ordinance, nor must thou utter or divulge the heavenly mysteries unto the uninitiate. 165 165 See Myst. Theol. I. 2; and cf. Matt. vii. 6 . And for myself I pray God grant me worthily to declare the beneficent and manifold Names of the Unutterable and Nameless Godhead, and that He do not take away the word of Truth out of my mouth. 45 The name of St. Paul’s companion is intended to give colour to the writer’s pseudonym. See Introduction, p. 1; cf. iii. 2. 46 This work is lost 47 1 Cor. ii. 4 . 48 τοῖς ἀφθέγκτοις καὶ ἀγνώστοις ἀφθέγκτως καὶ ἀγνώστως συναπτόμεθα. See Intr. on “Unknowing,” p. 32. 49 κατὰ τὴν κρείττονα τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς λογικῆς καὶ νοερᾶς δυνάμεως καὶ ἐνεργείας. D. frequently distinguishes between the discursive and the intuitive reason. Together they cover the whole of the intellect, cf. Wordsworth, Prelude, xiv. 119, 120: “Hence endless occupation for the soul, Whether discursive or intuitive.” The former gives us deductions, the latter the axioms on which these are based. See Intr., p. 26. 50 See Intr., p. 4. 51 D. is here contrasting the Affirmative Path of Knowing with the Negative Path of Unknowing. The former has a value as leading up to the latter; but it is only safe so far as we keep within the bounds of Scripture. Unscriptural conceptions of God are false; Scriptural conceptions are true as far as they go; but their literal meaning must be transcended. See Intr., p. 41 f. 52 i. e. The Transcendent Truths which are beyond ordinary knowledge. νοητά . The word νοῦς = Mind in the sense not merely of abstract intellect but of the spiritual personality. Hence the word is often used to = an angel; and νοητός is often used as = spiritual, instead of πνευματικός , which D. does not employ. This use of νοῦς and its derivatives is ultimately due to the influence of Aristotle. (Cf. the use of νοῦς in Plotinas.) St. Thomas Aquinas regards intellectus as = “personality.” But here the reference is perhaps rather to the province of abstract intellect. 53 Apparently this is the same thought repeated in three different ways.