Page 140 - Gnosis volume 2

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condition is not fulfilled, and if the forerunners allow themselves to be drawn away by

the illusions of this "World" and of the Personality, they are not real forerunners and

their efforts can only meet with failure.

The second condition demands that the work be impregnated by the gifts of Faith and
Hope, that it may develop and be accomplished in Knowledge. It is easy to understand

that Faith and Hope should animate those who consecrate themselves to this

preparatory task. But if their work is to be crowned with success within the required
time-limit, it is essential that each one of them, and all of them together, should be

impregnated with Hope and that they burn with Faith. It is only thus that one may

accede to Knowledge and invest it with that unselfish quality which opens up the ways

of Love as they are made manifest on a higher plane. For Faith and Hope are the first
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fruits and attributes of Love which believeth all things and hopeth all things .
In the third part of this volume, we will define the esoteric meaning of these two

terms, Faith and Hope, from a positive aspect. From a negative point of view, the

absence of Faith engenders suspicion and drowns all eagerness, while the lack of Hope
chains one to the present and prevents all expansion of thought and heart.

The ruling class of the chosen people lacked Faith and this is what provoked John's

failure and that of Jesus as well. Their sufferings and the martyrdom of the Apostles and
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Saints were necessary to surmount this failure . In sacrificing themselves, they were

moved by the Hope that all men

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I Corinthians, XIII, 7.
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I Corinthians, VI, 20.