“And now, in full old age, casting a retrospective glance upon the long trajectory of our fulfilled duty, we see with great peace of mind and conscience that it has not deviated—neither in our books, nor in our public or private acts. It soars above misunderstanding and slander, higher than disdain, as high as divine pity for those unfortunate blind souls led by the blinded toward the human Hell that shall engulf them.
“It is this same Charity which, despite the cruelest mourning, despite age, despite illness, leads us to complete the work we had promised the divine Master to undertake, and with His help to accomplish.
“The glory therefore belongs to Jesus Christ alone, and in Him, to the angelic soul to which He united us and from whose death He willed that even death itself could not separate us.”
These words of our Master, which conclude the preface to “Sagesse Vraie,” also form the logical conclusion of his admirable work on the Archeometer.
As the studious reader will have seen, this Archeometer is first and foremost a scientific and positive evoker—entirely free from magic—of the greatest mysteries of ancient religions. It is also a wondrous instrument of social adaptation, and we have certain hope that after studying the present work, the reader will be moved to read the admirable “Missions de Saint-Yves”—Mission des Juifs, Mission des Souverains, Mission des Français, and above all, the “Mission de l’Inde.”
We particularly recommend to the study of elevated minds the “Théogonie des patriarches,” an adaptation of the keys of the Archeometer to the translation of the Genesis of Moses and the Gospel of Saint John.
There also exist a few copies of a volume devoted to the musical adaptation of the Archeometer, which will form the nucleus of the second volume of this work.
Alongside the Archeometer, considered as the evocator of all ancient wisdom, one may behold two equally marvelous instruments derived from the Archeometer itself: first, the Standard , whose admirable architectural adaptations Mr. Gougy has revealed to us, and, what he called, in agreement with our Master, ‘the music of forms’; and secondly, the aesthetic protractor , with its manifold applications.
We harbor no illusions about the labor required to handle, with all desirable knowledge, this instrument of intellectual, religious and social transformation that is the Archeometer.
It may require twenty or thirty years before some university or man of genius rediscovers Saint-Yves’ work and renders unto this genius the justice that is his due. Indeed, when one considers that Wronski has yet to find reward for his efforts toward synthesis, one realizes how many years must pass before the Archeometer is judged at its true worth.
In our era of intellectual indolence, where provincial readers alone possess the cerebral tranquility necessary to read and meditate upon technical works, this book will doubtless be regarded as an amusing ideological system by harried critics compelled to review dozens of new works each week. What matter! After much labor, the “Friends of Saint-Yves” have succeeded in bringing to light the work to which their Master devoted over twenty years of unremitting effort.
They know that the Master and his Angel live beyond the veil and that while certain rootless works may perish, the Archeometer is a true light to which many torches shall come—whether overtly or occultly—seeking the emancipating fire, and which must forever triumph over Darkness in all planes.