Chapter vii. That the knowledge of the true God is necessary for a Magician, and what the old Magicians and (http://gnosticwarrior.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/God-Jupiter.jpg)Philosophers have thought concerning God.

Seeing that the being and operation of all things, depend on the most high God, Creator of all things, from thence also on the other divine powers, to whom also is granted a power of fashioning and creating, not principally indeed, but instrumentally by vertue of the first Creator (for the beginning of every thing is the first cause, but what is produced by the second causes, is much more produced by the first, which is the producer of the second causes: which therefore we call secondary gods)

It is necessary therefore that every Magician [magician] know that very God, which is the first cause, and Creator of all things; And also the other gods, or divine powers (which we call the second causes) and not to be ignorant, with what adoration, reverence, holy rites conformable to the condition of every one, they are to be worshipped:

Whosoever therefore invocates the gods, and doth not confer on them their due honor, nor, rightly distribute to them what belongs to them, shall neither enjoy their presence, nor any successful effect from them. As in Harmony, if one string be broken, the whole music jars, and sometimes incurs the hazard of punishment, as it is written of the Assyrians, whom Salmanasar planted in Samaria, because they knew not the customs of the God of the Land, the Lord did send Lyons amongst them, who slew them, because they were ignorant of the rights of the god of the Land.

Now therefore let us see, what the old Magicians and Philosophers thought concerning God; for we read that Nicocreonte, a tyrant of Cyprus, long since asking, who was the greatest God, the Serapian Oracle answered him, That he was to be accounted the greatest God, whose head was the Heavens, the Seas his Belly, the Earth his feet, his ears placed in the sky, his eyes the light of the glorious Sun; not much unlike to this, Orpheus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus) sang in these verses,
The Heaven's Joves Royall Palace, he's King,
Fountain vertue and God of every thing;
He is Omnipotent, and in his breast
Earth, water, fire and aire do take their rest.
Both night and day, true wisdom with sweet Love,
Are all contained in this vast bulk of Jove (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_%28mythology%29).
His neck and glorious head if you would see,
Behold the Heavens high, and majesty;
The glorious rays of Stars do represent
His golden locks, and's heads adornment.
And elsewhere,
Bright Phebus [Phoebus] and the Moon, are the two eyes
Of this great Jove by which all things he spies;
His head which predicts All, is placed i'th skie [sky],
From which no noise can whisper secretly.
It pierceth all; his body vast extends,
Both far and wide, and knows no bounds nor ends.
The spacious Air's his breast, his wings the wind,
By which he flies far swifter then the mind.
His belly is our mother earth, who swels [swells]
Into huge mountains, whom the Ocean fils [fills]
And circles; hls feet are the rocks and stones
Which of this Globe are the foundations.
This Jove, under the earth conceals all things,
And from the depth into the light them brings.
Therefore they thought the whole world to be Jupiter, and truly he hath produced the soul of this world, which containeth the world in it self. Hence Sophoclessaith, in truth there is but one onely God, who hath made this heaven and this spacious earth; and Euripides saith, Behold the most high, who every where embraceth in his Arms, the immeasurable heaven and earth; believe that he is Jupiter, account him God; and Ennius the Poet sings,
Behold this bright sublime shining, whom all
Call Jove---------- ----- -------
Therefore the whole world is Jupiter, as Porphyry saith, a creature made of all creatures, and a God constituted of all gods; but Jupiter is,