t12papocrypha
Testament of Reuben 2
Reuben names seven spirits given to man at creation — life, sight, hearing, smell, speech, taste, and procreation — and then names seven counter-spirits that Beliar sets against each one. The framework maps the full range of human capacity as a battleground, not as neutral faculty. The seventh spirit, procreation, is ordered last in creation but first to dominate in youth precisely because it carries the heaviest ignorance, making it the most exposed entry point for error. Reuben's schema treats the body as a covenantal instrument whose faculties, if ungoverned, become avenues of bondage.
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And now hear me, my children, what things I saw in my repentance concerning the seven spirits of error. Seven spirits are given against man from Beliar, and they are chief of the works of youth; and seven spirits are given to him at his creation, that in them should be done every work of man. The first (1) spirit is of life, with which man’s whole being is created. The second (2) spirit is of sight, with which ariseth desire. The third (3) spirit is of hearing, with which cometh teaching. The fourth (4) spirit is of smelling, with which taste is given to draw air and breath. The fifth (5) spirit is of speech, with which cometh knowledge. The sixth (6) spirit is of taste, with which cometh the eating of meats and drinks; and by them strength is produced, for in food is the foundation of strength. The seventh (7) spirit is of begetting and sexual intercourse, with which through love of pleasure sin also entereth in: wherefore it is the last in order of creation, and the first of youth, because it is filled with ignorance, which leadeth the young as a blind man to a pit, and as cattle to a precipice.
