Ancient and Modern Initation

 

[PAGE 63] THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

CHAPTER ONE

THE ANNUNCIATION AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Much is said in certain classes of the Western World about Initiation.

This in the minds of most people seems usually to be associated with the oc-

cultism taught in the religions of the far East; something that is peculiar

to the devotees of Buddhism, Hinduism, and kindred systems of faith, and

which in nowise appertains to the religion of the Western World, par-

ticularly to the Christian religion.

We have shown in the preceding series on "Symbols and Ancient and Modern

Initiation: that this idea is entirely gratuitous, and that the ancient Tab-

ernacle in the Wilderness pictures in its symbolism the path of progression

from childlike ignorance to superhuman knowledge. As the VEDAS brought

light to the devotees who worshiped in faith and fervor on the banks of the

Ganges in the sunny South, so the Eddas were a guiding star to the sons of

the rugged Northland, who sought the Light of life in ancient Iceland where

the sturdy Vikings steered their ships in frozen seas. "Arjuna," who

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fights the noble fight in the "Mahabharata," or "Great War," con-

stantly being waged between the higher and the lower self, difference in

nowise from the hero of the northern soul myth, "Siegfried," which means,

"He who through victory gains peace."

Both are representative of the candidate undergoing Initiation. And

though their experiences in this great adventure vary in certain respects

called for by the temperamental differences of the northern and southern

peoples, and provided for in the respective schools to which they are re-

ferred for soul growth, the main features are identical, and the end, which

is enlightenment, is the same. Aspiring souls have walked to the Light in

the brilliantly illuminated Persian temples where the sun god in his blazing

chariot was the symbol of Light, as well as under the mystic magnificence of

the iridescence shed abroad by the aurora borealis of the frozen North.

That the true Light of the deepest esoteric knowledge has always been

present in all ages, even the darkest of the so-called dark, there is ample

evidence to show.

Raphael used his wonderful skill with the brush to embody it in two of

his great paintings, "The Sistine Madonna" and the "Marriage of the Virgin,"

which we would advise the interested reader to examine for himself. Copies

of these paintings are procurable in almost any art store. In the original

there is a peculiar tint of golden haze behind the Madonna and Child, which

[PAGE 64A] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

ILLUSTRATION:

CHRISTIAN MYSTIC INITIATION

THE PATH THROUGH THE HEART

LOVE THE BASIC FACTOR

[PAGE 65] THE ANNUNCIATION; IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

though exceedingly crude to one gifted with spiritual sight, is nevertheless

as close an imitation of the basic color of the first-heaven world as it is

possible to make with the pigments of earth. Close inspection of this back-

ground will reveal the fact that it is composed of a multitude of what we

are used to call "angel" heads and wings.

This again is as literal a pictorial representation of facts concerning

the inhabitants of that world as could be given, for during the process of

purgation which takes place in the lower regions of the Desire World the

lower parts of the body are actually disintegrated so that only the head,

containing the intelligence of the man, remains when he enters the first

heaven, a fact which has puzzled many who have happened to see the souls

there. The wings of course have no reality outside the picture, but were

placed there to show ability to move swiftly, which is inherent in all be-

ings in the invisible worlds. The People is represented as pointing to the

Madonna and the Christ Child, and a close examination of the hand wherewith

he points will show that it has six fingers. There is not historical

evidence to show that the Pontiff actually had such a deformity, neither can

that fact be an accident; the six fingers in the painting must therefore

have been due to design on the part of the painter.

What its purpose was we shall learn by examination of the "Marriage of

the Virgin," where a similar anomaly may be noted. In that picture Mary

and Joseph are represented together with he Christ Child under such condi-

[PAGE 66] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

tions that it is evident that they are just on the eve of departure for

Egypt, and a Rabbi is in the act of joining them in wedlock. The left foot

of Joseph is the foremost object in the picture, and if we count we shall

find it represented as having six toes. By the six fingers in the Pope's

picture and the six toes of Joseph, Raphael wants to show us that both pos-

sessed a sixth sense such as is awakened by Initiation. By this subtle

sense the foot of Joseph was guided in its flight to keep secure that sacred

things which had been entrusted to his care. To the other was given a sixth

sense that he might not be a blind leader of the blind but might have the

"seeing eye" required to point out the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And it

is a fact, though not commonly known, that with one or two exceptions when

political power was strong enough to corrupt the College of Cardinals, all

who have sat upon the so-called throne of Peter have had the spiritual sight

in a greater or lesser degree.

We have seen in the articles on "Symbols of Ancient and Modern Ini-

tiation," which preceded the present article, that the Atlantean Mystery

Temple known as the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was a school of soul

growth; and it should not surprise us to learn that the four Gospels con-

taining the life of Christ are also formulae of Initiation, revealing an-

other and a later Path to power. In the ancient Egyptian Mysteries, Horus

was the first fruit whom the aspirant endeavored to imitate, and it is sig-

nificant that in the Ritual of Initiation which was in vogue in that day and

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which we now call the "Book of the Dead," the aspirant to Initiation was al-

ways addressed Horus so-and-so. Following the same method today we might

appropriately address those following the Christian Path of Initiation as

Christ so-and-so, for as a matter of fact all who tread this Path are really

Christs-in-the-making. Each in his or her turn will reach the different

stations of the Via Dolorosa, or Path of Sorrow, which leads to Calvary, and

experience in his or her own body the pangs and pains suffered by the Hero

of the Gospels. Initiation is a cosmic process of enlightenement and evolu-

tion of power; therefore the experiences of all are similar in the main fea-

tures.

The Christian Mystic form of Initiation differs radically from the

Rosicrucian method, which aims to bring the candidate to compassion through

knowledge, and therefore seeks to cultivate in him the latent faculties of

spiritual sight and hearing at the very start of his career as an aspirant

to the higher life. it teaches him to know the hidden mysteries of being

and to perceive intellectually the unity of each with all, so that at last

through this knowledge there is awakened within him the feeling that makes

him truly realize his oneness with all that lives and moves, which puts him

in full and perfect tune with the Infinite, making him a true helper and

worker in the divine kingdom of evolution.

The goal attained through the Christian Mystic Initiation is the same,

but the method, as said, is entirely different. In the first place, the

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candidate is usually unconscious of trying to attain any definite object, at

least during the first stages of his endeavors, and there is in this noble

School of Initiation but no Teacher, the Christ, who is ever before the

spiritual vision of the candidate as the Ideal and the Goal of all his

striving. The Western world, alas! has become so enmeshed in intellectual-

ity that its aspirants can only enter the Path when their reason has been

satisfied; and unfortunately it i a desire for more knowledge which brings

most of the p pupils to the Rosicrucian School. It is an arduous task to

cultivate int he the compassion which must blend with their knowledge and be

the guiding factor in the use of it before they are fitted to enter the

Kingdom of Christ. But those who are drawn to the Christian Mystic Path

feel no difficulty of that nature. They have within themselves an

all-embracing love, which urges them onward and eventually generates in them

a knowledge which the writer believes to be far superior to that attained by

any other method. One who follows te intellectual Path of development is

apt to sneer superciliously at another whose temperament impels him along

the Mystic Path. Such an attitude of mind is not only detrimental to the

spiritual development of whoever entertains it, but it is entirely gratu-

itous, as the works of Jacob Boehme, Thomas a Kempis, and many other who

have followed the Mystic Path will show. The more knowledge we possess the

greater condemnation also shall we merit if we do not use it right. But

love, which is the basic principle in the Christian Mystic's life, can never

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bring us into condemnation or conflict with the purposes of God. It is

infinitely better to be able to FEEL any noble emotion that to have the

keenest intellect and one which is able to define all emotions. Hairsplit-

ting over the constitution and evolution of the atom surely will not promote

soul growth as much as humble helpfulness toward our neighbor.

There are nine definite steps in the Christian Mystic Initiation, com-

mencing with the Baptism, which is dedicatory. The Annunciation and Im-

maculate Conception precede as matters of course for reasons given later.

Having prepared our minds by the foregoing consideration, we are now ready

to consider each stage separately in this glorious process of spiritual

unfoldment.

THE ANNUNCIATION AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

The Christian Mystic is emphatically not the product of one life, but the

flower of many preparatory existences, during which he has cultivated that

sublime compassion which makes him feel the whole world's woe, and conjures

up before his spiritual vision the Christ Ideal as the true balm of Gilead,

its practice the only palladium against all human grief and sorrow. Such a

soul is watched over special care by the divine Hierarchies who have charge

of our progression along the path of evolution, and when the time is ripe

for him to enter that life in which he is to run the final race to reach the

goal and become a Savior of his kind, angels are indeed watching, waiting,

[PAGE 70] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

and singing hosannas in joyful anticipation of the great event.

Like always seeks like, and and naturally the parents are carefully se-

lected for (and by such a noble soul from among the "sons and daughters of

the King." They may be in the poorest circumstances from a worldly point of

view; it may be necessary to cradle the babe in a manger, but no richer gift

ever came to parents that such a noble soul. Among the qualifications nec-

essary to be the parents of such an Ego is that the mother be a "virgin" and

the father a "builder."

It is stated in the Bible that Joseph was a CARPENTER, but the Greek word

is "tekton" which means "builder." In Mystic Masonry God is called the

Grant Architech. ARCHE is the Greek word signifying primordial substance,

and a tekton is a builder. Thus God is the Great Master Builder, who out of

primordial substance fashioned the world as an evolutionary field for

various grades of beings. He uses in His universe many tektons, or build-

ers, of various grades. Everyone who follows the Path of spiritual attain-

ment, endeavoring to work constructively with the laws of nature as a ser-

vant of humanity, is a TEKTON or builder in the sense that he has the

qualifications necessary to aid in giving birth to a great soul. Thus when

it is said that Jesus was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, we under-

stand that they were both TEKTONS or builders along cosmic lines.

The Immaculate Conception, like all other sublime mysteries, has been

dragged down into the gutter of materiality, and being so sublimely

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spiritual it has perhaps suffered more by this rude treatment than any other

of the spiritual teachings. Perhaps it has suffered even more from the

clumsy explanation of ignorant supporters that from the jeers and sneers of

the cynic. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, as popularly under-

stood, is that about two thousand years ago God in a miraculous manner fer-

tilized a certain Mary who was a virgin, as as the result she gave birth to

Jesus, an individual who is consequence was the Son of God in a sense dif-

ferent from all other men. There is also in the popular mind the idea that

this incident is unique in the history of the world.

It is particularly the latter fallacy which has served to distort the

beautiful spiritual truth concerning the Immaculate Conception. It is not

unique in any sense. Every great soul who has been born into the world to

live a life of sublime saintliness, such as required for the Christian Mys-

tic Initiation, has also found entrance through of immaculate virginity who

were not besmirched by passion in the performance of the generative act.

Men do not gather grapes of thorns. It is an axiomatic truth that like

begets like, and before anyone can become a Savior, he must himself be pure

and sinless. He, being pure cannot take birth from one who is vile; HE MUST

BE BORN OF VIRGIN PARENTS.

But the virginity to which we refer does not comprehend a merely physical

condition. There is not inherent virtue in physical virginity, for all pos-

sess it at the beginning of life no matter how vile their disposition may

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be. The virginity of the mother of a Savior is a quality of the soul, which

remains unsullied regardless of the physical act of fertilization. When

people perform the first creative act without desire for offspring, merely

for gratification of their animal lusts and propensities, they lose the only

(physical) virginity they ever possessed; but when prospective parents unite

in a spirit of prayer, offering their bodies upon the altar of sacrifice in

order to provide an incoming soul with the physical body needed at the

present time to further spiritual development, their purity of purpose pre-

serves their virginity and draws a noble soul to their hearth and home.

Whether a child is conceived in sin or immaculately depends upon its own in-

herent soul quality, for that will unerringly draw it to parents of a nature

like unto its own. To become the son of a virgin predicates a past career

of spirituality for the one who is so born.

The "mystic birth" of a "builder" is a cosmic event of great importance,

and it is therefore not surprising that it is pictured in the skies from

year to year, showing a graphic symbolism in the great world or macrocosm

what will eventually take place in man, the little world or microcosm. We

are all destined to experience the things that Jesus experienced, including

the Immaculate Conception, which is a prerequisite to the life of saints and

saviors of varying degrees. By understanding this great cosmic symbol we

shall more easily understand its application to the individual human being.

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The sun is "THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD" in a material sense. When in winter

time it reaches the extreme southern declination at the solstice on December

23rd, the people in the northern hemisphere, where all the present religions

have had their birth, are plunged into the deepest darkness and bereft of

the all-sustaining vital power emanating from the sun, which is them partly

dead so far as its influence upon men in concerned. It is therefore neces-

sary that a new light shine in the darkness, that a SUN OF GOOD be born to

same humanity from the cold and famine which must inevitably result if the

sun were to remain in the southern position which he occupies at the winter

solstice.

On the night between the 24th and 25th of December, the sun having com-

menced to slowly rise toward the earth's equator, the zodiacal sign of

Virgo, the immaculate celestial Virgin, is on the eastern horizon in all

northern latitudes (in the hours immediately preceding midnight). In the

science of astrology it is the sign and degree on the eastern horizon at the

time of birth which determine the form or body of the creature then born.

Therefore the Sun of Good is said to have been born of Virgo, the sublime

celestial Virgin, who remains as pure after giving birth to her Sun Child as

she was before. By analogy the Son of God who comes to save his fellow men

must also be born of an immaculate spiritual virgin.

From what has been said it is evident that a great period of preparation

precedes the entrance of a Christian Mystic into the present sphere of human

[PAGE 74] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

life, though he in his physical consciousness is usually entirely unaware of

the fact of the great adventure in store for him. In all probability his

childhood days and early youth will pass in obscurity, while he lives an in-

ner life of unusual depth, unconsciously preparing himself for the Baptism,

which is the first of the nine steps of this method of attainment.

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[PAGE 75] THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

CHAPTER TWO

MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

It is noteworthy that nearly all religious systems have prescribed ablu-

tions previous to the performance of religious duties, and the worship per-

formed in the ancient Atlantean Mystery Temple, the Tabernacle in the Wil-

derness, was no exception, as we have seen from the previous articles on

"Symbols of Ancient and Modern Initiation." After having obtained justifi-

cation by sacrifice on the Brazen Altar, the candidate was compelled to wash

in the Laver of Consecration, the Molten Sea, before he was allowed to enter

upon the duties of his ministry in the sanctuary proper. And it is in con-

formity with this rule that we find the Hero of the Gospels going to the

river Jordan, where He underwent the mystic rite of Baptism. When He rose,

we learn that the Spirit descended upon Him. Therefore it is obvious that

those who follow the Christian Mystic Path of Initiation must also be

similarly baptized before they can receive the Spirit, which is to be their

[PAGE 76] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

true guide through all the trials before them.

But what constitutes Baptism is a question which has called forth argu-

ments of almost unbelievable intensity. Some contend that it is a sprin-

kling with water, and other insist upon the immersion of the whole body.

Some say that it is sufficient to take an infant into church, sprinkle it

with water despite its protests, and presto! it becomes a Christian, an heir

of heaven; whereas should it unfortunately die before this sacred rite is

performed, it must inevitably go to hell. Others take the more logical po-

sition that the desire of an individual for admission into the church is the

prime factor necessary to make the rite effective, and therefore wait until

adult age before the performance of the ceremony, which requires an immer-

sion of the whole body in water. But whether the rite is performed in in-

fancy or in laterlife, it seems strange that momentary immersion or sprin-

kling with water should have the power to save the soul; and when we examine

the subsequent life of those who have thus been baptized, even in adult age

and with their full consent and desire, we find little or no improvement in

the great majority. Therefore it seems evident that this cannot be the

proper rite, because the Spirit has not descended upon them. Consequently

we must look for another explanation of what constitutes a true mystic rite

of Baptism.

A story is told of an Ottoman king who declared war on a neighboring na-

tion, fought a number of battles against it with varying success, but was

[PAGE 77] THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

finally conquered and taken captive to the palace of the victor, where he

was compelled to work in the most menial capacity as a slave. After many

years fortune favored him, and he escaped to a far country, where by hard

work he acquired a small estate, married, and had a number of children, who

grew up around him. Finally he found himself upon his deathbed at a very

rip old age, and in the exertion of drawing his last breath he raised

himself upon his pillow and looked about him, but there were no sons and

daughters there. He was not in the place which he had regarded as home for

so many years, but in his own palace which he thought he had left in his

youth, and he was as young as when he left it. There he found himself sit-

ting in a chair with a basin of water close to his chin and a servant en-

gaged in washing his hair and beard. He had just immersed his face in the

water when the dream of going to war had started, and a lifetime had been

lived in dreamland during the few seconds it took until he raised his face.

There are thousands of other instances to show that outside the physical

world time is nonexistent and the happenings of millennia are easily in-

spected in a few moments.

It is also well known that when people are under water and in the act of

drowning, their whole preceding life is reenacted before their eyes with

crystal clarity, even the minutest details which have been forgotten during

the passing years standing our sharply. Thus there must be and is a store-

[PAGE 78] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

house of events which may be contacted under certain conditions when the

senses are stilled and we are near sleep or death.

To make this last sentence clear it should be understood and borne in

mind that man is a composite being, having finer vehicles which interpen-

etrate the physical body, usually regarded as the whole man. During death

and sleep this dense body is unconscious on account of a complete separation

between it and the finer vehicles; but this separation is only partial dur-

ing dream-filled sleep and prior to drowning. This condition enables the

spirit to impress events upon the brain with more or less accuracy according

to circumstances, particularly those incidents which are connected with it-

self. In the light of these things we shall understand what really consti-

tutes the rite of Baptism.

According to the Nebular Theory that which is now the earth was at one

time a luminous fire-mist, which gradually cooled by contact with the cold

of space. This meeting of heat with cold generated moisture, which

evaporated and rose from the heated center, until the cold condensed it and

it fell again as moisture upon the heated world. The surface of the earth

being thus subjected to alternate liquidation and evaporation for ages, it

finally crystallized into a shell which perfectly covered the fiery center.

This soft moisture-laden shell naturally generated a mist, which surrounded

the planet as an atmosphere, and this was the cradle of everything that has

its being upon the earth: man, animal, and plant.

[PAGE 79] THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

The Bible describes this condition in the second chapter of Genesis,

where we are told that at the time of the first man a mist went up from the

earth, "for it had not yet rained." This condition evidently continued un-

til the Flood, when the moisture finally descended and left the atmosphere

clear so that the rainbow was seen for the first time, the darkness was dis-

pelled, and the age of alternation, day and night, summer and winter, com-

menced.

By a study of the cosmology and the pictorial account of evolution given

in the Northern Eddas, treasured among the sages of Scandinavia before the

Christian Era, we may learn more of this period in the earth's history and

the bearing which it has upon our subject. As we teach our children, by

means of stories and pictures, truths that hey could not intellectually

grasp, so the divine leaders of mankind were wont to teach the infant souls

in their charge by pictures and allegories, and through these prepare them

for a higher and nobler teaching of a later day. The great epic poem which

is called "The Lay of the Niebelung," gives us the story of which we are in

search, the cosmic origin of the rite of Baptism and why it is necessarily

the preliminary step in the spiritual unfoldment of the Christian Mystic.

The cosmogony of the Eddas is similar to that of the Bible is some re-

spects, and in others gives points which bear out the theory of Laplace. We

quote from the poetical version of Oehlenschlaeger:

[PAGE 80] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

"In the Being's earliest Dawn

All was one dark abyss,

Nor heaven nor earth was known.

Chill noxious fogs and ice,

North from murk Niflheim's hole,

Piled up in mountains lay;

From Muspel's radiant pole,

Southwards fire held the sway.

"Then after ages passed,

Mid in the chaos met

A warm breath, Niflheim's blast,

Cold with prolific heat.

Hence pregnant drops were formed,

Which by the parent air

From Muspel's region warmed,

Produced great Aurgelmer."

Thus by the action of heat and cold Aurgelmer, or as he is also called,

the Giant Ymer, was first formed. This was the pregnant seed ground whence

came the spiritual Hierarchies, the spirits of the earth, air, and water,

and finally man. At the same time the All-Father created the Cow Audumla,

from whose four teats issued four streams of milk, which nourished all be-

ings. These are the four ethers, one of which now sustains mineral, two

feed the plant, three the animal, and all four the human kingdom. In the

Bible they are the four rivers which went forth out of Eden.

[PAGE 80A] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

ILLUSTRATION:

THE SPIRAL PATH OF ORDINARY HUMANITY

AND

THE WAY OF INITIATION

[PAGE 81] THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

Eventually, as postulated by science, a crust must have been formed by

the continued boiling of the water, and from this drying crust a mist must

have ascended as taught in the second chapter of Genesis. By degrees the

mist must have cooled and condensed, shutting out the light of the sun, so

that it would have been impossible for early mankind to perceive the body

even had they possessed the physical vision. But under such conditions they

had no more need of eyes that a mole which burrows in the ground. They were

not blind, however, for we re told that "THEY SAW GOD"; and as "spiritual

things (and beings) are spiritually perceived," they must have been gifted

with spiritual sight. In the spiritual worlds there is a different standard

of reality than here, which is the basis of myths.

Under these conditions there could be no clashing of interests, and hu-

manity regarded itself as the children of one great Father while they lived

under the water of ancient Atlantis. Egoism did not come into the world un-

til the mist had condensed and they had left the watery atmosphere of

Atlantis. When their eyes had been opened so that they could perceive the

physical world and the things therein, when each saw himself or herself as

separate and apart from all others, the consciousness of "me and mine, thee

and thine," took shape in the nascent minds, and a grasping greed replaced

the fellow feeling which obtained under the waters of early Atlantis. From

that time to the present stage of egoism has been considered the legitimate

attitude, and even in our boasted civilization altruism remains a Utopian

[PAGE 82] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

dream not to be indulged in by practical people.

Had mankind been allowed to travel the path of egoism without let or hin-

drance, it is difficult to see where it all would have ended. But under the

immutable Law of Consequence every cause must produce an adequate effect;

the principle of suffering was born from sin for the benevolent purpose of

guiding us back to the path of virtue. It takes much suffering and many

lives to accomplish this purpose, but finally when we have become men of

sorrows and acquainted with grief, when we have cultivated that keen and

ready sympathy which feels all the woe of the world, when the Christ has

been born within, there comes to the Christian Mystic that ardent aspiration

to seek and to save those who are lost and show them the way to everlasting

light and peace.

But to show the way, we must know the way; without a true understanding

of the CAUSE OF SORROW we cannot teach others to obtain permanent peace.

Nor can this understanding of sorrow, sin, and death be obtained from books,

lectures, or even the personal teachings of another; at least an impression

sufficiently intense to fill the aspirant's whole being cannot be conveyed

in that way. Baptism alone will accomplish the purpose in an adequate man-

ner; therefore the first step in the life of a Christian Mystic is Baptism.

But when we say Baptism, we do not necessarily mean a physical Baptism

where the candidate is either sprinkled or immersed and where he makes cer-

tain promises to the one who baptizes him. The Mystic Baptism may take

[PAGE 83] THE MYSTIC RITE OF BAPTISM

place in a desert as easily on an island, for it is a spiritual process to

attain a spiritual purpose. It may take place at any time during the night

or day, in summer or winter, for it occurs at the moment when the candidate

feels with sufficient intensity the longing to know the cause of sorrow and

alleviate it. Then the Spirit is conducted under the waters of Atlantis,

where it sees the primal condition of brotherly love and kindness; where it

perceives God as the great Father of His children, who are there surrounded

by His wonderful love. And by the conscious return to this Ocean of Love,

the candidate becomes so thoroughly imbued with the feeling of kinship that

the spirit of egoism is banished from him forever. It is because of this

saturation with the Universal Spirit that is able later to say: "If a man

takes your coat, give him you cloak also; if he asks you to walk one mile

with him, go with him two miles." Feeling himself one and all, the candi-

date does not even consider the murder of himself as mistreatment, but can

say: "Father, forgive them." They are identical with himself, who suffers

by their action; he is the aggressor as well as the victim. Such is the

true Spiritual Baptism of the Christian Mystic, and any other baptism that

does not produce this universal fellow feeling is not worthy of the name.

[PAGE 84] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

CHAPTER THREE

THE TEMPTATION

We often hear about devout Christians complain of their periods of de-

pression. At times they are almost in the seventh heaven of spiritual exal-

tation, they all but see the face of Christ and feel as if He were guiding

their every step; then without any warning and without any cause that they

can discover the clouds gather, the Savior hides His face, and the world

grows black for a period. They cannot work, they cannot pray; the world has

no attraction, and the gate of heaven seems shut against them, with the re-

sult that life appears worthless so long as this spiritual expression lasts.

The reason is, of course, that these people live in their emotions, and un-

der the immutable Law of Alternation the pendulum is bound to swing as far

to one side of the neutral point as it has swung to the other. The brighter

the light, the deeper the shadow, and the greater the exaltation, the deeper

the depression of spirit which follows it. Only those who by cold reason

[PAGE 85] THE TEMPTATION

restrain their emotions escape the periods of depression, but they never

taste the heavenly bliss of exaltation either. AND IT IS THIS EMOTIONAL

OUTPOURING OF HIMSELF WHICH FURNISHED THE CHRISTIAN MYSTIC WITH THE DYNAMIC

ENERGY TO PROJECT HIMSELF INTO THE INVISIBLE WORLDS, WHERE HE BECOMES ONE

WITH THE SPIRITUAL IDEAL WHICH HAS BECKONED HIM ON AND AWAKENED IN HIS SOUL

THE POWER TO RISE TO IT, as the sun built the eye wherewith we perceive it.

The nestling takes many a tumble ere it learns to use its wings with assur-

ance, and the aspirant upon the path of Christian Mysticism may soar to the

very throne of God times out of number and then fall to the lowest pit of

hell's despair. But some time he will overCome the world, defy the Law of

Alternation, and rise by the power of the Spirit to the Father of Spirits,

free from the toils of emotion, filled with the peace that passeth under-

standing.

But that is the end attained only after Golgotha and the Mystic Baptism,

the latter of which we discussed in the preceeding chapter. Moreover, it is

only the beginning of the active career of the Christian Mystic, in which he

becomes thoroughly saturated with the tremendous fact of the unity of all

life, and imbued with a fellow feeling for all creatures to such an extent

that henceforth he can not only enunciate but practice the tenets of the

Sermon on the Mount.

Did the spiritual experiences of the Christian Mystic take him no fur-

ther, it would still be the most wonderful adventure in the world, and the

[PAGE 86] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

magnitude of the event is beyond words, the consequences only dimly imagin-

able. Most students of the higher philosophies believe in the brotherhood

of man from the mental conviction that we have all emanated from the same

source, as rays emanate from the sun. But there is an abyss of inconceiv-

able depth and width between this cold intellectual conception and the bap-

tismal saturation of the Christian Mystic, who feels it is his heart and in

every fibre of his being with such an intensity that it is actually painful

to him; it fills him with such a yearning, aching love as that expressed in

the words of the Christ: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have

gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under

her wings;" a brooding, yearning, and achingly protective love which asks

nothing for self save only the privilege to nurture, to shield, and to cher-

ish.

Were even a faint resemblance to such a universal fellow feeling abroad

among humanity in this dark day, what a paradise earth would be. Instead of

every man's hand being against his brother to slay with the sword, with ri-

valry and competition, or to destroy his morals and degrade him by prison

stripes or industrial bondage under the whiplash of necessity, we should

have neither warriors nor prisoners but a happy contented world, living in

peace and harmony, learning the lessons which our Father in Heaven aims to

teach us in this material condition. AND ALL THE MISERY IN THE WORLD MAY BE

ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE FACT THAT IF WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE AT ALL, WE BELIEVE

WITH OUR HEAD AND NOT WITH OUR HEART.

[PAGE 87] THE TEMPTATION

When we came up through the waters of Baptism, the Atlantean Flood, into

the Rainbow Age of alternating seasons, we became prey to the changing emo-

tions which whirl us hither and yon upon the sea of life. The cold faith

restrained by reason entertained by the majority of professing Christians

may given them a need of patience and mental valance which bears them up un-

der the trials of life, but when the majority get the LIVING FAITH of the

Christian Mystic which laughs at reason because it is HEART-FELT, then the

Age of Alternation will be past, the rainbow will fall with the clouds and

the air which now composes the atmosphere, and there will be a new heaven of

pure ether, where we shall receive the Baptism of Spirit and "THERE SHALL BE

PEACE" (Jerusalem).

We are still in the Rainbow Age and subject to its low, so we may realize

that as the Baptism of the Christian Mystic occurs at a time of spiritual

exaltation, it must necessarily be followed by a reaction. The tremendous

magnitude of the revelation overpowers him, he cannot realize it or contain

it in his fleshly vehicle, so he flees the haunts of men and betakes himself

to the solitude allegorically represented as a desert. So rapt is he in his

sublime discovery that for the time being in his ecstacy he sees the Loom of

Life upon which the bodies of all that live are woven, from the least to the

greatest-the mouse and the man, the hunter and his prey, the warrior and his

victim. But to him they are not separate and apart, for he also beholds

the one divine thread of golden life-light "which runs through all and doth

all unite." Nay, more, he hears in each the flaming keynote sounding its

[PAGE 88] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

aspirations and voicing its hopes and fears, and he perceives this composite

color-sound as the world anthem of God made flesh. This is at first en-

tirely beyond his comprehension; the tremendous magnitude of the discovery

hides it from him, and he cannot conceive what it is that he sees and feels,

for there are no words to describe it, and no concept can cover it. But by

degrees it dawns upon him that HE IS AT THE VERY FOUNTAIN OF LIFE,

beholding, nay, more, FEELING its every pulse beat, and with this comprehen-

sion he reaches the climax of his ecstasy.

So rapt has the Christian Mystic been in his beautiful adventure that

bodily wants have been completely forgotten till the ecstasy has passed, and

it is therefore only natural that the feeling of hunger should be his first

conscious want upon his return to the normal state of consciousness; and

also naturally comes the voice of temptation: "COMMAND THAT THESE STONES BE

MADE BREAD."

Few passages of the sacred Scriptures are darker that the opening verses

of the Gospel of St. John: "In the beginning was the word . . . .and with-

out it was not anything made that was made." A slight study of the science

of sound soon makes us familiar with the fact that sound is vibration and

that different sounds will mold sand or other light materials into figures

of varying form. The Christian Mystic may be entirely ignorant of this fact

from the scientific point of view, but he has learned at the Fountain of

Life to sing the SONG OF BEING, which cradles into existence whatever such a

[PAGE 89] THE TEMPTATION

master musician desires. There is one basic key for the indigestible min-

eral stone, but a modification will turn it to gold wherewith to purchase

the means of sustenance, and another keynote peculiar to the vegetable king-

dom will turn it into food, a fact known to all advanced occultists who

practice incantations legitimately for spiritual purposes but never for ma-

terial profit.

But the Christian Mystic who has just emerged from his Baptism in the

Fountain of Life immediately shrinks in horror at the suggestion of using

his newly discovered power for a selfish purpose. It was the very soul

quality of unselfishness that ld him to the waters of consecration in the

Fountain of life, and sooner would he sacrifice all, even life itself, that

use this new-found power to spare himself a pang of pain. Did he not see

also the Woe of the World? And does he not feel it in his great hearth with

such an intensity that the hunger at once disappears and is forgotten? He

may, will, and does use this wonderful power freely to feed the thousands

that gather to hear him, but never for selfish purposes else he would upset

the equilibrium of the world.

The Christian Mystic does not reason this out, however. As often stated,

he has not reason, but he has a much safer guide in the interior voice which

always speaks to him in moments when a decision must be made. "MAN DOES NOT

LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH FROM GOD";-another

mystery. There is not need to partake of earthly bread for one who has ac-

cess to the Fountain of Life. The more our thoughts are centered in God,

[PAGE 90] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the less we shall care for the so-called pleasures of the table, and by

feeding our gross bodies sparingly on selected simple foods we shall obtain

an illumination of spirit impossible to one who indulges in an excessive

diet of coarse foods which nourish the lower nature. Some of the saints

have used fasting and castigation as a means of soul growth, but that is a

mistaken method for reasons given in an article on "Fasting for Soul Growth"

published in the December 1915 number of "Rays from the Rose Cross." The

Elder Brothers of humanity who understand the Law and live accordingly use

food only at intervals measured by years. The word of God is to them a

"living bread." So it becomes also to the Christian Mystic, and the Tempta-

tion instead of working his downfall has led him to greater heights.

[PAGE 91] THE TRANSFIGURATION

CHAPTER FOUR

THE TRANSFIGURATION

We remember that by the mystic processes of the true Spiritual Baptism

the aspirant becomes so thoroughly saturated with the Universal Spirit that

as a matter of actual fact, feeling, and experience he becomes one with all

that lives, moves, and has its being, one with the pulsating divine Life

which surges in rhythmic cadence through the least and the greatest alike;

and having caught the keynote of the celestial song he is then endued with a

power of tremendous magnitude, which he may use either for good or ill. It

should be understood and remembered that though gunpowder and dynamite fa-

cilitate farming when used for blowing up tree stumps which would otherwise

require a great deal of manual labor to extract, they may also be used for

destructive purposes as in the great European war. Spiritual powers also

may be used for good or ill depending upon the motive and character of the

one who wields them. Therefore, whoever has successfully undergone the rite

[PAGE 92] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

of Baptism and thereby acquired spiritual power is forthwith tempted that it

may be concerned decided whether he will range himself upon the side of good

or evil. At this point he becomes either a future "Parsifal," a "Christ," a

"Herod," or a "Klingsor" who fights the Knights of the Holy Grail with all

the powers and resources of the Black Brotherhood.

There is a tendency in modern materialistic science to repudiate as

fable, worthy of attention only among superstitious servant girls and fool-

ish old women, the ideas commonly believed in as late as the Middle Ages,

that such spiritual communities as the Knights of the Grail at one time ex-

isted, or that there are such beings as the "Black Brothers." Occult soci-

eties in the last half century have educated thousands to the fact that the

Good Brothers are still in evidence and may be found by those who seek them

in the proper way. Now unfortunately the tendency among this class of

people is to accept anyone on his unsupported claims as a Master or an dept.

But even among this class there are few who take the existence of the Black

Brothers seriously, or realize what an enormous amount of damage they are

doing in the world, and how they are aided and abetted by the general ten-

dency of humanity to cater to the lusts of the flesh. As the good forces,

which are symbolized as the servants of the Holy Grail, live and grow by un-

selfish service which enhances the luster of the glowing Grail Cup, so the

Powers of Evil, known as the Black Grail and represented in the Bible as the

court of Herod, feed on pride and sensuality, voluptuousness and passion,

[PAGE 93] THE TRANSFIGURATION

embodied in the figure of Salome, who glories in the murder of John the Bap-

tist and the innocents. It was shown in the legend of the Grail as embodied

in Wagner's "Parsifal" that when the Knights were denied the inspiration

from the Grail Cup, on which they fed and which spurred them onto deeds of

greater love and service, their courage flagged and they became inert.

Similarly with the Brothers of the Black Grail. Unless they are provided

with words of wickedness they will die from starvation. Therefore they are

ever active in the world stirring up strife and inciting others to evil.

Were not this pernicious activity counteracted in a great measure by the

Elder Brothers at their midnight services at which they make themselves mag-

nets for all the evil thoughts in the Western World and then by the alchemy

of sublime love transmute them to good, a cataclysm of still greater magni-

tude that the recent World Wrar would have occurred long ago. As it is, the

Genius of Evil has been held within bounds in some measure at least. Were

humanity not so ready to range itself on the side of evil, success would

have been greater. But it is hoped that the spiritual awakening started by

the war will result in turning the scale and give the construction agencies

in evolution the upper hand.

It is a wonderful power which is centered in the Christian Mystic at the

time of his Baptism by the descent and concentration within him of the Uni-

versal Spirit; and when he has refused during the period of temptation to

[PAGE 94] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

desecrate it for personal profit or power, he must of necessity give it vent

in another direction, for he is impelled by an irresistable inner urge which

will not allow him to settle down to an inert, inactive life of prayer and

meditation. The power of God is upon him to preach and glad tidings to hu-

manity, to help and heal. We know that a stove which is filled with burning

fuel cannot help heating the surrounding atmosphere; neither can the Chris-

tian Mystic help radiating the divine compassion which fills his heart to

overflowing, nor is he is doubt whom to love or whom to serve or where to

find his opportunity. As the stove filled with burning fuel radiates heat

to all who are within its sphere of radiation, so the Christian Mystic feels

the love of God burning within his heart and is continually radiating it to

all with whom he comes in contact. As the heated stove draws to itself by

its genial warmth those who are suffering with physical cold, so the warm

love rays of the Christian Mystic are a a magnet to all those whose hearts

are chilled by the cruelty of the world, by man's inhumanity to man.

If the stove were empty but endowed with the faculty of speech, it might

preach forever the gospel of warmth to those who are physically cold, but

even the finest oratory would fail to satisfy its audience. When it has

been filled with fuel and radiates warmth, there will be no need of preach-

ing. Men will come to it and be satisfied. Similarly a sermon on brother-

hood by one who has not laved in the "Fountain of Life" will sound hollow.

The true Mystic need not preach. His every act, even his silent presence,

[PAGE 95] THE TRANSFIGURATION

is more powerful that all the most deeply thought-out discourses of learned

doctors of philosophy.

There is a story of St. Francis of Assisi which particularly illus-

trates this fact, and which we trust may serve to drive it home, for its ex-

ceedingly important. It is said that one day St. Francis went to a young

brother in the monastery with which he was then connected and said to him:

"Brother, let us go down to the village and preach to them." The young

brother was naturally overjoyed at the honor and opportunity of accompanying

so hold a man as St. Francis, and together the two started toward the vil-

lage, talking all the while about spiritual things and the life that leads

to God. Engrossed in this conversation they passed through the village,

walking along its various streets, now and then stopping to speak a kindly

word to one or another of the villagers. After having made a circuit of the

village St. Francis was heading toward the road which led to the monastery

when of a sudden the young brother reminded him of his intention to preach

in the village and asked him if he had forgotten it. To this St. Francis

answered: "My son, are you not aware that all the while we have been in

this village we have been preaching to the people all around us? In the

first place, our simple dress proclaims the fact that we are devoted to the

service of God, and as soon as anyone sses us his thoughts naturally turn

heavenward. Be sure that everyone of the villagers has been watching us,

taking note of our demeanor to see in how far it conforms with our profes-

sion. They have listened to our words to find whether they were about

[PAGE 96] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

spiritual or profane subjects. They have watched our gestures and have

noted that the words of sympathy we dispensed came straight from our hearts

and went deep into theirs. We have been preaching a far more powerful ser-

mon that if we had gone into the market place, called them around us, and

started to harangue them with an exhortation to holiness."

St. Francis was a Christian Mystic in the deepest sense of the word, and

being taught from within by the spirit of God he knew well the mysteries of

life, as did Jacob Boehme and other holy men who have been similarly taught.

They are in a certain sense wiser than the wisest of the intellectual

school, but it is not necessary for them to expound great mysteries in order

to fulfill their mission and serve as guide posts to others who are also

seeking God. The very simplicity of their words and acts carries with it

the power of conviction. Naturally, of course, all do not rise to the same

heights. All have not the same powers anymore than all the stoves are of

the same size and have the same heating capacity. Those who follow the

Christian Mystic path, from the least to the greatest, have experienced the

powers conveyed by Baptism according to their capacity. They have been

tempted to use those powers in an evil direction for personal gain, and hav-

ing overcome the desire for the world and worldly things they have turned to

the path of ministry and service as Christ did; their lives are marked not

so much by what they have said as by what they have done. The true Chris-

tian Mystic is easily distinguished. He never uses the six week days

[PAGE 96A] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITATION

ILLUSTRATION:

THE PROCESS OF TRANSFIGURATION

[PAGE 97] THE TRANSFIGURATION

to prepare for a grand oratorical effort to thrill his hearers on

Sunday, but spends every day alike in humble endeavor to do the Mas-

ter's will regardless of outward applause. Thus unconsciously he works

up toward that grand climax which in the history of the noblest of

all who have trod this path is spoken of as the "Transfiguration."

The Transfiguration is an alchemical process by which the physical body

formed by the chemistry of physiological processes is turned into a living

stone such as is mentioned in the Bible. The medieval alchemists who were

seeking the Philosopher's Stone were not concerned with transmutation of

such dross as material god, but aimed at the greater goal as indicated

above.

Moisture gathered in the clouds falls to earth as rain when it has con-

densed sufficiently, and it is again evaporated into clouds by the heat of

the sun. This is the primal cosmic formula. Spirit also condenses itself

into matter and becomes mineral. But though it be crystallized into the

harness of flint, life still remains, and by the alchemy of nature working

through another life stream the dense mineral constituents of the soil are

transmuted to a more flexible structure in the plant, which may be used as

food for animal and man. These substances become sentient flesh by the al-

chemy of assimilation. When we note the changes in the structure of the hu-

man body evidenced by comparison of the Bushmen, Chinese, Hindus, Latins,

Celts, and Anglo-Saxons, it is plainly apparent that the flesh of man is

even now undergoing a refining process which is eradicating the coarser,

[PAGE 98] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

grosser substances. In time by evolution this process of spiritualization

will render our flesh transparent and radiant with the Light that shines

within, radiant as the face of Moses, the body of Buddha, and the Christ at

the Transfiguration.

At present the effulgence of the indwelling Spirit is effectually dark-

ened by our dense body, but we may draw hop even from the science of chemis-

try. There is nothing on earth so rare and precious as radium, the luminous

extract of the dense black mineral called pitchblende; and there is nothing

so rare as that precious extract of the human body, the radiant Christ. At

present we are lavoring to form the Christ within, but when the inner Christ

has grown to full stature, He will shine through the transparent body as the

LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

It is an anatomical fact of common knowledge that the spinal cord is di-

vided into three sections, from which the motor, sensory, and sympathetic

nerves are controlled. Astrologically these are ruled by the moon, Mars,

and Mercury, which are divine Hierarchies tht have played a great role in

human evolution through the nervous systems indicated. Among the ancient

alchemists these were designated by the three alchemical elements, salt,

sulphur, and mercury. Between them and upon them played the spinal Spirit

Fire of Neptune. It rose in a serpentine column through the spinal cord to

the ventricles of the brain. In the great majority of mankind the Spirit

Fire is still exceedingly weak. But whenever a spiritual awakening occurs

[PAGE 99] THE TRANSFIGURATION

in anyone such as that which takes place in a genuine conversion, or better

still at the Baptism of the Christian Mystic, the the downpouring of the

Spirit, which is an actual fact, augments the spinal Spirit Fire to an al-

most unbelievable extent, and forthwith a process of regeneration begins

whereby the gross substances of the threefold body of many are gradually

thrown out, rendering the vehicles more permeable and quickly responsive to

spiritual impulses. The further the process if carried, the more efficient

servants they become in the vineyard of the Master.

The spiritual awakening which starts this process of regeneration in the

Christian Mystic who purifies himself by prayer and service, comes also of

course to those who are seeking God by way of knowledge and service, but it

acts in a different way, which is noted by the spiritual investigator. In

the Christian Mystic the regenerative spinal Spirit Fire is concentrated

principally upon the lunar segment of the spinal cord, which governs the

sympathetic nerves under the rulership of Jehovah. Therefore his spiritual

growth is accomplished by faith as simple, childlike, and unquestioning as

it was in the days of early Atlantis when men were mindless. He therefore

draws down the great white Light of Deity reflected through Jehovah, the

Holy Spirit, and attains to the whole wisdom of the world without the neces-

sity of laboring for it intellectually. This gradually transmutes his body

into THE WHITE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, THE DIAMOND SOUL.

[PAGE 100] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

In those, on the other hand, whose minds are strong and insistent on

knowing the reason why and the wherefore of every dictum and dogma, the Spi-

nal Fire of regeneration plays upon the segments of the red Mars and the

colorless Mercury, endeavoring to infuse desire with reason, to purify the

former of the primal passion that it may become chaste as the rose, and thus

transmute the body into the RUBY SOUL, THE RED PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, TRIED BY

FIRE, PURIFIED, A CREATIVE BUDDING INDIVIDUALITY.

All who are upon the Path, whether the path of occultism or of mysticism,

are weaving the "golden wedding garment" by this work from within and from

without. In some the gold is exceedingly pale, and in others it is deeply

red. But eventually when the process of Transfiguration has been completed,

or rather when it is nearing completion, the extremes will blend, and the

transfigured bodies will become balanced in color, for the occultist must

learn the lesson of deep devotion, and the Christian Mystic must learn how

to acquire knowledge by his own efforts without drawing upon the universal

source of all wisdom.

This view gives us a deeper insight into the Transfiguration reported in

the Gospels. We should remember distinctly that IT WAS THE VEHICLES OF

JESUS WHICH WERE TRANSFIGURED temporarily by the indwelling Christ Spirit.

But even while allowing for the enormous potency of the Christ Spirit in ef-

fecting the Transfiguration it is evident that Jesus must be a sublime char-

acter without a peer. The Transfiguration as seen in the Memory of Nature

[PAGE 101] THE TRANSFIGURATION

reveals his body as a dazzling white, thus showing his dependence upon the

Father, the Universal Spirit. There is a great diversity in present attain-

ments, but in the kingdom of Christ the differences will gradually disap-

pear, and a uniform color indicating both knowledge and devotion will be ac-

quired by all. This color will correspond to the pink color seen by

occultists as the Spiritual Sun, the vehicle of the Father. When this has

been accomplished, the Transfiguration of humanity will be complete. We

shall then be one with our Father, and His kingdom will have come.

[PAGE 102] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

CHAPTER FIVE

THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOTWASHING

We are told in the Gospels which relate the story of the Christian Mystic

Initiation, how on the night when Christ had partaken of the Last Supper

with His disciples, His ministry being finished at that time, He rose from

the table and girded Himself with a towel, then poured water into a basin

and commenced to wash His disciples' feet, an act of the most humble ser-

vice, but prompted by an important occult consideration.

Comparatively few realize that when we rise in the scale of evolution, we

do so by trampling upon the bodies of our weaker brothers; consciously or

unconsciously we crush them and use them as stepping-stones to attain our

own ends. This assertion holds good concerning all the kingdoms in nature.

When a life wave has been brought down to the nadir of involution and en-

crusted in mineral form, that is immediately seized upon by another slightly

higher life wave, which takes the disintegrating mineral crystal, adapts it

[PAGE 103] THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

to its own ends as crystalloid, and assimilates it as part of a plant form.

If there were no minerals which could thus be seized upon, disintegrated,

and transformed, plant life would be an impossibility. Then again, the

plant forms are taken by numerous classes of animals, masticated to a pulp,

devoured, and made to serve as food for this higher kingdom. If there were

no plants, animals would be an impossibility; and the same principle holds

good in spiritual evolution for if there were no pupils standing on the

lower round of the ladder of knowledge and requiring instruction, there

would be no need for a teacher. But here there is one all-important differ-

ence. The teacher grows by GIVING to his pupils and serving them. From

their shoulders he steps to a higher rung on the ladder of knowledge. HE

LIFTS HIMSELF BY LIFTING THEM, but nevertheless he owes them a debt of

gratitude, which is symbolically acknowledged and liquidated by the foot

washing--an act of humble service to those who have served him.

When we realize that nature, which is the expression of God, is con-

tinually exerting itself to create and bring forth, we may also understand

that whoever kills anything, be it ever so little and seemingly insig-

nificant, is to that extent thwarting God's purpose. This applies par-

ticularly to the aspirant to the higher life, and therefore the Christ ex-

horted His disciples to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves

notwithstanding. But no matter how earnest our desire to follow the precept

of harmlessness, our constitutional tendencies and necessities force us to

[PAGE 104] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

kill at every moment of our lives, and it is not only in the great things

that we are constantly committing murder. It was comparatively easy for the

seeking soul symbolized by Parsifal to break the bow wherewith he had shot

the swan of the Grail knights when it had been explained to him what a wrong

he had committed. From that time Parsifal was committed to the life of

harmlessness so far as the great things were concerned. All earnest aspir-

ants follow him readily in that act once it has dawned upon them how subver-

sive of soul growth is the practice of partaking of food which requires the

death of an animal.

But even the noblest and most gentle among mankind is poisoning those

about him with every breath and being poisoned by them in turn, for all ex-

hale the death-dealing carbon dioxide, and we are therefore a menace to one

another. Nor is this a far-fetched idea; it is a very real danger which

will become much more manifest in course of time when mankind becomes more

sensitive. In a disabled submarine or under similar conditions where a num-

ber of people are together the carbon dioxide exhaled by them quickly makes

the atmosphere unable to sustain life. There is a story from the Indian Mu-

tiny of how a number of English prisoners were huddled in a room in which

there was only one small opening for air. In a very short time the oxygen

was exhausted, and the poor prisoners began to fight one another like beasts

in order to obtain a place near that air inlet, and they fought until nearly

[PAGE 105] THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

all had died from the struggle and asphyxiation.

The same principle is illustrated in the ancient Atlantean Mystery

Temple, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, where we find a nauseating stench

and a suffocating smoke ascending from the Altar of Burnt Offerings, where

the poison-laden bodies of the UNWILLING VICTIMS sacrificed for sin were

consumed, and where the light shone but dimly through the enveloping smoke.

This we may contrast with the light which emanated clear and bright from the

Seven-branched Candlestick fed by the olive oil extracted from the chaste

plant, and where the incense symbolized by the WILLING SERVICE of devoted

priests rose to heaven as a sweet savor. This we are told in many places,

was pleasing to Deity, while the blood of the unwilling victims, the bulls

and the goats, was a source of grief and displeasure to God, who delights

most in the sacrifice of prayer, which helps the devotee and harms no one.

It has been stated concerning some of the saints that they emitted a

sweet odor, and as we have often had occasion to say, this is no mere fanci-

ful story--it is an occult fact. The great majority of mankind inhale dur-

ing every moment of life the vitalizing oxygen contained in the surrounding

atmosphere. At every expiration we exhale a charge of carbon dioxide which

is a deadly poison and which would certainly vitiate the air in time if the

pure and chaste plant did not inhale this poison, use a part of it to build

bodies that last sometimes for many centuries or even millennia as instanced

in the redwoods of California, and give us back the rest in the form of pure

[PAGE 106] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

oxygen which we need for our life. These carboniferous plant bodies by cer-

tain further processes of nature have in the past become mineralized and

turned to stone instead of disintegrating. We find them today as coal, THE

PERISHABLE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE MADE BY NATURAL MEANS IN NATURE'S LABORATORY.

But the Philosopher's Stone may also be made artificially by man from his

own body. It should be understood once and for all that the Philosopher's

Stone is not made in an exterior chemical laboratory, but that the body is

the workshop of the Spirit which contains all the elements necessary to pro-

duce this ELIXIR VITAE, and that the Philosopher's Stone is not exterior to

the body, but THE ALCHEMIST HIMSELF BECOMES THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. The

salt, sulphur, and mercury emblematically contained in the three segments of

the spinal cord, which control the sympathetic, motor, and sensory nerves

and are played upon by the Neptunian spinal Spirit Fire, constitute the es-

sential elements in the alchemical process.

It needs no argument to show that indulgence in sensuality, brutality,

and bestiality makes the body coarse. Contrariwise, devotion to Deity, an

attitude of perpetual prayer, a feeling of love and compassion for all that

lives and moves, loving thoughts sent out to all beings and those inevitably

received in return, all invariably have the effect of refining and spiritu-

alizing the nature. We speak of a person of that sort as breathing or radi-

ating love, an expression which much more nearly describes the actual fact

than most people imagine, for as a matter of actual observation the

[PAGE 107] THE LAST SUPPER AND THE FOOT WASHING

percentage of poison contained in the breath of an individual is in exact

proportion to the evil in his nature and inner life and the thoughts he

thinks. The Hindu Yogi makes a practice of sealing up the candidate for a

certain grade of Initiation in a cave which is not much larger than his

body. There he must live for a number of weeks breathing the same air over

and over again to demonstrate practically that he has ceased exhaling the

death-dealing carbon dioxide and is beginning to build his body therefrom.

The Philosopher's Stone then is not a body of the same nature as the

plant, thought it is pure and chaste, but it is A CELESTIAL BODY such as

that whereof St. Paul speaks in the 5th chapter of Second Corinthians, a

body which becomes immortal as a diamond or a ruby stone. It is not hard

and inflexible as the mineral; it is A SOFT DIAMOND or ruby, and by every

act of the nature described the Christian Mystic is building this body,

though he is probably unconscious thereof for a long time. When he has at-

tained to this degree of holiness it is not necessary for him to perform the

foot washing so far as concerns the physical pupil who helps him to rise,

but he will always have the feeling of gratitude, symbolized by that act,

toward those whom he is fortunate enough to attract to himself as disciples

and to whom he may give the living bread which nourishes them to immortal-

ity.

Students will realize that this is part of the process which eventually

culminates in the Transfiguration, but it should also be realized that in

the Christian Mystic Initiation there are no set and definite degrees. The

[PAGE 108] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

candidate looks to the Christ as the author and finisher of his faith, seek-

ing to imitate Him and follow in His steps through every moment of exist-

ence. Thus the various stages which we are considering are reached by pro-

cesses of soul growth which simultaneously bring him to higher aspects of

all these steps that we are now analyzing. In this respect the Christian

Mystic Initiation differs radically from the processes in vogue among the

Rosicrucians, in which an UNDERSTANDING upon the part of the candidate of

that which is to take place is considered indispensable. But there comes a

time at which the Christian Mystic must and does realize the path before

him, and that is what constitutes Gethsemane, which we will consider in the

next chapter.

[PAGE 109] GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

CHAPTER SIX

GETHSEMANE

THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

"And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this

night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be

scattered. But after that I am risen I will go before you into Galilee.

"But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.

"And Jesus saith unto him, Verily, I say unto thee that this day, even in

this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.

"But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not

deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

"And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and He saith to

His disciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray. And He taketh with Him Peter

and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and

[PAGE 110] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

saith unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here

and watch. And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed

that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And He said, Abba,

Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: Nev-

ertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh and findeth

them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou

watch one hour? Watch ye and pray lest ye enter into temptation. The

spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." --MARK, 14:26-38.

In the foregoing Gospel narrative we have one of the saddest and most

difficult of the experiences of the Christian Mystic outlined in spiritual

form. During all his previous experience he has wandered blindly along,

that is to say, blind to the fact that he is on the Path which if consis-

tently followed leads to a definite goal, but being also keenly alert to the

slightest sigh of every suffering soul. He has concentrated all his efforts

upon alleviating their pain physically, morally, or mentally; he has served

them in any and every capacity; he has taught them the gospel of love, "Thou

shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"; and he has been A LIVING EXAMPLE to all

in its practice. Therefore he has drawn to himself a little band of friends

whom he loves with the tenderest of affection. Them has he also taught and

served unstintingly, even to the foot washing. But during this period of

service he has become so saturated with the sorrows of the world that he is

[PAGE 111] GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

indeed a MAN of SORROWS and acquainted with grief as no one else can be.

This is a very definite experience of the Christian Mystic, and it is the

most important factor in furthering his spiritual progress. So long as we

are bored when people come to us and tell us their troubles, so long as we

run away from them and seek to escape hearing their tales of woe, we are far

from the Path. Even when we listen to them and have schooled ourselves not

to show that we are bored, when we say with our lips only a few sympathetic

words that fall flat on the sufferer's ear, we gain nothing in spiritual

growth. It is absolutely essential to the Christian Mystic that he become

so attuned to the world's woe that he feels every pang as his own hurt and

stores it up within his heart.

When PARSIFAL stood in the temple of the Holy Grail and saw the suffering

of Amfortas the stricken Grail King, he was mute with sympathy and compas-

sion for a long time after the procession had passed out of the hall, and

consequently could not answer the questions of Gurnemanz, and it was that

deep fellow feeling which prompted him to seek for the spear that should

heal Amfortas. IT WAS THE PAIN OF AMFORTAS FELT IN THE HEART OF PARSIFAL BY

SYMPATHY WHICH HELD HIM FIRMLY BALANCED UPON THE PATH OF VIRTUE WHEN TEMPTA-

TION WAS STRONGEST. It was that deep pain of compassion which urged him

through many years to seek the suffering Grail King, and finally when he had

found Amfortas, this deep, heartfelt fellow feeling enabled him to pour

forth the healing balm.

[PAGE 112] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

As it is shown in the soul myth of Parsifal, so it is in the actual life

and experience of the Christian Mystic: he must drink deeply of the cup of

sorrow, he must drain it to the very dregs so that by the cumulative pain

which threatens to burst his heart he may pour himself out unreservedly and

unstintedly for the healing and helping of the world. Then Gethsemane, the

garden of grief, is a familiar place to him, watered with tears for the sor-

rows and sufferings of humanity.

Through all his years of self-sacrifice his little band of friends had

been the consolation of Jesus. He had already learned to renounce the ties

of blood. "Who is my mother and my brother? They that do the will of my

Father." Though no true Christian neglects his social obligations or with-

holds love from his family, the spiritual ties are nevertheless the stron-

gest, and through them comes the crowning grief; through the desertion of

his spiritual friends he learns to drink to the dregs the cup of sorrow. He

does not blame them for their desertion but excuses them with the words,

"The Spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak," for he knows by his

own experience how true this is. But he finds that in the supreme sorrow

they cannot comfort him, and therefore he turns to THE ONLY SOURCE OF COM-

FORT, THE FATHER IN HEAVEN. He has arrived at the point where human endur-

ance seems to have reached its limit, and he prays to be spared a greater

ordeal, but with a blind trust in the Father he bows his will and offers all

unreservedly.

That is the moment of realization. Having drunk the cup of sorrow to the

dregs, being deserted by all, he experiences that temporary awful fear of

[PAGE 113] GETHSEMANE THE GARDEN OF GRIEF

being utterly alone which is one of the most terrible if not the most ter-

rible experience that can come into the life of a human being. All the

world seems dark about. He knows that in spite of all the good he has done

or tried to do the powers of darkness are seeking to slay him. He knows

that the mob that a few days before had cried "Hosannah" will on the morrow

be ready to shout "Crucify! Crucify!" His relatives and now his last few

friends have fled, and they were also even ready to deny.

But when we are on the pinnacle of grief we are nearest to the throne of

grace. The agony and grief, the sorrow and the suffering borne within the

Christian Mystic's breast are more priceless and precious than the wealth of

the Indies, for when he has lost all human companionship and when he has

given himself over unreservedly to the Father a transmutation takes place:

the grief is turned to compassion, the only power in the world that can for-

tify a man about to mount the hill of Golgotha and give his life for human-

ity, not a sacrifice of death but a LIVING SACRIFICE, lifting himself by

lifting others.

[PAGE 114] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

As we said in the beginning of this series of articles, the Christian

Mystic Initiation differs radically from the Occult Initiation undertaken by

those who approach the Path from the intellectual side. But all paths con-

verge at Gethsemane, where the candidate for Initiation is saturated with

sorrow which flowers into compassion, a yearning mother love which has only

one all-absorbing desire; to pour itself out for the alleviation of the sor-

row of the world to save and to succor all that are weak and heavy-laden, to

comfort them and give them rest. At that point the eyes of the Christian

Mystic are opened to a full realization of the world's woe and his mission

as a Savior; and the occultist also finds here the heart of love which alone

can give zest and zeal in the quest. By the union of the mind and the heart

both are ready for the next step, which involved the development of the

STIGMATA, a necessary preparation for the mystic death and resurrection.

[PAGE 115] THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

The Gospel narrative tells the story of the STIGMATA in the following words,

the opening scene being in the Garden of Gethsemane:

"Judas then having received a band of men and officers from the chief

priests and Pharisees came thither with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon Him went forth and

said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus

said unto them, I am He.....Then the band and the captain and the officers

of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him and led Him away to Annas first.....The

high priest then asked of His disciples and of His doctrine. Jesus answered

him, I spake openly to the world.....Why asketh though me? Ask them which

heard me what I have said unto them; behold they know what I have said. Now

Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.....Then they led

Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment.....

"Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring you

against this man? They answered and said unto him, If He were not a male-

factor we would not have delivered Him unto thee.....Then Pilate entered

into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto Him, Art

though the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of

thyself or did others tell it to thee of me?.....My kingdom is not of this

world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that

I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.

[PAGE 116] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou

sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I

into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is

of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate said unto Him, What is

truth?.....Then he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find

in Him no fault at all. But we have a custom that I should release unto you

one at the Passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of

the Jews? Then cried they all again saying, Not this man, but Barabbas.

now Barabbas was a robber. Pilate therefore took Jesus and SCOURGED Him.

And the soldiers platted A CROWN OF THORNS and put it on His head, and they

put on Him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews; and they smote

him with their hands.

"Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, behold I bring

Him forth unto you that ye may know that I find no fault in Him. Then came

Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate

saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore, and of-

ficers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, Crucify Him. Pilate

saith unto them, Take ye Him and crucify Him; for I find no fault in Him.

The Jews answered him, We have a law and by our law He ought to die, because

He made Himself the Son of God.....Pilate sought to release Him, but the

Jews cried out saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's

friend; whoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.....They cried

[PAGE 117] THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them,

Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but

Caesar. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And

they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went forth

into a place called the PLACE OF A SKULL, which is, in the Hebrew, Golgotha.

There they CRUCIFIED Him and two others with Him, one on either side and

Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And

the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."

We have here the account of how the STIGMATA or punctures were produced

in the Hero of the Gospels, though the location is not quite correctly de-

scribed, and the process is represented in a narrative form differing widely

from the manner in which these things really happen. But we stand here be-

fore one of the Mysteries which must remain sealed for the profane, though

the underlying mystical facts are as plain as daylight to those who know.

The physical body is not by any means the real man. Tangible, solid, and

pulsating with life as we find it, it is really the most dead part of the

human being, crystallized into a matrix of finer vehicles which are invis-

ible to our ordinary physical sight. If we place a basin of water in a

freezing temperature, the water soon congeals into ice, and when we examine

this ice, we find that it is made up of innumerable little crystals having

various geometrical forms and lines of demarcation. There are etheric lines

of forces which were present in the water before it congealed. As the water

[PAGE 118] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

was hardened and molded along these lines, so our physical bodies have con-

gealed and solidified along the etheric lines of force of our invisible vi-

tal body, which is thus in the ordinary course of life inextricably bound to

the physical body, waking or sleeping, until death brings dissolution of the

tie. But as Initiation involves the liberation of the REAL MAN from the

body of sin and death that he may soar into the subtler spheres at will and

return to the body at his pleasure, it is obvious that before that can be

accomplished, before the object of Initiation can be attained, the

interlocking grip of the physical body and the etheric vehicle which is so

strong and rigid in ordinary humanity, must be dissolved. As they are most

closely bound together in the palms of the hands, the arches of the feet,

and the head, the occult schools concentrate their efforts upon severing the

connection at these points, and produce the STIGMATA invisibly.

The Christian Mystic lacks knowledge of how to perform the act without

producing an exterior manifestation. The STIGMATA develop in him spontane-

ously by constant contemplation of Christ and unceasing efforts to imitate

Him in all things. These exterior STIGMATA comprise not only the wounds in

the hands and feet and that in the side but also those impressed by the

crown of thorns and by the scourging. The most remarkable example of stig-

matization is that said to have occurred in 1224 to Francis of Assisi on the

mountain of Alverno. Being absorbed in contemplation of the Passion he saw

a seraph approaching, blazing with fire and having between its wings the

[PAGE 119] THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

figure of the Crucified. St. Francis became aware that in hands, feet, and

side he had received externally the marks of crucifixion. These marks con-

tinued during the two years until his death, and are claimed to have been

seen by many eyewitnesses, including Pope Alexander the Fourth.

The Dominicans disputed the fact, but at length made the same claim for

Catherine of Sienna, whose STIGMATA were explained as having at her own re-

quest been made invisible to others. The Franciscans appealed to Sixtus the

Fourth who forbade representation of St. Catherine to made with the STIG-

MATA. Still the fact of the STIGMATA is recorded in the Breviary Office,

and Benedict the 13th granted the Dominicans a Feast in commemoration of it.

Others, especially women who have the positive vital body, are claimed to

have received some or all of the STIGMATA. The last to be canonized by the

Catholic Church for this reason was Veronica Giuliana (1831). More recent

cases are those of Anna Catherine Emmerich, who became a nun at Agnetenberg;

L'Estatica Maria Von Moerl of Caldero; Louise Lateau, whose STIGMATA were

said to bleed every Friday; and Mrs. Girling of the Newport Shaker commu-

nity.

But whether the STIGMATA are visible or invisible the effect is the same.

The spiritual currents generated in the vital body of such a person are so

powerful that the body is scourged by them as it were, particularly in the

region of the head, where they produce a feeling akin to that of the crown

of thorns. Thus there finally dawns upon the person a full realization that

[PAGE 120] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

the physical body is a cross which he is bearing, a prison and not the real

man. This brings him to the next step in his Initiation, viz., the cruci-

fixion, which is experienced by the development of the other centers in his

hands and feet where the vital body is thus being severed from the dense ve-

hicle.

We are told in the Gospel story that Pilate placed a sign reading, 'JESUS

NAZARENUS REX JUDAEOREM" on Jesus' cross, and this is translated in the au-

thorized version to mean, "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." But the

initials INRI placed upon the cross represent the names of the four elements

in Hebrew: IAM, water; ##?NOUR, fire; RUACH, spirit or vital air; and

IABESHAH, earth. This is the occult key to the mystery of crucifixion, for

it symbolizes in the first place the salt, sulphur, mercury, and azoth which

were used by the ancient alchemists to make the Philosopher's Stone, the

universal solvent, the ELIXIR-VITAE. The two "I's" (IAM and IABESHAH) rep-

resent the saline lunar water: a, in a fluidic state holding salt in solu-

tion, and b, the coagulated extract of this water, the "SALT OF THE EARTH";

in other words, the finer fluidic vehicles of man and his dense body.

N (NOUR) in Hebrew stands for fire and the combustible elements, chief among

which are SULPHUR and PHOSPHORUS so necessary to oxidation, without which

warm blood would be an impossibility. The Ego under this condition could

not function in the body nor could thought find a material expression.

R (RUACH) is the Hebrew equivalent for the spirit, AZOTH, functioning in the

MERCURIAL mind. Thus the four letters INRI placed over the cross of Christ

[PAGE 121] THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

according to the Gospel story represent composite man, the Thinker, at the

point in his spiritual development where he is getting ready for liberation

from the cross of his dense vehicle.

Proceeding further along the same line of elucidation we may note that

INRI is the symbol of the crucified candidate for the following additional

reasons:

IAM is the Hebrew word signifying water, the fluidic LUNAR, moon element

which forms the principal part of the human body (about 87 per cent). This

word is also the symbol of the finer fluidic vehicles of desire and emotion.

NOUR, the Hebrew word signifying fire, is a symbolic representation of the

heat-producing red blood laden with martial Mars iron, fire, and energy,

which the occultist sees coursing as a gas through the veins and arteries of

the human body infusing it with energy and ambition without which there

could be neither material nor spiritual progress. It also represents the

sulphur and phosphorus necessary for the material manifestation of thought

as already mentioned.

RUACH, the Hebrew word for spirit or vital air, is an excellent symbol of

the Ego clothed in the mercurial Mercury mind, which makes MAN and enables

him to control and direct his bodily vehicles and activities in a rational

manner.

IABESHAH is the Hebrew word for earth, representing the solid fleshy part

which makes up the CRUCIFORM EARTHY BODY crystallized within the finer ve-

hicles at birth and severed from them in the ordinary course of things at

[PAGE 122] ANCIENT AND MODERN INITIATION

death, or in the extraordinary event that we learn to die the mystic death

and ascend to the glories of the higher spheres for a time.

This stage of the Christian Mystic's spiritual development therefore in-

volves a reversal of the creative force from its ordinary downward course

where it is wasted in generation to satisfy the passions, to an upward

course through the tripartite spinal cord, whose three segments are ruled by

the moon, Mars, and Mercury respectively, and where the rays of Neptune then

lights THE REGENERATIVE SPINAL SPIRIT FIRE. This mounting upward sets the

pituitary body and the pineal gland into vibration, opening up the spiritual

sight; and striking the frontal sinus it starts the CROWN OF THORNS throb-

bing with pain as the bond with the physical body is burned by the sacred

Spirit Fire, which wakes this center from its age-long sleep to a throbbing,

pulsating life sweeping onward to the other centers in the FIVE-POINTED

STIGMATIC STAR. They are also vitalized, an the whole vehicle becomes aglow

with a golden glory. Then with a final wrench the great vortex of the de-

sire body located in the liver is liberated, and the martial energy con-

tained in that vehicle propels upward the SIDEREAL VEHICLE (so-called be-

cause the STIGMATA in the head, hands, and feet are located in the same

positions relative to one another as the points in a five-pointed star),

which ascends through THE SKULL (Golgotha), while the CRUCIFIED CHRISTIAN

utters his triumphant cry, "Consummatum est" (it has been accomplished), and

soars into the subtler spheres to seek Jesus whose life he has imitated with

[PAGE 123] THE STIGMATA AND THE CRUCIFIXION

such success and from whom he is thenceforth inseparable. Jesus is his

Teacher and his guide to the kingdom of Christ, where all shall be united in

one body to learn and to practice the RELIGION OF THE FATHER, to whom the

kingdom will eventually revert that He may be All in All.

THE END.

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