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diff --git a/38590-h/38590-h.htm b/38590-h/38590-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d4b48d --- /dev/null +++ b/38590-h/38590-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9408 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story Of Anna Kingsford And Edward Maitland, by Edward Maitland. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +.noi { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.indent { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} + + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + + .tdr {text-align: right;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + .tdct {text-align: center; + margin-top: -1.5em} +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 95%; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ + +.poemblock {margin: auto; width: 24em;} +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + + + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} +.poem span.i1 { + display: block; + margin-left: 1em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + + + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + padding:0.5em; + margin-left: 25%; + margin-right: 25%; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward +Maitland and of the new Gospel of Interpretation, by Edward Maitland + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland and of the new Gospel of Interpretation + +Author: Edward Maitland + +Editor: Samuel Hopgood Hart + +Release Date: January 16, 2012 [EBook #38590] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNA KINGSFORD, EDWARD MAITLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ron Stephens and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 487px;"> +<img src="images/cover1.jpg" width="487" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="p6" /> +<h3>THE STORY</h3> + +<h5>OF</h5> + +<h1>ANNA KINGSFORD AND<br /> +EDWARD MAITLAND</h1> + +<h5>AND OF</h5> + +<h2>THE NEW GOSPEL OF<br /> +INTERPRETATION</h2> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h4>EDWARD MAITLAND.<br /> +EDITED BY SAMUEL HOPGOOD HART.</h4> + + +<p class="tdc">"The days of the Covenant of Manifestation are passing away;<br /> +The Gospel of Interpretation cometh."</p> + +<p class="tdc">"There shall nothing new be told; but that which is ancient<br /> +shall be interpreted."</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p class="tdc">"Now is the Gospel of Interpretation come, and the kingdom<br /> +of the Mother of God."—<i>C.W.S.</i>, Part I. No. ii. (part 2) 10. 11.<br /> +and Part II. No. xiii. 31.</p> + +<h5>THIRD AND ENLARGED EDITION.</h5> + +<h4>PRICE THREE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE.</h4> + +<h4>BIRMINGHAM:</h4> +<p class="tdct">THE RUSKIN PRESS, STAFFORD STREET.<br /> +1905. +</p> + + + + +<div class="p6"><p class="tdc"><i> +1st Edition ... Christmas, 1893. <br /> +2nd Edition ... Christmas, 1894.<br /> +3rd Edition ... Christmas, 1905.</i><br /></p> +</div> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[v]</span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p class="tdc">TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS.</p></div> + + +<p>This book is designed (1) in satisfaction of the +widely-expressed desire for a more particular +account than has yet been rendered concerning +the genesis of the writings claiming to constitute +a "New Gospel of Interpretation"; and (2) in +fulfilment of the duty incumbent on me as the +survivor of the two recipients of such Gospel to +spare no means which may minister to its recognition +and acceptance by the world, for whose +benefit it has been vouchsafed.</p> + +<p>Although largely biographical in character, this +book is not a history of individuals, but of a Work, +and involves only such personal references as are +necessary to such history. It is not, however, a +full or a final account that is contained in it. +Such an account can be given only in the form of +the regular biography which is in course of preparation. +This book is an instalment only of that +biography, being put forth in advance of it, partly, +as said above, to meet a present need, and partly, +to prevent a total loss of the record in the event of +my failure to complete it—a contingency of which, +in view of the magnitude of the task and my +advanced age, I am bound to take account.</p> + +<p class="tdr"> +E. M.<br /> +</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[vii]</span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE3" id="PREFACE3"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p class="tdc">TO THE THIRD EDITION.</p></div> + + +<p>Since the publication in 1893 of this book which, +as stated in Chapter VII., was "intended but as +an epitome and instalment" of a far larger book +then in course of preparation, the full and final +account of the "New Gospel of Interpretation" +has been given to the world. In 1896 Edward Maitland +published his <i>magnum opus</i>, "The Life of +Anna Kingsford," in two large volumes of 420 +pages, "illustrated with portraits, views, and facsimiles." +This is, and will always be, the +biography <i>par excellence</i> of Anna Kingsford and +Edward Maitland, and it is absolutely indispensable +for those who would know all that there is +to be known of them and their work and of the +"New Gospel of Interpretation." As that book, +however, on account of its great length, must +always be a costly book, and therefore beyond the +means of many who would like to have some +reliable information concerning Anna Kingsford +and Edward Maitland and their work, and as there +are many who, on account of their time for reading +being limited or their inclination to read being +little, require information within the compass of +a small book or go without it altogether, there will, +notwithstanding the publication of the "Life of +Anna Kingsford," be a demand for this shorter +"Story," which is so admirably suited to meet the<span class="pagenum">[viii]</span> +needs or requirements of these classes of persons; +for, be it noted, the publication of "The Life of +Anna Kingsford" has not in any way depreciated +the value of this book in this sense that, having +been written by one of the two recipients of the +"New Gospel of Interpretation," it is a first +authority second to none for the statements therein +contained.</p> + +<p>The change in the title of the book from "The +Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation" to the +present title calls for some explanation and justification, +because the former title was an excellent +one in many respects, and the book has become +known to many by that title. The "Gospel of +Interpretation" is the name or description which +was given by its Divine Inspirers, the Hierarchy +of the Spheres Celestial, to the work of which this +book tells the story, in token of its relation to the +previous "Gospel of Manifestation." The former +title implied, as the Author pointed out in his +preface, that that which this book propounded was +"not really a new Gospel, but one of Interpretation +only"; and this is not really new, but, as the +Author has also pointed out, "so old as to have +become forgotten and lost, being the purely +spiritual sense, as discerned from the purely +spiritual standpoint originally intended and +insisted on by Scripture itself as its true sense and +standpoint, and those which alone render Scripture +intelligible"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>. But notwithstanding this, and +notwithstanding that on the front page it was +expressly stated that "There shall nothing new +be told; but that which is ancient shall be inter<span class="pagenum">[ix]</span>preted," +the former title failed to convey to the +minds of some the meaning that it was intended +to convey, and it gave no indication of the +biographical nature of the work. Many who otherwise +would have read the book refrained from doing +so because they thought that a new Gospel, +inconsistent with and perhaps opposed to if +not intended to supersede the old Gospel, was propounded. +It is necessary, therefore, for me to +state, if possible more explicitly than it was stated +in the previous editions of this book, that this is +not an attempt to create a new Gospel differing +from that of Jesus Christ<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>. Anna Kingsford's +and Edward Maitland's mission and aim was +to interpret the Christ, not to rival or supersede +Him. The "New Gospel" is, first and foremost, +<i>interpretative</i>, and is destructive only in the sense +of reconstructive. "It tells nothing new; it +simply restores and reinforces the old, even the +Gnosis, which, as the doctrine of the Church unfallen, +is that also of the Church fallen, though the +latter has lost the key to its interpretation"<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>. Nor +is the teaching represented by this book opposed to +the existence of an objective Church. Anna Kingsford +and Edward Maitland fully recognised the +necessity of such an organisation for the formulation, +propagation, and exposition of religion. Their +opposition was "only to the recognition by the +Church of the objective, historical, and materialistic +aspect of religion, <i>to the exclusion</i> of that which +<span class="pagenum">[x]</span>really constitutes religion, namely, its subjective, +spiritual, and substantial aspect, wherein alone it +appeals to the mind and soul, and is efficacious +for redemption." The aim of the New Gospel +"is defined exactly," said Edward Maitland, "in +the following citation from St. Dionysius the +Areopagite 'not to destroy, but to construct; or, +rather, to destroy by construction; to conquer +error by the full presentment of truth.' As will +be obvious, such a design does not necessarily +involve the destruction of anything that exists +whether of symbol or ritual, or ecclesiastical +organisation, but only their regeneration by means +of their translation into their spiritual and divinely +intended sense. And it is precisely because that +sense has been lost—as declared in Scripture it +had long been, and would yet long be, lost—that +a new 'Gospel of Interpretation' has been vouchsafed +in fulfilment of the promises in Scripture to +that effect; and this from the source of the original +Divine revelation, namely, the Church Celestial, +and by the method which always was that of such +revelation, namely, the intuition operating under +special illumination.... Even the priest, +though hitherto deservedly regarded as the 'enemy +of man,' will not be destroyed under the new +<i>régime</i> whose inauguration we are witnessing. For +in becoming interpreter as well as administrator, +he will be prophet as well as priest, and speak out +the things of God and the soul instead of concealing +them under a veil. So will the 'veil be taken +away,' and Cain, the priest, instead of killing +Abel, the prophet, as hitherto, will unite with him, +becoming prophet and priest in one. And instead +of any longer corrupting the 'woman' Intuition,<span class="pagenum">[xi]</span> +and suppressing the 'man' Intellect, he will +purify and exalt her, and enable her to fulfil her +proper function as 'the Mother of God' in man, +and will recognise the intellect, when duly conjoined +with her, as the heir of all things. Thus, +becoming interpreter as well as administrator, +prophet as well as priest, and recognising interpretation +as the corollary of the understanding, the +prophet-priest of the regeneration will give to men +freely of the waters of life, that only true bread +of Heaven, which is the food of the understanding, +instead of the indigestible 'stones' and poisonous +'serpents' of doctrines, the profession of which, +by divorcing assent from conviction, involves that +moral and intellectual suicide, to induce others to +join him in committing which Cardinal Newman +wrote his 'Grammar of Assent,' True it is 'faith +that saves,' but the faith that is without understanding +is not faith, but credulity"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>. It is for +the above-mentioned reasons that the title of this +book has been changed. The title must be subservient +to the book, and it is hoped that, the +change having been made, there will not be any +further misunderstanding—even on the part of +those who are most superficial—as to the nature +and object of "The Story of the New Gospel of +Interpretation."</p> + +<p>Edward Maitland did not long survive the completion +of the great task that he undertook when he +set himself to write a full account of his life and +that of his colleague. He retained his full mental +vigour until the publication of "The Life of Anna +Kingsford"; but after that he rapidly declined, +<span class="pagenum">[xii]</span>and on the 2nd October, 1897, at the close of his +seventy-third year, a little over nine years after the +death of Anna Kingsford<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>, he passed away peacefully +at "The Warders" at Tonbridge, the home (at +that time) of his friends Colonel and Mrs. Currie, +with whom, and under whose loving care, he spent +the last few months of his life—a life concerning +which, as also that of Anna Kingsford, I will not +say anything here, for this book will testify. +Blessed are the souls whom the just commemorate +before God.</p> + + + +<p class="p2">Many who read these pages will not rest until +they know more of those great prophets the story +of whose lives is here told, and of the Divine +Gnosis that it was their high mission to proclaim. +I have indicated whence they can obtain this +information. This "Story," interesting as it is +and much as there is in it, is little more than an +indication of some of the facts that are fully stated +and dealt with in "The Life of Anna Kingsford," +and there is much of importance that (as it could +not possibly receive proper treatment in a book of +this size) was passed over here to be related in the +larger biography. I have not thought it expedient +to alter the character of or to add much to this +book, but I have enlarged it by incorporating +therein, from "The Life of Anna Kingsford," +some additional matter which is of interest, and +which should add to the value of the book. The +most important additions are the account of Anna +Kingsford's vision of "The Doomed Train," on +p.p. 43-47; the account of Anna Kingsford's vision +<span class="pagenum">[xiii]</span>of Adonai, on pp. 64-68; the "Exhortation of Hermes +to his Neophytes," on pp. 110-112; the verses "Concerning +the Passage of the Soul," on pp. 169-170; and +the illumination of Anna Kingsford concerning the +"Work of Power," on pp. 180-181. I have also amplified +the text in some places when, on comparing it with +corresponding passages in "The Life of Anna +Kingsford," I found that I could do so with advantage. +These amplifications are not otherwise noted. +Finally, I have added some notes where I thought +that further explanation was desirable or would +prove acceptable.</p> + +<p class="tdr"> +SAML. HOPGOOD HART.<br /></p> +<p> +Croydon, December, 1905.<br /> +</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[xv]</span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2></div> + + +<p>There are certain introductory remarks which, in +view of the prevailing tendency to reject prior to +examination whatever conflicts with strongly +cherished preconceptions—as anything purporting +to be a "new Gospel" is undoubtedly calculated +to do—may be made with advantage. Those +remarks are as follows:—</p> + +<p>(1) As its title implies<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>, that which is propounded +is not really a new Gospel, but one of +Interpretation only, which is precisely what is +admitted by all serious and thoughtful persons to +be the supreme need of the times. It was said, for +instance, by the late Matthew Arnold, "At the +present moment there are two things about the +Christian religion which must be obvious to every +percipient person: one, that men cannot do without +it; the other, that they cannot do with it as it is."</p> + +<p>(2) As also its title implies<a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> nothing new is told +in it, but that only which is old is interpreted; +and the appeal on its behalf is not to authority, +<span class="pagenum">[xvi]</span>whether of Book, Tradition, or Institution, but to +the Understanding—a quality which accords not +only with the spirit of the times, but also—as +shewn herein—with that of religion itself, properly +so called.</p> + +<p>(3) Scripture manifestly comprises two conflicting +systems of doctrine and practice, having +for their representatives respectively the priest and +the prophet, one only of which systems, and this +the system reprobated in Scripture itself, has +hitherto obtained recognition from Christendom. +It is the purpose of the New Gospel of Interpretation +to expound the system represented by the +prophet and approved in Scripture, with a view to +replacing the other.</p> + +<p>(4) For those who attach value to the prophecies +contained in the Bible, so far from there being an +<i>a priori</i> improbability against the delivery of a +new revelation in interpretation, confirmation, or +completion of the former revelation, and in correction +of the false presentment of it, the probability +ought to be all in favour of such an event. This +is because Scripture abounds in predictions of a +restoration both of faculty and of knowledge, as +to take place at the present time and under the +existing conditions of Church and World; and +this of such kind as shall constitute a second and +spiritual manifestation of the Christ in rectification +of the perversion of the import of His first +and personal manifestation, and in arrest of the +great Apostacy, not only from the true faith of +Christ but from religion itself, of which that +perversion has been the cause.</p> + +<p>(5) So far from the idea of a new revelation +which shall have for its end the disclosure, as the<span class="pagenum">[xvii]</span> +true sense of Scripture and Dogma, of a sense +differing so widely from that hitherto accepted as +to be virtually destructive of it,—so far from this +idea being universally repugnant to orthodox +ecclesiastics, it has found warm recognition from +one of the foremost of modern churchmen. This +is the late Cardinal Newman.</p> + +<p>Said Dr Newman in his <i>Apologia pro vitâ suâ</i>, +speaking of his earlier days, "The broad philosophy +of Clement and Origen carried me away; the +philosophy, not the theological doctrine.... Some +portions of their teaching, magnificent in themselves, +came like music to my inward ear, as if the +response to ideas, which, with little external to +encourage them, I had cherished so long. These +were based on the mystical or sacramental principle, +and spoke of the various Economies or Dispensations +of the Eternal. I understood these +passages to mean that the exterior world, physical +and historical, was but the manifestation to our +senses of realities greater than itself. Nature was +a parable: Scripture was an allegory:.... The +process of change had been slow; it had been done +not rashly, but by rule and measure, 'at sundry +times and in divers manners,' first one disclosure +and then another, till the whole evangelical doctrine +was brought into full manifestation. And +thus room was made for the anticipation of further +and deeper disclosures of truths still under the veil +of the letter, and in their season to be revealed. +The visible world still remains without its divine +interpretation: Holy Church in her sacraments +and her hierarchical appointments, will remain, +even to the end of the world, after all but a symbol +of those heavenly facts which fill eternity. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span> +mysteries are but the expressions, in human +language, of truths to which the human mind is +unequal"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>.</p> + +<p>Dr Newman is credited also with the remark, +made on visiting Rome for his investiture, that he +saw no hope for religion save in a new revelation.</p> + +<p>These are utterances the value of which is in no +way diminished by the fact that their utterer failed +to bring his own life into accordance with them. +He could write, indeed, the hymn "Lead, kindly +light"; but when the "kindly light" was vouchsafed +him of those suggestions of a system of +thought concealed within the Christian Symbology, +"magnificent in themselves" and making "music +to his inward ear," which he found in the patristic +writings; instead of following that lead, and +striving to exhume the treasures of divine truth +thus buried and hidden from sight, for the salvation +of a world perishing for want of them,—he +turned his back upon it, and—entering the Church +of Rome—wrote his "Grammar of Assent," calling +upon others to follow him in committing the +suicide, intellectual and moral, of renouncing the +understanding and divorcing profession from +conviction.</p> + +<p>This was a catastrophe the explanation of which +is not far to seek. Dr Newman had in him the +elements which go to make both priest and prophet. +But the former proved the stronger; and the Cain, +the priest in him, suppressed the Abel, the prophet +in him. Thus was he a type of the Church as +hitherto she has been. But, happily, not as hence<span class="pagenum">[xix]</span>forth +she will be. For "now is the Gospel of Interpretation +come, and the kingdom of the Mother +of God," even the "Woman," Intuition,—the +mind's feminine mode, wherein it represents the +perceptions and recollections of the Soul—who is +ever "Mother of God" in man, and whose sons +the prophets ever are, the greatest of them being +called emphatically, for the fulness and purity of +his intuition, the "Son of the Woman" and she +a "virgin."</p> + +<p class="tdr"> +E.M. +</p> + + + +<div class="p6"> +<h2><a name="FRONTISPIECES" id="FRONTISPIECES"></a>FRONTISPIECES.</h2></div> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Ill."> +<tr><td align="left"> I.—<big><span class="smcap">Portrait of Dr. Anna Kingsford.</span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><i>Born, Sep. 16th, 1846; Died, Feb. 22nd, 1888.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">II.—<big><span class="smcap">Portrait of Edward Maitland</span> (<i>B.A., Cantab</i>).</big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><i>Born, Oct. 27th, 1824; Died, Oct, 2nd, 1897.</i></td></tr> +</table></div> +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[xx]</span></p> +<h2><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2></div> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="TOC"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#PREFACE">Preface to the First and Second Editions</a></span></big></td><td align="right">v.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#PREFACE3">Preface to the Third Edition</a></span></big></td><td align="right">vii.-xiii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">Introduction</a></span></big></td><td align="right">xv.-xix.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></span></big></td><td align="right">xx.-xxii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#ABBREVIATIONS">Abbreviations</a></span></big></td><td align="right">xxiii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Chapter I.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE VOCATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The Instruments—Their early lives—Their consciousness of a special</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">mission, and intimations of a call—Their training in respect of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">circumstance, character, and faculty, until brought together</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for their Joint work.</span></td><td align="right"> 1-36</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE INITIATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">A baptism of the Spirit—"At last I have found a man through whom</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">I can speak!"—Intimation of the nature and aim of their work—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doomed train, "No one on the engine!"—Instantaneous</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">transfer of inspiration—"Woman, what have I to do with</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">thee?"—The recovery of a Gospel scene, and its import—"The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">woman taken in adultery"—Vision of Adonai—Source of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening sentences in St. John's Gospel—Chapter from the recovered</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gnosis—The Generation of the Word.</span></td><td align="right"> 37-70</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Chapter III.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE COMMUNICATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">"The perfect love that casts out fear." In the presence of celestial</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">visitants—A parable of the Intuition—"The Wonderful Spectacles"—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greek element in the work—Hermes and John the Baptist—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"heresy of Prometheus"—The Fig-tree, a symbol of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inward understanding; the time come for it to bear fruit—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seeress's faculty—Her relations with Hermes—"Thou art the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rock" addressed to Hermes—The parable of the Fig-tree—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mystic Woman of Holy Writ—"Go thy way, Daniel....</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum">[xxi]</span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days"—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy of the book of Esther—The Angel Genius, his account</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of himself and his office—Divine revelation the supreme common</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">sense—The source and method of the New Revelation—Its chief</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recipient "not a medium or a seer, but a prophet"—An instruction</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and a caution concerning the survival of tendencies encouraged</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">in past lives—Communion with souls of the departed—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">conditions of such intercourse—An instruction concerning</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inspiration and Prophesying—The prophecy of "the kingdom of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Mother of God."</span></td><td align="right">71-108</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Chapter IV.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE ANTAGONISATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">"Ye are not yet perfected"—Our respective <i>Auras</i>—An</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">exhortation—The Seven Spirits of God, their co-operation necessary for</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">a perfect work—"You belong to us now, to do our work and not your</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">own"—Enforced silence—"The Powers of the Air;" their mode</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of attack—A strange visitant and his communication—A strained</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">situation—Visions of guidance—The "refractory team," and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Two Stars"—The promised land reached only through</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the wilderness—"The Word a Word of mystery, and they who</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">guard it Seven"—"One Neophyte could not save himself"—A</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horoscope—A descent into hell—Counsels of Perfection—A</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Merry Christmas"—A timely arrival—Neoplatonic recognition</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Hermes—The one Truth, never without a witness in the world—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">key of knowledge restored—Problems solved—The mystic</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Woman" of Holy Writ.</span></td><td align="right">109-141</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Chapter V.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE RECAPITULATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">The key to the mystery of the Bible; the "Veil of Moses" withdrawn—The</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret laid bare of the world's sacrificial system, and the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">feud between priest and prophet—The Memory of the Soul—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Standpoint of the Bible—All that is true is Spiritual—The revelation</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of "that wicked one"—The seals broken and the books</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">opened—The New Gospel of Interpretation—Sacerdotalism the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Jerusalem which killed the prophets"—The suppressed</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">doctrines—Reincarnation the corollary and condition of Regeneration</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and implicit in the Bible—"Ye <i>must</i> be born again of Virgin</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary and Holy Ghost"—The doctrines of the Trinity and Divine</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum">[xxii]</span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Incarnation as now interpreted, necessary and self-evident</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">truths—Evolution the manifestation of a divine inherency; accomplished</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">only by the realisation of Divinity—The process of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">regeneration, and therein of salvation, interior to the individual—Adam</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Christ the initial and final stages in the spiritual</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">evolution of every man—The "Christ within" of St Paul—The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Credo</i> an epitome of the spiritual history of the Sons of God.</span></td><td align="right">142-162</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Chapter VI.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE EXEMPLIFICATION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Spontaneity of the Seeress's faculty—Specific illuminations, in</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">illustration, chiefly, of the process of Regeneration; concerning (1)</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Writ; (2) Redemption; (3) Sin and death; (4) The Twelve</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gates of Regeneration; (5) The Passage of the Soul; (6) The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mystic Exodus; (7) The Spiritual Phoibos and the order of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christs; (8) The Previous Lives of Jesus, and Reincarnation;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">(9) The Work of Power; the land and tongue of the New</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revelation, why ours.</span></td><td align="right">163-183</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><big><span class="smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter VII.</a></span></big></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">THE PROMULGATION AND RECOGNITION.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Accordance of all the dates with those prophesied—Other coincidences—Why</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">our work has remained so long unknown to the generality—Notable</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">recognitions, by representative Kabalists, Mystics,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Occultists and Divines, Catholic, Anglican, and others—Spiritualism,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theosophy, and the New Gospel of Interpretation as</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">fellow-agents in the unfoldment of the world's spiritual consciousness,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the unsealing of the world's Bibles, prophesied to take</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">place at this epoch—"Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," the Hebrew</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">equivalents for Brahma, Isis, and Iacchos, to denote the mysteries</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of India, Egypt, and Greece, the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and therein the Gnosis of which the Christ is the fulfilment and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal demonstration, and the restoration of which was prophesied</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Jesus as to mean the Regeneration of the Church and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the establishment of the divine kingdom on earth—Mysticism and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Occultism, the distinction between them, and the necessity of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">both physical and spiritual science to a perfect system of thought</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and rule of life—Conclusion.</span></td><td align="right">184-204</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[xxiii]</a></span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[xxiii]</span></p> +<h2><a name="ABBREVIATIONS" id="ABBREVIATIONS"></a>ABBREVIATIONS.</h2></div> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A.K., for Anna Kingsford.</p> + +<p>B.O.A.I., for "The Bible's Own Account of Itself," by +E.M.; second edition, 1905.</p> + +<p>C.W.S., for "Clothed With The Sun," being the book +of the Illuminations of A.K.; edited by +E.M., 1889.</p> + +<p>D. and D.-S., for "Dreams and Dream-Stones," by A.K., +edited by E.M.; second edition, 1888.</p> + +<p>E.C.U., for "The Esoteric Christian Union," founded +by E.M. in 1891.</p> + +<p>E. and I., for "England and Islam; or, The Counsel of +Caiaphas," by E.M., 1877.</p> + +<p>E.M., for Edward Maitland.</p> + +<p>Life A.K., for "The Life of Anna Kingsford," by E.M., +1896.</p> + +<p>P.W., for "The Perfect Way; or, The Finding of Christ," +by A.K. and E.M.; third edition, revised, +1890.</p> + +<p>Statement, E.C.U., for "The New Gospel of Interpretation; +being an Abstract of the Doctrine +and Statement of the Objects of the +Esoteric Christian Union," by E.M.; +revised and enlarged edition, 1892.</p></div> + + + +<div class="p6"> +<p class="tdc"> +BIRMINGHAM:<br /> +THE RUSKIN PRESS, RUSKIN HOUSE,<br /> +STAFFORD STREET.<br /> +<small>1905.</small><br /></p></div> + + +<div class="p6" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;"> +<img src="images/illus024-2.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="Edward Maitland" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Edward Maitland</span> +</div> +<div class="p6" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;"> +<img src="images/illus026-2.jpg" width="440" height="600" alt="Anna Kingsford" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Anna Kingsford</span> +</div> + + + +<div class="p6"> +<h1><a name="THE" id="THE"></a>THE + +STORY OF ANNA KINGSFORD AND<br /> + +EDWARD MAITLAND</h1></div> + +<h5>AND</h5> + +<h1>OF THE NEW GOSPEL OF<br /> + +INTERPRETATION.</h1> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[1]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE VOCATION.</p> + + +<p>My colleague in the work, the history of which I +am about to render some account, was the late +Anna Kingsford, <i>née</i> Bonus, M.D. of the +University of Paris.</p> + +<p>There was a link between her husband's family +and mine, but we were not personally acquainted +until, in the summer of 1873, she was led by reading +one of my books<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> to open a correspondence +with me, which disclosed so striking a community +between us of ideas, aims, and methods, that I +accepted an invitation to visit her at her husband's +rectory at Pontesbury, Salop, in Shropshire, for +the sake of a fuller discussion of them. <a name="This_visit" id="This_visit"></a>This visit +which lasted nearly a fortnight, took place in +February, 1874<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[2]</span></p> +<p>The account I received of her history was in this +wise. Born at Stratford, in Essex, on the 16th +September, 1846, long after the last of her many +brothers and sisters, and endowed with the most +fragile of constitutions and liabilities the most +distressing of bodily weakness and suffering, and +differing widely, moreover, in temperament from +all with whom she was associated, her young life +had enjoyed but a scanty share of human sympathy, +and was largely one of solitude and meditation, +and such as to foster the highly artistic, +idealistic, and mystic tendencies with which she +was born. Singularly energetic of will, and +conscious of powers both transcending in degree +and differing in kind from any that she recognised +in others, she assiduously exercised her +faculties in many and various directions in the +hope of discovering the special direction in which +her mission lay. For, from her earliest childhood +she had been conscious of a mission, for the accomplishment +of which she had expressly come into +<span class="pagenum">[3]</span>the earth-life. And she claimed even to have distinct +recollection of having been strongly dissuaded +from coming, on account of the terrible +suffering which awaited her in the event of her +assuming a body of flesh. Indeed, so little conscious +was she of the reality of her human +parentage that she was wont to look upon herself +as a suppositious child of fairy origin; and on her +first visit to the pantomime, when the fairies made +their appearance on the stage, she declared that +they were her proper people, and cried and +struggled to get to them with such vehemence that +it was necessary to remove her from the theatre. +Among her amusements, her chief delight was in +the ample gardens around her homes at Stratford +and Blackheath, where she would hold familiar +converse with the flowers, putting into their +petals tiny notes for her lost relatives, the fairies, +who in return would visit her in her dreams and +assure her of their continued affection, and counsel +her to have patience and courage.</p> + +<p>The chief occupation of her girlhood was the +writing of poems and tales<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> which were tinged +with an exquisite mysticism, and showed a ripeness +of soul and maturity of feeling and knowledge +wholly unaccountable for by her years, her +experiences, or her physical heredity. At school +she always obtained the first prizes for composition, +and her faculty of improvisation was the delight +of her companions; the subjects of these her earlier +romances being lovely princesses, gallant knights, +<span class="pagenum">[4]</span>castles, dragons, and the like, when—as may readily +be supposed—her tall and slender frame, long +golden hair, delicacy of complexion, deep-set +hazel eyes, beauty of feature, the brow and the +mouth being especially notable, the brightness of +her looks, vivacity of her manner, her musical +voice, and the easy eloquence of her diction,—all +combined to make her an ideal heroine for her +own romances. She could hardly, however, be +said to be a <i>persona grata</i> with her pastors and +masters. For while her independence of character +and strength of will were apt to bring her into +conflict with rules and regulations of which she +failed to recognise the need, her thirst for knowledge, +especially on religious subjects, prompted +her to the proposition of questions which were +highly embarrassing to her teachers; and nothing +that they could say succeeded in convincing her +that her duty lay in believing what she was told, +and not in understanding it. She very early learnt +to resent the disabilities of her sex, and to insist +that they were not real but artificial, the result of +masculine selfishness and injustice. This hatred of +injustice and its correlative cruelty, especially +towards animals, attained in her the force and +dignity of a passion, her sensitiveness on this score +making the chief mental misery of her life.</p> + +<p>Of one gift possessed by her she early learnt to +repress the manifestation. This was the faculty +for seeing apparitions and divining the characters +and fortunes of people. For she was a born seer. +But the inability of her elders to comprehend the +faculty, and their consequent ascription of it to +pathological causes, were wont to lead to references +to the family doctor with results so eminently<span class="pagenum">[5]</span> +disagreeable and even injurious to her, as soon to +suggest the wisdom of keeping silence respecting +her experiences.</p> + +<p>Her first published compositions were written +at the age of thirteen<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>, the editors who accepted +her contributions to their magazines being under +the impression that they came from a grown-up +person and not from the mere child that she was. +They cost her, she assured me, little labour, +especially the poems, but seemed to come to her +ready-made, and to flow through her spontaneously. +And whatever the country in which their +scene lay, the local colouring and descriptions were +always faithful and vivid, as if the places and their +inhabitants were familiar and even actually +visible to her.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, to any encouragement of +her peculiar gifts that such excellency as she +exhibited was due. Rather were they severely +repressed, especially in respect of drawing, singing +and music, lest she should be tempted to +follow them as a profession; a fear which had been +excited by the suggestions of her masters that she +would be certain of success in any of those lines.</p> + +<p>Her innate consciousness of a mission seemed to +her to indicate her as destined for some redemptive +work, not only for others, but also for herself. +For, while the instincts of the Champion and the +Saviour were potent in her, she was dimly conscious +of its possessing also an expiatory element, +<span class="pagenum">[6]</span>in virtue of which her own salvation would largely +depend upon her endeavours to save others. She +had as yet no theory whereby to explain this or any +other of the problems she was to herself. All that +she knew was that she possessed, or rather was +possessed of, these feelings and impulses. It was +easy to see by her account of herself that she was +as one driven of the Spirit long before the Spirit +definitely revealed itself to her. The two departments +of humanity which she felt especially +impelled to succour and save were her own sex +and the animals. For she would recognise no hard +and fast line between masculine and feminine, +human and animal, or even between animal and +plant. In her eyes everything that lived was +humanity, only in different stages of its unfoldment. +Even the flowers were persons for her.</p> + +<p>As she approached womanhood she found herself +looking forward to marriage far less for its own +sake than as a means of emancipation from restrictions +on her choice of a career. Her father died +while she was yet wanting two or three years of +her majority, leaving her mistress of an income +ample for a single woman. And when at length +she became engaged to Algernon Godfrey Kingsford, +a cousin to whom she had some time been +attached, it was on the understanding that she +should remain unfettered in this respect. He held +at the time a post in the Civil Service; but soon +after their marriage, which took place on the last +day of 1867, determined to read for holy orders. +This gave her an opportunity for making herself +acquainted with Anglican theology, of which—thirsting +for knowledge of all kinds—she eagerly +availed herself, accompanying him in all his<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p7" id="p7"></a>7]</span> +studies, and greatly facilitating them by her +admirable scholarly methods. This proved to be +the first great step in her religious and intellectual +training for her destined mission.</p> + +<p>One of the occupations of her early married life +was the editing of a lady's magazine, which she +purchased with a view of making it an instrument +for the dissemination of her ideas especially in +regard to her sex. And she accordingly took an +active part in the movement then recently originated +for the enfranchisement of women, achieving +an extraordinary success as a public speaker. But, +becoming convinced that their cause would be best +advanced by the practical demonstration of their +fitness for the promotion they sought, and also +feeling her own need for the discipline of a severe +intellectual training to balance the emotional side +of her nature, she soon withdrew from active participation +in the movement. She moreover recognised +as a grave mistake the disposition evinced +by her fellow-workers to suppress their womanliness +in favour of a factitious masculinity, under +the impression that they would thereby exalt their +sex; her idea being, that their true policy lay in +magnifying rather than in depreciating their +womanhood. Meanwhile she had given birth to a +daughter, her only child.</p> + +<p>Her magazine was given up after a couple of +years, the results failing to justify the expenditure +of time, labour and money, requisite for its continuance. +Not that it lacked adequate support; +but the principles on which she insisted on conducting +it proved to be incompatible with +commercial success. She resolutely refused all +advertisements of articles, whether of food or of<span class="pagenum">[8]</span> +clothing, of which she disapproved; and she had +adopted the pythagorean regimen and discarded as +unhygienic sundry articles of attire ordinarily +deemed indispensable by her sex. It was in her +magazine that she first struck the note which +proved the initiation of the holy warfare since +waged against the horrors of the physiological +laboratory, a warfare in which she bore a foremost +part and developed the malady of which she died.</p> + +<p>In 1870, a long and severe illness, which compelled +her return to her mother's house at Hastings +to be nursed, led to her entry upon another phase +in her inner life, and a further stage in the process +of her education for her mission. She had early +recoiled from the faith in which she had been +reared. This was Protestantism in its most unlovely +form, cold, harsh, narrow, dogmatic. Her closer +acquaintance with it as a clergyman's wife had +done nothing to mitigate her judgment of it. +Explaining nothing and lacking fervour and +poetry, it left head and heart alike unsatisfied. +Her residence as an invalid at Hastings brought +her into intimacy with some devout Catholics, the +effect of which was to intensify the repugnance +already set up. She attended the Catholic services, +and visited the sisters in the convent, reading their +books of devotion and even making an extended +study of Catholic doctrine, for she would do +nothing by halves. She found what satisfied her +heart and artistic tastes. But the chief determining +cause of the change upon which she at +length resolved, was her reception by night of +sundry visitations, purporting to be of angelic +nature, and enjoining on her, for the sake of the +mission to which she was called—the knowledge of<span class="pagenum">[9]</span> +which, she was told, would in due time be revealed +to her—that she join the Roman communion. +Well aware that the confession of such experiences, +whether to her relations or to a minister of her own +Church, would elicit only a smile of pity or contempt, +with a recommendation to seek medical +advice, and involve other contingencies equally +distasteful, she resolved to see how the same confession +would be treated by a Catholic priest. +The result of the essay was that she was listened +to with respect and sympathy, and informed that +the Church fully recognised such visitations as +coming within the divine order, and as being a +token of high spiritual favour and grace; and while +it refrained from pronouncing positively on them, +considered that they ought not to be lightly disregarded. +She was soon afterwards received into +the Roman Church, being baptised on September +14, 1870. On June 9, 1872, she was confirmed by +Archbishop Manning, who admonished her to +utilise her attractions in making converts. And +on each occasion she received additional names, +in virtue of which she now bore the names of all +the five women who were by the Cross and at the +Sepulchre.</p> + +<p>None the less, however, did she retain her independence +of mind and conduct. She accepted no +direction, and professed no tenet that she did not +understand. And it was soon made clear to her +that the Spirit, of whom she was being impelled, +did not intend her to regard her adoption of +Catholicism as more than a step in her education +for the work required of her. For the following +year saw her bent on seeking a medical degree, +under the impression that such a step was in some<span class="pagenum">[10]</span> +way related to the mission of which she had +received such and so many mysterious intimations. +And she had scarcely commenced her study of +medicine when this impression was reinforced by +the following incident, the scene of which was her +home in Shropshire, in the parish of which her +husband had then recently become incumbent, +and where I first visited them.</p> + +<p>This was the receipt of a letter from a lady who +was a stranger to her, written from a distant part +of the country, and saying that she, the writer, +had read with profound interest and admiration a +story<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> of Mrs Kingsford which, after appearing +in her magazine, had been published as a book, and +that after reading it she had received from the +Holy Spirit a message for her which was to be +delivered in person. After some hesitation as to +what reply to make, Mrs Kingsford—whose +account I am following exactly—agreed to receive +her; an appointment was made, and the stranger +duly presented herself. She was tall, erect, distinguished +looking, with hair of iron-grey and +strangely brilliant eyes, and was perfectly calm +and collected of demeanour. The message was to +the effect that Mrs Kingsford was to remain in +retirement for five years, continuing the studies +and mode of life on which she had entered, whatever +they might be—for that the messenger did not +know—and to suffer nothing and no one to draw +her aside from them. That when these probationary +<span class="pagenum">[11]</span>five years were past, the Holy Spirit would bring +her forth from her seclusion, and a great work +would be given her to do. All this was uttered +with a rapt and inspired expression, as though she +had been a Sibyl pronouncing an oracle. After +delivering her message, the messenger kissed her +on both cheeks and departed, first asking only +whether she thought her mad; a question to which +for a moment Mrs Kingsford found it somewhat +difficult to make reply. But only for a moment. +For then there rushed on her the conviction that +it was all genuine and true, and was but a fresh +unfoldment of the mystery of her life and destiny, +and in full accordance with her own foreshadowings +from the beginning.</p> + +<p>Some four years later, at a time when Mrs +Kingsford was in great straits for want of a suitable +home in London in which to carry on her +studies, the same lady was similarly commissioned +on her behalf, while totally ignorant both of her +whereabouts and her need, and with results entirely +satisfactory. On which occasion I had the privilege +of making her acquaintance, and the satisfaction +of finding her not merely perfectly sane, +but a person entitled to the highest consideration, +noted for her pious devotion to works of beneficence +involving complete self-abnegation; and in +short a veritable "Mother in Israel."</p> + +<p>The event above related occurred in the spring +of 1873, the summer of which year saw Mrs Kingsford +impelled to do what led to the most crucial of +the events upon which her destined mission hinged, +namely, to write to me the letter which led to my +visit to her home. In the autumn of the same year +she passed her matriculation examination at the<span class="pagenum">[12]</span> +Apothecaries' Hall with success so great as to fill +her with high hopes of a triumphant passage +through the course of her student-life. But immediately +afterwards her hopes were dashed, for the +English medical authorities saw fit to close their +schools to women, and the way to her anticipated +career was shut against her.</p> + +<p>Such was the position when, in February, 1874, +I visited the Shropshire rectory, and such in brief +the history which was gradually unfolded to me as +my evident sympathy and appreciation gained the +confidence of the still young couple, whose senior +I was by some twenty years. Both husband and +wife were at their wits' end, the situation being +aggravated by a circumstance which was first +brought to my knowledge on my suggestion of the +postponement of her design until such time as the +medical authorities should come to their right +minds and re-open their schools to women. The +circumstance in question was her terrible liability +on the ground of ill-health, and especially of +asthma, to which she was a martyr, life in the +country being impossible to her for the greater +part of the year, when it was only in some large +city that she was able to breathe. With the schools +closed against her in England, her thoughts turned +towards France, the University of Paris being open +to women. But for obvious reasons her husband, +who could not absent himself from his duties to +accompany her, would not consent to her going +thither unless under suitable protection. For himself +he had but one wish, that she should follow her +bent and fashion her life as seemed best to her; +for he recognised her as entitled by her endowments +and aspirations, as well as by the terms of<span class="pagenum">[13]</span> +their engagement, to full liberty of action, while +the conditions of her health claimed all consideration +from him. If, indeed, the Gods had destined +her for a mission requiring freedom of action combined +with the shelter and support of a husband's +name, it seemed to me that in him they had created +a man expressly for the office. For some time, +however, the difficulty seemed insuperable, and +one that would yield to no amount of deliberation, +even with the best will of all concerned.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile her self-revelations continued, being +evidently prompted, at least as much by the +desire to obtain some explanation of herself +for herself, to whom she was, she avowed, +a complete puzzle, as by the desire to elicit +answering confidences from me. And they +became with each disclosure more and more +striking, until I could hardly resist the conviction +that she was possessed of some faculty in virtue +of which she was able to have direct perception of +conclusions to which I had won my way by dint +of long and arduous thinking, and in some +instances in advance of me. She had read my +mental history between the lines of my books, +and was fully prepared to learn that I too had a +consciousness, analogous to her own, of a mission +in life perhaps also analogous to her own.</p> + +<p>This, I was able to assure her, was indeed the +case, and that all my books had been written in +the idea of finding my way to it by dint of free, +unfettered thinking. For, brought up in the +strictest of evangelical sects, I had even as a lad +begun to be revolted by the creed in which I was +reared, and had very early come to regard its +tenets, especially of total depravity and vicarious<span class="pagenum">[14]</span> +atonement, as a libel nothing short of blasphemous +against both God and man, and to feel that no +greater boon could be bestowed on the world than +its emancipation from the bondage of a belief so +degrading and so destructive of any lofty ideal. +I had felt strongly that only in such measure as +I might be the means of its abolition would my life +be a success and a satisfaction to myself. It even +seemed to me that my own credit was involved +in the matter; and that in disproving such beliefs +I should be vindicating my own character. For +if God were evil, as those doctrines made Him, I +could by no possibility be good, since I must have +my derivation from Him. And I knew that, however +weak and unwise I might be, I was not evil.</p> + +<p>Then, too, my life, like hers, had been one of +much isolation and meditation. I had felt myself +a stranger even with my closest intimates. For +I was always conscious of a difference which +separated me from them, and of a side to which +they could not have access. I had graduated at +Cambridge with the design of taking orders; but +only to find that I could not do so conscientiously, +and to feel that to commit myself to any conditions +incompatible with absolute freedom of thought +and expression would be a treachery against both +myself and my kind;—for it was for no merely personal +end that I wanted to discover the truth. I +longed to get away from all my surroundings in +order, first, to think myself out of all that I had +been taught, and so to make my mind as a clean +sheet whereon to receive true impressions and at +first hand; and, next, to think myself into a condition +and to a level wherein I could see all things—myself, +nature, and God—face to face, with<span class="pagenum">[15]</span> +vision undimmed and undistorted by beliefs which, +being inherited only and traditional, instead of +the result of conviction honestly arrived at, were +factitious and unreal; no living outcome of my +own growth and observation, but a veritable straitwaistcoat, +stifling life and restraining development. +And so it had come that—as related in my +first novel, "The Pilgrim and the Shrine"<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>, +which was essentially autobiographical—I had +eagerly fallen in with a proposal to join an expedition +to the then newly-discovered placers of +California, an enterprise which, besides promising +to gratify the love for adventure, physical as well +as mental, which was strong in me, would postpone +if not solve the difficulty of my position. It +possessed, moreover, the high recommendation of +taking me to the world of the fresh, unsophisticated +West, instead of to that East which had +been made almost hateful to me by its association +with the tenets by which existence had been +poisoned for me.</p> + +<p>So, setting my face towards the sunset, I became +one of the band of "Forty-niners" in California, +and remained abroad in the continents and isles of +the Pacific, from America passing to Australia, +until the intended year of my absence had grown +into nearly ten years, and I had experienced well-nigh +every vicissitude and extreme which might +serve to heighten the consciousness, toughen the +fibre, and try the soul of man. But throughout all, +the idea of a mission remained with me, gathering +force and consistency, until it was made clear to +<span class="pagenum">[16]</span>me that not destruction merely, but construction, +not the exposure of error but the demonstration +of truth, was comprised in it. For I saw that it +was possible to reduce religion to a series of first +principles, necessary truths and self-evident propositions, +and that only in such measure as it was +thus reduced and discerned, was it really true and +really believed;—in short, that faith and knowledge +are identical. To accept a religion on the +ground that one had been born in it, and apart +from its appeal to the mind and moral conscience, +and thus to make it dependent upon the accident +of birth and parentage, was to resemble the African +savage who for the same reason worships Mumbo +Jumbo. How, moreover,—I asked myself—could +a religion which was not in accord with first +principles, represent a God, Who, to be God, must +Himself be the first of, and must comprise all +principles; must account logically for all the facts +of consciousness, be it unfolded as far as it may? +Granting that, as the poet says, "an honest man's +the noblest work of God," it was for me no less true +that "an honest God's the noblest work of man." +And it was precisely such a being that I longed to +elaborate out of, or discover in, my own consciousness, +confident that the achievement meant the +solution of all problems, the rectification of all +difficulties, the satisfaction of all aspirations, intellectual, +moral, and spiritual. Following such +trains of thought, I arrived at the assurance that +I had within my own consciousness both the +truth itself and the verification of the truth, and +that it remained only to find these.</p> + +<p>Returning to England in 1857, and, after an +interval, devoting myself to literature, all that I<span class="pagenum">[17]</span> +wrote, whether essay or fiction, represented the +endeavour by probing the consciousness to the +utmost in every direction to discover a central, +radiant, and indefeasible point from which all +things could be deduced, and on which, as a pivot +they must depend and revolve. I read largely, +and went much among people, always in search +of aid in my quest; but only with the result of +finding that neither from books nor from persons +could I even begin to get what I sought, but only +from thought.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile everything seemed ordered with a +view to the end ultimately attained. For, so far +from having left behind me for ever the vicissitudes, +and struggles, and trials, and ordeals, in +which the wildernesses of the western and southern +worlds had been so fruitful, I was found of them +in the old world to which I had returned; and this +in number, kind, and degree, such as to make it +appear as if what I had borne before had been +inflicted expressly for the purpose of enabling me +to bear what was put upon me now. And it was +only when I had learnt by experience that the very +capacity for thought is enhanced by feeling no +less than by thinking, that the "ministry of pain" +found its explanation. For the feeling required of +me proved to be that of the inner, not merely of +the outer man, of the soul, not merely of the body; +and the faculty, to be the intuition, and not merely +the intellect. Hence I was made to learn by experience, +long before the fact was formulated for me +in words, that only "by the bruising of the outer, +the inner is set free," and "man is alive only so far +as he has felt."</p> + +<p>Everything seemed contrived expressly in order<span class="pagenum">[18]</span> +to force me in this inward direction. Even in my +literary work, nothing of the "trade" element +was permitted to intrude. I could not write +except when writing to or from my own centre. +Faculty itself was shut off, if turned to any other +purpose. Everything I wrote must minister to and +represent a step in my own unfoldment.</p> + +<p>I can confidently affirm that the only books +which really helped me were, with scarcely an +exception, those which I wrote myself. Of the +exceptions the chief was Emerson. His essays had +been my <i>vade mecum</i> in all my world-wide wanderings. +And there were three sentences of his which, to +use his own phrase, "found" me as no others had +done. They were these: "The talent is the call"; +"I the imperfect adore my own perfect"; and, +"Beware when God lets loose a thinker on the +earth." Like Emerson himself, I had yet to learn +that man's own perfect is God, and self-culture is +God-culture, provided the self be the inmost self. +The two other books which most helped me were +Bailey's "Festus," and Carlyle's "Hero-Worship." +And I owed something to Tucker's "Light of +Nature." By which it will be seen that my affinity +was always for the prophets rather than the priests +of literature; for the intuitionalists rather than +the externalists.</p> + +<p>Gradually two leading ideas took definite form +in my mind, which, however, proved to be but two +aspects or applications of one and the same idea. +And that idea proved to be the keynote of all that +I was seeking after. For it finally solved the +problems of existence, of religion, of the Bible, +of Being itself. Hence the necessity of this reference +to it.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[19]</span></p> + +<p>This idea was that of a duality subsisting +in every unity, such as I had nowhere read or +heard of. I was, of course, aware that the theological +doctrine of the Trinity involved a Duality. +But not of a kind to find a response in my mind. +And being unable to assimilate it as it stood, I +ignored it; putting it aside until it should present +itself to me in an aspect in which it was intelligible. +I felt, however vaguely, that the Duality +I sought was in the Bible, though it had been +missed by the official expositors of that book. And +the conviction that it was in some way connected +with my life-work was so strong that I constructed +for the covers of my two first books a monogram +symbolical of Genesis i. 27. And I looked to the +unfoldment of what I felt to be the secret significance +of that utterance for the explication of all +the mysteries the solution of which engrossed me. +The thought did not seem to originate in any of +my experiences, but rather to be part of my +original stock of innate ideas, supposing that there +are such ideas, and to derive confirmation and +explanation from my experiences.</p> + +<p>Those experiences were in this wise. It had been +my privilege to have the friendship of several +women of a type so noble that to know them was +at once an education and a religion; women whose +perfection of character had served more than anything +else to make me believe in God, when all +other grounds had failed. I could in no wise +account for them on the hypothesis of a fortuitous +concourse of unintelligent atoms. And not only +did I find that the higher the type the more richly +they were endowed with precisely the faculty of +which I myself was conscious as distinguishing<span class="pagenum">[20]</span> +me from my fellows; I found also that I was +unable to recognise any woman as of a high type as +woman save in so far as she was possessed of it. I +had failed to find any who possessed the knowledge +I craved, and who were thereby able to help me in +my thought. They helped me nevertheless, but it +was by <i>being</i> what they were, rather than by +<i>knowing</i> and <i>doing</i>, be they admirable as they +might in these respects. I recognised in them +that which supplemented and complemented +my mental self in such wise as to suggest +unbounded possibilities of results to accrue +from the intimate association of two minds thus +attuned to each other, and duly unfolded by +thought and study. It needed, it seemed to me, +but the reverberation and intensification of +thought, induced by the apposition of two minds +thus related, for the production of the divine child +Truth in the very highest spheres of thought. So +that the results would by no means be restricted to +the mere sum of the associated capacities of the +two minds themselves. And in view of such high +possibilities I found myself appropriating and +applying the ejaculation which Virgil puts into the +mouth of Anna when urging the union of her +sister Dido with Æneas—</p> + +<div class="poemblock"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Quæ surgere regna</span><br /><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conjugio tali!"<br /><br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<p class="noi">and I felt with Tennyson that</p> + +<p class="tdc"> +"They two together well might move the world."<br /> +</p> + +<p>So boundless seemed to me the kingdoms of Truth, +Goodness, and Beauty which would spring from +such conjunction.</p> + +<p>It goes without saying that such relationship +was contemplated by me only as the accompani<span class="pagenum">[21]</span>ment +of a happy re-marriage. [For I had married +in Australia only to be widowered after a year's +wedlock.] But such a prospect was so long withheld +as to make me dubious of its realisation<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>. +Nevertheless, some inner voice was ever saying: +"Wait; wait. Everything comes to him who waits, +provided only he do so in faith and patience, +looking to the highest." But that I did wait, and +accordingly kept myself free for what ultimately +was assigned to me, was due far less to the expectation +of finding that for which I waited, than to +the vivid consciousness which I had of the bitterness +that would come of finding it, only to be +withheld from it through a previous disposal of +myself in some other and incompatible quarter. +This was an impression which served largely to +keep my life as free as I desired my thought to be. +But that the as yet undisclosed arbiters of my destiny +deemed it insufficient as a deterrent, appeared +from their reinforcement of it in a manner which +effectually debarred me from marriage save on the +condition, impossible to me, of a mercenary +alliance. This was a reversal of fortune through a +succession of losses so serious as to be the cause of +reducing my means to the minimum compatible +with existence at all in my own station, which soon +afterwards happened. That there were yet further +reasons for this imposition on me of the rule of +poverty, arising out of the nature of the work +required of me, was in due time made manifest, +and also what those reasons were. They need not +be specified here, excepting only this one. It made +<span class="pagenum">[22]</span>impossible the ascription to my destined colleague +of mercenary motives for her association with me. +In this I came to recognise a delicate providence +for which I felt I could not be too thankful. In +the meantime, even while smarting severely from +this dispensation, and others yet more bitter which +were heaped on me for no apparent cause or fault +of my own that I could discern, the thought that +most of all served to sustain me under what I felt +would have utterly broken down in heart or head, +or in both of these organs, any other person whatever +of whom I had knowledge,—that thought +was the surmise or suspicion that all these things, +hard to bear as they were, and undeserved as they +seemed, might prove to be blessings in disguise, in +ministering to the realisation of the controlling +ambition of my life by educating me for it; and +that according to the manner in which I bore them +might be the result.</p> + +<p>There is yet one more personal disclosure essential +to this part of my relation. It concerns my +own mental standpoint at the time at which my +narrative has arrived. Bent as I was on penetrating +the secret of things at first hand, and by +means of a thought absolutely free, I was never +for a moment disposed to turn, as my so-called +free-thinking contemporaries one and all had +turned, a scornful back upon whatever related to or +savoured of the current religion. Scripture and +dogma were not for me necessarily either false or +inscrutable because their official exponents had +presented them in an aspect which outraged my +reason and revolted my conscience. I felt bound—if +only in justice to them and myself—at least +to find out what they did mean before finally dis<span class="pagenum">[23]</span>carding +them. And in this act of justice I was +strangely sustained by a sense of the possibility +that the truth, if any, contained in them, was no +other than that of which I was in search. This is +to say, that in all my investigations I kept before +me the idea that, if I could discern the actual +nature of existence and the intended sense of the +Bible and Christianity, independently of each +other, they might prove on comparison to be identical; +in which case the latter would really +represent a true revelation. Meanwhile, I found +myself constrained to believe, as an axiomatic +proposition, that the higher and nobler the conception +I framed in my imagination of the nature +of existence, and the more in accordance with my +ideas of what, to be perfect, the constitution of the +universe ought to be, the nearer I should come to +the actual truth.</p> + +<p>Similarly with religion. For a religion to be true, +it must, I felt absolutely assured, be ideally perfect +after the most perfect ideal that we can frame. +This is to say, that not only must it be in itself +such as to satisfy both head and heart, mind and +moral conscience, spirit and soul; it must also be +perfectly simple, obviously reasonable, coherent, +self-evident, founded in the nature of things, +incapable—when once comprehended—of being +conceived of as otherwise, absolutely equitable, +eternally true, and recognisable as being all these, +invariable in operation, independent of all accidents +of time, place, persons and events, and +comparable to the demonstration of a mathematical +problem in that it needs no testimony or authority +beyond those of the mind; and requiring for its +efficacious observance, nothing that is extraneous<span class="pagenum">[24]</span> +or inaccessible to the subject-individual, but within +his ability to recognise and fulfil, provided only +that he so will. It must also be such as to enable +him by the observance of it to turn his existence +to the highest possible account imaginable by him, +be his imagination as developed as it may: and +all this as independently of any being other than +himself, as if he were the sole personal entity in +the universe, and were himself the universe. That +is to say, the means of a man's perfectionment +must inhere in his own system, and he must be +competent of himself effectually to apply them. +It is further necessary, because equitable, that he +be allowed sufficient time and opportunity for the +discovery, understanding and application of such +means.</p> + +<p>Such are the terms and conditions of an ideally +perfect religion, as I conceived of them. It is a +definition which excludes well-nigh, if not quite, +all the characteristics ordinarily regarded as appertaining +to religion, and notably to that of +Christendom. For in excluding everything +extraneous to the actual subject-individual, and +requiring religion to be self-evident and necessarily +true, it excludes as superfluous and irrelevant, +history, tradition, authority, revelation, as +ordinarily conceived of, ecclesiastical ordinance, +priestly ministration, mediatorial function, vicarious +satisfaction, and even the operation of Deity +as subsisting without and apart from the man, all +of which are essential elements in the accepted +conception of religion. Nevertheless, profound as +was my distrust of the faithfulness of the orthodox +presentation, I could not reconcile myself to a +renunciation of the originals on which that pre<span class="pagenum">[25]</span>sentation +was founded, until I had satisfied myself +that I had fathomed their intended and real +meaning.</p> + +<p>I had, moreover, very early conceived a personal +affection for Jesus as a man, so strong as to +serve as a deterrent both from abandoning the +faith founded on Him, and from accepting it as it +is as worthy of Him.</p> + +<p>Such was my standpoint, intellectual and religious, +at the period in question. The time came +when it found full justification; our results being +such as to verify it in everyone of its manifold +aspects. And not this only. The doctrine which +had so mysteriously evolved itself out of my consciousness +to attain by slow degrees the position +of a controlling influence in my life, the doctrine, +namely of a Duality subsisting in the Original +Unity of Underived Being, and as inhering therefore +in every unit of derived being, this doctrine +proved to be the key to the mysteries both of +Creation and of Redemption, as propounded in the +Bible and manifested in the Christ; the key also +to the nature of man, disclosing the facts both of +his possession of divine potentialities as his birthright, +and his endowment with the faculty whereby +to discern and to realise them. And while it proved +constructive in respect of Divine Truth, it proved +destructive in respect of the falsification of that +truth which had passed for orthodoxy, by disclosing +the source, the motive, the method and the +agents of that falsification.</p> + +<p>But these things were still in the future. At +the time with which we are now concerned, I had +commenced a book to represent the standpoint just +described, "The Keys of the Creeds." The first<span class="pagenum">[26]</span> +and initial draft of that book was written under +the sympathetic eye of one of the order of noble +women to which reference has been made, and +owed much to the enhancement of faculty derived +by me from such conjunction of minds. The second +and final draft was written under like relationship +with another member of the self-same order, +even she who proved to be my destined collaborator +in the work of which this book recounts the story. +It was published in 1875. It is necessary only to +say further of the book thus produced, that notwithstanding +certain defects of expression, due +chiefly to an insufficient acquaintance with the +terminology of metaphysics, it proved an invaluable +help to very many, as was amply shown by +the letters of grateful appreciation received from +them by me. The keynote was that which afterwards +found expression in the utterance,—</p> + +<p>"There is no enlightenment from without: the +secret of things is revealed from within.</p> + +<p>"From without cometh no Divine Revelation: +but the Spirit within beareth witness"<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>.</p> + +<p>For the lesson it contained was the lesson that +the phenomenal world cannot disclose its own +secret. To find this, man must seek in that substantial +world which lies within himself, since all +that is real is within the man. From which it +followed that if there is no within, or if that within +be inaccessible, either there is no reality, or man +has no organon of knowledge, and is by constitution +agnostic. Meanwhile, the very fact of my +<span class="pagenum">[27]</span>possession of an ideal exempt from the limitations +of the apparent, constituted for me a strong presumption +in favour of the reality of the ideal.</p> + +<p>The moment of contact between my destined +colleague and myself, was as critical for one as for +the other, only that in my case the crisis was +intellectual. I could see to the end of the argument +I was then elaborating; and that it landed +me close to the dividing barrier between the two +worlds of sense and spirit, supposing the latter to +have any being<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>. But I neither saw beyond, nor +knew how to ascertain whether or not there is a +beyond. We were discussing the question of there +being an inner sense in Scripture, such as my book +suggested; and whether, supposing it to have such +a sense, it required for its discernment any faculty +more recondite than a subtle imagination; and if +it did, is there such a faculty? and what is its +nature? By which it will be seen that I was still +in ignorance of the nature of the faculty I found in +myself and recognised as especially subsisting in +women, and which, for me, really made the +woman.</p> + +<p>The reply rendered by her to these questionings +constituted the proof positive that I had at length +discovered the mind which my own had so long +craved as its sorely needed complement. In response +to them she gave me a manuscript in her own +writing, asking me to read it and tell her frankly +what I thought of it. Having read and re-read it, I +<span class="pagenum">[28]</span>enquired how and where she had got it. She replied +by asking what I thought of it. I answered, "If +there is such a thing as divine revelation, I know +of nothing that comes nearer to my ideal of what +it ought to be. It is exactly what the world is +perishing for want of—a reasonable faith." She +then told me that it had come to her in her sleep, +but whence or how she did not know; nor could +she say whether she had seen it or heard it, but +only that it came suddenly into her mind, without +her having ever heard or thought of such teaching +before. It was an exposition of the Story of the +Fall, exhibiting it as a parable having a significance +purely spiritual, wholly reasonable, and of +universal application, physical persons, things, +and events described in it disappearing in favour +of principles, processes, and states appertaining to +the soul; no mere local history, therefore, but an +eternal verity. The experience, she went on to +tell me, was far from exceptional; she had +received many things which had greatly struck +and pleased her in the same way, and sometimes +while in the waking state in a sort of day-dream. +It was subsequently incorporated into our book, +"The Perfect Way."</p> + +<p>Her account of her faculty, of which she related +several instances, produced a profound impression +on me. It differed altogether from any that +I had heard of as claimed by the votaries of +"Spiritualism," a creed to which neither of us +had assented; such little experience as we had of +it having failed to convince us of the genuineness +of its phenomena; though she, on her part, confessed +to having been somewhat at a loss to account +for some things she had seen. But though not<span class="pagenum">[29]</span> +spiritualists, we were not materialists. Rather +were we idealists, who had yet to learn and, as the +event proved, were destined shortly to learn, that +the Ideal <i>is</i> the Real, and is Spiritual.</p> + +<p>The event also proved that in order to learn it +and to know it positively by experience, there +were two conditions to be fulfilled, on both of +which she had already entered, but I had yet to +enter. One of these conditions was physical, the +other was emotional. The former consisted in the +renunciation of flesh-food in favour of a diet +derived from the vegetable kingdom. The latter +condition consisted in the kindling of our enthusiasm +for the ideal into a flame of such ardour and +intensity as to make it the dominant passion of +our lives, and one in which all others would be +swallowed up. It was to be an enthusiasm at once +for Humanity, for Perfection, for God.</p> + +<p>Had we been in any degree instructed in spiritual +or occult science, we should have known that the +renunciation of flesh-food, though in itself a +physical act, has ever been recognised by +initiates as the prime essential in the unfoldment +of the spiritual faculties; since only when man is +purely nourished can he attain clearness and fulness +of spiritual perception. As it was, neither of +us had ever heard of occult science, or of the +necessity of such a regimen to the perfectionment +of faculty. She had adopted it on grounds physiological, +chemical, hygienic, æsthetic, and moral; +not on grounds mental or spiritual. I now undertook +to adopt it partly on the same grounds which +had influenced her, and partly with a view to +enhance and consolidate the sympathy subsisting<span class="pagenum">[30]</span> +between us. The mental and spiritual advantages +of the regimen made themselves known to us by +experience.</p> + +<p>The other condition found its fulfilment through +the knowledge I derived from her of the methods +of the physiologists. That savages, sorcerers, +brigands, religious fanatics, and corrupt priesthoods +had always been wont to make torture their +gain or their pastime, I was well aware, and +believed that evolution would sweep them and +their practices away in its course. But the discovery +now first made to me that identical barbarities +are systematically perpetrated by the +leaders of modern science on the pretext of +benefiting humanity, in an age which claims to +represent the summit of such evolution as has yet +been accomplished; and that after all its boasts, +the best that science can do for the world is to +convert it into a hell and its population into fiends, +by the deliberate renunciation of the distinctive +sentiments of humanity,—this was a discovery +which filled me with unspeakable horror and +amazement, at once raising to a white heat the +enthusiasm of love for the ideal already kindled +within me, and adding to it a like enthusiasm of +detestation for its opposite. From which it came +that I found myself under the impulsion simultaneously +of two mighty influences, the one +attracting, the other repelling, but both operating +in the same direction. For while by the +former I was drawn upwards by the beauty of +an ideal indefinitely enhanced by its contrast with +the foul actual below, by the latter I was impelled +upwards by the hideousness of that actual. The +sight of the moral abyss disclosed to me in Vivi<span class="pagenum">[31]</span>section, +as I perused volume after volume of the +annals of the practice written by the perpetrators +themselves, and now first made accessible to me, +effectually purged out of my system any particle +of dilettanteism that might have still lurked in it, +compelling me to regard as of the utmost urgency +all and more than all that I had hitherto contemplated +doing deliberately.</p> + +<p>This was the construction of a system of thought +which by force of its appeal to both those two +indispensable constituents of humanity, the head +and the heart, shall compel acceptance from all +persons really human, and in presence of which the +whole system of which Vivisection was the typical +outcome and symbol should vanish from off the +earth. This system was Materialism of which only +now did I discern the full significance. The +systematic organisation of wholesale, protracted, +uncompensatable torture, for ends purely selfish, +was—I saw with absolute distinctness—not an +accidental and avoidable outcome of Materialism, +but its logical and inevitable outcome. And it was +to the eradication of Materialism that, from that +moment, I dedicated myself. It was a rescue work +for both man and beast, seeing that humanity +itself was menaced with extinction. For the +materialist, of course, that which makes the man +is the form. For me it was the character, and it +was this, the character of mankind present and to +come, that was at stake. For man demonised is +no longer man. In the overthrow of Materialism, +I saw absolutely, was salvation alone to be found, +whether for man or beast. The consideration that +only as an abstainer from flesh-food I could with +entire consistency contend against vivisection, was<span class="pagenum">[32]</span> +a potent factor in determining my change of diet. +True, the distinction between death and torture +was a broad one. But the statistics I now for the +first time perused, of the slaughter-house and the +cattle-traffic, showed beyond question, that torture, +and this prolonged and severe, is involved in the +use of animals for food as well as for science. And +over and above this was the instinctive perception +of the probability that neither would they who had +them killed, whether for food, for sport, or for +clothing, be allowed the privilege of rescuing them +from the hands of the physiologist; nor would the +animals be allowed to accept their deliverance at +the hands of those who thus used them. They who +would save others, we felt, must first make sacrifice +in themselves. And in the presence of the joy of +working to effect such salvation, sacrifice would +cease to be sacrifice.</p> + +<p>This, too, we noted, and with no small satisfaction—that +to make the rescue of the animals +an immediate and urgent motive, was in no way +to abandon the original motive of hatred to the +tenet of vicarious atonement. For we recognised +vivisection itself as but the extension to the +domain of science, of the very principle by which +we had been inexpressibly revolted in the domain +of religion;—the principle of seeking one's own +salvation by the sacrifice of another, and that the +innocent. And so we learnt that "New Scientist +is but Old Priest writ differently,"—to vary +Milton's expression; and that in both domains the +tenet had its root in Materialism. When the time +came for our mission to be more particularly +defined, our satisfaction was unbounded on +receiving the charge, "We mean you to lay bare<span class="pagenum">[33]</span> +the secrets of the world's sacrificial system." It +expressed with absolute conciseness and exactitude +all that we had in our minds, far better than +we could have expressed it.</p> + +<p>The importance of this question of vivisection +in vitalising us for the work before us, will be +seen by the following fact. The time came when +we knew that the work committed to us was that +revelation anew of the Christ which was to constitute +His Second Advent, inasmuch as it was the +interpretation of the truth of which He was the +manifestation. It was to be a spiritual coming; +in the "clouds of heaven," the heaven of the +"kingdom within" of man's restored understanding. +And, as at His first advent so at His second, +He was to have His birth among the animals.</p> + +<p>And so it verily was. For—as I have elsewhere +stated<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>—"Their terrible wrongs, culminating at +the hands of their scientific tormentors, were the +last drops which filled to overflowing with anguish, +indignation and wrath, hearts already brimming +with the sense of the world's degradation and +misery, wringing from them the cry which rent +the heavens for His descent, and in direct and +immediate response to which He came.</p> + +<p>"For the New Gospel of Interpretation was +vouchsafed in express recognition of the determined +endeavour, by means of a thought absolutely +fearless and free, to scale the topmost +heights, fathom the lowest depths, and penetrate +to the inmost recesses of Consciousness, in search +of the solution of the problem of Existence, under +the assured conviction that, when found, it would +<span class="pagenum">[34]</span>prove to be one that would make above all things +Vivisection impossible, if only by demonstrating +the constitution of things to be such that, terrible +as is the lot of the victims of the practice here, +they are not without compensation hereafter, while +the lot of their tormentors will be unspeakably +worse than even that of their victims here. And +so it proved, with absolute certainty to be the +case, to the full vindication at the same time of +the Divine Justice and the Divine Love;" no experience +being withheld which would qualify us to +bear positive testimony thereto. For, although at +the outset we were, as I have said, in no wise +believers in the possibility of such experiences, +the time came, and came quickly, when the veil +was withdrawn, and the secrets of the Beyond were +disclosed to us in plenitude, in its every sphere, +from the abyss of hell to the heights of heaven. +And we learnt that this had become possible +through the passionate energy with which, in our +search for the highest truth, for the highest ends, +and in purest love to redeem, we had directed our +thought inwards and upwards, living at the same +time the life requisite to qualify us for such perceptions. +Thus did we obtain practical realisation +of the promise that they who do the divine will, by +living the divine life, shall know of the divine +doctrine. Our whole mental attitude had been one +of prayer in its essential sense; which is not that +of <i>saying</i> prayers, but as it came to be defined for +us—"the intense direction of the will and desire +towards the Highest; an unchanging intent to +know nothing but the Highest." Because "to +think inwardly, to pray intensely, and to imagine +centrally, is to hold converse with God." And we<span class="pagenum">[35]</span> +had done this without knowing it was prayer, or +calling it by that name. For, knowing only the +conventional conception of prayer, we had recoiled +from it as from other conventional conceptions of +things religious.</p> + +<p>Now, however, we found that we had done +instinctively and spontaneously precisely what was +necessary to bring us into relations at once with our +spiritual selves and with the world of those who +consist only of the spiritual self. For, by thus +becoming vitalised and sensitive in that part of +man's system which endures and passes on, we had +come into open conditions with the world of those +who have thus endured and passed on, and are no +longer of the terrestrial, but of the celestial, having +surmounted all lower and intermediate planes. All +this came to us without anticipation on our part, +or any conscious seeking for it; but yet without +causing dismay or surprise when it came. For it +came so gradually as to seem to be but the natural +and orderly result of the unfoldment of our own +spiritual consciousness, and excited only feelings +of joy and thankfulness at finding our method and +aspirations crowned with so high a success. Thus +was it made absolutely clear to us that, so far from +divine revelation involving miracle, or requiring +for its instruments persons other in kind than the +ordinary, it is a prerogative of man, belonging to +him as man; and requiring for its reception only +that he be fully man, alive and sensitive in his own +innermost and highest, in his centre as in his +circumference. Thus living on the quick and +finding no others who did so, it seemed to us as if +we alone were the quick, and all others were dead.</p> + +<p>We noted yet another way in which we supple<span class="pagenum">[36]</span>mented +and complemented each other. It was in +this wise. As I was bent on the construction of a +system of thought which should be at once a +science, a philosophy, a morality, and a religion, +and recognisable by the understanding as indubitably +true; she was bent on the construction of +a rule of life equally obvious and binding, and +recognisable by the sentiments as alone according +with them, its basis being that sense of perfect +justice which springs from perfect sympathy.</p> + +<p>By which it will be seen that while it was her +aim to establish a perfect practice, which might or +might not consist with a perfect doctrine, it was +my aim to establish a perfect doctrine which would +inevitably issue in a perfect practice, by at once +defining it and supplying an all-compelling motive +for its observance.</p> + +<p>These, as we at once recognised, were the two +indispensable halves of one perfect whole. But we +had yet to learn the nature and source of the compelling +motive for its enforcement.</p> + +<p>The deficiency was made good by the discovery +of the fact of man's permanence as an individual. +The revelation of this truth was the demonstration +to us of the inanity—not to use a stronger term—of +the system called "Positivism." In ignoring +the soul, that system lacks the motive and repudiates +the source of the sentiments on which it +insists, and to the experiences of which those sentiments +are due.</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[37]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE INITIATION.</p> + + +<p>My visit to the rectory resulted in an intimacy +which made me to such extent a member of the +family as to remove all obstacles to the collaboration +required of us. It was soon made evident +that not only our association, but her design of +seeking a medical education was for both of us an +indispensable element in our preparation for our +now recognised joint-mission. In its general +aspect that mission had for its purpose the overthrow +of Materialism, and in order to qualify us +for it, it was deemed necessary that we undergo a +training in the most materialistic of the world's +schools. This was the University of Paris. She +alone was to seek a diploma. For me it was enough +that I accompany her in her studies, and that we +submit the teachings received by her to rigid +analysis by our combined faculties. Doing this, +we found ourselves competent to declare positively +the falsity of the materialistic system on the +strength both of logical processes and of practical +demonstration, by means of the experiences of +which we found ourselves the recipients. For +although we had never heard of such things as +"psychic faculties,"—the very phrase was not yet +invented—we found ourselves possessed of them +in such measure that no longer did the veil which +divides the world sensible from the world spiritual<span class="pagenum">[38]</span> +constitute an impassable barrier, but both were +open to view, and the latter was as real and accessible +as the former.</p> + +<p>It was about the middle of 1876 that this remarkable +accession of faculty began to manifest itself +in plenitude, I being the first to experience it, +notwithstanding my previous total lack of any +faculty of the kind, or of belief in the possibility +of my having it. But the purification which my +physical system had undergone by means of my +new dietary regimen, and the constant and intense +direction of my thought inwards and upwards, the +forcible concentration of my mind upon the essential +and substantial ideas of things, and this under +impulsion of an enthusiasm kindled to a white +heat—an enthusiasm, as already said, both of +aspiration and of repulsion—and the enhancement +of faculty through sympathetic association,—these +had so attenuated the veil that it no longer +impeded my vision of spiritual realities. And I +found myself—without seeking for or expecting it—spiritually +sensitive in respect of sight, hearing, +and touch, and in open, palpable relations with a +world which I had no difficulty in recognising as of +celestial nature; so far did it transcend everything +of which I had heard or read in the annals of the +contemporary spiritualism; so entirely did it +accord with my conceptions of the divine.</p> + +<p>That I refrain from employing the terms "supernatural" +and "superhuman," is because they +assume the knowledge of the limits of the natural +and the human, and arbitrarily exclude from those +categories regions of being which may really +belong to them. The celestial and the divine are +not necessarily either superhuman or supernatural;<span class="pagenum">[39]</span> +they may be but the higher human and the +higher natural. If they are at all, they are +according to natural order, and it is natural for +them to be.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, vast as was the interval it represented +between my past and present states, it came +so naturally and easily as to be clearly the result, +not of any abnormal or accidental cataclysm +involving a breach of continuity, but of a perfectly +orderly unfoldment every step of which was distinctly +traceable. For though the process was akin +to that of the attainment of sight by one previously +blind, and the final issue was sudden, the issue had +been led up to in such wise as to render it legitimate +and normal. For its earliest indication<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> was +an opening of the mind in such wise that subjects +hitherto beyond my grasp, and problems deemed +insoluble, became comprehensible and clear; while +whole vistas of thought perfectly continuous and +coherent, would disclose themselves to my view, +stretching far away towards their source in the +very principles of things, so that I found myself +intellectually the master of questions which previously +had baffled me.</p> + +<p>The experience I am about to relate was not only +remarkable in itself, it was remarkable also as +striking what proved to be the keynote of all our +subsequent work, the doctrine, namely, of the +<i>substantial</i> identity of God and man. It had suddenly +flashed on my mind as a necessary and self-evident +truth, the contrary of which was absurd; +and I had seated myself at my writing-table to +give it expression for a book I had lately com<span class="pagenum">[40]</span>menced<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>. +I was alone and locked in my room in +my chambers off Pall Mall, Mrs Kingsford being +at the time in Paris, accompanied by her husband. +It was past midnight, and all without was quiet; +there was not a sound to break my abstraction. +This was so profound that I had written some four +pages without drawing breath, the matter seeming +to flow not merely from but through me without +conscious mental effort of my own. I <i>saw</i> so clearly +that there was no need to <i>think</i>. In the course of +the writing I became distinctly aware of a presence +as of someone bending over me from behind, and +actively engaged in blending with and reinforcing +my mind. Being unwilling to risk an interruption +to the flow of my thought, I resisted the impulse +to look up and ascertain who or what it was. Of +alarm at so unlooked-for a presence I had not a +particle. Be it whom it might, the accord between us +was as perfect as if it had been merely a projection +of my own higher self. I had never heard of +higher selves in those days, or of the possibility of +such a phenomenon; but the idea of such an +explanation occurred to me then and there. But +this solution of the problem of my visitant's personality +was presently dissipated by the event.</p> + +<p>The passage I had been writing concluded with +these words:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The perfect man of any race is no other than the +perfect expression in the flesh of all the essential characteristics +of the soul of that race. Escaping the limitations +of the individual man, such an one represents the soul of +his people. Escaping the limitations of the individual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="p41" id="p41"></a>[41]</span>people, he represents the soul of all peoples, or Humanity. +Escaping the limitations of Humanity, but still preserving +its essential characteristics, he represents the soul of the +system of which the earth is but an individual member. +And finally, after climbing many a further step of the +infinite ladder of existence, and escaping the limitations +of all systems whatever, he represents—nay, finds that he +is—the soul of the universe, even God Himself, once +'manifested in the flesh,' and now 'perfected through +suffering,' 'purified, sanctified, redeemed, justified, glorified,' +'crowned with honour and glory,' and 'seated for +ever at the right hand of the Father,' 'one with God,' even +God Himself."</p></div> + +<p>At this moment—my mind being so wholly preoccupied +with the utterance and all that I saw it +involved, as to make me oblivious of all else—the +presence I had felt bending over me darted itself +into me just below the cerebral bulb at the back of +my neck, the sensation being that of a slight tap, +as of a finger-touch; and then in a voice full, rich, +firm, measured, and so strong that it resounded +through the room, exclaimed, in a tone indicative +of high satisfaction, "At last I have found a man +through whom I can speak!"</p> + +<p>So powerful was the intonation that the tympana +of my ears vibrated to the sound, palpably bulging +outwards, showing that they had been struck on +the inner side, and that the presence had actually +projected itself into my larynx and spoken from +within me, but without using my organs of speech, +I was conscious of being in radiant health at the +time, and was unable to detect any symptom of +being otherwise. My thought, too, and observation +were perfectly coherent and continuous, and I +could discern no smallest pretext for distrust of the<span class="pagenum">[42]</span> +reality of the experience. And my delight and +satisfaction, which were unbounded, found expression +in the single utterance, "Then the ancients +were right, and the Gods ARE!" so resistless was +the conviction that only by a divinised being could +the wisdom and power be manifested of the +presence of which I was conscious. The words, +"At last I have found a man" were incompatible +with the theory of its being an objectivation of my +own particular ego, and, moreover, they indicated +the speaker as one high in authority over the race.</p> + +<p>Nothing more passed on that occasion; but a +vivid impression was left with me that my visitant +belonged to the order of spirits called "Planetaries." +But as I had then no knowledge of such +beings, I put aside the question of his identity for +the solution which I trusted would come of further +enlightenment. This came in due time, with the +result of confirming the impression given me at the +time. The explanation, however, does not come +within the scope of this present writing. Some +time afterwards, when searching at the library of +the British Museum in the writings of the old +occultists for experiences analogous to our own, +I came upon one account which described the +entrance into the man of an overshadowing spirit +exactly as it had occurred to me, so far as it concerned +the nape of the neck as the point of entry +and the slightness of the sensation. The only +further reference to the incident necessary here is +as follows.</p> + +<p>A little later Mrs Kingsford had returned to +England, being compelled to quit Paris by a severe +illness which she had contracted immediately on +her arrival there; and was pursuing her studies in<span class="pagenum">[43]</span> +London, making her home with a relative in +Chelsea. The event proved that she had been sent +back by the supervisors of our work expressly in +order to be within reach of me. Indeed, an intimation +had been given me before she had gone +that she would not be allowed to stay abroad, as +our near contiguity was indispensable, and I had +accordingly viewed her departure with considerable +disquietude, circumstances rendering it +impossible for me to leave home just then. Prior +to coming back she had obtained from the Minister +of Education the exceptional privilege of a permit +allowing her attendance at a London hospital to +count in her Paris course.</p> + +<p>The first experience received by her in relation +to our work, after her return to London, was the +terrific vision of "The Doomed Train"<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>.</p> + +<p>On bringing it to me on the morning of its occurrence, +she exclaimed as she entered the room, "Oh, +I have had such a terrific dream! It has quite +shattered me. And I have brought it for you to +try and find its meaning, if it has one. I wrote it +down the moment I was able." Her appearance +fully confirmed her statement. It alarmed me. +This is the account:—</p> + +<p>"I was visited, last night, by a dream of so +strange and vivid a kind that I feel impelled to +communicate it to you, not only to relieve my own +mind of the oppression which the recollection of it +<span class="pagenum">[44]</span>causes me, but also to give you an opportunity of +finding the meaning, which I am still far too much +shaken and terrified to seek for myself.</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me that you and I were two of a +vast company of men and women, upon all of +whom, with the exception of myself—for I was +there voluntarily—sentence of death had been +passed. I was sensible of the knowledge—how +obtained I know not—that this terrible doom had +been pronounced by the official agents of some new +reign of terror. Certain I was that none of the +party had really been guilty of any crime deserving +of death; but that the penalty had been incurred +through their connection with some regime, +political, social, or religious, which was doomed to +utter destruction. It became known among us +that the sentence was about to be carried out on a +colossal scale; but we remained in absolute +ignorance as to the place and method of the +intended execution. Thus far my dream gave me +no intimation of the scene which next burst on +me,—a scene which strained to their utmost +tension every sense of sight, hearing, and touch in +a manner unprecedented in any dream I have previously +had.</p> + +<p>"It was night, dark and starless, and I found +myself, together with the whole company of +doomed men and women who knew that they were +soon to die, but not how or where, in a railway +train hurrying through the darkness to some +unknown destination. I sat in a carriage quite at +the rear end of the train, in a corner seat, and was +leaning out of the open window, peering into the +darkness, when, suddenly, a voice, which seemed +to speak out of the air, said to me in a low, distinct,<span class="pagenum">[45]</span> +intense tone, the mere recollection of which makes +me shudder,—'The sentence is being carried out +even now. You are all of you lost. Ahead of the +train is a frightful precipice of monstrous height, +and at its base beats a fathomless sea. The railway +ends only with the abyss. Over that will the train +hurl itself into annihilation. THERE IS NO ONE +ON THE ENGINE!'</p> + +<p>"At this I sprang from my seat in horror, and +looked round at the faces of the persons in the +carriage with me. No one of them had spoken, or +had heard those awful words. The lamplight from +the dome of the carriage flickered on the forms +about me. I looked from one to the other, but +saw no sign of alarm given by any of them. Then +again the voice out of the air spoke to me,—'There +is but one way to be saved. You must leap out of +the train!'</p> + +<p>"In frantic haste I pushed open the carriage-door +and stepped out on the footboard. The train was +going at a terrific pace, swaying to and fro as with +the passion of its speed; and the mighty wind of +its passage beat my hair about my face and tore at +my garments.</p> + +<p>"Until this moment I had not thought of you, +or even seemed conscious of your presence in the +train. Holding tightly on to the rail by the +carriage-door, I began to creep along the footboard +towards the engine, hoping to find a chance of +dropping safely down on the line. Hand-over-hand +I passed along in this way from one carriage to +another; and as I did so I saw by the light within +each carriage that the passengers had no idea of +the fate upon which they were being hurried. At<span class="pagenum">[46]</span> +length, in one of the compartments, I saw <i>you</i>. +'Come out!' I cried; 'come out! Save yourself! +In another minute we shall be dashed to pieces!'</p> + +<p>"You rose instantly, wrenched open the door, +and stood beside me outside on the footboard. The +rapidity at which we were going was now more +fearful than ever. The train rocked as it fled +onwards. The wind shrieked as we were carried +through it. 'Leap down!' I cried to you. 'Save +yourself! It is certain death to stay here. Before +us is an abyss; and there is no one on the engine!'</p> + +<p>"At this you turned your face full upon me +with a look of intense earnestness, and said, 'No, +we will not leap down; we will stop the train.'</p> + +<p>"With these words you left me, and crept along +the footboard towards the front of the train. Full +of half-angry anxiety at what seemed to me a +Quixotic act, I followed. In one of the carriages +we passed I saw my mother and eldest brother, +unconscious as the rest. Presently we reached the +last carriage, and saw by the lurid light of the +furnace that the voice had spoken truly, and that +there was no one on the engine.</p> + +<p>"You continued to move onwards. 'Impossible! +Impossible!' I cried; 'it cannot be done. Oh, +pray, come away!'</p> + +<p>"Then you knelt upon the footboard, and said, +'You are right. It cannot be done in that way; +but we can save the train. Help me to get these +irons asunder.'</p> + +<p>"The engine was connected with the train by +two great iron hooks and staples. By a tremendous +effort, in making which I almost lost my balance, +we unhooked the irons and detached the train; +when, with a mighty leap as of some mad super<span class="pagenum">[47]</span>natural +monster, the engine sped on its way alone, +shooting back as it went a great flaming trail of +sparks, and was lost in the darkness. We stood +together on the footboard, watching in silence the +gradual slackening of the speed. When at length +the train had come to a standstill, we cried to the +passengers, 'Saved! Saved!' And then, amid the +confusion of opening the doors and descending and +eager talking, my dream ended, leaving me shattered +and palpitating with the horror of it."</p> + +<p>This vision was intended to show us the destruction, +moral, intellectual, and spiritual, towards +which the world was tending by following materialistic +modes of thought, and the part we were to +bear in arresting its progress towards the fatal +precipice, at all hazards to ourselves. The startling +announcement made to her by the invisible voice +when the crowded train was rushing at full speed +to its doom, "There is no one on the engine!" +exactly represented the philosophy which, denying +mind in the universe, recognises only blind force.</p> + +<p>I had determined to include an account of this +vision in the book on which I was then engaged, +"England and Islam." And I was alone in my +rooms, reading the proofs of it, my mind being +occupied solely with the letterpress, until I came to +the remark ascribed to me in the vision, as made +in reply to her entreaty that I would jump out +with her to save ourselves, "No, we will not leap +down, we will stop the train." At this moment +the voice which shortly before<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> had said to me, +"At last I have found a man through whom I can +speak!" addressed me again, saying in a pleased +<span class="pagenum">[48]</span>and encouraging tone, as if the speaker had been +following me in my reading, and desired to remove +any doubts I might have of the reality of our +mission,—"Yes! Yes! I have trusted all to you!" +This time he spoke from without me, but +apparently quite close by. And among the impressions +which at the same instant were flashed into +my mind, was the impression, amounting to a +conviction, that whatever might be the part +assigned to others in the work of the new illumination +in progress and the restoration thereby +to the world of one true doctrine of existence, the +exposition of its innermost and highest sphere, the +head corner-stone of the pyramid of the system +which is to make the humanity of the future, had +been committed to us alone. And now, writing +nearly twenty years later, I can truly say that +this conviction has never for a moment been +weakened, but on the contrary has gathered confirmation +and strength with every successive +accession of experience and knowledge, and while +cognisant of and fully appreciating all that has +taken place in the unfoldment of the world's +thought during the interval.</p> + +<p>Ever since that memorable winter of 1876-7, the +conviction, shared equally by my colleague, has +been with me that the controlling spirit of the +Hebrew prophets was that also of our work, the +purpose of which was the accomplishment of their +prophecies, by the promotion of the world's +spiritual consciousness to a level surpassing any +yet attained by it, to the regeneration of the +church and the establishment of the kingdom of +God with power. Having which conviction, there +was for us but one object in life:—to fulfil at<span class="pagenum">[49]</span> +whatever cost to ourselves the conditions necessary +to make us fitting instruments for the perfect +accomplishment of a work which we recognised as +the loftiest that could be committed to mortals.</p> + +<p>My colleague's enforced return to London was +promptly signalised by an experience which served +not only yet further to demonstrate the reality and +nature of our mission, and of her primacy in our +work, but to disclose its essentially Christian +character, which hitherto had been an open +question for us. For that upon which we ourselves +were bent was the discovery of the nature of existence +at first hand, and independently of any +existing system whatever. It was truth and truth +alone that we sought, and to this end we had +laboured to make ourselves as those of whom it is +said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." For in +divesting ourselves of all prepossessions and +prejudices, we had made ourselves as "little +children." We were neither believers nor disbelievers, +but pure sceptics in that best sense of +the term in which it denotes the unbiased seeker +after God and truth. This is to say, we were, and +we gloried in being, absolutely free thinkers, a term +which, in its true acceptation, we regarded as +man's noblest title. This is the sense in which it +denotes a thought able to exercise itself in all +directions open to thought, outwards and downwards +to matter and negation, and inwards and +upwards to spirit and reality. And our work +proved in the event to be the supreme triumph +of Free Thought.</p> + +<p>The experience in question was as follows. It +was night and I was alone and locked in my +chambers, and was writing at full speed, lest it<span class="pagenum">[50]</span> +should escape me, an exposition of the place and +office of woman under the coming regeneration. +And I was conscious of an exaltation of faculty +such as might conceivably be the result of an +enhancement of my own mind by junction with +another and superior mind. I was even conscious, +though in a far less degree than before, of an +invisible presence. But I was too much engrossed +with my idea to pay heed to persons, be they whom +they might, human or divine, as well as anxious +to take advantage of such assistance. I had clearly +and vividly in my mind all that I desired to say for +several pages on. Then, suddenly and completely, +like the stoppage of a stream in its flow through a +tube by the quick turning of a tap, the current of +my thought ceased, leaving my mind an utter +blank as to what I had meant to say, and totally +unable to recall the least idea of it. So palpable +was its withdrawal, that it seemed to me as if it +must still be hovering somewhere near me, and I +looked up and impatiently exclaimed aloud to it, +"Where are you?" At length, after ransacking +my mind in vain, I turned to other work, for I was +perfectly fresh, and the desertion had been in no +way due to exhaustion, physical or mental. On +taking note of the time of the disappearance, I +found it was 11.30 precisely.</p> + +<p>The next morning failed to bring my thought +back to me as I had hoped it would do; but it +brought instead, an unusually early visit from +Mrs. Kingsford, who was—as I have said—staying +in Chelsea. "Such a curious thing happened to +me last night," she began, on entering the room, +"and I want to tell you of it and see if you can +explain it. I had finished my day's work, but<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p51" id="p51"></a>51]</span> +though it was late I was not inclined to rest, for +I was wakeful with a sense of irritation at the +thought of what you are doing, and at my exclusion +from any share in it. And I was feeling +envious of your sex for the superior advantages +you have over ours of doing great and useful work. +As I sat by the fire thinking this, I suddenly found +myself impelled to take a pencil and paper, and +to write. I did so, and wrote with extreme rapidity, +in a half-dreamy state, without any clear idea of +what I was writing, but supposing it to be something +expressive of my discontent. I had soon +covered a page and a half of a large sheet with +writing different from my own, and it was quite +unlike what was in my mind, as you will see."</p> + +<p>On perusing the paper I found that it was a +continuation of my missing thought, taken up at +the point where it had left me, but translated to a +higher plane, the expression also being similarly +elevated in accordance both with the theme and the +writer, having the exquisiteness so characteristic +of her genius. To my enquiry as to the hour of +the occurrence, she at once replied, "Half-past +eleven exactly; for I was so struck by it that I +took particular notice of the time."</p> + +<p>What I had written was as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Those of us who, being men, refuse to accord to women +the same freedom of evolution for their consciousness +which we claim for ourselves, do so in consequence of a +total misconception of the nature and functions both of +Humanity and of Existence at large. The notion that +men and women can by any possibility do each other's +work, is utterly absurd. Whom God hath distinguished, +none can confound. To do the same thing is not to do +the same work; inasmuch as the spirit is more than the +fact, and the spirit of man and of woman is different. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="p52" id="p52"></a>[52]</span>While for the production of perfect results it is necessary +that they work harmoniously together, it is necessary also +that they fulfil separate functions in regard to that +work"<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>This was the point at which my thought had +failed me, to be taken up by her at the same instant +two miles away, without her knowing even that I +contemplated treating that particular theme, as I +had purposely reserved it until I should have completed +the expression, hoping to give her a pleasant +surprise; for it was one very near to her heart. +This is her continuation of it. It will be seen that, +besides complementing my thought, it responded +remedially to her own mood:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In a true mission of redemption, in the proclamation +of a gospel to save, it is the man who must preach; it is +the man who must stand forward among the people; it +is the man who, if need be, must die. But he is not alone. +If his be the glory of the full noontide, his day has been +ushered in by a goddess. Aurora has preceded Phoibos +Apollo; Mary has been before Christ. For, mark that He +shall do His first and greatest work at her suggestion. To +her shall ever belong the glory of the inauguration; of +her shall the gospel be born; from her lips shall the +Christ take the bidding for His first miracle; from her shall +His earliest inspiration be drawn. The people are athirst +for the living wine, which shall be better, sweeter, purer, +stronger, than any they have yet tasted. The festival +lags, the joy slackens, for need of it. The Christ is in their +midst, but He opens not His lips; His heart is sealed, His +hour is not yet come. Mark that the first inspiration +falls on the woman by His side, on Mary the Mother of +God; she saith unto Him, 'They have no wine.' She has +spoken, the impulse is given to Divinity. His soul awakens, +<span class="pagenum">[53]</span>His pulse quickens, He utters the word that works the +miracle. Hail, Mary, full of grace; Christ is thy gift to +the world! Without thee He could not have been; but for +thine impulse He could have worked no mighty work. +This shall be the history of all time; it shall be the sign +of the Christ. Mary shall feel; Christ shall speak. Hers +the glory of setting His heart in action; hers the thrill of +emotion to which His power shall respond. But for her +He shall be powerless; but for her He shall be dumb; but +for her He shall have no strength to smite, no hand to +help. It is the seed of the woman who shall bruise the +serpent's head. The Christ, the true prophet, is her child, +her gift to the world. 'Woman, behold thy Son!'"</p></div> + +<p>Such was the first intimation and the manner +thereof, given us of the truth subsequently revealed +in plenitude,—the presence in Scripture of a +mystical sense concealed within the apparent +sense, as a kernel in its shell, which, and not the +literal sense, is the intended sense<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>. As was later +shown us in regard to the story of the cursing of +the fig-tree, that of the marriage in Cana was a +parable having a spiritual import; and the +character of Jesus was cleared from the reproaches +based on the literal sense. Striving for fuller +unfoldment and enlightenment, we were at length +enabled to discern the tremendous mistake which +orthodoxy has made; the mistake of confounding, +first, Jesus with Christ, and, next, Mary the +mother of Jesus, with the Virgin Mary, the mother +<span class="pagenum">[54]</span>of Christ, and the conversion thereby of a perfect +philosophy into a gross idolatry. Meanwhile, the +experience was a further demonstration to us of +the reality and accessibility not merely of the +world spiritual, but of the world celestial also, and +of the high source of the commission under which +we had become associated together. It was also an +indication that as concerned ourselves our work +appertained to the spiritual, rather than to the +social plane. Such application of it would follow +in due time. No other hypothesis that we could +devise would account for the facts. Nor could we +imagine any source other than the Church invisible +for an interpretation so noble of the Scriptures of +the Church visible.</p> + +<p>Not that the hypothesis of an extraneous source +accounted for all our experiences. For besides +receiving knowledge from such influences, there +were instances in which we actually saw and +seemed to remember scenes, events, and persons, +long since vanished from earth, and felt at the time +that it needed only that the period of lucidity be +sufficiently prolonged to enable us to recover from +personal recollection the whole history concerned.</p> + +<p>I was somewhat surprised by finding the first +experiences of this nature, as well as certain others +of an equally high and rare order, occurring to me +rather than to my colleague, of the superiority of +whose faculty and of whose primacy in our work +I had no manner of doubt. The explanation at +length vouchsafed was in this wise. It was in order +to qualify me for recognising by my own experiences +the reality and value of hers when they +should come. Not otherwise should I know enough +to be able to believe. It proved, moreover, to be<span class="pagenum">[55]</span> +part of the plan ordained to withdraw from me, +in a great measure, the faculty requisite for them, +when I had become familiar with them. The +reason for according her such preference over and +above the superiority of her gifts will presently +appear. It was another and an exquisite illustration +of the depth and tenderness of the mystical +element underlying Christianity as divinely conceived +and intended.</p> + + + +<p class="p2">The partial withdrawal from me of faculty just +alluded to took place early in 1877, but not until I +had undergone a thorough experiential training in +its varied manifestations. Among these were two +which call for relation here, by reason of their +serving to show that nothing was withheld which +might minister to the completeness of the work +set us. The first was as follows:—</p> + +<p>Being seated at my writing-table, and meditating +on the gospel narrative, with a strange sense of +being separated by only a narrow interval from a +full knowledge of all that it implied, I found myself +impelled to seek the precise idea intended to be +conveyed by the story of the woman taken in +adultery. No account that I had read of it had +satisfied me, least of all that which was proposed +in the "Ecce Homo" of Professor Seeley, a book +then recent and enjoying a repute which filled me +with a strong feeling of personal resentment. For +his account, especially of the feelings excited in +Jesus by the sight of the accused woman, revolted +me by its inscription to Him of a sense of impropriety +at once monkish and conventional, and of a +limitation of charity altogether incompatible with<span class="pagenum">[56]</span> +the abounding sympathy which was the essence +of His nature. It made Him that most odious of +characters, a <i>prude</i>.</p> + +<p>As I meditated, and in following my idea I +passed into a state which, though highly interior, +was not sufficiently interior for my purpose—for +I wanted, so to speak, to <i>see</i> my idea—a voice +audible only to the inner hearing, yet quite distinct, +said to me, "You have it within you. Seek +for it." Thus encouraged, I made a further effort +at concentration, when—to my utter surprise, for +I had no expectation or conception of such a thing—the +whole scene of the incident appeared palpably +before me, like a living picture in a <i>camera +obscura</i>, so natural, minute and distinct as to leave +nothing to be desired, and, at the same time, +utterly unlike any pictorial representation I had +ever seen of it. Close before me, on my right +hand, stood the Temple, with Jesus seated on a +stone ledge in the porch, while ranged before Him +was a crowd of persons in the costumes of the +country and the time; each costume showing the +grade or calling of its wearer. Standing together +in a group in front of Him were the disciples, and +immediately beside them were the accusers, who +were readily recognisable by their ample robes and +sanctimonious demeanour; and quite close to Him, +between Him and them, stood the accused woman. +As I approached the scene, moving meteor-like +through the air, He was in the act of lifting +Himself up from stooping to write on the ground, +and I had a perfect view of His face. He was of +middle age, but, to my surprise, the type was that +of a Murillo, rather than a Raffaelle, and the lower +portion of the face was covered with a short, dark<span class="pagenum">[57]</span> +beard. The expression was worn and anxious, and +somewhat weary. The skin was rough as from +exposure to the weather. The eyes were deep-set and +lustrous, and remarkable for the tenderness of +their gaze. One of the apostles, whom I at once +recognised by his comparative youthfulness as +John, though his back was towards me as I +approached, was in the act of bending forwards to +read the words just traced in the dust on the pavement; +and, as if drawn to him by some potent +attraction, I at once passed unhesitatingly into +him as he bent forward, and tried to read the +words through his eyes. Their exact purport +escaped me; but the impression I obtained was +that they were unimportant in themselves, having +been written merely to enable Jesus to collect and +calm Himself. For He was filled with a mighty +indignation, which was directed, not against the +accused woman, but against the by-standing representatives +of the conventional orthodoxies, the +chief priests and Pharisees, her sanctimonious and +hypocritical accusers,—those moral vivisectors +through whose pitilessness the shrinking woman +stood there exposed to the public gaze, while her +fault was so brutally blurted out in her presence +for all to hear; for her attitude showed her ready +to sink with shame into the ground, and afraid to +look either her accusers or her Judge in the face. +He, her Judge, also has heard it, and knows that +they who utter it are themselves a thousand-fold +greater sinners than she, inasmuch as that which +she has yielded through exigency either of passion +or of compassion, has with them been a cold-blooded +habit engendered of ingrained impurity.</p> + +<p>In contrast with them she stands out in His eyes<span class="pagenum">[58]</span> +an angel of innocence; and an overwhelming +indignation takes possession of Him, so that He +will not at once trust Himself to speak. His +impulse is to drive them forth with blows and +reproaches from His presence, as once already He +has driven the barterers from the Temple. And +so, to keep His wrath from exploding, He stoops +down and scribbles on the ground,—no matter +what, anything to keep Himself within bounds. +In the exercise His spirit calms. Indignation, He +reflects, is too noble a thing to be expended upon +insensates such as they, and exhortation would be +vain. He will try sarcasm. So He raises himself +up, and looks at them, very quietly, and even +assentingly. Yes, they are quite right; the law +must be vindicated, and so flagrant a sin severely +punished. But, of course, only the guiltless is +entitled to inflict punishment on the guilty. +Therefore He says, "He of you who is blameless in +respect of this sin, let him first cast a stone at her." +And having said this, He stoops down again to +write, this time to hide His smiles at their confusion, +the sight of which would but have incensed +and hardened them. What! no rush for ammunition +wherewith to pound to death this only too +human specimen of humanity<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>! What can be the +<span class="pagenum">[59]</span>meaning of the general move among these self-appointed +censors of morals? "They which heard +Him, being convicted of their own consciences, +went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even +unto the last." No wonder they crucified Him +when they got their chance. And no wonder that +most of the ancient authorities omit all mention of +the incident. Even of His immediate biographers +only he records it who is styled "the Beloved," and +whose name, office, and character indicate him as +the representative especially of the love-principle +in humanity.</p> + +<p>Such were the impressions made on me by this +vision while it lasted, and written down at the +time. And so strong in me was the feeling that +I could similarly recall the whole history of Jesus, +that I mentally addressed to the presences which +I felt, though I could not see, around me an +inquiry whether I should then and there begin the +attempt. The reply, similarly given, was a decided +negative so far as that present time was concerned, +but accompanied by an intimation that our future +work would comprise something of the kind; a +prediction which was duly fulfilled.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[60]</span></p> +<p>I found myself perplexed beyond measure to +comprehend the <i>modus operandi</i> of this experience. +No explanation was forthcoming, whether from +my own mind or from my illuminators, until long +afterwards; and when it came it was in reference +immediately to similar experiences received by my +colleague, some of which likewise involved corresponding +personal recollections coinciding with +but surpassing mine. In the meantime the teaching +given us comprised the doctrine of reincarnation, +stated so positively, systematically, and +scientifically that, when taken in conjunction with +our experiences, we found that it, and it alone, +afforded a satisfactory explanation of them. And +then it was shown us that the method of the new +Gospel of Interpretation, of which we were the +appointed recipients, was so ordered as to be itself +a demonstration of the truth of that doctrine, and +that among the lives we had lived, which qualified +us for our mission, were those in which we had +been in association with Jesus and with each +other<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>. Concerning this doctrine, the motive for +its suppression, and the fatal consequences thereof +to the religion of Christ, it will be time to speak +when describing the results attained by us. It is +with our initial experiences—those which constituted +our initiation—that the present concern lies.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[61]</span></p> +<p>There is one supreme experience in the spiritual +life, known to mystics as "the vision of Adonai," +or God as the Lord. The reception of this vision by +us was, we were assured, a conclusive proof that +nothing would be withheld that was necessary to +our full equipment for a complete work. Although +described several times in the Bible as an actual +occurrence, it had failed to find any response in our +own consciousness, more than if it had no existence. +Nor had it ever been the subject of intelligent comment +by any Bible-expositors known to us. Rather +did it seem to have been entirely passed over as a +matter wholly apart from human cognition. Hence, +when it was vouchsafed to us, it was entirely without +anticipation of its occurrence or previous +knowledge even of its possibility.</p> + +<p>It was received first by myself, the manner of it +being as follows. I had observed that when I was +following an idea inwards in search of its primary +meaning, and to that end concentrated my mind +upon a point lying within and beyond the apparent +concept, I saw a whole vista of related ideas +stretching far away as if towards their source, in +what I could only suppose to be the Divine Mind; +and I seemed at the same time to reach a more +interior region of my own consciousness; so that, +supposing man's system to consist of a series of +concentric spheres, each fresh effort to focus my +mind upon a more recondite aspect of the idea +under analysis was accompanied and marked by a +corresponding advance of the perceptive point of +the mind itself towards my own central sphere and +radiant point. And I was prompted to try to ascertain +the extent to which it was possible thus to +concentrate myself interiorly, and what would be +the effect of reaching the mind's ultimate focus. I +was absolutely without knowledge or expectation +when I yielded to the impulse to make the attempt.<span class="pagenum">[62]</span> +I simply experimented on a faculty of which I +found myself newly possessed, with the view of +discovering the range of its capacity, being seated +at my writing-table the while in order to record +the results as they came, and resolved to retain my +hold on my outer and circumferential consciousness +no matter how far towards my inner and +central consciousness I might go. For I knew not +whether I should be able to regain the former if I +once quitted my hold of it, or to recollect the facts +of the experience. At length I achieved my object, +though only by a strong effort, the tension occasioned +by the endeavour to keep both extremes +of the consciousness in view at once being very +great.</p> + +<p>Once well started on my quest, I found myself +traversing a succession of spheres or belts of a +medium, the tenuity and luminance of which +increased at every stage of my progress; the +impression produced being that of mounting +a vast ladder stretching from the circumference +towards the centre of a system, which +was at once my own system, the solar system, +and the universal system, the three systems +being at once diverse and identical. My progress +in this ascent was clearly dependent upon my +ability to concentrate the rays of my consciousness +into a focus. For, while to relax the effort was to +recede outwards, to intensify it was to advance +inwards. The process was like that of travelling +by will power from the orbit of Saturn to the Sun—taking +Saturn as representing the seventh and +outermost sphere of the spiritual kosmos, and the +Sun its central and radiant point—with the intermediate +orbits for stepping-stones and stages, I trying<span class="pagenum">[63]</span> +the while to keep both extremes in view. Presently, +by a supreme, and what I felt must be a final, +effort—for the tension was becoming too much for +me, unless I let go my hold of the outer—I succeeded +in polarising the whole of the convergent +rays of my consciousness into the desired focus. +And at the same instant, as if through the sudden +ignition of the rays thus fused into a unity, I +found myself confronted with a glory of unspeakable +whiteness and brightness, and of a lustre so +intense as well-nigh to beat me back. At the same +instant, too, there came to me, as by a sudden +recollection, the sense of being already familiar +with the phenomenon, as also with its whole +import, as if in virtue of having experienced it in +some former and forgotten state of being. I knew +it to be the "Great White Throne" of the seer of +the Apocalypse. But though feeling that I had no +need to explore further, I resolved to make assurance +doubly sure by piercing, if I could, the almost +blinding lustre, and seeing what it enshrined. +With a great effort I succeeded, and the glance +revealed to me that which I had felt must be there. +This was the dual form of the Son, the Word, the +Logos, the Adonai, the "Sitter on the Throne," +the first formulation of Divinity, the unmanifest +made manifest, the unformulate formulate, the +unindividuate individuate, God as the Lord, +proving by His Duality that God is Substance as +well as Force, Love as well as Will, feminine as +well as masculine, Mother as well as Father.</p> + +<p>Overjoyed at having this supreme problem solved +in accordance with my highest aspirations, my one +thought was to return and proclaim the glad news. +But I had no sooner set myself to write down the<span class="pagenum">[64]</span> +things thus seen and remembered, than I found +myself constrained to maintain regarding them the +strictest silence, and this even as regarded my +fellow-worker; and all that I was permitted to say +at that time was, that under a sudden burst of illumination +I had become absolutely aware of the +truth of the doctrine of the Duality in Unity of +Deity to which that in Humanity corresponds, +both alike being twain in one. On seeking the +reason for the reticence thus imposed on me, I +learned that the stage in our work had not yet come +when it could be given to the world, either with +safety to myself or with advantage to others; and +it was necessary that my colleague receive no intimation +in advance of any experiences which were +to be given to her—of which this experience was +one—in order that her mind might be wholly free +from bias or expectation. Only so would our testimony +have its due value as that of two independent +witnesses.</p> + +<p>In the following summer the same vision was +vouchsafed to her in a measure and with a fulness +far transcending mine<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>.</p> + +<p>On the occasion she had been forewarned of +something of unusual solemnity as about to occur, +and prompted to make certain ceremonial preparations +obviously calculated to impress the imagination. +The access came upon her while standing by +the open window, gazing at the moon, then close +upon the full. The first effect of the <i>afflatus</i> was +to cause her to kneel and pray in a rapt attitude, +<span class="pagenum">[65]</span>with her arms extended towards the sky. It +appeared afterwards, that under an access of +spiritual exaltation, she had yielded to a sudden +and uncontrollable impulse to pray that she might +be taken to the stars, and shown all the glory of +the universe. Presently she rose, and after +gazing upwards in ecstasy for a few moments, +lowered her eyes, and, clasping her arms around +her head as if to shut out the view, uttered in +tones of wonder, mingled with moans and cries +of anguish, the following tokens of the intolerable +splendour of the vision she had unwittingly +invited:—</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see masses, masses of stars! It +makes me giddy to look at them. O my God, what +masses! Millions and millions! WHEELS of +planets! O my God, my God, why didst Thou +create? It was by Will, all Will, that Thou didst +it. Oh! what might, what might of Will! Oh, +what gulfs! what gulfs! Millions and millions +of miles broad and deep! Hold me! hold me up! +I shall sink—I shall sink into the gulfs. I am sick +and giddy, as on a billowy sea. I am on a sea, an +ocean—the ocean of infinite space. Oh, what +depths! what depths! I sink—I fail! I cannot, +cannot bear it!"</p> + +<p>"I shall never come back. I have left my body +for ever. I am dying; I believe I am dead. Impossible +to return from such a distance! Oh, what +colossal forms! They are the angels of the planets. +Every planet has its angel standing erect above it. +And what beauty!—what marvellous beauty! I see +Raphael. I see the Angel of the Earth. He has six +wings. He is a God—the God of our planet. I see +my genius, who called himself A.Z.; but his name<span class="pagenum">[66]</span> +is Salathiel. Oh, how surpassingly beautiful he +is! My genius is a male, and his colour is ruby. +Yours, Caro, is a female, and sapphire. They are +friends—they are the same—not two, but one; +and for that reason they have associated us +together, and speak of themselves sometimes as +<i>I</i>, sometimes as <i>We</i>. It is the Angel of the Earth +himself that is your genius and mine, Caro. He +it was who inspired you, who spoke to you. And +they call me 'Bitterness.' And I see sorrow—oh, +what unending sorrow do I behold! Sorrow, always +sorrow, but never without love. I shall always +have love. How dim is this sphere!... I am +entering a brighter region now... Oh, the +dazzling, dazzling brightness! Hide me, hide me +from it! I cannot, cannot bear it! It is agony +supreme to look upon. O God! O God! Thou art +slaying me with Thy light. It is the Throne itself, +the Great White Throne of God that I behold! Oh, +what light! what light! It is like an emerald? a +sapphire? No; a diamond! In its midst stands +Deity erect, His right hand raised aloft, and from +Him pours the light of light. Forth from His +right hand streams the universe, projected by the +omnipotent repulsion of His will. Back to His +left, which is depressed and set backwards, returns +the universe, drawn by the attraction of His love. +Repulsion and attraction, will and love, right and +left, these are the forces, centrifugal and centripetal, +male and female, whereby God creates and +redeems. Adonai! O Adonai! Lord God of life, +made of the substance of light, how beautiful art +Thou in Thine everlasting youth! with Thy +glowing golden locks, how adorable! And I had +thought of God as elderly and venerable! As if<span class="pagenum">[67]</span> +the Eternal could grow old! And now not as Man +only do I behold Thee! For now Thou art to me +as Woman. Lo, Thou art both. One, and Two also. +And thereby dost Thou produce creation. O God, +O God! why didst Thou create this stupendous +existence? Surely, surely, it had been better in +love to have restrained Thy will. It was by will +that Thou createdst, by will alone, not by love, +was it not?—was it not? I cannot see clearly. A +cloud has come between.</p> + +<p>"I see Thee now as Woman. Maria is next +beside Thee. Thou art Maria. Maria is God. Oh +Maria! God as Woman! Thee, thee I adore! +Maria-Aphrodite! Mother! Mother-God!</p> + +<p>"They are returning with me now, I think. But +I shall never get back. What strange forms! how +huge they are! All angels and archangels. Human +in form, yet some with eagles' heads. All the +planets are inhabited! how innumerable is the +variety of forms! Oh! universe of existence, how +stupendous is existence! Oh! take me not near the +sun; I cannot bear its heat. Already do I feel +myself burning. Here is Jupiter! It has nine +moons! Yes; nine. Some are exceedingly small. +And, oh, how red it is! It has so much iron. And +what enormous men and women! There is evil +there, too. For evil is wherever are matter and +limitation. But the people of Jupiter are far better +than we on earth. They know much more; they +are much wiser. There is less evil in their planet. +Ah! and they have another sense, too. What is it? +No; I cannot describe it. I cannot tell what it is. +It differs from any of the others. We have nothing +like it. I cannot get back yet. I shall never get +back. I believe I am dead. It is only my body<span class="pagenum">[68]</span> +you are holding. It has grown cold for want of +me. Yet I must be approaching; it is growing +shallower. We are passing out of the depths. Yet +I can never wholly return—never—never!"<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>The account given of the vision of Adonai in +Lecture IX. of "The Perfect Way," was +written solely from our joint experiences. It was +with an interest altogether novel in kind and +degree that I now turned to the Bible narratives +of the same vision, and found that in the record +of its reception by the Elders of Israel, it is stated, +as if in token of the power of the spiritual battery +with which Moses had surrounded himself, that +no less than seventy of his initiates were able to +receive the vision without magnetic reinforcement +by the imposition of their master's hands. But, as +we learnt from our own manifold experiences, it +does not follow that because there is no imposition +of visible hands, no extraneous aid is rendered. +The seeker after God cannot, even if he would, +accomplish his quest alone; but always are there +attracted to him those angelic beings whose office +it is, as ministers of God, to sustain and illuminate +souls by the imposition of hands invisible +to the outer senses. In her case such aid was +palpable. There was no effort on her part. And +she held converse with those by whom she was +upborne in her stupendous flight.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[69]</span></p> +<p>When in due course the time came for us to +receive the ancient and long-lost Gnosis which +underlay the sacred religions and scriptures of +antiquity, the following was given us, and we +recognised in it the original Scripture from which +the opening sentences in St John's Gospel are +drawn.</p> + +<p>After defining the Elohim as comprising the two +original principles of all Being, "the Spirit and +the Water," or Force and Substance, and bringing +up the process whereby Deity proceeds into +manifestation to the point described in Genesis +in the words, "And the Spirit of God moved upon +the face of the Waters. And God <i>said</i>,"—the +utterance thus continues,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Then from the midst of the Divine Duality, the Only +Begotten of God came forth:</p> + +<p>Adonai, the Word, the Voice invisible.</p> + +<p>He was in the beginning, and by Him were all things +discovered.</p> + +<p>Without Him was not anything made which is visible.</p> + +<p>For He is the Manifestor, and in Him was the life of the +world.</p> + +<p>God the nameless hath not revealed God, but Adonai +hath revealed God from the beginning.</p> + +<p>He is the presentation of Elohim, and by Him the Gods +are made manifest.</p> + +<p>He is the third aspect of the Divine Triad:</p> + +<p>Co-equal with the Spirit and the heavenly deep.</p> + +<p>For except by three in one, the Spirits of the Invisible +Light could not have been made manifest.</p> + +<p>But now is the prism perfect, and the generation of the +Gods discovered in their order.</p> + +<p>Adonai dissolves and resumes; in His two hands are +the dual powers of all things.</p> + +<p>He is of His Father the Spirit, and of His Mother the +great deep.</p> + +<p>Having the potency of both in Himself, and the power +of things material.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[70]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Yet being Himself invisible, for He is the cause, and not +the effect.</p> + +<p>He is the Manifestor, and not that which is manifest.</p> + +<p>That which is manifest is the Divine Substance<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>The reason for the suppression by the translators +of the Bible of its numerous affirmations of +the Divine Duality, saving only those of Genesis i. +26, 27, was in due time disclosed to us; as also +was the extent of the loss to man through the +elimination of the feminine principle from his conception +of Original Being, and the consequent perversion +of the doctrine of the Trinity, and therein +of the true nature of Existence, in both its aspects, +Creation and Redemption.</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[71]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE COMMUNICATION.</p> + + +<p>A striking feature for us was the exquisite +tenderness and poetic delicacy, both in matter and +manner, which characterised all that we received. +Nor was there the intrusion of anything to suggest +feelings such as are described by Daniel when he +says, "I saw this great vision, and there remained +no strength in me, neither was there breath left +in me." And not only was the element of terror +so completely absent as to make us feel as if we +had entered on the dispensation of that "perfect +love which casteth out fear," but there was occasionally +an element of playfulness, and this on the +part of our chiefest illuminators, the Gods themselves. +While their instructions were replete with +every graceful and delicate adornment such as +could not but delight the poet and the artist, and +this without abatement of profundity or solemnity. +By these things it was intimated to us that the +religion of the future was indeed to be one of +sweetness and light, and for the severe and gloomy +spirit of the Semite would be substituted the +bright and joyous spirit of the Greek. All this, +we learnt, was because the new dispensation was +to be that of the "Woman," and in accord therefore +with woman's nature and sentiments. It was +moreover to be introduced by means of the +Woman's faculty, the Intuition, and this as subsisting +in <i>a</i> woman.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[72]</span></p> + +<p>The following exquisite little apologue, which +was given us in the early days of our novitiate, is +an instance in point:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A blind man once lost himself in a forest. An angel +took pity on him, and led him into an open place. As he +went he received his sight. Then he saw the angel, and +said to him, "Brother, what doest thou here? Suffer me +to go before thee, for I am thine elder." So the man +went first, taking the lead. But the angel spread his wings +and returned to heaven. And darkness fell again upon +him to whom sight had been given.</p></div> + +<p>Here was a parable which, slight as it seemed, +was truly Biblical for the depth and manifoldness +of its signification. For while it applied to ourselves +both separately and jointly, and to our work, +it was also an eternal verity applicable alike to the +individual, the collective, and the universal. For +as the angel was to the man, so is the intuition to +the intellect, which of itself cannot transcend the +sense-nature, but remains blind and dark and lost +in the wilderness of illusion. And as she, my +colleague, had supplemented me, so were we each +to supplement in ourselves intellect by intuition, +in order to become capable of knowledge and +understanding. It was, moreover, a parable of the +Fall and of the Redemption, an epitome in short +of man's spiritual history. And it had been spelt +out for us by the tilting of a table in one of our +earliest essays in spiritualism! So carefully +guarded and daintily taught were we from the +outset.</p> + +<p>The charming allegory of "The Wonderful +Spectacles" which was given in London on the +31st January, 1877, to my colleague in sleep, was +not only an instruction concerning the nature of<span class="pagenum">[73]</span> +her faculty and its indispensableness as an adjunct +to mine for the work assigned to us; it was also a +prophetic intimation of the character of that work, +and of the nature of the influences controlling it, +which at the time was altogether unsuspected by +us. This is the account which she sent to me by +letter, for we were not then together:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I dreamt that I was walking alone on the sea-shore. The +day was singularly clear and sunny. Inland lay the most +beautiful landscape ever seen; and far off were ranges of +tall hills, the highest peaks of which were white with +glistening snow. Along the sands by the sea towards me +came a man accoutred as a postman. He gave me a letter. +It was from you. It ran thus:—</p> + +<p>"I have got hold of the rarest and most precious book +extant. It was written before the world began. The text +is easy enough to read; but the notes, which are very +copious and numerous, are in such very minute and +obscure characters that I cannot make them out. I want +you to get for me the spectacles which Swedenborg used +to wear; not the smaller pair—those he gave to Hans +Christian Andersen—but the large pair, and these seem +to have got mislaid. I think they are Spinoza's make. +You know he was an optical-glass maker by profession, +and the best we have ever had. See if you can get them +for me"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>.</p> + +<p>When I looked up after reading this letter, I saw the +postman hastening away across the sands, and I called +out to him, "Stop! how am I to send the answer? Won't +you wait for me?"</p> + +<p>He looked round, stopped, and came back to me.</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[74]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have the answer here," he said, tapping his letter +bag, "and I shall deliver it immediately."</p> + +<p>"How can you have the answer before I have written +it?" said I. "You are making a mistake."</p> + +<p>"No," said he, "In the city from which I come, the +replies are all written at the office and sent out with the +letters themselves. Your reply is in my bag."</p> + +<p>"Let me see it," I said. He took another letter from +his wallet and gave it to me. I opened it, and read, in my +own handwriting, this answer, addressed to you:—</p> + +<p>"The spectacles you want can be bought in London. +But you will not be able to use them at once, for they have +not been worn for many years, and they want cleaning +sadly. This you will not be able to do yourself in London, +because it is too dark there to see, and because your +fingers are not small enough to clean them properly. +Bring them here to me, and I will do it for you."</p> + +<p>I gave this letter back to the postman. He smiled and +nodded at me; and I saw then to my astonishment that +he wore a camel's-hair tunic round his waist. I had been +on the point of addressing him—I know not why—as +<i>Hermes</i>. But I now saw that it was John the Baptist; +and in my fright at having spoken with so great a saint, +I awoke.</p></div> + +<p>This was the second suggestion of a Greek +element in our work, the first having been the +slight allusion to Phoibos Apollo in the illumination +concerning the Marriage in Cana of Galilee<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>. +The signification of the connection between +Hermes and John the Baptist remained unintelligible +to us until the key to it was given us in a +revelation of the method of the Bible-writers +explaining their practice of representing principles +as persons. We then found that by the +baptism or purification, physical and mental, +<span class="pagenum">[75]</span>practised by John, was meant the course of life +and thought whereby alone man develops the +faculty of the understanding of spiritual things. +And Hermes is the Greco-Egyptian name for the +"second of the Gods," called by Isaiah the Spirit +of Understanding. Hence the adoption of this +name by the formulators of the Hermetic, or +sacred books of Egypt; and the favourite motto +of the Hermetists:—</p> + +<p class="tdc">"Est in Mercurio quicquid quœrunt sapientes,"</p> + +<p>All is in the understanding that the wise seek,—Mercury +being the Latin equivalent for Hermes.</p> + +<p>The mention of Swedenborg and Andersen +implied their possession of the faculty indispensable +to our work, that of mystical insight, of +which they were the most notable recent representatives.</p> + +<p>A larger part was played by Hermes in another +instruction received a few months later<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>. This +was also given in sleep, the vision taking the form +of a "Banquet of the Gods" in which the seeress +received the following exhortation from him, in +enforcement of the necessity of pure and natural +habits of life for the perfectionment of the faculties +requisite for full spiritual perception, when, +having put into her hands a branch of a fig-tree +bearing upon it ripe fruit, he said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If you would be perfect, and able to know and to do +all things, quit the heresy of Prometheus. Let fire warm +and comfort you externally: it is heaven's gift. But do +not wrest it from its rightful purpose, as did that betrayer +of your race, to fill the veins of humanity with its contagion, +and to consume your interior being with its +<span class="pagenum">[76]</span>breath. All of you are men of clay, as was the image which +Prometheus made. Ye are nourished with stolen fire, +and it consumes you. Of all the evil uses of heaven's good +gifts, none is so evil as the internal use of fire. For your +hot foods and drinks have consumed and dried up the +magnetic power of your nerves, sealed your senses, and +cut short your lives. Now, you neither see nor hear; for +the fire in your organs consumes your senses. Ye are +all blind and deaf, creatures of clay. We have sent you a +book to read. Practise its precepts, and your senses shall +be opened."</p> + +<p>Then, not recognising him, I said, "Tell me your name, +Lord." At this he laughed and answered, "I have been +about you from the beginning. I am the white cloud on +the noon-day sky." "Do you, then," I asked, "desire the +whole world to abandon the use of fire in preparing food +and drink?"</p> + +<p>Instead of answering my question, he said, "We show +you the excellent way. Two places only are vacant at our +table. We have told you all that can be shown you on +the level on which you stand. But our perfect gifts, the +fruits of the Tree of Life, are beyond your reach now. +We cannot give them to you until you are purified and +have come up higher. The conditions are <span class="smcap">God's</span>; the will +is with you"<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>The allusion to Prometheus, and the fact that +Hermes had been represented in the Greek tragedy +of that name as the executor of the vengeance of +the Gods upon Prometheus, as well also as the +significance of the fig-branch and the fact of its +being the symbol of Hermes as the Spirit of Understanding,—all +these things were beyond her knowledge +at the time, some of them indeed having been +<span class="pagenum">[77]</span>long lost. But all were made clear as our education +for our work proceeded, and we learnt the +intention and recognised the necessity of restoring +the Greek presentment of the Sacred Mysteries in +explanation of the Hebrew, and in correction of +the ecclesiastical presentment of Christianity. The +restoration was to be twofold, of faculty and of +knowledge, the knowledge to be recovered through +the faculty by which it was originally obtained. +Hence the insistance on our adoption of the pure +regimen of the Seers of all time. Hence, too, the +presentation to her by Hermes of the fig-branch +bearing ripe fruit. The parable of the cursing of +the barren fig-tree was explained to us as denoting +the loss by the church of the inward understanding, +the Intuition. In the Seeress it was +restored; she was the appointed representative of it. +The "time of the end" was at hand, of the +approach of which the budding of the fig-tree was +to be the sign. And here it was not merely budding +and blossoming, but bearing mature fruit to +signify that in her the faculty was restored in its +perfection.</p> + +<p>In an instruction subsequently given to me by +her Genius, he said of her, "I have fashioned a +perfect instrument," implying that the process of +her preparation under his tuition had extended +over numerous lives. And again, "The Gods have +given to their own a perfect ear."</p> + +<p>Being desirous once to test the powers of a +medium to whom she was totally unknown even by +name, she asked his controlling spirit about herself +and her faculty. "You are not a trance-medium +at all!" the spirit exclaimed in reply. "My +medium is a trance-medium. You are far beyond<span class="pagenum">[78]</span> +that. You are a spiritual lens. You are a mirror +in which the highest spirits—the Gods—can reflect +their faces. You take the light of the whole +universe and divide it so that it can be understood, +as it has never been understood yet. Your +gift is very extraordinary. You are a glass to +reflect the highest and the greatest to the world." +This was in 1877, before she was known in connection +with the spiritual movement of the age.</p> + +<p>The description given of himself by Hermes as +"the white cloud in the noon-day sky," proved to +be a quotation from an ancient ritual, subsequently +recovered by her, in which the "Hymn to +Hermes"<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> opens thus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>As a moving light between heaven and earth: as a white +cloud assuming many shapes;</p> + +<p>He descends and rises: he guides and illumines; he +transmutes himself from small to great, from bright to +shadowy, from the opaque image to the diaphanous mist.</p> + +<p>Star of the East, conducting the Magi; cloud from +whose midst the holy voice speaketh; by day a pillar of +vapour, by night a shining flame.</p></div> + +<p>All these are symbolic expressions for the Understanding, +especially in respect of divine things, so +that Hermes is no individual soul or spirit, but the +divine spirit Itself operating as the second of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="p79" id="p79"></a>[79]</span>Creative Elohim, and as a function therefore of +man's own spirit when duly unfolded and purified, +in token whereof it is said in the recovered hymn<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +to the Planet-God Iacchos—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Within thee, O Man, is the Universe; the thrones of +all the Gods are in thy temple....</p> + +<p>And the Spirits which speak unto thee are of thine own +kingdom.</p></div> + +<p>In the hymn of invocation summoning the +Seeress to her mission in the name of the two first +of the "Holy Seven," the Spirits of Wisdom and +Understanding, both of whom were wont to manifest +themselves to her, Hermes is referred to as +"the God who knows"; the other being personified +as Pallas Athena. "In the Celestial," we were +informed, "all things are Persons."</p> + +<div class="poemblock"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Wake, prophet-soul, the time draws near,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'The God who knows' within thee stirs<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And speaks, for His thou art, and Hers<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who bears the mystic shield and spear.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A touch divine shall thrill thy brain,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thy soul shall leap to life, and lo!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">What she has known, again shall know,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What she has seen, shall see again.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The ancient past through which she came..." + + +<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<p>As the Spirit of Understanding, the name of +Hermes signifies both Rock and Interpreter. +Hence the significance of the saying of Jesus, +<span class="pagenum">[80]</span>"Thou art the Rock, and upon this Rock I will +build My Church," which He addressed not to the +man Peter, but to the Spirit of Understanding +whom He discerned as the prompter of Peter's confession +of faith. By this Jesus implied that the only +true and infallible church is that which is founded +on the Understanding, and not on authority +whether of book, tradition or institution. The +utterance of Jesus was a citation from the proem +to the hymn to Hermes<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> recovered by us:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"He is as a rock between earth and heaven, and the +Lord God shall build His Church thereon.</p> + +<p>As a city upon a mountain of stone, whose windows look +forth on either side."</p></div> + +<p>As our education proceeded we found indubitably +that in excluding from its curriculum the +whole range of the knowledges represented by the +term "Hermetic," Ecclesiasticism has ignored the +chief source of information concerning the +Christian <i>origines.</i> Doing which it has incurred +the reproach uttered by Jesus against those who +took away the key of knowledge, neither entering +in themselves, nor suffering others to enter in. And +it was to restore this Gnosis, suppressed by the +priests, that the new revelation was promised, with +the reception of which we found ourselves charged, +the prophecies pointing to a restoration both of +faculty and of knowledge.</p> + +<p>Besides the Fig-branch of Hermes, there is +another symbol of the intuitional understanding +which was disclosed to us as having special and +peculiar relation to the work set us. This symbol +<span class="pagenum">[81]</span>is Woman herself. She had already, in the instruction +concerning the marriage in Cana<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>, been +shown to us as the inspirer and prompter. She was +now shown to us as the interpreter. The reason +why the fig-tree was the emblem of the inward +understanding will be found in the citation +presently to be given; which is a portion of an +instruction received in interpretation of the +prophecy of Daniel, re-enunciated by Jesus, concerning +the recognition of the "abomination of +desolation standing in the holy place"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>, as making +and marking the time of the end of that generation +which, for its materialisation of spiritual things, +was called by Him an "adulterous," meaning an +idolatrous, generation. It will be seen that in the +Scripture symbology, as the soul is the feminine +principle in man's spiritual system, and is called +therefore the "Woman," the spirit being the masculine +principle; so in man's mental system the +intuition as the feminine mode of the mind is +called the "Woman," and the intellect, as the +masculine mode, the "Man." The following is the +citation in question:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Behold the <span class="smcap">Fig-Tree</span>, and learn her parable. When +the branch thereof shall become tender, and her buds +appear, know that the day of God is upon you.</p> + +<p>Wherefore, then, saith the Lord that the budding of the +Fig-Tree shall foretell the end?</p> + +<p>Because the Fig-Tree is the symbol of the Divine +Woman, as the Vine of the Divine Man.</p> + +<p>The Fig is the similitude of the Matrix, containing +<span class="pagenum">[82]</span>inward buds, bearing blossoms on its placenta, and bringing +forth fruit in darkness. It is the Cup of Life, and its +flesh is the seed-ground of new births.</p> + +<p>The stems of the Fig-Tree run with milk: her leaves +are as human hands, like the leaves of her brother the +Vine.</p> + +<p>And when the Fig-Tree shall bear figs, then shall be +the Second Advent, the new sign of the Man bearing +Water, and the manifestation of the Virgin-Mother +crowned.</p> + +<p>For when the Lord would enter the holy city, to celebrate +His Last Supper with His disciples, He sent before +Him the Fisherman Peter to meet the Man of the Coming +Sign.</p> + +<p>"There shall meet you a Man bearing a pitcher of +Water."</p> + +<p>Because, as the Lord was first manifest at a wine-feast +in the morning, so must He consummate His work at a +wine-feast in the evening.</p> + +<p>It is His Pass-Over; for thereafter the Sun must pass +into a new Sign.</p> + +<p>After the Fish, the Water-Carrier; but the Lamb of God +remains always in the place of victory, being slain from +the foundation of the world.</p> + +<p>For His place is the place of the Sun's triumph.</p> + +<p>After the Vine the Fig; for Adam is first formed, then +Eve.</p> + +<p>And because our Lady is not yet manifest, our Lord is +crucified.</p> + +<p>Therefore came He vainly seeking fruit upon the Fig-Tree, +"for the time of figs was not yet."</p> + +<p>And from that day forth, because of the curse of Eve, +no man has eaten fruit of the Fig-Tree.</p> + +<p>For the inward understanding has withered away, there +is no discernment any more in men. They have crucified +the Lord because of their ignorance, not knowing what +they did.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[83]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Wherefore, indeed, said our Lord to our Lady:—"Woman, +what is between me and thee? For even <i>my</i> +hour is not yet come."</p> + +<p>Because until the hour of the Man is accomplished and +fulfilled, the hour of the Woman must be deferred.</p> + +<p>Jesus is the Vine; Mary is the Fig-Tree. And the +vintage must be completed and the wine trodden out, or +ever the harvest of the Figs be gathered.</p> + +<p>But when the hour of our Lord is achieved; hanging on +His Cross, He gives our Lady to the faithful.</p> + +<p>The chalice is drained, the lees are wrung out: then +says He to His Elect:—"Behold thy Mother!"</p> + +<p>But so long as the grapes remain unplucked, the Vine +has nought to do with the Fig-Tree, nor Jesus with Mary.</p> + +<p>He is first revealed, for He is the Word; afterwards +shall come the hour of its Interpretation.</p> + +<p>And in that day every man shall sit under the <span class="smcap">Vine</span> +and the <span class="smcap">Fig-Tree</span>; the Dayspring shall arise in the Orient, +and the Fig-Tree shall bear her fruit.</p> + +<p>For, from the beginning, the Fig-leaf covered the shame +of Incarnation, because the riddle of existence can be +expounded only by him who has the Woman's secret. It +is the riddle of the Sphinx.</p> + +<p>Look for that Tree which alone of all Trees bears a fruit +blossoming interiorly, in concealment, and thou shalt discover +the Fig.</p> + +<p>Look for the sufficient meaning of the manifest universe +and of the written Word, and thou shalt find only their +mystical sense.</p> + +<p>Cover the nakedness of Matter and of Nature with the +Fig-leaf, and thou hast hidden all their shame. For the +Fig is the Interpreter.</p> + +<p>So when the hour of Interpretation comes, and the Fig-Tree +puts forth her buds, know that the time of the End +and the dawning of the new Day are at hand,—"even at +the doors."</p></div> + +<p>On handing me the first portion of the instruc<span class="pagenum">[84]</span>tion +of which the foregoing is the conclusion, +"Mary"—to use the name which meanwhile had +been bestowed on her by our Illuminators in token +of her office as representative of the Soul and +Intuition—confessed to some perplexity. Her +usual Illuminator for revelations of this order was +Hermes, whose Hebrew equivalent is Raphael. But +on this occasion it had been a Hebrew one, Gabriel. +Her surprise and delight were great on being +reminded that Gabriel was Daniel's own inspirer +in respect of the prophecy in question, and that +he had prophesied his return, saying, "Go thy +way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed +till the time of the end.... Thou shalt rest and +stand in thy lot at the end of the days." The +explanation given us was that both Daniel's own +spirit and his illuminating angel had come to her, +the former serving as the vehicle of the latter. As +with all our other results similarly obtained, we +judged it entirely by its own intrinsic merits, and +not by its alleged derivation. We knew too well +the propensity of low influences to appropriate to +themselves great and even divine names, and the +liability of the recipients to be deceived and to +make the names the criterion instead of the communication +itself. But in no instance did it happen +to us that we had any cause to distrust the +genuineness either of messenger or of message, +even when both claimed to be divine.</p> + + + +<p class="p2">The difference between the two interpretations +or applications given us of the incident at the +"Marriage in Cana of Galilee," was explained to<span class="pagenum">[85]</span> +us as an instance of the manifoldness of the sense +of Scripture. The parables have a separate meaning +for each of the four planes of existence<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>.</p> + +<p>We wondered much whether there were any +parallels in history to our work and to the manner +of it; and especially as to how far an association +such as ours coincided with the ideas of the +Hebrews. It was true that they had both prophets +and prophetesses, but did they work like us in +supplement and complement of each other? As +regarded the recovery of knowledge acquired in a +previous life, Ezra also had ascribed his recovery +of the long lost Law to intuitional recollection +occurring under special illumination, saying, +"The Spirit strengthened my memory." But no +mention is made of a female coadjutor. Nor does it +appear that the Vestal Virgins were similarly supplemented, +except to be thrown into the magnetic +trance-state. In her zeal for her sex and her corresponding +distrust of men—sentiments which +seemed to be inborn in her—"Mary" was disposed +to think that most of the prophesying of old had +been done by women, but that the credit had been +appropriated by men. The answer to these questionings +was of a kind altogether unexpected by +us, both as regarded its manner and its matter. +For neither of us had the smallest suspicion that +the book referred to was capable of the interpretation +given us of it. This was the book of Esther. +The incident was as follows:—</p> + +<p>The occasion was an Easter Sunday<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>, and we +<span class="pagenum">[86]</span>were at Paris. Electing to remain indoors +rather than encounter the crowds of holiday +makers, "Mary" was moved during the afternoon +to sit for some communication by joint writing. +But we were no sooner seated than it was written,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Do you, Caro<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>, take a pencil and write, and let her +look inwards, and we will dictate slowly."</p></div> + +<p>"Mary" then became entranced, and delivered +orally, repeating it slowly, without break or pause, +after a voice heard interiorly, the following exposition +of the book of Esther, an exposition entirely +novel, as I have said, to us, and, we believed, to +the world. Some divines have called the book a +romance, but none have discovered that it is a +prophecy in the form of a parable. Luther, indeed, +pronounced both it and the Apocalypse to be so +worthless that their destruction would be no loss.</p> + +<p>The most important book in the Bible for you to study +now, and that most nearly about to be fulfilled, is one of +the most mystic books in the Old Testament, the book of +Esther.</p> + +<p>This book is a mystic prophecy, written in the form of +an actual history. If I give you the key, the clue of the +thread of it, it will be the easiest thing in the world to +unravel the whole.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[87]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The great King Assuerus, who had all the world under +his dominion, and possessed the wealth of all the nations, +is the genius of the age.</p> + +<p>Queen Vasthi, who for her disobedience to the king was +deposed from her royal seat, is the orthodox Catholic +Church.</p> + +<p>The Jews, scattered among the nations under the +dominion of the king, are the true Israel of God.</p> + +<p>Mardochi the Jew represents the spirit of intuitive +reason and understanding.</p> + +<p>His enemy Aman is the spirit of materialism, taken +into the favour and protection of the genius of the age, +and exalted to the highest place in the world's councils +after the deposition of the orthodox religion.</p> + +<p>Now Aman has a wife and ten sons.</p> + +<p>Esther—who, under the care and tuition of Mardochi, +is brought up pure and virgin—is that spirit of love and +sympathetic interpretation which shall redeem the world.</p> + +<p>I have told you that it shall be redeemed by a +"woman."</p> + +<p>Now the several philosophical systems by which the +councillors of the age propose to replace the dethroned +Church, are one by one submitted to the judgment of the +age; and Esther, coming last, shall find favour.</p> + +<p>Six years shall she be anointed with oil of myrrh, that +is, with study and training severe and bitter, that she +may be proficient in intellectual knowledge, as must all +systems which seek the favour of the age.</p> + +<p>And six years with sweet perfumes, that is with the +gracious loveliness of the imagery and poetry of the faiths +of the past, that religion may not be lacking in sweetness +and beauty.</p> + +<p>But she shall not seek to put on any of those adornments +of dogma, or of mere sense, which, by trick of priestcraft, +former systems have used to gain power or favour +with the world and the age, and for which they have been +found wanting.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[88]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Now there come out of the darkness and the storm +which shall arise upon the earth, two dragons<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>.</p> + +<p>And they fight and tear each other, until there arises a +star, a fountain of light, a queen, who is Esther<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>.</p> + +<p>I have given you the key. Unlock the meaning of all +that is written.</p> + +<p>I do not tell you if in the history of the past these voices +had part in the world of men.</p> + +<p>If they had, guess now who were Mardochi and Esther.</p> + +<p>But I tell you that which shall be in the days about to +come<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>On consulting the Bible-dictionary, we found +this relation between Esther and Easter. The feast +of Purim, which was instituted in token of the +deliverance wrought through Esther, coincides in +date with Easter. And it was on Easter day that +this was given us, by way of enhancing the correspondence +between the parts assigned to us and +those of Mordecai and Esther. Later it was shown +us that the parts assigned to Joseph and Mary +were, in one aspect, also identical with those of +Mordecai and Esther. This is the aspect in which +Joseph represents the mind, and Mary the soul in +the regenerated human system.</p> + +<p>Besides "Hermes," "Mary" received much of +her illumination from her "Genius," her relations +with whom far surpassed not only my relations +with mine, but any that are recorded in history, +the experiences of Socrates, the chief instance on +record, being insignificant both in quantity and +in quality as compared with hers. It is important, +therefore, to give an account of the nature and +office of this order of angels, which shall be +rendered in his own words.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[89]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>Every man is a planet, having sun, moon, and stars. +The Genius of a man is his satellite; God—the God of the +man—is his sun, and the moon of this planet is Isis, its +initiator or Genius. The Genius is made to minister to +the man, and to give him light. But the light he gives is +from God, and not of himself. He is not a planet but a +moon, and his function is to light up the dark places of +his planet.</p> + +<p>The day and night of the microcosm, man, are its +positive and passive, or protective and reflective states. +In the projective state we seek actively outwards; we +aspire and will forcibly; we hold active communion with +the God without. In the reflective state we look inwards; +we commune with our own heart; we indraw and concentrate +ourselves secretly and interiorly. During this condition +the "Moon" enlightens our hidden chamber with +her torch, and shows us ourselves in our interior recess.</p> + +<p>Who or what, then, is this moon? It is part of ourselves +and revolves with us. It is our celestial affinity,—of +whose order it is said—as by Jesus—"Their angels do +always behold the face of My Father."</p> + +<p>Every human soul has a celestial affinity, which is part +of his system and a type of his spiritual nature. This +angelic counterpart is the bond of union between the man +and God; and it is in virtue of his spiritual nature that +this angel is attached to him....</p> + +<p>It is in virtue of man's being a planet that he has a +moon. If he were not fourfold, as is the planet, he could +not have one. Rudimentary men are not fourfold, they +have not the Spirit.</p> + +<p>The Genius is the moon to the planet man, reflecting to +him the Sun, or God, within him. For the Divine Spirit +<span class="pagenum">[90]</span>which animates and eternises the man, is the God of the +man, the Sun that enlightens him.... And because +the Genius reflects, not the planet, but the Sun, not the +man (as do the astrals), but the God, his light is always +to be trusted....</p> + +<p>The memory of the soul is recovered by a threefold +operation—that of the Soul herself, of the Moon, and of +the Sun. The Genius is not an informing spirit. He can +tell nothing to the soul. All that she receives is already +within herself. But in the darkness of the night, it would +remain there undiscovered, but for the torch of the angel +who enlightens. "Yea," says the angel Genius to his client, +"I illuminate thee, but I instruct thee not. I warn thee, +but I fight not. I attend, but I lead not. Thy treasure is +within thyself. My light showeth where it lieth."...</p> + +<p>The voice of the Genius is the voice of God; for God +speaks through him as a man through the horn of a +trumpet. Thou mayest not adore him, for he is the instrument +of God, and thy minister. But thou must obey him, +for he hath no voice of his own, but sheweth thee the will +of the Spirit.</p></div> + +<p>We noted that the inspiring angel of the +Apocalypse had twice similarly spoken when the +seer was about to worship him;—"See thou do it +not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy +brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the +sayings of this book: Worship God."</p> + +<p>The like positive injunctions were given us also +against according divine honours to Jesus.</p> + +<p>Besides Socrates, there is another notable historical +"Spiritualist" of whom our experiences +vividly reminded us. This was Joan of Arc. The +correspondence between her and "Mary," in gifts, +experiences, and personal characteristics, was of +the closest. We had no difficulty in believing her<span class="pagenum">[91]</span> +history. Each of them, moreover, had a mission of +deliverance, the one political and national, the +other spiritual and universal.</p> + +<p>Although we had learned to trust our Illuminators +implicitly long before the receipt of the +above instruction, we were still without assurance +as to the source and method of the revelation. Be +the knowledges received by us as new as they +might to our external selves, they never failed to +be familiar as recovered memories, excepting in +such cases as they were couched in terms of which +the sense, being mystical, was not at once recognised. +But such difficulties were soon overcome, +and the doctrine, when fully apprehended, was +always to us as necessary and self-evident truth, +and such as to excite wonder at the potency of the +glamour which had hitherto withheld it from the +world's recognition. In every detail, the revelation +represented for us Common-Sense in its +loftiest mode. For the agreement it represented +was not that of all men merely, but that of all +parts of Man: of mind, soul and spirit, intellect +and intuition, and these purified and unfolded to +the utmost, and perfectly equilibrated. Whatever +the manner of its communication, whether heard +by the interior ear, seen by the interior eye, flashed +on the mind as vivid ideas, whether acquired +waking or sleeping, or in the intermediate state +of trance-lucidity, or given in writing, it always +seemed that we knew it before, and did not require +to be told it, but only to be reminded of it.</p> + +<p>The problem specially exercised myself. "Mary" +had other work than the analysis of our spiritual +experiences. That was my special function. I +learnt to see in her a soul of surpassing luminous<span class="pagenum">[92]</span>ness +and variousness, who had been entrusted to +my charge expressly in order that by my study of +her I might recover for the world's benefit the +long-lost knowledge of the soul's being, nature, +and history. And so many and various were her +spiritual states, that she seemed to me to represent +in turn every stage of the soul's evolution, +and to be "not one, but all mankind's epitome."</p> + +<p>This also used to occur so frequently as to be +observed by both of us and discussed between us. +When in the process of my endeavour to find the +solution of some problem, such as the meaning of +a parabolic or otherwise obscure passage in Scripture, +I had exhausted my stock of tentative hypotheses, +but, through consideration for her other +and engrossing work, refrained from imparting +my need to her, she would receive in sleep the +desired solution, which she wrote down on waking, +and which invariably proved satisfactory beyond +my highest imaginings. And besides showing intimate +acquaintance with the course of my thought, +it was couched in language which, for simplicity, +dignity, purity, and lucidity, was without an equal +in literature; the English being that of the best +period of our literature, and better than the best +even of that period. She herself had a remarkable +mastery of English, but these compositions reduced +her to despair, causing her to exclaim, "Why +cannot I write as well when I am awake as I do in +my sleep!" Of course the explanation lay in the +limiting influence of the physical organism.</p> + +<p>The frequency of this occurrence led me, in the +absence of authoritative explanation, to try the +following, as an hypothesis purely tentative. The +revelations generally came to her when, through<span class="pagenum">[93]</span> +my inability to find the interpretations which satisfied +me, my work required them, and they came +independently of any desire or knowledge on her +part. Might it not be, then, that it was my own +spirit who knew them and gave them to her, finding +her more sensitive to impression than myself? +The explanation was not one that either pleased +or satisfied me, one reason being that I took a +delight in recognising the primacy accorded to her. +The idea occurred to me one night, and I pondered +it the next day, but did not divulge it. What +happened on the evening of that day led me to +suspect that our Genii had suggested it to me in +order to make it the occasion of imparting to me +the knowledge in question, namely, that of the real +source and method of the revelation.</p> + +<p>For the experience to be properly appreciated it +must be remembered that "Mary" had no knowledge +of the explanation suggested to me, and +neither of us had as yet entertained the idea of +past lives as the key to our present work. The +question of Reincarnation itself had not come +before us, and far less the possibility of recovering +the memory of the things learnt in previous existences, +much as we had been puzzled to account for +our experiences in the absence of some such +explanation.</p> + +<p>The proposal to sit for a written communication +came from her, having evidently been +prompted by our illuminators. The method +was one which both they and we disliked, and it +was adopted only when they desired to address +us both at once. So we sat for writing.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[94]</span></p> + +<p>The result confirmed my surmise. We had +scarcely seated ourselves when the writing began, +as if we were being waited for. And this is what +was written:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We are instructed to say several things to-night. We +are your Genii.</p> + +<p>"(To <span class="smcap">Caro</span>.) In the first place, you entirely misconceive +the process by which the Revelation comes to Mary. +The method of this revelation is entirely interior. Mary +is not a Medium; nor is she even a Seer as you understand +the word. She is a Prophet. By this we mean +that all she has ever written or will write, is from within, +and not from without. She knows. She is not told. Hers +is an old, old spirit. She is older than you are, Caro, older +by many thousand years. Do not think that spirits other +than her own are to be credited with the authorship of the +new Gospel. As a proof of this, and to correct the false +impression you have on the subject, the holy and inner +truth, of which she is the depositary, will not in future be +given to her by the former method. All she writes +henceforth, she will write consciously. Yes, she must +finish the new Evangel by conscious effort of brain and +will."</p></div> + +<p>Coming from a source which we had learnt to +trust implicitly, and according with our own +highest conceptions, this message was supremely +satisfactory, and was welcomed accordingly. But +it was followed forthwith by another which excited +feelings of a very different character. For, as if +expressly in order to prevent her from being made +vain-glorious and uplifted by it, they added—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"(To <span class="smcap">Mary</span>.) It may serve to exhibit the path by +which you have come, and to suggest the nature of some +ancient tendencies which may yet tarnish the mirror of a +soul destined to attain perfection, to learn that you dwelt +within the body of——."</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[95]</span></p> + +<p>Here were given the name and character of a +certain Roman dame of some seventeen centuries +ago, one of high station, but of a repute so evil as +to cause an immense shock to both of us. It does +not come within the design of this book to disclose +the particular personalities with whom we had +been identified in the past<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>. Concerning this one +it must suffice to state here that, omitting from +account one whole side of "Mary's" character, we +both recognised in the other side traits strongly +resembling those which had been indicated. And +she subsequently recovered distinct recollections +of scenes in the life in question which served to +assure her on the point. Our discussions on the +matter tended to conclusions of which fuller knowledge +brought the verification. It was not one of +those lives in virtue of which she was directly +qualified for her present work; but it was one of +those lives of which the sin and the suffering may +well be conceived of as indispensable elements in +the education of a soul called to a lofty work and +destiny in the future, in accordance with the principle +which finds expression in the sayings, "The +greater the sinner the greater the saint," and +"<i>Pecca Fortiter.</i>" This also we discerned clearly, +that, supposing it to be indeed a truth that man is +"made perfect through suffering," the experiences +in the course of which the suffering is undergone +must imply sin as well as pain and sorrow; since +otherwise there would be a whole region of his +nature, namely the moral, in which he would +<span class="pagenum">[96]</span>remain unvitalised. The lesson of which is that +a man is alive only so far as he has lived. There +was yet another reflection that was prompted by +the occasion in question, and one which crowned +and glorified the rest. This was the assurance +implied that none need despair. If the soul which +had dwelt in the body of the person named, could +nevertheless become within measureable time what +"Mary" was now, and be "destined to attain +perfection," there is hope for all, and the doctrine +of Reincarnation is indeed a gospel of salvation. +And herein we discerned a lesson hitherto unsuspected +so far as we were aware, in the parable of +the Prodigal Son. It is not the "elder brother" +who stays at home that can best appreciate the +divine order; but the prodigal who has gone forth +into the world of experience to acquire knowledge +for himself at first hand. They who have been the +most fully satiated with the husks of materiality, +can—when their time arrives for coming to their +true selves—best estimate the fare provided in the +"Father's House." "He loveth most to whom +most has been forgiven."</p> + +<p>While sitting alone one day and pondering these +things, and particularly the difficulty which people +often find in correcting in themselves even the +faults which they deplore, this pregnant sentence +was spoken audibly to my inner hearing by a voice +which I recognised as that of my Genius:—"Tendencies +encouraged for ages cannot be cured +in a single lifetime, but may require ages."</p> + +<p>This further reflection also was suggested to me: +that souls of exceptional strength are reincarnated +in bodies of exceptionally strong passional natures, +expressly in order to obtain the discipline which<span class="pagenum">[97]</span> +comes of the effort to subdue them. All of which +reflections tended to exhibit the rashness of judging +outward judgment in respect of others. In +order to judge righteous judgment it is necessary +to know the strength of their temptations, and of +their efforts to resist them. And these can be known +only to God. The attainment of perfection, and +therein of salvation by conquest and not by flight,—this +is the principle of reincarnation. It is the +<i>condition</i> of Regeneration, which is <i>from out of</i> +the body.</p> + +<p>In due time we were able to recognise the whole +plan of our work as so ordered as to make the work +itself a demonstration of the doctrine of reincarnation. +When once this doctrine had become a +practical question for us, it assumed a prominent +place both in our teachings and in our experiences. +One instruction given us was no less striking in +itself than in the circumstances of its communication. +The messenger was one with whom we had +never anticipated coming into relations, for, +besides not courting intercourse with the souls of +the departed, we had not paid to the writings of +the person concerned the heed that would entitle +us to count him among our cordial sympathisers; +and still less as among our possible visitants. This +was the famous Swedish Seer, Emmanuel Swedenborg. +In the course of what we afterwards found +to be a strikingly characteristic communication +from him, he informed us that owing to the difficulty +our angels had in approaching us just then, +through the condition of the spiritual atmosphere, +they had charged him with a message to us, in +which "Mary's" Genius had spoken to him of her as +"A soul of vast experience, who under his tuition<span class="pagenum">[98]</span> +had so painfully acquired the evangel of which she +was the depositary"; adding that he, her Genius, +"had been promised help to recover for her, in this +incarnation, the memory of all that was in the +past"; and—which was the point of the message—that +it was to be put forward, not as we were then +contemplating putting it forward, but "as fragmentary +specimens of such recollection occurring +to one now a woman, but formerly an initiate, who +is beginning to recover this power."</p> + +<p>It will be interesting to remark on this experience, +that to this day the followers of Swedenborg +set their faces against the doctrine of +reincarnation, expressly on the ground that their +master denied it in his lifetime. Whether Swedenborg +really denied it is uncertain. There is grave +cause to doubt whether his writings on the subject +have been rightly understood or fairly represented. +It has been maintained with much show +of reason that Swedenborg denied only the reincarnation +of the astral soul, not of the true soul; in +which case he would be right. Having once +obtained access to us, his visits were for a time +frequent, the manner of them being various. For +he came to us jointly and separately, in waking +and in sleeping—the latter to "Mary" only—and +audibly and visibly—the latter also to "Mary" +only. He alluded to a recent incarnation of mine, +of which I have since had full and independent +proof. And he recognised our work as not only a +confirmation and continuation of his own, but also +as a correction. For, as he gave us to understand, +he had been too much under the influence of the +current orthodoxy to be able to transmit the revelation +given to him in its proper purity, and unbiased<span class="pagenum">[99]</span> +by his own preconceptions. The doctrine in respect +of which he was chiefly desirous of being set right +was that of the Incarnation, the orthodox presentment +of which he now saw to be wrong, by reason +of its deification of Jesus. In referring to the perversion +of the truth by the formulators of the +Christian orthodoxy, he said to us, with much +emphasis, "Do not be too kind to the Christians."</p> + +<p>This allusion to an experience which belongs to +the category of "spiritualism" rather than to that +of our special work, may with advantage be followed +by some account of our other experiences of +the same order, partly for the sake of testifying to +the genuineness of the experiences relied on by +spiritualists, and partly in order to show the distinction +between the two orders of experience, as +discerned by persons whose familiarity with both +qualified them to institute comparison between +them. For, having once become sensitised in the +inner and higher regions of the consciousness, we +had become sensitised also in the intermediate +regions, and were able therefore to hold palpable +converse with the denizens of these also. And the +converse thus held was of the most satisfactory +character, on the ground both of the certainty of +its reality and its intrinsic nature. Father, mother, +wife, brothers, sundry dear friends, and others +interested in our work, all came to me, and some +of them to my colleague, and this several times, +and in a manner impossible to be distrusted. For +my mother more than once spoke to me aloud in +her own unmistakeable voice, and in tones that +anyone might have heard, as I sat alone in my +study. My wife came repeatedly to both of us, +jointly and separately, audibly, visibly, and<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p100" id="p100"></a>100]</span> +tangibly; giving us timely warnings of dangers +unsuspected by us but proving to be real. And one +of my brothers cleared up a mystery which had +hung over his death. No mere attenuated wraiths +or soulless phantoms were they who thus visited +us from "beyond the veil," they were strong, distinct, +intelligent individualities, veritable souls, +palpitating with vitality, and eager to render loving +service. But they came spontaneously and +unevoked, for we never sought to compel their +presence. Our quest was purely and simply for +truth, not for persons. But we considered that, +when these also came, as they did come, to ourselves +directly and without intervention of any +third party, to refuse to receive them on the +ground that they had put off their bodies, would +be equivalent to repulsing our friends in the flesh +on the ground that they had put off their overcoats.</p> + +<p>The spirit in which alone such intercourse is +permissible will be seen by the following citations +from the instructions received by us. Terms from +the Hebrew, Greek, and Oriental Scriptures were +used indifferently by our illuminators. The word +<i>Ruach</i> in the following—which is Hebrew for +Spirit—is here used in a kabalistic sense to denote +the astral soul or ghost, as distinguished from the +divine soul, the <i>Psyche</i> or <i>Neshamah</i>, and from the +<i>Nephesh</i> or mere phantom. The following is from +an instruction given to "Mary" in sleep, in direct +solution of certain perplexities.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Thou knowest that in the end, when Nirvâna is +attained, the soul shall gather up all that it hath left +within the astral of holy memories and worthy experience, +and to this end the Ruach rises in the astral sphere, by +the gradual decay and loss of its more material affinities, +<span class="pagenum">[101]</span>until these have so disintegrated and perished that its substance +is thereby lightened and purified. But continual +commerce and intercourse with earth add, as it were, +fresh fuel to its earthly affinities, keeping these alive, and +hindering its recall to its spiritual ego. Thus, therefore, +the spiritual ego itself is detained from perfect absorption +into the divine, and union therewith. For the Ruach shall +not all die, if there be in it anything worthy of recall. The +astral sphere is its purging chamber. For Saturn, who is +Time, is the trier of all things; he devoureth all the dross; +only that escapeth which in its nature is ethereal and +destined to reign. And this death of the Ruach is gradual +and natural. It is a process of elimination and disintegration, +often—as men measure time—extending over +many decades, or even centuries. And those Ruachs +which appertain to wicked and evil persons, having strong +wills inclined earthwards,—these persist longest and +manifest most frequently and vividly, because they <i>rise +not</i>, but, being destined to perish utterly, are not withdrawn +from immediate contact with the earth. They are +all dross; there is in them no redeemable element. But +the Ruach of the righteous complaineth if thou disturb +his evolution. 'Why callest thou me? disturb me not. +The memories of my earth-life are chains about my neck; +the desire of the past detaineth me. Suffer me to rise +towards my rest, and hinder me not with evocations. But +let thy love go after me and encompass me; so shalt thou +rise with me through sphere after sphere.'</p> + +<p>"For the good man upon earth can love nothing less +than the divine. Wherefore that which he loveth in his +friend is the divine, that is, the true and radiant self. And +if he love it as differentiated from God, it is only on +account of its separate tincture. For in the perfect light +there are innumerable tinctures. And according to its +celestial affinity, one soul loveth this or that splendour +more than the rest. And when the righteous friend of the +good man dieth, the love of the living man goeth after +the true soul of the dead; and the strength and divinity +<span class="pagenum">[102]</span>of this love helpeth the purgation of the astral soul, the +psychic ghost. It is to this astral soul, which ever +remaineth near the living friend, an indication of the way +it must also go,—a light shining upon the upward path +that leads from the astral to the celestial and everlasting. +For love, being divine, is <i>towards</i> the divine. 'Love +exalteth, love purifieth, love uplifteth.'"</p></div> + +<p>And this also, which was similarly obtained, +represents a further restoration of the original, +pure, undistorted and unmutilated doctrine of +Christianity concerning the communion of souls.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>So weepest thou and lamentest, because the Soul thou +lovest is taken from thy sight.</p> + +<p>And life seemeth to thee a bitter thing: yea, thou +cursest the destiny of all living creatures.</p> + +<p>And thou deemest thy love of no avail, and thy tears as +idle drops.</p> + +<p>Behold, Love is a ransom, and the tears thereof are +prayers.</p> + +<p>And if thou have lived purely, thy fervent desire shall +be counted grace to the soul of thy dead.</p> + +<p>For the burning and continual prayer of the just +availeth much.</p> + +<p>Yea, thy love shall enfold the soul which thou lovest: +it shall be unto him a wedding garment and a vesture of +blessing.</p> + +<p>The baptism of thy sorrow shall baptize thy dead, and he +shall rise because of it.</p> + +<p>Thy prayers shall lift him up, and thy tears shall +encompass his steps: thy love shall be to him a light +shining upon the upward way.</p> + +<p>And the angels of God shall say unto him, "O happy +Soul, that art so well-beloved; that art made so strong +with all these tears and sighs.</p> + +<p>"Praise the Father of Spirits therefor: for this great +love shall save thee many incarnations.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[103]</span> +<p>"Thou art advanced thereby; thou art drawn aloft and +carried upward by cords of grace."</p> + +<p>For in such wise do souls profit one another and have +communion, and receive and give blessing, the departed +of the living, and the living of the departed.</p> + +<p>And so much the more as the heart within them is clean, +and the way of their intention is innocent in the sight of +God....</p> + +<p>Count not as lost thy suffering on behalf of other souls; +for every cry is a prayer, and all prayer is power.</p> + +<p>That thou willest to do is done; thine intention is united +to the Will of Divine Love.</p> + +<p>Nothing is lost of that which thou layest out for God +and for thy brother.</p> + +<p>And it is love alone who redeemeth, and love hath +nothing of her own<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>But precious as is the communion of souls when +thus conditioned, it was not to them that we looked +for light and guidance in our work. Nor, indeed, +to any persons at all in the sense in which the term +is ordinarily used. We looked steadfastly and +directly to the Highest, confidently leaving to the +Highest the appointment both of the Messenger +and of the Message, but never failing to submit +both manner and matter to the keenest scrutiny of +faculties which we had striven to the utmost to +attune to divine things. We were, moreover, +emphatically warned from the outset against +allowing any intrusion into our work of the +influences accessible to the ordinary sensitive, the +two planes being absolutely distinct. Herein lay +<span class="pagenum">[104]</span>the significance of the saying of "Mary's" Genius, +that he had been "promised help to enable her to +recover in this incarnation the memory of all that +is in the past." The Genii themselves, although +of the celestial, belong to its circumferential and +lowest sphere. They touch the astral, but do not +enter it. The help spoken of was to come from +the innermost and highest spheres. And the charge +was accordingly given us, "Do not, then, seek +after 'controls.' Keep your temple for the Lord +God of Hosts; and turn out of it the money-changers, +the dove-sellers, and the dealers in +curious arts, yea, with a scourge of cords if need +be."</p> + +<p>The manner in which we received the first full +and particular account respecting the method of +revelation, was as follows. I was pondering to +myself with much intentness the nature and source +of inspiration, and desiring a test whereby to distinguish +between true and false inspiration. But I +refrained for various reasons from consulting my +colleague, at least until I should have exhausted +my own resources. And she was still without any +intimation of my need when she received the +instruction concerning inspiration and prophesying +of which the following is a portion. It was +received in sleep, and the date was shortly before +we were told that her knowledges were due to +experiences undergone in previous lives<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>. When +I had read it she said, referring to the first verse, +<span class="pagenum">[105]</span>"But I did not ask." In reply to which I told her +that I had asked. It was addressed equally to +both of us, as making together one system.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I heard last night in my sleep a voice speaking to me, +and saying—</p> + +<p>"You ask the method and nature of Inspiration, and +the means whereby God revealeth the Truth.</p> + +<p>Know that there is no enlightenment from without: +the secret of things is revealed from within.</p> + +<p>From without cometh no Divine Revelation: but the +Spirit within beareth witness.</p> + +<p>Think not that I tell you that which you know not: for +except you know it, it cannot be given to you.</p> + +<p>To him that hath it is given, and he hath the more +abundantly.</p> + +<p>None is a prophet save he who knoweth: the instructor +of the people is a man of many lives.</p> + +<p>Inborn knowledge and the perception of things, these +are the sources of revelation: the Soul of the man +instructeth him, having already learned by experience.</p> + +<p>Intuition is inborn experience; that which the soul +knoweth of old and of former years.</p> + +<p>And Illumination is the Light of Wisdom, whereby a +man perceiveth heavenly secrets.</p> + +<p>Which Light is the Spirit of God within the man, showing +unto him the things of God.</p> + +<p>Do not think that I tell you anything you know not; +all cometh from within: the Spirit that informeth is the +Spirit of God in the prophet.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Inspiration may indeed be mediumship, but it is conscious; +and the knowledge of the prophet instructeth him.</p> + +<p>Even though he speak in an ecstasy, he uttereth +nothing that he knoweth not."</p></div> + +<p>Then followed this apostrophe to the Prophet:<span class="pagenum">[106]</span>—</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Thou who art a prophet hast had many lives: yea, +thou hast taught many nations, and hast stood before +kings.</p> + +<p>And God hath instructed thee in the years that are past, +and in the former times of the earth.</p> + +<p>By prayer, by fasting, by meditation, by painful seeking, +hast thou attained that thou knowest.</p> + +<p>There is no knowledge but by labour: there is no +intuition but by experience.</p> + +<p>I have seen thee on the hills of the East: I have followed +thy steps in the wilderness: I have seen thee adore +at sunrise: I have marked thy night watches in the caves +of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Thou hast attained with patience, O prophet! God +hath revealed the truth to thee from within."</p></div> + +<p>Thus, for the first time known to history, was given +a definition of the nature and method of inspiration +and prophecy, at once luminous, reasonable, and +inexpugnable, to the full and final solution of this +stupendous problem; and comporting with and +explaining, as it did, all our own experiences, we +felt that we could bear unreserved testimony to its +truth. But, vast as was the addition thus made to +the New Gospel of Interpretation, it did not +exhaust the treasures revealed and communicated +on that wondrous night; for it was followed immediately +by a prophecy of the meaning of the new +dispensation on which the world is entering, and +of which our work is the introduction. At once +Biblical in diction and character, it reached in +loftiness the highest level of Biblical prophecy +and inspiration, demonstrating the same world +celestial and divine as the source of both. For +which reason, and the crushing blow administered +by it to the superstitions which have made of +Christianity a by-word and a reproach by their<span class="pagenum">[107]</span> +gross materialisations of mysteries purely spiritual, +it is reproduced in full here. The heading is of our +own devising:—</p> + +<p>A Prophecy of the Kingdom of the Soul, mystically +called the Day of the Woman.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"And now I show you a mystery and a new thing, which +is part of the mystery of the fourth day of creation.</p> + +<p>The word which shall come to save the world, shall be +uttered by a woman.</p> + +<p>A woman shall conceive, and shall bring forth the +tidings of salvation.</p> + +<p>For the reign of Adam is at its last hour; and God shall +crown all things by the creation of Eve.</p> + +<p>Hitherto the man hath been alone, and hath had +dominion over the earth.</p> + +<p>But when the woman shall be created, God shall give +unto her the kingdom; and she shall be first in rule and +highest in dignity.</p> + +<p>Yea, the last shall be first, and the elder shall serve the +younger.</p> + +<p>So that women shall no more lament for their womanhood; +but men shall rather say, "O that we had been born +women!"</p> + +<p>For the strong shall be put down from their seat, and +the meek shall be exalted to their place.</p> + +<p>The days of the Covenant of Manifestation are passing +away: the Gospel of Interpretation cometh.</p> + +<p>There shall nothing new be told; but that which is +ancient shall be interpreted.</p> + +<p>So that man the manifesto shall resign his office: and +woman the interpreter shall give light to the world.</p> + +<p>Hers is the fourth office: she revealeth that which the +Lord hath manifested.</p> + +<p>Hers is the light of the heavens, and the brightest of +the planets of the holy seven.</p> + +<p>She is the fourth dimension; the eyes which enlighten; +the power which draweth inward to God.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[108]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And her kingdom cometh; the day of the exaltation +of woman.</p> + +<p>And her reign shall be greater than the reign of the +man: for Adam shall be put down from his place; and she +shall have dominion for ever.</p> + +<p>And she who is alone shall bring forth more children +to God, then she who hath an husband.</p> + +<p>There shall no more be a reproach against women: but +against men shall be the reproach.</p> + +<p>For the woman is the crown of man, and the final manifestation +of humanity.</p> + +<p>She is the nearest to the throne of God, when she shall +be revealed.</p> + +<p>But the creation of woman is not yet complete: but it +shall be complete in the time which is at hand.</p> + +<p>All things are thine, O Mother of God: all things are +thine, O Thou who risest from the sea; and Thou shalt +have dominion over all the worlds<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>.</p></div> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[109]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE ANTAGONISATION.</p> + + +<p>Even had we been disposed, which happily we were +not, to exalt ourselves on the strength of the +loftiness of our mission, the constant proofs +afforded us of the paucity of our knowledge in +comparison with what remained to be known, +would have effectually restrained us. But as it +was, we were from the first penetrated by the conviction +that only in so far as we succeeded in +subordinating the individual to the universal, the +personal to the divine, could the work be successfully +accomplished. The man must make +himself nothing that the God may be all. This +was the burden of the injunctions enforced on us +throughout; the failures of others through self-exaltation +being adduced in illustration. For, as +we were plainly given to understand, "many are +called but few are chosen"; the weak point in +their system, the "Judas" by whom they are +betrayed and fail, being generally vanity. They +are as instruments which mistake themselves for +the mind and hand which wield them.</p> + +<p>Humility and Love, the violet and the red, +these are the two extremes of the prism which comprise +between them all the Seven Spirits of God. +Blended, they make the royal purple; but the hue +of that purple depends on the spiritual states of +the individuals themselves whose tinctures they +are. They were, we were told, the tinctures of our +own souls as indicated by the colours of our<span class="pagenum">[110]</span> +respective <i>auras</i>. "Mary's" was the "blood-red +ray of the innermost sphere," the sphere of the +"first of the Gods," wherein "love and wisdom are +one." "For the Hebrews Uriel, for the Greeks +Phoibos, the Bright One of God." Mine was the +violet of the outermost sphere, that of the "last of +the Gods," the "Spirit of the Fear of the Lord," +and therein of Reverence and Humility; for the +Greeks Saturn, and for the Hebrews Satan, the +"Angel unfallen of the outermost sphere." Only +when man is built up of all the Gods, and bears +upon him the seal of each God, having climbed +the ladder of his regeneration from circumference +to centre, from "Saturn" to the "Sun," is the +"week" of his new and spiritual creation accomplished. +Similarly the co-operation of all these +divine potencies was indispensable to our work. +And we were emphatically warned of the dangers +both to it and to ourselves, that would come of the +lack of the divine presence in respect of any of +them. Hence the necessity of maintaining the +necessary conditions in ourselves, and the caution +addressed to us by "Hermes," in view of the +liability of mortals to appropriate to themselves +the importance appertaining to their mission when +this transcends the ordinary. To this end, in the +following Exhortation, he disclosed to us the +heights yet to be ascended, saying—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>He whose adversaries fight with weapons of steel, must +himself be armed in like manner, if he would not be ignominiously +slain or save himself by flight.</p> + +<p>And not only so, but forasmuch as his adversaries may +be many, while he is only one; it is even necessary that +the steel he carries be of purer temper and of more subtle +point and contrivance than theirs.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[111]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I, Hermes, would arm you with such, that bearing a +blade with a double edge, ye may be able to withstand +in the evil hour.</p> + +<p>For it is written that the tree of life is guarded by a +sword which turneth every way.</p> + +<p>Therefore I would have you armed both with a perfect +philosophy and with the power of the divine life.</p> + +<p>And first the knowledge; that you and they who hear +you may know the reason of the faith which is in you.</p> + +<p>But knowledge cannot prevail alone, and ye are not yet +perfected.</p> + +<p>When the fulness of the time shall come, I will add +unto you the power of the divine life.</p> + +<p>It is the life of contemplation, of fasting, of obedience, +and of resistance.</p> + +<p>And afterwards the chrism, the power, and the glory. +But these are not yet.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile remain together and perfect your philosophy.</p> + +<p>Boast not, and be not lifted up; for all things are +God's, and ye are in God, and God in you.</p> + +<p>But when the word shall come to you, be ready to obey.</p> + +<p>There is but one way to power, and it is the way of +obedience.</p> + +<p>Call no man your master or king upon the earth, lest +ye forsake the spirit for the form and become idolaters.</p> + +<p>He who is indeed spiritual, and transformed into the +divine image, desires a spiritual king.</p> + +<p>Purify your bodies, and eat no dead thing that has +looked with living eyes upon the light of Heaven.</p> + +<p>For the eye is the symbol of brotherhood among you. +Sight is the mystical sense.</p> + +<p>Let no man take the life of his brother to feed withal +his own.</p> + +<p>But slay only such as are evil; in the name of the Lord.</p> + +<p>They are miserably deceived who expect eternal life, +and restrain not their hands from blood and death.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[112]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>They are miserably deceived who look for wives from on +high, and have not yet attained their manhood.</p> + +<p>Despise not the gift of knowledge; and make not +spiritual eunuchs of yourselves.</p> + +<p>For Adam was first formed, then Eve.</p> + +<p>Ye are twain, the man with the woman, and she with +him, neither man nor woman, but one creature.</p> + +<p>And the kingdom of God is within you<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>The knowledge of the "Seven Spirits" whereby +Deity operates in the universe, has been completely +dropped out of sight by the Christian world. It is +necessary, therefore, if only in vindication of the +importance attached to them by our illuminators, +to recite the instruction received by us concerning +them, which is as follows. It is a chapter from the +recovered Gnosis<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In the bosom of the Eternal were all the Gods comprehended, +as the seven spirits of the prism, contained in +the Invisible Light.</p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span class="pagenum">[113]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>By the Word of Elohim were the Seven Elohim manifest: +even the Seven Spirits of God in the order of their +precedence:</p> + +<p>The Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, +the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of +Knowledge, the Spirit of Righteousness, and the Spirit of +Divine Awfulness.</p> + +<p>All these are coequal and coeternal.</p> + +<p>Each has the nature of the whole in itself: and each is a +perfect entity.</p> + +<p>And the brightness of their manifestation shineth forth +from the midst of each, as wheel within wheel, encircling +the White Throne of the Invisible Trinity in Unity.</p> + +<p>These are the Divine fires which burn before the +presence of God: which proceed from the Spirit, and are +one with the Spirit.</p> + +<p>He is divided, yet not diminished: He is All, and He is +One.</p> + +<p>For the Spirit of God is a flame of fire which the Word +of God divideth into many: yet the original flame is not +decreased, nor the power thereof nor the brightness +thereof lessened.</p> + +<p>Thou mayest light many lamps from the flame of one; +yet thou dost in nothing diminish that first flame.</p> + +<p>Now the Spirit of God is expressed by the Word of God, +which is Adonai.</p> + +<p>For without the Word the Will could have had no utterance.</p> + +<p>Thus the Divine Will divided the Spirit of God, and the +seven fires went forth from the bosom of God and became +seven spiritual entities.</p> + +<p>They went forth into the Divine Substance, which is the +substance of all that is."</p></div> + +<p>As already stated, Hermes is the Greek name +for the Second of the creative Elohim above +enumerated. Hence his special relation to the New +Gospel of Interpretation, the appeal of which is to +the Understanding.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[114]</span></p> + +<p>Being shown one day in vision the path we had +to traverse for the accomplishment of our work, +"Mary" exclaimed:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"What a dreadfully difficult thing it is to steer one's +way amidst such numbers of influences! I see a fine, +bright-shining thread. It is our own path, and it is a +pathway of light. But, oh! so narrow, so narrow, and all +around are spirits trying to lure us from it. Here is +Hermes, shining like a silver light. My Genius says that +the way to get the utmost vitality on the spiritual plane +is to abandon the plane of the body, and keep it quite low, +by not indulging it. The time for bodily indulgence is +passed with us. Abstinence, we have been told, and +watchfulness and fasting are needful. And the time for +the first of these has come. Nothing is gained without +labour or won without suffering. Fasting and Watching +and Abstinence, these are Beads and Rosary. It is a hard +way and a long way, and it makes one wishful to turn +back. We are not to be misled by the story, so much +dwelt on to you by the Astrals, of Moses and Aaron<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a>. +They both were failures, who entered not into the land of +Canaan. We must be patient and trust. We have to be +cultivated on both planes, the intellectual and the +spiritual, and not on the physical, for this draws from and +saps the others."</p></div> + +<p>So far as I was concerned, there was yet another +rule that was made absolute: this was the rule of +Poverty. Desiring at one time to mitigate the +rigour of my enforced economies by working with +a commercial intent, and to that end endeavouring +to finish a tale some time before commenced, I +found myself baffled by a complete withdrawal of +power. I was well aware that no romance I could +<span class="pagenum">[115]</span>devise would compare with the romance I was +living, and that any incidents I could invent +would be tame before those of my actual life; but +it was not this that withheld me. It was made +clear to me that there was now only one direction +and one plane in which I was accessible to ideas +and in which therefore I could work, and this a +direction and plane altogether incompatible with +mundane ends. But I had not fully reconciled +myself to the loss of my earning power, or resolved +to refrain from further efforts in that behalf, when +I received the following experience.</p> + +<p>I had gone to bed, but not to sleep, for thinking +over the matter, when I became aware of the +presence of a group of spiritual influences, one of +whom, speaking for them all, said to me, in tones +audible only to the inner hearing, but distinct, +measured and authoritative—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We whom you know as the Gods—Zeus, Phoibos, +Hermes, and the rest—are actual celestial personalities, +who are appointed to represent to mortals the principles +and potencies called the Seven Spirits of God. We have +chosen you for our instrument, and have tried you and +proved you and instructed you; and you belong to us to +do our work and not your own, save in so far as you make +it your own. Only in such measure as you do this will you +have any success. For you can do nothing without us +now: and it is useless for you to attempt to do anything +without our help."</p></div> + +<p>By this and manifold other experiences, we had +practical demonstration of the existence of a celestial +hierarchy consisting of souls perfected and +divinised, divided into orders corresponding to the +"Seven Spirits of God," and having for their +function the illumination of those souls of men<span class="pagenum">[116]</span> +still on earth who are accessible by them; and to +whom they manifest themselves in the forms recognised +in the mysteries in which such persons have +formerly been initiated.</p> + +<p>We had also manifold proofs of their power to +arrest utterance before persons unfit to be +entrusted with the mysteries. The first instance +occurred to myself, and was in this wise. I was +reading some passages in illustration of our work +to an old clerical friend who came to see me in +Paris, when I inadvertently turned to a part of the +book which we had been charged to keep secret. +But before I had read a line, the air round me +became so dense with invisible presences that I +was unable to see, and my heart was clutched, as +if by an invisible hand, and lifted up towards my +throat with such force as almost to choke me; +while, at the same instant, an overwhelming sense +of my fault was impressed on my mind, causing +me for some hours to feel as one utterly God-forsaken +and cast off.</p> + +<p>Not thinking that "Mary" was liable to err in +the same way, or caring to tell her of my trespass, +I kept silence respecting this experience. But a +few weeks later it was repeated for her. She was +speaking of our work to a spiritualist friend with +whom we were spending the evening, and, in her +eagerness, got upon topics which I recognised as +forbidden. But before I had time to remind her, +she suddenly stopped short and rose from her seat, +gasping and dazed, and insisted on returning home +forthwith, to our hostess's great amazement and +disappointment. Divining what had occurred, I +refrained from questioning her until we were outside +and alone, when in reply to me she described<span class="pagenum">[117]</span> +exactly what had happened to me, using the words, +"I did not want to be choked!" There were other +occasions on which I was cut short under like circumstances, +by having all that I meant to say +suddenly and completely obliterated from my +mind.</p> + +<p>Being desirous to know more of the adverse +influences against which we had been warned, and +from which we suffered, "Mary" consulted her +illuminator respecting their origin and nature, +when the following colloquy ensued:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"They are," he said, "the powers which affect and +influence Sensitives. They do not control, for they have +no force.... They are Reflects. They have no real +entity in themselves. They resemble mists which arise +from the damp earth of low-lying lands, and which the +heat of the sun disperses. Again, they are like vapours in +high altitudes, upon which, if a man's shadow falls, he +beholds himself as a giant. For these spirits invariably +flatter and magnify a man to himself. And this is a sign +whereby you may know them. They tell one that he is +a king; another, that he is a Christ; another, that he is the +wisest of mortals, and the like. For, being born of the +fluids of the body, they are unspiritual and live <i>of</i> the +body."</p> + +<p>"Do they, then," I asked, "come from within the man?"</p> + +<p>"All things," he replied "come from within. A man's +foes are they of his own household."</p> + +<p>"And how," I asked, "may we discern the Astrals from +the higher spirits?"</p> + +<p>"I have told you of one sign;—they are flattering +spirits. Now I will tell you of another. They always +depreciate Woman. And they do this because their deadliest +foe is the Intuition. And these, too, are signs. Is +there anything strong? they will make it weak. Is there +anything wise? they will make it foolish. Is there any<span class="pagenum">[118]</span>thing +sublime? they will distort and travesty it. And +this they do because they are exhalations of matter, and +have no spiritual nature. Hence they pursue and persecute +the Woman continually, sending after her a flood of +vituperation like a torrent to sweep her away. But it +shall be in vain. For God shall carry her to His throne, +and she shall tread on the necks of them.</p> + +<p>"Therefore the High Gods will give through a woman +the Interpretation which alone can save the world. A +woman shall open the gates of the Kingdom to mankind, +because Intuition only can redeem. Between the Woman +and the Astrals there is always enmity; for they seek to +destroy her and her office, and to put themselves in her +place. They are the delusive shapes who tempted the +saints of old with exceeding beauty and wiles of love, and +great show of affection and flattery. Oh! beware of them +when they flatter, for they spread a net for thy soul."</p> + +<p>"Am I, then, in danger from them?" I asked. "Am +I, too, a Sensitive?" And he said,—</p> + +<p>"No, you are a Poet. And in that is your strength and +your salvation. Poets are the children of the Sun, and the +Sun illumines them. No poet can be vain or self-exalted; +for he knows that he speaks only the words of God. 'I +sing,' he says, 'because I must.' Learn a truth which is +known only to the sons of God. The Spirit within you is +divine. It is God. When you prophesy and when you +sing, it is the Spirit within you which gives you utterance. +It is the 'New Wine of Dionysos.' By this Spirit your +body is enlightened, as is a lamp by the flame within it. +Now, the flame is not the oil, for the oil may be there +without the light. Yet the flame cannot be there without +the oil. Your body, then, is the lamp-case into which the +oil is poured. And this—the oil—is your soul, a fine and +combustible fluid. And the flame is the Divine Spirit, +which is not born of the oil, but is conveyed to it by the +hand of God. You may quench this Spirit utterly, and +thenceforward you will have no immortality; but when +the lamp-case breaks, the oil will be spilt on the earth, and +<span class="pagenum">[119]</span>a few fumes will for a time arise from it, and then it will +expend itself and leave at last no trace. Some oils are +finer and more spontaneous than others. The finest is that +of the soul of the poet. And in such a medium the flame +of God's Spirit burns more clearly and powerfully, and +brightly, so that sometimes mortal eyes can hardly endure +its brightness. Of such an one the soul is filled with holy +raptures. He sees as no other man sees, and the atmosphere +about him is enkindled. His soul becomes transmuted +into flame; and when the lamp of his body is +shattered, his flame mounts and soars, and is united to +the Divine Fire. Can such an one, think you, be vain-glorious +or self-exalted, and lifted up? Oh no; he is one +with God, and knows that without God he is nothing. I +tell no man that he is a reincarnation of Moses, of Elias, or +of Christ. But I tell him that he may have the Spirit of +these if, like them, he be humble and self-abased, and +obedient to the Divine Word."</p></div> + +<p>So far from our being sufficiently advanced to +escape molestation from the sources thus indicated, +there were times when we suffered much from their +incursions, even to the hindrance, for the time +being, of the work on which our whole hearts were +set. Knowing that everything depended on our +unanimity, they sought to make division between +us, and what they lacked in force was more than +made up for by subtlety<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a>. Despite all our vigilance, +they would insinuate themselves like barbed +and poisoned arrows between the joints of our +armour, there to rankle and envenom, so insidious +were their suggestions. They did not flatter, but +<span class="pagenum">[120]</span>attacked us. So that it was a satisfaction to be +assured that they attack those only who are worth +attacking. The very nature of our work was such +as to invite attack from them, being what they +were.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, no experience was withheld that +would serve to qualify us for what proved to be an +essential part of our work, the "discerning of +spirits" in the sense, not merely of perceiving +them, but of distinguishing their nature and +character. And always was the lesson given in a +form which combined with its other features that +of total unexpectedness. Especially important was +it for us to be able to distinguish between the +spirits <i>of</i> the astral, against which we were warned, +and spirits <i>in</i> the astral, namely, souls which had +not yet accomplished their emancipation, but were +in course of doing so. But while as regarded the +former we were left to fight the battle for ourselves, +as regarded the latter there was a control +exercised, and none were permitted to approach us +save such as had a message of service which would +minister to the solution of a present problem. Of +this the following experience was an instance. It +helped us to a yet fuller comprehension, both of +the reasons which had dictated our association, +and of the liabilities to be guarded against.</p> + +<p>It was evening<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>, and we were occupied in our +respective tasks, and so entirely engrossed by them +as to be disposed to resent any interruption, when +"Mary" bent across the table, and speaking in a +low tone, said to me, "There is a spirit in the room +who wants to speak to us. Shall I let him?" I +<span class="pagenum">[121]</span>assented on the condition that he had something +to tell us really worth hearing. She then became +entranced, being magnetised by his presence; and +after telling me that he spoke with a strong +American accent and professed to be a "meta-physical +doctor"—meaning, she supposed, a doctor +in metaphysics—repeated the following after him; +for I could neither see nor hear him:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"You two have been put together for a work which you +could not do separately. I have been shown a chart of +your past histories, containing your characters and your +past incarnations. She is of a highly active, wilful disposition, +and represents the centrifugal force. You, Caro, +are her opposite, and, being contemplative and concentrated, +represent the centripetal force. Without her +expansive energy you would become altogether indrawn +and inactive in deed; and without your restraining +influence she would go forth and become dissipated in +expansiveness. So extraordinary is her outward tendency +that nothing but such an organism as she now has could +repress it and keep it within bounds. It is for the work +she has to do that she has been placed in a body of weakness +and suffering. She is the man—and you the woman—element +in your joint system. I can see only her female +incarnations, but she has been a man much oftener than a +woman; while you have generally been a woman, and +would be one now but for the work you have to do. Even +as a woman she has always been much more man than +woman, for her wilfulness and recklessness have led her +into enterprises of incredible daring. Nothing restrained +her when her will prompted her. She would wreck any +work to follow that, and only by combination with your +centripetal tendency can she do the present work. As a +man she has been initiated, once, a long time ago, in +Thebes, afterwards in India. The things she has done in +her past lives! Well, <i>I</i> do not say they were wrong, for I +<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p122" id="p122"></a>122]</span>do not hold the existence of moral evil. All things are +allowed for good ends; but this is a difficult truth to +express."</p></div> + +<p>Here she spoke in her own person, having under +his magnetism recovered her own vision and recollection, +saying—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"O Caro! I can see your past. You have been—no, +it is all wiped out. I cannot see it now. I am not allowed +to see it. Why is this? I see my own past. I see India:—a +magnificent glittering white marble temple, and +elephants. How tame they are! They are all out, and +feeding in a field or enclosure. And there are such a +number of splendid red flowers, they are cactuses, and all +prickly. The trees have all their foliage on the top, and +such long stems. They are palms. The soil is of a white +dust. And the sky is so clear and blue! But the heat is +terrible. I see you again. Your colour is blue, inclining +to indigo, owing to your want of expansiveness. But I +cannot see your past, except that you are mostly a woman. +And now I am by the Nile,—such a fine broad river!"</p></div> + +<p>Here she returned to her normal consciousness, +our visitor having taken his departure.</p> + +<p>Subsequently, in March, 1881, under the +influence of a higher illuminative power, she found +herself as one of a group of initiates making +solemn procession through the aisles of a vast +Egyptian temple, and chanting in chorus the +rituals which compose the marvellous "Hymn to +the Planet-God, Iacchos"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>. For, long as it is, she +<span class="pagenum">[123]</span>was able to reproduce it afterwards. It was thus, +by her recovery of the memory of knowledges +acquired in past existences, that the divine +originals were recovered from which the Bible-writers +largely derived at once their doctrine and +their diction. This is not to say that these were +mere borrowers and unilluminate. It is to say only +that they recognised the divinity of a prior revelation, +and regarded it as a common heritage. The +truth is one.</p> + +<p>Among the uses of the painful experience we +were now undergoing<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> was this one. It put me +on a track of thought of high value in enabling +me to determine our respective positions in regard +to our work. It was clearly the endeavour of the +astral influences by which we were being assailed—the +"haters of the mysteries" as our Genii called +them<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a>—to break down our work by destroying +that perfect harmony between us which was the +first condition of it. And all my endeavours failing +to discover in myself the weak point which +rendered us accessible to them, carefully as I +sought there for it, I was forced to look for it in +her, and was disposed to ascribe it to the survival +from the far past of some defect of the affectional +nature. For, as we were now learning, man has +a dual heredity, that of his physical parentage +and that of his spiritual selfhood. From the former +<span class="pagenum">[124]</span>of which he derives his outward characteristics; +and from the latter his inward character. The +experience just recited served to confirm the surmise, +but it did something else besides. It +suggested to me the following explanation of the +situation as growing out of the exigencies of our +work. That work had for its purpose the accomplishment +of the prophesied downfall of the +"world's sacrificial system." It meant war to the +knife against all the orthodoxies at once, religious, +social, scientific. It meant a death-"wrestle, not +against flesh and blood, but against principalities, +against powers, against the rulers of the +darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness +in high places." It meant, in short, the +destruction foretold by the prophets of "that great +city," the world's materialistic system in Church, +State, and Society, wherein the "Lord," the +divinity in man, is ever systematically crucified, +and its replacement by the "Holy City" or system +which comes down from the heaven of a perfect +ideal.</p> + +<p>What, then, I asked myself, was the foremost +moral need for the instruments of such a work? +Surely it was Courage. But courage subsists under +two modes. There is the courage which manifests +itself in action and aggression, and there is the +courage which manifests itself in endurance and +resistance. The former is its masculine mode, the +latter its feminine mode. The former connotes +Will, the latter connotes Love. And these were +the parts assigned respectively to us in our joint +system. Will and Love united had made the +world; disunited, they had ruined the world; +reunited, they would redeem the world. As He and<span class="pagenum">[125]</span> +She, King and Queen, positive and negative, centrifugal +and centripetal, they are the dual powers +of all things, the constituent principles at once of +God and of Man. The whole Universe is Humanity, +for it is the manifestation of God, and they are +the divine man and woman of all being; in their +conjunction omnipotent for good, in their disjunction +omnipotent for evil. And whereas it is the +function of Will to inflict, it is the function of +Love to bear. It is not, then, to the lack of these +qualities that our troubles are due, but to the +defect of them, the defect of our respective +qualities.</p> + +<p>The tension of feeling induced by the situation +had for me reached a pitch at which I had cause +for serious apprehension lest my organism prove +unequal to the strain. For, resolute though I +myself was to endure to the end, come what might, +the effort involved had so greatly affected my +organic system as nearly to double the number of +the heart's pulsations, to the imminent risk of a +rupture fatal to life or reason. Such was the +emergency when, longing for light and aid, I +received at night<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> the following experience, which +I reproduce as recorded at the time:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It seemed to me that I was sole spectator in some +circus or hippodrome. And in the arena were some horses, +seven in number, harnessed to a common centre, but all +facing in different directions like the spokes of a wheel, +and pulling frantically, so that the vehicle to which they +were attached remained stationary between them, through +their counterbalancing each other; while at the same time +<span class="pagenum">[126]</span>it seemed as if it must presently be dragged asunder into +pieces. On looking at it more closely, the vehicle seemed +to become a person who was attempting to drive the +horses, but was unable to get them into a line; and, +strange to say, the driver was one and identical both with +the horses and the vehicle, so that it was a living person +who was in danger of being torn asunder by creatures who +were in reality himself. While wondering what this +meant, some one addressed me and said that if I would do +any good, I must help to control and direct the animals +which were thus pulling their owner asunder. And that the +only way to do this was by so disposing myself that I +should be at one and the same time in the centre with the +driver, to help him to curb and direct his steeds, and outside +at their heads in order to compel their submission. +And not only must I be indifferent to their ramping and +chafing, I must even suffer myself to be struck and +wounded and trampled upon to any extent without +flinching; for only when I was so unconscious of self as to +be indifferent as to what might happen to me, would they +cease to have power against me. And the reason why I +must be also in the centre was that only there could I +effectually co-operate with the driver to enable him to do +his part in directing what in reality were the forces, as yet +unbroken in, of his own system, into the road it was necessary +for us both to follow. We were destined to be fellow-travellers, +and our journey was to be made together and +with that team. It could not be made by one of us without +the other, and the failure to effect a complete conjunction +and co-operation would bring certain ruin to the hopes of +both of us and of all who looked to us. The owner of the +horses, I was assured, could not of himself control them, +and I could only enable him to do so by an absolute surrender +of myself.</p></div> + +<p>Applying this vision to the situation, the moral +was obvious so far as I was concerned, and I +wondered whether "Mary" would receive any<span class="pagenum">[127]</span>thing +equally suggestive for herself. In the +morning, after remaining unusually late in her +room, she silently handed me the following account +of an experience which had similarly and simultaneously +been received by her:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I was shown two stars near each other, both of them +shining with a clear bright light, only that of one the light +had a purple tinge, and of the other a blood colour; and a +great Angel stood beside me and bade me look at them +attentively. I did so, and saw that the stars were not +round, but seemed to have a piece cut out of the globe of +each of them. And I said to the Angel, 'The stars are not +perfect; but instead of being round, they are uneven.' He +told me to look again; and I did so, and saw that each +globe was really perfect, but that in each a small +portion remained dark so as to present the appearance of +having a piece out; and I noticed that these dark portions +of the two stars were turned towards each other. Upon +this I looked to the Angel for the explanation.</p> + +<p>And the Angel said to me, 'These stars derive their +light not only from the sun but from each other. If there +be darkness in one of them, the corresponding face of the +other will likewise be darkened; and how shall either +reflect perfectly the image of the sun if it be dark to its +companion star? For how shall it respond to that which +is above all, if it respond not to that which is nearest?'</p> + +<p>And I said, 'Lord, if the darkness in one of these stars +be caused by the darkness in its fellow, which of them was +first darkened?'</p> + +<p>Then he answered me and said, 'These stars are of +different tinctures; one is of the sapphire, the other of the +sardonyx. Of the first the atmosphere is cool and equable; +of the other it is burning and irregular. The spirit of the +first is as God towards man; the spirit of the second is as +the soul towards God. The first loves; the second aspires. +And the office of the spirit which loves is outwards; while +the office of the spirit which aspires is upwards. The light +<span class="pagenum">[128]</span>of the first, which is blue, enfolds, and contains, and +embraces, and sustains. The light of the second, which is +red, is as a flame which scorches, and burns, and troubles, +and seeks God only, and his duty is not to the outward, +for it is not given to him to love. God, whom he seeks, +<i>is</i> love; and therefore is he drawn upward to God only. +But the spirit of his fellow descends. She indraws, and +blesses, and confers; and hers is the office which redeems. +Wherefore if she fail in her love, her failure is greater +than his who hath no love; and to be perfect she must +forgive until the seventy times seven, and be great in +humility. For the violet, which is the colour of humility, +is of the blue. And if she seek her own, or yield not in +outward things, her nature is not perfected, and her light +is darkened. Let Love, therefore, think not of herself, for +she hath no self, but all that she hath is towards others, +and only in giving and forgiving is she rich. If, on the +contrary, she make a self withinwards, her light is withdrawn +and troubled, and she is not perfect, and if she +demand of another that which he hath not, then she +seeketh her own, and her light is darkened. And if she +be darkened towards him, he also will darken towards her, +in respect, that is, of enlightenment. And thus her failure +of love will break the communion with the Divine, which +is through him. He cannot darken outwardly first; for +love is not of him. If he darken of himself, it must be +within towards God. But that which he receives of God, +he gives not forth himself. But he burns centrally and +enlightens his fellow, and she gives it forth according to +her office. And if she darken in any way outwardly, she +cannot receive enlightenment, but darkens the burning +star likewise, and so hinders their inter-communion.'</p></div> + +<p>Having thus spoken, the Angel looked upon me and +said, 'Ye are the two stars, and to one is given the office +of the Prophet, and to the other the office of the Redeemer. +But to be Prophet and Redeemer in one, this is the glory +of the Christ.'"</p><p><span class="pagenum">[129]</span></p> + +<p>Here again was an intimation that on one plane +at least of our respective systems she was of masculine +and I of feminine potency, with functions +to correspond. That these functions were capable +of being described in the terms employed was, we +felt, no reason for arrogating high places to ourselves. +Rather did we consider that everything is +according to its degree; and that, as for persons, +if the Gods were to wait until they found perfect +instruments, or at least perfect persons for their +instruments, they would never begin. And this +also, that if the world were in a condition to produce +such persons, it would have no need of +redemption. Had not even Jesus Himself been +"crucified through weakness"?</p> + +<p>In view of the intensity of the distress undergone +in this connection, I found myself recalling +the remark of Plato, "Many begin the mysteries, +but few complete them." My only wonder was +that any should survive the ordeals, if they +approached ours in severity. Meanwhile it was +said to us by way of encouragement, "Be sure +there is trouble in store. No man ever got to the +Promised Land without first going through the +wilderness."</p> + +<p>The instruction to "Mary" had not only justified +my surmise, it also met and corrected her in +respect of the chief cause of our trouble. This was +her disposition, at astral instigation, to withhold +from me the products of her illuminations, and +even to refrain from writing them down<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>, on the +specious pretext that they were meant for her own +<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p130" id="p130"></a>130]</span>exclusive benefit, and were too sacred to be given to +the world, or even to me; and she had failed to discern +the source and motive of these suggestions. +So effectually had what were really spirits of darkness +disguised themselves as angels of light.</p> + +<p>The importance attached to the occult significance +of our "tinctures" received illustration in +this wise. Permission had been given us to make +an exception to the rule of secrecy imposed with +regard to certain of the Scriptures received by us, +in favour of a friend<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> who took so warm an interest +in our work as to be eager to render it material aid +in the future should occasion arise. It was her +mission, she declared, to do so. But when the day +appointed for the reading came, "Mary" was so +ill that her going seemed to be impossible, and +the question accordingly arose as to whether I +might go alone and read them without her. We +had no sooner begun to consider the point than she +became entranced, and was shown a large open +volume, the book of the Greater Mysteries to which +our Scriptures belonged, surrounded by an Iris +composed of all the colours of the rainbow. She +was then shown the following lines, which I wrote +down as she repeated them:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The one in Red guards his privileges, and claims to be +present whatever is read.</p> + +<p>For the air is filled with the haters of the Mysteries.</p> + +<p>Therefore for your sake the chain must be complete;</p> + +<p>And the Light must be refracted round you seven times.</p> + +<p>He who is Red stands within the holy circle.</p> + +<p>And the Violet guards the outermost.</p> +<span class="pagenum">[131]</span> +<p>For the Word is a Word of Mystery, and they who guard +it are Seven.</p> + +<p>Beware that nothing you hear be told unless the circle +be perfect.</p> + +<p>And this charge we lay upon you until the work be +accomplished.</p> + +<p>Fire and sword and war are against you; you walk in +the midst of commotion.</p> + +<p>And your life is in peril every hour until the words be +completed."</p></div> + +<p>Up to the latest moment of the interval before +the appointment it seemed impossible for her to go. +She then suddenly recovered as by miracle, and +was able to attend the reading.</p> + +<p>The liabilities of our position subsequently<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +received this further illustration. "Mary" was +introduced in sleep, by her Genius, into an apartment +in the spiritual world which purported to be +the laboratory of William Lilly, the famous +astrologer who had foretold the great plague and +fire of London in 1666, in order to have her +horoscope told by him, he still pursuing his +favourite studies. On quitting him she caught +sight of a pile of books, one of which contained the +Gnosis we were in course of recovering. The following +colloquy then ensued:—</p> + +<p>"You also have these Scriptures!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, "but I keep them for myself +alone."</p> + +<p>"And why so," she asked, "since, if you have +them, they are for the learning of others likewise? +Will you not rather communicate these saving +truths to thirsty souls?"</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[132]</span></p> +<p>"I will communicate them," said he, fixing his +eyes on her intently, "when I can find Seven Men +who for forty days have tasted no flesh, whose +hands have shed no blood, and whose tongues have +tasted of none."</p> + +<p>"But if you find not Seven?"</p> + +<p>"Then, mayhap, I shall find Five."</p> + +<p>"And if not Five?"</p> + +<p>"Then, maybe, I shall meet with Three."</p> + +<p>"But even this may be hard to find, and if you +should not meet with Three, what then will you +do?"</p> + +<p>"One Neophyte would not be able to protect +himself."</p> + +<p>In communicating to her the results of his calculations, +he had said that owing to the propensities +indulged in certain of her former lives, she +had made for herself a destiny which ensured +suffering and failure, except when living in a +similar manner; doing which she would have a +life of unbounded success. "But," he continued, +"your horoscope has nothing for you but misfortune +so long as you persist in a virtuous course +of life, and, indeed, it is now too late to adopt +another. I speak herein according to your Fortune, +not in regard to your Inner life. With that I have +no concern. I tell you what is forecast for you on +the material and actual planisphere of your +Nativity.... I see nothing but misfortune before +you. Yea, if you persist in virtue, it is not unlikely +that you may be stript of all your worldly goods, +and of all you possess, and this evil fortune will +follow your nearest associates."</p> + +<p>To her enquiry, "Can I never overcome this +evil prognostic?" he replied that she could do so<span class="pagenum">[133]</span> +only by outliving the time appointed for her +natural life in the career indicated, and added this +advice, "Steel yourself; learn to suffer; become +a Stoic; care not. If Misfortune be yours, make it +your Fortune. Let Poverty become to you Riches. +Let Loss be Gain. Let Sickness be Health. Let +Pain be Pleasure. Let Evil Report be Good Report. +Yea, let Death be Life. Fortune is in the Imagination. +If you believe you have all things, they are +truly yours." He concluded with an explanation +reconciling destiny with free will, and vindicating +the divine justice, in a manner which removed all +our difficulties on those points, and, as we later +came to learn, was entirely in accordance with +the Hindu doctrine of "Karma," of which at this +time we had never heard<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>.</p> + +<p>There was no exaggeration in the terms of the +warning of danger. We were constantly made +aware of the presence of the malignant entities +above described focusing their influences on us to +prevent the accomplishment of our work, and +requiring the utmost vigilance on our part, as well +also as on the part of our illuminators, to thwart +their purpose. And we had good reason to believe +that our difficulties and dangers were enhanced +through "Mary's" attendances at the schools and +hospitals, owing to the evil nature of the influences +there dominant under a regimen grossly materialistic, +and her liability to be fastened upon and +accompanied home by them. The outer walls of +her spiritual system—it was explained to us—were +not yet completed, owing to the vastness of +<span class="pagenum">[134]</span>the circuit of her selfhood; and hence her accessibility +to the incursion of noxious influences from +without. The treatment of the patients by men +trained in the physiological laboratory, and bent +upon turning the hospital ward also into a laboratory +with the patients themselves for the victims of +cruel and wanton experimentation, would send her +home boiling with indignation and wrath, to the +destruction of the serenity and self-control +requisite for our spiritual work.</p> + +<p>It was clear to us that no experience was to be +wanting to exhibit the contrast between the world's +actual and the world's possible. The overthrow of +"the world's sacrificial system" meant salvation +for man and beast. The condition of all really +redemptive work is a "descent into hell." The +following instruction to us is a typical one:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Teach the doctrine of the Universal Soul and the +Immortality of all creatures. Knowledge of this is what +the world most needs, and this is the keynote of your joint +mission. On this you must build; it is the key-stone of +the arch. The perfect life is not attainable for man alone. +The whole world must be redeemed under the new gospel +you are to teach."</p></div> + +<p>The following "Counsel of Perfection" which +was received<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> by "Mary," is an exquisite expression +of the same theme:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I dreamed that I was in a large room, and there were in +it seven persons, all men, sitting at one long table; and +each of them had before him a scroll, some having books +also; and all were greyheaded and bent with age save one, +<span class="pagenum">[135]</span>and this was a youth of about twenty, without hair on his +face. One of the aged men, who had his finger on a place +in a book open before him, said:</p> + +<p>"This spirit, who is of our order, writes in this book,—'Be +ye perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is +perfect.' How shall we understand this word 'perfection'?" +And another of the old men, looking up, +answered, "It must mean Wisdom, for wisdom is the sum +of perfection." And another old man said, "That cannot +be; for no creature can be wise as God is wise. Where is +he among us who could attain to such a state? That which +is part only, cannot comprehend the whole. To bid a +creature to be wise as God is wise would be mockery."</p> + +<p>Then a fourth old man said:—"It must be Truth that +is intended; for truth only is perfection." But he who sat +next the last speaker answered, "Truth also is partial; +for where is he among us who shall be able to see as God +sees?"</p> + +<p>And the sixth said, "It must surely be Justice; for this +is the whole of righteousness." And the old man who had +spoken first, answered him:—"Not so; for justice comprehends +vengeance, and it is written that vengeance is +the Lord's alone."</p> + +<p>Then the young man stood up with an open book in his +hand and said:—"I have here another record of one who +likewise heard these words. Let us see whether his +rendering of them can help us to the knowledge we seek." +And he found a place in the book and read aloud:—</p> + +<p>"Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful."</p> + +<p>And all of them closed their books and fixed their eyes +upon me.</p></div> + +<p>That it was possible at all for her to study +medicine in a school in which vivisection was an all +prevailing practice, was only because she set her +face resolutely against it, by refusing to attend +any place or occasion where or on which it took +place, and relying for her own education chiefly on<span class="pagenum">[136]</span> +private tuition. It was an essential part of her +plan to prove that such experimentation was not +necessary for a degree. And this she effectually +demonstrated by accomplishing her student-course +with rare expedition and distinction, despite her +many and severe illnesses and her frequent change +of professors. For one after another resigned the +office on account of her refusal to allow them to +experiment on live animals at her lessons. Not +until she had secured her diploma did she enter a +physiological laboratory. And then only in order +to qualify herself by personal experience to +denounce the practice. For herself it was not +necessary, she declared, to see a murder or a robbery +committed to know that it is a crime.</p> + +<p>The following incident shows how adverse the +conditions of modern life were to our spiritual +work:—</p> + +<p>Being in London one Christmas evening<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>, and +speaking to me under illumination, "Mary" suddenly +broke off and said—</p> + +<p>"Do not ask me such deep questions just now, +for I cannot see clearly, and it hurts me to look. +The atmosphere is thick with the blood shed for the +season's festivities. The Astral Belt is everywhere +dense with blood. My Genius says that if we were +in some country where the conditions of life are +purer, we could live in constant communication with +the spiritual world. For the earth here whirls round +as in a cloud of blood like red fire. He says distinctly +and emphatically that the salvation of the +world is impossible while people nourish themselves +on blood. The whole globe is like one vast +<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p137" id="p137"></a>137]</span>charnel-house. The magnetism is intercepted. The +blood strengthens the bonds between the Astrals +and the Earth.... This time, which ought to be +the best for spiritual communion, is the worst, on +account of the horrid mode of living. Pray wake +me up: I cannot bear looking; for I see the blood +and hear the cries of the poor slaughtered +creatures." Here her distress was so extreme that +she wept bitterly, and some days passed before she +fully recovered her composure.</p> + +<p>Our first acquaintance with any literature +kindred to our special work took place toward the +close of our sojourn in Paris<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a>. It was due to the +arrival of the friend in whose favour the exception +had been made in respect of the reading of our +Mysteries, and who was the possessor of an excellent +library, which she placed at our disposal, of +precisely the books it had now become necessary +for us to read. This was Marie, Countess of Caithness +and Duchesse de Pomár, who had for many +years been a spiritualist of zeal so ardent that—as +I now came to learn—she had been wont to make +my conversion to that faith a matter of special +prayer, long before I had been able to contemplate +such an event as within the range of +probability. Of wide culture, open mind, and +large sympathies, she had an enthusiastic and +intelligent appreciation of our work, and her +arrival on the scene proved so timely as to point +to superior direction. We were now able to begin +to make acquaintance with many of the seers, +mystics, and occultists of past ages, from the +<span class="pagenum">[138]</span>Neoplatonists, Hermetists, Rosicrucians, and other +orders of initiates, to Bœhme, Swedenborg and +"Eliphas Levi," and to see what the various +spiritualistic schools of the present day had to say +for themselves.</p> + +<p>The following recognition of Hermes by one of +the greatest of the Neoplatonists, Proclus, who +lived in the fifth century of our era, was especially +gratifying to us as proving the continuity of our +experiences with those of past ages. Proclus, it +must be remembered, was so eminent for his +wisdom and powers as to be regarded by his contemporaries +with a veneration approaching to +adoration. Says Proclus, "Hermes, as the messenger +of God, reveals to us His paternal Will, +and—developing in us the Intuition—imparts to +us knowledge. The knowledge which descends into +the soul from above, excels any that can be +attained by the mere exercise of the intellect. +Intuition is the operation of the soul. The knowledge +received through it from above, descending +into the soul, fills it with the perception of the +interior causes of things. The Gods announce it by +their presence, and by illumination, and enable +us to discern the universal order." Here was +exactly the doctrine received by us, and the +manner of it, only that the Intuition was further +disclosed to us as due to interior recollection, as +declared by Plato, as well as to perception.</p> + +<p>The results of the investigations thus begun, +and afterwards continued in the library of the +British Museum, proved satisfactory and gratifying +beyond all that we could have anticipated. For +while it was made clear to us that there had never +been a time when there were not some in the world<span class="pagenum">[139]</span> +who had the witness to the truth in themselves, +and this one and the same truth, it was also made +clear that whereas others had received it in limitation, +and beheld it as "through a glass darkly," +we were receiving it in plenitude and "face to +face," to the realisation of the high anticipations +of the sages, saints, seers, prophets, redeemers, and +Christs of all time; and this, too, at the period, +in the manner, and under the conditions declared +by them as to mark and make the "time of the +end."</p> + +<p>For in the illuminations vouchsafed to us the +key had been restored which unlocked the meaning +of the symbols in which the doctrines of all the +churches, pre-Christian as well as Christian, had +been at once concealed and revealed, to the elucidation +of all the problems which have so sorely +perplexed the world, and the verification, by actual +experience, of the truth contained in them. No +longer now was there for us any doubt as to the +meaning of allegories such as the Fall, the Deluge, +the Exodus, and others were now shown us to be; +or of prophecies such as those of the crushing of the +serpent's head by the Woman and her seed; the +return of Astræa with her progeny of divine sons; +the fall from heaven of Lucifer and Satan; the +Return of the Gods; the reign of Michael, "that +great prince who standeth for the children of God's +people"; the breaking of the seals, and opening of +the books; the recognition of the abomination of +desolation standing in the holy place; the budding +of the fig-tree, and the end of that "adulterous +generation"; the revelation of "that wicked one, +the mystery of iniquity and son of perdition, +whom the Lord, at His coming in the clouds of<span class="pagenum">[140]</span> +heaven with power and great glory, shall consume +with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the +brightness of His coming"; the two Witnesses, +their resurrection from the dead, and their ascent +into heaven; the drying up of the great river +Euphrates, and the coming of the kings of the +East by the way thus prepared; the binding of +Satan, and the acceptable year of the Lord to +follow; the exaltation to heaven, and clothing with +the sun, of the mystic "Woman" of the +Apocalypse; the advent of the angel flying in mid-heaven, +having an eternal gospel to proclaim unto +every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people; +the coming of many from the East, and the West, +and the North, and the South, to sit down with +Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of +heaven; and the battle of Armageddon, and the +end of the world. To all these, and other sacred +enigmas of like nature, the key had been given +us. And they one and all proved to be prophecies +of one and the same event, the restoration of the +faculty of inward understanding, and of the divine +knowledges which only through it are possible. +And whereas this was the faculty, the corruption +and loss of which had made the Fall, which was +that of the original Church, so was it the faculty, +the purification and restoration of which was to +reverse the Fall, accomplishing the Redemption. +For by it man will regain his mental balance, in +virtue of which he was "made upright," and +become again sound, whole, and sane, and be by +<i>condition</i> that which he has been divinely declared +from the first to be by <i>constitution</i>,—an instrument +of understanding, competent for the comprehension +of all truth. For only thus is he really<span class="pagenum">[141]</span> +man, and made in the divine image; seeing that +he is not really man, but infant only, until he +attains his spiritual majority and is able to understand. +And that which thus makes him man on +the plane mental and spiritual, is that which makes +him man on the plane physical. It is his recognition +and appropriation of the "Woman" of that +plane, the mystic "Woman" of Holy Writ, the +mind's feminine mode, the Intuition. It is of her +first identification by us, as the key to the whole +mystery of the Bible, that the manner will now be +recounted.</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[142]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE RECAPITULATION.</p> + + +<p>The first compendious statement of the doctrine +which it was intended to restore, was given to us +at Paris in the summer of 1878, in the form of an +exposition of the principles of Biblical interpretation, +under the following circumstances.</p> + +<p>We had been following our respective tasks<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> for +several months without any open or special illumination, +and I had written enough to make a +considerable volume in exposition of the principles +which appeared to me to be those on which, +in order to be a book of the soul, the Bible ought +to be constructed, and by which, therefore, it +must be interpreted. It was not intended for publication, +but as an exercise for myself, being purely +tentative; though I was conscious of being aided +by the occasional suggestion of ideas which served +as points of light and guidance. Meanwhile, I was +entirely without help from books; for, besides +being desirous of evolving the whole from my own +consciousness, as in the case of the demonstration +of any mathematical problem, I was not aware of +any books which would help me; the little I knew +of Swedenborg at this time—who was the only +writer known to me as a worker in a similar direc<span class="pagenum">[143]</span>tion—having +failed to make much impression on +me. I could accept his general principles, but not +his particular applications of them. I felt also +that the sources of the knowledges vouchsafed to +us, far transcended those to which Swedenborg had +access. And I accounted for the length of the +interval which had elapsed without any larger +measure of light being vouchsafed, by supposing +that it was intended for me to exhaust my own +resources first.</p> + +<p>The time had come when these were exhausted, +and I was reduced to the conviction that if the +work was to be carried any further, assistance +must be rendered, whether for confirmation, for +correction, or for extension. And on retiring to +rest one night<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>, painfully oppressed by the sense +of my own lack, and the prolonged absence of the +needed light, I stood at the open window, and +in presence of a sky resplendent with stars +mentally addressed to those whom we were wont to +speak of as the Gods, and of whose presence I +seemed to be dimly conscious, a strong expression +of my need, declaring my utter inability to advance +another step unassisted. Having done which I +went to bed, but in a mood the reverse of sanguine; +so many were the months for which they had been +silent.</p> + +<p>In the course of the following day, "Mary"—who +knew nothing either of my need or of my +adjuration of the preceding night, and could not +of herself have helped me—found herself under an +access of exaltation of faculty which she described +as resembling what might be produced by a +<span class="pagenum">[144]</span>draught of spiritual champagne. For she felt +herself at her very best, having all her knowledge at +her finger-ends. The expression recurred to my +mind some time afterwards on our receiving an +explanation of the "New Wine of Dionysos" in +the ancient mysteries. In this state she went down +to the schools, where an examination in her subjects +was being held, in order to see how the candidates +comported themselves, and to compare them +with herself; for it was an oral examination. From +this she returned home in high delight, declaring +that she could have answered every question asked, +and far better than any of the students had done. +I hoped that her state might be an indication of +the renewal of her illuminations. But the events +of the evening put all thoughts in this direction +entirely out of my mind. For, as if poisoned by +the atmosphere of the schools, she was seized with +an attack of sickness so intense and prolonged as +seriously to endanger her life through the +exhaustion induced. And it was a late hour—past +midnight—before she could be left alone.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless she was up betimes in the morning, +and on our meeting handed me a paper which she +had written in pencil on waking, saying it was +something she had read in her sleep, and asking +if it was anything that I wanted, as she had written +it down so rapidly that she scarcely observed what +it was about, and she had not had time to read it +over and think about it. Having read it, I found +that it met my every difficulty, and shed on the +Bible a light which rendered it luminous from +beginning to end, disclosing it as pervaded by a +system of thought which, when once seen, was as +obvious as it had previously been unsuspected.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[145]</span></p> + +<p>And while it confirmed me in respect of principles +and method, it corrected both of us in respect of +sundry particulars. It even referred directly to +one of my tentative hypotheses, at once negativing +it and giving another altogether satisfactory. This +was my supposition of Adam and Eve as possibly +denoting spirit and matter. The following is the +writing:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If, therefore, they be Mystic Books, they ought also to +have a mystic consideration. But the fault of most writers +lieth in this,—that they distinguish not between the books +of Moses the prophet, and those books which are of an +historical nature. And this is the more surprising because +not a few of such critics have rightly discerned the esoteric +character, if not indeed the true interpretation, of the story +of Eden; yet have they not applied to the remainder of the +allegory the same method which they found to fit the +beginning; but so soon as they are over the earlier stanzas +of the poem, they would have the rest of it to be of another +nature.</p> + +<p>"It is, then, pretty well established and accepted of +most authors, that the legend of Adam and Eve, and of +the miraculous tree and the fruit which was the occasion +of death, is, like the story of Eros and Psyche, and so many +others of all religions, a parable with a hidden, that is, +with a mystic meaning. But so also is the legend which +follows concerning the sons of these mystical parents, the +story of Cain and Abel his brother, the story of the +Flood, of the Ark, of the saving of the clean and unclean +beasts, of the rainbow, of the twelve sons of Jacob, and, +not stopping there, of the whole relation concerning the +flight out of Egypt. For it is not to be supposed that the +two sacrifices offered to God by the sons of Adam, were +real sacrifices, any more than it is to be supposed that the +apple which caused the doom of mankind, was a real +apple. It ought to be known, indeed, for the right +understanding of the mystical books, that in their esoteric +<span class="pagenum">[146]</span>sense they deal, not with material things, but with +spiritual realities; and that as Adam is not a man, nor +Eve a woman, nor the tree a plant in its true signification, +so also are not the beasts named in the same books real +beasts, but that the mystic intention of them is implied. +When, therefore, it is written that Abel took of the firstlings +of his flock to offer unto the Lord, it is signified that +he offered that which a lamb implies, and which is the +holiest and highest of spiritual gifts. Nor is Abel himself +a real person, but the type and spiritual presentation of +the race of the prophets; of whom, also, Moses was a member, +together with the Patriarchs. Were the prophets, +then, shedders of blood? God forbid; they dwelt not with +things material, but with spiritual significations. Their +lambs without spot, their white doves, their goats, their +rams, and other sacred creatures, are so many signs and +symbols of the various graces and gifts which a mystic +people should offer to Heaven. Without such sacrifices is +no remission of sin. But when the mystic sense was lost, +then carnage followed, the prophets ceased out of the land, +and the priests bore rule over the people. Then, when +again the voice of the prophets arose, they were constrained +to speak plainly, and declared in a tongue foreign +to their method, that the sacrifices of God are not the +flesh of bulls or the blood of goats, but holy vows and +sacred thanksgivings, their mystical counterparts. As +God is a spirit, so also are His sacrifices spiritual. What +folly, what ignorance, to offer material flesh and drink +to pure power and essential being! Surely in vain have +the prophets spoken, and in vain have the Christs been +manifested!</p> + +<p>"Why will you have Adam to be spirit, and Eve matter, +since the mystic books deal only with spiritual entities? +The tempter himself even is not matter, but that which +gives matter the precedence. Adam is, rather, intellectual +force: he is of earth. Eve is the moral conscience: she is +the mother of the living. Intellect, then, is the male, and +Intuition the female principle. And the sons of Intuition, +<span class="pagenum">[147]</span>herself fallen, shall at last recover Truth, and redeem all +things. By her fault, indeed, is the moral conscience of +humanity made subject to the intellectual force, and +thereby all manner of evil and confusion abounds, since +her desire is unto him, and he rules over her until now. +But the end foretold by the seer is not far off. Then shall +the Woman be exalted, clothed with the Sun, and carried +to the throne of God. And her sons shall make war with +the dragon, and have victory over him. Intuition, therefore, +pure and a virgin, shall be the mother and +redemptress of her fallen sons, whom she bore under +bondage to her husband the intellectual force."</p></div> + +<p>This marvellously luminous exposition, she then +told me, had been read by her in a book she had +found in a library which she had visited in sleep, +the owner of which was a courtly old gentleman +in the costume of the last century. The leaves of +the book were of silver and reflected her back to +herself as she read. I took this as symbolising the +Intuition. The event proved that her host was no +other than Swedenborg, and that—as her Genius +informed us—she had been enabled, "under the +magnetism of Swedenborg's presence, to recover a +memory of no small value," thus confirming my +surmise about its intuitional character. The event +proved also that it was Swedenborg's doctrine, +but without his limitations. We ardently desired +a continuation of it, and on the next night but +one, she received the following addition to it:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Moses, therefore, knowing the mysteries of the +religion of the Egyptians, and having learned of their +occultists the value and signification of all sacred birds and +beasts, delivered like mysteries to his own people. But +certain of the sacred animals of Egypt he retained not in +honour, for motives which were equally of mystic origin. +<span class="pagenum">[148]</span>And he taught his initiated the spirit of the heavenly +hieroglyphs, and bade them, when they made festival +before God, to carry with them in procession, with music +and with dancing, such of the sacred animals as were, by +their interior significance, related to the occasion. Now, +of these beasts, he chiefly selected males of the first year, +without spot or blemish, to signify that it is beyond all +things needful that man should dedicate to the Lord his +intellect and his reason, and this from the beginning, and +without the least reserve. And that he was very wise in +teaching this, is evident from the history of the world in +all ages, and particularly in these last days. For what +is it that has led men to renounce the realities of the +spirit, and to propagate false theories and corrupt +sciences, denying all things save the appearance which +can be apprehended by the outer senses, and making +themselves one with the dust of the ground? It is their +intellect which, being unsanctified, has led them astray; +it is the force of the mind in them, which, being corrupt, +is the cause of their own ruin, and of that of their disciples. +As, then, the intellect is apt to be the great traitor against +heaven, so also is it the force by which men, following +their pure intuition, may also grasp and apprehend the +truth. For which reason it is written that the Christs are +subject to their mothers. Not that by any means the +intellect is to be dishonoured; for it is the heir of all +things, if only it be truly begotten and be no bastard.</p> + +<p>"And besides all these symbols, Moses taught the +people to have beyond all things an abhorrence of idolatry. +What, then, is idolatry, and what are false gods?</p> + +<p>"To make an idol is to materialise spiritual mysteries. +The priests, then, were idolaters, who coming after Moses, +and committing to writing those things which he by word +of mouth had delivered unto Israel, replaced the true +things signified, by their material symbols, and shed +innocent blood on the pure altars of the Lord.</p> + +<p>"They also are idolaters who understand the things of +sense where the things of the spirit are alone implied, and +<span class="pagenum">[149]</span>who conceal the true features of the Gods with material +and spurious presentations. Idolatry is materialism, the +common and original sin of men, which replaces spirit by +appearance, substance by illusion, and leads both the +moral and intellectual being into error, so that they substitute +the nether for the upper, and the depth for the +height. It is that false fruit which attracts the outer +senses, the bait of the serpent in the beginning of the +world. Until the mystic man and woman had eaten of +this fruit, they knew only the things of the spirit, and +found them suffice. But after their fall, they began to +apprehend matter also, and gave it the preference, making +themselves idolaters. And their sin, and the taint begotten +of that false fruit, have corrupted the blood of the +whole race of men, from which corruption the sons of God +would have redeemed them."</p></div> + +<p>She had received this, also in sleep, as one of a +class of neophytes seated in an ancient amphitheatre +of white stone, and listening to a lecture +delivered by a man in priestly garb, of which they +took notes the while. She complained that her +notes had disappeared on waking, thus preventing +her from rendering what she had heard as perfectly +as she could have wished; for she had +trusted to her notes for it.</p> + +<p>The more we pondered these communications, +the higher was our appreciation of them. We felt +that the "veil of Moses" was at length "taken +away" as promised, and we had been enabled to +tap a reservoir of boundless wisdom and knowledge. +For we found in them the longed-for solution +of the purpose and nature of the Bible and +Christianity, and the key to man's spiritual +history. The method of the Bible-writers, the +meaning of idolatry, the secret of the Cain and +Abel feud between priest and prophet, as the<span class="pagenum">[150]</span> +ministers respectively of the sense-nature and of +the intuition, and the process whereby the religion +of Jesus had become distorted into the orthodoxy +which has usurped His name;—all these things +were now clear to us as the demonstration of a +proposition in geometry, the witness of which was +in our own minds. And we, too, we rejoiced to think, +were of the school of the prophets, in that with all +the force of our minds we had "exalted the +Woman," Intuition, and refused to make the word +of God of none effect by priestly traditions.</p> + +<p>Not the least marvellous element in the case +was the faculty whereby the seeress had been able +to reproduce, after waking, with such evident +faithfulness the things seen and heard at so great +length in sleep. In reply to my questionings she +said that the words seemed to show themselves to +her again as she wrote<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>.</p> + +<p>Discoursing with her Genius on this subject of +memory, she received the following, which is +valuable also for its recognition of the mystical +import of the Bible narratives, and confirmation +of St Paul when he says in reference to certain +narratives in Genesis, "These things are an +allegory."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Concerning memory; why should there any more be a +difficulty in respect of it? Reflect on this saying,—'Man +sees as he knows.' To thee the deeps are more visible than +the surfaces of things; but to men generally the surfaces +only are visible. The material can perceive only the +<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p151" id="p151"></a>151]</span>material, the astral the astral, and the spiritual the +spiritual. It all resolves itself, therefore, into a question +of condition and of quality. Thy hold on matter is but +slight, and thine organic memory is feeble and +treacherous. It is hard for thee to perceive the surfaces +of things and to remember their aspect. But thy spiritual +perception is the stronger for this weakness, and the +profound is that which thou seest the most readily. It +is hard for thee to understand and to retain the memory +of material facts; but their meaning thou knowest +instantly and by intuition, which is the memory of the +soul. For the soul takes no pains to remember; she +knows divinely. Is it not said that the immaculate +woman brings forth without a pang? The sorrow and +travail of conception belong to her whose desire is unto +'Adam'"<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>The following sentences sum up the conclusions +to which, by degrees, we were led. The first two +paragraphs are from an exposition concerning the +dogma of the Immaculate Conception which we +considered as one of the most sublime and momentous +of all her illuminations<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>.</p> + +<p>"All that is true is spiritual.... No dogma +is real that is not spiritual. If it be true, and yet +seem to you to have a material signification, know +that you have not solved it. It is a mystery; seek +its interpretation. That which is true is for +Spirit alone.</p> + +<p>"For matter shall cease and all that is of it, +but the Word of the Lord shall remain for ever. +<span class="pagenum">[152]</span>And how shall it remain except it be purely +spiritual; since, when matter ceases, it would then +be no longer comprehensible?"</p> + +<p>"For, though matter is eternally the mode +whereby spirit manifests itself, matter is not itself +eternal."</p> + +<p>"The church has all the truth, but the priests +have materialised it, making religion idolatry, and +themselves and their people idolaters."</p> + +<p>"In their real and divinely intended sense, its +doctrines are eternal verities, founded in the +nature of Being. As ecclesiastically propounded, +they are blasphemous absurdities."</p> + +<p>"All the mistakes made about the Bible arise +out of the mystic books being referred to times, +places, and persons material, instead of being +regarded as containing only eternal verities about +things spiritual."</p> + +<p>"The Bible was written by intuitionalists, for +intuitionalists, and from the intuitionalist standpoint. +It has been interpreted by externalists, for +externalists, and from the externalist standpoint. +The most occult and mystical of books, it has been +expounded by persons without occult knowledge +or mystical insight"<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a>.</p> + +<p>Thus gradually but surely we learnt that Ecclesiastical +education has rigidly excluded from its +curriculum all those branches of study which +could throw light on the real nature of existence, +<span class="pagenum">[153]</span>and consists in learning what other men have said +who, themselves, did not know, but were mere +hearsay scholars lacking the witness in themselves.</p> + +<p>We marvelled much as to how the priesthoods +will comport themselves when compelled to recognise +the fact that a New Gospel of Interpretation +has actually been vouchsafed from the world celestial +in correction of their perversion and mutilation +of the former Gospel of Manifestation, and suppression +of the true doctrine of salvation. Will +Cain and Caiaphas still have the dominion, and +ecclesiasticism be as ready to crucify the Christ on +His second coming as it was on His first? And if +not, how will it find courage to face the world with +the humiliating confession that all through the +long ages of its history, while arrogantly claiming +to be the faithful and infallible minister of the +Gospel of Christ, it has persistently withheld that +gospel, and, losing the key to its meaning, has +substituted for the wholesome "bread" of divine +truth, the "stones" of innutritious because unintelligible +dogmas; and for the "fish" of the +living waters, the "serpents" of the letter which +kills? and that when men have rightly suspected +that Christianity has failed, not because it is false, +but because it has been falsified, and have sought +to their own inner light for the truth of which +ecclesiasticism had defrauded them, it dealt out +to them pitiless anathema and persecution, making +the earth a scene of torture and slaughter in assertion +of the right of the priesthoods to teach wrong?</p> + +<p>That the work committed to us implied nothing +less than the fulfilment of the prophecies of which +the promise of the Second Coming of Christ was +the culmination, while intimated to us from the<span class="pagenum">[154]</span> +outset, was gradually unfolded into full assurance, +and we were enabled to see that the very terms in +which it was couched implied a spiritual advent, +and one which should disclose the perfect system +at once of science, philosophy, morality, and +religion, of which Christ is both the foundation +and the consummation. For the "clouds of +heaven" in which it was to take place, were no +other than the heaven of the kingdom within man +of his restored spiritual consciousness. "That +wicked one," "the son of perdition," and "mystery +of iniquity" then to be revealed and destroyed, +was no other than the inspiring evil spirit of an +ecclesiasticism which had received indeed its +doctrines from above, but their interpretation and +application from below. And the "Spirit of His +mouth," and the "Brightness of His Coming" +were no other than a new Word of God, in the form +of a New Gospel of Interpretation, so potent in its +logic and so luminous in its exposition as to indicate +the Logos Himself as its source, and the +"Woman" Intuition, "clothed with the Sun" of +full illumination, as its revealer.</p> + +<p>We saw, too, that with this "Woman" thus +rehabilitated, God's "Two Witnesses,"—who have +so long lain dead in the streets of "that great city" +wherein the Lord, the divinity in man, is ever +systematically crucified; the city of the world's +system as fashioned and controlled by an ecclesiasticism +shrouded in the threefold veil of +Blood, Idolatry, and the Curse of Eve,—will rise +and stand on their feet, and ascend to the heaven +of their proper supremacy, <i>vice</i> Lucifer deposed and +fallen. And in them Lucifer himself will regain +his lost estate, vindicating his title to be called the<span class="pagenum">[155]</span> +Light-bearer, the bright and morning star, the +herald and bringer-in of the perfect day of the +Lord God. For, as the Intellect, he is the heir of +all things, if only he be begotten of the Spirit, and +be no bastard engendered of the Sense-Nature.</p> + +<p>For—as we had come to learn—God's Two Witnesses +in man are ever the Intellect and the +Intuition, when duly unfolded and united in a +pure spirit. Under such conditions the Shiloh +comes, and mounted on them man rides triumphant +as king into the holy city of his own regenerate +nature. But divorced from her, the Intuition, +and—leagued with the Sense-Nature—knowing +matter only and the body, the Intellect becomes +"prince of devils" in man, the maker of men into +fiends, and of the earth into a hell. Wherefore his +fall from the heaven of his power, on the advent +of that whole Humanity, of whom it is said, "the +Man is not without the Woman, nor the Woman +without the Man, in the Lord," the humanity of +intellect and intuition combined, has ever been +exultingly hailed in anticipation by all true seers +and prophets.</p> + +<p>The chief points of the doctrine, the prospect +of the restoration of which has thus been the sustaining +hope of the percipient faithful in all ages, +may be summarised as follows:—</p> + +<p>The doctrine which, first and foremost, it is the +purpose of the Bible to affirm, and of the Christ to +demonstrate, and in which reason entirely concurs, +is no other than that of the divine potentialities +of man, belonging to him in virtue of the +nature of his constituent principles, the force and +the substance of existence. These are the duality +of the "heavens" which God is said to "create,"<span class="pagenum">[156]</span> +meaning to put forth from Himself, "in the beginning," +and of the mutual interaction of which all +things are the product, varying according to the +plane of operation, alike for creation and redemption, +generation and regeneration. And that which +Jesus really affirmed in the memorable but little +understood words, "Ye <i>must</i> be born again, or +from above, of Water and the Spirit," was both the +possibility and the necessity to all men of realising +the potential divinity belonging to them in virtue +of the divinity of their constituent principles. And +in affirming this He affirmed both the necessity +and the possibility to every man of being born +exactly as He Himself, as typical man regenerate, +is said to have been born, of Virgin Mary and +Holy Ghost, and also His own identity in kind +with all other men. And He affirmed, moreover, +the utter falsity of that priest-constructed system, +which, ignoring Regeneration, insists on Substitution, +as the means of salvation. For "Virgin +Mary," and "Holy Ghost," are but the mystical +synonyms with "Water and the Spirit," the substance +and force, or soul and spirit, of which, man +is constituted, in their divine because pure condition, +the product of which in man is the new +regenerate selfhood called, as by St Paul, the +"Christ within." Begotten in man as matrix, of +the pure Spirit and Substance which are God, this +new selfhood is son at once of God and of man; +and in him God and man are "reconciled" or +"at-oned." And that man is said to be saved by +his blood, is because the "blood of God" is pure +spirit, and it is the pure spirit in the man that +saves him; and that he is called the only-begotten<span class="pagenum">[157]</span> +Son of God, is not because God begets no other of +his kind, but because God, as God, begets directly +none of any other kind.</p> + +<p>This, then, as we came to learn, and to recognise +as having learned it in our own long-past +lives, is the doctrine which Jesus came to teach +and to demonstrate in His own person. Matter is +spirit, being spiritual substance, projected by +force of the divine Will into conditions and limitations, +and made exteriorly cognisable. And being +spirit it can revert to the condition of spirit. In +virtue of the divinity of his constituent principles, +man has within himself the seed of his own +regeneration, and the power to effectuate it. He +has in him, this is to say, the potentiality of +divinity realisable at will. And the secret and +method of the achievement, which is no other than +the secret and method of Christ, is inward purification +and unfoldment, the unfoldment of the +capacities, mental, moral, and spiritual, of his +nature, of which inward purification is the first +and essential condition. Thus is the Finding of +Christ the realisation of the Ideal, and Christ is +for every man the summit of his own evolution.</p> + +<p>Stated in terms of modern science, but correcting +its aberrations, the doctrine of Christ is in +this wise. Evolution is the manifestation of +inherency. Owing to the divinity of the constituent +principles of existence, its Force and its Substance, +both of which are God, the inherency of existence +is divine. Wherefore, as the manifestation of a +divine inherency, evolution is accomplished only +by the attainment of divinity; and the cause of +evolution is the tendency of substance to revert +from its secondary and "created" condition of<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p158" id="p158"></a>158]</span> +matter, to its original and divine condition of pure +spirit. Wherefore evolution is definable as the +process of the individuation of Deity in and +through Humanity.</p> + +<p>Such is the genesis of the Christ in man. And he +is called <i>a</i> Christ who, having accomplished this +process in himself, returns into the earth-life when +he has no need to do so for his own sake, out of +pure love to redeem, by showing to others their +own equal divine potentialities and the method of +the realisation thereof.</p> + +<p>This method consists in love, love of perfection, +which is God, for its own sake, and love for others. +The process is entirely interior to the individual. +It consists in the sacrifice of the lower nature to +the higher in himself, and of himself for others +in love. That which directly saves the man is not +the love of another for the man, but the love which +he has in himself. All that can be done by another +is to kindle this love in him.</p> + +<p>The philosophy of this doctrine of salvation by +love was formulated for us as follows:—"It is +love which is the centripetal power of the universe; +it is by love that all creation returns into the +bosom of God. The force which projected all +things is will, and will is the centrifugal power of +the universe. Will alone could not overcome the +evil which results from the limitations of matter; +but it shall be overcome in the end by sympathy, +which is the knowledge of God in others,—the +recognition of the omnipresent Self. This is love.<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p159" id="p159"></a>159]</span> +And it is with the children of the spirit, the servants +of love, that the dragon of matter makes +war"<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>.</p> + +<p>In making the means of salvation extraneous to +the individual, Sacerdotalism has defrauded man +of his Saviour, making the first and personal +coming of Christ of none effect. Hence the necessity +for the second and spiritual coming represented +by the New Gospel of Interpretation as was +foretold:—the coming which was to be in the +clouds of the heaven of man's restored understanding; +the Hermes within.</p> + +<p>But the process of regeneration is a prolonged +one, extending over many earth-lives; and so also +is the prior process of evolution, whereby man +reaches the stage at which he is amenable to +regeneration. Wherefore regeneration has for its +corollary reincarnation. To tell man that he "must +be born again" spiritually, and deny him the +requisite opportunities of experience, which must +be acquired while in the body—seeing that +regeneration is <i>from out of the body</i>—would be to +mock him.</p> + +<p>This doctrine of a multiplicity of earth-lives is +implicit and sometimes explicit in the Bible. The +notion that the Hebrews had no belief in a future +state because of the failure of commentators to +discover it in their Scriptures, is altogether futile. +The permanence of the Ego was a matter of course +with them, saving only the Sadducees. And the +Bible contemplates the persistence of the individual +soul through all the manifold stages of its +<span class="pagenum">[160]</span>evolution, from the "Adam" stage to the "Christ" +stage, saying, as by St Paul, "As in Adam all +die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." But the +Christ insisted on by him was not He Who is "after +the flesh," not the man Jesus, who was but the +vehicle of the Christ, but the Christ within both +Jesus and all other regenerate men. For, as a +highly illuminated follower of the Gnosis, St Paul +was one who "after the way which" his orthodox +accusers "called heresy, worshipped the God of his +fathers, believing all things which are according +to the law, and are written in the prophets." +Rejecting the doctrine of regeneration, and with +it that of reincarnation, in favour of substitution, +the orthodoxy which claims to be Christianity has +practically rejected both the doctrine of St Paul +and that of Jesus as declared to Nicodemus. And, +as St Paul implies, the "mystery of iniquity" was +working even already in his days to annul the +gospel of Christ by substituting Jesus as the object +of worship, and His physical blood-shedding as the +means of salvation. And Christendom, yielding to +sacerdotal dictation, has to this day accepted a +doctrine which at once dishonours God and robs +men of their equal divine potentialities with Jesus, +thus preferring Barabbas. Professing to rest its +faith on the Bible, it has accepted the presentation +of religion which the Bible persistently condemns, +that of the priests, and rejected that on which the +Bible emphatically insists, that of the prophets. +That St Paul employed sacerdotal modes of expression +was in order to spiritualise them. He was a +mystic of mystics.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the dogmas of the Church contain +the truth, but this is not as the Church has pro<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p161" id="p161"></a>161]</span>pounded +them. And—to cite two crucial instances—so +far from the Church's supreme dogmas, the +Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of +the Blessed Virgin, having any personal or physical +reference, they are prophecies of the method +of redemption for every individual soul. For, as +the New Gospel of Interpretation explicitly +declares, restoring the Gnosis persistently rejected +by the builders of the orthodoxies,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Immaculate Conception is none other than +the prophecy of the means whereby the universe shall at +last be redeemed. Maria—the sea of limitless space—Maria +the Virgin, born herself immaculate and without +spot, of the womb of the ages, shall in the fulness of time +bring forth the perfect man, who shall redeem the race. +He is not one man, but ten thousand times ten thousand, +the Son of Man, who shall overcome the limitations of +matter, and the evil which is the result of the materialisation +of spirit<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>.</p> + +<p>By the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the +Blessed Virgin Mary we are secretly enlightened concerning +the generation of the soul, who is begotten in the +womb of matter, and yet from the first instant of her +being is pure and incorrupt.... As the Immaculate +Conception is the foundation of the mysteries, so is the +Assumption their crown.</p> + +<p>For the entire object and end of kosmic evolution is +precisely this triumph and apotheosis of the soul. In the +mystery presented by this dogma, we behold the consummation +of the whole scheme of creation—the perpetuation +and glorification of the individual human ego. The grave—the +material and astral consciousness, cannot retain the +immaculate Mother of God. She rises into the heavens; +she assumes divinity.... From end to end the mystery +<span class="pagenum">[162]</span>of the soul's evolution—the history, that is, of humanity +and of the kosmic drama—is contained and enacted in the +cultus of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The acts and the +glories of Mary are the one supreme subject of the holy +mysteries<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a>.</p> + +<p>"Allegory of stupendous significance!" exclaimed the +seeress's illuminator when imparting to her the mystery +of the Immaculate Conception. "Allegory of stupendous +significance! with which the Church of God has so long +been familiar, but which yet never penetrated its understanding, +like the holy fire which enveloped the sacred +Bush, but which nevertheless the Bush withstood and +resisted<a name="FNanchor_72_72A" id="FNanchor_72_72A"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>."</p></div> + +<p>That such failure has been the rule and not the +exception is the plea for the New Gospel of Interpretation. +For lack of comprehension of its own +symbols the Church has fallen into the disastrous +errors of mistaking the man Jesus for the Christ +within every man, and Mary the mother of Jesus +for Virgin Mary the mother of that Christ, committing +in both instances idolatry by preferring +the form to the substance, persons to principles, +and blinding men to the essential truth implied.</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[163]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE EXEMPLIFICATION.</p> + + +<p>This chapter will be devoted to some examples of +the recovered Gnosis, bearing chiefly upon the +supreme doctrine of Regeneration. As with all +else received by the Seeress, they are the product +of intuitional memory regained under divine illumination +occurring mostly in sleep. And here I +will take occasion to state explicitly and positively, +that the states, whether of sleep or of trance, in +which her faculty was exercised, were all natural +and spontaneous, being induced by the Spirit +itself; and that in no case were artificial means +employed by either of us, whether drugs, mesmerism, +hypnotism, crystal-gazing, or any other of +the devices ordinarily used to induce abnormal +states of consciousness or promote enhancement of +faculty. Our work was to be a real work, done not +only by us but in us, and we had from the first a +profound instinctive distrust of results obtained by +such artificial stimulation.</p> + +<p>Nor was any change even of a word ever made +in the teachings received. They came one and +all in the finished perfection in which they are put +forth, coming down as the holy city from the +heaven of the upper and the within, and incapable +of improvement. The following are the examples +proposed:—</p> + +<p>(1) Concerning Holy Writ.</p><p><span class="pagenum">[164]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>All Scriptures which are the true Word of God, have a +dual interpretation, the intellectual and the intuitional, +the apparent and the hidden.</p> + +<p>For nothing can come forth from God save that which +is fruitful.</p> + +<p>As is the nature of God, so is the Word of God's mouth.</p> + +<p>The letter alone is barren; the spirit and the letter give +life.</p> + +<p>But that Scripture is the more excellent, which is +exceeding fruitful and brings forth abundant signification.</p> + +<p>For God is able to say many things in one, as the perfect +ovary contains many seeds in its chalice.</p> + +<p>Therefore there are in the Scriptures of God's Word +certain writings which, as richly yielding trees, bear more +abundantly than others in the self-same holy garden.</p> + +<p>And one of the most excellent is the history of the +generation of the heavens and the earth.</p> + +<p>For therein is contained in order a genealogy, which +has four heads, as a stream divided into four branches, a +word exceeding rich.</p> + +<p>And the first of these generations is that of the Gods.</p> + +<p>The second is that of the kingdom of heaven.</p> + +<p>The third is that of the visible world.</p> + +<p>And the fourth is that of the Church of Christ.</p></div> + +<p>(2) Concerning the Mystery of Redemption.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>All things in heaven and in earth are of God, both the +invisible and the visible.</p> + +<p>Such as is the invisible, is the visible also, for there +is no boundary line betwixt spirit and matter.</p> + +<p>Matter is spirit made exteriorly cognisable by the force +of the Divine Word.</p> + +<p>And when God shall resume all things by love, the +material shall be resolved into the spiritual, and there +shall be a new heaven and a new earth.</p> + +<p>Not that matter shall be destroyed, for it came forth +from God, and is of God indestructible and eternal.</p> + +<p>But it shall be indrawn and resolved into its true self.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[165]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>It shall put off corruption, and remain incorruptible.</p> + +<p>It shall put off mortality, and remain immortal.</p> + +<p>So that nothing be lost of the Divine substance.</p> + +<p>It was material entity: it shall be spiritual entity.</p> + +<p>For there is nothing which can go out from the presence +of God.</p> + +<p>This is the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead: that +is, the transfiguration of the body.</p> + +<p>For the body, which is matter, is but the manifestation +of spirit: and the Word of God shall transmute it into its +inner being.</p> + +<p>The will of God is the alchemic crucible: and the dross +which is cast therein is matter.</p> + +<p>And the dross shall become pure gold, seven times +refined; even perfect spirit.</p> + +<p>It shall leave behind it nothing: but shall be transformed +into the Divine image.</p> + +<p>For it is not a new substance: but its alchemic polarity +is changed, and it is converted.</p> + +<p>But except it were gold in its true nature, it could not +be resumed into the aspect of gold.</p> + +<p>And except matter were spirit, it could not revert to +spirit.</p> + +<p>To make gold, the alchemist must have gold.</p> + +<p>But he knows that to be gold which others take to be +dross.</p> + +<p>Cast thyself into the will of God, and thou shalt +become as God.</p> + +<p>For thou art God, if thy will be the Divine Will.</p> + +<p>This is the great secret: it is the mystery of Redemption.</p></div> + +<p>(3) Concerning Sin and Death.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>As is the outer so is the inner: He that worketh is One.</p> + +<p>As the small is, so is the great: there is one law.</p> + +<p>Nothing is small and nothing is great in the Divine +Economy.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[166]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>If thou wouldst understand the method of the world's +corruption, and the condition to which sin hath reduced +the work of God,</p> + +<p>Meditate upon the aspect of a corpse; and consider the +method of the putrefaction of its tissues and humours.</p> + +<p>For the secret of death is the same, whether of the outer +or of the inner.</p> + +<p>The body dieth when the central will of its system no +longer bindeth in obedience the elements of its substance.</p> + +<p>Every cell is a living entity, whether of vegetable or of +animal potency.</p> + +<p>In the healthy body every cell is polarised in subjection +to the central will, the Adonai of the physical system.</p> + +<p>Health, therefore, is order, obedience, and government.</p> + +<p>But wherever disease is, there is disunion, rebellion, +and insubordination.</p> + +<p>And the deeper the seat of the confusion, the more dangerous +the malady, and the harder to quell it.</p> + +<p>That which is superficial may be more easily healed; +or, if need be, the disorderly elements may be rooted out, +and the body shall be whole and at unity again.</p> + +<p>But if the disobedient molecules corrupt each other +continually, and the perversity spread, and the rebellious +tracts multiply their elements; the whole body shall fall +into dissolution, which is death.</p> + +<p>For the central will that should dominate all the +kingdom of the body, is no longer obeyed; and every +element is become its own ruler, and hath a divergent +will of its own.</p> + +<p>So that the poles of the cells incline in divers directions; +and the binding power which is the life of the body, is +dissolved and destroyed.</p> + +<p>And when dissolution is complete, then follow corruption +and putrefaction.</p> + +<p>Now, that which is true of the physical, is true likewise +of its prototype.</p> + +<p>The whole world is full of revolt; and every element +hath a will divergent from God.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[167]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Whereas there ought to be but one will, attracting and +ruling the whole man.</p> + +<p>But there is no longer Brotherhood among you; nor +order, nor mutual sustenance.</p> + +<p>Every cell is its own arbiter; and every member is +become a sect.</p> + +<p>Ye are not bound one to another: ye have confounded +your offices, and abandoned your functions.</p> + +<p>Ye have reversed the direction of your magnetic currents: +ye are fallen into confusion, and have given place +to the spirit of misrule.</p> + +<p>Your wills are many and diverse; and every one of +you is an anarchy.</p> + +<p>A house that is divided against itself, falleth.</p> + +<p>O wretched man; who shall deliver you from this body of Death?</p></div> + +<p>(4) Concerning the Twelve Gates of Regeneration.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Now, the Kingdom of God is within us; that is, it is +interior, invisible, mystic, spiritual.</p> + +<p>There is a power by means of which the Outer may be +absorbed into the Inner.</p> + +<p>There is a power by means of which Matter may be +ingested into its original Substance.</p> + +<p>He who possesses this power is Christ, and He has the +devil under foot.</p> + +<p>For He reduces chaos to order, and indraws the external +to the centre.</p> + +<p>He has learnt that Matter is illusion, and that Spirit +alone is real.</p> + +<p>He has found His own Central Point; and all power is +given unto Him in heaven and on earth.</p> + +<p>Now, the Central Point is the number Thirteen: it is the +number of the Marriage of the Son of God.</p> + +<p>And all the members of the microcosm are bidden to +the banquet of the marriage.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[168]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>But if there chance to be even one among them which +has not on a wedding garment,</p> + +<p>Such a one is a Traitor, and the microcosm is found +divided against itself.</p> + +<p>And that it may be wholly regenerate, it is necessary +that Judas be cast out.</p> + +<p>Now the members of the microcosm are Twelve: of the +Senses three, of the Mind three, of the Heart three, and of +the Conscience three.</p> + +<p>For of the Body there are four elements; and the sign +of the four is Sense, in the which are three Gates,</p> + +<p>The gate of the Eye, the gate of the Ear, and the gate +of the Touch<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>.</p> + +<p>Renounce vanity, and be poor: renounce praise, and be +humble: renounce luxury, and be chaste.</p> + +<p>Offer unto God a pure oblation: let the fire of the altar +search thee, and prove thy fortitude.</p> + +<p>Cleanse thy sight, thine hands, and thy feet: carry the +censer of thy worship into the courts of the Lord; and let +thy vows be unto the Most High.</p> + +<p>And for the magnetic man<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> there are four elements: +and the covering of the four is mind, in the which are +three gates;</p> + +<p>The gate of desire, the gate of labour, and the gate of +illumination.</p> + +<p>Renounce the world, and aspire heavenward: labour not +for the meat which perishes, but ask of God thy daily +bread: beware of wandering doctrines, and let the Word +of the Lord be thy light.</p> + +<p>Also of the soul there are four elements: and the seat +of the four is the heart, whereof likewise there are three +gates;</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[169]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The gate of obedience, the gate of prayer, and the gate +of discernment.</p> + +<p>Renounce thine own will, and let the law of God only +be within thee: renounce doubt: pray always and faint +not: be pure of heart also, and thou shalt see God.</p> + +<p>And within the soul is the Spirit: and the Spirit is One, +yet has it likewise three elements.</p> + +<p>And these are the gates of the oracle of God, which is +the ark of the covenant;</p> + +<p>The rod, the host<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>, and the law:</p> + +<p>The force which solves, and transmutes, and divines: +the bread of heaven which is the substance of all things +and the food of angels; the table of the law, which is the +will of God, written with the finger of the Lord.</p> + +<p>If these three be within thy spirit, then shall the Spirit +of God be within thee.</p> + +<p>And the glory shall be upon the propitiatory, in the +holy place of thy prayer.</p> + +<p>These are the twelve gates of regeneration: through +which if a man enter he shall have right to the tree of life.</p> + +<p>For the number of that Tree is Thirteen.</p> + +<p>It may happen to a man to have three, to another five, +to another seven, to another ten.</p> + +<p>But until a man have twelve, he is not master over the +last enemy.</p></div> + +<p>(5) Concerning the Passage of the Soul<a name="FNanchor_77_77A" id="FNanchor_77_77A"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Evoi, Father Iacchos, Lord God of Egypt: initiate thy +servants in the halls of thy Temple;</p> + +<p>Upon whose walls are the forms of every creature: of +every beast of the earth, and of every fowl of the air;</p> + +<p>The lynx, and the lion, and the bull: the ibis and the +serpent: the scorpion and every flying thing.</p> + +<p>And the columns thereof are human shapes; having +the heads of eagles and the hoofs of the ox.</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[170]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>All these are of thy kingdom: they are the chambers of +ordeal, and the houses of the initiation of the soul.</p> + +<p>For the soul passeth from form to form; and the mansions +of her pilgrimage are manifold.</p> + +<p>Thou callest her from the deep, and from the secret +places of the earth; from the dust of the ground, and from +the herb of the field.</p> + +<p>Thou coverest her nakedness with an apron of fig-leaves; +thou clothest her with the skins of beasts.</p> + +<p>Thou art from of old, O soul of man; yea, thou art from +the everlasting.</p> + +<p>Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as vesture +dost thou fold them up.</p> + +<p>They perish, but thou remainest: the wind rendeth +and scattereth them; and the place of them shall no +more be known.</p> + +<p>For the wind is the Spirit of God in man, which bloweth +where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but +canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.</p> + +<p>Even so is the spirit of man, which cometh from afar off +and tarrieth not, but passeth away to a place thou knowest +not.</p></div> + +<p>(6) Concerning the Mystic Exodus<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the Sphinx; who linkest the +lowest to the highest; the loins of the wild beast to the +head and breast of the woman.</p> + +<p>Thou holdest the chalice of divination: all the forms +of nature are reflected therein.</p> + +<p>Thou turnest man to destruction: then thou sayest, +Come again, ye children of my hand.</p> + +<p>Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth: +Lord of the cross and the tree of salvation.</p> + +<p>Vine of God, whose blood redeemeth; bread of heaven, +broken on the altar of death.</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[171]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>There is corn in Egypt; go thou down into her, O my +soul, with joy.</p> + +<p>For in the kingdom of the Body, thou shalt eat the +bread of thine initiation.</p> + +<p>But beware lest thou become subject to the flesh, and +a bond-slave in the land of thy sojourn.</p> + +<p>Serve not the idols of Egypt; and let not the senses +be thy taskmasters.</p> + +<p>For they will bow thy neck to their yoke; they will +bitterly oppress the Israel of God.</p> + +<p>An evil time shall come upon thee; and the Lord shall +smite Egypt with plagues for thy sake.</p> + +<p>Thy body shall be broken on the wheel of God; thy +flesh shall see trouble and the worm.</p> + +<p>Thy house shall be smitten with grievous plagues; +blood, and pestilence, and great darkness; fire shall +devour thy goods; and thou shalt be a prey to the locust +and creeping thing.</p> + +<p>Thy glory shall be brought down to the dust; hail and +storm shall smite thine harvest; yea, thy beloved and +thy first-born shall the hand of the Lord destroy;</p> + +<p>Until the body let the soul go free; that she may serve +the Lord God.</p> + +<p>Arise in the night, O soul, and fly, lest thou be consumed +in Egypt.</p> + +<p>The angel of the understanding shall know thee for his +elect, if thou offer unto God a reasonable faith.</p> + +<p>Savour thy reason with learning, with labour, and with +obedience.</p> + +<p>Let the rod of thy desire be in thy right hand: put the +sandals of Hermes on thy feet; and gird thy loins with +strength.</p> + +<p>Then shalt thou pass through the waters of cleansing, +which is the first death in the body.</p> + +<p>The waters shall be a wall unto thee on thy right hand +and on thy left.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[<a name="p172" id="p172"></a>172]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And Hermes the Redeemer shall go before thee; for he +is thy cloud of darkness by day, and thy pillar of fire by +night.</p> + +<p>All the horsemen of Egypt and the chariots thereof; +her princes, her counsellors, and her mighty men:</p> + +<p>These shall pursue thee, O soul, that fliest; and shall +seek to bring thee back into bondage.</p> + +<p>Fly for thy life; fear not the deep; stretch out thy rod +over the sea; and lift thy desire unto God.</p> + +<p>Thou hast learnt wisdom in Egypt; thou has spoiled the +Egyptians; thou hast carried away their fine gold and +their precious things.</p> + +<p>Thou hast enriched thyself in the body; but the body +shall not hold thee; neither shall the waters of the deep +swallow thee up.</p> + +<p>Thou shalt wash thy robes in the sea of regeneration; +the blood of atonement shall redeem thee to God.</p> + +<p>This is thy chrism and anointing, O soul; this is the +first death; thou art the Israel of the Lord,</p> + +<p>Who hath redeemed thee from the dominion of the +body; and hath called thee from the grave, and from the +house of bondage,</p> + +<p>Unto the way of the cross, and to the path in the midst +of the wilderness;</p> + +<p>Where are the adder and the serpent, the mirage and +the burning sand.</p> + +<p>For the feet of the saint are set in the way of the desert.</p> + +<p>But be thou of good courage, and fail thou not; then +shall thy raiment endure, and thy sandals shall not wax +old upon thee.</p> + +<p>And thy desire shall heal thy diseases; it shall bring +streams for thee out of the stony rock; it shall lead thee +to Paradise.</p> + +<p>Evoi, Father Iacchos, Jehovah-Nissi<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>; Lord of the +garden and of the vineyard;</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[173]</span></p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Initiator and lawgiver; God of the cloud and of the +mount.</p> + +<p>Evoi, Father Iacchos; out of Egypt has thou called +thy Son.</p></div> + +<p>To vindicate the suppressed mysteries of the pre-Christian +churches by disclosing them as the true +<i>origines</i> of Christianity, and to replace the false +doctrine of the exclusive divinity of one man by +the true doctrine of the potential divinity of all +men,—these are among the foremost objects of +the New Gospel of Interpretation. And it is +especially in order to reinforce the last named, +that it has restored the following hymn in celebration +of the supreme results of regeneration, +which formed part of the ritual of the greater +mysteries of the Greeks. It is addressed to the +first of the Holy Seven, the Spirit of Wisdom, as +represented by his "angel," the angel of the sun, +even "that light which Adonai created on the first +day," "whose name is, in the Hebrew, Uriel, and +in the Greek, Phoibos, the Bright One of God." +Breathing both the Spirit and the letter of the +Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, the hymns, +of which this is one, indicate unmistakeably the +identity in source and substance of the Hebrew +and the Christian with the other sacred mysteries +of antiquity, and the derivation of the later +<span class="pagenum">[174]</span>through the earlier from their common source in +the world celestial when once again they have been +restored. And they supply also the motive which +led the Christians to destroy the second Alexandrian +library, showing that motive to have been +the desire to conceal, first, the derivation of the +Christian presentment from its predecessors, and +next, the perversion of their doctrine in the +interests of an unscrupulous sacerdocy.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Taken in connection with its fellow-hymns, +similarly recovered, to others of the "Holy Seven," +the hymn to Phoibos throws a flood of light on the +creative week of Genesis, showing it to be no mere +proem to Scripture, or concerned with the world +physical merely, but an integral portion of Scripture, +being an epitome of eternal verities ever in +process, and appertaining both to Creation and to +Redemption. The Hymn to Her who is mystically +the fourth, but really the third of the Gods, +the "Spirit of Counsel" of Isaiah, is especially +notable for its solution of the problem of the +inversion of the order of the third and fourth days +of creation. These hymns, moreover, show indubitably +that the order of the solar system was no +secret to the hierophants of the sacred mysteries +of antiquity.</p> + +<p>(7) Hymn to Phoibos, the First of the Gods.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Strong art thou and adorable, Phoibos Apollo, who +bearest life and healing on thy wings, who crownest the +year with thy bounty, and givest the spirit of thy divinity +to the fruits and precious things of all the worlds.</p> + +<p>Where were the bread of the initiation of the Sons of +God, except thou bring the corn to ear; or the wine of +their mystical chalice, except thou bless the vintage?</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[175]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Many are the angels who serve in the courts of the +spheres of heaven: but thou, Master of Light and of Life, +art followed by the Christs of God.</p> + +<p>And thy sign is the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, +and of the Just made perfect;</p> + +<p>Whose path is as a shining light, shining more and +more unto the innermost glory of the day of the Lord +God.</p> + +<p>Thy banner is blood-red, and thy symbol is a milk-white +lamb, and thy crown is of pure gold.</p> + +<p>They who reign with thee are the Hierophants of the +celestial mysteries; for their will is the will of God, and +they know as they are known.</p> + +<p>These are the sons of the innermost sphere; the +Saviours of men, the Anointed of God.</p> + +<p>And their name is Christ Jesus, in the day of their +initiation.</p> + +<p>And before them every knee shall bow, of things in +heaven and of things on earth.</p> + +<p>They are come out of great tribulation, and are set +down for ever at the right hand of God.</p> + +<p>And the Lamb, which is in the midst of the seven +spheres, shall give them to drink of the river of living +water.</p> + +<p>And they shall eat of the tree of life, which is in the +centre of the garden of the kingdom of God.</p> + +<p>These are thine, O Mighty Master of Light; and this is +the dominion which the Word of God appointed thee in +the beginning:</p> + +<p>In the day when God created the light of all the worlds, +and divided the light from the darkness.</p> + +<p>And God called the light Phoibos, and the darkness God +called Python.</p> + +<p>Now the darkness was before the light, as the night +forerunneth the dawn.</p> + +<p>These are the evening and the morning of the first cycle +of the Mysteries.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum">[176]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And the glory of that cycle is as the glory of seven +days; and they who dwell therein are seven times refined;</p> + +<p>Who have purged the garment of the flesh in the living +waters;</p> + +<p>And have transmuted both body and soul into spirit, +and are become pure virgins.</p> + +<p>For they were constrained by love to abandon the outer +elements, and to seek the innermost which is undivided, +even the Wisdom of God.</p> + +<p>And wisdom and love are one.</p></div> + +<p>In view of the restoration of the Gods to +recognition by the New Gospel of Interpretation, +it must be explained that the doctrines of Monotheism +and Polytheism are not necessarily incompatible. +This has already been shown in +Chapter IV., in the utterance commencing—"In +the bosom of the Eternal were all the Gods comprehended, +as the seven spirits of the prism contained +in the Invisible Light." For as light is one +though its rays are seven and each ray is light, +so is God one though His spirits are seven and +each spirit is God.</p> + +<p>And yet further. The deities recognised under +various names or by various peoples are not necessarily +different Gods, but may be either the same +God or different modes or aspects of the same God. +Notably is this the case with the Gods of the +Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Christians. For +while by the term Elohim is denoted the two principles, +masculine and feminine, of Force and +Substance, which constitute Original Being, by +Jehovah or Yahveh, Adonai and Shaddai, is +denoted the resultant of the interaction of these +two principles as Father and Mother, who is called +therefore their word, expression, and Son. By the<span class="pagenum">[177]</span> +Holy Ghost is denoted the same two principles in +activity, having procession from the "Father-Mother" +through the "Son," to be the constituent +principles of creation, being Deity dynamic as +distinguished from Deity static. By the Seven +Spirits of God—as by the seven great Gods of the +Greeks,—are denoted the seven potencies into +which Deity differentiates on emerging as Holy +Ghost from the prism constituted of Father, +Mother, and Son, which are to each other as the +force, substance, and phenomenon of which every +manifest entity consists. For "Every entity that +is manifest, is manifest by the evolution of its +trinity." And by Christ is denoted the ultimate +issue of such procession of Deity into manifestation, +namely, divinity individuated by means of +its passage through matter, and elaborated by co-operation +of the Seven Spirits of God, into a +perfected <i>spiritual</i> Ego, who is at once God and +man, and subsists under two modes—the microcosmic +or individual, and the macrocosmic or +universal, and who is always in process of increase, +because, in manifestation, "the Father is greater +than the Son;" and "the manifest never exhausts +the unmanifest."</p> + +<p>Now the process of the Christ is by regeneration, +and of this, as has been said, reincarnation +is the condition. The New Gospel of Interpretation +contains an utterance of Jesus on +this subject which will fitly conclude this series +of examples. It was recovered by "Mary" +under illumination early in 1880, and consequently +when we had not fully come to realise +the actuality of the doctrine and the possibility of +the recovery of the memories of past lives. Hence<span class="pagenum">[178]</span> +she sought from her illuminators confirmation of +the genuineness of the experience, when she was +distinctly and positively assured that the incident +had actually occurred, and that she had borne part +in it, though no record of it survives. Such is the +extrinsic testimony on which it rests. We found +the intrinsic no less satisfactory, whether as regards +the substance or the form.</p> + +<p>(8) Concerning the previous lines of Jesus, and +Reincarnation.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This morning between sleeping and waking I saw +myself, together with many other persons, walking with +Jesus in the fields round about Jerusalem, and while He +was speaking to us, a man approached, who looked very +earnestly upon Him. And Jesus turned to us and said, +"This man whom you see approaching is a seer. He can +behold the past lives of a man by looking into his face." +Then, the man being come up to us, Jesus took him by the +hand and said, "What readest thou?" And the man +answered, "I see Thy past, Lord Jesus, and the ways by +which Thou hast come." And Jesus said to him, "Say +on." So the man told Jesus that he could see Him in the +past for many long ages back. But of all that he named, +I remember but one incarnation, or, perhaps, one only +struck me, and that was <i>Isaac</i>. And as the man went on +speaking, and enumerating the incarnations he saw, Jesus +waved His right hand twice or thrice before his eyes, and +said, "It is enough," as though He wished him not to +reveal further. Then I stepped forward from the rest +and said, "Lord, if, as thou hast taught us, the woman +is the highest form of humanity, and the last to be +assumed, how comes it that Thou, the Christ, art still in +the lower form of man? Why comest Thou not to lead the +perfect life, and to save the world as woman? For surely +Thou has attained to womanhood." And Jesus answered, +"I have attained to womanhood, as thou sayest; and +<span class="pagenum">[179]</span>already have I taken the form of woman. But there are +three conditions under which the soul returns to the man's +form; and they are these:—</p> + +<p>"1st. When the work which the Spirit proposes to +accomplish is of a nature unsuitable to the female form.</p> + +<p>"2nd. When the Spirit has failed to acquire, in the +degree necessary to perfection, certain special attributes +of the male character.</p> + +<p>"3rd. When the Spirit has transgressed, and gone back +in the path of perfection, by degrading the womanhood +it had attained.</p> + +<p>"In the first of these cases the return to the male form +is outward and superficial only. This is my case. I am +a woman in all save the body. But had My body been a +woman's, I could not have led the life necessary to the +work I have to perform. I could not have trod the rough +ways of the earth, nor have gone about from city to city +preaching, nor have fasted on the mountains, nor have +fulfilled My mission of poverty and labour. Therefore +am I—a woman—clothed in a man's body that I may be +enabled to do the work set before Me.</p> + +<p>"The second case is that of a soul who, having been a +woman perhaps many times, has acquired more aptly and +readily the higher qualities of womanhood than the lower +qualities of manhood. Such a soul is lacking in energy, +in resoluteness, in that particular attribute of the Spirit +which the prophet ascribes to the Lord when he says, +'The Lord is a Man of war.' Therefore the soul is put +back into a man's form to acquire the qualities yet lacking.</p> + +<p>"The third case is that of the backslider, who, having +nearly attained perfection,—perhaps even touched it,—degrades +and soils his white robe, and is put back into +the lower form again. These are the common cases; for +there are few women who are worthy to be women"<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>.</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[180]</span></p> +<p>(9) Concerning the "Work of Power."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>You have asked me if the Work of Power is a difficult +one, and if it is open to all.</p> + +<p>It is open to all potentially and eventually, but not +actually and in the present. In order to regain power and +the resurrection, a man must be a Hierarch; that is to say, +he must have attained the <i>magical</i> age of thirty-three. +This age is attained by having accomplished the Twelve +Labours, passed the Twelve Gates, overcome the Five +Senses, and obtained dominion over the Four Spirits of the +elements. He must have been born Immaculate, baptised +with Water and Fire, tempted in the Wilderness, crucified +and buried. He must have borne Five Wounds on the +Cross, and he must have answered the riddle of the Sphinx. +When this is accomplished he is free of matter, and will +never again have a phenomenal body.</p> + +<p>Who shall attain to this perfection? The Man who is +without fear and without concupiscence; who has courage +to be absolutely poor and absolutely chaste. When it is all +one to you whether you have gold or whether you have +none, whether you have a house and lands or whether +you have them not, whether you have worldly reputation +or whether you are an outcast,—then you are voluntarily +poor. It is not necessary to have nothing, but it is necessary +to care for nothing. When it is all one to you +whether you have a wife or husband, or whether you are +celibate, then you are free from concupiscence. It is not +necessary to be a virgin; it is necessary to set no value +on the flesh. There is nothing so difficult to attain as this +equilibrium. Who is he who can part with his goods +without regret? Who is he who is never consumed by the +desires of the flesh? But when you have ceased both to +wish to retain and to burn, then you have the remedy in +your own hands, and the remedy is a hard and a sharp one, +and a terrible ordeal. Nevertheless, be not afraid. Deny +the five senses, and above all the taste and the touch. The +power is within you if you will to attain it. The Two Seats +<span class="pagenum">[181]</span>are vacant at the Celestial Table, if you will put on Christ. +Eat no dead thing. Drink no fermented drink. Make +living elements of all the elements of your body. Mortify +the members of earth. Take your food full of life, and let +not the touch of death pass upon it. You understand me, +but you shrink. Remember that without self-immolation, +there is no power over death. Deny the touch. Seek no +bodily pleasure in sexual communion; let desire be +magnetic and soulic. If you indulge the body, you perpetuate +the body, and the end of the body is corruption. +You understand me again, but you shrink. Remember +that without self-denial and restraint there is no power +over death. Deny the taste first, and it will become easier +to deny the touch. For to be a virgin is the crown of +discipline. I have shown you the excellent way, and it is +the <i>Via Dolorosa</i>. Judge whether the resurrection be +worth the passion; whether the kingdom be worth the +obedience; whether the power be worth the suffering. +When the time of your calling comes, you will no longer +hesitate.</p> + +<p>When a man has attained power over his body, the +process of ordeal is no longer necessary. The Initiate is +under a vow; the Hierarch is free. Jesus, therefore, came +eating and drinking; for all things were lawful to Him. +He had undergone, and had freed His will. For the object +of the trial and the vow is polarisation. When the fixed +is volatilised, the Magian is free. But before Christ was +Christ He was subject; and His initiation lasted thirty +years. All things are lawful to the Hierarch; for he knows +the nature and value of all<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>.</p></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[182]</span></p> +<p>This chapter may appropriately terminate with a +few remarks in reply to the inevitable question, +why our country and language were selected as the +place and tongue of the new revelation in preference +to all others.</p> + +<p>It is, as we were enabled to see, because the +British people are recognised in the celestial world, +as possessing that peculiar quality of soul which, +in spite of their many and grievous limitations, +has made them to be the foremost witness among +the nations to God and the Conscience, in such wise +as to constitute them the counterpart of Israel in +the modern world. Others besides ourselves have +recognised this characteristic. Said Milton, speaking +of a crisis which, momentous as it was, pales +in presence of that which now is, seeing that +Religion itself as Religion was not menaced then +as in our time—</p> + +<p>"Now once again, by all concurrence of signs, +and by the general instinct of devout and holy +men, as they daily and solemnly express their +thoughts, God is beginning to devise some new and +great period in His Church, even to the reforming +of Reformation itself. What does He then, but +address Himself to His servants, and—as His +manner is—first to His Englishmen."</p> + +<p>To which we may add in reference to the present, +"And having by the hands of His Intellectualists, +beaten down the false interpretation of His holy +Word, accomplishing the work of destruction, is +about by the hands of His Intuitionalists, to establish +the true interpretation, accomplishing the +work of re-construction."</p> + +<p>Nor are there wanting specific historical facts +pointing in the same direction. To Britain it was +given by a timely act of revolt against a domination +at once foreign and sacerdotal, to rescue the<span class="pagenum">[183]</span> +letter of Scripture from suppression and virtual +extinction at the hands of an order bent only on +exalting itself at whatever cost to truth and +humanity. Meanwhile, for three centuries and a +half—period suggestive of the mystical "time, +times, and half a time,"—Britain has faithfully +and lovingly, albeit unintelligently and mistakenly, +guarded and cherished the letter thus rescued, even +to the erecting of it into a fetish. And it may well +be that she has now, for her guerdon, been further +commissioned to be the recipient and minister of +its interpretation.</p> + +<p>Moreover, as Mistress of the Sea, the especial +symbol of the Soul, she has a prescriptive claim +to be the vehicle of the latest and crowning message +to earth, of which the Soul herself is at once the +source, the subject, and the object.</p> + +<p>Nor are the universality of her language and the +grandeur of her literature elements to be left out +of consideration. All things point to her language +as destined to become, practically, the language of +the world; and hence its peculiar fitness to be the +vehicle of that "eternal gospel" which it is +declared should, at the end of the age, be proclaimed +"unto them that dwell on the earth, +even unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and +people."</p> + + + +<div class="p6"><p><span class="pagenum">[184]</span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">THE PROMULGATION AND RECOGNITION.</p> + + +<p>As will readily be imagined, the interest was +intense with which we watched the progress of our +work, in order to see whether the crucial event of +its promulgation would coincide with the date +prophesied for the turning point between the outgoing +and the incoming dispensations. The predictions +covered a period of six years, namely from +1876 to 1881 inclusive. In this period was to be +laid the foundation of a universal kingdom of +justice and knowledge, which should constitute the +reign of Michael, and spring from a new illumination, +one feature of which was to be the +"return of the Gods" in 1876. It was in the +autumn of this year that they first came to us, and +the intimation was given us that the reign +of Michael was then actually commencing; +we having no knowledge either of the meaning or +of the fact of such predictions. For, while the +Bible references to Michael were altogether unintelligible +to us, we had not learnt to refer the +event to any assignable period. The fulfilment of +this prediction disposed us to attach value to those +which pointed to the year 1881 as that in which +our work—supposing our estimate of its significance +to be correct—ought to see the light. For +our illuminators observed silence respecting times +and seasons, contenting themselves with bringing +under our notice the books containing the pre<span class="pagenum">[<a name="p185" id="p185"></a>185]</span>dictions, +the application being left to our own +perspicacity. We were powerless to influence +events, even had we desired to do so. We could +but work steadily on, as we did, "without haste, +without rest," until my colleague had finished her +university course and obtained her diploma. This +she accomplished in the summer of 1880, soon +after which we returned to England; and in the +summer of 1881 we delivered in London, to a +private audience, the lectures which constituted +the first promulgation of our work. These were +published in the following winter under the title +of "The Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ," +our excellent friend at Paris faithfully fulfilling +the mission she had accepted in relation to us and +our work<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>. Thus were fulfilled exactly all the +predictions respecting the dates, the character, and +the manner of our work.</p> + +<p>There were many other coincidences of a kind +so remarkable as to make us feel that to ascribe +them to accident would require a larger measure +of credulity than to ascribe them to design. Among +the most striking were those which concerned +"Mary's" names, and which were in this wise.</p> + +<p>When first the significance of the Apocalyptic +utterance concerning the river Euphrates and the +kings of the East was flashed on my mind, I asked +her if she knew that she was mentioned, even to +her very name, in the book of Revelation. To +which she replied, smiling, that she had known it +for some time, but which of her names did I mean? +I said that I meant her married surname, which +<span class="pagenum">[186]</span>fitted exactly a way made for kings across a river, +by the drying up of its waters, namely a <i>king's +ford</i>; the "Kings of the East," meaning those +principles in man whereby he has knowledge of +divine things—the East being the mystical expression +for the place of the dawn of spiritual light, +such as that of which she was the revealer. While +the Euphrates means, in the Apocalypse as in +Genesis, the highest principle in the fourfold +kosmos of man, the Spirit or Will<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>. Only when +this principle in man is "dried up," or sublimated +by being made one with the divine Will, is man +accessible to the divine knowledges brought by the +"Kings of the East." As the channel by which +these knowledges were being restored to the world, +she was the <i>kings' ford</i> implied. She then told me, +what I had not yet observed, that her baptismal +and maiden names were equally appropriate, as +the Latin for the "acceptable year of the Lord," +or <i>good time</i>, announced as to follow the restoration +of the knowledges brought by the Kings of the +East, is—allowing for difference of gender—<i>Annus +Bonus</i>. The coincidence of names did not end +here, for we shortly afterwards, in the course of our +researches, came upon an old prophecy declaring +that the initials of the "Messenger" of the new +Avâtar, due at this time, would be A. K.!</p> + +<p>She further identified the "Kings of the East" +as functions of the three principles in man, the +Spirit, the Soul, and the Mind; being respectively, +right aspiration, which is of the Spirit; right +<span class="pagenum">[187]</span>perception, which is of the Soul; and right judgment, +which is of the Mind; the combination of +which is the necessary and sufficient condition of +divine knowledge.</p> + +<p>Had we been sanguine of a favourable reception +of our book by the press at large—which we were +not—our disappointment would have been great. +But we were by no means prepared either for the +gross misrepresentation and even vulgar ribaldry +with which it was treated by the few organs in the +literary press which noticed it at all, or for the +complete neglect of it by that portion of the press +which especially concerns itself with religious +exegesis. In no instance was any attempt made to +exhibit its plan, purpose, and real nature, or any +recognition accorded to its luminous solutions of +the profound problems dealt with. The very claim +to have experiential knowledge of things spiritual +was accounted an offence; and it seemed as if the +word had gone forth to adopt towards it an attitude +which should effectually restrain the public from +making its acquaintance, even though it met absolutely +the need recognised on all hands as the +world's supreme need, and vindicated its claim +thereto by the presentation of teachings avowedly +of divine derivation and demonstrating their +divinity by their intrinsic character to all who are +in the smallest degree spiritually percipient. To +this day that attitude has never been abandoned or +relaxed; and notwithstanding the assiduous +endeavours made to counteract its influence, the +whole mass of our people, saving only a few select +circles, have yet to learn that the longed-for New +Gospel of Interpretation has actually been vouchsafed, +having been for years in their midst waiting<span class="pagenum">[188]</span> +but to be recognised of them,—a "light shining in +darkness and the darkness comprehending it +not"<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>.</p> + +<p>In compliance with the injunctions of our illuminators, +we had withheld our names from our +first edition, in order to secure for it a judgment +unbiased by any personal element. But though +we ourselves thus escaped the opprobrium attaching +to our book, "Mary" was at first inclined to +repent of having exposed her pearls to such +profanation; and was only reassured by the suggestion +that it showed how desperate was the need +for precisely the change our work was designed +to accomplish, and how exactly was fulfilled the +prophecy which foretold the wrath of the dragon +and his angels at the advent of the "Woman" +Intuition, their destined destroyer, and the consequent +shortness of their own time. We knew of +course better than to regard such criticism as being +in any sense a measure of our work. For us it was, +like criticism in general, a measure not of the thing +criticised but of the critics themselves. And these, +in our case, but truly represented the condition of +the age, and knew not what they were doing.</p> + +<p>Such is the reason why so many will hear for the +first time from this book that a New Gospel of +Interpretation has been received. To turn to the +other and compensating side. With those who were +specially qualified to judge, it was far otherwise. +And among the most notable of the recognitions +received from this quarter was the weighty utterance +which appears in the preface to the second +<span class="pagenum">[189]</span>and succeeding editions, coming from that veteran +student of the "Divine Science," the friend, disciple, +and literary heir of the renowned Kabalist +and magian, the late Abbé Constant ("Eliphas +Levi"), namely, Baron Spedalieri of Marseilles, +who though then an entire stranger to us, wrote to +us as follows—for I think it may with advantage +be reproduced here:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"As with the corresponding Scriptures of the past, the +appeal on behalf of your book is, really, to miracles, but +with the difference that in your case they are intellectual +ones, and incapable of simulation, being miracles of +interpretation. And they have the further distinction of +doing no violence to common sense by infringing the possibilities +of Nature; while they are in complete accord +with all mystical traditions, and especially with the great +Mother of these, the Kabala. That miracles such as I am +describing are to be found in <i>The Perfect Way</i>, in kind +and number unexampled, they who are the best qualified +to judge will be the most ready to affirm.</p> + +<p>"And here, <i>apropos</i> of these renowned Scriptures, permit +me to offer you some remarks on the Kabala as we +have it. It is my opinion—</p> + +<p>"(1) That this tradition is far from being genuine, +and such as it was on its original emergence from the +sanctuaries.</p> + +<p>"(2) That when Guillaume Postel—of excellent +memory—and his brother Hermetists of the later middle +age—the Abbot Trithemius and others—predicted that +these sacred books of the Hebrews should become known +and understood at the end of the era, and specified the +present time for that event, they did not mean that such +knowledge should be limited to the mere divulgement of +these particular Scriptures, but that it would have for its +base a new illumination, which should eliminate from +<span class="pagenum">[190]</span>them all that has been ignorantly or wilfully introduced, +and should re-unite that great tradition with its source by +restoring it in all its purity.</p> + +<p>"(3) That this illumination has just been accomplished, +and has been manifested in <i>The Perfect Way</i>. For in +this book we find all that there is of truth in the Kabala, +supplemented by new intuitions, such as present a body +of doctrine at once complete, homogeneous, logical and +inexpungnable.</p> + +<p>"Since the whole tradition thus finds itself recovered +or restored to its original purity, the prophecies of Postel +and his fellow-Hermetists are accomplished; and I consider +that from henceforth the study of the Kabala will be +but an object of curiosity and erudition, like that of +Hebrew antiquities.</p> + +<p>"Humanity has always and everywhere asked itself +these three supreme questions: Whence come we? What +are we? Whither go we? Now, these questions at length +find an answer, complete, satisfactory, and consolatory, in +<i>The Perfect Way</i>"<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>He subsequently wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If the Scriptures of the future are to be, as I firmly +believe they will be, those which best interpret the Scriptures +of the past, these writings will assuredly hold the +foremost place among them"<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>For those who are unacquainted with the Kabala, +its origin, nature, and intent, it will be well to +state that it represents the transcendental and +esoteric doctrine of the Hebrews, as handed down +from the remotest times. In recognition of its +divine origin, the Rabbins describe it as having +been communicated by God, first, to "Adam in +<span class="pagenum">[191]</span>Paradise," and, next, to "Moses on Sinai." By +which expressions they implied that its doctrine +was due to the highest possible illumination.</p> + +<p>It was also in recognition of this element in our +book that Mr. MacGregor Mathers dedicated his +learned work, "The Kabala Unveiled," to us, +saying—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have much pleasure in dedicating this work to the +authors of <i>The Perfect Way</i>, as they have in that excellent +and wonderful book touched so much on the doctrines +of the Kabala, and laid such value on its teachings. +<i>The Perfect Way</i> is one of the most deeply occult works +that has been written for centuries."</p></div> + +<p>As the foregoing testimonies represent the +<i>consensus</i> of the Kabalists, Hermetists, and other +great ancient schools of spiritual science in the +West, so the following represents the <i>consensus</i> of +the corresponding schools of the East. As will be +seen, it involves a coincidence so notable as to +point to a source transcending the human and +terrestrial, as that of the great spiritual revival +which our age is witnessing. That coincidence is +in this wise:—</p> + +<p>Within two years of the commencement of our +collaboration in the work which proved to be that +of the restoration of the <i>Gnosis</i> of the West—the +divine doctrine of which, as we had come to learn, +Christ was the personal demonstration, and the +religion called after Him ought to have been the +expression; a collaboration was commenced which +had for its end the like exposition in regard to the +religious systems of the East. This is the collaboration, +also of a woman and a man, which had +its issue in the Theosophical Society. The two<span class="pagenum">[192]</span> +pairs of collaborators worked simultaneously +through the succeeding years in entire ignorance +of each other and their work, until the commencement +of the publication of our results in 1881, at +which time the Theosophical Society was still so +far from having completed the system of its doctrine, +that neither of its two now fundamental tenets +had yet been recognised by it, the tenets, namely, +of Reincarnation and Karma—its chief text-book, +the "Isis Unveiled" of its foundress, not containing +them. We, on the contrary, had both of these +doctrines, having derived them, as already stated +herein, directly from celestial sources and wholly +independently of human authority and tradition, +of spiritualism, and of our own prepossessions.</p> + +<p>It was clear, both by this fact and by the +avowals of the parties concerned, that up to this +time the chiefs of the Theosophical Society had +been unable to obtain from those whom they +claimed as their masters more than a very meagre +instalment of their doctrine. But after the arrival +of our book in India this state of things was +changed. It was then declared on behalf of the +"masters" that we had obtained, from original and +independent sources, a system of doctrine substantially +identical with that of which they had for +ages been, as they supposed, in exclusive possession, +but had never been permitted to divulge, as +it had always been reserved for initiates. The +revelation of it through us, we were further +informed, had "forced the hands of the masters," +by showing them that the time had come when +secrecy was no longer possible, and compelling<span class="pagenum">[193]</span> +them, if only in vindication of their own claims, +to relax their rule of silence in regard to their +mysteries.</p> + +<p>The coincidence between their doctrine and ours +comprised sundry particulars the most recondite, +including—besides the two great tenets already +named—the multiplicity of principles in the +human system, and their separation and respective +conditions after death,—a subject lying outside +the cognisance of "Spiritualism." Among other +points of agreement was that of their recognition +of the great antiquity of the soul of "Mary," +whom they pronounced to be "the greatest natural +mystic of the present day, and countless ages ahead +of the great majority of mankind, the foremost of +whom—the most civilised—belong to the last race +of the fourth round, while she belongs to the first +race of the fifth round."</p> + +<p>In presence of these and other proofs of the +possession by the Eastern occultists, of knowledges +which we had obtained directly at first hand from +celestial sources, we could not but pay respectful +heed to the claims of the representatives of the +Theosophical Society, and welcome any token +which might indicate it as a destined fellow-agent +in the great spiritual revival of the age. So might +it constitute, with "Spiritualism" and the work +represented by us, a threefold power for accomplishing +the promotion predicted for this era, of +the consciousness of the race to a level which should +transcend any yet reached by it as a race. With +Spiritualism to represent the phenomenal and personal, +Theosophy the philosophical and occult, +and our own work the mystical and divine, every +region of man's higher nature would find its due<span class="pagenum">[194]</span> +recognition and unfoldment. Meanwhile, the +organ of the Society in India thus expressed itself +respecting "The Perfect Way":—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A grand book, keen of insight and eloquent in exposition; +an upheaval of true spirituality.... We regard +its authors as having produced one of the most—perhaps +the most—important and spirit-stirring of appeals to the +highest instincts of mankind which modern European +literature has evolved"<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>.</p></div> + +<p>We had a yet further warrant, derived from +Scripture itself, for looking to the Theosophical +Society as possibly a divinely appointed factor in +the spiritual evolution of the time. The unsealing +of the World's Bibles was upon us, and not of that +of Christendom only. And we saw in the following +saying of Jesus an obvious allusion to the present +epoch, "In those days many shall come from the +East, and the West, and the North, and the South, +and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." Not that the +terms East, West, North, and South, denoted for +us the quarters of the physical globe. We had +learnt to understand them in their mystical sense, +wherein they denote the various human temperaments, +the intuitional, the traditional, the intellectual, +and the emotional, all of which would find +satisfaction in the doctrine then to be recovered. +It was in the terms Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, +that the significance of the utterance lay for us; +these being in one aspect the Hebrew equivalents +for Brahma, Isis, and Iacchos, and denoting the +mysteries respectively of India, Egypt, and Greece, +of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body, and therein +<span class="pagenum">[195]</span>of the whole Man. For these mysteries together +comprised the perfect doctrine of Existence, called +also in Scripture the "Word of God," the "Law +and the Prophets," and the "<i>Theou Sophia</i>," +"Wisdom of God," and "hidden Wisdom," of +which the Christ, as the typical Man regenerate, +is the fulfilment and personal demonstration. This +is to say, they constituted that Gnosis, or Knowledge, +with the taking away and withholdment +of the key of which Jesus so bitterly reproached, +in the Ecclesiasticism of His time, that of all time, +and, therefore, that knowledge to the restoration +of which, in our day, through the faculty by means +of which it was originally obtained and can alone +be discerned, the prophecies one and all pointed, +as to mark and to make the "time of the end" of +the "adulterous," because idolatrous, "generation," +hitherto in possession in the Church, and +to introduce the "kingdom of God with power."</p> + +<p>Having warrant so high for anticipating the +restoration at this time of the faculties and knowledges +represented by the various movements in +question, and knowing also, if only by the +example of ourselves, that the divinity of a mission +is not invalidated by the limitations, real or supposed, +of its instruments, but that these must be +educated by experience, and in such sense "perfected +through suffering" to be fitted for their +appointed tasks;—we had no doubt as to the +attitude it was our duty to maintain towards all +candidates for a share in that which we recognised +as the greatest of all the endeavours yet +made by the human soul to regain her long-lost +rightful dominion over the minds and hearts of<span class="pagenum">[196]</span> +men, leaving it to time to determine that which +was of divine appointment, and that which was +not.</p> + +<p>It will have been observed that I have used the +terms "mystical" and "occult" in such wise as +to imply a distinction between them. It is +important to the purpose of this book to define +and emphasise that distinction. The instructions +received by us from our illuminators were explicit +and positive on this point.</p> + +<p>This is because they refer to two different +domains of man's system. Occultism deals with +transcendental physics, and is of the intellectual, +belonging to science. Mysticism deals with +transcendental metaphysics, and is of the spiritual, +belonging to religion. Occultism, therefore, has +for its domain the region which, lying between +the body and the soul, is interior to the body but +exterior to the soul; while Mysticism has for its +domain the region which, comprising the soul and +the spirit, is interior to the soul, and belongs to +the divine. Of course, the terms themselves, which +are respectively the Latin and the Greek for the +same thing, and mean hidden from the outer +senses and also from non-initiates, do not imply +such distinction, but they have come by usage to +be thus referable.</p> + +<p>The following citations are from the teachings +received by us in this connection. They account +for the scientific part of the training imposed on +us.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The science of the Mysteries can be understood only +by one who has studied the physical sciences, because it is +the climax and crown of all these, and must be learned +last and not first. Unless thou understand the physical +<span class="pagenum">[197]</span>sciences, thou canst not comprehend the doctrine of +<i>Vehicles</i>, which is the basic doctrine of occult science. 'If +thou understood not earthly things, how shall I make thee +understand heavenly things?' Wherefore, get knowledge, +and be greedy of knowledge, ever more and more. It is +idle for thee to seek the inner chamber, until thou hast +passed through the outer. This, also, is another reason +why occult science cannot be unveiled to the horde. To +the unlearned no truth can be demonstrated. Theosophy +is the royal science<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a>; if thou would reach the king's +presence chamber, there is no way save through the outer +rooms and galleries of the palace<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>.</p> + +<p>"The adept or occultist is, at best, a religious scientist; +he is not a 'saint.' If occultism were all, and held the +key of heaven, there would be no need of 'Christ.' But +occultism, although it holds the 'power,' holds neither +the 'kingdom' nor the 'glory,' for these are of Christ. +The adept knows not the kingdom of heaven, and 'the +least in this kingdom are greater than he.'</p> + +<p>"'Desire <i>first</i> the kingdom of God and God's righteousness; +and all these things shall be added unto you.' As +Jesus said of Prometheus<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>, 'Take no thought for to-morrow. +Behold the lilies of the field and the birds of +the air, and trust God as these,' For the saint has faith; +the adept has knowledge. If the adepts in occultism or +in physical science could suffice to man, I would have +committed no message to you. But the two are not in +<span class="pagenum">[198]</span>opposition. All things are yours, even the kingdom and +the power, but the glory is to God. Do not be ignorant of +their teaching, for I would have you know all. Take, +therefore, every means to know. This knowledge is of +man, and cometh from the mind. Go, therefore, to man +to learn it. 'If you will be perfect, learn also of these.' +'Yet the wisdom which is from above, is above all.' For +one man may begin from within, that is, with wisdom, +and wisdom is one with love. Blessed is the man who +chooseth wisdom, for she leaveneth all things. And +another man may begin from without, and that which is +without is power. To such there shall be a thorn in the +flesh<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>. For it is hard in such case to attain to the within. +But if a man be first wise inwardly, he shall the more +easily have this also added unto him. For he is born again +and is free. Whereas at a great price must the adept buy +freedom. Nevertheless, I bid you seek;—and in this +also you shall find. But I have shown you a more excellent +way than theirs. Yet both Ishmael and Isaac are sons of +one father, and of all her children is Wisdom justified. +So neither are they wrong, nor are you led astray. The +goal is the same; but their way is harder than yours. +They take the kingdom by violence, if they take it, and +by much toil and agony of the flesh. But from the time +of Christ within you, the kingdom is open to the sons of +God. Receive what you can receive; I would have you +know all things. And if you have served seven years for +wisdom, count it not loss to serve seven years for power +also. For if Rachel bear the best beloved, Leah hath +many sons, and is exceeding fruitful. But her eye is not +single; she looketh two ways, and seeketh not that which +is above only. But to you Rachel is given first, and perchance +her beauty may suffice. I say not, let it suffice; +it is better to know all things, for if you know not all, how +can you judge all? For as a man heareth, so must he +judge. Will you therefore be regenerate in the without, +<span class="pagenum">[199]</span>as well as in the within? For they are renewed in the +body, but you in the soul. It is well to be baptised into +John's baptism, if a man receive also the Holy Ghost. +But some know not so much as that there is any Holy +Ghost. Yet Jesus also, being Himself regenerate in the +spirit, sought unto the Baptism of John, for thus it became +Him to fulfil Himself in all things. And having fulfilled, +behold, the 'Dove' descended on Him. If then you will +be perfect, seek both that which is within and that which +is without; and the circle of being, which is the 'wheel of +life,' shall be complete in you."</p></div> + + +<p>The Scriptural allusions in this teaching, which +was received by "Mary" under illumination +occurring in sleep, proved to be on the lines of the +Kabala.</p> + +<p>There were sundry other tokens of recognition +which are entitled to reproduction here, as showing +to how wide a range of educated and intelligent +opinion within the pale of Christianity our +work appeals. Their value is due to their representing +a class of minds which, while possessed of +the ordinary ecclesiastical training, are not +restricted to the knowledge thereby acquired. For, +seeing that such training means little, if anything, +more than the mechanical learning of what other +men have said who, themselves, had no real knowledge, +the opinions, expressed on the strength of +it, are neither educated nor intelligent, but +adoptive only and perfunctory, and represent +learning without insight. And as such precisely +are the opinions which constitute ecclesiastical +orthodoxy, the judgment of the representatives of +that orthodoxy on our work possesses no more real +value than did that of Caiaphas and his coadjutors<span class="pagenum">[200]</span> +on Jesus and His work<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a>. Denouncing Him as a +blasphemer, they were themselves blasphemers. +And inasmuch as they were types of the votaries +of ecclesiastical orthodoxy of all time, it is obvious +that the only new revelation—if any—which would +find acceptance at their hands, would be one that +confirmed and reinforced their errors, instead of +exposing and correcting them. Proceeding, as was +declared by Jesus, from their "father, the devil," +a priest-constructed system ever prefers Barabbas +to Christ;—prefers, that is, a system which +defrauds—hence the force of the term "robber" +as applied to Barabbas—man of the divine potentialities +which Christ came to reveal to him by +demonstrating them in His own person, together +with the manner of their realisation.</p> + +<p>Not that all who bear the title of Ecclesiastics +come under this condemnation. In every age of +the Church there have been those who, while holding +office in it, have not consented to the "Scarlet +Woman" of Sacerdotalism. And never was there +a time when the proportion of these was larger, +<span class="pagenum">[201]</span>or when their sense of the need of a New Gospel +of Interpretation was more keen and urgent than +now: so intolerable to multitudes of the clergy of +all sections of the Church has become the +antagonism recognised by them as subsisting +between the traditional and official presentation of +religion and their own clear perceptions of goodness +and truth<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a>.</p> + +<p>The testimonies which remain to be added are +valuable as coming from men who, while possessed +of ecclesiastical training, have been taught +also of the Spirit, and, adding to tradition +intuition, and to learning insight, have in themselves +the witness to that which they utter.</p> + +<p>A distinguished French ecclesiastic, the Abbé +Roca, writing in <i>L'Aurore</i>, says of our books—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"These books seem to me to be the chosen organs of +the Divine Feminine" (<i>i.e.</i> the interpretative) "Principle, +in view of the new revelation of Revelation."</p></div> + +<p>By which it will be seen that he shared Cardinal +Newman's expectation referred to in the introduction; +and accepted as realised the forecast of +Joseph de Maistre when he said "Religion and +Science, in virtue of their natural affinity, will +meet in the brain of some man of genius—perhaps +of more than one—and the world will get +what it needs and cries for, <i>not a new religion, but +the revelation of Revelation</i>." As the event shows, +for "the brain of some man," he should have said +"the mind and soul of a woman."</p> + +<p>The Rev. Dr. John Pulsford, author of "The +Supremacy of Man," "Quiet Hours," "Morgenrothe,"<span class="pagenum">[202]</span> +and other works distinguished for the +depth of their piety and insight, thus wrote to me +on the publication of "Clothed with the Sun"—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I cannot tell you with what thankfulness and pleasure +I have read <i>Clothed with the Sun</i>. It is impossible for +a spiritually intelligent reader to doubt that these teachings +were received from <i>within</i> the astral veil. They are +full of the concentrated and compact wisdom of the Holy +Heavens and of God. If Christians knew their own +religion, they would find in these priceless records our +Lord Christ and His vital process abundantly illustrated +and confirmed. The regret is that so few, comparatively, +who read the book, will be aware of the tithe of its pearls. +But that such communications are possible, and are permitted +to be given to the world, is a sign, and a most +promising sign of our age.</p> + +<p>"It is no little joy to me to feel that I am so much +more in sympathy with God's daughter, the Seeress, than +I supposed. The testimony is so clearly above, and distinct +from, aught that is derived from the occult powers +of the universe, rather than from the Supreme Spirit and +Father-Mother of our Spirits."</p></div> + +<p>Another notable student of spiritual science, a +Priest, writing in <i>Light</i> of 21st October, 1882, +after describing <i>The Perfect Way</i> as "that most +wonderful of all books which has appeared since +the beginning of the Christian Era," said:—"It +is a book that no student can be without if he will +know <i>the truth</i> on these matters. It furnishes us +with a master-key to the phenomena which so +perplex the minds of enquirers, and gives a system, +the like of which has not been seen for eighteen +centuries." The late Rev. John Manners, a man +venerable of years and mature of spirit, and +deeply versed in the sciences of both worlds,<span class="pagenum">[203]</span> +declared of these illuminations, "the Great I Am +speaks in every line of them. Only the Logos +Himself could be their source." Lady Caithness, +already referred to, upon receiving a copy of <i>The +Perfect Way</i>, wrote: "I have got another Bible, +the <i>most complete</i> Revelation, <i>certainly</i>, that has +yet been given to man on this planet"<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>. And +a Parsee scholar, a native of India, wrote: "<i>The +Perfect Way</i> has made me a much nobler man—a +man of tranquility and calmness, due to the knowledge +of the philosophy of Being imbibed by me +from it, and for which my mind was fortunately +prepared"<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>As stated in the preface, this present book is +intended but as an epitome and instalment of the +far larger book in course of preparation. For, as +with the old Gospel of Manifestation, so with the +New Gospel of Interpretation, the excusable hyperbole +is no less appropriate to it,—"I suppose that +even the world itself could not contain the books +which might be written."</p> + +<p>For the human soul is a theme as inexhaustible +as it is paramount. And, as never in the world's +history have the need and the desire for the knowledge +of it been so urgent as they now are, so never +in the world's history has there been a revelation +of it comparable with that which has been vouchsafed +in our day, and is contained in the narrative, +the completion of which, and this alone, will +<span class="pagenum">[204]</span>enable me to "depart in peace," having no apprehension +of after disquietude on the score of having +left unaccomplished a portion so important of the +task committed to me.</p> + + +<p class="tdc"><big><span class="smcap">The End.</span></big></p> +<div class="p6" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 267px;"> +<img src="images/230.png" width="267" height="159" alt="" title="" /> + +</div> + + +<div class="p6" /> +<h2><a name="SCRIPTURES_OF_THE_FUTURE" id="SCRIPTURES_OF_THE_FUTURE"></a>"SCRIPTURES OF THE FUTURE."</h2> + + +<p>Books rapidly coming into use in the Roman, Greek and Anglican +communions as the text-books which represent the prophesied +restoration of the Ancient Esoteric doctrine which, by interpreting +the mysteries of religion, should reconcile faith and reason, religion +and science, and accomplish the downfall of that sacerdotal system, +which—"making the word of God of none effect by its traditions"—has +hitherto usurped the name and perverted the truth of +Christianity. Their standpoint is that Christian doctrines, +when rightly understood, are necessary and self-evident truths, +recognisable as founded in and representing the actual nature of +existence, incapable of being conceived of as otherwise, and constituting +a system of thought at once scientific, philosophic and +religious, absolutely inexpugnable, and satisfactory to man's highest +aspirations, intellectual, moral and spiritual.</p> + +<p class="indent"><b>The Perfect Way;</b> or The Finding of Christ. By Anna Kingsford +and Edward Maitland. Third English Edition, Price 6s. net.</p> + +<p class="indent"><b>The Life of Anna Kingsford</b>; by Edward Maitland. A new +edition in preparation.</p> + +<p class="indent"><b>The New Gospel of Interpretation;</b> being an Abstract of the +doctrine and Statement of the objects of The Esoteric Christian +Union, founded by Edward Maitland, Nov., 1891.</p> + +<p class="indent"><b>The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland, and +of The New Gospel of Interpretation</b>; by Edward Maitland. +Third and enlarged Edition, 228 pp., edited by Samuel Hopgood +Hart, Cloth Gilt, Back and Side; Price 3s. 6d. net; Post Free +3s. 10d. The Ruskin Press, Stafford Street, Birmingham.</p> + +<p class="indent"><b>The Bible's Own Account of Itself</b>; by Edward Maitland. +Second Edition, edited by Saml. Hopgood Hart, complete, with +Appendix. Crown 8vo. 96 pp., Stiff Paper Covers, Price 6d.; +Post Free 7d,; or in Cloth Covers, Gilt, 1s. 6d. net; Post Free +1s. 8d. The Ruskin Press, Birmingham.</p> + +<p class="tdc">All the above Works may be obtained from<br /> + +<b><i>THE RUSKIN PRESS, STAFFORD STREET, BIRMINGHAM.</i></b><br /> + +(<i>Postages in addition to the above Prices.</i>)</p> +<hr /> +<p class="noi"><b><i>Some Testimonies of notable profiolents in religious science.</i></b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"If the Scriptures of the future are to be, as I firmly believe +they will be, those which best interpret the Scriptures of the +past, these writings will assuredly hold the foremost place among +them.... They present a body of doctrine at once complete, +homogeneous, logical and inexpugnable, in which the three supreme +questions, Whence come we? What are we? Whither go we? at length +find an answer, complete, satisfactory, and consolatory."—<span class="smcap">Baron +Spedalieri</span> (<i>The Kabalist</i>).</p> + +<p>"It is impossible for a spiritually intelligent reader to doubt +that these teachings were received from within the astral veil. +They are full of the concentrated and compact wisdom of the Holy +Heavens and of God. If Christians knew their own religion, they +would find in these priceless records our Lord Christ and His vital +process abundantly illustrated and confirmed. That such +communications are possible, and are permitted to be given to the +world, in a sign, and a most promising sign, of our age."—<span class="smcap">Rev. Dr. +John Pulsford</span>.</p></div> + + + +<div class="p6"> +<h2>THE +BIBLE'S OWN ACCOUNT OF ITSELF.</h2></div> + +<p class="tdc">By EDWARD MAITLAND (<i>B.A., Cantab</i>)</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Author of "The Keys of the Creeds," "The Story of the New Gospel of +Interpretation," "The Life of Anna Kingsford," etc.; and Joint Writer +with Dr. Anna Kingsford of "The Perfect Way," etc.</p></div> + +<p class="tdc">EDITED BY SAMUEL HOPGOOD HART.</p> + +<p class="tdc"><b>Second Edition, (Complete) with Appendix, PRICE SIXPENCE.</b></p> + +<p class="tdc">Or in Cloth Covers, gilt, One Shilling and Sixpence.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Now there come out of the darkness and the storm which shall arise +upon the earth, two dragons. And they fight and tear each other, until +there arises a star, a fountain of light, a queen, who is Esther."—The +Vision of Mordecai, as interpreted in "Clothed with the Sun," I., IX.</p></div> + +<p class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Birmingham</span>: The Ruskin Press, Stafford St., and all Booksellers.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p class="tdc">SOME PRESS OPINIONS<br /> + +OF<br /> + +<i>The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland<br /> +and of<br /> +The New Gospel of Interpretation.</i></p> +<hr /> +<p><i>Literary World</i>—"A strangely interesting book—very curious—few +who have any sympathy with mental phenomena of the 'occult' +kind will fail to read it with sustained interest."</p> + +<p><i>Light</i>—"A psychic history of umblemished veracity and +astounding facts—supremely interesting—'full of beauty and perfect +simplicity of purpose'—and showing that the 'fig-tree of the +inward understanding is no longer barren, but has budded and +blossomed and borne fruit.'"</p> + +<p><i>Church Bells, 27th April, 1894</i>—"Mr. Maitland has +written a fascinating book."</p> + +<p><i>The Gentleman's Journal, March, 1894</i>—"Nothing Mr. +Maitland writes would I like to miss—I never study his searching +and striking pages without profit."</p> + +<p><i>Agnostic Journal</i>—"A fascinating volume—the history of a +work calculated to effect a fundamental revolution in religion—told +in language which leaves nothing to be desired."</p> + +<p><i>The Illustrated Church News, 31st March, 1894</i>—"This +work is to Christians of real interest; for it enables them to +study Gnosticism alive and vigorous in the nineteenth century."</p> + +<p><i>Brighouse Gazette</i>—"One of those really great books associated +with the names of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland."</p> + +<p><i>The Unknown World</i>—"There is no man now known to be +living in England who has had such an abundant transcendental +experience."</p> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h2><a name="RELIGION_AND_MENTAL_PHENOMENA" id="RELIGION_AND_MENTAL_PHENOMENA"></a>RELIGION AND MENTAL PHENOMENA.</h2> + +<p class="tdc"><i>From the "Christian Union."</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Whatever may be said in favour or disfavour of Mr. +Edward Maitland's "Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation," +it is one of the most remarkable and +most fascinating books on mental-visional perceptions +of Divine Revelation that has appeared at any time. +It is a book that carries the reader away from the +materialistic to the mystical and spiritual. The author +claims to bring to the old revelation a new interpretation, +or more correctly, to restore the original and +spiritual interpretation which has been lost through +literalism. According to the narrative, the two persons +concerned were for some years in reception of revelations +which convinced them that they had been enabled +"to tap a boundless reservoir of wisdom and knowledge" +before the method and source were declared +to them.... At length it was made clear to them +that the knowledges they had acquired were due to +intuitional recollection occuring under Divine illumination. +"Inborn knowledge and the perception of +things—these are the sources of Revelation. The +soul of the man instructeth him, having already learned +by experience. Intuition is inborn experience, that +which the soul knoweth of old and of former lives." +The ordinary mind will doubtless be ready to pronounce +it to be strange mental phenomena, and nothing more. +But surely mental phenomena of an extraordinary +character must have an extraordinary use and purpose. +And so few persons know enough of the psyhic powers +latent in man, to be able to believe in the reality of +these manifestations.... The nature of the results +is such as to negative all materialistic explanations. +For the knowledges recovered are real, solving problems +in the profoundest domains of theology, hitherto given +up as mysteries hopeless of solution. And they are +being thus recognised far and wide by the profoundest +students of spiritual science.... Judge the story +of the New Gospel of Interpretation in what light we +may, it has in it all the evidences of a marvellous work +in its mental and spiritual conception, exposition, +interpretation, illustration, and Divine communication. +It stands out conspicuously as a fuller development of +Biblical truth, such as Cardinal Newman must have +anticipated when he said that he saw no hope for +religion, save in a new Revelation.</p></div></div> +<div class="p4"> +<p class="tdc">THE RUSKIN PRESS.<br /> + +STAFFORD STREET, BIRMINGHAM,<br /> + +PRINTERS.</p><div class="p6"></div></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h2> +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> E.M. Letter in "Light" of 29th August, 1891.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See further as to this, an article by A.K. and E.M. in +"Light" of 23rd September, 1882, reprinted in Life A.K. +Vol. II. p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> E.M. Letter in "Light" of 22nd July, 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> E.M. Letter in "Light" of 17th December, 1892.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A.K. died on the 22nd February, 1888</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The original title of this book was "The Story of the New +Gospel of Interpretation." See preface to the present edition. +S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Apologia pro vitâ suâ, by J. H. Newman. New edition of +1893, pp. 26, 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The book was "By and By: An Historical Romance of the +Future," its object being to show a state of society in which the +intuition is supreme, and individuals follow their own ideals. +It represents a step in E.M.'s unfoldment, but not his final +conclusions. In 1873 A.K., having read a review of this book +in the <i>Examiner</i> (which also contained a notice of one of her +tales), communicated with E.M. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 27.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This was not the first time that E.M. met A.K. He had +met her once before, in January, 1874, in a picture gallery in +London. "It was but for a short time, and during a single +afternoon"; but it was "sufficient to convince" him of "the +unusual character of the personality" with which he had come +into contact. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 32.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Her "very first published production" was a poem in a +religious magazine, when she was "but nine years old." (Life +A.K. Vol. I. p. 29.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Beatrice: A Tale of the Early Christians," was written +by A.K. in 1859, for the <i>Churchman's Companion</i>, "but the +publisher thought it worthy to make a separate volume, and +offered to bring it out in that form, and to give her a present +for it," which offer was accepted. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 4.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The Story was "In my Lady's Chamber," and purported +to be a "speculative romance touching a few questions of the +day." It was afterwards published separately as by "Colossa." +(Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 21, 22.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The first edition of "The Pilgrim and the Shrine" was +published in 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> E.M. did not marry again. He had one child, Charles +Bradley Maitland, and he died on the 16th February, 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See p. <a href="#p100">100</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> E.M. says that "The Keys of the Creeds" brought his +thought up to the extreme limits of a thought merely intellectual, +to transcend which it would be necessary to penetrate +the barrier between the worlds of sense and of spirit. (Life +A.K. Vol. I. p. 54.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Statement E.C.U. p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> In 1875. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 73.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The book was "England and Islam: or The Counsel of +Caiaphas," which was published in 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> This vision occurred in London in November, 1876. It was +merely referred to in the previous editions of this book, but I +have inserted it here in full from "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. +pp. 115-117. It is also given in "England and Islam," pp. +438-442. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> p. <a href="#p41">41</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> E. and I. p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> It is probable that E.M. intended this statement to apply +only to the N.T., or to the Gospels, because, before February, +1874, when he first visited A.K. at her house (p. <a href="#This_visit">2</a>), she had +received in sleep "an exposition of the Story of the Fall, +exhibiting it as a parable having a significance purely spiritual" +and E.M. certainty regarded the Biblical Story of the Fall as +"Scripture." S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The expression of which the above is an adaptation, had +recently been applied by Mr Gladstone to the Turkish power. +For the period was the eve of the Turco-Russian War; and Mr +Gladstone had found vent for his strong sacerdotal proclivities +by siding fiercely against the priest-hating and prophet-venerating +Turks, and demanding their expulsion from Europe, +very much on the plea that "it was good for Europe that one +nation die for the rest." It was in recognition of the part thus +played by him that I took for the sub-title of my book ("England +and Islam") "The Counsel of Caiaphas." The book—which +was written under a high degree of illumination—contained an +earnest appeal to Mr Gladstone, which, if heeded, would have +saved the country from its subsequent humiliations. Among +other things I was clearly shown that the policy which sought +to detach England from the East, was of infernal instigation, +being intended to thwart the rapprochement between +Christianity and Buddhism from which the new humanity was +to spring. But the circumstances of the book's production—it +was poured through me at great speed and printed off as it +came—precluded due revision and elimination of redundant +matter; and for these and other reasons, I have suffered it to +go out of print. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> There is another fact, referred to in "The Life of A.K.," +that must be taken into consideration in connection with experiences +of this nature, that is, "the survival for an indefinite +period of the images of events occurring on the earth, in the +astral light, or memory of the planet, called the anima mundi, +which images can be evoked and beheld." (Life A.K. Vol I. +p. 125.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> This "Vision of Adonai" by A.K. was merely referred to +in the previous editions of this book. I have extracted the +following account of the most interesting part of it from "The +Life of A.K." (Vol. I. pp. 193-196.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Speaking of this vision, E.M. says:—"Her apprehension +was not without justification; for her body was completely +torpid, and several hours passed before consciousness was fully +restored to it." (C.W.S. p. 283.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> This is one of the illuminations that were received by +A.K., during the latter part of 1878, "directly from the hierarchy +of the Church Invisible and Celestial." Speaking of these +illuminations, which "dealt with the profoundest subjects of +cognition," E.M. says that he and A.K. found in them "a +synthesis and an analysis combined of the sacred mysteries of +all the great religions of antiquity, and the true <i>origines</i> of +Christianity as originally and divinely intended, together with +the secret and method of its corruption and perversion into that +which now bears its name"; and they "were at no loss to recognise +in them the destined Scriptures of the future, so long +promised and at length vouchsafed in interpretation of the +Scriptures of the past." (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 293, 294.) +S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> A.K. knew nothing of Spinoza at this time, and was unaware +that he was an optician. Subsequent experience made it clear +that the spectacles in question were intended to represent her +own remarkable faculty of intuitional and interpretative perception. +(See Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 150-1.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Page <a href="#p52">52</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> The 22nd September, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The book referred to was a treatise entitled "Fruit and +Bread," which had been sent to her anonymously the previous +day. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> The "Hymn to Hermes" was received by A.K. in 1878, +"under illumination occurring in sleep." She remembered it +so perfectly that on waking she wrote it without hesitation or +error. Representing knowledges long lost, by no amount of +mere scholarship could it have been reproduced. It is given at +length in the P.W. pp. 357-358, and in "The Life of A.K." +Vol. I. p. 287. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> As to the recovery by A.K. of the Hymn to the Planet-God, +see p. 122-3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> These dream-verses are from "Through the Ages," a poem +received by A.K., "in sleep," in 1880. In this poem, "some +of her earliest incarnations" are referred to. (D. and D-S. p. 77.) +S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See p. <a href="#p122">122</a> note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#p51">51</a>-52-53 ante.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> That is, in the place of God and the Soul.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> The four planes being, from without inwards, those of the +body, mind, soul, and spirit. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> The 28th March, 1880. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> The name by which I was thus addressed had been given me +by our illuminators as an initiation name, as that of "Mary" +to her. It denoted love as the dominant note of our work, and +was an equivalent for "John the Beloved," who—we were +given to understand—is one of the two controlling "angels" of +the new illumination—Daniel being the other—in accordance +with the intimations given by Jesus, one to His disciples and the +other to the Seer of the Apocalypse himself, that John should +tarry within reach of the earth-plane to bear part in the event +which was to constitute the second advent of Christ. These +names had a further correspondence in the Greek parable of +Eros and Psyche, which denotes love as the vivifying principle +of the soul. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Materialism and Superstition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The name Esther denotes a star or fountain of light, a +dawn or rising.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The spelling of the names is that of the Douay Version, +the Protestants having relegated the second part of the book of +Esther, in which the latter part of this narrative occurs, to the +Apocrypha. As also that of Ezra above cited. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> These are disclosed in "The Life of A.K." The personality +referred to on this occasion was "Faustine, the Roman," the +Empress of Marcus Aurelius. (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 353-354.) +S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> The "Hymn of Aphrodite," including the "Discourse of +the Communion of Souls, and of the Uses of Love between +Creature and Creature; being part of the Golden Book of +Venus," from which latter the above is taken, is given in full in +the P.W. pp. 350-356.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The instruction concerning inspiration and prophesying was +received by A.K. in Paris on the 7th February, 1880. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> P.W. pp. 311-314. Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 344-345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> The occasion of the receipt by A.K. and E.M. of the above +was one of peculiar interest. It was given in reference to a +visit from the late Laurence Oliphant, an account of which +will be found in "The Life of A.K." It will suffice to say here +that, having heard of their work, Oliphant came to them +as an emissary from his chief in America, Thomas Lake Harris, +to summon them to place themselves and all that they were and +had, at his disposal as the king and Christ of the new dispensation. +The above instruction was given to them in direct reference +to this incident. It was followed by others fully exposing +the delusive source and nature of the doctrine and practice of +Laurence Oliphant and Thomas Lake Harris. The above +Exhortation of Hermes to his Neophytes is now given in full +in this book for the first time. It is taken from "The Life of +A.K." Vol. I. pp. 282-283. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> See note p. <a href="#p7">7</a></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> The above reference is to an experience of mine which +does not call for relation here. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Says E.M. in "The Life of A.K."—"The subtlety with +which my most sensitive places were searched out, and the mercilessness +with which they were probed by the influences which +had now obtained access to us, seemed to me to belong altogether +to the infernal." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 318.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> The date was 27th March, 1880. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> The Hymn to the Planet-God has been referred to on +p. <a href="#p79">79</a>. It is given in full in the P.W. pp. 341-349: a portion of it +concerning the passage of the Soul, and concerning the Mystic +Exodus, are given on pp. 169-173 post. The method of the +recovery by A. K. of this most important Hymn "was such as +to constitute it a proof positive of the great doctrine set forth +in it, the doctrine of Reincarnation; for it was as one of a +band of initiates, making solemn procession through the aisles +of a vast Egyptian temple, chanting it in chorus, that 'Mary,' +being asleep, recollected it." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 456.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> That is, the "strained conditions" under which their +association was then maintained and their work carried on. (Life +A.K. Vol. I. p. 374.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> See p. <a href="#p130">130</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> On the night of the 23rd June, 1880. This vision was +received by E.M. as he pondered and while he was awake. (Life +A.K. Vol. I. pp. 376-377.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Some of A.K.'s illuminations have thus been lost to the +world. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 374.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Lady Caithness. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 329.) See pp. <a href="#p137">137</a> +and <a href="#p185">185</a> post. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> On the 13th-14th January, 1881. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 435.) +S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> A full account of this interview with William Lily is given +in "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 435-441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> On the 9th April, 1877, in London. (Life A.K. Vol. I. +p. 172.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Christmas Day, 1880. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 430.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> The time referred to was September, 1878. (Life A.K. +Vol. I. pp. 285-385.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> A.K. was preparing for her second Doctorat, and E.M. was +elaborating out of his own consciousness "a key to the interpretation +especially of the initial chapters of Genesis." (Life +A.K. Vol. I. p. 264.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> On the 4th June, 1878. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 265.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> E.M. says:—"Her notes, of course, disappeared with her +dream, and she had to reproduce it from memory. But this +was abnormally enhanced, for she said that the words presented +themselves again to her as she wrote, and stood out +luminously to view." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 269.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> That is the outer sense and lower reason.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> The illumination in question was received by A.K. in Paris +on the night of the 25th July, 1877, and was written down under +trance. Further portions are given on pp. <a href="#p158">158</a>, <a href="#p159">159</a>, <a href="#p161">161</a>. It is +given in full in "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 202-203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> See further on this most important subject "The Bible's +Own Account of Itself," by E.M., the only complete edition of +which is published by "The Ruskin Press," Ruskin House, +Stafford Street, Birmingham. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> From the exposition concerning the dogma of the Immaculate +Conception, referred to on p. <a href="#p151">151</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> From the exposition concerning the dogma of the Immaculate +Conception, referred to on p. <a href="#p151">151</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> From the exposition concerning the Christian Mysteries +given in full in "The Life of A.K." Vol. II. pp. 99-100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Taste and smell being modes of touch. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i>, the astral and mental part of man, which is +accounted a person or system in itself. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> The Sacramental bread called by the Hebrews "showbread."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> See note on p. <a href="#p122">122</a>, ante.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> The names Nyssa, Nysa, Nysas, and Nissi are identical with +each other, and also with Sinai, Sion, and those of other sacred +mounts. For they all are names for the Mount of Regeneration, +the mount or "holy hill" of the Lord, within the man, +to be on which is to be in the Spirit. The river Hiddekel has +the like import. It is the river of the soul, herself fluidic and +called Maria (waters), which, as the receptacle of the divine +nucleus, winds about and encompasses the Spirit. Thus Daniel +is said to be "on Hiddekel" when under divine illumination. +("The Life of A.K." Vol. I. p. 459.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> A.K. was distinctly and positively assured that the incident +then shown to her was one that actually occurred, and that she +had borne part of it though no record of it survives. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> This instruction is taken from "The Life of A.K." Vol. I, +pp. 424-425.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> The French edition, subsequently issued at Paris, is also +due to her zeal and generosity. See p <a href="#p137">137</a>, ante.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> For the meaning of the "Four Rivers of Eden" see P. W., +vi. par. 6. See note on p. <a href="#p172">172</a>, ante as to meaning of river +Hiddekel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> This indictment is as true to-day as it was twelve years +ago, when the above passage was written. S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Cited from the preface to the second and succeeding editions +of "The P. W."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Cited from "The Life of A. K." Vol. II. p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> The Theosophist, May, 1882.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> The term Theosophy is here used in its Pauline and ancient +sense of the science of the realisation of man's potential divinity;—the +process, that is, of the Christ.—1 Cor. ii. 7. E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> From an address given on the 17th July, 1883, by A.K. to +the Theosophical Society, a full report of which is given in "The +Life of A.K." Vol. II. pp. 124-128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> A term which signifies forethought. The remonstrance is +against undue anxiety and alarm on the soul's behalf while in +the path of duty, as implying distrust of the divine sufficiency. +E.M.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Meaning that in such case the flesh itself is the +impediment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> In a letter on "The Church and the Bible," in the +"Agnostic Journal" of 5th January, 1895, E.M. says:— +</p><p> +"Among the fallacies to be discarded is the fallacy which +consists in believing that the Church, so vehemently denounced +in its own sacred books for its manifold, grievous, and fatal +perversions of the truth contained in those books, and so +ignorant as to be unaware either of the source or of the meaning +of its own dogmas, must understand its doctrines better than I +understand them, whose high privilege it is to have been one +of the two recipients of the New Gospel of Interpretation, +which has been vouchsafed expressly to correct those perversions, +and who not only have that gospel by heart, but who know +absolutely by my own soul's experience—as also did my colleague—the +truth of every word of it." (A long extract from +this letter, including the above, is printed in the appendix to +B.O.A.I. p. 83.) S.H.H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> See also E.M.'s remarks to the same effect in the "Statement +E.C.U." pp. 10-11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> See Life A.K. Vol. II. pp. 52-53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noi"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> See Life A.K. Vol. II. p. 241.</p></div> +</div> +<div class="p6" /> +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="tdc">Transcribers notes:<br /><br /> + +Maintained original spelling and punctuation.<br /> +<br /> +Silently corrected obvious typesetting errors.<br /></p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward +Maitland and of the new Gospel of Interpretation, by Edward Maitland + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNA KINGSFORD, EDWARD MAITLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 38590-h.htm or 38590-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/9/38590/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ron Stephens and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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