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    "title": "The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary (full text)",
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    "text": "## The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary (full text)\n\n\nCONTENTS\nIntroduction\nLetter 1\n\nLetter 2\n\nLetter 3\n\nLetter 4\n\nLetter 5\n\nLetter 6 And Last\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nApart from \"The Cloud upon the Sanctuary,\" Eckartshausen is a name\nonly to the Christian Transcendentalists of England. He wrote much, and\nat his period and in his place, he exercised some considerable influence;\nbut his other works are practically unknown among us, while in\nGermany the majority at least seem forgotten, even among the special\nclass to which some of them might be assumed to appeal. \"The Cloud\nupon the Sanctuary\" has, I believe, always remained in the memory of a\nfew, and is destined still to survive, for it carries with it a message of very\ndeep significance to all those who look beneath the body of religious\ndoctrine for the one principle of life which energizes the whole organism.\nThis translation has offered it for the first time to English readers, and it\nenters here upon the third phase of its existence. It appeared originally\nin the pages of \"The Unknown World,\" a magazine devoted to the deeper\nunderstanding of philosophical and mystical religion, and it was\nafterwards republished in volume form, of which edition this is anew\nissue. It has attracted very considerable attention and deserved it; it has\neven been translated into French, under the auspices of the late Countess\nof Caithness, for the pages of L'Aurore. These few words of bibliography\nare not unnecessary because they establish the fact that there has been\nsome little sentiment of interest working within a restricted circle, as one\nmay hope, towards a more general diffusion and knowledge of a\ndocument which is at once suggestive from the literary standpoint and\nprofoundly moving from other and higher considerations. It encourages\nme to think that many persons who know and appreciate it now, or may\ncome under its influence in the future, will learn with pleasure the little\nthat I can tell them of its author, the Councillor Eckartshausen, and of\ncertain other books not of his writing, which, as I think, connect\ntherewith, and the study of which may help us to understand its\nmessage.\n\nPerhaps the most interesting thing that I can say at the beginning\nconcerning Eckartshausen is that he connects with that group of\nTheosophists of which Lavater was so important a figure, the Baron\nKirchberger an accomplished and interesting recorder, and Louis Claude\nde Saint-Martin a correspondent in France and a certain source of\n\nleading. In his letters to Saint-Martin, Kirchberger says that\nEckartshausen, with whom he was in frequent communication, was a\nman of immense reading and wonderful fertility; he regarded him in\nother respects as an extraordinary personage, \"whatever way providence\nmay have led him.\" It would appear that at this period, namely, in 1795,\nEckartshausen was looking for and obtaining his chief light from the\nmystical study of numbers, but was also, to use the veiled and cautious\nlanguage of the correspondence, in enjoyment of more direct favours.\nSaint-Martin confesses on his own part that he was more interested in\nEckartshausen than he could express. Kirchberger must have held him in\neven higher estimation, and undertook a journey to the Swiss frontier\nactually for the purpose of receiving from him the personal\ncommunication of the Lost Word; but the illness of the proposed\ncommunicator frustrated this project. The point is important because it\nestablishes the pretensions of Eckartshausen. As to the Councillor of\nBerne so to us, he comes speaking with authority; and whatever may be\nour opinion as to the kind of sacramentalism or economy which was\nconveyed in a proposal to communicate the incommunicable name,\nthere are some of us who know, at least within certain limits, that the\nlittle book which I am here introducing is not one of vain pretension.\nSaint- Martin acknowledges that part of the numerical system of\nEckartshausen was in astonishing agreement with things that he had\nlearned long ago in his own school of initiation—that of Martines de\nPasqually. Altogether the French mystic had formed the best opinion\npossible of his German brother, and his Swiss correspondent further tells\nus that Eckartshausen, although a courtier, walked in the narrow way of\nthe inner life. In a letter to Kirchberger dated March 19th, 1795,\nEckartshausen bears witness to his own personal experience and\ninstructions received from above, his consciousness of a higher presence,\nthe answers which he had received and the visions, with the steps by\nwhich he had advanced even to the attainment of what he terms \"the\nLaw in its fullness.\" I have thought it well to give these data derived from\nprivate correspondence, the publication of which was never designed or\nexpected at the time, because they constitute a sketch of Eckartshausen\ntaken to some extent unawares, when there could be the least reason to\nsuppose that he was adopting an attitude. Let us now compare the very\nstrong claim which they incorporate with that of \"The Cloud upon the\nSanctuary\" itself, and the little analysis which I shall give here will, I\n\nthink, be otherwise serviceable to readers as a summary of the chief\npurport of the work. It is possible by seeking inwardly to approach the\nessential wisdom, and this wisdom is J esus Christ who is also the essence\nof love within us. The truth of this statement can be experimentally\nproved by any one, the condition of the experience being the awakening\nwithin us of a spiritual faculty cognizing spiritual objects as objectively\nand naturally as the outward senses perceive natural phenomenon. This\norgan is the intuitive sense of the transcendental world, and its\nawakening, which is the highest object of religion, takes place in three\nstages: (a) morally, by the way of inspiration; (b) intellectually, by the\nway of illumination; (c) spiritually, by the way of revelation. The\nawakening of this organ is the lifting of the cloud from the sanctuary,\nenabling our hearts to become receptive of God, even in this world. The\nknowledge of these mysteries has been always preserved by an advanced\nschool, illuminated inwardly by the Saviour, and continued from the\nbeginning of things to the present time. This community is the Invisible\nCelestial Church, founded immediately after the Fall, and receiving a\nfirst-hand revelation for the raising of humanity. But the weakness of\nmen as they multiplied necessitated an external society, namely, the\nOutward Church, which, in the course of time, became separated from\nthe Inner Church, also through human weakness. The external church\nwas originally consecrated in Abraham, but received its highest\nperfection in the mystery of J esus Christ. The Interior Church is invisible\nand yet governs all; it is perpetuated in silence but in real activity, \"and\nunited the science of the temple of the ancient alliance with the spirit of\nthe Saviour,\" or of the interior alliance. This community of light is the\nreunion of all those capable of receiving light, and is known as the\nCommunion of Saints. It possesses its school, its chair, its doctor, and a\nrule for students, with forms and objects of study, and in short a method\nby which they study, together with degrees for successive development to\nhigher altitudes. We must not, however, regard it as a secret society,\nmeeting at certain times, choosing its elders and members, and united by\nspecial objects; for even the chief does not invariably know all the\nmembers, and those who are ripe are joined to the general members\nwhen they thought least likely, and at a point of which they knew\nnothing. The society forms a theocratic republic, which one day will be\nthe Regent- Mother of the whole world. Its members are exactly\nacquainted with the innermost of religions and of the Holy Mysteries,\n\nbut these treasures are concealed in so simple a manner that they baffle\nunqualified research.\n\nThis doctrine of the interior church must be interpreted by everyone\nafter his own lights; it is presented by Eckartshausen as one having full\nknowledge and ambassadorial powers, as one speaking from the centre.\nMy purpose is solely to show that he was sincere, and this sincerity\nfurnishes us with one more proof, out of many which are to be derived\nfrom other and independent sources, that there is a great experiment\npossible, and that some have performed it. The sincerity of which I speak\nis I think illustrated by his life, which I will now summarise briefly. Carl\nVon Eckartshausen was born on J une 28th, 1752, at the Castle of\nHaimbhausen in Bavaria, and was the natural son of Count Carl of\nHaimbhausen by Marie Anne Eckhart, the daughter of the overseer of\nthe estates. His mother died in giving birth to him, and he appears to\nhave been the subject of the most solicitous affection on the part of his\nfather, being educated with the utmost pains. However, from the earliest\nyears, his illegitimacy is said to have filled him with perpetual\nmelancholy and an inclination to retire from the world, characteristics\nwhich at the same time endeared him to his family and friends. 'Through\nall his life he remained less or more a prey to the painful consequences of\nhis original disqualification. He was destined notwithstanding to a career\nof some public importance. His first education was received at the\ncollege of Munich, and he afterwards proceeded to Ingoldsladt for the\nstudy of philosophy and law, which he pursued with marked success. His\nuniversity course at an end, his father procured him the title of Aulic\nCouncillor; and in 1780 he was appointed censor of the library at\nMunich. This, in spite of the rectitude and goodness which characterised\nhim, made him many enemies, but the favour of the Elector Carl\nTheodore sustained him against all combinations. In 1784 he was\nnominated Keeper of the Archives of the Electoral House, an\nappointment said to have been conferred upon him through the desire of\nthe Elector to keep him near his person. He published in all some sixty-\nnine works, embracing many classes of literature, including science, the\nfine arts, the drama, politics, religion, history, and, in particular, certain\ncontributions of great merit to the occult sciences. As already indicated,\nthe majority of these are now forgotten, though some of his plays seem to\nhave been successful in their day. \"The Prejudice of Birth \" in particular,\n\nhis first published drama, is described as abounding in felicitous\nsituations and interest. He even attempted a comedy, and this also\nreceived considerable approbation. One only of his books, under the title\n\"God is the Purest Love,\" commanded wide popularity. Sixty editions are\nsaid to have been published in Germany, and it was translated into most\nlanguages of Europe, as well as into Latin. It is a small collection of\nCatholic prayers and meditations on the fear of God, the love of God, the\nelevation of man's sentiments towards his Creator, the knowledge of the\nEternal, etc. There are also devotional exercises for use at Mass, before\nand after Confession, and at Communion, with acts of penance and\nadoration to the Blessed Virgin. In a word, I fail to see wherein or how\nfar it differs from the innumerable manuals of piety which have been\nproduced during the last two or three centuries for the use of the\nCatholic laity. I believe, however, that it still circulates in Germany, and\nperhaps even in France; it is said to have a wonderful charm, though its\nintense mysticism is also stated to have puzzled some of its admirers; it\nhas indeed been described as speaking the language and expressing the\nsoul of Fenelon. Eckartshausen, however, as already indicated, wrote\nother and very different books, some on magic and some on the\nproperties of numbers, and he is even accredited with a certain\nknowledge of Alchemy. Finally, he was the author of \"The Cloud upon\nthe Sanctuary,\" though the biographers to whom I am indebted almost\nfor the words of this notice have scarcely mentioned this last and\ncrowning production of his intellectual life. In his private capacity he was\nexceedingly amiable and charitable, devoting every month the result of\nhis economies to the poor, and his whole time to the practice of virtue.\nHe was married three times, and left several children. He died on May\n13th, 1813, after a painful illness. The monographs of his period mention\nhim as one of the best writers of Bavaria.\n\nThere are two matters to which before concluding I wish to draw\nattention briefly, and, as regards the first, in a very particular manner.\nThe point of view from which \"The Cloud upon the Sanctuary\" should be\nregarded is important from the claim which it makes. What is this inner\nchurch of which Eckartshausen speaks, is a question which readers must\nanswer for themselves, according to their best direction. One thing which\nit is not has been indicated by Eckartshausen himself. It is not any\ncorporate body existing merely within the church and controlling and\n\nleadingit from a specific local centre. This possibility being negatived by\nthe best of all authority on the subject, I should like on my own\nresponsibility to negative also its most direct and clearest antithesis. It\ndoes not answer to the collective mind or oversoul of the most advanced\nmembers of the visible church, nor is it the consensus omnium\nsanctorum which, according to the old church maxim, is sensus spiritus\nSancti. Despite the absence of all corporate bonds, there is in the claim\nitself too direct a suggestion of conscious association occurring somehow\nin this present physical life. We must take the key which Eckartshausen\nhimself offers, namely, that there is within all of us a dormant faculty,\nthe awakening of which within us gives entrance, as it develops, into a\nnew world of consciousness, which is one of the initial stages of that state\nwhich he, in common with all other mystics, terms union with the\nDivine. In that union, outside all formal sects, all orthodox bonds of\nfellowship and veils and webs of symbolism, we shall form or do form\nactually a great congregation, the first fruits of immortality, and in virtue\nof the solidarity of humanity, and in virtue of the great doctrine of the\ncommunication of all things holy with all that seeks for holiness, the\nabove and the below, this congregation is, in very truth, the leader of the\n\nvisible church of faith, aspiration and struggle, the church triumphant\nover- watching the church militant, and the channel through which the\ngraces and the benedictions of the holy and glorious Zion are\nadministered to the Zion which is on earth.\n\nThe second point concerns certain books which I have promised to\nmention as connecting with the claim of Eckartshausen, and perhaps in\nsome measure assisting us to get in touch with that claim. Unfortunately,\nin this restricted notice, I can do little more than name them. The first is\n\"The Mystery of the Cross,\" originally published in 1732, anonymously,\nin the French language, but evidently written by a foreigner. It isa\nprofound and beautiful work which, unknown to the world at large, has\nin private, if I may so speak, influenced many to their advancement, and\nto the deeper understanding and fruition of the hidden truth. Strongly\nembedded in this book will be found several of the governing ideas and\naspirations of schools of mystic thought which became illustrious in later\nyears. I may add that I am acquainted with the existence of a translation\nmade many years ago, but still remaining in manuscript. The next books\nwhich I would note come at first sight a little strangely in the professed\n\nconnection, but they enter none the less into the series; they are the two\ndramatic poems of the German poet, Werner, namely, \"The Templars in\nCyprus\" and \"The Brothers of the Cross.\" They are the work of a man\nwho was intimately acquainted with the occult movement of his period—\nthat of the French Revolution—and a participant therein. After all his\nexperience he carried his great genius and exceptional knowledge into\nthe fold of the Latin Church and became a priest. His two plays convey\nmany moving suggestions of a guiding but unknown hand leading the\nChristian Church. The next book is of Russian origin, but was translated\ninto French and published in Paris in 1801; of this translation a reprint\nwas issued recently at Lyons. It is entitled \"Some Characteristics of the\nInterior Church.\" It connects the point of view which is met with in \"The\nMystery of the Cross \" with that of Eckartshausen, and is interesting on\naccount of its origin, and also for certain Martinistic associations, but it\nis less suggestive and less profound. Finally, there is a very remarkable\nand I may add a very rare series of works published at Berleburg in the\nprovince of Westphalia in seven volumes, dated 1738. It is entitled \"New\nSpiritual Discourses on various matters of the Interior Life and the\nDoctrines of the Christian Religion, or testimony of a Child of Truth\n\nconcerning the Ways of the Spirit.\" These discourses occupy three\nvolumes; two others contain a commentary on the Apocalypse; the sixth\nvolume is a literal and mystical explanation of the epistle to the Romans,\n\nwith some supplementary papers and a catechism of the science of\nChristian religion. The seventh volume is another commentary, verse for\nverse, on the first three chapters of Genesis. The collection as a whole\nmay perhaps be best described as an appeal from external creeds with\ntheir differences, their arguments and their justifications, to the witness\nof the heart itself. It is an appeal also to the mystical doctors of the\nchurch, and it cites many of the great mystics from Tauler and\nRuysbroek to Engelbrecht, Antoinette de Bourignon and Madame de\nGuyon. The discourses on the union of the Church of Christ and the\nspiritual union of the children of God, as also on a new church, in the\nsecond volume, will be found very interesting to students of\nEckartshausen. There are also extraordinary analogies with Saint-\nMartin, Eckartshausen and the \"Mystery of the Cross\" to be found in the\nthird volume, and having regard to the proximity of the date of\npublication to that of the last work, I incline to the opinion that there\n\nmay have been some connection also in the authorship. When all these\nworks have been studied, not in the letter but in the spirit, along with\n\"The Cloud upon the Sanctuary,\" the spiritual truths which\nEckartshausen has to some extent veiled, and his motives for doing so,\nwill not be beyond discemment, northe line of his experiences in all\ncases beyond pursuit. I should add that, so far as I can trace,\nEckartshausen always remained in loyal communication with the\nexternal church in which he was originally trained, and did not therefore\nregard apostasy and rebellion as among the first evidences of personal\nillumination. Perhaps, like one of the Eastern teachers, he thought that\nsome things could be changed from within, and essentially, without\naltering outward names and forms.\n\nA. E. WAITE.\n\nLETTER 1\n\nThere is no age more remarkable to the quiet observer than our own.\nEverywhere there is a fermentation in the minds of men; everywhere\nthere is a battle between light and darkness, between exploded thought\nand living ideas, between powerless wills and living active force; in short\neverywhere is there war between animal man and growing spiritual man.\n\nIt is said that we live in an age of light, but it would be truer to say that\nwe are living in an age of twilight; here and there a luminous ray pierces\nthrough the mists of darkness, but does not light to full clearness either\nour reason or our hearts. Men are not of one mind, scientists dispute,\nand where there is discord, truth is not yet apprehended.\n\nThe most important objects for humanity are still undetermined. No one\nis agreed either on the principle of rationality or on the principle of\nmorality, or on the cause of the will. This proves that though we are\ndwelling in an age of light, we do not well understand what emanates\nfrom our hearts—and what from our heads. Probably we should have this\ninformation much sooner if we did not imagine that we have the light of\nknowledge already in our hands, or if we would cast a look on our\nweakness, and recognise that we require a more brilliant illumination.\nWe live in the times of idolatry of the intellect, we place a common\ntorchlight upon the altar and we loudly proclaim the aurora, that now\ndaylight is really about to appear, and that the world is emerging more\nand more out of obscurity into the full day of perfection, through the\narts, sciences, cultured taste, and even from a purer understanding of\nreligion.\n\nPoor mankind! To what standpoint have you raised the happiness of\nman? Has there ever been an age which has counted so many victims to\nhumanity as the present? Has there ever been an age in which\nimmorality and egotism have been greater or more dominant than in this\none? The tree is known by its fruits. Mad men! With your imaginary\nnatural reason, from whence have you the light by which you are so\nwilling to enlighten others? Are not all your ideas borrowed from your\nsenses which do not give you the reality but merely its phenomena? Is it\n\nnot true that in time and space all knowledge is but relative? Is it not true\nthat all which we call reality is but relative, for absolute truth is not to be\nfound in the phenomenal world. Thus your natural reason does riot\npossess its true essence, but only the appearance of truth and light; and\nthe more this appearance increases and spreads, the more the essence of\nlight inwardly fades, and the man confuses himself with this appearance\nand gropes vainly after the dazzling phantasmal images he conjures.\n\nThe philosophy of our age raises the natural intellect into independent\nobjectivity, and gives it judicial power, she exempts it from any superior\nauthority, she makes it voluntary, converting it into divinity by closing all\nharmony and communication with God; and this god Reason, which has\nno other law but its own, is to govern Man and make him happy! .. .\n\n... Darkness able to spread light! ... Death capable of giving Life! . . .\nThe truth leads man to happiness. Can you give it?\n\nThat which you call truth is a form of conception empty of real matter,\nthe knowledge of which is acquired from without and through the senses,\nand the understanding co-ordinates them by observed synthetic\nrelationship into science or opinion.\n\nYou abstract from the Scriptures and Tradition their moral, theoretical\nand practical truth; but as individuality is the principle of your\nintelligence, and as egotism is the incentive to your will, you do not see,\nby your light, the moral law which dominates, or you repel it with your\nwill. It is to this length that the light of to-day has penetrated.\nIndividuality under the cloak of false philosophy is a child of corruption.\n\nWho can pretend that the sun is in full zenith if no bright rays illuminate\nthe earth, and no warmth vitalises vegetation? If wisdom does not\nbenefit man, if love does not make him happy, but very little has been\ndone for him on the whole.\n\nOh! if only natural man, that is, sensuous man, would only learn to see\nthat the source of his intelligence and the incentive of his will are only his\nindividuality, he would then seek interiorly for a higher source, and he\nwould thereby approach that which alone can give this true element,\nbecause it is wisdom in its essential substance.\n\nJesus Christ is that Wisdom, Truth, and Love. He, as Wisdom, is the\nPrinciple of reason, and the Source of the purest intelligence. As Love,\nHe is the Principle of morality, the true and pure incentive of the will.\n\nLove and Wisdom beget the spirit of truth, interior light; this light\nilluminates us and makes supernatural things objective to us.\n\nIt is inconceivable to what depths of error a man falls when he abandons\nsimple truths of faith by opposing his own opinions.\n\nOur century tries to decide by its (brain) intelligence, wherein lies the\nprinciple or ground of reason and morality, or the ground of the will; if\nthe scientists were mindful, they would see that these things are better\nanswered in the heart of the simplest man, than through their most\nbrilliant casuistry. The practical Christian finds this incentive to the will,\nthe principle of all morality, really and objectively in his heart; and this\nincentive is expressed in the following formula:—'Love God with all thy\nheart, and thy neighbour as thyself.\"\n\nThe love of God and his neighbour is the motive for the Christian's will,\nand the essence of love itself is J esus Christ in us.\n\nIt is in this way the principle of reason is wisdom in us; and the essence\nof wisdom, wisdom in its substance, is again J esus Christ, the light of the\nworld. Thus we find in Him the principle of reason and of morality.\n\nAll that I am now saying is not hyperphysical extravagance; it is reality,\nabsolute truth, that everyone can prove for himself by experience, as\nsoon as he receives in himself the principle of all reason and morality—\nJ esus Christ, being wisdom and love in essence.\n\nBut the eye of the man of sensuous perception only is firmly closed to the\nfundamental basis of all that is true and to all that is transcendental.\n\nThe intelligence which many would fain raise to legislative authority is\nonly that of the senses, whose light differs from that of transcendental\nreason, as does the phosphorescent glimmer of decayed wood from the\nglories of sunshine.\n\nAbsolute truth does not exist for sensuous man; it exists only for interior\nand spiritual man who possesses a suitable sensorium; or, to speak more\ncorrectly, who possesses an interior sense to receive the absolute truth of\n\nthe transcendental world, a spiritual faculty which cognises spiritual\nobjects as objectively and naturally as the exterior senses perceive\nexternal phenomena.\n\nThis interior faculty of the man spiritual, this sensorium for the\nmetaphysical world, is unfortunately not known to those who cognise\nonly outside of it—for it is a mystery of the kingdom of God.\n\nThe current incredulity towards everything which is not cognised\nobjectively by our senses is the explanation for the misconception of\ntruths which are, of all, most important to man.\n\nBut how can this be otherwise? In order to see one must have eyes, to\nhear, one must have ears. Every apparent object requires its appropriate\nsenses. So it is that transcendental objects require their sensorium—and\nthis said sensorium is closed in most men. Hence men judge the\nmetaphysical world through the intelligence of their senses, even as the\nblind imagine colours and the deaf judge tones—without suitable senses.\n\nThere is an objective and substantial ground of reason, an objective and\nsubstantial motive for the will. These two together form the new\nprinciple of life, and morality is there essentially inherent. 'This pure\nsubstance of reason and will, re-uniting in us the divine and the human,\nis J esus Christ, the light of the world, who must enter into direct\nrelationship with us, to be really recognized.\n\nThis real knowledge is actual faith, in which everything takes place in\nspirit and in truth. Thus one ought to have a sensorium fitted for this\ncommunication, an organised spiritual sensorium, a spiritual and\ninterior faculty able to receive this light; but it is closed to most men by\ntheir senses.\n\nThis interior organ is the intuitive sense of the transcendental world, and\nuntil this intuitive sense is effective in us we can have no certainty of\nmore lofty truths.\n\nThis organism is naturally inactive since the Fall, which degraded man to\nthe world of physical senses alone. The gross matter which envelops this\ninterior sensorium is a film which veils the internal eye, and therefore\nprevents the exterior eye from seeing into spiritual realms. This same\nmatter muffles our internal hearing, so that we are deaf to the sounds of\n\nthe metaphysical world; it so paralyses our spiritual speech that we can\nscarcely stammer words of sacred import, words we fully pronounced\nonce, and by virtue of which we held authority over the elements and the\nexternal world.\n\nThe opening of this spiritual sensorium is the mystery of the New Man—\nthe mystery of Regeneration, and of the vital union between God and\nman—tt is the noblest object of religion on earth, that religion whose\nsublime goal is none other than to unite men with God in Spirit and in\nTruth.\n\nWe can therefore easily see by this how it is that religion tends always\ntowards the subjection of the senses. It does so because it desires to\nmake the spiritual man dominant, in order that the spiritual or truly\nrational man may govern the man of sense. Philosophy feels this truth,\nonly its error consists in not apprehending the true source of reason, and\nbecause she would replace it by individuality by sensuous reason.\n\nAs man has internally a spiritual organ and a sensorium to receive the\ntrue principle of divine wisdom, or a true motive for the will or divine\nlove, he has also exteriorly a physical and material sensorium to receive\nthe appearance of light and truth. As external nature can have no\nabsolute truth, but only phenomenally relative, therefore, human reason\ncannot cognise pure truth, it can but apprehend through the appearance\nof phenomena, which excites the lust of the eye, and in this as a source of\naction consists the corruption of sensuous man and the degradation of\nnature.\n\nThis exterior sensorium in man is composed of frail matter, whereas the\ninternal sensorium is organized fundamentally from incorruptible,\ntranscendental, and metaphysical substance.\n\nThe first is the cause of our depravity and our mortality, the second the\ncause of our incorruptibility and of our immortality.\n\nIn the regions of material and corruptible nature mortality hides\nimmortality, therefore all our trouble results from corruptible mortal\nmatter. In order that man should be released from this distress, it is\nnecessary that the immortal and incorruptible principle, which dwells\nwithin, should expand and absorb the corruptible principle, so that the\n\nenvelope of the senses should be opened, and man appear in his pristine\npurity.\nThis natural envelope is a truly corruptible substance found in our blood,\n\nforming the fleshly bonds binding our immortal spirits under the\nservitude of the mortal flesh.\n\nThis envelope can be rent more or less in every man, and this places him\nin greater spiritual liberty, and makes him more cognisant of the\ntranscendental world.\n\nThere are three different degrees in the opening of our spiritual\nsensorium.\n\nThe first degree reaches to the moral plane only, the transcendental\nworld energises through us in but by interior action, called inspiration.\n\nThe second and higher degree opens this sensorium to the reception of\nthe spiritual and the intellectual, and the metaphysical world works in us\nby interior illumination.\n\nThe third degree, which is the highest and most seldom attained, opens\n\nthe whole inner man. It breaks the crust which fills our spiritual eyes and\nears; it reveals the kingdom of spirit, and enables us to see objectively,\nmetaphysical, and transcendental sights; hence all visions are explained\nfundamentally.\n\nThus we have an internal sense of objectivity as well as externally. Only\nthe objects and the senses are different. Exteriorly animal and sensual\nmotives act in us and corruptible sensuous matter energises. Interiorly it\nis metaphysical and indivisible substance which gains admittance within,\nand the incorruptible and immortal essence of our Spirit receives its\ninfluence. Nevertheless, generally things pass much in the same way\ninteriorly as they do externally. The law is everywhere the same. Hence,\nas the spirit or our internal man has quite other senses, and quite\nanother objective sight from the rational man; one need not be surprised\nthat it (the spirit) should remain an enigma for the scientists of our age,\nfor those who have no objective sense of the transcendental and spiritual\nworld. Hence they measure the supernatural by the measurement of the\nsenses. However, we owe a debt of gratitude towards the philosopher\nKant for his view of the truths we have promulgated.\n\nKant has shown incontestably that the natural reason can know\nabsolutely nothing of what is supematural, and that it can never\nunderstand analytically or synthetically, neither can it prove the\npossibility of the reality of Love, Spirit, or of the Deity.\n\nThis is a great truth, lofty and beneficial for our epoch, though it is true\nthat St Paul has already enunciated it (1 Cor. i. 2- 24). But the Pagan\nphilosophy of Christian scientists has been able to overlook it up to Kant.\nThe virtue of this truth is double. First, it puts insurmountable limits to\nthe sentiment, to the fanaticism and to the extravagance of carnal\nreason. Then it shows by dazzling contrast the necessity and divinity of\nRevelation. It proves that our human reason, in its state of\nunfoldment, has no other objective source for the supernatural than\nrevelation, the only source of instruction in Divine things or of the\nspiritual world, the soul and its immortality; hence it follows that\nwithout revelation it is absolutely impossible to suppose or conjecture\n\nanything regarding these matters.\n\nWeare, therefore, indebted to Kant for proving philosophically now-a-\ndays, what long ago was taught in a more advanced and illuminated\n\nschool, that without revelation no knowledge of God, neither any\ndoctrine touching the soul, could be at all possible.\n\nIt is therefore clear that a universal Revelation must serve as a\nfundamental basis to all mundane religion.\n\nHence, following Kant, it is clear that the transmundane knowledge is\nwholly inaccessible to natural reason, and that God inhabits a world of\nlight, into which no speculation of the unfolded reason can penetrate.\nThus the rational man, or man of human reason, has no sense of\ntranscendental reality, and therefore it was necessary that it should be\nrevealed to him, for which faith is required, because the means are given\nto him by faith whereby his inner sensorium unfolds, and through which\nhe can apprehend the reality of truths otherwise incapable of being\nunderstood by the natural man.\n\nIt is quite true that with new senses we can acquire sense of further\nreality. This reality exists already, but is not known to us, because we\nlack the organ by which to cognise it. One must not lay the fault to the\npercept, but on the receptive organ.\n\nWith, however, the development of the new organ we have a new\nperception, a sense of new reality. Without it the spiritual world cannot\nexist for us, because the organ rendering it objective to us is not\ndeveloped.\n\nWith, however, its unfoldment, the curtain is all at once raised, the\nimpenetrable veil is torn away, the cloud before the Sanctuary lifts, a new\nworld suddenly exists for us, scales fall from the eyes, and we are at once\ntransported from the phenomenal world to the regions of truth.\n\nGod alone is substance, absolute truth; He alone is He who is, and we are\nwhat He has made us. For Him, all exists in Unity; for us, all exists in\nmultiplicity.\n\nA great many men have no more idea of the development of the inner\nsensorium than they have of the true and objective life of the spirit,\nwhich they neither perceive nor foresee in any manner. Hence it is\nimpossible to them to know that one can comprehend the spiritual and\ntranscendental, and that one can be raised to the supernatural, even to\nvision.\n\nThe great and true work of building the Temple consists solely in\ndestroying the miserable Adamic hut and in erecting a divine temple;\nthis means, in other words, to develop in us the interior sensorium, or\nthe organ to receive God. After this process, the metaphysical and\nincorruptible principle rules over the terrestrial, and man begins to live,\nnot any longer in the principle of self-love, but in the Spirit and in the\nTruth, of which he is the Temple.\n\nThe moral law then evolves into love for one's neighbour in deed and in\ntruth, whereas for the natural man it is but a simple attitude of thought;\nand the spiritual man, regenerated in spirit, sees all in its essence, of\nwhich the natural man has only the forms void of thought, mere empty\nsounds, symbols and letters, which are all dead images without interior\nspirit. The lofty aim of religion is the intimate union of man with God;\nand this union is possible in this world; but it only can be by the opening\nof our inner sensorium, which enables our hearts to become receptive to\nGod.\n\nTherein are mysteries that our philosophy does not dream of, the key to\nwhich is not to be found in scholastic science.\n\nMeanwhile, a more advanced school has always existed to whom this\ndeposition of all science has been confided, and this school was the\ncommunity illuminated interiorly by the Saviour, the society of the Elect,\nwhich has continued from the first day of creation to the present time; its\nmembers, it is true, are scattered all over the world, but they have always\nbeen united in the spirit and in one truth; they have had but one\nintelligence and one source of truth, but one doctor and one master; but\nin whom resides substantially the whole plenitude of God, and who alone\ninitiates them into the high mysteries of Nature and the Spiritual World.\n\nThis community of light has been called from all time the invisible\ncelestial Church, or the most ancient of all communities, of which we will\nspeak more fully in our next letter.\n\nLETTER 2\n\nIt is necessary, my dear brothers in the Lord, to give you a clear idea of\nthe interior Church; of that illuminated Community of God which is\nscattered throughout the world, but which is govemed by one truth and\nunited in one spirit.\n\nThis enlightened community has existed since the first day ofthe world's\ncreation, and its duration will be to the last day of time.\n\nThis community possesses a School, in which all who thirst for\nknowledge are instructed by the Spirit of Wisdom itself; and all the\nmysteries of God and of nature are preserved in this School for the\nchildren of light. .. . Perfect knowledge of God, of nature, and of\nhumanity are the objects of instruction in this school. It is from her that\nall truths penetrate into the world, she is the School of the Prophets, and\nof all who search for wisdom, and it is in this community alone that truth\nand the explanation of all mystery is to be found. It is the most hidden of\ncommunities yet possesses members from many circles; of such is this\nSchool. From all time there has been an exterior school based on the\ninterior one, of which it is but the outer expression. From all time,\ntherefore, there has been a hidden assembly, a society of the Elect, of\nthose who sought for and had capacity for light, and this interior society\nwas called the interior Sanctuary or Church. All that the external Church\npossesses in symbol ceremony or rite is the letter expressive outwardly of\nthe spirit of truth residing in the interior Sanctuary.\n\nHence this Sanctuary composed of scattered members, but tied by the\nbonds of perfect unity and love, has been occupied from the earliest ages\nin building the grand Temple through the regeneration of humanity, by\nwhich the reign of God will be manifest. This society is in the\ncommunion of those who have most capacity for light, i.e., the Elect. The\nElect are united in truth, and their Chief is the Light of the World\nhimself, J esus Christ, the One Anointed in light, the single mediator for\nthe human race, the Way, the Truth, and the Life—Primitive light,\nwisdom, and the only medium by which man can return to God.\n\nThe interior Church was formed immediately after the fall of man, and\nreceived from God at first-hand the revelation of the means by which\nfallen humanity could be again raised to its rights and delivered from its\nmisery. It received the primitive charge of all revelation and mystery; it\nreceived the key of true science, both divine and natural.\n\nBut when men multiplied, the frailty of man and his weakness\nnecessitated an exterior society which veiled the interior one, and\nconcealed the spirit and the truth in the letter. Because many people\nwere not capable of comprehending great interior truth, and the danger\nwould have been too great in confiding the most Holy to incapable\npeople. Therefore, interior truths were wrapped in external and\nperceptible ceremonies, so that men, by the perception of the outer,\nwhich is the symbol of the interior, might by degrees be enabled safely to\napproach the interior spiritual truths.\n\nBut the inner truth has always been confided to him who in his day had\nthe most capacity for illumination, and he became the sole guardian of\nthe original Trust, as High Priest of the Sanctuary.\n\nWhen it became necessary that interior truths should be enfolded in\nexterior ceremony and symbol, on account of the real weakness of men\nwho were not capable of bearing the Light of Light, then exterior worship\nbegan. It was, however, always the type and symbol of the interior, that\nis to say, the symbol of the true homage offered to God in spirit and in\ntruth.\n\nThe difference between spiritual and animal man, and between rational\nand sensual man, made the exterior and interior imperative. Interior\ntruth passed into the external wrapped in symbol and ceremony, so that\nsensuous man could observe, and be gradually thereby led to interior\ntruth. Hence external worship was symbolically typical of interior truths,\nand of the true relationship between man and God before and after the\nFall, and of his most perfect reconciliation. All the symbols of external\nworship are based upon the three fundamental relations—the Fall, the\nReconciliation, and the Complete Atonement.\n\nThe care of the external service was the occupation of priests, and every\nfather of a family was in the ancient times charged with this duty. First\nfruits and the first born among animals were offered to God, symbolizing\n\nthat all that preserves and nourishes us comes from Hin; also that\nanimal man must be killed to make room for rational and spiritual man.\n\nThe external worship of God would never have been separated from\ninterior service but for the weakness of man which tends too easily to\nforget the spirit in the letter, but the spirit of God is vigilant to note in\nevery nation those who are able to receive light, and they are employed\nas agents to spread the light according to man's capacity, and to revivify\nthe dead letter.\n\nThrough these divine instruments the interior truths of the Sanctuary\nwere taken into every nation, and modified symbolically according to\ntheir customs, capacity for instruction, climate, and receptiveness. So\nthat the external types of every religion, worship, ceremonies and Sacred\nBooks in general have more or less clearly, as their object of instruction,\nthe interior truths of the Sanctuary, by which man, but only in the latter\ndays, will be conducted to the universal knowledge of the one Absolute\nTruth.\n\nThe more the external worship of a people has remained united with the\nspirit of esoteric truth, the purer its religion; but the wider the difference\nbetween the symbolic letter and the invisible truth, the more imperfect\nhas become the religion; even so far among some nations as to\ndegenerate into polytheism. Then the external form entirely parted from\nits inner truth, when ceremonial observances without soul or life\nremained alone.\n\nWhen the germs of the most important truths had been carried\neverywhere by God's agents, He chose a certain people to raise up a vital\nsymbol destined by Him to manifest forth the means by which He\nintended to govern the human race in its present condition, and by\nwhich it would be raised into complete purification and perfection.\n\nGod Himself communicated to this people its exterior religious\nlegislation, He gave all the symbols and enacted all the ceremonies, and\nthey contained the impress, as it were, of the great esoteric truth of the\nSanctuary.\n\nGod consecrated this external Church in Abraham, gave commandments\nthrough Moses, and it received its highest perfection in the double\n\nmessage of J esus Christ, existing personally in poverty and suffering, and\nby the communication of His Spirit in the glory of the Resurrection.\n\nNow, as God Himself laid the foundation of the external Church, the\nwhole of the symbols of external worship formed the science of the\nTemple and of the Priests in those days, because the mysteries of the\nmost sacred truths became external through revelation alone. The\nscientific acquaintance of this holy symbolism was the science to unite\nfallen man once more with God, hence religion received its name from\nbeing the science of rebinding man with God, to bring man back to his\norigin.\n\nOne sees plainly by this pure idea of religion in general that unity in\nreligion is within the inner Sanctuary, and that the multiplicity of\nexternal religions can never alter the true unity which is at the base of\nevery exterior.\n\nThe wisdom of the ancient temple alliance was preserved by priests and\nby prophets.\n\nTo the priests was confided the external,—the letter of the symbol,\n\nhieroglyphics. The prophets had the charge of the inner truth, and their\noccupation was to continually recall the priest to the spirit in the letter,\nwhen inclined to lose it. The science of the priests was that of the\nknowledge of exterior symbol.\n\nThat of the prophets was experimental possession of the truth of the\nsymbols. In the interior the spirit lived. 'There was, therefore, in the\nancient alliance a school of prophets and of priests, the one occupying\nitself with the spirit in the emblem, the other with the emblem itself. The\npriests had the external possession of the Ark, of the shewbread, of the\ncandlesticks, of the manna, of Aaron's rod, and the prophets were in\ninterior possession of the inner spiritual truth which was represented\nexteriorly by the symbols just mentioned.\n\nThe external Church of the ancient alliance was visible, the interior\nChurch was always invisible, must be invisible, and yet must govern all,\nbecause force and power are alone confided to her.\n\nWhen the divine external! worship abandoned the interior worship, it\nfell, and God proved by a remarkable chain of circumstances that the\nletter could not exist without the spirit, that it is only there to lead to the\nspirit, and it is useless and even rejected by God if it fails in its object.\n\nAs the spirit of nature extends to the most sterile depths to vivify and\npreserve and cause growth in everything susceptible to its influence,\nlikewise the spirit of light spreads itself interiorly among nations to\nanimate everywhere the dead letter by the living spirit.\n\nThis is why we find a J ob among idolators, a Melchizedek among strange\nnations, a J oseph with the Egyptian priests, a Moses in the country of\nMidian, as living proofs the interior community of those who are capable\nof receiving light was united by one spirit and one truth in all times and\nin all nations.\n\nTo these agents of light from the one inner community was united the\nChief of all agents, J esus Christ Himself, in the midst of time as royal\npriest after the order of Melchizedek.\n\nThe divine agents of the ancient alliance hitherto represented only\nspecialised perfections of God; therefore a powerful movement was\nrequired which should show all at once—all in one. A universal type\nappeared, which gave the real touch of perfect unity to the picture, which\nopened a fresh door, and destroyed the number of the slavery of\nhumanity.\n\nThe law of love began when the image emanating from wisdom itself\nshowed to man all the greatness of his being, vivified him anew, assured\nhim of his immortality, and raised his intellectual status to that of being\nthe true temple for the spirit.\n\nThis Chief Agent of all, this Saviour of the World and universal\nRegenerator, claimed man's whole attention to the primitive truth,\nwhereby he can preserve his existence and recover his former dignity.\nThrough the conditions of His own abasement He laid the base of the\nredemption of man, and He promised to accomplish it completely one\n\n11 can't but think here that the words interior and exterior are transposed in translating from the\noriginal German to the French from which I translate it, but I put it as I find in the text of the very\nvaluable edition to which I have access.—I. de S.\n\nday through His Spirit. He showed also truly in part among His apostles\nall that should come to pass in the future to all the Elect.\n\nHe linked the chain of the community of light among the Elect, to whom\nHe sent the spirit of truth, and confided to them the true primitive\ninstruction in all divine and natural things, as a sign that He would never\nforsake His community.\n\nWhen the letter and symbolic worship of the external Church of the\nancient alliance had been realised by the Incarnation of the Saviour, and\nverified in His person, new symbols became requisite Tor external use,\nwhich showed us through the letter the future accomplishment of\nuniversal redemption.\n\nThe rites and symbols of the external Christian Church were formed after\nthe pattern of these unchangeable and fundamental truths, announcing\nthings of a strength and of an importance impossible to describe, and\nrevealed only to those who knew the innermost Sanctuary.\n\nThis Sanctuary remains changeless, though external religion receives in\nthe course of time and circumstances varied modification, entailing\nseparation from the interior spirit which can alone preserve the letter.\nThe profane idea of wishing to \"secularize\" all that is Christian, and to\nChristianise all that is political, changed the exterior edifice, and covered\nwith the shadow of death all that was interior light and life. Hence\ndivisions and heresies, and the spirit of Sophistry ready to expound the\nletter when it had already lost the essence of truth.\n\nCurrent incredulity increased corruption to its utmost point, attacking\nthe edifice of Christianity in its fundamental parts, and the sacred\ninterior was mingled with the exterior, already enfeebled by the\nignorance of weak man.\n\nThen was born Deism; this brought forth materialism, which looked on\nthe union of man with superior forces as imaginary; then finally came\nforth, partly from the head and partly from the heart, the last degree of\nman's degradation—Atheism.\n\nIn the midst of all this, truth reposes inviolable in the inner Sanctuary.\n\nFaithful to the spirit oftruth, which promised never to abandon its\ncommunity, the members of the interior Church lived in silence, but in\nreal activity, and united the science of the temple of the ancient alliance\nwith the spirit of the great saviour of man—the spirit of the interior\nalliance, waiting humbly the great moment when the Lord will call them,\nand will assemble his community in order to give every dead letter\nexternal force and life.\n\nThis interior community of light is the reunion of all those capable of\nreceiving light as Elect, and it is known as the Communion of Saints. The\nprimitive receptacle for all strength and truth, confided to it from all\ntime—it alone, says St Paul, is in the possession of the science of the\nSaints.\n\nBy it the agents of God were formed in every age, passing from the\ninterior to the exterior, and communicating spirit and life to the dead\nletter as already said.\n\nThis illuminated community has been through time the true school of\nGod's spirit, and considered as school, it has its Chair, its Doctor, it\npossesses a rule for students, it has forms and objects for study, and, in\nshort, a method by which they study.\n\nIt has, also, its degrees for successive development to higher altitudes.\n\nThe first and lowest degree consists in the moral good, by which the\nsingle will, subordinated to God, is led to God by the pure motive of\nwilling with and to J esus Christ, which it does through faith. 'The means\nby which the spirit of this school acts are called inspirations.\n\nThe second degree consists in the rational intellectuality, by which the\nunderstanding of the man of virtue, who is united to God, is crowned\nwith wisdom and the light of knowledge, and the means which the spirit\nuses to produce this is called interior illumination.\n\nThe third and highest degree is the entire opening of our inner\nsensorium, by which the inner man perceives objectively and really,\nmetaphysical verities. This is the highest degree when faith passes into\nopen vision, and the means the spirit uses for this are real visions.\n\nThese are the three degrees of the school for true interior wisdom —that\nof the illuminated Society. The same spirit which ripens men for this\ncommunity also distributes its degrees by the co-action of the ripened\nsubject.\n\nThis school of wisdom has been forever most secretly hidden from the\nworld, because it is invisible and submissive solely to divine government.\n\nIt has never been exposed to the accidents of time and to the weakness of\nman. Because only the most capable were chosen for it, and the spirits\nwho selected made no error.\n\nThrough this school were developed the germs of all the sublime\nsciences, which were first received by external schools, then clothed in\nother forms, and hence degenerating.\n\nThis society of sages communicated, according to time and\ncircumstances, unto the exterior societies their symbolic hieroglyphs, in\norder to attract man to the great truths of their interior.\n\nBut all exterior societies subsist through this interior one giving them its\nspirit. As soon as external societies wish to be independent of the interior\none, and to transform a temple of wisdom into a political edifice, the\ninterior society retires and leaves only the letter without the spirit. It is\nthus that secret external societies of wisdom were nothing but\nhieroglyphic screens, the truth remaining inviolable in the sanctuary so\nthat she might never be profaned.\n\nIn this interior society man finds wisdom and with her—All—not the\nwisdom of this world which is but scientific knowledge, which revolves\nround the outside but never touches the centre (in which is contained all\nstrength), but true wisdom and men obeying her.\n\nAll disputes, all controversies, all the things belonging to the false cares\nof this world, fruitless discussions, useless germs of opinions which\nspread the seeds of disunion, all error, schisms, and systems are\nbanished. Neither calumny nor scandal are known. Every man is\nhonoured. Satire, that spirit which loves to make its neighbour smart, is\nunknown. Love alone reigns.\n\nWant and feebleness are protected, and rejoicings are made at the\nelevation and greatness which man acguires.\n\nWe must not, however, imagine this society resembles any secret society,\nmeeting at certain times, choosing its leaders and members, united by\nspecial objects. All societies, be what they may, can but come after this\ninterior illuminated circle. This society knows none of the formalities\nwhich belong to the outer rings, the work of man. In this kingdom of\npower all outward forms cease.\n\nGod himself is the Power always present. The best man of his times, the\nchief himself, does not always know all the members, but the moment\nwhen it is the Will of God that he should accomplish any object, he finds\nthem in the world with certainty to work for that purpose.\n\nThis community has no outside barriers. He who may be chosen by God\nis as the first, he presents himself among the others without\npresumption, and he is received by the others without jealousy.\n\nIf it be necessary that real members should meet together, they find and\nrecognise each other with perfect certainty.\n\nNo disguise can be used, neither hypocrisy nor dissimulation could hide\nthe characteristic qualities of this society, they are too genuine. All\nillusion is gone, and things appear in their true form.\n\nNo one member can choose another, unanimous choice is required. All\nmen are called, the called may be chosen, if they become ripe for\nentrance.\n\nAny one can look for the entrance, and any man who is within can teach\nanother to seek for it; but only he who is fit can arrive inside.\n\nUnprepared men occasion disorder in a community, and disorder is not\ncompatible with the Sanctuary. This thrusts out all who are not\nhomogeneous.\n\nWorldly intelligence seeks this Sanctuary in vain, fruitless also will be the\nefforts of malice to penetrate these great mysteries; all is undecipherable\nto him who is not ripe, he can see nothing, read nothing in the interior.\n\nHe who isripe is joined to the chain, perhaps often where he thought\nleast likely, and at a point of which he knew nothing himself.\n\nSeeking to become ripe, should be effort of him who sees wisdom.\n\nBut there are methods by which ripeness is attained, for in this holy\ncommunion is the primitive storehouse of the most ancient and original\nscience of the human race, with the primitive mysteries also of all\nscience. It is the unique and really illuminated community which is\nabsolutely in possession of the key to all mystery, which knows the\ncentre and source of all nature and creation. It is a society which unites\nsuperior strength to its own, and counts its members from more than\none world. It is the society whose members form a theocratic republic,\nwhich one day will be the Regent Mother of the whole World. 2\n\n2 Capitals are rarely employed. I always quote them, but occasionally use them in other places when\nthe sense requires them, so as not to confuse the cases and genders, for instance, esprit evidently\nrequires to be written occasionally Spirit, not spirit.\n\nLETTER 3\n\nThe absolute truth lying in the centre of Mystery is like the sun, it blinds\nordinary sight and man sees only the shadow. The eagle alone can gaze at\nthe dazzling light, likewise only the prepared soul can bear its lustre.\nNevertheless the great Something which is the inmost of the Holy\nMysteries has never been hidden from the piercing gaze of him who can\nbear the light.\n\nGod and nature have no mysteries for their children. 'They are caused by\nthe weakness of our nature, unable to support light, because it is not yet\norganised to bear the chaste light of unveiled truth.\n\nThis weakness is the Cloud that covers the Sanctuary; this is the curtain\nwhich veils the Holy of Holies.\n\nBut in order that man may recover the veiled light, strength and dignity,\nDivinity bends to the weakness of its creatures, and writes the truth that\nis interior and eternal mystery on the outside of things, so that man can\ntransport himself through this to their spirit.\n\nThese letters are the ceremonies or the rituals of religion, which lead\nman to the interior life of union with God.\n\nMystic hieroglyphs are these letters also; they are sketches and designs\nholding interior and holy truth.\n\nReligion and the Mysteries go hand in hand to lead our brethren to truth,\nboth have for object the reversing and renewing of our natures, both\nhave for the end the re-building of a temple inhabited by Wisdom and\nLove, or God with man.\n\nBut religion and the Mysteries would be useless phenomena if Divinity\nhad not also accorded means to attain these great ends.\n\nBut these means are only in the innermost of the sanctuary. The\nMysteries are required to build a temple to Religion, and religion is\nrequired to unite Man with God.\n\nSuch is the greatness of religion, and such the exalted dignity of the\nMysteries from all time.\n\nIt would be unjust to you, beloved brothers, that we should think that\nyou have never regarded the Holy Mysteries in this real aspect, the one\nwhich shows them as the only means able to preserve in purity and\nintegrity the doctrine of the important truths concerning God, nature,\nand man. This doctrine was couched in holy symbolic language, and the\ntruths which it contained having been gradually translated among the\nouter circle into the ordinary languages of man, became in consequence\nmore obscure and unintelligible.\n\nThe Mysteries, as you know, beloved brothers, promise things which are\nand which will remain always the heritage of but a small number of men;\nthese are the mysteries which can neither be bought nor sold publicly,\nand can only be acquired by a heart which has attained to wisdom and\nlove.\n\nHe in whom this holy flame has been awakened lives in true happiness,\ncontent with everything and in everything free. He sees the cause of\nhuman corruption and knows that it is inevitable. He hates no criminal,\nhe pities him, and seeks to raise him who has fallen, and to restore the\nwanderer, because he feels notwithstanding all the corruption, in\n\nthe whole there is no taint.\n\nHe sees with a clear eye the underlying truth in the foundation of all\nreligion, he knows the sources of superstition and of incredulity, as being\ncaused by modifications of truth which have not attained perfect\nequilibrium.\n\nWeare assured, my esteemed brothers, that you consider the true Mystic\nfrom this aspect, and that you will not attribute to his royal art, that\nwhich the misdirected energy of some isolated individuals have made of\nthis art.\n\nIt is, therefore, with these views, which accord exactly with ours, that you\nwill compare religion, and the mysteries of the holy schools of Wisdom,\nto loving sisters who have watched over the good of mankind since the\nnecessity of their birth.\n\nReligion divides itself into exterior and interior religion, exterior\nsignifying ceremony; and interior, worship in spirit and in truth; the\nouter schools possessing the letter and the symbol, the inner ones, the\nspirit and meaning—but the outer schools were united to the inner ones\nby ceremonies, as also the outer schools of the mysteries were linked\nwith the inner one by means of symbol.\n\nThus religion can never be merely ceremony, but hidden and holy\nmysteries penetrate through symbol into the outer worship to prepare\nmen properly for the worship of God in spirit and in truth.\n\nVery soon the night of symbol will disappear, the light will bring forth\nthe day and the mysteries no longer veiled will show themselves in the\nsplendour of full truth.\n\nThe vestibule of nature, the temple of reason and the sanctuary of\nRevelation, will form but one Temple. Thus the great edifice will be\ncompleted, the edifice which consists in the re-union of man, nature, and\nGod.\n\nA perfect knowledge of man, of nature, and of God will be the lights\nwhich will enable the leaders of humanity to bring back from every side\ntheir wandering brothers, those who are led by the prejudices of reason,\nby the turbulence of passions, to the ways of peace and knowledge.\n\nWe arc approaching the period of light, and the reign of wisdom and\nlove, that of God who is the source of light; Brothers of light, there is but\none religion whose simple truth spreads in all religions like branches,\nreturning through multiplicity into the unity of the tree.\n\nSons of truth, there is but one order, but one Brotherhood, but one\nassociation of men thinking alike in the one object of acquiring the light.\nFrom this centre misunderstanding has caused innumerable Orders, but\nall will return from the multiplicity of opinions, to the only truth and to\nthe true Order, the association of those who are able to receive the light,\nthe Community of the Elect.\n\nWith this measure all religions and all orders of man must be measured.\nMultiplicity is in the ceremony of the exterior; truth only in the interior.\nThe trend of these brotherhoods is in the variety of explanation of the\n\nsymbols caused by the lapse of time, needs of the day, and other\ncircumstances. The true Community of Light can be only one.\n\nThe exterior symbol is only the sheath which holds the inner; it may\nchange and multiply, but it can never weaken the truth of the interior;\nmoreover, it was necessary; we ought to seek it and try to decipher it to\ndiscover the meaning of the spiritual interior.\n\nAll errors, divisions, all mis-understandings in Religion and in secret\nsocieties only concern the letter. What rests behind it remains always\npure and holy.\n\nSoon the time for those who seek the light will be accomplished, for the\nday comes when the old will be united to the new, the outer to the inner,\nthe high with the low, the heart with the brain, man with God, and this\nepoch is destined for the present age. Do not ask, beloved brothers, ...\nwhy the present age? ...\n\nEverything has its time for beings subject to time and space. It is in such\nwise according to the unvarying law of the Wisdom of God, who has co-\nordinated all in harmony and perfection.\n\nThe elect should first labour to acquire both wisdom and love, in order to\nearn the gift of power, which unchangeable Divinity gives only to those\nwho know and those who love.\n\nMorning follows night, and the sun rises, and all moves on to full mid-\nday, where all shadows disappear in his vertical splendour. Thus, the\nletter of truth must exist; then comes the practical explanation, then the\ntruth itself; only truth can comprehend truth; then alone can the spirit\nof truth appear which sets the seals closing the light. He who now can\nreceive the truth will understand. It is to you, much loved brothers, you\nwho labour to reach truth, you who have so faithfully preserved the glyph\nof the holy mysteries in your temple, it is to you that the first ray of truth\nwill be directed; this ray will pierce through the cloud of mystery, and\nwill announce the full day and the treasure which it brings.\n\nDo not ask who those are who write to you; look at the spirit not the\nletter, the thing, not at persons.\n\nNeither pride, nor self seeking, neither does any unworthy motive, exist\nin our retreats; we know the object and the destination of man, and the\nlight which lights us works in all our actions.\n\nWe are especially called to write to you, dear brothers of light; and that\nwhich gives power to our commission is the truth which we possess, and\nwhich we pass on to you on the least sign, and according to the measure\nof the capacity of each.\n\nLight is apt for communication, where there is reception and capacity,\nbut it constrains no one, and waits its reception tranquilly.\n\nOur desire, our aim, our Office is to revivify the dead letter, and to\nspiritualise the symbols, turn the passive into the active, death into life;\nbut this we cannot do by ourselves, but through the spirit of light of Him\nwho is Wisdom and the Light of the world.\n\nUntil the present time the Inner Sanctuary has been separated from the\nTemple, and the Temple beset with those who belong only to the\nprecincts; but the time is coming when the Innermost will be re-united\nwith the Temple, in order that those who are in the Temple can influence\nthose who are in the outer courts, so that the outer pass in.\n\nIn our sanctuary all the hidden mysteries are preserved intact, they have\nnever been profaned.\n\nThis sanctuary is invisible, as is a force which is only known through its\naction.\n\nBy this short description, my dear brothers, you can tell who we are, and\nit will be superfluous to assure you that we do not belong to those\nrestless natures who seek to build in this common life an ideal after their\nown fantastic imaginations. Neither do we belong to those who wish to\nplay a great part in the world, and who promise miracles that they\nthemselves do not understand. We do not represent either that class of\nminds, who, resenting the condition of certain things, have no object but\nthe desire of dominating others, and who love adventure and\nexaggeration.\n\nWe can also assure you that we belong to no other sect or association\nthan the one true and great one of those who are able to receive the light.\n\nWe are not also of those who think it their right to mould all after their\nown model, the arrogance to seek to re-model all other societies; we\nassure you faithfully that we know exactly the innermost of religion and\nof the Holy Mysteries; and that we possess with absolute certainty, all\nthat has been surmised to be in the Adytum, and that this said\npossession gives us the strength to justify our commission, and to impart\nto the dead letter and hieroglyphic everywhere both spirit and life. The\ntreasures in our sanctuary are many; we understand the spirit and\nmeaning of all symbols and all ceremony which have existed since the\nday of Creation to the present time, as well as the most interior truths of\nall the Holy Books, with the laws and customs of primitive people.\n\nWe possess a light by which we are anointed, and by means of which we\nread the hidden and secret things of nature.\n\nWe possess a fire which feeds us, and which gives us the strength to act\nupon everything in nature. We possess a key to open the gate of mystery,\nand a key to shut nature's laboratory. We know of the existence of a bond\nwhich will unite us to the Upper Worlds, and reveal to us their sights and\ntheir sounds. All the marvels of nature arc subordinate to our will\n\nby its being united with Divinity.\n\nWe have mastered the science which draws directly from nature, whence\nthere is no error, but truth and light only.\n\nIn our School we are instructed in all things because our Master is the\nLight itself and its essence. The plenitude of our scholarship is the\nknowledge of this tie between the divine and spiritual worlds and of the\nspiritual world with the elementary, and of the elementary world with\nthe material world.\n\nBy these knowledges we are in condition to co-ordinate the spirits of\nnature and the heart of man.\n\nOur science is the inheritance promised to the Elect; otherwise, those\nwho are duly prepared for receiving the light, and the practice of our\nscience is in the completion of the Divine union with the child of man.\n\nWe could often tell you, beloved brothers, of marvels relating to the\nhidden things in the treasury of the Sanctuary, which would amaze and\nastonish you; we could speak to you about ideas concerning which the\n\nprofoundest philosophy is as removed as the earth from the sun, but to\nwhich we arc near being one with the light of the innermost.\n\nBut our object is not to excite your curiosity, but to raise your desires to\nseek the light at its source, where your search for wisdom will be\nrewarded and your longing for love satisfied, for wisdom and love dwell\nin our retreats. The stimulus of their reality and of their truth is our\nmagical power.\n\nWe assure you that our treasures, though of infinite value, are concealed\nin so simple a manner that they entirely baffle the researches of\nopinionated science, and also though these treasures would bring to\ncarnal minds both madness and sorrow, nevertheless, they are, and they\never remain to us the treasures of the highest wisdom.\n\nMy best blessing upon you, O my brothers, if you understand these great\ntruths. The recovery of the triple word and of its power will be your\nreward.\n\nYour happiness will be in having the strength to help to re-unite man\nwith man, and with nature and with God, which is the real work of every\nworkman who has not rejected the Corner Stone.\n\nNow we have fulfilled our trust and we have announced the approach of\nfull day, and the joining of the inner Sanctuary with the Temple; we leave\nthe rest to your own free will.\n\nWe know well, to our bitter grief, that even as the Saviour was not\nunderstood in his personality, but was ridiculed and condemned in his\nhumility, likewise also His spirit which will appear in glory will also be\nrejected and despised by many. Nevertheless the coming of His Spirit\nshould be announced in the Temples in order that these words should be\nfulfilled.\n\n\"I have knocked at your doors and you have not opened them to me; I\nhave called and you have not listened to my voice; I have invited you to\nthe wedding, but you were busy with other things.\"\n\nMay Peace and the light of the Spirit be with you!\n\nLETTER 4\n\nAs infinity in numbers loses itself in the unit, and as the innumerable\nrays of a circle are united in one single centre only, it is likewise with the\nMysteries; their hieroglyphics and infinite number of emblems have the\nobject of exemplifying but one single truth. He who knows this has found\nthe key to understand everything all at once.\n\nThere is but one God, but one truth, and one way which leads to this\ngrand Truth. There is but one means of finding it.\n\nHe who has found this way possesses everything in its possession: all\nwisdom in one book alone, all strength in one force, every beauty in one\nsingle object, all riches in one treasure only, every happiness in one\nperfect felicity. And the sum of all these perfections is J esus Christ, who\nwas crucified and who lived again. Now, this great truth, expressed thus,\nis, it is true, only an object of faith, but it can become also one\n\nof experimental knowledge, as soon as we are instructed how J esus\nChrist can be or become all this.\n\nThis great mystery was always an object of instruction in the Secret\nSchool of the invisible and interior Church; this great knowledge was\nunderstood in the earliest days of Christianity under the name\n\nof Disciplina Arcana. From this secret school are derived all the rites\nand ceremonies extant in the Outer Church. But the spirit of these grand\nand simple verities was withdrawn into the Interior, and in our day it is\nentirely lost as to the exterior.\n\nIt has been prophesied long ago, dear brothers, that all which is hidden\nshall be revealed in these latter days; but it has also been predicted that\nmany false prophets will arise, and the faithful are warned not to believe\nevery spirit, but to prove them if they really come from God, i J ohn iv. 5.\nThe apostle himself explains how this truth is ascertained. He says,\n\"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit which confesseth that\n\nJ esus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which\nconfesseth not is not of God.\" That is to say, the spirit who separates in\nHim the Divine and human is not from God.\n\nWe confess that J esus Christ is come in the flesh, and hence the spirit of\ntruth speaks by us. But the mystery that J esus Christ is come in the\nflesh is of wide extent and great depth, and in it is contained the\nknowledge of the divine-human, and it is this knowledge that we are\nchoosing to-day as object for our instruction.\n\nAs we are not speaking to neophytes in matters of faith, it will be much\neasier for you, dear brothers, to receive the sublime truths which we will\npresent to you, as without doubt you have already chosen as object for\nyour holy meditation various preparatory subjects.\n\nReligion considered scientifically is the doctrine of the re-union of man\nseparated from God to man re-united to God. Hence its sole object is to\nunite every human being to God, through which union alone can\nhumanity attain its highest felicity both temporally and spiritually.\n\nThis doctrine, therefore, of re-union is of the most sublime importance,\nand being a doctrine it necessarily must have a method by which it leads\nand teaches us. The first is the knowledge of the correct means of re-\nunion, and secondly the teaching, after the knowledge of the correct\nmeans, how these means should be suitably co-ordinated to the end.\n\nThis grand concept of re-union, on which all religious doctrine is\nconcentrated, could never have been known to man without revelation.\nIt has always been altogether outside the sphere of scientific knowledge,\nbut this very ignorance of man has made revelation absolutely necessary\nto us, otherwise we could, unassisted, never have found the means of\nrising out of this state of ignorance.\n\nRevelation entails the necessity of faith in revelation, because he who has\nno experience or knowledge whatsoever of a thing must necessarily\nbelieve that he wishes to know and have experience. If faith fails, there is\nno desire for revelation, and the mind of man closes by itself, its own\ndoor and road for discovering the methods revealed by Revelation only.\nAs action and re-action follow each other in nature, so also inevitably\nrevelation and faith act and re-act. One cannot exist without the other,\nand the more faith a man has the more will revelation be made to him of\nmatters which lie in obscurity. It is true, and very true, that all the veiled\ntruths of religions, even those heavily veiled ones, the most difficult ones\nto us, will one day be revealed and justified before a tribunal of the most\n\nrigid Justice; but the weakness of men, the lack of penetration in\nperceiving the relation and correspondence between physical and\nspiritual nature, reguires that the highest truths should only be imparted\ngradually. The holy obscurity of the mysteries is thus on account\n\nof our weakness, because our eyes are enabled only gradually to bear\ntheir full and dazzling light. In every grade at which the believer in\nRevelation arrives, he obtains clearer light, and this progressive\nillumination continues the more convincing, because every truth of faith\nso acquired becomes more and more vitalised, passing finally into\nconviction.\n\nHence faith is founded on our weakness, and also on the full light of\nrevelation which will, in its communication with us, direct us according\nto our capabilities to the gradual understanding of things, so that in due\norder the cognisance of the most elevated truths will be ours.\n\nThose objects which are quite unknown to human sense are necessarily\nbelonging to the domain of faith.\n\nMan can only adore and be silent, but if he wishes to demonstrate\nmatters which cannot be manifested objectively, he necessarily falls into\nerror.\n\nMan should adore and be silent, therefore, until such time arrives when\nthese objects in the domain of faith become clearer, and, therefore, more\neasily recognised. Everything proves itself by itself as soon as we have\nacquired the interior experience of the truths revealed through faith, so\nsoon as we are led by faith to vision, that is to say, to full cognisance.\n\nIn all time have there been men illuminated of God who had this interior\nknowledge of the things of faith demonstrated objectively either in full or\npartly, according as the truths of faith passed into their understanding or\ntheir hearts. The first kind of vision was called divine illumination. The\nsecond was entitled divine inspiration.\n\nThe inner sensorium was opened in many to divine and transcendental\nvision, called ecstacy because this inner sensorium was so enlarged that\nit entirely dominated the outer physical senses.\n\nBut this kind of man is always inexplicable, and he must remain such\nalways to the man of mere sense who has no organs receptive to the\n\ntranscendental and supernatural, \"the natural man receiveth not the\nthings of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him and he\ncannot know them, because they are spiritually judged,\" 1 Cor. xi. 14, i.e.,\nbecause his spiritual senses are not open to the transcendental world, so\nthat he can have no more objective cognisance of such world than a blind\nman has of colour; thus the natural man has lost these interior senses, or\nrather, the capacity for their development is neglected almost to atrophy.\n\nThus mere physical man is, in general, spiritually blind, one of the\nfurther consequences of the Fall. Man then is doubly miserable; he not\nonly has his eyes blindfolded to the sight of high truths, but his heart also\nlanguishes a prisoner in the bonds of flesh and blood, which confine him\nto animal and sensuous pleasures to the hurt of more elevated and\ngenuine ones. Therefore, are we slaves to concupiscence, to the\ndomination of tyrannical passions, and, therefore, do we drag ourselves\nas paralysed sufferers supported on crutches; the one crutch being the\nweak one of mere human reason, and the other, sentiment—the one daily\ngiving us appearance instead of reality, the other making us constantly\nchoose evil, imagining it to be good. This is, therefore, our unhappy\ncondition.\n\nMen can only be happy when the bandage which intercepts the true light\nfalls from their eyes, and when the fetters of slavery are loosened from\ntheir hearts. The blind must see, the lame must walk, before happiness\ncan be understood. But the great and all-powerful law to which the\nfelicity or happiness of man is indissolubly attached is the one\nfollowing—'\"Man, let reason rule over your passions!\"\n\nFor ages has man striven to teach and to preach, with, however, the\nresult, after so many centuries, of but the blind always leading the blind;\nfor in all the foolishness of misery into which we have fallen, we do not\nyet see that man wants more than man to raise us from this condition.\n\nPrejudices and errors, crimes and vices, only change from century to\ncentury; they are never extirpated from humanity; reason without\nillumination flickers faintly in every age, in the heavy air of spiritual\ndarkness; the heart, exhausted with passions, is also the same century\nafter century.\n\nThere is but One who can heal these evils, but One who is able to open\nour inner eyes, but One who can free us from the bonds of sensuality.\n\nThis One is J esus Christ, the Saviour of Man, the Saviour because He\nwishes to obliterate from us all the consequences which follow as result\nfrom the blindness of our natural reason, or the errors arising from the\npassions of ungoverned hearts.\n\nVery few men, beloved brothers, have a true and exact conception of\n\nthe greatness of the idea meant by the Redemption of Man; many\nsuppose that J esus Christ the Lord has only redeemed or re-bought us by\nHis Blood from damnation, otherwise the eternal separation of man\nfrom God; but they do not believe that He could also deliver all those\nwho are bound in Him and confide in Him, from all the miseries of this\nearth plane!\n\nJ esus Christ is the Saviour of the World; He is the deliverer from all\nhuman wretchedness, and He has redeemed us from death and sin; how\ncould He be all that, if the world must languish perpetually in the shades\nof ignorance and in the bonds of passions? It has been already very\nclearly predicted in the Prophets that the time of the Redemption of His\npeople, the first Sabbath of time, will come. Long ago ought we to have\nacknowledged this most consolatory promise; but the want of the true\nknowledge of God, of man, and of nature has been the real hindrance\nwhich has always obstructed our sight of the great Mysteries of the faith.\n\nYou must know, my brothers, that there is a dual nature, one pure,\nspiritual, immortal, and indestructible, the other impure, material,\nmortal, and destructible. The pure nature was before the impure. This\nlatter originated solely through the disharmony and disproportion of\nsubstances which form destructible nature. Hence nothing is permanent\nuntil all disproportions and dissonances are eradicated, so that all\nremains in harmony.\n\nThe incorrect conception regarding spirit and matter is one of the\nprincipal causes which prevent many verities of faith from shining in\ntheir true lustre.\n\nSpirit is a substance, an essence, an absolute reality. Hence its\nproperties are indestructibility, uniformity, penetration, indivisibility,\n\nand continuity. Matter is not a substance, it is an aggregate. Hence it is\ndestructible, divisible, and subject to change.\n\nThe metaphysical world is one really existing perfectly pure and\nindestructible, whose Centre we call J esus Christ, and whose inhabitants\nare known by the names of Angels and Spirits.\n\nThe physical world is that of phenomena, and it possesses no absolute\ntruth, all that we call truth here is but relative, the shadow and\nphenomena only of truth.\n\nOur reason here borrows all its ideas from the senses, hence they are\nlifeless and dead. We draw everything from external objectivity, and our\nreason is like an ape who imitates what nature shows him outwardly.\nThus the light of the senses is the principle of our earthly reason,\nsensuality the motive for our will, tending therefore to animal wants and\ntheir satisfaction. It is true, however, that we feel higher motives\nimperative, but up to the present we do not know either where to seek or\nwhere to find.\n\nIn this world everything is corruptible; it is useless to seek here for a\npure principle of reason and morality or motive for the Will. This must\nbe sought for in a more exalted world—there, where all is pure and\nindestructible, where there reigns a Being all wisdom and all love. Thus\nthe world neither can nor will become happy until this Real Being can be\nreceived by humanity in full and become its All in All.\n\nMan, dear brothers, is composed of indestructible and metaphysical\nsubstance, as well as of material and destructible substance, but in such\na manner that the indestructible and eternal is, as it were, imprisoned in\nthe destructible matter.\n\nThus two contradictory natures are comprehended in the same man. The\ndestructible substance enchains us to the sensible, the other seeks to\ndeliver us from these chains, and to raise us to the spiritual. Hence the\nincessant combat between good and evil.\n\nThe fundamental cause of human corruption is to be found in the\ncorruptible matter from which man is formed. For this gross matter\noppresses the action of the transcendental and spiritual principle, and is\n\nthe true cause, hence, of the blindness of our understanding, and the\nerrors of our inclinations.\n\nThe fragility of a china vessel depends upon the clay from which it is\nformed. The most beautiful form that clay of any sort is able to receive\nmust always remain fragile because the matter of which it is formed is\nalso fragile. Thus do men remain likewise frail notwithstanding all our\nexternal culture.\n\nWhen we examine the causes of the obstacles keeping the natural man in\nsuch deep abasement, they are found in the grossness of the matter in\nwhich the spiritual part is, as it were, buried and bound.\n\nThe inflexibility of fibres, the immovability of temperaments, that would\nwish to obey the refined stimulation of the spirit, are, as it were, the\nmaterial chains which bind them, preventing in us the action of the\nsublime functions of which the spirit is capable.\n\nThe nerves and fluidity of the brain can only yield us rough and obscure\nnotions derived from phenomena, and not from truth and the things\nthemselves; and as we cannot, by the strength of our thinking powers\nalone, have sufficient balance to oppose representations strong enough\nto counteract the violence of external sensation, the result is that we are\ngoverned by our sensations, and the voice of reason which speaks softly\ninternally is deafened by the tumultuous noise of the elements which\nkeep our mechanism going.\n\nIt is true that reason strains to raise itself above this uproar, and wishes\nto decide the combat, seeking to restore order by the light and force of its\njudgment. But its action is only like the rays of the sun constantly hidden\nby clouds.\n\nThe grossness of all the matter in which material man consists, and the\ntissue of the whole edifice of his nature, is the cause of that disinclination\nwhich holds the soul in continual imperfection.\n\nThe heaviness of our thinking power in general is consequent upon\ndependence upon gross and unyielding matter, this same matter forming\nthe true bonds of the flesh, and is the true source of all error and vice.\nReason, which should be an absolute legislator, is continually slave to\n\nsensuality, which raises itself as regent and, governing the reason that is\ndrooping in chains, follows its own desires.\n\nThis truth has been felt for long, and it has always been taught that\nreason should be sole legislator. It should govern the will and never be\ngoverned itself.\n\nGreat and small feel this truth; but no sooner is it desired to put it in\nexecution than the animal will vanquishes reason, and then the reason\nsubjugates the animal will; thus in every man the victory and defeat are\nalternate, hence this power and counter-power are the cause of this\nperpetual oscillation between good and evil, or the true and the false.\n\nIf man wishes to be led to the true in such manner that we can only act\nafter the laws of reason, and from the purified will, it is absolutely\nnecessary to constitute the pure reason sovereign in man. But how can\nthis be done when the matter out of which many men is formed is more\nor less brutal, divisible and corruptible, hence misery, illness, poverty,\ndeath, want, prejudices, errors, and vices, the necessary consequence of\nthe limitation of the immortal spirit in the bonds of brute and\ncorruptible matter. Sensuality is bound to rule if reason be fettered.\n\nYes, friends and brothers, such is the general fate of man, and as this\nstate of things is propagated from man to man, it may in all justice be\ncalled the hereditary corruption of man.\n\nWe observe, in general, that the powers of reason act upon the heart, but\nin relation only to the specific constitution of the matter of which man is\nmade. Thus it is extremely remarkable when we think that the sun\nvivifies this animal matter according to the measure of the distance from\nthis terrestrial body, that it makes it suitable to the functions of animal\neconomy, but at one degree more or less raised from spiritual influence.\nDiversity of nations, their properties with regard to climate, the variety\nof character, passions, manners, prejudices and customs, even their\nvirtues and their vices, depend entirely upon the specific constitution of\nthe matter from which they are formed, and in which the imprisoned\nspirit operates accordingly. Man's capacity for culture is modified to this\nconstitution, likewise his science, which can only affect people as far as\nthere is matter present, susceptible to such modification, and in this\n\nmodification consists the capacity for culture suitable to such people,\nwhich suitability depends partly on climate, partly on descent.\n\nGenerally, we find in each zone man much the same everywhere, weak\nand sensual, wise justin so far as his physical matter allows reason to\ntriumph over the sensuous, or foolish ifthe sensuous obtains mastery\nover the more or less fettered spirit. In this lies the evil and the good\nspecially belonging to each nation, as well as to each isolated individual.\nWe find in the world at large the same corruption inherent in the matter\nfrom which man is made, only under various forms and modifications.\n\nFrom the lowest animal condition of savage nature man rises to the idea\nof the social state, primarily through his wants and desires, strength and\ncunning, qualities especially animal, inherently his as the animal\ndevelops thence gradually into other forms.\n\nThe modifications of these fundamental animal tendencies are endless;\nand the highest degree to which human culture as acquired by the world,\nhas attained, up to the present has not carried things further than the\nputting of a finer polish on the substance of his animal instincts. This\nmeans to say we are raised from the rank of the brute to that of the\nrefined animal.\n\nBut this period was necessary, because on its accomplishment begins a\nnew era, when the animal instincts being fully developed, there\ncommences the stage of evolution of the more elevated desires towards\nlight and reason.\n\nJ esus Christ has written in our hearts in exceedingly beautiful words this\ngreat truth, that man must seek in his common clay for the cause of all\nhis sorrows. When He said, \"The best man, he who strives the most to\narrive at truth, sins seven times a day,\" He wished to say by this, in the\nman of the finest organisation, the seven powers of the spirit are still\nclosed, therefore the seven sensuous actions surmount them daily after\ntheir respective fashions.\n\nThus the best man is exposed to error and passions; the best man is weak\nand sinful; the best man is not a free man, and, therefore, exempt from\npain and trouble; the best man is subject to sickness and death, and\nwhy? Because all these are the natural inevitable consequences\nincidental to the qualities of the corrupt matter of which he is formed.\n\nTherefore, there could be no hope of higher happiness for humanity so\nlong as this corruptible and material forms the principal substantial part\nof his being.\n\nThe impossibility of mankind to transport itself, of itself, to true\nperfection, is a despairing thought, but, at the same time, one full of\nconsolation, because, in consequence of this radical impossibility, and\nbecause of it, a more exalted and perfect being than man permitted\nhimself to be clothed in this mortal and destructible envelope in order to\nmake the mortal immortal, and the destructible indestructible; and in\nthis object is to be sought the true reason for the Incarnation of J esus\nChrist.\n\nJ esus Christ, the Son of God, the actual substantial Word by which all is\nmade, and which existed from the beginning, J esus Christ, the Wisdom\nof God working in everything, was as the centre of Paradise of the world\nand of light. He was the only real organism by which alone Divine\nstrength could be communicated, and this organism is of immortal and\npure nature, that indestructible substance which gives new life and raises\nall things to happiness and perfection. This pure incorruptible substance\nis the pure element in which spiritual man lived.\n\nFrom this perfect element, which God only can inhabit, and the\nsubstance out of which the first man was formed, from it was the first\nman separated by the Fall. By the partaking of the Tree of Good and Evil,\nof the mixture, the good and incorruptible principle with the bad and\ncorruptible one, he was self-poisoned, so that his immortal essence\nretreated interiorly, and the mortal, pressing forward, clothed him\nexternally. Thus, then, disappeared immortality, happiness, and life, and\nmortality and death were the results of this change.\n\nMany men cannot understand the idea of the Tree of Good and Evil; this\ntree was, however, the product of moveable but central matter, but in\nwhich destructibility had somewhat the superiority over the\nindestructible. The premature use of this fruit was that which poisoned\nAdam, robbing him of his immortality and enveloping him in this\nmaterial and mortal clay, and thenceforward he fell a prey to the\nElements which originally he governed. This unhappy event was,\nhowever, the reason why Immortal Wisdom, the pure metaphysical\nelement, clothed itself with a mortal body and voluntarily sacrificed\n\nhimself, so that the Interior Powers could penetrate into the centre ofthe\ndestruction, and could then ferment gradually, changing the mortal to\nthe immortal.\n\nThus, when it came about quite naturally that immortal man became\nsubject to mortality through the enjoyment of mortal matter, it also\nhappened quite naturally that mortal man could only recover his former\ndignity through the enjoyment of Immortal Matter.\n\nAll passes naturally and simply under God's Reign, but in order to\nunderstand this simplicity it is requisite to have pure ideas of God, of\nnature, and of man. And if the sublimest Truths of faith are still, for us,\nwrapped in impenetrable obscurity, the reason for this is because we\nhave up to the present dissolved the connection between God, nature,\nand man.\n\nJ esus Christ has spoken to His most intimate friends when He was still\non this earth, of the grand mystery of Regeneration, but all that He said\nwas obscure to them, they could not then receive it; thus the\ndevelopment of these great Truths was reserved for latter days, for it is\nthe greatest and the last Mystery of Religion, in which all the others\nretreat as to a Unity.\n\nRegeneration is no other than a dissolution of, and a release from this\nimpure and corruptible matter, which enchains our immortal essence,\nplunging into deathly sleep its obstructed vital force. Therefore, there\nmust necessarily be a real method to eradicate this poisonous ferment\nwhich breeds so much suffering for us, and thereby to liberate the\nobstructed vitality.\n\nThere is, however, no other means to find this excepting by religion, for\nreligion looked at scientifically being the doctrine which proclaims the\nre-union with God, it must of necessity show us how to arrive at this re-\nunion.\n\nIs not J esus the life giving intelligence? He gives us the principal object\nof the Bible and of all the desires, hopes, and efforts of the Christians.\nHave we not received from our Lord and Master while still He walked\nwith His disciples, the profoundest solutions of the most hidden truths?\nDid not our Lord and Master when He was with them in\n\nHis glorified Body after His resurrection give them the highest revelation\n\nwith regard to His Person, and did He not lead them still more deeply\ninto central knowledge of truth?\n\nWill He not realise that which He said in His Sacerdotal prayer, St. John\nxvii. 22, 23: \"And the glory which thou hast given to me I have given unto\nthem, that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and they in\nMe, that they may be perfected into One.\"\n\nAs the disciples of the Lord could not comprehend this great mystery of\nthe new and last alliance, J esus Christ transmitted it to the latter days, of\nthe future now arriving, when He said, \"And the glory which Thou hast\ngiven Me, I have given unto them, that they may be one even as We are\nOne,\" St. John xvii. 22. This alliance is called the Union of Peace. It is\nthen that the law of God will be engraven in the heart of our hearts; we\nShall all know the Lord; and we shall be His people, and He will be our\nGod.\n\nAll is already prepared for this actual possession of God, this union with\nGod really possible here below; and the holy element, the efficacious\n\nmedicine for humanity, is revealed by God's Spirit. The table of the Lord\nis ready and everyone is invited; the \" true bread of Angels \" is prepared.\n\nThe holiness and the greatness of the Mystery which contains within\nitself every mystery here obliges us to be silent, and we are not permitted\nto speak more than concerning its effects.\n\nThe corruptible and destructible is destroyed, and replaced by the\nincorruptible and by the indestructible. The inner sensorium opens and\nlinks us on to the spiritual world. We are enlightened by wisdom, led by\ntruth, and nourished with the torch of love. Unimagined strength\ndevelops in us wherewith to vanquish the world, the flesh and the devil.\nOur whole being is renewed and made suitable for the actual dwelling-\nplace of the Spirit of God. Command over nature, intercourse with the\nupper worlds, and the delight of visible intercourse with the Lord are\ngranted also!\n\nThe hoodwink of ignorance falls from our eyes, the bonds of sensuality\nbreak, and we rejoice in the liberty of God's children.\n\nWe have told you the chiefest and most important fact, if your heart\nhaving the thirst for truth has laid hold on the pure ideas that you have\n\ngathered from all this, and have received in its entirety the grandeur and\nthe blessedness of the thing itself as object of desire, we will tell you\nfurther.\n\nMay the Glory of the Lord and the renewing of your whole being be\nmeanwhile the highest of your hopes!\n\nLETTER 5\n\nIn our last letter, my dear brothers (and sisters), you granted me your\nearnest attention to that highest of mysteries, the real possession of\nGod; it is therefore necessary to give you fuller light on this subject.\n\nMan, as we know, is unhappy in this world because he is made out of\ndestructible matter that is subject to trouble and sorrow.\n\nThe fragile envelope—i.e., his body—exposes him to the violence of the\nelements, pain, poverty, suffering, illnesses. This is his normal fate; his\nimmortal spirit languishing in the bonds of sense. Man is unhappy,\nbecause he is ill in body and soul, and he possesses no true panacea\neither for his body or for his soul.\n\nThose whose duty it is to govern and lead other men to happiness, are as\nother men, also weak and subject to the same passions and prejudices.\n\nTherefore, what fate can humanity expect? Must the greater part of it be\nalways unfortunate? Is there no salvation for all?\n\nBrothers, if humanity as a whole is ever capable of being raised to a\ncondition of true happiness, such state can only be possible under the\nfollowing conditions:—\n\nFirst, poverty, pain, illness and sorrow must become much less frequent.\nSecondly, passions, prejudices and ignorance must diminish.\n\nIs this at all possible with the nature of man, when experience proves\nthat, from century to century, suffering only assumes fresh form; that\npassions, prejudices and errors always cause the same evils; and when\nwe realise that all these things only change shape, and that man in every\nage remains much the same weak man?\n\nThere is a terrible judgment pronounced upon the human race, and this\njudgment is—men can never become happy so long as they will not\nbecome wise; but they will never become wise, while sensuality governs\nreason, while the spirit languishes in the bonds of flesh and blood.\n\nWhere is the man that has no passions? Let him shew himself. Do we not\nall wear the chains of sensuality more or less heavily? Are we not all\nslaves? All sinners?\n\nThis realisation of our low estate excites in us the desire to be raised\nbeyond it, and we lift up our eyes on high, and an angel's voice says—the\nsorrows of man shall be comforted.\n\nMan being sick body and soul, this mortal sickness must have a cause,\nand this cause is to be found in the very matter out of which man is\nmade.\n\nThe destructible imprisons the indestructible, the ferment of sin is in us,\nand in this ferment is human corruption, and its propagation and\nconsequences form the perpetuation of original sin.\n\nThe healing of humanity is only possible through the destruction of this\nferment of sin, hence we have need of a physician and a remedy that\nreally can cure us. But an invalid cannot be cured by another; the man of\ndestructible matter cannot re-make himself of indestructible matter;\ndead matter cannot awake other dead, the blind cannot lead the blind.\n\nOnly the Perfect can bring anything to perfection; only the Indestructible\ncan make the destructible likewise; only the Living can wake the dead.\n\nThis Physician and this active Medicine cannot be found in death and\ndestruction, only in superior nature where all is perfection and life!\n\nThe lack of the knowledge of the union of Divinity with nature, nature\nwith man, is the true cause of all prejudice and error. Theologians,\nphilosophers, moralists, all wish to regulate the world, and they fill it\nwith endless contradictions.\n\nTheologians do not see the union of God with nature and fall therefore\ninto error.\n\nModern philosophers study only matter, and not the connection of pure\nnature with divine nature, and therefore announce the falsest opinions.\n\nMoralists will not recognise the inherent corruption of human nature,\nand they expect to cure by words, when means are absolutely necessary.\n\nThus the world, man and God, continue in permanent dissension; one\nopinion drives out another; superstition and incredulity take turn about\nin dominating society, separating man from the word of truth when he\nhas so much dire need of approaching her.\n\nIt is only in the true Schools of Wisdom that one can learn to know God,\nnature, and man; and in these, for thousands of years, has work been\ndone in silence to acquire to the highest degree this knowledge,—the\nunion of man with pure nature and with God.\n\nThis great object, God and Nature, to which everything tends, has been\nrepresented to man symbolically in every religion; and all the symbols\nand holy glyphs are but the letter by which man can gradually, step by\nstep, recover the highest of all divine mysteries, natural and human, and\nlearn the means of healing his unhappy condition, and of the union of his\nbeing with pure nature and with God.\n\nWe have attained this epoch solely under God's guidance. Divinity, next\nremembering its covenant with man, has given forth the means of cure\nfor suffering mankind, and shewn thereby how to raise man to his\noriginal dignity, uniting him to God, the Source of his happiness.\n\nThe knowledge of this method ensuring recovery is the science of Saints\nand of the Elect, and its possession the inheritance promised to God's\nchildren.\n\nNow, my beloved brothers, I want you to grant me your most earnest\nattention to what I am about to say.\n\nIn our blood there is lying concealed a slimy matter (called the gluten)\nwhich has a nearer kinship to animal than to spiritual man. This gluten is\nthe body of sin.\n\nThis material, this matter, can be modified in various manners,\naccording to the stimulus of sense; and according to the kind of\nmodification and change occurring in this body or matter of sin, so also\nvary the diverse sinful tendencies of man.\n\nIn its most violent expansion this matter produces pride; in its utmost\ncontraction, avarice, self-will and selfishness; in its repulsion, rage and\nanger; in its circular movements levity and incontinence; in its\n\neccentricity, greediness and drunkenness; in its concentricity, envy; in its\nessence, sloth.\n\nThis ferment of sin, as original sin, is more or less working in the blood\nof every man, andis transmitted from father to son, and the perpetual\npropagation ofthis baneful material, everlastingiy hinders the\nsimultaneous action of spirit with matter.\n\nIt is quite true that man by his will-power can put limits to the action of\nthis body of sin, and can dominate it so that it becomes less active, but to\ndestroy and annihilate it altogether is beyond his power. This then is the\ncause of the combat we are constantly waging between the good and the\nevil in us.\n\nThis body of sin which is in us, forms the ties of flesh and blood which,\non the one side, bind us to our immortal spirit, and, on the other, to the\ntendencies of the animal man. It is as it were the allurements of the\nanimal passions that smoulder and take fire at last.\n\nThe violent reaction of this body of sin in us, on sensuous stimulation, is\nthe reason why we choose, for the want of calm and tranquil judgment,\n\nrather the evil than the good, because the active fermentation of this\nmatter impedes the quiet action of the spirit necessary to instruct and\nsustain the reason.\n\nThis same evil matter is also the cause of our ignorance, because, as its\nthick and inflexible substance surcharges the fine brain fibres, it\nprevents the co-action of reason, which is required to penetrate the\nobjects of the understanding.\n\nThus falseness and all evils are the properties of this sinful matter, this\nbody of sin, just as the good and the true are the essential qualities of the\nspiritual principle within us.\n\nThrough the recognition and thorough understanding by us of this body\nof sin we learn to see that we are beings morally ill, that we have need of\na physician who can give us a medicine which will destroy and eradicate\nthe evil matter always fermenting banefully within us, a remedy that will\ncure us and restore us to moral health.\n\nWe learn also clearly to recognize that all mere moralizing with words is\nof little use when real means are necessary.\n\nWe have been moralizing in varied words for centuries, but the world\nremains pretty much the same. A doctor would do but little good in\ntalking only of his remedies, it is necessary for him actually to prescribe\nhis medicines; he has, however, first to see the real state of the sick\nperson.\n\nThe condition of humanity—the moral sickness of man—is a true case of\npoisoning, consequent upon the eating of the fruit of the tree in which\ncorruptible matter had the superiority.\n\nThe first effect of this poison resulted thus: the incorruptible principle,\nthe body of life as opposed to the body of sin or death, whose expansion\ncaused the perfection of Adam, concentrated itself inwardly, and the\nexternal part was abandoned to the government of the elements. Hence a\nmortal matter gradually covered the immortal essence, and the loss of\nthis central light was the cause subsequently of all man's sufferings.\n\nCommunication with the world of light was interrupted, the interior eye\n\nwhich had the power of seeing truth objectively was closed, and the\nphysical eye opened to the plane of changing phenomena.\n\nMan lost all true happiness, and in this unhappy condition he would\nhave for ever lost all means of restoration to health were it not that the\nlove and mercy of God, who had no other object in creation but the\ngreatest happiness for its creatures, immediately afforded to fallen man a\nmeans of recovery. In this means, he, with all posterity, had the right to\ntrust, in order that while still in his state of banishment, he might\nsupport his misfortune with humility and resignation, and, moreover,\nfind in his pilgrimage the great consolation, that every corruptible thing\nin man could be restored perfectly through the love of a Saviour.\n\nDespair would have been the fate of man without such revelation.\n\nMan, before the Fall, was the living Temple of Divinity, and at the time\nwhen this Temple was destroyed, the plan to rebuild the Temple was\nalready projected by the Wisdom of God; and at this period begin the\nHoly Mysteries of every religion, which are all and each in themselves,\nafter a thousand varying modes, according to time and circumstances,\n\nand method of conception of different nations, but symbols repeated and\nmodified of one solitary truth, and this unique truth is—regeneration, or\nthe re-union of man with God.\n\nBefore the Fall man was wise, he was united to Wisdom; after the Fall he\nwas no longer one with Her, hence a true science through express\nRevelation became absolutely necessary.\n\nThe Revelation was the following:—\n\nThe condition of immortality consists in immortality permeating the\nmortal. Immortal substance is divine substance, and is no other than the\nmagnificence of the Almighty throughout nature, the substance of the\nworld and spirits, the infinity, in short, of God in whom all things move\nand have their being.\n\nIt is an immutable law, no creature can be truly happy when separated\nfrom the source of all happiness. This source, this in whom, is the\nmagnificence of God Himself.\n\nThrough the partaking of destructible nourishment, man himself became\ndestructible and material; matter, therefore, as it were places itself\nbetween God and man, that is to say, man is not directly penetrated and\npermeated by divinity, and, in consequence, he is thenceforth subject to,\nand falls under the dominion of, the laws regulating matter.\n\nThe divine in man, imprisoned by the bonds of this matter, is his\nimmortal part, the part that should be at liberty, in order that its\ndevelopment should once again rule the mortal. Then once more does\nman regain his original greatness.\n\nBut a means for his cure, and a method to externalize what is now\nhidden and concealed within, is requisite. Fallen and unwise man of\nhimself can neither know nor grasp this expedient; he cannot even\nrecognise it, because he has lost pure knowledge and the light of true\nwisdom; he cannot take hold of it, because this remedy is infolded in\ninterior nature, and he has neither the strength or power to unlock this\nhidden force.\n\nHence Revelation to learn this means, and strength to acquire this\npower, are necessary to man.\n\nThis necessity for the salvation of man was the cause of the\ndetermination of Wisdom, or the Son of God, to give Himself to be\nknown by man, being the pure substance out of which all has been\nmade. In this pure substance all power is reserved to vivify all dead\nsubstance, and to purify all that is impure.\n\nBut before that could be done, and the inmost part of man, the divine in\nhim, be once more penetrated and re-opened again, and the whole world\nbe regenerated, it was requisite that this divine substance should\nincarnate in humanity and become human, and therein transmit the\ndivine and regenerative force to humanity; it was necessary also that this\ndivine human form should be killed, in order that the divine and\nincorruptible substance contained in the blood should penetrate into the\nrecesses of the earth, and thenceforth work a gradual dissolution of\ncorruptible matter, so that in due time a pure and regenerated earth will\nbe presented to man, with the Tree of Life growing once more, so that by\npartaking of its fruit, containing the true immortal essence, mortality in\nus will be once more annihilated, and man healed by the fruit of the Tree\nof Life, just as he was once poisoned by the partaking of the fruit of\ndeath.\n\nThis fact is the first and most important revelation and it embraces all,\nand it has been carefully preserved from mouth to mouth among the\nChosen of God up to this time.\n\nHuman nature required a Saviour, this Saviour was J esus Christ, the\nWisdom of God itself, reality from God. He put on the envelope of\nhumanity, to communicate directly the divine and immortal substance\nonce more to the world, which was nothing else but Himself.\n\nHe offered himself voluntarily, in order that the pure essential force in\nHis blood could penetrate directly, bringing with it the potentiality of all\nperfection to the hidden recesses of the earth.\n\nHimself, both as High Priest and as Victim at the same time, entered into\nthe Holy of Holies, and after having accomplished all that was necessary,\nhe laid the foundation of the Royal Priesthood of His Elect, and taught\nthese through the knowledge of His person and of His powers; now they\nshould lead, as the first born of the spirit, other men, their brethren, to\nuniversal happiness.\n\nAnd here begin the Sacerdotal Mysteries of the Elect and of the Inner\nChurch.\n\nThe Royal and Priestly Science is that of Regeneration. It is called Royal\nScience because it leads man to power and the dominion over Nature.\n\nIt is called Sacerdotal, because it sanctifies and brings all to perfection,\nspreading blessing and goodness everywhere.\n\nThis Science owes its immediate origin to the verbal revelation of God, it\nis always the Science of the Inner Church of Prophets and of Saints, and\nit recognised no other High Priest but J esus Christ the Lord.\n\nThis Science has a triple object; first, regenerating the individual and\nisolated man, or the first of the Elect; second, many men; thirdly, all\nhumanity.\n\nIts exercise consists in the highest perfecting of itself and of everything\nin Nature.\n\nThis Science was never taught otherwise than by the Holy Spirit of God,\nand by those who were in unison with this Spirit, and it is beyond all\n\nother sciences, because it can alone teach the knowledge of God, of\nnature, and of man in a perfect harmony; while other sciences do not\nunderstand truly either God or nature, neither man nor his destination.\n\nThe capabilities of this Science are the powers to know God in man, and\ndivinity in nature; these being, as it were, the Divine impression or seals,\nby which our inner selves can be opened and can arrive at union with\nDivinity.\n\nThus the re-union was the most exalted aim, and hence the Priesthood\nderived its name religio, clerus regenerans.\n\nMelchizedek was the first Priest King; all true Priests of God and of\nNature descend from him, and J esus Christ himself was united with him\nas \"priest\" after the order of Melchizedek. This word is literally of the\nhighest and widest significance and extent—.79*x-p7 (MLKIZ-DO). It\nmeans literally the introducing of the true substance of vital life, and the\nseparation of this true vital substance from the mortal envelope which\nencloses it.\n\nA priest is one who separates that which is pure nature from that which\nis of impure nature, a separator of the substance which contains all from\nthe destructible matter which occasions pain and misery. The sacrifice or\nthat which has been separated consists in bread and wine.\n\nBread means literally the substance which contains all; wine the\nsubstance which vitalizes everything.\n\nTherefore, a priest after the order of Melchizedek is one who knows how\nto separate the all-embracing and vitalizing substance from impure\nmatter, one who knows how to employ it as a real means of\nreconciliation and of re-union for fallen humanity, in order to\ncommunicate to him his true and royal privilege of power over nature,\nand the Sacerdotal dignity or the ability to unite himself by grace to the\nupper worlds.\n\nIn these few words is contained all the mystery of God's Priesthood, and\nthe occupation and aim of the Priest.\n\nBut this royal Priesthood was only able to reach perfect maturity when\nJ esus Christ Himself as High Priest had fulfilled the greatest of all\nsacrifices, and had entered into the Holy Sanctuary.\n\nHere we are now entering on new and great mysteries worthy, I entreat\nyou, of your most earnest attention.\n\nWhen, according to the wisdom and justice of God, it was resolved to\nsave the fallen human race, the Wisdom of God had to choose the\nmethod which afforded in every aspect the most efficacious means for\nthe consummation of this great object.\n\nWhen man became so thoroughly poisoned by the fruit of evil, carrying\nin himself henceforth the ferment of death, all around him became\nsubject to death and destruction, therefore, divine mercy was bound to\nestablish a counter remedy, which could be partaken of, containing\nwithin itself the divine and revitalising substance, so that by taking this\nimmortal food, poisoned and death-stricken man could be healed and\nrescued from his suffering. But in order that this Tree of Life could be\nreplanted, it was requisite beyond all things that the corruptible material\nin the centre of the earth should be first regenerated, resolved and made\ncapable of being again one day a universally vitalising substance.\n\nThis capacity for new life, bringing about the dissolution of corruptible\nessence which is inherent in the centre of the earth, was, however,\npossible to no other matter than divine vital substance enveloped in flesh\nand blood which could transmit the hidden forces of life to dead nature.\nThis was done through the death of J esus Christ. The tinctural\n\nforce which flowed from His shed blood penetrated to the innermost\nparts of the earth, raised the dead, rent the rocks, and caused the total\neclipse of the sun when it pressed from the centre of the earth where the\nlight penetrated the central darkness to the circumference, and there laid\nthe foundation of the future glorification of the world.\n\nSince the death of J esus Christ, the divine force, driven to the earth's\ncentre by the shedding of His blood, works and ferments perpetually to\npress outward, and to fit and prepare all substances gradually for the\ngreat cataclysm which is destined for the world.\n\nBut the rebuilding of the world's edifice in general was not only the aim\nof Redemption. Man was the principal object for the shedding of Christ's\nblood, and to procure for him already in this material world the highest\npossible perfection by the amelioration of his being, J esus Christ\nsubmitted to infinite suffering.\n\nHe is the Saviour of the world and of man. The object and cause of His\nIncarnation was to rescue us from sin, misery, and from death.\n\nJ esus Christ has delivered us from all evil by His flesh, which he\nsacrificed, and by His blood, which He shed for us.\n\nIn the clear understanding of what consists this flesh and this blood of\nJ esus Christ lies the true and pure knowledge of the real regeneration of\nman.\n\nThe mystery of being united with J esus Christ, not only spiritually but\nalso corporeally, is the greatest aim of the Inner Church. Become one\nwith Him in spirit and in being is the fulfilling and plenitude of the\nefforts of the Elect.\n\nThe means for this real possession of God is hidden from the wise of this\nworld, and revealed to the simplicity of children.\n\nVain philosopher, bend thyself before the grand and Divine Mysteries\nthat thou in thy wisdom canst not understand, and for the penetration of\n\nwhose secrets the feeble light of human reason darkened by sense can\ngive thee no measure!\n\nLETTER 6 AND LAST\n\nGod made Himself man to deify man. Heaven united itself with earth to\ntransform earth into Heaven.\n\nBut in order that these divine transformations can take place, an entire\nchange, a complete and absolute overtuming and upsetting of our being,\nis necessary.\n\nThis change, this upsetting, is called re-birth. To be born, simply means\nto enter into a world in which the senses dominate, in which wisdom and\nlove languish in the bonds of individuality.\n\nTo be re- born means to return to a world where the spirit of wisdom and\nlove governs, and where animal-man obeys.\n\nThe re- birth is triple; first, the re-birth of our intelligence; second, of our\nheart and of our will; and, finally, the re-birth of our entire being.\n\nThe first and second kinds are called the spiritual, and the third the\ncorporeal re-birth.\n\nMany pious men, seekers after God, have been regenerated in the mind\nand will, but few have known the corporeal re-birth. This last has been\nattained to but by few men, and those to whom it has been given have\nonly received it that they might serve as agents of God, in accordance\nwith great and grand objects and intentions, and to bring humanity\nnearer to felicity.\n\nIt is now necessary, my dear brothers, to lay before you the true order of\nre-birth. God, who is all strength, wisdom, and love, works eternally in\norder and in harmony.\n\nHe who will not receive the spiritual life, he who is not born anew from\nthe Lord, can not enter into heaven.\n\nMan is engendered through his parents in original sin, that is to say, he\nenters into the natural life and not the spiritual.\n\nThe spiritual life consists in loving God above everything, and your\nneighbour as yourself. In this double-love consists the principle ofthe\nnew life.\n\nMan is begotten in evil, in the love of himself and of the things of this\nworld. Love of himself! Self interest! Self gratification! Such are the\nsubstantial properties of evil. The good is in the love of God and your\nneighbour, in knowing no other love but the love of mankind, no interest\nbut that affecting every man, and no other pleasure but that of the well-\nbeing of all.\n\nIt is by such sentiments that the spirit of the children of God is\ndistinguished from the spirit of the children of this world.\n\nTo change the spirit of this world into the spirit of the children of God is\nto be regenerated, and it means to despoil the old man, and to re-clothe\nthe new.\n\nBut no person can be re-born if he does not know and put in practice the\nfollowing principle—that of truth becoming the object for our doing or\nnot doing; therefore, he who desires to be re-born ought first to know\n\nwhat belongs to re- birth. He ought to understand, meditate, and reflect\non all this. Afterwards he should act according to his knowledge, and the\nresult will be a new life.\n\nNow, as it is first necessary to know, and to be instructed in all that\nappertains to re-birth, a doctor, or an instructor is required, and if we\nknow one, faith in him is also necessary, because of what use is an\ninstructor if his pupil have no faith in him?\n\nHence, the commencement of re-birth is faith in Revelation.\n\nThe disciple should begin by believing that the Lord, the Son, is the\nWisdom of God, that He is, from all Eternity from God, and that He\ncame into the world to bring happiness to humanity. He should believe\nthat the Lord has full power in heaven and on earth, and that all faith\nand love, all the true and the good, come from Him alone; that He is the\nMediator, the Saviour, and Governor of men.\n\nWhen this most exalting faith has taken rootin us, we shall think often of\nthe Saviour, and these thoughts turned towards Him develop, and by His\ngrace reacting in us, the seven closed and spiritual powers are opened.\n\nThe way to happiness. —Do you wish, man and brother, to acquire the\nhighest happiness possible? Search for truth, wisdom, and love. But you\nwill not find truth, wisdom, and love, save in the unity of the Lord J esus\nChrist, the Anointed of God.\n\nSeek, then, J esus Christ with all your strength, search Him from the\nfulness of your heart.\n\nThe beginning of His Ascension is the knowledge of His absence, and\nfrom the recognition of this knowledge is the desire for increased power\nto seek Him, which desire is the beginning of faith.\n\nFaith gives confidence, but faith has also its order of progress. First\ncomes historic faith, then moral, then divine, and finally living faith. The\nprogression is as follows: Historical faith when we learn to believe the\nhistory of J esus of Nazareth, and through this simple historical faith in\nthe existence of J esus, will evolve moral faith, whose development\n\nconsists in the acquirement of virtue by its search and practice, so that\nwe see and find real pleasure in all that is taught by this Man; we find\nthat His simple doctrine is full of wisdom and His teaching full of love;\nthat His intentions towards humanity are straight and true, and that He\nwillingly suffered death for the sake of justice. Thus, faith in His Person\nwill be followed by faith in His Divinity.\n\nThis same J esus Christ tells us now that He is Son of God, and He\nemphasizes His words by instructing His disciples in the sacred\nmysteries of nature and religion.\n\nHere natural and reasonable faith changes into divine faith, and we\nbegin to believe that he was God made man. From this faith it results\nthat we hold as true all that we do not yet understand, but which He tells\nus to believe. Through this faith in the Divinity of J esus, and by that\nentire surrender to Him, and the faithful attention to His directions, is at\nlast produced that living faith, by which we find within\n\nourselves and true through our own experience, all that hitherto we have\nuntil now believed in merely with the confidence of a child; and this\nliving faith proved by experience is the highest grade of all.\n\nWhen our hearts, through living faith, have received J esus Christ into\nthem, then this Light of the World is born within us as in a humble\nstable.\n\nEverything in us is impure, surrounded by the spider-webs of vanity,\ncovered with the mud of sensuality.\n\nOur will is the Ox that is under the yoke of its passions. Our reason is the\nAss who is bound through the obstinacy of its opinions, its prejudices, its\nfollies.\n\nIn this miserable and ruined hut, the home of all the animal passions,\ncan J esus Christ be born in us through faith.\n\nThe simplicity of our souls, is as the shepherds who brought their first\nofferings, until at last the three principal powers of our royal dignity, our\nreason, our will, and our activity? prostrate themselves before Him and\noffer Him the gifts of truth, wisdom, and love.\n\nLittle by little, the stable of our hearts changes itself into an exterior\nTemple, where J esus Christ teaches, but this Temple is still full of\nScribes and Pharisees.\n\nThose who sell, Dives and the money changers, are still to be found, and\nthese should be driven out, and the Temple changed into a House of\nPrayer.\n\nLittle by little J esus Christ chooses all the good powers in us to announce\nHim. He heals our blindness, purifies our leprosy, raises the dead powers\ninto living forces within us; He is crucified in us, He dies, and He is\ngloriously raised again Conqueror with us. Afterwards his personality\nlives in us, and instructs us in exalted mysteries, until He has made us\ncomplete and ready for the perfect Regeneration when He mounts to\nheaven and thence sends us the Spirit of Truth.\n\nBut before such a Spirit can act in us we experience the following\nchanges:—\n\nFirst, the seven powers of our understanding are lifted up within us;\nafterwards, the seven powers of our hearts or of our will, and this\n\n3 The Three Magi.\n\nexaltation takes place after the following manner. The human\nunderstanding is divided into seven powers; the first is that of looking at\nabstract objects—intuitus. By the second we perceive the objects\nabstractedly regarded—apperceptio. By the third, that which has been\nperceived is reflected upon—reflexio. The fourth is that of considering\nthese objects in their diversity fantasia,imaginatio. The fifth is that of\ndeciding upon some thing—judicium. The sixth co-ordinates all these\naccording to their relationships—ratio. The seventh and last is the power\nof realizing the whole intellectual intuition—intellectus.\n\nThis last contains, so to say, the sum of all the others.\n\nThe will of man divides itself similarly into seven powers, which, taken\ntogether as a unit, form the will of man, being, as it were,\nits substantial parts.\n\nThe first is the capacity of desiring things apart from himself—\ndesiderium. The second is the power to annex mentally things desired\nfor himself—appetitus. The third is the power of giving them form,\nrealizing them so as to satisfy his desire—concupiscentia. The fourth is\n\nthat of receiving inclinations, without deciding upon acting upon any, as\nin the condition of passion—passio. The fifth is the capacity for deciding\nfor or against a thing, liberty—ibertas. The sixth is that choice or a\nresolution actually taken—electio. The seventh is the power of giving the\nobject chosen an existence—voluntas. This seventh power also contains\nall the others in one figure.\n\nNow the seven powers of the understanding, like the seven powers of our\nheart and will, can be ennobled and exalted in a very special manner,\nwhen we embrace J esus Christ, as being the wisdom of God, as principle\nof our reason, and His whole life, which was all love, for motive power of\nour will.\n\nOur understanding is formed after that of J esus Christ; First, when we\nhave Him in view in everything, when He forms the only point of sight\nfor all our actions—intuitus. Second, when we perceive His actions, His\nsentiments, and His spirit everywhere—apperceptio. Third, when in all\nour thoughts we reflect upon His sayings, when we think in everything as\nHe would have thought—reflexio. Fourth, when we so comfort ourselves\nin such wise, that His thoughts and His wisdom are the only object for\n\nthe strength of our imagination—fantasia. Fifth, when we reject every\nthought which would not be His, and when we choose every thought\nwhich could be His—judicium. Sixth, when in short we co-ordinate the\nwhole edifice of our ideas and spirit upon the model of His ideas and\nspirit—ratio. Seventh, It is then will be born in us a new light, a more\nbrilliant one, surpassing far the light of reason of the senses—intellectus.\n\nOur heart is also reformed in like manner, when in everything,—First,\nWe lean on Him only—desidare. Second, We wish for Him only—\nappetere. Third, We desire only Him—concupiscere. Fourth, We love\nHim only—amare. Fifth, We choose only that which He is, so that we\navoid all that He is not—eligere. Sixth, We live only in harmony with\nHim after His commandments and His institutions and orders—\nsubordinare.\n\nBy which in short, Seventh, is born a complete union of our will with His,\nby which union man is with J esus Christ but as one sense, one heart; by\nwhich perfect union the new man is little by little born in us, and Divine\nwisdom and love unite to form in us the new spiritual man, in whose\nheart faith passes into sight, and in comparison to this living faith the\ntreasures of India can be considered but as ashes.\n\nThis actual possession of God or J esus Christ in us is the Centre towards\nwhich all the mysteries converge like rays to the circle eye; the highest of\nthe mysteries is this consummation.\n\nThe Kingdom of God is a kingdom of truth, morality, and happiness. It\noperates in the saints from the innermost to the outside, and spreads\nitself gradually by the Spirit of J esus Christ into all nations, to institute\neverywhere an Order by means of which the individual can reach as well\nas the race; our human nature can be raised to its highest perfection, and\nsick humanity be cured from all the evils of its weakness.\n\nThus the love and spirit of God will one day alone vivify all humanity;\nthey will awake and rekindle all the strength of the human race, will lead\nit to the goals of Wisdom and place it in suitable relationships.\n\nPeace, fidelity, domestic harmony, love between nations, will be the first\nfruits of this Spirit. Inspiration of good without false similitudes, the\n\nexaltation of our souls without too severe a tension, warmth in the heart\nwithout turbulent impatience, will approach, reconcile, and unite all the\n\nvarious parts of the human race, long separated and divided by many\ndifferences, and stirred up against each other by prejudices and errors,\nand in one Grand Temple of Nature, great and little, poor and rich, all\nwill sing the praise of the Father of Love.",
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