Clothed With The Sun

A GOLDEN chalice, like those used in Catholic rites, but having three linings, was given to me in my sleep by an Angel. These linings, he told me, signified the three degrees of the heavens,--purity of life, purity of heart, and purity of doctrine. Immediately afterwards there appeared to me a great dome-covered temple, Moslem in style, and on the threshold of it a tall angel clad in white linen, who with an air of command was directing a party of men engaged in destroying and throwing into the street numerous crucifixes, bibles, prayer-books, altar-utensils, and other sacred emblems.

Excerpt:

The chief means proposed in this book in furtherance of its ends, may be summarised as follows:--

1. The re-establishment of the Understanding as the basis of Faith.

2. The restoration to its true place, as the object of veneration, of the thing signified--that is, of the spirit, substance, verity, or reality--instead of the symbol or appearance of it; and therein the abolition of idolatry both in religion and science, whether the object be a person, a book, or an institution, the form, the letter, or the rite, or matter itself,--to the end that God only may be worshipped.

3. The restoration of the doctrine of the Duality of the Divine Unity, or Original Being; and therein the recognition of the essential divinity of both constituents of existence, its life, or force, and its substance; with the result of removing matter from its wrongful position as an independent, self-subsistent entity, to its proper rank as a mode of the Divine Being, wherein it represents Spirit, by the power of the Divine Will projected into conditions and limitations, and made exteriorly cognisable.

The restoration of this doctrine involves the deposition alike of Materialism, and the no less atheistic Manichæanism also widely in vogue, in favour of that true Pantheism which, while it regards God as the all in all of Being, does not regard all Being as in the condition of God.

4. The restoration of the true doctrine of Creation and Redemption by means of Evolution, (1) by re-establishing the doctrine of the permanence of the true Ego of the individual, and its persistence through all changes of exterior form and condition, thus positing as the subject of Evolution an entity competent to retain the impressions, and to progress by means, of its experiences; and (2) by exhibiting one and the same method as that both of Creation and of Redemption, the difference being only of medium--or "vehicle"--and of direction; inasmuch as the former occurs by a centrifugal operation in matter; and the latter by a centripetal operation in substance (or spirit),--a process which constitutes involutional evolution, both processes occurring in the same individual.

Herein consists the reconciliation of science and religion, inasmuch as Redemption is thus the logical complement of Creation and outcome of Evolution, in that the process whereby it occurs--which is mystically called Regeneration--consists in the reconstitution of the individual by and of the higher elements of his own system, the Soul and Spirit, and--instead of dispensing with experience--is accomplished by means of the experiences acquired in a multiplicity of earth-lives, the number of which is determined by the exigencies of the individual case, their purpose being to afford the requisite opportunities for the "suffering"--which is felt experience--through which alone perfection and, thereby, salvation are attainable.

The restoration of the doctrine of a multiplicity of earth-lives involves as its corollary that of the doctrine of acquired destiny, called by the Hindûs "Karma."

5. The interpretation of Christianity and of religion generally, in such manner as to exhibit the identity of the needs and perceptions of the soul in all ages; as well also as the identity of the theological doctrine of salvation by "vicarious atonement" with the mystical, but none the less scientific, doctrine of redemption by regeneration as defined in the foregoing paragraph.

6. The solution of the problems of inspiration, prophecy, and miracles, and the practical demonstration of the so-called supernatural as natural to man, in that it appertains, not to the superhuman but to the higher human.

7. The disclosure of the Christian origines as regards both the person of Jesus and the composition of the Gospels.

8. The enlargement of Christian faith and practice by means of the restoration of the Gods to their due place in man's recognition and veneration; and the combination of the Greek and Buddhist with the Christian ideals, thereby restoring to man the sense of beauty, joy, and hopefulness which comes of the recognition of the universal indwelling Divinity--(which is Greek); and providing a perfect system and rule in respect of things physical, intellectual, and moral--(which is Buddhist), as the foundation for the higher, because more interior, spirituality (which is Christian).