The temple of the rosy cross. The soul: its powers, migration, and transmigrations

Dedication

To John Heaney, of Buckley, Iroquois County, Illinois — him of the great soul, lofty mind, and loving heart — " Door of the Temple of the Rosy Cross" — are these pages most respectfully and lovingly dedicated, by

The Author.

Preface

To provoke thought, and thus lift the world out of the rut into which it has fallen, the following pages have been written. The soul is no common or vulgar thing; and all approximation thereto, in thought, must be transcendental. This work claims to contain the fundamental principles of 'ah I religions — the PHILOSOPHY OF MAN- HOOD, and the road leading to a true life and immortality, here, on this4 poor, much abused earth. " This is a matter-of-fact age," and " the day of miracles has passed.'1 That is, those things which unaccountably happen, which were formerly ascribed to God, have come a little nearer home, and are now ascribed to nature. What satisfaction there is in a name, especially to children ! The superstition of the past, and of the stars, narrowed down to that of "the ape" and "the mud!" Instead of the facts of observation, I have attempted those of logic and common sense. Darwin and Huxley have narrowed the mind down to a contemplation of the mud "protoplasm," but I call you to a contemplation of man and his possibilities. I came, and found this beautiful earth fanned by the breath of deadly poison, which men, in the very agony of breathing, call life. I go ; but in going, I would leave it a little purer for having been here. I am satisfied that man is the architect of himself, and of all conditions, from "protoplasm" up ; and it has been my effort to stir him upward to the creation of things worthy of himself. This year, 1881, is the close of an epoch in the world's history. It will, indeed, be sad, if we follow in the bloody track of our forefathers downward. We have now an opportunity, next year, of cutting loose the shackles that chain us to the corpse of the past. Shall we make the attempt ? Reader, study these pages ; the great ideas are merely shadowed, and are left crude and bare of detail, for you to clothe as your mind shall open to the grasping. Do not deny what I have written without a full and clear comprehension of the ideas.

It is not claimed that this work is wholly Rosicrucian. The sublime principles of this fraternity are not conveyed in this manner ; but enough is given to enable the thoughtful and earnest searcher after truth to get a glimpse of the glory hidden, even now, as in the past. It is not the loud sounding* bells of a sabbath morning, nor the roaring of organs and voices ; neither is the high-toned oratory of the officiating priest, true worship ; neither is it the means, however charming and gratifying, which move the infinite to the answering of prayer. Remember, "silence is strength;" noise confuses. It is "an empty sound," which silence comprehends not, or in the comprehension of it, loses it. The unwavering, persistent, incomprehensible (by us) thought, is the sustaining and noiseless moving power of the universe; and he who hath most of it is the most prayer-answering God, and in and by virtue thereof he is the greatest prayer.

F. B. DOWD.

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