The past revealed; a series of revelations concerning the early Scriptures

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II

" And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

" So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." — Ibid. 27.

There was first an incoherent mass of plastic elements; afterwards the wisdom of Infinite Intelligence, revealed through a perfect Law, succeeded by a gradual evolution of conditions that permitted and required the visible presence of controlling spiritual forces, demonstrating through physical forms. With constantly increasing power, the spirit man, with alternations of success and failure, has, in celestial spheres, since his first incarnation upon earth, made progress, often serving in place of the earlier vicegerents or executive agents of the Law for the demonstration of many of its minor provisions. In such ratios as he has developed ability to perceive his relations to it ; he has increased in wisdom until now his executive capacity enables him to successfully direct many important matters which in the beginning were under the exclusive control of certain spiritually illumined beings, then denizens of the higher spheres. Some of the Law's provisions are of necessity still concealed from him on account of his inability to comprehend their complexity, and until he shall have made further progress his power to demonstrate the purpose of such provisions in the cosmic order must remain in abeyance. As no exterior influence has ever prevented the orderly operation of the Law, or in any manner changed its modes or the results of its action, it follows that discoveries in all the ages have been in harmony with the orderly manifestation of its provisions. The expressions of the Law have been such as to increase practical, useful knowledge and to aid the cause of civilization. Every discovery has demonstrated its perfection.

Doubtless there are higher and more sublime evidences of the Supreme Wisdom concealed within the loom of nature which will be revealed in the due course of human progress. What has since the beginning been accomplished, as it were, in preparation for more interesting revelations, can in no sense be regarded miraculous interventions nor anything beyond the orderly operation of natural forces. Man before his inhabitation of the physical body did not realize the scope of the Law nor its perfection, nor that under its beneficent sway he was to enter a career of evolution from previous low estates towards the attainment of higher and better conditions. When, however, the physical state of the earth permitted the residence of man thereon, another expression of a theretofore concealed provision of the Law was discovered. He then learned that he could receive the cooperation of those in celestial states of existence, in the materialization of form. As the Infinite Spirit, through Law, had illustrated His Wisdom and Power by molding the changeable matter of earth, so also the human body about to be materialized was composed from the elements, and made subject to both the spiritual and material influence. Had all previous results, though manifold, been limited by what had been already accomplished, without such materialization there would have been apparently a failure of original purpose for the conquest of the planet, as no opportunity to secure the objects of their coming hither would have been afforded those intelligences who had willingly submitted to circumscription and exile, in order to realize further progress. The appearance of a superior intelligent order of beings clothed in physical forms, more complex and delicate than those previously evolved for service of the lower orders, had from the beginning evidently been necessary for the complete possession of the material world. Spiritual beings long existed within the atmospheres of the new earth before they were provided with vehicles of expression or physical bodies for inhabitation, and many of them had previously acquired some knowledge of certain laws and conditions upon other planets which they confidently expected to apply for individual benefit upon the earth. The special needs for each entity in life's prospective service — the individual possession of and exercise of physical force, if we may so express the thought — has since the beginning been largely increased by the active use of mind and body.

In the sixth cycle of the physical evolution of the earth, the perfection of the Law was very distinctly manifested, and has commanded the reverent consideration of thoughtful persons in all succeeding centuries. The Infinite Spirit manifesting through the Law inspired His vicegerents, as if by some special direction, how to cooperate with the spirit man in the materialization of the first physical body, how to create it in such form that the counterpart thereof would thereafter continuously serve as the vehicle of spirit, while sustaining relations to material affairs. The divine principle in man has forever since, while incarnated upon the objective plane, employed bodies similar to the first prototype,

for the accomplishment of its designs, such having proved very well adapted to all pursuits, and especially useful in those occupations of spirit relating to the discovery of the laws to which it is itself subject. The Divine Intelligence reflected in the consciousness of man has in the past and doubtless will continue to discover new employments, and as climatic changes permit new productions of earth, will continue to afford material for him to mold into objects of beauty and utility, such as the advancing needs of civilization may demand.

After materialization and the subsequent multiplication of forms, through the laws of generation, in perfect confidence, as if supplied from some great and exhaustless reservoir, containing unlimited reserves of wisdom and force, capable of leading on its votaries to deific accomplishments, innumerable spiritual entities, clothed in physical habiliments, entered upon the new stage with purposes more or less clearly defined, some apparently poorly equipped for the great services which future exigencies might demand of them, yet with the will to overcome all opposing obstacles. And here let us state that a belief in the controlling influences of certain independent, physical forces in the universe of matter, irrespective of the Law, has always been a figment of the imagination, and if such beliefs were held in earlier states of human development, it clearly proves the fact that the first types of humanity did not understand the nature of the Law nor its modes of manifestation. Strange as it may seem, spiritual laws, after the assumption of physical forms by spirit, were not realized as of supreme importance, nor was personal safety respected. Each one inclined to follow the leadings of passion or desire, though there was then as at the present time an infinite reservoir of wisdom available unto those who could fathom the apparent mysteries of nature. In the early periods, however, few if any sought such correspondences. Then as now in physical life the Universal Law prevailed, and exacted absolute obedience, but man did not possess sufficient wisdom to understand its requirements, and did not realize the many possible spiritual and material benefits derivable from an observance of its provisions. Unto him they were as though non-existent. A certain freedom of the will differentiated him from animal races, a prophecy of future spiritual development and physical triumphs over the opposing obstacles of nature, and the final realization of the divine self-consciousness.

"Let us make man in our image. So God created He him." This statement evidently refers to the cooperation of certain celestial beings in the first materialization of physical form, which was created in the likeness or image of their own spiritual bodies. The word "God" is synonymous with " Spirit," and in no manner relates to the Infinite Intelligence. We presume it will not be necessary at the present day to deny that the Infinite, Universal Spirit has ever defined for itself a physical form. The Infinite cannot be illogical. He is not Universal, Omnipresent, Omniconscious, and yet confined to physical limitations in any respect similar to that which spirit has assumed as a convenient, useful instrument for special purposes in a world of crude elements, in which it is itself to be perfected

"in the image of the higher." And now we state through this instrument of the spirit world that God never directly created or even called into activity the spirit in man. That is uncreate and eternal. The Infinite, by the dispensation of Law as manifested in the creation of this world, in a sense, appealing to reason, may have apparently submitted to certain limitations of His own infinity. Let us conceive, for purpose of illustration, the existence of the Great Cosmic Infinite Spirit, and also the existence of a thousand worlds awaiting the impetus of Law. When one of such worlds, for instance the earth, was set in motion and all conditions and contingencies duly provided for under an unchanging and perfect Law, in a certain sense the Infinite Spirit may have imposed apparent limitations upon Himself in manifestation, have, as it were, sacrificed Himself, if one so please to term it, — yet not a relinquishment or loss of any attribute of His nature, for that would be impossible; as when the end of such creation had been subserved, there would be available and subject to the Infinite control the same forces originally delegated for manifestation in law, during the limited cycles of the earth's duration. That separated or defined expression of Deity through Law does in reality constitute our world, so far as human conception extends, and by many beneficent revelations each spiritual entity receives its experience, and unto the guardian intelligences serving as vicegerents or executive agents of the Law, each may appeal for instruction how best to realize destiny. As with the earth, so with all worlds. God, Author of the Law, and Creator of planets, is, indeed, Infinite Spirit, but neither Angel, Archangel, nor Seraphim has ever beheld Him or received a clear and perfect definition of His essential attributes. Even states of perfect tranquillity, where all opposing forces have been overcome, and power realized of drawing upon an exhaustless fountain, do not presuppose equality with or ability to fully describe or comprehend Deity. Such comprehension would be evidence of cosmic perfection not attainable under limitations. Nor do we teach that the spirit of man is ever completely absorbed by, or assimilated with, the Infinite

Spirit. The evidence of such assimilation would, on account of human limitations, be improcurable. This, however, we may assert, — that in perfect relation to the attainment of light, and in the correspondences therewith, the spirit is attracted toward the Great Central Light. There are those in the higher and more perfect realizations of spirit who have attained to such advanced states of illumination as to appear to those upon lower planes of progress to have realized perfect unity with Deity. Such impressions, however, are probably but the reflections of a more perfect and radiant state of existence for which every one may aspire. Let us be mindful of the great fact that in all conditions the law of progress inheres. The divine impulse for the aquirement of spiritual wisdom is now more positively manifested than in the beginning, and is working an evolution in spiritual affairs upon earth which will enable man to evolve from his own consciousness new worlds, more perfect counterparts of that which really exists in spiritual realms than any heretofore conceived, for it is his destiny finally to permanently enter that state of illumination in which the rhythms of nature appeal to consciousness, and are reflected as beautiful harmonies, under influences which obtain in celestial states. When out of the elements he, in cooperation with exalted intelligences, created for himself a physical form, adjusted and organized in some respects like unto those which serve as vehicles of expression in other spheres, in a certain sense it may be said there was "breathed into it the breath of life," i.e. under the Law the spirit was able to give such form needful impulse in the first simple labors required of it.

It is not necessary to state here that in the beginning only portions of the inherent spiritual possibilities of man were expressed, yet such will readily appear to all intelligent minds to be true. Then, as now, a spirit entity, before entrance into form, possessed freedom of will to select its own relations during its residence upon the physical plane. The chief purpose in seeking such experiences was that it might correct previous errors and accomplish complete preparation for diviner states of existence — and finally enter into those realms of superior opportunities wherein wisdom obtains, limitations cease, and an endless chain of deific influences enables spirit to realize higher correspondences. This world may be compared to a canvas from which is reflected certain purposes or infinite designs. What appear to us indefinite is clearly perceived by advanced intelligences as expressions or modes of absolute law and order. Spiritual laws have, in these later ages of advancing civilization, been more definitely realized in the consciousness of man than in previous periods, and as results thereof some have imperceptibly grown into the likeness of those celestial beings who perfectly perceive the divine symphony manifested in the cosmic universe. He who has escaped the Karmas created through material occupations and desires, and has experienced a real spiritual transformation, may truly proclaim "in the image of God created He him." And the possession of this image in the consciousness of man is justly desired, for it is his badge of sovereignty, the evidence of his divine sonship, more perfect and permanent than any title deeds to lands and houses, which are but copies in idea, counterparts, which only illustrate in a material way the infinite spiritual wealth and power.

Ill

" And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." — Genesis 1 : 31.

It is written that God saw everything that He had made, and all was good. The Infinite, through the Law, had expressed His purpose in objective manifestations, and the results were perfect. Order, the first principle of Law, had succeeded conditions of chaos. Land had appeared — indicating permanence and stability. An animal kingdom, the flora of the earth, the herb and tree each bearing seed after its kind, had responded to the impulse of Spirit, so related as to require no more than reference here, all natural evolutions accomplished in the eons of cycles preceding the advent of physical man.

But most important, man now imperceptibly began to perceive necessity that he should progress from his low intellectual and spiritual condition, in order to secure higher and more perfect correspondences, necessary for the accomplishment of his divine destiny. In furtherance of that purpose, cooperating with those in celestial states, in this cycle of time, he materialized a physical form, which in perfect adaptability to needs has proved the marvel of time.

These and many other important results were achieved, the sum of all which was good. Since that remote period, the increase of spiritual wisdom has enabled intelligent persons to perceive that every manifestation of the Law has always been perfect, and, as a corollary, good.

When the sixth day or period of realization dawned, the divine human consciousness, the Infinite Principle, implanted in man assumed its rightful control of the physical brain, and became the dominant, intelligent principle, through the leadings of which he has since asserted spiritual supremacy and physical control over the lower orders of life, and compelled them to serve in such employments as

have advanced his material interests. He, endowed with great superiorities, has since become the architect of forms, the only self-conscious being upon earth.

Using the physical body as its instrument, he has already discovered many laws of chemistry and methods for their demonstration. It is reasonable to assume that the earth's spiritually great and wise ones will continue to expound truth, upon planes of human understanding, according to the needs of less advanced humanity, thereby aiding its upward progress, and practically demonstrating the fact that spiritual consciousness is the ruling principle in all stages of human progress, and the only intelligent force upon this earth, as it has ever been recognized in exalted spheres of illumination.

The divine self-consciousness and the will, its counterpart, have always been and must continue to be the controlling principle in all struggles and conflicts of humanity for the attainment of better conditions, and will doubtless, in the future more perfectly than now, control the physical brain, and through it, the material body, using both as instruments for fuller and freer expression of the divine intuitions. When more perfect conditions have been established, advanced intelligences may more freely than now communicate with those incarnated in physical forms, and teach them the wisdom they have acquired concerning the Infinite Spirit.

Previous to the sixth day or period of light, many forces afterwards objectively manifested were apparently latent or inoperative, but upon its advent the purpose in creation was more fully revealed, for then, in a partial way, man began to perceive that the mandates of the Law were absolute and enforced by celestial agents who had attained great wisdom, having realized much divine prescience. From that period the illuminati have faithfully administered the trust reposed in them, serving as vicegerents and executive agents of the Law, revealing unto wise and thoughtful persons their accumulated thesaurus of wisdom, limited only by man's inability to fully comprehend that which they are ever ready to impart.

IV

"And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." — Genesis 1 : 31.

All creative periods have been mornings of light preceded by evenings of darkness. The Infinite Spirit, in connection with His numberless other perfections, is Wisdom itself, and through the ordainment of a Perfect Law in the beginning, prescribed the uses and fixed the boundaries of all the forces of nature, defined the needful conditions of physical life and means for prolonging it, made possible the realization of spiritual and physical progress and well being, and so ordained the universal order that every law of nature may be discovered by spirit while in physical expression.

After the sixth period an opportunity was afforded man to more definitely realize, than possible before the taking on of material form, his relations to physical laws governing the earth, for he then came into closer contact with nature and might from her acquire much useful wisdom. In a very limited and crude way, at first, he began to question her, and sought to discover his material relations to objective environments. The impulse in this direction has ever been strong, and may be in part accounted for when we say that the best representatives of his type had, in previous states, upon other planets, made some progress in cognate relations, and upon reentrance into physical life again responded to those impulses of spirit which previously prevailed. Though memory reverted not, intuition led on. The crowning demonstration of the Law's perfection was illustrated in the sixth cycle. There were also numberless other manifestations of the Law occurring in apparently quick succession during that period, and so expressed in objective phenomena as to excite the wonder and investigation of succeeding generations of students of physical science ; but no event upon any plane of thought or imagination equals the greatest of all revelations of divine foreconception of human necessity, the materialization of the physical form through the cooperation of illumined intelligences made subject to the control of the spirit within.

God had previously said, " Let there be light : and there was light. " Now, however, as in the beginning ordained, the period had commenced when through gradual but progressive discovery of the principles inherent of the Law, all clouds of darkness concealing the light from the understanding of man might be dissipated, and every night followed by a morning of realization of progress in discovery of the divine order.

All was in readiness for the crowning manifestation of the Perfect Wisdom.

Let man rejoice, the reverberations of his song be repeated in the heavens, and prolonged through the infinities of space, for conditions are prepared for the realization of that divine self-consciousness, which will enable him to perceive final realization of all the beatitudes of celestial life. It was he that should discover that the Law describes the circle of this planet, and defines the conditions of the earth's existence, surrounded as it is by numberless other worlds, which during eons of existence have revolved in their appropriate spheres, without so much as a fraction of time in variation, for the Infinite Spirit in the beginning so defined the universal expression. Who can or should stay man's progress? Nothing imperfect can ever issue from a reservoir of absolute truth and wisdom. A knowledge of the Law will make man wise, enable him to attain harmonial correspondences with those who are indeed free. We can now see how much of it he has been able so far to comprehend, and may judge the future by the past. He has not yet learned its principles in completeness, though he now insensibly feels that there are divine possibilities awaiting future realization. While that is essentially true, he has yet to learn that there are many conditions to be fulfilled when one aspires for highest honors, much more to be accomplished than has yet been perceived as necessary. There is a fixed system of rewards and penalties relating man

to two states of existence, — the physical and spiritual, — indicating that he is a far more complex being than would at first appear, and that he but partially knows himself. The resulting, visible world of effects was most wisely made the reflex of another, where far more delicate conditions prevail, for the government of which an invisible, intangible, yet an all-powerful system or series of systems of laws, beyond the limited conception of man in his first or present estate, have been provided. Not all now, but in due time, will be revealed in the awakened consciousness more and more concerning the next state of existence and his relations to it. He will in the providence of things learn that there is neither first, second, nor sixth day in spirit voyages of discovery, and that time has been completely eliminated.

Many other provisions of the Law not needful to know, in man's first or present conditions of life, will doubtless be discovered after he has attained the wisdom to apply the benefits derivable therefrom for spiritual progress.

This earth, at the sixth period, when man [42]

first materialized upon it as a physical entity, doubtless appeared to him a blissful place of abode, though he knew not its laws or his relations thereto. It was, however, his destiny to learn much, and after graduation go forward, prepared for the enjoyments of the higher life. As under the Law there are spiritual as well as physical relations, necessity was laid upon him to realize truth, love, and beauty, in order to evolve that state of harmony wherein one receives foregleams of celestial beatitudes such as are enjoyed by those who have discovered much relating to the Divine Principle, and have as a sequel thereof realized many illuminations of spirit.

" Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." — Genesis 2 : 1.

The Infinite Spirit had expressed through the Law the divine foreconception all in harmonious manifestation. A physical world had been evolved, — a world of objectivities, governed by a perfect Law, — and there had been established a series of relations in respect of it, so that all objective creations were visible to the sight of man, and the purposes of their creation concealed from him only by the limited control of his own spirit over the physical brain ; its instrument for the expression of thought.

Through occult laws, man soon learned to discern colors and different sounds, in fact, developed ability to perceive the relation to each other of many physical manifestations. Only he could or would ever attempt to discover and adapt to useful ends material objects in infinity of combination. Through his aspirations for the perfect light, the mighty possibilities of spirit within would be realized. In that sixth period, so far as needs of primitive man were then concerned, the heavens and the earth were finished, and he so organized that his desires would increase in ratio of his discovery of the means to gratify them. He then went forth to prove the divinity of his own origin. His uncreate spirit, in cooperation with celestial intelligences, had, under the Law, defined a physical body or vehicle for the outworking of destiny/ but from the beginning it had been ordained that it should not be the spirit's permanent abiding place, and in harmony with that purpose it was molded from changeable elements, and so organized that if he obeyed the laws governing it, peaceful relations would be maintained between it and the spirit within, and his physical capacity for useful labors increased. Therefore the study of laws pertaining to spiritual and physical relations is of first importance, in order that the visible body may continue to furnish a suitable habitation for the invisible spirit, and that the many opportunities for material and spiritual progress offered while upon the earth may be realized.

That the physical form inhabited by the spirit should be subjected to its control, and that health should be the reward of obedience to it, was then and now true. Where opportunities for one to learn the meaning of, and his relations to, such laws had for any reason been denied in one incarnation, another and possibly many other returns to earth were, upon the desire of applicants, made possible. Nature has ever been lavish in her bestowal of opportunities for progressive understanding of both her physical and spiritual principles.

As man has willed to learn of the cosmic order, so have opportunities been afforded for him to profit by his efforts and to realize diviner states of illumination. It is therefore evident, that, when it was announced that the heavens and the earth were finished, a reference was intended to the giving of the Law, and the creation of unlimited opportunities for man under it.

All needful preliminary conditions for the complete realization of the spirit's final destiny were thus established. Freedom of the will and the possibility of realizing the divine self-consciousness were his prerogatives.

The earth was, indeed, in that sense, finished. It remained only for the inheritors of the divine gifts to prove themselves worthy sons of the Light, by thereafter continuing the struggle for the goal of absolute perfection.

" And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

Phenomenal creations may be said to have passed their meridian in the sixth cycle. It was in this period that the spirit man, aided by advanced intelligences of the spirit world, materialized physical form for inhabitation, while outworking destiny upon earth, which form included, as its most important possession, that marvel of delicate mechanism, — the physical brain, at first only responsive to exoteric impressions, but since developed and employed by the spirit for the expression of its complex intuitions. Through its wise use man has realized superior alertness, and now directs the more intelligent portions of the lower orders in the promotion

of his material interests. Many centuries subsequent to the first materialization of form, after the spirit had acquired for the expression of thought a larger control over the organic brain than was at first possible, man began to make important discoveries in the realms of natural law, creating more favorable conditions of physical existence, and establishing many useful industries. In the commencement of his earth life his physical sustenance was provided for by the constant productions of the earth; but notwithstanding such wise arrangements, he then perceived not his obligations and relations to the Law, nor could he have realized its perfection had it been proclaimed from the higher realms of wisdom. Considering what has been accomplished in the various fields of human effort, one might infer that the Law, as originally ordained, possessed an independent automatic manifesting principle, through the operation of which man must needs, in due season, discover its secrets, and that he would as the result of such discoveries perceive the limitations of his own spiritual correspondences with its Author. Whenever and wherever his dormant perceptive faculties have been awakened, so as to comprehend its beneficent purposes and effectual operation in the realms of nature, a more perfect consciousness of its perfection has been realized.

Since the sixth cycle, when man first acquired physical form and entered into the field of material affairs, he has, in a certain apparent sense, sustained a special relation to the Law, and has been greatly benefited by obeying those provisions of it which relate to his physical needs and enjoyments. In later periods, he has, to much advantage, applied for personal benefit its occult principles, inherent from the beginning, but the importance of which he has only slowly learned through the experiences of life. His material form was created subject to physical laws, and when disobedient thereto, he has suffered many discords. Through such suffering he has realized some of the possibilities of his many and complex attributes, gradually perceiving the necessity that he should more fully understand his relation to every law governing the planet upon which he is the most important factor and the arbiter of the destiny of the lower orders. Subject to the impersonal Law and impelled by his own intuitions, he now aspires to create and direct the course of material affairs, and henceforth may logically, in ratio of his realization of the divine principle within, hope for increase of dominion. The Law with its infinite realities continues, and from the fact that all its provisions are perfect, must remain unto his finite perception a gradual, constant revelation of wisdom. One naturally inquires what means in the beginning were provided for its enforcement, for it was not a living entity possessing intuitional faculties capable of inspiring others, nor did it in an easily comprehended language intelligently express the meaning and object of its existence. Man only could spiritually discern relations to it and discover its purpose and benefits. In his rudimentary state he did not perceive its existence, nor understand its mode of action. Wisdom, required for the proper understanding of its perfect principles, was then possessed only by beings in states