The seventh seal

Preface

I deplore any suggestion of cowardice which may attach to my incomplete signature, but for reasons which I may not state, it is fitting that this be published under my given names only.

Jeanette Agnes.

Contents

chapter page

Introduction 9

I. What Shall We Say of Matter?. . 13

Introduction

The object cf this brief treatise is to explain the spiritual significance of the Levitical Law in connection with the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, and its relation to the truth that souls are created with distinct male and female capacities and powers: to show that the soul may be at rest and the individual ready for the development of powers which transcend what are termed human possibilities when the man and woman possessing the dual expressions of the same soul have been united in the one perfect love relation : That it is possible when spiritual discernment has been sufficiently developed, to know without error the complement of one's own soul : that the Bible teaches that the law of the creative life energy, operating through the physical sex of soul complements, is, through the power of its spiritual reality, the way of the refinement and spiritualization of the matter of which our bodies are composed — the way of emancipation from want, sickness, and all imperfections of the human race; in truth, the way of eternal life without the body's passing through what we call death: that

INTRODUCTION

concerning this is the mystery — the hidden power in the meaning of the Holy Name — the Lost Word which has been sought through the ages: that both prevailing beliefs in regard to matter must be altered before we can be liberated from the bondage of materiality; and briefly to indicate the kind of spiritual development necessary thus to attain to the Kingdom.

The statements made herein as truth, it is needless to say, are my convictions of truth, founded upon experience, thought, study, or the testimony within me of the Spirit of Truth Itself, which Jesus promised should be given to lead us into all truth.

I readily grant that the claims made are extraordinary, and I have reason to believe there may be noble souls who, upon first impression, will think my message not a worthy one; but being convinced beyond all doubt that these are the significant facts underlying Biblical symbol and allegory, and realizing the inestimable value in every way to the human family of a right understanding of God's plan for happiness, and the continuity of life, and the reason why these never can be found until men seek the Lord

INTRODUCTION

with the whole heart, you may appreciate something of the urge which has impelled me to speak; indeed, which will grant me no rest until I have spoken, even at the risk of any and all kinds of criticism in regard to my sanity, my motives and my personal character; and I would ask of every reader, if these be not worthy objects which I thus wish to further, what then shall we say constitutes worth?

Nor can I heed the admonitions, though all so kindly meant, of any who would stay me from my task, even though I should incur the disrespect of those from whom respect would be most valued, for the dreariest outlook can in no wise excuse one for shirking what he clearly sees to be his duty and opportunity for service.

Know then, my friends, when in "The Way of Attainment" I urge you always to follow the highest light you have — know then where it may lead you; know what determination to do the right under any and all circumstances it may demand of you. But follow it, alone if need be, "O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone." There is no other way.

CHAPTER I What Shall We Say of Matter?

AS the truth set forth in the following pages is concerned with the fact that not only ,is matter real, but that contrary to accepted belief, it is a part of God Himself, I wish to direct attention briefly to this subject at the outset.

Both of the current beliefs, on the one hand that matter is nothing; on the other hand, that it is a thing apart from God, lead to confusion and errors in living, because of the fact that they give rise to the belief that some part of our being may exist apart from a spiritual reality.

We hear it commonly said that God animates matter, that God is in matter, but this presupposes that God and matter are two wholly different things. I say matter is a part of God — God's body, so to speak, for if matter is no part of God, then God is not all; hence not God. It is evident that matter is essential as a medium through which God may manifest his life. If matter did not exist, there could be no expression of God's life; but if God needs matter through which to manifest his life, and must go outside of Himself to have it supplied from some other source, then God is not complete; He must acknowledge obligations to another power; therefore He would not be God. That would be as if God had the executive ability to organize and conduct a business, but did not have the necessary capital to invest, and must seek a partner. I speak neither facetiously nor irreverently. The cases are parallel.

Because all forms of matter are reducible to one universal substance, and into such form as to be invisible to the physical eye, does not mean that matter can be destroyed, as some are so ready to state, and that in the name of science. When we place a piece of ice in a pan, and apply sufficient heat to turn it first to water and eventually to vapor w r hich will float over our heads, we have not destroyed the matter of which the ice was composed, although we have transformed this substance from a state of density in which it was heavier than air, and by the law of

WHAT SHALL WE SAY

gravitation would fall to the floor if released from the hand, to a rarified state in which it was lighter than air and would rise instead of fall.

No physicist would think of saying that when a piece of iron has been reduced to the gaseous state, the material of which the metal was composed before the law of molecular attraction was overcome by heat, has been destroyed; and it is no more reasonable for him to say that matter can be destroyed because it can be transformed into a state of rarity and vibratory activity beyond the domain of physical science alone to detect and study.

If perchance the ultra-idealist, who will tell you that matter is not real, but merely a mode of thinking, has in mind the wonderful facts of the transformation of matter, he should make this clear, for even reducing it to a point of strain between the negative and positive particles of electricity does not make it unreal. If we contend that a thing is unreal merely because we cannot see it in all its manifestations, we may as well say Spirit is unreal. No one will dispute the fact that organized forms of matter are not permanent, but when we speak of matter, we rightly mean the atom or electron, or the infinitesimal divisions into which this may yet be said to be divided.

All this apparently unintelligent substance serves us, and is a certain manifestation of God. Our clothes, our food, our houses, the air we breathe and the earth under our feet is God, as well as our mind and Spirit, and our emotions of love and joy. And thus it becomes literally true that "in Him we live and move and have our being/ ' It is not sufficient to say that God is in matter. It is either a question of God and matter, coexistent, eternal, or God as matter. If it is a case of God and matter, God is not all. There is no evading this fact for anyone who is willing to give the truth right of way against preconceived ideas. Of course to those who have nestled in some form of belief from which they would not be disturbed at any cost, and hence are not willing to meet the issue squarely with themselves, there is as yet no means of appeal, but time and experience, though it should require another incarnation to accomplish it, will result in the necessary mental honesty.

WHAT SHALL WE SAY

I grant this view of matter is one for which we have not the customary proof or conclusive form of statement, yet which we know by this process of reasoning must be true; as for instance, the value of the decimal statement of the quotient of 10 divided by 3. By any rule of mathematics with which we are now familiar, the quotient will be 3.3333 on into infinity. We cannot arrive at an exact statement of the value in this form. Nevertheless we know by a certain course of reasoning that the value is §. And so I say there are some things which, from the very nature of the case, we know to be true, although we may not be able to demonstrate the fact according to customary methods. Even yet the existence of ether is not a demonstrated fact. I say this on the authority of one of the prominent scientists of our country. He told me they simply assume that such a medium exists, because an intelligent and satisfactory explanation of the phenomena of nature requires that such a medium should exist. This, then, is a perfectly logical conclusion to which no one need object, and while it is obliged to acknowledge kinship to the processes of faith and

17, intuition (however disconcerting this may be to the materialistic scientist), it also satisfies our reason.

The foregoing arithmetical analogy was employed by the scientist of whom I speak, in this same conversation, but it applies with as much force to the belief that matter is one manifestation of the Absolute as it does to the belief in the existence of ether, which scientists find themselves obliged to accept though not demonstrated by so-called scientific methods. Therefore, I say in words the most untaught may understand, and the erudite cannot gainsay — Matter is a part of God because there is nothing else for it to be if God is all. The following excerpt from a lecture on "The Ether and Its Functions", by Sir Oliver Lodge, makes it easier, I think, to formulate a conception of how this might be true, and brings us to the threshold of the full realization :

"I have endeavored to introduce to you the simplest conception of the material universe which has yet occurred to man — that is of one universal substance perfectly homogeneous and continuous and simple of structure, extending to the farthest limits of space

WHAT SHALL WE SAY

of which we have any knowledge, existing equally everywhere, some portions either at rest or in simple, irrational motion, transmitting the undulations which we call light; other portions in rotational motion— in vortices, that is, and differentiated permanently from the rest of the medium by reason of this motion. These whirling portions constitute what we call matter ; their motion gives them rigidity, and of them our bodies and all other bodies are built up — one continuous substance filling all space, which can vibrate as light, which can be sheared off into positive and negative electricity, which in whirls constitutes matter, and which transmits by continuity and not by impact every action and reaction of which matter is capable."

We believe that God is all, but we cannot harmonize this belief with evident fact, and still ignore the existence of matter — the very thing we find necessary for the expression of the life of God — but rather by including it with the power and usefulness belonging to it, in God. And since this is true, it should be lifted up and spiritualized, as we shall see more clearly from the succeeding chapters.

CHAPTER II The Lost Word

IN explaining the hidden meaning of the Holy Name, I shall quote at some length from "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning", by the late Judge T. Troward, for to him we are indebted for the clue to the secret power of the Lost Word. To me it was given to know the interpretation of the mystery of the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, but I should not have known that this coincided with the secret power of the Holy Name except for the author's accurate work in interpreting the meaning of the Hebrew letters composing the word "YEVE" (JEHOVAH).

"A point that can hardly fail to strike the Bible student is the frequency with which we are directed to the Name of the Lord, as the source of strength and protection, instead of to God Himself, and the steady uniformity of this practice, both in the Old and New Testaments, clearly indicates the intention

THE LOST WORD

to put us upon some special line of inquiry with regard to the Sacred Name. Not only is this suggested by the frequency of the expression, but the Bible gives a very remarkable instance which shows that the Sacred Name must be considered as a formula containing a summary of all Wisdom.

"The Master tells us that the Queen of ' the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and if we turn to I Kings X: 1, we find that the fame of Solomon's wisdom, which induced the Queen of Sheba to come to prove him with hard questions was * concerning the Name of the Lord.' This accords with the immemorial tradition of the Jews that the knowledge of the secret name of God enables him who possesses it to perform the most stupendous miracles. This Hidden Name — the ' Schem-hammaphoraseh ■ — was revealed, they say, to Moses and taught by him to Aaron and handed on by him to his successors ; it was the secret enshrined in the Holy of Holies, and was scrupulously guarded by the successive High Priests; it is the supreme secret, and its knowledge is the supreme object of attainment ; thus tradition and Scripture alike point to 'The NAME' as the source of Light and Life, and deliverance from all evil.

''May we not therefore suppose that this must be the veiled statement of some great Truth ? The purpose of a name is to call up, by a single word, the complete idea of the thing named, with all those qualities and relations that make it what it is, instead of having to describe all this in detail every time we want to suggest the conception of it. The correct name of a thing thus conveys the idea of its whole nature, and accordingly the correct Name of God should, in some manner, be a concise statement of the Divine Nature as the Source of all Life, Wisdom, Power, and Goodness and the Origin of all manifested being/ '

To summarize the explanation which the author gives of the Hebrew Name of God, " YEVE ", which in English is "JEHOVAH ", he shows by successive, careful steps the meaning of each part of the word. This is found to be Essential Life and Derived Life, standing in the relation of masculine to feminine, Y indicating Essential Life, while the second part of the Name — EVE — indicates Derived Feminine Life. Now we see the

THE LOST WORD

expression of this masculine and feminine life to be combined in one name, therefore we are wholly within the truth when speaking of the one named as TWO IN ONE.

The author also gives a further explanation of the word by which God's triune nature is seen to be expressed, but we have long been familiar with the thought of the Trinity. We think of God as ONE and as THREE IN ONE, but we have not yet realized the fact that God is also TWO IN ONE, and herein lies "the mystery of God". TWO IN ONE may then be said to be the physical form of the Holy Name which expresses its general nature and power, and which may be passed from lip to lip; but its vital power — its spiritual reality — or let us say, its soul, as far transcends its physical expression as our Spirits transcend in glory our physical bodies, and may not thus be freely spoken of, but must be realized by each one as he is guided into this truth by the Spirit.

With this light on the derivation of the Holy Name, which, as we shall see later, shows it to corroborate the revelation of the meaning of the imagery of the Tabernacle, and the ordinances concerning it, ascribed to

Moses, we now get the full force of Exodus 34:5. "And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name of the Lord."

But even with this analysis of the meaning of the letters composing the Sacred Name, it remains simply a formula, and we continually overlook its practical application, and the availability of its power to really accomplish the miraculous results for human-kind without the correct solution of the symbology of the Tabernacle. This power is said to be "the secret enshrined in the Holy of Holies", and the way in which the NAME is inseparably connected with the altar, the ark of the covenant, the cherubims, etc., furnishes proof of the truth of this statement.

The explanation of the symbology of the Holy of Holies and its furnishings, which shows wherein the power of the NAME consists, and how this power may really touch our lives on the three planes of our existence, transforming the race of men into something more than men, will be seen by careful, unprejudiced study of the following three chapters.

Chapter III

"Things Which Have Been Kept Secret From the Foundation of the World. "

/'The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." Hab. 2:20.

IT is a well-known fact that the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and Solomon's Temple typified the physical body of man. Jesus emphasized this symbol by inverting it, and calling his body the Temple, and similar references to our physical bodies as the temple of God are frequent throughout the New Testament. But these figures have not been generally comprehended at their full value. The significance of the Holy, of Holies of the Tabernacle has been overlooked. Concerning this is "the mystery of God" (Rev. 10:7), "the mystery of Christ" (Col. 4:3), "the mystery which was kept secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25), the things concerning which Moses gave testimony "which were to be spoken after" (Heb. 3:5).

Within the Holy of Holies we are told was put the ark of the covenant, or the ark of the testimony, whereupon was placed the mercy seat, which was overshadowed by the cherubims. The golden altar of incense was before the vail of the Holy of Holies. Complete accounts of the construction of the Tabernacle, with its laws and ordinances, are given in Exodus and Leviticus, but I would direct attention to Exodus 25:1-22 and to Leviticus 16:1-13, which furnish data for further study and comparison of references. Naturally the symbology could not afford an exact counterbalance throughout, and still permit the erection of a usable, material structure for the Tabernacle, but a thorough study of the references relating to this subject throughout all parts of the Bible clearly shows what a superficial glance does not reveal — that the truth taught by the Holy of Holies, its furnishings and ordinances, the office of the high priest, the promises connected with the ark of the covenant and related references is that there is but one true mate for each soul ; that the way out of human limitation — from man to super-man — the way of eternal life of the body in youth and health, with its increasing refinement and ratification, is through the office of sex of such two individuals after their lives have become sufficiently spiritual by setting God first before their eyes, and by loving all humanity so much that by the natural working of the Law of Life they are reunited in a love so divinely pure and strong that it sees naught but God in all his handiwork.

The ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, the cherubims, etc., have reference to the female genitals; the altar of incense, the censer, etc. to those of the male. The cherubims are the labia majora: the censer is the phallus. The details of the analogy become apparent from the inter-relation. Aaron, the high priest, represents the male complement, who alone is permitted access to the Holy of Holies. Aaron's two sons (symbolical of his ideas or thoughts, hence of his resultant capacities or tendencies) Eleazar and Ithamar, who were to offer sacrifice continually with Aaron, typify by their names the qualities of pure love and spiritual understanding which Aaron must possess.

The sons of Aaron who were slain because they offered false fire upon the altar (Lev. 10: 1-3) signify lack of self control, and a low understanding that grasps only the material phase of the sacrifice. These qualities must be slain in every man before he can become a high priest in this sense, which is " after the order of Melchizedek ,, ) who was said to be the priest of the Most High God long before there was any Jewish Liturgy in existence.

The very meagre reference to Melchizedek in the Bible makes it difficult for us to learn much about him, but it is recorded that he met Abraham when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings who had carried away Lot, and administered to him bread and wine, symbolical of the understanding of the Spirit, and of matter. We are also told that he was king of Salem, which is interpreted in the text as* 'King of Peace". While this would be true, this is not the first meaning of the word "Salem", which comes from a word meaning whole. Therefore we can judge that Melchizedek was one who possessed wholeness in its full significance by being in possession of the truth in regard to Spirit and matter, and related facts. Again, in the seventh chapter of Hebrews we read that Melchizedek's priesthood was a continual priesthood; that he was without " beginning of days' ' or "end of life", which corresponds to the truth with respect to the soul complement, which always has been and always will be the one to stand in the relation of high priest toward . its true spiritual mate.

To those who may be inclined to treat lightly the idea that there exists a pomplement for every soul, let me say that this is no idle fancy adapted to satisfy the caprice of the giddy or frivolous, for one must be truly spiritual in his desires, and willing to give up anything that stands in the way of his finding God and doing the right before it is in his power to know the complement of his own soul, and the one of whom this is true will not be neglectful of duty nor inconsiderate of others.

This truth is the significance of the allegory related in Gen. 2:18-25. The incompleteness of the man without the woman is indicated by the woman's having been formed of a portion of the substance of the man's body, which it must be admitted is a very good figurative version of the biological facts referred to in Chapter V. Thus we see the thought expressed is that neither is complete without the other, the two being required for an integral being.

Again, this is plainly taught by Jesus' words to the Pharisees (Matt. 19 and Mark 10), the meaning of which has been entirely overlooked because of a wrong interpretation put upon his answer to the Sadducees (Matt. 22 and Mark 12). The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection; therefore it is plain that their question was not asked with the honest purpose of securing information, but rather with the design to entangle Jesus by suggesting a situation which, as they thought, would necessarily arise in the event of a life after death, in such cases as that of the woman who had had seven husbands, which imaginary dilemma they evidently considered as conclusive proof that there could be no resurrection of the dead. But Jesus silenced this childish argument by letting them know that the institution of the cosmos is not governed by finite laws and customs, and told them plainly that "in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven/ ' But these words, which have been so narrowly construed, fall far short of saying that no true love relation can exist or be formed in heaven. They were only intended to cover the particular aspect of the subject of marriage with which the question of the Sadducees was concerned, and their force 'was directed to correct the impression that the conditions of earth must necessarily obtain in heaven, hence the plain statement that "in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage." But what we do have a right to infer from them (far from saying that there is no marriage in heaven) is that in the spiritual state existing in heaven, ceremonies and man-made laws are not necessary, but that this law of God which created them male and female in "the beginning of the creation", will adjust the true marriage.

The probabilities are that no one of the seven brothers who had as wife the woman in question was her real husband, but that in heaven, provided she has mastered life's lessons of love sufficiently, she would be united with her true mate. Otherwise, she would have to begin there just where she left off here and learn to love everyone and to forgive everyone before her spiritual powers would be sufficiently quickened for her to recognize her true mate.

That souls are created male and female is too plain for controversy from the references cited in Matthew and Mark. In the account in Mark Jesus says, in speaking of the bill of divorcement, "For the hardness of your heart he (Moses) wrote you this precept, but from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder."

By careful reading the context shows that it was against the principle of the separation of what had been joined from the beginning of the creation to which Jesus particularly referred, for while he expressed no disapproval of Moses' granting them the privilege of divorce under certain conditions, the restrictions and limitations of which were designed to promote, on the whole, the highest development of humanity while it had not yet attained a sufficiently quickened spiritual consciousness for it to be possible for each to know his own true companion, yet he says, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female/ ' and implies that God joined particular male and female creations, for he adds, ''What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder' ' although he had just previously signified his approval of Moses' action in allowing certain ones to be put asunder under the then existing state of enlightenment of mankind.

Now the force of this argument certainly would not fit the circumstances of ordinary life and marriage, because we know that God never joined "from the beginning of the creation' ' any two individuals united simply by an accepted marriage ceremony of this or any other age. Legal marriage ceremonies are being performed daily, but how could any of these be said to date l 'from the beginning of the creation' 1 ? Hence it is plain that the only male and female which could have been joined from the beginning would be those whom Jesus said God joined; in other words — dual parts of the same soul.

This establishes the fact that this masculine and feminine duality in unity is true between souls of individuals the same as it is true in the nature of each soul, and as we see by the meaning of the Holy Name, and observe in all forms of life, in the nature of God Himself. But since souls were created in the image of God, every completed (redeemed) soul must represent an individualized part of God, or the power of Two In One. Now it cannot be argued that this condition is wholly met in the male or female individual alone, else why male and female bodies instead of a uniform type of body among human beings, representing both elements? for our souls most certainly determine the form of our bodies.

Someone may say, "You have just said that each individual soul is masculine and feminine in nature; then why does not this satisfy the condition of a completed soul, created in the image of God, who is TWO IN ONE?" My answer is that although there is a measure of masculine capacity in woman and feminine capacity in man, these powers are not present in each in such proportion or manner as to constitute a completed individual, capable alone of reproduction, or of perfect equilibrium (rest and happiness), and evolution from man to super-man. The feminine capacity in the soul of man is manifested in his body, in one particular, in the rudimentary male breast, but this cannot function. On the other hand, we know that the female breast could not function except through the intervention of masculine capacity. Now the soul capacity of individual man and woman is not complete unto itself any more than the individual bodies, but the perfected power of a completed soul created in the image of God — the power of the Two In One — rests only with true spiritual mates who have been willing to get so close to God that He has joined them again in eternal benediction, his overshadowing Spirit giving power to the union of their souls and bodies.