Filename: RC4010.TXT

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                  ROSICRUCIAN CHRISTIANITY BIBLE COURSE:


               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
               BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                   --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 15:

                            THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM:

REFERENCES:  Matthew 2; John 13.

   At  one  time we dwelt upon the sun; that is to say,  that even  in  this
Earth Period we were in that central firemist,  and we were there up to  the
time  spoken of as the Hyperborean Epoch.   There we crystallized  until  we
could  not respond to the high vibrations the other solar  beings  responded
to.   They could progress in solar vibrations,  we could not;  therefore  we
crystallized a part of that firemist to shield ourselves, and in consequence
we  had to be thrown off.   Then when we had gone the proper  distance  away
from  the sun we could crystallize again, and later we threw off  that  part
which is now known as the moon.   those beings who are now on the moon  were
too far crystallized,  they were behind us;  therefore we had to thrown them
off.   From these two sources come two sets of vibrations;  spiritual vibra-
tions from the sun, and hardening tendencies from the moon.   It is the bal-
ance between these two sets of vibrations that enables us to hold our bodies
together.

   At  that time man was perfectly unconscious.   He used his force only  to
build organs INSIDE.   Then gradually the Earth crystallized more and  more,
until in the middle part of Atlantis the Ego had at last drawn into humanity
and man had become possessed of all the vehicles that he has now.   Then  he
became conscious of the world, but he was in a far, far different state than
now.   When consciousness is awakened it begins to work as a leaven in  mat-
ter.  Since we were in Atlantis and had our eyes fully opened, since the at-
mosphere cleared and we first saw things about us clearly, we have worked in
the  Earth in the materials of our bodies as a leaven works in the loaf  and
raises it.  Thus we have lightened conditions and are continually lightening
them.

   In  Lemuria  man had the three lower bodies--the desire body,  the  vital
body,  and the dense body.   Outside hovered the spirit,   At that time  the
Earth  was  in a condition of fire.  There were masses of crust  and  around
them seething,  boiling water,  and volcanic outbursts were very,  very fre-
quent.   Man had at that time lungs that were like tubes.   He had a bladder
such  as  fishes have now,  wherewith he could life himself and  leap  great
chasms.   As the Earth condensed more and more that fire fog  atmosphere  of
Lemuria  condensed  into  a very dense fog in the early  part  of  Atlantis.
There those tubes had changed to gill-clefts,  and he was breathing more  as
the  fish  do.  This can be seen now in embryological development, where man

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goes through the same stages he went through at that time.   The embryo lies
in  the  amniotic fluid and has these gill-clefts,  such as man had  in  the
early part of Atlantis.   He breathed in that manner in the dense watery at-
mosphere of Atlantis, but gradually that settled more and more,  and man be-
gan to breathe as we do now.

   In the early third of Atlantis there was a brotherhood;  separation  into
nations had not begun.  Mankind was a universal brotherhood, and the rite of
baptism,  which makes one a member of a holy brotherhood, and in remembrance
of that time.   Man was truly innocent and lovable,  he had no evil in  him.
In the middle third of Atlantis all that changed.  He began to separate into
communities,  for  the watery atmosphere was clearing somewhat  and  he  was
beginning  to breathe my means of lungs.  The human Ego was very  weak,  and
had to get help from someone else.  Therefore Jehovah, the Highest Initiate,
the ruler over the angels and archangels that work with men,  breathed  into
man's nostrils, give him lungs, and gave him the race spirit in the air that
was to curb the hardening tendencies of the desire body and help him to  get
it under control.

   The desire body has control of the voluntary muscles,  every movement  we
make is caused by desire,  and every exertion breaks down tissue and hardens
more and more every particle of our tissue.  Therefore Jehovah aimed to help
mankind  out of their dense condition by means of law.   The race  religions
are all based upon law.  "I am a jealous God, and if you fulfill my command-
ments I will bless you abundantly and make your seed as multitudinous as the
sands upon the seashore,"  says the Race God, "but if you do not obey I will
send your enemies upon you and they shall gain the victory over you."  Jeho-
vah is the ruler of all the Races and all the religions.  He gave to each of
these Races an Archangel to be their ruler, to be their special Prince.   In
Daniel  12:1.  it is said that Michael is Prince over the Jews,  and in  the
tenth chapter another Race spiritual says:  "I am going to fight against the
Prince of Persia, and the Prince of Grecia shall go up."

   Thus  these race spirits work with man,  punishing him by means of  other
people,  and  giving him rewards or punishments for his good or  bad  deeds.
The  fear of God and the desire for the material reward was  pitted  against
the desire of the flesh and therefore these race religions under Jehovah are
such as to build up the national spirit.  They subjected, or rather they ne-
glected,  the individual for the sake of the nation.   The interests of  the
individual are always made subservient to the interest of the nation.

   The race spirit took a special care of certain sects of people,  for  ex-
ample,  the Levites among the Jews, who were destined specially for  priest-
hood  and they were herded around the temples and were specially bred to  be
the forerunners and teachers of their brethen.   Their system of mating  and
regulation  of the sex life of these special protege's produced a  more  lax
connection between the vital body and the dense body which was necessary  in
order that Initiation might take place and help man to advance.  As long  as

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the race spirit works with us we are under the law,  we are only  overcoming
the influence of the desire body;  therefore Paul says well that the law was
until Christ.   Not until Christ came 2,000 years ago,  but 'UNTIL CHRIST BE
FORMED IN YOU."  When we release ourselves from the toils of the desire body
and  live up to the vibrations of the vital body,  we become imbued  by  the
Christ  Spirit.   Then  and only then do we rise out of  the  national,  the
separating principle.  Then do we become capable of being brothers to men.

   Now we see why Christ said so emphatically,  "Before Abraham was,  I am."
The Ego was before the nation and must be exalted over the nation.   To that
end Christ came,  because as long as there were nations,  there could not be
brotherhood.   If we have a number of houses,  and they are built of bricks,
they  are unavailable for building one building until torn down.   When  all
the bricks have been separated we may begin building.  When all nations have
been  chopped  into individuals we may begin to build  the  grand  Universal
Brotherhood of Man.

   That is why the race religions failed,  they separate men into antagonis-
tic  groups.   So the race religions must be abrogated.   We cannot do  away
with nations except we separate the individual.   Therefore,  we have  wars;
therefore,  we have had revolutions,  where men have rebelled against  kings
and  rulers,  and have instituted republics.  But they are not  enough.   We
want to be free individually.   We want to be every man a law unto  himself,
and  this  is where a great,  great danger lies.   We cannot  be  laws  unto
ourselves--WE  CANNOT BE FREE,  UNTIL WE HAVE LEARNED TO  RESPECT  EVERYBODY
ELSE'S RIGHTS.

   So then, under the race religion, men grew by obedience to the law.   Un-
der the Christ regime that is to come, man is to rise above law, and to be a
law unto himself.  As Goethe says:

         "From ever power that binds the world in chains,
         Man liberates himself, when self-control he gains."

   That  is the goal--SELF-MASTERY--which every one must gain before  he  is
fit  to be a law unto himself,  to be above the law,  for no one except  the
very undisiciplined man will think to improve matters by having the power to
shoot down people.  By obeying very law, man rises above all law, and by and
by he will rise above the need of all law.   Then and only then can he be  a
law unto himself.   In the Christ regime man will be impelled and guided  by
love, and "perfect love casteth out fear."  The race religions compel man to
do  right by means of FEAR,  but the Christ religion will impel man  through
LOVE.  Then he cannot do otherwise than right.

   All race religions--every one of them without exception--are looking  for
someone to come.  The Egyptian religion looked forward to Osiris, the bright
Sun-Spirit;  the Persian looked to Mithras;  and the Babylonian  to  Tammuz.
All looked for someone to come,  to free the Earth.   We find the same thing
in  the Norse mythology.   The old Norsemen looked for the "Twilight of  the
Gods," when the present regime must perish, and then out of the  South  from

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Muspelheim,  the region of heat, should come that bright Sun-Spirit,  Sutar,
and he should set up A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.   Such we hear of in  all
religions,  and even in the Christian religion we find them looking  forward
to a Sun Spirit.  At one time in the ritual of the Catholic Church they used
the phrase,  "Our Lord the Sun."  It is from the visible sun that every par-
ticle of physical energy comes,  and it is from the spiritual invisible  sun
that all of the spiritual energy comes.

   At the present time we cannot bear to look directly at the sun.  It would
blind  us.   But we can look at the reflected sunlight that comes  from  the
moon.   IN the same way,  man cannot stand the direct spiritual impulse that
comes  from  the sun,  and therefore it had to be sent by way of  the  moon,
through  the mediumship of Jehovah,  the Regent of the moon.   That  is  the
origin of the race religions.   Later came the time when man could take  the
spiritual impulse more directly and Christ,  the present Earth Spirit,  came
to prepare this.   Before the advent of Christ all spiritual impulse came to
man  by way of the moon as race religions.   Only by initiation was it  pos-
sible  to  get into direct touch with the spiritual solar impulse.   A  veil
hung before the temple.

   When the time arrived that the Christ Spirit could be entertained on  the
Earth,  a ray from the Cosmic Christ came here,  and incarnated here in  the
body of our Elder Brother Jesus.   After the sacrifice on Golgotha had  been
completed, He drew Himself into the Earth.  He said, "This is my body."   He
showed the bread,  and it is the Earth Spirit that brings forth that  bread.
"This is my blood."  The juices that are in the plant made the wine.  It was
not said, "This symbolizes my body or blood."  He said unequivocally,  "This
IS my blood."

   In John 13:18 in our New Testament, it is stated:  "He that eats my bread
hath lifted up his heel against me."  Luther,  who translated it in Germany,
and  was  not tied up by any of the restrictions of the translators  of  the
King James' Bible, put it:  "He that eats my bread trampled upon me."  We do
trample,  at every step we take,  upon the Earth Spirit,  and that  Spirit's
body and blood is consumed among us,  and that Spirit is waiting for the day
of redemption,  when we shall be lifted so far from our material  conditions
that it shall be possible for the Earth Spirit to become liberated from  its
present cramped and dense existence.

   THE CHRIST SPIRIT,  THEN,  IS THE FIRST INCOMING OF DIRECT SPIRITUAL  IM-
PULSE.   We know that at the time when the Sun Spirit is in the northern re-
gions we have all the physical impacts upon the Earth.   We get all the good
there  is in the sun along PHYSICAL LINES:  that is the time when the  grain
and  the grape are ripening,  and when everything is bringing forth  in  the
Physical World.  Then the spiritual impulse is abrogated for the time being;
but  when the sun goes into the winter solstice in December,  the  spiritual
impulse is strongest.   Also,  we have the spiritual impulse stronger in the
night than in the daytime, and we can see that at the time when the days are
shortest and the nights are the longest--on that Holy  Night  that  we speak

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of, when the Christ was born, as a Sun, who was to lighten our darkness--the
spiritual  influence is then strongest and can be reached easiest.   It  was
this  great truth that is at the bottom of the Star in the Holy  Night,  il-
luminating the longest and darkest night of the year.

   In the olden times,  before the Christ came, only a chosen few could fol-
low the path of initiation.  Nobody could seek that path except a few chosen
ones,  such  as were the priests and Levites.   These were  brought  to  the
temples  and there herded together.   They were married to one another in  a
certain way, certain people were mated with a definite end in view,  namely,
that  they  might develop the proper laxity between the vital body  and  the
dense body that is necessary to initiation.   A separation has to take place
in  order that we may life the two higher ethers out and the the other  two.
That could not be done with ordinary humanity.   They were yet much in bond-
age to the desire body.  They must wait until a later time.

   Even with those people who were around the temples, it was very dangerous
work to free them.  It could be done best at certain times, and this longest
night was one of those times.  When the greatest spiritual impulse was here,
they  had a better chance to get in touch with it than at any other time  of
the year.   So on the Holy Night which we call Christmas,  it was usual  for
the Wise Men (those who were beyond the ordinary humanity) to take the  ones
who were also becoming wise, and therefore entitled to initiation,  into the
temples.   Certain  ceremonies were performed and the  candidates  were  en-
tranced.   They could not at that time be given an initiation in their  full
waking state,  it had to be done in trance.   When the spiritual perceptions
was awakened in them, they could look through the Earth, which become trans-
parent, as it were, and they saw the Star at midnight, the spiritual Sun.

   Do not think it shone only at that time.   It is easier now than then  to
see it,  for when Christ came He altered the vibrations of the Earth and has
been changing them all the time since.   He "rent the temple veil"--He  made
the Holy of Holies, the place of Initiation, open to "Whosoever will!"  From
that time on no more trance is needed, no more subjective states in order to
go through initiation.   There is a conscious going forth into the Temple by
everyone who wills to come.

   We  have  one  more  thing  to  consider:    the  gifts  these  wise  men
brought--the gifts that were to be laid at the feet of the Savior.  The leg-
end tells us that one brought gold, one brought myrrh, and the third brought
frankincense.

   The  gold  we  always hear spoken of in symbology as the  emblem  of  the
spirit.  The spirit is symbolized thus in the Nibelungen Ring, for instance.
There in the opening scene we see the Rhinegold.   The river Rhine is  taken
as the emblem of water, and there the gold is seen shining on the rock, sym-
bolizing the universal spirit in its perfect purity.  Later it is stolen and
MADE  INTO  A  RING  by Alberich, representing  mankind  in  the  middle  of
Atlantis,  when  the  spirit  had  drawn  into  them.  Then  the gold became

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debased,  was  lost,  and was the cause of all sorrow on the  Earth.   Later
still  we  hear  of the alchemists who tried to transmute  base  metal  into
gold,;  that is the spiritual way of saying that they wanted to  purify  the
dense body, to refine it and extract the spiritual essence.

   Therefore,  the gift of one wise man is the spirit.   The next one brings
myrrh.   Myrrh is the extract of an aromatic plant that grown in  Arabia,  a
very rare plant,  very rare indeed.  Therefore, it symbolizes the thing that
man  extracts when he cleanses himself.   When he has cleanses his blood  of
passion  he  becomes  plant-like,  chaste and pure.   Then his  body  is  an
aromanic essense.  It is an actual fact that there are men and women so holy
that they emit an aroma from them.   It is thus said of some of the  saints,
and it is true.   Therefore,  the myrrh stands for that soul essence that is
drawn out of the experience of the body.  It is the soul.

   The  third gift was incense.   Incense is a physical substance of a  very
light character that is often used in religious services.   It serves as  an
embodiment for the ministering unseen forces, and thus symbolizes the body.

   This  is  the  key to the three gifts that were offered up  by  the  Wise
Men--the spirit,  the soul,  and the body.  As Christ said,  "If you want to
follow  me,  you must sell all you have.   YOU ARE NOT TO KEEP ANYTHING  FOR
YOURSELF."   You are to give up body, soul,  and spirit,  everything for the
higher life, everything for the Christ.  Not to an exterior Christ, however,
but to the Christ WITHIN.   The three Wise Men are said in the legend to  be
yellow, black, and white, representatives of the three Races that we have on
Earth:   the Mongolian, the Black, and the Caucasian.  Therefore we see that
it is very well shown in the legend that eventually they will all come  into
this  beneficent Christ religion.   "To Him every knee shall bow."   To  Him
each one will in time be led by the Star.

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 15:

1. What help did Jehovah and the archangels render man in the middle third
   of Atlantis?
2. Why was it necessary that the race religions be abrogated and the Christ
   come?
3. How only cam man be a law unto himself?
4. Explain the difference between the spiritual influence from Jehovah and
   those from the Christ.
5. What vital difference did the coming of the Christ make in regard to
   initiation?
6. State the difference between initiation prior to the coming of Christ and
   afterward.
7. Explain the symbology of the Wise Men and their gifts.

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               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
              BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                  --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 16:

                           THE MYSTERY OF GOLGOTHA:

REFERENCES:  Matthew 27, 28; Mark 15, 16; Luke 23, 24; John 19, 20, 21.

   During  the  last  2,000 years much has been said  about  "the  cleansing
blood."  The blood of Christ has been extolled from the pulpit as the sover-
eign remedy for sin; the ONLY means of redemption and salvation.

   But if the laws of Rebirth and Consequence work in such a way that evolv-
ing  beings reap as they have sown, and if the evolutionary impulse is  con-
stantly   bringing  humanity  higher  and  higher,   ultimately  to   attain
perfection--where then is the need for redemption and salvation?  Even in if
the need existed,  how can death of one individual help the rest?   Would it
not be nobler to suffer the consequences of one's acts than to hide another?
These are some of the objections to the doctrine of vicarious atonement  and
redemption by the blood of Christ Jesus.  We will try to answer then  before
showing the logical harmony between the operation of the law of  Consequence
and the Atonement of Christ.

   In the first place,  it is absolutely true that the evolutionary  impulse
does work to achieve ultimate perfection for all; yet there are some who are
constantly straggling behind.   At the present time, we have just passed the
extreme  point of materiality and are going through the sixteen  Races.   We
are  treading "the sixteen paths to destruction,"  and are  consequently  in
graver  danger of falling behind than at any other part of the  evolutionary
journey.

   In the abstract,  time is nothing.   A number may fall behind so far that
they  must  be  abandoned,  to take up their further  evolution  in  another
scheme, where they can continue their journey to perfection.   Nevertheless,
that was not the evolution originally designed for them and it is reasonable
to suppose that the exalted Intelligences in charge of our evolution use ev-
ery means to bring through in safety as many as possible of the entities un-
der their charge.

   In ordinary evolution, the laws of Rebirth and Consequences are perfectly
adequate  for  bringing the major portion of the live wave up to perfection,

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but they do not suffice in the case of stragglers, who are lagging behind in
the various Races.   During the stage of individualism,  which is the climax
of the illusion of separateness,  all mankind needs extra help,  but for the
stragglers some additional special aid must be provided.

   To give that special aid,  to redeem the stragglers,  was the mission  of
Christ.   He said that He came to seek and to save that which was lost.   He
opened up the way of Initiation for allow who are willing to seek it.

   But not all are in need of salvation.   Christ knew that there is a  very
large class who do not require salvation in this way,  but just as surely as
there are the ninety-and-nine who are well taken care of by the laws of  Re-
birth and Consequence and with each perfection in that way, so there are the
"sinners"  who have become "bogged"  in matter and cannot escape  without  a
rope.  Christ came to save them and to bring peace and good will to all,  by
raising  them to the necessary point of spirituality,  causing a  change  in
their desire bodies which will make the influence of the life spirit in  the
heart more potent.

   His younger brother Sun Spirits, the Archangels, had worked as Race spir-
its on the desire bodies of man,  but their work had been from WITHOUT.   It
was  simply  a reflected spiritual Sun-force and came through  the  Moon--as
moonlight  is reflected sunlight.   Christ,  the Chief Initiate of  the  Sun
Spirits,  entered directly into the dense body of the Earth and brought  the
direct  Sun-force,  thus enabling Him to influence our  desire  bodies  from
WITHIN.

   So  it  is  with the spiritual impulses which help man  to  evolve.   The
reason  why the Earth was thrown off from the Sun was because  our  humanity
could not endure the Sun's tremendous physical and spiritual impulses.  Even
after  an enormous distance had been placed between the Earth and  the  Sun,
the spiritual impulse would still have been too strong had it not been  sent
first to the Moon, to be used by Jehovah, the Regent of the Moon,  for man's
benefit.  A number of Archangels were given Jehovah as helpers in reflecting
these  spiritual  impulses from the Sun upon humanity of the Earth,  in  the
form of Jehovistic or Race-religions.

   The lowest vehicle of the Archangels is the desire body.  Our desire body
was  added in the Moon Period,  at which time Jehovah was the  highest  Ini-
tiate.  Therefore Jehovah is able to deal with man's desire body.  Jehovah's
lowest  vehicle is the human spirit and its counterpart as the desire  body.
The Archangels are His helpers because they are able to manage the spiritual
Sun forces and the desire body is their lowest vehicle.   Thus they are able
to  work  with  and prepare humanity for the time when it  can  receive  the
spiritual impulses directly from the Solar Orb,  without the intervention of
the Moon.

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   Upon Christ,  as the highest Initiate of the Sun Period, is laid the task
of sending out this impulse.   the impulse which Jehovah reflected was  sent
out by Christ,  Who thus prepared both the Earth and humanity for His direct
ingress.

   The  expression,  "prepared the Earth."  means that all  evolution  on  a
planet is accompanied but he evolution of THAT PLANET ITSELF.   Had some ob-
server  gifted with spiritual sight watched the evolution of our Earth  from
some  distant star,  he would have noticed a gradual change taking place  in
the Earth's desire body.

   Under  the old dispensation the desire bodies of people in  general  were
improved by means of the law.   This work is still going on in the  majority
of people, who are thus preparing themselves for the higher life.

   The higher life (Initiation) does not commence,  however,  until the work
on the vital body begins.  The means used for bringing that into activity is
Love,  or rather Altruism.   The former worked has been so abused that it no
longer conveys the meaning here required.

   During  the old dispensation of the path of Initiation was not  free  and
open,  except to a chosen few.  The Hierophants of the  Mysteries  collected
certain  families about the Temples,  setting them apart from all the  other
people.   These chosen families were then rigorously guarded as  to  certain
rites and ceremonies.  Their marriages and sexual intercourse were regulated
by the Hierophants.

   The effect of this was to produce a race having the proper degree of lax-
ity between the dense and vital bodies; also,  to wake the desire body  from
its  state of lethargy during sleep.   Thus a special few ere made  fit  for
Initiation and were given opportunities that could not be given to all.

   The Mission of Christ,  in addition to saving the lost,  was to make Ini-
tiation  possible to all;  therefore Jesus came from the common people,  and
though not of the teacher class, His teaching was higher than that of Moses.

   Christ Jesus did not deny Moses, the law, nor the prophets.   On the con-
trary,  He  acknowledged them all and showed the people that they  were  His
witnesses,  as they all pointed to One Who was to come.   He told the people
that those things had served their purpose and that henceforth Love must su-
persede Law.

   Christ Jesus was killed.   In connection with this fact,  we come to  the
supreme  and fundamental difference between Him and the  previous  teachers,
through  whom  the Race Spirits worked.   They all died and must  be  reborn
again  and  again to help their peoples bear their destiny.   The  Archangel
Michael raised up Moses, who was taken up to Mount Nebo to die.   He was re-
born Elijah.   Elijah returned as John the Baptist;  Buddha died and was re-
born  as  Shankaracharya;  Shri Krishna says,  "Whenever there is  decay  of
Dharma. . .and. . .exaltation of Adharma,  then  I myself come forth for the

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protection of good, for the destruction of evildoers, for the sake of firmly
establishing Dharma.  I am born from age to age.

   When death came Moses' face SHONE and Buddha's body become ALIGHT.   They
all reached the stage when the spirit begins to shine from within--but  then
they died.

   Christ Jesus reached that stage on the Mount of Transfiguration.   It  is
of the very highest significance that HIS REAL WORK TOOK PLACE SUBSEQUENT TO
THAT EVENT.  He suffered; was KILLED--and RESURRECTED.

   Being  killed is a very different thing from dying.   The blood that  had
been  the vehicle of the Race-spirit must FLOW and be cleansed of that  con-
taminating influence.   Love of father and mother,  exclusive of the fathers
and mothers,  must go--otherwise Universal Brotherhood and an  all-embracing
Altruistic Love could never become an actuality.

   When  the Savior Christ Jesus was crucified His body was pierced in  five
places;  in the five centers where the currents of the vital body flow;  and
the pressure of the crown of thorns caused a flow from the sixth also.

   When the blood flowed from these centers, the great Sun-spirit Christ was
liberated from the physical vehicle of Jesus and found Himself IN THE EARTH,
without  individual vehicles.   The already existing planetary  vehicles  He
permeated with His own vehicles and in the twinkling of an eye diffused  His
own desire body over the planet,  which has enabled Him thenceforth to  work
upon the Earth and its humanity from WITHIN.

   At that moment a tremendous wave of spiritual sunlight flooded the Earth.
It  rent the veil which the Race-spirit had hung before the Temple  to  keep
out all but the chosen few,  and it made the Path of Initiation free thence-
forth  to whomsoever will.   So far as concerned the Spiritual Worlds,  this
wave transformed the conditions of Earth like a flash of lightening, but the
dense, concrete conditions are, of course, much more slowly affected.

   Like all rapid and high vibrations of light,  this great wave blinded the
people by its dazzling brilliance,  therefore it was said that "the Sun  was
darkened."   The very opposite was what actually occurred.   The Sun was not
darkened,  but shone out in glorious splendor.   It was the excess of  light
that  blinded the people,  and only as the entire Earth absorbed the  desire
body  of  the bright Sun-spirit did the vibration return to  a  more  normal
rate.

   The expression,  "the cleansing blood of Christ Jesus." means that as the
blood flowed on Calvary, it bore with it the great Sun-spirit Christ, Who by
that  means secured admission to the Earth itself and since that moment  has
been  its Regent.   He diffused His own desire body throughout  the  planet,
thereby  cleansing it from all the vile influences which had grown up  under
the regime of the Race-spirit.

[PAGE 180]

   Under the law all sinned;  nay,  more--they could not help it.   They had
not evolved to where they could do right for Love's sake.  The desire nature
was  so strong that it was an impossibility for them to rule it  altogether,
therefore their debts, engendered under the law of Consequence,  piled up to
monstrous proportions.   Evolution would have been terribly delayed and many
lost to our life wave altogether if some help had not been given.

   Therefore Christ did come "to seek and to save that which was lost."   He
took  away the sin of the world by His cleansing blood,  which gave Him  en-
trance to the Earth and its humanity.  He purified the conditions and we owe
it  to  Him that we are able to gather for out desire  bodies  purer  denser
stuff than formerly,  and He continues working to help us, by making our ex-
ternal environment constantly purer.

   That  this is and was done at the expense of great suffering to  Himself,
no one can doubt who is able to form the least conception of the limitations
endured  by  that  Great  Spirit in entering  the  hampering  conditions  of
physical existence, even in the best and purest vehicle possible; nor is His
present limitations as Regent of the Earth much less painful.   True,  He is
also Regent of the Sun,  and therefore only partially confined to the Earth,
yet the limitations set by the crampingly low vibrations of our dense planet
must be almost unendurable.

   Had  Christ Jesus simply died it,  would have been impossible for Him  to
have done this work, but the Christians have a RISEN Savior; One Who is ever
present  to help those who call upon His name.   Having suffered  like  unto
ourselves  in all things and knowing fully our needs,  He is lenient  toward
our  mistakes  and failures so long as we continue trying to live  the  good
life.  We must ever keep before our eyes the fact that THE ONLY REAL FAILURE
IS  CEASING TO TRY.   Upon the death of the dense body of Christ Jesus,  the
seed  atom was returned to the original owner,  Jesus of Nazareth,  who  for
some time afterward, while functioning in a vital body which he had gathered
temporarily,  taught the nucleus of the new faith which Christ had left  be-
hind.  Jesus of Nazareth has since had the guidance of the esoteric branches
which sprang up all over Europe.

   In many places the Knights of the Round Table were high Initiates in  the
Mysteries  of the New Dispensation.   So were the Knights of  the  Grail--to
whom was finally confided Joseph of Arimathea's Grail Cup, which was used by
Christ  Jesus at the Last Supper.  They were afterward entrusted  also  with
the  Lance  which pierced His side, and the receptacle  which  received  the
blood from the wound.

   The  Druids of Ireland and the Trottes of Northern Russia  were  esoteric
schools  through  which the Master Jesus worked during the  so-called  "Dark
Ages," but dark though they were, the spiritual impulse spread, and from the
standpoint of the occult scientist they were "Bright Ages"  compared to  the
growing  materialism of the last three hundred years,  which  has  increased
physical knowledge immensely,  but has almost extinguished the Light of  the
Spirit.

[PAGE 181]

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 16:

1. What is meant by "the sixteen paths to destruction"?
2. For whose "salvation" in particular did Christ come?
3. Explain how the coming of Christ made Initiation, or the higher life,
   possible for all.
4. What is the reason for the crucifixion of Christ Jesus.
5. Explain what actually took place at the crucifixion.
6. What has been the work of Jesus since the crucifixion?
7. What has been the great danger of humanity for the past three hundred
   years?

[PAGE 182]


               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
              BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                  --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 17:

                              THE LORD'S PRAYER:

REFERENCES:  Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4; Acts 6:4; 12-5; Romans 12:12;
James 5:16.

   Prayer  may be said to be an opening up of a channel along which the  di-
vine Life and Light may flow into the spirit, in the same way that the turn-
ing  of  a switch opens the way for the electric current to  flow  from  the
power-house into our house.   Faith in Prayer is like the energy which turns
the  switch.   Without muscular force we cannot turn the  switch  to  obtain
physical light,  and without faith we cannot pray in such a manner as to se-
cure spiritual illumination.  If we pray for worldly ends, for that which is
contrary  to the law of love and universal good,  our prayers will prove  as
unavailing  as  a  glass  switch  in  an  electric  circuit.    Glass  is  a
non-conductor,  a bar to electric power,  and selfish prayers are,  likewise
bars to divine purposes and must therefore remain unanswered.   To pray to a
purpose we must pray aright, and in the Lord's Prayer we have a most wonder-
ful pattern, for it caters to the needs of man as no other formula could do.
Within a few short sentences it encompasses all the complexities of the  re-
lationship of God to man.

   To  understand this sublime Prayer properly and be able to render it  un-
derstandingly and efficiently, let us recall that:

   The Father is the highest Initiate of the Saturn Period.

   The Son is the highest Initiate of the Sun Period.

   The Holy Spirit is the highest Initiate of the Moon Period.

   The  Divine Spirit and the dense body of man started their  evolution  in
the Saturn Period and are therefore under the special care of the Father.

   The Life Spirit and the vital body started their evolution in the Sun Pe-
riod and are consequently the particular charges of the Son.

   The Human Spirit and the desire body commenced to evolve in the Moon  Pe-
riod and are therefore the special wards of the Holy Spirit.

   The Mind was added in the Earth Period and is not cared for by other out-
side beings,  but is to be subdued by man himself,  without any outside  as-
sistance.

[PAGE 183]

   In the Lord's Prayer there are seven prayers; or, rather, there are three
sets of two prayers and one single supplication.  Each of the three sets has
reference to the needs of one of the aspects of the threefold spirit and its
counterpray in the threefold body.  The opening sentence, Our Father Who art
in Heaven,  is merely as the address upon an envelope.   The students is re-
ferred  to  Diagram 16 on page 465 of the COSMO for a key  to  this  Prayer,
showing  diagrammatically  the relation between the Trinity,  the  threefold
spirit, the threefold body and addressed to its guardian aspect in the Trin-
ity.

   The  Human Spirit lifts itself upon the wings of DEVOTION to  its  parent
aspect in the Holy Trinity and intones the opening incantation, "Hallowed be
Thy Name."

   The  Life  Spirit raises itself upon pinions of LOVE  and  addresses  the
fount of its being, The Son, "Thy Kingdom come."

   The  Divine  Spirit  soars with superior INSIGHT to  the  fountain  head,
whence it sprang at the dawn of time.  The Father,  and manifests its confi-
dence in that all-embracing Intelligence in the words, "Thy Will be done."

   Having thus reached the Throne of Grace, the threefold spirit in man pre-
fers its requests concerning the personality, the threefold body.

   The  Divine  Spirit  soars with superior INSIGHT to  the  fountain  head,
whence it sprang at the dawn of time.  The Father,  and manifests its confi-
dence in that all-embracing Intelligences in the words, "Thy Will be done."

   Having thus reached the Throne of Grace, the threefold spirit in man pre-
fers its requests concerning the personality, the threefold body.

   The  Divine  Spirit prays to The Father for its  counterpart,  the  vital
body,  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who  trespass  against
us."

   The  Human  Spirit  utters the supplication for the desire  body  in  the
words, "Lead us not into temptation."

   Then all join in a concerted appeal concerning the Mind, "Deliver us from
evil."

   The  addition,  "For thine is the kingdom,  and the power and the  glory,
forever,  Amen,"  was not given by Christ,  but is very appropriate  as  the
parting adoration of the threefold spirit as it closes its direct address to
the Diety.

   Looking  at the foregoing explanation from the analytical standpoint,  we
find that there are three religious teachings to be given to man in  helping
him  to attain to perfection.   One is the Religion of the Holy Spirit;  the
next is the Religion of The Son; and the last is the Religion of The Father.

   Under  the regime of the Holy Spirit the human race was divided into  na-
tions and peoples segregated by their adherence to one group from fellowship
with other nations.  Each group was further cut off from the rest because of
speaking  another language.   They were all put under certain laws and  were
taught  to reverence THE NAME of their God.   One people worshipped  his  as
Iao, another as Tao, others as Bel.  Everywhere the name of the LAWGIVER was
holy.  The  method  of segregation had the advantage that the Race-spirit in

[PAGE 184]

chief,  Jehovah, could use one people to punish another who had transgressed
his law,  but it has the disadvantage that it fosters egotism and  separates
humanity  in  a manner detrimental to universal good.   It is  an  axiomatic
truth that what does not benefit all cannot really benefit any.   Therefore,
ways and means must be found to reunite the scattered nations and weld  them
into one universal Brotherhood.   That is to be the work of the Religion  of
the  Son--Christianity.    The  warring  of  nations  is  fostered  by   the
Race-spirit,  but the Christian Religion will eventually unite  them,  cause
them to beat their swords into ploughshares and bring peace and good will on
earth when THE KINGDOM of the Son has superseded the tribes and races.  Then
a still higher religious teaching,  the religion of The Father,  is to unite
mankind still closer.   In the Kingdom of the Son there will be a  universal
Brotherhood of SEPARATE individuals having varying interests,  but ready  to
give  and take through love,  sinking individual preferences for the  common
good,  but when the religion of the Father becomes a fact in life,  the self
will be entirely submerged in a common purpose, a single will.   THE WILL OF
GOD will then be done on earth as it is in Heaven, where there is neither me
nor three, but where God is All and in All.

   In  the  meantime  a certain work has to be performed  by  the  threefold
spirit upon the threefold body, to spiritualize it and extract the threefold
soul.

   The dense body is but an irresponsible tool,  but nevertheless,  it is  a
most valuable instrument, to be cared for and prized as a mechanic cares for
a prizes a valuable tool.   We hold firmly before our mental vision that  we
are not the body, any more than the mechanic is identical with his tools, or
the carpenter is the house.   That is plainly evident when we consider  that
our  body  is constantly changing aggregation of cells,  while we  keep  our
"I"-dentity  amid  and despite all changes which would be impossible  if  we
were  identical with out dense body.   That body is to be valued  and  cared
for.   "Give us our daily bread,"  says the fourth Prayer.   Most people eat
too much,  and for them an occasional fast may be good,  but fasting is  un-
necessary for those who do not feast,  but live the simple life from day  to
day.   When the body is overfed, the spirit may be ever so willing,  but the
flesh will be correspondingly weak.   Therefore,  when a young spirit  gains
ascendancy,  it  seeks to overcome the lower nature  by  fasting,  tortures,
etc.,  as best exemplified in Hindu Yogis who emancipate the  body,  causing
the limbs to wither, etc., that the spirit may shine.

   That is a mistake as much subversive of a true spiritual growth as is the
habit  of overeating.   As said,  where a man can control his appetitie  and
feed his body on pure food he not fast,  but may give to his body its  daily
bread.

   The vital body being the storehouse of the panorama of our life,  our own
sins  and  the wrong we have suffered at the hands of others are  there  in-
scribed, hence the  fifth  Prayer,  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

[PAGE 185]

those  who  have trespassed against us," enunciated the needs of  the  vital
body and be it noted that this Prayer teaches the doctrine of the  remission
of sins,  in the words, FORGIVE US, and the Law of Consequence in the words,
AS  WE FORGIVE,  making our attitude to others the measure of our  emancipa-
tion.

   "Lead us not into temptation," is the Prayer for the desire body which is
the storehouse of energy,  and furnishes incentive to action through desire.
An Oriental maxim says,  "Kill out desire,"  and the Orientals furnish  good
examples of the indolence resultant upon the attempt to do that.   "Kill out
your  temper"  is a the foolish admonition sometimes given  those  who  lose
their  temper.   Desire or temper is a valuable asset,  too valuable  to  be
stunted  or  killed;  the man without desire is like  the  steel  devoid  of
temper--of no account.   In Revelation,  while the six churches are praised,
the  seventh  is utterly unathematized for being "Neither hot nor  cold,"  a
wishy-washy community.   "The greater sinner,  the greater the saint,"  is a
true adage, for it takes energy to sin and when that energy is turned in the
right direction,  it is as much of a power for good as previously it was for
evil.  A man may be good because he cannot summon up sufficient energy to he
had:  then he is so good that he is good for nothing.  While we are weak our
desire nature masters us and may lead us into temptation, but as we learn to
CONTROL our desire nature,  our temper may guide in harmony with the laws of
God and man.

   Desire is the great tempter of mankind.  It is the great incentive to all
action, and in so far as the actions subserve the purposes of the spirit, it
is good;  but where the desire is for something degrading,  somethings  that
debases  nature,  it  is  indeed  meet that we  pray  not  to  be  led  into
temptation.

   Love, Wealth, Power, and Fame!  These are the four great motives of human
action.  Desire for one or more of these is the motive for all that man does
or leaves undone.   The great Leaders of Humanity have wisely given them  as
incentives to action, that man may gain experience and learn thereby.   They
are necessary,  and the aspirant may safely continue to use them as  motives
for action, but he must transmute them into something higher.  He must over-
come  with nobler aspirations the selfish love which seeks the ownership  of
another body,  and all desires for wealth,  power,  and fame for narrow  and
personal reasons.

   The Love for which he must long is that only which is of the soul and em-
braces all beings,  high and low,  increasing in proportion to the needs  of
the recipient;

   The Wealth,  that which consists solely of abundance of opportunities  to
serve his fellow men;

   The Power, that alone which makes for the upliftment of humanity;

   The Fame,  none save that which increases his ability to spread the  good
news,  that  all  who suffer may thus quickly find solace  for  the  heart's
grief.

[PAGE 186]

   The  guiding power which directs this energy of the desire nature is  the
Mind,  hence the seventh Prayer, "Deliver us from evil," is made with regard
to the mind.

   The animals follow desire blindly and commit no sin.  to them there is no
evil;  that  only comes to our cognition by and through  the  descriminating
mind  which enables man to see various courses of action and to choose.   If
he chooses to act in harmony with universal good,  he cultivates virtue;  if
the  contrary,  he becomes tainted with vice.   It should be noted that  the
much vaunted "innocence" of a child is not by many means virtue.   The child
has  not  yet been tempted and tried,  therefore it is innocent.   In  time,
temptations from the desire nature will come to test its mettle,  and it de-
pends upon the control of the mind over desire whether it will stand for the
right or fall by the wayside.   If the mind is strong enough to "deliver  us
from evil"  desires,  we have become virtuous,  which is a positive quality,
and even if we fall for a time before we realize our wrong,  we acquire vir-
tue as soon as we repent and reform.

   Thus does the Lord's Prayer cover the various parts of the human  consti-
tution  and enunciate the need for them all,  showing the  marvelous  wisdom
laid down in that simple formula.

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 17:

1. What is Prayer?  Why is faith important in Prayer?
2. To what does each of the three sets of two prayers in the Lord's Prayer
   have reference?
3. Analyze the Prayer, giving passages and meanings.
4. What three religions are to be given man in helping him to attain
   perfection?
5. State the cardinal points in each.
6. What is the correct teaching in regard to desire?
7. How may we exchange the negative quality of innocence for the positive
   quality of virtue?

[PAGE 187]

               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
              BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                  --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 18:

                                THE SACRAMENTS:

REFERENCES:  Genesis 9:14; Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; I

Corinthians 5:7-8; 10:16-21.

   THE SACRAMENTS HAVE TO DO WITH THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SEED ATOMS,  WHICH
FORM  THE NUCLEI OF OUR VARIOUS BODIES.  THE GERM FOR OUR EARTHLY BODY  MUST
BE  PROPERLY PLACED IN FRUITFUL SOIL TO GROW A SUITABLE DENSE  VEHICLE,  AND
FOR THIS REASON AS STATED IN GENESIS 1:27,  "ELOHIM CREATED MAN MALE AND FE-
MALE."   THE HEBREW WORDS ARE SACR VA N'CABAH.   THESE ARE THE NAMES OF  THE
SEX ORGANS.   LITERALLY TRANSLATED, SACR MEANS BEARER OF THE GERM;  AND THUS
MARRIAGE  IS A SACRAMENT,  FOR IT OPENS THE WAY FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF  THE
PHYSICAL  SEED ATOM FROM THE FATHER TO THE MOTHER AND TENDS TO PRESERVE  THE
RACE AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF DEATH.

   BAPTISM  IS A SACRAMENT SIGNIFIES THE GERMINAL URGE OF THE SOUL  FOR  THE
HIGHER LIFE, THE PLANTING OF A SPIRITUAL SEED.

   COMMUNION  IS  THE SACRAMENT IN WHICH WE PARTAKE OF BREAD MADE  FROM  THE
SEED OF CHASTE PLANTS, AND IN WHICH THE CUP SYMBOLIZING THE PASSIONLESS SEED
POD POINTS TO THE AGE TO COME,  AN AGE WHEN MARRIAGE WILL BE UNNECESSARY  TO
TRANSMIT THE SEED THROUGH A FATHER AND MOTHER, BUT WHEN WE MAY FEED DIRECTLY
UPON COSMIC LIFE AND THUS CONQUER DEATH.

   FINALLY,  EXTREME UNCTION IS THE SACRAMENT WHICH MARKS THE LOOSING OF THE
SILVER CORD AND THE EXTRACTION OF THE SACRED GERM,  UNTIL IT SHALL AGAIN  BE
PLANED IN ANOTHER N'CABAH OR MOTHER.

   THE  SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION:   To obtain a thorough understanding of  the
deep  and far-reaching significance of the manner in which the Sacrament  of
Communion was instituted,  it is necessary to consider the evolution of  our
planet and of composite man, also the chemistry of foods and their influence
on  humanity.   For the sake of lucidity we will briefly  recapitualate  the
various points involved.

   The  Virgin Spirits,  which are now mankind,  commenced their  pilgrimage
through matter in the dawn of time, that by the friction of concrete  exist-
ence  their  latent powers might be transmuted to kinetic energy  as  usable
soul  power.   Three successive veils of increasingly dense matter were  ac-
quired by the involving spirits during the Saturn,  Sun,  and Moon  Periods.
Thus each spirit was separated from all other Spirits, and the consciousness

[PAGE 188]

which  could  not penetrate the prison wall of matter and  communicate  with
others  was forced to turn inwards, and in so doing  it  discovered--ITSELF.
Thus self-consciousness was attained.

   A further crystallization of the before mentioned veils took place in the
Earth Period during the polarian, Hyperborean, and Lemurian Epochs.   In the
Atlantean Epoch, mind was added as a focusing point between spirit and body,
completing the constitution of composite man, who was then equipped to  con-
quer the world and generate soul power by endeavor and experience, each hav-
ing free will and choice except as limited by the laws of nature and his own
previous acts.

   During the time man-in-the-making was thus evolving, great creative Hier-
archies guided his every step.  Absolutely nothing was left to chance.  Even
the  food he ate was chosen for him so that he might obtain the  appropriate
material wherewith to build the various vehicles of consciousness  necessary
to  accomplish the process of soul growth.   The Bible mentions the  various
stages,  through it misplaces Nimrod,  making him to symbolize the Atlantean
kings who lived BEFORE the flood.

   In  the Polarian Epoch pure mineral matter became a constituent  part  of
man, thus Adam was made of earth, that is, so far as his dense body was con-
cerned.

   In the Hyperborean Epoch the vital body was added, and thus his constitu-
tion became plantlike,  and Cain, the man of that time,  lived on the fruits
of the soil.

   The  Lemurian Epoch saw the evolution of a desire body,  which  made  man
like  the present animals.   Then milk, the product of living  animals,  was
added to human diet.   ABEL was a shepherd, but it is nowhere stated that he
killed an animal.

   At  that time mankind lived innocently and peacefully in the misty  atmo-
sphere which enveloped the earth during the latter part of the Lemurian  Ep-
och.   Men were then like children under the care of a common father,  until
the  mind was given to all in the beginning of Atlantis.   Thought  activity
breaks down tissue which must be replaced;  the lower and more material  the
thought,  the greater the havoc and the more pressing the need  for  albumen
wherewith to make quick repairs.  Hence necessity,  the mother of invention,
inaugurated the loathsome practice of flesh eating,  and so long as we  con-
tinue  to think along purely business or material lines we shall have to  go
on  using our stomachs as receptacles for the decaying corpses of  our  mur-
dered animal victims.   Yet we shall see later that Flesh food has enable us
to make the wonderful material progress achieved in the Western World, while
the vegetarian Hindus and Chinese have remained in the almost savage  state.
It seems sad to contemplate that they will be forced to follow in our  steps
and  shed the blood of our fellow creatures when we shall have outgrown  the
barbarous practice as we have ceased cannibalism.

   The more spiritual we grow, the more our thoughts will harmonize with the
rhythm  of our body,  and the less albumen will be needed to  build  tissue.
Consequently a vegetable diet will suffice for our needs.

[PAGE 189]

   In  due time the dense mist which enveloped the earth cooled,  condensed,
and  flooded the various basins.  The atmosphere cleared,  and  concurrently
with  this atmospheric change a physiological adaptation in man took  place.
The  gill clefts which had enabled him to breathe in the  dense  water-laden
air  (and  which are seen in the human foetus to this day)  gradually  atro-
phied,  and their function was taken over by the lungs, the pure air passing
to  and  from them through the larynx.   This allowed the  spirit,  hitherto
penned up within the veil of flesh, to express itself in word and act.

   There in the middle of Atlantis the sun first shone upon MAN as we  known
him;  there he was FIRST BORN into the world.   Until then he had been under
the absolute control of great spiritual Hierarchies, mute,  without voice of
choice  in matters pertaining to his education, as a child is now under  the
control of its parents.

   But  on  the  day when he finally emerged from the  dense  atmosphere  of
Atlantis;  when  he first beheld the mountains silhouetted in  clear,  sharp
contours against the azure vault of heaven;  when he first saw the  beauties
of moore and meadow, the moving creatures, birds in the air,  and his fellow
man;  when  his vision was undimmed by the partial obscuration of  the  mist
which had previously hampered perception; above all,  when he perceived HIM-
SELF  as SEPARATE and APART FROM ALL OTHERS,  there burst from his lips  the
glorious, triumphant, cry, "I AM!"

   At  that point he had acquired faculties which equipped him to enter  the
school  of experience,  the phenomenal world,  as a free agent to learn  the
lessons of life, untrammeled save by the LAWS OF NATURE, which are his safe-
guards, and the reaction of his own previous acts, which becomes DESTINY.

   The  diet  containing an excess of albumen from the  flesh  wherewith  he
gorged himself, taxed his liver beyond capacity and clogged the system, mak-
ing him morose, sullen, and brutish.  He was fast losing the spiritual sight
which revealed to him the guardian angels whom he trusted,  and he saw  only
the  FORMS of animals and men.   The spirits with whom he had lived in  love
and  brotherhood during early Atlantis were obscured by the veil  of  flesh.
It was all so strange, and he FEARED them.

   Therefore  it become necessary to give him a NEW FOOD that could aid  his
spirit to overpower the highly individualized molecules of flesh,  brace  it
for battle with the world, and spur it on to self-assertion.

   As  our  visible bodies composed of composed of  chemical  compounds  can
thrive only on chemical ailment, so it requires spirit to act upon spirit to
aid  in breaking up the heavy protein and in stimulating the dropping  human
spirit.

   The emergence from flooded Atlantis, the liberation of humanity from  the
absolute  rulership of visible superhuman guardians,  their placement  under
the LAW OF CONSEQUENCE AND THE LAWS OF NATURE,  AND THE GIFT OF WINE are de-
scribed  in the stories of Noah and Moses,  which are different accounts  of
the same event.

[PAGE 190]

   Both  Noah  and Moses led the followers through the water.   Moses  calls
heaven and earth to witness that he has placed before them the blessing  and
the curse,  exhorts them to choose the good or take the consequence of their
actions; then he leaves them.

   The phenomenon of the rainbow requires that the sun be near the  horizon,
the nearer the better; also a clear atmosphere, and a dark rain cloud in the
opposite  quarter of the heavens.   When under such conditions  an  observer
stands with his back to the sun, he may see the sun's rays refracted through
the rain drops as a rainbow.   In early Atlantean times when there had  been
no  rain as yet and the atmosphere was a warm,  moist fog through which  the
sun appeared as one of our  arc lamps on a foggy day,  the phenomenon of the
rainbow  was an impossibility.   It could not have made it appearance  until
the mist had condensed to rain,  flooded the basins of our earth,  and  left
the atmosphere clear as described in the story of Noah, which thus points TO
THE LAW OF ALTERNATING CYCLES that brings day and night,  summer and winter,
in unvarying sequence, and to which man is subject in the present age.

   Noah  cultivated  the vine and provided spirit to stimulate  man.   Thus,
equipped  with  a  composite  constitution,  a  composite  diet  appropriate
thereto,  and divine laws to guide them, mankind were left to their own  de-
vices in the battle of life.

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 18:

1. Why did the Virgin Spirits commence their pilgrimage through matter?
2. What was accomplished through turning man's consciousness inward?
3. By whom and in what ways was early humanity guided?
4. When was the mind given to humanity, and what did it bring about?
5. What important event in man's development occurred in the middle of
   Atlantis?
6. Why was wine added to man's diet?
7. In what condition do we find man in the latter part of Atlantis?

[PAGE 191]

               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
              BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                  --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 19:

                         THE SACRAMENTS (continued):

REFERENCES:  John 1:16-17; Romans 5:12-13; I Corinthians 10:31.

   THE  SACRAMENTAL  OF COMMUNION (continued):  "The Lord  Jesus,  the  same
night in which he was betrayed took bread:  and when he had given thanks, he
brake it and said Take ear; this is my body, which is broken for you:   this
do in remembrance of me.   After the same manner also he took the cop,  when
he had supped,  saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood:   this do
ye,  as oft as ye drink it,  in remembrance of me.   For as often as ye  eat
this bread,  and drink they cup,  ye do shew the Lord's death till he  come.
Wherefore,  whosoever shall eat this bread,  and drink this cup of the Lord,
unworthily,  shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. . .  .For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily,  eateth and drinketh damnation to  him-
self.  .  .  .For this cause many are weak and sickly  among  you,  and  may
sleep."  (I Cor. 11:23-30)

   In the foregoing passages there is a deeply hidden esoteric meaning which
is  particularly  obscured in the English translation,  but in  the  German,
Latin,  and Greek,  the student still has a hint as to what was  really  in-
tended  by the last parting injunction of the Savior to His disciples.   Be-
fore examining this phase of the subject,  let us first consider the worlds,
"in remembrance of me."  We shall then perhaps be in better condition to un-
derstand what is meant by the "cup" and the "bread."

   Every one among us goes out into the world to fight the battle of  exist-
ence.   Under  the law of necessity we forget the love which should  be  the
ruling factor in Christian lives.   Every man's hand is against his brother.
Every one strives for a position, wealth, and power that goes with these at-
tributes.  We forget on Monday what we reverently remembered on Sunday,  and
all the world is poor in consequence.

   We also make a distinction between the bread and the wine which we  drink
at the so-called "Lord's Table," and the good of which we partake during the
intervals between attendance at Communion.   But there is no warrant in  the
Scriptures for any such distinction, as anyone may see,  even in the English
version,  by  leaving out the words printed in italics which have  been  in-
serted by the translators to give what they thought was the sense of a  pas-
sage.   On the contrary, we are told that whether we eat or drink,  or what-
ever we do, all should be done to the glory of God.  (I Cor. 10:31)

[PAGE 192]

   Our every act should be a prayer.  The perfunctory "grace" at meals is in
reality  a blasphemy,  and the silent thought of gratitude to the  Giver  of
daily bread is far to be preferred.

   When we remember at each meal that it has been drawn fro the substance of
the earth,  which is the body of the indwelling Christ Spirit,  we can prop-
erly understand how that body is being broken for us daily,  and we cam  ap-
preciate the loving kindness which prompted Him thus to give Himself for us;
for let us also remember that there is not a moment,  day or night,  that He
is not suffering because bound to this earth.  When we thus eat and thus re-
alize the true situation,  we are indeed declaring to ourselves the death of
the Lord,  whose spirit is groaning and travailing,  waiting for the day  of
liberation when there shall be no need of such a dense environment as we now
require.

   But  there  is another,  a greater and more wonderful mystery  hidden  in
these words of the Christ.   Richard Wagner,  with the rare intuition of the
master  musician,  sensed this idea when he sat in meditation by the  Zurich
Sea  on a Good Friday,  and there flashed into his mind the  thought,  "What
connection  is  there between the death of the Savior and  the  millions  of
seeds  sprouting  forth  from the earth at this time of the  year?"   If  we
meditate upon that life which is annually poured out in the spring,  we  see
it as something gigantic and awe-inspiring; a flood of life which transforms
the  globe from one of frozen death to rejuvenated life in a short space  of
time; and the life which thus diffuses itself in the budding of millions and
millions of plants is the life of the Earth Spirit.

   From that came both the wheat and the grape.  They are the body and blood
of  the imprisoned Earth Spirit given to sustain mankind during the  present
phase  of its evolution.   We repudiate the contention of people  who  claim
that the world owes them a living, regardless of their own efforts and with-
out MATERIAL responsibility on their part,  but we nevertheless insist  that
there  is a SPIRITUAL responsibility on their part,  but with the bread  and
wine given at the Lord's Supper:  IT MUST BE EATEN WORTHILY, OTHERWISE,  UN-
DER  PAIN OF ILL HEALTH AND EVEN DEATH.   This from the ordinary  manner  of
reading would seem far-fetched,  but when we bring the light of  esotericism
to bear,  examine other translations of the Bible, and look at conditions in
the world as we find them today, we shall find that it is not so far-fetched
after all.

   To  begin  with,  we must go back to the time when man  lived  under  the
guardianship  of the angels,  unconsciously building the body which  he  now
uses.  That was in ancient Lemuria.  A brain was needed for the evolution of
thought, and a larynx for verbal expression of the same.  Therefore, half of
the creative force was turned upwards and used by man to form these  organs.
Thus mankind become single sexed and was forced to seek a complement when it
was  necessary  to create a new body to serve as an instrument in  a  higher
phase of evolution.

   While the act of love was consummated under the wise guardianship of  the
angels,  man's  existence was free from sorrow,  pain, and death.  But when,

[PAGE 193]

under  the tutelage of the Lucifer Spirits, he ate of the Tree of  Knowledge
and  perpetuated the race without regard for interplanetary lines of  force,
he transgressed the law, and the bodies thus formed crystallized unduly, and
become subject to death in a much more perceptible manner than had  hitherto
been the case.   Thus he was forced to create new bodies more frequently  as
the span of life in them shortened.  Celestial warders of the creative force
drove him from the garden of LOVE into the wilderness of the world,  and  he
was made responsible for his actions under the cosmic law which governs  the
universe.  Thus for ages he struggled on, seeking to work out his own salva-
tion, and the earth in consequence crystallized more and more.

   Divine  hierarchies,  the Christ Spirit included,  worked upon the  earth
from without as the group spirit guides the animals under its  protectorate;
but as Paul truly says, none could be justified under the law, for under the
law all sinned,  and all must die.  There is in the old covenant no hope be-
yond  the present,  save a foreshadowing of ONE WHO IS TO COME  and  restore
righteousness.   Thus  John tells us that the LAW was given  by  Moses,  and
GRACE  came by the Lord Jesus Christ.   (John 1:16-17)  But WHAT  IS  GRACE?
Can  grace  work contrary to law and abrogate it entirely?   Certainly  not.
The laws of God are steadfast and sure,  or the universe would become chaos.
The law of gravity keeps our houses in position relative to other houses, so
that  when we leave them we may know of a surety that we shall find them  in
the  same  place  upon returning.   Likewise all other  departments  in  the
universe are subject to immutable laws.

   As LAW, APART FROM LOVE, GAVE BIRTH TO SIN, SO THE CHILD OF LAW, TEMPERED
WITH LOVE,  IS GRACE.   Take an example from our concrete social conditions:
We  have  laws which decree a certain penalty for a specified  offense,  and
when the law is carried out, we call it JUSTICE.  But long experience is be-
ginning  to teach us that justice,  pure and simple,  is like  the  Colchian
dragon's teeth,  and breeds strife and struggle in increasing measure.   The
criminal, so-called, remains criminal and becomes more and more hardened un-
der the ministrations of law;  but when the milder regime of the present day
allows  one who has transgressed to go under suspended sentence then  HE  IS
UNDER GRACE and not under law.  Thus, also the Christian, who aims to follow
in the Master's steps, is emancipated form the law of sin by grace, provided
he forsake the path of sin.

   It was the sin of our progenitors in ancient Lemuria that THEY  SCATTERED
THEIR SEED regardless of law and without love.   But it is the privilege  of
the  Christian  to redeem himself by purity of life in  remembrance  of  the
Lord.   John says, "His seed remaineth in him," and this is the hidden mean-
ing of the bread and wine.  In the English version we read simply:  "This is
the CUP of the New Testament."  but in the German the word for cup is KELCH,
and in the Latin,  CALIX, both meaning the outer covering of the seed pod of
the flower.  In the Greek we have a still more subtle meaning,  not conveyed
in other languages,  in the word POTERION,  a meaning which will be  evident
when we consider the etymology of the word "pot."  This at once gives us the

[PAGE 194]

same idea as the chalice or calix--a receptacle capable of holding a  fluid.
Our English words,  "potent"  and "impotent," meaning to possess or to  lack
virile strength,  further show the meaning of this Greek word,  which  fore-
shadows the evolution from man to superman.

   We have already lived through a mineral, a plant,  and an animal-like ex-
istence before becoming human as we are today,  and beyond us lie still fur-
ther volutions where we shall approach the Divine more and more.  It will be
readily  conceded that it is our animal passions which restrain us upon  the
path  of  attainment;  the lower nature is constantly  warring  against  the
higher self.   At least in those who have experienced a spiritual awakening,
a war is being fought silently within,  and is all the more bitter for being
suppressed.   Goethe with masterly art voiced that sentiment in the words of
Faust, the aspiring soul, speaking to his more materialistic friend, Wagner:

   Thou by one sole impulse art possessed,
         Unconscious of the other still remain
   Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast,
         And struggle there for undivided reign.
   One, to the earth with passionate desire,
         And closely clinging organs still adheres;
   Above the mists the other doth aspire,
         With sacred ardor unto purer spheres.

   It  was the knowledge of this absolute necessity of chastity  (save  when
procreation  is the object) upon the part of those who have had a  spiritual
awakening which dictated the words of Christ, and the Apostle Paul stated an
esoteric truth when he said that THOSE WHO PARTOOK OF THE COMMUNION  WITHOUT
LIVING THE LIFE WERE IN DANGER OF SICKNESS AND DEATH.   For just as under  a
spiritual tutelage, purity of life may elevate the disciple wonderfully,  so
also  unchastity has a much stronger effect upon his more sensitized  bodies
than upon those who are yet under the law.,  and have not yet become partak-
ers of grace by the cup of the New Covenant.

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 19:

1. Compare the general attitude toward our daily meals with the attitude
   taught in the Bible.
2. How are the wheat and the grape the "body and blood" of Christ?
3. State briefly the cause of our unduly crystallized bodies.
4. What is "grace"?
5. How only may we redeem ourselves from the sin of our progenitors in
   ancient Lemuria?
6. What is the real meaning of the "cup of the New Testament"?
7. Give in your own words the esoteric truth voiced by Faust concerning the
   higher and lower natures.

[PAGE 195]

               "THE BIBLE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE WESTERN WORLD
              BY THE RECORDING ANGELS, WHO GIVE TO EACH AND ALL
               EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT."
                                                  --Max Heindel

                                LESSON NO. 20:

                         THE SACRAMENTS (continued):

REFERENCES:  Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-33.

   THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.  As soon as the individual has entered upon the
journey of life,  the church admits him into its fold by the rite of BAPTISM
which  is  conferred upon him at a time when he  himself  is  irresponsible;
later, when his mentality has been somewhat developed, he ratifies that con-
tract and is admitted to COMMUNION, where BREAD is broken and WINE is sipped
in  memory of the Founder of our faith.   Still farther upon life's  journey
comes the sacrament of MARRIAGE;  and at last when the race has been run and
the spirit again withdraws to God who gave it,  the earth body is  consigned
to  the dust,  whence it was derived,  accompanied by the blessings  of  the
church.

   In our Protestant times the spirit of protests is rampant in the extreme,
and  dissenters everywhere raise their voices in rebellion against the  fan-
cied  arrogance of the priesthood and deprecate the sacraments as mere  mum-
mery.   On account of that attitude of mind these functions have  become  of
little  or no effect in the life of the community;  dissensions have  arisen
even  among churchmen themselves,  and sect after sect has  divorced  itself
from the original apostolic congregation.

   Despite  all protests the various doctrines and sacraments of the  church
are, nevertheless, the very keystones in the arch of evolution, for they in-
culcate  morals of the loftiest-nature;  and even materialistic  scientists,
such  as Huxley,  have admitted that while self-protection brings about  the
"survival of the fittest"  in the animal kingdom and is therefore the  basis
of animal evolution,  self-sacrifice is the fostering principle of human de-
velopment.   When that is the case among mere mortals,  we may well  believe
that it must be so to a still greater extent in the Divine Author of our be-
ing.

   Among  animals,  might is right,  but we recognize that the weak  have  a
claim  to the protection of the strong.  The butterfly lays it eggs  on  the
under  side  of  a green leaf and goes off without another  care  for  their
well-being.   In mammals the MOTHER instinct is strongly developed,  and  we
see the lioness caring for her cubs and ready to defend them with her  life;
but not until the human kingdom is reached does the FATHER commence to share
fully  in  the  responsibility  as  a parent.  Among savages the care of the

[PAGE 196]

young  practically ends with the attainment of physical ability to care  for
themselves,  but the higher we ascend in civilization the longer  the  young
receive  care from their parents,  and the more stress is laid  upon  mental
education  so that when maturity has been reached the battle of life may  be
fought  from the mental rather than from the physical point of vantage;  for
the father we proceed along the path of development the more we shall  expe-
rience  the  power  of mind over matter.   By the more  and  more  prolonged
self-sacrifice of parents,  the race is becoming more delicate,  but what we
lose in material ruggedness we gain in spiritual perceptibility.

   As  this faculty grows stronger and more developed,  the craving  of  the
spirit  immured in this earthly body voices itself more loudly in  a  demand
for  understanding of the spirit side of development.   Wallace and  Darwin,
Huxley and Spencer, pointed out how evolution of FORM is accomplished in na-
ture;  Ernest Haeckel attempted to solve the riddle of the universe,  but no
one  of them could satisfactorily explain away the DIVINE AUTHOR of what  we
see.   The great goddess, NATURAL SELECTION, is being foresaken by one after
another of her devotees as the years go by.  Even Haeckel,  the arch materi-
alist, in his last years showed an almost hysterical anxiety to make a place
for  God in his system,  and the day will come in a not far  distant  future
when  science will have become as thoroughly religious as  religion  itself.
The church, on the other hand, though still extremely conservative is never-
theless slowly abandoning its autocratic dogmatism and becoming more  scien-
tific in its explanations.   Thus in time we shall see the union of  science
and  religion as it existed in the ancient Mystery Temples,  and  when  that
point has been reached,  THE DOCTRINES AND SACRAMENTS of the church will  be
found  to REST UPON IMMUTABLE COSMIC LAWS OF NO LESS IMPORTANCE THAN  around
the Sun.  As the points of the equinoxes and solstices are turning points in
the  cyclic path of the human spirit around its central  source--God,  which
are marked by the sacraments of BAPTISM, COMMUNION,  MARRIAGE,  and THE LAST
BLESSING.

   We will now consider the rite of baptism.  Much has been said by dissent-
ers  against the practice of taking an INFANT INTO CHURCH AND PROMISING  FOR
IT A RELIGIOUS LIFE.  Heated arguments concerning SPRINKLING VERSUS PLUNGING
have resulted in divisions of churches.   If we wish to obtain the true idea
of baptism,  however,  we must revert to the early history of the human race
as  recorded in the Memory of Nature.  All that has ever happened is  indel-
ibly  pictured in the ether as a moving picture is imprinted upon  a  sensi-
tized  film,  which picture can be reproduced upon a screen at  any  moment.
The pictures in the true Memory of Nature (the World of Life Spirit) may  be
viewed by the trained seer, even though millions of years have elapsed since
the scenes there portrayed were enacted in life.

[PAGE 197]

   When  we  consult that unimpeachable record it appears that there  was  a
time when that which is now our earth came out of chaos,  dark and unformed,
as the Bible states.  The currents developed in this misty mass by spiritual
agencies,  generated HEAT, and the mass ignited at the time when we are told
that  God said,  "Let there be light."   the heat of the fiery mass and  the
cold  space  surrounding it generated MOISTURE;  the fire mist  became  sur-
rounded by water which boiled,  and steam was projected into the atmosphere;
thus God.  . .divided the waters. . .from the waters. .  ."--the dense water
which  was nearest the fire mist from the steam (which is water  in  suspen-
sion), as stated in the Bible.

   When water containing sediment is boiled over and over it deposits scale,
and similarly the water surrounding our planet finally formed a crust around
the fiery core.  When that crust had been completed, there was no water upon
the surface of the earth,  but as the Bible says,  "A mist went up from  the
surface,"  and  no herb had yet grown upon the face of the earth.   At  that
time, however, vegetation began to appear and nascent humanity lived there.

   They were not,  however,  a humanity constituted as we are today.   Their
form  was very much different and they were not nearly as evolved as we  are
at the present time.  They could not see things outside themselves, but they
had  an  inner perception.   They saw the soul qualities of  all  who  lived
around them and they perceived themselves as spiritual rather than  material
beings.   At that time there were not nations at all,  but humanity was  one
vast brotherhood.   All were partially outside their bodies and therefore in
touch  with  the  Universal  Spirit,  which has now  been  obscured  in  the
separateness  of egotism which causes each man to feel himself distinct  and
apart from all the rest of humanity.   Brotherhood is forgotten and selfish-
ness rules.

   When  anyone has progressed so far that he appreciates the  blessings  of
brotherhood,  where he endeavors to abolish egotism and cultivate  altruism,
he may go through the rite of baptism.  Therefore, when a person is admitted
to the church,  which is a SPIRITUAL institution where love and  brotherhood
are the mainsprings of action,  it is appropriate to carry him UNDER THE WA-
TERS of baptism in symbol of the beautiful condition of childlike  innocence
and  love which pervailed when mankind dwelt UNDER THE MIST in  that  bygone
period.   At that time the eyes of infant man had not yet been opened to the
MATERIAL advantages of this world.   The little child which is brought  into
the  church has not yet become aware of the allurements of life either,  and
others obligate themselves to guide it to lead a holy life according tot  he
best of their ability,  because experience gained since the Flood has taught
us  that the broad way of the world is strewn with pain,  sorrow and  disap-
pointment;  that only by following the straight and narrow way can we escape
death and enter into life everlasting.

   Thus we see that there is a wonderfully deep,  mystic significance behind
the sacrament of baptism; that it is to remind us of the blessings attendant
upon those who are members of a BROTHERHOOD where self-seeking is  put  into
the background and where SERVICE to others is the keynote and mainspring  to
action.  While we are in the world, he is the greatest who can most success-
fully dominate others.  In the church we have Christ's definition:   "He who
would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all."

                         QUESTIONS ON LESSON NO. 20:

1. Why are the various doctrines and sacraments of the church the keystones
   in the arch of evolution?
2. What are some of the milestones that mark our advance in civilization?
3. What will be the nature of science in the future?
4. Upon what will the doctrines and sacrament of the church then be found to
   rest?
5. Compare man's present condition with that in the early days of evolution.
6. Of what is the Sacrament of Baptism the symbol?
7. How is true greatness achieved?

Continued with file "RC4011.TXT"

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