Legend
< How Best to Become a Theosophist (continued from page 10-239) >
into the world. But except ye be born again ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And no man can serve two masters, therefore resist the devil, and he will flee from you, and draw near unto God, and He will draw near unto you; for if your eye be single your whole body shall be full of light.
But except ye become as little children, whose angels do always behold the face of the Father, ye cannot enter into the kingdom, of heaven.
And whosoever liveth the life shall know of the doctrine.
Then to him who overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it; a name unlawful and impossible (for the human larynx) to utter; but thou shalt behold the King in His beauty, and the Lord shall be thy light.
Then shall rough places become plain, and crooked places shall become straight, and ye shall tread on serpents, and heal the diseased, and open the eyes of the blind, and cleanse the lepers, and stop the mouths of lions, and quench the violence of fire, and cast out devils, and raise the dead, and be yourselves raised from the dead.
Nevertheless, rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
But let him who standeth take heed lest he fall; and watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: yet strive ye to enter into the strait gate, for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
But see that your light shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Therefore, let love be without dissimulation; abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. Let brotherly love continue, in honour preferring one another.
Resent not injuries, and give no place unto wrath; but love your enemies, and bless them which curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; for freely ye have received, there fore freely give.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Finally, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself; for this is the whole of the law and the prophets, and none other commandment is greater than these.
Then blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
And blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
And blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Thus, with a power beyond all merely human words, for “never man spake as this Man,” are revealed to us the rules of Christian adeptship; that is, in one word. So to empty our souls of self that the Father, becoming manifest in His Sons, illuminates and; regenerates the world.
In the East, adeptship is secret and mysterious, and hidden from all except a select few, who have passed through an ordeal so severe and dangerous that many, it is said, perish in body or in soul on making the attempt, and into which select few, so far as we know, no woman has ever been admitted.
But the Christian adept not only invites but implores all to enter into the order.
The Oriental adept obtains magical or soul power over matter, which he uses for his own ends—and over inferior spirits. But the Christian adept has no dealings with low or weak spirits, except to convert them or to cast them out; but his life is spent in openly transmuting his spiritual powers into good works for the good of mankind.
But you will ask—Have any men or women, by following these rules, and by living the life, ever reached to that spiritual power over ordinary law which we believe is obtained by Oriental magic?
To this question I reply emphatically—Yes.
The founder of the system not only possessed powers far beyond any ever manifested by any magician, but he conferred those powers on His disciples by breathing on them and saying “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”
These disciples went out and healed all manner of diseases, and cast out devils, and spake with tongues, and foretold events, as He had done. And like powers have from time to time been manifested in the lives of Christian saints who, forsaking self, have found God.
St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Theresa, Savonarola, and others in the middle ages wrought miracles, and, becoming born of the spirit, ascended in the air, becoming transfigured and effulgent, while others were caught up into paradise and “Beheld that glory which eye hath not seen, nor eat heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.”
In modern times like instances have occurred; and in the life of the Cure D’Ars, who left this earth only a few years ago, we have an example of a man wholly self-sacrificing, and wholly given to God and good works. He became a divine and miraculous man, and with the power of prayer and the laying on of hands he cured all manner of disease; he saw the secrets of those who hid from him in confession their inner sins. He transformed wicked men and women into repentant, remorseful, and good beings by a mere word or touch of the hand, or glance of the eye; and while he himself lived on crusts and water, he fed an orphanage of children, sometimes by a miraculous increase of bread.
I must not, however, be misunderstood as exhibiting the lives of the Romish saints as perfect patterns for us to follow.
For the most part they lived under the tyrannical influence of an ignorant and superstitious and self-seeking priesthood, and they committed the fatal <... continues on page 10-241 >