LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 3t£* Chap. Copyright No. Shellde UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Hn0wer0 of tbe ages. Hnewers oTtbiHges I. K. L. L.C.W. J HERBERT S. STONE AND COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK MDCCCC TWO COPIES RECEIVED, Library :,$% Off! M 2 6 1900 Register of Coj A ?V* COPYRIGHT 1899, BY HERBERT S. STONE & CO 54108 ' ft hi4 Mnifif fTTTrfffrY 1 4r^ answers ot tbe Hges* These answers have been gathered from the note-books of two friends; they are fragmentary and in no wise meant to encompass the whole cloud of witnesses. They are offered to those who feel a yearning to enlarge the boundaries of faith. Extracts from well-known devotional books have been omitted, but many of the truths contained in them will be found here under other forms. The prayers and hymns have been chosen for their rarity. I. K. L. L. C. W. Ube Sacrefc S>ecaDe. / What is God? 3 77. What is Man? .... 21 III. What is meant by the Trinity? . 35 IV. What is Soul? .... 45 V. What is Right Living? ... 59 VI What is Religion ? . 87 VII. What is Heaven? . . . .101 VIII. Hymns ...... in IX. Prayers 121 X. Visions 131 TKHbat is (3ofc? answers of tbe Hges, TKflbat t0 <5o&? God is the Being who rests as end to Himself but toward whom all else is drawn through desire. —St. Augustine. God is not mind but the cause that mind is; God is not spirit but the cause that spirit is ; God is not light but the cause that light is; God can be venerated only under the name of the Good. — Hermes Trismegistus. There is nothing in everything but God. There is no whole but God. There is nothing immeasurable but God. Exter- 3 4 answers of tbe ages* nal to the One Thing which is No Thing, everything is nothing. — Druidic Triad. God is He who stands alone; who is eter- nal; who gave birth to none, nor was born, nor has any equal. — Mohammedan Inscription in Seville, over the Alcazar. That, — whence all this great creation came, Whether its will created or was mute — The Most High Seer, that is in highest heaven, — He knows it — or perchance He knows it not. — Rig-Veda. Hermes: The opinions upon God and the universe are many and different. I know not the truth. Enlighten me, O master. TKHbat is ©o&? Master: Learn, my son, this: God, Eter- nity, World, Time, Generation. God causes Eternity. Eternity causes the World. The World causes Time. Time causes Generation. Goodness, Beauty, Happiness and Wis- dom are the essence of God. The essence of Eternity is Identity. The essence of the World is Order. The essence of Time is Change. The essence of Generation is Life and Death. The energy of God is Intelligence and Soul. The energy of Eternity is Permanence and Immutability. The energy of the World is Composition and Decomposition. The energy of Time is Increase and Decrease. The energy of Generation is Quality. 6 answers of tbe Bges, Eternity is in God. The World is in Eternity. Time is in the World. Generation is in Time. The Soul of Eternity is God. The Soul of the World is Eternity. The Soul of Earth is Heaven. All is living. Life is One. God is Life. — Table oflsis. Man reflects God in the material state as absolute force; in the intellectual, as absolute thought; in the spiritual, as absolute love. Is God invisible? There is nothing more apparent than God. God is Intelligence, and intelligence is seen in thought. Look for God in creation ; look for Him in yourself. — Hermes Trismegistus. TWtbat is an? The breath needed a form; the Fathers gave it. The breath needed a gross body; the earth moulded it. The breath needed the spirit of life ; the solar Lhas breathed it into its form. The breath needed a mirror of the body. 44 We give it otir own," said the Dhyanis. The breath needed a vehicle of desires. "It has it," said the drainer of waters. The breath needed a mind to embrace the Universe. "We cannot give that," said the Fathers. "I never had it," said the spirit of the Earth. "The form would be consumed were I to give it mine,'* said the great Fire. — Archaic Hindoo Hymn. g2 Hnswerg ot tbe Mqzb* And He said, He, the Gods: We will make Adam, in-the-shadow-of-us. Adam is an Egyptian hieroglyphic enclos- ing three meanings : i st. The human race, the man formed abstractively by the assemblage of all men, universal man. 2d. It is the sign of an aggregation of homogeneous and indestructible parts. 3d. Note that when Moses speaks of God he makes the noun plural and the verb singular; when he speaks of Adam (the shadow of God) he makes the noun singu- lar and uses a plural verb. The hiero- glyphic root of the word Adam is compounded of the sign of unity with the sign of divisibility or the development of progressive power to Infinity. It is the Egyptian numeral 10 carried to illimit- able power by means of a collective sign. —Fabre d* Olivet's First Ten Chapters of Genesis. Mbat ie /iDan? 23 In the eternal day, before the days were, the Almighty created Free-will in the two great spirits Ormuzd and Ahriman. And these two came before the throne of the Almighty and spoke to Him, saying: "Thou hast shown Thyself of Almighti- ness to make lis free; now, therefore, to be free is to act: how should we be idle?" And the Lord said to them: "The ele- ments are in your hands. ' ' And they answered and said: "We will make the world.' ' And the Lord said: "One of you is dark and one of you bright, and ye will con- tend each against each, and your work will be evil. Ormuzd will put pleasure into that which he does, and Ahriman will put pain. " And Ahriman said: "The pain will over- bear the pleasure. ' ' And the Lord said to Ahriman: "Why dost thou work against Ormuzd?" 2 4 Bnswetg of tbe Uqcs. And Ahriman said : "I know not; Thou hast made me." And the Lord said: "I know why I have made thee, but thou knowest not. ' ' And the two went forth from the Lord and made the world. — Tennyson. This body is without intelligence like a cart ; by whom has this body been made intelligent, and who is the driver of it? He who is standing above, passionless amidst the objects of the world; endless, imperishable, unborn and independent ; it is Brahma that has made this body intelli- gent and is the driver of it. How could Brahma be moved to do this? Prazapati stood alone, in the beginning; he had no happiness when alone, and meditating upon himself he created many creatures. He looked upon them and saw that they were like stone and he Mbat is /flftan? 25 entered into them that they might awake. He who is in the fire and he who is in the heat and he who is in the sun are all one and the same. — Upanishads. There are seven worlds ; one empyrean is first ; after this three ethereal and three material, the last of which is the ter- restrial and contains matter, and is called "The Hater of Life." — Old Chaldaic Doctrine. As Brahma is to the world, its eternal and omnipresent cause, so is the self to the ego. — Vedanta. As is God, so is the Universe. As is the Creator the supernal man, so is the created the inferior man — as macrocosm, so mi- crocosm — as eternity, so life. — Kabbala. 26 answers of tbe ages. Material evolution represents the mani- festation of God in matter; spiritual evo- lution represents the elaboration of conscience in the individual and his attempt to reunite with the Divine Spirit from which he emanated. Material evo- lution conducts insensibly to spiritual evolution, and passes from the without to the within, — Doctrine of Pythagoras. Man reduced to his ultimate or simplest existence is a divine thought; reduce yourself to that simplicity or root-exist- ence, and you are in God. — Eckhardt Lift thy head, O disciple ; dost thou see one or many lights above thee burning in the midnight sky? I perceive one flame, O Master; I see countless undetached sparks shining in it. Wbat ig /Pan? 27 Thou sayest well ; and now look around and into thyself ; that light which burns inside thee, dost thou feel it different in any wise from the light that shines in thy brother man? It is in no wise different, though the outer garments delude the ignorant into saying "thy soul" and "my soul." — Buddhist Catechism. All things are generated from one fire; and this fire was at first intellectual : for the first creation was of mind and not of works. — Zoroaster. The imperishable Ashvatta tree is with root above and branches below, and the sacred hymns are the leaves thereof: who knows this is a knower of knowledge. Upwards and downwards tend its branches, expanded by the potencies. 28 Hnswers of tbe Eges* The sense-objects are its sprouts. Down- wards, too, the roots are stretched, con- straining to action in the world of men, where neither its form is comprehended, nor its end, nor its beginning, nor its sup- port. Having cut with the firm sword of detachment this Ashvatta tree, with its overgrown roots, then should the disciple search out that supreme whither they who come never return again, for now is he come to that Primal Being, whence the evolution of old was emanated. — Bhaga vad- Git a . The Heaven is my Father — my family is all the celestial environment. My Mother is the great earth ; for the Father fructifies the bosom of her who is both His wife and His sister. — Vedic Hymn. Mbat is flDan? 29 The world is made not only by God, but of God. Look at the spider who with the utmost intelligence draws the thread of its wonderful net out of its own body. — Upanishads. Nature is an organism in which all things harmonize and sympathize with each other; one influence, one breath, one harmony, one tune, one metal, one fruit. — Paracelsus. The breath becomes a stone ; the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the man, a spirit; the spirit, a god : each entity must have won for itself the right of becoming divine through self- experience. — Kabbalistic Teaching. The created human spirit, having turned away from the fullness of the divine life, 3° answers of tbe Uqcs was placed in a material environment, but is free to choose between the good and the bad. ^ . — Origen. As souls fall from sphere to sphere, they are clothed with a heavier and heavier envelope. In each life they acquire a new corporeal sense and their vital energy increases, but as their bodies grow more dense they lose more and more the memory of celestial origin. This is the Pall of Man — more and more the slave of matter, more and more intoxicated by life, the deeper they plunge into the regions of sorrow, of love, of death. —Hermes Trismegistus. Man's nature is septenary: . I. The Ineffable. V. Soul (Psyche). II. Being. VI. Nature. III. Life. VII. Body. IV. Intellect. -Proclus. TOUbat is flftan? 31 The great septenary which embraces the universe, vibrates not only in the seven colors of the rainbow, in the seven notes of the gamut ; it also manifests itself in the constitution of man, who is triple by essence, but septuple by his evolution. The septenary constitution of man is found thus in the Kabbala : Material body. Vital force. Astral body. Animal soul. Rational soul. Spiritual soul. Divine spirit. — Schurre. Listen to the lyre of seven strings — the lyre of God — it vibrates within you. — Orphic Fragment TKRbat is flDeant bg tbe ZvtniW TKabat ia fl&eant by the trinity? The old is the new and the new is the old. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. Unity is divided into three and Trinity is reunited in unity. —Plato. The number III. reigns in all parts of the Universe, and the I. is its principle. — Zoroaster. The monad, I. , represents the essence of God. The dyad, II., His generative and repro- ductive faculty. The triad, III., or law of the ternary, is the constitutive law of things and the true key of life. — Pythagoras. 35 36 answers of tbe Hges+ All things are supplied from the bosom of the triad; know ye that all things bow before the three supernal. — Damasius. In each world shineth forth the Triad, over which the monad or spirit ruleth; hence the same law of the triune is imposed upon man. — Chaldaic Oracle. God is threefold. Brahma — the Unfolder. Vishnu — the Pervader. Siva — the Powerful. - — Hindoo Trinity. The microcosm, man, is by his nature ternary, spirit — soul — body ; the image and the mirror of the macrocosm — universe — the divine, human, and natural world, which is itself the organ of ineffable God, of absolute spirit, — which is by its nature Mbat is meant bs tbe TErinftg? 37 Father, Mother, Son, — Essence, Substance and Life. Therefore man, the image of God, can become His living word. — Schurre. He who is incessantly creating the uni- verse is triple. He is Brahma, the Father; He is Maja, the Mother; He is Vishnu, the Son, — essence, substance and life. Each encloses the other two, and all three are one in the ineffable. — Upanishads. God the Father — Nara — the eternal masculine; God the Mother — Nari — the eternal feminine ; God the Son — Viradi — the creating word or the intellectual prin- ciple. Corresponding to these is Brahma, the spirit, the divine world, Siva, the body, the natural world, and Vishnu, the soul, the human world. This is the 3* answers of tbe Mqcs. double Trinity, — the Trinity of God and the Trinity of the Universe. — Indian Purana. What are the three things said to be contemporaneous in the dawning soul? God, Light, Liberty. — Druidic Triad. When man has attained the highest spirit- ual reach, God has brought forth His Son — evolved His holy spirit. — Eckhardt. The ternary human and the divine monad constitute the sacred tetrad. Man does not realize his own unity except in a relative manner, for his will which acts on all his being cannot, how- ever, act simultaneously and fully on his three organs; that is, on soul, intellect, and instinct. So the Universe and God himself appear to man successively and TKHbat is ZlDeant bs tbe XTrinftg? 39 by turns reflected in these three mirrors. First, seen through instinct and the kaleidoscope of the senses, God is multiple and infinite as are His manifestations; from this springs polytheism, where the number of gods is not limited. Second, seen through the intellect, God is double, that is, spirit and matter ; from this springs dualism as we find it in Zoroaster and the Manichaeans. Third, seen through the soul, God is triple, that is, spirit, soul and body in all the manifestations of the universe. From this spring the trinitarian religions; the Brahmanic and Christian. Fourth, conceived by the will, which collects the whole, God is one. Here is Hermetic monotheism as taught by Moses. Here there is no more personifi- cation, no more incarnation. We are above the visible and have entered into the absolute. — Schurre. 4Q answers of tbe Uqcs. Man is triple like the divinity he reflects — intelligence, sonl and body. If the soul unites itself to the intelligence, it attains to wisdom and peace ; if the soul dwells uncertain between intelligence and body, it is dominated by passion and moves in a fatal circle ; if the soul abandons herself to the body she falls into unreason and temporary death. — Bhagavad-Gita. The essential principles are in the four first numbers. The infinite varieties of beings which compose the universe are produced by the combinations of the three primordial forces, Matter, Soul, Spirit. Seven is composed of three and four, the triad and the tetrad, man and God. Seven represents a law of evolu- tion. Ten is the addition of the monad, dyad, triad, and tetrad, and is the perfect number by excellence, for it represents Wbat is /IDeant bs tbe Urinitg? 41. all the principles of divinity evolved and reunited in a new unity which is the sacred decade. — Pythagoras 9 Doctrine of Numbers. The Trinity is always completed by and finds its realization in the quaternary. — Kabbala. Wbat is Soul? Mbat ia Soul? The soul — a vast capacity for God. Our life is God's life in us. — Duns Scotus. The soul may be defined as an individual that, feeling, acts. — Rosmini. Our souls are paths on which we travel to come to God ; for they have of old come forth from Him. — Pistis Sophia. Soul is a continuous entity which was in existence before, and remains in exist- ence after this physical life. — Sinnett's Growth of the Soul 46 answers of tbe ages* Your own soul is omniscient; you have only to get into union with it to share its knowledge. — Hindoo Saying. What is increate abides in thee. — Voice of the Silence. What is intuition? What thy soul know- eth of old in other lives. It is inborn experience. — Buddhist Teaching. The one divine eye of the soul is better worth training than ten thousand cor- poreal eyes. —Plato. Thou bearest within thyself a sublime soul that thou dost not know; for God resides in the interior of every man, but few know how to find Him. — Bhagavad-Gita. TOlbat is Som? 47 The fourth spirit which strives in a man is the highest of all — the uncreate, the godlike spirit. It is a pure manifestation of divine truth which raises the natural man above sense, self, visions and powers, and lands him in the Divine Presence. —Tauler. Spirit is the only reality; matter is but the inferior, changing, ephemeral expres- sion of spirit, its dynamics in space and time. — Schurre. We know more of mind than we do of body. The immaterial world is a firmer reality than the material. — Huxley. Nature is the infinite illusion of our senses. Spirit alone is unchangeable, that alone is no illusion. — Schopenhauer. 48 answers of tfoe Bges, Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle, on a higher plane, of the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synchronized by life which pervades them all. — Brahmanic Doctrine. In like manner as God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, so the soul by six successive illuminations reaches the repose of divine contempla- tion. Thus the soul has six potentialities — the senses, the instinct, the imagina- tion, intellect, intelligence and spirit. These faculties formed in us by nature, deformed by sin, reformed by grace, must be purified by justice, trained by science, and perfected by wisdom. — St Bonaventura. TOlbat is Soul? 49 What is thy mystery, O Psyche? I am not of this world, and I go else- where-tmt where? -Pythagoras The celestial history of the Psyche as taught by Pythagoras is that in order to become what she is in actual humanity it is necessary that she shall have traveled all the kingdoms of nature, to have scaled the ladder of being by a series of innu- merable existences. She has been blind and indistinct force in the mineral — indi- vidualized in the plant — polarized in the sensibility and instinct of animals, — has tended toward the conscious world in this slow elaboration. As the monad mounts the series of organisms, polarized force be- comes sensible; sensibility becomes in- stinct; instinct becomes intelligence, and the soul grows more independent of the body, more capable of leading a free ex- istence. 5° answers of tbe Hges» The names for soul have been collected from civilized and uncivilized races of man. Some of these names mean "breath," some "heart," "blood," "the pupil of the eye. ' ' Some races have called the soul a bird "caged in the body" and "winged for flight." Some have called it the "shadow of the body" because it is something perceptible, but immaterial and not to be grasped. The Greeks called it * ' Psyche, ' ' butterfly, because the butter- fly emerges winged from its chrysalis. One tribe has called the soul "perfume." "Is not a man's soul," they say, "what the fragrance is to the flower?" Plato said the soul was like harmonious music drawn from the lyre we call body. All peoples have had a name for soul, and it has always been something different from the body but closely allied to it and hard at work in it. — Max Mutter. m\mt is SouH 5* The soul is a veiled light; this light is triple, its three parts are: Pure Spirit. Intellect. Plastic Mediator. The plastic mediator is immortal by re- newal of itself through the destruction of forms. The intellect is immortal through the evolution of ideas. Pure spirit is immortal without forgetful- ness and without destruction. — Kabbala. Spirit is independent of matter in its essence, but defective in being dependent on matter for its perfection. — Persian Desatir. If the soul feels itself, it is in its essence feeling, since it is only feeling that is felt by itself (per se) ; and if bodies are felt by 52 Hnswerg ot tbe ages. the soul and the soul is felt by itself, the soul is the principle of feeling. — Rostninl The intellect is developed only for earthly things and by earthly things. — Du Prel Nothing is superior to the human mind save Him alone who made it. — St Bonaventura. The human soul, the individuality, is im- mortal by its essence. Its development takes place in a descending and ascending scale by alternate existences, spiritual and corporeal. Reincarnation is the law of the souVs evolution. Perfection reached, it escapes from reincarnation and returns to spirit, to God in the plenitude of its consciousness. — Schurre. Wbat is Soul? 53 Seek that which touches the soul ; all is in that, for it is that which we are. . . . There is another thing than mind, and it is not mind that allies us to the universe. It is time that we ceased to confuse mind with soul. . . . There are in man many more fruitful, more profound, more inter- esting regions than those of reason and intelligence. — Maeterlinck. The soul aspires to the spirit, and the spirit takes thought for the soul. — Gnostic Saying. The intellective soul of man, therefore, originally sprang from the womb of the sensitive soul and was a virtue of it ; but this virtue became the principal act and acquired immortality as soon as it rose to 54 Hngwers of tbe Bges, universal being, because this is altogether imperishable, unmodifiable and eternal. — Cardinal Rosminl The two most important properties of soul are simplicity and immortality. — Rosmini. Will is the essence of personality. The first act of the human soul is intelli- gence, and intelligence is made for truth. The second act is will, and will is made for virtue. The third act is the will's adherence to the truth, or the soul's loving all things ac- cording to their truth. The soul naturally tends to its own per- fection. The perfection of soul consists in the full vision of truth, the full exercise of virtue, and the full attainment of happiness. — Rosmini. TOat fg som? 55 Since we are not bodies, but souls resident in bodies and capable of dwelling in them in such a manner as to approximate very nearly to the mode in which the soul of the universe inhabits the whole body of the world. This, however, consists in being free from impulsion, in not yielding to externally-acceding pleasures or visible objects and in not being disturbed at any severe occurrence. — Plotinus. TOlbat is IRigbt %Mt\Ql TClbat 10 IRigbt Hiving? Liberty and Duty are inseparable terms. If I ought, I can. — Kant Disciple: The cloak of darkness is upon the deep of matter; within its folds I struggle. A shadow moveth, creeping like the stretching serpent's coils. Master : It is the shadow of thyself outside the Path, cast in the darkness of thy sins. — Voice of the Silence. In order to comprehend moral things we must see them done not only under our eyes, but in ourselves. The ego compre- hends only what it produces. — Recejac. 59 60 Hnswers of tbe Bges. On what is the whole of morality based? To live nobly and rightly in these five relations of life Sovereign and Subject. Parent and Child. Husband and Wife. Elder and Younger. Brother and Brother. Friend and Friend. To each of these belongs appropriate con- duct. For a universal love of mankind without distinction of persons gives more to him to whom less is due and less to him to whom more is due. — Confucius 1 Law of Life. Courage and bravery are words of a great sound and seem to signify an heroic spirit; but yet humility, which seems to be the lowest, meanest part of devotion, is a more certain argument of a noble and courageous mind. Humility contends HClbat is TRiQbt XivnttQ? 61 with greater enemies, is more constantly engaged, more violently assaulted, bears more, suffers more, and requires greater courage to support itself than any instance of worldly bravery. — Law's Serious Call to a Devout Life. 1690. Every action is right, which in presence of a lower principle follows a higher ; every action is wrong, which in presence of a higher principle follows a lower. — Martineau. The work of initiation is to render oneself as like to God as possible, as unlike to matter as possible by becoming as active as He and not as passive as It. —Pythagoras. The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things in a perfect way. A 62 Hnswers of tbe Sfleg, constant fidelity in small things is a great and heroic virtue. — Bonaventura. Those who are humiliated and yet do not humiliate ; those who hear themselves put to scorn and yet answer not ; those who do all for love and accept their afflictions with joy, of them the scripture speaks when it says, "The friends of God shine as a sun in His splendor/ ' — Talmud. What are the three "das" which must be fulfilled before any higher life can be hoped for? Damyatta — Subdue yourselves, subdue the passions of the senses, subdue pride, subdue self-will. Datta — Give of your goods, give of your- self, be liberal, be charitable. Dayadhoam — Give pity to all who de- TPKbat is TRtflbt %ivir\Ql 6 3 serve pity, be compassionate, be merci- ful. — Vedanta. If thou seekest fame, or ease, or pleasure, or aught for thyself, the image of that thing thou seekest will come and cling to thee and thou wilt have to carry it about ; and the images and powers which thou hast thus invoked will gather and form a new body, clamoring for sustenance and satis- faction. And if thou art not able to dis- card this image now thou wilt not be able to discard that body then, but wilt have to carry it about. Beware then lest it become thy grave and thy prison instead of thy winged abode and palace of joy. — Edward Carpenter. By oneself the evil is done ; by oneself one suffers ; by oneself evil is left undone ; by oneself one is purified ; purity and impur- H answers of tbe ages, ity belong to oneself; no one can purify another. — Dhamma-pada. To wait upon God and keep silent is a great, nay the greatest of all works. — St. Bernard. If thou wish to convince thy brother of thy sincerity, come to his rescue when he has no one to stand by him. If thou fail to do this, then dost thou neglect the example of thy Lord. —Tauler. Now I will teach thee the way of peace and true liberty. . . . ... Be desirous to do the will of another rather than thine own. Choose always to have less rather than more. Seek always the lowest place and to be beneath every one. XPSlbat is TRtgbt Xtvtng? 65 Wish always and pray that the will of God be fulfilled in thee. — A Kempis. Renounce the whole world and all the matter therein. He who liveth in his own cares and in his own associations amasses ever fresh matter, for the associ- ations of this world are exceedingly material and ever add fresh matter to that matter which is already in you. Renounce murmuring, that ye be worthy of the mysteries of Light. Renounce boasting . . . renounce garrul- ity .. . renounce pitilessness ... re- nounce all ignorance . . . renounce atheism, that ye escape the frost and hail of outer darkness. Be ye loving, be ye gentle, be ye merciful, be ye righteous, for these are the boundary marks of the paths of them that are worthy. — Pistis Sophia. 66 answers ot tbe Ugcs. The higher self can alone redeem the per- sonality from sin and suffering by a cruci- fixion of the desires and tendencies — that is, by subduing the lower self, thus wak- ing consciousness to the Christ within us, the higher self. —SitmetVs Growth of the Soul When the knowledge of God is lost, it is replaced in the world by virtue ; when the knowledge of virtue is lost, men replace it by benevolence; when the knowledge of benevolence is lost, men replace it by integrity; when the knowledge of integ- rity is lost, men replace it by propriety, which is ever only the counterfeit of sin- cerity and truth. —Lao-Tsze. 600 B. C. At most times an act is neither good nor bad ; all depends on the spirit in which it is accomplished. _^ TKIlbat is TRtQbt Xtvtng? 67 Will, when strength fails, has duties stilL -Kant. Bear your cross; never drag it. —St. Theresa. Act from a maxim at all times fit for law universal. — Kant There are three steps in the science of Christian perfection, which is in other terms called mysticism. The first step is to live the purgative life, the second is the illuminative life, the last is the unitive life which joins the soul to God — to uncreated Good. These three phases of ascetic existence are again subdivided into innu- merable steps, — St. Bonaventura calls them "ladders," St. Theresa calls them " dwellings/ ' St. Angelo, "stairs." They vary in length and number with the tern- 68 answers of tbe ages* perament of those who pass over them. This itinerary of the soul toward God is at first over steep and break-neck paths, through thickets and over precipices— these are the roads of the purgative life. Next come narrow paths, moving up by easy and accessible terraces and slopes, and these are the roads of the illuminative life. At last a wide and level space rather than a road, over which, when the soul has passed, it loses itself in eternal love and accomplishes the unitive life — the death of the ego and the life of God. — Huysmans. A man of true self-abandonment must be unbuilt from the creature, inbuilt with Christ, and overbuilt by the Godhead. — Suso. 14th Century. By what did Pythagoras recognize the un- apparent manners of the soul? Mbat is TRtgbt Xivfnfl? 6 9 I. By seasonable or unseasonable laugh- ter, and by seasonable or unseasonable silence or speech. II. By the manner of spending leisure time. III. Whether a man held his opinions modestly. IV. Whether he could follow philosophic teaching with rapidity and perspicuity. V. Whether he was temperate and gentle in all he said. VI. Whether he walked in unfrequented paths. VII. Whether he sacrificed and adored, unshod. A life without examination is not worth living. — Apology of Socrates. Learn to ascend into thyself. — Porphyry. 7Q answers of tbe Sges» And the Jews came to the holy Issa ask- ing: Where shall we worship and praise otir heavenly Father, seeing our enemies have razed our temple to the ground and carried away our sacred vessels? And the holy Issa made answer : The human heart is the true temple of God ; enter ye into your temples and illu- mine them with good thoughts. Your sacred vessels — they are your hands and your eyes; do I see that which is agree- able to God, doing good to your neighbor, but first embellish wherein dwells He who gave you life. — Legend of Holy Issa. Translated from a Thibetan Manuscript Let thy mind follow after God, and let thy soul follow thy mind, and let the body be subservient to the soul. As far as may Mbat i0 TRfQbt Xiving? n be, the pure body serving the pure soul ; for when the body is defiled by the emo- tions of the soul the defilement reacts on the soul itself. — Porphyry. To know what exists really one must cul- tivate silence with oneself. For it is in silence that the eternal and unexpected flowers open which change their form and color according to the soul in which they grow. Souls are weighed in silence as gold and silver are weighed in pure water. — Maeterlinck. Through intelligence one reaches many things which are superior to intelligence , but intuitions come better by the quies- cence of thought than by thought itself. — Porphyry. 72 answers of tbe Bges* Thou shalt not let thy senses make a playground of thy mind. — Voice of the Silence. Ye are as holy as ye will to be holy. — Ruysbroeck. God Himself has nothing more sacred than the laws of holiness and moral per- fection. — Recejac. The Brahmin's rule of conduct is that death or destruction of the "I" has been and always will be the price which we must pay in order to attain to God. Call it renunciation, call it stoicism, call it detachment, call it death, the fact is the same that only he who dies to himself finds God. — Mozumdar. Wbat is TRfgbt Xtvtng? 73 There are three primal steps before a human being can realize unusual powers. First, the hushing of the objective mind or control of the sense realm ; second, the banishing from the mind of the conscious- ness of sex; „third, the training of the will. The Disciple: Shall I be permitted one day to breathe the odor of the rose of Isis and see the light of Osiris? The Priests: That depends not on us. The truth is not given ; one finds it oneself or one finds it never. We can not make you an adept ; you must become it your- self. The lotus grows beneath the Nile a long time before it blooms. We can not hasten the blossoming of the divine flower; if it should come, it will come. Work and pray. — Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing. 74 answers of tbe Bges, Know thyself and thou shalt know God — the universe and the gods. — Transcription over the Temple at Delphi. 600 B. C. Earth said to me : Fatality. Heaven said: Providence. Humanity said: Folly, sorrow, slavery. The inward voice said: Liberty. — Pythagoras. To wait upon God and keep silent is a great, nay, the greatest of all works. — St Bernard. For the way we love what we believe to be a truth is of more importance than that truth itself. — Maeterlinck. Mbat is TRigbt Xiving? 75 Learn to separate head-learning from soul-wisdom. — Voice of the Silence. Forsake all and thou shalt find all. Fore- go desire and thou shalt find rest ... in this short word is included all perfection. —A Kempis. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts ; it is made up of our thoughts. — Dhamma : pada. Our real destiny lies in our conception of life, in the final balance established be- tween the insoluble questions of heaven and the uncertain responses of the soul. — Maeterlinck. For I do nothing but go about persuading you, both young and old, not to let your first thought be for your bodies or your 76 answers of tbe ages, possessions nor to care for anything so earnestly as for your soul that it may attain to the highest virtue ; and maintain- ing that not from possessions does virtue come, but that from virtue do possessions and all other good things, both private and public, come to man. — Apology of Socrates. There are four classes of virtues: The political or practical, pertaining to the gross body. The purifying virtues, pertaining to the subtle body. The intellectual or spiritual, pertaining to the causal body. The contemplative, to the supreme at-one- ment or union with God. — Porphyry. The organ of vision must first render itself analogous and like to the object that it Wbat is TRtQbt %ix>ir\Q> 77 contemplates. The eye could never have perceived the sun if it had not first taken the form of the stm, nor can the soul know beauty till it becomes beautiful in itself. All men must begin by making themselves beautiful and divine in order to obtain a view of the beautiful and of divinity. — Plotinus. Unless Heaven be within a person, noth- ing of the heaven that is out of him can enter into him and be received. — Swedenborg. The self of matter and the self of spirit can never meet — one of the twain must disappear — there is no place for both, —Voice of the Silence. 78 answers of tbe Mqcs. He to whom the eternal word speaketh is delivered from many an opinion. — A Kempis. Love is greater than work, knowledge or devotions, because it is its own end. Love is its own reward. — Narada Sutra. The quality of the life of every one is the same as the quality of his love. — Swedenborg. Disciples may be likened to the strings of the soul-echoing vina, mankind to its sounding board ; the hand that sweeps it is the tuneful breath of the great World- Soul. The string that fails to answer in harmony with all the others breaks and is cast away. Hast thou attuned thy being to humanity's great pain? — Voice of the Silence. TOlbat is TRiQbt Xivtng? 79 Canst thou destroy divine compassion? Compassion is no attribute ; it is the law of laws, eternal harmony, Alaya's self, a shoreless, universal essence, the light of everlasting right and fitness of all things, the law of love eternal. The more thy soul unites with that which is % the more thou wilt become compassion absolute — Voice of the Silence. The right method of proceeding toward the doctrine of love is, beginning from beautiful objects here below, ever to be going up higher, mounting from the love of one fair person to the love of two, from the love of two to the love of all ; from the love of beautiful persons to the love of beautiful employments and next to the beautiful kinds of knowledge till it passes from degrees of knowledge to that knowledge which is the knowledge 8o Hnswers of tbe Hges, of nothing else save Absolute Beauty itself, and knows that at length as it really is. —Plato. Hatred ceases by Love. Anger ceases by Love. The greedy are overcome by liberality. The liar, by truth. —Dhamma-pada. The evils that we do our neighbor pursue us as our shadows do our bodies. The works which have as their motive love of our kind are those that weigh most in the celestial balance. As the earth feeds and supports those who crush it under foot, so should we render good for evil. Fall before the blows of the wicked like the sandal tree that perfumes the axe that felled it. XKttbat is IRiQbt living? 81 He only who is humble of mind and heart is loved of God, and he who is loved of God has need of no other thing. — Krishna's Lesson on Mount Merou. The love to which all celestial loves refer is love of God. The love to which all infernal loves refer is love of rule, grounded in love of self. These two are diametrically opposed. — Swedenborg. As a mother at the risk of her life watches over her only child, so also let every one cultivate a boundless friendship for all beings. Standing, walking, sitting or ly- ing, as long as one is awake let him devote himself to this mind. Living for others is the best in this world, — Matta Sutta. 82 answers ot tbe ages. All ideas of duality, separateness or vari- ety prevent us from going toward the absolute. — Sankara. Unless Love and Wisdom invest and in- volve themselves in works and actions, they are only aerial things which pass and perish — they only become principles of life and remain with man when he does them. — Swedenborg. He who has realized the ethics of univer- sal unity, the essence of Love, has lost himself in the universe, in everything and all things. He breathes with the breath of nature, he sees with the eye of the All, he thinks with the thoughts of every being. He is the All. — Upanishads. Wbat is IRfQbt Xivinp? 83 How small soever your lamp be, never give away the oil which feeds it but always the flame which crowns it. — Maeterlinck. Man's mind may be in spiritual light although his will is not in spiritual heat. Wisdom does not produce Love — it only shows the way. — Swedenborg. What distinguishes us from one another is our varying relations with infinity. — Maeterlinck. Whatever can be learnt without anguish belittles us. . . . This is a world where there are many things to do and few things to know. — Maeterlinck. Beware, my son, of self-incense. It is the most dangerous on account of its 84 answers of tbe Uqcs. agreeable intoxication. Profit by thine own wisdom, but learn to respect the wis- dom of thy fathers also; learn, oh, my beloved, that the light of Allah's truth will often penetrate an empty head more easily than one too crammed with learn- ing. — Barrachus Hassan Aglu. An Arab Sage. Act always so that you treat ail humanity, whether in your own person, whether in the person of another, as an end and never as a means. —Kant. Wlbat is "Religion? Mbat 10 IRcIiaion? As the occult student advances he will find all the popular religions and concep- tions of Providence vindicated rather than refuted — vindicated not as regards their materialistic outlines, but as to their inner significance and idea. — Sinnett. Nothing is more legitimate than Faith, although the truths that it proclaims are absolutely undemonstrable. — Kant The highest spiritual truth is known only to him who has transcended every ascent of every holy height and has left behind all divine lights and sounds and heavenly 87 88 answers of the Hges* discoursings, and has passed into that darkness where God truly is. — Dionysus the Areopagite. Contemplation of the divine essence is the noblest exercise of man; it is the only- means of attaining to the highest truth and virtue. — Philo the Jew* Religious dogmas are only the dialectical development of symbols which have dawned in the souls of great mystics. — Recejac. The disciple said to the master: How may I attain to the heavenly life that I may see God and hear Him speak. The Master said: If thou couldst enter for a moment into that place where no creature dwelleth, there wouldst thou hear what God speaketh. Xfflbat is IReltQton? 8 9 The disciple said : Is that place near or far? And the Master said : That is within thy- self ; and if thou couldst be silent for one hour from all thy speaking and all thy doing, then wouldst thou hear the un- speakable words of God. —Boehme. "The Way to Christ" How dost thou seek God? Think purely. Speak purely. Act purely. For excellence, worthiness, Beneficence, goodness, Must be comprehended. Must be comprehended. Must be comprehended. — Old Persian Liturgy. What being is to becoming, that is truth to faith. — Plato. 90 answers of the Bges* True religion — is the essence of all doc- trines; the inner truth of all systems; creedless, nameless, untaught by priests, it is the spirit ; it is not found in temple or synagogue. It is the summing up of the wisdom of the Brahmin, the Buddhist, the Greek, the Jew and the Christian. Gnosis or rational mysticism from all time is and has been the art of finding God in oneself by developing the occult depths and latent faculties of conscience. — Schurre. Religion is a frame of mind, not a set of opinions. — Plato. The Supreme Spirit in one of the sacred books of the Hindoos says: "Even those who worship idols, worship me." TOlbat fg TReltQton? 91 God helps man by grace, — that divine fire which the patriarchs waited for, which the prophets predicted, which Jesus Christ brought with Him, which Paul preached, which St. Augustine explained, which St. Bernard confirmed, which St. Thomas Aquinas sustained, which was maintained by Popes Clement and Paul and experi- enced by so many religious souls. — Pascal The cement which unites the soul with the spirit is love, and a strong love of the divine is, therefore, the highest good attainable by mortal man. — Paracelsus. Rama made known the road to the temple. Krishna and Hermes gave us the keys. Orpheus and Pythagoras showed us the inside, and Jesus Christ held up for us the Holy of Holies. — Schurrd. 92 answers of tbe Bges, A high and sincere morality should be, without exception, sufficient to place the heart in contact with God. — Recejac. Fetishism, Magic, Gnosis, Theurgy, Asceticism, Alchemy, Ritualism, Spiritual- ism are the terrible degradations of mis- taken mysticism. — Recejac, A truly divine man has been so made one with God that henceforth he does not think of God, nor look for God outside himself. — Eckhardt. The true theme of all religion is not the future life, but the higher life. — Da Prel I believe there is in this universe a uni- versal providence, by virtue of which everything lives, vegetates and moves Mbat is IReliQion? 93 and stands in perfection, and I tinder- stand it in two ways : one in the mode in which the whole soul is in the whole and every part of the body, and this I call Nature, the shadow and footprint of di- vinity; the other the ineffable mode in which God, by essence, presence and power, is in all and above all, not as part, not as soul, but in a mode inexplicable. — Giordano Bruno's Statement at His Trial. Superstition and materialism are the two great sources of evil on earth. These are the two thieves between which the Christ is crucified. Superstition is the distortion of spiritual perception ; materialism is the lack of spiritual perception. Never conceive progress as mere breadth ; true progress is always in depth. — Du Prel. 94 answers of tbe ages* The first attribute of the occult aspirant is: I. Allegiance to the higher self. II. The aiming at spiritual exaltation, not for the sake of personal happiness, but as the means of elevating all humanity. Therefore, the second attribute is indiffer- ence to personal reward. To these two prime requisites are added six qualifications. I. Regulation of thought. II. Regulation of conduct. III. Profound tenderness and impartial- ity to all the great religions of the world. IV. Entire want of resentment for worldly wrong or ill usage. V. Steadfastness, or incapacity for being turned aside from the right path. VI. Confidence in the power to grasp the truth in all its vast complexity. — Sinnett. Wbat is TReliaion? 95 Nothing but sorrow and degradation can follow from the materialization of divine mysteries. Wherever Religion decays and ignorance spreads herself, there the symbolical and allegorical are materialized into the his- torical and literal. The Paternal mind hath sowed symbols in the soul. — Chaldaic Oracle. The highest truth man e'er supplied, Is ever Fable on th' outside. — Browning. All visible things are emblems. Matter exists only spiritually to represent some idea and body it forth, — Carlyle. 96 Hnswers of tbe ages, Some churches are saturated with ema- nations, teeming with angelical effluences — penetrated by divine salts, — such churches or holy places are for infirm souls what certain thermal stations are for the body ; one should make cures there — pass seasons — obtain blessings. — Huysmans. Mysticism is a tendency to arrive at con- sciousness of the absolute by means of symbols under the influence of love. — Recejac. The most difficult and most obscure of sacred books is Genesis — it contains as many secrets as words, nay, every word hides several secrets. , T — St Jerome. When it is said, Moses "covered his face with a veil," the meaning is he put the veil of allegory over his cosmogony and Mbat is TReliflion? 97 that tinder this veil lies the mystic science of being. —Fabre d'Olivet. The fire on the altar always symbolizes Love. The turning toward the east always symbolizes Light. — Swedenborg. The without is as the within ; the little is as the great; there is only one law, and He who works is One. Nothing is little, nothing is great in the divine cosmogony. —Hermes Trismegistus. TKftbat is Ibeaven? • Wbat is Ibeaven? He that receiveth a lower mystery shall inherit a lower region, and he who re- ceiveth a higher mystery shall inherit the region of the heights. — Pistis Sophia. The Gnostic Gospel Heaven advances in perfection as its in- habitants increase in multitude — the greater its fullness, the greater its perfec- tion. —Swedenborg. The earth is crammed with Heaven And every common bush afire with God. — Browning. IOI iQ2 answers of tbe Mqcs* Joy is the tendency to unity ; sorrow is the division of the one. — St. Augustine. No sudden Heaven or sudden Hell for man, But through the will of one who knows and rules, Ionian evolution, swift or slow, Through all the spheres an ever-opening height, An ever-lessening earth. — Tennyson. In the depths of thine own soul thou wilt find a threefold heaven. The third heaven is only open to the eye of intelli- gence clarified by divine grace and a holy life. —Richard St. Victor. When Gautama found Nirvana, When Plato found the Logos, Mbat ig Tbeaven? 103 When Lao-Tsze found Tao, When Jesus found the kingdom of heaven, they each found supreme good in their own souls. The ideal, under all its forms, is the anticipation, the prophetic vision of a higher existence than his own, to which each being aspires always. This higher existence in dignity is more interior in its nature, that is, more spiritual. . . . Thus the disciple of life, the chrysalis of an angel works through his ideal, his own fu- ture rebirth. The divine life is a series of successive deaths in which the spirit cuts off its imperfections and its symbols, and yields to the growing attraction of the center of ineffable gravitation — the sun of intelligence and love. — Amiel iQ4 answers of tbe Hfles* The heat and light of heaven are love and wisdom. — Swedenborg. He who finds in himself his happiness, his joy, and in himself also his light, is one with God. The soul which has found God is delivered from rebirth and from death, from old age and from sorrow, and drinks the water of immortality. — Bhaga vad-Gita. To be in itself alone, and not in being, is to be in God. . . . This, therefore, is the life of all gods and of divine and happy men, — liberation from all terrene con- cerns, a life unaccompanied with human pleasures and a flight of the alone to the Alone. — Plotinus. Tlfflbat is Tbeaven? 105 In Heaven the will loves good and the understanding thinks truth. — Swedenborg. That the Heaven is in the earth, but after an earthly manner ; and that the earth is in the heaven, but after a heavenly man- ner. — Proclus. The soul has three habitations: The abyss of life. The inferior Eden. The superior Eden. — Kabbala. We call destiny all that limits us. . . . But the soul as it rises purifies destiny. — Maeterlinck. I sent my soul through the Invisible, Some letter of the after-life to spell. 106 answers of tbe Haes* And bye and bye my soul returned to me And answered, "I, myself, am Heaven and Hell. ■ ' —Omar Khayatn. For death is not the end of all and the wicked is not released from his wicked- ness by death ; but every one carries with him into the world below that which he is and that which he becomes and that only. —Plato. Nature bound the body to the soul. The soul binds herself to the body. Nature liberates the body from the soul, but it is for the soul to liberate herself from the body. Hence there is a twofold or second death. —Orphic Hymn. Heaven is law and obedience. In the world of evil there is no unity. Evil spirits have no chief; no order; no XKabat is Ibeaven? 107 organization; no solidarity; nothing that corresponds to law or obedience. Evil is ... a marring of nature and of the good, — a defect, a privation, a loss of good, an infraction of integrity, of beauty, of happiness, of virtue ; where there is no violation of good there is no evil. Evil, therefore, can only exist as an adjunct of good, and that not of the immutably but of the mutably good. An absolute good is possible, but an absolute evil is impos- sible. —St. Augustine. Selfishness abolished, there is no room in the nature for evil ; as soon as one is in- accessible to evil, capacity for infinite good, which embraces infinite knowledge, is established. — Sinnett. Now I seek to lead back the self within me to the All-self. Ib^mns. Behold the only object of music, it is also the object of mysticism — to return from the without to the within. — Bellaigue. Music at a single bound clears all the steps of being — it takes us from earth into the soul of man — and from that to God. — Bellaigue. What theatrical or mundane music, even the most vaunted, is of any worth when compared to the solemnities of the "Mag- nificat," the august verve of the "Lauda Sion," the enthusiasms of the "Salve Regina," the distresses of the "Miserere" 112 answers ot tbe ages, and the "Stabat Mater," the omnipotent majesty of the "Te Deum' ' ? And yet the old plain song is superior to all, with its full and naked rhythm at once aerial and strong — that is the true music of solemn sadness and spiritual joy ; in the plain song is the grand faith of men — it seems to gush forth from ancient cathedrals like irre- sistible geysers, ample, sorrowful and ten- der. —Huysmans. The Fire-God, the First-born, supreme in Heaven, No father did he know. Oh, Fire-God, how were the seven be- gotten? How were they nurtured? These Seven, in the mountain of the sun- set were born. These Seven, in the mountain of the sun- rise, grew up. D^mns* 113 From the sunset they galloped forth. In the sunrise they are bound to rest. — Babylonian Hymn. Translated from a Cuneiform Inscription. O, blind soul, Arm thee with the banner of mysteries, That in the earthly night, Thou mayst thy luminous double see — Thy soul celestial. Follow this god-like guide, He will thy leader be, And holds the key of all existences, Fore past, and yet to come. — Call to the Initiates from the Egyp- tian Book of the Dead. How they struggle in the immense uni- verse, How they whirl and seek ! n4 Hnswers of the Bqcs. Innumerable souls that all spirt forth From the vast world-soul. They drop from planet to planet, And in the abyss they weep — For their forgotten land. These are thy tears, O Dionysus, O, Spirit vast, Divine One, Liberator, Draw back thy daughters to the breast of Light. — Orphic Hymn. O, vital breath of angelhood, O, generous ministration of things good, Creator of the visible and best, Upholder of the great unmanifest, Power infinitely wise, new boon sublime, Of science and of art, constraining might, In whom I breathe, live, speak, rejoice and write, Be with us, in all places, for all time. — Phile. tngmna* 115 The soul wherein God dwells, — What church could holier be? — Becomes a walking-tent Of heavenly majesty. How far from here to Heaven? Not very far, my friend. A single, hearty step Will all the journey end. Though Christ a thousand times In Bethlehem be born, If He's not born in thee, Thy soul is still forlorn. The cross on Golgotha Will never save thy soul, The cross in thine own heart Alone can make thee whole. n6 Hnswers of tbe Baes, Hold thou ! where rtmnest thou? Know heaven is in thee — Seek'st thou for God elsewhere, His face thou'lt never see. O, would thy heart but be A manger for His birth ; God would once more become A child upon the earth. Go out, God will go in. Die thou — and let Him live. Be not — and He will be. Wait and He'll all things give. O, shame, a silk-worm works And spins till it can fly, And thou, my soul, wilt still On thine old earth-clod lie? — A Mediaeval Hymn. I&smns, ii 7 You ask how long your strife shall last? It lasts till all your life is past. Till, breaking peace and compromise, To sacrificial heights you rise, Until your will no more is weak, And all your coward doubtings fall, Before the message Naught or All ! And what the loss? Your idols broken, Your faint heart's feast-day keeping, gone ; Each golden chain, your slavery's token, All that your slackness slumbers on. And what the prize? A will new-born, A soul at one, a faith with wings, A sacrificial joy that flings Even to the grave — and not complains — On each man's brow a crown of thorns, Yes, these shall be your victory's gains. —Ibsen. lPragers. jpra^era, O, Lord! O, imperishable One! in what- ever thousands of births I may yet wander, may my undying love be always in Thee. — Vishnu Pur ana. For the reunion of the Holy One — Blessed be His name and His Shecinah!* I do this commandment in love and fear, in fear and love for the union of the name masculine with the name feminine into a perfect harmony. — Mystic Prayer of the Kabbalists. Thou art that Prakriti, infinite and subtile, who bore Brahma in thy bosom ; thou art * Shecinah is the name of the feminine half of Deity. 121 igg answers of tbe Hpes, the goddess of the word; the energy of the creator ; the mother of the Vedas ; O, thou eternal being, who comprehendest in thy substance the essence of all created things, thou wast identical with creation ; thou wast the sacrifice whence proceeded all that the earth produces ; thou art the wood which by rubbing engenders fire. . . . Thou art the light whence comes the day ; thou art humility whence comes true wisdom; thou art the policy of kings, mother of law and order; thou art the desire from which love springs; thou art the satisfaction which is derived from resignation ; thou art intelligence, mother of science; thou art patience, mother of courage ; all the firmament and stars are thy children ; it is from thee that proceeds all that exists. Thou art descended on earth for the salvation of the world. Have compassion, O goddess, thou who hast borne a God upon thy bosom ; show pragerg, 123 thyself favorable to the universe ; sustain the world. — Vishnu Pur ana. Prayer to the Eternal Feminine. O, Isis, since my soul is only one tear from thine eyes, let it fall as dew upon other souls; and while I am dying for others, let the perfume of their watered souls mount to thee. Behold me, O, Isis, ready to be thus sacrificed. — Translated from Egyptian Hiero- glyphics. O, Osiris, teach me to contemplate the source of being ; teach me to know God ; show me the life of the universe — the road of souls, whence man comes and whither he returns. — Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul, and may the outward and in- i2 4 answers ot tfae Mqcs, ward man be at one. May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as none but the temperate can carry. — Socrates Prayer. O, ye children of Apollo, angelic hosts, who in time past have stilled the waves of sorrow for many people and have lighted up the lamp of safety before those who travel by sea and by land, be pleased in your great condescension to accept this prayer; order it aright, I pray you, ac- cording to your loving kindness to men, preserve me from sickness and endue my body with such a measure of health as may suffice it for the obeying of the spirit that I may pass my days unhindered and in quietness. —Aristides. Priest in the Temple of JEsculapius and Poet in Time of Marcus Aurelius. praters. 125 In the name of God, the compassionate compassioner, Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, the compassionate compas- sioner, the sovereign of the day of judg- ment, thee do we worship and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious, on whom there is no wrath and who go not astray. — Seven petitions which make up the "Alfatiha" Lord's prayer of the Koran, repeated by the pious Mos- lems twenty times a day. O, thou great, incomprehensible God, who fillest all, be thou, indeed, my Heaven; let my spirit be the music and joy of thy spirit. Do thou make music in me, and I make harmony in the divine kingdom of thy joy, in the great love of God, in the wonders of thy glory and splendor, in the company of thy holy, angelic harmo- 126 answers of tbe ages, nies. Build thou in me the holy city of Zion in which we all live as children of Christ in one city which is Christ — Christ in us. In thee I would lose myself utterly ; do with me as thou wilt. —Jacob Boehme. Forgive me my sins, O Lord, forgive me the sins of my youth and the sins of mine age, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body, my secret sins, my whispering sins, my presumptuous and my crying sins, the sins I have done to please myself, and the sins I have done to please others. Forgive me those sins that I know and those sins that I know not ; forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all of thy great goodness. Amen. —Prayer. 1560 A. D. Grant me, O . . . Jesus, to rest in Thee, above all creatures, above all health and praters. 127 beauty, above all glory and honour, above all power and dignity, above all knowl- edge and subtilty, above all riches and arts, above all joy and gladness, above all fame and praise, above all sweetness and comfort, above all hope and promise, above all desert and desire, above all gifts and benefits that Thou canst give and impart unto us, above all mirth and joy that the mind of man can receive and feel ; finally, above angels and archangels, and above all the heavenly host, above all things visible and invisible, and above all that Thou art not, O, my God. — Thomas a Kempis. Visions. IDieiona, Mystic visions and voices are never to be understood in an objective sense. They must all be thought of as mental or inte- rior. — Recijac. If the mystic ecstasy is more beautiful than it is good, more enlightened than it is touched with emotion, more speculative than loving, let it be subject to great doubt and suspicion. — St. Francis de Sales. Only four have been fully initiated; only four have entered the garden of delights — occult or final science: Ben Asai, Ben Zorna, Acher and Rabbi Akiba. Ben Asai looked — and lost his sight. 131 i32 Hngwerg of tbe Bgeg> Ben Zorna looked — and lost his reason. Acher looked — and the whole became con- fusion and he failed. Akiba looked — and entered in peace and came out in peace. —Talmud. There are three kinds of contemplation, which have been called by three names. Job calls it "suspense," St. John "silence/' and Solomon "sleep/' There are three kinds of silence : the silence of the lips, the silence of the thought, and the silence of the reason. There are three kinds of sleep for the soul. Its reason sleeps because ignorant of the cause and of the end of beatific vision ; its memory sleeps because it is absorbed in the ineffable, it forgets what it has suf- ered ; its will sleeps because it does not know that it is experiencing delight. — Hugo St Victor. IDisions, i 33 St. Francis, after long and tedious strug- gles with his earthly nature, prayed one day that he might be allowed a single foretaste of heaven ; straightway an angel appeared before the eye of his mind hold- ing a viol in his hand. He drew the bow across the strings and there issued forth one thrilling chord which lifted the poet- saint above the infirmities of his body. "Draw thy bow but once again," cried the enraptured St. Francis, "and my soul will burst her bonds and follow sound.' ' I assert for myself that I do not behold the outward creation, and that to me it is hindrance and not action. "What!" it will be questioned, "when the sun rises, do you not see a round disc of fire larger than a guinea?" O, no, no. I see an in- numerable company of the heavenly host i34 answers of tbe a