FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM
by
Max Heindel
[1865-1919]
AN EXPOSITION OF THE COSMIC FACTS UNDERLYING
THESE TWO GREAT INSTITUTIONS AS
DETERMINED BY OCCULT INVESTIGATION
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
P.O. BOX 713
OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, 92054, U.S.A.
LUCIFER, THE REBEL ANGEL
The Rosicrucian Fellowship aims to educate
and construct, to be charitable even to those from whom we differ, and never to
vent the venom of vituperation, spite, or malice even upon those who seem
deliberately determined to mislead. We revere the Catholic religion; it is as
divine in its essence, as both were born to further the aspiration of the
striving soul, and both have a message and a mission in the world not apparent
upon the surface today, because man-made ceremonial as a scale has hidden the
present articles to remove that scale and show the Cosmic purpose of these two
Great Organizations, which are so bitterly antagonistic to each other. We do not
aim to reconcile them, however, for though they are both designed to further the
emancipation of the soul, their methods are different, and the attributes of the
soul fostered by one method will indeed be very different from the quality of
the soul nurtured in the other School. Therefore, the strife must continue until
the battle for the souls of men has been lost and won. The issue is not,
however, the persistence of the Masonic or Catholic institutions; but the
outcome will determine the nature of the training humanity will receive in the
remaining Periods of our evolution. We shall endeavor to show the cosmic root of
both of these institutions, the purpose of each and the training which each will
inaugurate, if successful; also the nature of the soul quality which may be
expected to result from each method. THE WRITER IS NOT A MASON, AND THUS HE IS
FREE TO SAY WHAT HE KNOWS WITHOUT FEAR OF VIOLATING OBLIGATIONS, BUT HE IS A
MASON AT HEART, AND THEREFORE FRANKLY OPPOSED TO CATHOLICISM.
Our opposition is not fanatical, or blind to
the merits of the Catholic Religion, however. The Catholic is our brother as
well as the Mason; we would not say a disparaging, irreverent word against this
faith, or those who live by it, and should we seem to do so, in any passage, the
wrong will be due to inadvertence. The reader is requested to note that we
distinguish sharply between the Catholic Hierarchy and the Catholic Religion,
but the former are also our brothers; we would not throw stones either
physically or morally, for we know our own shortcomings too well to attack
others. Thus our opposition is not personal, but spiritual, and to be fought
with the weapon of the Spirit--Reason. We firmly believe it to be for the
everlasting good of mankind that the Masons should win, and cannot therefore be
sure to present the Catholic side in a perfectly unbiased manner, but we ask our
students for whom this is written, to believe that we shall try to be just. Of
the Cosmic Facts we are certain, but bias may creep into our conclusions,
therefore each must use his reason to test what we have to say, viz.,
"prove all things and hold fast that which is good."
The great law of analogy is everywhere the
master key of all spiritual mysteries, and, although Masonry and Catholicism do
not begin till we arrive at the Earth Period, they have their prototype in the
earlier Periods; we shall therefore briefly touch upon the essential facts.
In the Saturn Period, the Earth-in-the-making
was dark; HEAT, which is the manifestation of the ever invisible fire, was the
only element then manifest; embryonic mankind was mineral-like, the only lower
kingdom of evolving life. Unity was everywhere observable, and the Lords of Mind
who were human then, were at one among themselves.
In the Western Wisdom Teaching we speak of
the highest Initiate of the Saturn Period as THE FATHER.
In the Sun Period the root of a new element,
AIR, was evolved, and coalesced with the true fire, which, mark again, is always
invisible, and which manifested as HEAT in the Saturn Period. Then fire burst
into FLAMES, and the dark world became a blazing ball of luminous firemist at
the word of power, "LET THERE BE LIGHT."
Let the student ponder well the relation of
FIRE and FLAME; the former lies sleeping, invisible in everything, and is
kindled into light in various ways: by a blow of a hammer upon a stone, by
friction of wood against wood and by chemical action, etc. This gives us a clue
to the identity and state of THE FATHER, "whom no man hath seen at any
time" but who is revealed in "The Light of the World," the Son,
who is the highest Initiate of the Sun Period. As the unseen fire is revealed in
the flame, so also the fullness of the Father dwelt in the Son, and they are one
as fire is one with the flame in which it manifests. This is the root of all
true Sun and Fire worship. All look beyond the physical symbol and adore
"Our Father Who art in Heaven." The Mystic Masons of today hold this
faith in fire as firmly as ever.
Thus it will be seen that the Unity which
prevailed in the Saturn Period continued in the Sun Period. The ordinary
humanity of that time has now evolved to the glory of Archangels; some were more
advanced than others, but there was no antagonism among them. Our present
humanity had advanced to a plantlike stage, and was slightly above the new
Lifewave started in the Sun Period, and unity also here prevailed.
In the Moon Period contact of the heated
sphere with cold Space generated moisture, and the battle of the elements
commenced in all its fierceness. The heated ball of fire endeavored to evaporate
the moisture, force it outwards and create a vacuum wherein to maintain its
integrity and burn undisturbed; but there is and can be no void in nature, hence
the outrushing steam condensed at a certain distance from the heated ball and
was again driven inwards by the cold of Space, to be again evaporated and
propelled outwards, in a ceaseless round for ages and ages, as a shuttlecock
between the separate Hierarchies of Spirits composing the various Kingdoms of
Life, represented in the Fire-Sphere and Cosmic Space which is an expression of
the Homogeneous Absolute Spirit. The Fire Spirits are actively striving to
attain enlargement of consciousness. But the Absolute rests ever clothed in the
invisible garment of Cosmic Space. In 'It' all powers and possibilities are
LATENT, and It seeks to discourage and check any attempt at expenditure of
latent power as dynamic energy required in the evolution of a solar system.
Water is the agent It used to quench the fire of active spirits. The zone
between the heated center of the separate Spirit Sphere, and the Point where its
individual atmosphere meets Cosmic Space, is a battleground of evolving spirits
at various stages of evolution.
The present Angels were human in the Moon
Period, and the highest Initiate is The Holy Spirit, (Jehovah).
As our humanity and the other Kingdoms of
Life on earth are variously affected by the present elements, so that some like
heat, others prefer cold, some thrive on moisture and others require dryness, so
also in the Moon Period among the Angels, some had affinity for water, others
abhorred it and loved fire.
The continued cycles of condensation and
evaporation of the moisture surrounding the fiery center eventually caused
incrustation, and it was the purpose of Jehovah to mold this "red
earth," translated ADAM, into forms wherein to imprison and QUENCH THE
SPIRITS OF THE FIRE. To this end, He issued the creative fiat, and the
prototypes of fish, fowl and every living thing appeared, even including the
primitive human form, which were created by His Angels; thus He hoped to make
all that lives and moves subservient to His will. Against this plan a minority
of the Angels rebelled; they had too great an affinity for FIRE to bear contact
with water, and refused to create the forms as ordered; but thereby they at the
same time deprived themselves of an opportunity of evolution along the
conventional lines, and became an anomaly in nature; furthermore, having
repudiated the authority of Jehovah, they must work out their own salvation in
their own manner. How this has been accomplished by LUCIFER, their Great Leader
will be made plain in the following articles; for the present, suffice it to
say, that in the Earth Period, when various planets were differentiated to
provide proper evolutionary environment for each class of Spirits, the Angels
under Jehovah were set to work with the inhabitants of ALL PLANETS HAVING MOONS;
while the Lucifer Spirits have their abode upon the planet Mars. The Angel
GABRIEL is representative on earth, of the Lunar Hierarchy, presided over by
Jehovah; the Angel SAMAEL is ambassador of the Martial forces of Lucifer.
Gabriel (who announced the coming birth of Jesus to Mary,) and his lunar angels
are therefore the givers of physical life, while Samael and the hosts of Mars
are the Angels of Death.
Thus originated the feud in the dim dawn of
this Cosmic day, and that which we see as Free Masonry today is an attempt by
the HIERARCHS OF FIRE, the Lucifer Spirits, to bring us the imprisoned spirit
'LIGHT,' that by it we may SEE and KNOW. Catholicism is an activity of the
HIERARCHS OF WATER, and places 'HOLY WATER' at the Temple door to quench the
spirits seeking light and knowledge and to inculcate FAITH in Jehovah.
As the vernal equinox is said to be at the
first point of Aries, no matter where in the constellations it falls by
precession, so the point where the human seed-atom comes from the invisible
world and is taken in hand by the Lunar God of Generation, Jehovah, through his
ambassador, the Angel Gabriel, is esoterically the first point of Cancer. This
is the Cardinal sign of the watery Triplicity, and is ruled by the Moon. There
Conception takes place; but were the form built of water and its concretions
alone, it could never come to birth, so four months later when the fetus has
reached the stage of development corresponding to the second sign of the watery
triplicity, Scorpio, the eighth sign, which corresponds to the house of death,
Samael, the dauntless ambassador of the Lucifer Spirits, invades the watery
domain of the Lunar Hierarchy and introduces the fiery spark of the spirit into
the inert form, to leaven, quicken and mould it into an expression of itself.
There the Silver Cord which has grown from
the seed-atom of the dense body (located in the heart) since conception, is
welded to the part that has sprouted from the central vortex of the desire body,
(located in the liver,) and when the Silver Cord is tied by the seed-atom of the
vital body, (located in the solar plexus,) the spirit DIES to life in the super-
sensible world, and quickens the body it is to use in its coming earth life.
This life on earth last until the course of events foreshadowed in the wheel of
life, the horoscope, has been run; and when the spirit again reaches the realm
of Samael, the Angel of Death, the mystic eighth house, the silver cord is
loosed, and the spirit returns to God who gave it, until the dawn of another
Life-day in the School of earth beckons it to a new birth that it may acquire
more skill in the arts and crafts of temple-building.
About five months after the quickening, when
the last of the watery signs, Pisces, has been passed, the representative of the
Lucifer Spirits, Samael, focuses the forces of the fiery sign, Aries, where Mars
is positively polarized, so that under the impulse of their dynamic energy the
waters of the womb are voided, and the imprisoned spirit is liberated into the
physical world, to fight the battle of life. It may blindly butt its head
against the Cosmic forces typified by the first of the fiery signs, Aries, the
Ram, which is a symbol of the brute strength brought to bear upon the problems
of life by the most primitive races; or it may adopt the more modern method of
cunning, as a means of attaining mastery over others, which characteristic is
indicated in the second of the fiery signs, Leo, the Lion, the king of beasts;
or perchance it may rise above the animal nature, and aim at the stars with the
bow of spiritual aspiration, typified by the last of the fiery signs,
Sagittarius, the Centaur. The Centaur is just ahead of the watery sign Scorpio,
a warning that one who tries to reach that prerogative as "PHREE
MESSEN," a son of Fire and Light, will surely feel the sting of the
Scorpion in his heel, which will goad him onward upon the path where men become
"wise as serpents." It is from this class that Mystic Masonry is
recruited with men who have the indomitable courage TO DARE, the unflagging
energy TO DO and the diplomatic discrimination TO BE SILENT.
THE MASONIC LEGEND
Every mystic movement has its legend, which
tells in symbolic language its status in the cosmic order and the ideal which it
tries to realize. From the Old Testament, containing the Atlantean Mystery
teaching, we learn that mankind was created male-female, bi-sexual, and that
each one was capable of propagating his species without the co-operation of
another as is the case with some plants today. Later on, we are informed,
Jehovah removed one pole of the creative force from ADAM, the early humanity,
and that there were henceforth two sexes. The esoteric teaching supplements this
information by stating that the purpose of this change was to use one pole of
the creative force for the building of a brain and larynx wherewith mankind
might acquire knowledge and express itself in speech. The intimate connection
between the organs, brain, larynx and genitals is evident to anyone upon the
slightest examination of facts. The boy's voice changing at puberty, the mental
deficiency resulting from over-indulgence of the passional nature, and the
inarticulate speech of the mentally defective with many other facts which might
be added prove this assertion.
According to the Bible, our earliest parents
were forbidden to eat of THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, but Eve, seduced by the serpent,
did eat and later induced the man to follow her example. Who the serpents are
and what the Tree of Knowledge is may also be determined from certain passages
in the Bible. We are told, for instance, that Christ exhorted his disciples to
be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." The so-called curse
pronounced upon Eve after her confession declares that she must bear her
children in sorrow and pain and that the race will die. It has always been a
great stumbling block to Bible commentators as to what connection there could be
between the eating of an apple, death, and painful parturition; but when we are
acquainted with the chaste expressions of the Bible, which designates the
creative act by such passages as "Adam KNEW Eve and she bore Abel,"
"How can I bear a child seeing I KNOW not a man?" et cetera, it is
very evident that the Tree of Knowledge is a symbolical expression for the
creative act. Then it is plain that the serpents taught Eve how to perform the
creative act and that Eve instructed Adam. Therefore, Christ designated the
serpents as harmful while admitting their wisdom. To get at the identity of the
serpent it is necessary to invoke the esoteric teaching, which points them out
as the martial Lucifer Spirits, rulers of the serpentine sign Scorpio. Their
Initiates, even so late as the Egyptian Dynasty, wore the URAEUS or serpent
symbol in the forehead as a sign of the source of their wisdom.
As a consequence of this unauthorized use of
the creative force, humanity ceased to be ethereal and crystallized into the
COATS OF SKIN or physical body which now hides from them the gods who dwell in
the invisible realms; and great was their sorrow at this loss.
GENERATION had been originally established
by the Angels under Jehovah. It was then performed in great temples under
propitious planetary conditions and parturition was then painless, as it is
today among wild animals where the creative function is not abused for the
purpose of gratifying the senses.
DEGENERATION resulted from the ignorant and
unauthorized abuse inaugurated by the Lucifer Spirits.
REGENERATION must be undertaken in order to
restore man to his lost estate as a spiritual being and to free him from this
body of death wherein he is now encrusted. Death must be swallowed up in
Immortality.
To attain this object, a covenant was made
with humanity when it was expelled from the garden of God to wander in the
wilderness of the world. According to that plan, a Tabernacle was built after a
pattern planned by God, Jehovah, and an ark symbolical of the human spirit was
placed in it. Its staves were never taken out of their place, to show that man
is a pilgrim on the earth and may never rest until he reaches the goal. There
was within it a golden pot with "MANNA" (man) "FALLEN FROM
HEAVEN," together with a statement of the divine laws which man must learn
in his pilgrimage through the wilderness of matter. This symbolic ark contained
also a magic wand, an emblem of the spiritual powers, called AARON'S ROD, which
are now latent in everyone on his way to the haven of rest--the mystic temple of
Solomon. The Old Testament also tells how humanity was miraculously led and
provided for, how after the warfare with the world it was given peace and
prosperity by the before mentioned King Solomon; in short, stripped of all
embellishments the story relates the salient facts of man's descent from heaven,
his principal metamorphoses, his transgression of the laws of the God Jehovah
would wish to guide him in the future till he reaches the Kingdom of Heaven-
-the land of peace--and again docilely follows the lead of the Divine Ruler.
THE MASONIC LEGEND has points of variance
from as well as agreement with the Bible story. It states that Jehovah created
EVE, that the Lucifer Spirit SAMAEL united with her but that he was ousted by
Jehovah and forced to leave her before the birth of her son Cain, who was thus
THE SON OF A WIDOW. Then Jehovah created ADAM, to be the husband of Eve, and
from their union Abel was born. Thus from the beginning there have been two
kinds of people in the world. One begotten by the Lucifer Spirit Samael and
partaking of a semi-divine nature imbued with the dynamic martial energy
inherited from this divine ancestry, is aggressive, progressive, and possessed
of great initiative, but impatient of restraint or authority whether human or
divine. This class is loath to take things on faith and prone to prove all
things by the light of reason. These people BELIEVE IN WORKS rather than faith,
and by their dauntless courage and inexhaustible energy they have transformed
the trackless wilderness of the world to a garden full of life and beauty, so
lovely in fact that THE SONS OF CAIN have forgotten the garden of God, the
Kingdom of Heaven, whence they were expelled by the decree of the lunar God
Jehovah. Against Him they are in constant rebellion because He has tied them by
THE UMBILICAL "CABLE TOW." They have lost their spiritual sight and
are imprisoned in the forehead of the body where it is said Cain was marked;
they must wander as prodigal sons in the comparative darkness of the material
world, oblivious to their high and noble estate until they find the door of the
temple, and ask and receive LIGHT; then as "PHREE MESSEN" or children
of light they are instructed in methods of building a new temple without sound
of hammer, and when the spirit realizes that it is far from its heavenly home, a
prodigal, feeding upon the unsatisfactory husks of the material world, that
apart from the Father it is "POOR, NAKED AND BLIND," when it knocks at
the door of a mystic temple like that of the Rosicrucians and asks for light,
when it receives the desired instruction after due qualification by building and
ethereal soul-body, a temple or house eternal in the heavens, not made with
hands, and without sound of hammer, when its nakedness is clothed with that
house (see Cor. 4.5,) then the neophyte receives "THE WORD," the open
sesame to the inner worlds and learns to travel in foreign parts in the
invisible worlds. There he takes soul-flights into heavenly regions and
qualifies for higher degrees under more direct instruction from THE GRAND
ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE, who fashioned both heaven and earth.
Such is the temperament of THE WIDOW'S SONS
inherited from their divine progenitor Samael and given by him to their ancestor
Cain. Their past history is a struggle with adverse conditions, their
achievement is victory wrested from all opposing forces by indomitable courage
and persistent effort, unchecked by temporary defeat.
On the other hand while Cain, governed by
divine ambition, toiled and tilled the soil to make two blades of grass grow
where there was only one, ABEL, THE HUMAN PROGENY OF HUMAN PARENTS, felt no urge
or unrest, himself a creature of Jehovah through Adam and Eve; he was perfectly
contented to tend the flocks also created by God and to accept a livelihood from
their divinely begotten increase without labor or exercising initiative. This
docile attitude was most pleasing to the God Jehovah, who was extremely jealous
of His prerogative as Creator. Therefore He cordially accepted the offering of
Abel obtained without effort or initiative, but scorned the offering of Cain
because derived through his own divine creative instinct akin to that of
Jehovah. Cain then slew Abel, but did not thereby exterminate the docile
creatures of Jehovah, for we are told ADAM KNEW EVE AGAIN AND SHE BORE SETH.
Seth had the same characteristics as Abel and transmitted them to his
descendants, who to this day, continue to trust to the Lord for everything, and
WHO LIVE BY FAITH AND NOT BY WORK. By arduous and energetic application to the
world's work the Sons of Cain have acquired worldly wisdom and temporal power.
They have been captains of industry and masters of STATECRAFT, while the Sons of
Seth, looking to the Lord for guidance, have become the avenue for divine and
spiritual wisdom. They constitute the PRIESTCRAFT. The animosity of Cain and
Abel has been perpetuated from generation to generation among their respective
descendants. Nor could it be otherwise, because one class as temporal rulers aim
to lift humanity to physical well-being through conquest of the material world,
while the Priesthood is their role as spiritual guides urge their followers to
forsake the wicked world, the vale of tears, and look to God for comfort. One
school aims to turn out MASTER workmen, skilled in the use of tools wherewith
they may wrest a livelihood from the earth, which was cursed by their divine
adversary Jehovah. The other produces MASTER MAGICIANS, skilled in the use of
the tongue in invocation, and by the use of the tongue they gain support from
the toilers here and pray themselves and their charges into heaven hereafter.
After the future in store for the Sons of
Cain and their followers, the temple legend is also most eloquent. It states
that from Cain descended Methuselah, who invented writing, Tubal Cain, a cunning
worker in metals, and Jubal, who originated music. In short, THE SONS OF CAIN
ARE THE ORIGINATORS OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS. Therefore when Jehovah chose
Solomon, the scion of the race of Seth, to build a house for his name, the
sublime spirituality of a long line of divinely guided ancestors flowered into
the conception of the magnificent temple called Solomon's Temple, though Solomon
has only the instrument to carry out the divine plan revealed by Jehovah to
David. But Solomon was unable to execute the divine design in concrete form.
Therefore it became necessary for him to apply to King Hiram of Tyre, the
descendent of Cain, who selected HIRAM ABIFF, THE SON OF A WIDOW, (as all Free
Masons are called because of the relation of their divine progenitor with Eve.)
Hiram Abiff then became Grand Master of the army of construction. In him the
arts and crafts of all the Sons of Cain who had gone before had flowered. He was
skilled beyond all others in the work of the world, without which the plan of
Jehovah must have remained forever a divine dream, and could never have become a
concrete reality. The worldly acumen of the Sons of Cain was as necessary to the
completion of this temple as the spiritual conception of the Sons of Seth, and,
therefore, during the period of construction the two classes joined forces, the
underlying enmity being hidden under a superficial show of amity. It was,
indeed, the first attempt to unite them, and had that been accomplished the
world history from then on would have been altered in a very material manner.
The Sons of Cain, descended from the fiery
Lucifer Spirits, were naturally proficient in the use of FIRE. By it the metals
hoarded by Solomon and his ancestors were melted into altars, lavers and vessels
of various kinds. Pillars were fashioned by workmen under the direction of Hiram
Abiff, and arches to rest upon them. The great edifice was nearing completion
when he made ready to cast the "molten sea," which was to be the
crowning effort, his masterpiece. It was in the construction of this great work
that the treachery of the Sons of Seth became manifest and frustrated the divine
plan of reconciliation. They tried to quench the fire used by Hiram Abiff with
their natural weapon, WATER, and almost succeeded. The incidents which led up to
this catastrophe, their meaning, and the sequel will be related in the next
chapter.
THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
The Masonic Legend is voluminous,
circumstantial, even trivial, and seemingly far-fetched and fantastic to the
uninitiated who fail to see the important hidden meaning underlying every word;
but we will give only such fragments as have a bearing upon our main subject and
the explanation necessary to link them together.
The events which led up to the conspiracy
against the Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, mentioned in our last chapter, and which
culminated in his murder, commenced with the arrival of the Queen of Sheba who
had been attracted to the court of Solomon by tales of his wonderful wisdom and
of the splendor of the temple he was engaged in building. She is said to have
come laden with gorgeous gifts and it is stated that at first she was much
impressed with the wisdom of Solomon. But even the Bible, which is written from
the standpoint of the Jehovistic Hierarchies, hints that she saw at the court of
Solomon one that was fairer than he, and there the Bible narrative leaves her.
Her marriage with Solomon was never consummated or the name of Mason would have
faded from memory long ere the present day and humanity at large would now be
docile children of the dominant church, without free will, choice or
prerogative. Nor could she be permitted to wed Hiram, who represented the
temporal power, or Religion would have been stamped out; she must wait for the
bridegroom who shall embody within himself the combined good qualities of
Solomon and Hiram, but who is purified from their weaknesses. For the Queen of
Sheba is the COMPOSITE SOUL OF HUMANITY, and at the consummation of the work of
our evolutionary era she will be the bride, while Christ, whom Paul called a
High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, will fill the dual office of both
spiritual and temporal head, where He will be both king and priest, to the
eternal welfare of mankind at large who are now in bondage either to church or
state but waiting, whether they realize it or not, for the day of emancipation,
symbolically represented as the Millennium, when there will be a wonderful city,
a new Jerusalem, A CITY OF PEACE. And the earlier this amalgamation can be
brought about, the better for humanity. Therefore, an attempt was made at the
time and is the place which is said in the Legend to be the scene of Solomon's
and Hiram's love episode. There the two Initiatory Orders met for the
consummation of a definite work of amalgamation symbolically called THE MOLTEN
SEA, a work which was then attempted for the first time. It could not have been
wrought at any earlier period, for man was not sufficiently advanced. At that
time, however, it seemed as if the united efforts of the two schools might
accomplish the task, and had it not been for the desire of each to oust the
other from the affections of the symbolic Queen of Sheba, the soul of humanity,
they might have succeeded, an equitable union between Church and State might
have been effected and human evolution might have been greatly furthered. But
both Church and State were jealous of their particular prerogative; the Church
would only amalgamate upon condition that she retain all her ancient power over
mankind, and take in addition those of the temporal government. The State was
selfish in a similar manner and the Queen of Sheba, humanity at large, is still
unwed. The Masonic Legend tells the story of the attempt and its failure as
follows:
When the Queen of Sheba had been shown the
gorgeous palace of Solomon and had bestowed her choice gifts of gold and wrought
work, she asked also to be shown the great Temple which was nearing completion.
She marveled much at the magnitude of the work but wondered at the seeming
absence of workmen, and the stillness about the place. And she therefore
requested Solomon to call the workmen that she might see who had wrought this
wonder; but though the servants of Solomon at the palace obeyed the slightest
wish of the monarch, and although he had been appointed by the God Jehovah to
build the temple, these workmen were not subject to his authority; they only
yielded obedience to one who had "THE WORD" and "THE SIGN."
Therefore no one appeared at the call of Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba could
not escape the conclusion that this marvelous miracle was wrought by another and
one who was greater than Solomon. And so she insisted on knowing and seeing this
KING OF CRAFTS and his wonderful workmen, much to the chagrin of Solomon, who
felt that he had fallen in her estimation.
The temple of Solomon is our Solar Universe
which forms the great school of life for our evolving humanity; the broad lines
of its history, past, present and future, are written in the stars, its main
outlines being discernible to anyone of average intelligence. In the Microcosmic
scheme, the temple of Solomon is also the body of man wherein the individualized
spirit or ego is evolving, as God is in the great universe. Work on the true
temple, as we are told in 2nd Corinthians, fifth chapter, is wrought by
invisible forces working in silence, building the temple without sound of
hammer. As the temple of Solomon was visible in all its glory to the Queen of
Sheba, so the evidence of the toil of these invisible forces is easily
perceived, both in the universe and in man, but they themselves keep in the
background and work without ostentation; they hide from all who have not the
right to see them or to command them. The relation of these nature forces to the
work they do in the universe may perhaps be better understood when we use an
illustration: Let us suppose that a carpenter wishes to build a house wherein to
live. He selects a place whereon to build and brings the materials thither, then
with the tools of his trade he commences to lay the foundation. Gradually the
walls are put up, the roof put on, the inside completed and the structure
finished. During all the time while he is working, a dog, which is an
intelligent spirit belonging to another and later life-wave of evolution,
watches his actions and the whole process of construction and sees the house
gradually take shape and reach completion. But it lacks the proper understanding
of what he is doing and of what is the ultimate purpose in his mind. Let us now
suppose that the dog were unable to see the carpenter or to hear the noise made
by his hammer and other tools. Then it would be in the same relation to this
builder, as humanity at large is to the Architect of the Universe and the forces
which work under His command. For the dog would then see only the materials
coming together slowly and taking shape, finally forming a finished structure.
Humanity also sees the silent growth of plant, of beast and of bird, but is
unable to understand what causes this physical growth and the changes in the
visible universe, for it does not see the immense army of invisible workmen who
are silently toiling in the soundless silence to bring about these results. Nor
do they respond to the call of anyone who has not the sign and the word of
power, no matter how high his standing or station in the world.
The Churchman always emphasizes the
necessity of faith, while the Statesman emphasizes, and places his reliance on,
WORK. But when faith flowers into work we reach the highest ideal of expression.
Humanity may, and does, admire lofty sentiment and brilliant oratory; but when a
Lincoln unbinds the shackles of a downtrodden race or when a Luther revolts in
behalf of the fettered spirits of humanity and secures religious freedom for
them, the outward action of these emancipators reveals a beauty of soul never
discernible in those who soar in cloudland, but fear to soil their hands by
actual work in the temple of humanity. The latter are not true temple-builders
and would be unable to gain inspiration from the sight of that wonderful temple
described by Manson in "The Servant in the House." The author calls
him "Man-son;" this may mean that he regards him as the Son of Man,
but it may also be that he meant Mason, for the Servant in the House was also a
temple-builder. It is wonderful what insight the author of the play must have
had when he planned the scene where his servant, the workman in love with his
work, tells the worldly minded Churchman, who is full of platitudes and as vile
as a whited sepulcher, of the temple which he, the workman, built. This
conception is a mystic gem and we append it for the reader's meditation:
"I am afraid you may not consider it an
altogether substantial concern. It has to be seen in a certain way, under
certain conditions. SOME PEOPLE NEVER SEE IT AT ALL. You must understand this is
no dead pile of stones and unmeaning timber; IT IS A LIVING THING.
"When you enter it you hear a sound--a
sound as of some mighty poem chanted. Listen long enough and you will hear that
it is made up of the beating of human hearts, of the nameless music of men's
souls, that is, if you have ears. If you have eyes you will presently see the
church itself, a looming mystery of many shapes and shadows leaping sheer from
floor to dome, the WORK OF NO ORDINARY BUILDER.
"The pillars of it go up like the
brawny trunks of heroes; the sweet human flesh of men and women is molded about
its bulwarks, strong, impregnable. The faces of little children laugh out from
every cornerstone; the terrible spans and arches of it are the joined hands of
comrades; and up in the heights and spaces are inscribed the numberless musings
of all the dreamers in the world.
It is yet building, building and built upon.
Sometimes the work goes forward in deep darkness, sometimes in blinding light,
now beneath the burden of unutterable anguish, now to the tune of great laughter
and heroic shoutings like the cry of thunder. Sometimes in the silence of the
night time one may hear the tiny hammerings of the comrades at work in the
dome--THE COMRADES THAT HAVE GONE ALOFT."
It is such a temple that the Mystic Mason is
building. He endeavors to WORK on the temple of Humanity at large, but since
"when the rose adorns itself, it adorns the garden," he aims also to
cultivate his own spiritual powers, as foreshadowed in THE MOLTEN SEA.
Solomon had already sued for the hand of the
Queen of Sheba, and had been accepted, so, feeling that the meeting with Hiram
Abiff might change her affections, he endeavored to consummate their marriage
before granting her wish to meet the Grand Master. But the Queen was obstinate,
she sensed the grandeur of the Master Workman whose skill had wrought the
marvelous Temple and she felt intuitively drawn towards this man of action, as
she had never been moved by the wisdom of Solomon, which only found verbal
expression in flowery speeches and high ideals which he was unable to carry into
realization. Therefore the reluctance of Solomon to let her meet Hiram Abiff
made the Queen all the more anxious and importunate, so that at last Solomon was
forced to accede to her request, and he grudgingly sent for the Grand Master.
When Hiram Abiff appeared, and Solomon saw the love light kindle in the eyes of
the Queen of Sheba, jealousy and hatred took root in his heart; he was, however,
too wise to betray his feelings. But from that moment the plan of reconciliation
and amalgamation of the Sons of Seth and the Sons of Cain which had been mapped
out by the divine Hierarchies was doomed to failure, wrecked upon the rocks of
jealousy and self-seeking.
The Queen of Sheba, according to the Masonic
Legend, then requested Hiram Abiff to show her the workmen on the Temple. The
Grand Master struck a nearby ROCK with his HAMMER so that the fire sparks flew,
and at the sign of FIRE coupled with the work of power, the toilers of the
Temple flocked around their Master in a great multitude, which no one could
count, all ready and anxious to do his bidding. And this spectacle so impressed
the Queen of Sheba with the wonderful power of this man that she determined to
jilt Solomon and win the heart of Hiram Abiff. In other words, Humanity, when
its eyes are opened to the impotence of the Churchmen, the Sons of Seth, who are
themselves dependent upon divine favor, and when it sees the power and potency
of the rulers of temporal fame is then ready to rush to them, and leave the
spiritual for the material. This from the Microcosmic angle of matter.
From the Cosmic angle or view point we note
again that Solomon's Temple is the Solar Universe and Hiram Abiff, the Grand
Master, is the Sun which travels around the twelve signs of the Zodiac, enacting
there the mystic drama of the Masonic Legend. At the Vernal Equinox the Sun
leaves the WATERY SIGN OF PISCES, which is also feminine and docile, for the
belligerent, martial, energetic, FIERY SIGN ARIES, the ram or lamb, where it is
exalted in power. It fills the universe with a creative fire which is
immediately seized upon by the innumerable billions of nature spirits who
therewith build the Temple of the coming year in forest and fen. The forces of
fecundation applied to the countless seeds slumbering in the ground causes them
to germinate and fill the earth with luxuriant vegetation while the group spirit
mate the beasts and birds in their charge so that they may bring forth and
increase sufficiently to keep the fauna of our planet at normal. According to
the Masonic Legend, Hiram Abiff, the Grand Master, used a hammer to call his
workmen, and it is significant that the symbol of the sign Aries, where this
wonderful creative activity commences, is shaped like a double ram's horn, which
also resembles a hammer. It is also worthy of notice that in the ancient Norse
Mythology, the Vanir or water deities are said to have been conquered by the
Assir, or fire gods. The hammer wherewith the Norse God Thor struck fire from
the sky finds its counterpart in the thunderbolt of Jove; like Hiram, the Assir
belong to the Hierarchy of Fire, the Lucifer Spirits, THE SONS OF CAIN, striving
for positive Mastership through individual effort, and therefore upholding the
MALE ideal, which is diametrically opposite to that of the hierarchy which works
in the plastic element Water. In the present day Temples of the latter Order,
magic water stands at the door, and all who enter are required to apply this
lethal liquid to the point in the forehead where the Spirit resides; their
reason is drowned in dictums and dogmas, and the FEMALE ideal is worshipped in
the Virgin Mary. Faith is the prime factor in their salvation, the attitude of
unquestioning childlike obedience being cultivated.
It is different in the Temple of the other
Order; when the candidate enters there, "poor," "naked" and
"blind," he is asked at once what he is seeking, and when he answers
"LIGHT," it is the duty of the Master to give what he asks and make
him a PHREE MESSEN--a Child of Light. It is his duty also to teach him to work,
and A MALE IDEAL, HIRAM ABIFF, the Master Workman, is presented for emulation.
He is taught to be always ready to give a reason for his faith. As he qualifies
in the work, he rises step by step, and at each degree more light is given.
There are 3x3 degrees in the lesser Mysteries; when the candidate has passed the
9th Arch, he is in the Holy of Holies, which forms the gate to greater fields
beyond the scope of Masonry. For further elucidation of that subject the student
is referred to the chapters on Initiation, Volcanic Eruption and the number 9 in
the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception.
Advancement and promotion in Mystic Masonry
is not dependent on favor; it cannot be given till it has been earned and the
candidate has stored in himself the power to rise, any more than a pistol can be
fired till it has been loaded. INITIATION IS MERELY LIKE PULLING THE TRIGGER,
and consists in showing the candidate how to use the power latent within
himself.
There were some among the workmen on the
Temple who thought they ought to be promoted to a higher degree, but who had not
the power within; therefore Hiram Abiff could not initiate them, and as they
were unable to see that the lack was in themselves, they felt provoked at Hiram,
as over-ambitious candidates of today feel slighted and stamp a spiritual
teacher a fraud who is unable to give them immediate illumination and induction
into the invisible, while they are still eating of the "flesh-pots of
Egypt," and unwilling to sacrifice themselves upon the altar of
self-denial. The dissatisfied among Hiram's men entered into a conspiracy to
spoil his great Masterpiece, the Molten Sea.
CASTING THE MOLTEN SEA
As the spiritual gifts of the SONS OF SETH
flowered in Solomon, the wisest of men, and enabled him to conceive and design a
marvelous temple, according to the plan of his creator, Jehovah, so Hiram, the
clever craftsman, embodied within himself the consummate skill of a long line of
ancestral artificers. He possessed the concentrated quintessence of the material
knowledge gained by the SONS OF CAIN, while they wrought from the wilderness of
the world a concrete civilization; and in the execution of the wonderful Temple
of Solomon this superlative skill found full fruition.
Thus this glorious edifice was the chef
d'oeurve of both lines, an embodiment of the sublime spirituality of the
CHURCHMEN, the SONS OF SETH, combined with the superlative skill of THE
CRAFTSMEN, THE SONS OF CAIN. So far, the honors were even, the achievement
equal. Solomon was contented; he had carried out the design transmitted to him,
he had a place of worship worthy of the Lord he revered; but the soul of Hiram
was not satisfied. Armed with the art of ages, he had constructed an
incomparable masterpiece in architecture. BUT THE DESIGN HAD NOT BEEN HIS OWN;
he had been merely the tool of an unseen architect, Jehovah, working through an
intermediary Solomon. This rankled in his heart, for it was as necessary for him
to originate as to breathe.
In that ancient age when Cain and Abel first
found themselves upon earth, Abel contentedly cared for the flocks CREATED like
himself and his parents, Adam and Eve, by Jehovah; but in Cain, semi-divine
progeny of the Lucifer Spirit, Samael, and Eve, the creature of Jehovah, divine
incentive to ORIGINAL EFFORT burned; he tilled the field and made two blades of
grass grow where one grew before; the creative instinct must have expression.
Hiram, being the focus of and having
inherited all the CRAFTS OF CAIN, was also invested with the Spirit of Samael
intensified in commensurate ratio; therefore he was consumed by an overpowering
urge to add something to the Temple that would eclipse the rest of the structure
in beauty and importance. Out of the travail of his spirit was born the
conception of THE MOLTEN SEA, and this great ideal he proceeded to carry into
execution, though heaven and earth held their breath in awe at the audacity of
his purpose.
The Bible gives very little information
about the molten sea. In Second Chronicles, the fourth chapter, we learn that
Hiram made such a vessel, that it was of considerable size, that it stood upon
12 oxen arranged so that their heads were at the periphery of this circular
basin and their hind parts were towards its center. It was intended solely for
use by the priests. Much is said of a nature to bewilder the reader, but the
above salient points prove the signal importance of this instrument, as we shall
see when we study and compare the Masonic account with this veiled word of the
Bible. The Masonic story runs as follows:
When Hiram had about completed the Temple,
he commenced to cast the various vessels required in the service according to
designs made by Solomon as agent of Jehovah. Chief among these was the great
laver, intended to hold the bath of purification, through which all priests must
pass to enter the service of the Lord. This, and all the lesser vessels were
successfully cast by Hiram, as recorded in the Bible. But there is an important
distinction between the vessel and the molten sea which it was designed by Hiram
to contain, and until that had been successfully poured, the vessel was without
virtue, so far as purifying properties were concerned; until then it could no
more cleanse the sin-stained soul than could a dry basin be utilized to cleanse
the body. Nor could Solomon speak the Word, the formula for this wonderful work.
None but Hiram knew it. This work was to be his Masterpiece, and IF HE
SUCCEEDED, HIS ART WOULD HAVE LIFTED HIM ABOVE THE HUMAN, and made him divine
like the Elohim Jehovah. In the garden of Eden, his divine progenitor Samael,
had assured his mother, Eve; that she might become "as the Elohim," if
she ate of the tree of knowledge. For ages his ancestors had wrought in the
world; through the accumulated skill of the Sons of Cain, an edifice had been
reared, wherein Jehovah hid himself "behind the veil" and communed
only with his chosen priests, the Sons of Seth. THE SONS OF CAIN WERE THRUST OUT
OF THE TEMPLE WHICH THEY HAD BUILT, as their father, Cain, had been driven from
the garden which he had tilled. This Hiram felt to be an outrage and an
injustice; so he applied himself to prepare the means whereby the Sons of Cain
might "rend the veil" and open the way to God for "whosoever
will."
To this end he sent messengers over the
world to collect all the metals with which the Sons of Cain had ever wrought.
With his hammer he pulverized them and placed them in a fiery furnace to extract
by alchemistry, from each particle, the quintessence of knowledge derived in the
experience of working with it. Thus the combined quintessence of these various
BASE METALS would form a SPIRITUAL SUBLIMATE OF KNOWLEDGE incomparable in
potency, valuable beyond all earthly things. Being of ultimate purity it would
contain no color, but resemble a "sea of glass." Whoever should lave
in it would find himself endowed with perpetual youth. No philosopher could
compare with him in wisdom; this "white stone" knowledge would even
enable him to lift the veil of invisibility and meet the superhuman Hierarchs,
who work in the world with a potency undreamt of by the masses.
Masonic traditions tell us that Hiram's
preparations were so perfect that success would have been assured, had not
treachery triumphed. But the incompetent craftsmen whom Hiram had been unable to
initiate into the higher degrees, conspired to pour WATER into the vessel cast
to receive the Molten Sea; for they knew that the Son of Fire was unskilled in
the manipulation of the watery element, and could not combine it with his
wonderful alloy. Thus, by frustrating Hiram's cherished plan and spoiling his
Masterpiece, they aimed to revenge themselves upon the Master. Solomon had been
privately informed of the nefarious plot, but jealousy on account of the Queen
of Sheba bound his tongue and stayed his arm, for he hoped that when the
ambitious plan of Hiram failed, the affections of the queen would turn from his
humiliated rival to himself. He therefore closed eyes and ears to plot and
plotters.
When Hiram confidently PULLED THE PLUGS, the
liquid fire rushed out, was met by the water, and there was a roar that seemed
to shake heaven and earth, while the elements boiled and battled. All but Hiram
hid their faces at the awful havoc; then from the center of the raging fire he
heard the call of Tubal Cain, bidding him jump into the Molten Sea. Full of
faith in his ancestor, who had gone before him upon the path of fire, Hiram
obeyed and plunged fearlessly into the flames. Sinking through the disintegrated
bottom of the vessel, he was conducted successfully through NINE-ARCH-LIKE
layers of the earth to the Center, where he found himself in the presence of
Cain, the founder of his family, who gave him instructions relative to blending
Water and Fire, and who furnished him with a NEW HAMMER AND A NEW WORD, which
would enable him to produce these results. Cain looked into the future and
uttered a prophecy which has been partially fulfilled; what remains is in
process of realization day by day, and as surely as time goes on all will come
to pass.
"You, Hiram," said Cain, "are
destined to die with hopes unfulfilled, but many sons will be born to the widow
and keep your memory green through the ages, and at length one will come who is
greater than you. You shall not wake till the Lion of Judah raises you with the
powerful grip of His paw. This day you have received your BAPTISM OF FIRE, but
He shall BAPTIZE YOU WITH WATER AND WITH SPIRIT; you, and every son of the
widow, who will come to Him. Greater than Solomon, he will build a new city and
a Temple wherein the nations may worship. The Sons of Cain and the Sons of Seth
shall there meet in Peace, at the sea of glass. And as Melchisedec, King of
Salem (Salem means Peace,) and Priest of God, ministered to Abraham, the father
of nations, when mankind was yet in its infancy, so shall this new Light combine
in Himself the dual office of King and Priest after the order of Melchisedec. He
shall judge the nations with THE LAW OF LOVE and to him that overcometh will be
given a White Stone with a name that will serve as passport to the temple. There
he may meet the king FACE TO FACE.
Hiram was again conducted to the surface of
the earth and as he walked from the scene of his shattered ambition, the
conspirators set upon and fatally wounded him; but before he expired, he hid the
hammer and disc upon which he had inscribed the Word. This was never found until
ages later when Hiram, "the widow's Son," was reborn as Lazarus and
became the friend and pupil of the Lion of Judah, who raised him from death
through initiation. When the hammer was found it had the shape of a CROSS, and
the disc had become a ROSE. Therefore Hiram took his place among the immortals
under the new and symbolical name
Christian Rosenkreuz.
He founded the Order of Temple-Builders
which bears his name; in that Order aspiring souls are still instructed how to
fuse the base metals and make the White Stone.
The symbology of the foregoing will be
explained in the following chapters.
THE MYSTERY OF MELCHISEDEC
Among all the characters mentioned in the
Bible none is more mysterious than Melchisedec; said to be without father,
mother, or earthly kin, and holding the dual office of king and priest. Paul in
his epistle to the Hebrews gives us most information showing the connection
between Christ and Melchisedec, both of them Kings and High Priests, but of
different dispensations.
"God who at sundry times and in diverse
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets has in these last
days spoken unto us by His Son whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom
also He made the worlds. * * * No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that
is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made
a High Priest, but He that said unto Him 'Thou art my Son, today have I begotten
Thee.' As He saith also in another place, Thou art a Priest for The Age after
the order of Melchisedec, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to
save him from death and was heard in that He feared though He were a son, yet
learned He obedience by the things He suffered; and being made perfect, He
became author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him; called of God a High
Priest after the order of Melchisedec, of whom we have many things to say and
hard to be uttered. * * * For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of kings and blessed
him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by
interpretation king of righteousness and after that also king of Salem, which is
king of peace; without father, without mother, without ancestors, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a
priest continually. * * * And here men that die (the Levites) receive tithes,
but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed the He liveth. * * * If,
therefore, perfection were by the law and its priesthood what further need was
there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec and not be
called after the order of Aaron? * * * For it is evident that our Lord sprang
out of Judah of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. And
it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there
ariseth another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandments but
after the power of an endless life, for he testifies 'Thou are a priest for The
Age, after the order of Melchisedec.' * * * By so much was Jesus made the surety
of a better testament; * * * because He continueth ever and has an Age lasting
priesthood; * * * for the law maketh men High Priests who have infirmities, but
the Word of God which was since the law, maketh the Son who is consecrated for
evermore. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum; we have such a
high Priest who is yet on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
Heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord
made and not man. * * * Almost all things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves were better sacrifices than these, for
Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands which are the figures
of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for
us; * * * and now has He obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also He
is mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises; for
if the first covenant had been perfect then there should be no place for a
second. But finding fault with the old He saith 'Behold the days come when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I
took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt, because they
continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, 'saith the Lord. * * *
For this is the covenant that I will make to the House of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. 'I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS AND WRITE THEM IN
THEIR HEARTS, and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people and
THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERY MAN HIS NEIGHBOR and every man his brother saying,
Know the Lord, for ALL SHALL KNOW ME FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST.'"
The foregoing quotations from Paul's Epistle
to the Hebrews are not found there consecutively as here arranged. It is
necessary to intelligently piece the Bible narrative together so that we may
obtain an outline of the future development which has been sketched out by the
divine Hierarchs to constitute our evolution. Comprehension of this plan is
essential to the correct understanding of the Cosmic relationship of Freemasonry
and Catholicism; it is also necessary to fully appreciate the purpose of the
Molten Sea and to learn how to intelligently make this wonderful alloy. As Paul
says, these things are hard to say, but we shall make an attempt to present the
mysteries of Melchisedec and the Molten Sea in plain language so that we may aid
in the expressed purpose of the Bible to enlighten all men, that all shall know
from the least to the greatest what is the purpose of evolution, and thus give
them a chance to align themselves with the trend of Cosmic events.
To understand the mystery of Melchisedec we
must revert to the earlier epochs of man's stay upon the earth during the age
called the Hyperborean Epoch. The earth was then in an extremely heated
condition. Man in the making was then double sexed, male-female, like so many of
our present plants, and he also resembled the plants in being inert and lacking
in desire and aspirations. At that time man was the tractable ward of the Divine
Hierarchs who guided him physically, these being darkly referred to in the Bible
as "Kings of Edom." Later, during the Lemurian Epoch, when the body of
man had crystallized and condensed somewhat more, mankind was divided into sexes
physically. But as the consciousness of man was still focused in the spiritual
world they were unconscious of the physical act of generation, as we are now of
digestion; neither did they know birth or death and were in fact totally unaware
of the possession of a physical vehicle until in time they sensed it during the
generative process; it was then said that "Adam KNEW Eve." At that
time Lucifer Spirits, fallen Angels and inhabitants of the warlike planet Mars,
taught them how to eat of the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, which is the symbolical name
for the generative act. Thus by degrees their eyes were opened and they became
aware of the physical world, but lost touch with the spiritual and the Guardian
Angels who had previously been their benevolent guides. Only a few of the most
spiritual among them retained their higher vision and communion with the Divine
Hierarchs. These were then known as prophets, who acted as messengers between
the invisible divine leaders and their respective peoples. But in time mankind
desired to select its own leaders and demanded visible kings; at least we know
that the Israelites repudiated the divine ruler ship and demanded a king, and
thus Saul was appointed. Then the dual office of Ruler and Priest, including
temporal and spiritual leadership, was also divided, for no man sufficiently
versed in worldly matters to fill the office of king efficiently, had been found
holy enough to also undertake the spiritual leadership of his brethren, and vice
versa. A true priest, able to lead his flock spiritually, cannot also
beneficently dominate their physical fortunes as ruler of a temporal domain. For
as STATECRAFT, in its highest phase, aims to rule the masses with an eye single
to their physical welfare, and PRIESTCRAFT, benevolently exercised, seeks to
guide them solely for the soul's progress, so conflict must of necessity follow
this separation, even though both the spiritual and temporal rulers be actuated
by the highest and most unselfish motives. Melchisedec was the symbolical name
of the divine Hierarchs who filled the dual office of king and priest; in the
guidance of their double-sexed charges and while they reigned there was peace on
earth, but as soon as the offices of king and priest were divorced and the sexes
divided, it is not surprising for the reasons given above that the peaceful
reign of Melchisedec has been followed by an age of war and strife, such strife
as has been experienced during the present dispensation. Formerly the unifying
factors of a dual office in the ruler and the double sex of his people precluded
the clashing of interests which now obtains, and which will continue until
another divine ruler shall present himself to embody within in his own person
the qualifications of the dual office of king and priest after the order of
Melchisedec, and until sex generation be abolished. In this connection it is
significant that the Bible narrative begins in the Garden of Eden, where mankind
were male-female and innocent; then in the next chapter we are told of the
division of sexes, the transgression of the command not to eat of the Tree of
Knowledge, and the infliction of the penalty--painful parturition and swift
death. From then on the Old Testament tells of war, struggle and strife and in
the last chapter makes the prophecy that there shall a Sun of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings. Then the New Testament opens with an account of
the birth of Christ, who proclaimed a kingdom of heaven which is to be
established. He is later called King and Priest after the order of Melchisedec,
uniting within himself THE DUAL OFFICE. It is also said that in heaven there
will be neither marrying nor giving in marriage, for the SOMA PSUCHICON, or
soul-body, which Paul tells us is the vehicle we shall use in the kingdom of
heaven (First Corinthians, fifteenth chapter), is not liable to death and decay.
Thus there will be no death, and birth of bodies like those generated in wedlock
would be superfluous, for Paul tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. Hence marriage will be unnecessary, the clashing of interests
due to the lust of sex and the love of power will then disappear and the love of
souls will be hallowed by the spirit of peace.
Thus it is plain that the Sons of Cain with
their followers, the CRAFTSMEN, and the Sons of Seth with their retinue, the
CHURCHMEN, must finally merge and be unified in the Kingdom of Christ. We have
already seen how Hiram Abiff, the Widow's Son, left his father, the Lucifer
Spirit Samael, after the BAPTISM OF FIRE in the Molten Sea, and how he received
the mission to prepare the way for the kingdom among the Sons of Cain, his
brethren, by developing their arts and crafts as temple builders--Masons-- and
teaching them the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone or Molten Sea. Thus
also the physically negative Sons of Seth must learn to leave their father,
Jehovah, and naturally the first to take the step must be a great soul.
As the superlative skill of the Sons of Cain
was focused in Hiram Abiff at the time of his baptism of fire, so the sublime
spirituality of the Sons of Seth was centered in Jesus at the time of His
BAPTISM IN THE WATERS of Jordan. When He arose from this water He was in the
same position as Hiram emerging from the fire; each had left his father
respectively, Jehovah and Samael, and each was ready to serve the Christ.
Therefore the Christ Spirit was seen at the Baptism to descend upon Jesus' body,
which was inhabited and used by Christ during His ministry. Jesus himself, the
spirit, left that body and was given a mission to serve the churches while his
body was being used for direct teaching by the Christ, and his blood was being
prepared as an OPEN SESAME to the Kingdom of God, a Panacea to be used by His
brethren, the Sons of Seth, in the same manner that the Molten Sea serves the
Sons of Cain.
In the Epistle of the Hebrews where Paul
gives us a few hints concerning the Mystery of Melchisedec in the character of
High Priest, he emphasized the absolute necessity of blood as an adjunct to the
Temple Service; he show how the High Priest was required to offer blood for his
own sins before he was qualified to give sacrifice also for sins of the people,
and that this double sacrifice must be performed year after year. He points to
the sacrifice upon Golgotha as having been made ONCE AND FOR ALL, providing a
way of atonement through the blood of Jesus. During the regime of Jehovah, the
blood of humanity had become impregnated with egotism, which is the separative
factor in this age. From this sin it must be cleansed before mankind can be
united and enter the Kingdom of Christ. This was a gigantic task, for humanity
had become so impregnated with selfishness that scarcely anyone would do another
a favor. Hence the post-mortem panorama, of life at the time of Christ contained
nothing that would give a life in the First Heaven or make for spiritual
progress. Almost all the post-mortem existence of the people was spent in the
purgatorial expiration of their wrong-doings, and even their Second Heaven life,
where man learns to do creative work was almost barren. Then Solomon, the King,
was again called into the arena of life to perform a mission for the benefit and
welfare of his brethren, the Sons of Seth; he was peculiarly fitted for this
work because at heart he was unselfish as shown by the request which he made at
the time when Jehovah appeared to him in a dream and asked what he would have as
a gift when he ascended the throne. Solomon then said unto God "Thou hast
shown great mercy unto David my father and hath made me to reign in his stead
now; now, O Lord, let thy promise unto David my father be established, for Thou
hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. GIVE ME
NOW WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE, that I may go out and come in before this people, for
who can judge Thy people that is so great?" And God said to Solomon:
"Because this was in thine heart and thou hast not asked riches, wealth or
honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither hast ye asked long life, but hast
asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself that thou mayest judge my people over
whom I have made thee king, wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee, and I
will give thee riches and wealth and honor such as none of the kings have had
that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the
like."
It was this characteristic of unselfishness
developed in former lives that fitted the spirit of Solomon which inhabited the
body of Jesus for the high mission it was destined to fulfill; to serve as a
vehicle for the unifying unselfish Christ Spirit, for the purpose of bringing to
an end the division between the Sons of Seth and the Sons of Cain and uniting
them in the Brotherhood forming the kingdom of heaven.
When Faust made the pact with
Mephistopheles, as recorded in the ancient soul-myth of that name, he was about
to sign it in ink but Mephisto says: "No, sign it in blood." For this
request Faust asks the reason and Mephistopheles says knowingly and cunningly
"BLOOD IS A MOST PECULIAR ESSENCE!" It is said in the Bible that the
blood of bulls and calves will not take away sins and that is reasonable, but
how then about the blood of Jesus, which is extolled as a panacea? To understand
this great mystery of Golgotha it is necessary to study the composition and the
function of the flood from the occult point of view.
When blood is placed under a microscope, it
appears as a number of minute globules or discs, but when seen by the trained
clairvoyant as it courses through the living body blood is found to be a gas, a
spiritual essence. The heat is caused by the Ego which is within that blood, for
as the Bible says, the LIFE is in the blood. Mephisto was right when he said
that it is a most peculiar essence, for it contains the Ego, and whoever wants
to obtain a power over the Ego must have his blood.
The human Ego is more powerful than the
group spirit of the animal, as we can see when we apply the scientific test
known as haemolysis. Strange blood of a higher animal will kill, if inoculated
into the veins of a lower species; if we take human blood and inject it into an
animal, the animal will be unable to endure the high vibration that is in the
blood of the human being and it will die. On the other hand a human being may be
inoculated with the blood of a lower animal without injury. In ancient times it
was strictly forbidden anyone belonging to one tribe to marry into another tribe
because it was known then by the leaders of humanity that the strange blood
would kill something; it always does. We read that Adam and Methuselah lived so
many centuries; at that time it was the custom to marry in the family, marry as
closely as possible, so that the tie of blood might be as strong as it could be
made. Then the blood that coursed through the veins of the people in that family
contained the pictures of all that had happened to the different ancestor; these
were stored in the mind which is now subconscious. Then they were consciously
and constantly before the inner vision of all people, and each family was united
by this common blood wherein the pictures of their ancestors lived. The sons saw
the life of their fathers, and thus the fathers lived in the sons; and since the
consciousness of Adam and Methuselah and the other Patriarchs lived for
centuries in their descendants, they were said to live personally.
It was then as great a crime to marry
OUTSIDE the family as it now is to marry within. Even among the early Norsemen,
we learn that if anyone wanted to marry within a strange family, he was first
obliged to mix blood; it must first be tested to see whether his blood would mix
with that of the family into which he desired to marry. And thus haemolysis was
known to many in some of its phases at least. If the blood did not mix, it would
bring about "CONFUSION OF CASTE," as the Hindu says; a straight line
of descent must be kept, for otherwise those pictures in the inner vision would
become mixed and would be confused. This marrying in the family or tribe was
what engendered the selfishness, the clannishness, and the struggle and strife
of the world. To break these up, the practice must be discontinued; thus when
Christ came He advocated the discontinuance of the practice when He said:
"Before Abraham was, I AM." In effect He said: I do not care for the
race father, but I glory in the I Am, the Ego that was long before he was. And
He also said: "Who does not leave father and mother cannot follow Me."
As long as you are tied to the family, the nation, the tribe, you are siding
with the old blood, the old ways, and cannot amalgamate into a universal
brotherhood. That can only come when people marry internationally because when
there are so many nations the way to unite them is through marriage. Let
Abraham, the race and tribe father, die; let the "I AM" LIVE. Christ
knew the occult fact that the mixture of blood in international marriage always
kills something; if it does not kill the body, it kills something else. If we
mate a horse and a donkey, the outcome is a HYBRID, the mule; in that mule
something is missing on account of the mixture of strange blood, namely, the
faculty of propagation which is lacking in all hybrids. Similarly when we marry
internationally something else is destroyed and that is the pictures in the
inner vision. The different pictures of different families clash. And so the
clairvoyance, the touch with the spiritual world, with the memory of Nature, has
waned since the practice of marrying in the tribe was broken up. The Highland
Scot who marries in the clan and the gypsies alone retain this second sight in a
measure. Thus we see that the blood is now differently constituted from what it
was in the earlier ages of human evolution. The body of Jesus was a pioneer
vehicle of superlative purity at the time when the Christ Spirit entered it, as
a means of ingress to the center of the earth by the identical path which he
jumped into the Molten Sea and was conducted along the path of Initiation to the
center of the earth where Cain, his ancestor, dwelt.
This journey of Christ is recorded in I
Peter 3:18-19 after Christ had been freed from the flesh by the violent death on
Golgotha. When anyone is killed, the venous blood with its impurities clings
closely to the flesh, and therefore the arterial blood which flows is distinctly
cleaner than it would otherwise be; it is more free from passion and desire. And
being etherealized by the great Christ Spirit, THE CLEANSED BLOOD OF JESUS
OVERFLOWED THE WORLD, PURIFIED THE ETHERIC REGION OF SELFISHNESS TO A GREAT
EXTENT, and gave man a better chance to draw to himself materials which will
allow him to form altruistic purposes and desires. Thus the age of altruism was
there inaugurated. By faith in this blood, and by imitation of the Christ Life
the Sons of Seth are therefore provided with a means of purging from themselves
the curse of selfishness; while the Sons of Cain were given the emblem of the
ROSE AND THE CROSS to teach them to work faithfully to make the Molten Sea, the
Philosopher's Stone, and to find the NEW WORD which shall admit them to the
kingdom, for they believe more in works than in faith.
The accompanying chart shows graphically the
three Ages mentioned in this article:
(1) THE FIRST AGE, when each human being was
a complete creative unit, male-female, double sexed, and ruled by one Hierarch,
Melchisedec, who filled a dual office as King and Priest.
(2) THE SECOND AGE, when the division of the
race into men and women,
EVOLUTION UNDER HUMAN AND SUPERHUMAN RULERS
----------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------
LEMURIAN EPOCH | ATLANTEAN & ARYAN EPOCHS | NEW GALILEE
----------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------
HUMANITY WAS | |
DOUBLE-SEXED | TEMPORAL POWERS | ABOLITION OF SEX
MALEFEMALE /------------------------------\ | FINDING THE WORD
EACH BEING A / KING INITIATES \ THE WORD BECOMES
COMPLETE |PHREE MESSEN [Children of Light] | FLESH
CREATIVE UNIT | INITIATION BY FIRE [LIGHT] |
----------------| |---------------------| |-------------------------
MELCHISEDEC: | MALE IDEAL | CHRIST:
KING & PRIEST | HIRAM ABIFF | KING & PRIEST
JUST & HOLY |---------------------| JUST & HOLY
RECEIVED | VIRGIN MARY | BAPTISM OF SPIRIT
SACRIFICE | FEMALE IDEAL |
----------------| |---------------------| |-------------------------
DIVINE RULER | PRIESTS--BRAHMINS--LEVITES | DIVINE RULER OVER A
OVER HUMAN | INITIATION BY WATER [BAPTISM] | PURGED HUMANITY CALLED
BROTHERHOOD \ / ABRAHAM'S SEED DWELLING
TYPIFIED BY \-------------------------------/ IN THE NEW JER-U-SALEM
ABRAHAM | ECCLESIASTICAL POWERS | WHICH MEANS
MELCHISEDEC IS | | THERE SHALL BE PEACE
CALLED KING OF |DIVISION INTO RACES--NATIONS-- |
SALEM [PEACE] | SECTS |
AND PEACE |HENCE THERE IS WAR--OPPRESSION-- |
PREVAILED | SLAVERY |
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SATURN PERIOD | UNITY AND DIVERSITY | VULCAN PERIOD
POLARIAN EPOCH | LOVE AND HATE | KINGDOM OF GOD
[1] HEAT |---------------------------------| [7]
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SUN PERIOD VENUS PERIOD
HYPERBOREAN EPOCH NEW GALILEE
[2] FIRE [6] BROTHERHOOD
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MOON PERIOD [3] FIRE--MALE SEX--STATE [5] JUPITER PERIOD
LEMURIAN EPOCH WATER--FEMALE SEX--CHURCH ARYAN EPOCH
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EARTH PERIOD FIRE/MALE--AIR/NATIONS ATLANTEAN EPOCH
END OF INVOLUTION WATER/FEMALE--EARTH/RACES BEGINNING OF EVOLUTION
[4]
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