Sec. I. Edward Berdoe, M.R.C.S., in his "Life of Paracelsus," writes: "He was called a quack and impostor because he cured sick folk by unaccustomed methods. We have baptised these methods now, and given them orthodox names. Thus does the quackery of to-day, like its heresy, become the orthodoxy of to-morrow. We know how this man's character has been misrepresented in so many ways -we can see that much of his so-called arrogance was inspiration, and inspiration so far beyond the conception of the narrow, bigoted, grossly ignorant, monkish minds about him, that the inspiration of genius was probably mistaken ofttimes for that of wine." "Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber: . . . But wisdom is justified of her children" (Matt. 11, ver. 19). Page Line A recent writer says of him: "Into the tangled undergrowth of 336 11 theosophy, mysticism, magic and theology, he burst with the 258 29 pioneer's hatchet." This path was narrow and dangerous. Fortunately, he seems to have steered clear of its leading pitfalls, although he, like others, made the mistake of thinking that it was the "soul-powers " of the spirit in man that, by occult means, produced material things, and gave him exceptional powers. He * recognised, however, that in black magic," or when these powers were used to harm, or to inferfere with others, they were 77 32 demoniacal. We now know that "white magic," or when these 272 17 powers are apparently used to further the wishes of others, is 461 almost as bad. Before his time, religion and science of the day were one. Working 54 25 from a material, false basis, each harmed the other, religion strangling science, science putting religion on a false pedestal. The genius of Paracelsus was so far beyond that of those around him, that he was slandered and misrepresented universally, and ultimately he is 353 supposed to have been, to all intents and purposes, murdered in 1541 by those who were jealous of him. This is the history, more or less, of all those who have been before their time and have had sufficient moral courage to put forward their views. True Science Includes True Religion,— "Give us not only angels' songs, but Science rust, to which belongs 35 The tongue of angels and the song of songs "* (Mary Baker Eddy). 43 17 17 ོང 47 43 20 44 Huxley has said: "True science and true religion are twin-sisters, and the separation of either from the other is sure to be the death of both. Science prospers exactly in proportion as it is religious, and religion flourishes in exact proportion to the scientific depth and 332 40 firmness of its basis." He also has said: "The antagonism of science is not to religion, but to the heathen survivals and bad philosophy under which religion herself is often well-nigh crushed." 41 Herbert Spencer writes: "To reach that point of view from which the seeming discordance of religion and science disappears and the two merge into one, must cause a revolution of thought fruitful and beneficial in consequences." M. Flammarion's forecast of the religion of the future is that it will be "scientific, founded on a knowledge of psychical facts. This religion of science will have one great advantage over all that has gone before it-unity." 6 10 Henry Drummond, in the Preface of "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," writes: "Theology must feel to-day that the 293 modern world calls for a further proof. Nor will best Theology 292 41 resent this demand; it also demands it. Theology is searching on # 16 Extempore," January 1st, 1910 E Page Line 157 21 36 9 169 40 237 45 103 12 289 31 146 12 53 24 103 12 489 3 James 1:27 295 25 550 12 220 2 Sec. I. every hand for another echo of the Voice of which Revelation also is the echo, that out of the mouths of two witnesses its truths should be established . . . Science . . . speaks to Religion with twofold purpose. In the first place, it offers to corroborate Theology; in the second, to purify it. If the removal of suspicion from 5 Theology is of urgent moment, not less important is the removal of its adulterations . . . the artificial accumulations of centuries of uncontrolled speculation . . . they they mark the impossibility of progress without the guiding and sustaining hand of Law." We are in the midst of a mental revolution. Sir Oliver Lodge has 10 written: "The region of religion and a complete Science are one." This complete knowledge, "the seal of Deity" having "the impress of heaven," is divine, and is now at hand. For years science has been separating itself from the falsities of religion, and the greatest intellects of the twentieth century have been slowly divorcing them- 15 selves from it. Now the light has come, and again the two are wedded together, this time with an indissoluble band, the band of the knowledge of truth. "Science is clearly moving in the direction of the spiritual; nothing can be more certain” * (J. W. Heysinger, M.D.). Weary of matter, science would endeavour to give 20 the meaning of Spirit. Ethics." The science that treats of the principles of human morality and duty" ("New Century Reference Library Dictionary "). "Ethical Science is already for ever completed, so far as her general outline and main principles are concerned, and has been, as 25 it were, waiting for physical science to come up with her " ("Paradoxical Philosophy "). Physical science has now come up. The World's Awakening." Religion is a great reality and a great truth-nothing less than an essential and indestructible element of human nature" (Herbert Spencer). True religion is helping our fellow-man. For this it is necessary to obtain a better knowledge of God. The world is fast waking up to the true knowledge of God and all that this means. We are seeing that we cannot be pushed into heaven at the last moment by a blind belief in an inhuman sacrifice of a dearly-beloved Son, but that we receive day by day, moment by moment, only the results of the right and wrong thinking of ourselves and others. Fortunately, we are now recognising that by right thinking we rise into a conscious295 11,38 ness of complete dominion over the evil that hitherto may have appeared irresistible. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection" (I. Cor. 15, ver. 21). "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection (Rev. 20, ver. 6). The Greek word, "Anastasis," translated resurrection, means primarily, "an arousing from sleep." 73 15 88 34 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" (Is. 1, ver. 18). For the first time in the world's history every man's highest reasoning faculty can be satisfied by the demonstrable truth that is now flooding the world, proving beyond all cavil the omniSpirit and Matter before the Bar of Modern Science," p. 355. 3 3 Sec. I. potence of good, at all times, and under all circumstances. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5, ver. 14). "The entrance of thy words giveth light" (Ps. 119, ver. 130). "The true Light which lighteth every 5 man that cometh into the world" (John 1, ver. 9). This is the light of the knowledge of God and His manifestation, heaven. Page Line 66 WHAT IS HEAVEN? Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that lore 19 him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" (I. Cor. 2, ver. 9, 10.) The material, seeming man, man, gradually waking up, progressing towards a better recognition of the real and there 464 2 45 5 30 31 41 32 fore spiritual existence, finds out that heaven is "not a local 470 21 15 habitation, but the harmony of mind and body," a perfect 323 37 state of consciousness in which his real self exists at the 30 30,41 present time. He also finds that this sense of a material world, including his apparent selfhood, is only a false sense which, when corrected by the true knowledge of God, dis- 139 13 20 appears. That is to say, the human being gradually loses a false 274 17 sense of the world as material, and appears ultimately to see things as they really are, passing through the gate of truth into "the heaven of Soul." The human body and so-called "mind" will, yea, must, be ultimately entirely dematerialised, for "flesh and blood 312 23 cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (I. Cor. 15, ver. 50). Then it will be universally demonstrated that man has never actually existed in a material body or been dependent upon such an imperfect organisation. "That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3, ver. 6). The Kingdom of God that is Within.-"It is given unto you to 3 know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13, ver. 11). 16 The following statements with regard to heavenly realities are 464 neither speculative nor arbitrary, but logical conclusions, drawn from 339 scientific premises, and proved by illustrative demonstrations over limitations of material laws. 35 "Heaven is not," a noted preacher once said in a sermon, an eternal sitting in damp clouds, playing on harps, and singing praises to God, as so many seem to think." It has recently been recognised that we make our own hell and our own heaven here, and few men are fiends enough to want a 10 worse hell for anyone than many men are temporarily in at the present moment, the hell of their own wrong thoughts, due to their not knowing how to think rightly. "The mind is its own place, and 22 21 33 2 5 19 * Kant pointed out that the material world was wholly different from the real, 491 42 and that by the nature of our minds we could never know reality. This is true 492 36 45 of the material man, but not true of the real man, who is spiritual. Sec. I. in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven "• (Milton). Again, who has not tasted, if not of heaven, of a wonderful sense of heaven, at some time during his lifetime? "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below and saints above; For love is heaven, and heaven is love" (Sir Walter Scott). 5 "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17, ver. 20, 21). "The further a man goes in 10 search of it, the less likely he is to find it "† (Lao-Tze ‡). In other words, heaven is a perfect state of consciousness, or divine state of Mind, consisting of what the three classes of thinkers before referred to, call respectively, God and heaven, cause and its manifestation, Mind and its ideas; that is to say, it consists of the real people, the real planets, the real things, of which we appear to see the false concepts round us. Consequently, each of us is, and always has been, in reality, a perfect being, in a perfect world, governed by a perfect God. "Every mystic tells us that heaven is around us all the time" § (W. R. Inge, M.A., D.D., Dean of St. Paul's). "God. . . hath made every thing beautiful in his time" but, 2 unfortunately, the world is set "in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end" (Eccles. 3, ver. 11). Fortunately, however, in the light of present-day knowledge of man as spiritual, we cease to blame God for our own shortcomings, and a man soon begins to find that 2 under the worst circumstances, by turning in thought to God, he can get a faint sense of heaven, and along this scientific high road gain a clearer and increasing sense of its perfection, here and now. In this way he gradually gets rid of his troubles and the troubles of those around him, and so proves his knowledge of God, good. Individuality.-The remark has sometimes been made: "It would be very uninteresting if everyone were alike, however perfect they might be." Sir Oliver Lodge even has written, "a mechanically perfect, thoroughly finished world would perhaps be rather dull, and puts into the mouth of an imaginary inhabitant the following: words: "Good heavens, I cannot stand this; I am going to put a bit of grit into some of these too-well-oiled machines, as I want to see an explosion or an earthquake, or something interesting. I do not know what a burglary is, but even a burglary would be a change to this sort of Sunday-school existence. Do not any of you fellows know a wild animal that we might try to kill, or a serpent that might try to bite us, and give us some relief from the monotony; or is there no young person with an apple who would tempt us to have a bite? It is true I was made good-utterly, hopelessly good-but I believe, alas! that it is possible for me to be obstreperous-I propose to try." I "Paradise Lost." Professor Parker spells this word thus: Lao-Tsz. § Lecture on Christian Mysticism. The Clarion," November 5th, 1906. Sec. I. Page Line In the present spiritual reality all men are perfect, but this does not prevent spiritual progress. To every individual comes a constant 464 succession of different ideas, each absolutely perfect, consequently each person with whom you come in contact has new beauties of 5 infinite variety to which he calls attention. The difference between men, that is, their individuality, is the difference in the succession of God's ideas that unfold, and are reflected by them, and by this they are distinguished. Even in the seeming material world, as you increase in intelligence, you differentiate between people, not 10 by their appearance, but by what they have mentally presented to you. a The Unfolding of God's Ideas. has throughout eternity, come ideas. This is the unfolding of the only good ideas, "they come 15 from God and return to God," for all Being is God, individually and collectively. God as Life sends these ideas, God as Truth enables us to understand, and therefore enjoy them, and God as Love causes us to re-present them, that is, call the attention of our fellowman to them, or pass them on, so giving him the joy that we have 90 received from them, and receiving the happiness that this gives us. In other words, in heaven we are always exchanging perfect ideas with our fellow-men. Everything in heaven has to do with this perfect interchange of ideas, this revolution in "God's orbits" that is constantly taking place. In the so-called material consciousness 25 we are simply apparently receiving a counterfeit impression of these perfect spiritual realities, false views of the permanent ideas of God. To all of us, now in heaven, there 467 30 constant succession of perfect 30 464 Creation." God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his 289 Son [we individualise the Christ], whom he hath appointed heir of all 290 3 things, by whom also he made the worlds" (Heb. 1, ver. 1, 2). 30 43 5 66 31 27 12 7 10 We have the power of grouping together any number of these perfect ideas that come to us, into new combinations, spiritual and 64 7 tangible bouquets of lovely ideas and combinations of them. These also we re-present, "pass on," in the way of God's appointing, for the 464 35 benefit of our fellow-men. We do not, however, lose them ourselves, 140 as they form part of our definite individuality. This fresh grouping 491 of ideas is the only creation in heaven, because all the ideas of which these combinations are formed have always existed, and are perfect and infinite; they cannot be increased in number. This 291 40 is the only evolution, spiritual evolution. ... This is illustrated in the highest plane of human consciousness. Here "we find that wherever joy is, creation has been, and the richer the creation the deeper the joy. . . He who is certain, absolutely certain, that he has brought a living work to the birth, cares no more for praise, 45 and feels himself beyond glory" (Henri Bergson). Such joy can only accompany the unfolding of further good to humanity. 50 Heavenly Happiness.— "Pare with love earh golden mile, And thus have Hearen here this minute, 14 452 1 139 19 And not far off in the after while" (Nixon Waterman). It is obvious that in this kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of harmony, a perfect understanding, which is the basis of happiness, 501 reigns between all. Desire and fulfilment are one. This implies a continual harmonious interchange of ideas. We are eternally * "Life and Consciousness." 15 |