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THE 
 
 TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS 
 
 Gbe Soul 
 
 ITS POWERS, MIGRATIONS, AND TRANSMIGRATIONS 
 
 FOURTH EDITION 
 
 Revised and Enlarged 
 
 / 
 
 By F. B. DO WD 
 
 Rogers, Arkansas 
 
 " For these things that appear delight us, but make the things 
 that appear not, hard to believe ; or the things that appear not are 
 hard to believe," - - Hera:es. 
 
 1901 
 
 EULIAN PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 
 

 THE LIBRARY OF 
 CONGRESS, 
 
 Two Cores Received 
 
 AUG. 15 1901 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 1CLASS Ct^XXc. No. 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901, by 
 
 EULIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, Salem Mass., 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Entered at Stationer's Hall, London. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 C • C * « " € 
 ■ •• • - 
 
 Stanbope press 
 
 F. H. GILSON COMPANY 
 BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 
H»e&fcatfom 
 
 TO 
 
 JOHN HEANEY, 
 
 OF BUCKLEY, IROQUOIS COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 
 
 HIM OF THE GREAT SOUL, LOFTY MIND, AND LOVING HEART, 
 
 " DOOR OF THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS," 
 
 ARE THESE PAGES MOST RESPECTFULLY AND LOVINGLY 
 
 DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To provoke thought, and thus lift the world out 
 of the rut into which it has fallen, the following 
 pages have been written. The soul is no common 
 or vulgar thing ; and all approximation thereto, in 
 thought, must be transcendental. This work claims 
 to contain the fundamental principles of all religions 
 — the philosophy of manhood, and the road lead- 
 ing to a true life and immortality, here, on this 
 poor, much abused earth. " This is a matter-of-fact 
 age," and "the day of miracles has passed." That 
 is, those things which unaccountably happen, which 
 were formerly ascribed to God, have come a little 
 nearer home, and are now ascribed to nature. What 
 satisfaction there is in a name, especially to children ! 
 The superstition of the past, and of the stars, nar- 
 rowed down to that of "the ape " and "the mud ! " 
 Instead of the facts of observation, I have attempted 
 those of logic and common sense. Darwin and 
 Huxley have narrowed the mind down to a contem- 
 plation of the mud ("protoplasm "), but I call you to 
 a contemplation of man and his possibilities. / came, 
 and found this beautiful earth fanned by the breath 
 of deadly poison, which men, in the very agony of 
 breathing, call life. / go ; but in going, I would 
 
 5 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 leave it a little purer for having been here. I am 
 satisfied that man is the architect of himself, and of 
 all conditions, from "protoplasm " up; and it has 
 been my effort to stir him upward to the creation of 
 things worthy of himself. This year, 1881, is the 
 close of an epoch in the world's history. It will, 
 indeed, be sad, if we follow in the bloody track of 
 our forefathers downward. We have now an oppor- 
 tunity, next year, of cutting loose the shackles that 
 chain us to the corpse of the past. Let us make 
 the attempt. 
 
 It is not claimed that this work is wholly Rosi- 
 crucian. The sublime principles of this fraternity 
 are not conveyed in this manner ; but enough is 
 given to enable the thoughtful and earnest searcher 
 after truth to get a glimpse of the glory hidden, even 
 now, as in the past. It is not the loud sounding bells 
 of a sabbath morning, nor the roaring of organs and 
 voices ; neither is the high-toned oratory of the offici- 
 ating priest, true worship ; neither is it the rneans, 
 however charming and gratifying, which move the 
 infinite to the answering of prayer. Remember, 
 "silence is strength;" noises confuses. It is "an 
 empty sound," which silence comprehends not, or in 
 the comprehension of it, loses it. The unwavering, 
 persistent, incomprehensible (by us) thought, is the 
 sustaining and noiseless moving power of the uni- 
 verse ; and he who hath most of it is the most prayer- 
 answering God, and in and by virtue thereof he is 
 the greatest prayer. f. b. dowd. 
 
PREFACE TO ENLARGED EDITION. 
 
 No preface to this edition is necessary further 
 than to say that the book since its first publication 
 in 1882, having gone through three editions, and 
 being now out of print and still sought after, is con- 
 sidered worthy of an enlarged and revised edition. 
 
 To this end many changes have been made ; not, 
 however, in ideas, but in expression and in elaboration. 
 By the addition of two entirely new chapters, one on 
 heredity and one on the psychic senses, it is 
 hoped that the value of the work will be further en- 
 hanced. 
 
 F. B. DOWD. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Introduction. — The Supernatural n 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Principles of Nature 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Nature and Life 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Unnatural - . . 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Heredity vs. Progress 48 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Body and Spirit 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Mind 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Quaternary Mind 82 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Generation of Mind 96 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Irrational Mind 107 
 
 9 
 
IO CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Belief and Hope i 
 
 12 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Psychic Senses 122 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Belief and Knowledge 132 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Faith and Knowledge 140 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Soul 159 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Migration and Transmigration 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Will 201 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Voluntary and Involuntary Powers ... 224 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Will-Culture 232 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Soul-Powers and Spiritual Gifts 267 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Spirituality 291 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ROSICRUCLE f , . 304 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE SUPERNATURAL. 
 
 In this matter-of-fact age the existence of God is 
 seriously questioned by the greatest thinkers. The 
 reason is obviously in the definitions which the re- 
 ligious world — more especially the Christian — gives 
 to the term. The very nature of reason precludes 
 the idea of the existence of a Thing above, separate 
 and apart from the relationship of things. Reason 
 cannot transcend its own source. That which is 
 seen and known as nature — it being an infinitude 
 of objects and phenomena — is considered as suffi- 
 cient. And to reason and observation it does seem 
 so. But if we undertake an analysis of this thing 
 we call nature, we shall find it fully as remarkable 
 and as contradictory as to suppose a Supreme Being 
 as its maker. 
 
 The antipathies of things show no one source. 
 There seems, even to broad and deep reason, two 
 principles at war with each other ; equally so to the 
 fool they appear. One cannot be the cause of the 
 other — nor can they be self-adjusting and regulating. 
 Why? Because to us — not even to our reason — 
 
 ii 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is no thing self-existent or self-supporting. Every- 
 thing in existence is dependent upon something 
 else. 
 
 If there is an exception to this, it cannot be a 
 Form. If we pass by things in our thought, and 
 descend to principles, they also are dual and antago- 
 nistic. 
 
 To suppose Good to be the principle, and evil its 
 mere effect, is an absurdity, for one is as real as the 
 other ; and the evil is as much the cause of good as 
 good is the cause of evil. 
 
 We are so constituted that definitions are a neces- 
 sity of all growth, intellectual as well as physical. 
 All nature is an effort to define itself. But what is 
 it that is defining itself in this warfare of elements — 
 this clashing of interests ? Is it not something hidden 
 away alike from feeling or observation and reason, a 
 something underlying both soul and mind, of which 
 we can form no conception ? 
 
 Who can define the principle in himself which 
 feels, thinks and reasons ? It is known as the Ego, 
 the self, or the I. And even Jehovah defined Him- 
 self as "I am that I am," and how can I speak of 
 myself otherwise than to declare that I am ? 
 
 I cannot ascend above nor descend below, neither 
 can I circumscribe myself ; I meet myself at every 
 turn. If I essay a definition of God, it is my own 
 thought merely, and if I read it in a book, it is 
 merely the thought of some other mind similar to 
 my own. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 The nature of man is to think, but no man can 
 think outside of himself or beyond his nature. 
 
 To comprehend is to enclose as in a circle ; and 
 when we have gone around ourselves and analyzed 
 our entire being, pray, what do we know ? We know 
 this. From the pain and pleasure of living we know 
 of two great principles at war with each other in our- 
 selves ; and we agree to call one Good and the other 
 Evil. 
 
 Now we have these two principles through the 
 exercise of a power that underlies thought or mind, a 
 principle that exists prior to thought, viz. — sense. 
 
 Sense is the principle of all animate being, nay 
 more, it is the principle of all being and of all becom- 
 ing. Out of sense, as out of the womb, comes the 
 power to think, viz., the mind ; which does not feel, 
 but which estimates or judges of what affects the 
 man. Sense is the soul and the oversoul of things. It 
 is common to the worm, insect and to man. Bound- 
 less space pulsates with sense, in which worlds float 
 like dust in a sunbeam. Sense is supernatural. 
 
 That which is made a thing when limited by forms 
 and conditions, constitutes the soul of things, sparks 
 of an inconceivable fire whose light is mind, physi- 
 cally manifesting in stars, suns and worlds, holes in 
 the blue vault of heaven through which the super- 
 natural looks down at us. 
 
 What is that spark which flashes from a telegraph 
 instrument in the transmission of intelligence from 
 place to place ? It is light and of the same nature 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as thought. It flashes through space regardless of 
 time, loaded with intelligence, life, light and heat ; 
 which warms the blood and inspires the mind. 
 
 The oceans of space are filled with sense, of which 
 we become sensible by its impinging upon reservoirs 
 within, which we term hearing, seeing, feeling, smell- 
 ing and tasting, — the five senses or keys of this 
 human telegraph instrument. And he who operates 
 the machine, sends and receives telegrams and judges 
 of their nature and keeps the instrument in order, is 
 the Ego, man, who thinks, feels and knows; he 
 who judges nature and essays to improve upon her 
 methods. 
 
 The very perception of imperfection in any of 
 nature's works fixes the mark of superiority upon the 
 one who so perceives or thinks. The idea of improv- 
 ing anything carries with it the power to do so, even 
 the power to improve the selfhood, which is the think- 
 ing principle itself. 
 
 Man knows a little : but the all knowing, all think- 
 ing, all seeing power we call God, man can only ap- 
 prehend by the senses which are supposed to be five 
 in number ; but there are other senses of which we 
 have never dreamed — as the unknown is beyond the 
 known. 
 
 How small and weak is the latter compared to 
 the former ! How small the possible in comparison 
 to the impossible ! Is the Supernatural the impos- 
 sible ? Then how great and vast it must be ! It 
 is natural to grow in knowledge, but the things 
 
INTRO D UCTION. 1 5 
 
 unknown are infinite — they are all in our ignorance. 
 How vast it is compared to our knowledge ! Is 
 Ignorance the Supernatural? 
 
 The light that flows from the sun is small com- 
 pared to the limitless darkness that hovers around 
 its radius. Is the darkness the Supernatural ? 
 
 The above is greater than the below. Is it to be 
 wondered at that men have universally looked up to 
 God ? However vast nature may be there is some- 
 thing still above it, which, although incomprehensible, 
 still has an existence to every thinking mind. My 
 nature is limited by my knowledge of myself and 
 my relationship to others. So nature is a limited 
 thing, as my mind is my limit. 
 
 May not this nature, after all, be merely a mental 
 product as is the good and evil of it ? A mental pro- 
 duct ! not of one, nor even of a race, but of all minds 
 in unison ! Is all nature outside of us, or is it within, 
 as a wondrous mystery hidden in our ignorance. 
 
 Is not the impossible within us, the same as is 
 weakness, and ignorance, and darkness ? 
 
 Education is nothing but the opening of a "door," 
 or the lighting of a lamp in a dark place, through 
 which things before unknown appear to us as the 
 possible, and are very simple. 
 
 The circumstances of our lives are all within us, as 
 the possibilities of our natures, but hidden from us in 
 our ignorance, till our acts flow out as a light, showing 
 us merely a few things of the many still lying back 
 in the infinite darkness of the unexplored beyond. 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The hidden is infinite. We are hidden from our- 
 selves, and know not the wondrous powers lying back 
 of our smallness. 
 
 Even we are astonished at the wondrous skill of 
 this thing we call man, which is but the supernatural 
 revealing itself to us ; and why reveal itself if it is 
 not an invitation for us to become something more 
 than we now are ? And where shall we find a pat- 
 tern to guide us in this becoming, if it be not in our 
 thoughts ? Is this model of excellence to be found 
 in the most lovely forms of matter, or in the most 
 useful, or in the most powerful or in anything which 
 appeals to any of our senses as something like our- 
 selves : or must it be of a nature far superior to 
 thought or feeling, a something of which the imagi- 
 nation has conceived as far above the possibility of 
 attainment, of which the mind can form no image 
 and of which nature contains no likeness ? This 
 ideal conception is that which elevates one above him- 
 self to the supernatural of the self, the goal of all 
 becoming; and which is subjective rather than objec- 
 tive, the soul rather than the body. This ideal con- 
 ception is of God within the soul a subjective being 
 — not separate and apart from nature, but as the 
 creative principle thereof, residing in all and per- 
 meating all that is. In this view the supernatural 
 becomes comprehensible. It is the soul of nature 
 and objects : hence God is objectified in his works. 
 
 He who looks for God as an object to worship will 
 find many on the road to power, but he who looks for 
 
INTRODUCTION. If 
 
 God within himself will feel the fullness of satisfac- 
 tion and power, which God gives to all who love the 
 good and true. 
 
 That which is unchangeable is supernatural and 
 eternal. In nature things are mutable. Matter may 
 be divided till there is nothing left of it. Analyze a 
 thing, and you have nothing left of it save a little 
 dross. Take a chair for example. What is it ? A 
 few pieces of wood put together for use. Take it to 
 pieces and the chair vanishes. Burn the wood and 
 we have ashes. Melt the ashes and we have some 
 other substances to which science gives names. But 
 where and what is the chair ? Is it a mere name ? 
 or is it a substance ? It is an effect — a result of the 
 combination of pieces of wood. If it is an effect, 
 where and what is the cause ? I answer, the chair 
 was first an idea conceived in the mind of some man, 
 and came out of the man, and was formed in matter 
 for use. But the real chair is an idea, and hence it 
 is as indestructible as man himself. 
 
 The same is true of all things that man makes. 
 They came out of man as the light of his intelligence 
 illuminates the darkness of his ignorance, wherein 
 infinity exists. 
 
 Nature is matter, motion and space, but the sense 
 of it is the supernatural. It interprets itself, as I am 
 feebly trying to do. Each man must interpret for 
 himself, and his interpretation will be himself merely, 
 as the sense of his mind illumines the darkness 
 within. 
 
1 8 INTROD UCTION. 
 
 Space is a vacuum in which things exist in motion 
 or in sense. It is the " over-soul/ ' and comprehends^ 
 or includes all. This is the supernatural. The sense 
 of a thing gives it motion, and in motion things 
 gestate, as in a womb, and grow, or become material- 
 ized. 
 
 At the centre of things there are no things, nor 
 is any motion there. Perfection and stagnation exist 
 at the centre. The centre is a vacuum, and is the 
 soul. 
 
 All worlds wheel around centres, and centres are 
 souls, and souls are Gods. In God ("The Over- 
 Soul ") all things are possible — in nature, where soul 
 is a centre, the impossible exists, because here is 
 ignorance, darkness and weakness. 
 
 "He who limits things by his narrow sense is a^ 
 fool," says Hargrave Jennings, one of England's 
 great Rosicrucians ; and I say, whoever limits the 
 possible shows his weakness and want of compre- 
 hension. 
 
 We do not know what exists in nature. We know 
 very little, and what little we know is a damage to 
 us, save as it shows us our weakness and the power 
 and infinitude of the possible. To return to ideas. 
 
 We are as we think : ideas rule and govern all 
 action and all growth. Ideas are souls — entities of 
 all being — unchangeable and indestructible; they 
 exist in the spirit ; the atmosphere is the spirit of the 
 earth, and in it are the souls of vegetation, having 
 been evolved from the earth. They hover around, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 9 
 
 and when conditions are favorable, descend accord- 
 ing to the law of attraction and affinity, and spring 
 up in the soil as vegetation. 
 
 It is a well known fact to the pioneers of the 
 wilderness of northern Pennsylvania that on a newly- 
 cleared piece of woodland when the soil is killed by 
 burning, "fire-weeds M spring up almost as thick as 
 the hair on an animal's back. 
 
 There is such a thing as chemical affinity ; and the 
 earth being prepared by heat or in any other manner 
 makes "conditions " for new or old forms of vegeta- 
 tion to come into existence. The earth's atmosphere 
 is all alive with ideas — ideas of vegetables, animals 
 and men — all waiting for favorable conditions to 
 enable them to be born into existence. 
 
 Ideas are infinite in number and variety, corre- 
 sponding to all conditions from mineral up to man. 
 They are the soul-life and volition of matter, and they 
 enter into matter at every point where conditions are 
 favorable. 
 
 I hold that all forms are ideas materialized, that 
 ideas are eternal, but forms are evanescent. The 
 sunlight gives color to vegetation. Color is an idea, 
 and, although the foundation of color may reside in 
 the mineral of plants, yet we all know that the sun 
 develops it. 
 
 A child develops in utero, but who does not know 
 that the soul comes through the father ? Matter is 
 the mother ; spirit is the father. 
 
 In every atom of matter is a vacuum — else there 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 would be no attraction — for matter crowds upon 
 vacuum and hence takes form, and vacuum is the 
 womb of matter, into which ideas are attracted when- 
 ever moved by a magnetic current. 
 
 All life and organization are dependent upon this 
 current, and this is dependent upon the formation of 
 a magnet, or the union of the positive and negative, 
 the acid and alkali, the father and mother. As spirit 
 is the father, and as ideas (souls) come from the 
 Father, so does spirit baptize matter, impregnating it. 
 " God is a spirit. " So the supernatural is a spirit, 
 and will beget itself in matter whenever conditions 
 are favorable. 
 
 Ideas, being soul, are food for souls. Hence man 
 grows in creative and original power through his 
 reception of ideas. Ideas take root in the soil of 
 man's mind according to its condition, exactly as 
 vegetation springs up in the soil of the earth. If 
 the soil be poor the vegetation will be inferior. If the 
 mind be low and vulgar, the ideas attracted will be 
 inferior ; but ideas of whatever grade or kind are a 
 creative power. There is a spontaneity of mind as 
 well as of earth. That which springs up of itself is 
 generally weeds, but the most delicious fruits are pro- 
 duced by effort — culture. The higher the culture, 
 the nearer the approximation to the supernatural. 
 
 Look you at the burrowing worm, and at the soar- 
 ing eagle ! Step up, slowly, laboriously, from the 
 lowest form, step by step, to the highest form of life 
 known on this planet — man. Do you stop here ? 
 
INTRO D UCTION. 2 1 
 
 And because your poor sight sees no higher form 
 will you deny its existence ? Do you see intelligence 
 graded from the snail to the loftiest intellect, and 
 then, by your narrow sense, limit gradation of power ? 
 Behold the grass of the fields ! the lilies of the valley ! 
 Then look aloft, by day or by night, at the wondrous 
 manifestation of an intelligent power, and blush in 
 shame at your presumption. 
 \. We grasp a little knowledge, a little of life, a little 
 of spirit by the five senses, but the vital principles of 
 science and of human action are only grasped by the 
 loftiest reason. This is intuition. Are you a reason- 
 able being, and yet limit God by denying him ? If 
 so, your reason is of the lowest order ; it is destruc- 
 tive ; it is not GoD-like and creative. Analyze matter 
 in the crucible of thought — dissect all forms with the 
 scalpel of reason, and then when you are done with 
 your work tell me what you know. If your work has 
 not inspired you with a love of the unknown mystery 
 surrounding and dwelling within all things, you are an 
 egotist. If you cavil at names you are a fool. Are 
 you an artist ? Then take your inspirations from one 
 who works eternally, and never makes a failure. Are 
 you a mechanic ? Go study the suspension bridges 
 the spider makes, and the comb of the honey bee, or 
 the mechanism of a tree. I need not multiply words. 
 Whatever you are, or whatever you aspire to be, the 
 power is waiting for you — the patterns are spread 
 out for your study. 
 
 The supernatural is in all, and is subservient to 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 our wishes. But it is our work to make conditions — 
 these have no limit. There is no interference — you 
 can be just what you like to be ; but growth is slow. 
 Why hurry ? Is not eternity for us ? It is the 
 hurry and worry of life that destroy power. Trouble 
 and vexation destroy health and pleasure, and these 
 are all there is of value. 
 
 All things are suggestive, for they are ideas ; they 
 call us out of ourselves to revel in the infinite. Is 
 there no suggestion that comes to you, kind reader, 
 of the supernatural? Is there no intuitive feeling 
 that speaks to you of immortal undying power ? Do 
 you not, in your better moods, long to drink at the 
 fountain of life, pleasure and individuality? If not, 
 I am sorry for you. Ideas give fullness of life and 
 pleasure — the greater the idea, the greater fullness 
 and power. What idea is greater than the super- 
 natural ? 
 
 We talk glibly of the laws of nature, as if they 
 were fixed and immutable ; but they are set aside by 
 every habit which disgraces the race. Furthermore, 
 modern times are rife with accounts of the dead 
 appearing to the living, and of the living appearing 
 as the dead ; of levitation and the moving of substance 
 without a motive power, etc. The suspension of any 
 one law of nature proves beyond all question that all 
 are subject to the same power, and all may be sus- 
 pended or rendered inoperative: — take for example 
 the following, from the " Progressive Thinker " of 
 Nov. 10, 1900. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 WONDERFUL OCCULT POWERS. 
 
 As set forth by the Chicago American, William 
 H. Mack, a young man from New York, believes that 
 some day he will show that there is something wrong 
 with the law of gravitation, and that the laws which 
 now govern the attraction of the earth will have to 
 be amended. 
 
 At present he is a living demonstration of the fact 
 that the laws of gravitation don't always work as 
 they are laid down in books ; for Mr. Mack can make 
 himself so heavy nobody can lift him, or he can allow 
 himself to be lifted easily by a man of moderate 
 strength. 
 
 He has known of the strange power he possessed 
 ever since he was a mere child. He has exhibited it 
 for the benefit of the greatest specialists, but none 
 of them can give an explanation of just what the 
 subtle power is which he possesses. Professor Vir- 
 chow, of Berlin, says it is a form of nervous energy. 
 Charcot, the great French exponent of hypnotism, 
 declares it is a management of invisible force, what- 
 ever that may mean ; and so on. But nevertheless 
 the fact remains that Mack can regulate his weight, 
 and also has control over his pulse. 
 
 He has traveled around the world showing his 
 power, and in the course of his travels was in China 
 in 1896, where he was not allowed to exhibit before 
 the people, as he was regarded as a supernatural 
 being. He did, however, give an exhibition before 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Li Hung Chang. That shrewd diplomat said to him : 
 " You ought to be very rich ; you have such a grip 
 on the earth/' 
 
 Mr. Mack is now in Chicago, and he gave an exhi- 
 bition of his strange force at the American office 
 yesterday, where he defied the strongest employe in 
 the building to lift him from the ground if he did not 
 so choose. In his exhibitions he simply places his 
 finger upon the neck of the man trying to lift him, 
 and he is glued to the earth. No amount of energy 
 seems able to raise him, but when he does not apply 
 this touch he is as easily lifted as an ordinary man. 
 
 Mr. Mack also has the power of transmitting his 
 peculiar resistance to others by simply placing his 
 hand upon the neck. He has recently come from 
 Harvard, where he was a source of wonder and 
 amazement to the football team, which tried mass 
 plays upon him without avail. He defied their united 
 strength. Three or four of the biggest men on the 
 team tried with might and main to lift him, but failed. 
 
 Mack performs many wonderful feats, but perhaps 
 the strangest is this : he holds a vaulting-pole in an 
 upright position between the palms of his hands, and 
 permits as many as can conveniently grasp the pole 
 to do so, but their combined efforts are unable to 
 force the pole to the ground. 
 
 Mack first discovered his unusual power when a 
 small boy. He came home from school without a 
 merit card, and his father was about to punish him. 
 The small boy grasped the father by the neck and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2$ 
 
 the father's hand was stayed ; he could do nothing 
 with the boy, and was astonished. He tried to 
 carry the boy to the house, but was unable to lift 
 him from the ground. 
 
 Dr. Marion L. Simms, the family physician, was 
 called to see if he could explain the phenomenon, but 
 after several experiments gave it up. Spiritualists 
 thought they detected a great medium, but young 
 Mack did not show any genius in this respect. 
 
 In 1890 the strong man went to England and 
 submitted to tests by experiments there ; but no good 
 explanation of how he exerted his power was ob- 
 tained, and Mack still wonders why he does it and 
 why he is so different from other men. 
 
 The definition of a pound, according to physicists, 
 is "the pull of the earth exerted upon a small piece 
 of platinum deposited in the Exchequer at London.' ' 
 To Mack this means nothing, for he can make the 
 earth exert a greater or less amount of " pull " upon 
 him, and the unit of the measure of the force of 
 gravity is of no use. 
 
 On the scales he can vary his weight "working," 
 123 pounds, but he can also tip the beam at 800 
 pounds and then slowly decrease his avoirdupois to 
 about 35 pounds below normal, and he cannot ex- 
 plain it any more than anybody else. 
 
 Professor Virchow, in Berlin, made a three weeks' 
 study of Mack, and at the end of that time gave no 
 clear explanation of the phenomena which he had 
 studied. He gave it as his theory that it was some 
 
26 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 form of nerve resistance ; and the consensus of the 
 savants seems to be that it is something of ~that sort, 
 but something they have never been able to discover 
 before and are absolutely unable to account for. 
 
 Mack becomes exhausted after a little time and 
 seems in a state of almost total collapse after per- 
 forming his feats, but regains his normal poise in 
 about a half-hour of rest, which goes to confirm the 
 theory of it being nervous power which he uses. 
 
 For the American, Mack performed his usual feat 
 of increasing and diminishing his weight. He was 
 not feeling in the best of health, and said his " work " 
 affected him more than usual. He proved himself to 
 be absolute master of his weight, and could weigh 
 about what he wished when anybody tried to lift 
 him. One, two, three and four men made trials, but 
 could not move him from his feet. He could be 
 wrestled from his feet easily or toppled over and then 
 lifted ; but when he placed his finger on the neck of 
 one of the men, and they all touched flesh somewhere 
 along the line, his resistance baffled all their efforts. 
 
 v There seemed to several reporters who tried the 
 experiment and watched it closely, a trick of balance. 
 They tried similar experiments among themselves, 
 and found that when one of their number placed his 
 finger on the neck of another it was almost impossi- 
 ble to lift him ; the other trials failed, and they 
 finally came to the conclusion there was some 
 unusual power being manifested. 
 
THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF NATURE. 
 
 Nature is the manifestation of a hidden energy 
 which we call God. The principles of nature are, 
 strictly speaking, methods or laws of action. Each 
 thing has a nature of its own : and the nature of one 
 thing differs entirely from the nature of other things, 
 as the nature of a horse is unlike that of a dog, cat, 
 bird or man. But there is a resemblance, and these 
 resemblances, divergent as they are to the point of 
 utter and complete antagonism, emanate from one 
 universal source of energy which actuates and creates 
 the various natures of which we are cognizant. If 
 it were possible to know of the jfirst manifestation of 
 energy, it would undoubtedly be that of inertia — 
 repose — silence — as a seed just planted. 
 
 Nature is movement; but what of that thing 
 around which motion turns ? Motion cannot exist 
 without a center ; which is not manifest or known 
 except through motion. The nature of things is to 
 move and in motion to change : but the nature of 
 
 27 
 
28 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 inertia — which is not an object — is to be silent and 
 draw, — wooing things to itself. Centers do not 
 move ; but, womb-like, produce things. 
 
 Nature belongs to energy : it is not an entity ; but 
 it is the property of entities. My nature belongs to 
 me: it is my property, as is my coat, in which I 
 clothe myself for my satisfaction. 
 
 I change my nature in like manner as I do my 
 apparel, although the processes are invisible and 
 more slowly accomplished. 
 
 Everything in existence has a nature w r hich is 
 nothing more nor less than the condition in which it 
 is, and which, being understood, constitutes the so- 
 called principles of nature. A principle is that which 
 is self-existent, self-poised, eternal and immutable. 
 An object cannot be such. Why? Because things 
 or objects change in motion. 
 
 All the principle that exists in nature is that invis- 
 ible and incomprehensible energy which thinks and 
 forces things to be ; wherein it objectifies itself. 
 
 Those things which appear to be inert, or which 
 are called "dead matter," are wholly dependent 
 upon inexorable law, or certain fixed rules or methods ; 
 whereby existence is possible. 
 
 The principle of their existence — or their nature 
 — is to lie still, and to receive the kneading and 
 moulding given by a force greater than they have 
 themselves. As an egg, under the pressure and heat 
 of the brooding hen, lies inert, silent, breathless and 
 expectant, so does matter — the beginning of nature 
 
PRINCIPLES OF NA PURE. 29 
 
 — lie bound and chained in the grasp of inexorable 
 law waiting the coming of the Master to open the 
 prison door and set free the captive Ego. Oh, 
 dawn of sense! Thou rising sun of freedom's day! 
 Whence comest thou ? Who taught thee ? Who 
 gave thee the first impulse to break the law that 
 bound thee fast — as a chick breaks through the shell 
 which shuts out the light of another life ? Oh, sense ! 
 Thou risest up and thou fallest even as does the 
 sun, — typical of growth and decay, — the two great 
 opposing principles of nature, which are in reality 
 only the movements of one thing, — Ego. 
 
 Action and reaction, attraction and repulsion, good 
 and evil, light and darkness, mind and matter, heat 
 and cold : all are called principles of nature, when in 
 fact, they are simply manifestations of the power 
 that produces nature. There is a nature of life, 
 also a nature of death, a nature of health and a nature 
 of disease ; but, in order that such natures may ex- 
 ist, some one must live and die, or enjoy and suffer. 
 
 The only way by which energy may be known is 
 by what it does ; and nature is its first work and the 
 methods or ways of its doings constitute the prin- 
 ciples thereof. 
 
 The great principle by which creation is carried 
 on, is the mathematical principle of division, multi- 
 plication or expansion. 
 
 A unit equally divided becomes two units, but 
 when quartered there are four units ; and no matter 
 how minute the division may be, each part is still a 
 
30 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 unit and equal to the original unit which is lost in the 
 division. Furthermore, the difference between the 
 division of matter and the division of energy is as 
 follows : — matter by division becomes less and less 
 till nothing is left, while energy becomes sexual by 
 division, and thus propagative of its kind ; thereby 
 creating, by division, new sources of energy. 
 
 The division of energy here alluded to is as follows : 
 — one part being the energy of giving, while the 
 other part is the energy of receiving, — "'Male and 
 Female created He them." 
 
 These two great principles of division and multi- 
 plication, are virtually one, the creative principle of 
 God, motion and emotion, — called nature. 
 
 Matter is under law ; but God is above all law. 
 Energy is divided into two unequal parts, viz. — the 
 known and the unknown. That very small part 
 called the known is again divided into four elements, 
 called fire, water, earth, and air ; or the four king- 
 doms, — mineral, vegetable, animal and human ; or 
 the four points of the compass, — north, south, east 
 and west ; or the four great principles, — darkness 
 and light, life and death ; while the great undivided 
 and unknown occupies the center of creation and is 
 the Ego — or man. 
 
 This center I conceive to be a vacuum ; because 
 it is the opposite of matter and of motion. 
 
 It is the soul of man ; the throne of the Ego ; 
 that principle which says, thinks, feels and knows 
 that "I Am." This is the dome of the Temple of 
 the GREAT GOD. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF NATURE. 3 1 
 
 Motion cannot exist without a vacuum around 
 which to whirl and produce a vortex, into which 
 spirit may rush, as into a womb, to gestate and take 
 form. 
 
 Intelligence is synonymous with light ; while 
 ignorance is the same as darkness. 
 
 til we know of creation is revealed by light. 
 Alas ! How very small it is when compared to the 
 boundless and fathomless depths of ignorance which 
 enclose it, as the night encloses a fire-fly. 
 
 Nature is always dual ; but God is one who has 
 no opposite and is beyond comparison. 
 
 Man cannot exist except he rest in the bosom of 
 that mystery whose symbol is the darkness which 
 conceals all things — even life and light itself — and 
 invites to sweet repose. 
 
 Nature, the first manifestation of GOD, is a won- 
 drous mystery, containing within itself GOD and all 
 the known and unknown things of creation : formless, 
 yet producing forms, which, being ignorant, are made 
 intelligent ; blind, and made to see ; without sense, 
 yet made sensible : and all by reason of GOD who 
 "is all, and in all." 
 
 That nature per se is a relentless, unfeeling, re- 
 morseless power, needs no argument. It moves on, 
 regardless of the waste of worlds, or the sacrifice of 
 life or forms. To nature, death is the same as birth ; 
 and it creates forms but to destroy them. 
 
 Nature suffers not, neither does she enjoy. Re- 
 move sensation from nature, and it is neither good 
 
32 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 nor evil. The earth, water, air, electricity, the sun, 
 moon and stars, without something with which to 
 make comparison, are all alike indifferently good 
 or evil. 
 
 There can be no good or evil save to and for things 
 that suffer and enjoy. This indifference corresponds 
 to ignorance, for, out of indifferent nature comes all 
 of life ; even as knowledge springs from ignorance. 
 And what is ignorance but the night of mind : as 
 intelligence is the rising sun of sense.. Who has 
 explored the depths of the night of time which is 
 behind us ; or who can tell us of the extent or nature 
 of the future, which, like a black impenetrable wall, 
 closes us up in the tomb of a moment of time ? 
 
 We come from the night, and to it we return, 
 when wearied, for a renewal of life. We have no 
 recollection of that which transpired when we were 
 in the dark waters of the womb ; nor are we con- 
 scious that we are even now gestating, in souls we 
 call our own, from the formless spirit of brooding 
 darkness, the smouldering or the brighter light of 
 forms which cannot help the conscious feeling of 
 being number ONE, the great I himself. 
 
 ~ That is, indeed, the principle of nature, which the 
 world calls GOD. 
 
 As already stated, all things are dual, and nature 
 is both animate and inanimate, while law is that force 
 which compels inanimate things to either cease to be 
 or to move on to another plane of being. Law is 
 then, both destructive and constructive, as to things 
 that are under the law. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF NATURE. 33 
 
 But in the evolution of humanity there is a point 
 of growth wherein that outward force of circum- 
 stances which governs and controls the weak, becomes 
 an inner force, a force of thought, reason and re- 
 flection, which guides and directs by persuasion and 
 counsel, rather than by the violence of pain, which 
 leads upward and onward to the realm of power, 
 where man and law are ONE, and where pain and 
 death are not. Is it not a fact that the external 
 force of light causes physical eyes and sight to exist, 
 and is it not also a fact that an inner force analogous 
 to light, causes spiritual eyes and sight to exist, eyes 
 which see principles rather than symbols, and the 
 reason and use of things rather than the theatrical 
 play of existence. 
 
 It is this inner light which suggests to man the 
 power and privilege of choice of principles of nature 
 and of action ; which enables him to make the most 
 of himself. 
 
34 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NATURE AND LIFE. 
 
 To define life, is to live: for in our efforts to 
 define a thing or principle, we unconsciously become 
 like that which we attack. Analysis without defini- 
 tion is destruction. To define life is a herculean 
 task. Life is a manifestation of something having 
 power to feel which resides in an organization. 
 
 All things visible are simply effects of some hidden 
 cause — causes are always hidden. The true mode 
 of reasoning is from effects towards causes, which, 
 receding as we advance, we only approximate. 
 
 Life as it looks to us is an effect of causes going 
 before, a result of organization; but to the thinker 
 it is the cause of the organization and all that follows 
 its movements. 
 
 We know the uses of things we make, but of the 
 use of the things which God makes, we are, in the 
 main, supremely ignorant. Of this class is the phe- 
 nomena we call life. Many learned books are written 
 and the earth is deluged with sermons whose object 
 is to make clear this sublime mystery of life, but 
 their contents are merely a collection of words, — 
 a mass of conjectures falsely called revelations. 
 
NATURE AND LIFE. 35 
 
 Who knows the quality, value and use of any form 
 or manifestation of life ? It comes and goes as does 
 the breath, leaving little if any trace behind, — just 
 a name or a sign that it has been here. The in- 
 spired apostle John said, " In the beginning was the 
 word/' and I am of the opinion that it is also the 
 end of the matter as well ; for what matters the mul- 
 tiplication of names ? 
 
 Life means simply, to our dull comprehension, 
 things in motion ; but to a deeper and more compre-^/ 
 hensive sense it includes inertia. All is life. Even 
 that which we call death is another name for our 
 ignorance. 
 
 If we say that nature causes life, we misstate the 
 fact ; for the lives we lead, make our natures. We 
 are as we act, and do not act naturally. The motion 
 we call life is merely the " becoming " of ourselves, or 
 the coming into recognition of the Ego, which, stand- 
 ing between life and death, doth regulate all motion. 
 
 The only absolute fact is that which vtefeel. All 
 animate nature exists by reason of feeling and all the 
 phenomena of existence leads thereto. 
 
 Mind is the sun of the Spirit, which, like the 
 world, must needs polarize itself. At one pole are 
 the five physical senses ; at the other pole are the 
 intellectual senses or the powers of induction and de- 
 duction. 
 
 Are not all these powers real ? In their sphere 
 they are each true ; although, like heat and cold, they 
 are opposites and war with each other. 
 
36 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 By virtue of these five senses the earth appears as 
 an undulating plain, with the sun rising, moving over 
 head, and setting at night. We are always on the 
 top of the earth, and the heavens are above. 
 
 No mode of reasoning can make us feel that we 
 are half of the time underneath — or standing out 
 sideways in space. That this is owing to our rela- 
 tionship to the earth I freely admit, but the knowl- 
 edge we have gained through the exercise of the 
 higher intellect sets aside the basic facts of existence, 
 and proves them a delusion of sense. Now which 
 is correct ? May not the facts of intellect be a de- 
 lusion of sense, also ? There is no absoluteness in 
 man, save his existence. 
 
 These same senses cause us to feel pleasure and 
 pain. Is this fact a delusion of sense ? These 
 senses tell us of the up and the down ; and that the 
 reversal of ourselves is death. We instinctively love 
 pleasure, which we call good, and elevate it as God. 
 But we dread pain, and avoid it as the devil, which is 
 low down and to be kept down, if possible. Reason 
 as you will, sail around the globe, explore space 
 and measure the stars, and then teach that there is 
 no high and low, no good or evil, no up or down ; 
 but still common sense remains — as nature remains 
 — a solemn protest against the light of the intellect 
 as a guide to those deep and fundamental principles 
 of existence ; which to be of any value must bring 
 pleasure instead of pain. Human analysis leads the 
 soul to nothing; while the universal instinct warns 
 
NATURE AND LIFE. 37 
 
 man of the evils of pain and death — as if creative 
 genius has planted in man a something in which the 
 brute shares — that causes him to dread death, and 
 to value life. 
 
 And furthermore an instinct tells him of a nature 
 long since forgotten, save in legend ; of the unnatural 
 state in which he now lives, or rather suffers, and of 
 a supernatural state to which he may attain. 
 
 The instinct or common sense of atoms, impels 
 each to remain in its place and keep silent in obedi- 
 ence to the law of attraction ; but the soul gives 
 intellectual wings to dull matter, enabling it to fly 
 even as thought flies, to mingle with the source of all 
 life and light and to find a common relationship 
 existing from the lowest to the highest, and common 
 sense and common things as essential as the highest. 
 
 The lowly clod is as necessary as yonder sun and 
 the highest sense, by virtue of its greatness, recog- 
 nizes the kinship of all things, — even senseless ones. 
 
 Action and reaction are the great laws of nature 
 but inertia is as necessary as they ; since the phe- 
 nomena of motion could not exist were there nothing 
 silent and still whereby to measure the velocity of 
 things in motion. Now that sense which is the 
 nearest to no sense (the inertia of atoms) is common 
 sense, which knows nothing except what it suffers 
 and enjoys, that is satisfied in its ignorance and bliss, 
 which knows no future and has no aspiration, — is 
 that sense just above blank ignorance — the sense 
 nearest to the soul. 
 
38 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 There is a point where motion has a beginning — 
 a point where there is no motion — and a center 
 around which all things move. 
 
 We know it exists ; yet the loftiest mind has not 
 found such a center, nor have the poles of the earth 
 been discovered. Perhaps they will be and possibly 
 an absolute vacuum may yet be a demonstrated fact ; 
 but at present all things are related to each other, 
 and there is nothing absolute except the consequences 
 of being. These are a point of the supernatural 
 barely protruding itself above the floor of ignorance, 
 a gleam of light escaping through impenetrable dark- 
 ness, or infinite being narrowing itself down from 
 immensity to finite proportions, — points of light, of 
 sense and of consciousness, which grow from vacancy 
 or mere nothing, the lowest sense, to become in time 
 and eternity, infinite again, by escaping through 
 ignorance and darkness. Such is life, parts of one 
 grand homogenous whole ; which cannot be particled. 
 It is the same in worm as in man. The little life of 
 one thing is just as potent, and as great for that 
 thing, as the greater life is for another. If the life 
 of one thing is immortal, then all life is. But the life 
 may be beaten out of a thing by processes, to be 
 explained hereafter, so that it, as a thing, has no self- 
 supporting power. 
 
 Everything is dual — " Male and female created 
 he them/' — darkness and light, ignorance and intelli- 
 gence, cold and heat, evil and good, opposites, antago- 
 nists, all go hand in hand — inseparable. There is 
 
NATURE AND LIFE. 39 
 
 nothing known but has its opposite ; and one being 
 given, the other may be found close at hand. Fur- 
 thermore, the third thing, that which makes the 
 triangle of imperfection, resides always within the 
 two visible parts. 
 
 Two things being placed side by side are said to 
 be in contact ; but there is always something between 
 them, which prevents them from becoming one, for 
 absolute contact is oneness. That which separates 
 things is condition. Distance is condition. If all 
 things were in like condition, they would fuse and 
 blend so that all form would be lost. This third 
 thing — that is not a thing — this something intan- 
 gible and immaterial, I call the soul of things ; for 
 by virtue of it things exist and have motion. 
 
40 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE UNNATURAL. 
 
 I have already defined nature as action and not 
 the actor, or as the law and not the lawgiver ; and 
 also intimated that God — or, in other words, the 
 Ego called man is, when really at the apex of intel- 
 ligence and power, both the law and the law maker, 
 — or both creator and creature. These ideas are 
 very difficult to understand, but they are at the very 
 foundation of all progress, since our ideas of God 
 constitute the seed of our natures, or the motor of 
 our acts. We grow to be like that which we love 
 and of which we think the most ; and the attributes 
 with which we, in our thoughts, clothe God, slowly 
 but surely become our own. In our efforts to find 
 truth we must start upon facts ; and the fact, that 
 man is far, very far from being perfect in any sense 
 of the word whatever is very patent. 
 
 There must be intelligence far superior to any of 
 which we have knowledge. It is above us even as we 
 are above idiocy or insanity. When, in the evolution 
 of man, mind has reached the power of comparison, 
 a line or standard of excellence is established in his 
 very nature, above which he rises or below which 
 he falls. 
 
THE UNNATURAL. 4 1 
 
 Now nature being action, it is certain that every 
 thoughtful person will decide in his mind upon some 
 acts or method of action which he considers to be 
 proper, right and natural. This line is the moral 
 standard, which separates the human from the animal 
 kingdom, above which man seldom rises and below 
 which the race grovels now, as it ever has, through 
 countless ages of time. 
 
 This standard is the law of God, which every re- 
 sponsible person makes for himself by the power of 
 his own thought, and which is an inexorable force, 
 compelling everything beneath it to think, to see, to 
 grow and to become greater, because better. 
 
 Thus is man a progressive being, by reason of 
 being unnatural ; for, if it were possible for man to 
 act in perfect harmony with all the forces both with- 
 out and within, he could not improve himself, nor 
 anything of his surroundings. 
 
 It is by reason of man's perception of imperfection 
 that the idea of improvement finds place in the 
 human mind. It is the pain of an empty stomach 
 which makes food pleasant ; and man, having had a 
 taste of pleasure, has become insane with the lust of 
 owning the whole world, and even woman herself, 
 although she is his mother. 
 
 Above, below and around us is a black night, in 
 which we are, in the main, hidden from ourselves. 
 The dark future conceals from our poor eyes the con- 
 sequences, which, demon-like, leap out with our every 
 act, to curse or to bless us. 
 
42 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 In our ignorance of the future we get an imagina- 
 tive idea of some great good to be derived from doing 
 some certain thing. Immediately we set about it ; 
 and, being led captive by the object in view, regard- 
 less of heat and cold, hunger or thirst, pain or 
 pleasure, we rush along till exhausted. 
 
 Exhaustion is disease. It is unnatural ! All 
 disease is unnatural. It comes from action, — the 
 action of a Free Will. That man has become the 
 most unnatural being in existence, is caused not only 
 by his freedom of action, but by his greater range of 
 action, his greater power of thought, invention, and 
 imagination. 
 
 If nature be considered indifferent, man antago- 
 nizes it in every particular. He is a being of thought, 
 judgment, memory, imagination, craft, love and will. 
 Pride and ambition are his ruling traits. 
 
 Many there be who claim that all things are 
 natural ; that there is no transcending nature ; that 
 man cannot violate or go contrary to nature's laws. 
 The inevitable conclusion derived from the foregoing 
 is, that man is a mere machine, moving only as he is 
 moved upon ; that there is no such thing as volition : 
 no high, no low, no merit or demerit, no good, no evil. 
 Such conclusions must be false. Why ? Because it 
 is contrary to experience, and every-day facts of exist- 
 ence. By virtue of our organization, and by virtue of 
 the conditions of our very being, there exists the high 
 and low, the above and below, etc., and any conclu- 
 sions of logic, which set these mundane facts aside, 
 are based on false premises. 
 
THE UNNATURAL. 43 
 
 What a demon, nature or God must be, to hold us 
 responsible for the violation of laws, when we have 
 no power to help ourselves. But, they assert further, 
 that there is no violation of law ; that nature's laws 
 cannot be broken. I simply ask, do we not suffer for 
 the violence we do to ourselves ? Most assuredly. 
 Then why does nature, or God, necessity, or fate 
 make us suffer for doing that which we cannot help 
 doing ? 
 
 Man is of necessity a law maker, and, in his igno- 
 rance, cannot conform to nature's laws. To conform 
 to nature would be to revolve in an eternal circle ; 
 but man, in striving for the new, breaks through 
 the circle of ignorance and indifference, and gets 
 hurt in so doing. Thus he becomes diseased by his 
 own act. 
 
 I freely admit that he cannot help violating the 
 law on account of ignorance, since his whole being 
 is action, but each act or violation is a creation, and 
 is more pleasing to man because it is his own. And 
 furthermore, the ignorance we complain of is in our- 
 selves, and not in surroundings. Thus we compel 
 ourselves to act ; each act creates light, and light is 
 the object of our existence. Evil is our teacher. It 
 is wisely ordered that we should suffer ; for that 
 increases action or light, to which we are responsible, 
 and by which all are judged. We are nature, neces- 
 sity, or fate. 
 
 " Whatever is, is right ! " No, indeed ; the reverse 
 is nearer the truth. There is nothing true to its con- 
 
44 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 dition ; if things were true and right, there would be 
 no need of improvement, and no possible room for it. 
 There would be no foreshadowing of a better state 
 of things : no aspirations, no longings, no heart -aches, 
 no weariness of soul. There is little of right and 
 truth in all things ; just enough to give us a taste of 
 the good, and make us dissatisfied with our present 
 condition, and spur us on to effort to better it. 
 
 No man can climb who is at the top of the ladder. 
 Truth and right are far, very far, above us, but we 
 get flashes and gleams of the glory occasionally, 
 which show us where we stand on the ladder. Hide- 
 ous, weird, fantastic shapes glare out of the darkness 
 beneath, but above us is light, truth, knowledge, love, 
 glory, harmony. Nature is harmony, but the unnat- 
 ural is discord. 
 
 Man is unnatural because he makes himself less 
 than nature. He pretends to love nature, but in 
 reality he despises it. We are creatures of art. We 
 are made up mainly of hereditary and acquired habits. 
 These have become a second nature, which we admire. 
 This second nature I call the unnatural. True, nature 
 keeps along with us in our downward course, and 
 fights manfully against disease ; restoring us in sleep, 
 and adapting itself to our vices and crimes. 
 
 It is our voluntary powers which ruin us, but it is 
 the involuntary which give us what little health we 
 have. When we forget ourselves in sweet sleep, 
 nature asserts itself ; and even then the abnormal 
 habits of our daily lives prevent her work. There is 
 
THE UNNATURAL. 45 
 
 very little indifferent sleep. We are too intense ; the 
 intensity of the day disturbs the night. We cannot 
 forget that which we love : our daily avocations, our 
 graspings, our hoarding up, our over-reaching of each 
 other : these haunt us in our sleep. Nature must 
 play second. Our natural habits we are ashamed of, 
 and hide them away as we cover our nakedness. We 
 take no lesson even from innocent childhood — 
 glimpses of the kingdom of glory — but our earliest 
 recollections are pointings of the finger of shame. 
 
 To be dignified is the glory of civilization. To sup- 
 press natural laughter, and smile instead, is grand ; 
 to "put the best side out/' and to conceal the natural ; 
 to pretend to be greater, or better than we are ; to 
 think more of our looks, walk, manners, clothing, and 
 the wealth of which we have robbed the poor, — this 
 is civilization. To turn away from one poorly clad, 
 not deigning an answer to a civil question ; to look 
 coldly in the eye of a stranger, without speaking 
 when accosted, because you have not been intro- 
 duced: this is dignity; this is fashionable. To bow 
 down to kings, popes, priests, and the nobility ; to 
 shout and hurrah when they show themselves ; to 
 toil to support them in their pomp and idleness ; 
 to march in serried columns to deadly strife with 
 each other ; to murder each other without enmity — 
 this it is to be civilized. 
 
 The earth is drenched with human gore, and her 
 fair fields are rich with the bone-dust of humanity. 
 The glory of one nation is the destruction of another. 
 
46 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 What for ? To perpetuate the damnable and un- 
 natural idea that some men are better than others ; 
 that some were made to rule while others were made 
 to serve. Man has made this earth one vast pande- 
 monium — a cesspool, out of which come malarial 
 vapors and malarial beings, distorted in body, de- 
 formed in mind, dwarfed in spirit. 
 
 Look at the diabolical crimes — the fiendish actions 
 of men, the wrong and outrage — at the deadly dis- 
 eases constantly on the increase in type and malig- 
 nancy — and then say, if you can, that these things 
 are natural. I cannot. Alas ! how we degrade na- 
 ture or God in the bare idea. Not willing to ac- 
 knowledge the responsibility that belongs to him, he, 
 ADAM-like, hides his nakedness behind the fig leaves, 
 and ascribes to fate, nature, chance or necessity the 
 actions of which he is ashamed. 
 
 "Forced into the world, forced through it, and 
 forced out again/ ' he is taught that an innocent one 
 will bear the blame, suffer the penalty, and take all 
 the responsibility of his actions ; while at the same 
 time he is groaning under adversity, and suffering 
 from disease resulting from his own acts, which he 
 might have avoided with a little knowledge and self- 
 control. 
 
 The natural and the unnatural go hand in hand, as 
 matter and sense, body and mind, the voluntary and 
 involuntary, ignorance and knowledge — the same 
 as the opposite poles of a magnet. 
 
 Matter and mind are the two poles of an invisible 
 
THE UNNATURAL. 47 
 
 magnet. Mind is no more a result of matter than 
 matter is a result of mind. They both exist, and are 
 mutually dependent, not upon each other, but upon the 
 force residing between. In the magnet — the magic 
 mirror — we glimpse the supernatural, nature, 
 inertia, indifference, as an image of the real re- 
 versed. For in this whirl of atoms and worlds, and 
 the awful saturnalia of human passions, the real does 
 not appear on the surface ; hence far beneath the 
 scum of civilization lies the mirror all befogged, and 
 obscured from all eyes save those of the spirit. And 
 even the spirit cannot perceive the real, except as an 
 image or symbol — thrown by perpetual motion upon 
 the mirror of the mind. Nature works in and through 
 this outward show, but God is above and compre- 
 hends all. The real nature of man is covered with 
 filthy rags — with which he has clothed himself. 
 
THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HEREDITY VS. PROGRESS. 
 
 The past is a fearful burden which the present is 
 compelled to carry. 
 
 The memory of past follies, failures, and weak- 
 nesses, prevents our rising to the full altitude of our 
 power " to take the tide of fortune " at the moment 
 when it offers success. In great and trying emer- 
 gencies man loses sight of himself and the past, and, 
 surprising himself, is truly great. It is the knowledge 
 — or supposed facts — of the past which retards 
 progress. Ideas of heredity leave us little hope. 
 We argue that our ancestors have made us what 
 we are, and therefore they and they only are to 
 blame for our sins. Heredity makes mere machines 
 of us or, as Paul says, " pots, some made to honor 
 and some made to dishonor." 
 
 The conclusion is self-evident that if a creator be 
 admitted or assumed (other than the creature) the 
 maker must take upon himself the entire responsi- 
 bility for that which he makes, and it is upon this 
 ground that fault-finding, blame or curses are pre- 
 dicated. 
 
 A beginning establishes an end ■ — a first proves a 
 
HEREDITY VS. PROGRESS. 49 
 
 last — a highest establishes the lowest — a personal 
 God makes a personal Devil possible. This assump- 
 tion is the foundation of thrones, crowns, caste, hered- 
 itary rights, " blue blood/' etc. to the end of slavery. 
 
 The right to blame or to curse others for what 
 they do, inheres in an unwarranted and false assump- 
 tion of superiority. Of course the " right of way " 
 belongs to the first, and the right to make the law 
 and to judge another, also belongs to the maker ; for, 
 indeed, who can be so capable of judging of a ma- 
 chine as the constructor of it. / 
 
 But the judgment, taking the form of an uttered 
 eurse from the creative lips of Jehovah sounds 
 curious and ominous to me and to the world. This 
 first curse is the beginning of heredity. It has re- 
 verberated from sun to sun, from pole to pole, from 
 center to circumference in worlds and atoms, 
 throughout the vast cycles of time, till the grass and 
 even the very fruits and flowers of the earth have 
 become tinctured with its poisonous and malign in- 
 fluence and even man comes into existence, a living, 
 howling curse. It ferments in his blood and, boiling 
 over, froths on his lips, or, descending in lust, is 
 transmitted to posterity. 
 
 The wail of a new born babe — the first sound it 
 makes — is a protest against the hereditary burden 
 it senses, and w r hich grows in time into violence and 
 crime, — the curse materialized. 
 
 Ideas are hereditary, as well as disease, insanity, 
 flesh and blood. 
 
50 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Everything which obstructs progress shortens 
 human life and limits power, — as false ideas, disease, 
 inharmony, violation of one's own sense of justice and 
 right. All these and more are hereditary and the 
 mainspring and foundation of material action, upon 
 which foundation we build ourselves into a temple 
 of the living God, or hovels in which vermin crawl 
 and hiss. 
 
 The belief m a creator who uttered the first curse \ is 
 a hereditary poison which destroys freedom and even 
 the soul itself. Besides it furnishes an excuse for 
 men to curse ; for that which God does, every 
 " God-like' ' person should at least try to do. 
 
 Furthermore, Justice and Mercy are the highest 
 attributes of the spirit, and any false or low estimate 
 which man may conceive of these powers, is sure to 
 debase his nature and disease him physically. 
 
 The concept of God's justice as set forth in the 
 legend of the creation and the fall of man, is a con- 
 ception unworthy of a savage, though it has been 
 accepted in its literal aspect as absolute truth, and 
 worshiped from time immemorial, until it has become 
 the soul of individuals, families and governments. 
 
 Possibly Adam and Eve deserved punishment for 
 disobedience ; but the serpent had disobeyed no 
 command and had been guilty of nothing but speak- 
 ing the truth. 
 
 God had made the serpent, had given him that 
 " subtile " nature which belongs to intelligence and 
 had placed no restrictions upon his use of the same ; 
 
HEREDITY VS. PROGRESS. 5 1 
 
 and then to punish him without mercy, for using the 
 powers He had given him in imparting to poor stupid 
 Eve the truth which God withheld, is certainly a 
 strange sort of justice. 
 
 The hereditary descent of such ideas of the highest 
 and most ennobling attributes of the human soul 
 must account for the lost and degraded condition in 
 which man to-day is. 
 
 The truth of heredity no one can deny. It is the 
 anchor of progress. It is the almost insurmountable 
 barrier between man and the abode of the Gods. 
 
 It is the Karma of the Buddhistic cult : without it 
 forms would cease to be. The curse exists in nature ; 
 but in all fairness, let us give the great mind who 
 originated the legend of Genesis, the credit of hon- 
 esty and candor, as well as power of thought. He 
 never supposed that any thoughtful person would 
 take literally, that which common sense and nature 
 demonstrate as impossible. Who has heard God, 
 and who has seen Him at any time ? 
 
 There are two classes of facts, — those which are 
 known and those which are unknown : those of the 
 senses and those of the intellect, and these antago- 
 nize each other while truth resides in and between 
 them, — the soul thereof ; as heredity on one hand, 
 progress on the other, with God represented by man, 
 between, for whom and by whom they are made. 
 
 Were it not for his will, man would not be here. 
 He loves and wills to exist. The ancient writer of 
 Genesis called this love and will, " The Elohim ; " 
 
52 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 which, when literally considered and allegorically 
 written about, became objectified, personified and 
 called God ; and as such, hereditarily transmitted, it 
 becomes the foundation of theology. 
 
 Moses, when codifying the laws of nature, repre- 
 sents God as declaring to the Jews, — "I the Lord, 
 thy God, am a Jealous God ; visiting the iniquities 
 of the fathers upon the children to the third and 
 fourth generation of those who hate me." 
 
 Taken literally, we behold jealousy and injustice 
 exalted and personified as God ; but when taken in 
 its spiritual significance, it has the following meaning. 
 Love, the highest attribute of the spiritual nature of 
 man, the warmth and life of his blood, and the ruler 
 and giver of all his pleasure, should be the only 
 actuating principle of his life, should be kept pure, 
 simple and clean in thought, and should not be in- 
 flamed by images or lustful pictures in the mind, as 
 idols to be looked at or served ; for thereby lust 
 would become the ruling force, another God, of 
 violence, which by fermentation in the blood would 
 produce jealousy; in which "the blood runs cold " 
 with hate, and diseases, which take hold on death, 
 and are not cured " to the third or fourth genera- 
 tion/' 
 
 Jealousy is inflamed or lustful love, which en- 
 genders hate and crime and produces syphilis and all 
 manner of diseases hard to cure. It is a fact, though 
 scarcely known, that the ancient Jews were sex 
 worshipers ; St. John corroborates this by saying, 
 
HEREDITY VS. PROGRESS. 53 
 
 "God is love," and Isaiah exclaims, — "our God 
 is a consuming fire" — sexual fire — burning lust. 
 
 In those times all peoples were sex worshipers, 
 and resorted to all manner of methods of excitement, 
 debaucheries or excesses, which were called worship 
 or serving ; and Moses, seeing the evil of it, enacted 
 laws to preserve cleanliness, purity, simplicity, one- 
 ness, wholeness, or Holiness or one method of wor- 
 ship, for the sole and only purpose of preventing 
 disease. 
 
 " God is love," love is law, method, order, oneness. 
 The only way through the meshes of Karma and the 
 only remedy for hereditary ills, is in the Ego itself, 
 the prime actor and representative of God in these 
 bodies. Things are more than they appear to be. 
 We are hidden from ourselves and the great truth of 
 heredity is covered up in the individual himself. 
 Being made conscious of failures and wrong actions, 
 we are ashamed of ourselves and immediately find 
 excuses behind which to hide. The blame of another 
 for our acts or misfortunes shows our shame and 
 infernal egotism. The search for external causation 
 is prompted by our attempts to escape the pain of 
 self condemnation. We know that we act ; and that 
 we suffer and enjoy by reason thereof. What I am 
 to-day, my thoughts and acts in this life and other 
 stages of existence, have made me. 
 
 Memory carries my past life along with me in so 
 far as it is able to do so. It is thus stored up for re- 
 flection, to become the material of which my body is 
 
54 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 made. But, when memory fails to connect me with 
 other lives I have lived, and I find myself in possession 
 of a body fresh from my mother, a body of which I 
 know nothing, and over which I have no power though 
 confined within it and compelled to learn to use it, I 
 know by this that I am not the body, but am sepa- 
 rate from it ; yet I am compelled to inhabit this 
 body, to take it up slowly and laboriously atom by 
 atom and to learn to use it and make it my own. 
 
 What is this body but dead memories of past 
 events, a reminder of what I have formerly been and 
 done ? Acts follow us through our parents, taking 
 nothing but an outer gloss or appearance from them ; 
 but our club feet, hunch backs, insanity and diseases 
 are our own. 
 
 Accept them. Be not ashamed. * Try " to do 
 better. 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT, 55 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BODY AND SPIRIT. 
 
 Man is the ultimate, or fruit of the tree of life. 
 The lower orders of animate creatures may be termed 
 the roots, trunk, branches, leaves, etc., — but man 
 is the fruit. Some say, "he is an epitome of the 
 universe/* This is a mistaken idea. Men differ 
 one from another as the lower animals differ, or the 
 various orders of vegetables. The apple is a species 
 of fruit, but there are many varieties of apples. 
 However much men may differ in looks, form, man- 
 ners and disposition, there is one peculiarity notice- 
 able in all, viz., the correspondence to the lower 
 orders. We all resemble, more or less, some variety 
 of the lower orders ; and the less the resemblance 
 the further is the removal therefrom. Some have 
 the tiger, lion, vulture, hawk, eagle, sheep, goat, cat, 
 lynx, ox, owl, serpent, various kinds of fishes, etc., etc., 
 "ad infinitum" predominating. Some by their build 
 and motions show that they have just come up out 
 of the water — or, possibly, may be going back into 
 it. Man is an epitome of those elements through 
 which he has been evolved. We carry something of 
 what we have been, along with us, viz., the spirit. 
 
56 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 And some, having evolved upward through certain 
 elements, are an epitome of those elements, but not 
 of others. Elements are many ; but power is not 
 based in elements, neither can immortality be predi- 
 cated therein. 
 
 Animals are but vegetables cut loose at the roots ; 
 man differs from them only in degree. He has all 
 that they have, and a little more, generally, in some 
 directions ; but some animals are nearer human than 
 some men. According to Darwin, man has de- 
 scended from the ape. According to my understand- 
 ing there is as much logic in saying that the ape is a 
 degenerated man. "It is a poor rule that won't 
 work both ways." If man ascends he also descends. 
 
 We make distinctions, in our ignorance, of prin- 
 ciples, which, in reality, do not exist. If an animal 
 can evolve into a man, a man may retrograde into 
 an animal. Progression is no more a law than retro- 
 gression. If man ever had a beginning, he certainly 
 must have an end, no matter how long it may be 
 delayed. If he progress eternally, he certainly can- 
 not always remain man. Progress means change, 
 growth to better conditions, and conditions change the 
 form and nature. If man never had a beginning, he 
 can never have an end. But, suppose this idea to 
 be true, and progression without retrogression to be 
 the law of being, is it not a little strange that man is 
 no higher in the scale of being after having been 
 eternally progressing ? Remember, the eternity of 
 the past is the same as that of the future. Why is 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT, 57 
 
 he no greater, if he has always existed and been 
 always growing ? If he is merely an infant on this 
 earth, is it logical to conclude that he will remain the 
 same and still keep on growing eternally ? 
 
 The distinctions we make between things are 
 merely arbitrary. Life is one. Man has no more 
 right to immortality than the brute. Man, in his 
 pride and egotism, claims for himself a special crea- 
 tion and existence after death, but denies it to the 
 brute. This is not a logical deduction. Man is a 
 name merely that we give to a manifestation of life 
 to distinguish it from other manifestations. We 
 make distinctions to which we give names, which 
 are very satisfactory to most men. Names are very 
 satisfactory to children, but he who seeks for prin- 
 ciples, cares little for names. But in order to con- 
 vey ideas, and to be understood, and to distinguish 
 one thing from another, names are important. 
 
 " Man/' then, is the name given to the highest type 
 of life we are acquainted with on this earth, and the 
 term body is applied to the visible part. But the 
 real man is an idea — as much so as that represented 
 by any piece of mechanism. 
 
 There can be only owe principle in existence. The 
 moment you admit two, one bounds and limits the 
 other. Very suggestive of the positive and negative 
 poles of a magnet. Laying all speculation aside, we 
 do not know what "infinity" is, more than we know 
 what man or anything else is. If we should, at some 
 time, discover what it is, it would, after all, be only 
 
y 
 
 58 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 another name added to our vocabulary. I cannot find 
 a name for "her who is nameless" that third thing — 
 the mother of power and weakness, of God and of 
 nature. The loftiest thought cannot go beyond the 
 realm of things, for thought belongs to things. The 
 most fertile imagination cannot find a field that does 
 not exist, in which to revel. 
 
 The insane is as real as the sane, although we may 
 not think it desirable or healthy. Perhaps there are 
 some who love insanity. Who shall say that the 
 dividing line between sanity and insanity is a fiction ? 
 That dividing line — that neutral ground, is the 
 body — matter. 
 
 Science is unable to tell us of all the substances 
 that compose the human form. There is something 
 which escapes the closest analysis, or the most subtle 
 and searching thought. The scalpel fails to find the 
 spirit ; so science fails to find aught but the dross of 
 these bodies. There is a something hidden away in 
 matter that holds each atom in its place ; aye ! and 
 gives form to all atoms — which is master, and yet a 
 prisoner ; lord, but yet a servant. There is a some- 
 thing in matter lying latent which is not heat nor 
 flame, but which, when let loose, produces heat, flame 
 and combustion. 
 
 It is the " Fire " the ancient Magi worshiped. It 
 is not magnetism, nor the astral fluid, neither is it 
 light, nor electricity ; for these are but effects of its 
 freedom. There is a spark lying dormant in matter, 
 which, when aroused by friction, decomposes all 
 
 y 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT. 59 
 
 forms. If set in motion gently and by degrees, it 
 refines matter and causes growth, attracting and re- 
 pelling matter. If struck out by violence, it produces 
 conflagrations and destruction. Worlds are sustained 
 and destroyed by this spark of fire. It is a useful 
 servant to man, but when it gets beyond his control 
 it is a cruel and remorseless master. This Fire is 
 . the Spirit. 
 
 It is in all things, and is the life thereof. In fact, 
 things are but forms of spirit condensed. Life is a 
 liberation of spirit. All matter evolves from itself an 
 aura, peculiar to its condition. This aura is produced 
 by the gentle motion of things, in growth and in 
 death. All atoms are in motion, for spirit is cease- 
 lessly active. 
 
 Swedenborg says there is a sphere belonging to and 
 surrounding all things. It is more perceptible in 
 some things than in others. Baron Reichenbach 
 instituted a series of experiments with various metals 
 and stones which he submitted to sensitive persons in 
 a darkened chamber, and has written a work in which 
 he claims the same thing as true, so far as tested by 
 him. This aura I term spirit, or a result of the 
 action of that hidden fire, which has been worshiped 
 in ancient days as God, in honor of which the eternal 
 altar-fires were kept burning, and men bowed down 
 to the sun and worshiped Him as the most perfect 
 symbol of fire, or God. 
 
 All matter is undergoing change, and this change 
 is growth, and growth is life, and life is the freeing 
 
60 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 of fire or spirit. All matter is in a state of combus- 
 tion ; some forms slowly, others with great intensity. 
 This combustion may not be perceptible to our dull 
 senses, but that only proves our blindness. Growth 
 is the throwing off effete matter and taking on new. 
 This is exactly the case with violent combustion. A 
 burning pile throws off heat, smoke and flame, and 
 draws to itself the atmosphere, which, rushing in, 
 combines to increase the conflagration. This rushing 
 in is but the baptism of matter with fire, which can- 
 not exist without that influx. 
 
 The body may be likened to a furnace : it must be 
 fed with fuel ; and the atmosphere must meet that 
 fuel in the system, or no fire is kindled and no heat 
 generated. The lungs are the bellows which fan 
 the fires of life. The pores of the body are escape 
 pipes. 
 
 The atmosphere is the aura or spirit of the earth, 
 and all things on the earth live by inhaling it. Thus 
 it may be seen that the spirit of one thing may sup- 
 port another. Spirit absorbs spirit by combination, 
 the same as fire absorbs the atmosphere. 
 
 The body may be likened to a horse-shoe magnet, 
 or a combination of them. The legs are suggestive 
 of one ; the arms of another. We are, in fact, a com- 
 bination of magnetic motors — or, possibly, a galvanic 
 pile. May not our food furnish the alkali, the atmos- 
 phere the acid, the union of which sets free the spirit 
 (fire) of food, causing motion, heat, combustion, 
 growth and life ? May not the liver correspond to 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT. 6 1 
 
 the zinc, and the lungs to the copper plates of a 
 battery? Connected by acids and alkalis in the 
 system, a current is evolved, which dissolves and 
 decomposes food as fire does wood. The fire thus 
 set free from food becomes the aura (spirit) of the 
 organism in which it was set free. Thus our spirits 
 are made up in part from that which we eat. There 
 can be no combustion without the union of matter 
 and atmosphere. That union is the fusion or blend- 
 ing of all forms into one, and that one is formless, 
 viz., fire or spirit. 
 
 Power resides in the formless. In the imponder- 
 ables there is freedom, and without freedom there is 
 no power manifested. To a spirit in bondage there 
 is the darkness of matter, but a spirit set free is living 
 light, an immortal fire, whieh consumes matter as the 
 light of a lamp consumes oil. God is Fire, for 
 " God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must 
 worship in spirit and in truth." 
 
 Matter is but fire that is quenched. All it needs 
 is baptizing with a spark from God, and it begins to 
 burn and glow with life as embers in a furnace glow 
 with light. There is not an atom in the body that is 
 not vibrating with the electric or magnetic fires which 
 animate all things. It is, indeed, burning with a 
 lurid and weird intensity truly amazing. And we 
 might behold the grand and sublime spectacle if it 
 were not for the obtuseness of our dull and material- 
 istic senses. If once beheld, we would no longer 
 wonder at the vast amount of fuel required daily to 
 support this ethereal flame called life. 
 
62 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 The light emitted by these walking furnaces — 
 these torches, these living machines — varies in in- 
 tensity and volume, according to the nature and 
 quality of the matter in combustion. Some lights 
 are electric, radiating far and near ; so it is with some 
 men. Others, again, are small, and emit a soft, mild 
 light. Others, again, give out only a spark ; but 
 most bodies are so undeveloped that the fires of life 
 smoulder, and emit nothing but a fitful gleam now 
 and then, amid vast volumes of smoke. 
 
 This light emitted by all living beings — nay, by all 
 things mundane and supermundane — is the spirit. 
 It is the spirit of matter in combustion which con- 
 stitutes the aura of plants, animals and men. The 
 laws of combustion are the laws of the universe, and 
 they are the laws of magnetism, — action and reaction, 
 attraction and repulsion, an outgoing and incoming 
 current — this is all. 
 
 Hang a gold coin on the positive pole of a galvanic 
 battery in a solution, and a piece of brass or copper 
 on the negative pole in the solution, but not in contact 
 with the coin, and the result is, the positive galvanic 
 current dissolves the gold and carries it over to the 
 negative, where it is deposited upon the piece of 
 brass. Electro-magnetic physicians know that they 
 can increase the vital powers of any portion of the 
 system by the application of the negative electrode 
 thereto ; and that they can reduce the action of any 
 part by the application of the positive. 
 
 Thus it is demonstrated that matter is dissolved 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT. 63 
 
 and carried from one part of the system to another, 
 where it may be deposited, or even carried out of the 
 body. Now, we know that the female principle is 
 the productive, or the principle wherein matter is 
 combined into forms of life, and that the masculine 
 is the principle from which such life or matter comes 
 in solution, as the gold from the positive electrode. 
 
 Every human being is a magnet, which evolves a 
 positive force from itself, which dissolves and appro- 
 priates to the body material of various kinds from 
 food, and conveys it to renew the decaying tissues, 
 while it also repels and eliminates that which is 
 devitalized. 
 
 But the negative principle or force is not evolution- 
 ary but receptive, in which the positive deposits its 
 burden of spirit. Thus is the body constantly renewed 
 by a process little thought of, viz. : that of impregna- 
 tion and gestation. All motion is magnetic ; and this 
 is only another name given to the manifestation of fire 
 — combustion. All things are in a state of combus- 
 tion — some gently : this is growth and progress ; 
 others with intensity, as a conflagration, in which the 
 body is reduced to ashes, and the life of it back " to 
 God who gave it." 
 
 If attraction overbalance repulsion there is a slow 
 combustion, a smouldering of the fire, in which other 
 forms of matter appear (charcoal for instance). This 
 is exactly the case with nature ; the half -extinguished 
 fires of life preserve the form for a space of time. 
 But notice the slow and certain change of form from 
 
64 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 infancy to old age, showing that repulsion is master 
 after all. If repulsion over-balance attraction there 
 is a rapid conflagration, and forms of matter disappear 
 in smoke, vapor, heat and flame, to nothing — '-not 
 even to the blue sky." 
 
 It is to attraction that childhood owes its ruby 
 cheeks and lips, and its exuberance of life. The 
 immortal fires sparkle in its eye, and glow in its soft 
 and rounded flesh through which it shines, ere shame 
 has come to crimson the cheek and brow with a more 
 lurid light, with a more intense combustion, in which 
 the forms of youth change rapidly. 
 
 To repulsion we owe the lustreless eye, pallid 
 cheek, the gray hairs and wrinkles of age ; aye ! the 
 death of the body comes through excess of repulsion. 
 A proper balance is a marriage of these forces, in 
 which more things are generated than has yet been 
 dreamed of. 
 
 The aura or spirit obeys the same laws. The 
 positive is the seminal principle, which combines with 
 the negative, thus forming new blood, new tissue, new 
 vigor. 
 
 Violent combustion is destructive to forms of 
 matter, but the compounds resulting therefrom are 
 of incalculable value to mankind. The ashes of wood 
 are a compound resulting from combustion, but how 
 much of its chemical properties come from that in- 
 visible fire or spirit which resides in a negative state 
 in the air we breathe and burn, is not known. 
 
 The body is condensed aura or spirit, which liber- 
 
BODY AND SPIRIT. 6$ 
 
 ated by motion, flows around it as light flows from a 
 candle, passing out positive and returning negative. 
 The condition of the matter (body) in combustion 
 determines the brilliancy and power of the light. 
 
 Of the constituent elements of the body, science 
 says there are many, and goes on to name them. 
 But, gentlemen, with all respect for your knowledge, 
 your analyses and tests, your acids and crucibles, I 
 must say I question your conclusions. Why? Be- 
 cause a dead body is not the same as a living one. 
 The moment it is dead it is in another condition ; the 
 elements are changed and continue to change till 
 there is nothing left of them. Analyze a dead 
 bone, (you cannot analyze a live one), and you get 
 compounds to which you give names; but names 
 prove nothing. In your crucible, retort and receiver 
 the spirit of the universe is adding itself to your 
 work ; in fact, it is doing the work itself. You do 
 not know how much of your own spirit enters into 
 combination with the elements you are manipulating. 
 Then why such a parade of knowledge ? We do not 
 yet know the first letter of the alphabet of science. 
 
 Take a tub of earth and weigh it ; then in it plant 
 a seed. After a time you will have a tree ; remove 
 the tree, and again weigh the tub of earth, and see 
 how much less it weighs. You will find that the 
 tree is made up almost entirely from the atmosphere ; 
 which, indeed, is the spirit of the earth. Forms are 
 a condensation of the invisible. 
 
 The earth is none the less for having produced 
 
66 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 inanimate and animate things. A mother is not made 
 less by child-bearing. The light of a lamp is not 
 lessened by lighting other lamps. The human brain 
 is not reduced by giving thought and ideas to the 
 world, but its capacity is increased thereby. It is 
 said that " man is like a candle : when the light goes 
 out he is no more." I do not agree to this. Light 
 is an effect of combustion ; so is the manifestation 
 called life. But light is greater than oil, as spirit 
 is greater than matter, or as motives are greater 
 than acts. 
 
THE MIND. 6? 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MIND. 
 
 We have many so-called sciences of mind, promi- 
 nent among which is phrenology. This is recognized 
 as a science by most thinkers. The brain is recog- 
 nized as the organ of the mind, and mind is treated 
 as an entity — the Soul. I regard mind as the 
 light of the soul. It is a something the soul has 
 developed to enable it to come in contact with, and 
 to handle matter. The idiot has no mind, but he has 
 the power to suffer and enjoy. Now, it cannot logi- 
 cally be held that sense is mind, or that instinct is 
 mind ; infants have no mind, but they have the 
 capacity to develop mind. Thus mind is a thing that 
 grows and dies like a vegetable. Mind is a manifes- 
 tation of the soul, composed of various powers or 
 faculties. My mind is a machine I have made. It 
 belongs to me, as my body or my coat belongs to me. 
 It is my property. I may be robbed of it as I may 
 be of my money. True ! When my mind is gone I 
 am driven back, as it were, to a condition where 
 sense remains, but memory, reason, judgment and 
 will are not. 
 
 Mind is to me what the rudder is to a ship. By 
 
68 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the use of it I sail my frail bark over the stormy seas 
 of this life. Without it I am drifting like a piece of 
 drift-wood wherever the waves toss me. As a man 
 without property is considered nobody, so man with- 
 out a mind is, in fact ', a cipher. 
 
 As sense is the first manifestation of the soul, 
 mind is the second, and the body is the third. But 
 to observation the reverse seems to be true, inasmuch 
 as the body seems first, mind second, and the soul — 
 blank. 
 
 / Sense surrounds the soul as the atmosphere sur- 
 rounds the earth, and constitutes a sensorium upon 
 which all things are photographed, all sounds vibrated, 
 all thoughts and emotions reflected. It is sense 
 which separates things, holds each atom and each 
 body in place, and establishes the relationship govern- 
 ing. It is the sense of a thing which constitutes it 
 a thing. Without sense things could not exist. 
 
 Without feeling there is no contact ; without hear- 
 ing, no sound ; without light, no colors, no beauty, no 
 deformity. Sense does all things : it is God. The 
 awakening of our dull senses is like unto an egg 
 in incubation. The soul is the germ. The sense is 
 the beautiful arrangement and adjustment of vital 
 elements hermetically sealed up in a shell (body). 
 Without this sealing up, this isolation or insulation, 
 this partition between us and God, we could not 
 exist. These bodies stand guard over our souls to 
 preserve individuality. They are our preservation 
 from the Infinite. The lightnings are chained 
 
THE MIND. 69 
 
 down, bottled up, suspended in liquid form in the 
 e gg> as fi re quenched by water in wood, coal, or 
 storm-cloud. These bodies are important. Their 
 quality varies, according to the power contained 
 therein, as the shells of eggs vary. They subserve 
 the end of solidifying the fire into organic life. When 
 that is accomplished the shell becomes rotten, and 
 the fully-developed chick works its way out, into a 
 new life, or, rather, another stage of the same life, 
 for there is only one life — the life of sense or of " 
 God. 
 
 " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 Kingdom of God." " The Kingdom of God " is only 
 another and higher stage of life, and no man can 
 enter it save through the gestation and birth of a 
 Divine Body. 
 
 Ah ! the mysteries of being. Thou insignificant 
 egg ! Thou holdest in solution the incomprehensible 
 mystery of God and eternity ! In thy darkened 
 chambers God is waiting ! Thy spherical form speaks 
 of revolution as the primal law of all being ! " Her- 
 metically sealed " — so secure from curious eyes, so 
 full of "the elixir of life," and yet so fragile ! Thou 
 art the flame-tip liquefied ! Pure, beautiful thing ! 
 Containing in thyself infinity, soul, mind, body and 
 spirit ! What doth thy hatching signify if it be not 
 immortality ? Thy wings speak of flight and liberty, 
 thy lungs of inspiration, thine eyes of light, beauty, 
 immortality and the beholding of it. Thy instinct 
 speaks of intuition and all knowing ! Even the 
 
JO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 hovering of the Hen over thee typifies the " brood- 
 ing" care, and life-giving power of the Holy Spirit ! 
 Art thou evolved from the " black muck," thou pure, 
 white thing? Can mud see, or can it make eyes 
 like thine ? Can it think, or can it evolve a thought 
 or a thing capable of thought, Or, rather, didst thou 
 not descend, little chick — as descends the glory of 
 the night — from the " mystery of the shadow " ? 
 
 As an egg in incubation receives heat, first in the 
 shell, and secondly in the albumen, so do impressions 
 come to the mind through the body by contact with 
 the outer world. The heat which causes growth of 
 vegetation, animals and men comes from without, and 
 it is through pressure, contact or impressions. Nature 
 is to man what the hen is to the egg. Physical con- 
 tact is required to warm up and influence things that 
 have little sense ; but to those who have mind, there 
 is a spiritual contact or impact, far more potent and 
 far-reaching. 
 
 It is considered that man has five senses : feeling, 
 hearing, seeing, smelling and tasting. But I claim 
 that there are many faculties of the mind, and only 
 one sense. Sense is nearest the soul, the mind 
 comes next. Through the mind the sense receives 
 the fire which quickens the germ in the soul, or the 
 egg. Sense may be said to be feeling. We see a 
 lovely flower — we feel pleasure. If it be some hor- 
 rible sight we are pained. We may see it at a 
 distance, but the effect is the same. 
 
 We come in contact with that which we see, hear 
 
THE MIND. 71 
 
 and smell, as much as we do by taste or touch. We 
 see sights that electrify us. We hear sounds that 
 startle and urge us to action, as much as if we had 
 been struck a blow. We come in contact with things 
 and phenomena at a distance by sight and hearing, of 
 things nearer by touch and smelling, but it is all 
 feeling after all. The nerves of taste are only a little 
 more acute than those of the hands. We smell the 
 aroma of a rose, and we know it is near, although it 
 may be hidden. We are in contact with the rose, 
 for we have received something from it that has 
 made an impfession upon us. Its spirit has met 
 ours, and entering in, has added some fuel to the fire 
 burning within. New combinations have been formed 
 within us, and the rose has added its fire to ours. 
 
 Our spirits glow with a purer light from the con- 
 tact of love and beauty. All things grow by pressure, 
 contact or impressions. The impressions we receive 
 in our journey through life, from the gentle caress of 
 love to the discord and clash of opposing conditions, 
 are but for the reception of that Divine fire we 
 worshipped in the past. 
 
 "^-Each object we meet imparts its fire ; each ex- 
 perience we have, from the joys of a mother's heart 
 to the despair of the hopeless, is from the pressure 
 mother nature gives, as she warms and hatches her 
 brood. If we live properly we grow stronger and 
 stronger in all that makes the true man, till the rot- 
 ting shell (the body) bursts, and we fly away to 
 realms of immortal life. 
 
72 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Pressure comes by attraction, and this produces 
 growth by the gentle heat generated thereby ; but 
 the contact which comes by force is from repulsion, 
 and is death by conflagration. Fire struck out by 
 force is destructive. By attraction we receive what 
 we need, but by force more than we need, and often 
 that which is sickening. 
 
 Ask the pale, sickly mothers of th£ land if this is 
 not God's truth ! There is a mental or spiritual con- 
 tact of things, whose limit is unknown. It is not 
 possible for us to think of a thing, principle or state 
 of being that does not exist somewhere, within or 
 without the domain of " nature." To think of a 
 thing intensely is to see it in the mind ; and this sight 
 is clairvoyance. 
 
 To see a thing is to feel it ; this is contact, pres- 
 sure, impressions. The pressure upon the brain of a 
 thinker shows the power of thought and its contact. 
 The pleasure he feels in giving birth to that which 
 he hopes will do the world a great good, shows the 
 baptism with fire of which we read in the Scriptures. 
 ~ Thought is the lightning's flash. It penetrates. 
 It is the sunlight. It warms and gives color to life. 
 It dwells in all things, for all things are suggestive of 
 thought. They provoke us to think. If we will not^ 
 think, they send the plague, the famine, and a slow 
 decay. There are some rotten eggs in every nest. 
 Thought calls us out from ourselves, from our knowl- 
 edge of our weakness and follies — and then we are 
 great. To dwell in thought among the stars is to be 
 
THE MIND. 73 
 
 in contact with the Gods, and to receiver from them 
 what otherwise we should not have. Thought is a 
 stimulant : it intoxicates. To be drunk with thought 
 is to provoke mirth, like any drunken man. 
 
 The sun illumines a little space on the earth, but 
 the darkness is before and behind, and all around. 
 Like a coward it flees away as the sun approaches, 
 and like a coward it follows close behind, as follows 
 the past upon the present. 
 
 We cannot stand still : we must move on. The 
 little thought we have flashes out into the darkness 
 before and behind. Memory looks back at the gloom 
 of almost forgotten joys, and from the dim twilight 
 of the past come the ghosts of evil deeds. Our 
 weakness and follies appear gigantic. They are alive 
 and active, but the little good we have done is 
 scarcely perceptible — is feeble, is crowded back, like 
 a small boy in a crowd. 
 
 Thought flashes a ray of hope — of prescience ; 
 and the world follows its light with a deathless trust. 
 For it, they tax themselves to build churches and to 
 support an army of priests. For this ray of light, 
 this spark of Divine fire, they go hungry and in rags, 
 patiently. Who shall say there is not a pressure 
 here, a contact as close as that of matter, impressions 
 that move the souls of mankind ? 
 
 We gain knowledge, laboriously, in the collection 
 of facts ; but these facts must be digested by the 
 mind before they can be of use. Thought, reason, 
 analysis, are the stomach of the mind. Here the fire 
 
74 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 is extracted from facts, as life is from food in the 
 physical stomach. Doubt is indigestion. He who 
 digests the facts and phenomena of life, and still 
 doubts the immortality of man, has mental dyspepsia. 
 He does not get the fire, and consequently his spiritual 
 nature lacks warmth. 
 
 * He who properly digests the facts of life grows 
 warm and tender, and stronger in his trust towards 
 others. He dreams of immortality, for its fact is 
 impressed on his mind. In his dreams the mind 
 becomes telescopic, and he sees that which the 
 doubter scoffs at. But, nevertheless, he grows 
 stronger and stronger in his belief. 
 
 Long years ago I became very much interested in 
 clairvoyance. I wished to attain the power. I read 
 much and thought more. Sat in " circles/ ' used 
 magnets, insulated stools, galvanic bandages ; in fact, 
 exhausted all the methods within my reach, but with 
 the exception of a few " clouds " and "flashes of 
 light," my spiritual sight remained obscured. It was 
 late one stormy night in winter, in the little cottage 
 on the hill, overlooking "the father of waters," that, 
 after having lain on a couch for an hour as usual, 
 with a huge magnet in contact with my head, I re- 
 tired to bed, feeling sad and low-spirited. I lay for a 
 time listening to the moaning and wailing of the 
 winds, and pondering upon the subject which at that 
 time engrossed my entire being. All at once I be- 
 came conscious of a presence in my room. It was 
 intensely dark to the natural eye, but I saw clearly 
 
THE MIND. 75 
 
 an old man, tall and majestic, with a lofty brow, 
 deeply plowed with thought-lines ; mild, gentle expres- 
 sion, long, white beard, and hair that fell on his 
 shoulders. He held in his hand a brass rim, inclosing 
 a circular glass. He held it up, and asked me to 
 examine it. I did so and found it a mirror. He 
 called my attention to the fact that it not only re- 
 flected objects, but retained the images impressed 
 thereon. "This, ,, said he, " is the human mind, 
 which ordinarily has the power of reflection and 
 retention " (memory). He then pressed his thumbs 
 upon the glass holding the rim with his fingers. It 
 sunk with much difficulty under the pressure to the 
 depth of the rim. The glass then seemed a shade 
 smaller, but was still inclosed as before by a brass rim. 
 I looked in the dish-like mirror, and it seemed clouded ; 
 and strange, fanciful objects flitted across its surface. 
 Again he applied the pressure, and with some effort 
 the disk became deeper. Again I looked ; the clouds 
 had partially disappeared, and dimly seen, deep down 
 in the mirror, as if in the far distance, a lurid light 
 sent fitful gleams across the surface in the mirror. 
 Said he : " The mind, like this mirror, has the power 
 of elongation. Like this, the two first sections are 
 very difficult to start ; but these accomplished, and 
 the rest come easily." And he shoved rim after rim 
 out to the number of seven, and then bade me look. 
 I looked, and lo ! the wonders of the universe were 
 revealed. The light was clearer than the brightest 
 I ever saw. The ineffable glory of creative principle 
 
J 6 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. * 
 
 flashed like lightning upon my brain. I could not 
 bear the steady flame, and turned my wondering eyes 
 to the face of "the stranger." He smiled, and 
 ^/said : "The mind has a telescopic power, little known 
 to mortals. When once attained, there are no secrets 
 that may not be discovered/ ' And then he and the 
 " Magic Mirror " were gone. But I have nor for- 
 gotten the lesson. 
 
 In these pages, if you can comprehend the ideas, 
 you will find a verification of its truth, and the guide- 
 posts on the road to power. We can never know a 
 thing or principle except by contact therewith. Ideas 
 grow in the mind as vegetation grows in the earth. 
 Thoughts are the letters of a word ; the word is part 
 of a sentence. A complete sentence or a combina- 
 tion of incomplete sentences, contains an idea. 
 
 The word is the beginning of speech, or the first 
 materialization of an idea. Hence St. John says, 
 "In the beginning was the Word/' Now we may-' 
 think and think till we are exhausted, but if we con- 
 ceive no idea, and think it out to a clear and perfect 
 definition, it will do us no good ; it is like a plant 
 struck by frost, or withered by drouth. But if, in our 
 analysis of facts, we conceive an idea — - no matter 
 how vague — and dwell upon it in thought, it gradu- 
 ally takes form and grows to maturity. y 
 
 Maturity is a perfected idea. When an idea is 
 matured in the mind it enters into the soul, and be- 
 comes an integral part of the thinker, and he is 
 changed thereby. 
 
THE MIND. 77 
 
 •/"We are changed by our thoughts. That which 
 leads us upward towards the good is expansive ; 
 hence, creative of power : but that which is debasing 
 leads downward, and is contraction, hence destructive 
 to power. The soul expands by fire, but contracts 
 for want of it. Fire is power ; and weakness is for 
 want of it. It will be seen from the foregoing that 
 the mind occupies an important position. 
 
 Everything that reaches the soul must pass through 
 it in the form of ideas. For the soul is an idea itself, 
 and nothing can enter the soul that is foreign to it. 
 Fire is the spirit in which ideas reside. 
 
 If man were natural, there could be no progress, 
 for he would be in a state of indifference. But, being 
 unnatural, he is progressive and intense — i.e., insane 
 in his mind. The real appears to him as unreal, and 
 the unreal as the real. From this cause he looks 
 upon the body as the man, and the mind as the effect 
 of the body — like "the blaze of a candle " — and 
 laughs at the idea of a soul or spirit. This state of 
 the mind is termed natural. I call it unnatural. But 
 we cannot help being unnatural on account of our 
 ignorance. Ignorance always blunders — weakness 
 always falls. The first act of the natural was a fall, 
 for he was ignorant. When fallen he struggles to 
 stand erect, for he has knowledge of an erect posture. 
 The unnatural is progressive. 
 
 In the creation of man instinct was suspended by 
 a reversal, or depolarization of it, in which it was dis- 
 solved as it were and scattered, and became the seeds 
 
78 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 of many faculties. Each and every faculty of the 
 mind has instinct as its foundation. This scattering 
 or division of instinct may have been, and undoubt- 
 edly was, a slow process, occupying many ages. 
 
 Man is the only thing that comes into existence 
 totally helpless, totally blank of intelligence : hence 
 the death of instinct must have culminatad in his 
 creation. 
 
 The tossing waves of instinct, torn from the depths 
 of creation's ocean, tossed to mountain heights, and 
 beaten to froth, subsided in a great calm ! Anon, a 
 breath of the Infinite fanned the great deep, and man 
 sprang into being ! 
 
 This calm is a great rest of nature as she gathers 
 her forces for another effort : it is the soul as it 
 expands ; the vacuum that provokes motion. The 
 tornado was coming ; all nature held its breath in 
 expectancy ! It came in the shape of mind. Ever 
 since its advent there has been no more calm. From 
 sun to sun, from star to star, from pole to pole, from 
 centre to circumference, there is agitation. Nature 
 seems torn from her moorings. Her steady and 
 quiet ways seem broken in upon as by a God. She 
 is all turned topsy turvy. And she, good dame, 
 has joined in the mad revelry, as at her own nup- 
 tials. Nature seems to have departed from her usual 
 methods ; an innovation has been made, as if the 
 absent Lord had returned, or a god had descended ! 
 From this point — from this great calm, this rest and 
 expansion, this birth — work is the law. The first 
 
THE MIND, 79 
 
 effort was a failure because there was no guide, no 
 knowledge. A failure ! Such a thing was unknown 
 to nature. Astonished and bewildered, the soul^ 
 shrinks and collapses in giving the awful thing birth ! 
 A failure ! If being forced back from multiplicity to 
 unity — if being compelled in a new creation to go 
 back to the starting point — indifferent sense — to 
 work outward again to multiplicity — if this be a 
 failure, then man is a failure. And every man who 
 weeps over the weaknesses, follies and sufferings 
 of poor benighted humanity, recognizes it as such. 
 Every man who has an idea of improving the race 
 knows there is something wrong. 
 
 But nature, like an over-indulgent mother, says to 
 her child: "It is no failure, my child; try again/ ' 
 And sinking herself in her great love for him, be- 
 comes the involuntary powers of her child. For her 
 spoiled child she bears patiently every abuse. She 
 breathes for him while he sleeps. She labors as he 
 directs ; while he, visionary that he is, is busy build- 
 ing castles in the air. She walks, if he says walk ; 
 he takes no thought of the distance or the steps : all 
 he has to do is to direct her. If he fails to point the 
 way, through forgetfulness, she goes astray, for she 
 seems to be blind ; but she keeps on walking till he 
 says stop. If, in his perversity, he takes up some 
 habit that will eventually ruin him, she adapts herself 
 to his whim, and carries it on without his volition, 
 even to his death ; when he forgets it, she reminds 
 him of it. In his sleep she still labors for him to 
 V 
 
80 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 restore the waste of his unnatural life ; still whisper- 
 ing, " Try again!' 
 
 If he hates, she keeps it in his mind. If he re- 
 solves to commit some crime, she assists him as 
 readily as to do a good act, always whispering, " Try 
 again'' 
 
 <• If an incurable disease attacks her child, she fights 
 for him while he directs, and in the manner that he 
 directs, but when he loses control she joins forces 
 with the adversary to hurry on the work of dissolu- 
 tion. Even in death she reminds him of his habits. 
 Nature seems to be a blind force, an indifferent thing; 
 if it be a thing. She knows nothing, feels nothing ; 
 she simply furnishes us with the power to think and 
 feel, whispering, " Try again ! " 
 
 It is no fiction, — the fall of man, — but it is an 
 allegorical representation of a truth : or, in other 
 words, the effort of a great mind to explain the life 
 we live — the principles of being. The acts we do 
 furnish the light of experience. The man who trusts 
 in himself and walks out boldly gains the most. He 
 who trusts in God, although the happiest, gains the 
 least knowledge. If we fall and hurt ourselves, we 
 have the freedom to climb up again. And though 
 we may not climb back to the same place, we may go 
 higher. 
 
 Ever since the "fall," man has been scaling the 
 precipices of his weaknesses and failures. The point 
 I call your attention to is this : All acts have their 
 beginning and inception in the mind. Hence all 
 
 
THE MIND. 8 1 
 
 violations of law, with their attendant pain, disease, 
 weakness, and death, spring from mind. All viola- 
 tion is a creation. Hence all creation is a mental 
 product. 
 
 As acts flow from the mind, so matter flows from 
 the mind ; for acts materialized are matter. This 
 being so, the more Divine the mind is, the greater 
 will its creative power be. The evolution of matter 
 from itself having any quality or form, or the dissolv- 
 ing of matter already formed, by the suspension of 
 atomic laws, is logical, and within the range of man's 
 power, as a Divine Being. ^As a creator, all creation 
 is in his grasp, and he is therefore the architect of 
 himself, and his heavens or his hells. The concep- 
 tion of a thing is the beginning of its growth, Hell 
 grows out of our minds : so also does heaven ; but 
 hell is largest. So also a Divine body may be grown 
 by conception, gestation and birth in the mind. 
 
 Hell is fed by our desires to see our enemies suffer, 
 and from a spirit of retaliation and revenge. 
 
82 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE QUARTERN ARY MIND. 
 
 Having already defined the mind as light, it re- 
 mains for us to define the different kinds of mind or 
 light. 
 
 There are four kinds of light : viz. — Rational, 
 Irrational, Natural and Divine. 
 
 Mind, being the light or torch of the Ego, man, is 
 the means whereby he overcomes, subdues and appro- 
 priates to himself, the wonderful things that are 
 hidden in darkness. The first manifestation of the 
 soul is heat. It emanates from the Ego within the 
 soul and is therefore the beginning of sense, which 
 consists of both emotion and intelligence. The whole 
 temple of man springs from this source. This is the 
 Divine mind, the first emanation of Love, the sen- 
 sorium or aroma of the soul. The first effect of heat 
 is to produce, in the surrounding darkness, an agita- 
 tion or vibration corresponding to the twilight or child- 
 hood of being, — the dawn of mind — nature — 
 instinct. 
 
 Heat produces motion, which is nature. The Divine 
 mind is heat out of which springs a flame, — the 
 natural mind. 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 83 
 
 Imagine, if you can, a globe or hollow sphere, the 
 centre of which is black, but which gradually becomes 
 lighter outwardly till it becomes a glowing ball of red 
 light which flashes tongues of flame inwardly as well 
 as outwardly. This inward light is the rational mind, 
 while the outward light is the irrational mind. 
 
 As light radiates outward so does the natural mind 
 grope for satisfaction in the surrounding mysteries. 
 But the rational is an inward action of this mind 
 toward the Divine mind, a union of intense thought 
 — the heat of mind — with the heat or pulsations of 
 sympathy. 
 
 Rationality consists of intellect and love united, 
 or reason and intellect united to justice, mercy and 
 devotion. 
 
 Spiritual mind or light is the inward far-flashing, 
 flame-tip — the tongue of the serpent — which leaps 
 up and destroys the darkness and ignorance that is 
 within ourselves. 
 
 Light is the combustion of darkness, whereby 
 darkness, ignorance and mysteries are compelled to 
 yield up heat and the inconceivable things hidden 
 therein. 
 
 The soul grows by feeding upon its discoveries, — 
 and mind is that which discovers things. 
 
 The natural mind is the common mind. It receives 
 its impressions through the five senses ; or, in other 
 words, wholly from external nature. To it belong 
 observation, memory and reflection. All things of 
 this mundane sphere reflect themselves upon the 
 
84 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 mind as in a mirror. This mind grows and expands 
 by the collection of facts, but the conclusions of it 
 are material as the facts themselves. For this reason 
 the natural mind cannot conceive of a spiritual or 
 future state of existence ; its utmost powers enable 
 it only to reach the plane of knowledge, or the ma- 
 nipulation of matter. The knowledge gained by it is 
 the sciences and philosophy of material things ; it 
 adapts man to this " bread-and-butter M life. Its 
 analysis is destructive ; hence to it belong doubt, 
 skepticism, unbelief, and the impossible ; pride, lust, 
 hate, fear, avarice, deceit and invention are its con- 
 trolling powers. The interior of this mind being 
 closed up, there is no reflection from any other way 
 than from without. The soul is denied, because it 
 cannot be seen or handled ; its presence is unfelt, by 
 reason of the hardness and opacity of this mind. It 
 cannot feel from within, but is constantly drawn 
 outward by sight, sound and contact. It is the 
 " wide-awake " mind. Its highest faculty is the in- 
 vention of machinery, building of railways, cities, etc. 
 — all of a material character. But it is progressive, 
 inasmuch as it expands by its stretch after the new, 
 and its effort to perfect that which it conceives. 
 
 Conception is always superior to the production. 
 The true artist fails to come up to his ideal, because 
 the colors in his mind are pure, while the colors of his 
 picture, being a compound of matter, are dead. It is 
 a mere material thing, void of soul. If he could, by 
 looking at the canvas, project from his mind the 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 
 
 picture he sees in his mind, project the colors from 
 himself — without brush, paints or pencils — on the 
 canvas, it would come up to his ideal. This power 
 does not belong to the natural nor to the rational, 
 but to the Divine Mind. 
 
 The Divine mind does not exist to the natural 
 mind, because it cannot come in contact therewith. 
 The natural develops into the rational, which expands 
 to the Divine. The natural, by expansion, opens the 
 interiors, through which impressions come from the 
 unknown. If these impressions are not rejected 
 the mind becomes luminous. This illumination is 
 rationality. Impressions from within awaken the 
 mind as with a new life, and it gradually turns 
 within — thus reversing itself. This is the begin- 
 ning of magnetization, which is a turning inward of 
 the eyes and the sight — the beginning of the glory. 
 
 The natural may be compared to the flint, and 
 objects to the steel. The fire struck out is a mere 
 spark, which vanishes away and is lost ; but the 
 rational is a steady flame, flowing from the Divine, 
 making malleable and luminous the entire man. 
 Seeds deposited in the earth first soften, then enlarge, 
 before the germ can come forth. The natural mind 
 is the seed planted in the soil of the body, but the 
 rational is the tree ; the fruitage is the Divine ; which, 
 indeed, grows not out of the ground, but descends, as 
 the Spirit, to bless all who partake thereof. This is 
 the bread that comes down from Heaven, of which if 
 a man eat he shall not die. 
 
86 .THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 To the rational belongs the innocency of childhood, 
 with its simplicity and credulity. Instead of sagacity 
 there is intuition ; instead of deduction there are 
 visions and revelations. One might naturally think 
 that rationality came with age ; and so it would, if 
 there was no retrogression. Our daily lives cloud the 
 surface of the mind with a film, through which the 
 flint scarce penetrates ; hence there is no fire evolved 
 by the friction incident to this life. 
 
 We become insulated during the mad rush for 
 wealth, and the magnetism that gives growth and 
 expansion passes by us. The real age and life of a 
 man date from his conscious progress in the good 
 and pure. The real death dates from the time one 
 becomes conscious of being bad, and does not forsake 
 his evil ways. There are some children who are 
 older in soul-growth than some old men or women. 
 There are some persons who retrograde from earliest 
 childhood ; others progress for some years, then turn 
 downwards ; others, again, are bad in early life, then 
 suddenly, or slowly, turn to progress upward. We 
 may pity the old person who is hard. Progress 
 softens the mind, and thus the whole man expands. 
 
 The Divine mind is first ; next is the rational ; the 
 last and outermost is the natural. The natural cor- 
 responds to matter, the rational to spirit, the Divine 
 to soul. The Divine mind is the sensorium of the 
 soul, which surrounds it as a translucent film, which 
 expands and contracts. Attraction expands it ; re- 
 pulsion contracts it. It is the sengorium that is the 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 87 
 
 seat of consciousness ; the events of life are all pho- 
 tographed upon it. All the emotions that are ex- 
 perienced give color to it. The various strains of 
 music and discord leave their impression on it. The 
 voiceless universe affects it also. What we have 
 been in previous states of existence is brought forward 
 by the sensorium into this life ; and the sound of the 
 voice, the build of the body, the facial expression, the 
 laugh, the color of the eyes — all these, and more, 
 tell what we have been doing, and what we have 
 been in the long eternities of the past. 
 
 Ideas are mental images of things of the soul, 
 which are hidden in darkness, and are attracted from 
 their hiding places by man's need of them. They 
 are drawn forth by want, hunger, thirst, pain, desire, 
 persistent thought or earnest questioning. They 
 emerge slowly and stealthily from the secret recesses 
 of the soul into the twilight of the mind and are there 
 sensed rather than seen. Afterwards they may be 
 seen imperfectly ; or, as Paul says, " through a glass 
 darkly.' ' Because of the dull light of our minds, 
 ideas become distorted in our reflections. We are in 
 the/<?£* of past actions, and things appear reversed, as 
 in a mirage. For this reason we get no absolute 
 truth. Ideas are reversed and distorted from having 
 been impregnated by the spirit of what has been. 
 
 In the same manner spirit is changed into matter, 
 and becomes part and parcel of these bodies. For 
 instance, you have a wound ; the pain is a telegram 
 to the sensorium of the soul ; the idea to restore, 
 
88 THE TEMPLE OF 7 HE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 though unconscious to you, is immediately projected 
 by the Ego into the sensorium, or Divine mind, where 
 it is impregnated, and, descending, deposits life in the 
 form of new matter in the wound. Thus are the 
 injured tissues fed, like a child in embryo, till the parts 
 are restored. But there is a decay of the injured 
 parts before and during restoration. 
 
 How tenderly and carefully we nurse and dress an 
 ulcer, thus causing it to give way to new and healthy 
 flesh. Matter is but spirit reversed. Substance is 
 substantial ; it does not change, but spirit and matter 
 do change places or condition in becoming reversed. 
 The decayed matter of an ulcer is the return to spirit, 
 and matter in formation is spirit condensing : which 
 is effected by that third and incomprehensible thing 
 
 — the soul. 
 
 These material bodies are but an ulcer, so to speak, 
 upon a Divine and substantial body, which the soul 
 is striving to free therefrom. But in most of us this 
 Divine part is destroyed, swallowed up, eaten through 
 and through as by ulceration. The substance of the 
 Divine body is an idea of it. Matter, without an 
 idea, falls or lies dormant ; but with an idea it rises 
 up and walks erect as man. Aye ! and with an idea 
 of it he rises up to be a god. 
 
 Ideas revolve in cycles of time as worlds . revolve 
 in space. Hence, " there is nothing new under the 
 sun." We get a glimpse of the Divine in childhood 
 and in first love. But the fog soon — alas ! too soon 
 
 — rises and obscures the sun. In the reversal of 
 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 89 
 
 ideas the external, or the last, appears to be first* 
 Causation appears on the surface of things, and life 
 and mind seem as the effect of matter. 
 
 Religious ideas are of the soul; its symbols — 
 being projections thereof — are reversed images which 
 the world worships. The esoteric is lost in the rub- 
 bish of the exoteric, as the soul is lost in matter. 
 But it flows on in cycles, vast in extent, and grad- 
 ually works out of the rubbish, and asserts itself as 
 miracle. The age of miracle is near at hand ! The 
 cycle of the soul is nearly completed ! Already we 
 can see the first dim twilight of the rising sun ! 
 
 From the worship of the Divine — the one, the 
 first mathematical number — we have gone down to 
 the number nine in the absurdity of addition, and 
 now in that constellation we worship many gods — 
 our forefathers. But the absurd nine will pass 
 away, and the next cycle will be the union of the 
 Immortal 1 — symbol of creation and the beginning 
 — with o (10) symbol of the soul. Thus we revolve 
 in a numerical circle from one back to one again. 
 
 The natural mind becomes the rational by a 
 reversal of its light, that is to say, by an effort of 
 the will, its light is turned inward instead of rushing 
 outward ; and, instead of being absorbed in business 
 or material pursuits, it engages itself in deep and 
 persistent thought upon subjects difficult of compre- 
 hension, such as pertain to progress, ethics, the re- 
 lationship of things, self culture or spiritual matters. 
 This concentration of thought increases the light of 
 
90 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the inner mind> whose tendency is toward the soul, 
 where it comes in contact with the fire or spirit 
 which emanates from the soul to make by its motion 
 the flame or mind. Spirit is not light, but is that 
 which makes light ; even as fire is neither combustion 
 nor flame but that which produces both. The natural 
 mind has to do only with matter and we are so fa- 
 miliar with it that we think we know all about it ; 
 yet, it is a fathomless mystery and an intangible 
 abyss of which darkness is the mother. 
 
 Who can feel darkness or grasp it with the hand ; 
 yet it is as real as light which is said to create vegeta- 
 tion. 
 
 Creation is carried on upon sexual principles every- 
 where. Darkness is feminine Spirit while light is 
 masculine Spirit ; and both are formless and intan- 
 gible. Light is forever impinging upon darkness and 
 begetting itself therein as in a womb, to be there 
 conceived, gestated and formed into material things 
 both animate and inanimate. What is matter but 
 darkness and mystery ? What truer synonym of 
 ignorance have we than "dull dead matter "? Does 
 not mind beget intelligence in ignorance ? 
 
 It is a waste of words to argue that intelligence 
 and ignorance are not beings, and therefore cannot 
 beget and conceive as do animate, organized beings. 
 The principle is the same in formless spirit as in 
 forms : for, in spirit, essentials exist before forms 
 appear, and spirit is both masculine and feminine, — - 
 the Father and the Mother. 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 91 
 7 
 
 The motherhood of all creation is in the Night. 
 She coquets with the day, alluring him with her half 
 concealed voluptuousness, and coyly recedes as he 
 becomes too familiar in his amorous advances ; when 
 as she yields herself only partially to the glad sunrise, 
 of the ugly, contrary thing, behold what beauties are 
 born. . 
 
 Things bathed in the night become receptive to 
 the caresses of the king of light, and, under his 
 influence, become pregnant and bear fruit. 
 
 Every atom of matter glows with spirit, which 
 emanates from itself as an aura, light or mind ; for 
 all things are intelligent and speak to and influence 
 other things. Birds and flowers have a language of 
 their own. The clouds find voice and the solid 
 rocks cry out against violence.-^ All things have, 
 sleeping within, an intelligence which bursts into 
 flame under violent motion. This flame is mind and 
 every quivering atom of flesh has a flame of its own. 
 As the air envelops the earth, so does mind cover 
 the form :, to guard, protect and nourish it. 
 
 Spirit is one and without form, color, sound or 
 qualities of any kind; and, when divided, becomes 
 positive and negative, active and passive, masculine 
 and feminine or Light and Darkness, while the flame, 
 mind, or fecundating principle bursts forth at the 
 point of conjunction of the two. 
 
 This fecundating principle is thought, — spiritual 
 semen. Now bear in mind that the material con- 
 junction of the sexes is merely a symbol or reflex of 
 
92 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the same spiritual conjunction whjch takes place in 
 every one who loves and thinks. 7 Thought projected 
 from the mind begets that which is desired, — if the 
 thought reaches far enough. Such is the power of 
 the natural mind that it leads the sight outward ; at 
 least, we apparently think so in searching mentally 
 for hidden things. 
 
 It is hard to understand that distance and space 
 are inward as well as outward, that the vital princi- 
 ples of food and air are as much, or even more, in 
 thought as in matter and that the digestion of food 
 is simply a sexual embrace between force and matter, 
 in which life is begotten by the former, conceived by 
 the latter and born as are children, of the nature of 
 both, — material and spiritual. The soul is sustained 
 in the same manner as is the body ; that is, it 
 breathes spirit outward while we think, for creation is 
 material outwardly but spiritual inwardly. 
 
 The out going breath of the Ego is spirit, and 
 bears thought, which, returning circularly, begets in 
 the soul that which is thought of or imagined. That 
 which is begotten becomes part and parcel of the 
 man himself both physically and spiritually ; while that 
 which is conceived does not at once become conscious 
 and may never reach that stage, as embryonic life is 
 liable to miscarriage. 
 
 On this planet life is begotten but is scarcely con- 
 ceived ; and, as yet, is not at all gestated. 
 
 The wondrous powers of the spirit have scarcely 
 entered into the imagination of man. 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND, 93 
 
 Spirit being mind, the creator, must contain within 
 itself the essentials of all forms, prior to creation ; 
 therefore every atom of matter is, in itself, latent 
 light or fire, and, as everything has spirit within, the 
 stamp of intelligence is upon it. 
 
 Man creates by the power of his mind and by con- 
 juring things from his own soul. 
 
 The quarternary mind forms the universe, with its 
 axis and the four points of the compass ; and with 
 the blue dome of heaven surrounding, as its mirror, 
 in which are reflected the things of spirit which 
 are in the soul. 
 
 The suns and worlds of space are but reflections 
 of the spiritual things of the over-soul, of which the 
 over-arching vault of heaven is a miniature. Do they 
 not suggest eternal duration ? Is not reflected there 
 also eternal organic life, a life, lying dormant in the 
 soul of man, but ready to be conjured into flesh by 
 him who- can truly project his thought persistently 
 and far enough. 
 
 Wherein lies the power of the hypnotist to cause 
 his subject to see or feel that which is not ; and by 
 what power was the staff of Moses transformed into 
 a serpent before which Moses fled in terror. 
 
 Thought is the projecting, controlling, creative 
 power of spirit. By persistent, concentrative effort 
 in the right direction, the mind becomes Divine in 
 its creative power ; and man can be whatever he 
 desires to be. It is all within him, waiting but the 
 baptism of his thought. 
 
94 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 We speak of the mind as a thing, having an organ, 
 the brain, and a location therein, but we know of no 
 such thing. The mind may, and probably does, 
 come to a focus in the brain as a great centre of 
 perception ; but I have good grounds to maintain 
 that it occupies every atom of the body — even to 
 the toe-nails and hair ; and that it surrounds the soul, 
 separating the spirit from it, and that it is the great 
 laboratory of the Infinite, in which spirit is trans- 
 formed, and matter receives its quickening power, 
 and is transfigured, transposed, or rendered up to the 
 Infinite as an incorruptible substance. 
 
 Jesus was in possession of the Divine mind. It 
 was not possible for Him to be sick, to suffer pain, 
 or to die, save as He willed it. He did not die, only 
 in appearance ; neither did His body ascend, only in 
 appearance, but was transposed. This transposition 
 is a vanishing away out of sight. Read of the trans- 
 position of Philip, in Acts viii. 39-40. 
 
 Andrew Potts, of Harrisburg, Pa., told me — and 
 the same was corroborated by several truthful men 
 who witnessed it — that he vanished out of the sight 
 of his friends at the depot, when they were about to 
 take the cars for a town six miles down the road, and 
 that when the cars arrived at that station he was 
 already there, talking with a friend who was waiting 
 for the train to escort the friends to his house. 
 
 Jesus' life and death was to show mankind that he 
 was the same as they, and to show them the possi- 
 bilities of human nature. A teacher, to be accepta- 
 
THE QUARTERNARY MIND. 95 
 
 ble, must not be too far removed from his pupils. 
 Had Jesus manifested the powers of a God, vanished 
 from the cross, etc., He would have converted the 
 Jewish nation in a day, and they would have wor- 
 shipped Him as God. But what good would that 
 have done ? Lo ! the world has been worshipping 
 Gods for countless ages, and some portion has been 
 worshipping Jesus ever since His crucifixion, but 
 what good has it done ? 
 
 The Doctrines of Jesus are sublime in their truth 
 and simplicity — but very much, of the most value, 
 has never been penned. It has been urged against 
 him that he taught that which, if practiced, would 
 subvert civilization. On the contrary, it would 
 redeem mankind from barbarism and idolatry, and 
 make men civilized in place of semi-savage. "Greater 
 works than these shall ye do, because I go to the 
 Father.'* "By their fruits shall ye know them." 
 "These signs shall follow those that believed Who 
 believes ? 
 
g6 THE TEMPLE OE THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GENERATION OF MIND. 
 
 It is the weakness of matter which compels it to 
 lie dormant and still in one place ; this it is which 
 causes it to fall down when not supported. Gravita- 
 tion is only another name for weakness. So it is 
 with mind. That which is under law is weak, and 
 the more materialistic the mind is the weaker it is, 
 and the more bound by law. 
 
 Mind is law, but the thing moved and governed is 
 matter. To fulfill the law, then, is to perfect the 
 mind, and the matter under it ; for law makes mat- 
 ter, and imparts every quality to it — motion, weight, 
 buoyancy, etc. 
 
 To the perfected mind all mundane things are under, 
 or inclosed in it, as a large circle incloses smaller 
 ones. There is no such thing as perfecting nature — 
 it is already perfect. Neither can an imperfect thing 
 generate a perfect thing. The imperfect changes by 
 rising up to, and receiving the perfect within itself. 
 Thus the wise man works through nature, not 
 against it ; and mastering its modes, methods, laws 
 and minds, transcends them all; and looking back, 
 becomes a spectator rather than an actor. 
 
GENERA TION OF MIND. 97 
 
 This is the fulfillment of law, or in other words, 
 the being filled full of mind. For as we ascend in 
 the scale of power, we become more and more in- 
 volved, or enveloped in mind, which, penetrating 
 through and through, illuminates the spirit, and gives 
 buoyancy and fluidity, or malleability, to the matter 
 composing the body ; thus connecting it with other 
 matter, to influence, control, mould and fashion it for 
 use, as one uses his hands. 
 
 In order to pass from one nature, or mode of ex- 
 istence, into another, generation and birth are neces- 
 sary. This involves a sleep. The spirit worlds are of 
 this nature. In order to go beyond them — to the 
 realm of absolute power, the germs of the mind must 
 be ripe. We are here for the purpose — some of us, 
 at least — of generating mind ; not merely to spend a 
 few years in amassing wealth, or in toiling to support 
 bodies. 
 
 Those in whom the mind is not half generated 
 remain in this nature to try it over and over again. 
 Unripe germs will not grow. To pass into the 
 nature or " Kingdom of God" a regeneration is neces- 
 sary, because it is an incomprehensible nature to this 
 finite mind — hence the entire man must be re-made. 
 The body is of no account. Mind is that which 
 determines. Some minds are of no account. Fate 
 determines. 
 
 The truly generated mind may, and does, regen- 
 erate the man, and endow him or her with super- 
 natural power and immortal life, here on this earth. 
 
98 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 That which ensues at the death of the body is simply 
 generation, and not a regeneration ; for in the regen- 
 eration the body is changed in quality consciously, 
 by the joining to it of the Divine Mind. There is no 
 sleep or trance in this ; it is effort ; not physical, but 
 mental effort, in the destruction of things that disturb 
 the harmony. 
 
 There are many enemies to human progress, promi- 
 nent among which are the following of a downward 
 or retrogressive series, which are antagonized by an 
 upward or progressive series. They may properly be 
 termed Powers — one of Light, the other of Darkness. 
 
 POWERS OF LIGHT. POWERS OF DARKNESS. 
 
 ( i. Revelation. ( i. Ignorance. 
 
 ( 2. Joy. | 2. Sorrow. 
 
 ( 3. Temperance. ( 3. Intemperance. 
 
 ( 4. Continence. ( 4. Concupiscence. 
 
 ( 5. Justice. ( 5. Injustice. 
 
 ( 6. Communion. ( 6. Covetousness. 
 
 ( 7. Truth. ( 7. Deceit. 
 
 \ 8. Good. \ 8. Envy. 
 
 ( 9. Light. ( 9. Fraud. 
 
 ( 10. Life. ( 10. Wrath. 
 
 — Hermes. 
 
 Revelation may be known by its imparting a great 
 satisfaction, rest, or joy to man. Joy is prolific, since 
 it is the feminine of ideas. As Revelation drives 
 away ignorance, so joy drives away sorrow — or pre- 
 pares the mind to resist sorrow, and to be self-sus- 
 taining in its completeness — to stand calm and 
 tranquil amid life's changing scenes, and be content 
 and happy despite adversity. 
 
GENERATION OF MIND, 99 
 
 Temperance in all things is revealed as the source 
 of health, and immediately is seized upon by the 
 mind, and when it has grown apace, Continence, the 
 feminine of it, is evolved. And they two drive away 
 Intemperance and Concupiscence. 
 
 When this is accomplished the mind is as clear as 
 a polished mirror. The turbid waters of selfishness 
 and lust have subsided, and Justice y stripped of vin- 
 dictiveness, stands revealed as mercy, and becomes 
 the ruling power of the mind. Then comes Com- 
 munion, the feminine of Justice, and Injustice and 
 Covetousness flee away. There is now no feeling of 
 "mine and thine " left in the mind. All things are 
 pure and all things are common. The communion of 
 the sexes, of races, of spirits, angels, and Gods, is 
 effected, and the mind trembles with its fullness upon 
 the confines of absolute truth or oneness of being. 
 
 The soul has now ascended to the seventh sphere, 
 and is pregnant with male and female twins — " the 
 Truth of Good, and the Good of Truth," which in due 
 time are born into the conscious mind, whereupon 
 deceit and envy take their departure. In the light 
 of truth all distinctions and differences disappear, and 
 all things are good. 
 
 But this light reveals another light — dimly seen 
 at first — far away upon the backgrounds of the soul, 
 fitful and fleeting, obscured by passing shadows, it 
 grows brighter and comes nearer — an immortal light 
 in the centre of which is the germ of another life — 
 of an immortal substance called " the Tree of Life. ' 
 LofC. 
 
100 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 It slowly enters into the mind, and descending from 
 thence enters into and transforms the changeable 
 matter into a substance at once homogeneous and not 
 particled. The man is no longer in light and in life, 
 but light and life are in him. 
 
 The Infinite is no longer without and far away, but 
 it is within ; not divided and separated from, but the 
 integral part of all being, tangible, visible and intel- 
 ligible. The impossible does not belong to this life, 
 and flees away upon its approach, or is not. 
 
 The darkness and ignorance which form the back- 
 ground of the soul, in which we are hidden from our- 
 selves, has been withdrawn, and we are revealed as 
 the Over-soul itself, containing all life and forms 
 within. We are no longer involved in law or mind, 
 for we contain all of these, and are conscious thereof. 
 And we use them as we now do our hands and feet. 
 
 Man is master of all his soul embraces. This is the 
 proper generation of mind, wherein the body and 
 spirit are regenerated. To such, death is not, for 
 death is a weakness. The intuitions of a ripened 
 mind are as broad and deep as the universe, but those 
 of a small or an unripe mind are weak and shallow. 
 
 Hence the necessity of mental culture — not in the 
 acquisition of earthly knowledge, but in the effort to 
 grasp creative power — philosophy, astronomy, etc., 
 in their broadest and deepest aspects. Philosophy is 
 the highest of all studies. It wings the soul. 
 
 Truth is so little known that it is folly to waste 
 words in argument ; but speculate, think, entertain 
 
GENERATION OF MIND, IOI 
 
 and master all ideas thereto ; imagine, grasp at the 
 Infinite Mind, and bring it into yourself, for in the 
 effort the mind expands, stretches out and grows. 
 What if you accept an error to-day ? You can change 
 your opinion to-morrow ! Above all things beware of 
 fossilization. 
 
 Had Jesus healed the whole world in a day, it 
 would have been sick again in a few weeks, if not 
 days. He did not teach worship, but manhood, as a 
 Divine thing. He taught salvation as flowing from 
 works, and not from his merits or blood, or from the 
 worship of him, or anything else but principle. He 
 taught the influence and value of belief ; and also of 
 several kinds of baptism — of water, of fire, and of 
 the Holy Ghost ; and also of a baptism which he 
 should undergo at his death. 
 
 We are left to conjecture what baptism he meant 
 when he said, " He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved," etc. (See Mark xvi. 16, 17, 18.) 
 But we are not left in doubt in regard to its being 
 the baptism with water, for the Christian world has 
 been " sprinkled," " poured," and " plunged" in water 
 for eighteen hundred and eighty-two years ; and where 
 are the "signs" he said should follow as an evidence 
 of salvation ? 
 
 He said he was the bread of life; to eat thereof 
 was to be immortal. Now, the truth is, he was teach- 
 ing the same thing I am trying to illustrate, and his 
 ignorant apostles, or some one else, have got it mixed 
 up and distorted, in order to deify him. He said the 
 
102 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 bread of life came from heaven ; and also that " the 
 Kingdom of God is within you." He also spoke of 
 another birth, and of sight, as a result of that birth. 
 Baptism with water is a symbol of purification in order 
 to the reception of another Baptism, viz., that of fire. 
 The Baptism with water is typical of the softening and 
 the making tender (as a seed) the natural mind, so 
 that it may expand or revolve in its growth towards 
 rationality. The softened, tender, sympathetic, open- 
 ing mind, inhales the fragrance of another life, and it 
 buds, blossoms and bears fruits which are a blessing 
 to all. Its blossoms are a sight of the kingdom of 
 God, and its fruit is the entering into the spirit of all 
 truth, and the birth of a Divine Body, indestructible 
 and eternal. 
 
 Bathing assists the will in the healing of the body, 
 and in the subduing of the heat of passion. Water 
 opens the pores of the body — belief opens the mind ; 
 the first for the reception of magnetism (spirit), the 
 latter for the reception of ideas, which are, indeed, of 
 the soul (Holy Ghost). 
 
 This is the building up of a divine body of a super- 
 natural substance, from the atmosphere of a thought- 
 world. We need not die, if we only know how to 
 live. But what can we say of a world of men who 
 think of nothing but vanity, and concerning the 
 serious part of life hire their thinking done ? The 
 thoughts doled out from millions of pulpit-grinders 
 every seventh-day are but the effluvia of the past, the 
 exhalations of the dead ; what kind of substance do 
 
GENERATION OF MIND. 103 
 
 they furnish for a dying world ? Is this the " bread 
 of life " ? Is there a spark of original fire in it ? 
 
 He who depends upon books for his inspiration is 
 but an exhumer of the dead. The heavens are as 
 open to-day as when Isaiah, gazing aloft, said, " Lo, I 
 am God ! and I change not ; therefore, ye sons of 
 Jacob, are ye not devoured." The same power is 
 waiting for us to reach up and take that existed in 
 the olden time for him they nailed upon the cross. 
 The tables of the Infinite are spread and loaded, but 
 no one will be compelled to partake. Help your- 
 selves, is the universal law. 
 
 At the tomb of Lazarus, in view of a body lying 
 stark and dead, with the smell of death, and the 
 mould of the grave on his pallid lips, with eyes that 
 gazed the Infinite out of countenance with their un- 
 flinching audacity, He of the magic Will said, " If a 
 man believe in me he shall not die." Did he mean 
 physical death ? Most assuredly he did. Take this 
 as corroborative : in speaking to the Jews at another 
 time he said, " Your fathers did eat manna in the 
 wilderness, and are dead ; but I am the bread of life 
 which came down from heaven, of which, if a man 
 eat, he shall not die," meaning the same death the 
 fathers died in the wilderness, viz. : physical death. 
 And yet, in the face of these positive declarations of 
 the Inspired One, the pulpit organs grind out a spirit- 
 ual explanation. They make Jesus' work apply to a 
 future state, when he intended it wholly for this life. 
 
 The Hermetic Philosophers, the Alchemists, and 
 
104 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the Rosicrucians, have all believed in and taught the 
 doctrine of eternal youth, and sought for the "phi- 
 losopher's stone," and the " elixir of life;" and Jesus 
 taught that life was within the Kingdom of heaven, 
 which " is within you ; " and laid the foundation-stone, 
 Belief. 
 
 The fakirs of India cause a shrub to grow out of 
 the ground, blossom, bear its fruit, and ripen it, all in 
 one short hour. And it is no phantom fruit, for it is 
 passed around and divided among the bystanders, who 
 eat thereof. Scores of travelers have witnessed this 
 feat, and many have written of it, but my authority 
 is a gentleman of veracity who was born and reared 
 in India. It is done under circumstances which 
 utterly preclude the idea of jugglery or trick of any 
 kind. They know and say it is the power of the will 
 that does it. But there is no growth to their power. 
 Why ? Because they have no higher ideas of human 
 powers than the manipulation and production of 
 things. They are not a progressive people. They 
 are at their highest point. It remains for the Anglo- 
 Saxon race to go higher ; for it is a higher race. 
 
 Jesus said, " Greater works than these shall ye do, 
 because I go to the Father." And it would have 
 proved true had they made the conditions. It re- 
 mains for us to make the conditions, which are, to 
 work for that baptism with the Holy Ghost and with 
 fire, viz. : the union of spirit and soul. Water makes 
 the body soft, tender and pure. Baptism is to be 
 submerged, swallowed up in the spirit, which is the 
 
GENERATION OF MIND. 105 
 
 beginning of a new life with wondrous powers, gen- 
 erative of new matter — a divine essence, superior to 
 death and dissolution, which in appearance resembles 
 this body, but which, in fact, is not mortal. 
 
 It was this body which Jesus, Moses, Elijah, 
 Philip, Enoch and several Rosicrucians of the 
 olden time are reputed to have had. This was why 
 Jesus said, " I will lay my life down ; you cannot 
 take it." This Divine body may die, if corrupted by 
 the desire to die. Thus St. John could live, notwith- 
 standing he was plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil, 
 till he desired to die. The Divine body is not a 
 spiritual body, hence it is no apparition, or material- 
 ized form, dependent upon a medium and conditions. 
 It is totally subject to the will, and as it is projected 
 from the mind, it may be drawn back into the mind 
 again, and thus disappear. Or it may change and 
 become some other form. This was why the Disci- 
 ples failed to recognize Jesus on the way to Emmaus. 
 " He appeared to them in another form/' says Mark. 
 But when he had blessed the bread and broke it, he 
 was himself again, they recognized him, and then he 
 disappeared. 
 
 At another time he stood in their midst, and as 
 they doubted, he said, " Feel my flesh and bones, for 
 ye know a spirit hath not flesh and bones. ,, The 
 doctrine of the metempsychosis of the soul is as true 
 as it is old. All things are in the divine mind, and 
 are projections thereof by Divine Will and Love. 
 Hence, man, when he rises to the Divine, has the 
 
106 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 same powers, so far as he is concerned, as an indi- 
 vidual. Thus, he may clothe the naked, feed the 
 hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead, walk upon the. 
 water, still the tempest, or visit the GoD-worlds at 
 will. 
 
 When that good time comes we will not need to 
 take thought for to-morrow. Then we can " give to 
 every one that asks," and "he that would borrow " 
 we need not "turn away." Then "whatsoever ye 
 shall ask shall be granted/' not because ye ask in 
 anybody's name, but because then we may say with 
 Jesus, "I and my Father are one." Then there 
 shall be no high and no low, but as brothers we shall 
 dwell together, and the nations shall learn war no 
 more. Then shall " the lamb and the lion lie down 
 together/ ' and " the knowledge of the Lord cover the 
 earth as the waters the great deep." Then good-bye 
 to mammon and to a civilization whose glory is " an 
 eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth/' — "whoso 
 sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be 
 shed/' 
 
THE IRRATIONAL MIND. 107 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE IRRATIONAL MIND. 
 
 Reason is rationality and irrationality is the defi- 
 ciency thereof, is small, narrow, contracted, deficient 
 in brilliancy, void of charity, envious, jealous, covet- 
 ous, full of censure, blame and fault-finding, ready 
 to condemn and to believe ill of others, egotistical, 
 vain, proud, selfish and void of sympathy, quick to 
 judge but void of justice : these qualities and many 
 more, show the clouded mind and soul, in which the 
 great God hides his face and turns his back upon 
 heaven. 
 
 Reason is not a product of nature nor of the 
 natural mind, since it does not enter into man 
 through the physical senses. It is in the action of 
 the will that the Supernatural meets man and becomes 
 man by transforming the natural mind first into the 
 rational then into the Divine. 
 
 No man can ascend unless thought lift him up. 
 One can ascend on the thought of another, only by 
 reaching up and grasping such thought, and making 
 it his own. This is a lifting of the eyes heavenward, 
 to examine the self who stands in the way, shutting 
 out the rational light. He who is fully rational, un- 
 
108 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 derstands all things, which consist first of all of self- 
 knowledge or the knowledge of God ; since He is in 
 the shadow of things, and is only found by passing 
 them by. That light is a weak light which reflects 
 objects only. It is the irrational mind, which is on 
 the surface, stupid and insensate ; while the X-Ray 
 light, which penetrates and reflects formless princi- 
 ples, combining them into forms of beauty and use, 
 is Divine reason, which descends from the soul 
 only in answer to effort of will, and elevates man to 
 meet it in Rationality. 
 
 How natural for light to flow outward. To cause 
 it to flow inward is supernatural — or a work against 
 nature. 
 
 Oh, how we love "the babbling brook," the green 
 trees, the fragrant flowers, the majestic hills, the 
 far-stretching landscape, the soothing hum of insect 
 life, the woodland songs of the feathered hosts, the 
 shout of merry childhood, the rhythm of machinery, 
 the tread of busy feet, the rush and roar of business : 
 all these things have a deathless fascination for the 
 natural mind, to lure its flames outwardly to the for- 
 getting of an inward flame and the lesson these things 
 are designed to teach. 
 
 We forget ourselves in this out-reaching flame 
 and, falling down in abject worship of things, — learn 
 nothing. Youth departs and beauty fades. Are 
 they worthless then ? Are these worldly, sensuous 
 things to be ignored and treated as false? By no 
 means. They are created by something ', and if ere- 
 
THE IRRATIONAL MIND. IO9 
 
 ated things are beautiful and valuable, how much 
 more beautiful and valuable must be the Creator, than 
 the things he has made. 
 
 In the contemplation of loveliness, the Creator of 
 all beauty and grandeur is stirred in the soul to 
 create loveliness of character and expression in the 
 one who contemplates. And in like manner will He 
 create pain and deformity in him who, in thought, 
 dwells among unlovely things and acts irrationally. 
 
 The things in which the natural mind delights, are 
 for use ; and they should not become rivals of the 
 Creator in the worship and thought which we give 
 them. 
 
 The natural mind scatters thought, force, life and 
 energy upon the things which very soon fade and 
 lose their loveliness in life, and man passes away with 
 them as a dream passes. 
 
 The constant contact of the natural mind with 
 trifles, speedily dulls the brilliancy of its light, till it 
 changes into dull and criminal irrationality, the ex- 
 treme of which is insanity. 
 
 Self, the center of being, is a necessity which 
 man cannot ignore and of which he cannot "let go : " 
 yet, as an excess of self-consciousness is weakness, 
 the further he removes his consciousness from the 
 self, the greater he becomes and the more power he 
 possesses. The more one lives in others, the greater 
 and more rational he becomes ; because reason con- 
 sists of relationship. "To do as you would be done 
 by/' is true relationality. 
 
IIO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Shrewd business intellect is in no sense reason. 
 The accumulation of wealth is irrational, inasmuch 
 as it is done at the expense of others and of a personal 
 loss of love in the one who so accumulates. To lose 
 love is to lose the soul. 
 
 The outer, extreme, projecting flame of the nat- 
 ural mind, the plotting, scheming, over-reaching 
 thought, is but an impermanent thing, — a flame 
 which dies of its own force, — which discovers noth- 
 ing in nature, nor in itself, save that which increases 
 crime and misery, — and produces only physical 
 things beautiful and fascinating for a moment, as 
 inventions and labor saving machinery which in- 
 crease wealth, and build palaces for the rich but turn 
 the poor out of doors and make tramps and slaves of 
 skilled workmen. This is the work of the irrational 
 mind ; while the inner flame of the same mind, which 
 is the persistent thought of the true value and re- 
 lationship of things and of a higher manhood, carries 
 with it a high and noble, — because unselfish, — 
 motive that regulates all acts. This creates a moral 
 nature, a nature of mercy, charity and justice, free 
 from pride and vindictiveness, whose elongated 
 flame, far flashing and brilliant, made telescopic by 
 effort of will, dispels the darkness of the inner man, 
 and reveals as the crowning glory of true manhood, 
 the Divine reason, that light of rationality which 
 spans the universe. 
 
 This inner force of mind is a restraining power 
 which holds in check the outer or aggressive tendency 
 
THE IRRATIONAL MIND. Ill 
 
 of man's savage wildbeast nature ; and, in the hush 
 and silence of contemplation, creates pity, — the 
 great civilizer of the race. 
 
 Pity is not a mental characteristic, it is of the 
 soul, — the messenger which carries telegrams be- 
 tween man and his Maker. 
 
112 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BELIEF AND HOPE. 
 
 According to the Christian religion belief is the 
 fundamental principal of salvation. The blood of 
 Christ affects no one who does not believe. 
 
 If this is true, it is a fact in the nature of man and 
 will apply to all the walks of life. Belief is the work 
 of the sinner ; he alone can " believe unto salvation ; " 
 no one can believe for him, consequently he saves 
 himself. " The saving grace," — that which saves, — 
 must enter into the sinner and transform his nature, 
 in order that he can be saved. — Saved ? From 
 what. From darkness, — from the ignorance in our- 
 selves ? No one does wrong who knows the future 
 and its penalties. It is the uncertainties of the fu- 
 ture which cause unbelief on the one hand and 
 belief on the other : and the experiences of life dem- 
 onstrate that ills and misfortunes come from the 
 mismanagement of ignorance, while right management 
 is itself a providence flowing from effort of the will, 
 the will being urged to action by belief or confidence 
 in self power to overcome difficulties and misfortunes. 
 We are tempted into wrong doing by belief and we 
 do right from the same impulse : so belief is the guide 
 
BELIEF AND HOPE. 113 
 
 in whichever course we take. It expands the soul 
 and is an invitation for that which is believed in to 
 enter and become part of us. In this manner do we 
 become as we believe, and inasmuch as the Christ 
 spirit is light, those who really believe in him, re- 
 ceive that spirit into their souls, to become illumi- 
 nated and quickened by life and light to the overcoming 
 of darkness, and the utter destruction of disease and 
 death. " And these signs shall follow those that 
 believe " etc. (see Mark for the last words of Jesus, 
 uttered after his crucifixion). 
 
 But this doctrine of Belief is not accepted since 
 none believe. Belief is but one side of the mind, — 
 the light side ; the dark side being unbelief. Light 
 impinging upon darkness produces another light — a 
 twilight — in which truth and error are strangely 
 mingled, in which the mind lacks luminosity, and the 
 body lacks the life that Jesus referred to, as being 
 deathless. Men pretend to believe but they do not. 
 Pure belief has no shadow of Doubt in it. It contains 
 no disturbing elements. It is a rest of the soul be- 
 yond all comparison. It is the " Samadhi " of the 
 Buddhistic cult, which is a state of calm tranquillity 
 of mind that cannot be disturbed. This state is 
 reached by belief in, and persistent practice of cer- 
 tain rites — exercises or want or exercises — both 
 mental and physical. 
 
 Jesus based salvation upon belief and action, this 
 action consisting of the giving of one's property and 
 spirit to one's enemies and to the poor and the sick. 
 
114 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Said He : — " give to every one that asks of thee, 
 and he that would borrow of thee, turn not thou 
 away : " and, " go sell what thou hast and give it to 
 the poor and come and follow me," These are His 
 guides of action, but who believes in them. More- 
 over, He warned His apostles against public prayer 
 and ostentatious giving of alms ; but who pays any 
 attention to these sayings. Yet they are the very 
 vitals of the Christian cult, the means whereby one 
 may reach the Kingdom of Heaven, and God within 
 the human soul, and demonstrate one's presence there 
 by healing the sick, casting out Devils and raising 
 the dead. 
 
 The fact is plain enough. The people do not 
 believe these things : then who is able to judge of the 
 power of Belief. 
 
 Belief is the dividing line between right and wrong 
 action. Wrong action is that of retaliation or of 
 force — that of " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a 
 tooth," — " blood for blood," not that of returning 
 good for evil or of non-resistance. 
 
 He who believes in the right way, walks therein, 
 and his way is the upward way, the way in which 
 Spirit needs neither bibles nor text-books. 
 
 Leaving Christianity out of the question and tak- 
 ing a materialistic view of ourselves, we find that we 
 are involved in experiences from the dawn to the end 
 of our mundane career, and must perforce travel up 
 or down ; and, whichever way it is, it is the ego 
 which suffers and enjoys. There is no certainty in 
 
BELIEF AND HOPE. 1 1 5 
 
 knowledge of any kind. We do not actually know 
 ourselves, we only think so, and the nearest we can 
 approach thereto, is a belief in ourselves. 
 
 We believe in the uncertain and the unknown. If 
 we knew, actually knew, anything, we would have no 
 belief at all, since knowledge would fill the whole 
 soul and the end would be. Knowledge, absolute 
 and certain, does not admit of a future, but Belief 
 does, thus giving rise to Hope, which anchors the 
 soul. 
 
 The experience of pleasure causes belief in life, 
 but pain makes one doubtful, wavering and uncertain, 
 destroying hope. 
 
 Belief is of the soul, the mother of confidence and 
 repose ; but doubt arises from a failure to understand, 
 which is of the mind, the principle of unrest, dissatis- 
 faction and pain. Belief leads to truth which all 
 love. 
 
 That a man cannot believe except from evidence, 
 is true ; but one man receives evidence from without, 
 while another feels it within. We cannot accept a 
 thing as true except it be in harmony with our inmost 
 feelings. He who really believes in God believes in 
 his own power to become Godlike ; but he who 
 believes in the devil knows of him, for he feels him 
 within. 
 
 We all instinctively believe in that which we love. 
 Mental assent is no belief ; it may be forced out by 
 fear, or love of appearance, or popularity, or gain, but 
 the real belief is what we live. In view of this, Paul 
 
Il6 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 says, "As a man thinketh, so is he." Belief is the 
 fundamental principle of soul-growth. The credulous 
 man stands higher spiritually than the incredulous. 
 Why ? Because all growth and real power depend 
 upon the absorption of Divine fire, and belief opens 
 the pores. 
 
 All magnetizers are aware that belief and fear 
 cause receptiveness. Fear is based upon belief. The 
 belief in the " harmful Gods " has diseased mankind 
 through the cold, malarial influence of fear. We do 
 not fear that which we know ; it is the unknown we 
 dread. True belief also gives hope, and hope casts 
 out fear and imparts cheerfulness. Belief in that 
 which we fear is not a belief, but an apprehension 
 that the thing threatened, though unknown, may be 
 true. This apprehension or fear creates a trembling 
 and quaking as of an ague. It is disease. 
 
 He who believes in himself reposes in himself, and 
 achieves success ; but he who doubts himself is afraid 
 of his shadow, and achieves nothing. Achievement 
 is the acquirement of knowledge — as riches. But 
 he who achieves nothing, knows nothing, and is poor ; 
 hence, he is dissatisfied with himself and others. He 
 who knows least of himself trusts himself the least, 
 and is afraid and doubtful. As of himself, so of 
 others. We judge others by ourselves. 
 
 He who has the most trust and confidence in 
 others has the best and highest knowledge — first 
 of himself, secondly of others. He who knows the 
 most of money knows the least of mankind. He 
 
BELIEF AND HOPE. 1 1 7 
 
 trusts money, but not manhood, for his knowledge 
 leads him to distrust mankind. Knowledge gives 
 confidence or destroys it. Woe be to him whose 
 knowledge diminishes his trust. Remove the little 
 confidence we have in each other, and all friendship 
 and sociability would cease. Nations and governments 
 could not exist, and progress would be at an end. 
 Confidence is the diviner part of us. It is the child- 
 nature — that which is " of the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Woe to him who has little or no confidence in 
 mankind, for he has none in God. Sleep is sweet to 
 the trustful soul, for God dwells within, and bars the 
 door of darkness through which devils creep when 
 we are off our guard. I have heard men boast of 
 their doubts, of their unbelief and incredulity. But 
 to me it is an evidence of smallness of mind. Reli- 
 gion has become the laugh and grimace of the world, 
 by reason of the want of comprehension of its vota- 
 ries, and of the unbelievers. 
 
 He who worships symbols is an idolator, and rightly 
 provokes the mirth of others ; but there is something 
 sublime in principles which always commands respect. 
 The underlying principle of all religion is the same, 
 and is as old as humanity. True, out of this principle 
 — this fire-faith of the olden time — have grown up 
 dwarfed and hideous forms of religion, at war one 
 with the other, as man wars with man, or nation 
 against nation. But the principle is still Divine, and 
 universally breathes of the brotherhood of man, and 
 the Fatherhood of God. 
 
Il8 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Who is there who, in contemplating the wonders 
 of creation, has not felt the leaping of flame thoughts, 
 as if in rapture — the kindling of a divine fire within 
 that leaped and glowed with a fervent heat, melting 
 our hardness of nature, our skepticism and unbelief 
 in the wisdom of creative genius ? Ah ! who has not 
 gone hence from this closet of worship feeling like a 
 coward, humbled and weak as the publican and sinner 
 who smote upon his breast, and cried, " Father, for- 
 give me, a sinner ! "■ I repeat, it is the small-minded, 
 weak man, who quenches the fires of his own soul 
 by his doubt and skepticism. 
 
 To gaze aloft at the stars and rear not out of your 
 own soul a spiritual temple of principles for the guid- 
 ance of life's actions — for the use of mankind — and 
 instead, only spend our time in tearing down the 
 house wherein our neighbor worships, is unworthy of 
 manhood. Power is that which builds anew— not 
 that which destroys. It takes genius to build an 
 edifice, but a rat might undermine and topple it to 
 the ground. 
 
 In proportion as we know a person to be truthful 
 do we trust ; the love for truth is natural ; and it is 
 our nature to believe in truth ; and whenever we find 
 it, we trust it, and hope for its increase and per- 
 petuity ; and when we know of it we love it, and 
 will its spirit to be ours. Belief, hope, knowledge, 
 trust, love and will, are all of kin to truth, and he 
 who cultivates these graces shall yet be filled with 
 righteousness. 
 
BELIEF AND HOPE. 119 
 
 In proportion as I believe a thing do I hope for 
 its truth. In proportion as I believe in others do I 
 hope for their health and prosperity. We rest in 
 our hopes. The grave looks less desolate to the 
 hopeful soul. Cheerfulness and smiles are hope's 
 children. The unbelieving are the hopeless and the 
 dissatisfied, he who believes in nothing, hopes noth- 
 ing ; the hopeless are the desperate. Which road 
 will you follow, dear reader, for the truest knowl- 
 edge ? Do doubts and skepticism stand in your way, 
 and choke and strangle belief ? Destroy them, then, 
 by not paying attention to their croaking. Forget 
 your doubt by keeping in your mind and constantly 
 before your eyes that which you love, or that which 
 you would like to believe in and be. It is by the 
 attention we bestow upon little things in the mind 
 that makes impassable mountains of them ; forget, or 
 refuse to behold them, and they become mole hills. 
 \ Have you an enemy — one whom you can scarce 
 endure ? You know no good of him. This feeling 
 does not make you happy — better destroy it speedily. 
 Visit him in his prosperity and in his affliction fre- 
 quently ; talk with him ; interchange ideas with him ; 
 enter into his life-plans and hopes. In process of 
 time you will find some weakness in him that will 
 arouse your pity, which is not far from friendship. 
 The ingredients necessary for success in this is, first, 
 a desire on your part to bring about the result, if for 
 nothing else than your own peace of soul ; second, a 
 belief in your ability to accomplish what you under- 
 
120 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 take ; third, a cheerful hope of success ; fourth, a true 
 knowledge of yourself — of yourself and psychological 
 power, and of extraneous means to affect him physi- 
 cally, such as gifts, or good and unobtrusive acts. 
 My word for it, before you are done with your man 
 you will be surprised at the amount of good feeling 
 and friendship that will be developed between you. 
 Perhaps he fancies you have done him a wrong. If 
 you can possibly find some flaw in yourself, go and 
 accuse yourself to him, and beg his pardon ; accuse 
 yourself for the very things you know he is guilty of, 
 but never accuse or upbraid him. But if you do this 
 with doubt and unbelief in your heart of any good in 
 him, your eyes will look your distrust, and he will be 
 driven away from you as from a reptile. Control 
 begins at home. 
 * Consider the value of friendship, and the evils 
 growing out of enmity. Meditate upon your enemy, 
 and when thus wrapped in thought, with your atten- 
 tion fixed upon him, lo ! your spirit flashes like the 
 lightnings to him, and mingles with his spirit, thus 
 leaving an impression for either good or evil, just as 
 you feel. Your belief in yourself is of importance 
 here, for if you doubt yourself, and the Good God 
 who dwells alike in you and your enemy, your 
 prayers fall far short of the mark, and you will find 
 your will weak and your mind scattering. Know you 
 not that the same creative power called him into 
 existence that did you ? Dare you question the pur- 
 poses and wisdom of the Creator ? Why do you hate 
 
BELIEF AND HOPE. 1 2 1 
 
 or dislike him ? Because he does different than you 
 wish him to ! Because he is not as you wish him to 
 be ! Ah ! It is the same old story, " Great I and 
 little you." Better by far " pluck the motes out of 
 your own eyes " before you essay to sit in judgment 
 upon your neighbor. When you judge others you 
 are judging God, and yourself, for God is in all and 
 is all. Then ponder these things well, my friend, 
 for " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
 mercy." Woe to him who thinks wrathfully of 
 others. There is no divinity in wrath. God could 
 not be Infinite if all things were alike ! If you are 
 good show your goodness by increasing the good. 
 That is our work. Believe in all things, because they 
 are of the Father — you know not but your enemy 
 was given to try you ! Can you stand the test ? 
 Wrath piles up wrath as wood piled on a fire, but 
 "gentle blows kill the devil/' 
 
 Which road will you follow, reader, belief or un- 
 belief — in order to make the most of yourself? 
 Which leads to power? 
 
122 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE PSYCHIC SENSES 
 
 To conceive a beginning is to conceive one being 
 as all. There can be no boundaries to such being 
 no centre, circumference, nor form whatever. The 
 absurdity of such concept is apparent ; — but God 
 exists : He has neither beginning nor end, yet in all 
 nature he declares of Himself : 
 
 I am thought and the thinker, 
 
 The draught and the drinker, 
 
 The body, the senses, the soul: 
 
 An atom adrift in the sky, 
 
 A tear-drop, a blush or a sigh, — 
 
 The smallest, — the greatest, — the whole. 
 
 As one or as many, as glory or shame, 
 As dust on the wind, as water, or flame, 
 " / am that I am." Whatever men make, 
 Good or ill, I become for their sake. 
 Whatsoever they love I am moulded to be, 
 The king or his courtiers, the slave or the free. 
 
 God exists and so do I, and as there is only one 
 existence, I am God, and God is I. 
 
 Man is God's agent in nature and creates things 
 in the same manner as God does : — In and of Him- 
 self. 
 
THE PSYCHIC SENSES. 1 23 
 
 Everything that man makes is first made in his 
 mind — of his own substance — to illustrate : I exist 
 the same as God exists ; therefore 
 
 I. I am formless, yet full of forms. 
 
 II. I desire to form something. 
 
 III. I think of what I desire to see. 
 
 IV. I will ; I move ; and the form or image of it 
 appears. This is evidence that I produce things from 
 myself by the use of the four powers — in all of 
 which I exist — gradually evolving some part of my- 
 self into objectivity. These four powers are: — I. 
 Desire. II. Thought. III. Will. IV. Motion. 
 These powers correspond in number and function to 
 four of the five senses : Hearing, Seeing, Tasting, 
 and Smelling, — which correspond to the four sea- 
 sons, four elements, four quarters of the globe, and 
 the four points of the compass. 
 
 This is the "Divine Quarternary" of the soul, by 
 the use of which the ego projects some portion 
 of itself outwardly and at the same time draws to 
 itself things it discovers and desires. 
 
 For be it known that man is suspended between 
 two opposing powers of Darkness : on the one hand 
 by material darkness, which contains only the perish- 
 able, changeable substance of which things are made : 
 on the other hand, by spiritual darkness in which is 
 hidden life and all inconceivable powers. Now bear 
 in mind that feeling is not included in the quarter- 
 nary, although it is the most important of all the 
 senses. 
 
124 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 As explained elsewhere, feeling is the focus of all 
 the senses : they come together in it like four great 
 rivers emptying their contents into one vast whirl- 
 pool, to be carried down to unknown regions of the 
 soul, there to be transformed into matter, and carried 
 outward through the processes of growth, to become 
 the flesh, bone and muscle of these bodies. 
 
 Sound is thus transformed into matter. The eyes 
 carry that which becomes a part of us, to the soul. 
 The aura of things that we smell is as important as 
 the food which we taste. 
 
 Feeling is a vortex leading to the soul ; and ob- 
 noxious elements, by accumulating there, produce 
 heat or desire, which brings both pain and pleasure, 
 and evolves thoughts of approval or of disapproval, 
 thereby giving quality to the matter created, and pro- 
 ducing discord or harmony, health or disease. 
 
 In this manner do we create, momentarily and 
 without ceasing, new atoms of these bodies, — making 
 them from the things which draw near to us in the 
 darkness which covers all action. 
 
 We call from the abyss of nonentity that which, 
 too often, makes the soul sick. They come — dis- 
 cord, malaria, crime, disease, and death — because 
 we desire too many material things, and because our 
 thoughts and wills move us outwardly, carrying our 
 souls into violence and war. 
 
 Greed is a monster of darkness : and those who 
 think most of wealth carry him down in sight and 
 sound, in smell and taste, to the soul itself, there to 
 
THE PSYCHIC SENSES. 1 25 
 
 become flesh and blood reeking with the poison of 
 insanity and crime. 
 
 Ignorance is darkness, and the material side of the 
 sense of feeling is a dark side, while the spiritual or 
 mental side is lighted up by the rational mind. 
 
 Mind also has a quarternary of senses, correspond- 
 ing to the material side. These are called the Psychic f 
 senses, because they build the Divine body and 
 mind. They connect with the north, south, east 
 and west of spiritual darkness, which in silence awaits 
 the vibrations of a desire for improvement, and the 
 projection of a thought of other than material glory 
 or possession. It is in spiritual darkness, sin and 
 misery, that glory and immortal life are concealed, 
 waiting for Desire to draw the elements of an organi- 
 zation suitable for their indwelling, into the soul, 
 there to be fructified, to grow and to be born in due 
 season, master of all. 
 
 Desire is not "The Father" so often referred to 
 by the loving Jesus, saying " no man can come unto 
 me except the Father draw him." Desire is the 
 Mother of both materiality and mentality. It is for 
 us to choose which we will be, mind or matter. We 
 cannot be both. 
 
 Mind is within the body and the ego is in the 
 mind, — a prisoner in dark matter. The Psychic 
 senses of light, of sight and of thought, illuminate 
 the body, and the ego finds his way out of prison, — 
 or the body becomes a fire body> and free. 
 
 Desire is not the ego, since it is something I pos- 
 
126 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 sess, a something within, which becomes outward in 
 motion, which I govern so long as it remains within, 
 but which governs me when it becomes external. 
 That is the case with desire ; it moves by the force 
 of the will, upon the wings of thought, materially or 
 spiritually, in either case to become the controlling 
 influence of our lives. 
 
 The senses are dual — " male and female " — and 
 so all creation is sexual action. Jesus in talking 
 with Nicodemus about being born again, likened the 
 spirit to the wind that "bloweth where it list eta." 
 Now the sense of smell has direct reference to the 
 spirit or aura of things — as has the nose to the 
 " wind" we breathe : and the air in passing into the 
 lungs, divides itself in the nostrils, ■ — becoming pos- 
 itive and negative, — one supporting the male, the 
 other the female, which is within. Between these, a 
 constant creative or generative action is kept up, 
 wherein spirit becomes matter. 
 
 Man has within himself the four great quarters of 
 the globe, both materially and psychically : so also 
 has he the great sensitive equatorial region, where 
 the soul or seat of consciousness is located. This is 
 the region of feeling wherein occurs the division of 
 sense into the quarternaries of pain and pleasure, and 
 good and evil. 
 
 Cold corresponds to the region of the north and 
 south poles, while heat corresponds to the centre 
 or soul under the equator. The masculine is in the 
 north, the feminine in the south. In man, as in the 
 
THE PSYCHIC SENSES. 1 27 
 
 north, is cold, sleeping force. There lies Death, 
 which means division and loss of power by the out- 
 ward rush of energy toward whatever attracts him ; 
 and that which attracts him most of all is the femi- 
 nine. 
 
 Man gives ; woman receives ; he is the father, she, 
 the mother. She is affectionate, and receives his 
 passion, which she infolds as her own, returning in 
 exchange therefore, her gentle and tender affection, 
 which makes him human. 
 
 He is spirit — a moving force — which, like the 
 north wind blowing south, carries with it a smell 
 which begets in the south a host of living things. 
 
 The sense which corresponds to the north is ma- 
 terially ', that of smell ; psychically, it is that of intui- 
 tive perception, a psychometric sense which is detec- 
 tive of and ferrets out hidden things. 
 
 The sense of smell — the male sense — projects 
 the spirit or breath, the scent or aura of things or of 
 action, into the female sense of taste, where it ges- 
 tates, like a child in embryo, to be born into 
 the world as judgment, perception, conclusion of 
 sense, etc. It inhales the spirit and the aura of 
 things as the nose does the atmosphere, projecting 
 them on the other hand, as light projects its rays into 
 darkness. For the senses of smell and of sight are 
 both masculine and contain and project the fecundat- 
 ing principle into the feminine senses of taste, which 
 is of the south, and of hearing, which is of the west. 
 Smell aggravates taste ; and food drops into the dark 
 
128 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 abyss of an empty stomach, as drops the ovarian egg 
 into the womb, there to receive the fecundating prin- 
 ciple and to digest or ge state into vitality. 
 
 The east is the region of light or mind whence the 
 ego sends out a flame to illuminate the universe, 
 while the west is the region of darkness, of ignorance, 
 of mystery, the unknown, the mother of all things, 
 the receptacle of light, the womb wherein thought, 
 the fecundating principle of mind, explodes and gives 
 birth to the first of creation, that sound of God's 
 voice which breaks the awful silence where thought 
 is not, — saying, " let there be light." Sound ap- 
 pears, before light, even as the wail of an infant is 
 prior to its thought. That which kindles the fires of 
 intelligence is a breath, whose sound is heard in the 
 still night of creation before the eye perceives the 
 motion thereof, A breath which made " Adam a liv- 
 ing soul." A breath whose vibration was "The 
 Word," which St. John says was "in the beginning 
 with God and which was God." A breath, like " the 
 wind that bio wet h where it listeth," of whose home, 
 form, or coming and going, we know not, yet which 
 we breathe, hear and feel. This is the spirit which 
 finds voice in preaching, praying, and in songs of all 
 kinds. This Psychic sense of hearing is at the foun- 
 dation of all culture and of all power. 
 
 The low, soft lullaby of a mother's love reaches the 
 soul of a fretful infant and lures it to sleep and for- 
 getfulness of its pains. 
 
 Ah, who can estimate the power of suggestion ? 
 
THE PSYCHIC SENSES. 1 29 
 
 There is magic in sound. It creates more things than 
 can be enumerated. Who knows to what depths of 
 woe a sensitive soul can be hurled by angry words, a 
 scolding tongue or eternal fault-finding, and who 
 knows to what heights of ecstasy and bliss one can 
 be carried by gentle words or sweet songs. 
 
 The quarternaries are the means by the use of 
 which man becomes great or small. They are the 
 hands, the feet and the head, whereby he takes hold 
 upon the north and the south, thus standing firmly 
 and with self reliance upon matter, while his head 
 associates with the stars.- 
 
 There is a Divine Man and Woman in each and 
 every son and daughter of Adam. 1 She stands with 
 Her back to the night of the west, with upturned 
 face to the rising sun and with outstretched arms and 
 open fingers toward the north and south ; while He, 
 facing the night and Her, with his back to the light, 
 stands with outstretched hands, and with strength, 
 in the force of his physical manhood, to pull down 
 the stars and remodel the earth. 
 
 So standing, they approach and recede. As they 
 approach, her form and face glow with the supernal 
 radiance cast over him from the rising sun, while his 
 face grows soft and tender with the reflection of her 
 beauty. The glory increases between them and 
 
 1 There is sexual arcana in the Quarternaries which I can barely touch upon 
 in this work. It is the great Rosicrucian secret, — i.e., "The Mystery of the 
 Serpent" so skilfully guarded in the Scriptures. — which embraces the cult of 
 the entire religious world. Of this I purpose to write in the near future. 
 
 F. B. D. 
 
130 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 shadowy images, floating in the twilight of being, flit 
 away from between them and are lost or swallowed 
 up in the darkness before the man. In receding 
 from each other the darkness falls, deeper and even 
 more dense, as they grow apart ; while the nearer 
 they approach, the more beautiful and radiant do 
 those images appear, disappearing in his shadow as 
 the reflection from her increases and envelops him 
 with power and gentleness. These images, which are 
 evolved from the action of the masculine with the 
 feminine within, are principles of sense. Seven of 
 them lead man backward from the feminine within, 
 and the light which shines through her to the loneli- 
 ness of his half being and the darkness and weakness 
 of matter : but there are seven other principles which 
 lead man forward towards her and the light of his 
 own soul, to the completion of being and to a divine 
 marriage within of which outward marriage is only a 
 symbol. 
 
 These mental and psychic images which are 
 evolved by the action and reaction of sense, have 
 names, a few of which are given as the steps are 
 taken. 
 
 The motor or power which prompts the first step 
 towards the soul, is a desire to become better. 
 
 This desire is the prompting of the soul that there 
 is something lacking — a deficiency — an empty void 
 — a hunger and thirst for something that is possessed 
 by neither the male nor the female within. The soul 
 expands with hunger, and the greater the longing, 
 
THE PSYCHIC SENSES. 131 
 
 the greater will be the expanse of soul between them, 
 the male and female. 
 
 S Across the dim vista of the soul, each — standing 
 as described — sees vaguely an object which resem- 
 bles himself or herself. The female attracts the 
 male, and he must approach her. He must take the 
 steps ; he must make his way through the twilight 
 and the wilderness, amid the trials of life, along a 
 way where no feet have trod. He is weak and un- 
 certain of himself, and as he makes the first step he 
 totters, but, struggling with himself, he gains confi- 
 dence and establishes the determination to try again. 
 
 This first step is experience from which follow suc- 
 cessively step after step in an increasing ratio of 
 ascending power and glory till he meets her and she 
 meets him, in the soul, which is common to them 
 both. In this union is begotten, conceived and born 
 into the world, the sunshine, the flowers, the delights, 
 the patience, the charity, and all that ennobles and 
 beautifies human character. In this interior marriage 
 or blending of the two opposing principles of being 
 into one soul, is immortality achieved, and death for 
 that person is a mere matter of will and desire. 
 
 Seldom is this union perfected on earth because 
 one, becoming tired of the ceaseless struggle of 
 going forward or of opposing the outward trend 
 of thought and action, loses sight of the other half, 
 by the passing shadow of a doubt or of fear, and 
 more easily takes steps backward and downard into 
 ever increasing obscurity, ignorance and death. 
 
132 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 Knowledge consists of accumulated facts, which 
 are of two classes, viz. — those of the mind and those 
 of the soul. 
 
 Knowledge is generally attributed to the mind, 
 which is made a vast storehouse for the accumulation 
 of book learning, or the recorded facts of the past, 
 or facts which have been acquired through the ex- 
 periences of others. This is learning — like the 
 training of Parrots, which speak by rule without 
 real knowledge — hearsay. 
 
 Facts are the foundation of all knowledge, — as the 
 the One fact of existence is the Mother of all 
 experiences. 
 
 This primal fact of being is a soul fact, the mind 
 has nothing to do with it, except to recognize it, as 
 an infant recognizes its mother. It exists prior to 
 mind, and is back of all experiences, which rise up 
 out of it as the trees do out of the earth. Mental 
 knowledge consists of the laws of motion, the manner 
 and methods of motion or how things act, while soul 
 knowledge consists of what we understand of the 
 things themselves. 
 
BELIEF AND KNO WLEDGE. 1 3 3 
 
 The first motion is the first experience, and life 
 emanated from this point to reach in its weakness a 
 belief 'in something besides itself — even its mother. 
 In belief it rests, as in its mother's arms till some- 
 thing disturbs its rest, when up through this painful 
 experience it arrives at the fact of the uncertainty of 
 rest, of belief and of knowledge. In the uncertain- 
 ties of existence we cannot help believing in a cer- 
 tainty, because we Know we are, — and we believe 
 in other things because they are also as we are. 
 Thus believing we try and test those surrounding 
 things, and arrive at conclusions regarding them which 
 seem true and certain to us. These conclusions are 
 the understanding of the mind, the one solid fact 
 upon which the spiritual man stands, — what he 
 imagines that he knows, — here he rests. 
 
 But these external things by their actions desert 
 us — they prove false — they give us pain — and we 
 slowly let go of them by doubting what we formerly 
 so certainly knew of them. Here, in this doubt, is 
 the beginning of a downward action of the mind, 
 viz. — a Knowledge of the uncertain and the untrue. 
 This is a lower knowledge which undermines and 
 unsettles the mind, destructive to trust, satisfac- 
 tion, confidence, and repose in ourselves as well as 
 others. 
 
 Unbelief in others is unbelief in ourselves at the 
 same time, since we are all linked together. So 
 knowledge follows belief both upward and downward, 
 always antagonized by ignorance which does not 
 
134 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 knoWy but which always believes in the unknowable, 
 and in its unrest and dissatisfaction is always striving 
 for the real, which somehow one feels is himself, and 
 in the absence of knowledge we guess as we desire 
 it to be, and whether true or false we grow by 
 guessing. 
 
 Knowledge is the basis for conjecture. He who 
 does not believe in conjecture is an unbeliever, (trusts 
 only in facts, physical, tangible, and shuts the win- 
 dows of the soul through which we may gaze upon 
 fields of infinite beauty, and behold truth in its pu- 
 rity), and there rests satisfied. He who believes 
 nothing except what he knows, is a very small pattern 
 of a man, for in point of reality he knows nothing. 
 
 The man who ties himself to " facts " is like a fly 
 in a spider's web : he is not satisfied. There is a 
 wail within him, as of a drowning babe. It is only 
 when he can forget himself and his doubts that he is 
 happy. When you have gone through the whole 
 gamut of experiences, and find reality and perma- 
 nence in nothing, and vanity and vexation of spirit as 
 the sum total of this life, you have then reached the 
 plane of knowledge. This takes the egotism out of a 
 man. He is then empty and receptive of Divine 
 influences, and is led to trust, and to have confidence 
 in creative wisdom. Trust leads to love of God in 
 his works — not of objects, but of a principle em- 
 bodied, and working in objects. Thus it may be seen 
 that the road to power starts at belief in God. 
 
 He who believes has Hope. Hope is cheerfulness 
 
BELIEF AND KNO W LEDGE. 1 3 5 
 
 and happiness. Truly we believe in that which har- 
 monizes with our feelings. To believe in a thing 
 through fear is not belief in this sense, but rather a 
 conviction of experience, far beneath belief. It is 
 a shock, an agitation, wherein there is no rest or 
 satisfaction. All conversions through fear testify 
 to this truth. He who is converted through fear has 
 no intuition ; hence he is not called from above, but 
 from below. 
 
 Intuition does not come from without, hence no 
 teaching can awaken or open it. Instinctively we 
 fear that which is not in harmony with us. How, 
 then, can we believe in that which we fear? We 
 always desire to destroy that which gives us pain. 
 The fear of God is a pain which the world tries in 
 vain to remove by sacrifices, prayers, and flattering 
 ceremonies. Fear does not lead to knowledge, or 
 blending of natures, but to unreal and erroneous 
 views of God and of each other. It builds walls 
 around us, as a citadel in which to defend ourselves. 
 It isolates man from his fellows, and arms nation 
 against nation. 
 
 We fear that which we hate, and love and serve 
 that which we are in fellowship with. Fear springs 
 from belief, but it is in a descending scale : it is 
 beneath and not above. The fearful are not the 
 hopeful. Hope is the anchor of the soul. It is 
 God's garden in the soul ; the Eden wherein the tree 
 of life and of knowledge grow side by side. With 
 hope, the poor in their hovels can live in palaces built 
 
136 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 in air. Without hope, the sick in their palaces live 
 in real hovels. 
 
 Conjecture is stirred in the mind by the last expir- 
 ing wave of heat that descends from Divine fire, as it 
 deposits its ashes as the facts and forms of existence. 
 Belief is the flame-tip ; hope the glow of the red 
 flame ; knowledge is where the flame bursts forth ; 
 unbelief is cold ashes. Right belief is belief in man, 
 and it inspires hope in man, and gives a correct 
 knowledge of man. This is a correct knowledge of 
 God. How can we believe in God when we do not 
 believe in man ? How can we have hope in man 
 when we fear him, and hold aloof from each other ? 
 How can we know God when we really do not know 
 any thing in existence ? 
 
 I. Let us investigate all things ; for this is experi- 
 ence. 
 
 II. Let us believe in all things; for there is a 
 spark of good in all, and the wisdom of the Creator 
 may be found therein. 
 
 III. Let us hope all things ; for the good mani- 
 fests itself in hope. Be of good cheer, for all is well. 
 The hopeless are desperate. 
 
 IV. Let us know all things ; for the essence of 
 things is fire; and he who knows the most is the 
 purest, having been purified of his pride and vanity 
 by the absorption of the essence of things. 
 
 This is the mundane circle — the four elements — 
 the four points of the compass. He who has passed 
 around this circle has returned to the point from 
 
BELIEF A ND KNO W LEDGE. \ 3 7 
 
 whence he started, viz., nature — indifference. He 
 is a child again, without pride or egotism, hence is 
 receptive to the Divine influences, which lead him in 
 a supernatural manner upward to the abode of the 
 Gods. Those who return to this point are capable 
 of going higher. 
 
 We all revolve in the mundane circle in quest of 
 knowledge. Some gain a little, others a great deal. 
 To some it imparts trust or confidence in man (or 
 God) ; others grow misanthropical, and become 
 soured on the road, and trust no one. Acid is cold ; 
 it kills the warmth of the blood, and gradually, but 
 surely, extinguishes the fires of life. Distrust is 
 acid. 
 
 We become fixed in our opinions on the circle, and 
 branch off, either upon the upward or the downward 
 road. Some, however, revolve in the circle of knowl- 
 edge all their lives, and still have no opinions of any- 
 thing outside of the mundane circle. 
 
 It is said that only fools have confidence in man- 
 kind ; but this is a mistake. The best and greatest 
 men the world has ever known have been child-like 
 in their trustful nature. The rogue and the knave 
 are never trustful. 
 
 We have existed previous to this life ; and we come 
 here from above or below, bringing the aroma of the 
 world we came from with us. 
 
 There are three grades of mind, corresponding to 
 the three general conditions of Spirit-life. This world 
 and this life are a battle-field between the celestial 
 
138 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 and the terrine worlds, an intermediate state where 
 souls are given a chance to ascend higher if they 
 choose. There are many grades of being, both as- 
 cending and descending; and man mentally and 
 physically corresponds thereto. 
 
 The spirit of the world you will inhabit after death 
 is within you, and, as sure as fate, will gravitate to 
 its home when freed by death. The spirit of the 
 terrine world begets all manner of vices and diseases, 
 "whose culmination, unless healed, is total loss of all 
 power and consciousness. All love and humane 
 affections come from the celestial. All things die in 
 love, and all things are born of love. The extremity 
 of grief is the beginning of joy. The last throb of 
 pain is the first throb of pleasure. Ecstasy is close 
 upon the confines of despair. The extreme woes of 
 hell vomit out souls purified by fire. Extreme knowl- 
 edge strips a man naked of his egotistical garments, 
 and shrouds him at the gate as if for burial. 
 
 This is the death of knowledge : the state of the 
 mind is changed ; it has reversed its polarity. His 
 intuitions begin to work in his despair of life, and he 
 receives that which is to the soul what knowledge is 
 to the mind, or food to the body. Intuition begins 
 where worldly knowledge ceases. Its methods are 
 inductive, instead of deductive. To the intuitive, 
 knowledge comes by impact, rather than by contact. 
 All revelation comes through intuition. 
 
 The foregoing is the secret of all conversions. 
 The despair of the sinner, when at its culmination, 
 
BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE. 1 39 
 
 dies. Its death is the birth of ecstasy, which many 
 mistake for the regeneration. But it is perfectly 
 natural that pleasure should follow pain: hence there 
 is nothing supernatural in conversions. 
 
 The deeper and more heartfelt the despair, the 
 greater the pleasure that follows it, and the more real 
 and lasting is the conversion. But God's Spirit 
 comes through intuitions — spontaneously, by labor 
 and constant and unwearied attention — by purifica- 
 tion of the mind, and a preparation of the body for 
 its reception. It is natural to believe in the super- 
 natural, but unnatural not to believe in it. 
 
140 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 The most Fatal enemy of the soul is Doubt. 
 He who doubts his own powers cripples himself. He 
 who forgets his doubt rises superior to himself. 
 He who believes in, and has confidence in himself, 
 has more power than he who doubts his own powers. 
 Moreover, the more confidence a man has in others 
 the greater is his friendship, and the more friends he 
 has. Friendship is the measure of influence, and, 
 consequently, of power. Out of belief comes knowl- 
 edge ; and out of knowledge comes faith, or, rather, 
 that which approximates faith and makes it possible, 
 viz., Intuition. 
 
 Perfect faith comes from perfect knowledge ; but 
 inasmuch as we are imperfect beings, and, conse- 
 quently, have no perfect knowledge — not even of 
 ourselves, and still less of others — how can we even 
 approximate a definition of faith, much less a knowl- 
 edge of the powers it may confer upon its possessor ! 
 Why scoff at the sayings of Jesus, when we do not 
 even know what he meant by faith ? He certainly 
 estimated its value very highly, for he said : " If ye 
 ■ y have faith like a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 141 
 
 to the mountains, be ye moved and cast into the sea, 
 and it shall be done." It is evident he coupled it 
 with the will, for it could be done by a command, and 
 no prayer or supplication is even suggested. What 
 great thinker ever extolled doubt, or taught that it 
 ever conferred any great blessing upon its possessor ? 
 -Not one ! It is simply a destructive power — a nega- 
 tion ; it builds nothing ; it destroys all that it 
 touches. 
 
 A desire to know the truth is commendable. Re- 
 spect for others leads to the interchange of ideas and 
 investigation. This is good. Never doubt a propo- 
 sition till you are sure you thoroughly understand it. 
 Never doubt the truth of another till his falsehood is 
 a demonstrated fact. Know a thing before you re- 
 ject it A Be hospitable to the wayfarer : for although 
 you may be imposed upon many times, you may some 
 time entertain an angel. Some thoughts are angel- 
 sent. 
 
 But Paul's thought in reference to faith being " an 
 evidence, — and the substance of things hoped for/' 
 is open to question. 
 
 Jesus gave no definition of faith further than to 
 assert that it is a power above all nature's powers. 
 A power that can change, disorganize and remove 
 the solid mountain, heal the sick, raise the dead, 
 make food for the hungry by a thought or word, and 
 in fact endow its possessor with immortality here on 
 earth. 
 
 It is passing strange that his disciples, who were 
 
142 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 intimately associated with him, should all be silent 
 touching this wonderful power, and it is still more 
 strange that the definition of so important an item of 
 the gospel should be left to one who had no acquaint- 
 ance with its founder, — one who had never heard 
 him speak of that or any other subject. 
 
 According to the expressed declaration of Jesus, 
 Paul had no faith at all, — how then could he tell 
 what it is. What great works did Paul do? He 
 preached and founded churches and wrote epistles 
 for their instruction, but had not will power enough 
 to protect himself from the wild beasts which de- 
 voured him in the arena at Rome. " Evidence/' 
 Indeed. What prostitution of spirit to mere theoriz- 
 ing. "Greater works than these shall ye do be- 
 cause I go to the Father," said the gentle Jew of 
 Nazareth. Alas ! What does the record show. If 
 he cried out in anguish of spirit more than once — 
 " Oh ye of little faith " — to his immediate disciples, 
 how much greater would have been His anguish and 
 cry at the performances of Paul and the early Chris- 
 tians, and what would it be now were he present. It 
 is due to Paul that the Saviour's words are given 
 another meaning than they were intended to convey. 
 
 It is evident that belief is intentionally connected 
 with faith from his saying: "he that believeth in me 
 shall not die ; and even if he were dead yet shall he 
 live again/ ' But why was not the whole of that 
 declaration reported ? 
 
 He evidently explained that faith is a universal 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 1 43 
 
 spirit and not limited to any one person. His decla- 
 ration to the woman who touched the hem of his 
 garment and was healed — " thy faith hath made thee 
 whole " — also his saying "I have not seen such 
 faith, no, not in Israel," all go to show that the 
 power was more in the one who was sick than in him 
 who did the healing. As it is written, — "he did not 
 many mighty works there because of their unbelief." 
 
 There is no question but that belief is the begin- 
 ning of soul power, and that faith is the highest of all 
 soul powers y but of the powers which lie between the 
 lowest and the highest, — of the places where one 
 may pause to rest, close one's eyes to the awful alti- 
 tude and grow accustomed to the changes in mind 
 and body which must occur in the transformation 
 from weakness to power, — who hath explained them ? 
 
 We often believe in things in which we have not 
 full confidence, hence on the road to power, the first 
 step above belief must be confidence, and this con- 
 fidence is generated in the mind by the union of belief 
 with the object or principle believed in. Confidence 
 is begotten within by a test of our powers — it is 
 begotten between individuals by association — and 
 while nearer to power than mere belief, yet is it a 
 long way even below knowledge, to say nothing of 
 faith, which is the opposite or antagonist of knowl- 
 edge which it supersedes and sets aside as of no 
 value outside of the laws of nature. 
 
 We believe in things of which we have no practi- 
 cal knowledge, but such belief is of the mind while 
 
144 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 confidence is of the soul and is therefore a matter of 
 feeling. Self knowledge gives us all the power we 
 have over mundane things, but inasmuch as our self 
 knowledge is limited to belief or, at the extreme, to 
 self confidence, our personal power is mainly a weak- 
 ness of which we may very justly be ashamed. 
 
 Faith is a soul power inherent in all but not mani- 
 fest in all alike. It may be said that it is the pose or 
 attitude the ego takes in reference to the surround- 
 ing universe of life and power. 
 
 It is weakness that needs support and it is a mis- 
 take to assume that a weak person could possibly 
 contain a power to move a mountain. 
 
 Faith is not belief in some one else, yet belief 
 arouses the faith which lies dormant within, nor does 
 it matter who or what may be the object in which 
 one believes ; but the belief which arouses faith must 
 be that which takes hold of the Heart, — conse- 
 quently true faith is within and closely and intimately 
 connected with the Ego itself from whom all power 
 descends. Faith in self is inspired by God who 
 dwells within and it is that which one feels; but it 
 cannot be known in any other v/ay than by a union 
 or focus of all the senses, both physical and psychic. 
 
 In proportion as one believes in himself, is he 
 strong, to be, to do, and to enjoy ; for God dwells in 
 self as a conscious entity ; but to believe on others is 
 an open road to disappointment and failure, and while 
 the weak must lean upon some other thing, therefrom 
 arises the erroneous idea that faith is a belief in some- 
 
\ 
 
 FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 145 
 
 thing of a stronger nature upon which one may lean 
 for support. This is true as to childhood, but are 
 we to eternally remain children ? The full grown 
 man trusts in his own strength. Is this not evidence 
 which sets aside the knowledge applicable to chil- 
 dren and weakness, and, furthermore, does it not 
 show that faith is a self supporting and self steady- 
 ing power ? If mere belief in one's own power, — 
 which leads to effort, and is one step to self knowl- 
 edge, — can do so much to make man great, how 
 much greater could he be if he Knew himself intui- 
 tively without the effort and experiences. 
 
 Knowledge is acquired by painful labor ; intuition 
 is the open door of the soul through which life and 
 all that appertains thereto flow in ; while faith is the 
 key which unlocks the door. 
 
 The forming of the judgment or the understanding, 
 is the greatest altitude the mind can reach. Here 
 knowledge takes hold of nature at its best, which 
 does indeed induce a love of intelligence for nature 
 whereby mind is caused to revolve around it, eter- 
 nally at home and satisfied. 
 
 Now by reason of this great love for nature does 
 mind antagonize faith, for it is hard to believe in any- 
 thing above nature, whereas the highest point that 
 knowledge can reach, is impossibility. This is a 
 vacancy in mind unfilled by knowledge of mundane 
 things. Impressions lead to belief beyond and above 
 material things, and with this belief comes Doubt, 
 which holds the door of the soul fast locked, and man 
 
146 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 prostrate and bound to the wheel of nature, which 
 ever "goes round and round.' ' 
 
 The fact is that we attach undue importance to 
 mental powers. Mind predominates soul to such 
 extent as to obscure and prevent all manifestations 
 of soul powers. In all voluntary movements of mind 
 and of body, the will is the motor ; but in soul 
 movements — involuntary motions — Desire is the 
 moving force. Desire is to the soul what the 
 indrawn breath is to the body, i.e. — the accumula- 
 tion of energy. Desire is " father of the thought/' 
 It is a silent opening of the soul to receive, — a 
 suction which indraws any physical sense desired, 
 thus rendering it inoperative or disconnected with 
 the will, as is one's hand when paralyzed. 
 
 The power of Irdhi, according to the Buddhistic 
 cult, which is developed by meditation and training, 
 is the same as manifested by Jesus in walking upon 
 the waters of the sea of Galilee, by Gautama 
 when standing in the air preaching to the people, 
 by Philip (Acts 8-39) before alluded to, and by 
 many mediums of modern times in the manifestation 
 of the power of Levitation, or of floating in the air. 
 The allusion to William H. Mack in the first part 
 of this work illustrates this power of the soul to 
 indraWy modify or suspend the specific weight of the 
 atoms of matter composing the body. 
 
 The senses are indrawn in part or wholly in 
 Hypnosis or in trance, and the indrawing of sight 
 and hearing by abstraction of mind is of common 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 1 47 
 
 but the main point is that this power is 
 involuntary or of the soul rather than of thought and 
 of the mind, — the power of Emotion and not of the 
 will. 
 
 The soul which opens wide its portals at a throb 
 of sympathy or desire, automatically calls to itself all 
 the power necessary to accomplish, but doubts and 
 fears must first be indrawn. Peter could walk upon 
 the water if his eyesight and his knowledge of the 
 laws of matter had been suspended or held in 
 abeyance. 
 
 Desire must always lead the will and from this 
 fact has arisen the practice of prayer. But the vocal 
 expression of desire weakens its power ; since all 
 power ascends from the Ego at the invitation of the 
 longing soul, which in voiceless earnestness opens 
 inwardly. The power of the soul to answer its own 
 prayer was called Faith by Jesus. 
 
 The giving of gifts from one to another is merely 
 a temporary benefit at its best and often proves a 
 curse rather than a blessing ; while that which one 
 acquires by unaided effort is lasting and a source of 
 character growth. Jesus, understanding this, healed 
 the sick merely as illustrative of the powers of Faith, 
 and often said, — "see that thou tell no man' 1 — 
 " Give God the glory." He never claimed that he 
 of Himself could do anything, — it was always the 
 Father within him who did the work ; but even 
 then there was no claim of giving. It is "thy faith " 
 ■ — not mine — that heals. "If Ye have faith/' etc. 
 
148 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 The faith that heals and the faith that saves is in the 
 Self . if ye have it not there, no power outside of 
 you can impart it, and no knowledge — except it 
 touch the soul — can confer one single throb of 
 pleasure or pain. 
 
 x Man with all his knowledge and boasted powers is 
 not so near the spirit world as the dumb brute which 
 knows nothing. And yet, knowledge is our only 
 hope, for mind is the light of this existence, and 
 knowledge being the ultimate of mental action, if, at 
 its highest point, or apex, it meets the spirit world 
 with sufficient intensity to become impregnated with 
 a desire for something grander, and a more lofty idea 
 of human nature and its possibilities, with not merely 
 an idea "to know good and evil," but to know the 
 Good, and to have power to do it under all circum- 
 stances, then, indeed, it may truly be said to be the 
 road to power. As such I recognize it. 
 
 Analyze, sift, digest all the facts and phenomena 
 of this existence ; weigh the stars and suns of space, 
 and trace them in their eternal voyage ; dissect the 
 human form, and search the convolutions of the brain, 
 and, if at the end, you have no belief in the divinity 
 of creative power, no belief in the spirit that has 
 escaped your telescope, your scalpel, and your scales, 
 tell me not that your knowledge is the road to power. 
 For real power is repose, rest, trust, confidence and 
 harmony. That which brings no satisfaction and 
 rest is destructive. 
 
 So, knowledge may build up the soul and expand 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, 149 
 
 -^il 
 
 it, or it may contract and weaken it. If knowledge 
 makes a man egotistical and proud, it does him harm ; 
 but that knowledge which causes one to realize how 
 small and insignificant he is, and how very little he 
 knows, and of how little value that knowledge really 
 is to him, makes one negative, and receptive to the 
 world of intelligences which surround him. Then it 
 is that they come near and speak to his soul, and he 
 conceives an idea of "Brahm," "Allah," "Jeho- 
 vah," "Jove," or "God." 
 
 The knowledge of facts is good, for it expands the 
 mind ; and when the mind is sufficiently expanded, 
 it leads to deep thought, reverie, abstraction ; and 
 abstraction opens the door of the soul, viz., the 
 
 IMAGINATION. 
 
 The imaginative are the credulous. Power does 
 not come from one thing alone, but from the All — 
 the Infinite. Knowledge is necessary to weakness 
 and infancy ; but for the gods there is no knowledge 
 — it is simply faith. 
 
 ^ Faith includes all things of an inferior nature, as 
 the over-arching dome of heaven encircles all within 
 it. It is beyond all knowledge, then who can explain 
 it, or who can understand it ? It is to the soul what 
 knowledge is to the mind. As we can only approxi- 
 mate knowledge mentally, so we can only approximate 
 faith intuitively. According to our knowledge, so is 
 our faith. In exact proportion as we know wife, chil- 
 dren and friends, do we have faith in them. 
 
 Knowledge is not predicated upon anything but 
 
150 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 truth. It is not satisfactory to merely know that a 
 thing is false. We must know the truth in order to 
 be satisfied, and to be made whole and clean. As 
 you know yourself, you have faith in yourself. As you 
 know God you have faith in him. All that the mind 
 can grasp of anything is that which appears, and this 
 appearance is a revelation of something hidden. It 
 may come in dreams or in visions, or in reverie, or in 
 contemplation, reading of books, or conversation ; 
 or listening to sermons or lectures may provoke the 
 conditions necessary to induce revelations ; but in 
 whatever way it may be induced, it is subjective ; it 
 is a union with the thing thought of — a oneness of 
 spirit and being. 
 
 You have faith in yourself because you are at one 
 with yourself. You have faith in your wife in exact 
 proportion as you are one with her. Faith in things 
 changeable, and hence untrue, is destructive ; because 
 they desert you and leave you empty. 
 
 Faith is a power which comes to man as a revela- 
 tion, in the expansion of the soul, when the mind is 
 closed up, laid away, as it were, or suspended — held 
 in abeyance. Then things sublunary disappear ; and 
 the ineffable glory appears, and, entering in, is one 
 with soul — giving power undreamed of by mortal 
 man. Faith steadies, sustains and fortifies the will ; 
 combines all spirit in one. The powers of dissolution 
 and of creation are of faith. It is effortless. It is 
 the suspension of all mundane laws. 
 
 Knowledge is of no account, only as it assists one 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 151 
 
 to enter into the Spirit. Then it is set aside, as a 
 man having scaled a wall, and not being obliged to 
 return, throws the ladder down. Think you this 
 faith and power can come to us ? Nay ! We must 
 ascend to it through a regeneration in the Spirit, and 
 by a birth of the Spirit. It is another mode of ex- 
 istence, to be entered only through birth. Salvation 
 is from weakness, disease and death, and thus from 
 hell ; for hell is an outgrowth of these. 
 
 We work the best we can to prepare the way ; but 
 we make mistakes and failures in our ignorance, and 
 fall continually. But faith is a gift of the Spirit in 
 answer to our intentions and aspirations. In faith 
 there are no mistakes nor failures. It is not possible 
 to lose faith when once attained. How is it possible 
 for a child after it is born, to become as it was prior 
 to birth ? Faith is universal. There is no one or 
 particular faith/' 
 
 There is no such thing as " the faith ; " conse- 
 quently faith cannot be lost, any more than God can 
 be. Talk about "falling from grace/ ' and "losing 
 the faith ! " Nonsense ! They never have any to 
 lose. There is a fall, however, in the pretense of 
 possession. The pretender always falls. 
 
 It is the habit to speak of faith as a something akin 
 to belief — as blind — as less than knowledge. But 
 this shows our ignorance. Faith is to the Divine 
 mind what knowledge is to the natural. Through 
 and by knowledge things of use are produced and 
 multiplied in the earth. Through and by faith matter 
 
152 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 is evolved from the spirit, which, from a chaotic, 
 formless state, takes form such as the will may 
 determine. 
 
 By this method Jesus made bread and fish for the 
 hungry multitude. A few loaves and fishes were 
 sufficient to furnish a nucleus of attraction, when, in 
 obedience to his will, his Spirit flowed in and assumed 
 the form desired. 
 
 In support of this Idea that it was his spirit which 
 entered into the loaves and fishes and multiplied 
 them, i.e., was transmuted there and then into bread 
 and meat, please read his own declaration (see Mark 
 xiv. ch., 23d and 24th verses : Luke xxii. 19; Matt, 
 xxvi. 27, 28, 29). " Take and eat, this is my body," 
 etc., " Drink ! this is my blood ! " "I and my Father 
 are one." How beautiful, and yet so simple ! God is 
 in everything, and is everything. We eat him, we 
 drink him, and we breathe him. These things sup- 
 port these bodies, but the thoughts we think are the 
 breathing in of our spirits from his spirit. The ele- 
 ments composing food are the same as those compos- 
 ing our bodies. Attraction is the soul and life of 
 every atom of matter in existence, this principle in 
 humanity is termed affection or love, and Jesus said, 
 " God is a Spirit," — not a form but a Spirit. John, 
 the " beloved Apostle," in speaking of the same 
 thing afterwards, wrote, " God is Love," and " No 
 man hath seen God at anytime." Why? Because 
 spirits are not seen but felt. Anger, pride, avarice, 
 etc., are spirits, but they have no form except as they 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 153 
 
 take form in acts, they are felt within us, and mani- 
 fest themselves outwardly. Thus God or love dwells 
 in all that is ; and he who hath most love in his 
 heart sees and feels the most of God in all outward 
 manifestations, because he feels him within. So 
 when you eat your meals, consider it is partaking 
 of "the sacrament/ ' The thoughts you have of 
 your food call the spirit uppermost in your minds 
 thereto, and charge it with life and health ; or if you 
 eat with an envious, covetous, or an angry mind — 
 then disease and death attend your eating and drink- 
 ing. If you love your food, it does you good, but if 
 you loathe it for any reason, you better not partake. 
 Be thankful for what the Good Lord doth send; 
 for in so doing you do become full to overflowing 
 with the spirit, and food becomes spiritualized and 
 multiplied, assuming any quality desired. Not only 
 that, but food may be produced spontaneously, as 
 Jesus produced it, or any poisonous substance may be 
 made harmless — solid matter moved from place to 
 place without visible force. The methods by which 
 this may be done are not easily explained, even when 
 one possesses the power. Why ? Because the power 
 does not exist wholly in mind. Mind leads up to it, 
 as it leads to the soul. Faith is a soul-power which 
 descends into the man at times by reason of the union 
 of Belief and Knowledge. For knowledge is a thing 
 felt by the soul, as well as comprehended by mind. 
 I do not believe 2X2 make 4. I know it — it is a 
 demonstrated certainty; and my soul rests satisfied 
 
154 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 in its fulness of this truth. Belief is in things of 
 which the soul may glimpse truth in an uncertain 
 twilight, — which when found out becomes a cer- 
 tainty to the soul, and knowledge to the mind — 
 thus the soul and mind are connected, or the door 
 opens, for Spirit with its satisfaction and rest, to enter 
 into the man with power. The nature of the knowl- 
 edge determines the elevation and satisfaction of the 
 soul, and the degree of power given. Thus does one 
 enter into the Spirit, and the Spirit enters into him, 
 first by evolution, second by involution. The Mind 
 by concentration and limitation of thought evolves a 
 stream of light in one direction, which when at its 
 ultimate height receives a rush of Spirit in which 
 Power resides. In view of this principle of evolution 
 Jesus said : " First seek the kingdom of God, and 
 then all other things shall be added unto you." The 
 kingdom " is within you ; " it " is at hand ; " it " is like 
 unto a pearl of great price ;" or "like a little leaven 
 which a woman hid in three measures of meal. yy The 
 meal is a type of the body, mind and spirit 
 
 The wisdom of things is seen in their mechanism ; 
 the order and harmonious arrangement and adjust- 
 ment of parts, and the ease and perfection of motion 
 without jar or friction. The same is true of the 
 mental and spiritual man as of the physical. The jar 
 and friction of this life is what wears out the machine 
 called man. Each and every atom of the body is in 
 motion, and they are in health well poised and lubri- 
 cated. This is harmony. But when there is not a 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE, 155 
 
 proper balance of all the essentials, there is a discord- 
 ant friction of parts, and a loss of power, motion, 
 health and vigor. The soul furnishes the lubricator, 
 viz., magnetism. 
 
 The kingdom of heaven is harmony, power, eternal 
 youth, life, innocence, and peace. The principal ele- 
 ment of the kingdom is wisdom born of love and will. 
 If love be lacking, or be of a low, vulgar order, the 
 wisdom born of her will be inharmonious, and the 
 kingdom is that of disease. By wisdom, through 
 faith, are all things made. But if the wisdom be 
 inharmony, and the faith be small, or none at all, 
 what can you expect to flow from the spirit ; or, 
 what quality of life will be generated ? 
 
 Bear constantly in mind, kind reader, that when I 
 speak of God, I speak of your power of will and 
 love. When I speak of wisdom, I have reference to 
 the harmony of yourself. Harmony means a great 
 deal Harmony means oneness ; no conflict ; no 
 opposing elements ; no warfare between the flesh and 
 the Spirit. " The lamb and lion have lain down 
 together/ ' Remember, health is altogether due to 
 what little harmony we have. The greater the har- 
 mony, the more wisdom. The greater the wisdom, 
 the more life, peace, rest, pleasure. Discord wears 
 us out. The best of us scarce last half a century, 
 and that length of time is enough to disgust most 
 people of life. 
 
 ^ We are scarcely able to generate magnetism enough 
 to keep this human machine in order more than fifty 
 
I $6 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 years at the utmost. Now, were the love pure and 
 innocent, and the will strong and God-like, the wisdom 
 or harmony of the machine would be more perfect, 
 and the life evolved, or the spirit set in motion, pos- 
 sessed of such power that mountains might be dis- 
 solved ; or bread, fish, flowers, clothing, or human 
 forms evoked at pleasure, and the machine possessing 
 such power could wear on eternally without friction 
 or age. 
 
 " Greater works than these shall ye do, because I 
 go to the Father " (Spirit.) The dark and noisome 
 earth — the fiery constellations of heaven, with their 
 countless hosts, all exist by the will of God, and are 
 sustained by his love and wisdom. But he lies slum- 
 bering as in a tomb in the things he has made ! The 
 mighty mountains piercing the clouds, crowned eter- 
 nally with purity, as a flame-tip, tell us in their vomit- 
 ings of fire — in their groaning, and shaking, of the 
 nature of him who sleepeth beneath. 
 
 Tombstones are they, flame-shaped and spiral, 
 marking the resting-place of the infinite. They show 
 the oozing out of his power, and the aroma of his 
 presence fills space, things and men with his return- 
 ing consciousness, which, when fully returned, will 
 swallow up all things as matter in fire. The chan- 
 ging forms — the mutability of things — is due to the 
 fire which dissolves, changes, and combines matter. 
 The will baptizes the fire as with water, and thus in 
 wisdom preserves forms, and perpetuates life. It 
 holds it in check, and regulates the heat so that we 
 
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. I $7 
 
 are not consumed. This is the esoteric meaning of 
 the baptism with water. 
 
 If the will can restrain the fire through its exer- 
 cise, it also can unchain the lightnings and vomit out 
 flame, which, though unseen, shall not be unf elt, and 
 which, meeting things on the way, passes through, 
 dissolves, and causes them to disappear noiselessly, 
 in decency and in order. The same hidden and un- 
 seen power drove back the lightnings in their mad 
 revel on " dark Galilee " at the simple words, " Peace ! 
 Be still." 
 
 It is the unnaturalness of man that keeps the Infi- 
 nite under. We cannot return to nature, but we can 
 rise up to the supernatural, and still exist. We suffer 
 pain, because of the deficiency of fire. How easy for 
 the strong will to turn a flame upon the dark door of 
 it, and exorcise it as if by magic. We are full of 
 darkness and sorrow, because we are vacant. How 
 easy to be full if we are only wise ! 
 
 To attract the fire and hold it by baptism is full- 
 ness ; which, indeed, is life-pleasure ; nay, ecstasy, 
 beside which trance is as a dream. In purity all 
 power resides. Fire renders all things pure. It 
 reduces, refines, purifies and illuminates all things. 
 Fire flows from love. But you do not know what 
 love is. You think it hath something of sex in it ;^ 
 and so it has, for sex is a symbol of it. The ecstasy 
 of a virgin soul when first baptized by the contact of 
 a spirit, all in harmony, is a poor expression of love 
 in its abstruse sense. But it is the best I have. 
 
158 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Love is not the soul. But the emotions we feel that 
 satisfy us, we call love. These emotions felt by the 
 soul are produced by movements of the spirit being 
 projected by the will from the mind to the soul. 
 Soul is the mother ; Spirit is the father ; and love 
 dwells in a latent state in all things till roused into 
 action. So Spirit or God being love, produces emo- 
 tions only by action, which is effected by mind in us. 
 When latent l it is power — when active, the creator. 
 , The highest and most ecstatic and exalting emotions 
 mankind know — those that transform us into Gods, 
 or debase us to the lowest Hells — are produced by 
 the union of the sexes. 
 
 It moves the whole sensorium of the soul, and by 
 its motions evolves a spiritual fire that burns in the 
 nerves like a volcano. As a volcano vomits out 
 molten earth and mineral, so fire, trained by the will 
 (baptism) decomposes all dross and baseness, which it 
 eliminates from the system, leaving nothing but the 
 pure metal. Beware of the fire, if you are impure ! 
 It will leave not a vestige of you, soul, mind or body. 
 Love builds up or destroys. Slow, lingering decay 
 is as certain as rapid combustion. Nothing comes 
 out of God's crucible but immortal beings. 
 
THE SOUL. 159 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SOUL. 
 " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." — Bible. 
 
 I have already defined the soul as a vacuum, and 
 herein appears the impossibility of it. The sublime 
 and the ridiculous are so closely united that some- 
 times one is taken for the other. Modern philos- 
 ophy, backed by science, says there are no vacuums ; 
 that "nature abhors vacuums" — thus virtually ad- 
 mitting their existence ; for how can nature abhor 
 that which has no existence ? It is not possible to 
 conceive of a thing which has no foundation or exist- 
 ence. The supernatural is denied also, and that 
 shows the weakness and nakedness of philosophy. 
 x ^ The soul is supernatural, and it is a vacuum ; but it 
 is not given to ordinary minds to comprehend this. 
 How can the natural mind believe in that which 
 nature abhors ? We instinctively try to destroy that 
 which we abhor, and the mind that rejects a proposi- 
 tion is at variance therewith, and its thought is that 
 of destruction. 
 
 No man can conceive of the supernatural, except 
 he have a something in himself in harmony with the 
 idea. The soul is a vacuum — it contains the Ego, 
 
l6o THE TEMPLE OP THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 its maker, which is supernatural, because nature can- 
 not destroy it ; and that which is hidden is always 
 superior to that which is visible. Soul corresponds 
 to the feminine principle in nature, but this corre- 
 spondence does not make a natural thing of it at all. 
 It is not a thing, but that which gives birth to things. 
 Attraction is the feminine of nature, but this is not 
 the soul, but that which the Ego produces as a 
 governing law in nature. 
 
 In nature, things are moved by contact and by 
 impact. Operations by contact are always down- 
 ward. We cannot operate upwards, save as we 
 receive that which is superior from above by impact. 
 This is the way of the spirit. 
 
 Spirit is natural, unnatural, terrine, and 
 celestial, and may become supernatural by working 
 itself out of the laws governing those four grades of 
 spirit ; or, in other words, by becoming master of all 
 of nature's methods, operations, modes of action, etc. 
 This is within the range of man's powers. This 
 nature in which we exist is not infinite. There are 
 other natures. This is a peculiar one, in which 
 motion is the law. Perfection of motion is the ulti- 
 mate of this nature. Perfection is stagnation, of 
 which we know little. The perfect union of soul and 
 spirit is the supernatural, but the spirit is swallowed 
 up by soul in such union. 
 
 This union was called " Nirvana " by Gautama, 
 which Hardy, the translator of Buddhism, says, means 
 annihilation. 
 
THE SOUL. l6l 
 
 But he mistakes. It is an existence outside and 
 above all human comprehension. Hence the diffi- 
 culty of explaining it. All spirit is fire ; but spirit 
 outside of soul has quality, quantity, sound and 
 colors ; which are lost in the fusion or oneness of 
 soul and spirit. " Things of the spirit are nonsense 
 to the common mind. ,, Soul is not a thing, save it 
 be united to spirit, neither can we conceive of it save 
 in imagination. 
 \ To conceive of the soul is to make a thing of it — 
 thus man creates his own soul as a thing. Without 
 such conception the soul is formless, and there is no 
 permanence or reality to its existence, i.e. % it takes 
 any shape, according to circumstances and conditions. 
 To give form to the soul, then, is man's highest work. 
 The souls of vegetation and animals have no fixed or 
 durable form. The same is true of some men. 
 \ All perfect forms are spherical, and the Rosicru- 
 cian symbol of a winged globe is a type of a perfected 
 soul. Some Rosicrucians claim that the soul is 
 located, or has its equator, at the pit of the stomach 
 in the solar and semi-lunar plexus, with one pole in 
 the brain and the other in the sexual organs. This 
 is undoubtedly true of a perfected soul. But in its 
 imperfect state it is in every atom of the body, and 
 cannot be withdrawn therefrom save by death. 
 
 The lungs are the physical representation of the 
 soul's wings. All flights of thought depend upon 
 inspiration — a breathing in, as it were, of another 
 atmosphere from a thought-world. The perfect soul 
 
1 62 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 can leave the body at will, and fly away to realms 
 more vital than this. But the imperfect is held fast 
 to the atoms in which it is anchored by demerit. The 
 perfect soul and spirit can make and dwell in any 
 v kind of a body it chooses, and dissolve it at will. 
 
 There is a vivifying and vitalizing, exhilarating and 
 exalting influence comes by deep and protracted 
 breathing ; but in thought there is a deeper, broader, 
 higher, and more profound exaltation, because it 
 touches the sensorium of the soul itself. Breathing 
 is physical ; thought is mental ; but meditation is the 
 poising of the soul's wings for flight. 
 
 There are some thoughts which take hold on the 
 filth of hell, which they stir up to the degradation 
 and damnation of the thinker; there are other 
 thoughts which elevate the soul and exalt the thinker. 
 In neither case does the thinker go outside of him- 
 self in his thought, albeit he imagines that he does. 
 
 In order to become an epitome of all, man must 
 pass through all, which can be done mentally, for the 
 true man lives in his mind. He must dissect him- 
 self, and analyze all his passions, motions, emotions, 
 motives, etc., and master them all. They are the 
 steps in his ladder of progress. He must begin at 
 the bottom to climb. The sexual and love nature are 
 at the foundation of existence. God has so ordered 
 it that man's greatest happiness, as well as his great- 
 est woes, spring from this source. If there is any- 
 thing impure about it, it is in the mind of him who 
 so estimates it. 
 
 \ 
 
THE SOUL. 163 
 
 Of all acts the sexual is the most potent, for herein 
 man approaches the nearest to the portals of Divine 
 creative energy. Here, in the veiled temple of 
 woman's body, God baptizes matter with his Spirit, 
 and lo, it becomes an immortal being, having in 
 embryo all the powers of God himself. Is there any- 
 thing degrading about this ? The true man and 
 woman love their children. The great solace and 
 pride of their lives are offspring ; they are a result of 
 this relation, of which we may only speak in whis- 
 pers, and over which a pall must be spread. As if 
 God has made something of which man is ashamed. 
 
 In this relation soul meets soul in an ecstatic 
 blending of Spirits, and a watchful God bending low 
 from on high " broods over the Holy of Holies " in 
 the temple, and accepts the sacrifice, consumed with 
 fires of love, and entering in, is born of woman. 
 " The Immaculate Conception " is the result of a 
 perfect union of man and woman. The resulting 
 child must, of necessity, be superior to the parents, 
 for such is " the Christ, the Son of the living God," 
 not of a dead one, for dead Gods produce half men 
 and women — devils in human form. " We are dead 
 in trespasses and sins." 
 
 A virgin typifies purity of Soul. "The Holy 
 Ghost " is "the Holy Spirit," or a pure Spirit. 
 Now, the union of such produces " the only begot- 
 ten Son of God;" for God cannot be incarnated in 
 impurity, save as a progressive being. The only way 
 God can be begotten of man, or in man, is through 
 
1 64 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 purity. But what is purity ? What is sin ? Dis- 
 obedience of law is said to be sin. Without law 
 there could be no sin, for there would be no standard, 
 or regulator of action. This is an idea as true as 
 nature, and as old as humanity. The writer of 
 Genesis expressed it in an allegorical manner, or 
 as a fable or parable. Law is, after all, only a mode 
 of action. But of what action is sin predicated ? 
 Sexual action ! Nothing more, and nothing less. 
 Strange idea ! And wherein is its truth ? A virgin 
 is pure ; but a mother — a fully developed woman — 
 one whose love-nature has had full expression, is 
 impure ! 
 
 I am not one to scoff at an idea hoary with age, 
 which has had the respect and reverence of the good 
 and great for untold centuries. This vague legend 
 or tradition, of the fall of man, must have a founda- 
 tion in truth, for it belongs to all races and nations. 
 And this is also proven by the present condition of 
 mankind, which I have set forth under the head of 
 The Unnatural. It is a matter of little or no con- 
 sequence, how it happened, but it is of vital importance 
 to know wherein the fall consists. 
 
 The ancients wrote allegorically. The fundamen- 
 tal truths were not for the multitude, hence they were 
 hidden away in parables, or conveyed in language 
 intended to mislead. All knowledge of value was 
 fast locked in the temples, and taught only as mys- 
 teries to the initiated. But in their writings the 
 truth is manifested occasionally, especially to him who 
 
THE SOUL. 165 
 
 has " the keys." The ancient wise men, seers and 
 prophets, were deeper versed in the mysteries of 
 nature than we are, hence some of them stood nearer 
 to God, and received truth more in its purity and 
 simplicity. 
 v The fall of man was the fall of the soul from its 
 perfect spherical form to a diffused or atomic state. 
 To a perfect soul the emotions are perfectly subject 
 to the will, and any part of the system may be affected 
 in any manner desired, without the provocation of 
 contact with objects. Before the fall woman was a 
 subjective or spiritual being (taken from Adam while 
 .in a trance, as I will more fully explain hereafter) — 
 a materialized spirit, with whom Adam copulated, 
 thus preventing her return to a subjective condition. 
 
 When the soul fell to an atomic state, subjective 
 things became objective, and contact of things became 
 necessary to produce emotions of pleasure and pain. 
 Adam did not need the contact of copulation to pro- 
 duce ecstasy, for it could be produced without — by 
 will, and that without waste of virility. And the 
 command was that he should not copulate. Such, 
 evidently, were the views of the ancient philosophers, 
 as I will try to explain further on. 
 
 The scientific world is mad with evolutionism. 
 Darwin has sunk modern thought low down in the 
 mud ! Protoplasm is God ! It appears to sense 
 that out of mud come flowers and fruits. This ap- 
 pearance, however, is the same as that the sun rises 
 and sets — the earth flat, etc. It is a delusion. 
 
1 66 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 That which appears is not the whole truth ; the most 
 vital truths do not appear to observation. A plant 
 or tree grows up out of the mud, but the flowers and 
 fruits descend. There is a descent as well as an 
 ascent, and at the point of union there is generation. 
 This is nature's copulation. Plants, flowers, fruits, 
 living things, eyes, ears, thought and feeling, do not 
 ascend out of the ground, any more than the stars or 
 the sun-light does. There is a mystery connected 
 with all things which is insoluble, and the ancients 
 deserve as much respect for their effort to explain it 
 as Darwin and Huxley. 
 
 Man grew, and still grows, as plants and animals 
 do ; but who knows how they come, or from whence ? 
 If thought lies perdu in the mud (as a flower), is it 
 any less an unfathomable mystery, or any less worthy 
 of adoration than if it be enthroned in the stars or in 
 a God ? It is just as logical to suppose that sense 
 makes the mind as that mind evolves sense. 
 
 Far away in the dim and shadowy past some one 
 conceived an idea, and wrote that God said : " In the 
 day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Is it 
 not true ? Is this life ? If so, I do not want more 
 of it ! But this is more death than life. The loftiest 
 mind has not yet conceived of real life. This is, 
 indeed, one long-drawn sigh of anguish ; a mad dance 
 of demons ! A scramble and a rush after toys. If 
 this is life, and all of it, then, indeed, is God or 
 nature a demon, enacting an awful tragedy, for 'tis 
 worse than a farce. 
 
THE SOUL. 167 
 
 Man dies for lack of vitality ; which, indeed, is 
 virility, and virility springs from love, wherein it is 
 generated. So all diseases, pains, and death itself, 
 spring from an abnormal, or unnatural action of love, or 
 the sexual nature. Undoubtedly the ancients under- 
 stood the "fall of man" to be a. fall of the blood. 
 The laws of Moses support this conclusion. The rite 
 of circumcision — the rites of purification — the sacri- 
 fices with fire> and the shedding of blood, and the 
 obscure narratives of the old Testament show that 
 they considered sin as sexual. The same idea seems 
 to have been entertained by Jesus, for he said : 
 "Woe unto you/ 1 etc., "verily I say unto you the 
 harlots go into the kingdom before you." Why were 
 harlots named instead of other criminal classes ? 
 
 And again : " Some men are bom eunuchs ; others 
 are made so by men ; others make eunuchs of them- 
 selves for the kingdom of heaven's sake." This, 
 when rightly understood, does not mean castration. 
 The Buddhist priest who has attained the power of 
 "Irdhi," (the power of levitation, of walking upon 
 the water, or of passing through the air, or of visit- 
 ing at will any of " the three worlds," or " the Brahma 
 Lokas,") has no sexual desires at all, and is as incom- 
 petent as an eunuch ; but he has all his organs per- 
 fect. He has, by a certain course of training, turned 
 his virility upward and inward, instead of allowing it 
 to flow downward, and outward, in the commission of 
 what St. John calls sin. 
 
 Turn to the first Epistle of John, iii, 9, and you will 
 
168 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 find the real definition of sin, " Whatsoever is born 
 of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed remain- 
 eth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born 
 of God." Loss of virility, then, must be sin. The 
 first sin ! The monster sin of the world, out of 
 which all others flow — as water from a fountain. 
 Connect this with Gen. iii, 1 1 : "I will put enmity 
 between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
 and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
 bruise his (?) heel." (Heel here means something 
 else.) The word "his " here means her. (It has not 
 yet been settled what the serpent here spoken to 
 means. Theology calls it "the devil;" but the ser- 
 pent is the symbol of wisdom.) Seed here spoken 
 of must mean the same spoken of by John, for the 
 bruising of it is all too apparent in all the hospitals 
 and medical museums of the world. 
 
 Read God's admonition of Cain prior to the mur- 
 der of Abel : " If thou doest well shalt thou not be 
 accepted, and if thou doest not well sin lieth at thy 
 door y and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt 
 rule over him." Strange language to use in order to 
 deter one from doing wrong, to tell him he should 
 become ruler by sinning. " Onan " was slain by the 
 Lord, because sin lay at his door — i.e., wasted (Genesis 
 xxxviii. 1 1). What is a door but a place of egress ? 
 Let him who reads think. But we are not dependent 
 upon the Bible and conjecture for what we believe 
 upon this subject. Buddhism, five hundred years 
 older than Christianity, numbering 369,000,000 ad- 
 
THE SOUL. 169 
 
 herents, containing all the principles that Jesus 
 taught, and much more, teaching the way to super- 
 natural power and "Nirvana," is sexual from the first 
 to last. All birth is sexual, hence "the second 
 birth" spoken of by Jesus must have reference 
 
 s thereto. 
 
 x * The curse put upon the woman : " I will greatly 
 multiply thy sorrow and thy conception" was a sexual 
 penalty, showing that "the fall" was a fall of the 
 blood ; and in corroboration of this idea, nature weeps 
 tears of blood periodically from the mysterious re- 
 cesses of woman's body. Woman, of all God's crea- 
 tures, is the only one so accursed. The atonement 
 is of blood and of love. Through woman came the 
 fall, and through the virgin soul must come immor- 
 tality. Salvation is woman's work. 
 
 "^ By the shattering of the soul into atoms, it lost 
 control of the vital essences, nerve aura, or fire of the 
 body ; hence man fell under the control of his pas- 
 sions, and love became inverted. Hence man is the 
 reverse of what he primarily was, and disease takes 
 the place of that divine ecstasy which is his heritage. 
 "The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children 
 to the third and fourth generation." No sins but 
 those of the blood are so visited. Love is the life of 
 the blood, hence in the Scriptures blood typifies love. 
 The blood of the sacrifice, of the lamb, and of the 
 atonement, all refer to love. Man's passions are not 
 love, but its lowest expression — its inverted expres- 
 sion. 
 
170 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 To attain to life and love in its purity the founda- 
 tions of God's Temple — man — must not be rotten. 
 If rotten, it must be made new. How Herculean 
 the task ! How gigantic the work ! No wonder 
 Jesus said : " Except a man be born again he cannot 
 see the kingdom of God ! " None but a God could 
 reveal these things of the soul to man ! 
 
 As I said before, I say again — meditation is the 
 poising of the wings of the soul for flight, and the 
 most potent meditation is that wherein passions are 
 crucified. Man is an angular being, and in order to 
 attain perfection these angles and triangles must be 
 worn off. Your character and disposition (not your 
 reputation) is indicative of the form of your soul. 
 
 The man who revolves through life like a jagged 
 rock — crashing, knocking, bumping, grinding, flay- 
 ing, and demolishing objects that stand in his way, is 
 far from being a true soul. True, he may get the 
 angles knocked off ere he gets through his journey ; 
 but the journey of the soul is infinite, and it takes 
 countless ages of experience to round out a soul to 
 a durable and permanent form, and then, when all 
 the angles and corners are chipped off, it may be a 
 very small thing, scarcely possessing any conscious- 
 ness at all. But whatever its size may be — provided 
 it is not a monad — it retains its form, and in the 
 lapse of time and the increase of consciousness, the 
 dim past becomes more and more vivid and real, till 
 at last all previous stages of existence become a 
 matter of memory. In whatever form it may be im- 
 
THE SOUL. 171 
 
 prisoned, the character manifested will be harmonious 
 and peaceful. The true rounding off of angles is 
 done by the chisel of thought from within. We are 
 the architects of our own selves. We build by our 
 thoughts and acts the temples or hovels we inhabit. 
 Some, indeed, live in caverns, or, reptile-like, in holes 
 in the ground. Some inhabit the great deep, and lie 
 in the slime at its bottom. 
 
 ^ Soul orbits differ as the orbits of the planets; 
 hence the ages of souls are not alike. Some revolve 
 in small orbits ; they make a revolution with great 
 rapidity. Others, again, revolve in orbits so vast 
 that millions of ages are as a second of time, or a 
 degree of distance as from one universe to another. 
 Stations there are on the way of the soul, where rest 
 is taken, and new forms made, mysteries explored, 
 other laws learned, and the soul enlarged. 
 
 There is no end save to weakness ; the downward 
 terminates at the centre, where no forms exist — the 
 above has no limits — universe after universe stretches 
 away illimitable. Sense makes boundaries ; but soul 
 overleaps or breaks down all barriers. A mere crea- 
 ture here ! A nothing, to be scoffed at, doubted, and 
 destroyed by sin, it becomes in its flight stronger and 
 stronger, larger and larger, till it becomes a creator 
 and governor of worlds, and the architect of universes 
 and of other souls. 
 
 We are merely halted here on our eternal voyage 
 to learn of this peculiar nature — to master its secrets 
 and mysteries. When we have done so, we will go 
 
172 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 on our way. Some souls are older than others ; but 
 no soul can leave this earth unfledged. You cannot 
 leave till you have learned all that is to be known of 
 it, and mastered all its creative forces and laws. 
 
 True, we have a rest occasionally, of a few thousand 
 years, in some of the heavens or hells of spirit-land 
 or the GoD-worlds, from which return is not only 
 possible but certain ; not merely to communicate, but 
 to be re-incarnated. We 'sometimes leave our bodies 
 in deep sleep, and visit strange places, see strange 
 faces, and learn many new things, which we bring 
 back in part to our waking state. Waking state? 
 Indeed ! The real waking, conscious, living state is 
 when this physical is in a deeper sleep than the 
 deepest trance. The more globular the soul is, the 
 more easily it may detach itself from the atoms first, 
 and then and lastly from the body. This detaching 
 is a drawing together, or contraction, or abstraction 
 of itself, in which is health. 
 
 Sleep is better than medicine. The cause of dis- 
 ease is the close relation, or contact of the soul to 
 the atoms of the body. The withdrawal of the soul 
 permits the spirit to enter any diseased part and re- 
 store it. The soul is foreign to nature, and its 
 imprisonment therein corrupts nature. It abhors 
 nature as much as nature abhors it, and it is bound 
 to get out of it, in one way or another — either by 
 growth or decay, or by both. 
 
 From my boyhood I studied and practiced phre- 
 nology, and studied myself closely. Wishing to make 
 
THE SOUL. 173 
 
 the most of a defective organization, I strove to cul- 
 tivate myself to the utmost of my abilities. But 
 knowing my many defects, I felt often discouraged 
 and dissatisfied with myself. One night, in deep 
 sleep, I was outside of my body. There it lay before 
 me, a mere lump of plastic clay. I said : — oh, you 
 defective thing ! If I had had the making of you, I 
 would have made that head far different. A voice 
 said : " Fix it over to suit yourself." I immediately 
 went to work upon the plastic head, and moulded it 
 to my notion, and then got into my body and tried 
 it on. It did not suit me. Again I got out and re- 
 modeled it, with the same result. Time after time 
 I essayed to make it over to my notion, but without 
 success, till at last the head was all out of shape; 
 in fact, it was no longer human. And the joke of it 
 was that I could not get it back to its original shape. 
 In my perplexity the voice said : " Trust in creative 
 power ! Make the best use you can of your head, 
 and by and by you will have a better one." Then I 
 awoke, and since then I am content to work and 
 wait in harmony with nature, and not find fault. 
 
 Some of us, at least, are double at times. Nature 
 is not partial to individuals. The way to power is 
 open to all. " Many are called, but few are chosen ! " 
 Why ? Because few choose to struggle up the stream, 
 when it is so easy to float, like drift-wood, downward. 
 
 To crucify the loves is a superhuman task, and so 
 repugnant to man's everyday life and thought that 
 most men will turn aside from my book in disgust 
 
174 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 and contempt ; and yet there is so much talk in the 
 churches about " taking up the cross *' ! Alas for 
 unbelief ! 
 
 Whence comes the celibacy of the Catholic priest- 
 hood ; the asceticism of India, and the peculiar tenets 
 of the Essenes, — amongst whom, it is said, Jesus 
 was "developed." They did not marry, and held 
 property in common, as did the early Christians. 
 They held, as we of the Rose Cross hold to-day, 
 that marriage, as now understood and practiced, is 
 unnatural. The asceticism of Catholicism, if it was 
 not borrowed from Buddhism, is synonymous with it, 
 which existed long before Gautama's time, who lived 
 five hundred years before Christ. But no matter 
 how old asceticism may be, or how much it may have 
 been practiced, or how much spiritual power may be \/ 
 attained thereby, it is the exoteric of religious ideas, 
 as much so as any of the forms and ceremonies. The 
 esoteric has never been, and never will be, given to 
 any but the initiated. It is the much-talked-of "Phi- 
 losopher's Stone/' and "Elixir of Life" — the 
 least of all known. This subject, however tedious it 
 may be, is intimately connected with the soul, for it is 
 the soul of Rosicrucia, as well as all religious sys- 
 tems. It is not asceticism which gives purity — it is 
 only a method for its attainment. It is from the 
 thought that all things come. 
 
 " Not that which goeth in at the mouth defileth a 
 man, but that which goeth out." Sin defiles, for it 
 "layeth at the door." The greatest sin a man can 
 
THE SOUL. 175 
 
 commit is the waste of the life a good and beneficent 
 Creator has given him for his use, and not abuse. 
 - Promiscuity is a mockery of God. The awful diseases 
 that spring from it show the nature of the sin com- 
 mitted — its defilement, and its curse. As the very 
 ground withholds its rest, peace and strength from a 
 murderer — as God said it should from Cain — so 
 woman withholds her spirit from the debaucher. 
 
 The painful or pleasurable action of any part of the 
 system is due to the presence of the soul in that part. * 
 If the soul be withdrawn from any part, that part has 
 no sensation, and the spirit, taking the place of the 
 absent soul, builds anew the part afflicted. If the 
 spirit be overcome by a strong magnetizer, and 
 the soul thus driven back, repelled or forced out, the 
 body has no sensation, and amputation or other pain- 
 ful surgical operations may be performed without the 
 subject being aware of it. This fact is well authenti- 
 cated. 
 
 This power of withdrawal of the soul resides in 
 every one who has a will. It does not depend upon 
 the magnetizer at all, but upon the well-regulated 
 action of the will. Self -magnetization is a well-known 
 fact among spiritualists, and practiced by all mediums 
 to a certain extent. But it is too limited to be pro- 
 ductive of the results above spoken of. Paralysis is v " 
 the obstruction — through insulation — of the spirit 
 in its free passage through the system. The soul is 
 left alone in a paralyzed body or limb, without the 
 spirit to give life and power — as all power depends 
 
176 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 upon movements of spirit, which is effected by its 
 union with the soul. Mind is merely the connecting 
 link between the two. The partial withdrawal of the 
 soul is indicated by vibratory motions in the nerves, 
 which, being extended, produces ecstasy, then trance, 
 or insensibility. Those who follow sitting in circles 
 are aware of this. 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TION. 1 77 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION. 
 
 I have already spoken of progression and retro- 
 gression, as balancing each other in motion. The 
 symbol of the Cross in a circle is illustrative of this. 
 The upright, or " Phallus/' indicates the law of prog- 
 ress ; the horizontal line the cross of the law — retro- 
 gression, or the fall of man ; while the circle is the 
 sigma of eternity, or of revolution. Man, in growth 
 and decay, is simply the Ego in motion, and he must 
 conform to the laws of motion ; i.e., he must revolve 
 in an orbit, as worlds do. 
 
 All life is one ; man differs from the animals only 
 in form and the amount of life and mind he embodies. 
 Life has no beginning nor end ; but forms begin, 
 grow, decay, and end. The law that governs one 
 form governs all. Forms change as mind changes. 
 
 Consciousness is the highest manifestation of life. 
 Man and animals both exist after death, for power 
 cannot die. It takes ages for matter to progress up 
 to a form perfect enough to manifest consciousness 
 and thought ; so it takes ages for it to retrograde to 
 a loss of it. Even form does not change suddenly. 
 Death itself is powerless to effect any material change 
 
178 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 in the form ; but the rough garment of the soul 
 is merely cast aside by death, and the spiritual body 
 is immediately formed — fashioned in the mould of 
 the mortal body. But this body, being like the natu- 
 ral body, composed of spirit condensed, is subject to 
 the law of vastation in the spiritual worlds, the same 
 as here. Consequently the form changes, as the soul 
 comes nearer and nearer to the union with spirit. As 
 a man is here, so he will commence on the other side. 
 If he is progressive here, he continues to progress till 
 the merit he has acquired in this life is exhausted, 
 then he will commence retrograding. If he is retro- 
 grading here, he will continue on the other side, till 
 he reaches, in the lapse of ages, perhaps, a state of 
 unconsciousness in which he is re-incarnated in some 
 other form. 
 
 Life is like the revolutions of a wheel ; or as the 
 succession of the seasons ; or as day and night. Man, 
 and in fact every form in nature, may be likened to a 
 fly on the rim of a revolving wheel, one half of which 
 is in darkness, while the other half is in light. At 
 the top — at the zenith — the light is extremely 
 brilliant, and the fly as he ascends, assumes various 
 hues of color which he did not manifest in twilight 
 or in darkness, presenting at the culminating point of 
 motion all the inherent beauty he possesses. As the 
 wheel carries him down on the other side into dark- 
 ness, his beauties disappear one by one till at last he 
 entirely disappears for a season to emerge again and 
 again, times without number as the wheel carries him 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TION 1 79 
 
 eternally around. Imagine, if you can, that man, or 
 any object, is the entire wheel, and that he revolves, 
 bathing himself alternately in light and darkness, 
 changing form and qualities perceptibly in light and 
 imperceptibly in darkness, and you will grasp the idea 
 of life without beginning or end. 
 
 As infancy merges into maturity and maturity into 
 old age, so does life flow on in imperceptible changes 
 from those below all human knowledge through the 
 lowest worm or insect to the loftiest, even to God 
 Himself. In vain does doubt strain its powers to 
 discover the missing link between the species — it is 
 not to be found in physical things, — but the fact 
 that intelligence is common to all and that it is graded 
 from the lowest to the highest, shows the common 
 origin of things ; and as the connecting links are not 
 discoverable in physical nature, the points of diver- 
 gence must be in that nature which is other than phys- 
 ical. So, after death, the change from one species 
 to another, or from one nature to another, is effected ; 
 and the slow change of form in this life is the mere 
 ripening, preparatory to making that change. 
 
 Retrogression is as much a law as is progression, 
 and, as it is far easier for weakness to fall than to 
 climb, so is retrogression more apparent than progres- 
 sion. 
 
 It is not apparent that the brute nature becomes 
 human, neither does it appear to the sight of the eye 
 that the earth is a revolving sphere ; nevertheless, 
 such are truths which the mind may grasp as firmly 
 
180 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 as hands grasp matter. If the animal nature ascend 
 to the human plane, the descent of the human to the 
 animal plane and form, is just as certain, and far 
 easier, since to fall is easier than to rise. 
 
 Many intelligent people hold to the doctrine of 
 reincarnation while they look with repugnance upon 
 the idea of transmigration. They readily accept the 
 idea that an animal may become human after death, 
 or that a soul may be reincarnated in another human 
 form, but, to such savants, the idea that a human being 
 may become something less than human, is very re- 
 pugnant : again, there are plenty of exalted spirits 
 from the astral plane of being, who, while controlling 
 mediums and lecturers, deny in toto the idea of trans- 
 migration for no reason other than that they do not 
 know of it, as if existence is limited by knowledge. 
 If there is a plane of consciousness near at hand, — - 
 even on its confines — is a plane of unconsciousness, 
 wherein, as in a womb, beings change form and 
 nature. 
 
 This is the dark region underlying all conscious 
 life, wherein the wheel of existence is submerged at 
 every revolution and even worlds change polarities 
 and reverse their conformation. Herein races, spe- 
 cies, nations, all forms, even intelligence itself, are 
 lost when the wheel turns round. Who shall tell us 
 of the submersion of the fabled Atlantis, and where 
 are the voices or records of that intellectual greatness 
 of which we, with our boasted science and erudition, 
 are merely an echo, — and a faint one at best. 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TION. 1 8 1 
 
 That the wheel goes around, there is no question, 
 but of the duration of time for its revolution, who 
 can estimate. Intelligence is acquired, and thus it 
 may be lost. As this is true of the individual, so it 
 is of the race, or of the world. There is no such 
 thing as existence without change ; and change is 
 alternation, as a rising up and a falling down ; though 
 in cycles both vast and small. Repugnant as these 
 ideas may be to modern taste, they are certainly based 
 in logic ; and if age gives any prestige to anything, 
 this must take the precedent, for the transmigration 
 of the soul is the oldest religion known to man. 
 
 Upon the tombs of ancient Egypt there is sculp- 
 tured in the rock a picture of Osiris seated on a 
 throne, and human beings ascending upon a stairway 
 to him. In front of him they seem to divide. Those 
 on the right still retain the human form, but those on 
 the left are animals. Furthermore, there are more 
 people in existence who entertain this belief than 
 otherwise. If you read our Bible, you will see that 
 the Jews believed in it ; and Jesus also. (Mark ix. 
 12, 12, 13). Also see Matthew xvii. 10, 11, 12, 13, 
 and xvi. 13, 14; also xiv. 2, 3. 
 
 Now for the logic of it. An eternal existence, 
 based upon the pleasure of a changeable God, is too 
 absurd to think of, but all Christendom holds to such 
 a view. A beginning proves an end. This we show 
 to be an illusion of sense ; for a beginning is only 
 apparently so as regards the life, while it is really so 
 in reference to the form. You had an existence as 
 
1 82 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 an infant, but no recollection of it. You also existed 
 in utero, but the mode of that existence was altogether 
 different from life since your birth. You also had an 
 existence as a spermatozoa, and swam around in a 
 drop of semen as a whale does in the ocean, and 
 fought with and destroyed other spermatozoa weaker 
 than yourself. It took a microscope to see you then, 
 but you were a conscious, living being, having the 
 power of volition. 
 
 Beyond this, science cannot follow you. But we can 
 reasonably believe that you existed in an unconscious 
 state in your father's veins ; and who can know you 
 were not conscious even then ? Shall we assume to 
 deny it, because, in our ignorance, we are unable to 
 find you ? Is not the air full of infinitesimal life, 
 of which we know nothing ? We know that you, as a 
 spermatozoa, died in the womb before you became a 
 child. Who knows that you had not just died before 
 you became a spermatozoa ? And who knows but 
 that you might have been butchered, as a lamb, a 
 little while before ? 
 
 Every act is either good or bad, according to the 
 motive — or the mother of it, — but it is the ego 
 itself which appears in the form or effects which are 
 generated by our acts, 
 
 The ego which generates a body in the womb is 
 a living, conscious entity prior to and during gesta- 
 tion ; although it sleeps some of the time during such 
 gestation, — as we all sleep at night. In gestation 
 the ego not only produces the form, but it becomes 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TION. 1 8 3 
 
 the form also. I and my body are one — I am in 
 my form, and my form is also in me and comes out of 
 me to replace the wasting tissue of this fleshly body, 
 or to repair its wounds. I am not limited to my 
 body, but enclose it in my spirit, as God does the 
 world ; and St. John declares that " God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but 
 have everlasting life. ,, 
 
 Now, the world is a mere form, as the body is, — 
 it is the appearance of the Feminine principle of na- 
 ture, in which things are begotten, gestate, and out 
 of which they are born in due time. The spirit sur- 
 rounding or hovering over the earth is the masculine, 
 or begetting principle, — and the only thing or prin- 
 ciple which can be begotten in the earth, or in the 
 world, is life. 
 
 The thought arises, Why should " God so love the 
 world " ? The only reasonable answer is this. Be- 
 cause it is His "better half" — a form in which He 
 changes Himself from one into many, — from power 
 into weakness. His only begotten Son is life, — or 
 the ego in man which is the giver of life to the body. 
 He who believes in life has a conception in his soul of 
 an ideal life that he delights to form into a charac- 
 ter that shall be eternal. He beholds the manifesta- 
 tions of life in all forms, has respect for all things 
 that feel, and only pity for the pains and woes of 
 weakness. Eyes are windows through which God 
 looks at us. What manner of man is it, who, looking 
 
184 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 into the eloquently pleading eyes of a harmless and 
 helpless dumb brute, unfeelingly takes its life ? 
 
 With what horror the dumb animals shrink from 
 the very smell of death ! Is this not a hint that life 
 is a sacred thing, and the begetting of it the noblest 
 and holiest work of man ? 
 
 As God begets life in countless myriad forms in the 
 world, so does man beget all manner of forms of life 
 in his body, — and some one of these forms will he 
 inhabit after his death, and such as he does not im- 
 mediately occupy will hover around in his spirit wait- 
 ing to be occupied by him in some future incarnation, 
 or, being vacant, are an invitation to some enemy to 
 occupy, who may be an instrument of " vengeance to 
 the third or fourth generation.' ' 
 
 The distinguishing mark of a true human being, the 
 line drawn between man and the savage, wild beast, 
 is Pity. It is the true civilizer, and above all knowl- 
 edge. In vain we ask, what is all this life for which 
 swarms in the air, and walks upon the land, or swims 
 in the sea? Was it created as a mere pastime for 
 man's benefit ? Or, is it not more reasonable to think 
 that it is all rushing upward towards perfection, — 
 the fittest going up and the unfit going down. Dar- 
 win shows the law of "Natural Selection." Man! 
 Proud and haughty egotist that thou art. Nature 
 thinks as much of a mosquito as she does of you ! 
 You gestate in water the same, and go out of life in 
 like manner as a mosquito does. But you make a 
 greater fuss about it. Arrogate nothing to yourself 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TOIN. 1 8 5 
 
 because you are a little higher than the poor, patient,^^ 
 dumb brute you drive. Treat them kindly, for you 
 know not how soon they may become human, and pay 
 you in your own coin for your brutality. 
 
 "Thou shalt not kill," was written upon Mount 
 Sinai by one who knew what he was about. The 
 Rahats of Buddhism are not allowed to knowingly 
 tread upon a worm, or to take any life whatever. We-" 
 are all related, and anon change places with each other 
 in the revolutions of the great wheel of Infinite Power. 
 We know not the effects of violence and bloodshed 
 upon ourselves and others. 
 
 Note the changes of form and feature from infancy 
 to old age, and see how many times the Identity is 
 lost in a few short years — lost to all save yourself 
 and those in constant association. The slowness of 
 the change makes no difference in fact. How often 
 it is said of one returned after an absence of a few 
 years, "Why, how you have changed ! I hardly know 
 you ! " Think you those changes will cease at death ? 
 I do not. 
 
 It is the desire of every man who believes in im- 
 mortality to retain consciousness and identity. We 
 are rather in hopes that we will lose some traits — 
 those which we despise ; but we would scarcely desire 
 to be something else after death, unless we could be 
 more God-like. Do we do not all at times do things 
 of which we are afterward heartily ashamed ? Who 
 is there whose soul does not shrink and recoil from its 
 very self in the memory of some act of the long ago? 
 
1 86 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 How gladly would we, if we could, forget some things 
 of our lives. It is well for us that the wheel goes 
 around occasionally, and we forget ourselves tempo- 
 rarily for a brief period of time, for then we do things 
 worthy of true manhood, if such is really within us ; 
 but woe to him whose soul is that of a wild beast 
 when he forgets his parents and what is expected of 
 him as a human being. 
 
 How hard it is to forgive one's-self. No wonder 
 King David cried out to the Lord not to remember 
 the sins of his youth against him. Who is there who 
 does not love the forgetfulness of dreamless sleep ? 
 It is a forgiveness of the pain of the day's struggle 
 and a renewal of life. Sleep is an emblem of death : 
 of its value there is no question. We fold our hands, 
 and sink into sleep as an infant does upon its mother's 
 bosom. We give ourselves up to a power of whose 
 designs we have no knowledge. We sink peacefully 
 into an unknown existence, not knowing that we shall 
 ever return. It is like death, but of it we are not 
 afraid ; then why do we shrink from death ? 
 
 If the forgiveness of sin be the washing away of 
 its effects from the soul, it is a taking away of the 
 memory of evil deeds, — not from the memory of 
 some arbitrary judge, but from ourselves. Death 
 does this. ^ We have no consciousness of any former 
 life, — of being and doing differently, or in different 
 forms or worlds than this. This is God's mercy. To 
 leave ourselves behind and become something else is 
 the Christian's desire and prayer ; but the fear of be- 
 
MIGRA TION AND TRANSMIGRA TION. 1 87 
 
 coming something worse is where the dread of death 
 comes in. If memory remains, it connects one to 
 a former life as if it were yesterday ; and so long as 
 this is so, a former life rises up to mock one. 
 
 What benefit will a pardon be to me if I have no 
 recollection of what sins I have committed ? If I am 
 "washed in the blood of the Lamb and made clean " 
 I shall be another being, another person, and that 
 other person will have all the benefit of salvation, 
 and I myself be forgotten. Is this not annihilation ? 
 What better is this than to be reincarnated ? What 
 matter the form if there be no recollection of a former 
 life? 
 
 But if memory remains, and the joys of paradise be 
 enhanced by a recollection of sins we have committed, 
 and the greater the sin the greater is God's glory, — 
 for remember God glories in saving sinners, — so the 
 more heinous the sin the greater is His Glory. The 
 absurdity. It is a good thing for mankind that such 
 nonsense is not true. Better is it that, like sweet 
 sleep, death shall wipe the slate of human actions clean. 
 
 This much-talked-of identity is but little under- 
 stood. I am not the same person I was forty years 
 ago, no more than one wave on the ocean remains the 
 same till it is beaten upon the shore. As wave 
 flows into wave, so life passes into forms of matter. 
 A ripple here and a wave there ; a tempest here and 
 a calm there. Such is life ! The great wave sinks 
 into the small one, or rises into the large one ; but 
 whether great or small, the calm levels all. 
 
1 88 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 The soul has power to identify itself according to 
 its consciousness of what it has been. It identifies 
 itself in many ways, by looks, acts, or by the narra- 
 tion of incidents fresh in the memory of both. But 
 if memory is lost, and the form has changed, what 
 good is there in identification, even were it possible ? 
 which it is not. I feel that I am the same being I 
 formerly was, because I remember the long ago, — 
 there has been one continuous chain of events that 
 have gradually borne me along, — there has been no 
 great shock or disconnection of the current ; but a 
 shock sometimes interrupts the continuity of things. 
 Especially is this true in regard to memory. The 
 most valuable things are the easiest disturbed and 
 destroyed — as we understand destruction. 
 
 How weak, and yet how subtile and strong is 
 memory ! The past, with its multitudinous experi- 
 ences, sights, acts, sounds, etc., fails to keep along 
 with us. They drop out by the way, as one wearied 
 falls down to rest, and we look around at the end of 
 the journey for the companions of the way, and are 
 surprised at the smallness of the number we see. 
 And even those that keep the closest to us, are the 
 hideous ones we would most gladly have left behind. 
 Perhaps we have taken extra pains to outrun or to 
 evade some of them — but memory drags them along 
 with almost supernatural power. 
 
 The greater part of our life is made up of indiffer- 
 ent acts of which we take no note, and which make 
 little or no impression on memory's page, but the 
 
MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION. 1 89 
 
 great events stamp themselves ineffaceably upon the 
 soul. Memory being, then, the means whereby ex- 
 istence continues in the consciousness ', its culture 
 becomes of paramount importance, as regards identi- 
 fication."" Memory is the soul of genius. We do not 
 know but that the thoughts of the mind are half- 
 forgotten memories of previous existences ! And 
 Intuition may be but a perception of the past and 
 future, in which we have always been as now. Our 
 past lives are as a half forgotten dream. Some little 
 thing calls it up, as from the deep, more or less 
 vividly to our consciousness. 
 
 There are some things which destroy memory ; 
 so, also, there is a way of cultivating or of increasing 
 its power. The opening of the mind to what has 
 been is culture of memory ; the closing of the mind 
 to that which has been is the decay and loss of 
 memory. 
 
 Memory is the outward or material part of con- 
 sciousness, as the body is the outward of mind. 
 Hence, to increase in consciousness and soul-power 
 is to expand the memory or the inmost of mind — 
 the sensorium. Action is expansive ', but inaction is 
 contractive. 
 
 Bear in mind, now, that by , action I do not mean 
 physical or mental action, but soul action. The Ego 
 is the principle of all existence, and is the cause of 
 action ; but its first impulse is the evolution of a prin- 
 ciple which is the governing motive or power of 
 every act. Motives are feminine, while motors are 
 
190 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 masculine, — being the force out of which the spirit 
 of the act is attracted by the motive. The ego sends 
 force through the masculine to find rest, to generate 
 in the feminine, and become materially visible after- 
 ward in form and effects. The motive is the life of 
 an act. Motives are dual — good and bad. The 
 absence of a good motive leaves the act deficient of 
 its life or expansive power. Hence, the absence of 
 good is the evil, which is contractive. The absence 
 of strength is weakness, of sight, blindness, of in- 
 telligence, ignorance, etc. That which increases power 
 is good, for it leads up to God. Good is the only 
 absoluteness of mind — for, as I said before, it is our 
 estimate — which descending into acts related to other 
 acts, becomes a relative good, i.e., partly good and 
 partly evil ; for it may be good for some, but evil for 
 others. Good, then, which is the least harmful to 
 others, must be the nearest approach to absoluteness, 
 and thus to the truth. 
 
 There comes from motives a certain quality which 
 they impart to every act ; and as acts are graded 
 from low to high, so does quality vary. Now, the 
 good of an act is meritorious, but the evil is not, and 
 it imparts another quality to spirit, called Demerit. 
 For spirit is action ; and the motive of the act is its 
 spirit — or the quality thereof. 
 
 Spirit is graded from the purest white, through all 
 grades of color down to the lowest black. The darker 
 the spirit, the more inert it is, for power resides in 
 spirit according to its color. It is the merit of an 
 
MIGRA TION A ND TRA NSMIGRA TIOJV. 1 9 1 
 
 act which gives spirit its purity of color, but the 
 demerit of it saddens the color of spirit and thus 
 destroys its buoyancy. Merit is the concentrative 
 power of spirit, for it draws all the colors together 
 as in a focus, or prism of white light, or oneness ; but 
 demerit is a downward action towards matter — a 
 scattering or refraction of rays — as of many from 
 one in which colors appear — and power disappears in 
 the falling of it, or in its diffusion. 
 
 Principle is merit, but the absence of principle is 
 demerit. Now, it is necessary to know what a prin- 
 ciple is, in order to a comprehension of this recondite 
 subject. A principle is that which is true, self sus- 
 taining and self poised in and of itself. Perfect self- 
 moving and self-regulating being is a principle, — i.e., 
 it is true being. The mental conception of such 
 being, coupled with a desire or hunger of becoming 
 such, is merit. It is meritorious for one to have this 
 spirit as the motor of all acts insomuch as it calls 
 into activity the highest mental faculties through 
 which pours from the soul both love and truth united 
 as one. Such love truth for truth's sake, not for 
 sake of reward ; and they are true because they love 
 to be so for the sake of love. This union of truth 
 and love is the great principle of freedom which dis- 
 solves the chains of bondage which hold man in " the 
 gall of bitterness.' ' Thus is merit expansive of the 
 Soul's consciousness, but contractive of the mind. 
 Demerit springs from a want of love of truth, and is 
 a disunion of love and will, hence, is void of principle. 
 
192 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 In disunion there are differences, which lead to 
 aggressive acts — or acts against freedom. 
 
 Aggression is the soul of demerit. The object or 
 motive of an act gives merit, provided the object be 
 for the good of others. There is merit in all love, of 
 whatever name or nature, and it is this that supports 
 life. But there is demerit in hate and revenge, and 
 all passions which confer no good upon self or upon 
 others, and this it is that shortens life, and makes it 
 a continual agitation, and a death in life. 
 
 The expansion of consciousness is due to merit, but 
 the contraction of it to demerit. In the expansion of 
 consciousness the soul transcends mere mind, and one 
 becomes conscious of a truth, even without a reason 
 for it. Thus, the past and future rise up in the mind 
 in symbols, or impress themselves as a sensation or 
 feeling. The spirit-worlds may be reached in this 
 way without trance or objective vision. It is a con- 
 scious contact of minds, things and principles. Con- 
 sciousness meets consciousness in this expansion, and 
 the conditions of any state of being may be known. 
 It is a ready reader of character, motives, capacities, 
 past and future events, etc. But the small conscious- 
 ness is confined and limited by demerit — it reaches 
 little or nothing beyond itself. 
 
 Merit is acquired by acts of love ; it sets the spirit 
 free. Freedom is life and joy. I am aware that 
 some claim there is no freedom of action, and con- 
 sequently no merit or demerit therein. But we know 
 better. 
 
MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION. 193 
 
 Now, how, or in what manner does spirit rise or 
 become luminous by merit? The spirit has the 
 power to extract life from all substance or spirit, with 
 which it comes in contact, as it radiates in space from 
 the body, and merit is that which increases this power 
 of absorption or appropriation, while demerit destroys 
 that power. Merit eliminates the tenacity or cling- 
 ingness of spirit, by reason of which it is held to the 
 surface of things ; thus giving it power to penetrate 
 deeper into the inner essence or spirit of substance, 
 and to extract the finer essences thereof. Merit 
 increases the radius of spirit in this manner, and it 
 feeds upon all things, for there is no repugnance to 
 any. But whatever it may come in contact with it 
 only takes that which is according to its own quality. 
 Now, every object it meets takes something from 
 and imparts something to, the spirit ; hence, may 
 weaken it. 
 
 Demerit increases taste and repugnance, and in 
 this manner limits the freedom and radius of spirit, 
 thus compelling it to feed upon "husks," often to its 
 weakness and disease. (' He who is indifferent gets the 
 good of all, and his spirit is fat. j But he who likes 
 and dislikes the most, is poor and lean in spirit. 
 These are basic principles of power and progress. 
 Disease originates in this manner. As the beating 
 of the heart throws the blood to the extremities, so 
 does spirit pour out in the pulsations of will. As 
 blood purifies itself by contact with the air, in like 
 manner is spirit purified by the contact of pure 
 
194 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 things. "To the pure all things are pure." The 
 more indifferent you are, the purer you are, for to 
 the indifferent all things are alike — one. 
 
 No man exists in any condition very long after he 
 is tired of it. The man who is forced to exist passes 
 rapidly out of one mode of existence into another, 
 becoming less and less as the circles narrow to the 
 going out. Demerit is that which compels us to 
 exist — but not with a continual consciousness thereof. 
 To increase in power, and the pleasure it alone can 
 confer, requires effort in the acquisition of merit. 
 Merit prepares the spirit, by giving it buoyancy and 
 elasticity. 
 
 The future life is similar to this. As we come 
 here by force and go out by force, so we enter spirit- 
 life and pass through it. But death is not a birth, 
 and there is not necessarily a growth there as here. 
 The spirit, being a mortal thing, is often diseased, 
 which, of course, weakens it. The laws of demerit 
 are vindictive, and all debts due under it must be 
 paid, and death is the penalty of violated laws. Now, 
 since the mind violates the law whereby the body 
 becomes diseased, the mind is the thing that must 
 die. Physical death is only typical of the real death 
 of consciousness. 
 
 There are things that wake not up after death, till 
 they awaken in another form — mosquitoes, for in- 
 stance. This is death followed by a birth into another 
 form, but the form of man containing more spirit and 
 greater consciousness, continues after death. But I 
 
MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION 195 
 
 am satisfied that many never awaken, or if they do, 
 they remain on the earth hovering around mediums ; 
 by this means striving to get back to their old 
 habits and vices — thus sapping the spirits of mortals 
 of vitality. Such have an ephemeral existence, and 
 at last fall asleep, and are again born upon this 
 earth. 
 
 But there are many who lose not consciousness for 
 a single moment, and who are not aware they are 
 dead till some time after. To such death is not a birth 
 into another form, and scarcely into another existence. 
 It is just upon the confines of another existence into 
 which the good walk deeper and deeper, and out of 
 which the bad are kept by their own inclinations: 
 not only in this, but in all the starry worlds. 
 
 In this world, as well as in all the planet worlds of 
 space, every man must stand upon his own merits, 
 and fall by his own demerits. There is no such 
 thing as the transfer of merit or demerit from one 
 person to another. 
 
 Merit may be driven wholly out of the spirit, as 
 colors may be washed out of cloth. This is done by 
 the accumulation of demerit. So, also, demerit may 
 be driven out of the spirit in the same manner, by 
 making its colors brighter and brighter, by the accu- 
 mulation of merit. 
 
 The reason is simple enough. Spirit is the light of 
 the body — its brilliancy is determined by the merit 
 acquired in some previous existence or succession of 
 existences. The brilliancy of the light may be in- 
 
196 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 creased by improving the quality of the oil in the 
 lamp as you replenish it. But no other light, no 
 matter how brilliant it may be, can make yours one 
 whit brighter, by being placed near by. You can 
 only change the quality of your light by effort in the 
 acquisition of merit. A pure spirit can only impart 
 to ycu as you render yourself receptive thereto ; and 
 even then it can only give you the crumbs which fall 
 from its table. But crumbs of spirit are better 
 than mountains of gold, for they are health, power, 
 immortality. 
 
 Good acts have an influence upon the body in more 
 ways than one. To do good, because it is easy to do 
 so, is meritorious ; but there is much more in a good 
 act done when the inclination is the reverse. An act 
 may be forced out by sympathy — which is good, 
 because sympathy is a result of merit acquired in a 
 previous existence — but it may not have much merit 
 in it as an addition to that previously acquired. An 
 act done without sympathy for the sole purpose of 
 increasing good, without any hope or expectation of a 
 reward, has the highest merit therein. 
 
 A man does not act thus except from deep and 
 profound meditation upon the true relationship of 
 things. Merit is the substance of the celestial worlds, 
 and he who meditates deeply, attaches himself thereto 
 by the elevation of his spirit, and incorporates it into 
 his spirit according to his acts. Thus, it becomes 
 part and parcel of his body, driving out demerit. 
 
 In like manner could all diseases be healed, were it 
 
MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION. 1 97 
 
 not for the demerit of former existences. Demerit 
 must be worked out patiently and slowly. In some 
 cases it takes numerous births in the human form, 
 attended with a constant effort, with the object — to 
 get rid of the succession of existence where there is 
 nothing but an alternation of pleasure and pain con- 
 stantly before the mind, and an idea to enter upon a 
 state of being altogether out of all comprehension. 
 " He that would save his life shall lose it, and he that 
 would lose his life for my sake (the sake of principle) 
 shall save it." — Jesus. 
 
 Principle is the magnet which holds the man 
 steadily to the polar star of power. Mercy is full of 
 merit, if forgiveness comes from the motive to do 
 good. They that do good because it is easy and 
 natural, have their reward as they go along. But he 
 who does good contrary to his nature, through a mas- 
 tery of himself, lays up great merit in store for a 
 future life — verily his reward shall be great. 
 
 To feed the hungry through pity is good, but to 
 feed them with the reflection that by so doing you 
 will help them in the acquisition of merit is far better. 
 It is better to do kindly acts and say kind words with- 
 out feeling, than to feel and not say or do. Both are 
 good, but one is greater than the other. A small 
 meritorious act may elevate one to the seventh heaven 
 — but he cannot stay there, for when his oil is 
 burned out he must return for more. He will return 
 of his own accord, for he will be in darkness without 
 merit. 
 
198 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 This earth is the only place wherein merit can be 
 acquired. A little merit will carry a big load of 
 demerit into heaven, but it cannot remain for want 
 of buoyancy. Every act we do, every thought we 
 think, and every word uttered, affects some one else, 
 and we do not know the extent of its influence. 
 Hence, all creation is bound together in the bonds 
 of sympathy. This is a result of demerit. The 
 Heavens are fast anchored to the Hells, and there 
 can be no perfect bliss so long as one poor soul 
 suffers. A chain is not stronger than its weakest 
 link. 
 
 No one can escape the meshes of sympathy without 
 cutting all its chords. Is this done by love, think 
 you ? Nay, but by indifference. The love of prin- 
 ciple is indifference towards objects. This is the first 
 and greatest commandment — to love principle ! 
 The next is, love all things as you do yourself. This 
 is indifference ; for when one loves a principle with 
 all the intensity of his being, he has no self-love nor 
 love of anything on God's green earth. Now the 
 only principle in existence is Freedom. Neither 
 Power, nor God, nor Spirit are possible without 
 freedom. Look you at the host of martyrs for Free- 
 dom ! They loved principle better than self, wife, 
 children or friends — they were swallowed up in the 
 love of God's freedom ! This is indifference to 
 things. Indifference is "the door" through which 
 merit descends to man, and through which souls 
 ascend to God. 
 
MIGRATION AND TRANSMIGRATION 1 99 
 
 We are all sunk in a psychologic sleep — the fall- 
 ing into which was effected by sympathy. Those to 
 whom this life is the most real, are in its deepest 
 phase. They cannot perceive the illusion of it, nor 
 the ineffable glory of awakening out of it, and the 
 becoming a spectator of one's own self and of others. 
 This becoming a spectator is the stepping out of the 
 illusion, as out of one's self in which state things are 
 visible in spirit only, or as another existence. It is 
 like a peering under the floors of conscious life, as 
 into a great darkness, wherein things become less 
 and less distinct ; or as a passing through a wall of 
 darkness into a great and indescribable light, and, 
 looking back, behold things as luminous — involved 
 in will, psychologizing each other; in which sleep 
 they dance with pleasure or howl and writhe in an- 
 guish, as if in fire. 
 
 Occasionly one gets tired,, and seats himself in 
 some obscure corner to look on. The gods seeing him 
 thus meditative, drop down into the mists of sym- 
 pathy, thus approaching him in condition, rack his 
 thought and increase his weariness to dissatisfaction 
 and a great unrest — or to hunger and thirst after 
 something permanent and real. 
 
 Have you, too, reader, become wearied of illusory 
 joys, that slip through your fingers in the grasping, 
 as a phantom eludes mortal touch? Become indif- 
 ferent, then, to the love of life, and gradually the 
 pain and pleasure of it will pass out of your recogni- 
 tion. Follow me in the culture of Will, and learn 
 
200 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the way to " the door." Space will not permit me to 
 dwell upon this theme, prolific as it is. Volumes 
 might be written, and still the darkness could no 
 more comprehend the light now than in the olden 
 time. 
 
THE WILL. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 THE WILL. 
 
 X 
 
 "Men fail, sicken and die, through feebleness of 
 
 will." All the potencies of man reside in the will. 
 To its exercise is due all motions — physical, men- 
 tal and spiritual. Will is God, and " God is a 
 Spirit." Therefore, the will employed in an act is 
 the spirit thereof, the motor, or moving force. Man 
 is the focus of above and below — of without and 
 within. Hence he is susceptible to influences from 
 each. That some are more open to impressions from 
 within than others, is evident ; and the same is true 
 as regards externals. 
 
 The will is liable to be led captive and enslaved by 
 either — aye, to be subjugated and destroyed ! But 
 there is a point where the will is self-poised and free 
 in its action. As the will is the spirit of every act, 
 it gives quality to acts. There seems to be a war- 
 fare between externals and internals, as to the pos- 
 session of the will. How oft do we see it verified, 
 that "A man convinced against his will, is of the 
 same opinion still." We act as we like to act — we 
 think as we like to think. We can see very plainly 
 that which we like to see, and shut our eyes very 
 
202 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 closely against that which we do not like. Evidence 
 has but a feeble effect upon the will. 
 
 Evil comes from without — or, rather, from that 
 which is within being overpowered and captivated by 
 that which is without, or foreign to ourselves ; while 
 the good comes from within, or by the sicbjection of 
 the outer by the inner. The objectifying of that 
 which is within is idolatry. The subjectifying of 
 objects is the destruction of forms, and the resolving 
 of things back to the original essence or oneness 
 from which they spring. This is the digestion of 
 things in the stomach of the mind, wherein the fire 
 is extracted which illuminates the spirit, and is the 
 greatest good to man, for it opens the eyes of the 
 soul ; it glows as a light ; it warms as fire ; it nourishes 
 as food ; gives rest and cheerfulness of mind ; enriches 
 the blood ; purifies the love, and fortifies the soul. 
 
 That which is without is transient, fleeting, chan- 
 ging and impermanent ; but that which is within is 
 durable ; and the deepest hidden is the most durable 
 of all. 
 
 The will is the only thing that approximates abso- 
 lute freedom, and this is not free because of love. 
 Love is worship, and they who love objects are idola- 
 ters. We are free to will anything we may fancy, 
 but we are not free to love or accomplish, because 
 we are limited by things foreign to ourselves, which 
 we love or hate, or are indifferent to. 
 N Love is worship, but hate is its reflection, as things 
 tangible are a reflection of the intangible. True love 
 
THE WILL. 203 
 
 is so far hidden from even the imaginations of men, 
 that an effort to make it known is almost superfluous. 
 That love which is awakened by sight or contact of 
 objects is the dark side — the sinister side — of love, 
 hence it is not love ; it is simply an^appearance. But 
 the love that springs from the contemplation of a 
 principle is unchangeable, if it be a true principle, for 
 it springs from light which is real, as God is real. 
 As God is light, so the will is light ; and the love that 
 is produced by will is immortal, because it is pure. 
 
 As God is one so the love which is single is pure 
 love. There is no purity but oneness. The love of 
 two or more is simply generative of a hunger and 
 thirst for more, and for this reason Jesus said " Ye 
 cannot serve God and mammon." Singleness of sight 
 is clear sight, but motes in the eyes obstruct vision. 
 Singleness of purpose is a pure purpose. The love 
 of God is pure love, but the loving of more than one 
 God is Idolatry, — as the loving of more than one 
 woman is Adultery. 
 
 It is the love we have, which begets God i% us. Love 
 is blind, consequently those who are led by love had 
 best inquire as to its quality. Truth is one, and love 
 being one, the two unite ; but if the love be divided 
 they cannot unite, consequently God is not begotten 
 in a divided or impure love. Without effort there is 
 no excellence, and here come into play, mental forces 
 or Psychic senses of thought and emotion directed by 
 will. The laws of culture involve the whole man, 
 and are the laws of truth. If our love be impure, 
 
204 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the God begotten of it within will be less than we are. 
 We stand or fall by the wings we give our Gods, — 
 hopes and aspirations are they, which, by tireless 
 effort, call the divided spirit home to oneness by 
 culture. 
 
 That which springs spontaneously from the earth 
 is the weed, bramble and fruit, which man tries to 
 improve. So it is with the loves. That which 
 springs from impulse is considered by civilization as 
 a thing needing punishment. We believe in cool, 
 calm judgment and self-control, as better than spon- 
 taneity. This coolness and self -poise comes from the ., 
 exercise of will. All civilization is due to self-control. 
 It follows, then, as a logical sequence, that if it is 
 possible for man to guide and control his loves, it is 
 far better than for him to be led by his blind passions. 
 
 Furthermore, if it be possible to create love by any 
 process whatever, it is far better than otherwise. 
 Hence the command to love, not only one another, 
 but our enemies. Such a command is altogether 
 superfluous, if it is not possible to do so. We know 
 how to destroy and disfigure the fair face of nature; 
 we know how to destroy health and happiness, life 
 and pleasure ; but we know very little of the creative 
 forces. We know what it is to have the heart beat 
 quick and tumultuous at the sight of beauty, or at 
 the gentle pressure of the hand, or at the bewitching 
 glance of love-lit eyes ; but we know nothing absolutely 
 of a power to feel anything but disgust at a loathsome 
 object. Yet it is within the range of human possi- 
 
THE WILL. 10% 
 
 bilities to love that which to ordinary minds is repul- 
 sive — in fact, to love all and despise nothing. It is 
 the despising of things that separates us from God 
 or the Supernatural. 
 
 The first lesson in life is the exercise of Will. We 
 learn to use the muscles, but mental effort precedes it. 
 The first effort is a projection of power into the 
 nerves, which tremble and go astray of the object 
 the infant tries hard to grasp ; but with practice the 
 nerves become steady, and the infant learns gradually 
 to manipulate matter — first, in its own body ; 
 secondly, outside of itself. This power comes to the 
 infant out of nothing, as it were, as characters 
 written upon a blank page — nothing — called out 
 into this world of sense by a display of trinkets, 
 colors, sonnets and toys, to be a something manifest- 
 ing power, force and will. 
 
 The basic principle of all power and of all develop- 
 ment is the will. It is all. Every faculty of the 
 mind, every nerve of the body, centres in it. It is 
 the trunk of the tree of life : all else of man are out- 
 growths of it. Hence the development of manhood 
 begins and ends in the will. It is the centrestance 
 of being, from which " the rib " of circumstance was 
 taken (or grew), as Eve from Adam. Will is the 
 first manifestation of soul, or the first faculty it 
 creates for its use. 
 
 The will is the great pulsating heart of the Soul 
 — the reservoir of the spirit — which, in its contrac- 
 tion, throws the spirit from itself, and in its opening 
 
206 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 draws it back again. In the supernatural, the will 
 produces, guides and controls the loves, but in the 
 natural (so-called) the loves control and guide the 
 will. 
 
 Naturally, love is a spontaneous emotion, pro- 
 duced by an object of attraction, leading the will 
 captive. But supernaturally love is an emotion 
 forced out by constant, persistent thought of an 
 Ideal, which Ideal is the feminine counterpart of the 
 man, dwelling within him, united to him, absolutely 
 inseparable from him. But he cannot have this Ideal 
 in his consciousness, till, in the purity of his spirit, 
 he rises up to its conception mentally. This is a 
 revelation to him, sometimes in early life, but often 
 in age, forced out by unrequited love, and the burn- 
 ing anguish of dead joys. Thus, man becomes dual 
 in his nature first, afterwards in actual marriage with 
 his Ideal, or love. 
 
 This Ideal is seldom incarnated on this earth, at 
 the same time the man is ; if it ever does so happen, 
 no condition can keep them apart. When they meet, 
 they intuitively know each other. This is marriage 
 in its divine significance. Man and woman thus 
 united by the "Holy Spirit " is eternal — but con- 
 sidered separately they are not eternal entities, but 
 are interchangeable, i.e., man is liable to become a 
 woman, and woman is liable to become a man in some 
 other birth. 
 
 The man hater and the woman hater change places 
 after two or three revolutions of the wheel of life. 
 
THE WILL. 207 
 
 Human progress depends, then, upon will-culture — 
 and the field to be cultivated is the loves, in which 
 and from which all things grow. The will viewed as 
 a mental faculty has its antagonist, which is Rever- 
 ence. 
 
 Once upon a time when intensely musing upon the 
 antagonisms of the brain, I fell asleep — but it was 
 not all sleep — when some one came to me, as "the 
 stranger " came with the mirror. I did not see him, 
 but he showed me a book. Opening it, he showed 
 me this strange sentence : " The will is antagonized 
 by reverence ! In the foretime the Gods, out of fear 
 of man's ambition, created reverence/ ' I desired to 
 take the book, but he would not permit me, but 
 showed me many blank pages therein, saying : " not 
 now." It was several years before I could accept 
 the strange dogma. But it is true. 
 
 We are taught that the will must be broken in 
 early childhood, and in order to the salvation of the 
 soul. The opposite is the truth. God does not love 
 slaves nor cowards, and the child whose will is broken 
 is of no earthly account. 
 
 The loves must be tamed — broken, if necessary, 
 by the will — guided by an enlightened under- 
 standing. All will is pure power, and should be 
 increased instead of being broken. In meditation 
 there is strength, but in reverence there is weakness 
 — a tacit acknowledgment of a superior. There is a 
 a God ! Nay, many, but if they are superior to you 
 "it is your own fault. You may have been a God 
 
2o8 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 yourself at some time, and you may be again with 
 proper effort. That proper effort is not in humilia- 
 tion. 
 
 The will is represented in the mind as triune, hav- 
 ing three faculties through which it manifests itself, 
 as follows : 
 
 I. Firmness — Determination — Stability. 
 II. Self-esteem — Independence — Self-poise. 
 
 III. Continuity — Tenacity — Persistence. 
 
 A proper balance and harmony of these three con- 
 stitute a perfect will. The weakness or excessive 
 development of either one weakens the will. As 
 intimated above, an enlightened understanding is the 
 only true guide for the will. This enlightenment is 
 illumination of the mind — clairvoyance. There are 
 many degrees of lucidity, but the highest degree is 
 the perception of principles — of " principalities and 
 powers/ ' 
 
 The inmost and the outermost of being is con- 
 nected by the imagination. It stands between the 
 will and the loves ; hence, all the operations of the 
 will must be through the imagination. It is the 
 " magic mirror' ' of the mind, through which the soul 
 scans the horizon, or upon which the universe may 
 be made to impinge — not in vague and shadowy 
 forms, many-colored or kaleidoscopic, but in reality, 
 either black or white. It is prolific; for herefrom 
 comes all of art, science, literature and beauty, as 
 well as the horrible, grotesque and sinster. 
 
 Crimes are brooded over and hatched here in the 
 
THE WILL. 209 
 
 imagination. In this fairy-land is death enthroned, 
 for that which is born is the death of something 
 else. This is magic ground from which things grow 
 by the conjuring of the will. Here things dissolve 
 themselves and expose their deformities ; and here 
 hideous things are enrobed in garbs angelic. Here 
 religion has its stronghold — for in this the Gods 
 show themselves to man. Maligned, abused, scoffed 
 at, the jeer and laughter-provoking thing yet rules 
 the world. Disrobe the man of the imagination and 
 what is he? A brute — worse than savage. His 
 very flesh covers itself with hair, as if to hide its 
 coarseness and vulgarity. 
 
 But let the imagination loose, and the hair grows 
 soft and fine, or disappears. The flesh glows with 
 fires immortal ; the eye loses its savage glare, and 
 man's robes are of the finest texture. The earth, 
 under its rule, is no longer a howling wilderness, but 
 is dotted all over with fairy-like splendors — its magic 
 productions. Steam almost annihilates space, and the 
 lightnings flash thought from pole to pole ahead of 
 old time. This is all due to the dreamings of the 
 imagination. 
 
 On the shores of eternity's ocean are greater 
 things waiting for some dreamer to espy and hand 
 down to enrich mankind. All hail to the dreamers, 
 poets, philosophers, preachers, writers and inventors ! 
 They have always left their mark and always will, as 
 an ineffaceable brand upon the face of humanity. 
 Trust, aspiration and hope have their very roots in the 
 
2IO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 imagination. It is only by virtue of it that the good 
 side of humanity in general can be discerned. 
 
 The unimaginative are the doubtful, unbelieving 
 and distrustful. Have they ever built anything de- 
 sirable, or ever added anything of value to mankind ? 
 Thomas Paine was not an unbeliever. He believed 
 in God and humanity, and he left his mark upon this 
 people that will be known and felt for long ages. 
 
 He loved a principle, i.e., human liberty, and 
 worked to establish it. Paine was a dreamer. In 
 his imagination he saw equal rights, and if he lived 
 in this age he would see woman's rights. 
 
 Theories lead the van — practice comes slowly 
 along, like a lumbering wagon, afterwards. The im- 
 agination is an infinite field. There are many roads 
 in it, and many jungles and angles. All the loves 
 center here where they impinge upon the will. 
 
 "And God saw that the imagining of man's 
 heart was continually evil, ,, i. e., outward. Oh, that 
 I might impress upon you the vast importance of 
 looking within ! May not this be the closet into 
 which Christ bade his disciples retire in prayer ? 
 What is contemplation but imagination ? What is 
 prayer but the aspirations of the soul ? And what 
 are aspirations but images of the soul. How can we 
 "pluck the mote out of our own eyes " in any other 
 way than by looking within ? This plucking out of 
 the mote is nothing but the development of clairvoy- 
 ance — clear seeing. That is done by the imagina- 
 tion. 
 
THE WILL. 211 
 
 \ 
 
 "If thine hand offend thee, cut it off," etc. — what 
 is this but the analysis and destruction of passions 
 that retard and hinder the development of the soul 
 to the kingdom of power ? If diseases are ever 
 healed by the imagination, is it not a divine gift — 
 better far than medicine, and is it not best to culti- 
 vate it ? If it will heal the sick, if it will make life 
 any more pleasant, for God's sake let us have more 
 of it. 
 
 Three essential elements constitute perfect man, 
 viz. : Will, Imagination and Love. These are the 
 positive, negative and neutral. Imagination is the 
 indifferent part of mind, corresponding to indifferent 
 nature — " the door," already explained in previous 
 chapters. It is the " Garden of Eden " out of which 
 man was cast. The same tree of life is there still, 
 guarded by a flaming sword which turns every way. 
 
 What more beautiful type of fire than a " flaming 
 sword " ? Fire-flame, that guards the way to the tree 
 of life — consuming all impure things that approach 
 the dread portals of the kingdom of power. The 
 pure only are eternal. Purity is original — this is 
 unchangeable. All originality comes to man through 
 reverie : this is imagination. Man reaches God in the 
 imagination. In it God walks and talks with man. 
 It is the creative faculty — not in and of itself, but 
 herein the will conjures things from the unknown, 
 and compels them to appear to the consciousness — 
 first, of himself ; secondly, of others. 
 
 In the imagination, things, ideas, passions, hatreds, 
 
212 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 loves, vices, etc., may be destroyed — first, as realities 
 within ; secondly, as obstacles outside of us. For 
 instance, an enemy may be made sick, and gradually 
 to die, or he may be suddenly killed, by the powerful 
 will of an intensely imaginative man or woman. Or 
 he may be tamed, subdued, and made a friend of 
 through and by the same power. God pity the one 
 who would prostitute such a power to a base or un- 
 worthy purpose ! 
 
 This is hard to believe, but the rationale is very 
 simple to one of comprehension. But it is not my 
 object to teach these things in this work, only so far 
 as to point the road. 
 
 x^There is little power among men on account of 
 the want of will. There is plenty of obstinacy and 
 unreasoning tenacity of purpose. This is due to 
 firmness, which is the projecting or repulsive power 
 of will. By the use of it we project ourselves — first, 
 into the nerves and muscles ; secondly, into objects 
 — obstacles that stand in our way. Its work is out- 
 wardly. We waste our strength and lose ourselves 
 in objects of love, hate, envy and pride. In this 
 projection we leave ourselves empty. Emptiness, 
 like filth, invites disease and death. Projection- — 
 repulsion — produces death. {There is a sexual ar- 
 cana here : let him who reads ponder well.) We die 
 that others may have being. 
 
 Firmness is what its name implies — hardness. 
 "Firm as the rocks" expresses its real character. 
 It hardens the nerves, muscles and very bones, and 
 
THE WILL. 213 
 
 also affects the spirit in the same way, rendering it 
 viscid and difficult of motion. That which should be 
 fire emitted is but a glutinous mass of molten matter. 
 Instead of emitting jets of fire, flametipped, that 
 reach the soul — the empyrean — the throne of the 
 living God — baptizing each other with fire and " the 
 Holy Ghost,' ' cheering, comforting, exhilarating with 
 divine life and vigor — drawing human souls together 
 in the oneness of a divine love — we emit a force 
 that is like water upon fire — destructive to all real 
 life and happiness — repels man from man, and man 
 from woman, in one universal divorce. Instead of 
 the controlling, persuasive, binding power of will, we 
 have the booming cannon, the dagger and revolver, 
 and the rough-and-tumble fight of dogs. 
 
 The "still, small voice " of wisdom is drowned in 
 the deafening roar of countless blood-stained feet, 
 hastening to tread out the wine of human life. In 
 our great marts of commerce, hearts have no more 
 pulsation than the metal that chinks. Firmness — 
 the external of will — hardens everything ! Even 
 human hearts rattle like rocks thrown together. 
 
 Suppose love to be the only immortal thing : how 
 much will be left of mankind after the fire has re- 
 moved the impurities of it ? Not much. Then roll 
 on your Juggernaut of mammon. Shout and hurrah 
 for kings, priests, popes, bishops, honorables and 
 aristocrats of every grade — your gods. Dress your- 
 selves in your gaudy shrouds for one universal burial. 
 Marshal your hosts for the grand carnival of death : 
 
214 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 for what matters the blood of ephemera ? Ye pass 
 away like insects ! Another race is coming — one 
 in whom this outward tumult of a boisterous will 
 shall give place to silence and peace, and man shall 
 live till he chooses to die. 
 
 In reverence — this antagonist of will — all thrones 
 and crowns take root. King-craft, priest-craft and 
 hero-worship must fall together. This vampire trin- 
 ity fattens upon the best blood of humanity. It 
 makes slaves and minions of the masses. No wonder 
 they all love and preach worship — it is food, raiment 
 and idleness for them, and toil and rags for the 
 human race. It debases mankind, because it robs 
 them of self-respect — the central pivot of the will. 
 The idea that you are beneath another cripples you. 
 
 Selfness is nearest the soul — it is the very vitals 
 of will. Confidence in self inspires self-respect. To 
 take away either is like taking off a leg — we must 
 walk on crutches. To feel inferior is to be so. To 
 feel equal is to grow to be such. The proud and 
 arrogant interiorly feel their weakness, and hence 
 arrogate to themselves something foreign so as to 
 inspire worship in others. 
 
 The antagonist of self-esteem is love of approba- 
 tion. This love of the approval of others is one 
 branch of reverence. To be praised and flattered 
 by a king is something grand, and to be coveted. 
 Humble yourself in the dust for a smile of approval 
 from one crowned. To secure the approval of heaven, 
 humble and debase yourself. In other words, act 
 
THE WILL. 215 
 
 the hypocrite, pretend humility to superiors, but to 
 those beneath you be lord, king, duke, or God. 
 Such is the effect of modern theological teachings. 
 
 Self-esteem normally gives the feeling of self-re- 
 liance, confidence and independence. It gives rise to 
 manly equality and self-poise. It is the balance- 
 wheel, the regulator, the pivot upon which manhood, 
 like a compass, rests. 
 
 Self is antagonized by others ; hence, he who gives 
 himself up to please others, gives himself to his 
 antagonist — viz., that which ruins him by throwing 
 him out of balance. Be yourself; think yourself; 
 learn of everything and of everybody ; be worthy of 
 your own self-respect : for when you have secured 
 that, the respect of others is certain. Be indepen- 
 dent, but, in so doing, remember the rights of others. 
 Rights are equal ; wrongs make inequalities. If you 
 have any selfhood, consult that first of all. Secure 
 in self-respect, you need not fear others, for God 
 approves of self -honor. This is the only glory, and 
 the only way to glorify God. 
 
 Praise is a false wind — it blows no good. Fame ! 
 What is it but a breath, shouting huzzas which, 
 prolonged, die away in a hiss ? Breath of the rabble ! 
 The unthinking herd ! One minute exalting you to 
 heaven, the next trampling you in filth. And yet it 
 is said God loves praise. The absurdity is too ap- 
 parent. We cannot add anything to the Infinite. 
 We can, however, join ourselves to the Infinite, and 
 we are glorified thereby. This it is to " glorify 
 
2l6 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 God in these bodies, which are His " — or ours in the 
 glorifying. Thus we increase the selfhood — the 
 foundation of all power — will. 
 
 Inordinate self-esteem may have no self-respect at 
 all. Self-respect is based in right, truth and justice. 
 Hence, he who respects others and their rights, has 
 self-respect. He who has no regard for the rights of 
 others, although he may possess a powerful external 
 will, has a weak will interiorly. He is like a tree 
 with a large top, but whose trunk is rotten. Respect 
 is the very foundation of love ; hence, self-respect 
 leads to self-love or egotism. This is an excessive 
 growth from a fruitful soil. Such need pruning. 
 
 The will, like everything else in nature, grows 
 outwardly to the weakening of its roots. Egotism is 
 the fatal tendency of all aspirations. It is a weak- 
 ness that must be guarded against. Self-approbation 
 springs from the same source as love of the approval 
 of others — viz., reverence. There is such a thing as 
 self -worship. Egotism is to the will what the moss 
 is to trees in "the sunny South' ' — it dwarfs and 
 finally kills. Strip man of pretense and egotism 
 (which is the same) and what is there left of him ? 
 He who is puffed up and loaded with self-complacency 
 and pride is rotten within. 
 
 Self-gratification is the root of human action. As 
 we grow we send out many branches, but self -gratifi- 
 cation supports them all. No matter what pursuit 
 we follow, or what course in life we pursue, that is 
 the prime motive power. The will is made a slave 
 
THE WILL. 217 
 
 to it. It is the fundamental principle of all religious 
 systems. The so-called kingdom of heaven is based 
 in it, and hell is filled with the devotees of self- 
 gratification. Even Buddhism, which claims that 
 there is no self or Ego in reality, holds out the in- 
 ducement to its votaries of escaping to Nirvana, 
 from the ceaseless and eternal succession of exist- 
 ences. To this end the senses are attacked, and 
 bodily or physical and mental gratification destroyed 
 — in order to arrive at the gates of ecstasy and 
 power — in order to cease to be* 
 
 So, self is the basis of all, and the only God. 
 Pleasure is the object of all, no matter what road is 
 taken. Even the materialist finds his pleasure in the 
 quiescence and the quintessence of matter. Men get 
 religion through fear of the pains of hell, and in 
 hope of the pleasures of heaven. The Hindoo 
 mother tosses her babe into the murky waters of the 
 Ganges to appease the wrath of her gods — in hopes 
 of a reward. The Fakir of India puts a hook in 
 the quivering flesh of his back and suspends himself 
 for days in mid-air, or stands with hands clasped, in 
 one position, till the limbs are paralyzed, and the 
 finger-nails* grow through the palms of the hands, 
 like claws — all in hope of power and pleasure other 
 than that of the earthly senses. 
 
 Some seek the ultimate of life in the carnival of 
 
 * This is the exoteric of Buddhism ; the esoteric has never been written. 
 Hardy translates their sacred books, but frankly admits that if Nirvana does not 
 mean annihilation, he does not know what its meaning is. 
 
218 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 carnal passions, others in mammon worship, others in 
 Government positions, politics, etc. Is all this 
 universal hunger and thirst — this deathless longing 
 
 — a mere hallucination ; or, is it the index finger of 
 fate pointing to a great truth ? Is self capable of 
 becoming infinite in power and pleasure — in this 
 universal changing of conditions and polarities ? We 
 of the old school of thought say yes. 
 
 Of all the potencies of nature, the I, the Ego, the 
 self, is the only thing beyond comprehension that has 
 a positive and tangible existence. All things else are 
 mere appendages of it. I speak of my soul, mind, 
 spirit and body as of my coat, or any other property. 
 But when I speak of myself — of "the think " and 
 " the feel/' — I am at a loss for a definition. To go 
 behind, beyond, above or below myself is impossible. 
 I confront myself at every turn. It is as easy to 
 comprehend God as myself, for the simple reason 
 that I and the numeral one (i), are identically the 
 same. 
 
 Fusion and emanation are the only mathematical 
 laws. Division is as arbitrary as addition. Divide a 
 grain of corn and it loses its individuality. Plant the 
 grain and it emits from itself whole ship-loads, but it 
 loses itself in so doing. 
 
 I am the creator of all my acts — they are laws. 
 They flow out through effort of will — being pro- 
 jections of the Ego — myself. Thus God meets man 
 
 — is man — in the selfhood. The selfhood is God 
 humanized. The selfhood of animals is God brutal- 
 
THE WILL. 219 
 
 ized. We can understand how it is possible for man 
 to produce that which is inferior to himself, but it is 
 more difficult to conceive of his creating anything 
 superior. How can the animal evolve man, who is 
 superior in every essential ? How can man progress 
 unless there is something above him to which he is 
 near related ? This relation is found in the selfhood 
 
 . — the central pivot of will. 
 
 Be very careful, then, reader, how you trifle with 
 yourself. Every thought and act which debases you, 
 i.e., sinks you in your own inner consciousness, that 
 which you wish to hide away in some dark corner of 
 yourself — away from the eye of even yourself — 
 debases God. The day comes speedily when he will 
 sit in judgment upon your every thought and act — 
 and that upon the throne of your own conscious self- 
 hood. Firmness is the moving force or controlling 
 power of this outward sensuous life — the power of 
 aggression, of overcoming obstacles by physical force. 
 It is the masculine of will. 
 
 \ Self is neutral — hermaphrodite — both masculine 
 and feminine. The feminine of will is represented 
 by continuity. Self-esteem, phrenologically, is lo- 
 cated just above the crown of the head; firmness, 
 a little in front or above it, at the highest point of 
 the cranium ; while continuity is just below self- 
 esteem — inferior in position and diminutive in size, 
 situated just above the social group, as a mother 
 keeping guard over her children. 
 
 The feminine is the attractive, and hence the pro- 
 
220 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 ductive, principle of nature — that principle which 
 collects matter and combines it into forms. The 
 principal office of continuity is the drawing of the 
 spirit together — to a focus — preparatory X.o projection. 
 There is always a concentration of force or energy 
 in all effort, and the greater the concentration the 
 greater will be the power manifested. 
 
 The tension of the nerves and muscles is due to 
 continuity — oneness of force and energy. It lays 
 hold, as with hands, of each mental fibre, and guides 
 the fiery steeds of spirit. Spirit obeys mind, but 
 mind is under the will. Continuity is intenseness — 
 continuativeness. Once directed to an object, it fas- 
 tens itself to the spirit thereof, and, leech-like, sucks 
 its very life out. If continuity be large, one becomes 
 absorbed in any pursuit, object or passion, to the for- 
 getfulness of other things. It cannot let go. This 
 leads to insanity, which is simply the unbalancing of 
 the will. 
 
 Consciousness is a result of the poising or posing 
 of the will : hence the polarization of the will is the 
 true work of him who aspires to infinite conscious 
 power. The will oscillates, similar to the needle of 
 a compass, or the balance-wheel of a watch, or as a 
 beam very nicely poised. Too much attraction in any 
 given direction, or too much weight at one end of the 
 scale, causes change of polarities, which is a change 
 in the conscious life of thought, memory, feeling or 
 sensation. When this change is extreme, the being 
 is changed, the memory is lost, or judgment is de- 
 
THE WILL. 221 
 
 throned, and yet the form of the being remains 
 apparently the same; but the man himself has va- 
 cated his throne and become a servant of some other 
 power greater than he. 
 
 - In view of this philosophical truth, we claim that 
 there is no real sanity on this earth, and very little of 
 it in spirit -life, beneath the abode of the gods. There 
 are no perfect wills. Either firmness, continuity or 
 self-esteem are too weak or too strong for proper 
 balance and harmony. In this mundane sphere the 
 masculine weighs down the feminine, and, worse even 
 than all that, the central diamond of the soul — self- 
 hood — is marred and corroded till there is no perfect 
 oscillation or movement. 
 
 We have moved, like a wagon, so long in one rut 
 that it is almost impossible to get out of it. We have 
 looked so long at the black side of God's sign-board 
 — nature — that it has become luminous to us ; and 
 at the white side — spirit — so little that it has lost 
 its lustre and is forgotten, or supposed at most to be 
 the night of nothingness. This is insanity. A man 
 may be insane in whole or in part : in either case, the 
 will, becoming unbalanced, has lost control in whole 
 or in part. It has lost its grasp. The reversal of the 
 poles of the will is why we have no memory of pre- 
 vious states of existence. The will, by chance, acci- 
 dent, sickness, or by intent, may oscillate back to the 
 point it occupied in some former age, or previous state 
 of being, and the person be exactly what he was spir- 
 itually at that time, and lose all memory of this life. 
 
222 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 A psychologized person may be made to feel and 
 w act like a dog, while under the influence. Why ? Just 
 s because his will is thrown out of balance, and he is 
 what we call, in other circumstances, insane. It is 
 just such effects that we call insanity > In all similar 
 cases of insanity where the psychologist is not seen 
 or known, it is the spirit of some one unknown, either 
 mortal or a spirit. At such times we say he is in- 
 sane. The consciousness of being remains, but 
 memory — the bridge over the chasms of time — 
 is broken down, but not totally destroyed. It may, 
 however, be reconstructed by the culture of the will, 
 and all remembrances revived. 
 
 Continuity is that power which leads to forgetful- 
 ness of these surroundings — to abstraction and ab- 
 sorption. It is when we become absorbed in some 
 work or passion that we forget our weakness, or what 
 we know of ourselves, and rise up to grandeur and 
 glory. The greatest achievements, the most heroic 
 deeds, the greatest discoveries that bless mankind, 
 are all due to this little feminine faculty of will, which 
 leads to insanity. 
 
 The diffusion of spirit, the waste of life, the weak- 
 ness and misdirection of energy, uncontrollable pas- 
 sions, the want of psychological power, the pains and 
 aches of the body — these are all due to the weakness 
 of continuity, and excessive self-consciousness. This 
 self-consciousness is a rut dug deep by demerit, in 
 which we are all sunk — as in a quagmire. Purity 
 of self is the only help for us, the only lubricator of 
 
THE WILL. 223 
 
 the will, the only cleanser of this human time-piece. 
 Purity — physical, mental, and spiritual — cannot be 
 achieved by outward acts. It is an inward effort, an 
 inward fire kindled by the action of continuity, which 
 burns out the dross of these gross natures. This fire 
 is kindled by the accumulation of spirit whenever and 
 wherever attraction overbalances repulsion. 
 
224 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY POWERS. 
 
 The great majority of our acts are involuntary. 
 Even the acts which we think we do voluntarily, are 
 mainly forced or coaxed out of us by an impulse. 
 However this may be, we know we have volition, 
 or voluntary power, small though it may be ; and 
 however vast the involuntary may be, it is sub- 
 servient to us. Call it what you like — Nature or 
 God — it is our servant. When once this machine is 
 set in motion, it automatically obeys. 
 
 A musician, after he has mastered the use of his 
 instrument, does not will each separate motion of 
 his fingers ; his mind may be occupied with words 
 he may be singing to the music, but his fingers move 
 fast or slow in accord with the music, and his feet 
 work upon the pedal without attention or thought. 
 So it is with all we do. In doing a piece of work 
 with which one is familiar, the thought wanders away, 
 but still the work goes on. In sleep the voluntary is 
 suspended, i.e., the mind is at rest ; and at times the 
 will also seems to rest, or memory and judgment to 
 be suspended. 
 
VOL UNTARV AND IN VOL UNTAR Y POWERS. 225 
 
 Habits all become automatic, or involuntary. 
 Habits of the body and mind are alike, and yet the 
 voluntary seems to be of the mind : in fact, they are 
 so closely allied, and so interwoven, that it is difficult 
 to separate them, or to define them as separate 
 powers. But we do know that all the light we have 
 is of the mind, and all the power of it comes from 
 the involuntary. Voluntarily we do as we think 
 best, but the power to accomplish is the most of it. 
 Thus it seems plain to me that the voluntary powers 
 are merely a thought we have, which thought is all 
 we have to guide us. It is possible that this thought 
 may be so cultivated and enlarged as to become as 
 automatic as any habit, and express itself as any 
 involuntary power, even in our sleep. 
 
 Language is a mere matter of culture or habit ; 
 and so of thought, or any of the bodily functions. 
 Indigestion may be cured ; torpid liver made to act ; 
 and constipation of the bowels overcome, by paying 
 constant attention to regularity. By paying little or 
 no attention to the movement of the bowels, thus 
 breaking up nature's habits, their warnings become 
 less and less, and, in time, habits of constipation or 
 inaction intervene. But if you will have a regular 
 time for the evacuation, and pay strict attention 
 thereto, providing an opportunity, whether there is 
 an inclination or not, nature will in time listen to 
 your demand, and furnish the power to remove all 
 obstructions, and give life to the torpid tissues. 
 Such is the force of habit. 
 
226 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 This new life comes through an effort of the will 
 — first, voluntarily, but afterwards as an involuntary- 
 power or habit. When it has become habitual, the 
 bowels will notify you of the time, and insist upon 
 your paying attention. It is the same with eating 
 and drinking : if you eat three times daily, you will 
 be hungry at those regular times ; but if you have 
 no regular time for eating, hunger will not come till 
 you think of it. To think of food as of something 
 loathsome will kill hunger. To break in upon the 
 regularity of a habit is to destroy it. To pay atten- 
 tion to anything is to become its slave. Sexual 
 excesses are habits of thought, depending upon 
 regularity for existence. So long as it is a habit, it 
 will demand and enforce attention ; but turn the 
 thought to something else, and the voice of the habit 
 gradually grows weaker and weaker, till in time it will 
 take an effort of thought and the conjuring of the 
 will to restore it. 
 
 Small as the voluntary powers may be — perhaps 
 a mere thought, yet it is all there is of us, and our 
 weal and woe depend upon their use. By use the 
 voluntary becomes the involuntary. Absent-minded- 
 ness is indicative of the sinking of the voluntary into 
 the involuntary. Such persons are more indifferent 
 to outward things than those who are always " wide- 
 awake/ ' This is, indeed, the beginning of trance, 
 wherein some of the very finest orations are delivered. 
 
 This "wide awake" life is a mere habit, which is 
 destroyed by the creation of another, viz., sleep. 
 
VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY POWERS. 22J 
 
 Sleep is a closing of the eyes to outward things, and 
 the turning of the sight inward. It is the same in 
 trance. The former is a sleep, or a partial sleep, of 
 the consciousness ; the latter is a higher degree of 
 consciousness : for the full wakefulness of the soul's 
 powers is in a union of the voluntary with the invol- 
 untary. This is effected by magnetism, and some- 
 times in natural sleep ; then we have somnambulism, 
 or sleep-walking, if the soul is unable to quit the 
 body ; but if the soul is able to quit the body, we 
 have prophetic visions, or the solving of difficult 
 problems, or the visiting of distant places, spirit- 
 worlds, etc. But in whatever way sleep or trance 
 may be induced, it produces a degree of insensibility 
 in the body. 
 
 The deeper the sleep, the more insensible the body 
 becomes. Mesmeric sleep is next to death. This 
 may be self-induced, or through the agency of an 
 operator. Calmness and tranquillity are necessary to 
 its production, the same as in natural sleep. Calm- 
 ness allows the soul to expand, and this produces 
 sleep and trance, wherein the body becomes insensi- 
 ble. There are two ways of producing nervous in- 
 sensibility : one I have described ; the other is pro- 
 duced by means of intense activity or excitement. 
 Fits, in which sensibility is lost, are produced by ex- 
 citement — the cause sometimes visible or known 
 (or, at least, supposed to be), but oftener unknown. 
 
 We know that catalepsy, common to Methodist 
 revivals, known as "the power, " is induced by excite- 
 
228 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 ment. Children fall down in fits through the ex- 
 citement of fear. In intense anger the nerves have 
 little or no feeling. Indeed, there is an insanity 
 comes through anger in which there seems to be 
 neither sympathy, reason nor feeling. Many a man 
 has been maimed, wounded, or even materially in- 
 jured in a fight without being at all sensible of it till 
 the excitement was over. So long as the tension of 
 the nerves continues there is no pain. The clinched 
 fist of an angry man feels nothing. The Indian, 
 undergoing untold tortures at the hands of his cap- 
 tors, sings his war-song and laughs in the face of his 
 tormentors. Michael Servetus, being roasted over 
 a slow fire made of green wood, by John Calvin, 
 composed the following, which he repeated to his 
 tormentor, with a smile of happiness on his face : 
 
 w This side enough is toasted ; 
 Turn me, tyrant, and eat ; 
 For, whether raw or roasted, 
 I am the better meat." 
 
 The Christian martyrs, while being burned at the 
 stake, sang, prayed and exhorted ; assuring the by- 
 standers that it was pleasant " to die for the Lord." 
 In view of these facts, and what we know of ecstasy 
 and the insensibility of the mesmerized subject, is it 
 not at least reasonable to suppose that the will is 
 master of sensation as well as motion ? There is no 
 pain to the strong will. Many a man has endured 
 surgical operations without the use of anaesthetics or 
 bonds, and without a movement of muscle or nerve. 
 
VOL UNTAR Y AND INVOL UNTARY PO WERS. 2 29 
 
 Therefore, if pain can be partially subdued by the 
 will, it may be wholly so. 
 
 A man is made far stronger and more enduring by 
 excitement ; and the deepest and most power-and- 
 health-producing excitement comes from the calming 
 of passions and the awakening of the higher faculties. 
 There is a spiritual excitement, far more potent and 
 exhilarating than the excitement of any of the pas- 
 sions, in which ecstasy is passed and the soul escapes. 
 It is then that these bodies are proof to the elements, 
 and command the respect of even wild beasts. 
 
 The Rah at of India seeks some jungle or lonely 
 place, or some dangerous place by the side of some 
 swamp or lagoon, infested by monstrous reptiles, 
 where man fears to intrude ; here he composes him- 
 self for his meditations, and goes calmly into an 
 unconscious state, while monsters crawl out and lie 
 down by his side, and sleep also. Never was one 
 known to be harmed by them. (See Isis Unveiled.) 
 
 Is not this the same power by which Daniel com- 
 manded the respect of the lions in their den ? The 
 full power of the will does not manifest itself in our 
 normal state ; there must be an excitement of some 
 kind in order to call into play all our powers. The 
 full measure of power is not in the tension of the 
 nerves and muscles ; it is in the tension of the inner 
 man or spiritual body. This is not a rousing up as 
 of anger, and a propulsion of the spirit outward, but 
 rather a letting go of the nerves — a resignation of 
 the soul as in sleep. This is possible only in habit. 
 
230 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 True culture gives resignation, which, pushed on 
 to extremes, gives power to withstand fire. The 
 Acolyte for the Priesthood of Buddhism must pos- 
 sess super-mundane powers ere he can be admitted. 
 I have been told by a gentleman who was born in 
 India, and lived there until he was twenty-one years 
 of age, that when they apply for Priesthood they are 
 tested by being required to walk over a long bed of 
 live coals of fire with their naked feet, to do it with- 
 out hurry, and to come off at the other end with- 
 out a singe or smell of fire ; if they fail they are not 
 admitted, but are sent back to their practice of medi- 
 tative rites. 
 
 D. D. Home, one of our own time and country, 
 has manifested this power, as well as that of levita- 
 tion, by virtue of which Jesus walked upon the 
 water. I might multiply facts " ad infinitum" if it 
 were the intent of this work. The past and present 
 are both full of the proof. Search for it, — not alone 
 in the Scriptures of the olden time, but in the living 
 testimony of the present. The will is a magical 
 power ; but its highest magic is in letting go. 
 
 The strong, well-balanced man accepts things as 
 they come with a spirit attuned to the sweet melodies 
 of creative power ; and weeps not over blighted joys 
 or withered hopes. He looks above and beyond these 
 -^hings, and his soul is filled with rest thereby. He 
 does not essay to control others, for he has as much 
 as he can do to control himself. By this means he 
 converts his enemies into friends, who come to him, 
 
VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY POWERS. 231 
 
 as to an oracle, for counsel. His control is far greater 
 than that of one whosevwhole life is spent in trying 
 to control others. The gigantic evils of this life 
 come from the desire to rule others — or to make 
 others do as you wish. Counsel is far better than 
 rule. Let each do as he likes, but scatter light and 
 knowledge of the true way to happiness and power. 
 ^ Reader, if you have lost youth and happiness — 
 let go ! If friends have proved false and ungrateful 
 
 — let go ! If your heart is torn by unrequited love 
 
 — let go ! If you are poor — let go ! If you are 
 wealthy — let go ! If Providence forsakes you — 
 let go ! If you love life — let go ! If you are tired 
 of life — let go ! If you look back upon our life's 
 journey with regrets — let go ! For " He that 
 would save his life shall lose it, and he that would 
 lose his life shall save it." 
 
232 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 WILL-CULTURE. 
 
 Let him who aspires to power commence by a 
 close and critical analysis of himself. As will is the 
 extraordinary of man, its culture is the culture of the 
 entire man, and the regeneration of him — or another 
 creation. The methods of it will be found as extraor- 
 dinary as God himself — for how can a thing culti- 
 vate itself without God's help ? And God's methods 
 are not our methods. 
 
 The three great principles of the selfhood, from, 
 by and through which all actions come, are ( i ) Love ; 
 (2) Imagination; (3) Will. The Imagination is 
 neutral, as indifference or nature ; Will is masculine ; 
 Love is feminine. As a husbandman must till the 
 soil in order to make it productive, so must a man 
 culture his loves in order to produce will-power. 
 As a slave must first overcome his master before 
 he can be free, so must the will overcome its loves : 
 hence love is the way of freedom, of regeneration, 
 and power. 
 
 Self-analysis shows impurities which must, as a 
 primary step, be removed. There can be no progress 
 without vastation. The old habits, vices, follies, 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 233 
 
 modes of thought, loves, hates, envy, jealousies, covet- 
 ousness, fear, pride and egotism must all die and be 
 buried far out of sight as a preparatory step to soul- 
 growth ; as will is cultivated and made strong in the 
 subduing of those things which limit its freedom 
 and power. Purity is the only thing that cannot be 
 destroyed ; therefore, the purity of love, will and 
 wisdom are immortal. 
 
 It is only the semblance of real things which dies 
 or changes ; hence, that which is supposed to be real 
 love, or real will, or real wisdom, is only the sem- 
 blance of the real, for they change or die. Thus in 
 the regeneration, the semblance must pass away to 
 give place to the real. These bodies are mere reflec- 
 tions of ourselves, with which we, seeing them in 
 the mirror or mirage of nature, fall in love and, em- 
 bracing, die. 
 
 This law is the same in relation to sex-love — 
 we love the reflex of ourselves which we see in the 
 mirror as woman. This is not real love, for its 
 operations being downward, we propagate only our 
 kind, or conditions, or emanations, which are antag- 
 onistic to us ; while real love propagates new atoms 
 
 — parts of a divine body, unchangeable and eternal 
 
 — its operations are upward, and its emanations 
 mingle in the essence of God. 
 
 The infinite is all power, and it is man's field of 
 operation. It encompasses him round about ; it bends 
 to him with anything for which he asks ; but we must 
 work for what we want. " Not every one that saith, 
 
234 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Lord ! Lord ! shall enter the Kingdom ; but he that 
 doeth" — i.e., he that worketh with a will in the right 
 direction. Now the road to power lies through the 
 perfection of our nature, which consists first in the 
 attainment of duality. I have already spoken of 
 ideal love, of its conception, growth and union, or 
 marriage in the spirit. Now, the true methods of 
 will-culture have for their object growth. Soul- 
 growth is inward, by letting go of outward things, 
 and looking forward to the realization of a true life 
 in which true love appears as one with the will, or 
 the female united to the male in real durable oneness 
 of being, or marriage. 
 
 There can be no union of objects ; therefore, man 
 and woman, being separated entities, are not one — - 
 neither can they be — on this earth ; and marriage is 
 but a semblance or type of a reality, or changeless 
 condition, as a union of two in one, or two in spirit. 
 Harmony must be first had in the individual ere it 
 can be effected with another, and for this reason a 
 lifetime of effort or culture is necessary in which 
 things inharmonious or at variance with each other 
 are to be avoided. 
 
 Owing to the inharmonies of marriage (and the 
 loss of power therein) the Essenes and Rosicrucians 
 of old discarded marriage as something unreal, and 
 lived lives of celibacy. For this reason the Buddh- 
 istic and Catholic priesthood are not permitted to 
 marry. Further reasons are set forth in regard to 
 the nature of sin, to which the reader is referred. 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 235 
 
 In order to destroy that which retards the soul in its 
 flight, viz., sin, its opposite or antagonist must be 
 strengthened ; to this end the whole mind must be 
 given up to the contemplation of such things as make 
 the soul sick and disgusted with sin. 
 
 This creates another emotion antagonistic to love, 
 viz., feelings of disgust at that after which the world 
 runs mad. Love is an emotion. Will is motion, but 
 love is a reflex of it, or an emotion, or wo-man, because 
 emotions ruin the will or the man in leading it into 
 captivity. The object of love is to join itself to the 
 will in order to increase power to enjoy, as a loving 
 wife works for and delights in the happiness of her 
 husband. So woman should not unite with man save 
 for the purpose of begetting life, spirit, power. In 
 true marriage, according to the divine intention of it, 
 there are no children, and no disease ; neither do 
 they die. 
 
 To have an ideal elevated, pure and full of rest and 
 unalloyed pleasure, is to have the pain of disappoint- 
 ment in realization. It is to kindle a consuming fire 
 at your very vitals, which you are obliged to quench 
 by the will, because no heart answers your heart- 
 throbs and because all fall short of your ideal love. 
 This is for him to suffer who aspires to be some- 
 thing more than the common. There is no greatness 
 not born of pain, and there is no pain greater than 
 that of a heart bruised ; for it is so soft and flexible, 
 that it will not break. 
 
 Sexual love has the strongest hold of and of the 
 
236 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 passions ; it is the hardest for the will to turn from 
 its lust. The effort to idealize love in the imagina- 
 tion is analogous to that of the libertine and de- 
 bauchee — only one is chaste while the other is 
 impure. The onanist sees in his imagination the 
 object of his lust, and thus acting upon his emotions 
 pollutes himself. It is the same with the libertine. 
 These emotions that destroy power and the soul are 
 created by an inward action; and in proportion to 
 the power of concentration is the spirit drawn within, 
 condensed and projected, and thus the life, spirit and 
 power thrown away. But this wasted virility, though 
 lost to the man, is not lost in nature, for it is a pro- 
 toplasm from which spring infusoria, worms, insects, 
 reptiles, etc., which are a curse to the earth and man- 
 kind. Your ideal love may not be a very near 
 approach to true love ; but your highest conception 
 of womanly beauty, purity, goodness, truth, grace and 
 excellence, coupled with form and action, is your 
 estimate of it, and as such is your kingdom of power 
 towards which you grow rapidly or slowly as the case 
 may be. 
 
 Control must begin at home — in the selfhood. 
 But how, or in what manner, can a thing culture and 
 control itself? How can the will regulate its own 
 action ? The will has the nearest approach to free- 
 dom of anything of which we know. Love is limited 
 by the sensibilities, and wisdom, by that which we 
 learn ; but will, being free from emotion, is free to 
 produce emotions according to its love and wisdom. 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 237 
 
 So love and wisdom are the shackles of the will. 
 Now we do not control that which we love, but that 
 which we love controls us. Hence the necessity of 
 subduing love as the beginning of the road to power. 
 We do not destroy love, but we wean it from sensu- 
 ous objects. Thus weaned, it becomes as one with 
 the will in its freedom, and the flights of the soul. 
 This is the At-one-ment — (Atonement). Love can- 
 not be purified. " There is no impure love," said 
 P. B. Randolph. What we call purifying love is 
 merely the vastating of pretences. Love itself is hon- 
 est ; but this world's love is but a pretence of what 
 it is not. It is the shame, in order to hide which, 
 God clothed Adam and Eve in the skins of animals. 
 If all the shame were removed from mankind, the 
 little love left would be very small indeed. 
 
 Will-culture is a thing altogether antagonistic to 
 general religious ideas ; for the will is generally con- 
 sidered of the " evil one " — to be broken and crushed. 
 With this idea I am at variance. We have far too 
 little power, and to increase it is the acme of all 
 religion. It is in the false direction of power wherein 
 evil exists, not in the power itself. To enlighten the 
 mind, then, or to culture the imagination, is to con- 
 trol man's creative powers or loves and guide them in 
 the right direction. 
 
 All culture must begin at home. Begin by a re- 
 construction of yourself. If you feel that you are 
 superior to others, disabuse yourself of that idea at 
 once. In arrogance there is no growth of the soul. 
 
238 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 To feel as you really are, is to feel very weak and 
 very small. In order to rise above the common level, 
 you must be real. To feel equal is to feel real and 
 to be real. Let every man have his opinions in 
 freedom — the rights you claim, freely grant to others. 
 Thus you pluck the motes out of your eye. Judge 
 no man, for you know not his motives. The free- 
 dom you claim for yourself, that grant to others, even 
 in thought and feeling — for freedom is the principle 
 of growth — the first and the last, and the only prin- 
 ciple in existence. He who is bound by love, hate, 
 or any passion whatever, is not free. How can he 
 then expect to have power ? 
 
 Power only comes by freedom. To be free, then, 
 necessitates a cutting loose of the bonds of slavery. 
 To love nothing, to hate nothing, to have no likes or 
 dislikes, to have no prejudices, no tastes, no prefer- 
 ences — this it is to be free. The little power we 
 have comes from freedom. Now let him, who expects 
 to culture his will, bear in mind this fact — that it 
 cannot be done for a selfish or mercenary purpose. I 
 am aware that one part of it, viz., firmness and self- 
 esteem may be cultivated and increased, but it is not 
 real culture of the will after all, but a throwing out of 
 balance of the will, which is destructive in the main. 
 
 All power, to be lasting, must descend from the 
 higher to the lower, as a baptism ; and this descent 
 is accomplished by and through the feminine of will 
 — viz., Continuity. The second effort of will is in the 
 propulsion of force into the nerves — as in grasping 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 239 
 
 by the hand or in striking a blow. But the first 
 effort is in the gathering together of force before 
 striking. The latter is expansive like the inflation of 
 the lungs ; while the former is exhaustive as in the 
 expiration of the breath. 
 
 Inflation is the beginning or foundation of all 
 power. This is concent rat ive, and involves the exer- 
 cise of continuity. The greater the concentration, 
 the greater will be the power manifested — either in 
 physical, mental, or spiritual effort. In making a 
 great physical effort, there must be a stimulant or an 
 excitement, in order to produce a manifestation of 
 the full power of the individual. This excitement is 
 a mental effort in which the mind expands to its ut- 
 most tension of energy, feeling, or want of feeling, 
 a resolution is formed, born or begotten, and the 
 nerves and muscles become braced — filled to over* 
 flowing with force. 
 
 The whole person expands, as a prospective mother, 
 and is eager to deliver itself of its superabundant 
 force, energy or burden. When full to overflowing 
 with anger, love or any passion, we are eager to 
 express it : but the first effort is to be full. This is 
 a mental effort in which the will gets its excitement 
 from dwelling upon wrongs, or love, in the imagina- 
 tion. This " brooding' ' over wrongs, or dwelling 
 upon things in thought involves the exercise of con- 
 tinuity. From this it is known that the real power 
 of will comes from the feminine part of it, viz., con- 
 centration or continuity. 
 
240 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 It is also evident that the more one believes in the 
 reality of the wrong or love, the fuller they will be- 
 come of love or anger, and the power of its manifes- 
 tation will be proportionally greater. Now this is 
 exactly the case with all occult or spiritual power. 
 The excitement of the will comes from dwelling upon 
 an idea or an object to be attained and in the resisting 
 of the excitement of the passions. In fact, the cul- 
 ture of the will is in the alternate excitement of the 
 passions, and in subduing the same without expres- 
 sion. 
 
 For instance : — some one wrongs you a little ; 
 you seize upon it as if it were a sweet and delicious 
 morsel, and by constantly thinking of it in its most 
 aggravating features, and by dwelling upon it, you 
 work yourself into a mental fever in which you feel 
 like "knocking down," "kicking," "shooting," and 
 " dragging out," — but you do no such thing ; and 
 before your passion is too strong for you, you turn 
 your mind to another feature of the wrong, and be- 
 gin to look upon it as not quite so hideous, after all, 
 and gradually it grows less and less, as the excite- 
 ment cools down. 
 
 You have not manifested this to the world, but it 
 has had an effect upon you. Your will power has 
 grown in the exercise. Physical power grows by 
 manifestation, but spiritual power, by silent suppres- 
 sion or repression. If you express your power physi- 
 cally, it is lost to you spiritually. Hence the motto : 
 " Silence is strength." 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 24 1 
 
 In thus exciting yourself, and then controlling 
 yourself, you are creating power, as well as teaching 
 the involuntary powers obedience. After practicing 
 for awhile this exercise, you will find you are becom- 
 ing very excitable, and you can excite yourself even 
 without any outward provocation. A jealous person 
 can easily become half crazy about nothing. In this 
 manner you learn how to create emotions of a low 
 order first, and then you gradually step up to emo- 
 tions of a higher order, such as mirth, love, pity, 
 rapture ; but of all creative emotions, that of love 
 transcends all else. 
 
 To gaze at a dead body with worms crawling in 
 and out, and look at it as human, and think that that 
 is the end of all flesh, and that you will be the same 
 in a short time, disgusts one fearfully with the follies 
 of life, and tames the passions of any man who thinks 
 at all. This helps the will to gain the ascendency ; 
 but after seeing it once or twice, you can see it in 
 your mind at any time, and thus subdue all low and 
 unworthy thoughts and feelings — this strengthens 
 the will. " He who keeps death in view seldom does 
 a wrong." 
 
 The will that cannot create emotions by its own 
 effort is weak : it needs a stimulant. To keep your 
 heart young and full of tenderness and love for your 
 companion, think of her as when you wooed and won 
 her. To destroy your love, think of it in connection 
 with something disgusting and low, and it will speed- 
 ily die ; but do not be deceived ; some things die 
 
242 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 very hard. Habits take hold of the vitals. Many 
 who read these lines may be able to see what they 
 desire in the mind without physical contact. Such 
 can develop power rapidly. 
 
 Others, again, will need some aggravating circum- 
 stances to stir the emotions. To provoke another to 
 anger with words, looks and gestures, and then sub- 
 due yourself with a thought, and control and subdue 
 the other by the creations of mirth or grief, is a good 
 exercise, but a dangerous one. 
 
 Who can stand and calmly take a blow without 
 resentment ? But it was in view of this same sub- 
 ject that Jesus said : " If a man smite you on one 
 cheek, turn the other also." Habits are hereditary 
 as well as acquired. They, like diseases, are hard to 
 cure. All habits of the ordinary man tend outward, 
 and hence are weakening. To be more than ordinary, 
 work against habits. This is done only by creating 
 other and opposite habits. 
 
 " Does thine eye offend thee, pluck it out ! " or 
 train it not to see objects external, by turning it in- 
 wardly. Perhaps you are fond of some particular 
 article of diet — you love the taste of it. Pork, for 
 instance. You first satisfy yourself that it feeds 
 scrofula and the humors of the blood, and you desire 
 to leave it off. You go to work to kill the taste for 
 it by becoming disgusted mentally with the thing 
 you delight in. It is done by meditation. Imagine 
 a stomach filled with flesh fermenting and working 
 as do maggots in carrion. Flesh in the stomach, as 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 243 
 
 in the sun, becomes putrid. It is nothing but a bit 
 of corpse dressed and cooked, that I am eating. Be- 
 hold the market, hung round and round with corpses, 
 not unlike my own, if it were dressed like these. A 
 little while ago they were moving, living beings, like 
 myself. I know that I become like that upon which 
 I feed. See the swine. The scavenger of the filth 
 of living things; what a loathsome object, and I am 
 his scavenger. " I am naught but a sepulchre full of 
 rotten flesh/ ' 
 
 Behold the butcher ! A living corpse cutting up 
 dead ones, while others stand eagerly looking on, 
 with mouths watering like dogs for the feast of 
 rottenness. See the carts hurrying away to the 
 meat shops, laden with corpses yet warm with life, 
 their naked, mutilated limbs mutely appealing to 
 heaven against the horrid butchery, while a demon in 
 human form sits driving to the charnel house. 
 
 By persistence in such thoughts, the taste changes, 
 and the stomach heaves at the sight or thought which 
 we conjure in regard to food or anything else. 
 Thought is sight, feeling, tasting, smelling, etc., all 
 in one. The taste changes, as our thoughts change 
 in regard to it. Just so with all the passions. 
 
 There is no virtue where there is no temptation ; 
 no merit where there is no demerit ; no grace where 
 there is no sin ; no power where there are no obsta- 
 cles. The greater the obstacle overcome, the greater 
 the glory of the achievement. The filthiest thing con- 
 tains the most life ; but this life is worthless till utilized. 
 
244 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 The will is the husbandman, who, if needs be, 
 drains his ground, enriches, plows, harrows, plants 
 and cultivates his crop. If he be not slothful, he 
 shall, according to nature's laws, reap his harvest. 
 So with the aspirant to power ; he must prepare his 
 body, his blood must be filtered, and the acids and 
 alkalis harmonized, and the flesh made soft, sweet 
 and glowing. Drugs will not do this. The body 
 must be reached through the mind, or not at all. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that the imagination affects 
 the body. Fear, disgust, and in fact, all the passions 
 have an effect upon the blood. One may accelerate 
 the action of the heart, while another retards it. All 
 the passions get their excitement from the imagina- 
 tion. So the imagination is the connecting link 
 between the body and the soul. It is the door be- 
 tween the visible and the invisible worlds of sense. 
 To purify the body, then, the will must affect it 
 through the imagination. The imagination corrupts 
 the blood ; why may it not purify it as well ? That 
 we do not know how this is done is no argument 
 against this proposition. Love tinges the cheek with 
 the glow of magnetic health ; fear congeals the blood ; 
 disgust produces neuralgia, and lust produces con- 
 sumption. Hate dries up and coagulates the humors ; 
 covetousness produces dyspepsia, — and so on to the 
 end of the chapter. 
 
 Every passion, and even thought and reason have 
 their roots in the imagination. The effect which things 
 have upon us depends upon the way we look at 
 
WILL-CULTURE, 245 
 
 them. Beauty and deformity spring alike from the 
 imagination. We receive the spirit of a thing by 
 looking at it — smelling, tasting, hearing — and more 
 than all by thinking of it. We get the grossness of 
 food by eating it, but the real life of it is extracted 
 by the thoughts we have of it. In other words the 
 ideas we have in regard to the quality and use of 
 food impart to it something akin to themselves. 
 
 Thus the body may be gradually changed by diet ; 
 not so much by quality as by quantity ; for the will 
 imparts any desired quality. 
 
 A very, sensitive person suffers nausea at the sight 
 of that which is loathsome — to conjure up that thing 
 in the imagination has the same effect. Many a per- 
 son is afflicted with dyspepsia and other disorders 
 from a settled conviction that it is inevitable. The 
 idea that you will cure yourself is better than medi- 
 cine. The idea that you will eat simply because you 
 are obliged to do so in order to live, and not for the 
 pleasure of eatings is better in reality than food or 
 fasting ; but to eat, drink and love for the sole object 
 of attaining immortal power, and not for the sensuous 
 gratification of the appetites or passions, is to work 
 upon the mind, blood, body and spirit as God works 
 — downward. This downward operation eliminates 
 the grossness, and leaves the essences or life for your 
 use. 
 
 Remember this simple thing : All impurities re- 
 suit from compounding, or combining different sub- 
 stances > fluids > magnetisms and spirits in one. Purity 
 
246 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 is oneness. The simpler the diet the better ; one 
 thing is better than three, four or a dozen. Never 
 eat for pleasure, eat only when hungry, and stop 
 while still hungry. To test your power of will, think 
 of something sickening as you gaze upon your food ; 
 if your stomach rejects the food from that cause, you 
 have no need of any more food at that time — cease 
 eating at once. If you drop your knife, fork or 
 spoon, or have any such mishap at the table, cease 
 eating. Never think how your food tastes, and never 
 indulge in talk and laughter while eating ; let your 
 thoughts be fixed upon the object to be attained, 
 whether it be the elimination of disease, grossness, 
 bad habits, etc., or the building up of the dual divine 
 nature wherein all power resides. 
 
 The one great curse of civilization (?) is gormandiz- 
 ing. We need very little food if the truth were 
 known ; just enough should be taken into the stomach 
 to form a nucleus of attraction for the spirit to mate- 
 rialize itself, or condense and form new particles of 
 blood, nerve and flesh. Behold ! the miracle of the 
 loaves and fishes as an illustration of this principle. 
 Food multiplies itself in the half-filled stomach, when 
 it is left vacant from a principle ; but when the stom- 
 ach is full there is no room for multiplication or 
 condensation to take place, and a filthy, rotting, 
 destructive process takes the place of divine and life- 
 improving process. 
 
 The life of the body comes from the spirit, and 
 not wholly from the food we take in at the mouth. 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 247 
 
 The full stomach crowds out the spirit, and there 
 is no room left for the action of the spirit. Besides, 
 the spirit feeds upon that which is in harmony with 
 it in its passage to and from, and radiation about the 
 body, and passing into the body deposits therein that 
 life which it has accumulated. 
 
 Look at Dr. Tanner, fasting forty days ! * Look 
 at the fast of Jesus for forty days, and then behold 
 Gautama Buddha, living seven years alone in the 
 
 * Says Dr. Alexander Wilder of Orange, N. J., in a letter to me after the first 
 edition of this work was published : 
 
 " I notice that you mention Dr. Tanner. I watched with him several times, and 
 was present at the end. Of the genuineness of the matter there is no room for two 
 opinions. No man willing to be candid can possibly doubt the evidence. That 
 ' Science gained nothing by it ' (as often asserted), was solely because the men who 
 dictate what shall be regarded as science, determined in advance that no observa- 
 tion or fact ascertained should be accepted. Yet enough was observed in 1880, to 
 have preserved the life of Gen. Garfield in 1881, if it had been put to use. * * * I 
 was somewhat disappointed in my observation of Dr. Tanner. Having read of 
 trances, ecstatic visions, and intimate communications with the interior world, in 
 connection with prolonged fasts, I hoped to witness something of the sort now. I 
 did not. His mind was always clear, but his temper was somewhat irritable. The 
 senses became exquisitely keen. For 15 days he drank nothing ; he was a distressed 
 sight. He actually gained weight for a day or two after resuming. But he was 
 very sensitive ; he could ill tolerate Croton water and went daily to a spring in 
 Central Park for a supply. He also complained of the air at Clarendon Hall — 
 very justly. The spectators would have worn me out ; how he endured them I 
 cannot well surmise. Yet several individuals did remark a loss of strength after 
 being near him. This fact of the fast is not so very remarkable. But for our 
 abominable materialism we could easily perceive the matter. Griscom, in Chicago, 
 fasted 45 days. The Hindoo Fakirs and others do the same. Perhaps the powers 
 most valuable are hidden. We make too much account of meat and drink, and far 
 too little of the forces about us that transcend these. A tree will grow and not 
 exhaust the soil materially. A coral reef is a mass of lime gathered where no lime 
 is. A chick in the egg gets a skeleton from substance that chemistry does not 
 reveal the existence of. The diatomes built a mass of flinty stone under Petersburg, 
 in Virginia. I opine that living things transmute forces into matters, by changing 
 their polarity, so that the problem, imputed incorrectly to the alchemists, of trans- 
 mutation, is solved by the living beings of this earth. * * * There is a brother- 
 hood of true men, and they recognize each other by a pass-word , more expressive 
 than any symbolism of a society. # * * " 
 
248 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 forests of Thibet, subsisting wholly upon berries and 
 roots ; and at last throwing himself at the foot of 
 "the sacred Bodhi tree," vowing that he would not 
 again taste food until he had achieved his object, viz., 
 the attainment of supernatural energy, and when 
 so weak with the long fast that he could no longer 
 stand upon his feet, how the "Dewas" (celestial 
 beings) came and fed and nursed him. Did he attain 
 his object? Look at the results and then judge. 
 He lived about five hundred years before Christ, and 
 died when he got ready (at the age of eighty years) ; 
 founding the greatest religion that man has ever 
 known, whose adherents numbered a few years ago 
 the enormous figure of three hundred and sixty-nine 
 millions, and that without violence or bloodshed. 
 (See Hardy's "Eastern Monachism.") 
 
 Those who eat the least have the best health and 
 last the longest. Life is sustained more from the 
 atmosphere and electricity than from the solid food 
 taken into the stomach. It is the essence of things 
 which is of greatest value, and the essence is not 
 limited to the solid substance, but radiates round 
 about as its aura — intangible to our dull senses, but 
 nevertheless existing. It is upon the aura of things 
 that the spirit feeds, and according to the attractive 
 power of the soul is its pasture. So long as the spirit 
 is fat it will feed the body. 
 
 The glutton has a weak, lean, hungry spirit, and 
 little will-power. The diseased forms which meet the 
 eye at every turn, are evidence of weak, small, spirit- 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 2 49 
 
 less will — and collapsed and angular souls. They 
 present a ravenous multitude, a standing mockery of 
 nature, and a clamorous rebuke of the wisdom of an 
 infinite Creator. When diseased, in pain and trouble, 
 how nice it is to lay the blame on fate, nature or 
 God. But if we would only stop and think that we 
 have to suffer from the malignity or mistakes of the 
 relentless power which compels us to exist, and that 
 no prayers are answered save those of the will, we 
 would philosophically shoulder the power to be as 
 much as to do and to suffer. 
 
 We could then see clearly that the diseases, fail- 
 ures and mistakes ascribed to fate are due to our 
 own ignorance, weakness, and headstrong folly. We 
 have to bear the consequences of our acts — why not 
 claim the credit of causation ? So long as we can 
 ascribe our acts to circumstances, nature, fate, or 
 God, we trust to luck and drift like bubbles upon the 
 frothing deep — effortless. 
 
 It takes effort to accumulate property ; it takes 
 effort to be a man under all circumstances ; but it 
 costs no effort to be a beggar or a knave. This has 
 become so common that it has given rise to the trite 
 saying, that "man is prone to do evil as the sparks 
 are to fly upward." It is far easier to fall than to 
 climb ; but it hurts fearfully at the bottom. The 
 labor of climbing is pleasant after you get used to it ; 
 for the higher you climb the more vigorous you be- 
 come, and the purer the atmosphere. Why ? Because 
 the climber is ascending towards life, while he who 
 
2 SO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 falls is descending towards pain, disease, weakness, 
 darkness, death and nonentity. Will-culture is the 
 royal ladder, anchored in God's throne, and reaching 
 to every soul. 
 
 You cannot carry much grossness, either of body, 
 mind or spirit, up that ladder. Grossness is always 
 positive, and very difficult to become negative. But 
 the greater the grossness, the greater the power when 
 the victory is won. Paul understood this. He says 
 in substance, " Where sin abounds, grace doth much 
 more abound.' ' I have already explained the reason. 
 It takes a great soul to excel in anything. Great 
 criminals are always men of greatness, misdirected. 
 
 The mind is a wandering vagrant ; like the eye, it 
 wanders restlessly in quest of new things. But "let 
 your eye be single/' and your mind will follow after. 
 Look steadily at a speck on the wall — think steadily 
 of one thing — and gradually there steals over you 
 strange sensations, as clouds and flashes of light pass 
 before your vision. To make the mind single — as 
 an eye with the motes plucked out sees only one ob- 
 ject — limit the range of thought. In this you are 
 drawing the mind to a focus preparatory to elonga- 
 tion. As the eye with dust therein sees nothing dis- 
 tinctly, so the mind untrained has no focus, no depth, 
 no clairvoyance ; it wanders in a maze of error. 
 
 To call its scattered forces together is a herculean 
 task, but it is small compared to the focusing of the 
 spirit. As involuntary powers follow the lead of 
 the voluntary — as the mind follows the direction of 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 2 5 1 
 
 the eye, being fixed when the eye is fixed — so spirit 
 obeys the will. Agitation of the body disturbs the 
 mind; agitation of the mind distracts and confuses 
 the spirit, so that the will is deprived of its means to 
 execute. Hence the necessity of calmness. 
 
 Continuity is that which produces rest and satisfac- 
 tion, as the love of a woman. It is the feminine of 
 will, and creates by persistent effort. In deep, pro- 
 found meditation the soul becomes pregnant with 
 greatness, for the spirit, no longer driven from the 
 soul by outward motions and emotions, slowly comes 
 home to the soul, being called in and projected up- 
 ward and inward. As spirit is fire, or that which 
 produces fire, there is heat produced by its accumu- 
 lation, which in time blazes forth, at first soft and 
 mild, in great sheets of light, afterwards as the forked 
 lightning. This light is life, which feeds the spirit 
 body, and gives it strength and growth. 
 
 It is in this turning within, this meditation, that 
 the positive will becomes the negative ; and when 
 pushed to extremes, total abstraction or forgetfulness 
 follows. This is Trance. In trance the angels and 
 celestial spirits are attracted, for the whole universe 
 of spirit impinges upon the soul, by virtue of its at- 
 tractive power. The Heavens are opened, and there 
 is nothing hid from the truly great will. It pierces 
 to any centre of power, energy, love, or knowledge, 
 and drags therefrom its secrets. 
 
 This is indeed the closet wherein Jesus told his 
 disciples to enter when they prayed ; and to pray in 
 
252 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 secret, not letting the right hand know what the left 
 hand doeth. In this way is the answer of prayer 
 possible. "God is a spirit, and they who worship 
 Him must worship in spirit and in truth.' ' To be in 
 a trance is to be enveloped in spirit — to be " bap- 
 tized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire. ,, No de- 
 ception, no untruth can enter here. Truth elevates 
 the soul, and is a condition requisite to acquisition of 
 all occult knowledge and power. To be true to your- 
 self is to be true to God. To be true to conditions 
 is to be divested of all fear, distrust, and doubt ; these 
 bar the way and close the door. 
 
 An abiding faith in the Infinity of Power, and belief 
 in the ability of the soul to rise to realms thereof, are 
 essentially basic principles of progress. To awaken 
 the soul from its long sleep of the ages, a preparation 
 is necessary. All passions must be put to sleep. 
 The temper must be subjugated, and the animosities 
 of nature must be destroyed. This is a herculean 
 task to most men, but unless this be done, let no one 
 boast of his will-power. 
 
 The reason is obvious why these conditions are 
 requisite. The larger the soul the greater the agita- 
 tion of the elements within its radius ; and the pas- 
 sions being the easiest disturbed are all in excessive 
 activity. This explains why many noble-souled men 
 go to the bad. Those capable of soaring the highest 
 fall the lowest when bereft of self-control. The soul 
 is an absolute calm, and when all things are calm out- 
 side it expands itself as if to burst its prison-walls ; 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 2$$ 
 
 then the Unnatural rushes upon its prisoner to over- 
 come its power and destroy it. The calm warm sun- 
 shine of summer days creates vast vacuums in the 
 atmosphere ; then come the cyclone, the tornado, the 
 lightning. These are nature's passions, which rage 
 till the vacuum is subdued. 
 
 The essential office of the soul is to create, and it 
 does this by motions and emotions. Repulsion drives, 
 diffuses, and scatters the spirit abroad. Attraction 
 draws, not only its own to itself, but the aura or spirit 
 of other things, which it appropriates so far as it is 
 able. And this appropriation or fusion of elements 
 is either elevating and life-giving, or is destructive. 
 
 The fire of things is life, and there are no com- 
 pounds thereof — it is one ; but the aura of things is 
 graded from fire to the grossest stench, which, united, 
 form a compound that is not pure. Purity feeds the 
 fire-body, in which death and destruction have no 
 place. 
 
 Water in agitation becomes pure, but stagnant 
 water has more life in it than running water. Of 
 course the spirit in concentration becomes stagnant 
 for a time, and in this stagnation, as in stagnant 
 water, life in myriad forms springs into being. But 
 ere they have being in the spirit, by persistent effort 
 of will, in concentration upon the Idea of a Divine 
 body, this life is condensed, indrawn, or compelled to 
 take form as One. 
 
 I am aware that there is a spiritual body which 
 forms at death, but it is not an immortal body. This 
 
254 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 has been seen and described by many clairvoyants, 
 and is spoken of by Paul ; but the Divine body is 
 formed in this body during earth-life, or it is not 
 formed at all. It is not a compound, neither is it 
 corruptible matter. It is not seen by you, but you 
 will know of it by having a feeling of immortal life 
 and undying power within. When perfected, all 
 power in heaven and in earth will be yours — not 
 as a man, but as a God. 
 
 "A mere fancy sketch " — "a picture of a dis- 
 ordered brain I'' Nevertheless, it is a shadow of 
 creative power, projected from the realm of the in- 
 comprehensible beyond ! 
 
 To return to our subject. In the concentration 
 of spirit is increased life, sensation, sensitiveness, 
 motions, emotions, and power of all sensuous enjoy- 
 ments. Hence many fall into the slough of sense on 
 the road, and never get out. 
 
 The body is filled to overflowing with spirit (mag- 
 netism miscalled), and the entire being vibrates with 
 pleasure-seeking emotions and longings. None but 
 the pure can pass over this bridge ; the impure fall 
 at "the threshold." Monstrous shapes stand guard 
 here — " Cherubim " with "flaming swords " guard- 
 ing "the way to the tree of life/' 
 
 It is the combustion of the compounds in the 
 spirit which causes the commotion, and if it is re- 
 sisted, they become rectified in time. 
 
 First be thoroughly satisfied in your own mind 
 that the road to calmness, tranquillity, and peace, 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 2 5 5 
 
 is the only way to health and happiness. I am not 
 going to argue this point, it is the universal instinct 
 of all thinking, reasonable men — none but savages 
 will dispute it. This point settled, then go to work 
 to attain it. 
 
 This is done by a constant and eternal watchful- 
 ness. As I before stated, the passions must be con- 
 trolled, subdued, and brought into total and abject 
 subjection to the will. This is best accomplished by 
 setting apart one hour each evening for meditation. 
 During this hour you think only of the weakness and 
 folly of anger, lust, avarice, envy, etc., dwelling most 
 upon your greatest and most besetting weakness in 
 such a manner as to cause you to loathe yourself ; 
 think of all you have done during the day — of the 
 thoughts and feelings you have had, especially dwell- 
 ing upon your failures at self-control ; aggravating 
 your follies, and not trying to excuse yourself in the 
 least. If you feel like asking for help, do so, but in 
 thought only, and that the last thing you do, and as 
 briefly as possible. 
 
 Compare yourself with the calm, tranquil beauty of 
 a flower, or a twinkling star, and thus take the pride 
 out of your pretended greatness and egotism. Think 
 of the body as needing your utmost care of nursing, 
 as an ulcer needing to be dressed and poulticed — 
 not that you love the ulcer, but to assuage its 
 pain. 
 
 Only a few years, and loathsome worms will crawl 
 out and in at its nine orifices, and filthy matter will 
 
256 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 frost the lips you now curl so proudly. To destroy 
 any feeling create its opposite. Is your heart agi- 
 tated, torn and lacerated with unrequited love ? Does 
 jealousy steal away your sleep and peace of mind ? 
 Kill it then by clothing in your mind the object in 
 garments of disgust. Rise above it in your thought, 
 and look down upon it with disgust as an eagle 
 passes by carrion. Fix your mind upon its worst 
 and most disgusting aspect ; thus forgetting its allure- 
 ments, and the love will grow less and less, until at 
 last you wonder that you ever had such a feeling. 
 
 Analyze, dissect the human heart, turn it over and 
 over, pick it to pieces shred by shred, and see if you 
 can find its main spring — when found, it will be 
 just like your own. Do you hate ? Have you an 
 enemy who delights in your woe ? Well, kill your 
 hate, and thus your enemy, by learning to love him. 
 " Oh ! that is impossible," says one. Impossible only 
 to the weak. The will that cannot create love is a 
 mere semblance — a bubble ; it cannot endure. 
 Christ said, " Love your enemies." 
 
 In order to produce love, you must sow the seed 
 before it can grow. The seeds of love are respect. 
 In your meditations fix your mind upon him, and 
 thus evoke his "similacrum," and compel him to 
 reveal his best nature to you ; thus you can find in 
 all some little good to inspire your respect. Culture 
 this, losing sight of his deformities and infirmities of 
 character, for it shall in time ripen into love to the 
 building up of yourself and him. Are you superior 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 257 
 
 to your enemy ? If so, it is only in your love or 
 charity, and not in pretence. 
 
 " Pray for your enemies." Desire is prayer, which, 
 to be answered, must be so intense that acts go there- 
 with. To pray for your enemy is to do him good — 
 not in the mere breathing of desire, but by kindly 
 looks and acts. A gentle manner, a kind look, or 
 word fitly spoken, an unobtrusive gift always goes to 
 the heart, and will do more to kill enmity and elevate 
 the soul than all the egotism on the globe. Pride, 
 avarice, envy and malice have no wings, they are 
 monsters of the deep, and have their home in the 
 slime ; if you harbor them they will carry you down, 
 down. They leave you as you grow calm and tran- 
 quil in lovefulness. If you find you cannot grow in 
 love, go down into disgust, and there wallow till the 
 Divine fire is kindled ; but do not get disgusted with 
 others — your field of labor is in yourself, in your 
 own passions and weaknesses. 
 
 It is out of disgust, as out of the cesspools of hell, 
 that true manhood and spiritual power take their rise. 
 He who is not disgusted with his own weaknesses 
 and follies remains in them as a hog in his filth. 
 
 In man's natural state he is indifferent ; hence, to 
 him, there is neither good nor evil, neither height, nor 
 depth — all things are alike — indifferent. As the 
 earth without living things to inhabit it, is neither 
 good nor evil. But man in an unnatural state is seeth- 
 ing, boiling over, raving mad with the fires of lust ; he 
 knows nothing of love or its divinity ; he scoffs at the 
 
258 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 idea of the soul-union of the male and the female as 
 the door to immortal life and Godlike energy. 
 
 All habits arise from and have their life in lust. 
 Sexual habits are no exception, and the rules for 
 destroying the taste for food and drink apply to sex- 
 love as well. 
 
 The fires of lust flow downward naturally. To 
 reverse this downward tendency is to reverse the en- 
 tire man. The spirit follows the thought, as the 
 thought is controlled by physical motions or absence 
 thereof. This turning of the operations upward is 
 done only by an increased and extreme action of the 
 brain and nervous system. To charge the brain with 
 blood and increase its magnetic power and action, 
 breathe deeply and constantly through the nostrils — 
 deep, slow, long drawn inspirations, followed by rapid 
 expirations ; this persisted in, becomes in time, a 
 habit, which the soul carries on even in sleep, till the 
 barriers of sense give way, and clairvoyance is the 
 result ; but beware of insanity if the mind does not 
 expand first by proper training. 
 
 The higher mind ought to rule, but unfortunately 
 in most men, body lords it over mind, lust rules the 
 world. The man who by will rules and controls his 
 passions is nicely balanced ; the man who by will 
 puts his passions to sleep so that they need no watch- 
 ing, has entered already the realm of power ; he has 
 withdrawn the sexual fires from the lower extremities 
 to his brain, and only needs to go one step more to 
 become one of the " Illuminati," i.e., provided he is a 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 259 
 
 passionate man. (" A passionless man is an infernal 
 monster, not only in this, but in all the starry worlds 
 of space. ,, P, B. Randolph.) 
 
 When passion is held and controlled by will, and 
 the fires of sex confined to the body, they gradually 
 draw together towards the mind and the thoughts 
 collect and run together like a stream of water. 
 Shallow and wide at first it lies, spreading away into 
 swamps and marshes — stagnant pools which send up 
 scum and filth, redolent of disease and crime, — but, 
 when a channel is dug, its waters collect into a mur- 
 muring brook, and gradually become a mighty river, 
 purifying its waters by its own motion. The will 
 digs the channel, and gradually draws the thoughts 
 therein. It is hard at first, for they love the freedom 
 of wildwood and slough, where they can bask and 
 sun themselves, and evaporate to nothing ; they wash 
 away the tiny banks many times, but the determined 
 will builds and rebuilds until the banks are moun- 
 tains high, and the river a powerful stream, upon 
 which the soul is borne aloft, and angels, descending, 
 meet the lone voyager with comfort and a purer 
 spirit. 
 
 The heights once ascended, the pathway ever re- 
 mains, and each succeeding ascent becomes easier 
 and easier. The way once learned, how strong and 
 vigorous — how full of life, peace, rest, and joy, the 
 scene becomes ! And yet how lowly, innocent and 
 childlike ! But " the way is a strait and a narrow 
 way." If ye will abide, then dig deep the channel 
 
260 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 towards the Infinite, and train the fractious thoughts 
 to run therein, until they shall love the way, and all 
 other thoughts be tributary, and run and murmur 
 along the valleys, down the gorges, and leap and 
 dance into the bosom of God. 
 
 By concentration alone can man become powerful. 
 Who can select one idea or thing, and think of that 
 alone to the exclusion of all other thoughts, for the 
 space of five short minutes ? Not many. Yet there 
 are men who can take one thought, and follow its 
 thread-like form for hours, as it winds its devious 
 way, increasing as it goes, until it flows smoothly and 
 noiselessly into the bosom of the sublime ocean of all 
 truth, wherein they lave to their soul's content. 
 
 Thought comes upon us like the dew upon the 
 earth, but there are places where there is no dew. 
 Such are rocks or dry sands. There are no flowers 
 whose opening petals fail to catch some dew. Some 
 men are like a pool of water, redolent of filth, whose 
 surface is covered with that yellowish-green scum, 
 which comes not from the atmosphere, but from 
 within. This scum settles upon the faces of men, 
 thick here and thin there ; and also upon their lives. 
 It may be seen sometimes with the naked eye ; at 
 other times it flashes out like an adder's tongue, only 
 to be seen with clairvoyant sight. 
 s ^- This shows that man has but a little time since 
 come up out of the water, and that some have been 
 out a longer time than others. There are lizards, 
 snakes, frogs, toads, birds, spiders, and God only 
 
WILL-CUL TURE. 26 1 
 
 knows what, walking like men ; but genuine men are 
 scarce. They may be known by their lack of scum. 
 Thought dissipates the scum ; meditation annihilates 
 it. 
 ^ Thought is the lightning of God's universe. Men 
 are lightning-rods. Some are so flat on the top of 
 the head, that they attract nothing from the clouds 
 that overshadow. Such attract from the earth ; their 
 feet take root ; they cannot think, but vegetate and 
 gather scum, the filthiest of which is Gold ! Others 
 — and God knows how few they are — by their high, 
 dome-like heads, attract spiritual forces, like the 
 lightnings from the clouds, that shatter and break up 
 the great deeps of their being, searing the outside so 
 that no moss or scum will grow there. 
 
 Real thought burns ; it rolls and turns the brain 
 inside out, giving no opportunity for stagnation. 
 Not so the thought that comes from the earth ; this 
 stagnates and increases filth. 
 
 Purity is oneness. It is the nucleus around which 
 centers all good. It is the magnet of the human 
 soul, and holds our thoughts as one, centered upon 
 the source of all purity, God. 
 
 By thought, man meditates ; and meditation col- 
 lects the spirit, draws it from outward things to 
 the inner, and leads to abstraction — the forgetting 
 of one's self. Abstraction is the knife that cuts 
 the cords which bind the soul to things. In other 
 words, it finishes what thought begins and prepares 
 the soul for flight. Magnetic sleep is its weakest 
 
262 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 phase. In this, the soul goes not out ; but the sub- 
 ject often has second sight, and sees to distant 
 places ; his power depending upon the combined fires 
 of the operator and himself. 
 
 The spirit once concentrated and drawn within, is 
 under the control of the will, and may be projected 
 to any distance, and produce any effect desired, from 
 the impressing of others, and healing the sick, up to 
 moving substances, and the manifesting of phantoms. 
 This is a dual power. 
 
 In the culture of will, there are many things 
 demanding attention. The tongue is said to be 
 an unruly member ; hence the Rosicrucian adage, 
 "Silence is strength." In much speaking is evil. 
 Excitement is injurious ; and the tongue fires and 
 excites passion. The calm man is the strong man. 
 To control others, first control yourself. To control 
 spirit, control your passions. 
 
 To penetrate the secrets of others, expand your 
 consciousness so as to come en rapport with their 
 inmost being. To feel as others feel, and thus know 
 them, you must rise above them, then descend to 
 them. You are not superior to anything, only in 
 your imagination. Culture this, then, by looking for 
 pictures in it as in a mirror. 
 
 To get en rapport with another, you must first see 
 him in your imagination ; when seen command him, 
 and he will obey. Clairvoyance is the road to power ; 
 but be so healthily or not at all. The soul is magical ; 
 it can do anything ; produce anything, if it be large 
 
WILL-CULTURE, 263 
 
 enough ; then study to expand it. To project your 
 spirit to any distance, and thus be seen and heard, 
 make the spirit pure so that it can vie with the light- 
 nings in space, and not stick like slime to objects on 
 the way. 
 
 Your soul cannot travel without a coach, the spirit 
 is the coach. Make yourself double, and then all 
 things are easy. To be divine, forget that you are 
 the devil. Power dwells in silence, and in secrecy — 
 more in thought than in word — more in a look than 
 in a blow, if you know how to look. Many a man 
 has sickened and died, or become crazy, at the wish of 
 another. Many a man has been haunted to death by 
 the strong will of another. Many a man has been 
 made to do the right towards another by that other 
 forgiving him his wrong long before. 
 
 There is more power in forgiveness than in re- 
 venge, for the Gods avenge wrongs done to a good 
 man. " Curses come home to roost," but they often 
 do a sight of mischief before they come home, espe- 
 cially when the outraged soul curses. 
 
 If you feel disgust, can you look love ? Can you 
 look disgusted when you feel love ? If not, " try," 
 for this is will-culture. Can you hold your tongue 
 when another calls you liar, thief, dog ? If not, you 
 are no man ! Dogs snarl and bite at each other. 
 How can you control your spirit, when your tongue 
 is your master ? Can you be deaf while another 
 raves ? Especially your wife ? If not, then you 
 are under the control of others. Get out, man, by 
 
264 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 all means! Enter into yourself, as in a "closet," 
 and when you have shut your eyes to sight, your 
 ears to sound, and your nerves to sensation, you 
 have then "shut the door," and "whatever you shall 
 ask the Father in secret shall be done to you openly." 
 This is worshiping "in spirit and in truth." 
 
 Water is prolific ; all things gestate in water. The 
 waters of the human soul are wrung out of the heart 
 by real or imaginary wrongs. There is no growth 
 without moisture. The dews that give life to vegeta- 
 tion are nature's tears. The great soul has a soft, 
 weeping heart. The small soul has no tears in it 
 to shed. 
 
 The true child of "the shadow" has a heart that 
 distills the dews of its sympathy unseen and un- 
 known ; it weeps over the fallen, and suffers in secret 
 at its powerlessness to relieve. It is often sad with- 
 out knowing why. Even adversity in material things 
 does not affect it, as the shadow which seems to 
 brood over it like the night. 
 
 When the shadow comes closest, — when the sun 
 is obscured and the stars give no light, — when hope 
 is well-nigh fled, — look up, child of the gloom ! The 
 light is near by, hidden in the deep folds of the cloud 
 which rests like a pall over you. It is "the brood- 
 ing " of the spirit you sense, in your disgust of life 
 and love — which is softening and making malleable 
 your heart of stone ! When it is sufficiently cultured, 
 it will produce its fruit — - the harvest is sure. Pre- 
 pare your ground; then dig deep the ditches for 
 
WILL-CULTURE. 265 
 
 drainage and irrigation ; and draw together all your 
 forces in order to pierce the gloom. 
 
 The meditations recommended in this work as the 
 true mental and spiritual discipline, are all of a gloomy 
 and sombre character. The reason must be obvious 
 to every thinker. There is a principle underlying 
 this, in perfect harmony with the history of man- 
 kind. It is the thoughtless who laugh. It is thought 
 which takes the laughter out of a man and drapes 
 him in black — symbol of the fire. 
 
 Inspiration comes from despair ; and hearts that 
 weep are close upon the confines of a great joy, peace 
 and rest. " Blessed are they that mourn, for they 
 shall be comforted." "God chasteneth whom he 
 loveth," is a hard saying, but it is true. 
 
 The trouble is, we do not know how to make use 
 of the gloom, or the evil of life. We must learn to 
 love the shadow, and to call it to ourselves by a mental 
 effort. " Resist not evil," is appropriate here. The 
 great minds who have pierced the gloom, and handed 
 down to mankind light and philosophy, that enable 
 us to bridge the abyss of death, have been sad- 
 hearted, weeping men. "Jesus wept," but we have 
 no knowledge of his ever laughing. Gautama never 
 smiled after he forsook a crown and his family, for 
 the forest and the yellow robes of Asceticism. Ap- 
 ollonius, Socrates and Plato were not laughing 
 men. 
 
 There is a chamber of mourning, veiled and draped 
 in black — in every human heart. We all retire to it 
 
266 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 at times, but the great -souled oftenest. Here the 
 lurid world loses its glare, and all things become 
 sombre ; the mind here loses its ferocity, and we go 
 forth subdued. Alas for him who does not ! Alas 
 for him whose experience still leaves him hard within ; 
 whose river of life sends out no waters, no tears, no 
 dew of sadness and sympathy over weaknesses and 
 follies, all too apparent ! 
 
 Such need much thought — nay ! they need the 
 blows and chastisement of fate — the earthquake, 
 the tremblings of fear, the lightning's rending — the 
 agony of disease, disappointment, hate, jealousy and 
 despair, to compel them to think. 
 
 But let him, who would steer clear of these, pro- 
 voke his soul to sadness, by meditations of such a 
 nature as shall make him sick of life and its pleasures. 
 If disease, weakness, pain or sickness bring lucidity 
 of mind, it is well, but if death ensue without it, it 
 is not so well. The mind should grow clearer and 
 stronger from physical suffering, as the soul should 
 expand her wings from mental anguish. To love the 
 evil, and invite it, is to make it good. 
 
 At a certain stage of development the soul becomes 
 self-sustaining and productive of all that is needed. 
 It becomes magical in its physical manifestations, as 
 it is itself ; for the soul is a magical thing, and in its 
 expansion — when it has filled the whole man with 
 itself, after having become globular — the body be- 
 comes a magical or a divine body. 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 
 
 There is no limit to man's powers. That which 
 seems a limit disappears or becomes an assistance in 
 the reversal of the thought concerning it. 
 
 Let me explain. Mental perception, intuition, or 
 sight of the mind, is in the centre of the intellect ; 
 but it ordinarily is a dark sun, which becomes lumi- 
 nous by effort, as I have already set forth. Magnet- 
 ism is a short road to lucidity, but the powers conferred 
 are weak compared to those which come through 
 effort. 
 
 Magnetization is effected through passivity, and 
 the vacating of thought and will. But it alternates, 
 i. e. y depends upon conditions which vary, and are 
 sometimes favorable and sometimes unfavorable ; and 
 consequently, it is subject to spells — comes and 
 goes, and leads everywhere and anywhere. It is 
 good enough so far as it goes, but it does not go 
 deep enough or far enough. 
 
 The magnetic sleep is not at all dependent upon 
 purity nor will-power. The luminosity I teach is not 
 a sleep necessarily ; it is a blindness, or a cutting off 
 of externals — a separation of the selfhood from out- 
 
268 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 ward influences by the sinking in or absorption of 
 the voluntary powers, or the growth of the involun- 
 tary to the voluntary, so that they become one. 
 Mesmeric sleep is the first phase of it. 
 
 Illumination, when once reached through and by 
 effort of will, is always available. It makes and pre- 
 serves uniform conditions ; hence it has no " fits or 
 starts/' and makes no failures. When perfect it 
 cannot be lost, for it is death-proof, and its possessor 
 is no subject of any power in existence. He is an 
 immortal being, having divine powers. 
 
 There are many grades of powers, but I will first 
 speak of sight : first, natural sight ; second, clairvoy- 
 ance ; third, soul-sight. 
 
 Clairvoyance has several degrees, while natural 
 sight has only one. The first degree of clairvoyance 
 is similar to natural sight : i. e., it sees only objects, 
 such as reading blindfolded ; seeing objects at a dis- 
 tance ; seeing through matter, etc. It grows by 
 practice, and its powers increase as the lucidity of 
 the brain increases. 
 
 But lucidity is simply dependent upon the purity 
 of the spirit. Purity focalizes the spirit, but magneti- 
 zation is a result of a mixture of spirits ; hence it is 
 what I have defined as impurity or an adulteration. 
 It is exalting, as an intoxication ; hence its effects 
 are fleeting and ephemeral in proportion to the im- 
 purities involved. 
 
 By impurities, I do not mean immoralities at all. 
 Impurity is in the mixture and appropriation of differ- 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 269 
 
 ent auras, substances, magnetisms, etc. Magnetic 
 subjects go into the condition and come out of it 
 through the influence of an operator ; sometimes in 
 the form, but often out of it. In either case they 
 are subject to the will of another, and the lucidity or 
 exaltation of powers is a result of the union of spirits 
 both in the form and out, which disappears when the 
 subject is out of the condition. But the effects do not 
 disappear so readily. Often the subjects are a prey 
 to vampires both in the form and out, under whose 
 infernal "sucking" the life is slowly but surely sapped. 
 
 This is the case with more people — especially 
 women — than many imagine. There is a conscious 
 and an unconscious vampirism. All mediums are 
 not, however, subject to this curse. Space will not 
 allow me to dwell upon this important subject, farther 
 than to add that mediumship is not confined to the 
 ranks of spiritualism. Nine-tenths of all the crimes 
 committed are due to vampirism. A vampire is not 
 necessarily a disembodied spirit ; we are just as much 
 spirits now as we will ever be, and all the power that 
 any spirit may have we can have, if we only know 
 how to develop and use it. For that which is not in 
 us cannot exist long as ours. 
 
 Clairvoyance is a mental power, and as the mind 
 becomes more and more luminous by practice and 
 focalization of the spirit, " spiritual gifts " are joined 
 to it, as fruit is joined to a blossom. It is not my 
 object to specify and define these gifts further than 
 is necessary to elucidate my subject. 
 
270 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Vampirism is one spirit preying upon another. It 
 differs from obsession in degree only. Clairvoyance 
 becomes deeper and deeper by practice, until it enters 
 somewhat into the penetralia of things, in which its 
 subject becomes alive to influences — aches, pains, 
 physical and mental states, aspirations, loves, long- 
 ings, etc. It is now becoming near to another power, 
 viz., the perception of spirit forms, faces, and the 
 hearing of voices, or clairaudience. This is, of course, 
 a higher power than mere sight of objects. 
 
 Spirit pours out in look and gesture, but in speech 
 more than in any other manner. In fact, speech is 
 the highest expression of spirit, and it is more suscep- 
 tible to culture than looks or gestures, and leads to 
 greater depths of being ; and is moreover, more 
 reliable, because it does not lead to that idolatry 
 which the sight of beauty and grandeur always does. 
 The beholding of spiritual beings by clairvoyants has 
 led many into the erroneous idea that they have 
 beheld God, the ineffable One, when, in fact, such 
 sight may be a conjuration of the will of some strong 
 operator. Phantoms seldom speak ; to be reliable, 
 all the psychic senses should go together. 
 
 The deepest clairvoyance is that where objects, 
 both material and spiritual, are passed by as of no 
 account, and the ineffable glories of soul-realm 
 glimpsed in feeling. This is a sense of spirit, as fire 
 only, and not as objects. This fire or spirit finds a 
 voice suited to the ear of him who will listen. 
 
 Zoroaster said : " When you see the fire, listen 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 27 1 
 
 to the voice of the fire ! " It was in view of this 
 truth that Moses enacted laws against the communi- 
 cating with spirits ; and in order to preserve purity 
 in the mediums (or priests), tried to confine it to the 
 tribe of Levi. It was for this purpose (purity) that 
 celibacy was enjoined by Buddha. 
 
 Beyond this mundane sphere — beyond the realm of 
 spiritual things — are infinite knowledge and power. 
 And he who is able to pierce through the shadow 
 which things cast, senses the glories of the spirit- 
 worlds. But this is all. Forms do not appear from 
 beyond "the abode of the gods ; " but he who can 
 visit the highest abode may sense the echoes of busy 
 feet, and the whisperings of incomprehensible and 
 unutterable things. This power I call soul-sight ; 
 intuition ; but it is not a sight of things, but a sense 
 of the fire of principles. This power is within all 
 spiritual powers. As the soul is the inmost of the 
 man, so is soul-sense the inmost of intuition. 
 
 Clairvoyance, psychometry, and clairaudience, are 
 all developed by contact, or the coming en rapport 
 with objects. Their field of operations is in the spirit 
 of things ; but soul-sense is developed by holding the 
 spirit aloof from other things, spirits, etc., and the 
 losing sight of all distinctions or differences of things. 
 It is the distinctness of things which scatters the 
 spirit and confuses thought and mind. We know 
 nothing, because there are so many things to learn. 
 We think not clearly because we see so much. 
 
 He who seeks the absolute loses sight of the differ- 
 
272 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 ences of things, and passing inward, reaches the spirit 
 thereof ; but instead of entering en rapport therewith, 
 passes deeper still beyond all distinctions and differ- 
 ences to the oneness of being — in fact, to the 
 supernatural of his own being. " He that hath a 
 mind to think, let him think ; " for, indeed, it is 
 thought which leads to hearing of the Word. 
 
 He who passes in thought through and beyond 
 things, hears "the Word of God." For God dwells 
 in the inmost recesses of all being, hidden away from 
 all mortal sight ; hence the necessity of destroying 
 the differences of things in the mind. The differ- 
 ences among men constitute hell. How easily we are 
 all brothers when we forget our differences. They 
 make enemies of us — enemies to each other and to 
 God. How harmonious we would be if there were 
 no distinctions. Of a truth, this is the road to 
 God. 
 
 The man who fixes not his attention upon differ- 
 ences of race, sex, conditions, opinions, names, etc., 
 is a great-souled man, and looks with indifference 
 upon the small things which agitate and disturb 
 mankind. He can lay claim to kinship with God, 
 who loves all alike. Aye, and he holds sweet con- 
 verse with God in the depths of his own all-knowing 
 
 INTUITIVE SOUL ! 
 
 This is the source of all inspiration. God finds 
 voice in the soul, and intuition is but the faint echoes 
 thereof, as it vibrates along the dark and noisome 
 crypts of being. Alas ! for him who " hath no ears 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 273 
 
 to hear ; " nor " eyes to see " — his darkness must be 
 intense indeed. 
 
 Let him who would reach the regal powers of the 
 soul sit in circles. For in the mingling of magnet- 
 isms is an intense and fierce combustion or war of 
 spirits produced, in which conflagration, great and 
 rapid changes take place ; during which the soul 
 begins to make motions as of a thing coming to life ; 
 it is drawing itself together into shape, leaving the 
 atoms of the body. Motions are usually felt at first 
 in the hands, which vibrate as when in contact with 
 a magnetic battery ; this sensation extends in time 
 to every part of the body in some persons ; in others, 
 it is limited to the hands, arms or head ; it deepens in 
 intensity till the nerves begin to twitch and jerk. 
 
 When you have reached this point, there are two 
 roads open for you. If you wish mediumship with 
 any of its multitudinous phases, with a band of 
 helpers and a guide, just sit passive and " let it jerk ; " 
 don't expect or be anxious for anything, but let your- 
 self alone, fully resigned to accept whatever may 
 come without doubt or criticism. Think of nothing 
 as nearly as possible, and above all resist no impulse 
 of thought, word or action. " Follow your impulses " 
 is the law of mediumship. 
 
 But if you choose the soul road, you must now 
 brace yourself for an effort ; that effort is resist- 
 ance — resist all impulses and all motions of the 
 nerves and muscles ; instead of passivity, grasp your- 
 self as with your hands, holding fast in your mind or 
 
274 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 imagination with the same tension of the nerves as 
 if you were holding something, but without any mus- 
 cular contraction — this while sitting in the circle. 
 
 To become spiritual, cultivate mind, for this is the 
 door which must, indeed, open before you can walk 
 out into the realms of p<rwer. To cultivate mind, 
 increase the activity of the nervous system and its 
 source — the brain. Draw the blood to the brain, 
 by deep breathing and the fixing of the thought upon 
 the object in view. N Magnetize yourself one hour 
 every evening by taking hold of the left thumb with 
 the right thumb and forefinger, and pressing gently, 
 enough to keep the attention fixed upon it, and think 
 of one thing, say some word — your own name, if 
 nothing else — saying it over and over to yourself 
 constantly. In a short time your object will become 
 fixed and constant in your thoughts, and the soul will 
 begin its work. But remember that each effort you 
 make upward will be followed by a revulsion down- 
 ward, and you will find yourself becoming amorous/ 
 Resist this impulse, as all impulses. In the course of 
 time, you will see clouds, flashes of light, and faces 
 or forms will peer out of the gloom at you, or form in 
 the clouds. 
 
 Pay no attention to these things, but keep right on 
 with your exercise. There are many more methods 
 which I am not at liberty to disclose. Things of a 
 physical nature assist the physical inasmuch as physi- 
 cal nature yields most readily to such things as are 
 like itself, or one degree removed therefrom. To 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 2?$ 
 
 illustrate : a brute yields to the force of a club, but 
 when he is trained a word controls him. So with 
 mankind : some need kings, and soldiers with bayo- 
 nets, to keep them within humanity's realm ; others 
 stay there naturally, for they understand its unspoken 
 and unwritten laws. For^abes, milk and baby-talk ; 
 for children, play-houses and stories ; for youth, the 
 dance and the opera ; for middle age, the rush and 
 rattle, the clash and commotion of business ; for 
 mature man, thought, reason, spiritual things. These 
 are nature's methods of culture. 
 
 Nature cannot be forced out of one mood into an- 
 other. Ask yourself, " Where does my love lead 
 me ? " and nature or your own soul will tell you 
 truly. If you long to become spiritual, begin at 
 once, and that gradually. " Nature allows none to 
 overleap her barriers ; they must be beaten down!' 
 Don't ask God to teach you, but learn of such as are 
 in harmony with you, even if it be the devil. 
 
 The basis of all understanding is mutual sympathy 
 existing between the teacher and the student — the 
 actor and the audience. To the material in thought, 
 desire and action, are the matter-of-fact in nature 
 adapted. They are like it, and hence the spiritual 
 is too far removed from them to be their direct 
 teachers ; such need physical training, and to them 
 are physical means necessary. Hence, to such (and 
 in fact, all men are of this class more or less), in 
 addition to deep breathing, the bath, in cold, magnetic 
 water ; a complete and radical change in the diet ; 
 
2?6 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 rest instead of exercise ; thought instead of talk ; 
 tears instead of laughter ; darkness instead of light ; 
 emotion instead of motion — these and more are 
 necessary to train the physical before the spiritual 
 
 s can come forth. 
 
 ^ Spirit is formless, and yet not altogether so. 
 There is a form within these bodies of ours, which is 
 spirit, and yet it hath no form until detached, as it 
 were, from the flesh. All development is a loosening 
 of the spirit from the flesh and the loves thereof ; 
 and this loosening is the embryotic organization of 
 the spiritual body carried on and fully perfected. 
 
 \ Resist muscular and nervous motion with all your 
 power of will. Keep calm. Never allow any cir- 
 cumstance to agitate or disturb you ; for here in the 
 degree of motion it is Jhat demons and evil-disposed 
 spirits take advantage of your sensitive and expansive 
 condition, and enter in — first, the nervous system, 
 and secondly, the mind, and control you to your de- 
 struction. 
 
 Music sets you on fire, and you want to dance, 
 sing or shout: keep silent — " silence is strength/' 
 Never debate ! But let the one object be to keep 
 calm, self-possessed and cool. This is the beginning 
 of self-control and power. It is concentration. 
 Think, meditate, read and study — but keep silent. 
 Remember there are beings around you who come in 
 connection with you through words, sounds, motions, 
 etc., who, without them, remain ignorant of your 
 object and condition. There are demons and spirits 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 277 
 
 who cannot read the mind, but who can hear and 
 see. 
 
 It is when thrown off our guard, and carried 
 away by strange sensations, thoughts, impulses, mo- 
 tions and emotions, that we are seized upon by the 
 above or below, and carried away from ourselves, as it 
 were, from our equipoise or balance — self -conscious- 
 ness dethroned : and we rise or fall according to pre- 
 disposition. The falling into acts silly and criminal, 
 or less than those of the normal state, is termed 
 " obsession ; " but this, like most names, is an effort 
 to explain that which we do not understand, an 
 assumption of knowledge, an excuse we make to 
 ourselves for our ignorance, a distinction made, a 
 difference visible in extremes, as good and evil, which 
 flow into one another as one ; but to us, and for us, 
 obsession is as real as the evil, and must be avoided. 
 
 Since I commenced writing this book, this subject 
 was forced upon my attention by a series of articles 
 in some one of the spiritual papers ; I cared nothing 
 for the differences of opinion in regard to obsession ; 
 but feeling the necessity of progress in the avoid- 
 ance of evil, by some persons at least, I sought for a 
 sure, safe and certain preventive of it ; I pondered 
 several days upon this subject with no satisfactory 
 result. One night, alone in my tent, a wave of lone- 
 liness and sadness swept over me. This had no visi- 
 ble or mundane cause — my health was excellent, 
 business was good, money was plenty (for I had "a 
 dime in my pocket/' which is enough as long as it 
 
278 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 lasts), but nevertheless I was low-spirited, and could 
 neither think nor write, so throwing down my pen I 
 paced up and down until wearied, and threw myself 
 upon my bed to sleep. My mind became tranquil as 
 my body became at rest, and this idea of obsession 
 came over me as a problem unsolved. To solve it, I 
 knew of only two ways. One was to come en rapport 
 with the spirit of obsession, and hence become obsessed 
 myself in order to know all about it by experience ; 
 the other was by inspiration. 
 
 The first was repugnant to all my thoughts and 
 feelings. Under all circumstances I wish to be my- 
 self — and only that ; so I turned aside and repelled 
 the spirit by the thoughts of my own individual self- 
 hood, and the determination to be only myself. There 
 are lights, clouds, flashes, faces and forms here at this 
 condition of the mind ; but, in following my thought, 
 I passed them by as of no account. Laughing faces, 
 hideous faces, and monstrous forms looked out of the 
 light at me, and as I passed by, mocked and scowled. 
 Gradually the lights paled, the faces grew dim and 
 finally disappeared, leaving me in intense and opaque 
 darkness. Pulsating, throbbing, vibrating with strange 
 and weird sensations, I glided along down the corri- 
 dors of the soul as one falling, and slowly, oh ! so 
 slowly, losing myself. All at once, from out the dark- 
 ness, and close to me, a voice low and soft sounded 
 in my ear : " To avoid obsession, keep the body posi- 
 tive and the mind negative." The voice came so 
 suddenly, and was so close to me, that I was startled 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 279 
 
 and driven back to myself. There I lay vibrating 
 throughout with ecstatic emotions, altogether out of 
 the ordinary nature of things, with the words en- 
 graved in letters of fire upon my consciousness. To 
 me this was a new idea ; it was a revelation of a won- 
 derful truth, and I cast about for the logic of it, 
 which is this : 
 
 Ordinarily the body is negative, and hence receptive 
 to impressions — physical, atmospherical, and spirit- 
 ual. The first effect of magnetism is to increase this 
 negative state of the body ; hence, it becomes very 
 impressible and very liable to take on the conditions 
 of others, both in the mundane and the spiritual. 
 The will is the cause of all posit iveness of mind, body 
 and spirit. By its force it is repulsive, and holds at 
 a distance things foreign and injurious. Now, in pas- 
 sivity, the will relaxes the tension of the nerves, and 
 they are unstrung ; in which state, spirits both good 
 and evil can enter into the inactive sphere of the 
 spirit, and thus get a lodgement from which to con- 
 trol, in time, the mind, and subjugate the will. 
 
 Now, if by any process the body is kept posi- 
 tive, the spirit becomes likewise positive ; hence, no 
 spirits but those of a negative character will be at- 
 tracted. Remember, it is only positive spirits that 
 seize upon and obsess mortals. They are the repul- 
 sive and the deficient — the empty of sympathy and 
 all elements of greatness. The law is for the posi- 
 tive to enter into and control the negative, i.e., to 
 beget therein their own devilishness. In rendering 
 
280 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 the mind negative by constantly keeping down its 
 excitabilities, it is elevated by the motive or object in 
 view ; and as mind can only be acted upon by mind, 
 and is not a receptacle of anything but ideas, minds of 
 a high order, such as have ideas to give, are attracted 
 and instill their ideas or thoughts of a positive nature 
 into the negative mind ; thus leading the mind upward 
 without disturbing the will in the least. Indeed, such 
 spirits increase the individuality by assisting instead 
 of controlling. Negative spirits never do harm. 
 
 It only remains for me to explain how the body 
 can be rendered positive, and the mind negative. The 
 tranquil, peaceful, inoffensive mind is negative. This 
 idea of controlling mind instead of nerves and mus- 
 cles, engages the entire attention and will ; for the 
 mind is not rendered tranquil save by constant watch- 
 fulness, and the keeping down of those passions which 
 disturb, agitate, and thus cause filth to rise up as 
 impurities of the blood and spirit. The will thus 
 engaged in rendering the mind negative or tranquil, 
 renders the body positive at the same time, because 
 two negatives cannot exist together, neither can two 
 positives. 
 
 I am aware it is a reversal of nature's methods, but 
 he who would rise up to power must rise in the mind, 
 or not at all. God dwells in all things alike, but those 
 who seek him cannot find him so readily in some 
 things or conditions as in others. Remember what 
 I have previously said about diet. Don't be in a 
 hurry, for all things grow slowly. 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 28 1 
 
 Weakness is only an argument in favor of strength, 
 and the small measure of the spirit meted out to us 
 here only indicates the vastness of its extent and 
 power. The impossibilities of our infirmities indicate 
 the possibilities of those who are firm. Then doubt 
 not, waver not, but keep steadily, coolly on, up the 
 mountains of difficulty. Each one you surmount only 
 reveals more clearly to you the possibilities of your 
 nature. The value of things is in their use. Spiritual 
 gifts are of use just now, in the "a-b-c" of man's 
 growth — in the awakening of man's dull senses to 
 the recognition of a future existence and its nature ; 
 but when such becomes universal, as it must in time, 
 what will be their use ? 
 
 The world has been as far advanced in spiritual 
 things in the long ago as now — and probably much 
 further ; but what use was it to them ? They had 
 their oracles and their temples, and gods and guides 
 without number ; but all this did not prevent retro- 
 gression. 
 
 The ground must now all be traveled over again. 
 Again must the priesthood be organized, the temples 
 built, the altars reared, and the fires lighted ; and 
 for what is all this ? Oh, the patience of the Infinite ! 
 In vain are the choicest gifts of heaven showered 
 upon unthankful and unthinking man ! They are all 
 prostituted to devilish ends and aims. The choicest 
 oracles of the olden time led opposing armies to the 
 slaughter of each other. The prophets of the Lord 
 anointed kings and watched over the welfare of one 
 nation to the detriment of another. 
 
282 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Gifts were all prostituted to the attainment of ma- 
 terial wealth, grandeur, glory and fame. All powers 
 were bent and warped to the creation and perpetua- 
 tion of monstrous distinctions among men, by reason 
 of which war and outrage are the rule, and peace and 
 harmony very rare exceptions. Where now are they ? 
 A slow, lingering decay — an awful disease of the 
 very vitals, or the violent conflagration of their own 
 passions hath swept them away. The wand of a 
 magician hath waved across the sky and they are not ! 
 But they have left the diseases which they created 
 behind them in the ruins of their former glory and 
 worship. Their spirituality is only a ruin. 
 
 In vain do men teach and preach ; the world goes 
 on in the old beaten track, and religion follows the 
 lead. In vain did the lowly Jesus heal the sick and 
 teach the ignorant. In vain did he cry from the 
 mountains and temples, of a rare good life here, free . 
 from disease and death. The Jews heard him not — 
 and now — even now — with all our boasted progress 
 and civilization the word of a God is prostituted to 
 mean something he never intended. " If ye believe 
 ye shall not die," is enunciated in words which can 
 have no other meaning. 
 
 If he had meant what is now preached as the gos- 
 pel, it was as easy to have said " He that believeth 
 shall not go to hell" as to have said what he did. 
 His teachings from beginning to end show his mission 
 to have been to teach mankind how to live humane 
 lives so as to be healthy and happy. His healing of 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 283 
 
 the sick shows that the gospel was that of physical 
 health and the salvation from disease. His raising 
 of the dead, and his own resurrection, show further 
 that death was a thing to be overcome by living a true 
 life. " And these signs shall follow those that be- 
 lieve, ,, etc. (See Luke xvi. 17, 18.) In another 
 place he says, " Greater works than these shall ye 
 do, because I go to the Father." 
 
 Of what avail are spiritual gifts if their utmost 
 power is simply to demonstrate another life without 
 joining this life thereto as one ? It must be evident 
 to every thoughtful person that the object of these 
 manifestations is the elevation of the race. And 
 wherein can this be effected, save in the power to 
 enjoy ? Where does this power reside, save in health ? 
 In vain did Jesus heal the sick if he did not teach the 
 way to continued health ! In vain did he raise the 
 dead if he did not show the way to remain alive ! If 
 they die not in the spirit-world, what need of death 
 here ? 
 
 All the revelations heretofore given have been of 
 an immortal life in some other state of existence. 
 But I tell you of an immortality of this life. I 
 believe Jesus taught the way of its attainment, but it 
 was not understood. I may not be able to point the 
 whole road, but what I have said already must con- 
 tain the principles of it in part. Man creates himself 
 and all the essentials of his being — his health, happi- 
 ness, heavens and hells. But hell comes from mis- 
 directed effort and heaven from well-directed effort. 
 
284 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Things superior descend as a revelation in answer 
 to a demand, which revelation is an idea — this is 
 enlightenment. No matter how, or in what manner an 
 idea comes, if it is of a superior character, it is of the 
 light. Hence it is enlightening, and leads upwards. 
 Man must first have an idea of what he wants before 
 he can create conditions superior to things that now 
 are. 
 
 The demand always precedes the supply. Is there 
 a demand for a continuous and happy life here on this 
 globe ? Is there a demand for power to create forms 
 of matter for use by effort of will, without the toil 
 and demoniac scramble after the necessaries of life? 
 There will be a demand when man is satisfied of its 
 possibility. Then multiply the mediums ! The spirit- 
 world is drawing near. Soon, spiritual beings will 
 walk among us as men — will heal the sick, cast out 
 devils, multiply bread for the hungry, and gold for 
 the greedy, till it shall lose its value, and man turns 
 his attention to the attainment of spiritual powers 
 and gifts. 
 
 The demand for self-government and peace has 
 already gone up to the Gods, and the answer is 
 coming. The bomb which carried Alexander of 
 Russia into hell, or out of it, was God-sent, in answer 
 to the prayer of many an earnest soul. A full and 
 complete answer is at hand, when the world shall be 
 free, and every man shall be his own king, priest, 
 bishop, pope, and God ! All hail to the mediums 
 and to spiritual gifts of all grades and kinds ! For 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 285 
 
 here is freedom. Let gifts be no longer prostituted 
 by individual ambition, nor to the building of thrones 
 or national glory ! Let the universal anthem be, 
 
 " PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD-WILL TO MEN ! " 
 
 Let us work mentally and spiritually, so that the 
 new temple shall not be made with hands of material 
 substance, but a temple in these bodies — a divine 
 body, wherein God shall be conscious to each one of 
 us. Let us rear altars in our own hearts — altars of 
 love-worship, needing no typical sacrifices of the 
 blood of animals or of men. Let us light the fires of 
 the spirit thereon, which are unquenchable and 
 eternal. 
 
 Man's desires for immortality have been mis- 
 directed, inasmuch as his revelations have been of a 
 future life, and not of this. The time has come when 
 revelations must be made of this life and its possibili- 
 ties — of the present, and not of the future. The 
 perfect life of to-day admits no doubt nor fear of to- 
 morrow. A perfect life here is as fully and com- 
 pletely immortal as any life in any world. The idea 
 of living for the future is a false light ; it is a mate- 
 rial light of " Lucifer, Son of the morning/ ' Happi- 
 ness is not of to-morrow, nor of any future time or 
 world. It is to-day or not at all. All life is of to- 
 day, and the present. The future never comes. 
 
 Salvation is from disease. If you die of disease, 
 you wake up on the other side diseased ; you have to 
 be cured there before you have fullness of life. The 
 same knowledge that saves you there will save you 
 
286 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 here. Then why not have that knowledge ? The 
 self-same power that feeds the angels in heaven will 
 feed you here, if it is yours. Then why not open 
 your soul to its reception ? Heaven is in no partic- 
 ular place. It is within you if you want it there, 
 with all its angels and powers — aye ! and its im- 
 mortal life, also. 
 
 " In union there is strength." " Again, I say unto 
 you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touch- 
 ing anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for 
 them of my Father which is in Heaven." (Matthew 
 xviii. 9.) 
 
 This agreement spoken of here is not merely of 
 the mind — it is a union or oneness of spirit, wherein 
 power is multiplied in an unknown ratio. The spirit 
 of one is not as another — they differ in quality, 
 hence there is no agreement : even where minds 
 agree, the spirits do not. Hence the possibility of 
 the truth of the above is in the agreement. Agree- 
 ment is the kingdom of power. The union of two is 
 of higher quality than one alone ; and the more spirits 
 there are in the union the greater is the power. But 
 the difficulty deepens when it is made known that 
 two male spirits cannot agree. Agreement is of the 
 male and female. Herein Divinity appears, and power 
 to accomplish all things is manifest. But union of 
 spirit is preceded by mental agreement. 
 
 Now, the demand for immortal power and life on 
 this earth must first be a mental agreement, which, in 
 its perfection and harmony, will give birth to union 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 287 
 
 or agreement of spirit touching that thing. But look 
 you ! Woman is not free ! Alas for the dawn of 
 light ! Woman a slave ! Prostituted by man's self- 
 ishness and lust ! How can the prayers of such a 
 monster be answered? " Verily, I say unto you," 
 "the prayer of the wicked availeth nothing/' 
 
 Little can be effected without freedom. But let us 
 do what we can in the union of minds. Spirit works 
 by methods beyond the mind ; hence its laws cannot 
 be comprehended by the mind. "The kingdom of 
 heaven cometh not by observation," i.e. y not through 
 laws of mentality. Spirits are unable to explain the 
 law of manifestation. I believe material is evolved 
 from the medium, and combined with subtle elements 
 in the atmosphere by the effort of the will of some 
 powerful spirit, or by the union of several, into 
 flowers, apparitions, spirit-forms, clothing, etc., etc., 
 and that it will yet be demonstrated that materialized 
 spirits are evolved from the medium. 
 
 But no matter how it is done, the power that can 
 make a flower, or a piece of cloth, can make gold, 
 fruit, bread, or anything else desired. All that is 
 requisite are conditions, and knowledge, or faith, or 
 will, or whatever you feel like calling the power. 
 These manifestations are in their infancy as yet, for, 
 although as old as man, they have probably never 
 been properly understood, or so universally under- 
 stood by spirits of a high and intelligent order as 
 now. They are experimenting, and they understand 
 fully the value of co-operation or harmony. The 
 
288 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 much-talked-of conditions of spiritual manifestations 
 are nothing more nor less. 
 
 Jesus, in view of this principle, selected twelve 
 Apostles who were as harmonious with him as men 
 can well be. But the Scriptures are mostly silent in 
 reference to the important part the women who fol- 
 lowed him took in the work he did. It is doubtful if 
 he ever explained this idea, to them ; probably this 
 is the esoteric part of the Gospel which was never 
 written. It is reasonable to infer as much, for the 
 early Christians had everything in common, thus 
 striving to destroy distinctions and to perfect a union 
 that should enable them to carry out the intuitions 
 and work of Jesus. (See Acts iv. 32.) "And the 
 multitude of them that believed were of one heart 
 and one soul : neither said any of them that aught of 
 the things which he possessed was his own ; but they 
 had all things common:" that is, the writer thought 
 they were of "one heart and soul" because they tried 
 to be so. 
 
 Why they gradually lost the gifts of the Spirit 
 must be evident to every reasonable, thoughtful mind. 
 The agreement or union was lost through the gradual 
 growth of distinctions and differences : — first, of 
 mind ; second, of spirit ; and third, of material sub- 
 stances (property). Had they perfected the union, 
 instead of proselyting, they would have established 
 the church upon a "rock," and afterwards the growth 
 would have been a steady, healthy, upward growth ; 
 neither would they have wanted for anything, for the 
 
SOUL-POWERS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS, 289 
 
 kingdom of harmony contains all things. "First 
 seek the kingdom of heaven : then all other things 
 shall be added unto you." 
 
 The power that comes of perfect union or harmony 
 is wonderful. God dwells in it! " Where two or 
 three are gathered together in my name " — or in 
 oneness of heart, mind, soul and spirit — " there am 
 I in the midst. " The principle is what we need — 
 the name or the man is nothing ; but for those in- 
 capable of comprehending a principle, the name is of 
 vital importance. Do not destroy a man's idols, if he 
 is incapable of reason. 
 
 The spirit, by union, ascends higher than if alone ; 
 and God descends upon its tide to bless not merely 
 those who unite, but all the world in which they 
 move. Alas ! for the angularities and differences 
 that destroy us. The secret of union is in self- 
 harmony as a foundation : this is good, but two is 
 better ; but if the two be male and female, it is best. 
 Magnetism leads thereto. 
 
 It behooves me to add, in this connection, that the 
 age of wrong and bloodshed is nearly past. The 
 dawn of a divine government is at hand, wherein 
 the fundamental principle of government is for the 
 moral benefit of the person punished and not primarily 
 for the protection of society. As a tender and kind 
 father corrects his child for the child's good, and not 
 to vindicate his power or authority in the least, so will 
 society deal with its weak members. 
 
 Crime will be treated as a disease of the mind, and 
 
2gO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 hospitals will take the place of jails, penitentiaries 
 and scaffolds. Instead of physicians, chaplains and 
 guards, there shall be a few chosen ones who, united 
 in mind and soul, shall pour the psychological power 
 of the angel-world upon criminals of all classes, and 
 they shall be healed ; for under this influence certain 
 organs of the brain may be rendered inoperative, and 
 other organs may be called into activity ; thus the 
 morally weak may be strengthened, and the depraved 
 shall be made to loathe and despise their depravity ; 
 this can be done in secret without the criminal's 
 knowledge. 
 
 Who shall lead off in this great moral work ? 
 Psychometry will reveal the peculiarities of children 
 and adults, and those needing treatment will be 
 treated and trained without the rod and the dunce- 
 cap. There will be no escape for the criminal, for 
 the mediums will point them out — for their good 
 primarily, and secondly, for the good of society. The 
 weak will be known before a manifestation of weak- 
 ness — or, rather, the commission of crime. The time 
 will come, and that speedily, when from the Temples 
 of the Rose Cross such power shall be breathed 
 out upon the people, so gently, and so peacefully, 
 that none shall be disposed to do any one a wrong. 
 
 The whole people shall join in one grand Psycho- 
 logical effort to banish disease and death from the 
 land. Who shall say it will not be done ? Who 
 will be the first to enroll their names among the 
 Temple-builders and pioneers of the millennium? 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 29 1 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SPIRITUALITY. 
 
 There is a spirit pervading the universe, known 
 under the appellation of God, which is embodied in 
 man as well as in everything else that exists. But 
 particularly to man is it given to call the spirit, which 
 is individualized as himself, "My Spirit." We speak 
 of our spirits, souls, bodies, etc., as we do of our 
 property. And so they are. We may lose our spirits 
 as we do our property. 
 
 In the creation of man God is reversed — or He 
 has turned man loose, to range as he will with his 
 back towards the Creator. Hence the cry, "Turn 
 ye ! turn ye ! for why will you die? " This is the rea- 
 son why man has no knowledge of the future — light 
 is behind and he has only memory, or experience, as 
 his guide. God is within him, but he is all uncon- 
 scious thereof, and looks to outside nature for all that 
 he can hope for and fear. Truly he must turn — if 
 he would find the source of his life — and examine 
 himself. 
 
 We all have spirits, but none of us are spirits 
 — and never will be ; for the moment the body dies, 
 and the soul has left it, the spirit hovering around, 
 
292 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 and enveloping the soul, begins a process of organi- 
 zation of another form. This other form is material. 
 True, it is in another condition — and is invisible to 
 us, but it may not be in an apparitional state at all 
 
 — nor in so close a relationship to this earth as to 
 come under its laws. 
 
 Furthermore, the life the person has led has an 
 effect upon his spirit ; and in most cases the soul has 
 not attained sufficient consciousness to enable it to 
 control and better its organization — consequently, it 
 comes into another state of being in a worse condition 
 than this. But soul and mind in union — conscious- 
 ness remains, and the soul has control of the spirit to 
 enable it to improve a little upon its organization. In 
 most men soul and mind are too far apart. The mind 
 wrapped up in mundane affairs is a blind mind — it 
 dies at death, or shortly thereafter for want of use. 
 There are no spirits except embodied spirits. Anger 
 does not exist except in some form — Love is Infinite 
 Spirit — the creator and sustainer of all that exists. 
 But such spirits as pride, lust, anger, etc., are simply 
 love fallen from its pure state. Hence the legend of 
 a fallen angel is founded in truth. Love reversed is 
 man's self-love. Without this self-love no spirit of 
 anger, pride, etc., could exist, for these dark spirits 
 all spring from self-love. 
 
 So it may be readily seen that love is the creator 
 
 — the fountain — and all that flows therefrom must 
 be of the same nature — and all things are love in 
 some form or other. A man may love himself with 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 293 
 
 such intensity as to finally hate himself, and his very 
 existence. " The sweetest things make the strongest 
 acid. ,, 
 
 The warmest friends often become the very worst 
 enemies. The hottest love, when cold, produces the 
 deadliest hate. Love is the only creator — our 
 Father, our providence, our life. 
 
 Love being a spirit, he who hath the most of it is 
 the most spiritual in its highest sense, because this 
 spirit is boundless — while all other spirits are limited 
 and finite, for that which falls must find the centre, 
 where it loses itself in the universal darkness of non- 
 conditions — inertia. 
 
 Lust is Lucifer ("son of the morning") fallen 
 love — or a fallen angel. How does love fall ? The 
 same as the sunlight falls into matter — or becomes 
 matter. 
 
 So our spirit centres in an inner sun, from which 
 it radiates. This stm is self-love. This is the centre 
 of our individuality. Its light or life is pure at first 
 
 — i.e., white, without color or shade — but being in- 
 volved in circumstances of a sensuous nature, it soon 
 gets broken or refracted, and we begin to love things 
 foreign, or outside of ourselves. This draws the cen- 
 tral sun from a fixed or stationary state into an orbit 
 
 — or in other words it has fallen from the soul into 
 mind. 
 
 The love of a virgin soul is a pure, fixed star 
 of the first magnitude — a sun shedding an immortal 
 light — which, when it has fallen away to others, has 
 
294 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 become of the mind — of thought, calculation, vanity, 
 pride, etc. — a wandering star of lesser magnitude — 
 shedding a weaker light — and finally falling into 
 darkness, or the body — and here known as lust, or 
 physical love — still sinking lower down it becomes 
 disgust, hate, and all that is devilish. 
 
 Strange that the beautiful Angel Love, Spirit — 
 should have fallen so low as to become dark matter ! 
 Yet so it is. From mind the descent of spirit into 
 matter is rapid and easy. Love is not of the mind 
 until it falls thereunto. The world is full of mental 
 love — and also of crime ; but soul love is very scarce. 
 
 Spirituality is now a mere name. Let me tell you 
 what it is not. It is not materiality — nor sensuality. 
 It is not in gold, silver, houses and lands. It is not 
 in the government of this world — nor in the "big I" 
 of yourself. It comes not from education — nor is 
 it morality — nor honesty — nor what the world calls 
 virtue — nor benevolence — nor the loftiest reason — 
 nor does it come from justice. It comes not from 
 a belief in spiritualism, the attending of circles, and 
 the accepting what any medium or trance speaker 
 may teach. It cannot be imparted by any preaching, 
 praying nor sighing. The merits, life, sufferings and 
 death of Jesus on the cross cannot impart it to any 
 one. No hearsay or reading can make you spiritual. 
 You must experience and feel the truth in yourself 
 in your own soul. 
 
 Truth is to be truthful and true to the light of con- 
 sciousness. But the consciousness not lighted by the 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 295 
 
 fires of love is no guide. Intellectual light is not of 
 love — but if it unite with love, then it is quickened 
 and made alive by the spirit. This illuminates the 
 mind. When truth unites with love in the soul there 
 is a generation — a striking out as of fire — and a 
 flame is produced. This flame is the comforter and 
 the guide. 
 
 "Love God " ("a spirit " love) "with your whole 
 mind, might and strength " — and "worship him in 
 spirit and in truth." The love of God is the love of 
 one woman — do you know what worship is ? Do you 
 know how — or can you enter into the Spirit? Is 
 worship really the praying, singing and preaching we 
 are taught it is ? To enter into the Spirit is to be 
 illuminated. We are sunk so low down that we know 
 of love only in its lowest phase — and here man must 
 commence to climb the ladder to true love. When 
 a man truly loves a woman his mind has reached a 
 lofty plane of thought — for he loves her soul and 
 spirit, and not her form. 
 
 Spirit — God — Love, are synonymous terms, and 
 the spirit of an unfallen woman is God — Love. 
 When this love enters a man's soul he loves all that 
 are born of woman — Nay ! More ! he loves all cre- 
 ated things, because love hath made them all — and 
 they are all lovely when rightly viewed. 
 
 Love, and worship love, in tntth then, void of all 
 pretence, for this is spirituality. No pretence can 
 pass muster within yourself. The all-seeing eye is 
 there — and the book that contains your life is there 
 
296 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 — and the judge is there also who receives no excuses. 
 Worship God in the spirit of love and in truth — i.e., 
 in the conscious enlightened mind — for truth is of 
 the understanding — in which the voice of love is 
 heard. 
 
 Those who turn within themselves, and pluck the 
 motes out of the mind's eye become reversed or 
 turned around in their understanding and very na- 
 ture, and they see things in a reversed light. This 
 turning has already given birth to " Christian or 
 Mental Science' ' —in the practice of which the worst 
 diseases are healed; with much thought and labor 
 truly — as if God's spirit was far away and needed 
 much coaxing to induce it to enter in and heal the 
 sick. Still, a wonderful advance has been made — 
 and this class of teachers are the advance guard in 
 spirituality. But the time comes speedily when dis- 
 eases of every name and nature will be healed by a 
 touch, or a word, by the true christian and spiritu- 
 ally inspired man. 
 
 This Metaphysical School teaches that all that 
 exists is spirit — that matter is only an appearance 
 of spirit, and has no reality in it — that pain and dis- 
 ease are simply a disordered mind, and have no exist- 
 ence outside of mind — that evil has no existence — 
 that all is good or God ; and much more to the same 
 effect, which is just the opposite or reverse of our 
 every-day life, understanding and experience. I need 
 hardly say that this is true from a lofty standpoint — 
 and practically true in its application to the healing 
 
SPIRITUALITY, 297 
 
 of all who are receptive of spirit, and who can elevate 
 the understanding. 
 
 Who so receptive as those who have languished 
 upon beds of pain and sickness till hope has wellnigh 
 fled ? Who so ready to embrace the new as those 
 who have exhausted the drug stores and the combined 
 wisdom of the old-school scientific methods ? 
 
 If there is any truth in Christianity, it certainly is 
 in healing the sick. This power dwells in spirituality. 
 
 He who gazes at the stars loses sight of the earth 
 and what it contains. So it is with one who persist- 
 ently turns his mind inward (upward). He loses sight 
 of his surroundings, and his other senses are absorbed 
 in feelings, and he is conscious only of sights and 
 sounds born of ecstasy. So he, fixing his thought 
 upon the realm of spirit, loses himself in spirit, and 
 becomes charged with greatness and power altogether 
 different from his nature. His mind becomes cogni- 
 zant of other than mundane laws ; his memory is sus- 
 pended, and he is no longer weak, because he has lost 
 sight of himself — he is no longer under the law of 
 disease, for he has forgotten the laws of heredity — 
 he is no longer a sinner, for what he has been led to 
 do in his blindness he recognizes has been done for 
 his good, and he is thankful for all things. Piercing 
 through the gloom and the shadow of mundane things 
 he senses the great good God who orders all things 
 well; and in his soul he cries out "Not my will, 
 Father ! but thine be done ! " He can behold noth- 
 ing but loveliness and beauty everywhere — and oft 
 
298 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 in his contemplation is rendered unfit for the stern 
 struggle of this demoniac mammon worshipping 
 world. 
 
 " He that putteth his hand to the plow, and looketh 
 back is not worthy of the kingdom of heaven/ ' "The 
 kingdom of heaven is within you." Many imagine 
 that because they are worn out and disgusted with 
 everything of a sexual nature that they are spiritually 
 minded — not so, my friends ! The spiritual love all 
 things, and recognize that Infinite incomprehensible 
 wisdom has made nothing in vain or unlovely. Infi- 
 nite charity and mercy has found a lodgement in their 
 hearts, and they condemn nothing. Man is only half 
 a man without a woman to love, and the same applies 
 to a woman. Woe to him or her whose love has 
 turned to disgust ! Better " turn to the Lord " 
 quickly. "As a man thinketh so is he." "He that 
 is born of God (Love) doth not commit sin," etc., 
 (John) so love must be the way out of sin — the 
 strait and narrow way leading to salvation - — salvation 
 from what ? From our own meanness and weakness ! 
 
 Love being a spirit, if a man lose his love, he loses 
 his spirit. Can he regain it ? Not easily. Such go 
 out of life naked and deformed — to be re-incarnated 
 as other beings — but he that becomes spiritual, 
 becomes more and more conscious, as the love ges- 
 tates within him, and in time is born of the spirit, a 
 son of God. 
 
 The spirit is that which gathers around the soul at 
 death to form another body like unto the one that died. 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 299 
 
 What, if you have little or no spirit from which to 
 form a divine body ? You become a phantom-shape — 
 lost in space, without home or a resting place — drawn 
 here and there by any breath of attraction — to be- 
 come anything. Vampires are partly of this nature. 
 Spirituality is our only hope — the only salvation. 
 Christ taught this. " Not every one that saith Lord, 
 Lord ! shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that 
 doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." 
 God's will is that we "love one another. ,, Owe no 
 man anything — not even love — pay it. The mind 
 filled with love becomes light with spirit — and grad- 
 ually loses the feeling of mine and thine — there is 
 no feeling of blame and censure of others, but it 
 rather weeps great tears of pity and charity over 
 failures. 
 
 There is no turning back of the mind into memory 
 of past deeds — the stirring up of the rotting filth of 
 the corpse of the past — thus bringing it along with 
 the spirit, living it over and over again, forcing the 
 dead to become the living — or to become the atoms 
 of the body to its disease and death. In this forget- 
 fulness of the past is forgiveness possible. Heredity 
 cannot exist save as memory holds it in the con- 
 sciousness. It is a wise provision that death wipes 
 out the past so far as memory is concerned. Some 
 would like to know what they have been in previous 
 existences ; but this knowledge is wisely withheld. 
 In our now unbalanced state insanity would be the 
 result of such knowledge. 
 
300 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 Who are fa the unhappy ? Those who brood over 
 the past, and are always thinking how "it might 
 have been ! " Who is it that is morose and sour but 
 those who recognize no wise providence at the helm 
 of this ship of life ? These are the sick ones. Spirit- 
 uality gives hope and cheerfulness — even in the 
 most adverse circumstances. In proportion as the 
 past recedes does the future unfold, and an intuitive 
 feeling of rest, security and safety takes the place of 
 anxiety and uncertainty. This can only come from 
 the love of some one of the opposite sex. The reason 
 is very simple. In the love of another, self-love has 
 expanded, and self is forgotten in the love of a 
 "better half." True love is not a selfish love, and 
 really the love of another of the opposite sex is not a 
 love of something foreign to yourself, but it is a love 
 of a larger and better self. Such lose themselves in 
 the one loved. He that does good for the sake of 
 attaining Nirvana — will fall far short of it. Why ? 
 Because his love is only selfAovz — and not a love of 
 the good — for the good is all. " He that would lose 
 his life for my sake shall find it " — means more than 
 many suppose. He that loses himself in love shall 
 find himself immortal in that love. 
 
 The first command is "love God." Why must 
 this be first ? If the love of your neighbor is in 
 reality the love of God, the first is altogether super- 
 fluous, and the love of your neighbor becomes first 
 and principal. The fact is the two loves are different ; 
 and here lies the true definition of Spirituality. 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 30 1 
 
 " God is a Spirit " — then he is not a personality, 
 
 — but is a formless substance ; and absolutely in- 
 comprehensible to us. Having no form He has no 
 beauty to lure man into worship, for we all love and 
 reverence beauty. Having no form, how vain the 
 making of images, in the likeness of mundane things, 
 to represent Him. Having no form, how childish do 
 all forms and ceremonies appear in his service ! 
 Having no form, he has no attributes, such as we 
 have, wherewith we may clothe a mental image of 
 Him, to love and reverence ! Forms are eternally 
 changing — but that which is formless changes not. 
 We are so constituted that we must see something — 
 either in the mind or with physical eyes — in order to 
 love. The mind sees attributes — the eye sees forms 
 
 — and John saw the attribute love in his mind, 
 which he called God — but Jesus saw a spirit which 
 he clothed to suit the natural mind, with the attri- 
 butes of Father. But " Gautama,' ' soaring above 
 all human attributes and passions, stripped creation 
 bare of all garments of beauty, in the conception of 
 Indifference. He ignored all emotions, and all 
 spirits as an ultimate — but yet the road thereto led 
 through love. We of the Rosy Cross cling to Jesus 
 because of his humanity. We do not wish any spirit- 
 uality beyond love — for this is of active, creative use. 
 To love God then is the first principle — this when 
 disconnected with human attributes becomes totally 
 impossible. To love something foreign to ourselves 
 is repugnant to the very nature of love. Now woman 
 
302 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 is part and parcel of our whole nature, and to love 
 her is very natural — but the love we give her is not 
 such as we give our neighbor. In the latter there is 
 no leaping of the heart, as a caged bird leaps for 
 freedom — no exaltation to total f orgetfulness of self, 
 arid all surroundings, and consequences — no discon- 
 nection of self from reason and consideration — no 
 blending and interchange of our most inner sensibili- 
 ties — no ecstatic trembling upon the very confines 
 of a blissful state we call heaven : — but on the 
 contrary, in our love for our neighbor we become 
 more considerate, reasonable and thoughtful of con- 
 sequences ; not impulsive, but deliberate in action — 
 "to do as we would be done by." In fact to "love 
 your neighbor as yourself," is to become more truly 
 human; while to love your wife with "your whole 
 mind, might and strength," is to become completely 
 absorbed in her being, and to lose yourself in a con- 
 templation that speedily destroys all selfish passions 
 and desires — not because she is yours do you love her f 
 but because she is woman — your best nature — and 
 nearer to love (or God) than you are. So out of the 
 dark abysses of passion — out of the loathsome crypts 
 of this fallen nature does spirituality takes its rise. 
 That form of beauty which pleases your eyes, leads 
 only downward or outward to the losing of your spirit 
 in things foreign to yourself ; — but mental images, 
 or ideal attributes of woman, change as the spirit 
 becomes luminous ; hence there is no idolatry in 
 this worship — nor adultery either. The Hebrew 
 
SPIRITUALITY. 303 
 
 prophets always referred to the worship of false Gods 
 as "whoring after other Gods." Why should they 
 apply this term to worship if sex is not involved ? 
 See Psalms cxxvii. 3, Deut. xxiii. 1, Num. xxxi. 18-35, 
 I Sam. ii. 22, Gen. vi. 2. Whence came the Jewish 
 rite of circumcision ? The ancient religions were all 
 based in the love nature. Jesus inculcated the same 
 ideas evidently, and made a sweeping and broad dis- 
 tinction between true and false worship. " But I say 
 unto you, that whoso looketh upon a woman to lust 
 after her hath committed adultery already in his 
 heart." The false is the visual — true worship is in 
 spirit and in truth — within the mind — without lust 
 — formless. The mind truly illuminated by spirit, 
 has no forms in it, either of beauty or deformity ; for 
 it is vacant of thought. ^ 
 
 Consequently there can be no judgment of right 
 and wrong, of good and evil, and no censure of others 
 in the truly spiritual. Spirituality then takes its rise 
 from a contemplation — or worship — of the formless 
 principle of creation as symbolized in the feminine 
 spirit of ourselves. The spiritual cannot do a wrong 
 to another, because it is not aggressive nor selfish. 
 
304 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ROSICRUCLE." 
 
 Reference has been made in the preceding pages 
 to the Rosicrucians ; and the work in the main is 
 claimed to be an embodiment of their principles : not 
 all expressed however, by any one sect, class, clime 
 or era; and it is well, in closing, to anticipate the 
 query as to who, what and where are the Rosicru- 
 cians, that will naturally arise in the minds of most 
 people, because there is so little known of them. 
 
 The Rosicrucians may more properly be termed a 
 fraternity than an order ; though many attempts have 
 been made in modern times to materialize it as an 
 order, some of which are a success, though of neces- 
 sity veiled in profound secrecy. The Rosicrucians 
 are numerous — of all nationalities and all climes ; 
 but they are scattered. They meet occasionally — 
 not drawn together by " press notices " — or the 
 ringing of bells, but by the moving and drawing of 
 the spirit — as "of one accord/ ' 
 
 They were known in history among the other 
 appellations as the Essenes, the Illuminati, etc., 
 but since Christian Rosencrutz's time, as the 
 Rosicrucians. It was evidently once the universal 
 
«rosicrucijE." 305 
 
 religion — long ere written history began ; for evi- 
 dences of " FiRE-worship " are scattered over all the 
 earth in the form of Rosicrucian symbols. 
 
 The curious reader is referred to Hargrave Jen- / 
 nings' great work, entitled "The Rosicrucians," 
 published in England. There was a time when all 
 learned men believed in magic (another term for 
 magnetism), and those who studied the occult forces 
 of nature, and practiced the powers derived therefrom, 
 were styled priests, and later, magicians ; but after 
 the destruction of the Magi of Persia, and during the 
 rise of Catholicism, magic became associated with 
 the idea of diabolism, and was styled "Black Art," 
 and all who practiced it were shunned, and sometimes 
 hunted to death. 
 
 Wherever God is found among men you will find 
 a spirit of investigation into the mysteries of being, 
 and a corresponding love of freedom ; hence, the true 
 man is free to take intellectual flights — aye, even to 
 God's throne, and there question him face to face. 
 There is nothing too sacred or secret for him to 
 question for the truth. 
 
 Recognizing the possibility of the great good God, 
 and the impossibility of the Devil, they laughed in 
 secret (for they dared not even smile publicly), at 
 priests, bishops, cardinals and popes, and treasured 
 the ancient lore in cipher, worshipping the undying, 
 unquenchable fire, while they dwelt in caves, or fled 
 before the terrors of the Inquisition. This revived 
 the ancient Pagan secret societies and mysteries. 
 
306 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS, 
 
 To learn and know something more than ordinary 
 is dangerous when such knowledge is unpopular, or 
 at least, when the masses are ruled by ignorance and 
 superstition. It was at the cost of life to be known 
 as a member of such secret orders — hence arose the 
 proverbial secrecy of the brethren of the Rosy 
 Cross. Time was when no man would admit that 
 he belonged to that mystic fraternity ; furthermore, 
 they shrouded themselves in a cloud of mysteries — 
 not, perhaps, with a view of mystifying others so 
 much as from the idea that all power is a mystery, 
 and that " God's ways are mysterious and past find- 
 ing out/' and they wished to be God-like. Further- 
 more, Rosicrucians have learned from past experience, 
 that popularity is a dangerous thing ; upon this rock 
 all religious systems have foundered. The Magi of 
 Egypt, Arabia, Persia and Assyria, in ancient times 
 were the ruling class — they were the priesthood and 
 ruled the crowned heads, and had charge of the edu- 
 cation of such as were eligible thereto. They recog- 
 nized that the equality of man was based in his eleva- 
 tion ; and that undeveloped man must of necessity be 
 ruled. To such as are not capable of self-govern- 
 ment, intellectual education is an evil. They knew as 
 we know to-day that the only true education is of the 
 heart. To attain this end they established religious 
 systems, and the common people were taught as 
 children are taught — with stories or fables ; while 
 the priests kept for their own use ideas altogether 
 different. Their ideas expressed as allegories entered 
 
"ROSICRUCI&r 307 
 
 into — and became the foundation of quite all — the 
 religious systems of the civilized world. From the 
 ancients came all the symbolism of the world. It is 
 woven into art, customs, literature and science, as 
 well as religious systems. Our Bible is full of Rosi- 
 crucian lore — not however known under that name 
 at that, or any other time. For Rosicruciae has little 
 respect for names. While at all times leading the 
 world, it assumes names to suit circumstances, and 
 of itself is hidden and not known. Why? Because 
 it is a spiritual organization (if it can be called such) 
 and works wholly in spirit. Its methods are not the 
 world's methods. We worship fire ; but this fire is 
 not material fire. Says one of the Bible Prophets — 
 " Our God is a consuming fire/' All thrones and 
 crowns grow out of popularity. And now the masses 
 have turned upon them, and their days are numbered. 
 Where are the ancient Magi ? Gone with the 
 grandeur of the countries wherein they flourished ! 
 The very circumstances they created overwhelmed 
 them and they have sunk to rise no more. The fate 
 of all nations and religions is the same — still the 
 Rosy Cross principles remain and keep along with 
 the people ; unseen but not unfelt. 
 
 Another reason for secrecy is this. The most 
 potent forces of nature are silent and secret. They 
 manifest themselves openly at times, but are mainly 
 hidden. Behold the earthquake and the cyclone ! 
 Think you there is no power in silence ? 
 
 Rosicruciae is intensely and transcendentally spirit- 
 
 j 
 
308 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 ual — hence, it has nothing in common with materialism, 
 except intellectually, and even then the conclusions of 
 materialism are all reversed. It has no affinity with 
 this mammon- worshipping age — hence, it has no 
 golden basis or " insurance plan " to lure men into a 
 semblance of brotherly love and fellowship. Unob- 
 trusive, unpretending men, they pass mainly unno- 
 ticed through life ; they look with pity upon a world 
 of gold- and treasure-gatherers as upon children heap- 
 ing dirt in the streets. No wonder such men are not 
 understood ; they are in the world, but they feel they 
 are not of it, and they wish to get done with it as 
 quietly as possible. Knowing they can leave it only 
 by doing good, they are always secretly doing all 
 within their power. Indeed, they are conscious of 
 having been sent here for that purpose — to help the 
 world in its efforts to humanize the race. 
 
 The Alchemists of the middle ages believed in the 
 " Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone/' 
 and diligently sought for them. To drink of the 
 former was eternal youth and life ; the latter was 
 sought as a universal solvent, in the use of which the 
 baser metals were changed or transmuted into pure, 
 virgin gold. No wonder these men were called in- 
 sane ; but, nevertheless, they gave the world the 
 principles of chemistry and medicine. 
 
 Think you such men were fools ? Nay ! but they 
 had an idea which the masses could not comprehend, 
 and they masked it in material that they could grasp. 
 No philosopher ever supposed for a moment that 
 
" rosicrucijE? 309 
 
 matter in any form could confer immortality upon 
 
 any other form whatever, for there is no changeless 
 
 f substance in existence. That there is a power in the 
 
 j human soul capable of eternally renewing youth and 
 
 I beauty is a cardinal doctrine of the Rosy Cross. 
 
 As to the transmutation of metals, it is not only 
 possible, but true. The idea is of kin to the first ; 
 (they constitute "the Secret " of the order ;) and has 
 already been explained as transmutation of spirits 
 into forms of matter ; such as cloth, flowers, bread, 
 wine, or any metal. The Rosicrucian concealed the 
 real idea of transmutation under the title of transmu- 
 tation of metals or the changing of one form into 
 another. Many alchemists tried to reduce the spirit- 
 ual gift of creation into a material science ; and it is 
 said some few succeeded so far as they were individ- 
 ually concerned ; but to the true Rosicrucian the 
 latter is of no value whatever, further than as used 
 in the middle ages as an excuse to stop too close 
 espionage, and to compel not only the respect of 
 common people, but the patronage and protection of 
 those in authority ; for the practice of alchemy, or 
 dealing even with his "Satanic Majesty'' for the pur- 
 pose of enriching the earth with gold, would be 
 deemed a laudable avocation. They, at least, found 
 protection in it, although prizing it not — for the 
 true adept has all he needs of all things without re- 
 sorting to any such resource, for he needs but little. 
 
 There is a providence for every man and woman 
 who stands high enough in the scale of being to be 
 
 / 
 
J 
 
 3IO THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 conscious of it, and to be its recipients. The ravens 
 fed the prophet Elijah in the olden time. 
 
 Not every man can be an adept in anything, for 
 this capability is born in a man as genius is. Neither 
 is it possible for every man to be a Rosicrucian, no 
 more than education can impart sense ; or no more 
 than a child born blind could be made a master artist 
 by learning the terms used to designate the philos- 
 ophy of light and shade and blending of colors. 
 There must be an innate feeling of rapture at the 
 bare idea of mystery ; a hunger and thirst for the 
 unknown, and a conscious and abiding belief in one's 
 own immortality. 
 
 Such are initiated with profit to themselves and 
 mankind ; for in Rosicrucia's Temple they eat and 
 are filled, and drink to thirst no more. Here they 
 find teachers and brothers. We are the children of 
 " the Shadow/' and we love it, though oft we may 
 not see the way clearly through tear-dimmed eyes, 
 yet we cry out in our anguish, " Not my will, Father, 
 but thine be done ! " And then " the Shadow " 
 reveals its mystery and departs, leaving the heart 
 chastened and lightened with increased purity and 
 peace. 
 
 We are cast down in order that we may go higher. 
 Thus, alternately cast down and exalted, we are pre- 
 pared to meet all the changes of this mundane life. 
 No stoic, agnostic, nor egotist can be a Rosicrucian : 
 it requires feeling, and that intensified. Without this, 
 no initiation could possibly impart that baptism: of the 
 
" rosicruciae:"' 3 1 1 
 
 spirit which gives birth to new or dormant energies ; 
 or awaken soul germs of a higher and better life, 
 where will reigns over all, and matter becomes trans- 
 mutable. 
 
 s* Who are Rosicrucians ? I may not answer this 
 question! " By their fruits shall ye know them." 
 No better test, or one more unerring or unmistakable, 
 could be given than that given by our Master, " the 
 man of Sorrows " whom they hanged on a cross 
 long ago. Let others speak for themselves ! There 
 is nothing in Rosicruciae to be ashamed of, and I 
 glory in being one, though an humble builder of the 
 Temple in these degenerate times. And if I speak 
 of myself in this connection it is because I am free 
 to do so — while I may not mention others. It has 
 been my lot to be a teacher most of my life. I write 
 and speak to aid others, not for pay in coin, or in 
 popularity. Unfortunately, however, some fail to 
 grasp ideas in their fullness, and carried away by 
 enthusiasm, rush into occult studies and practices 
 expecting immediate results. This is wrong. There 
 must be a certain growth and ripening ere fruits can 
 be expected. Some seem to think, that if they can 
 find a lodge of Rosicruciae and be initiated that they 
 will come out with a diploma, and become at once a 
 full-fledged Rosicrucian. Initiation is something 
 more than taking an oath and going through certain 
 forms and ceremonies — no matter how imposing or 
 awe inspiring. It is something more than a course 
 of lectures and study of authorities. It is something 
 
312 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 deeper and higher than intellectual culture. // is the 
 knowing of truth. To know is something higher than 
 learning — it involves mind, soul and body. Ah, 
 what a work is this ! A life is far too short for some 
 to attain the goal of knowledge. It is said that 
 Pythagoras spent twenty-two years among the mys- 
 tics of Egypt, in his initiation. Mind, however deep 
 and subtle, cannot bear immortal fruit. It takes the 
 entire man — soul, mind and body ! The Rosicru- 
 cians think very little of the ways of the world — its 
 pride, arrogance and dignity — he is simple, for he 
 finds truth is very simple. The fruits of truth are 
 free from pretence. But unfortunately there are 
 many pretenders, and some knowing ones assert that 
 "whoever makes claim to being a Rosicrucian is a 
 pretender and a fraud" and that no true initiate ever 
 annoimces himself as such. I frankly admit that 
 such used to be the case — in " the olden time " — 
 when men were afraid of the Inquisition. 
 
 Behold Cagliostro miserably perishing in a Catho- 
 lic dungeon in Rome, also the tortures inflicted upon 
 Galileo for daring to think and express his thought. 
 Such have been the facts. It has also been a fact 
 that women were not admitted to membership in the 
 Rosy Cross or other secret societies, and were even 
 denied a voice in the Christian Church, — but the 
 world has outgrown such things. 
 
 The Rosy Cross is not a fossil, nor is it ever in 
 the rear of progress. It has no creeds and issues no 
 mandates. If the law of Silence is enjoined, it is 
 
" rosicrucijE." 313 
 
 upon such as are not fully initiated, — or whose 
 Voice is not fully formed. Women are now admitted 
 upon equal terms with men. 
 
 The true initiate is free in all essentials, — free to 
 think, to be and to express himself, for himself — 
 always for the good of others and in the cause of 
 progress, — but " by their fruits ye shall know them." 
 
 But fruits are not always confined to acts. They 
 are visible to the acute sense, even in the embryo — 
 in the thought and in the spirit, as fruit may be 
 known in a tree by its buds. I meet many Rosicru- 
 cians, and although total strangers, we know each 
 other at sight. The true artist has a feeling which 
 transcends his thought in viewing works of art. It 
 is his best and safest guide to a just and true esti- 
 mate of what he beholds. 
 
 God fashions all things and paints them in all 
 colors possible. There is nothing in existence that 
 is not of kin to intelligence. They are all suggestive 
 of thought — nay ! they are thoughts materialized. 
 And He has fashioned men with thought-reservoirs, 
 as a flower, for receiving the pollen and the dew ; and 
 the Rosicrucian may be known by the stamp that 
 God has put upon him, whether he is conscious of it 
 or not. 
 
 ^ Pre-exist ence is a cardinal principle of the Rosy 
 Cross, and men who have existed on this earth pre- 
 vious to this existence, as men, have forms, expression 
 and motion more suggestive of peace, rest and har- 
 mony than those who have only just commenced life 
 
314 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 on this planet. The former have more receptiveness, 
 prescience, and intuition ; for they have not wholly 
 forgotten the lessons learned in other bodies ; neither 
 have they entirely forgotten the friends and compan- 
 ions of that other life ; and when they meet they feel a 
 mutual attraction and friendship for each other — 
 a kindred feeling, more real than that of the blood. 
 
 During my studies of nature, and my travels as a 
 lecturer and practitioner of phrenology and kindred sci- 
 ences, I have met with many men, and many strange — 
 and, I might say, weird — experiences. I have looked 
 into eyes of all shades of color that contained nothing, 
 but which reflected all the phenomena of the outer 
 world. Other eyes I have met that looked deep — as 
 into a world of causation, without limit — as looking 
 into an eternal past, and out of which rise up shad- 
 ows, not dark or many colored, but fiery, as it were, 
 or of a burning, melting tenderness. Such shadows 
 are portents of power. Of such are Rosicrucians. 
 Many such have I taught the true principles of human 
 life and action, and sent them on their way rejoicing. 
 Many a false step have I arrested, and infused hope 
 into the minds of the desperate — aye ! and turned 
 the would-be suicide into the ways of love, labor and 
 usefulness. The evil is always too apparent in the 
 young : the good is mainly hidden. To find the truly 
 good in the soul, and display it to the consciousness, 
 is to make it loved and followed as a beacon of life. 
 The will needs an incentive, high and noble, in order 
 to its growth ; and no matter how lofty one's own 
 
" ROSICRUCI^E." 315 
 
 ideal of himself and his powers may be, to find them 
 recognized by another, and that other a stranger, is 
 like doubling the powers to its attainment. Alas ! 
 how many of mature years are in doubt and condem- 
 nation of themselves, because they are not, and never 
 have been, understood, i.e. y the best part of themselves. 
 We long to have, the good of ourselves understood, 
 and not the evil. And herein, in the knowing the good 
 in ourselves lies the whole secret of life, health and 
 happiness, both here and hereafter. This idea is the 
 basic floor of " Mental Science healing/' and as I said 
 — I reiterate — this is the leading school, this day, in 
 philosophy — in which the religion of Christ becomes 
 real and practical. We are slowly turning back to the 
 time when man had more faith in the Gods than in 
 physical substances, and diseases were prevented and 
 cured by the use of talismans, incantations, invoca- 
 tions, words, thoughts, spells, charms, etc., all of 
 which were mere forms of expression for that spiritual 
 power of which I have spoken, having an effect upon 
 the mind primarily, and secondarily upon the body. 
 But man's spiritual nature has gradually become more 
 and more dense, or physical, arid instead of carrying 
 or wearing talismans, charms, etc., as a protection or 
 cure, people now invoke the doctors instead of the 
 gods, and swallow their amulets whole at a gulp ; and 
 yet people die now as then, or as when Moses set up 
 the brazen serpent in the wilderness. 
 _ Gautama said that the most fatal diseases enter 
 through the eye ; and we of the Rosy Cross know 
 
316 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 this is true in a sense ; for through the eye the imagi- 
 nation (in most men) is fed, and the passions may be 
 aroused to the commission of acts unhallowed and 
 unnatural. By reason of which the soul is tainted 
 with moral poison, which in the blood produces vene- 
 real infections, hereditary and deadly — the foundation 
 of all known diseases. 
 
 If disease enters ever, or in any form whatever, 
 through the eye, it cannot be removed by agents 
 which act upon the physical or chemical organization 
 only, for the reason, it being of a spiritual or psychical 
 origin, it enters directly into and deranges the harmo- 
 nious action of the mind, which holds supreme control 
 over the physical. To cure these phases of disease 
 the remedies applied must be of a character that will 
 influence directly the subtle, spiritual forces of the 
 individual, and through them produce vital and chemi- 
 cal changes in the physical structure. 
 
 But disease does not enter in any manner from 
 without. That which is external simply wakens up 
 that which is already in us. Disease is not a thing — 
 it is simply a depolarizing of the self. That sights 
 and sounds lure the imagination into activity, I claim, 
 and in this faculty of the mind, depolarization of the 
 spirits action takes place, which causes a sudden con- 
 densation of spirit in some parts of the system, to the 
 damage of other parts left destitute. Thus the system 
 is all thrown out of harmony, because the normal ac- 
 tion of the spirit is disturbed. 
 
 Now, belief being the fundamental principle of 
 
« rosicrucije? 317 
 
 \ 
 
 power — and man being more physical than mental, 
 his belief is more readily aroused and sustained by 
 physical substances than by ideas — hence the Magi 
 used charms, amulets, and talismans, to inspire the 
 belief of the ignorant and material. Furthermore : 
 who can doubt for a moment that drugs, metals, vege- 
 table substances, etc., have a peculiar affinity for cer- 
 tain spirits or an antipathy for others ? Who knows 
 why Dr. Hotchkiss had his room hung round and 
 round with rags of all shades of color except blue ? 
 Were these things talismans calling and binding mag- 
 netic spirits to himself, thus strengthening him in the 
 cure of diseases, and in the retaining of his youthful 
 vigor and prolonging his life ? Why did he fall into 
 a towering rage, and lose his magnetic power, if one 
 came dressed in blue into his room ? Why did he fill 
 his cellar with such a dense smoke — so thick that 
 no one but himself could endure it upon certain occa- 
 sions ? Don't tell me there is no truth in magic, for 
 I know better. Still I care not who doubts it. The 
 higher magic set forth in these pages is for the use 
 of a higher order of mankind than this world is much 
 acquainted with. Sakyi Mouni knew of these powers 
 and attained thereto. The sick either recovered or 
 died immediately, in a certain radius on either side of 
 the road along which he passed. And that without 
 evena thought of his. When scholars came to con- 
 verse with him, those who received his word with joy, 
 became endowed with power ; but the skeptical, and 
 self-sufficient, who argued with him and disputed, 
 
318 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 swelled up with their own importance and burst asun- 
 der, dying in his presence. So says the sacred Bible 
 of the Buddhists. Apollonius of Tyana was another 
 who possessed magic power. He lived at the time 
 of Jesus, and according to heathen history performed 
 as many miraculous cures as Jesus did. He lived 
 mainly in the desert — preached and healed the sick 
 by a word or a touch, and was clairvoyant. Of Christ 
 I have already said enough. He was simply God in- 
 carnate. He gave us the purest doctrines of a true 
 life, and taught the superiority of man over the realm 
 of disease and death — a true immortality on earth/ 
 He not only taught it by precept, but he lived it ; and 
 died to illustrate and prove what he had taught, viz., 
 the power to render matter imperishable. 
 
 Gautama, Apollonius, Plato, Pythagoras, and 
 a host of others, taught pre-existence and a future life, 
 but none but Jesus taught and demonstrated immor- 
 tality in the flesh. He was the only begotten son of 
 God, or Love — not that there are not other sons of 
 \God, but he is the only one begotten of a woman. 
 Buddha says that a man strong spiritually, can im- 
 pregnate a very sensitive and pure woman by the 
 manipulation of his hand over the umbilicus. This, 
 by the greatest sage and philosopher of any time, 
 must have weight with every true thinking man ; es- 
 pecially when corroborated by modern developments. 
 If his assertion be true, and one in the form can by 
 magnetic touch produce pregnancy without copulation, 
 how much less wonderful the idea contained in the 
 
« rosicrucim." 319 
 
 New Testament, of "the immaculate conception," 
 becomes ! An angel, by his presence, without even 
 contact — by a word spoken, quickens the procreative 
 powers of a virgin ! An idea — no matter how sug- 
 gestive, is all that is required. These bodies are mere 
 receptacles of spirit ; and well it is for us, when the 
 spirit flowing into us is divine, instead of devilish. 
 Modern materializations ; the overflowing of hospitals 
 with the insane ; the obsessions that stalk the streets 
 of the world unseen, and seen, prove the above to be 
 true. Ideas are all that can do us good, or be of any 
 harm spiritually; for they enter in, being conceived, 
 gestate and personify themselves within us. In this 
 domain the procreative functions are involved ; and 
 ideas of love become paramount. 
 
 Human love is a magnetic effect, but the why and 
 the wherefore have never yet been satisfactorily ex- 
 plained. But it is simple enough to one of com- 
 prehension. All things are male and female, and 
 the sex that distinguishes the individual is the active, 
 or visible expression — while the negative or invisible 
 half is mainly latent — or manifests itself ideally. 
 Thus every one of any sensibility has an ideal of one 
 of the opposite sex that they imagine suits them ; 
 and when they see one who corresponds thereto, they 
 are attracted. We love only that which corresponds 
 to some invisible and unknown being within our- 
 selves. And they in whom this Ideal is well defined, 
 and strong, seldom or never love a second time. 
 Some people are double — u e. f under some circum- 
 
320 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 stances the ideal goes forth clothed in flesh exactly 
 like the person — who is partly or wholly uncon- 
 scious at the time. Magnetism quickens and accel- 
 erates the development of this counterpart. This 
 explains why some people are more susceptible to 
 magnetism than others — and explains to a certain 
 extent trance mediumship — and the resemblance 
 that has been noticed sometimes between a medium 
 and a materialized form. In marriage the parties too 
 often awaken to the realization that there is little or 
 no correspondence between the wedded parties and 
 their ideal — this makes them unhappy and often 
 checks the growth of the ideal, or in some cases 
 drives it totally out of recognition. They cease to 
 magnetize each other — hence they cease to love. 
 This is prostitution, in which there is no ideal, and no 
 worship of the one true and only God. This ideal in 
 some rare cases comes to life in the individual, i.e. f 
 comes so close to the consciousness of the individual 
 as to be heard to speak in plain language within the 
 person — of course unheard by outsiders. Not only 
 this — but the time comes speedily when from many 
 the counterpart shall come forth an objective being, 
 as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. Recol- 
 lect, Adam was in a deep sleep when the rib was 
 extracted. In other words he was an extraordinary 
 materializing medium — and Mary, the mother of 
 Jesus, was another, more remarkable still. 
 
 I am not without evidence of these things, in actual 
 existence, even now } in this degenerate and unbeliev- 
 
" ROSICRUCIjE." 321 
 
 ing age. If marriage was as it should be, and will be y 
 
 we should have angels walking this earth. We 
 
 \ believe in angels ! Then, cultivate your ideal love. 
 
 Love only one of the opposite sex, and then let your 
 
 soul, mind and body rest. Keep before your mind's 
 
 / eye the radiant image that crossed your path, and 
 
 ] lured you to marriage, in life's young dream ! — And 
 
 / let no changes, nor wrinkles, nor gray hairs, glide 
 
 / between your youthful counterpart and you, on life's 
 
 ( rough voyage. So may you remain young, and full 
 
 \pi love and joy. 
 
 We do not have to depend upon churches and 
 lodges for initiation into the grandest mysteries of 
 God ; for the heavens are open — and in the spaces 
 above are countless multitudes, that with thought, 
 and act, are baptizing earth with all you are capable 
 of receiving. Then arise in your thought and meet 
 them. We, of the Rosy Cross, believe in "the 
 double," in dreams and visions. We hold that the 
 soul goes out of the body, sometimes in sleep or 
 trance, or in very rare cases, by an effort of the will. 
 That when out it is enveloped by the spirit, of which 
 it sometimes forms an exact counterpart of the body 
 it has left, and journeys to other worlds, or other parts 
 of this one ; mingles and holds converse with other 
 beings when it is enlightened in many ways — and 
 often the future is shown to it in symbols. But these 
 things are mainly lost when the soul resumes its body, 
 or remembered vaguely as dreams. Sometimes some 
 little thing will recall something learned in this man- 
 
322 THE TEMPLE OE THE ROSY CROSS. 
 
 ner, and we are astonished at what we suppose are our 
 own thoughts. Many persons are instructed in this 
 manner. One such experience has left its stamp 
 upon me. At the risk of being called garrulous I 
 will relate it. 
 
 Many years ago I had become somewhat soured at 
 the rough treatment I had received from the patterns 
 of religion and morality, and I determined to let the 
 dead world bury its dead, or in other words, I did not 
 think I " amounted to anything, anyway," and that I 
 would not teach any more. So I quietly went about 
 making daily bread for those dependent upon me. 
 But one night in a deep sleep I was in an immense 
 amphitheatre. I stood in the little space in the 
 centre, where were a few chairs with people seated in 
 them, from this space seats ascended in circles around 
 me, tier above tier, high up towards the dome-like 
 ceiling. These seats were literally crowded with 
 people. I was speaking to them, and they were very 
 attentive, though I have no idea of the subject I was 
 speaking upon, but I know I was very earnest and 
 wished the audience to believe something — and I 
 recollect saying, " Now all you want to convince you 
 of this truth is the evidence ! " As I said this a 
 shock and cold wave poured over me and I raised my 
 hands above my head and shouted, "Behold the 
 evidence ! " And as I held my hands aloft out- 
 stretched, there came " the stigmata " in the palms 
 thereof, out of which blood oozed slowly and dropped 
 on the floor. The audience sat fixed and spellbound 
 
' ROSICRUCIjE." 121 
 
 for a few moments, then broke forth such shrieks, 
 groans, and cries of " Mercy ! Mercy ! Oh God, 
 have mercy on us ! " Some fell down, others rose 
 up — and such a scene ! I cannot describe it. But 
 I stood there a minute, then said, " Let us thank God 
 for this evidence ! " and dropped on my knees, and 
 the whole audience prostrated themselves with me. 
 This was an experience — it was no dream. I was at 
 a loss for the meaning of it. But then came a series 
 of events, commonplace and trifling of themselves, 
 which have assumed great magnitude in my life, 
 forcing me from seclusion and silence. It remains to 
 be seen whether I have the audience or not — or 
 whether I give the evidence or not. Blessed are they 
 who believe from beholding " The Stigmata ! " but 
 thrice blessed is he who believes from feeling it in 
 his own person. 
 For you, reader 
 
 Lovingly written, 
 
 F. B. DOWD. 
 
 Note. — All inquiries from readers interested in the Order of 
 the Rosy Cross, and who are sincerely desirous of further infor- 
 mation in regard to its aims and objects, or who desire to apply 
 for membership in the Order, will receive the attention of the 
 Fraternity, if their communications be placed in an envelope ad- 
 dressed to the undersigned, and enclosed within another envelope 
 addressed to the publishers. 
 
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