The Soul of man, even though as yet deeply imbedded in Materiality, hence wholly unconscious, nevertheless holds within itself the Spirit of its Creator. It only awaits its Resurrection through the awakened desires and efforts of the individual to whom it was given as a Sacred trust. It I the most precious and most desirable of all gifts that the Divine Could bestow upon those He held most ear; something not to be kept hidden, but to be brought into manifestation, into activity, into a creative ability active in every respect in the things men think of as good; that is, to the benefit of men generally.

The Initiates throughout the ages did not think of God as a person for the Primary reason that He himself did not think so. This is clearly indicated by the known fact that throughout the ages, more especially during those ages when He appeared to have been more familiar with men, or men with Him, and at all times that He appeared to men, He never did so as man embodied, but in the form of Fire or Light. This Fire or Light was symbolized by the Priests of early ages in various forms of Fire or Light. The one form that continued longest was that of the Vestal Fires and other Altar Fires, all representing Him and His presence among men.

However, to avoid all misconceptions, the Initiates, though knowing Him in the form of Fire or Light, frequently mentioned in Biblical and other Sacred literature, never taught or insisted that their Neophytes of followers should subscribe to any special form in which He was to be recognized or worshiped by them.

This was left to the Neophyte's own conception of Him and this conception changed, without any pressure or dictation from others, as they progressed in their development and advanced in their enlightenment, until they, too, after their Illumination, recognized Him in the appearance of Fire or Light; not as the light present on the altars in the temple or any other material fire or light, but as the Spiritual Light that appeared to them as "Doves from above."

The Initiates and other Masters of the Ancient Temples and of the Arcane Fraternities did not, and now do not, worship God as a Being apart from the one Supreme Divine Life, but as the life active in all things He created. As the principle of "good," the all-desirable, as the Creator of all that ever existed and that now exists; as the beautiful in every form and phase; these attributes they recognize in the AEthic and to be softly spoken term of "Father."

All that is good and beautiful, desirable and beneficial, lovely, like the sparkling eyes and smile of the trusting child, they see as the Father. Names change in conformity and harmony with the times, and differentiations of meaning between one thing or another, such as between entities and forms, but always as God, in the softenly spoken "Father," for they recognize that the "Father" cannot be other than kind and good; that He denies not life to all existing creatures, not the privilege of obtaining for themselves all that is best; interfering not, if they choose otherwise.

Moderns make "gods" of the things they most like, however evil and destructive these things may be. The ancients had their gods also, but these were attributes of the one all-embracing God, including the manifestations of "God in man." The Initiates recognized and taught the one God, manifested in activity by the Trinity of God as a Creator, the mother as the receiver and bringer-forth of the Son. The three out of one; separate yet eternally one. The One, God, to be worshipped, alone and He as the Ineffable Light denied to none seeking it. They also recognized many of the Great Initiates as God's Messengers, Anointed ones, Illuminated ones who came to teach and to guide as Messengers, not as Saviors. They recognized but one savior - the Christos, divine Spark, part of God brought into Consciousness, hence Godhead, yet not God.

The many gods of the ancients were attributes, separate manifestations of the one God, but not recognized as God. All of them are a part of the Supreme All-Existing and Ever-Active. Hence all Souls, or more correctly, all Divine Sparks, dormant or active, in individual men were recognized as part of this one God and, in a sense, as a loan to the individual, who either permitted the Spark to remain dormant, or to be awakened and brought into Consciousness and manifestation, thereby becoming "chosen" or "select," for the kingdom.

Beautiful words and phrases have been written of god as the Father, yet none are more glowing than some of the phrases and statements in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Since the Egyptians recognized the two-fold being that is God:

"I am yesterday, today and tomorrow for I am born again and again. I am that whose force is manifest and nourisheth the dwellers of the West. I am the guide in the East. The Lord of the two forces who seeth by His own Light. The Lord of the resurrection who cometh forth from the dusk and whose birth is from the house of death.

"Ye two divine hawks upon your station; watchers of the material world; ye who go with the bier to its eternal home and ye who conduct the ship to the sun, advancing onwards from the highest heaven to the place of the sarcophagus.

"This is the lord of the shrine which standeth in the center of the earth; He is in me; and I am in Him.

"In Him we live and move and have our being."

Contrary to the conception of the masses throughout the ages, Egypt taught all of the Laws of Being; of evolution and of the methods - the life to be lived, for the awakening of the mind and the bringing of the Soul into consciousness. Moses and the Nazarene did little more than make these Laws applicable to the life of the people among whom they labored. The God of the Egyptians, Father of Mankind, is still the god of modern man whether he calls himself Christian (which should mean: the Christ manifest) or by any other name.

What are the proofs? From the beginning to the end of the training of those who entered the Temples of Initiation of the Greater Mysteries, the goal was the finding of the Ineffable Light Within or, Biblically speaking: "the bush." this "bush" was man. The first symbol that met the gaze of the Novice was the symbol expressing Light. Not the light of the sun, but of the Christos within man and of God who placed a Spark of himself into man.

This was the "saving" doctrine the Neophyte had to manifest before his release or die in the attempt. The Essenes continued the teaching and, by their mode of life, demonstrated it to the Nazarene. This is now admitted, John, forerunner or advance Messenger for the Nazarene taught it and told his hearers that one greater than he would come to demonstrate it. John was the Apostle of Light; preached the Brotherhood of Light, and the association of the Brethren of Light.

Who is God? According to John and others of the Gospel writers god is the Father of Light. He is the Creator and Keeper of the Shrine of Love which in its exalted or debased expression, is the incentive of all the acts of man, his creature.

Light, Life and Love, once fully comprehended by the Spirit of man, felt, not merely believed to be a mythical something to dream about but never to be known, offers man the knowledge and the wisdom of the ages, the saving keys to the kingdom.

Who are the gods besides God the Father, of those who have drawn aside the veil hiding the Mysteries? Is belief in them part of a heathen doctrine? Not if the Bible itself is accepted as the expounder and revealer of the truth, a pointer of the way to man's ultimate attainment. The gods are the Biblical Hierarchies, Potentialities and Powers in the heavens and the Souls of those who, having lived on earth and overcome the seductions of the world, the flesh and the devils, and who, by their continued efforts have attained Soul or Spiritual consciousness are harmonizing themselves with the Divine Law, have become "Sons" and have been chosen to become Hierarchies or co-workers with God.

All of these were originally part of the One Supreme Being, since nothing exists that was not created by Him. Now they live in harmony with Him and His Laws, guiding and assisting in shaping the events and destinies of men and Empires in so far as men permit them to do so. It must always be borne in mind that men have free Will and have the privilege to refuse or accept, paying the price if, and when, in error.

Ultimately all men, all nations must willingly, eagerly, accept the Law and place themselves under it. This coming time was foreseen by the prophets of old, as was the part of the earth then known to no men, where the "elect," the "chosen," i.e., those who accepted the Law for their guidance and government would set into operation the New Order for the Ages for the benefit of those seeking to become at one with it, desiring to share in its benefits and blessings. Ironically enough, these helpers of men and nations are the self-same "gods" whose images the "heathen" are said to have engraved and molded in stone, as symbolic guides to future generations in forming the New World, the "new Heaven" on earth foreseen by John.

The creeds of all peoples of all ages agree that God was the creator of all things, including Light and Love. The more enlightened of the ancient world had full knowledge of the sublimity as well as the degradation of the feeling termed "love," and were fully aware that all things might be destroyed by its debasement; on the other hand all things might be "saved," lifted up, by its exaltation.

They know also the Mystery of the great Light. John made every effort to teach understanding of this Light and that, by means of its possession, all men might become brethren. The Nazarene took up the theme where John left off. Profane, degraded love, in the form of degenerate passion brought about his death, illustrating that the profanation of Holy passion is destructive of even the highest.

In all of these Mysteries, for mysteries they were, and so remain to all except those who accepted in faith and proved the truth by compliance with the Law under the urge of their desire, an attribute of Love, and by effort, aroused the Divine Light within themselves and brought it into Conscious being, and into touch with the Light that is Love in expression, Love, followed by the Light, resides in the Temple prepared for it. This is the most ancient of teachings and later, aeons later, expressed in simple language by God Himself:

"Ye are [may become, make of yourself] the temple of the Living God." _Cor.6:16.

Once the Aspirant, the Novice, the Sincere Seeker accepts this as a reality, he is further admonished in the Scriptures of Christianity, as in the ancient temple teachings, to seek for God; not in forms and creeds, in temples and edifices, by following others in blind faith, but within himself by means of Love (keen desire) and constant effort in conjunction with the purification of the dross under which God, the Divine self, the Christos, lies buried or hidden, awaiting the - His - resurrection.

Love, desire in expression or made manifest, if and when of an exalted nature, is of God, is God in expression, because God's Will is what we express and no man will express it unless he is urged on by desire. This urge, the incentive that is God, is not from without, but from within. No man can know God, though he may believe in Him, unless he finds Him in the Light that is within himself.

God as the Creator, is the giver of life and Light to the Soul. God is in His temple only from the moment that man has come into consciousness of Him by means of the Light. This Light is sometimes called the Lamp of God and leads the way. To find this Light, man must "forsake the world," that is enter within himself, shut the door, and listen to the Voice of the Light and be guided by it.

God is "the Lord of the Shrine which standeth in the center of the earth." The earth is man. The Shrine is to be found no where else than in the "midst thereof." "He in me, and I in Him." that is the wording of the Law, but how few comprehend its message. How many are willing to do what is necessary to open the doors into that temple?

How many have the desire to do so? How many, or how few, desire - have the Love for - to be willing to make the effort? To come before the Shrine, that is, the Altar whereon is the burning Light, each one must for himself open the doors that the Soul may be released from its bondage, its chains of the ages, and be free in its flight into the heavens that are above, i.e., higher than the gross earthly, mundane plane - and there partake of things Spiritual, eternal, and real.

All of this science-philosophy dealing with Love in the form of desire as the incentive to man's effort leading to realization, was known to the first Initiates and was symbolized by Moses in the Light within the burning bush - the Light brought into consciousness within himself, the flesh being the bush. It was the basis of all teachings and all training in the Greater Mysteries; the inculcations and demonstrations by the Essenes; of John's preaching, living in the wilderness; of the Nazarene's mission and manifestation. It has continued so in the authentic Arcane fraternities as it is now the Interpretation of the Divine Law for the guidance of those who seek to become the "elect," the "select," in the New Order of the Ages.

The members of the Ancient Priesthood, the Idealistic Philosophers through the Ages, the Aryans of prehistoric India, and the early Gnostic church fathers, were as familiar with the Secret teachings of the Arcane as were the Essenes, John and the Nazarene. Without this knowledge and experience they would have been incompetent to transcribe and hand down these Mysteries of Man's Divine inheritance to all who are ready to receive them, and, by love of the realities and the desires to attain the Ineffable, become one with the infinite and eternal, and, as a result, partaker of all that is good and really desirable on earth, manifesting the Hermetic concept that what is in heaven may be found on earth.

If, as has been so often repeated, the well-being of man and his eternal future depends upon the knowledge and its application as taught in the Greater Mysteries, why has not all mankind been instructed therein?

The Nazarene answered this question by a command: "Throw not pearls before swine." He commanded those, who were possessed of the desire to know and to become, to seek until they had a full understanding of the Law that governs man's entire being. He was fully aware that in all the Laws enunciated there was contained the mystery of the way to be followed for the fulfillment of the promise. He was also conscious of the fact that the truth would be unacceptable, even through freely offered, to those who had no desire to fulfill the Law by living in harmony with it.

To make an attempt to force mankind to accept the truth would be a waste of time and energy and would desecrate the Divine Word. Hence His command that those who wanted the truth and the benefits to be derived from obedience, must seek for it and that none would have these truths "thrown before them." "Seek and ye shall find." This in turn demands that, first of all, one must have the Love for that which truth represents, and the desire to do that which the truth commands be done.

Irrespective of what god's Messengers might want to do for mankind, what they would love to do, what they have a desire to do for man and mankind as a whole, the truth can be successfully conveyed only to those who are prepared to receive it, those who are anxious for it. Even this attitude is not in itself sufficient to take the seeker into the light of wisdom. It is essential, an absolute necessity, that all seeking the reward which truth has to offer, must apply the principles involved by living the life. Only in this way will they be able to come into the Light, the Spirit that is for the salvation of the whole of man, making of him the Biblical "Holy" man, the Occult's Initiate Master.

Wisdom is the "bride" of God. Only those who are willing and ready to Readjust their lives and proceed to do away with all that is unworthy, undesirable and not actually to their benefit, physically and Spiritually, can come into the comprehension of the Wisdom whereby, like Solomon, they will be given, or come into possession of, all that is worthwhile.

Man is, essentially, the lord and ruler of his destiny. This lordship is, however, like a two-edged sword; it cuts two ways. If wielded in the right direction, in accordance with the Divine Law, then the trend is ever forward, ever upward, ever toward freedom from all that is unworthy and undesirable, and toward the attainment of true lordship; mastery of all he (man) surveys.

On the contrary, if turned in the wrong direction, this lordship leads ever downward into greater slavery and greater weakness of the self; into greater degradation and degeneration, and into the toils of those who will benefit by this weakness and lack of self-government and self-direction, until finally the depths are reached and the personality itself is lost.

Free Will offers man every opportunity to become a Super man, a Master among men, a "select" or an "elect" among men. The keys to this achievement are in Love, manifesting actively as desire to achieve or become, and a willingness, a readiness, to make every effort to accomplish and bring into manifestation all material and Spiritual possibilities inherent from the Divine source.
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