The Science of the Sacraments
by
C.W. Leadbeater
Unquestionably the greatest of the many aids
which Christ has provided for His people is the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
commonly called the Mass— the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most
up lifting of the Christian ceremonies. It benefits not only the individual,
as do the other Sacraments, but the entire congregation; it is of use not
once only, like Baptism or Confirmation, but is intended for the helping of
every churchman all his life long; and in addition to that, it affects the
whole neighbourhood surrounding the church in which it is celebrated.
Men may ask us, as their children asked the
Israelites of old: “What mean ye by this Service?” What is this Eucharist
which you celebrate? We aught to be able to answer such a question
intelligently; but in order to do so we must study certain aspects of the
subject which have been generally forgotten; we abstract ourselves
altogether from any limited or selfish point of view; we must realize that
our religion is primarily intended to enable us to do loyal and fruitful
service to our Lord and Master.
It must be remembered that true religion has
always an objective side; it acts not only from within by stimulating the
hearts and minds of its votaries, but also from without by arranging that
uplifting and refining influences shall play constantly upon all their
vehicles; nor does it confine its efforts to its own adherents, but also
seeks through them to influence the ignorant and heedless world around. The
temple or church is meant to be not only a place of worship, but also a
centre of magnetic radiation through which spiritual force can be poured out
upon a whole district.
It is necessary that such radiation should be
done as economically as possible. The curious unscientific idea of miracles
which has obtained among Christians for centuries has had a paralysing
effect upon ecclesiastical thought, and has prevented intelligent
comprehension of the method adopted by Christ in providing for His church.
We should realize that such provision is made through the action of
intermediate Powers, whose resources are by no means infinite, however
stupendous they may be in comparison with ours. It is consequently the
actual duty of such Powers to economize that force, and therefore to do what
They are appointed to do in the easiest possible manner. For example, in
this outpouring of spiritual force, it would be distinctly wasteful to pour
it down indiscriminately everywhere like rain, because that would require
the effort of its materialization to a lower level at thousands of places at
once. It is obviously far more practical to establish at certain points
definite magnetic centres, where the machinery of such materialization may
be permanently arranged, so that when force is poured out from above it can
be at once distributed without unnecessary waste in the erection of
temporary machinery.
The plan adopted by the Christ with regard to
this religion is that a special compartment of the great reservoir of
spiritual force is set apart for its use, and that a certain order of
officials is empowered, by the use of appointed ceremonies, words and signs
of power, to draw upon it for the benefit of mankind. The scheme chosen for
passing on this power is the Sacrament of Ordination, which will be
explained in a later chapter. Anyone, to whom the whole idea of a reservoir
of spiritual force is quite new, is referred to the account there given.
Through the ceremony of the Eucharist, each
time it is celebrated, there passes forth into the world a wave of peace and
strength, the effect of which can hardly be overrated, and we can scarcely
be in error in regarding this as the primary object of the Service, for it
is achieved at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist, whether it be High
or Low, whether the Priest be alone in his private oratory or ministering to
a vast congregation in some magnificent cathedral.
This idea is confirmed by the fact that when
we thus meet together in the church we say that we have come to join in
Divine Service. I believe that many people when they employ that phrase
think that the service meant is the ascription of praise and worship to God;
but it is hardly correct to describe that as service. It is very meet, right
and our bounden duty that we should offer praise, humble worship and
thanksgiving to the utmost of our power to the great Lord of all. It is a
most excellent thing for us and a great benefit to our evolution; yet it
would be unworthy and even blasphemous to suppose that an Infinite Being can
derive any gratification from mere adulation; but when we meet together in
order to build a thought-from or eucharistic edifice (as will later be
described), through which His power can more easily be outpoured, we see at
once the appropriateness of the word “service,” for we realize that we are
literally offering ourselves as volunteers in His great army, and that in
however humble a capacity, at however infinite a distance, we are actually
becoming fellow-workers together with Him—surely the highest honour and the
greatest privilege that can ever fall to the lot of man. It is significant
that the literal meaning of the word “liturgy” is public work, the latter
part of the word having precisely the same derivation as “energy”.
Another object is the effect produced upon
those who are present at the Service, and a third is the still greater
result obtained in the case of those who partake of the Holy Sacrament; but
about these I shall write later. We have also to bear in mind its aspect as
a wonderful and stately symbol, reminding us of the descent of the Second
Person of the Trinity into matter, and also of the sacrifice of the Christ
in taking a body and living a painfully restricted physical life in order to
set before us in a new form the good news of the Ancient Wisdom. Devout
fathers of the Church have thought that in the ritual of the Eucharist they
could trace an allegorical representation of the alleged earthly life of the
Christ. I am not in any way concerned to deny the truth of such suggestions
or even to minimize their importance, but I wish to emphasize the aspect of
the ceremony as an opportunity offered to us—an opportunity of work for God
and for the world; to consider its actual effect upon various planes, and to
describe something of the mechanism by means of which the effect is
produced.
If this mechanism is clearly understood by
Church members, they will find that they can usefully and efficiently
co-operate with the clergy in a wonderfully beautiful piece of unselfish
work, thereby not only greatly advancing their own evolution, but also
distinctly ameliorating the mental and moral atmosphere of the city or
countryside in which they live. When we realize how fine an opportunity is
here offered to us, we shall see that it would be foolish, and indeed wrong,
not to take advantage of it as often and as fully as we can. but in order to
do that, some study and some mental effort are needed; and it is to help
those who are in earnest to a fuller comprehension of the subject that this
book is written.
The particular method devised for the
reception and distribution of this down-pouring of energy is derived from
the Mysteries of some of the older religions. It has been a favourite plan
with them to convey influence from the Deity to His worshippers by means of
specially consecrated food or drink— an obviously useful expedient, when the
object is that the force should thoroughly permeate the man's physical body,
and bring it into tune with the change which is simultaneously being
introduced into the higher vehicles. To express in the strongest manner
conceivable the intimacy of the relation between the Second Person of the
blessed Trinity and the worshippers, and also to commemorate His eternal
Sacrifice (for He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”),
that which is eaten and drunk is called mystically His very Body and Blood.
Perhaps to our taste in the present day some other expression might seem
more attractive, but it would be ungrateful for the Christian to cavil at
the symbolism adopted, when he is receiving so great a benefit.
Each of the great Services of the Church (and
more especially the celebration of the Holy Eucharist) was originally
designed to build up a mighty ordered form, expressing and surrounding a
central idea—a form which would facilitate and direct the radiation of the
influence upon the entire village which was grouped round the church. The
idea of the Service may be said to be doubled: first, to receive and
distribute the great outpouring of spiritual force, and secondly, to gather
up the devotion of the people, and offer it before the throne of God.
In the case of the Eucharist, as celebrated by
the Roman or the Greek Church, the different parts of the Service are
grouped round the central act of consecration distinctly with a view to the
symmetry of the great form produced, as well as to their direct effect upon
the worshippers. The alterations made in the English Prayer book in 1552
were evidently the work of people who were ignorant of this side of the
question, for they altogether disturbed that symmetry—which is one reason
why it is an eminently desirable thing for the Church of England that it
should as speedily as possible so arrange its affairs as to obtain
permission to use as an alternative the Mass of King Edward VI, according to
the Prayer Book of 1549. That is by no means a perfect Service, but it is at
least better than the later revision, which is in many ways lamentable
defective, for it neither provides adequate material for its eucharistic
form, nor prays for an Angel to utilize such matter as it does supply. Its
compilers seem to have constructed the Service solely for the benefit of
those present at it, and to have missed altogether the enormously wider
unselfish intention which was so clearly in the mind of the Founder.
One of the most important effects of the
Church Service, both upon the immediate congregation and upon the
surrounding district, has always been the creation of these beautiful and
devotional thought forms, through which the down-pouring of life and
strength from higher worlds can more readily take effect. These are better
made and their efficiency enhanced when a considerable portion of those who
take part in the Service do so with intelligent comprehension, yet even when
the devotion is ignorant the result is still beautiful and uplifting.
Many of the sects which unhappily broke away
from the Church entirely lost sight of this inner and more important side of
public worship. The idea of the Service offered to God almost disappeared,
and its place was largely taken by the fanatical preaching of narrow
theological dogmas which were always unimportant and frequently ridiculous.
Readers have sometimes expressed surprise that those who write from the
standpoint of the inner vision should seem so decidedly to favour the
practices of the Church, rather than those of the various sects whose
thought is in many ways more liberal. The reason is shown precisely in this
consideration of the inner side of things on which we are now engaged.
The student of that higher side of life which
is as yet hidden from most of us recognizes most fully the value of the
effort which made liberty of conscience and of thought possible; yet he
cannot but see that those who cast aside the splendid old forms and Services
of the Church lost in that very act almost the whole of one most important
side of their religion, and made of it essentially a selfish and limited
thing —a question chiefly of “personal salvation” for the individual,
instead of the grateful offering of worship to God, which is in itself the
never-failing channel through which the divine love is poured forth upon
all.
The attainment of mental freedom was a
necessary step in the process of human evolution; the clumsy and brutal
manner which it was obtained, and the foolishness of the excesses into which
gross ignorance led its champions, are responsible for many of the
deplorable results which we see at the present day. The same savage,
senseless lust for wanton destruction that moved Cromwell's brutal soldiers
to break priceless statures and irreplaceable stained glass has also
deprived the English Church to a great extent of the valuable effect
produced in higher worlds by perpetual prayers for the dead, and by the
practically universal devotion of the common people in the Middle Ages to
the Saints and Angels. Then the great mass of the people was religious—even
though ignorantly religious; now it is frankly and even boastfully
irreligious. Perhaps this transitory stage is necessary, but it can hardly
be considered in itself either beautiful or satisfactory.
If religion means “a binding back,” we must
realize that it is meant not only to bind us individually back to God; it is
meant to bind the whole of God's world back to Him; therefore we, if we be
truly religious, we must be unselfish; we must be working together with Him,
our Lord, for that glorious final consummation. We have come to think of
religion too much as though it were only prayer and praise, or only
devotion. Let us remember the proverb Laborare est orare, which means “to
labour is to pray,” while we do not forget the companion saying Bene orasse
est bene laborasse—”to have prayed well is to have worked well”. We call our
religion largely prayer and praise; the religion of Ancient Egypt was called
“the hidden work,” and the very same thing is still called by the name of
work by another mighty organization, which, although it does not announce
itself as a religion, is labouring for the same purpose—is also offering its
worship to Him who is Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, just as truly and as
beautifully as the Church offers hers.
So let us learn to serve with our minds as
well as with our bodies. Let us try to understand this great and glorious
Service which Christ gives to us not only for our own helping, but as a
wondrous opportunity, a magnificent privilege, that we may share His divine
work of service and sanctification with Him.
The
eucharistic thought-edifice to which I have referred is constructed during
and largely by means of the due performance of the ritual. This edifice
differs somewhat from any of those figured in the book Thought-Forms,1
though it has much in common with the great music-forms depicted at the end
of that work. At a Low Celebration the material for the building is provided
by the thought and devotion of the Priest, aided by that of his congregation
(if he has any); but at a High Celebration the music and other accessories
play a prominent part in its erection. though the celebrant's words and
feelings are still the controlling force, and in all cases there is a
certain amount of angelic guidance and assistance. This edifice is
constructed of matter belonging to various planes—mental, astral and etheric—and
at a later stage of the Service the matter of still higher levels is
introduced, as will presently be explained. So many factors enter into this
manufacture that there is room for wide differences in size, style,
decoration and colouring, but the general plan is always recognizably the
same. It suggests the shape of a basilica; indeed, it is said that the
Church of Santa Sophia at Constantinople was erected in imitation of some of
these spiritual edifices. (Plate 1.)
Thought-Forms, by Annie Besant and C. W.
Leadbeater. Those to whom the subject of the building of form in higher
matter by the power of thought is new are recommended to read that work.
The completed structure is usually
approximately square in ground plane, with a number of recessed openings or
doors on each of its four sides, crowned by a large central dome, with
smaller domes or sometimes minarets at its corners. The uprush of force at
the Sanctus so magnifies the dome and its attendant cupolas that it becomes
the important part of the edifice, and after that change the building below
is rather the plinth supporting a dagoba than a church surmounted by a dome.
This gigantic thought-form is gradually built
up during the earlier portion of the Service. The whole ritual is aimed at
rightly building this form, charging it with divine force, and then
discharging it; and each canticle or recitation contributes its share to
this work, in addition to the part which it bears in the preparation of the
hearts and minds of Priest and people. The edifice swells up from below like
a bubble which is being blown. Broadly speaking it may be said that the
opening Canticle provides its pavement and the Introit the material for its
walls and roof, while the Kyrie supplies the subsidiary bowls or cupolas,
and the Gloria the great central dome. The details of the edifice vary with
the form of Service employed, and to some extent with the size and devotion
of the congregation. That illustrated in this book is the result of the
revised Liturgy as used by the Liberal Catholic Church. That made by the
Roman Mass is the same in general appearance, but the unfortunate
expressions which so constantly mar its beauty have a distinctly prejudicial
effect upon this spiritual architecture.
As every student of history knows, in the form
in which it is now used by the Roman Church, the Mass is not a coherent
whole, but a conglomeration of parts taken from various earlier forms, and
its wording is in some places trivial and quite unworthy of the august
reality which it should express. But though the actual wording has passed
through many changes, the efficacy of the underlying magic has not been
fundamentally impaired. It still achieves the collection and radiation of
divine force for which its Founder intended it, though unquestionably a
larger amount of invaluable love and devotion might also be outpoured if all
the fear and helplessness were removed from its phrasing, all the abject
appeals for “mercy,” and the requests to God to do for us a number of things
which we ought to set to work to do for ourselves. An endeavour has been
made in the revised Liturgy used by the Liberal Catholic Church to introduce
some improvement in this respect.
The Service used by the Church of England is
sadly maimed and truncated, for it is evident that the so-called reformers
knew nothing whatever of the real intention of the grand ritual which they
so mercilessly mutilated, and so, though the Orders of the Church of England
are valid and her Priests therefore have the power to draw upon the great
reservoir of spiritual force, the edifice which she builds for its reception
and distribution is seriously imperfect and comparatively ill-adapted to its
purpose. This does not prevent the outpouring, but it diminishes the amount
available for radiation, because much of the force has to be expended by the
Angel-helpers in constructing machinery which should have been prepared for
them by us.
This thought-edifice plays in the Service
somewhat the same part as the condenser in a plant for the distillation of
water. The steam pours out from the retort, and would dissipate itself in
the surrounding air if it were not received into a flask or chamber, in
which it can be cooled down and condensed into water. The chamber is
necessary to contain the steam while it is being transmuted into a lower and
denser form, so that it may be available for ordinary physical use.
Or again, if we wish to utilize the power of
the steam, we must collect it in some sort of container, so that we can set
up a pressure, so that we can bring it under control, and send out its jets
in the desired direction. Exactly the same thing is true of this much
lighter force, but as it acts in matter far finer than any that we know, no
physical vessel could possibly retain it; to hold it, the vessel must itself
be made of the matter of these higher planes, which can be manipulated only
by thought. It is precisely such an utensil which is constructed for us on a
gigantic scale by the Angel of the Lord whose help we invoke.
This is a mechanical age, and our thoughts are
accustomed to run along mechanical lines. A man can learn to drive a
motor-car without knowing much about its interior economy; we can turn on
the electric light without knowing what electricity is; but nevertheless the
man who understands the machinery which he is using is unquestionably more
efficient and serviceable. The whole ceremony of the Holy Eucharist may from
this point of view be regarded as the construction and utilization of a
magnificent machine for the liberation of force, and its direction for the
helping of the world; and to comprehend something of what this machine is,
how it is built and how it is intended to work, will undoubtedly enable us
to co-operate more intelligently in the scheme. Be it understood, then, that
the Angel of the Eucharist erects for us what is called a thought-form of
subtle matter, inside which the divine force can be stored, and can
accumulate until it can be directed and used, just a steam accumulates in a
boiler, or in the dome of a locomotive.
The chief object of the sacrifice of the Holy
Eucharist is to offer an opportunity for an especial down-pouring of divine
force from the very highest levels, and to provide such a vehicle for that
force as may enable those Angel-helpers to use it for certain definite
purposes in our physical world, as will be explained later. Water spilt upon
the ground is of little use except to irrigate that ground; if we want it
for other uses we must provide a vessel to contain it. Also, a form in which
the force can be collected is needed in order that the Angel may see what
the total amount is, and calculate how much he can afford to apportion to
each of the purposes to which it is to be devoted.
The objects which we set before us in
preparing this revised form of the Liturgy were to retain the general
outline of the form which it makes, and the working of the old magic—the
effects of the various acts at different stages, the descent and return of
the Angel of the Presence, and so on—but to remove from it all the grey of
fear and the brown of selfishness, and to some extent to change the style of
its architecture from classical to Gothic. Upon investigation we discovered
that the Great Ones inspired the wandering bands of Freemasons (who built
most of the great cathedrals of Europe) with the idea of a Gothic style,
precisely as a physical-plane attempt to guide them towards the more
jubilant and aspirational thought-form which it was wished that their
religious Services should erect; but they were singularly slow in seeing the
analogy.
The general attitude of the Christians at that
time was obsequious and shrinking; many of them regarded God as a being who
had to be propitiated, and in their prayers they begged Him to hear them for
a moment before destroying them, to have mercy upon them, and generally they
acted and spoke as though He were an ill-conditioned tyrant instead of a
loving Father. So their devotional thought made on the whole a flat-roofed
building. We saw that its present surface, as constructed by the Roman
ritual, is often a dead level of nervousness and anxiety, full of ugly
hollows and pits of depression caused by the exaggerated confessions of
vileness and abject appeals for mercy, dishonouring alike to God and to the
men whom He has made in His image. Every such hollow should be replaced by a
pinnacle of fervid devotion, up-drawn by utter confidence in the love of
God, so that the thought-form should show a forest of gleaming spires, like
Milan Cathedral, instead of the flat or sagging roof which it often bears at
present, in order that by sympathetic influence its soaring lines might
guide men's thoughts upward, and wean them away from servile fear to trust,
adoration and love.
We saw how evil had been the effect upon the
thought-form of the revengeful, comminatory or cringing passages from the
Hebrew psalms, and it was especially impressed upon us that now words should
be put into the mouth of the Priest or the congregation which they could not
really mean.
We have tried to carry out these ideas to the
best of our ability, and our labour has been rewarded by greater symmetry in
the edifice erected, and distinctly increased adaptability to its purpose.
It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the intelligent co-operation of
the congregation with the Priest is a most valuable factor in this great
work, for a grand outpouring of force and a magnificent and effective
collective thought-form can be made by a gathering of men who join heartily
in a Service. There is generally considerable difficulty in obtaining this
result, because the members of the average congregation are entirely
untrained in concentration, and consequently the collective thought-form is
usually a broken and chaotic mass, instead of a splendid and organized
whole.
Devotion, too, whether individual or
collective, varies much in quality. The devotion of the primitive savage,
for example, is usually greatly mingled with fear, and the chief idea in his
mind in connection with it is to appease a deity who might otherwise prove
vindictive. But little better than this is much of the devotion of men who
consider themselves civilized and Christian, for it is a kind of unholy
bargain—the offering to the Deity of a certain amount of devotion if He on
His side will extend a certain amount of protection or assistance.
Such devotion, being entirely selfish and
grasping in its nature, produces results only in the lower types of astral
matter; and exceedingly unpleasant-looking results they are in many cases.
The thought-forms which they create are often shaped like grappling hooks,
and their forces move always in closed curves, reacting only upon the man
who sends them forth, and bringing back to him whatever small result they
may be able to achieve. The true, pure, unselfish devotion is an out-rush of
feeling which never returns to the man who gave it forth, but constitutes
itself in very truth a cosmic force producing widespread results in higher
worlds.
Though the force itself never returns, the man
who originates it becomes the centre of a downpour of divine energy which
comes in response, and so in his act of devotion he has truly blessed
himself, even though at the same time he has also blessed many others as
well, and in addition to that, if his thought runs along Christian lines, he
has had the honour of contributing to the special reservoir which the Christ
sets apart for the work of His Church. Anyone who possessed the book
Thought-Forms may see in it an attempt to represent the splendid blue spire
made by devotion of this type as it rushes upwards, and he will readily
understand how it opens a way for a definite outpouring of the divine force.
God is pouring forth His wonderful vital
energy on every level, in every world, and naturally the outpouring
belonging to a higher world is stronger and fuller and less restricted than
that upon the world below. Normally, each wave of this great force acts in
its own world alone, and cannot (or at least does not) move transversely
from one world or plane to another; but it is precisely by means of
unselfish thought and feeling, whether it be of devotion or of affection,
that a temporary channel is provided through which the force normally
belonging to a higher world may descend to a lower, and may produce there
results which, without it, could never have come to pass.
Every man who is truly unselfish frequently
makes himself such a channel, though of course on a comparatively small
scale; but the mighty act of devotion of a whole vast congregation, when it
is really united, and utterly without thought of self, produces the same
result on an enormously greater scale. Sometimes, though rarely, this hidden
side of religious Services may be seen in full activity, and no one who has
even once had the privilege of seeing such a splendid manifestation as this
can for a moment doubt that the hidden side of a Church Service is of an
importance infinitely greater than anything purely physical.
Such an one would see the dazzling blue spire
or dome of the highest type of astral matter rushing upwards into the sky,
for above the image of it in stone which sometimes crowns the physical
edifice in which the worshippers are gathered; he would see the blinding
glory which pours down through it and spreads out like a great flood of
living light over all the surrounding region. Naturally, the diameter and
height of the spire of devotion determine the opening made for the descent
of the higher life, while the force which expresses itself in the rate at
which the devotional energy rushes upwards has its relation to the rate at
which the corresponding down-pouring can take place. The sight is indeed
wonderful, and he who sees it can never doubt again that the unseen
influences are more than the seen, nor can he fail to realize that the world
which goes on its way heedless of the devotional man, or perhaps even
scornful of him, owes to him all the time far more than it knows.
No other Service has an effect at all
comparable to that of the celebration of the Eucharist, though great musical
forms may of course appear at any Service where music is used. In all the
other Services (except indeed the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament) the
thought-forms developed and the general good which is done depend to a still
greater extent upon the devotion of the people. When it happens that a
number of students of this inner aspect of Christianity belong to such an
assembly, they can be of great use to their fellow-worshippers by
consciously gathering together the scattered streams of devotion and welding
them into one harmonious and mighty current.
In our liturgy, as in that of the Church of
Rome, and Angel is invoked to superintend this welding and to direct the
construction of the edifice. For example, in the rare case above described,
he would seize upon that splendid outburst of devotion, and instead of
allowing it to flash upward in that glorious blue spire, he would deftly
fashion it into a structure which would presently become the vehicle for a
down-pouring perhaps ten times or even a hundred times greater than the
response which it would have earned in its original form. The Angel can and
will supply what is wanting, and rectify our shortcomings, but it is
obviously desirable that we should facilitate his work as far as possible.
The consideration of the co-operation of the
congregation should outweigh all others in determining the selection of the
music used at the various Services. Elaborate music indeed produces
far-reaching results on higher levels, and has a wonderful effect in
stirring and uplifting those who fully understand and appreciate its
beauties; but at this stage of the evolution of humanity those must always
be the few rather than the many; and even those few should realize that it
is not principally for their personal consolation and upliftment that they
come to church, but to work in God's Service for the helping of their
fellow-men. They should learn to forget themselves and their individual
wishes, to sink the personality and work as part of a whole, as a boy does
when he joins a cricket eleven, a football fifteen, or a crew of a racing
boat. He must act not for his own honour and glory, but for the good of the
club; he may be called upon absolutely to set aside his own wishes and to
sacrifice opportunities of brilliant display or enjoyment. So must we learn
to efface the lower self, and to work as a congregation in real brotherhood
and co-operation.
There can be no question as to the comparative
effectiveness of the two methods. A simple musical Service in which a
hundred people join heartily and with intention is of far greater use to the
world than a display of the most magnificent music to which thousands are
listening, even though they listen with delight and profit to themselves.
Careful and repeated investigation into the result in the inner worlds has
made it abundantly clear that though occasional sacred concerts have an
important place in individual evolution, the Service of the church should be
so arranged that all can co-operate heartily and intelligently in the work
which it is intended to do.
A simple form of musical Service should be
adopted, and its principal features should remain unchanged, so that every
one may become thoroughly familiar with them. The congregation should be
well instructed as to the meaning and effect of the different parts of the
ceremony, and the intention which they are to hold in mind at each part. In
this way even a small body of people may do efficient and useful work, and
become a real centre of blessing to a large district; and they themselves
may be helped to an almost incalculable extent if they can be induced to
join heartily in stirring and well-chosen hymns and chants.
Not all simple music is equally suitable. That
will obviously give least trouble to the Angel which of itself produces a
form approximating to that which he desires. It must, of course, vary in
expression with the words, yet it must always be joyous and uplifting.
Lugubrious, droning, indeterminate passages should be avoided at all costs.
None of the existing settings exactly fit our words, but some can be adapted
without much difficulty. No doubt Liberal Catholic composers will presently
arise who will produce precisely what is wanted; meantime a tentative
Service[1] has been published which, although far
from perfect musically, has been used for several years with exceedingly
good practical results.
The earnest Priest must endeavour to secure
for his church the performance of such a musical Service as will
economically but efficiently furnish a sufficient amount of the best
available material for the use of the Angel of the Eucharist; but he must be
constantly on his guard against the well-intentioned but selfish efforts of
his choir to introduce ambitious music in which the congregation cannot
join. I do not mean that there is any objection to the insertion (on a
Festival, for example) of a shorter and appropriate anthem, to be sung by
the choir alone; but the music of the Liturgy itself should always be so
arranged that the people can take their full part in it. If an anthem be
used, great care should be exercised in its selection, as so many contain
words which are opposed to the whole spirit of our Service—references to the
alleged wrath of God, appeals for mercy, and expressions of fear or
sickening servility. If such an addition be made, the best place for it
seems to be after the gospel, either before or in place of the sermon.
The singers of our Church should realize that
they have a singularly fine opportunity of working in the Service of God for
the helping of their less talented brethren; and they must devote themselves
to that work, seeking neither vainglorious display of their powers, nor a
titillation of the ears and an upliftment of the heart for themselves, but
acting with absolute unselfishness, and thereby following in the footsteps
of their Master the Christ. The Priest will do well to encourage the study
of music among his congregation, so that he may be degrees strengthen that
part of his Service; he may give as many educative concerts of more
elaborate music as he chooses, but he must never lose the priceless
co-operation of his flock in the actual Services of his church.
It will be understood that a church which has
been consecrated, and is in constant use for the various Divine Services, is
already a haven of refuge from the ceaseless whirl of ordinary thought
outside, and that its atmosphere is highly charged with devotion.
Nevertheless the people who come into it day by day bring with them a
certain proportion of their private worries and troubles; their minds are
full of all sorts of thoughts and ideas connected with the outer world—not
at all necessarily bad thoughts, but thoughts which are not especially
religious in their nature. Some may even be weighed down by the
consciousness of failure, or of actual wrong-doing. It is therefore
desirable to make a special effort to purify the church before beginning the
Service.
For this reason it is always useful to
commence with a procession. The clergy and choir must obviously enter in an
orderly way and take their places, and when it is possible, it is well to
extend that necessary procession of entrance into a perambulation of the
church, because in that way the preliminary purification is greatly
assisted. and the congregation is helped to self-recollectedness, steadiness
of thought, and concentration upon the work in hand.
One of the most valuable factors in this
effort is the incense; it has already been blessed by the Priest or the
Bishop, and consequently its smoke carries with it purifying and uplifting
influences wherever its fragrance penetrates. If a Bishop be present, he
pours his blessing upon the people (using the sign of the cross) as the
procession passes among them; and although that duty is not laid upon the
Priest, he will nevertheless be able greatly to help his people if, as he
walks in the procession, he holds in mind a strong sense of peace, and an
earnest wish that his congregation may share that feeling with him.
The effect of a processional hymn upon the
people is good in others ways, too, for it tends to bring all into
harmonious vibration and to turn their thoughts into similar channels. It is
somewhat equivalent to the tuning of the strings of a violin, as the singing
has a decided effect in keying up their emotions and thoughts. Of course it
is impossible to bring a mixed congregation absolutely into unison so far as
their thoughts and feelings are concerned, but they should at least be
brought into tune with one another, so that they blend into a harmonious
whole, even as do the varied instruments of a large orchestra.
The strong swinging vibrations of the hymn
suppress such thought-undulations as do not agree with them, and the passing
of the choir so closely among the people stimulates the latter to take a
heartier and more vigorous part in the Service, and so in this way
congregational singing is an excellent preparation for the work which is to
follow. The hymn builds in higher matter a series of rectangular forms drawn
with mathematical precision, following one another in definite order like
the links of some mighty chain; and this steady repetition acts like the
repeated blows of a hammer on the head of a nail, and drives home the lesson
which it is intended to inculcate. Again, the splendid appearance of a
well-organized procession, the colour and lights, the rich banners and
gorgeous vestments, all combine to fire the imagination, to raise the
people’s thoughts above the prosaic level of ordinary life, and to help
their devotion and enthusiasm.
Asperges
Psalm
ROMAN CATHOLIC
Before the Chief Mass on Sundays.
|
LIBERAL CATHOLIC
Before all Eucharistic Services.
|
Antiphon.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop and I
shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me and I shall be made whiter than
snow. |
Antiphon.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, O
Lord, and I shall be clean: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. |
Psalm
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy
great mercy. |
Psalm.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills:
from whence cometh my help.
|
|
My help cometh even from the Lord: who
hath made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
and He that keepeth thee will not sleep. Behold, He thatr keepeth
Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep
The Lord Himself is thy keeper; the Lord
is thy defence upon thy right hand. So that the sun shall not smite thee
by day: neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all
evil; Yea, it is even He that shall keep thy soul. The Lord shall
preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth for
evermore. |
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son.
and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen |
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son.
and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall
be, world without end. Amen |
Antiphon.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with
hyssop and I shall be cleansed:
thou shalt wash me and I shall
be made whiter than snow. |
Antiphon.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with
hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be
clean: Thou shalt wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow. |
The Liturgy begins with the asperges, or
purificatory ceremony. Asperges is simply the Latin for the opening words
of the antiphon "Thou shalt sprinkle," for it is constantly the custom in the
Church to use the first word or words of a psalm or canticle as its name.
The procession having already stirred up the
people and assisted them to become united in thought and feeling, the celebrant
by means of the asperges makes a special effort to clear out of the church any
accumulation of worldly thought. He does this by sprinkling holy water, which
has been strongly magnetised with a view to this sort of work.
Upon reaching the sanctuary the Priest kneels
before the Altar and sings the opening words of the antiphon: "Thou shalt
sprinkle me," the choir and congregation continuing the melody from this point.
The Priest receives the aspergill, which has been dipped in the holy water, and,
after making with it the holy sign of the cross over himself, sprinkles the
Altar thrice, as it is especially necessary that this part of the church should
be carefully prepared for the reception of the tremendous force which is so soon
to radiate from it. He need not scatter any large quantity of water in so doing,
since the purification is produced less by the falling drops than by the will of
the priest directing the energy stored in the magnetized water. With each
throwing movement of the aspergill he aims this force in any desired direction,
and it flows immediately along the line laid down for it. In this way he can
direct a jet of force towards the cross above the tabernacle, across the Altar
to the candles, and so on. the clergy and choir are then aspersed, and finally
the congregation; in each case a rush of cleansing force is shot out, which is
capable of travelling, when aimed at the people, down to the very end of the
church, however large it may be. This outrush blows what looks like a vast flat
bubble of etheric and astro-mental matter, a thought-edifice, ethereal,
diaphanous—a bubble which just includes the congregation. (See Plate 2.) Inside
this the psychical atmosphere is purified, the bubble pushing back that which
has not been affected. In this way an area is cleared for the operations of the
Angel who will presently be invoked.
While the celebrant is performing this ceremony,
the choir and congregation are singing the hundred and twenty-first psalm, which
might be epitomized in a well-known phrase borrowed from another psalm: "Except
the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it; except the
Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." It emphasizes the thought
that only by the power of our Lord can evil be kept at a distance; the
implication obviously is that only by keeping our thought constantly fixed upon
Him can we preserve the condition of mental and astral purification which has
been established in the building by means of the asperges. As ever, the psalm is
provided with an antiphon, which indicates to us the thought which we should
hold in mind while singing it—in this case the thought of perfect purity.
Originally in the primitive Church the verses of
the psalm were sung by the Priest or by a cantor alone, while the antiphon was
repeated after each verse by the congregation as a kind of chorus or refrain,
and it was only at a somewhat later period that it was relegated to the
beginning and end of the psalm, as we have it now. So, having that intention of
extreme purity of thought and feeling in our minds all the while, we sing the
various verses of the psalm, which tell us that it is only by dwelling on the
thought of God and of the higher things that such purity can be maintained. The
idea here is not primarily that of general purity of life, eminently desirable
though that unquestionably is. It is rather the conception of purity of
intention—what we should describe as single-mindedness or one-pointedness. All
other thoughts must be rigorously banished, all inclination to wander must be
firmly checked, so that we may concentrate our energies upon the work which we
have in hand.
While these thoughts are steadily pouring forth
from the minds of Priest and people, the actual chanting of the words which
embody them is simultaneously producing its effect—strengthening, enlarging and
enriching the bubble blown by the effort of the Priest. (See Plate 3.) This
psalm is not necessary to the effectiveness of the cleansing; indeed, it will be
seen that in the shorter form of the Service we dispense with it altogether. But
when we have plenty of time at our disposal, it no doubt helps to gather
together the scattered thoughts of the people. We have to realize that sudden
and intense concentration of thought is not easy—is indeed scarcely possible—to
the untrained mind; most people need a little time and more than one effort
before they can raise their enthusiasm and their devotion to the highest point,
so that their forces are fully in action. The psalm is inserted to give time for
this "working up" to those who need it.
It is desirable to use for this psalm one of the
simplest of the Gregorian tones; the 6th, 1st ending, for example, has been
found satisfactory, or the 8th tone, 1st ending. (These numbers are according to
the system of the well-known Helmore Psalter) the clairvoyant who studies
the effect of ecclesiastical music can hardly fail to be struck with the
difference between the broken though glittering fragments of the Anglican chant,
and the splendid glowing uniformity of the Gregorian tone.
At the end of the psalm appears the ascription of
glory to the ever-blessed Trinity, with which it has been the custom of the
Church from very early days to close all its psalms and canticles. It calls for
no comment beyond the remark that "world without end" is a somewhat
unsatisfactory translation of per omnia sæcula sæculorum; which clearly
means exactly what it says: "throughout all ages of ages". The conception of the
aion or dispensation as the title of a long period of time was perfectly
familiar to the Greeks and Romans, as was also the further idea of a still far
greater period called an æon of æons—as we might poetically call ten thousand
years a century of centuries. So "through all ages of ages" is equivalent to
"throughout all eternity".
Here, too, we have for the first time in our
Service the work "Amen," by which the people are supposed to signify their
endorsement of what the Priest said. This is usually taken as a strong
asseveration; the words which Christ so often uses, translated in our English
version as "Verily, verily" are in the New Testament "Amen, Amen." This is not a
Greek but a Hebrew word; I am told that it exist in several of the Semitic
languages, with the meaning of certainty, truth, reliability. This is the only
interpretation which Western scholars recognize, but in the time of our Lord
there were those who attributed it to quite another source, who derived it from
one of the Egyptian Names of the Sun-God—Amen-ra. To swear by Amen was an
oath which none dared to break; none who called Amen to witness what he said
would venture to speak other than the truth; and so this formula, "By Amen I say
unto you," carried absolute conviction to the hearers. So when our Lord wished
to be especially emphatic, He used the form to which His audience was
accustomed, which could not fail to convince those who heard it. Spoken at the
end of a speech or a prayer, it conveyed the entire agreement and approbation of
those who used it: "By Amen, it is so," or "By Amen, we agree to it"; and so it
finally comes to be considered as an equivalent to "So be it," or "So it is." An
example of its earlier use may be seen in Isaiah lxv, 16, where the English
Authorized Version translates: "He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless
himself in the God of truth, and he that swearth in the earth shall swear by the
God of truth." The Hebrew word here translated "of truth" is Amen; so the real
statement is simply that people shall swear by the God Amen, precisely as was
done in ancient Egypt.
Versicles
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. Show us, O Lord, thy Mercy.
R. And give us thy salvation.
|
P. O Lord, open Thou our lips.
C. And our mouth shall shew
forth Thy praise. |
V. Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto
thee. |
P. Who shall ascent into the
hill of the Lord?
C. Even he that hath clean
hands and a pure heart. |
The Priest then sings the versicle; "O Lord,
open Thou our lips," and the choir responds: "And our mouth shall shew forth
Thy praise." This versicle has been used from an early period in Church
history at the beginning of one of the morning Services, though not in the
Mass. Its underlying idea is that it is only by the help of the divine power
in ourselves that we can hope to praise or worship at all worthily. When we
speak of the help of the Lord we should try to understand that we can draw
upon the divine power without—upon what is commonly called the Power of
God—only because we ourselves are God also, because we are fundamentally
part of Him.
The intention of this versicle is that the
Divine within man may aroused to come into harmony with the Divine without,
while the response tells us that after our lips are unsealed, the first use
we should make of speech is to offer praise unto the Lord. It is important
to notice that not prayer for benefits, but praise, is the first
thing we should offer. The celebrant then sings: "Who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord?" meaning by this: Who can usefully and suitably ascent the
steps leading to the Altar? Immediately the answer comes: "Even he that hath
clean hands and a pure heart." Now, with this conviction firmly implanted
within himself, the celebrant turns to the people and for the first time in
the Service gives the Minor Benediction.
Dominus Vobiscum
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
|
P. The Lord by with you.
C. And with thy spirit .
|
Anyone who watches attentively the Roman
Service of the Mass can hardly fail to notice the frequency with which the
celebrant turns round to the congregation and utters the words:
Dominus vobiscum ("The Lord be with you.")
The people reply:
Et com spiritu tuo ("And with thy spirit,")
a sentence which seems to need revision, since the Spirit is the sole
possessor, and can never by any possibility be the thing possessed. A more
accurate expression would be : "And with thee as a spirit," The early
Church, however, did not speak with such careful precision, but adopted
rather the phrasing of the Hebrew Psalmist, who not infrequently adjures his
soul to bless the Lord, apparently identifying himself with his body.
St. Paul was better instructed, for he writes
of body, soul and spirit as the threefold division of man, though even he
still puts them as possessions of the man.
A more scientific statement is that the Spirit
(sometimes called the Monad) is the divine Spark in each of us which is the
cause of all the rest, and consequently the true man; that this Spirit puts
down into levels lower than his own a partial manifestation of himself which
we call the soul or the ego; that this soul unfolds its latent divine
qualities by many successive lives in still lower world, in the course of
which it clothes itself in vehicles suitable to that world, to which we give
the name of body. So at any given moment of physical life man, the Spirit
possesses a soul and body—indeed, several bodies, for St. Paul furthers
explains: "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." These
words are not well translated; but the context makes it clear that by the
"natural body" he means this garment of flesh with which we are all well
acquainted, and that by the term "spiritual body"—divided by later
investigators into the astral and the mental vehicles.
However much the idea may have been obscured
in the course of the ages, it is certain that the Service of the Holy
Eucharist is intended to be a coherent ceremony, moving steadily onward to a
climax, and skillfully calculated to produce certain magnificent effects.
Regarding the ritual scientifically from that point of view, one might
perhaps wonder a little at the frequent repetition of a remark which, though
beautiful in itself, seems at first sight to have no obvious connection with
the splendid purpose of the great spiritual act of which it forms a part.
The phrase occurs no less than nine (in the
shorter form, three) times in the course of the Liturgy, with a slight but
important addition in one case—the salutation of peace—to which I shall
refer when we come to it. The Service as a whole centres round the
tremendous outpouring of power which comes at the Consecration. All that is
said and done before that moment is intended in various ways to lead up to
it. and all that happens afterwards is concerned with the conservation of
distribution of the power. the idea of preparing the Priest to perform the
great act is undoubtedly present, but also, and more prominently that of
preparing the congregation to receive it and to profit by it. This
preparation of the people is achieved largely by drawing them more and more
closely into magnetic harmony with the Priest—by bringing them mentally and
emotionally into sympathy with him in the mighty work which he is doing. To
assist in the steady augmentation of power all the time, and to promote the
ever-increasing harmony of vibration between Priest and people, are the
objects of this constantly repeated Minor Benediction.
To one possessing clairvoyant vision its value
is clearly apparent, for when the celebrant turns to the people and sings or
speaks the prescribed words, a powerful current of force rushes down over
the congregation and then a moment later surges back towards the Altar,
greatly increased in volume, because it sweeps up and bears with it all the
little jets of force which individual worshippers have generated, which
would otherwise float upward and be dissipated. It all converges upon the
Priest with the words: "And with thy spirit": and the rush is sometimes so
strong that, if he be at all sensitive, he is almost staggered by it, but
his duty is to receive it into himself and hold it for the use of the Angel
whom he is about to invoke.
This interaction is most effective in welding
celebrant, assistants and congregation into one harmonious whole—a veritable
living instrument to be used in the magic of the Eucharist. These words are
repeated throughout the Service whenever the Priest has performed some act
or uttered some prayer which will exalt his emotions or fill him with some
particular force, the idea being that he is able through the Minor
Benediction to share this exaltation or force with the people, and thereby
lift them nearer to God. In this case it is the idea and realization of
purity and concentration which is to be shared: the comprehension of the
necessity of those virtues, and the determination to attain them.
Note
The celebrant begins by blowing the asperges bubble, and the psalm which is
meanwhile being sung, and the versicles following it, establish a rapport
between him and the congregation. This condition is used to enable the
celebrant, at the Minor Benediction which immediately follows, to throw out
a net over his people, which he can hold them as a driver holds his horses
with the reins. This net is of very great use in the Service, and it is
along its lines of communication that the celebrant sends out the power at
every subsequent repetition of this sentence—"The Lord be with you""—which
is so effective in preserving the harmony between himself and his
congregation, and, at the same time in keeping the pressures of force, at
the Altar and in the body of the church, more or less equalized. This net is
constantly being revivified, and is made to glow strongly by each repetition
of the Dominus Vobiscum, until the Offertorium, when it is no longer
needed. When a Bishop says Mass, he seems to include the people on a higher
level with his net than a Priest does. And when a Bishop is present at a
Priest's Mass, he is not altogether included—as it were, not quite
submerged—by this outpouring. From this, his more lofty vantage-ground, he
is able to do much to help. In the shorter form of the asperges, the
sentence "Brethren, let us now lay the foundation of our temple" makes this
net.
The Angel Of The
Eucharist
The Priest now turns to another part of the
reparation and says:
Collect
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Let us pray.
Mercifully hear us, O holy
Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God: and vouchsafe to send
thy holy angel from heaven to guard, nourish, protect, visit,
and defend all that dwell in this dwelling. Through Christ our
Lord.
R. Amen |
Let us pray.
Guide us, O Almighty Father, in
all our doings, and from Thy heavenly throne send down Thy holy
Angel to be with Thy people who have met together to serve and
to worship Thee. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen. |
The phrase "Let us pray" is a signal given by
the celebrant to the people when he is about to say a prayer, and it is
therefore time for them to kneel. Such a sign was even more necessary in the
primitive Church when the people were not supplied with copies of the
liturgy (nor, in most cases, able to read them if thy had had them), and
were therefore obliged to rely entirely upon the Priest for directions as to
the position which they should assume. Indeed for a considerable time there
was no written liturgy, and each celebrant filled in extemporaneously the
outline of the ceremony as given by the Christ.
That Christ did give such an outline is
certain from clairvoyant investigation. The account of the institution of
this Sacrament given in the various gospels is probably substantially
accurate, though we must remember that the writers were compiling a
wonderful and beautiful mystery-drama, in which they were far more concerned
to convey successfully the mighty truths which lay behind their symbolism
than to observe exactly the unities of the story-form in which they had
decided to cast their narrative. But the words spoken at that first
Eucharist on the evening of Maundy Thursday (or as seems more probable,
immediately after midnight, and so very early on Good Friday morning1)
were merely the formal institution of the great ceremony.
The Jews began their day at sunset, so in
either case it would already be Friday according to their reckoning.
Detailed information as to its method and
intention were given by the Lord after His resurrection among the many
things "pertaining to the Kingdom of God" which He then taught to His
disciples. But while it is certain that He gave them clear directions as to
the main points of the eucharistic Service, and explained what effect each
was meant to produce, it is also clear that He left this framework of the
ceremony to be filled in by His apostles as they found it convenient under
the constantly varying conditions of their early evangelistic work. The
follows of each apostle would naturally try to remember and to reproduce his
improvizations; and so a number of rituals would grow up, all built upon the
same skeleton, but clothing it differently. It was only as centuries rolled
on that the Church evolved by experience and by compilation the various
liturgies which we now possess; though again we must not forget that He
Himself stood ever behind her efforts, always ready to inspire and direct
those of her leaders who laid themselves open to spiritual influence.
Having effected a preliminary purification,
and so provided a field (inside the huge bubble blown by the Priest's
effort) in which an Angel will feel it possible to work, the celebrant now
invokes the aid of one of these beneficent helpers. There are many orders
and races of these radiant non-human spirits, and most of them have at the
present stage of human evolution but little connection with mankind. Certain
types, however, are ever ready to take part in religious ceremonies, not
only for the pleasure of doing a good action, but because such work offers
them the best possible opportunity for progress.
Four times in the course of the eucharistic
Service does the Priest call upon the holy Angels for their help, and we may
be well assured that he never calls in vain, for a link with these celestial
hosts is one of the advantages which are conferred upon him at his
Ordination. On this occasion he invokes what is commonly called the Angel of
the Eucharist, whose special work in connection with it is to assist in the
building of the edifice of which I have already spoken. He determines the
size of the form which can be erected upon any given occasion, taking into
account the number of people present, the intensity of their devotion, the
amount of their knowledge, their willingness to cooperate, and so on. A
large congregation working intelligently can give much more material for the
building of the form than a small congregation; again, far more material is
available at a High Celebration than at a Low one.
It lies within the work of the Angel to see
that our material is wisely used in the building of the edifice. If too
large a pavement were built at the singing of the canticle, the eucharistic
edifice, when complete might be so attenuated as scarcely to hold together.
The form is moulded and directed by this Angel, although its outline can to
a certain extent be changed by the will of the celebrant, if he knows of the
existence of the form and the purpose for which it is being built. The first
act of the Angel upon his arrival is to expand the bubble formed by the will
of the Priest at the asperges. (Plate 4.) He pushes it beyond the Altar
until it has cleared a space as far to the east of the Altar as the original
had cleared to the west. To make this expansion possible without the bubble
becoming too tenuous, the Priest, at the time when he asperses the Altar,
should mentally picture the film of the bubble as being much thicker in the
neighbourhood of the Altar and sanctuary than elsewhere.
It will be seen that the Roman form of the
asperges prayer makes no direct reference to the Angel's work in the
erection of the edifice, though it is by means of that construction that he
guards, protects and defends the congregation to a large extent from the
intrusion of evil or wandering thoughts, even while by his powerful yet most
restful magnetism he truly visits and nourishes those who are willing to
receive his influence. I do not mean that if a man allows his mind to be
filled with private worries the Angel will specially interfere to drive them
out; but he does exclude from his building the vast swarms of vague
thought-forms which in ordinary life are constantly pressing upon us and
drifting through our minds whenever for a moment we leave them blank. His
very presence is a blessing, for a calming and uplifting radiance is ever
streaming forth from him; so his visit clearly offers a valuable opportunity
to those who are prepared to take advantage of it. In the shorter Service we
compress the entire action of the asperges into one collect. Making the sign
of the cross over himself with the aspergill, the Priest says:
May the Lord purify me that I may worthily
perform his service.
He asperses the Altar and chancel.
In the strength of the Lord do I repel all
evil from this His holy altar and sanctuary,
He asperses the people.
and from this House, wherein we worship Him;
He faces the Altar.
and I pray our heavenly Father that He will
send His holy Angel to build for us a spiritual Temple through which His
strength and blessing may be poured forth upon His people. Through Christ
our Lord.
R. Amen.
This is in every way as effective as the
longer form, but it requires alert and concentrated thought on the part of
the Priest. He will probably find it advisable to recite the collect
somewhat slowly, throwing the whole strength of his will into each clause.
The invocation which immediately follows the asperges in the longer form is
in the shorter made to precede it, thus making the purification definitely
part of the eucharistic Service instead of a preparation for it.
It has been our endeavour in the shortened
form to suit the wording more exactly to the effect which is being produced,
so that it may be easier for the congregation to follow the inner side of
the Service. All the manual actions of the Priest are precisely the same;
there is no perceptible difference between the edifices erected by the two
forms, or in the amount of force outpoured. When the Epistle and gospel are
not read, we lose the amount of useful material generated by the Gradual;
and such members of the congregation as need a good deal of steady pressure
to work up their enthusiasm have time to contribute somewhat more during the
longer prayers. But in practice this slight lack is generally compensated by
increased alertness and by the clearer comprehension of what is being done.
In the shorter form the important actions of the ritual succeed one another
more rapidly because all that is not actually necessary to the inner work
has been eliminated. Many beautiful passages have to be omitted; but
nevertheless the abbreviated form will be found convenient on many occasions
when it would be impossible to perform the full ceremony.
Note
The celebrant now calls the Angel of the Eucharist, who is to build our form
for us. One does not seen to see him approaching from afar off, but he is
suddenly appears in such a manner as to suggest that there is a thick veil
of mist at the back of the altar, and that, when called, he just steps
forward through this and is with us. I do not know what is the cause of this
effect; it may be due to the speed with which he travels, so that the moment
at which he is seen in the distance is so nearly simultaneous with his
arrival in the church that it seems to us to be actually so, and thus, by
the time we have first seen him he has already arrived. A more likely
explanation is that he comes to us on some high plane—possibly where space
does not exist—and then materialized lower bodies for himself.
We noticed that in a few cases which we
examined, where the celebrant was himself an evolved person—an Initiate of
the Great White Lodge—the colours of the Angel corresponded with certain
colours in the upper part of the officiant's aura. this suggests that, in
cases where the Priest is sufficiently evolved for his character to have a
definite effect on things, other considerations being equal, the Angel who
comes to work with him is likely to be of the same type as himself. Of
course, there are churches which have definite Angels attached to them who
habitually patronize them but similarly there seem to be celebrants who have
their own Angels, who have these colour similarities.
With regard to the position of the Angel
during the various parts of the Service, I give the results of a number of
observations in one particular church.
He seems to move about a good deal within a
limited area round the Altar, but is mostly near the officiating Priest.
When he first shows himself, he is in front of the celebrant, but rather to
the Epistle side—among the candles on that side of the Altar. This is the
more masculine side of the church, as the rays represented by the candles,
the jewels and crosses on this side—the South—are more positive than those
to the North. In this connection it is tempting to speculate as to possible
reasons for this being found in the fact that certain great earth currents
are received at the North Pole and given off at the South Pole. Be that as
it may, the fact remains that the South of the church is more masculine, and
as the ecclesiastical power is meant to flow through male channels, it is
probably easier for the Angel to work on this side.
He remains here, almost in the centre, during
the Canticle and Introit; except that during the latter, he stands a little
further to the side of the Altar so as to handle the swirls of power going
from the celebrant, deacon and subdeacon, up to the central line (made by
the tabernacle, cross and picture) and back again. During the Kyrie, he is
just over the head of the officiant; for the Gloria in Excelsis, he
floats up somewhat higher and moves towards the people, so that he is over
the sanctuary gates, gathering from and drawing strongly on the people for
his building material.
During the Collects he is mostly in his
original place, in line with the three officiants, and is there receiving
the power sent up through this line. While the Epistle is being read, the
Angel is near the centre of the Altar, so that, as well as the more mental
power which he is pouring down through the celebrant and deacon into the
subdeacon, he may be in a convenient position to draw from the candles on
the North and also pour down emotionally uplifting power which stimulates
and raises the level of the subdeacon's emotions, and consequently, of his
thought as well. As the power flows out through him on to the people, it has
the same effect on them. Except for a few moments when he comes out just to
the left of the subdeacon—who is standing in the centre line of the Altar on
the lowest step—and when he goes behind the Altar for a moment in connection
with making the pillars and ornaments during the Gradual, the Angel keeps
his central position till the end of the Gospel. He seems to be busy at this
part of the Service in equilibrating and transmuting emotional and thought
power, of which there is a swirl going round and round the church. The row
of candles acts as a useful sieve for this purpose, and strains of much
dirt, while greatly intensifying (and at the same time being intensified by
) the power from the people. This activity reacts on and further stimulates
the people, and so the swirl is worked up.
During most of the Creed, the Angel is over
the head of the celebrant, but towards the end, he floats high up above the
Altar cross. After this, he is more at his leisure, and is receiving the
reward for his work. Still, he continues to be very useful as a source of
power, and busies himself in beautifying things. Although it is the
directing Angel who is in charge when the whole edifice is enlarged at the
Tersanctus, the building Angel is still very helpful even in this
act, as he contributes so much power himself, which helps in swelling out
the dome.
Invocation
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
In the name of the Father,
and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. |
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen |
Now that the actual Service is about to begin
the cope is removed from the shoulders of the celebrant and he is endued
with the chasuble, the sacrificial vestment which has, from the earliest
days of the Church, been reserved for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
The meaning and use of this garment will be described in part III, "The
Instruments of the Sacraments."
The Eucharist begins, as do all Services of
the Church, with a Word and Sign of Power. Fully to understand the use and
force of such words and signs we must study an aspect of nature which is
almost wholly forgotten in modern days. We must learn that we live not in an
empty and unresponsive material world, but in the midst of a vast ocean of
teeming life—that we are always surrounded by a great clout of witnesses, a
mighty host of beings unseen by our physical eyes. This huge army includes
superhuman beings (angels of all degrees and types), the innumerable hosts
of the dead (who are of course still at the human level) and incalculable
millions of sub-human entities—nature-spirits, ensouled thought-forms and
the like.
All these are continually influencing us, some
for good and some for ill, even as we in turn are continually influencing
them. Most people are entirely unconscious or derisively incredulous of all
this, and so they stumble on through life unhelped; though perhaps it is
also true that the barrier of their blind unbelief to some extent protects
them from possible dangers. But assuredly God intends that His whole
creation shall work together in His service, and that we shall avail
ourselves of the many aids which He has put ready to our hands as soon as we
are wise enough to understand them. In this, as in all other directions,
knowledge is power, and he who will intelligently use the forces of nature
may gain great advantage thereby.
Those who have studied comparative religion
are aware of the vast importance attached to names; they know that according
to all ancient belief the name of a thing has a direct connection with it
and can invoke it anywhere. It will be remembered that in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead the candidate journeying through the Hall of Amenti
is met by all kinds of entities, some of them terrible in character, who bar
his way and demand to be identified. If properly instructed he promptly
recognizes them and says to each: "I know thee; so-and-so is thy name."
Whereupon the obstructing dragon instantly subsides, and the candidate
passes triumphantly on his way.
In this ancient system it is clear that to
know the name of anything implied knowledge of its inmost nature, its powers
and qualities. To the men of old, therefore, to command in the Name or by
the Name of any manifestation of God was to draw upon the power of that
manifestation. There is a good deal of truth in this idea, especially when
the invocation is uttered by one who, having been linked with the source of
the power, has received authority to use it. So to announce that we begin
our Service in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
is, in the case of the Priest, to call upon and bring into activity the
special link made at his ordination, and in response there is a tremendous
down-rush of force.
When a Bishop is present, these words of power
are always spoken by him because of the additional layer of power which he
is able to invoke. When this invocation is used by a layman, it calls upon
the equivalent or representative of the Holy Trinity within himself—the
Spirit, intuition and intelligence. As in the solar system everything begins
and ends with the Trinity, so in the symbolism of the Eucharist we commence
with an invocation addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and
end with a benediction in the Name of the same Three Aspects of the Deity.
The sign of power which accompanies this
invocation, the sign of the holy cross, has various aspects as a symbol. The
Greek cross with equal arms signifies the Logos in activity—the arm of the
Lord out-stretched to help or to bless. The Latin cross with the with the
longer stem typifies the Second Aspect of the Logos, the Second Person of
the blessed Trinity, God the Son descended into matter. In all benedictions
and exorcisms it is used to impress the will of the Priest upon the person
or object with which he is dealing. It is a sign through which power flows,
sometimes from the Priest to another; sometimes from on high into the Priest
himself, as at certain points of the Service. When a man makes it over
himself it is designed to promote self-recollectedness; to remind him of the
Name which it symbolizes, and to help him to realize that where that Name is
invoked we trust no evil shall ensue.
It is a kind of miniature creed expressed in
action instead of in words, for as we touch first the forehead and then the
solar plexus it reminds us how "for us men and for our salvation" Christ
came down from the Father, who is Head over all, to this earth, to the
physical plane, the lower part of His creation; while as we touch first the
left shoulder and then the right, we remember that He passed from earth into
the lower astral world, call hell, and typified as on the left hand of God
(though even so it is higher than the earth) and proceeded thence to sit in
glory for ever on the right hand of the Father.
A man whose thoughts and feelings are always
on the highest possible level may not need a reminder of this sort; but most
of us are not yet perfect, and therefore it is not wise to reject anything
that can give us assistance. Most of us are well-intentioned but forgetful,
and anything that helps us to recollect the ideal, and aids in driving away
unwholesome thoughts and influences, is beneficial. We are not yet saints;
we are still liable to be affected by waves of irritation or selfishness or
by undesirable thoughts. The sign of the cross made over ourselves will draw
round us unseen influences which will tend to drive away all that is
unpleasant and at the same time make it easier to retain what is good.
To understand this power of the sign of the
cross we must realize that, as I have said, we are living in the midst of a
vast host of other beings. Among these, the sub-human creatures (or
nature-spirits, as they are sometimes called) are peculiarly susceptible to
the influence of the signs of power, of which the cross is one. Wherever
that sign is made it at once attracts the attention of all such creatures in
the neighbourhood, and they immediately gather round the person making the
sign in the expectation that he will send out thoughts and vibrations of the
type that they enjoy.
We must not confuse these nature-spirits with
the Angels. If a great Angel who happened to be passing saw the sign of the
cross and the good thoughts which accompanied it, he would certainly cast
upon the man who made it a radiant smile which would carry a helpful
influence, but he would not be likely to turn aside from his work.
Nature-spirits evolve largely by means of the vibrations in which they bathe
themselves, and therefore the instinct implanted in them leads them to be
always watching for those which are useful to them. There are some at the
stage of evolution which needs the coarser types of vibrations, which for us
(but not for them) express evil or passionate thoughts or feelings.
Such creatures surge round us when we show
irritability or sensuality, and their pressure encourages and strengthens
whatever undesirable tendency may be manifesting itself—not in the least
because these creatures are in themselves evil or wish us harm, for they are
but following their instinct and gathering round a source of emanations
which are pleasant to them, as flies gather round a honey-pot or men round a
fire in cold weather. Others are at a stage which needs the higher
vibrations which with us express good thoughts and feelings, and the sign of
the cross attracts this type, just as it drives away the other. It is not so
much that the latter fear it, as is generally supposed (you know how the
hymn puts it: "At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee") the truth is
rather that its radiance is distasteful to them, and they at once recognize
that where that sign is made there is nothing for them; so they promptly
depart in search of more hopeful pastures.
We shall be more likely to understand how
these forces act if we can completely divest ourselves of childish
superstitions about the devil and wicked angels and look at the whole matter
from a commonsense and scientific point of view. Ethical ideas of good and
evil have nothing to do with the question. The kingdom of the nature-spirits
contains as much variety as the animal kingdom. Some nature-spirits, like
some animals, are useful to us, while others members of both kingdoms are
noxious to us, and just as we discourage, drive away or destroy rats,
snakes, scorpions and parasitic vermin, so should we discourage, or drive
away undesirable astral or etheric entities.
So many people are not sensible about these
matters; either they are stupidly superstitious, or equally stupidly
incredulous, because they cannot see the world of subtler matter which
surrounds them. They cannot see the microbes of disease; yet these unseen
creatures frequently influence their lives to a serious extent, and so also
may the unseen astral creatures. Nature-spirits, whether helpful or harmful,
respond eagerly to the oscillations which appeal to them; they reproduce
them in themselves and intensify them, and so in their turn react upon us,
and tend to perpetuate the conditions in us which attract them. For this
reason, although ignorant people sometimes regard it as a mere superstition,
the making of the sign of the cross is of definite practical value.
Note
The Invocation to the Trinity, accompanied by the sign of power, causes the
people to open themselves at the highest point at which they are conscious.
This is the place into which power is poured when a person is to be used as
a channel, and we may therefore call it "the point of entry". The three
aspects of consciousness-will, wisdom and activity, at this point look like
three glowing lights in the form of a triangle. The lights are of three
colours—white, blue and red. The white represents will, the Power of the
Father; the blue, wisdom, the Power of the Son; and the red represents
activity, the Power of Holy Spirit. These glow strongly as the Three Persons
of the Trinity are mentioned, and power is poured through these three
principles down into the personalities of the clergy and the members of the
congregation. This inflow of power of the same sort through all present
tends to unify and it makes a fine show of bright light throughout the
church.
Canticle
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Antiphon. |
Antiphon. |
I will go in unto the Altar of
God. Unto God, who giveth joy to my youth. |
I will go in unto the Altar of
God. Even unto the God of my joy and gladness. |
Omitted at all masses of the
season from Passion Sunday to Holy Saturday exclusively. |
|
Psalm. |
Canticle. |
Judge me O God, and distinguish
my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the
unjust and deceitful man. For thou, O God, art my strength: why
hast thou cast me off? And why go I sorrowful, whilst the enemy
afflicteth me? Send forth thy light and thy truth : they have
led me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy
tabernacles. And I will go in unto the Altar of God: unto God
who giveth joy to my youth. |
I was glad when they said unto
me: we will go into the house of the Lord. I will be glad and
rejoice in thee: yea, my songs will I make of Thy Name, O thou
most Highest. O send out Thy light and Thy truth, that they may
lead me: and bring me to Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling. And
that I may go unto the Altar of God, even unto the God of my joy
and gladness: and upon the harp will I give thanks unto Thee, O
God, my God. |
I will praise thee upon the
harp, O God, my God; why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost
thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, who is
the salvation of my countenace, and my God.
|
The Lord is in His holy temple:
the Lord's seat is in heaven. The heavens declare the glory of
God: and the firmament sheweth His handiwork. |
Psalm. |
Canticle. |
|
O magnify the Lord our God, and
worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy.
The Lord shall give strength unto His people: the Lord shall
give His people the blessing of peace. |
Glory be to the Father, and to
the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is
now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
|
Glory be to the Father, and to
the Son: and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is
now, and ever shall be : world without end.Amen. |
Antiphon. |
Antiphon. |
I will go in unto the Altar
of God. Unto God, who giveth joy to my youth. |
I will go unto the Altar of
God. Even unto the God of my joy and gladness. |
This invocation is immediately followed by the
opening canticle, throughout which the attitude the people are supposed to
adopt is clearly indicated; it speaks everywhere of gladness, of rejoicing
and thankfulness. In the prayer: "O send out Thy light and Thy truth, that
they may lead me, and bring me to Thy holy hill and to Thy dwelling," is
expressed the thought that we can acceptably approach the Altar of God only
if we do so in full light of truth, shrinking from none of the facts that
truth may bring, and filled with such high courage and resolve that we are
utterly free from fear, from cowardice, from distrust. We can never
appreciate the full meaning of the Eucharist and share largely in its
benefits if we are filled with fear of God who loves us.
Then we try to realize the glory and holiness
of God, and that from Him comes strength and calm. So we say: "The Lord
shall give strength unto His people; the Lord shall give His people the
blessing of peace." The whole of the canticle is intended to lay the
foundation of what is to be done later, by bringing the people into the
attitude of joy, gladness, trust and peace which is necessary if they are
usefully to take part in the Service; and, as usual, the antiphon gives us
the keynote—the thought which we are to hold before us as we sing. The
importance of adopting this correct frame of mind at the beginning of the
Service cannot be exaggerated. It is probable that in the early Church the
preparatory canticle was sung in procession as the clergy and choir entered
the sacred building.
The canticle recited here by the celebrant and
his ministers in the Roman Church contains verses which seem inappropriate
and useless, so we substituted for them others which better carry out the
idea. We have followed this plan in all our Service, selecting for our
psalms only verses which bear some intelligible meaning, and avoiding all
those which complain, grovel or curse.
While the words which we sing bear their part
in the preparation of our minds, the Angel of the Eucharist is working
busily, yet with graceful ease, utilizing both the forms made by the music
of the canticle, and the outrush caused by our feelings of love and devotion
as we sing it. With this material he lays the floor or foundation of his
edifice, following first the lower part of the tenuous bubble blown by the
asperges, and then turning to the east and extending his floor away behind
the Altar, till he has produced a pavement double the size of that upon
which the congregation stand. (See Plate 5.) His work is conditioned by the
number of the people present, and the amount and type of vivified matter
with which their enthusiasm supplies him.
If the church be full, he usually follows its
ground-plan as an outline for his pavement; if it be only half-full, he does
not necessarily include the whole space, but may very likely bring his
flooring to an end just behind the rearmost member of his congregation.
Whatever may be its extension westward from the Altar, he always carries it
equally far in the opposite direction behind the Altar, which invariably
marks the central point of the completed form. If sufficient material is
supplied, he often broadens his edifice northward and southward, in which
case it occasionally becomes cruciform, though more often square, and
approximating closely to the basilica shape already mentioned.
The depth of the foundation depends upon the
material available; at a well-attended High Celebration the pavement may be
as much as a yard in thickness, its upper surface coinciding with the floor
of the church. Its design is always the same—a mosaic of blue and crimson
blocks set diagonally, so as to present the appearance of lozenges of
diamonds. where, at the edges, the thickness of the pavement is seen, it
exhibits a tessellated border of alternate triangles of the same colours,
suggesting that the blocks used in its construction are not cubes, but
pyramids. (See Plate 6.) The crimson and blue are expressive of love and
devotion respectively, and the hues vary according to the character of these
emotions. Usually we get deep rich colours; but where the congregation
includes many instructed and unselfish people, radiant and delicate tints of
azure and rose may be seen.
The Angel begins by extending his arms
sideways and pouring out through them a current of love which makes a
crimson line on each side from where he stands to the wall of the church.
Sweeping his arms slowly forward, he causes a number of parallel lines to
shoot out from the side of the original, like the teeth of a comb, except
that they are inclined towards the centre of the church, so that they cross
one another to make the diagonal pattern. (See Diagram 1.) Another similar
movement throws out a blue current of devotion, which fills the spaces left
by the crimson of love. then he turns to the east and repeats these
movements so as to make a similar pavement for that part of the eucharistic
form which is outside the church.
These first movements produce a tenuous
cobweb-like chequering, and veritable ghost of a floor, so light and
diaphanous that it could not be held together except within the bubble which
has pushed back the chaos of jarring vibrations which would have shattered
its delicacy. but the floor rapidly solidifies as the verses of the canticle
peal out, and it is interesting to notice that, where the verses are sung
antiphonally, the Angel diverts the alternating outrush of sound, and
employs it to mark the diagonal lines which carve his flooring material into
diamonds, or rather pyramids. (See Plate 6.) At a Low Celebration the
edifice is often but small, and the colouring of the pavement dull; but the
pattern is always preserved.
It must be understood that a Low Celebration
is perfectly effective in calling down the divine force and spreading it
abroad over the neighbourhood, though naturally the power at a High
Celebration is in various ways far greater. The ceremony is surrounded with
glory and beauty, which are intended to stir up the hearts and minds of the
people and make them more receptive. Then the attendance is usually much
larger—a factor which is of great importance. The consecration and the
quality of the radiation coming from the sacred Host are of course the same
in every case; but if there be more who feel devotion, the quantity
of radiation will be greater, because an additional amount of that divine
force is called into play by that extra devotion.
I feel it to be of the greatest importance
that we should realize that this divine force is a reality—a definite,
scientific, fact. this spiritual force, which is oftentimes spoken of as the
grace of God, is just as definite as is steam or electricity or any other of
the great forces of nature. It works in matter somewhat higher than does
electricity, and it is not evident to the physical eye in its results, but
nevertheless it is as real in every way, and indeed is much more powerful,
in that it works rather upon the soul, the mind, the emotions in man than
merely upon his physical body. Truly in this most holy Eucharist it is
brought down even to the physical level for us—so great is the care of our
Lord for His people, so anxious is He that we should have every help that we
are able to receive.
Its outpouring is a scientifically measurable
thing; not measurable perhaps by physical-plane methods, but capable of
measurement and comparison with other outpourings in higher worlds. Its
distribution takes place under precisely the same divine laws as does a
radiation on this plane, allowing for certain differences caused by the more
rapid vibrations of matter in a higher state.
For example, the playing of the force invoked
at the ceremony of the Eucharist may be compared not inaptly to the flowing
of a current of electricity. The voltage of a current running through a wire
remaining constant, the amount of light obtained depends upon the number of
lamps turned on. If we imagine that the current flowing in the wire comes
from an inexhaustible source and can meet any demands upon it, it is evident
that we are free to add any number of lamps, and we shall thereby gain a
blaze of light.
In the Service of the Eucharist each person
who co-operates intelligently resembles a lamp, and with the addition of
each such person the channel for the flow of the current becomes wider and
fuller. A small congregation of fifty people, each one of whom understands
the purpose of the Service and knows exactly what each part is planned to
do, can send out as much light over the surrounding district as a large but
ignorant congregation of many thousands gathered together in some great
cathedral. The size of the assembly unquestionably does help, because as
more people are sending up their devotion there is more width in the
channel; but when to devotion is added intelligence and the will to serve,
the result is enormously greater.
When a spire of devotion shoots up from a
congregation the height and brilliance of it marks the intensity of the
devotion, while its diameter indicates the quantity of the emotion. A broad
but short and barrel-like spire, somewhat dull in colour, would show that a
great mass of rather ignorant devotion had been felt, not keenly but rather
as a matter of custom. If the people are stirred with a really deep, strong
feeling, a great spire of brilliant blue rushes upward over their heads, and
in such a case the down-pouring in response is in exact proportion to the
upward rush. The object of a Church Service is to make a channel through
which the divine force can flow. The greater the number of people who
attend, the more enthusiastic and devotional they are, the greater is the
channel for divine power. In this sense it is a Service of God, because by
gathering together we form a greater and better channel for His love and
blessing, which He is ever yearning to shed over the world.
We may ask: "But why can He not pour that out
for Himself always?" He does do so; but remember that He works, as we also
must work, along the line of least resistance. He floods the higher worlds
with spiritual power, but to bring that spiritual power down here to our
physical brains and astral bodies would be an exertion of force which would
not be justified by the results produced, if He had to do the whole thing
Himself. But if we co-operate and do the lower part of this work by making
ourselves channels for that down-pouring, then at once it does become worth
while to pour forth that force. People are not necessarily fulfilling the
whole duty of the earnest Christian merely by sitting in their seats and
enjoying the uplift of the ceremony. If they wish they can greatly augment
the power of the Service and enlarge the sphere of its influence.
It should not be for ourselves but for the
sake of others that we join such an organization as the Church, which exists
to do good. It is of course true that we receive great benefit in so
joining, but the less we think about the benefit that we are receiving, and
the more we think about the help we are able to give, the better for
ourselves and the organization to which we belong. People should come to the
Service because they wish to be helpful. Those who come regularly regardless
of the weather, and throw themselves heartily into the Service, are the
people who make the Eucharist a living force. This is especially true when
they have studied the ritual carefully and are therefore in a position
intelligently to co-operate with the celebrant.
When a celebrant happens to be sensitive, and
has behind him a congregation who are working with him, he can usually feel
the force generated by their thought swirling up behind and around him like
a strong wind. When it comes it gives the curious electrical feeling which
may sometimes be noted when in the midst of a great crowd swayed by some
strong emotion. The celebrant, however, is like the captain of a ship or the
conductor of an orchestra, and just as a captain must not lose his head when
his passengers become stirred with excitement, so must the celebrant retain
full control of his emotions in order to use this helpful force generated by
the congregation. He must not only direct the forces, but must watch exactly
what is being done by his lieutenants, so that if someone does not do the
right thing at the right time, he may supply the deficiency immediately by
throwing in additional force and helping in any way possible.
Again, at a High Celebration we have the
almost incalculable advantage of the use of music. We have already said that
the ordered vibrations of sound vivify vast volumes of matter, and so
provide the Angel of the Eucharist with much magnificent material for his
structure; but there is far more than that, though it is difficult to find
words to describe it, and this is not the place for a lengthy disquisition
on so recondite a subject. Let us put it that the earth is a great
intelligence, and that music is one of her faculties—that when we play or
sing we are helping the earth to express herself; furthermore that music is
a sort of entity or congeries of entities, and that when we use it we are
bringing into play an entirely new set of forces, another side of Nature,
and associating with us in our work a host of great Music-Angels. We cannot
turn aside to give details here; but even so slight a hint will afford a
passing glimpse along a mighty vista—enough to show that there is excellent
reason for introducing music into our Services whenever it is in any way
possible.
These considerations apply also to a Missa
Cantata; but at a High Celebration we have in addition the aid of the
deacon and subdeacon, who make a triangle with the celebrant, and for the
time act as extensions of his consciousness; relieving him of some aspects
of his work, and leaving him free to concentrate his energies. Some of the
forces employed radiate through them, and are intensified by their presence
and their action. It is their business to act as intermediaries, both in the
collection and distribution of energy—a task which is thereby more easily
and efficiently performed. (Diagram 2.)
To make their function clear we may use the
analogy of the human body. If the celebrant is compared to the brain, then
the deacon and subdeacon are ganglia having certain tracts under their
charge; the brain of course directs the ganglia, but there are things which
they can do without the brain. Originally, in the early Church, the deacon
and subdeacon represented the men and women respectively, because the deacon
stood on the right of the Priest, that is to say, on the epistle side where
the men sat, and gathered up all the devotion from the men and prepared it
for the use of the Priest, whereas the subdeacon did the same for the
ladies. there are still some churches in which the sexes are separated, but
I do not know that there is any special advantage in it, except that, if the
numbers are at all equal, it produces a pleasing effect in antiphonal
singing.
The rush of devotion, aspiration, love and
worship form the congregation pours upon the Priest in a flood of diverse
vibrations, and it is no easy task to reduce them all to a kind of common
denominator, so that they may conveniently be forwarded. The deacon and
subdeacon may receive these from the people, and to a large extent sift and
combine them as they pass through into the hands of the Priest, thus saving
him much trouble.
For the shortened from of the Holy Eucharist
we have chosen a canticle which refers more directly to the work which the
Angel is doing in laying the foundation of his edifice. It is preceded by an
invitation from the Priest, who says:
Brethren, let us now lay the foundation of our
Temple.
Antiphon.
Christ is our foundation.
And our chief corner-stone.
We are no more strangers and foreigners: but
fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God;
And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets: Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone:
In whom all the building fitly framed
together: groweth into a holy temple in the Lord;
In whom ye also are builded together; for an
habitation of God through the Spirit.
Except the Lord build the house: their labour
is but lost that built it.
The foundation of God standeth sure, having
his seal: let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Antiphon.
Christ is our foundation.
And our chief corner-stone.
Note<
The colon in the middle of each line of the canticle marks a change of
direction of the alternating diagonal currents, which make the blue and
crimson tessellated pavement over which our edifice is to be built. Thus,
if, during the first part of the verse, the lines had been running between
the south-west and the north-east corners, during the second half they would
flow between the south-east and north-west. but during each half, the power
might run backwards and forwards several times—depending on the number of
beats in the rhythmic metre of the particular half-verse. The Gloria
at the end, finishes off the pavement, planes off the edges, and leaves all
tidy. The mention of the Three Persons of the Trinity makes the three lights
at each person's point of entry glow afresh.
Versicles
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V.
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.
The corresponding versicles and
responses follow the
Absolution.
|
P.
Our help is in the Name of the Lord.
C. Who hath made heaven and
earth.
P. Turn us again, O Lord, and
quicken us.
C. That Thy people may rejoice
in Thee.
P. Trust ye in the Lord for
ever.
C. For our Rock of Ages is the
Lord. |
We now come to a further stage of our
preparation for the great work we are about to undertake. We have
endeavoured to purify the mental atmosphere by casting out wandering
thoughts, and to bring ourselves into the attitude of strength, peace, and
joy, which is needed if we are to do our work well. Certain mechanical
difficulties may, however, still remain in our way; we must try to remove
these also. But that can be expeditiously achieved only by means of special
help from without, and so we proceed to apply the method designed by Christ
for His Church—that of confession and absolution.
The versicles which introduce this portion of
the Service are intended to induce a frame of mind which will facilitate the
action of this plan. First we acknowledge that it is only by divine power
that this speedy result can be obtained (for here again Name is equivalent
to Power), but we remind ourselves that to the almighty Creator of heaven
and earth this rapid change is a simple matter. And so we sign ourselves
with the sign of the cross that by its action we may bring ourselves closer
to Him. Because we have somewhat slipped away from Him, from the attitude of
utter love, peace, comprehension and unity, and so are to that extent
restricted as channels of spiritual force, we ask in the words: "Turn us
again, O Lord, and quicken us," that He bring us again to the path of right
endeavour, and that He vivify us with His radiant life. Without this renewed
life we cannot experience the deep joy which is necessary if we are to take
full advantage of the Sacrifice which is to follow.
Then to emphasize our utter confidence in His
power and goodwill, we say: "Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for our Rock of
Ages is the Lord." The very possibility of rapid readjustment depends upon
our absolute conviction that it can be done. If we are in doubt on that
matter, that very doubt erects a barrier, and prevents the free action of
the force. The divine power is ready, but we must open our hearts. Let us
then examine the system of rectification by confession and absolution, and
see how it works.
Confiteor
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
P. I confess to almighty God,
to blessed Mary every a virgin, to blessed Michael the
archangel, to blessed John the Baptise, to the holy apostles
Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to you, brethren, that I
have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word, and deed; through my
fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever a virgin, blessed
Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy
apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and you brethren, to
pray to the Lord our God for me.
S. May almighty God have mercy
upon thee, forgive thee thy sins, and bring thee to life
everlasting.
S. I confess to almighty God,
etc
P. May almighty God, etc.
|
All. O Lord, thou hast created
man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of Thine own
eternity: yet often we forger the glory of our heritage, and
wander from the path which leads to righteousness. But Thou, O
Lord, hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are ever restless
till they find their rest in thee. Look with the eyes of Thy
love upon our manifold imperfections, and pardon all our
shortcomings, that we may be filled with the brightness of the
everlasting light, and become the unspotted mirror of Thy power
and the image of Thy power and the image of Thy goodness.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
|
The form employed in the Roman Church begins
with the word Confiteor, "I confess"; hence the name. The purpose of
this confession is to help the people to self-recollectedness, and to bring
them into that attitude of mind which is necessary if they are to be
assisted by the absolution that follows immediately after. The wording of
the Confiteor used in the Liberal Catholic ritual is to a certain extent
original, and (as will be seen) it differs widely in tone from that used by
the Roman or Anglican Churches. The Roman confession: "I have sinned
exceedingly, in thought, word and deed; through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault"; the Anglican remark: "There is no health in
us," which, however, does not occur in the Service for Holy Communion, but
in Matins and Evensong and other similar statements, are exaggerations, and
do not represent what a normal person really feels. No sane and rational man
ever feels actually that he is altogether evil, and to put such words into
his mouth either turns him into a hypocrite, or gives him an entirely
misleading conception of human nature.
This constant reiteration of the inherent
wickedness of the human heart probably arose in early Christianity as a
reaction against certain excesses which marred the civilizations in the
midst of which that faith took root. The greatest of the civilizations with
which the new religion had to deal were those of Greece and Egypt. Both of
these were eminently same and reasonable. The Greek, for example worshipped
beauty, and was full of the joy of life. He was well aware that there were
higher planes and lower planes, heaven and earth, but he maintained that God
made the lower as well as the higher, and that while we are in the lower He
intends us to make the best of it and to enjoy life to the utmost, so long
as we do our duty to God and to our fellow-men.
As these ancient and wonderful civilizations
decayed, undoubtedly excesses arose, and in the seeking for beauty the good
was sometimes forgotten. These excesses were abhorrent to the early
Christians, and, setting up the ideal of asceticism, they swung to the
opposite extreme in their thinking, and condemned as evil everything
pertaining to the world and to physical life.
Such exaggerations are unwholesome and
unnecessary as the Lord Buddha taught long ago, the Middle Path of reason is
always the safest, and undue asceticism on the one hand is just as dangerous
and unnatural as undue indulgence on the other; and hence we have carefully
avoided in the wording of the confession any statements to which we could
not honestly subscribe. We have used the words of St. Augustine, who said
that God made us for Himself, and our hearts therefore are ever restless
until they find their rest in Him. Whenever we fall away from that which we
know to be right, as we all do more or less through carelessness or
forgetfulness, we are uncomfortable until things are put right again,
because we know that we have made a mistake. We are always unhappy when we
wander from the path, even though we may not realize the cause of the
unhappiness.
We say that He created man in His own
image—the image of His own eternity, a beautiful thought taken from the
Wisdom of Solomon (ii, 23). Since we are thus a reproduction of Him, we
ought always to keep close to Him, in the full light of His power and His
love; but on account of our ignorance and our error we shut ourselves away
from Him. The purpose of the confession is to remove the mental attitude
which shuts us away, and to substitute in its stead an open and receptive
condition of the whole man, so that the light of God may enter. The
confession does not directly affect the eucharistic edifice which we are
building, though it is an important factor in preparing us to build it. Let
us see how the absolution which follows it achieves it results.
Note
Here for the first time the congregation are speaking together with the
celebrant, so perhaps it is a good place to point our that all through the
Service, whenever all thus join in, no individual should raise his voice
above that of the officiating Priest in such a way as to attempt to alter
the speed, emphasis, or intonation with which the part of the Service in
question is being said. Apart from the propriety of the matter, there is a
very good reason for this. The material with which we are building our form
is simply matter which is vivified by the vibrations of the people's
emotions and the outpouring in response to these. It is, therefore, the
rhythm and swing of the whole, which is harmonized into one by the Angel,
that is the very substance of its existence—the first pre-requisite for a
form at all. Now the Priest in charge is the physical-plane center for
harmonizing these vibrations and welding them into one by giving them a
definite note. Being this physical-plane centre, he will best appreciate the
rhythm suited to the particular day of the calendar and the congregation
with which he is working, and will then interpret it in terms of his own,
with which the angel will co-operate. Thus the celebrant and Angel will be
working together, establishing a strong regular vibration, with which our
edifice may be constructed. But if there be all sorts of extraneous
influences, setting up different beats of their own, which sound above the
central one, there will be a jarring of cross-currents which will neutralize
each other, so leaving but little rhythm for vivifying our building
material. There must be a leader and the celebrant must be that leader.
We find that during the first two clauses of
the Confiteor there is a fine outpouring of very delicately coloured and
spiritualized influence over the people. As the Confession proceeds, this
sinks into them and helps to bring them into the required attitude, which is
that of a mind firmly set on living-up to a higher ideal. As this acts upon
them, their love streams up to the Embodiment of all true ideals, and so
renders them fit for the absolution.
Absolution
The Priest rises, goes up to the Altar, turns
towards the people, and pronounces the absolution.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
May the almighty and merciful
Lord grant us pardon,
absolution, and remission of our sins. R. Amen.
|
God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Ghost, bless
preserve and sanctify you: the Lord in His loving kindness look
down upon you and be gracious unto you: the Lord
absolve you from all your sins, and grant you the grace and
comfort of the Holy Spirit. R. Amen. |
V. Thou shalt turn again, O
God, and quicken us.
R. And thy people shall rejoice
in thee.
V. Show unto us, O Lord, the
mercy.
R. And grant us thy salvation.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto
thee.
|
The corresponding versicles and
responses precede the Confiteor.
|
V.The Lord be with you.
R.And with thy spirit.
P.Take away from us our
iniquities, we beseech thee, O Lord, that we may be worthy to
enter with clean minds into the holy of holies. Through Christ
our Lord.Amen.
We beseech thee, O Lord, by the
merits of thy saints whose relics are here, and of all the
saints, that thou wouldst vouchsafe to forgive me all my sins.
Amen. |
The corresponding Minor
Benediction precedes the Introit.
|
To understand the effect of absolution we must
first explain that the ideas usually associated with the forgiveness of sin
are wholly false and misleading. The common conception seems to be that God,
having made man and therefore knowing his capacities and exactly what he is
likely to do under any circumstances, nevertheless turns His back upon him
and is offended with him whenever he does what a calculation of averages
would lead us to expect from the ordinary man. It is the same confusion that
perpetually confronts the inquirer into Christianity. If Christians would
only drop the primitive Jewish notion of a jealous and vengeful tribal
deity, and accept the teaching of their leader, Christ, most of these
misconceptions would immediately disappear.
I am quite sure that many thoughtful
Christians are much better than their creed, and do not really in their
hearts hold so low an opinion of the Deity as their words seem to imply.
there is much truth in the saying of the late colonel Ingersoll that "man
makes his God in his own image"; as man evolves, his conception of God
becomes truer and nobler; as he gradually outgrows his coarser vices, he
ceases to attribute them to his God, and looks back upon the savage
taboo-ethic of his forefathers as crude and blasphemous. I suppose we may
concede that the theory that God is angry when man blunders, that He needs
to be placated and supplicated to forgive, is a coarse and materialistic way
of stating a certain law of Nature; but it is open to the terribly serious
objection that it gives the man an altogether wrong and degrading conception
of God, and makes it impossible for him to adopt towards his Deity the only
attitude which renders progress practicable for him.
No one in his senses could suppose that God
cherishes animosity against His people. The whole idea that a person who has
done wrong needs to be forgiven should be put altogether out of our
minds, because to say that God has to forgive a man, implies that if he were
not forgiven God would hold a grudge against that man. That is a
thing which no one has a right to say about the Divine Father. God holds no
grudge against any man. On the contrary He is always waiting to help, just
as the sun is always shining. The sun is not holding a grudge against us
when a passing cloud shuts away his light and warmth. The sunlight is always
there, and all we need do is to wait for the passing of the cloud.
The God who has hung our solar system in
space, and has poured His own life into it that we and His other creatures
might come into being, superintends the progress of that tremendous
Experiment with benevolent, paternal interests. He knows far more about us
than we ourselves can know; He understands our strength and our weakness,
and he could no more be angry with us than we can be angry with a flower in
our garden. But He watches our growth, and puts various aids in our way;
perhaps it pleases Him when we understand and take advantage of them, but
even if we do not, the support of His helping hand is never far from us,
else we should speedily cease to be.
It is the attention of God which keeps
His system in existence; if for one moment He withdrew it, it would
instantly be resolved into the bubbles of which it is built. And this
attention shows itself down here on lower planes as a force, or rather a
number of forces. It is difficult to put these conceptions into words
without hopelessly materializing them; yet it is better to over-materialize
them than to be altogether ignorant of their beauty and their glory.
Let us try to make clear what really happens
when a man commits what is commonly called a sin. Sin is anything that is
against the current of evolution. If a man intentionally does something to
hold back evolution, either his own or that of somebody else, then
emphatically he is doing wrong. But I doubt whether a man ever does evil for
evil's sake, except perhaps in very rare cases, such as the German
atrocities, many of which were committed deliberately, cold-blooded and to
order, with the avowed object of terrifying non-combatants into submission
by an exhibition if inhuman cruelty.
Usually what is called sin arises from one of
two things: either a man is ignorant and makes mistakes, or he is careless
and selfish and not sufficiently attentive to the consequences of his acts.
If a man really understood fully what he was doing when he sinned, he would
not do it. Much wrong-doing comes from avarice, from the desire for money.
That is because misers do not know any better; to them money is of first
importance. A vast amount of harm comes from animal passion. Once more,
sensualists are ignorant and selfish, and do not really understand the harm
they are doing to others and to themselves. The way to banish evil is to
increase wisdom, as the Lord Buddha preached in India two thousand five
hundred years ago.
Let us accept, then, the definition of a sin
or transgression as any thought, word or act which is not in harmony with
God's Will for man—that is, evolution. Instead of progression it is
transgression, not a movement forward with the evolutionary
force, but across the line of its flow. That divine Will acts as a
steady pressure upward and onward, and actually does produce in higher
matter (even down to the etheric level) a sort of tension which can be
described in words only as a tendency towards movement in a definite
direction— the flowing of a spiritual stream. When a man's thoughts, words
and actions are good, he lays himself more fully open to this influence; he
is permeated by it and carried along by it.
When he does or thinks evil, he wrenches
himself away from the direction of this spiritual current, and thereby sets
up a definite strain in etheric, astral and mental matter, so that he
is no longer in harmony with nature, no longer a helping but a hindering
force, a snag in the river of life. This strain, or cross-twist, almost
entirely arrests his progress for the time, and renders it impossible for
him to profit by all the impulses of good influence which are constantly
rushing along the current of the stream of which we have spoken. Before he
can do any real good for himself or anyone else, he must straighten out that
distortion and come into harmony with nature, and so be once more fully
amenable to good influence and able to take advantage of the many and
valuable aids which are so lavishly provided for him.
The various vehicles of man are not really
separated in space, for the finer types of matter always interpenetrate the
grosser. But looked at from below they give the impression of being one
above the other, and also of being joined by innumerable fine wires or lines
of fire. Every action which works against evolution puts an unequal strain
on these—twists and entangles them. When a man goes badly wrong in any way
the confusion becomes such that communication between the higher and lower
bodies is seriously impeded; he is no longer his real self, and only the
lower side of his character is able to manifest itself fully.
It must be clearly understood that in the
long, slow course of evolution the natural forces are perfectly capable of
righting this unfortunate condition of affairs. The steady pressure of the
current will presently wear away the obstacle, but a period of many months
or even years may elapse before the readjustment is fully effected, though
earnest effort on the man's own part will somewhat shorten this period. But
even then there is a certain tendency for the distortion to reassert itself.
It is therefore obviously to the man's
interest that he should discover some more rapid method of regaining
uniformity. Such a method the Church provides, for the power of
straightening out this tangle in higher matter is one of those specially
conferred upon a priest at ordination. The Christ Himself spoke of that
power in the plainest words, though people usually shirk them or try to
explain them away, just because they have encumbered their minds with the
idea of an emotional forgiveness, and cannot understand that we have to deal
with a straightforward scientific process.
But the Priest cannot perform this wonderful
miracle of healing alone; he needs the co-operation of his patient. No one
can force a man into harmony if he is persistently striving for disharmony;
it is only "If we confess our sins" that "He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". It is requisite
that the candidate be anxious to rise above the imperfections of his nature,
and to live the higher life. At all her principal Services, the Church
provides a form of general confession to be recited by her people, and a
form of absolution to be pronounced by the Priest; and if any man in the
congregation is truly sorry for some slip or mistake which he has made, and
earnestly anxious to put himself once more in full accord with the
evolutionary current, there is no doubt that the divine force which flows
through the Priest when he pronounces the absolution does rush through that
man's higher vehicles, combs out the entanglement, and straightens the
twisted lines until he is once more in perfect harmony with God's will.
The Priest pours out the absolving force over
his congregation, and does not know upon whom or in what direction it is
taking effect; but if an individual comes to him privately and tells him
exactly what is wrong, he has perhaps a certain advantage in being able to
concentrate the whole of the force just where it is most needed. Also, quite
apart from the power conferred upon him, the Priest can often from his
experience offer very useful advice.
But let no one suppose that the public
absolution given to the whole flock is in any way less effective than
private absolution, if the desire for rectification on the part of the
wrong-doer is equally earnest and sincere. As has been said, in the slow
process of time the distortion must come straight, under the influence of
the ordinary evolutionary forces; and no doubt this procedure would be
hastened by the strong desire of the patient for readjustment. The action of
the Priest in the matter is merely what is commonly called a "means of
grace"—that is to say, a little help on the road of evolution provided by
the Christ for His followers.
In the Liberal Catholic Church auricular
confession is entirely optional, and is not required as a preliminary to the
reception of Holy Communion. Its frequent and systematic practice is not
encouraged, since it is felt that under such conditions the detailed
confession is apt to become a matter of routine, and its spiritual value in
the life of the individual thereby defeated. For all ordinary purposes the
general confession in the Holy Eucharist should suffice.
It must be clearly understood that the effect
of absolution is strictly limited to the correction of the distortion above
described. It reopens certain channels which have been to a large extent
closed by evil thought or action; but it in no way counteracts the physical
consequences of that action, nor does it obviate the necessity of
restitution where wrong has been done.
A man who steals, for example, puts himself in
the wrong in three separate ways: he has broken the divine law of love and
justice, and has thereby cut himself off from full and free communication
with the higher side of nature; he has broken the laws of his country; and
he has wronged the individual from whom he stole. If he fully comprehends
the mistake that he has made, and is genuinely anxious to correct it, the
Priest's absolution will straighten out for him the etheric, astral and
mental entanglement which was produced by his action, or rather by the
mental attitude which made that action possible; but it does not relieve him
from the legal penalty of that action, nor from the duty of instantly and
fully restoring what he has stolen.
Intoxication is a temptation to men at a low
stage of development; one who succumbs to it is undoubtedly sadly in need of
the help of absolution to remove the barriers which he has erected between
himself and the sunlight of God's grace; but by yielding he has also
weakened his will and injured his physical health, and he must not expect
that absolution will either strengthen the one or restore the other. The
Sacrament puts the man right with God; but it does not relieve his from the
responsibility for his acts, nor in any way affect their physical
consequences.
It is a spiritual process, a loosening from
the bondage of sin, a process of at-one-ment with the Higher Self, a
restoration of the inner harmony of being which is distributed by
wrong-doing, so that the man can make a fresh effort towards righteousness,
fortified by the uninterrupted flow of the divine power within him. A man
cannot escape the consequences of his misdeeds, though he can neutralize
them by sowing fresh causes of a righteous kind. "Be not deceived; God is
not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Note
When the celebrant makes the first cross, the blessing of the Lord, which
flows into them to some extent, puts all their bodies into order and
straightens things out in the personality. As he recites the words "the Lord
in His loving kindness look down upon you and be gracious unto you," the
Priest is working at the level where the Lord looks down upon us as a
unity—the buddhic plane—where we receive His Graciousness in so generous a
measure. Here the celebrant is one with his congregation, and at this high
level, having tried to draw them all up into himself, he pours a rush of
force down into their lower vehicles, that a take the image of their higher
selves (already made brighter and truer reflections of the Great Self by the
outpouring in the Confiteor and at the first blessing in the absolution)
and, through their points of entry, stamps this down upon the personality,
thereby not only affecting that personality, but also clearing the channel
connecting it with the Greater Self. The power of God stimulates the Divine
Image within each of us to impress Itself more definitely on the
personality, and in forcing itself down it clears out any kinks in the
connection channel between the lower and higher selves—between the
individual and God. Thus the Life of the Logos—the evolutionary stream—can
again flow smoothly through the man. He is no longer a snag in the stream,
because he has been put right in his relation with his Maker.
This is a wonderful help, but remember that
the absolution goes no further than this. It is not well to use the
expression that the man is forgiven or pardoned because God is never in such
an attitude towards us that we could speak of His needing to change it from
offence to pardon. He made us what we are, and He is not angry with us
because we are still in the lower stages of our evolution. To speak of anger
in Him is a very gross misunderstanding; indeed, such a supposition is in
truth a blasphemy.
A better way to put it is to say that, as we
have tipped the balance one way, it will swing back again, and we must bear
the consequences of our act. The absolution cannot negate the law of cause
and effect. What it can and does do is to straighten out the confusion for
us, and give us strength which we may use to go on and do better ,thereby
setting in motion other causes for good, which may neutralize or mitigate
the result of our misdeeds. This is the only kind of penitence which is of
any use; contrition and remorse are really in themselves only additional
wrong, and are often excuses for turning our thoughts entirely upon
ourselves, in the belief that we are doing it for higher purposes. Thus we
waste energy which should be spent in His service, and often harm the people
around us; for the vibrations which we send out in this condition are very
likely to produce depression, selfishness and irritability in others. No one
has any right to do this; it is in reality an anti-social form of
self-indulgence and therefore in itself a crime.
The Censing
Next comes the beautiful ceremony of the
censing of the Altar, which requires a few words of explanation. It comes
down to us from the early days of the Church, and is mentioned by Origen
himself. The use of incense is full of significance. It is at the same time
symbolic, honorific and purificatory. It ascends before God, as a symbol of
the prayers and devotion of the people; but also it spreads through the
church as a symbol of the sweet savour of the blessing of God. It is offered
as a mark of respect, as it was in many of the older religions; but it is
also used with a definite idea of purification, and so the Priest pours into
it a holy influence with the intention that wherever its scent may
penetrate, wherever the smallest particle of that which has been blessed may
pass, it shall bear with it a sense of peace and purity, and shall chase
away all inharmonious thoughts and feelings
Even apart from the blessing, its influence is
good, for it is carefully compounded from certain gums, the undulation-rate
of which harmonizes perfectly with spiritual and devotional vibrations, but
is distinctly hostile to almost all others. The magnetization may merely
intensify its natural characteristics, or may add to it other special
oscillations, but in any case its use in connection with religious
ceremonies is always desirable. The scent of sandalwood has many of the same
properties; and the scent of pure attar of roses, though utterly different
in character, has also a good effect.
More than a hundred varieties of incense are
known, and each of the ingredients employed has its own special influence on
the higher bodies of man. There is a science of perfumes, and evil powers as
well as good may be invoked by such means. Nearly all the incenses prepared
for church use contain a large proportion of benzoin and olibanum, as
experience has shown that these are both pleasing and effective. Benzoin is
almost savagely ascetic and purifying; it deals trenchantly with all the
grosser forms of impure thought, and is excellent for use in a great
cathedral crowded with somewhat undeveloped individual. For smaller
assemblies of less bucolic minds it needs a large admixture of other
elements to produce the best results. Olibanum is the special incense of
devotion; its fragrance tends strongly to awaken that feeling in those who
are at all capable of it, and to deepen and intensify it where it already
exists. A judicious mixture of these two gums is found satisfactory in
practice, so it is frequently employed as a basis or central stock, to which
other less important flavourings may be added.
When the thurifer and the boat-bearer
approach, the celebrant ladles some incense into the censer, and solemnly
blesses it, saying: "Be thou blessed by Him in whose honour thou shalt be
burned." If a Bishop be present, it is better that he should bless it, as he
can put a little additional power into it which is not at the command of the
Priest. While blessing the incense, the best intention to hold in mind is
that it may clear the way, may pierce through and polarize everything with
which it comes into contact. The thought which I myself hold in mind while
blessing incense is that it may "make straight the way of the Lord."
It has been asked whether it would not be
possible to bless the whole boat of incense before hand, instead of merely
that which is used to charge the censer. It would not be nearly so
effective, because incense does not retain the full magnetism for an
indefinite period, as a precious stone would. It is better then to bless
each time that portion of incense which has just been placed upon the
glowing charcoal, for in that way the magnetism is impressed upon it at the
moment of its melting, when it can penetrate most thoroughly, and so the
best effect is obtained.
After this is done the celebrant proceeds to
the censing of the Altar. By so doing he seeks to permeate the whole Altar
and the atmosphere round it with high and holy influence, and to carry to
higher planes the preparatory process which has already been performed for
the etherical level at the Asperges. The Altar is going to be the centre of
a tremendous radiation, and it is necessary so to prepare it that it will
not drain away any of the forces which it should transmit. If it were not
censed, a certain proportion of the force which comes at the time of the
Consecration would be spent in getting the particles of the Altar into order
for this transmission, in order that the force might be properly
distributed. The plan of censing the Altar is good, since it spreads the
magnetism very fully and accurately through the Altar itself and everywhere
upon it.
The middle line of the Altar, upon which are
placed the Host and the Cross, is the direction down which the force of the
Consecration will flow, and it is therefore necessary first of all to cense
that and clear the way.
We have adopted with slight modifications the
Roman order in the censing, but we give nine swings to the cross, arranged
in groups of three, which is better for the purpose than the three double
swings of the Roman Church. In that act we show the highest honour in our
power to all that the cross typifies—the Christ Himself and the great
Sacrifice which brought forth the universe. Also this nine-fold swing has a
special and beautiful significance, for it symbolizes the offering to the
Triune God of the threefold man whom He has made in His own image; it shows
that we dedicate "ourselves, our souls and bodies" (which is the Christian
phrase for what students call the Monad, the ego and the personality) to
each Person of the Blessed Trinity in turn. As the Priest performs this
action, each member of the congregation should mentally make this total
surrender in his own case, thereby awakening within himself all that as yet
can be aroused in each of these departments, and preparing himself to take
part in the Kyrie later. As the Priest takes the censer from the deacon he
turns and genuflects, saying silently: "To the Father I dedicate (as he
swings the censer three times) (1) spirit, (2) soul, (3) bodies"; then there
is a momentary pause, and in that pause before the second set of swings he
says to himself: "To the Son I dedicate (as he makes the three swings)
spirit, soul, bodies"; and then as he pauses before the third set of swings
he says silently: "To the Holy Ghost I dedicate (as he makes the swings)
spirit, soul, bodies." Then he genuflects and turns to the candlesticks on
the southern or Epistle side of the Altar and censes each one with a single
swing of the censer (Diagram 8), which not only magnetizes each candle, but
also that portion of the surface of the Altar covered by the sweep of the
censer. In doing this, the Priest should think in turn of each of the seven
Rays, which are represented by the six candles and the cross—or, perhaps
more accurately, the light before the cross, which may be regarded as a kind
of extension of it.
Since this is emphatically a religion of the
Christ, the Head of the second Ray, and the Latin cross is His especial
symbol, the Altar-cross represents to us the second Ray, and in swinging the
censer towards it, we are worshipping the Holy Trinity "through Christ our
Lord," as we say so often in our prayers. The first candle censed (the
nearest to the cross on the southern side) represents the first Ray; the
next represents the fourth, and the outside candle the fifth Ray. On the
gospel side the candle nearest to the cross denotes the seventh Ray (that
now becoming dominant in the world), the next stands for the third, and the
last for the sixth Ray. The assignment of the candles to these particular
Rays is in harmony with the arrangement of the jewels in the Altar-stone
which is advocated in Part III, and the relation between them will be made
clear by Diagram 8.
In censing each candle, the Priest should
think of the Ray with which it is associated, offering worship to God along
that particular line, and the people also should have in mind the same
thought as far as they are able. This means what is really a kind of double
thought—a resolve to try to develop within oneself the quality specially
belonging to that Ray, and at the same time to dedicate to God's service
whatever one possesses of that quality. For our present purpose the
characteristics of the Rays, and the aspirations that we should offer, may
be expressed as follows:
·
Strength |
"I will be strong, brave, persevering
in His service." |
·
Wisdom |
" I will attain that intuitional
wisdom which can be developed only through perfect love."
|
·
Adaptability or Tact |
"I will try to gain the power of
saying and doing just the right thing at the right moment—of meeting
each man on his own ground, in order to help him more efficiently."
|
·
Beauty and Harmony |
"So far as I can, I will bring beauty
and harmony into my life and surroundings that they may be more
worthy of Him; I will learn to see beauty in all Nature, that so I
may server Him better." |
·
Science (detailed knowledge) |
"I will gain knowledge and accuracy,
that I may devote to them to His work." |
·
Devotion |
"I will unfold within myself the
mighty power of devotion, that through it I may bring others to
Him." |
·
Ordered Service (ceremonial which
invokes angelic help) |
"I will so order and arrange my
service of God along the lines which He has prescribes, that I may
be able fully to take advantage of the loving help which His holy
Angels are always waiting to render." |
It is obviously impossible to think all this
within the time occupied by a single swing of the censer, so it may be
suggested that when the Priest genuflects after having censed the cross, he
should say to himself: "for His service I will unfold within myself" (as he
censes the candles in order) "(1) Strength, (4) Harmony, (5) Knowledge."
Next he censes the southern corner of the
Altar, both below and above (Diagram 3), and in doing so he should take care
to reach well round the side. During this and the next operation he holds
firmly the thought: "May His strength make a sure shield for His grace. "
Then the edge and top of the Altar are censed, including any vases standing
upon it. As he genuflects on reaching the middle point, he thinks again:
"for His service I will unfold within myself" (as he censes the candles)
"(7) Order, (3) Adaptability, (6) Devotion." Then, as he deals with the
northern or Gospel corner, edge and top in a similar manner, he returns to
the previous idea of making so strong a swirl of force that nothing can
interfere with it, using the same words as on the southern side, and holding
that thought as he censes the lower part of the Altar on both sides. when
there are only two candles, as at private celebrations, the Priest should
cense each candle three times, holding the same thoughts as directed above.
In this way the whole Altar is surrounded by a
shell of powerful magnetism, which produces an effect upon its material, and
that of the objects upon it, which is not unlike the magnetization of an
iron rod. By this same action the block of either surrounding the Altar is
separated off from the rest; it does not join for the time being in the
general etheric circulation; being especially polarized, it remains like an
eddy—- still an elastic body, though held apart for a while in the
neighbourhood of the Altar, until in the second censing it is further
extended. If we think of the Host as one pole of a magnet (the other pole of
which is the Christ Himself), then this etheric eddy is the magnetic field
surrounding it. Just as the space within the eucharistic edifice is for the
time being walled in from the outer world, so is the magnetic field round
the Altar temporarily walled in from the church in turn—a Holy of Holies
within the Temple. To change the simile—if the church, or rather the
eucharistic edifice, be imaged as a power-house, the etheric eddy round the
Altar is the dynamo, and the celebrant the engineer in charge. As a sign
that he is so set apart and associated with this innermost sanctum, he, and
he alone, is also censed at this stage.
Here we meet another of the many advantages of
High over the ordinary Low Celebration. It will be readily understood that
it is desirable to reserve this magnetic field exclusively for the reception
and storage of the force from on high, and to have as little as possible of
any other action than that going on within it. It is the business of the
celebrant, who is necessarily inside the reserved area, to receive the
contributions of force generated by the devotion and gratitude of his
people, and speed them on their upward way. but they are of very varied
quality and power, and they need harmonizing, co-ordinating, purifying,
often even to a considerable extent transmuting, before he can employ them
to the best possible advantage, and weld them into such a stream as will
evoke every ounce of power that they can draw down from the illimitable
divine storehouse.
This work of sorting, arranging and filtering
absorbs a good deal of the celebrant's energy (even though he maybe
unconscious of it) and inevitably creates friction and disturbance within
the etheric field. All this is avoided at a High Celebration, because, as I
have already said, the contributions of the people flow through the deacon
and the subdeacon; the straining and sorting is done by them outside
the casket, and they deliver the steady, purified streams of force to the
celebrant, who is thus enabled to maintain inside the shell a far higher
level of efficiency. Indeed, it is only by this expedient that it is
feasible to deal at all satisfactorily with the bewilderingly miscellaneous
output of a large and enthusiastic congregation. (Diagram2)
In considering the many benefits which we gain
from the use of incense, we must not overlook the aid of the special orders
of Angels and nature-spirits which work by its means. The Angels of the
Incense are of two quite distinct types—neither of them readily
comprehensible except by those who have devoted much study to such subjects.
Such investigators know that there are Angels of Music—great beings who
express themselves in music just as we express ourselves in words—to whom an
arpeggio is a greeting, a fugue a conversation, an oratortio an oration.
There are Angels of Colour, who express themselves by kaleidoscopic changes
of glowing hues, by coruscations and scintillations of rainbow light. So
also are there Angels who live in and express themselves by what to us are
perfumes and fragrances—though to use such words seems to degrade, to
materialize the exquisite emanations in which they revel so joyously. A
subdivision of that type includes the Angels of the Incense, who are drawn
by its vibrations and find pleasure in utilizing its possibilities.
There is also another kind to whom the title
of Angel is less appropriate. They are equally graceful and beautiful in
their way, but in reality they belong to the kingdom of the elves or
nature-spirits. In appearance they resemble the child-angels of Titian or
Michael Angelo, except that they have no wings. They do not express
themselves by means of perfumes, but they live by and on such emanations,
and so are always to be found where fragrance is being disseminated. There
are many varieties, some feeding upon coarse and loathsome odours, and
others only upon those which are delicate and refined. Among them are a few
types which are especially attracted by the smell of incense, and are always
to be found where it is burnt. When we cense the Altar and thus create a
magnetic field, we enclose within it a number of these delightful little
elves, and they absorb a great deal of the energy which is accumulated
there, and become valuable agents in its distribution at the proper time.
Incense is valuable to our Service in so many
different ways that it is eminently desirable to take advantage of its
remarkable qualities whenever possible. When he can, each Priest should keep
a small censer in his own private oratory, and use it at his daily
Celebration. The Maronite Church of Mount Lebanon always uses incense both
at Low and High Celebration, and we of the Liberal Catholic Church follow
its example in this matter as far as possible.
Note
Besides its honorific and purificatory uses, the censing is of the greatest
value in that it calls down the powers of the Rays though their
representative candles, as each in turn is censed. Let us examine the
colours of the different outpourings. It is not asserted that these are the
colours of the Rays, for it would require a very competent clairvoyant to
arrive at these with any certainty. The difficulties in the way are great,
for various reasons. It seems likely that each Ray has a fundamental colour
which can be attributed to it, but this is overlaid by many others. There is
perhaps some arrangement by which they correspond with the colours of the
spectrum, and they probably modify their colours accordingly to the needs of
the world at the moment, which depend on cyclic changes.
There are many other considerations each of
which has its effect; it is like the adjustment of a many-ringer
letter-lock; if we once understood the Word—the regulating Principle—we
should probably find it clear enough, but from our present position, not
know that Word, and seeing only the involved immensity of the number of
possible considerations, it merely raises bewilderment. However, we can give
the colours outpoured at the censing without touching the question of the
absolute colours of the Rays.
With the first triple swing to the central
cross and picture, we have a fine outflow of white which spreads itself all
over the Altar. It also stimulates the jewels in the Altar-stone to vigorous
activity, so that they share in this white outpouring. It may be only the
diamond, the first-Ray jewel, which emits this colour, but I am inclined to
think it is the result of the combined colours of all the Rays, which, like
the colours of the spectrum, may all be subsumed into pure white. This is of
a different nature from the dazzling and intensely positive first-Ray blaze;
this is just simple whiteness which does not strike out like lightning, but
pours out like milk, and glows with a sweet softness which is yet very firm.
I believe it was with the intention of imitation this that the instructions
were given that on the Altar should be spread a "fair linen cloth". The next
three swings induce a similar outrush of blue, from the Christ; and the last
set brings down the crimson of the Holy Spirit. The swing to the first-Ray
candle brings down a great jet of power which rushes straight down the
candle and out on to the Altar, spreading out in the shape of the letter V.
At the same time it sets up great activity in the first-Ray jewel of the
Altar-stone, which pours matter of the same colour all over the Altar. The
stream from the candle runs strongly for a few moments, and then the colour
is covered over by the whiteness of the "fair linen cloth". Still, however,
a certain amount remains visible through this white material, but it looks
as though what filtered through were of a high octave of colour, it is so
delicate and refined.
The colours which come down each of the
candles have several layers to them. the first Ray has a thin pencil of
intensely bright gold, which is surrounded by the wonderful and shining
silvery electric blue, which is so often seen in connection with this Ray.
The surface of this outpouring is covered with silver sparkles, which it is
continually shooting off with a hissing noise. Many are given off with what
almost approaches a crackling sound, as the stream reaches the edge of the
Altar and falls down the Altar like an orphrey, stained with these wonderful
colours as they glow beneath the whiteness of the Altar covering. All the
outpourings from the other five candlesticks run in a manner precisely
similar to this, except that their colours are different, and from their
relative positions, their V-shaped paths also differ slightly.
The next swing of the censer is towards the
fourth-Ray candles. This has its core of a curious indescribable colour
which approaches most nearly to a sort of translucent magenta pink—a strong
colour, but with a very delicate shell tint. The pink itself shades off by
imperceptible degrees into an opalescent aqua-toned aura. The body of the
power is a splendid mingling of dark blue and green like a peacock's breast;
and on the surface we see the same colour as at the heart, except that there
are only flecks of the magenta and much more of the opalescent effect. The
contrast of the magenta, seen against the dark ever-changing rush of
mingling deep blues and greens seems to make this curious cloud-like halo of
opalescence look almost like a beautiful æsthetic grey, but when one looks
closely, one sees that there are many soft colours in it which gleam out as
the ever-restless stream throws them more to the surface, and that the
greyishness is only the result of the contrast between the strong almost
metallic sheen of the darker colours, and the gentle aura of this odd pink.
Possibly some of the colours of this Ray's power are due to its long
association with Egypt. They may also have to do with its position as the
central or balancing position between the two sets of three on either side
of it. It is thought by some that, whereas in the three fold cycle of
evolution the first three Rays characterize the first part of the cycle, and
the fifth, sixth and seventh Rays its last part, the fourth Ray dominates
the whole of the middle cycle. I am far from convinced of this, but if it
were so, it would account for the many colours and curious blends in this
outpouring, as it would have to suit itself to many more periods than the
other Rays.
The next candle to be censed is that of the
fifth Ray, which produces a down-pouring with a centre of a rich apricot
red—there is orange in it and Martian red—and a surrounding body of a
beautiful and singularly pure yellow. On the surface we have tiny flecks of
the central colour, the apricot.
The two swings round the side consolidate the
protective wall which the whole of this censing is building round the Altar,
and the next three swings draw a further rush of power from the
candles—naturally in the reverse order this time—which we have just been
censing. This part of the censing is specially intended to make a further
impression of each of the Ray powers where they have coloured the Altar as
they rushed over the edge to make their orphreys down the front.
The celebrant now censes the candles on the
Gospel side of the Altar, beginning with that nearest the centre, that of
the seventh Ray. This down-pouring is silver in the middle, a specially
gleaming, living silver which differs from the first-Ray silver in that the
latter looks more like the actual metal surrounded by white fire; while the
former is more like a stream of mercury which seems to exhale other tints as
though it reflected them. This has a more human and a softer feeling than
the first-Ray power which is so intensely positive—strong as a line of
lightning. Around this core, the seventh-Ray outpouring is a marvellous
transparent amethyst—a regal colour which makes the heart sing and speaks of
the splendour of sunsets shining into stormy tropic seas; but the dark blue
of those restless waters at or after dusk, is also there, and the flash of
moonlit wavelets is suggested by the myriad flecks of silver which, as with
the first-Ray influence, dance off its surface.
The next, the third-Ray candle emits a fine
sky blue and emerald, which suggest the colours of certain blue and green
opals—like shallow sea water over a sandy bottom when the sun shines through
it.
The last candle is the channel for the
sixth-Ray force, which in the centre is pure Martian red—very strong and
fiery—the colour that inspires martyrs. The main volume of the outpouring,
that which surrounds this central jet, is the most lovely rosy crimson—the
tenderest and purest carnation shade—really quite indescribable. Perhaps the
nearest one can come to it in physical colours is seen in certain very fine
rockets; but even this is the poorest and most faded reproduction of the
pure beauty of this higher colour. The Martian red shows itself again in
surface flecks.
Fireworks provide the nearest likeness on the
physical plane to astral colours; but even these cannot give a true idea of
what seems almost a paradoxical mixture of the utmost vigour and intensity
of colour with the most transparently diaphanous and intensity of colour
with the most transparently diaphanous and delicate pearly effects. These
combine with an ever-changing, ever-restless and glistening sheen to produce
an appearance of life which suggests that the colours are the expressions of
a living entity, whose moods are never the same from moment to moment.
The next part of the censing is like that
which was done on the Epistle side of the Altar; and then follow six
circular swings—three on each side—along the bottom part of the Altar
frontal. These draw down the power represented by the particular candle in
from of which each swing is made, and so intensify the Altar orphreys.
With each outrush from the candles, the
corresponding Ray jewel has sent a flood of the same power over the whole
Altar, which, though it has disappeared under the white covering, yet
definitely leaves its magnetism. Each outrush from the various candles
quickly spreads itself till it touches the paths of its two neighbouring
outpourings; so that practically the whole of the top of the Altar is
covered by these colours, which (unlike those that come from the more
general and diffuse effect of the Altar-stone jewels) do not altogether
vanish beneath the white covering, but remain to glimmer through it like
twinkling stars between wind-tossed palm leaves. Similarly, the front of the
Altar is left all covered with these bands of half hidden colours which
still seem living beneath the luminous white.
Thus, for the clairvoyant, the censing is a
very beautiful ceremony, the Altar being alive with these amazingly vivid
colours, and each candle like a small sun of the hue—for not only are the
candles like pipes for the down-rush, but they themselves, around the flames
and the places where the Ray jewels are set in them, are fairly bursting
with radiations of light and glory, making a real fire or Altar lights.
All this has separated off the Altar from the
rest of the church, in order that special powers may be generated within it.
The celebrant is to some extent included in this magnetized field when the
deacon now censes him. I say "to some extent included," for the celebrant is
at no point permitted to touch the Altar, because, if he should do so, power
which had accumulated within it would flow out into him. If he were fully
part of this magnetic field, he and the Altar would be equally charged, and
it would therefore not matter whether he touched it or not. But as it does
matter, he is clearly only "to some extent included" in the charged area.
His vestments have absorbed a good deal from
the outpourings during the censing of the Altar, and now that he is himself
censed, he is charged with much more power. This is what he shares with the
people in the Minor Benediction which immediately follows.
Dominus vobiscum
|
LIBERAL |
|
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And with thy spirit.
|
By the recitation of the second of these Minor
Benedictions the Priest collects from the congregation such force as may
have been generated by their feeling of gratitude for the absolution. Also
by it the people are brought into harmony with the Priest as closely as
possible, and he endeavours to share with them as far as he can the
wonderful electrification which he has received during the ceremony of the
censing. The magnetic field, the insulated space, is being more and more
highly charged, and by this action the Priest projects some of that force
over his congregation; and the ready response of its members links them
closely with him, so that their vibrations are raised to a higher level. The
strings of the higher consciousness are tightened and tuned.
The rectification achieved by the absolution
has made this tuning feasible, so that the people can now be drawn together
far more intimately than would have been possible before, just as a bundle
of straight rods can be bound together more closely than could a heap of
bent, irregular branches. Each man had his own twists and angles; these have
now to a large extent been straightened out, and there is now at least an
approach to parallelism, and therefore a capacity for psychic collaboration
in the construction of the eucharistic edifice by the beautiful act of
worship called the Introit. In the shortened form of the Eucharist, the
place of the Minor Benediction before the Introit is taken by a special
reference to the work which we are now undertaking. The Priest sings: "With
praise and with prayer shall our Temple be built." And the people reply: "To
God alone be the glory."
Introit
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
The Introit varies. That which
follows is of Trinity Sunday. |
|
Blessed be the holy Trinity and undivided Unity: we will
give glory to him, because he has shown his mercy to us. O Lord
our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in the whole earth! Glory be
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
Blessed be the holy Trinity and
undivided Unity: we will give glory to him, because he hath
shown his mercy to us. |
Blessed be the Holy Trinity, the undivided Unity, eternal,
immortal, invisible, to whom be honour and glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
O Lord our God, how excellent
is Thy Name in all the world! Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed be the Holy Trinity,
the undivided Unity, eternal, immortal, invisible, to whom be
honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
|
The Introit is in essence a further
acknowledgement and invocation of the might and splendour of the Name which
is above every name; and remember always that this in reality synonymous
with the Power which is above every power. For its central feature is the
verse: "O Lord our God, how excellent is Thy Name in all the world." The
rest of the Introit consists of the usual Gloria Patri added to this, and a
magnificent antiphon which precedes and follows it. It would not be easy to
invent a finer tribute of praise, and it is eminently effective in providing
material for the walls and roof of the edifice. The vivified matter pours
out in great waves over the mosaic pavement, flooding it and curving upward
at its edges, following (as far as the church is concerned) the shape of the
bubble blown by the Asperges, but reduplicating that shape on the eastern
side of the Altar also.
By the sign of the cross at the beginning each
person opens himself fully to the influence of the electrification, and then
under that wonderful stimulus pours himself out in love, devotion and
worship. The first rush of this force welling up from the congregation to
the Altar makes a huge vortex round it (Plate 7), into which the divine
response to the devotional feeling comes down in a torrent; but the Angel of
the Eucharist quickly spreads this abroad and flattens it down, so that it
rushes in all directions along the pavement and circles up the walls,
bearing a curious resemblance to a rapidly-growing dup-like flower (Plate
8). Each phrase of the Introit sends out a fresh wave, and the rising
material soon bends over again into a roof, so that the edifice at this
stage looks like an enormous cylindrical bag, all its corners and edges
being rounded (Plate 9).
The Angel, superbly capable, stands in the
middle by the Altar, deftly spraying out force in all directions with
wondrous ease and accuracy, thereby quickly pressing out the curves into
corners, until we have an oblong building (Plate 10). The colours are still
chiefly crimson and blue, as in the pavement, though sometimes blending into
purple with occasional touches of gold. The material is at first thicker
near the bottom of the walls, and therefore darker in hue; the upper part,
being lighter and thinner, shows lovely delicate shades of rose and azure of
indescribable luminosity, but as the uprush continues the whole erection
becomes firmer and less tenuous.
In the Roman Missal the Introit is constantly
changed, according to the season. We have thought it well to avoid this, and
have followed in preference the custom of the Greek Church, which does not
alter its Services in this way. We find that the many Intro its of the Roman
Church are by no means all equally effective in producing the necessary
material for the edifice, so it seems desirable to take the best of them,
very slightly modifying it; and an even more important consideration is that
the people join much more readily and heartily in words which are thoroughly
familiar to them. When they know what is coming they are able to put their
thought into what they are saying instead of having to consider how to fit
the words to the music; so if we want really enthusiastic and whole-hearted
co-operation from those who are not highly trained in singing, it is obvious
that a large part of the ritual must be unchanging, that they may learn it
by heart.
Note
The Roman usage here prescribes that the celebrant and his assistants shall
stand in a semicircle formation. This is useful, as it helps in setting up
the whirl of power which rushes up to the centre line, and there induces the
down-pouring with which the Angel builds the walls and roof of the edifice.
The swirl is on the positive side because of the strength and stability of
the outpouring on that side. This part of the Service provides a beautiful
spectacle for the clairvoyant. The great flower-like splash of outrushing
power spreads in all directions over the rich crimson and blue of the
pavement, which is distinctly seen below the transparent, opalescent colours
of the outrushing material. the effect is rendered doubly impressive by the
light of the central downrush appearing to be reflected on the spreading
outflow, the ripples of which are thereby all touched to gold as a pool on
some great mountain-top—a lagoon, grass-ringed, like a bright sapphire set
among emeralds—which at the same instant feels the first breath of morning
and catches the largesse of its scattered gold.
As the walls quickly rise around one, one
looks out as on to a fairy world, seen, as it is, through the wonderful blue
and crimson, gold and lilac of the shining and diaphanous structure.
Kyrie
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
Kyrie, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, eleison. Christe,
eleison. Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison. |
Kyrie, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, eleison. Christe,
eleison. Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison. |
These are the only words of its original
language now remaining in our Liturgy. The phrase Kyrie eleison is
usually translated: "Lord, have mercy upon us"—a rendering which brings in
the false and unworthy idea that God is angry with us and that we must ask
for mercy, and is entirely consistent with the cringing attitude to which we
have before referred as so disastrous to true devotion. It is true that the
Greek verb evleevw is
susceptible of that meaning when used as expressing the petition of a
prisoner to a judge; but that it has another and more natural signification
is shown by the use which we make of the English word "eleemosynary," which
is derived from it. That brings out the idea of freely giving, giving as
alms; so that a far more appropriate equivalent to Kyrie eleison is:
"Lord, give Thyself to us," or "Lord, pour Thyself forth." One Christian
scholar translates it: "Lord, be kind to us." But could our heavenly Father
ever be otherwise than kind?
The prayer is really pre-Christian, for it is
in effect a translation of one addressed in the Egyptian Mysteries to the
Sun-God Ra, asking him to shine upon his people with his beneficent and
life-giving ray—not with that which is burning or destructive. When we
realize the true intention of the celebration of the Eucharist—when we
understand that a veritable continuation of the great Sacrifice is about to
take place—we see at once how eminently suitable is such a prayer, as this,
and how skillfully designed is the curious form in which it is cast.
For this ninefold invocation corresponds to
the ninefold offering of spirit, soul and bodies at the censing; that opened
up the man at those three levels, and the response which comes to this
appeal fills the opened vessels. As he sings the first petition, the
worshipper, reaching up with all his strength towards the All-Father, and
trying to realize his absolute unity with Him, should think: "I am a spark
of Thee, the Living Flame; O Father, pour Thyself forth into and through Thy
spark." Holding the same realization, as he sings the second, he will feel:
"Father, flood thou my soul, that through it other souls may be nourished."
And at the third: "Father, my bodies are Thine; use Thou them to Thy glory."
At the fourth, fifth and sixth recitations, he will repeat these thoughts
substituting the realization of the Son for that of the Father; and in the
third series he will offer the same petitions to God the Holy Ghost. Yet in
all this he must not ask anything as for himself alone, nor take pride in
being chosen as a separate vessel for God's grace, but must rather know
himself as one among the brethren, a soldier among comrades.
When a congregation understands this scheme of
invocation and carries it out efficiently, remarkable results are produced
in the eucharistic edifice. A splendid group of spires is thrown up from its
roof, following a beautiful and suggestive order in their arrangement
(Diagram 4). the first identification of the spirit with the All-Father
shoots upward a fine central spire; the second and third petitions project
similar, but slightly smaller, spires to the north and south of it. The
fourth produces a spire to the east of that in the centre, while the fifth
and sixth result in smaller spires in the north-eastern and sough-eastern
corners of the roof, making a triangle with the fourth. The seventh appeal
throws up a spire west of the centre, thus completing the group of four
which surrounds the first and largest in a diamond shape, while the eighth
and ninth occupy the north-western and south-western corners and make a
triangle with the seventh. This arrangement will be easily followed by the
aid of the illustration.
Only a well-practised congregation can throw
up this forest of spires; earlier efforts will produce low dome-like
inverted bowls (Plate 11), just like those on the roof of the Church of San
Giovanni degli Eremiti at Palermo (Plate 12); but the arrangement is always
the same. At times with a specially trained and devoted congregation
splendid minarets are formed by the uprush of force. A bowl is formed when
the force is weak, a minaret when it is strong (Diagram 5).
In the Roman Service these bowl-like shapes
often sink back again and become depressions in the roof instead of rising
above it. This is due to the ideas of fear and self-abasement which so
often accompany the misunderstanding caused by unworthy mistranslation of
the Greek words. When we think of ourselves as miserable sinners and
continually plead with God for mercy, the effect upon the edifice is
striking, for re-entrant curves and hollows take the place of swelling domes
and flashing spires. To worship God with fear and trembling is, from the
hidden side of things, to shut away from ourselves much of the down-rush of
His love which would sweep through us if we would only learn to trust Him
utterly as a loving Father.
In the Roman churches one often sees fine
uprushes of devotion from individuals, but it is rare to find a combination
of intelligent devotion from a number of people, so that the result
resembles more a few scattered scaffold poles than a minaret. Sometimes the
people provide great rolling clouds of devotion, but it is generally vague
and unintelligent, so that even when it can be used in the construction of
the edifice, it leaves all the work of the building entirely to the Angel.
It is important that each person present should think strongly, not of
himself, but of acting as part of a unit. In this way the force is his
devotion, instead of thrusting itself through the roof of the edifice like a
rod, assists in raising and swelling the domes or minarets.
In the eucharist Service of the Church of
England the effect of the Kyrie has been almost entirely lost by the
lamentable introduction into that Service of the Mosaic commandments. The
nine Kyries are interspersed among them, a tenth being added after the last,
which is supposed to be addressed to the Three Persons collectively. The
Kyrie is specially intended to lead up to the Gloria in Excelsis, and fit
the people worthily and usefully to join in that most beautiful act of
praise and worship; but the so-called reformers, blankly ignorant of all
this, have widely divorced them, putting one at the beginning and the other
at the end of the Service. The Kyries in this Service cannot of course erect
spires or cupolas, as they should; for as yet there is absolutely no
building of any sort, nor has any Angel been invoked, except in the case of
those few Churches which, though using the Anglican Liturgy, supplement its
deficiencies by interpolating the principal features of the Roman rite.
Gloria in excelsis
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
Omitted during Passion and Holy
Weeks. |
|
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men of good will. We praise thee, we bless
thee, we adore thee, we glorify thee. We give thee thanks for
thy great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father
almighty. |
Glory be to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men of good-will. We praise Thee, we bless
Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee; we give thanks to Thee
for Thy great glory, O Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father
Almighty. |
O Lord Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
who takes away the sins of the world have mercy upon us. Who
takes away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Who
sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.
|
O Lord Christ, alone-born of
the Father; O Lord God, Indwelling Light, Son of the Father,
whose wisdom mightily and sweetly ordereth all things, pour
forth Thy love; Thou whose strength upholdeth and sustaineth all
creation, receive our prayer; Thou whose beauty shineth through
the whole universe, unveil Thy glory. |
For thou only art holy. Thou
only are Lord. Thou only, O Jesus Christ, art most high,
together with the Holy Ghost,
in the glory of God the
Father.Amen.
|
For Thou only art holy; Thou
only art the Lord; Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost,
art most high in the glory of God the Father.Amen.
|
The Gloria in Excelsis (as given in the Roman
or Anglican prayer-books, is a translation of an early Greek hymn. The first
certain mention of it is in an order given by Pope Telesphorus in the year
128. There is considerable variation among the older forms of it which have
survived, and some if its less defensible features are absent from the
earlier versions. For some centuries it was sung only when a Bishop
celebrated; then a Priest was allowed to use it on Easter Day only; and
finally, about the twelfth century, its general use in all festival Masses
was permitted.
We have adopted the translation of the first
and last of its three paragraphs as it stands in the English communion
Service, except for the phrase "goodwill towards men," which, while perhaps
more picturesque as a sentiment, is indefensible as a rendering of the
generally accepted text of the original Greek, and obscures the significant
issue that only those can have peace who are animated by goodwill towards
their fellows. Certain modifications have been introduced into the second
paragraph. We have corrected the translation of the word
monogehvz as "only-begotten,"
substituting what we find to be its real meaning, "alone-born"—that is to
say, born from one parent alone, and not from a syzygy or pair, as
have been all other created beings. We have deleted the misleading phrase
"have mercy upon us," replacing it by others more in harmony with the spirit
of this glorious hymn. Instead of a reference to the sins of the world, we
have quoted from another ritual the noble description of the Holy Trinity as
Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
In singing this both Priest and people cannot
do better than follow the actual words as closely as possible, trying to
feel them and mean them to the uttermost. For just as in the Asperges we
were principally dealing with etheric material, so in all this part of the
Service have we been chiefly engaged in the vivification of astral matter,
though unquestionably strong vibrations of intuitional wisdom are also
aroused in all who are capable of them.
The effect of the Gloria in Excelsis upon the
eucharistic edifice is most striking. Each of its three parts contributes
definitely to the building. As we sing the first paragraph the central spire
produced by the singing of the first Kyrie swells and expands until it
blends with the four surrounding spires to form a great central dome (Plate
13).
This dome is low in proportion to its
diameter, and is not yet exactly circular at the base, as it still at this
stage shows traces of the four smaller domes or spires which it has
absorbed. The form at this stage is curiously suggested by the Mosque at
Cairo, shown in Plate 14. With the singing of the second paragraph this
great flattened dome rounds itself out, and a lofty and exquisitely
proportioned cupola swells out of its top. Lastly, in the third part a
lantern-like erection shoots out from the cupola, the whole now forming a
structure of three stages, something like the dome of the Capitol at
Washington although the details are different (Plate 15). Finally, when the
people cross themselves while singing the last few words, a rosy cross forms
above their heads and floats up into the lantern-like part of the edifice.
Considering the important part which this
magnificent hymn plays in the building of the form, the Roman custom of
omitting it and the Creed at what some people are pleased to call
penitential seasons is much to be deprecated.
Note
The three verses of this magnificent hymn are addressed to the Three persons
of the Trinity, so that the base of the central erection is consecrated to
the Father, the middle part to the Son, and the lantern-like erection on the
top, formed by the last verse, is sacred to the Holy Spirit. This part of
the Service is always rather a fine colour display; and the central dome is
still further enriched by the Collects, which add distinctive colours for
the various festivals commemorated, and further consolidate it.
Dominus Vobiscum
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
|
P. The Lord by with you.
C. And with thy spirit .
|
At the end of the Gloria in Excelsis, when the
people are specially exalted by the noble words which they have just
uttered, and are therefore in a more sensitive and receptive frame of mind,
once more the Priest turns to them and endeavours by means of the Minor
Benediction to pour into them something of his own enthusiasm. their ready
response draws them into closer union with him, and also puts into his hands
all the force which they have been generating.
The Collects
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The Collect varies. That which
follows is or Trinity Sunday. |
|
Almighty, everlasting God, who
hast granted that in confessing the true faith thy servants
should acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the
power of the divine majesty should also worship unity: grant
that by steadfastness in the same faith we may evermore be
defended from all harm. Through our Lord. |
Almighty God, unto whom all
hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are
hid; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of
Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily
magnify Thy holy Name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
|
Here follow any additional
Collects, after which the Epistle is read.
|
Here fellows the Collect of the
Day, after which the Epistle is read.
|
The devotion and love of the people have now
been thoroughly aroused by the splendid acts of worship and invocation in
which they have participated, and in consequence the building of the
eucharistic edifice has been completed so far as its astral portions are
concerned. It is now desired to arouse the mental enthusiasm of the
congregation, with the result that matter of the mental level may also by
woven into our erection. This is done by reading to the people the Epistle
and Gospel and by calling upon them to join in the recitation of the Creed.
But first are said certain prayers called Collects, of which in our revised
Liturgy one is used invariably, but the others change with the calendar.
These brief and comprehensive prayers have
been used in the Church from the earliest periods. The name applied to them
is of great antiquity, but of obscure origin. Liturgiologists have though
that they were so called merely because they were used in the public
congregation or collection of the people; or from the fact of many petitions
being collected together in them into a brief summary; or because they
collect together the ideas comprehended in the Epistle and Gospel of the
day, and weave them into a prayer. Again, there is a suggestion that in
earlier days the Priest "collected" the wishes of his congregation, and
incorporated them in his extempore prayer. Another theory which has been
widely supported is founded upon the fact that in ancient times when the
Service called a station was held, it was the custom for the clergy
and people to meet first at another church, and then go together in
procession to that at which the Eucharist was to be said. Before they
started from the first church a short prayer was said, called Oratio ad
collectam, and from this custom that prayer itself came to be
denominated the Collect. However this may be, such prayers are found in all
known Liturgies.
Our first Collect, which is unchanging, is a
prayer of the early Church called the Collect for Purity, which immediately
follows the Paternoster in the opening of the Communion Service of the
Church of England. Its earnest aspiration for purity of thought is
especially appropriate here, when we are just about to supply the mental
material necessary for the eucharistic edifice; and the petition that we may
be filled with perfect love and may worthily praise God's holy Name touches
precisely the right note, and gives us the clue to exactly the attitude of
mind which we must maintain of we are rightly to do Him service.
In selecting the Collects for Sundays and
holy-days we have in many cases used those from the Book of Common Prayer of
the Church of England, which in turn have usually been chosen from those of
the ancient Liturgy; but we have consistently eliminated all passages
exhibiting a cringing or faithless spirit, and have striven to keep ever
before the minds of our members the thought of the love and the glory of
God, and the supreme joy of unselfish service.
In regard to commemorations we follow the
ordinary custom of our Church. When two festivals concur, we use the Service
of the more important of the two, and in addition recite the Collect of the
other, in order that our people may not overlook it.
The Epistle
In the early days of the Church it seems to
have been the custom to read a number of lessons at this point of the
Service, the amount being limited only by the time at their disposal; we
find the direction that the Bishop or Priest shall give a signal when he
thinks that enough has been read. At a later period this surfeit of lessons
was reduced to three, called the Prophecy, the Epistle and the Gospel; later
still, the first of these disappears, and we find only the Epistle and the
Gospel, as we have them now, though a trace of the compression still remains
in the fact that what is called the Epistle is sometimes taken from the
books of the Prophets. The intention clearly is to offer to the people some
definite instruction; for we must not forget that in early days there were
no printed books, so that teaching could be given only orally. In relation
to the edifice, the object of these readings is to arouse the intellectual
faculties of the congregation by giving them food for thought, so that
mental as well as astral material may be provided.
In selecting readings for the Epistle we have
sometimes chosen lections different from those used either by the Roman or
Anglican branches of the Church. We have not felt constrained to take any
particular passage in its entirety, since, if we did so, we should in many
cases be obliged to read quite unsuitable and unedifying passages. Instead
of invariably selecting consecutive verses, therefore, we have often chosen
only such as express some lofty and stimulating thought, omitting others
which have no connection with the subject in hand, or approach it from a
point of view inconsistent with a firm faith in God's love and wisdom.
Critics will naturally accuse us of accepting
that in the Scripture which suits our purpose, and ignoring or rejecting the
rest. We are in no way concerned to rebut such an accusation, for that is
exactly what every author or speaker does; in quoting from a book he takes
that which illustrates the point which he happens to be making, and avoids
whatever has no reference to it. In the Liberal Catholic Church we leave our
members absolutely free in all matters of belief, so if any of them wish to
hold to the theory of the verbal inspiration of the English translation of
the Scriptures, they are quite at liberty to do so.
To the writer that book is one among many
other volumes of the Sacred Lore, which have been revered and studied by
holy men of various religions through the ages—volumes, all of them,
containing gems of truth set in the frame of beautiful and poetical words,
illuminating and helpful for all time; but also all of them including much
which is untrue or of merely temporary and local interest. To regard any
such book as infallible is to run counter to truth, to reason and to
history, for it is easily demonstrable that they all contain many
inaccuracies; and there is nearly all of them much exceedingly objectionable
matter. But all that is no reason why we should not cull from them whatever
we find to be encouraging, instructive and uplifting.
At the end of the Epistle the servers, choir
and congregation say or sing: "Thanks be to God."
Note
We now pass on to the more mental part of the
service. Hitherto we have been building with astral matter, but not we
commence to function on the next higher plane. The Epistle is partly mental
and partly astral, the Gradual rather more mental, the Gospel, almost
completely so, and the Creed largely higher mental.
Because of the well-known fact that all things
on a lower plane have their counterparts on higher planes students sometimes
fail to see the necessity of building in mental matter, where it must
already exist as a necessary concomitant to the making of the astral form.
But it must not be forgotten that it is on the plane on which a thing is
created that it has its most real existence, and a form built up by
scintillating mental matter such as is supplied by the Creed, is a much more
living thing than the mere after-effect of what was largely an astral
effort, such as that which has, up to this point, been the building force.
The Epistle outpouring begins when the Angel,
who stands in the centre of the Altar, pours down much higher astral and
lower mental matter through the three ministrants. This is worked up by the
congregation, and is then returned, vibrating at a slightly reduced rate,
but much larger in volume.
Here there are two alternative positions which
are taken by the three officiants. Sometimes they stand with the celebrant
in the centre nearest the Altar, and the deacon and subdeacon each one stage
nearer the people, making a line which gradually slopes away from the
centre, so that the deacon is well over to the Epistle side. In this case
the subdeacon faces the congregation in order to read to them, but the other
two face north. With this formation, there is much power flowing back from
the congregation through the three officiating Priests, and the deacon and
the celebrant have their left or negative sides towards the people for
receiving this, and their right or positive sides towards the Angel, for
handing it on to him. Of course, there is at the same time a continuous and
concentrated stream flowing from the Angel down through the three of them,
but not only is this smaller in volume than the stream which comes in from
the people, but also it flows straight through without any difficulty,
whereas the larger quantity has to be sorted, sifted and purified; therefore
the main work is one of receiving material from the body of the church, and
we are not so concentrated on what comes in from beyond the Altar, as that
will take care if itself. Hence the negative side is turned not towards the
east, but to the west.
The alternative arrangement is that the deacon
should stand just behind the subdeacon, so that a line drawn from the
celebrant to the deacon, and thence to the subdeacon, would not be a
straight line, but would make two sides of a triangle, the third side the
hypotenuse, being made by the direct line from the celebrant to the
subdeacon. With this formation, the celebrant often faces west just as does
the subdeacon, though the deacon still looks north. Some of the lines of
force between the Epistles and the officiant flow directly from one to the
other, and some via the deacon—thus making the triangle in lines of light.
With this arrangement, the flow of force is mostly outwards— the celebrant
being directly towards his congregation and after being swirled round and
worked up for somewhat longer, it is poured in again during the gradual.
Each scheme seems to work well, and from the occult point of view there is
not much to influence one's choice. It has been thought that the triangle,
being a living symbol, would act as a great channel, but this form of
magic—making connections in this way with the archetypes—belongs more to the
Egyptian form of ceremonial, and is not needed so much in the Christian
scheme, where we have the Host which seems to make all necessary
connections. Moreover, at this particular part of the Service there is no
special call for such a channel.
Whichever plan be adopted, the celebrant
should remain in the centre of the Altar, as he, like the Angel, has to
gather forces from both sides of the Altar to send down and out through his
assistants.
The Epistle is not accompanied by the same
tremendous outrush as the Gospel, nor has it the same mechanical
arrangements connected with it, but, it is, nevertheless, a definite
outpouring, and naturally, as it is a part of the Bible which is read, it is
in touch with the body of thought behind that Volume of the Sacred Lore.
Gradual
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The Gradual varies. That which follows is of Trinity Sunday.
|
The Gradual varies only on Christmas, Easter, Ascension
Whitsunday and Trinity Sunday;
also on Festivals of our Lady or of the Angels. That which
follows is used throughout the rest of the year
|
Blessed are thou, O Lord who
beholdest the depths, and sitteth upon the cherubim.
Blessed are thou, O Lord, in
the firmament of heaven and worthy of praise for ever. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Blessed art thou. O Lord God of
our fathers, and worthy of praise for ever. Alleluia.
|
He that loveth wisdom loveth
life and they that seek her early shall be filled with joy.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes: and I shall keep it
unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law:
yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart. The path of the just
is as the shining light: shining more and more onto the perfect
day. |
The Gradual is one of the oldest parts of the
Service, and is so called from the Latin word Gradus, a step, because it was
sung from the lowest step of the ambon or rostrum form which the Epistle and
Gospel were chanted. In the days of many lessons there was always a psalm
sung after each; this which is called the Gradual came originally between
the Prophecy and the Epistle, while the word "Alleluia," many times
repeated, was sung just before the Gospel to express the thankfulness of the
people for the good news which it brought to them.
The habit arose of prolonging the last
syllable of that word, and making it wander up and down over many notes (not
infrequently extending to three or four hundred, and in one case at least
reaching to as many as seven hundred!), this vague inarticulate noise being
somehow supposed to symbolize the inexpressible joy of the Saints in heaven.
As some rudimentary musical sense slowly developed among the early
Christians, it occurred to them that it would be better to substitute a hymn
for this curious meandering; and when that was done the hymn was called a
Sequence, because it followed the Alleluia.
On occasions when it was desired to give a
mournful air to the Service, as in Lent or at funerals, they substituted for
the Alleluia a psalm to which they gave the name of Tract, because it was
sung straight through (in uno tractu) and not in alternate verses.
The Tract and Sequence are still to be found in the Roman Liturgy, but we
have thought it unnecessary to perpetuate them, as a large number of small
passages which are constantly changing cause confusion, and make it more
difficult for the congregation to follow the Service. For the same reason we
use one Gradual all the year round, except for those great festivals for
which Proper Prefaces are appointed.
As in this part of the Service we are
concentrating on the vivification of mental matter for the edifice, the
Gradual advocates the love of wisdom, and explains the need of instruction
in order that real progress may be made—that we may thereby grow in
understanding, and so become a steadily increasing light and help to the
world. The Angel of the Eucharist uses the matter given to him by the
singing of the Gradual for the strengthening and enriching of his edifice,
and especially for the division of each of its four walls into panels by the
erection of half-pillars.
At a Low Celebration, when the Gradual is
omitted, columns and decorations do not appear, though there is usually a
faint indication of the panels. Naturally the form made at the Low
Celebration is not only much smaller than that of a full musical Service,
but also in every way plainer and less ornate. Another factor which makes a
good deal of difference in the form is the intelligent co-operation of the
Priest. In the Churches where this branch of the subject is not studied, all
the work of designing and building the edifice falls entirely upon the Angel
of the Eucharist (or, when he is not invoked, upon the Directing Angel); he
can and does make the labour far easier by supplying material exactly when
and where it is wanted.
Note
At this point the subdeacon stands in the
middle, on the lowest step, or else, in the Roman working, over on the
Epistle side, waiting for the candle-bearers to come and form the procession
with the book of the Gospels. In either case, he leaves the way open for a
direct connection between the deacon and congregation by which the deacon
receives the mental matter now being vivified by them without its coming
through the subdeacon, who represents the emotional side of things. He hands
this on to the celebrant, who passes it on, and then the response comes
back, again in terms of mental matter, which all helps to prepare the deacon
for the distinctly mental outpouring of the Gospel.
The deacon represents the more mental side of
things, and his side of the Altar is that which in the Ray influences is
predominantly masculine; it is on his side that we have the scientific
ruling Rays. The subdeacon's side of the Altar represents more the emotional
approach, and has the Ray of devotion on it. This is the more negative or
feminine side, and it was at one time the custom for the women in the church
to sit on the subdeacon's side, and the men on the deacon's side. An
interesting exception to this is found in the curious old Sarum rite,
where this was reversed.
Meanwhile the subdeacon has been receiving all
the people's emotions, which, after transmuting them, he discharges. Some of
this goes up to the celebrant, and much goes out to his left and straight
up. this the Angel uses for the decoration of the walls of the form, and I
am inclined to think that he reserves this for decorating the western half,
and uses that which passes through the celebrant for the eastern half. The
subdeacon also has certain lines going from his to the deacon, and it looks
as though he were giving the deacon the benefit of some of the higher
emotions which are more specially stimulating to the mind, before passing
them on.
ROMAN |
ROMAN |
Cleanse my heart and my
lips. O God almighty, who didst cleanse the lips of the prophet
Isaias with a live coal: vouchsafe of thy gracious mercy so to
cleanse me that I may meetly proclaim thy holy gospel. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pray, Lord, a blessing. May the
Lord be in my heart and on my lips, that so I may meetly and
fitly proclaim his gospel. Amen. |
Cleanse my heart and my lips, O
God, who by the hand of Thy Seraph didst cleanse the lips of
prophet Isaiah with a burning coal from Thine Altar, and in Thy
loving kindness so purify me that I may worthily proclaim Thy
holy gospel. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
May the Lord by in my heart and
on my lips, that through my heart the love of God may shine
forth, and through my lips His power be made manifest.
R. Amen.
|
This prayer is said as above at a Low
celebration or Missa Cantata only. At a High Celebration the first
part is repeated by the deacon, who then kneels before the celebrant (or
before the Bishop if present) and the latter recites the second part of the
aspiration, substituting the word, "thy" for "my". It is a fervent wish on
the part of the reader that he may be so purified as to do his work properly
and to be a suitable cannel for the power which is to be poured forth; and a
very real response is received through the blessing of the celebrant or the
Bishop, who thereby bestows upon him a portion of the electrification which
was produced at the censing, and includes him temporarily within the
magnetic field, thus admitting him to the Holy of Holies in order to do this
special piece of work.
Note
The deacon's prayer that his heart and lips
may be cleansed directs his own attention to these centres, i.e., the
heart and throat, and so stimulates them. This renders them more receptive
to the power which is about to be poured into them by the celebrant. Because
the work done in connection with the Gospel is mainly on the mental plane,
the deacon's brain centres must also receive attention, and therefore the
centre at the pituitary body is similarly made to glow. A further effect of
the prayer is seen on the people, who, if they have been following what the
deacon has been saying, have had the same centres in themselves quickened.
This is not only the result of following him, but is also due to the direct
effect which he is able to produce on them as a result of the connection
made between himself and the people at the Gradual, so that when his own
centres are brought into activity, the corresponding chakras in the people
are affected in the same way.
The deacon should bear in mind that, as it was
he who gathered in all the people's "mental aspiration," it is he who is to
hand on to them the power which comes down as a response to this. He is thus
an intermediary for the people, and, like an agent in physical-plane
matters, he must remember their interests. In short, he must not forget that
he is to be "cleansed" merely for the sake of his duty to the people, and is
therefore representing or speaking for them as well as for himself. There
will be two results from his recollecting this; the link between himself and
the people will be stronger, and he will be able to do much more when
reading the Gospel, and also the people's centres will have been much better
prepared for the Gospel outpouring. However, the result on both the deacon
and people is but slight during the prayer; it is only at the celebrant's
response that anything definite is noticed.
With the words "May the Lord be in thy heart,"
a beautiful golden stream is poured out which largely affects the deacon's
heart, and when the celebrant says: "and on thy lips," a gleaming silver
flashes out which is chiefly attracted to his throat-centre. At the words,
"that through thy heart the love of God may shine forth," the deacon is
surrounded by a beautiful cloud of rose-colour, with a glowing nucleus at
the chakra in the breast. The clause: "and through thy lips His power be
made manifest," sends a stream of the wonderful pale blue power of the first
Ray—which is always sparkling with flashing silver—into the deacon at the
throat. By means of the Minor Benediction, he immediately shares this
blessing with the people and receives their response, thus completing his
link with them. The effect on the congregation of this close harmony is
largely in stimulating its members mentally; the awakening of their centres
is only a secondary consideration, useful inasmuch as it helps in quickening
the faculty of receiving and understanding; therefore, in all this
preparation for the Gospel, the deacon should have in mind the general
enlivening of the power of comprehending and assimilating, rather than be
concentrating too much on the people's centres.
To make this point clear, it will be well to
see how the outpourings of colour affect the deacon. The heart centre has to
do especially with the expression of the nobler emotions, and there is a
direct connection between the upper astral and the buddhic, or intuitional
levels. Now the golden power which is first poured on to the deacon's heart
is buddhic, and thus stimulates the intuitional side of the higher powers of
understanding. The pink of affection, which is later concentrated in the
deacon's heart, ensures that the Gospel shall be interpreted in the spirit
of pure love—the astral sensation which is most akin to anything
buddhic—which on the higher planes is not only love, but wisdom, the right
understanding of things.
The throat, being the centre through which we
have a direct touch with the higher astral levels—where we find the loftiest
and the most buddhic form of love—is, for this reason, also vivified. But is
not only for the sake of that higher touch that this chakra is quickened,
but also because we are about to hear a reading—to listen—and the throat is
the physical receiver for astral sounds. But in the case of the deacon there
is yet another reason for this. The silvery electric blue of the first-Ray
powers are given to him in order that as the words pass his lips—the lips
are an extension of the throat chakra—they may receive the most powerful
possible impetus.
It will be seen that all that happens to the
particular centres is only of subsidiary importance to the necessity of
awakening the faculties of comprehension and understanding—and, in the
deacon, the power of delivery. Thus it is sufficient if these general ideas
be borne in mind by the deacon, and he simply thinks of the quickening of
these things in the congregation, as well as in himself, during his prayer
for purification.
This is a principle which apples throughout
all ceremonial. It is always better to try to get the central idea, the
dominant purpose of a prayer or a paragraph, and hold this firmly in mind,
rather than to be distracted by each individual sentence. If this be done,
each separate clause goes to build up a strong clear-cut thought-form, which
then discharges itself with great effect; whereas, of the piece of ritual be
done without this forceful conception of its direction and intention—if the
mind simply passes on from sentence to sentence—the form produced is
markedly less clear-cut and tends to look wooly, which renders it much less
effective; and this is so, however clear the thought may be about the
individual sentences. The reason is that the gripping of the central idea
involves the use of the synthesizing powers of the higher mind, and so
brings down much more of the individual.
Dominus Vobiscum
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
|
P. The Lord by with you.
C. And with thy spirit .
|
Immediately the deacon turns and shares this
private benediction with the people (except that of course he cannot include
them within the field), and is placed closely en rapport with them by
their ready and earnest reply. Their aspiration should of course be that
their hearts may be so cleansed from lower emotions that they may be able
worthily to receive the teaching and profit by it.
The Gospel
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The Priest announces the
portion of Gospel to the read, making the sign of the cross on
the book with his right thumb.
|
The Priest announces the
portion of Gospel to the read, making the sign of the cross on
the book with his right thumb.
|
|
C.Glory be to thee, O Lord.
|
He reads the gospel. |
He censes the thrice and reads
the
gospel.
|
R.Praise be to thee, O Christ. |
C.Praise be to thee, O Christ. |
The Priest kisses the book,
saying:
By the words of the gospel may
our sins be blotted out.
|
|
The gospel has always been regarded as the
most important of the readings. Since it was supposed to contain the words
of Christ Himself, or the account of some incident in His earthly life. From
this point of view the book in which it was written was surrounded with the
greatest reverence; it was censed and kissed by the reader, and attended by
acolytes with candles. We are now well aware that historically most of these
reasons for special respect have no existence; many critics think that these
books are for the most part not the work of those to whom they are
attributed, that many of the words which they assign to the Christ were
probably never spoken by Him, and that in any case they were not intended by
their writers to be taken as an account of historical facts, but merely as
the casting of the great eternal facts of human progress into the form of an
allegory, just as was done in other great mystery-dramas by the ancients.
This was perfectly understood by the great Gnostic doctors of the early
Church, though forgotten, with so much else, when the dark ages of ignorance
and barbarism descended upon the world.
Origen, the most brilliant and learned of all
the ecclesiastical Fathers, teaches that "the Gnostic or sage no longer
needs the crucified Christ. The eternal or spiritual gospel which is his
possession shows clearly all things concerning the Son of God Himself, both
the mysteries shown by His words and the things of which His acts were the
symbols. It is not so much that Origen denies or doubts the truth of the
gospel history, but he feels that events which happened only once can be of
no importance, and regards the life, death and resurrection of the Christ as
only one manifestation of a universal law, which was really enacted, not in
this fleeting world of shadows, but in the eternal counsels of the Most
High. He considers that those who are thoroughly convinced of the universal
truth revealed by the Incarnation and the Atonement need trouble themselves
no more about their particular manifestations in time." (Christian
Mysticism, by Dean Inge, p. 89.)
Origen speaks plainly with regard to the
difference between the ignorant faith of the undeveloped multitude and the
higher and reasonable faith which is founded upon definite knowledge. He
draws a distinction between the popular irrational faith which leads to what
he calls somatic Christianity (that is to say, the merely physical form of
the religion) and the spiritual Christianity offered by the Gnosis or
Wisdom. He makes it perfectly clear that by somatic Christianity he means
that faith which is based on the alleged Gospel history. Of a teaching
founded upon this narrative he says: "What better method could be devised to
assist the masses?"
It is clear therefore that the actual book of
the gospels can hardly be regarded as worthy of exaggerated respect, for
there are unquestionably other volumes in which the Sacred Lore is set forth
more accurately and far less allegorically. But the reverence with which we
still continue to greet it is paid to it as a symbol. We bow to the
Altar-cross and cense it, not that we worship that particular Nehushtan, but
because it is the recognized symbol of the Christ and of His mighty
Sacrifice; we salute our national flag, not that that piece of bunting is
superior to any other, but for the sake of the glorious ideal of which it is
intended to remind us.
Just so the book of the Gospels is the
Christian presentation of the Ancient Wisdom, the Gnosis, the Truth that
makes us free; it holds for us the same position as the Dhamma, or Law of
Life, does among the Buddhists. Therefore we pay it reverence, therefore we
thank the Christ for it, however imperfectly this special manifestation of
it may represent His teaching. Some Altar-crosses are of wood, some of
brass, some of gold, yet we bow alike to all; some flags may be only painted
cotton, yet the symbol is the same.
The three signs of the cross which we are
directed to make before the reading of the gospel typify the dedication of
mind, lips and heart to the work of spreading the truth, and are also
intended to open the three centres at the forehead, the throat and the
breast to the influence which is about to be poured out. The book becomes a
centre of force, surrounded by a sort of cocoon of reverential and grateful
thought, and so it is the appointed channel for the outflow which is meant
to stimulate our mental faculties, and help us in our contribution of
material at that level to the building of the edifice. The first cross made
over the book by the deacon is intended to unlock the door of the
treasure-house—to turn on the tap, as it were; and the other three made by
the people open them up to the inflow.
A special effort is made to provide a good
radiating centre; the subdeacon holds the book, and an acolyte with a candle
stands on each side of him; the volume is censed, and the thurifer remains
in the immediate neighbourhood during the reading; so that the vibration of
light and the permeation of the perfume are both utilized to assist in
spreading various aspects of the influence.
The use of the thumb in making the sign of the
cross corresponds to a pugnal pass in meserism; this and the corresponding
place in the Roman Last Gospel are the only cases in which it is prescribed
in the Service of the Eucharist, but it occurs in the offices for Baptism
and Confirmation, and its use is recognized in the Roman Service for the
consecration of a Bishop at the anointing of his hands, where reference is
made to "the laying on of this consecrated hand or thumb". It seems to be
employed when a small but powerful stream of force is required, as for the
opening of centres.
When the reading of the Gospel is finished the
deacon turns to the celebrant and censes him, thereby returning to him
whatever remains unused of the force which was supplied at the Munda Cor
Meum, that it may be utilized in the work of the Service. During the
reading, the members of the congregation should follow attentively, trying
always to understand the inner as well as the outer meaning; and when at the
end all join in singing: "Praise be to Thee, O Christ," they should realize
that they are voicing their gratitude not only for what has just been read,
but for the great gift of the Ancient Wisdom, the knowledge which brings
life and light to all.
Note
Having then completed his link with the people
by the Minor Benediction, the deacon passes over to the Gospel side to give
to the people in his reading the power which he has received from the
celebrant's blessing. He begins by touching the book with his left hand and,
while announcing the Gospel, with the right hand—particularly using the
thumb—he makes the sign of the cross over the place where the piece of
Scripture for the day commences. Connected with all this ceremony of reading
the Gospel, there is quite an elaborate piece of magic, and to understand
it, we must make a digression.
Every piece of literature of wide reputation,
like every well known piece of music, has a body of thought about it, which
comes together and makes a huge thought-form. This has happened with the
Gospels, but with them there is an additional factor—the devotion which is
attached to people's thoughts about them. On the higher levels, no useful
power is ever wasted—and strong devotion is a very useful power which always
obtains it response—therefore we have to consider all the devotional thought
connected with these sacred writings. This is managed by a special Angel who
works through the Gospel thought-form, receiving, handing on and responding
to the people's devotion with the efficiency of a business house dealing
with its orders.
In this connection we may note some points
about the thought-forms behind the various Liturgies. That behind the Roman
Liturgy gives a wonderful sense of antiquity and ripeness. Its tones are
mellowed like those of a picture by an old master, and its atmosphere gives
one the same sort of delightful sensation as does the fragrance of a rare
old wine. To a large extent, its power seems to come from the dignity lent
by the richness of matured tradition. But, though it is strong and very
beautiful, it has some dirty, dark-coloured and brownish patches in it.
The Liturgy of the Eastern Church has a
delightful feeling which is refreshingly different from our Western
Liturgies, but is rather odd and very vague—not at all clear in outline or
idea. The thought-form behind the Anglican Prayer Book is largely spoiled by
being so broken up by the numberless different usages and divisions in that
branch of the Church. This produces an odd effect like a house with a number
of different storeys and divisions, or a filing cabinet full of
pigeon-holes, but rather disordered. The atmosphere of many of its
compartments makes one feel somehow rather straight-laced; but its great
beauty of language and quite dignified sense of reserve combine to sound a
note of stately beauty and spiritual refinement.
The body of thought behind our own Liturgy is
conspicuous by reason of its amazingly brilliant colours. A thing of this
sort, when new, is apt to have a bright and hard appearance, but to prevent
this and at the same time to give it power the Christ has endowed it with a
wonderful life of it own, which enables us to obtain the effect of long
tradition in a short time, so that, though new, its colours are yet very
lovely. This act of grace is made possible only by the fact that we have cut
out all depressing or falsely humiliating passages from our Liturgy. This
same fact makes it possible for us to attain, in any quite new church of
ours, the same influence in a few months which it usually takes centuries to
establish—which can therefore generally be found only in an old cathedral.
Another factor is that we are slightly in touch with the Roman Liturgy-form,
and this helps in producing this effect of mellowness and prevents our own
Liturgy-form from becoming too hard and glittering. Having to some extent
followed the beautiful language of the Anglican Prayer Book, our thought
form is not without a touch of its chaste refinement.
But the Anglicans have lost much by their
exclusion of what is contemptuously styled Mariolatry. It may be said that
the Roman Church makes too much of the cult of the Blessed Virgin, and this
accusation is supported by the fact that the Roman Liturgy-form has in it a
large "sticky" patch of sex-emotion, which is the direct result of this. Of
course that is not the only result of all the wonderful devotion to our
Lady: There is a far larger patch of amazingly lovely coloured thought and
feeling towards her; but it must be remembered that the particular power of
the Christian religion is intended to flow along masculine channels, and
therefore the observation of a certain moderation along this line—such as we
make in the Liberal Catholic Church—seems to work best and keeps things much
freer from sex sentimentality.
All these thought-forms are the storehouses of
immense power, and the Angels in charge of them have a scheme for
distributing this power in the most useful way possible, always drawing on
that particular part which is needed. The scheme which is adopted for the
Gospel-form is as follows.
The Angel in charge of them naturally has a
conception, a thought-form, of all the contents of the Gospels, and each
part is seen in his thought-image as a different colour, shade or
colour-combination. There is nothing strange in this, for whenever we think
of different things we make thoughts of different colours. The wonderful
part is that the Angel is able to see all his long cinematograph-file of
varying pigments simultaneously, which means that he is able to hold in his
mind a complete notion, inclusive of the entire contents of the Gospels.
Occultists say of the Christ that He can see in a moment just what are the
contents of any book by thus resolving the ideas and sentences into their
different hues, and then glancing at the colour scheme so made.
Now in each church where it is read, the
devotional thought with which the Gospel is surrounded and the ceremonial in
connection with its reading are used to build a thought-form which is
invested with a certain sort of mechanical life. It becomes a kind of
automatic clockwork-like elemental.
When then the deacon touches the book of the
Gospels with his left hand a current of what seems mainly etheric force runs
out of his hand and starts this clockwork. This automaton is in connection
with, and is as it were an outpost of, the Angel in charge of the great body
of thought behind the Gospels, so that as soon as the machinery is set in
motion the link with the Angel behind the Gospel-form is established. The
sign of the cross which the deacon makes over the place where the gospel of
the day commences (it is important for the efficient working of the magic
that the cross should be made exactly at the place where the first word
begins, as otherwise the elemental does not give a clear idea of the place
of commencement to the Angel) and the announcement of the place from which
it is taken cause this semi-conscious machine to send information up to the
Angel of the Gospels as to what particular part is going to be read. The
Angel's conception of this part is like a section of what, for the sake of
giving a clear idea of the matter, we have described as a cinematograph-film
of colour combinations. His reply to the elemental is to send down a
parti-coloured ray, which looks as though it were the result of placing his
section of film before a magic lantern.
As soon as this variegated ray of power flows
into the mechanism, part of it runs into the deacon's left hand. The deacon
next places his left hand on his breast and then, while saying: "Glory be to
Thee, O Lord," he makes with his thumb the sign of the cross over his
forehead, lips and heart. These crosses further open the centres which he is
going to use during the Gospel, and indicate the line down which the power
which was poured into him at the Munda Cor Meum will flow as it comes down
from his brain, bearing the impress of his perception of the meaning of what
he is reading. This stream of force will flow out though the breast and via
the deacon's hands, as they are held palm to palm in front of him, into the
mechanism around the book of the Gospels. But it will be remembered that
after the deacon had received into his left hand a sample of the variegated
ray which the Angel of the Gospels sends down into the artificial elemental
around the book, he, the deacon, placed his left hand on his heart. This
transfers a sample of this ray from the book to the deacon's breast. As he
reads, this sample of a representation of the film, or slide, will be drawn
across his breast, so that the stream of power flowing our of his heart will
change in harmony with, and be coloured exactly according to, the colour of
the Angel's idea of the particular part of the Gospel he is reading. Now we
see the real purpose of our clockwork-elemental, for, at the same time as
this stream of power form the deacon flows into the mechanism, a
similarly-coloured stream of tremendous power is flashing down from the
Angel, and this enormously amplifies what the deacon pours in, and sends the
ideas of the message out through the clockwork on to the congregation in
great blinding flashes of light which beat upon them and produce an effect
altogether out of proportion to the nobility of the ideas of the
subject-matter being read.
For the sake of a clear understanding of what
happened with this stream of force, we have traced it out till we have seen
its purpose, but without explaining certain other matters which we must,
therefore, now go back and consider.
The first thing we have omitted is the
sentence: "Glory be to Thee, O Lord," which everybody recited while making
the three crosses over forehead, lips and breast. All praise to God—God on
the throne as distinguished from God Incarnate—tends to rise, and as the
symbol of God the Unmanifested, God the Father, is the head (the head being
the special seat of the representation of the First Person of the Trinity in
the Spirit of man) it is from the top of the head that this outpouring of
devotion comes. As it flows up and through this part, it combs up the petals
of the chakra through which it must there pass—the Brahmarandhra or
Sahasrara. This gives an appearance of white plumes of fire above the heads
of the congregation and makes them specially receptive to the Gospel
out-pouring. The celebrant stands facing the deacon and pours power into
him. The combing up of his Brahmarandhra centre has made the deacon more
open to receive this outpouring, which, if the celebrant be a Bishop, is
made stronger by the use of the crosier.
Note that both the cross over the book of the
Gospels and the crosses over the forehead, lips and breast, are made with
the thumb. the stream of magnetism which flows from the thumb is ideal when
something small and concentrated is needed. The use of the pugnal stream of
force is well known in mesmerism.
The next thing that takes place is the
honouring of the book of the Gospels by the procession in which the
subdeacon bears it across the chancel, attended by two acolytes with
candles; and then later by the censing. This is all done for the sake of
building up and strengthening our artificial elemental—making a great glow
of light around the book of the Gospels. The Roman scheme is that the deacon
shall cense the book with two swings to the centre, two to the right and two
to the left. Some of our clergy have reversed the order of the swings to the
left and right; but because it has always been customary to do it in a
certain way, the extension of the Angel's consciousness is the artificial
elemental seems to expect it, and there is the slightest perceptible jar
when one does not conform to the regular order. Moreover, it seems a pity
that a new Church should break away from any of the beautiful old
traditional workings unless there is some good reason for it. There may well
be some reason for censing the right side first, just as we cense the right
side of the Altar first; and as we have not changed this latter custom, why
should we change the former? It seems logical to cense the right side of the
Altar first, as that is the positive, masculine side, and these ceremonies
are intended for male bodies, and therefore for masculine forces; and it is
quite possible that there is a similar reason for censing the right side of
the book of the Gospels first.
All this ceremony around the book and the
elemental tends to associate them very strongly, and it is better when
possible to use a special book of the gospels, thereby keeping the elemental
in permanent physical incarnation in a strongly magnetized vehicle. Anything
which tends to strengthen the individuality and make distinctions between
the various parts of the consciousness of this elemental is good. This is
the whole idea behind illuminating books which, whether with Missals or book
of the Gospels, makes them enormously more efficient. The pigments of the
illuminating tend to fit into and associate themselves with the various hues
in the bodies of thought and with the Angel's coloured "film" of thought
behind these books. Any sort of coloured printing helps in this way, quite
apart from its value in giving individuality to the elemental formed by the
association of the life of all the molecules in the book. This elemental is
not to be confused with the clockwork-elemental which we have just been
discussing, which, so far as we know, is confined to churches, whereas every
book has a separate life of its own, wherever it may be, and the book of the
Gospels has this in addition to the gentleman of the clockwork, though these
two tend to integrate. We always give more individuality to a book by
binding it nicely; and it should not be forgotten that books have a certain
half-consciousness of their own, just as a great engine or a violin has—in
the same way as we have physical, astral, and mental elementals, which are
nothing but the conglomeration life of all the particles of each of the
bodies coalescing into a unity. With books this is, as it were, ensouled by
the thoughts and feelings which we put into them when reading them, so that
a book may finally come to be a strong and decided consciousness. Also, over
and above all this, each book is an expression, an outpost of the author's
idea in writing it, and so has his thought-force behind it—to say nothing of
all the thoughts and feelings of all the people who have ever read it.
Thus a book is invaluable for a sensitive
person as a means of getting into touch with a trend of thought, as (even if
it is not a well-known work, which adds enormously to its power) one can get
into direct touch with the author through it, just as in practical occultism
a photograph is often used to find a dead person. (All pictures are directly
connected with their originals. Whence the Red Indian's fear of being
photographed.) Once having touched the author's mind, one can easily get
into the general trend of thought on the subject, as he, the author, must
have been in touch with it in order to write about it. books are therefore
definite entities; but we can greatly add to their individualities by all
such means as illustration and decoration—by thought and ceremonial. We
should therefore do well to make the most of our book of the Gospels, if we
would make it a really efficient channel. We see this possibility with books
most fully exploited in the Eastern Church, where the book is usually bound
in metal, which is of course, ideal for holding magnetism. The constant
kissing and veneration of their volumes magnetizes them to such an extent
that they become very effective channels, as may be seen when the book is
solemnly brought outside the chancel gates (being carried as we carry the
monstrance) and is then used to give a benediction. The sign of the cross is
made with it—again much as we do with the monstrance; and quite a strong
blessing is thus outpoured. A similar result produced by their Ikons; and
when one sees the people in a Russian church go in and make their devotions
before these, duly kissing them one may observe in every case that, however
much a matter of form it has become, there is always a definite result on
each person. The individual, as opposed to collective, worship resembles
each man's puga in the East, where also they have this special
attention given to images. The Eastern Church has retained this touch with
the East, and it is only in the most westernized part of the Church—the most
lower mental part of it, the so-called protestant branch—that we find the
great help of magnetized symbols and representations of higher things
entirely abandoned. In its extreme form, this use if images is a scheme
which is admirably adapted to the half-Eastern Russian type, but naturally
it is entirely unsuited to our civilization, where it would be hard to find
such blind observance of a custom of that particular sort. Still we can and
do make good use of certain symbols of the book of the Gospels somewhat in
this way.
Having finished the Gospel, the deacon turns
back to where he commenced reading, and places his hand, palm downwards, at
the exact place where the text begins. Again it is important to indicate
just the right place, as we are not dealing with a particularly intelligent
being, but with a more or less automatic mechanism. This action does two
things. First of all, it stops the inflow of any further force from the
Angel; and secondly, it takes the variegated material which still remains in
the automaton (remember this material is the Angel's perception of the
meaning of the Gospels) and condenses it into a thought-form containing the
gist or substance of what has been read. This is them sent out over the
people like a sort of bombshell which, in exploding, forces the important
part of the outpouring into their minds. Going back from the end to the
beginning in this way, makes a kind of résumé or précis of the whole thing.
If the deacon had touched the Gospel at the end, instead of at the
beginning, the effect would have been to turn all the force back into
himself with a shock, instead of out over the congregation. Also it would
have stopped the inflowing power from the Angel with rather a jerk.
All this having been duly done, the people
say: "Praise be to thee, O Christ." As this praise is not directed to God in
His high heaven, but to Christ "Who . . .came down from heaven, and was made
man," it does not rise, but rushes straight towards the deacon, as it is he
who is conducting this particular part of the ceremony. Then, as he turns to
return to the celebrant any force which may be left over from what was given
him at the Munda Cor Meum, he also includes this new power from the people.
The Sermon
If there be a sermon it follows here. Before
beginning it, the preacher should turn towards the Altar and, making the
sign of the cross over himself, intone the ancient words of power—the
invocation: "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost," to which all the people should respond "Amen". After concluding what
he has to say, he should again turn towards the Altar, and, signing himself
once more, should intone the ascription: "And now to God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost, Three Persons in One God, be ascribed all
honour, praise, majesty and dominion, now and for evermore." And the people
should respond as before. The sermon is in no way a necessary part of the
Service, and its insertion or omission is left entirely to the discretion of
the Priest. It should in no case occupy more than fifteen minutes in
delivery.
Credo
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Omitted on certain days. |
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I believe in one God, the
Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things
visible and invisible.
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I believe in one God, the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things
visible and invisible.
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And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all
ages; God of God, light of light, true God of true God; begotten
not made; con-substantial with the Father; by whom all things
were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from
heaven and was made man. He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of
the Virgin Mary; and was made man. He was crucified also for us,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And the third day
he rose again according to the scrip- tures; and ascended into
heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and he shall
come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; and his
kingdom shall have no end.
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And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the alone-born Son of God, begotten of His Father before all
ages; God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God,
begotten, not made, being of one Substance with the Father, by
whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven and was incarnated of the Holy Ghost and
the Virgin Mary, and was made man. And was crucified also for
us, under Pontius Pilate He suffered, and was buried. And the
third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended
into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He
shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the
dead: Whose Kingdom shall have no end. |
And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord
and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
who together with the Father and the Son is adored and
glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy catholic and
apostolic church. I confess one baptism for the remission of
sins. And I await the resurrection of the dead, and the
life of the world to come. Amen. |
And we believe in the Holy
Ghost, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the
Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is
worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. And we
believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge
one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the
resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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The recitation or singing of the Creed plays a
specially important part in the work of the eucharistic Celebration—a part
whose importance increases with the intellectual capacity of the
congregation. For just as an outpouring of astral matter has been evoked by
the great ascriptions of praise, and the lower mental matter has been added
by the consideration of the Epistle and Gospel, so now is a higher effort to
be aroused by the more abstract thought involved in the endeavour to grasp
the great truths put before us in the Creed. The forces of the emotional and
mental bodies have already been enlisted; at this point whatever may be
developed in each man of the far higher causal vehicle is also brought into
play. The extent to which that can be done depends upon how far the man
comprehends the real inner meaning of the words which he uses; the
conceptions involved are so magnificent and far-reaching that it is only by
patient study and gradual assimilation that man can hope to make them part
of himself.
In the Liberal Catholic Church we place no
restriction whatever on the faith of our members, as I have already said, so
if there be any who prefer to accept the quasi-historical interpretation of
the Creed, they are quite free to do so, while at the same time we are ready
to give what we believe to be its spiritual meaning to those who are able to
grasp it, and it will be found in another book of this series. Here we are
concerned only with the effect which it produces upon the eucharistic
edifice, which is that it permeates it with a splendid golden glow of higher
mental matter, far finer and more radiant than any that has been contributed
before. The form of the Creed given above is that commonly used by the whole
Western Church. It is not (thought it is often supposed to be) the Creed of
the council of Nicæa, but the amended form accepted by the Council of
Constantinople in the year 381. In the shorter form of the Service several
substitutes are offered—the so-called Apostles' Creed, the original form of
the Nicene Creed, and an Act of Faith which, though older than any of them,
is clearer in its expression of the inner meaning. Still shorter forms are
offered for our selection in the Offices for Prime and Complin.
During the recitation of the Creed, as at the
Gloria Patri and the doxologies of all hymns, it has been from the earliest
days of the Church the universal custom to turn towards the Altar, which
usually means (or ought to mean) turning towards the east. This custom of
facing towards the rising sun, the fountain of light, is pre-Christian, and
is inherited from the ancient sun-worship. In our Services it means always a
special endeavour to pour force outward and upward—a direct ascription of
glory to God, in which the whole congregation joins, and a recognition of
Christ as the true Grand Orient, the Sun of Righteousness, who rises in the
east to enlighten, employ and instruct the world.
Note
We now come to the Creed, the last great act
in this part of the ceremony; and here we should make definite use of our
causal and other faculties. The triad of Atma, Buddhi and Manas comes in, in
its capacity as a reflection of the Monad. In order to understand this touch
with the Monad, we must realize that the Creed is not just what it appears
to be—a statement of narrow dogma—but that it is a magnificent allegory, a
wonderful symbol of the entire life-process of the universe—the primal
outflow of the creative Life and its final assumption into the bosom of the
Father when it has been perfected by experience. (I am here speaking of it
as though it has a beginning and an end; this is only true for a single part
of it, when we look at that part from the point of view of an act taking
place in time; but to do this is misleading, unless we realize that really
the process is eternal and outside of time.) This whole continuous cycle is
the Life of God, and is, therefore, completely existent in Him; but as each
Monad is an exact projection of Him—is made in His Image—therefore all this
exists in its entirety in every one of these divine Sparks of the Celestial
Flame; so that each one of us has this archetype of all creation in his
highest and truest self, which is, because of this, a complete and
self-sufficient entity, containing all things within itself. There would be
no mystery in this, if we could realize the perfect unity which exists
between the Monad and God—a hypostatic union which makes one consciousness
and not a duality—one Life, not two. Thus this spirit in man has all things
in himself, because he is so absolutely at one with Him who is all things.
This is how it is that, by reciting the Creed and so making this symbol of
the cycle of all things, we put ourselves into touch with the nearest
epitome, or representative of this, which is for each of us his own Monad.
Thus we are here employing not only our personalities and Egos; the whole of
our being is taking a part in Christ's service and so is being renewed, or,
to some extent, reconstructed after the Pattern of the Perfect Man—perfect,
that is, for this evolution, which has as its goal the union of the bodies
and soul with the Spirit of one who has become an Adept. Later, when we
offer "ourselves, our souls and bodies," it is in this capacity, as
reconstructed after this pattern of perfection—for each man the pattern
being his own spirit or monad—which reconstruction is achieved by this
epiphany of the highest in us.
In completing the renewal of ourselves, we
also complete the building of the eucharistic edifice for this part of the
Service— finish it, in so far as we are able to do so unaided. Later we have
the aid of the Angels—beings who are themselves more highly developed than
we are, and belong to a higher evolution, so that they must have a more
lofty goal or standard of perfection after which, as an example, they can
remodel themselves. When we are joined by these beings at the Tersarctus
the form is made much more beautiful, for it is made perfect as judged by
the Angels, who have a higher scale of valuation, because they are
themselves better representatives of their own higher natures and can
therefore do things more perfectly than we. Before this, we have at the end
of the Creed an edifice which is structurally complete and architecturally
beautiful. The Gloria and the Collects had finished this part of the work as
far as the astral level; and now the Epistle, the Gospel and the Creed have
built in the mental matter. Thus, having completed the building work, we are
free to pass on to the next stage of the Eucharist. But before actually
doing this let us consider exactly what happen during the Creed.
For the full comprehension of the Creed, we
must realize that it, like the Gospels and Liturgies, has behind it a
tremendous body of thought which is similarly ensouled by a great Angel. By
retaining in our Liturgy this Creed we have kept an important link with the
rest of Christ's Church and done much to preserve our integral unity as a
definite part of the body corporate—a link which will enable us to fire the
other members of this great body with that new life which we draw from the
inspiration of the living Christ. At the same time it will preserve in our
own Church the beauty of the tradition—so well kept by the orthodox
branches— of the message delivered, the impetus given in Palestine.
Let us now examine it in detail. For full
efficiency in the Holy Eucharist perfect co-operation and team-work are
needed, so that anything which tends to strengthen this is a good thing. For
this reason it is better to begin our statement with the words "We believe,"
than with the more usual "I believe". The former wording sends up through
the celebrant a body of strongly vivified matter which is of much value for
our building operations; the latter form tends to shoot up a number of
little individual jets, which make tiny projections in the roof of the
structure, as though one were poking it with a stick. This shows the
necessity for us to work as a whole and all pull together as one man; for
this reason the importance of forgetting ourselves and our own petty worries
and individual devotions cannot be over-emphasized. The Eucharist is a
service in the literal sense of the word, and as it is done to the glory of
God we are in honour bound to attend to the business in hand and to do it to
the best of our ability; and it can only be so done when we forget
ourselves. The particular troubles and joys of each of our personalities
should be put aside on entering the church. There need not be any conscious
striving and straining to stimulate feeling; but we should lose ourselves in
the thought of Christ's service, and so work with ease and spontaneity, in
perfect harmony and co-operation with the rest of the congregation, with
which we are united through our free and naturally outpoured love to the
Master who is equally in all of us. That should be our attitude—spontaneous
co-operation united in a common devotion—an attitude entirely foreign to
that which continually thinks: "I must make a great effort," "I
am enjoying this very much," "I am being greatly helped."
Furthermore, our Church especially refrains
from imposing upon its members any particular form of belief. A Creed to us
is not a test of orthodoxy, but a general statement of principles to which
most of us assent; so it seems better to say that we as a Church hold
certain opinions, rather than to put into the mouth of each individual an
assertion that he accepts various dogmas as to which, or some of which, he
may still be preserving an open mind.
If we turn to examine the colouring produced
by the different parts of the Creed, we shall find that the first paragraph
is chiefly white, with touches of gold and the first-Ray silvery electric
blue; all these are colours usually connected with the first Ray, and are,
therefore, what one might expect in this part of the Creed, which refers to
the Ruling Power, God the Father.
The dominant colour of the second paragraph is
blue, but there are many other colours—rose, lilac and green being
noticeable. At the opening words: "And in one Lord Jesus Christ," there is a
wonderful flash of rose and the peculiar light sky-blue of the Christ, after
which it is mainly yellow till the words: "Who for us men and for our
salvation." This yellow, however, should not be confused with that limpid
stream of effulgent yellow light which, on the higher mental level, runs all
through the Creed with ever-swelling volume, as it gathers itself up for the
glorious outpouring at the climax. The yellow evoked by this particular part
seems to come from a different source and to be separate from the main
stream. With the phrase last quoted, the colour changes to blue and lilac.
The genuflection at this point serves not only to impress the moment more
vividly on the minds of the congregation, but is a dramatic representation
of the truth—merely another means of expressing it, parallel to the method
of speaking it. Thus here we have this fact commemorated or symbolized in
two ways, and so receive a double down-pouring. This is the principle behind
all ceremonial, which combines action with speech.
At the words: "And was made man," there comes
a wonderful pink with an opalescent white light which seems to be a glow
from the buddhic golden-yellow inspiration of hope. "And was crucified"
makes a heavy blue and green, but still we see the glowing yellow of hope
mingled with a higher green. As we repeat: "and ascended into heaven," we
have some more splendid amaranth; after this, it grows yellow again. With
the words: "And He shall come again," a lovely rosy hue, as of gratitude,
suffuses the whole.
Just as the first and second paragraphs were
respectively white and blue as to their underlying colours, so this last
paragraph is largely the wonderful red of the Holy Ghost—a sort of roseate
crimson, with much cerise and touches of a strong Martian red in it. All
these colours of the higher planes are very hard to express in terms of
physical pigments, as they are so much more living than anything we know
down here; they are always scintillating and flashing with a hundred
changing coruscations which produce a composite effect.
At the mention of the word "Father" in the
clause: "Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son," there is a flash of
the first-Ray white fire with its touch of silver and blue; and at the word
"Son" a lovely rose and blue. At the second reference to the Father and the
Son in the clause: "Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped,"
we see flashes of the same colours. The dominant red shades off into green
at the mention of the Holy Catholic Church. The fine orange of confidence,
confidence in the Way, the Path of Initiation, which is typified by baptism,
and the blue of devotion, of thanksgiving, are both visible during the
reference to the "Baptism for the remission of sins".
The two final phrases: "the resurrection of
the dead and the life of the world to come," make a splendid blaze of blue
and gold—the fine blue of pure devotional praise and the blazing gold of the
joy and hope, the unbounded, enthusiastic life of the buddhic plane. This
buddhic gold is a wonderful colour, which from a higher lever seems mingled
with the rose of perfect love and understanding. As on the buddhic plane all
is united in oneness, so this special quality of the buddhic plane is many
qualities united in one, and it may come down and show itself in different
individuals in varying colours, according to which interpretation of it the
person is best able to make, or according to the particular side of it which
at the moment happens to be expressing itself through him; that is to say,
according to which of the nobler feelings he may be experiencing. This gold
of the buddhic bliss, or ecstasy, may therefore represent many things which
on the lower levels appear to be quite distinct.
The wonderful lambent yellow—that underlying
stream of colour which appears to take its rise in the higher mental level,
and runs all through the Creed—pours itself out towards the end in a
magnificent burst, as it is mingled with the lightning-flashes of a power
that comes from the vivification of the reflections of the Monad. In the
case of a Bishop, this blazes on to his crosier— which is already very
active and in strong sympathetic vibration with the Angel of the
Eucharist—and is there magnified and sent out with colossal force and
wonderful brilliance, as it adds itself to and strengthens the higher mental
stream of yellow. This enthusiasm, still rushing out during the following
Minor Benediction, makes an effective link between the celebrant and people.
The sign of the cross at the end vivifies on
the mental level the cross in the lantern of the dome; also, as it is itself
a creed, it serves to materialize the effect of the whole Creed, from the
causal body down to the lower bodies of both the celebrant and congregation.
This tends to bring the lower bodies into harmony with the higher, and so
make easier the work of the Angel who is also pouring out force which will
impress the substance of the Creed upon the congregation. Thus, signing
themselves with the cross tends to render everybody more open and receptive
to the higher influences. The sign of the cross is an epitome of Christian
belief, and of the universal life-process. The line drawn from the head to
the solar plexus signifies cosmically the descent of Spirit into
matter—mystically, God became man. The touching of the left shoulder (the
left side always being held to mean darkness, ignorance or evil) signifies
the descent into hell—cosmically, experience of evil; in the ceremony of
Initiation, this is the time passed in the underworld, symbolized in certain
rites by lowering the neophyte into a tomb. The passing to the right
shoulder refers to the Ascension to the right hand of the Father, the return
of the soul to God, and in the ceremony of Initiation, the awakening of the
newly-initiated on the third day.
The Act of Faith which we use in the shorter
form of the Eucharist has wonderfully brilliant and flashing colours, but
does not seem to make the same touch with the Monad which the Nicene Creed
achieves on account of its being a symbol of the Threefold God, and the
Incarnation and Ascension—the entire life-process of the universe which is
complete in the Monad. Nor does the shorter form make the same link with the
other Churches by sharing with them the touch with that body of thought and
with the ensouling Angel behind the Nicene symbol. Amongst others, these
considerations would probably weigh the balance in favour of the longer
statement of the faith where one had a congregation well educated as to the
higher and allegorical meaning of this wonderful presentation of the faith,
especially of one had to deal with philosophical, intellectual, or mystical
people; but where one has simpler folk who would not grasp its high
metaphysical conceptions, or strangers who would attach the ordinary grossly
materialized ideas to the Nicene Creed, the shorter form is probably
preferable. This form will also probably suit better the direct, scientific
occultist; whereas the other will appeal more to the mystic type.
Dominus Vobiscum
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
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P. The Lord by with you.
C. And with thy spirit .
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The Priest probably understands more fully
than his people the glorious doctrines set forth in the Creed; having
studies them more deeply, they must mean much more to him. Hence his
intellectual enthusiasm should be greater than theirs, and it is this that
he tries to share with them in the Minor Benediction which immediately
follows. In their reply they pour out through him all the force which has
been aroused within them, and with this the Angel of the Eucharist completes
his structure so far as the three lower planes are concerned.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The Offertory varies. That
which follows is of Trinity Sunday.
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Blessed be God the Father, and
the only-begotten Son of God, and also the Holy Spirit; because
he has shown his mercy to us.
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From the rising up of the sun,
even unto the going down of the same, the Lord's Name shall be
magnified; and in every place incense shall be offered unto His
Name, and a pure offering. There shall be heard in this place
the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of them
that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the
Lord. |
We now come to the Offertorium, the object of
which is to give the people an opportunity of a practical physical-plane
expression of the feelings that have been aroused by the previous part of
the Service, so that the joy of giving, of making an offering may be added
to all that has gone before.
The only offering now made is money, but in
ancient times each person brought what he could spare from his household
store, the food being afterwards used for the sustenance of the clergy and
distributed among the poor. A little later corn, wine and oil were the
customary gifts; later still, bread and wind only, from which was taken what
was required for the Eucharist, the remainder being still given to the poor.
But whatever was brought by the congregation was always first solemnly
offered to God by the Priest; and the words of that dedication still remain
in our Service, as will immediately be seen, though now the elements which
are to be employed in the Sacrament have also to do duty as symbolical
offerings.
Oblation of the
Elements
ROMAN
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LIBERAL
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The Priest offers the host. |
The Priest offers the host. |
Receive, O holy Father,
almighty, God, this spotless host, which I, thine unworthy
servant, do offer unto thee, my God, living and true, for mine
own countless sins, transgressions, and failings, and for all
here present, as also for all faithful Christians, living or
dead; that it may avail both me and them unto health for life
ever- lasting. Amen.
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We adore Thee, O God, who art
the source of all life and goodness, and with true and thankful
hearts we offer unto Thee of Thine own life-giving gifts
bestowed upon us, Thou who are the giver of all.
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Making a cross with the paten
the Priest puts the host on the corporal.
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Making a cross with the paten
the Priest puts the host on the corporal.
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He blesses the water to be
mixed in the chalice, saying:
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He pours wine and a little
water into the chalice, saying:
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O God, who in a marvellous
manner didst create and ennoble man's being, and in a manner
still more marvellous didst renew it; grant that through the
mystical union of the water and wine we may become companions of
the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, even as he
vouchsafed to share with us our human nature; who liveth and
reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God,
world without end. Amen.
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According to immemorial custom,
O Lord, we now mix water with this wine, praying Thee that we
may ever- more abide in Christ and He in us. |
He offers the chalice
|
He offers the chalice
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We offer unto thee, O Lord, the
chalice of salvation, beseeching thee in thy mercy that it may
rise up as a sweet savour before thy divine majesty for our own
salvation and for that of the whole world. Amen. |
We offer unto Thee, O Lord this
chalice with joy and gladness; may the worship which we offer
ascend before thy Divine Majesty as a sacrifice, pure and
acceptable in Thy sight. Through Christ our Lord. R Amen.
|
Making a cross with the chalice
the Priest puts it on the corporal.
|
Making a cross with the chalice
the Priest puts it on the corporal.
|
In a humble spirit and a
contrite heart may we be received by thee, O Lord; and may our
sacrifice so be offered up in thy sight that it may be pleasing
to thee, O Lord God. Come, thou who makest holy, almighty and
everlasting God; and
bless this sacrifice which is prepared for the glory of thy holy
name. |
|
The bread and wine are here presented merely
as symbolical of the offerings of the people—not as the mystical Host and
Chalice of the Sacrament, but as samples of God's gifts to man, which are
joyously and thankfully dedicated by the sign of the cross to His service.
this is stated still more clearly in the shorter form by the insertion of
the words "this token". The paten is laid aside by placing it under the
corporal, because that of which it is a symbol does not enter into our
consideration at this period.
It is the custom to use wafers of unleavened
wheaten bread for the Eucharist, since Christ undoubtedly used unleavened
Paschal bread at the institution of the rite, because unleavened wafer bread
is purer, and because of the greater convenience of the wafer shape for the
purpose of administration. But this has been laid down that such wheaten
bread as is ordinarily eaten suffices to fulfil the conditions of the
Sacrament, so long as it is the best procurable. If the bread is not made of
wheaten flour, or is mixed with flour of another kind in such quantities
that it cannot be called wheat bread, it may not be used.
There is little doubt that at the Last Supper,
Christ used the unfermented wine which men usually drank at that period—what
we should now call grape-juice; and it is practically certain that it was
mixed with water, because that was the invariable habit of the time. It is
of course best to follow His example; but if the proper article be not
procurable, ordinary wine will suffice, so long as it is made from the juice
of the grape and is unadulterated; substitutes made from other fruits, such
as elderberry or currant wine, are not permissible under any circumstances.
The mixing of water with wine is not necessary to the actual validity of the
Sacrament, but it is needed for the perfection of the symbolism, as will
later be seen. Care is taken to remove any drops of water which may adhere
to the sides of the chalice, because if there were any water not mingled
with wine the symbolism would be inaccurate.
The ruling which I have given above is that
binding upon our Liberal Catholic Priests; but there has been much
discussion among theologians as to these sacred elements, and the most
diverse views have been held. Unleavened bread is used by the Roman Church,
but leavened bread in the Eastern Church, except among the Maronites, the
Armenians, and in the churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria. Some Anglican
writers seem to hold that unfermented wine is not valid matter for the
Sacrament; the Roman Church holds that it is valid, but that to use
it is a grievous offence, even though the Christ Himself set the example!
It is better to adhere as closely as possible
to the scheme of the Sacrament as it has been given to us; all divergencies
from the prescribed plan cause more trouble to the Angels engaged in the
work, and so decrease the amount of force which can be radiated. A certain
outpouring takes place; if our arrangements are perfect, almost the whole of
this can be distributed among the purposes for which the Eucharist is
offered. But if we do our part clumsily, a good deal of that force is wasted
in repairing our errors, and so less good is done.
Note
This part of the Eucharist is the commencement
of a new chapter. Up till now we have all been actively busy in supplying
material for the building of our temple. The Angel has been drawing much on
the people's devotion and it has all been pouring up through the deacon and
subdeacon into the celebrant, who have to transmute whatever they can of the
sentimental feeling, some of which is always present. Such transmutation
always involves a certain amount of strain for the celebrant and now he is
released from that, as he no longer has to be so closely linked with the
people as to be able to make their feelings suitable for building into the
form. Therefore, the very close link which till now has been necessary is no
longer needed. This link was the net which the celebrant threw out over the
people at the beginning of the Service, and then vivified with each Minor
Benediction. This net is now gently wafted up by the aspiration of the
people as they join in thought in the Offertorium, and is built into the
form. The colours of this and the following parts are noticeable for their
beautiful clarity, as they begin to gather on the Altar and lie like strewn
flowers round the elements which are about to be offered. The change of tone
due to the different attitude—as we have no longer to pour out material for
the form, but are resting for a moment in sweet and gentle aspiration—seems
to have this beautiful effect of giving soft clarity and limpid luminosity
to the colours.
With the words "We adore Thee, O God, " as the
celebrant raises the paten to the level of his breast, the offering and
aspiration of the people stream up through his heart centre to the oblation,
and flood the Altar with rose and gold. As he raises the paten, he draws up
power from the Altar-stone—a peculiar looking yellow material, which needs
some explanation. It is considered necessary that the Altar, if not built of
stone, should at least have a marble slab just where the sacred vessels
stand—the reason being that the stone makes a circuit with the ground. This
is why we have so many Altars built of stone, which has its foundation in,
and therefore direct touch with, the earth; however, the stone slab serves
quite well. The life of the earth as a whole, the Earth-Spirit, takes a
definite part in the Eucharist; especially does it join in the sacrifice at
this point, where we are offering the bread and wine in their capacity as
symbols of the first fruits of the earth; and in order that the life of the
earth may have a vehicle of expression, that Nature may also take part in
the sacrifice made of the products of her bosom, and may be duly
represented, the slab of real stone is needed.
Having offered the bread, before putting it
down, the celebrant makes the sign of the cross with the paten and wafer
over the Altar. This makes a little swirl which later is the basis of a
larger vortex made by the censing, which in turn is the basis for a great
cup in which we make our offering of praise. This first tiny nucleus begins
to draw together some of the coloured material which comes up on to the
Altar during this part of the Service from the aspiration of the people. The
censing completes this process.
The same phenomena accompany the offering of
the wine except that instead of gold and rose, we have a deeper rose and
violet-blue. The blue is due to the presence of water in the chalice. As the
celebrant offered the paten, he held it on a level with his breast and drew
largely on the heart-centre of the people up through his own heart. With the
offering of the chalice, he holds it at the level of his eyes and draws from
the centres in the people's heads up through his own head-centres, thus
lifting up their consciousness from one chakra to another. But though the
force comes out from these places, all the chakras which are at all awakened
are adding their quota; it is only that the heads and hearts are the points
through which the force and consciousness are concentrated and pouring out.
This part of the Service intensifies the
colours round the Altar, and so is a preparation for the censing which now
follows.
The Second Censing
At this point in the ancient ritual a change
took place. The corn and wine which had been offered to God by the people
were laid aside, and the elements to be used in the Eucharist were brought
to the Altar. As we make the bread and wine serve both purposes, we mark the
change in the symbolism by a solemn censing, which sets them apart from all
common use, and forms around them yet another of those useful shells or
vortices which we so often employ in religious ceremonies, Thrice the
celebrant makes the sign of the cross over them with the censer. (Diagram
6), blessing them and linking them with himself as he says silently: "I link
these oblations with me, spirit, soul and bodies." In the previous offering,
the elements typified our possessions, showing that all that we have we hold
at God's disposal; now they are to be more intimately linked with us, for
they are to symbolize all that we are, and this also we lay at His
feet.
Then the celebrant draws three rings round the
sacred substances (Diagram 6), isolating them from all outer influences,
that they may be charged only with the magnetism which we are about to
offer. As he inscribes the circles he says silently: "and I shield them in
the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." From the inner
standpoint we find it more suitable to make these three circles from left to
right instead of drawing two of them backwards, as is done in the Roman
rite; the latter method causes unnecessary disturbance, and sets up in the
ether something resembling a choppy sea rather than the steady vortex which
is required.
This done, the celebrant repeats the censing
of the Altar as before, holding the same thought as then, but with a yet
wider application, for now not only the celebrant but the whole congregation
is to be drawn into a close and mystic communion. The magnetic field which
was previously formed round the Altar is now to be extended to include the
whole church, while a new inner treasure-chamber is formed round the sacred
elements. It is important that the celebrant should concentrate his
attention exclusively on what he is doing and on the thoughts appropriate to
each movement, so it is better that he should not have to recite a prayer
while he is swinging the censer, as is directed in the Roman rite, but
should say it as soon as he has concluded the motions. Standing for a moment
at the centre of the Altar, and holding the smoking censer up towards the
cross at the level of his breast, he prays:
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
He says at High Mass, while
censing the offerings: |
He censes the offerings and
Altar and then says: |
Let this incense which thou
hast blessed, rise before thee, O Lord, and let thy mercy come
down upon us.
|
As this incense rises before
Thee, O Lord, so let our prayer be set forth in Thy sight. Let
Thy holy Angels encompass Thy people and breathe forth upon them
the spirit of Thy blessing.
|
He censes the altar, saying |
|
Let my prayer, O Lord, be set
forth as incense in thy sight; and the lifting up of my hands as
the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and
a door round about my lips lest my heart incline to evil words,
to seek excuses in sin.
|
|
This prayer naturally refers to the Angels of
the Incense, who have been previously described, and it is a most beautiful
sight to see them swoop down the church shedding their influence over the
congregation, carrying with them the essence of the perfume and sending it
surging out in great waves as they pass. The chief purpose of their effort
is expressed in the words used by the Priest as he returns the censer:
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
He returns the censor saying:
|
He returns the censor saying:
|
May the Lord enkindly within us
the fire of his love, and the flame of everlasting charity.
Amen. |
May the Lord enkindly within us
the fire of His love and the flame of everlasting charity.
|
Then the clerics, choir and people are censed
in the order of dignity. There is a threefold object in this: first, to show
respect to them, as is evidenced by the variation in the number of swings
given; second, to include them all within the magnetic field; third, to
evoke whatever latent power of love and devotion there is in each, that he
may take his full share in the great work which is about to be done. The act
of censing establishes a condition of rapport, of synchronous
vibration, which may be utilized to expedite the flow of force either
outward or inward. For example, of a Bishop be present at the Service, his
is censed immediately after the celebrant, but with nine swings instead of
six.
This is not only a recognition of his office,
and an inclusion of him within the magnetized field; it is also an
opportunity for him to pour out into that field the spiritual energy of
which he is a living battery. A Bishop lives in a condition of perpetual
radiation of force, and any sensitive person who approaches him will at once
be aware of this. This is happening always without any special volition on
his part, but whenever he chooses he can gather together this force and
project it upon any desired object. When he walks in procession, he is
communicating it in this way to the congregation; and when the incense is
offered to him, through its influence he at once floods the magnetic field
with the power entrusted to him. Each Priest who is censed should in the
same way give as well as receive; he also has his link with the Lord, though
it differs from that of the Bishop, as will be explained when we deal with
the Sacrament of Holy Orders; therefore he, too has his quota of blessing to
add to the general store.
Note
The three crosses which the celebrant makes
over the elements with the thurible are accompanied by the thought: "Now, in
aspirations, I link myself, my soul and body, with these offerings" and, as
he makes the three circular swings: "I surround and protect them with the
power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." This collects all
the colours of the people's aspirational thought, which has accumulated on
the Altar during the Offertorium and with the three circular swings of the
censer, a casket round the sacred vessels is completed, which is built on
the basis of the swirls set up by making the sign of the cross over the
Altar with the paten and wafer, and then later with the chalice, immediately
after offering them.
The rest of the censing is precisely similar
in all its movements to the first censing of the Altar, so it need not be
again described.
At the prayer: "Let Thy holy Angels encompass
Thy people, and breathe forth upon them the spirit of Thy blessing," the
Angels of the incense rush out over the congregation and extend the
influence of the magnetic field, hitherto kept to the Altar, to include the
whole church, but this is more definitely completed and brought down to the
physical level by the censing, first of the clergy and then of the
congregation. This is possible at this point, as the people are now raised
to a pitch at which they can benefit by it; also, it is no longer necessary
to have the Altar fenced off for the sake of guarding the elements, as these
are now shielded by the casket round them.
The censing and the prayer: "May the Lord
enkindle within us the fire of His Love and the flame of everlasting
charity," have sent some of the fire-elemental essence—the earth power
manifesting through the element of fire—coursing all through the celebrant,
and so he has been purified by fire. Now comes the Lavabo, and we have
similar purification by water and the beautiful pastel-blue force of this
element runs all through the celebrant. It is thus, purified by fire and
water—the two great cleansing agents—that he continues the Service and
enters into its holier part.
Lavabo
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
I will wash my hands among the
innocent; and will compass thine altar, O Lord.
|
I will wash my hands in innocence, O
Lord: and so will I go to Thine Altar.
|
That I may hear the voice of praise,
and tell of all thy wondrous works.
|
That I may show the voice of
thanksgiving: and tell of all Thy wondrous works.
|
O Lord I have loved the beauty of thy
house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth.
|
Lord, I have loved the habitation of
Thy house: and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.
|
Take not away my soul with the wicked,
nor my life with men of blood.
|
|
In whose hands are iniquities: their
right hand is filled with gifts.
|
|
But I have walked in mine innocence:
redeem me, and have mercy on me.
|
|
My foot hath stood in the right way:
in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.
|
My foot standeth right: I will
praise the Lord in the congregations. |
Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
|
Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and
ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
|
|
|
Receive, O holy Trinity, this offering
which we make to thee in remembrance of the passion, resurrection,
and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honour of blessed
Mary, ever virgin, of blessed John the Baptist, of the holy apostles
Peter and Paul, of these, and of all the saints: that it may avail
to their honour and our salvation; and that they whose memory we
keep on earth may vouchsafe to make inter- cession for us in heaven.
Through the same Christ our Lord Amen.
|
The corresponding prayer follows the
Orate Fratres. |
The purpose of the Lavabo is to cleanse the
hands of any little particles of dust which may have adhered to them after
touching the burse, the veil and the censer. Naturally there is also
associated with it the idea of a final and utter purification of thought and
feeling before entering upon the Canon, the most sacred part of the Service.
The word Lavabo is just the Latin for the first three words of the
accompanying psalm, but as these verses have no special effect upon the
Service, they are omitted in our shortened form, which is, however, fuller
and more explanatory in the next sentence than its predecessor.
Orate Fratres
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. Brethern, pray that my
sacrifice and yours may be accept- able to God the Father
almighty. |
V. Brethern, pray that my
sacrifice and yours may be accept- able to God the Father
Almighty. |
R. May the Lord receive the
sacrifice at thy hands, to the praise and glory of his own name,
to our own benefit and to that of all his holy church.
|
C. May the Lord receive the
sacrifice at thy hands, and sanctify our lives in His service.
|
In the shorter form of the eucharistic Service
the following words have been inserted as part of the Orate Fratres:
Brethern, we have built a Temple for the
distribution of Christ's power; let us now prepare a channel for its
reception; and to that end pray ye that my sacrifice, etc.
The people having been drawn by the censing
into the holy circle, the Priest now calls upon them to join him in the
sacrifice which he is about to offer, and by their heart felt response they
put into his hands for disposal all the enthusiasm and good resolutions
evoked during the censing of the Altar, which he at once proceeds to offer
in the following prayer:
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The corresponding prayer
precedes the Orate Fratres.
|
We lay before Thee, O Lord,
these Thy creatures of bread and wine, in
token of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; for here we
offer and present unto Thee ourselves, our souls and bodies, to
be a holy and continual sacrifice unto Thee, that we, who are
very members incorporate in the mystical body of Thy Son, which
is the blessed company of all faith- ful people, may hear that
His most joyful voice: "Come unto Me, O ye that be blessed of My
Father, and possess the kingdom which is prepared for you from
the begin- ning of the world," through the same Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, ever one God throughout all ages of ages. R. Amen.
|
Secrets. The Secrets vary. That
which follows is of Trinity Sunday.
|
|
Receive favourably, O Lord, we
beseech thee, these victims which we consecrate to thee: grant
that they may avail us for help for evermore. Through our Lord.
|
No corresponding prayers are
used in the Liberal Catholic Liturgy. |
The special object of this prayer is as usual
stated more clearly in our shortened form for the Eucharist, where it
appears as follows:
We lay before Thee, O Lord, these Thy
creatures of bread and wine, in
token of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; for here we offer and
present unto Thee ourselves, our souls and bodies to be a holy and continual
sacrifice unto Thee. May our strength be spent in Thy service, and our love
poured forth upon Thy people, Thou who livest for ever and ever. R. Amen.
The Priest offered himself wholly at the time
of the censing, but now he is about to make the same solemn oblation on
behalf of his people. To this end he links them mystically with the bread
and wine by a strong effort of his will, as he makes the sign of the cross,
and pours into those elements the whole tremendous force which he has
gathered from his congregation, so that these may be not only symbols of the
oblation of "ourselves, our souls and bodies," but actually the mystical
channels of that sacrifice. As he does this he testifies that all their
efforts are inspired by the one desire to do that work for which God has
sent them into the world.
We must here guard against a common and most
unfortunate misunderstanding. When ignorant Christians invented the crude
and philosophically impossible heaven-and-hell theory, they took the
Christ's beautiful phrase "the kingdom of heaven" as equivalent to their
strange idea of paradise, and supposed that when He spoke of the difficulty
of attaining it He meant that the majority of people would be cast into
their flagrantly ridiculous Hell. "The kingdom of heaven" is a synonym for
the Great White Brotherhood, the Communion of Saints; and so when we say
that we offer ourselves in order that we may gain the kingdom we are making
no selfish effort after personal "salvation," but are promising to devote
our lives to the object for which we are sent here—the attainment of
adeptship or saintship, the destiny prepared from the beginning for those
who are strong enough to reach it. A fuller explanation of this will be
found in a later volume, together with a note upon the real meaning of the
words "through Jesus Christ our Lord," so constantly used by thousands who
have no conception of their true signification. The mystical body is of
course the Church.
Note
The celebrant has linked himself with the
elements by the three crosses made over them with the censer. He is about to
make a link through his own connection with the people. As he turns toward
the people, he again throws out a sort of net over them, which goes out with
the motion of the circular thrown net of an Indian fisherman. This is in
order to draw them closer to himself by gathering in all their praise. He
turns back to the Altar by the right, instead of in the usual way, in order
to make a complete circle and draw in the net with the same motion with
which he flung it out. If he were to turn back in the ordinary way, it would
not wind in the net properly. As it is brought in and he commences the
following prayer, he draws the people's aspiration, which he has thus
gathered, into himself and then, still with the same motion, he spins the
material of the net up on to the tip of the casket containing the elements,
so that it makes there a vortex, or cup, built on the basis of the swirl
made by the three circular swings of the censer. Immediately the colours of
the people's aspirations (which lay on the Altar like flowers till they were
gathered into the casket by the censing of the oblations) begin to be swept
up and gathered into the substance of the net, and so with this the cup is
built. It is worthy of notice that, although the casket forms the basis of
this vortex, it is like a chamber at the bottom of the cup, but quite
separated from it by the lid which was made by the three crosses of the
censer. The elements are still surrounded and safely shielded.
A moment after the making of this cup, the
celebrant makes the sign of the cross over the bread and wine, which links
the people, through himself, with the elements, for the purpose of using
these as channels for the second offering, the offering of "ourselves, our
souls and bodies". As soon as this link is made—which happens when the
celebrant makes the cross at the words "in token" in the beautiful prayer
beginning: "We lay before Thee, O Lord, these Thy creatures of bread and
wine in token of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving"—the
aspiration which he gathered in the Orate Fratres begins to pour up through
the wafer and the contents of the chalice into the cup. Of course, all the
grossest part of the people's less spiritual emotions and thoughts are
excluded from this. As he drew in the net, all the dross, the less noble
part of their feelings, came to the surface like scum which was immediately
swept away by a cleansing current which is always kept running by the
Angels. As the people's devotion continues to flow up into the Priest, it is
similarly cleansed and then passes through him and the oblations, and thence
into the cup, which is, therefore, being continually filled from the bottom.
The material with which we fill it is vibrating at an exceedingly high rate;
it glows intensely, and is covered with a curious appearance of effervescent
foam, not unlike that which may be seen upon champagne. The nature-force
also flows in, but as this is so much heavier, it remains at the bottom.
THE CANON
The Canon is so called because it is the most
sacred and invariable part of the Service, laid down strictly according to
rule which must be carefully followed. We have done our part; we have built
our edifice, we have put ourselves absolutely at God's disposal; now we
await with sincere faith the answer from on high, the response to our
effort, which will do what we ourselves cannot do. We are about to raise the
traditional call to the angelic hosts, to which for two thousands years they
have been accustomed to respond; and in order to do this reverently and
worthily we must put ourselves into the proper attitude of mind.
Dominus Vobiscum
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
|
P. The Lord by with you.
C. And with thy spirit .
|
To help us in this the Priest takes advantage
of the additional link which has just been made with his people when they
joined him in offering themselves to the Lord, and he tries to strengthen
them and draw them together still more closely for the perfect performance
of this beautiful invocation. From this point onwards, until after the
Consecration, nothing is allowed to interfere with the sacrificial action of
the Priest; the wondrous and beautiful magic of the Eucharist moves on its
way through all its stages, and it is only after the pouring out of that
stupendous influence upon the whole surrounding district, and just before
his own personal communion, that the Priest in the Salutation of Peace once
more draws his people to him by this Minor Benediction.
Note
Here follows the first Minor Benediction,
since the absorption of the net, along which the force of the officials had
been conveyed to and from the congregation. But we see that since the
magnetic field of the Altar has been extended to include the whole church,
the power flashes out and back though this charged atmosphere with great
rapidity and brilliance.
Sursum Corda
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We have lifted them up unto
the Lord.
V. Let us give thinks unto the
Lord our God.
R. It is meet and just.
|
V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up unto the
Lord.
V. Let us give thinks unto the
Lord our God.
R. It is meet and right so to
do. |
The name Sursum Corda applied to these
versicles and their responses, is, as usual, the Latin form of the first of
them; "Lift up your hearts." Originally intended as a preparation for the
great invocation, it has now through long usage become practically part of
the invocation itself. The adjuration to lift up our hearts is clearly a
call upon us to gather together all our energies at the high level of
devotion and enthusiasm to which they have just been raised, and direct them
along the line indicated in the second versicle—that of intense gratitude to
God expressed in the highest form of worship of which we are capable.
It is with our hearts filled with these
feelings that we are to follow, with strong intention, the words now to be
sung by the Priest. There is an additional and most beautiful meaning in
that second versicle of which we must not lose sight. "Let us give thanks"
is in Greek ενχαριστησομεν, "let us offer the Eucharist"; so here at the
beginning of the Canon in these words the Priest calls upon his people to
join with him in that greatest of all acts of worship, and it is with regard
to that that they agree with him when they reply that it is meet and right
so to do.
For these versicles and their responses there
is a traditional melody, which has been used ever since the Church was
founded, and may well have been prescribed either by our Lord Himself at its
foundation, or shortly after it by some of those who understood the effect
of sound upon the inner world. As has been said, certain central ideas of
the ritual only were given in the beginning, and round those unchanging
ideas celebrants grouped extempore prayers; but for those definite points
that were from the very first unvarying formulæ, the exact meaning of which
is still preserved, although they have been translated from one language to
another.
This is one of those primary formulæ, and the
same tone or tune has been used for it from those earliest days, except for
certain slight modifications which mark the usage of different localities;
and it is just as efficient when wedded to English words as it used to be
when their corresponding phrases were chanted in Latin or Greek. The Angel
of the Eucharist seizes at the same time the lovely music-form and the
mental force put forth by the celebrant, and sends them sweeping down the
church with a splendid gesture of supreme command, and as the response of
the people comes swirling back like a great rush of living fire, he whirls
it all upward in a mighty souring flame, which fills the dome of the
eucharistic edifice and streams upwards through the lantern into space. The
second versicle and its response send up a second impulse of like nature,
and the floating rosy cross gleams forth with blinding light for those whose
eyes can see. And through the channel thus made the celebrant sends upward
the words appointed from of old.
Note
The first of these versicles sends a wave of power down into the nave which,
with the response, then rushes back and swirls up into the central dome of
the form. As it whirls itself aloft, it continues the sides of the cup until
its brim just touches the bottom rim of the dome, so that from this point
down to the Altar we have a sort of inverted dome. This first versicle and
response seems to call out a general response from all the bodies, but
specially from the astral. The next one seems to stress the higher mental
side, but is also general in character. It has the effect of further
consolidating the newly-made upper part of the cup, as the power whirls up
and flashes out through the top of the form.
The Preface
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The Preface is variable. That
which follows is used at Trinity and on those Sundays throughout
the year which have not a proper preface.
|
The Preface does not change
except that at Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday and
Trinity, and also on Festivals of Our Lady and of the Angels, a
Proper Preface is inserted between the two paragraphs of that
which follows:
|
It is truly meet and just,
right and availing unto salvation that we should at all times
and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Father
almighty, everlast- ing God: who with thine only- begotten Son
and the Holy Ghost art one God, one Lord; not in the oneness of
a single person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For that
which we believe from thy revelation concerning thy glory, that
same we believe of thy Son, that same of the Holy Ghost, with-
out difference, or separation. So that in confessing the true
and everlasting Godhead, we shall adore distinction in persons,
oneness in being, and equality in majesty; which angels and
archangels, the cherubim too and the seraphim do praise; day by
day they cease not to cry out, saying, as with one voice.
|
It is very meet, right, and our
bounden duty, that we should at all times and in all places give
thanks unto Thee, O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlast- ing
God. Therefore, with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones, Dom-
inations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, with Cherubim and
Seraphim, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and
magnify Thy glorious Name, evermore praising Thee and saying:
|
First the Priest emphatically takes up and
endorses the response of the congregation, reiterating that it is indeed our
duty at all times and in all places to offer this holy sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving; and therefore he proceeds to call to his aid the angelic
hosts to enable him to do it, exercising therein one of the powers conferred
upon him by the link with higher spheres which was made at his Ordination.
On certain great festivals what is called a Proper Preface is inserted
reciting the reason of the festival. This form of words is also part of the
invocation, for it calls upon the Angel placed in charge of the special
force outpoured on that particular occasion. In this part of the Service we
follow exactly the ritual of the Anglican Church (which is substantially
that of the Roman), except that we add the names of some Orders of the
Angels which are omitted by them.
This is not the place for a detailed
disquisition upon the heavenly hosts, but a few words of general explanation
are desirable. The Angels form one of the kingdoms of nature, standing above
humanity in the same way as man stands above the animals. There are at least
as many types of Angels as there are races of men, and in each type there
are many grades of power, of intellect and of general development, so that
altogether we find hundreds of varieties. The idea so often held by the
ignorant that these mighty hosts of glorious spirits exist chiefly to dance
attendance upon man is merely the fruit of the amazing self-centredness of
the human race, of which the geocentric theory was so striking an example.
The Angels exist, as do men, to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever; and
the appointed method of such glorification is first by self-unfoldment
(which men call evolution) and secondly by service. This service is of very
many kinds, and only a few of them bring the Angels into contact with human
beings—mainly in connection with religious ceremonies.
Angels have been divided into nine Orders; the
names used for them in Scripture are given in the Liturgy. Of these, seven
correspond to the great Rays of which the solar system is composed, and two
may be called cosmic, as they are common to some other systems. A definite
department of work is assigned to each Order, and representatives of each
are invoked at every Eucharist, to take charge of anything which comes
within the limits of their department. The method of angelic evolution
being, as I have said, largely by service, a ceremony such as the Eucharist
offers for them a remarkably good opportunity, and they are not slow to
avail themselves of it.
As the Christ is the Head of all religions,
vast host of them are ever around Him, waiting to leap forward eagerly along
the line of His thought, and so it comes to be said that He sends
Angels to do certain acts (as in the Asperges, for example), though the only
case in which it is literally true is that of the Angel of the Presence, of
whom we shall have to speak later. Just as, among the retinue surrounding
the Lord, there is always an Angel ready to assume the direction of the
eucharistic Service when the appeal of the Asperges is sent out, so are
there representative of those nine Orders always ready to answer the call of
the Preface. In higher worlds to call the name of any person is at once to
attract his attention; and the same is true of a class, such as an Order of
Angels. At a Low Celebration it is the Directing Angel who first responds
and he seems to assemble the rest; but at a High Celebration or Missa
Cantata, because the melody used for the versicles has always been
practically the same through the centuries, all immediately notice it as it
rings out, and those who come next in order are prepared to sweep down
instantly as the Priest chants the names of the types.
It is indeed a marvellous and a glorious sight
for the clairvoyant to see these celestial visitors flash into their
appointed positions in response to their traditional words of power. While
the Angel of the Eucharist stands usually beside the celebrant, or floats
just above his head, the illustrious ambassadors of the none Orders always
range themselves behind the Altar facing the celebrant. Behind them
in turn stand numbers of human beings as well, whose members generally take
their places opposite the ends of the Altar, though they frequently also
fill the upper part of the nave, hovering above those who are still in the
body.
Catholics who during their physical lives have
delighted in the Services of the Church naturally continue to attend them
after the death of their bodies; and those living on the other side of the
world, who are out of their bodies in sleep, sometimes do precisely the same
thing. The devotion and earnestness of its physical-plane congregation may
make a certain church popular with the Angels and the dead, so that the
worshippers whom most people cannot see are often far more numerous than
those perceptible to all. In my book on The Other Side of Death, 2nd
edition, p. 427, I give a well-attested account of the attendance of a
number of dead monks at the celebration of the Eucharist at a Hospital
Chapel in London.
As soon as he arrives, the Angel of the first
Ray undertakes the direction of the work as a whole, determining the amount
of each force that can be used to the greatest advantage, the other Angels
moving at his command, and grouping themselves so as best to receive and
utilize the outflow. This director usually caries a rod, the symbol of his
office, which varies in colour according to the force which is being sent
through it. The colour of the day is generally predominant, but not
invariably. On a festival of the Holy Ghost, for example, both the rod and
the fire flowing forth from it would be brilliant red, the colour
consecrated to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, though the red the
representative of the First Person would still lead the ceremony.
Note
The Preface fills this cup with matter of a
very high rate of vibration indeed; so rapidly is it vibrating that one does
not see anything definite; it is as though one were looking into a void; and
yet there is something there, for one cannot see across to the other side of
the cup. It is a highly stressed, much compressed and almost transparent
sort of matter, which all but escapes the ordinary lower clairvoyant
faculties—sight and feeling alike, for, as there is no room for anything of
a lower nature in the same place, which would make any sort of sense
impression on these ordinary faculties, it often produces a curious sort of
empty feeling, as if one had stepped into a pocket in the astral atmosphere.
This is only because our consciousness is not ordinarily kept at the exalted
level of this material, and as soon as one raises oneself to this higher
plane, the empty feeling is replaced by a tremendous fullness. This same
empty effect is sometimes noticeable in the aura of a man who has recently
had some spiritual experience, such as Ordination. It is particularly strong
behind the Altar of a church.
Sanctus
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
of hosts. Heaven and earth are
full of thy glory. Hosanna in
the highest.
|
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
of Hosts. Heaven and earth are
full of Thy glory: Glory be to
Thee, O Lord most high.
|
Now that we have called together this
illustrious and august company of the holy Angels, our first act is to join
with them in the ascription of glory and worship to God. This magnificent
outburst of praise, called the Trisagion or Tersanctus (both
words meaning "Thrice Holy") is of extreme antiquity. Not only has it been
used in this same place in the Liturgy since its foundation, but even before
that it was employed in the Jewish Service. An early form of it is to be
found in the writings of the prophet Isaish (vi, 3). The Hebrew word
Sabaoth, meaning hosts or armies, is often allowed to remain
untranslated in this passage. Though the Church now most appropriately
interprets it as referring to the Angels, there is little doubt that the
Jews originally took it as signifying the host of the stars. However that
may be, this short canticle holds a position and produces an effect in our
Liturgy the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated.
Our previous efforts of praise and worship
have supplied much devotional material, which the Angel of the Eucharist has
utilized in his building operations; but in this noble traditional act of
homage the representative Angels and their satellites join us, and their
power of devotion is so enormously greater than ours that their contribution
entirely changes the character of the edifice. Their action vivifies an
immense amount of astral and mental matter, and the Angel of the first Ray,
who has now taken charge of the construction, directs most of the force
upward. The lower part of the fabric is often vastly increased in size,
though there is no alteration in shape; but the dome swells out so
prodigiously, both in height and in diameter, that the basilica becomes in
proportion to it nothing but a pediment supporting its gigantic bulk. The
erection now closely resembles a dagoba, though it is hollow instead of
solid; and the small cupolas at the corners shoot up into graceful minarets,
as is shown in the illustration (Frontispiece).
But this modification of shape is not the only
change produced by the co-operation of the Angels, for they introduce an
entirely new factor into the edifice. With us devotion is an energy of the
higher astral levels, awakening, as by reflection or sympathetic vibration,
some slight activity in the intuitional part of our nature; but with great
Angels this relation is reversed, for the force of their devotion acts by
its very nature at that high level, and any emotional effect is only by way
of reflection. So they add to our edifice a vast wealth of material
belonging to an altogether new and more exalted plane of nature, which
permeates and etherealizes all the rest. Thus the whole monument takes upon
itself a new and higher character, at once more magnificent and more
delicate, indescribably lovely and capable of far more refined vibrations—a
fit vehicle for celestial force.
Men have sometimes asked: "If the Angels can
do all this so quickly and so much better than we, would it not be wiser to
leave the whole work in their hands, and not presume to offer our inferior
material?" The answer to this suggestion is twofold. First, to take part in
so sublime and beautiful a building is the greatest of privileges, and
assuredly develops our nature and advances us rapidly in the course of our
evolution: every time we do such a piece of work we acquire something of
spiritual growth. Secondly, the idea that dominates all such operations
without exception is that of economizing force, of making it go as far as it
can. Obviously every once of power generated or of material supplied by the
congregation is so much to the good, and conserves the energy at the
disposal of the Angels.
It is of help to them, therefore, of we are
stirred deeply by enthusiasm and devotion, so that we pour forth from
ourselves steady, strong vibrations. If we do not do this, they have to
supply what is lacking. Truly all force is divine force; but it floods into
the various worlds at different levels and through many channels, and the
more we can serve as channels to conduct it form the higher levels to the
lower, the more of it will be available down here. If we feel great
devotion, and because of that pour forth vivid enthusiasm, we are bringing
out of latency into activity forces which otherwise would remain latent, and
we are therefore doing part of the lower work which is more difficult for
the Angels, and leaving them more energy to use upon the higher levels where
they are so thoroughly at home and so splendidly proficient.
The Church of England, I regret to say,
knowing nothing of this inner and most glorious side of the eucharistic
Service, throws nearly all the work upon the angelic helpers, and is thus
uneconomical in the expenditure of the glorious gift from on high. At the
beginning of the Service she does not call for an Angel to construct the
eucharistic edifice (nor indeed does the Roman Church on occasions when the
Asperges is not used), and so nothing of that is done until the point which
we have now reached. She does not mention in detail the nine Orders of the
Angels, but they come to her at the traditional call, and the Directing
Angel of the first Ray at once proceeds to build the edifice which really
ought to have been made ready for him. He has often sadly little material,
but he makes the best of what there is. The Epistle, the Gospel and the
Creed supply him with rather more mental matter than he usually obtains from
them at a Roman Service, where they are said in Latin, and so evoke little
thought from the average congregation. As in the English Church the Holy
communion usually follows Morning Prayer, there are often some useful clouds
of devotion left from that; and a good deal is outpoured as the words of the
Trisagion are sung or said. But the effect is lamentably barren as compared
with that produced by the older and more scientific form of Service
In a church which is more fortunate in its
Liturgy, the picture presented to clairvoyant vision at this stage is indeed
wonderful. Quite apart from the marvellous monument which has been erected,
the splendid appearance of the Angels can never be forgotten. Each stately
figure has amidst the flashing coruscations of his own aura some lovely
predominant hue, glowing with a radiance that nothing on earth can approach;
and the whole group displays a magnificent and harmonious colour-scheme
which in this physical world we have no means of reproducing.
This being one of the special points of the
Service, additional efforts are made to enable the congregation easily to
assimilate the force. Men differ in temperament and in receptivity; some are
more readily affected in one way and some in another, and so we appeal to
the three senses of smell, hearing and sight. To assist in spreading abroad
the exquisite angelic magnetism, incense is burnt at this point in the
Service, the sacring bell is sounded, and the acolytes elevate their lighted
candles. Wherever the scent penetrates, wherever the sound is heard, these
strangely sweet and beneficial vibrations will extend. The more silvery the
tone of the bell, the better suited it is for its purpose; and it will do
its work far more efficiently if it has been blessed by a Bishop—that is, if
it has been magnetized for this special purpose. The use of a gong is
permissible, provided that its tone be sweet and musical, though is sends
out a continuous roar instead of a number of successive impulses, and so is
somewhat less suitable.
The Trisagion should be sung with the greatest
possible solemnity and reverence, the worshipper following the words
carefully, and trying to feel and mean them with every fibre of his being,
though at the same time maintaining the utmost calm and serenity. At the
first recitation of the word "Holy" homage is offered to God the Father, and
the second and third are addressed to the Son and the Holy Spirit
respectively. Our people should bear this in mind, and direct their thoughts
accordingly.
Benedictus Qui Venit
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna
in the highest.
|
Blessed is he that cometh in
the Name of the Lord. Hosanna
in the highest.
|
The act of worship at the Sanctus being over,
the celebrant stands erect, and we all join in welcoming the holy Angels, in
thanking them for coming, and the Lord for sending them—or, more accurately
for arranging that they shall come. The Hosanna is Hebrew, and its
literal or original meaning is said to be "make safe" or "save now";
according to Professor Burkitt it means a reed, such as is carried in
processions, and often called palm, and the cry originated in this use; but
at some early period in Jewish history the original meaning was lost, and it
became a mere joyous ejaculation of praise, equivalent to "glory to God". It
appears in that sense both in the Old and New Testaments; it was so used by
the Jews at their feast of tabernacles, the most joyous occasion of their
year; and again we find it employed in the same way by the children who
strewed branches before the Christ on Palm Sunday. Some have held that the
French exclamation "hosché" and our "huzza" are derived from this Hebrew
word.
There is here a most beautiful and interesting
fragment of ritual. Those who are clairvoyant should watch its action
closely, and all should join in it in thought as well as in word, whether
they can see what happens or not. When we all bow down at the words "Holy,
holy, holy," all the Angels and the dead bow also; and there is a vast
upward stream of devotion rising like the smoke of the incense, except that
it is not smoke but light that rises, and it immediately invokes a still
vaster down-pouring in response. But when that act of worship has been
completed, the celebrant stands erect and speaks across the Altar to the
Angels the beautiful words of welcome and thankfulness: "Blessed is he that
cometh in the Name of the Lord." With that, in a church where the people
understand, there flows horizontally across the Altar a great stream of
gratitude to the holy Angels; they bow slightly to receive it, and send
across in return a current of kindly feeling which is in truth a
benediction.
At the words "Hosanna in the Highest" we turn
our stream of gratitude upwards towards the Lord, thus making room for the
current of the angelic blessing to pass beneath it, and drawing into us
their holy influence by the sign of the cross which we make over ourselves.
It is very pretty to watch the sudden change of direction in our
force-current, and the deft way in which that sent by the Angels instantly
slips in under it as it curves upward. We should have the thought of
thankfulness strongly in our minds as we sing these words. In the Liturgy of
the Church of England this expression of gratitude to our angelic visitants
is unfortunately omitted; but nevertheless it is frequently inserted by the
more understanding of her clergy.
Note
The cup which we have described as standing
over the chalice has really more the appearance of an umbrella which has
been inverted by the wind.. The rush of devotion underneath has the effect
of ejecting into the dome under pressure the already much compressed
contents of the cup or inverted umbrella; and that begins to swell out the
dome. More and more it is enlarged as the umbrella is turned the right side
out till (its outer edge—i.e., what had been the brim of the
cup—being fixed to the bottom rim of the dome) the umbrella suddenly bursts
in the middle and the gorgeously-coloured matter, vivified by the peoples
devotion and the aspiration of the Angels, rushes up through this opening
and completes the expansion of the edifice, at the same time sweeping the
sides of the umbrella flat against the walls of the dome, where they
immediately unite and so become built into and part of the whole.
Let us now look at the precise part borne by
each separate phrase in this work. It will be remembered that at the censing
of the oblations, three swings were made round them, shielding them in the
Name of the Father (first swing), and of the Son (second swing), and of the
Holy Ghost (third swing). The vortex thus formed was the base of the whole
great cup, and somehow these same three divisions of the three Persons of
the Trinity were, as a result of this, represented by three different levels
in the cup. It seems as though the force from the earth—in the centre of
which the Holy Ghost works—was connected with the Third Person, while the
next layer in the cup, the effervescent substance which was supplied from
us, or rather the Christ Principle in us, was the force of the Second
Person; and the "empty" looking power which was confined by the upper part
of the vessel and was supplied partly by our higher principles stimulated by
the coming of the Angels during the Preface, and partly by the Angels
themselves, was the power of God the Father.
Now it will be remembered that the three
paragraphs of the Gloria in Excelsis and the Creed are addressed, the first
to the Father, the second to the Son, and the third to the Holy Spirit, so
that the lower part of the dome, we might say, is specially dedicated to the
First Person, the middle portion to the Second Person, and the lantern-like
erection on the top to the third Person. Now the three words, "Holy, Holy,
Holy" are addressed to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. At the first the vortex
or inverted dome is turned up sufficiently to force all the matter which was
specially connected with the Father into the dome where it can act on its
first level. The second "Holy" ejects the next layer of matter, which acts
on the part of the dome or pagoda sacred to the Son; and the final word
pours up the nature-force into the lantern at the top as the umbrella is
completely turned inside out. Thus the three words each affect the
particular part of the edifice which is connected with the Person to whom
each is addressed.
The words "Lord God of Hosts" as it were break
the umbrella away from its stick, so that the power rushes up through this
opening and continues to swell the form. What represents the stick of the
umbrella is still left standing, and is rather interesting. It is a tiny,
very thin, whirling uprush of power from the Altar-stone and seems to be
more of the nature-force, or that part which belonged specially to the Holy
Ghost, streaming up presumably to work upon the top part of the pagoda,
which is where the Third Person is specially represented.
At the Words "Blessed is he that cometh in the
Name of the Lord" there is a beautiful interchange of force between the
Angels and congregation, which mixes into a wonderful stream which we pour
upwards with the words "Hosanna in the highest." This adds our final touch
to the work of enlarging the form, and specially shoots up the minaret on
top, whither the cross, which hung in the lantern or top most part of the
form before it was increased, has been borne. The people in making the sign
of the cross over themselves, not only open themselves to the influence of
the Angels as it rushes in when we turn our thoughts upwards with the
"Hosanna," but also vivify this great central cross. The most wonderful
thing about the whole of this part of the Service is the work of the Angels.
They stimulate the people to far higher activity, so as to produce a total
change in the aspect of this temple that we have built. Not only is the size
considerably increased, and the form built in on the buddhic level, but the
quality, the texture and the colouring of the whole is indescribably
improved. It is as though it had been suddenly invested with a new and even
more splendid life.
These Angels seem to be veritably a part of
the consciousness of the Christ, in the same way as is a Priest or Bishop
who really develops the powers given him to their full potentiality. It
looks as though these Angels obtained a similar touch with the Lord Christ;
but this effect may be due merely to a very full development of the Christ
Principle within them.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Wherefore, O most merciful
Father, we thy suppliants do
pray and beseech thee, through
Jesus Christ, thy Son, our
Lord,
to receive and bless these
gifts and
offerings, this
holy and unblemished sacrifice.
|
Wherefore, O most loving
Father, we Thy servants do
pray Thee, through Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, our Lord to
receive, to
purify and to
hallow this oblation which we
make unto Thee.
|
Here again we shall find our shortened Service
expressing more clearly what is actually taking place. Its form for this
prayer is:
O Lord, these our oblations have served as
tokens and channels of our love and devotion towards Thee; but now we pray
Thee to
receive, to
purify and to
hallow them as earthly channels of Thy wondrous power.
The bread and wine, first employed as symbols
of the offerings of the people, and then as channels of our sacrifice, are
now to fill yet another and far higher rôle, and to act as outward
manifestations or vehicles of the power and life of Christ Himself, So the
Priest first breaks the link which he made, and then demagnetizes the
elements, sweeping them clean from any earthy taint that may have mingled,
while leaving in them all the purely spiritual part of our offering to be
laid later on at the feet of the Christ our glorious King. At the first
cross the link is broken, and at the third the elements are especially
blessed for the tremendous destiny that lies before them, The three crosses
made in the longer form produce exactly the same result, though the words
spoken are less appropriate.
This charging of the elements with a spiritual
offering is the first step in the process of preparing the channel for the
reception of the great outpouring of divine force which is the central
feature and object of the eucharistic Service. But before the Priest
proceeds with that work he turns aside for a few moments to explain how that
force is to be distributed.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
We offer them up to Thee first
for thy holy catholic church, that it may please thee to grant
her peace, to watch over her, to bring her to unity, and guide
her throughout the world; likewise for thy servant N. our Pope,
and N. our Bishop, and for all true believers, who keep the
catholic and apostolic faith. Be mindful, O Lord, of thy
servants, men and women, N. and N. , and of all here present,
whose faith and devotion are known unto thee. For them do we
offer, or they do themselves offer up to thee this sacrifice of
praise for them and theirs; for the redeeming of their souls;
for the hope of salvation and whole- ness, and do now pay their
vows unto thee, God everlasting, living and true.
The corresponding prayer
follows the Consecration. |
We desire to offer this holy
Sacrifice first for Thy holy catholic Church; that it may please
Thee to grant her peace, to watch over her, to bring her to
unity, and to guide her throughout the world; likewise for Thy
servants George our King, N. our Presiding Bishop, N. our
Bishop, for all our Bishops, clergy, and faithful, and for all
here present, whose faith and devotion are known unto Thee. We
do also call to mind all who in this transitory life are in
trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity
(especially . . . ). Likewise do we offer it for all those Thy
children whom it hath pleased Thee to deliver from the burden of
the flesh (especially for . . .), that, freed from earthly toil
and care, they may enjoy the felicity of Thy Presence, evermore
praising Thee in word and deed. O God everlasting, living, and
true. |
It should be understood that the distribution
of the magnificent outpouring of spiritual force which is called down by
means of the offering of the Eucharist is to a considerable extent directed
by the will of the celebrant. There are certain directions laid down in the
ritual in which he always sends it—to the Church, to the King, to the
Bishops, the clergy and the faithful; but a large proportion of it is always
available for special disposal.
The amount of force drawn down during the
ceremony depends partly upon the degree of advancement in evolution reached
by the celebrant and people, partly upon the devotion of the celebrant,
partly upon the number and devotion of the people present, partly upon the
music used, and also, certainly, partly upon the necessities of the case—as,
for example, the existence in the neighbourhood of someone in need of the
help which can be given in that special way. If there were some great need
close by the church, advantage would be taken of the Celebration to supply
such force as would help. This might happen, not only during the performance
of a High Celebration, but also at the private daily Service celebrated by
the Priest in his own oratory. We do not know what limit there is (if any)
to the quantity of this divine force available on a single occasion; we do
not know how many can be affected at once by the outpouring from a single
church; but we certainly know that the amount of force is enormous.
The proportion of it that can be spared for
each purpose is decided by the Directing Angel. He listens carefully to the
list of recipients recited by the celebrant, and as each is mentioned he
indicates, by pointing with his rod, the Angel or group of Angels who are to
attend to that particular person or object. After the outpouring has taken
place he divides the energy among those whom he has selected, and each
absorbs into himself what is given to him, and stands ready to bear it to
its destination when the word of dismissal is given. It is most interesting
to see how each one comes forward and glows more brightly when his charge is
assigned to him.
There are many types of Angels in each of the
great Orders; in each there are some who work, some who guard, some who
meditate, while others are still at the stage when they are mainly concerned
with their own development. Those who are charged with the distribution of
the force are often called the apostolic or messenger Angels—those who have
been taught to know and respond to the ancient call of the Preface. Some
have done such work hundreds of times and are thoroughly conversant with it;
others are novices, eagerly learning what has to be done and how to do it,
but all are delighting in the opportunity of progress which the Eucharist
gives to them, and determined to take it to the full. The work may be fairly
continuous for those who wish it, for the Eucharist is always being offered
somewhere in the world. A church is not always attended by the same Angels,
for their work is vary varied; but it often happens that a group will attach
itself to a certain Altar, and come to the Celebrations held there whenever
its members are not otherwise employed.
Human beings who have laid aside their
physical bodies, either in death or in sleep, and are working in the astral
world, are also occasionally employed by the Directing Angel in this
beneficent work of distribution; but he can utilize only those who have
developed the special qualifications required. A considerable number of
"dead" Catholics, especially among those who belong to religious orders,
have been found willing to submit themselves to the training necessary to
enable them to be useful in this respect; and we hope that that number will
increase as the Science of the Sacraments comes to be more widely understood
by the faithful.
Turning now to the objects for which the
sacrifice is offered, we see them to be of two distinct classes, which we
may call personal and impersonal. Certain names are definitely
mentioned—those of His Majesty the King and of our Presiding Bishop always,
and (when it is desired) those of other individuals who are at the time
specially in need of such help as can thus be given. Those who are
unfamiliar with the action of the finer forces of nature sometimes ask what
result can be achieved by this discharge of spiritual energy upon a
person—what difference it will actually make to his condition. I happen to
be able to offer personal testimony on this matter; not only have I often
watched the distribution clairvoyantly, but I have had myself the good
fortune to be the recipient of such an outpouring when unwell; and I can
bear witness both to spiritual upliftment and to a distinct sense if
increased physical well-being at the time when I was thus remembered in the
Service.
We refer to all those who are in trouble,
sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity, and sometimes we give the
name of some particular person whom we know to be suffering in some way;
that person may be at the other side of the world; in what way then can he
be affected by our thought of him? In the realm of thought distance does not
count; but in this case it is not only the thought-vibration which reaches
him. The Angel appointed to attend to his case will gather up the portion of
spiritual force which is allotted to him, will instantly find him wherever
he may be, and will use the force on his behalf in whatever way he sees to
be the best for him. He will pour it into the man's heart and mind, infusing
into him strength and courage; if he be in sorrow or doubt or difficulty, it
will comfort and steady him; if he be depressed, it will lighten his gloom.
Not for the living alone, but for those whom we so wrongly call the dead, is
this sacrifice offered, and it helps them in precisely the same way, for the
unerring discrimination of the Angel supplies it to give them whatever
encouragement or assistance they most need. That we may fully understand, we
must constantly keep in mind the absolute reality of this force—that it can
be measured just as truly as electric power can be measured, though the
method adopted is somewhat different.
If the man to be benefited is away from his
physical body either in sleep or in death, it often happens that the strong
thought of the Priest about him draws him to the church, and so saves the
selected Angels the trouble of going to find him. If, being newly dead, he
is still in a state of unconsciousness, the Angel will nevertheless find
him, and use the assigned force as he sees to be best. In such a case
sometimes he employs part of it in arousing the man from his stupor;
sometimes he judges it best rather to store the energy in the aura of the
recipient, that he may obtain the benefit of it when he returns to
consciousness. But we may be very sure that in any and every case a definite
result is obtained; it is impossible that the force should ever miscarry or
be lost.
This direction of the Priest's will to some
special object is often called the intention of the Eucharist, and it
is a perfectly legitimate act of invocatory magic; but unfortunately an
entirely illegitimate and evil element has sometimes been imported into the
transaction by the exaction of a fee for the exercise of this spiritual
power—a thing which is always inadmissible. All that is necessary is that
the Priest shall have clearly in mind the objects for which he wishes the
force to be employed, and that he shall strongly will that it shall be so
used.
Whatever is in the mind of the celebrant lies
clearly open before the Directing Angel; but when, as sometimes happens, the
person for whom help is asked is unknown to the celebrant, the Angel to whom
that particular piece of work is assigned has to find his patient by working
back along the line by which the request reached the Priest. The request
implies an earnest wish on the part of someone—either the patient himself or
some friend on his behalf; and that earnest wish stands out conspicuously on
higher planes, so that the Angel's task is generally one of no great
difficulty.
Its action upon individuals is thus not
difficult to understand, but a little further explanation is needed in order
to grasp the manner of its application to such bodies as the Holy Catholic
Church, "all who are in trouble," or "all who are delivered from the burden
of the flesh". As it has been expressed in one of our Collects, God has
indeed constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order, and
in the vast economy of nature there is ample provision for mutual service on
an extended scale, though at the present day European civilization takes but
little advantage of it, having developed itself along other lines.
Besides the great apostolic Angels, and in
many cases working under them, there are whole armies of ministering Angels
who likewise evolve by service, and are ready and eager for precisely such
an opportunity as the Eucharist gives them. The great messenger Angel chosen
by the Director to administer the block of force which he assigns to the
Holy Catholic Church, for example, at once divides it among a score or a
hundred of these subordinates, who at the proper time spring forth and seek
in all directions for possibilities of promoting the peace, unity and wisdom
in Christ's Church which are the prescribed objects of the prayer according
to the Liturgy.
In the same way another company sets forth to
assist those in trouble and sorrow, and these have usually not far to go in
order to find plenty of clients. Yet another group undertakes the same work
among the vast hosts of the dead; and they often need not leave the
immediate neighbourhood of the church to perform their errand of mercy, for
the dead gather round it in large numbers to take part in the great act of
devotion.
As has been mentioned before, this is a
religion of the second Ray, and therefore our first care in the distribution
of the force is to provide for the Holy Catholic Church, which is the
appointed channel for our portion of the work of that Ray. But as soon as we
have done that, even before we go into detail with regard to our own Church,
we think of that other great complementary Ray which guides and governs the
world, which for us is symbolized, embodied, focused, in His Majesty the
King.
King George is the centre and the head of the
grandest Empire that the world has ever known, and to him in that capacity
our uttermost loyalty is due, and is always most joyfully rendered by every
true man. Yet, if we may venture to say so, to the student of the inner side
of life His Majesty is more even than that; he is the living incarnation of
a mighty idea, the Preserver of the Empire, the one central pivot upon which
all turns, a stupendous reality upon higher planes. He is for us the
physical pole or point of this tremendous reality, the principle of
Kingship, from which radiate governing power and justice over all the
Empire.
The mystic words "In the King's name" are no
mere outer form; remember that a name is a power, and that as that great
centre of force has constantly to radiate, so it must be constantly
supplied. We help to supply it by our eager loyalty and earnest affection
and reverence; every time the National Anthem is sung, every time a toast is
drunk to the King's health—most of all, every time the King is thus
remembered in the Holy Eucharist—an additional wave of energy is sent into
the mighty root-idea of strength wielded by justice, power used to maintain
peace—the force-centre of the first Ray. The Directing Angel, who represents
that Ray, draws this share of the force into himself, though it assuredly
reacts upon King George also.
When our Presiding Bishop is mentioned, an
Angel is appointed to convey the power to him, another to the Ordinary (that
is to say, the Bishop of the diocese), and another (who employs many
assistants) is charged with the distribution to "all our Bishops, clergy and
faithful". A sprinkling is reserved for "all here present," though they
receive so much of the direct radiation that their need of this other force
is less pressing.
The Church of England, not having been
informed about the distribution of the divine power, gives no suggestion
with regard to it; so the matter is left entirely in the hands of the
angelic helpers. Part of the older Catholic form appears in the Anglican
prayer for Christ's Church Militant here on earth, but the words used seem
expressly to avoid offering the Eucharist on behalf of those mentioned, and
in any case they are spoken before the angels come.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
|
Uniting in this joyful
Sacrifice with Thy holy Church through- out all the ages, we
life our hearts in adoration to thee, O God the Son,
consubstantial, coeternal with the Father, who, abiding
unchangeable within thyself, didst nevertheless in the mystery
of boundless love and Thine eternal Sacrifice, breathe forth
Thine own divine life into Thy universe, and thus didst offer
Thyself as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
dying in very truth that we might live.
|
Communicating, and reverencing
the memory first of the glorious Mary, ever a virgin, mother of
God and of our Lord Jesus Christ; likewise of thy blessed
apostles and martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, James John,
Thomas
, James, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Thaddaeus; of
Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence,
Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmos and Damian, and of all thy
saints; for the sake of their merits and prayers, grant that we
may in all things be guard- ed by thy protecting help. Through
the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
|
Omnipotent, all-pervading, by
that self-same Sacrifice Thou dost continually uphold all
creation, resting not by night or day, working evermore through
that most august Hierarchy of Thy glorious Saints, who live but
to do Thy will as perfect channels of Thy wonderous power, to
whom we ever offer heartfelt love and reverence. Thou, O most
dear and holy Lord, hast in Thine ineffable wisdom deigned to
ordain for us this Blessed Sacrament of Thy love, that in it we
may not only commemorate in symbol that Thine eternal Oblation,
but verily take part in it, and perpetuate thereby, within the
limitations of time and space which veil our earthly eyes from
the excess of Thy glory, the enduring Sacrifice by which the
world is nourished and sustained.
|
The principal intention of these beautiful
sentences is to arouse within both Priest and people the highest enthusiasm
possible to them, to call out all their latent powers of mind and heart in
preparation for the tremendous act of the Consecration. When we were working
at the revision of the Liturgy we felt it desirable to shorten it where it
was possible, and as this part of the long Consecration prayer has no direct
bearing on what we have called the magical action of the Eucharist, I
suggested to Bishop Wedgwood that it might perhaps be omitted, but he did
not favour that idea, saying that although we, who have trained ourselves to
perceive the action of these divine forces and to some extent to understand
them, can at once raise ourselves into a condition to receive and profit by
them, there will inevitably be in our Church many Priests who do not yet see
and comprehend, and they will need a certain amount of time to work
themselves up to the necessary level, and will be greatly helped in so doing
by the inspiring thoughts put before them in these sentences; and I think he
was right. Then, too, we have to think not only of our Priest, but of the
members of the congregation, who are also deeply affected by these stirring
words.
First, we are reminded that in doing this holy
work we are carrying on the tradition of the Church throughout all the
ages—that it has always been her custom to offer this sacrifice to
perpetuate the memorial of that other primordial Sacrifice of the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity. Reference is made to various important points
of doctrine—important, not because belief in them is essential to
"salvation," as has often been taught by the ignorant, but because
comprehension of them is necessary to one who wishes to understand the
scheme of evolution as far as it can be grasped by the physical brain. For
this reason it is asserted that God the Son is consubstantial and co-eternal
with God the Father, and that He remains unchangeably Himself, even though
He puts part of His divine life down into matter in order that a universe
may be.
Long and extraordinarily bitter were the
arguments over these recondite points in the days of the early Church; in
these more tolerant times the violence of the Christian Fathers in
discussing such matters seems scarcely credible, and the aggravated
controversy between Athanasius and Arius redounds little to the credit of
either their intellect or their Christianity. On the whole the world has
advanced since then in liberality and charity, but there are still many who
seem unable to grasp the fundamental fact that a man's belief upon any point
is exclusively his own affair, and that we are concerned only with his
actions. Here in our Liturgy we assert what some of us know to be true; but
if a man is not able to see these facts or disposed to accept them, no one
but himself suffers thereby, and his inability to appreciate truth in no way
justifies us in withholding from him any of the aids which Christ offers to
the world in the Sacraments.
We must not forget that in these references to
the descent of the Deity into matter there is always also included the
thought of the sacrifice made by the World-Teacher in coming down
periodically into incarnation for the helping of His people.
It is especially emphasized here that in both
cases the sacrifice is, according to our sequential conception of time,
continuous. The work of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity was not
limited to a single act of creation; truly "without Him was not anything
made that was made," but His labour is not finished, for it is His power
which still sustaineth and upholdeth all the worlds. So also the sacrifice
of the Christ did not end when He left this earth; we must think of Him, as
He Himself has said, as One who is alive for evermore, the living Christ who
here and now is ever ready to guide and bless His Church. And in both of
these aspects, as God and Man, He works evermore through that most august
Hierarchy of His glorious Saints which is so well known to us under its
other name of the Great White Brotherhood.
In the third sentence the Priest reminds
himself and his people that in this most holy Sacrament they are not only
commemorating the work which Christ has done and is doing, but are actually
to the tiny measure of their capacity taking a part in it, and so becoming
truly fellow-workers together with Him.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
We therefore beseech thee, O
Lord, to be appeased, and to receive this offering which we, thy
servants, and thy whole household do make unto thee: order our
days in thy peace; grant that we be rescued from eternal
damnation and counted within the fold of thine elect Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
|
Wherefore, O holy Lord, Father
Almighty, we pray Thee to look down on and accept these
offerings, which we, Thy servants, and Thy whole house- hold do
make unto Thee, in obedience to the command of Thy most blessed
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ;
|
Because we are making an effort so to
co-operate, we ask that these offerings may be accepted—accepted, remember,
as a channel as well as a symbol, as is clearly stated in the abbreviated
from of our Service. It is in these words that the Priest first ventures
directly to call the attention of our Lord to that which he is about to do.
The consciousness of our Lord is something so far above our comprehension
that we cannot pretend in any way either to measure it or to limit it.
Students have wondered whether it is possible that, when thousands of
Eucharists are being offered simultaneously, the attention of the Lord can
be given to each; and if so, in what sense and to what degree.
Our knowledge is not sufficient to enable us
to give a detailed answer to that question; but there is absolutely no doubt
as to the full and instant response which comes to each appeal, and there
are facts within our vision at much lower levels, which suggest the line
along which this apparent miracle may be explained. it has been proved over
and over again that the consciousness of an ego may be simultaneously and
fully present in the heaven-life of hundreds of separate people, without
interfering in the slightest with the activity of that ego through its
personality in physical life; and if that can be done by an ordinary human
soul, there is surely no difficulty in supposing that the consciousness of
our Lord has enormously greater capacity along similar lines.
Personally, speaking with deepest reverence
and humility, I think that the Christ is subconsciously aware of what
is happening in all His churches. I do not mean that He is in our sense of
the word "turning His attention" to each of the thousand or million Altars;
but for Him attention is something much higher than it is with us. Such
attention as, through His many thousands of Angels, He can give to each
Altar, is probably far more than we could give if we concentrated all our
mind upon it; what we should call His concentrated attention is something
quite beyond our present comprehension.
I am basing that opinion on intimate knowledge
of a much smaller thing—the relation which each pupil in esoteric study
bears to his own Master. Whatever the pupil knows, the Master knows; not
necessarily at the moment, if He happens to be otherwise occupied; but it is
within His knowledge, so that at the end of the day He remembers it if He
wishes to remember it. He could at any moment turn His attention to that
fragment of His consciousness which is in His pupil, and would know all that
it knew and remember all that it remembered.
Immediately after pronouncing this invocation,
the celebrant turns back again to the preparation of the actual channel for
the reception of the divine force—a process which we shall find difficult to
describe, because it deals with matters which are to a large extent beyond
the reach of the untrained mind. The down-pouring of the force is entirely
the act of the Lord Christ through the Angel of the Presence, but a certain
part of the preparation is done here by the hand of His Priest. If we are
careful to remember that all similes are imperfect and must not be pushed
too far, we may perhaps help ourselves towards a comprehension of what is
about to happen by comparing it to the erection of a telephone.
The edifice which we have hitherto been
occupied in constructing is at once a chamber sufficiently isolated from the
clamour of the outer world to enable us to receive the message, and a
megaphone by means of which, when received, it may reach all who are in the
neighbourhood. In the sacred elements, so carefully purified and hallowed,
we have provided an insulated receiver, and we have now to lay a tube for
the protection of the wires; those wires will then be inserted by the Angel
of the Presence, so that the Christ Himself may send the message.
Starting with the elements as our insulated
receiver, the Priest is about to exert his will in a strenuous endeavour to
push his tube upward. The words assigned to him while he is doing this bear
no obvious relation to the work, but as they have been used at this point
for some centuries in the Roman and Gallican rituals, we have not attempted
to alter them. They are as follows:
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
This, our offering, do thou, O
God, vouchsafe, in all things to
bless, con-
sacrate,
ap- prove, make reasonable and
acceptable: that it may become for us the
body and
blood of thy most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
|
Which offerings do thou, O
Father, deign with Thy Holy Spirit and Word to
bless,
approve, and
ratify, that they may become for us His most precious
Body and
Blood. |
This sentence has a certain historical
interest as being the only relic in our Liturgy of the επικλησις—-a prayer
which occurs in all Eastern Liturgies (and originally in Western Liturgies
also) in which the celebrant asks that God will send down His Holy Spirit to
change this bread and wine into the Body and Blood of His Son. Most
theologians of the Eastern Church hold that this επικλησις is the real
Consecration of the sacred Elements, and that the actual transubstantiation
takes place when this prayer is uttered, and not at the moment when the
words of institution are repeated. In all their Liturgies, however, this
prayer comes after the words of institution, as it apparently once
did in the Roman rite, in which the only trace now remaining of it is the
prayer Supplices te rogamus.
The Dominican Ambrose Catharinus, however,
maintained that the Consecration takes place during the recitation of this
prayer Quam oblastionem (This offering) which we are now considering,
and that it thus occurs before the words of institution, and not
after. Clairvoyant investigation shows that there is no foundation for
either of these theories, since the actual change is always at the
repetition of Christ's own words "This is My Body" and "This is My Blood".
What does, however, happen at this point is
that, with the three crosses at "bless, approve, and ratify" made over the
offerings, the Priest pushes his tube through the etheric, the astral and
the lower mental matter respectively, and the two made separately over the
wafer and the chalice carry the same tube (now in two branches) on through
the higher mental world to the brink of something higher still. He should
use in doing this the forces of his own causal body, pressing his thought
upward to the highest possible level.
The Directing Angel will supplement his
efforts when necessary, but it should be a point of honour with the Priest
to do as much of the work as he can. Most Priests are of course absolutely
ignorant of the magical side of the eucharistic Service, and so for hundreds
of years the whole effort of constructing this tube of finer matter has
developed upon the Angel; but that means just so much the less spiritual
force available for the final distribution. Besides, just think of the
ineffable bliss and honour of co-operation in this glorious work of love, so
far beyond our hopes or dreams! But now he continues:
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Who the day before he suffer-
ed took bread into his holy and
venerable hands, and with his
eyes lifted up to heaven unto
Thee God, his almighty Father,
giving thanks to thee, he
blessed, brake, and gave to his
disciples, saying: Take and eat
ye all of this.
|
Who the day before He suffer-
ed took bread into His holy and
venerable hands, and with His
eyes lifted up to heaven unto
Thee God, His Almighty Father,
giving thanks to Thee, He
blessed, brake, and gave to
His disciples, saying: Take and
eat ye all of this, for.
|
Here the Priest begins the most solemn part of
the Eucharist—the recitation of the circumstances of the foundation of the
Sacrament, as related in the Gospel story, which in all branches of the
Church has from the very first been the formula of the actual Consecration.
He repeats the actions of the Christ Himself in that upper room at Jerusalem
two thousand years ago—the taking of the Paschal bread into His hands, the
looking up in thankfulness to heaven, the blessing and the breaking of that
bread. In the blessing of the bread with the sign of power he completes his
effort, pushing the tube connected with it over the borders of the three
worlds in which man commonly lives (the physical, the astral and the mental)
into the world of unity which lies beyond—that world where separation is
unknown, where all are one with Him, even as He is one with the Father.
It will be noticed that the Priest is
specially directed to include in this sign all the particles that are to be
consecrated. This is because the consecration of the wafers is entirely a
matter of the Priest's intention. If the Priest concentrated on the single
wafer which he holds, and forgot those lying on the corporal or in the
ciborium, the latter would probably not be consecrated. The Priest must
not forget. It is possible that the Angel of the Presence might
deflect the lines of connection of all the wafers laid upon the corporal,
but the Priest should not put him to the trouble of deciding which wafers
are to be consecrated, but should definitely indicate them by thinking of
them, and making the holy sign over them, thus including them within his
tube. It is clearly not the business of the Angel to consecrate more than
the Priests intends.
I can remember an occasion when, at a
newly-established centre, I had only a tiny ciborium available, and
therefore had to lay a number of wafers on the corporal for consecration. By
some oversight one of them slipped out of sight behind some other vessel,
and was not discovered until I came to perform the Ablutions near the end of
the Service. At once the question arose: "Had this stray wafer been
consecrated or not?" On examination we found that it was not
consecrated, although it had lain within a few inches of those that were. I
had not known of its existence, and therefore had not included it in my
intention.
It is usual to make the sign first over the
Priest's wafer, and then over the ciborium or vessel continuing the smaller
breads for the congregation; but a single sign over the large one will
suffice, if the Priest has strongly in his mind the intention that it
shall operate upon the other wafers as well.
We see that in the making of the tube a single
sign for each degree of density of matter is found sufficient to make the
comparatively large tube which encloses both the sacred elements. This
carries it successfully through etheric, astral and lower mental matter; but
when the Priest has to deal with the higher mental matter at the level of
the causal body, he must divide his tube into two, and devote a special
effort of the will to each—not that the matter in which he is working is
denser (on the contrary it is much higher), but because he is further away
from the level at which he is used to exerting his will, and it is
consequently less effective. Now that he has to go still further afield, and
push one of his tubes through into the boundless glory of the intuitional
world, his effort is even greater, and he must take especial care to
indicate what he wishes to include within his sphere of activity.
When the holy sign is made, at once the Angel
of the Presence appears, and the life of that higher world flows in,
providing conditions under which can take place the wonderful changes of the
Consecration, which now immediately follows, at the recital with intention
of the original words of institution.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
This is My body.
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This is My body.
|
This is the climax of the ceremony, the moment
for which all the rest has been a preparation. The divine life flashes
through the tube which has been made for it, and that phenomenon takes place
around which so much embittered and unnecessary controversy has centered—the
prodigy called transubstantiation. We cannot pretend fully to understand a
process which involves worlds higher than any which we can reach; but there
is no possibility of mistake as to what happens in such part of it as is
within the sphere of clairvoyant observation; and this part we will try to
describe.
Every physical object is seen to have its
counterpart on higher planes, but the chemistry of these counterparts is
not, I think, generally understood. The astral and mental worlds have
elements of their own, unknown to physical chemists, and also their own
combinations, but these do not necessarily correspond to ours in this lower
world. The counterpart of one of our chemical elements is usually a compound
in the higher worlds; but, whatever it is, it generally remains unaffected
by our combinations down here.
A mixture of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,
nitrogen and other chemical elements in a certain proportion results in
wheat-flour, out of which we make bread; but we must not suppose that the
astral counterparts of these elements will make anything which on the astral
plane will have at all the same effect as bread down here. Each of these
elements has a line of connection running back to the Deity who created it;
and though that line may pass through a group of what may be called astral
elements, and a still larger group of those on the mental plane, it remains
always the same line, no matter into what combinations that element may
enter in our world.
The line may best be thought of as resembling
a chain of beads—each bead being the counterpart of the physical element on
one of the planes. (Diagram 7). True, the beads are really within one
another from the physical point of view, but if we look as them from higher
dimensions they lie beside one another as well as within one another, thus
giving the effect of a line.
The astral counterpart of what we call bread
is a certain grouping of astral elements, well known to any clairvoyant who
has made a study of the chemistry of the inner world; and the same is true
of finer planes, as far up as we can see; so that bread is represented by a
definite and unchanging set of lines—a bundle of wires, as it were—running
up into the soul of things.
What happens at the moment of the Consecration
of the Host is the instant deflection of this bundle of wires. (Diagram 7).
It is switched aside with the speed of a lightning flash, and its place is
taken by what looks like a line of fire—a single thread of communication,
reaching up, without division or alteration, to the Lord Christ Himself, as
the Teacher and Head of the Church, and through Him to a height beyond any
power of clairvoyant vision which we at present have at our disposal—into
that other divine Aspect of Himself which is Very God of Very God.
It may be contended that this is a miracle—an
infringement of the laws of nature. There is no such thing as a miracle in
that sense of the word; everything which happens in the world, however
unusual or incredible, must occur and does occur under the eternal and
immutable laws which God has imposed upon His creation. This is undoubtedly
an achievement beyond our physical capacity; we know little as yet of those
mighty laws, and much which is impossible to us is certainly well within the
power of the mighty Intelligences in whose hands is the execution of this
divine plan.
From what I have described, it will be seen
that though the outer form of the bread and wine is unchanged after the
Consecration, the manifestation of the divine life which underlies them is
utterly different. It was divine life before, for all life is divine; but
now it is a far fuller and closer epiphany of God, and that is why the
Church has always so strongly insisted upon the Real Presence of Christ in
the Sacrament, and has spoken of it as just as truly His Vehicle as though
it were actually His living Flesh and Blood.
All through the ages it has been found
necessary to combat man's materialism by strenuously insisting upon the
reality of the change which takes place when ordinary, everyday food is made
into holy food, bearing with it a special and mighty potency. The very fact
that to physical eyes the bread and the wine are evidently just what they
were before, makes it the more needful to emphasize that in another and
higher sense they are quite different. The "accidents" being unchanged, it
must be made clear to those who are blind to higher planes that the
"substance" has been definitely altered.
If we may be forgiven a little excursion into
etymology, we may note that the derivation of the technical words used in
connection with this change is full of significance. "Accident," the name
given to the physical bread and wine, and meaning philosophically "a
property not essential to our conception of a substance," comes from the
Latin ad, to, and cadere, to fall, and means therefore
"falling into juxtaposition with". "Substance" comes from the Latin sub,
under, and stans, standing; it is that which stands under or behind a
physical object. Trans is the Latin for across, and we have seen how
the "substance" of the bread and wine is swept across and replaced by
another.
The "beads" are not really beads unless the
counterparts are taken separately, but it is impossible in physical terms to
describe them exactly as they are. To understand the true relation between
the physical matter of the Host and its counterparts requires the sight of
other and higher dimensions of space. So in a sense we are only describing a
diagram when we say that the Angel of the Presence brushes aside a bundle of
wires or lines running up from the wafer to the Deity, but there is no other
way of making the process thinkable to those who cannot see in the inner
worlds. If we try to analyse the thing we shall find it rather complicated,
because every atom has always its connection with the Deity. Truly the
divine life is everywhere, as I have already said, but through the act of
consecration, a special manifestation of it flashes out in the matter of the
Host, welling up from the very heart of the Christ, so that it becomes in
that moment a veritable epiphany of Him. It is then that the Host glows with
unearthly radiance, as befits the most precious gift of God to man.
It was this glow which first brought to my
notice the possibility of studying clairvoyantly the hidden side of the
eucharistic Service. It may perhaps help the reader to realize the actuality
and the material nature of the phenomenon if I reproduce here an account
(written soon afterwards) of the first occasion on which I had the
opportunity of observing it.
"My attention was first called to this matter
by watching the effect produced by the celebration of the Mass in a Roman
Catholic church in a little village in Sicily. Those who know that most
beautiful of islands will understand that one does not meet with the Roman
Catholic Church there in its most intellectual form, and neither the Priest
not the people could be described as especially highly developed; yet the
quite ordinary celebration of the Mass was a magnificent display of the
application of occult force.
"At the moment of consecration of the Host
glowed with the most dazzling brightness; it became in fact a veritable sun
to the eye of the clairvoyant, and as the Priest lifted it above the heads
of the people I noticed that two distinct varieties of spiritual force
poured forth from it, which might perhaps be taken as roughly corresponding
to the light of the sun and the streamers of his corona. The first (let us
call it Force A) rayed out impartially in all directions upon the people in
the church; indeed, it penetrated the walls of the church as though they
were not there, and influenced a considerable section of the surrounding
country.
"This force was of the nature of a strong
stimulus, and its action was strongest of all in the intuitional world,
though it was also exceedingly powerful in the three higher divisions of the
mental world. Its activity was marked in the first, second and third
subdivision of the astral also, but this was a reflection of the mental, or
perhaps an effect produced by sympathetic vibration. Its effect upon the
people who came within the range of its influence was proportionate to their
development. In a very few cases (where there was some slight intuitional
development) it acted as a powerful stimulant to their intuitional bodies,
doubling or trebling for a time the amount of activity in them and the
radiance which they were capable of emitting. But forasmuch as in most
people the intuitional matter was as yet almost entirely dormant, its chief
effect was produced upon the causal bodies of the inhabitants.
"Most of them, again, were awake and partially
responsive only as far as the matter of the third subdivision of the mental
world is concerned, and therefore they missed much of the advantage that
they might have gained if the higher parts of their causal bodies had been
in full activity. But at any rate every ego within reach, without exception,
received a distinct impetus and a distinct benefit from that act of
consecration, little though he knew or recked of what was being done.
"The astral vibrations also, though much
fainter, produced a far-reaching effect, for at least the astral bodies of
the Sicilians are usually thoroughly well-developed, so that it is not
difficult to stir their emotions. Many people far away from the church,
walking along the village street or pursuing their various avocations upon
the lonely hillsides, felt for a moment a thrill of affection or devotion,
as this great wave of spiritual peace and strength passed over the
countryside, though assuredly they never thought of connecting it with the
Mass which was being celebrated in their little cathedral.
"It at once become evident that we are here in
the presence of a grand and far-reaching scheme. Clearly one of the great
objects, perhaps the principal object, of the daily celebration of the Mass,
is that every one within reach of it shall receive at least once a day one
of these electric shocks which are so well calculated to promote any growth
of which he is capable. Such an outpouring of force brings to each person
whatever he has made himself capable of receiving; but even the quiet
undeveloped and ignorant cannot but be somewhat the better for the passing
touch of a noble emotion, while for the few more advanced it means a
spiritual uplifting the value of which it would be difficult to exaggerate.
"I said that there was a second effect, which
I compared to the streamers of the sun's corona. Suppose we call it Force B.
The light which I have just described (Force A) poured forth impartially
upon all, the just and the unjust, the believers and the scoffers. But this
second force was called into activity only in response to a strong feeling
of devotion of the part of an individual. At the elevation of the Host all
members of the congregation duly prostrated themselves—some apparently as a
mere matter of habit, but some also with a strong upwelling of deep
devotional feeling
"The effect as seen by clairvoyant sight was
most striking and profoundly impressive, for to each of these latter there
darted from the uplifted Host a ray of fire, which set the higher part of
the astral body of the recipient glowing with the most intense ecstasy.
Through the astral body, by reason of its close relation with it, the
intuitional vehicle was also strongly affected, and although in none of
these peasants could it be said to be in any way awakened, its growth
within its shell was unquestionably distinctly stimulated, and its
capability of instinctively influencing the astral was enhanced. The
awakened intuition can consciously mould and direct the astral; but in
even the most undeveloped intuitional vehicle there is a great storehouse of
force, and this shines out upon and through the astral body, even though it
be [done] unconsciously and automatically.
"I was naturally intensely interested in this
phenomenon, and I made a point of attending various functions at different
churches in order to learn whether what I had seen on this occasion was
invariable or, if it varied, when and under what conditions. I found that at
every Celebration the same results were produced, and the two forces which I
have tried to describe were always in evidence—the first, apparently without
any appreciable variation, but the display of the second depending upon the
number of really devotional people who formed part of the congregation."
The Bread then has become most truly a vehicle
of the Christ, and in a very special way an outpost of His consciousness,
and it is because of this that we see this marvellous sunlike radiance
streaming from it. But these two forces here described are quite distinct
from that which is to be distributed by the Angels (which we will call Force
C), though they all flow from the same source. These forces or emanations
differ somewhat as do those from radium, for the glow is a vibration like
light or heat, pouring out in all directions all the time, and apparently
inexhaustible; while Force C is limited in amount, and can be divided as it
were into blocks and apportioned precisely as though it were a material
substance, though its nature seems to be more analogous to that of an
electric charge.
Force itself is always invisible, in the
higher worlds as in this; it can be seen only by its effect in some kind of
matter. The clouds and streams of crimson and blue out of which the Angel
builds his edifice are not themselves the love and devotion of the people,
but the effect of that love and devotion upon various types of matter,
etheric, astral and mental. In the same way when we speak of seeing
Force C radiating from the Host, it must be understood that what we see is
its most wonderful and beautiful manifestation in finer forms of matter—a
stream of liquefied light, of living gold dust, or perhaps better still of
star-dust, the flashing fire-mist of cosmic space. No earthy analogy is
really appropriate; but we may perhaps think of the force as a charge of
electricity—an amount stored up, to be released only by touching it, the
required touch being the action of the Directing Angel. The other radiation
(Force A and Force B) is continuous, and does not require the intervention
of the Angel but it can be to a certain extent concentrated and directed by
the will of the Priest.
It is by the power of the Angel of the
Presence that the inner change takes place in connection with the elements,
when the full force from above is outpoured. The Angel of the Presence
differs from all those previously mentioned in that he is not a member of
the glorious kingdom of the Angels, but is actually a thought-form of the
Christ, wearing His likeness. We have, I suppose, an analogy for this at an
almost infinitely lower level in the fact that, as I have before explained,
an affectionate thought of a man in the heaven-world attracts the attention
of the ego of his friend, who at once responds by pouring himself down into
the thought-form and manifesting through it, although the friend in his
physical consciousness knows nothing about it. Perhaps that may help us to
understand how the same power, raised to the nth degree, makes it
possible for the Christ to send His thought simultaneously to a thousand
Altars, opening through each the marvellous channel of His strength and His
love, and yet at the same time to carry on as freely as ever the exalted
work in which He is always engaged.
It is not even only His power, immeasurable as
that must be to us; it is the force of the Second Aspect of the Deity
Himself, of whom the World-Teacher is a chosen channel, an especial
epiphany, in some marvellous way that to us must remain a mystery. but of
the fact that this most wonderful and beautiful manifestation does
take place at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist there is no doubt
whatever, for it has repeatedly been observed by many competent witnesses.
We need not wonder that those among churchmen who are at all sensitive to
this holy influence should speak of it as "a means of grace," and find it
the most powerful stimulus to their spiritual life.
When the Angel of the Presence flashes out, he
attracts large hosts who do not belong to the working but to the
contemplative and guardian types of Angels. They come hovering around to
bathe in the light radiating from the Host. These Angels are at the same
level in the angelic kingdom as are human beings in the human kingdom who
attend a Service purely for the purpose of adoring devotion, and without any
particular idea of doing anything themselves, or even understanding that
there is a way in which they can do anything. These Angels, however, do draw
down and generate a good deal of force by their devotion. That is their
line, and so they are always attracted when the light shines out from the
Host.
Much incense should be used at the time of the
elevation, because the Angels send up their thoughts in and with the
incense. When the Host is reserved there are always Angels hovering around
it, not only because they enjoy the radiance which surrounds it, but also
because they regard it as a great privilege to guard it, and to be there in
attendance. Wherever the Host is, be sure that there are always Angels
present.
When the Angel of the Presence deflects the
bundle of "wires" connected with the Host, what takes its place looks like a
flash of lightning standing still. This line of fire not only flows down to
the Host, but also into the consecrated Altar-stone in which are set the
seven jewels which we shall describe in Chapter VII. When this takes place
the jewels glow like seven points of fire. The celebrant himself is of
course on one of the Rays with which these stones are connected, and the
influence flows into him most readily through the jewel connected with his
Ray. This raises him to his highest possibility, and then through him the
force invoked at the Consecrations plays upon the congregation. Thus there
is an interchange of force between the Host, the jewels set in the
Altar-stone the candlesticks, the Ray-centres on the walls of the church,
the Priest who stands in front of the Altar, and the Angel of the Presence.
(Diagram 8.)
As soon as the Host and Chalice are
consecrated, and so long as they are upon the Altar, a vivid interplay of
forces takes place between them and the minute consecrated jewels embedded
in the Altar-stone, the tabernacle (or Altar) cross, the six shields of the
candlesticks, and the six Ray-crosses placed in the body of the church. The
Altar-jewels act somewhat as a prism might, separating the force radiating
from the sacred elements into its component parts, one shaft of force
darting towards each Ray-cross and towards each candlestick from the
corresponding jewel in the Altar-stone. The Ray-crosses and candlesticks are
likewise joined by a similar though feebler line of radiation. Each
consecrated object in turn radiates force generally over the people, so that
the whole interior of the church seems filled with an interweaving maze of
lines of many-coloured fire. It is of interest to note that the Altar-jewels
and Ray-crosses are so arranged in the church that, generally speaking, the
positive or masculine Rays are represented on the south or Epistle side and
the negative or feminine Rays on the north or Gospel side. More specifically
it should be remembered that the 4th and 5th Rays are predominantly
masculine, the 3rd and 6thRays predominantly feminine, the2nd Ray dual but
about equally balanced, the 1st Ray dual but with the masculine intensified,
and the 7th Ray dual but with the feminine intensified.
When a Bishop
celebrates another complication is introduced, and the force is made much
stronger because of another set of interplayings. The Bishop wears his
pectoral cross, upon which are mounted seven jewels corresponding with those
embedded in the Altar-stone. When the Altar-jewels flash out in response to
the down-pouring of force, the jewels of his cross are also affected, and
the whole of the cross glows like a sun in a most extraordinary and
beautiful way. The ring worn by the Bishop also comes into play. This ring
has been consecrated and put specially en rapport with the Christ
Himself, so that His individual force, not that from the spiritual
reservoir, flows through the ring-jewel. The ring in turn reacts upon the
jewels in the Altar and in the pectoral cross, so that lines of flashing
light are playing all round. This interweaving intensifies the force, and as
a result there is an outpouring on the congregation and on the world in
general which is quite wonderful and very beautiful to see.
As soon as the Host and Chalice are
consecrated, and so long as they are upon the Altar, a vivid interplay of
forces takes place between them and the minute consecrated jewels embedded
in the Altar-stone, the tabernacle (or Altar) cross, the six shields of the
candlesticks, and the six Ray-crosses placed in the body of the church. The
Altar-jewels act somewhat as a prism might, separating the force radiating
from the sacred elements into its component parts, one shaft of force
darting towards each Ray-cross and towards each candlestick from the
corresponding jewel in the Altar-stone. The Ray-crosses and candlesticks are
likewise joined by a similar though feebler line of radiation. Each
consecrated object in turn radiates force generally over the people, so that
the whole interior of the church seems filled with an interweaving maze of
lines of many-coloured fire. It is of interest to note that the Altar-jewels
and Ray-crosses are so arranged in the church that, generally speaking, the
positive or masculine Rays are represented on the south or Epistle side and
the negative or feminine Rays on the north or Gospel side. More specifically
it should be remembered that the 4th and 5th Rays are predominantly
masculine, the 3rd and 6thRays predominantly feminine, the2nd Ray dual but
about equally balanced, the 1st Ray dual but with the masculine intensified,
and the 7th Ray dual but with the feminine intensified.
When in addition to this the Bishop's crosier
is near the Altar there is introduced a highly complicated interplay of the
lines of light which it is scarcely possible to describe. In the crosier the
seven jewels flame out like stars, and between them and all the other jewels
strands of living flame are ceaselessly darting. In physical mechanics,
every time a force is transferred something is lost by friction. The
contrary takes place during the consecration, for all the instruments of
this wonderful Sacrament are already magnetized with a living force,
and the more interplay there is the stronger the force becomes.
Having knelt in adoration before this wondrous
manifestation of the Presence of the Christ, the Priest raises the Host
reverently above his head, that all the people may see; and it is at that
moment of the elevation that the secondary rays of fire stream out in
response to special feelings of devotion, as I saw them in that church in
Sicily. The elevation of the Host in sight of the people has been the custom
of the Church from the earliest days, though it was not always done
immediately after the consecration. Indeed, its introduction at this point
dates only from the twelfth century, but it is clearly both appropriate and
beneficial here, so none need hesitate to adopt it because of its
comparative modernity. We must beware of the tacit denial of the living
influence of the Christ in His Church which is involved in the theory that
all improvements introduced since the date of the Ascension are without His
approval. Assuredly many mistakes have been made by portions of His Church,
and He has not interfered to correct them; but we need not therefore doubt
that He has at various times inspired His officers to make changes which
practical experience had shown to be of value, and this may well be a case
in point.
Note
The cross which the celebrant makes over the
elements with the word "receive" not only breaks the link with the people,
but also with the nature-force from the Altar-stone, and therefore cuts off
the source of supply which has held up the spinning rod which we have
compared with the stick of an umbrella; that, therefore, now disappears. At
the word "purify" any trace of anything not quite noble in what has been
poured into the elements as the offering from the people is cleaned out. The
cross at the word "hallow" makes the bread and wine glow very distinctly.
During the prayer commencing "Wherefore, O
Holy Father Almighty," the celebrant extends his hands towards the
oblations. This has the effect of extending the glow around them—made by the
last cross at the word "hallow" to include his own hands and so, through
this connection, more of this glowing light flows into the bread and wine,
which vivifies the physical atoms, so that the life, which is always welling
up form within them increases in quantity and brightness and makes all the
sprillæ glow; and at the same time it begins to flow along the lines which,
when in ages hence the atoms are fully evolved, will then be taken by the
new-grown sprillæ. A further effect is the brightening of the colours of the
rosy cross which is seen when one looks down into the heart of the atom. The
sign of power and the word "bless" intensify this effect and really build in
a sketch, made in lines of light, of the as yet undeveloped sprillæ. The
whole atom is now a thing of light—living and brilliant. The next cross and
the word "approve" have the same effect on the astral atoms, and the
succeeding crosses do the same thing all the way up to the buddhic level. We
now have the accidents on all these planes made really pure and fitting
vessels for His Presence. Then comes the consecration, when the "bundle of
wires"—the life behind the form, which supports it and to which its very
existence is due, The life which wells up through the centre of the atom—is
in a moment swept aside and something infinitely grander flashes down into
its place. (The bubbles in koilon, however, of which the atom is built, do
not appear to change in any way; at any rate their appearance remains the
same; it is the force which builds them into atoms which is affected.) the
form of the physical bread is still the same because the shape and
arrangement of the physical atoms are still the same, although the life
which now throbs through them is utterly different and invests them with a
glory of radiant light. The same thing happens with the astral, mental and
buddhic atoms.
There is a certain sort of grouping of atoms
which on the astral level represents the presence of bread on the physical
plane; though it does not look like bread up there, it yet has its own
distinctive appearance. When the Host is consecrated, this distinctive
appearance is entirely blotted out by the thousand times more brilliant Life
which comes into this astral manifestation of bread.
The consecrated Host appears to ordinary
clairvoyant vision a glowing mass of dazzling white light honeycombed with
lines of darker gold—a beautiful gleaming maize-colour. The arrangement of
these lines of golden light appears somewhat like a section of honeycomb. If
one tries to see an individual cell, the richer colour seems rapidly to fade
into what is to all intents and purposes white, but really is, I think, a
sort of sublimated primrose, such as we observed in the Collect for Peace.
Each cell looks not unlike a set jewel held up to the light, which in the
centre is of a luminous brightness, but as the eye approaches quite near to
the edge, shades off into topaz; but the whole effect is one of amazing
brilliance.
The white or sublimated primrose force is, I
think, the force A, referred to by our Presiding Bishop; and the golden
network of light would then be the force B. The force A makes a wonderful
sphere of white light around the wafer which has a slight bluish tinge just
at the edges.
The golden force B (which, I think, comes from
the glowing maize-coloured lines in the Host) is indeed a mighty power which
beams out with what one would imagine from its appearance to be a
shattering, crashing energy. It bursts from the Host like sheet after sheet
of living flame, with all the strength of a colossal charge of electricity.
What I take to be the force C looks almost a palpable thing. Its appearance
is such as to suggest that one could take it in one's hand, and that it
would feel like frost when rubbed between the fingers—crisp and yet so
infinitely delicate, each particle being composed of the finest filigree or
lace-work, which would be crushed at the slightest touch. Each tiny filigree
ornament on each particle refracts the light, and so the whole produces the
most delicately fairy-like effect. It too is golden in colour with a silver
sheen over all, so that it resembles a rare shot silk with gold and silver
inwoven, such as it made in the sunny East. Its golden particles flash a
kind of white-diamond fire, as they roll over one another; it looks like a
stream of rich-coloured Indian corn poured out in the sunlight.
After a second genuflection and a pause of a
few moments the Priest proceeds to the consecration of the Chalice.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
In like manner after he had
supped, taking also this excel- lent chalice into his holy and
venerable hands: also giving thanks to thee, he
blessed it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and drink
ye all of it. For this is the chalice of my Blood, of the new
and eternal testament; the mystery of faith, which shall be shed
for you and for many unto the remission of sins. As often as you
shall do these things, you shall do them in memory of me.
|
In like manner, after He had
supped, taking also this noble chalice into His holy and
venerable hands, again giving thanks to Thee, He
blessed it and gave it to His disciples saying: Take and drink
ye all of this, for This is My Blood. As oft as ye shall do
these things, ye shall do them in remembrance of Me.
|
By the sign of the holy cross he presses his
second tube through into the higher world as he did the first, just a moment
before the actual Consecration, and again at the Word of Power the
transubstantiation takes place, and the bundle of lines representing the
inner realities of wine and water are swept aside and replaced by the living
fire which is the life of the Christ. But this time the fire is not the
blinding white and gold which makes the Host shine forth as a sun, but a
glowing sword of intense crimson in colour like the fingers of a hand
Before a burning taper as Tennyson puts it.
The processes of genuflection and elevation are repeated, and this second
form of the divine force is shed upon the congregation. It is complementary
to the other, but it seems to descend somewhat nearer to us; the Wine has a
very powerful influence upon the higher astral levels, and the Water sends
out even etheric vibrations. The force of the Host may be described as
essentially monadic, and acts most powerfully upon whatever within us
represents the direct action of the Monad—the strength, the accuracy and the
rhythm belonging to the Epistle side of the Altar; the force of the Chalice
is more that of the ego, and seems to express rather the fiery devotion, the
adaptability and the ceremonial method of the Gospel side. Both are
necessary, and when they radiate out together there is no good that is not
stimulated by their vibrations, no evil that may not be assuaged.
So much for their effect; but in addition to
that we shall do well to remember that all through the Holy Eucharist there
runs a double symbolism—that of the Holy Trinity as well as of the descent
of the Christ into matter. (Diagram 9.) The Host typifies God the Father,
and also stands for the Deity whole and indivisible; the Wine stands for God
the Son, whose life is poured down into the chalice of material form, and
the Water represents God the Holy Ghost—the Spirit who brooded over the face
of the waters and yet is at the same time Himself symbolized by water.
When we apply the same imagery to the
manifestation of the Deity in man, the Host signifies the Monad, the
totality, the unseen cause of all, while the paten means the Triple Atma or
Spirit through which that Monad acts on matter; the Wine indicates the
individuality, poured into the chalice of the causal body, and the Water
represents the personality which is so intimately commingled with it. That
is why at an earlier stage, when we are typifying a condition in which the
Monad is merely hovering over the lower manifestation, the paten is hidden
under the corporal or under a veil clasped to the breast of the subdeacon;
when it is brought forth and the Host is laid upon it, we symbolize the time
when a junction is effected.
From the point of view of the decent into
matter the Host stands for the Eternal Unity—the Christ within the bosom of
the Father; while the Wine and the Water represent the dual manifestation of
the Christ in matter—positive and negative, or male and female.
Note
The chalice is for ever hallowed by a similar
happening to its contents. This consecration seems similar to that of the
bread, except that the sword of light which descends into the wine is a
burning red as though it were fresh from the forge. The element itself
receives the same warm living tone, a hue tender and soft, yet also very
strong—material—meet for the robe of a soldier king. There are two shades of
it; as with the Host, the darker colour marks the lines of cleavage, but
here, in these lines, there is another colour also, a slight touch of a
beautiful blue, which, like a fair tunic, is just seen at the opening of the
cloak of royal scarlet in which the Master comes.
At the first Eucharist, the Christ having
uttered the words: "This is my Body," as He raised the cup and held it a
moment before drinking, added: "As oft as ye shall do these things, ye shall
do them in remembrance of me." His mention of men performing this act is
naturally a thought of the future, but on the timeless plane on which His
mighty Consciousness lives, everything now and always exists in its
completeness and fullness of perfection, so that this mention of the future
is far more than a mere reference. It is actually a touch with the now
existent order of things, which will one day be worked out down here in
terms of time and space. Similarly we touch the past, for the words about
doing "these things" in memory of Christ links us with that time when He did
them Himself, and every other time throughout the centuries when He has done
it through His clergy. But far more than this, it establishes a relation
between ourselves and the great fact of His coming down into matter, by
which He created, still continues to create, and always will continue to
re-create, all things. Thus we have a bond with the cosmic act when He,
"abiding unchangeable within Himself did nevertheless in the mystery of His
boundless love and His eternal Sacrifice breathe forth His own divine life
into His universe, and thus did offer Himself as the Lamb slain from the
foundation, of the world dying is very truth that we might live." Grand
though the connection with the past, present and future of the Church is,
grander still is this relation with the eternal operation of creation, which
is the archetype behind countless processes of nature and of the human
heart, and is therefore found reflected in our actions, our allegories and
works of art, in our whole lives and the entire method of manifestation.
Thus in saying this little sentence we are making concrete the glorious act
we have just consummated, and are bringing down on to the physical level a
symbol of cosmic action.
Much exception has been taken by the ignorant
to the statement always made by the Church that the celebration of the
Eucharist is a daily repetition of the sacrifice of the Christ. But when we
understand that, from the inner point of view, that sacrifice of the Christ
means the descent into matter of the outpouring of the Second Aspect of the
Deity, we see that the symbolism is an accurate one, since the outflow of
force evoked by the Consecration has a special and intimate connection with
that department of nature which is the expression of that divine Aspect. The
Christ quite truly incarnates again, and so continues His Sacrifice, every
time the Holy Eucharist is celebrated; for He does verily put down something
of Himself into that Bread and that Wine, which are then assimilated by us,
and become part of our flesh and blood.
The Priest who comprehends this will not fail
to assign to that Service its due position, and will take care to surround
its culminating point with whatever in the way of ritual and music will add
to its effect and prepare the people to take part in it more receptively.
Realizing also of how tremendous a mystery he is here the custodian, he will
approach its celebration with the utmost reverence and awe. for though his
attitude towards it makes no difference to the central fact and to its
effects, there is no doubt that his deep devotion, his comprehension and
co-operation can bring down an additional influence which will be of the
greatest help to his congregation and his parish. A priest who has the
advantage of being also a student of the physics of the inner life has a
magnificent opportunity of widespread usefulness.
Such an one has also the further advantage of
understanding something of the nature of the stupendous force with which he
is dealing; and he will thereby be enabled to avoid many of the mistakes
into which those who are unlearned in these matters so readily fall. Many
and various are the types of force which God pours out upon His world, and
each has its own appropriate occasion and channel, for which He has fitted
and intended it. It is unwise for men to cavil at the restrictions which He
has seen fit to impose, and to ignore eternal laws of nature in order to
suit their own temporary convenience.
For example, the marvellous efflux of the Holy
Eucharist is arranged to synchronize with and take advantage of a certain
set of conditions in the daily relation of the earth to the sun. There is an
outflow and a backflow of magnetic energy between sun and earth—a magnetic
tide, as it were; and the hours of noon and midnight mark the change from
one to the other at any given point of the earth's surface, so that the
currents flowing in the morning are different from those of the afternoon.
Therefore the Holy Eucharist should never be celebrated (or at any rate the
Service should never be begun) after the hour of noon. Since noon is the
turning point of the tide, the flow for a short time before that, and the
ebb for a short time after, are not very strong; so that if the Consecration
takes place, set us say, before 12-30 p.m., the counter-current would not be
severe enough to make the desired results unattainable.
But it should be distinctly understood that
neither the angelic hosts nor their Lord and Master will violate the laws of
nature to suit the whims of the indolent; and the Priests who provide
evening Communions for fashionable congregations are possibly giving them a
pleasant devotional Service, but are not celebrating the glorious
ceremony of Christ's Holy Eucharist. When once the force is stored up in the
consecrated Host, it may be used as well between noon and midnight as in the
morning, so that the reserved Host may, in cases of necessity, be
administered at any time. A very wonderful result is obtained from it at the
Service called Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, to which we shall refer
in another chapter.
Another of the conditions under which we
receive this mighty gift of grace is that it is arranged to flow through the
masculine organism. In these days when it is the fashion to ignore or decry
all distinctions of nature, and to claim that everybody can do everything
equally well, women-folk sometimes clamour for priestly position, asking why
they should not hold such an office and exercise its powers just as will as
men. The ordinary clerical answer is in the old words: "We have no such
custom, neither the Churches of God," fortified perhaps by the reminder that
the Christ is said to have chosen His twelve apostles and His seventy
preachers exclusively from among men. That is an argument of some force; but
the student can add to it a further consideration—that this particular type
of magic is not adapted to work through the feminine organism. There are
other types of energy which are so arranged, but they are of quite
different character, and are little known to our present civilization—much,
I fancy, to its loss. The cult of our Blessed Lady in the Roman Church is an
unconscious effort to fill a gap which many people instinctively recognize.
Hymns Of Adoration
The hymns which follow are used in this
connection only in the Liberal Catholic Liturgy.
|
Thee we adore, O hidden Splendour,
Thee,
Who in Thy Sacrament dost deign to be;
We worship Thee beneath this earthly
veil,
And here Thy Presence we devoutly
hail. |
|
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and
triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to
Bethlehem
.
Come and behold Him, Monarch of the
Angels;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
O come, let us adore Him;
Christ the Lord. |
|
God of God, Light of Light,
Yet under earthly forms His Light He
veils,
Very God, alone-born of the Father,
O come, let us adore Him; Etc.
Sing, Choirs of Angels, sing in
exultation;
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God in the highest,
O come, let us adore Him; Etc.
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, throned on
Thine Altar,
Ever to thee be highest glory given.
Word of the Father, Splendour
everlasting;
O come, let us adore Him; Etc. Amen.
|
After the consecration we kneel for a few
moments in silent adoration, and then the melody of the ancient hymn steals
on our ears, and very softly we all sing that wonderfully appropriate verse.
Again there is a slight pause, and then all rise and join with heart and
voice in the glorious song Adeste fideles, written originally indeed
for the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem, yet surely a most fitting welcome for
the new birth of the Christ upon His Altar in this more modern House of
Bread.
The splendour of the scene to clairvoyant
vision during the singing of these hymns is beyond all description, for the
Angels join in them with a truly celestial fervour, and the outburst of
their love and devotion not only fills the vast thought-edifice with living
fire, but enormously enriches and adorns it. It is this time that the
recessed openings which we have called doors are made, so that the basilica
now stands complete (Frontispiece). The tube which the celebrant made has
expanded into a huge funnel, still clearly marked in the midst of all this
sea of light. Still the Host, the Chalice and the Angel are the centre of
all, and from them radiate the fiery streams which are enlightening and
vivifying the surrounding world. Forces A and B are in full operation all
this time; Force C is steadily accumulating, filling the thought-edifice,
and undergoing some sort of transmutation or materialization at the hands of
the Angel of the Presence.
The Roman Missal does not use hymns of
adoration immediately after the Consecration, but inserts instead the
Agnus Dei, a little later in the Service, which is unfortunately by no
means so effective. Such lively music has been set to those words by many
composers that we are a little apt to overlook their actual meaning. Only
the deadening effect of long custom has reconciled us to the irreverent
inappropriateness of St. John the Baptist's zoological apostrophe, and the
idea that He bears the sin of the world is as theologically misleading as
are the connotations of the request to have mercy upon us.
It may well be that those who sing these words
think little of their signification, and that the people listening to them
are merely filled with a vague sense of devotion; but the practical effect
is that the devotion is often sadly tinged with slavish fear, and that in
many a great cathedral the Angels have to go to work and comb out the grey
from the blue in the heavy clouds which float slowly over the heads of the
congregation before they can use the material in the service of the King of
Love. Often and often have I seen a kind of rubbish-heap, a huge mass of
waste substance—a thick unpleasant mist of grey astral slime—thrown out from
a church by the Angels before they can do their work in connection with the
Holy Eucharist. Our wording, on the contrary, suggests only joyousness and
praise and love so, as far as our people follow the ritual, and sing with
feeling and understanding, they provide excellent material for the angelic
workers.
The Church of England user the Gloria in
Excelsis as her thanksgiving and hymn of adoration; it would be
difficult to conceive anything finer, if it did not contain the very phrase
about the Lamb of God which I have stigmatized as in my opinion undesirable.
Another objection to the insertion of the Gloria in Excelsis here is
that it has to be omitted from its traditional place in the earlier part of
the Service, where its presence is so necessary to the erection of a stately
and effective sacramental edifice.
Even at a Low Celebration it is desirable that
the first and last verses of the Adeste should be recited, for if
that is not done the Angel is obliged to draw upon his stock of force for
this part of the work, and consequently that much less is left for the
object of the whole ceremony. The edifice constructed at a Low Celebration
is naturally very much smaller than that built by the great musical Service
with a large congregation; but if the celebrant really understands the full
detail of his work, puts his whole heart into it and co-operates
intelligently with the Angels in charge, that comparatively small form may
be a glowing jewel, a veritable Cappella Palatina like that at Palermo, and
neighbourhood like a fountain of fire.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Wherefore, O Lord, we thy
servants, as also thy holy peo-
ple, calling to mind the blessed
passion of the same Christ, thy
Son, our Lord, and also his
rising up from hell, and his
glorious ascension into heaven,
do offer unto thy most excel-
lent majesty of thine own gifts
bestowed upon us, a clean
victim, a holy
victim, a
spotless
victim, the holy
bread of life everlasting, and
the chalice
of eternal sal-
vation.
Vouchsafe to look upon them
with a countenance merciful and
kind, and to receive them, as
thou wast pleased to receive
the gifts of thy just servant
Able, and the sacrifice, of our
father Abraham, and that which
Melchisedech thy high-priest
offered up to thee, a holy sacri-
fice and spotless victim.
We most humbly beseech
thee, almighty God, to com-
mand that these things be borne
by the hands of thy holy angel
to thine altar on high, in the
sight of thy divine majesty. |
Wherefore, O Lord and
heavenly Father, we thy hum-
ble servants, [bearing in mind
the ineffable sacrifice of Thy
Son, the mystery of his wond-
rous incarnation, His mighty re-
surrection, and His triumphant
ascension, do here make before
Thy Divine majesty the me-
morial which our Lord hath
willed us to make and we] do
offer unto Thee this, the most
precious gift which Thou hast
bestowed upon us: [this pure
Host, this holy
Host, this
glorious
Host, the holy
Bread of life everlasting, and
the
Chalice of eternal salva-
tion.
This do we present before
Thee] in token of our love and
of the perfect devotion and
sacrifice of our minds and hearts
to Thee; and we pray that Thou
wouldst command Thy holy
Angel to bear our oblation to
Thine Altar on high, there to be
offered by Him who, as the
eternal High Priest, for ever
offers Himself as the eternal
Sacrifice.
|
(The portions within brackets are omitted in
the shortened form of the Service, and the five crosses are made where they
should be according to the meaning of the action—at the words love,
devotion, sacrifice, minds, hearts.)
The Bread and the Wine, now veritably vehicles
of the Christ, have become to us the greatest Jewels upon earth, the most
wondrous gifts of God. Therefore at once we lay them at His feet, in token
and as an expression of our love, devotion and sacrifice. This is far more
than a mere symbol. It will be remembered that at an earlier stage we
offered ourselves, our souls and bodies to be used absolutely and completely
in His service. Then afterwards the Priest broke the link and swept out from
the oblation every tinge of the lower and the earthly, that it might be made
a meet channel for that most august power.
Now that power has filled it, and nothing but
the very highest can enter into its shrine. And so once more we make our
humble offering of all that we have and are, all our gratitude for this His
most marvellous gift of Himself, all the strength, the love, the devotion
that that gift has evoked in us, all that we felt and expressed at the
elevation and while singing the hymns—all these we try to pour through the
channel that His loving kindness has opened for us, while the holy Angel who
is in very truth a part of Him is still present with us. And just as that
Angel so acts upon and transmutes the down-pouring of Divinity that it
becomes assimilable by mortal men, so does he act upon and transmute our
responsive upward stream of love, all feeble though it be, until it becomes
not altogether unworthy to be offered before the Majesty on high.
So, as the Priest makes the five signs of
power, he thinks of the fivefold man, imaged in Hermetic mysteries by the
five-pointed star. The five principles or parts are (a) spirit, (b)
intuition, (c) intelligence—the three aspects of the true inner man (often
called the soul or the ego), typified here as love, devotion and
sacrifice—(d) the lower mind, and (e) the emotions. (Diagrams 11 and 12.)
All these, and all the force flowing from them under the incalculable
stimulus of the Holy Eucharist, he offers utterly and unreservedly to our
Blessed Lord, through the direct and especial channel now open to him,
asking that the Angel of the Presence may bear this our humble oblation to
the eternal Alter on high.
This Angel is an extension of the
consciousness of the Christ Himself, and as our Lord who extended that ray
draws it back into Himself, it bears with it the impress which we, through
the sacred elements, have stamped upon it. Thus the force which we ourselves
down here have generated is actually utilized in higher worlds, and we have
the unspeakable privilege of contributing, in however small degree, to that
great reservoir of spiritual force from which Christ's Priests draw their
power when they administer the holy Sacraments. So when the Angel disappears
with his glorious smile at the moment when he is mentioned in the prayer,
this is what he bears back with him as our tribute of love. His presence was
necessary for the act of consecration and for the transmutation of the
forces, but now he is to return, bearing his sheaves with him.
It is of course true that all force in the
world is divine force, and so, as is said in a well-known hymn:
We give Thee but Thine own
Whate'er the gift may be.
But it is God's Will, His system for our
progress, to give each of us a certain limited amount of this force, and see
how we use it. As in the parable of the talents, some make good use of it,
some squander it, some bury it in the ground and ignore it altogether. So,
though it be by God's power alone that we are able to do anything, it is
also true that when we pour ourselves out in uttermost devotion we are
expending for good a certain amount of energy which, if we were more foolish
or more ignorant, we might have employed less wisely. We are doing that
which God intended us to do—using the power which He has given us in harmony
with the evolution which is His plan.
Remember, too, that other law of higher life
which I have previously mentioned. For every uprush of love or devotion
there comes a bounteous response from on high; and because the forces are
living, the effect is far greater than the cause. And all this also is
added to our contribution to the reservoir. We may say with utmost reverence
that God calculates upon the aid of His creatures—that it is part of His
scheme that as soon as they become sufficiently intelligent to understand
that scheme they should hasten eagerly to range themselves under His banner
as workers.
Let us briefly recapitulate. First, the Priest
blew a kind of gigantic bubble at the Asperges; then the Angel of the
Eucharist, taking our devotion and affection, began inside that to build the
great eucharistic edifice. Inside that edifice by the second censing the
Priest made a kind of casket round the elements, cutting them off from the
rest of the church, just as he had temporarily cut off the church from the
world outside. Within that innermost casket the Priest began his tube;
inside that tube again the change took place at the Consecration, so that
the divine influence could flow down.
The Christ Himself pours out the power; in
order that He may do that easily and with the least exertion, leaving the
greatest possible amount of force to be used for its real purpose, the Angel
of the Presence by the actual transubstantiation makes the line of fire
along which He can pour it. The Priest, however, by pushing up his tube and
so preparing a channel, has made it possible for the Angel to do that. There
are many electrical experiments which must be performed in a vacuum; and in
that case it is of course necessary to make the vacuum first. So in this
case the tube must be made before that especial line of communication can be
inserted in it. But the Priest could not make that tube unless he had first
made a properly isolated casket from which to push upwards, and so he has
performed the isolation of the elements. The people have assisted the
Priest, and have supplied the material for the edifice through which the
force is distributed when it has been poured down. Thus we see that all have
taken their due part in the somewhat complicated process which produces so
magnificent a result.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
That so many of us as at this
altar shall partake of and re-
ceive the most holy
body
and
blood of thy Son
may
be
filled with every heavenly bless-
sing and grace. Through the
same Christ our Lord. Amen.
|
And [as He hath ordained
that the heavenly Sacrifice shall
be mirrored here on earth
through the ministry of mortal
men, to the end that Thy holy
people may be knit more closely
into fellowship with Thee.] We
do pray for Thy servant who
ministers at this Altar, that,
meetly celebrating the myster-
ies of the most holy
Body and
Blood of Thy Son, he may be
filled with Thy mighty power
and blessing.
|
In the shortened form of the Service the words
within brackets are omitted. Now that the Angel of the Presence, having done
his work, has withdrawn, a certain rearrangement becomes necessary. Up to
the point of his retirement, there were three direct links with the Christ
in full operation—the Angel, the Host and the Chalice, if for the moment we
understand the last term to mean not the cup itself, but the intensely
charged Wine and Water which it contains. These three channels have each its
special function, bearing to one another the same sort of relation that we
find in all threefold manifestations, from the Three Persons of the
Ever-Blessed Trinity down to the three essential qualities of matter. All
three in this case are filled with the life of our Lord, and are indeed
extensions of His consciousness, though each represents what we from our
lower point of view should call a different part of that consciousness. So
when one of these disappears, it must either be replaced by some other, or
the representation must be left imperfect.
The Priest at his ordination was specially
linked with his Master the Christ, and because of that intimate connection
it is possible for him to take the place of the Angel of the Presence—not
indeed for the act of consecration, but for the work at a lower level which
still remains to be done. He is about to pour out the divine force upon the
people, but he cannot do that until he has himself become a part of the
channel; and so "to the end that Thy holy people may be knit more closely
into fellow ship with Thee," he prays that he may so celebrate the mysteries
as to be filled with the mighty power and blessing of the Lord. And as he
says these words he makes the sign of power over the Host, over the Chalice,
and over himself, so that the threefold representation may be restored.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Be mindful, O Lord, of thy
servants, men and women, N.
and N., who are gone before
us with the sign of faith, and
sleep the sleep of peace. To
these, O Lord, and to all that
rest in Christ, we beseech thee,
grant a place of refreshment,
light and peace. Through the
same Christ our Lord, Amen.
To us sinners, also, thy
servants, who hope in the mul-
titude of thy mercies, vouchsafe
to grant some part and fellow-
ship with thy holy apostles and
martyrs; with John, Stephen,
Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius,
Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter,
Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha,
Lucy, Agnes, Cecily, Anastasia,
and with all thy saints; into
their company, we pray thee,
admit us, not out of considera-
tion for merits of ours, but of
thine own free pardon. Through
Christ our Lord.
Through whom, O Lord, thou
dost create,
hallow,
quick-
en, and
bless these thine
ever-bountiful gifts and give
them to us.
|
The corresponding prayer precedes
the Consecration.
Like wise we pray Thee to
sanctify thy people here present
with these Thy heavenly gifts,
and through these mysteries do
thou
hallow,
quicken,
and
bless them, that both in
their hearts and in their lives
they may show forth Thy praise
and glorify Thy holy Name.
|
The Priest now sends out the divine life over
the congregation, thinking as he makes the three crosses of the threefold
nature of the force with which he is flooding them, and willing earnestly
that it may have practical effect both on their hearts and on their lives
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
By
him, and with
him
and in
him, is to thee, God
the Father
almighty, in the
unity of the Holy
Ghost, all
honour and glory. For ever
and ever. Amen.
|
All these things do we ask,
O Father, in the Name and
through the mediation of Thy
most blessed Son, for we ac-
knowledge and confess with our
hearts and lips that
by Him
were all things made, yea, all
things both in heaven and earth;
with
Him as the indwelling
Life do all things exist, and
in Him as the transcendent
Glory all things live and move
and have their being:
To whom with Thee, O mighty
Father, in the unity of the holy
Spirit, be ascribed all honour
and glory, throughout the ages
of ages. R. Amen.
|
In gratitude for this wondrous outpouring they
at once join him in a magnificent ascription of praise and worship to the
second Person of the most Holy trinity, acknowledging that but for the
influence which He sends out into the world there could be no life therein.
And in thus rendering thanks they receive, as ever, far more than they give,
for as the Priest makes the three crosses with the Host over the chalice, he
wills strongly that the holy influence from the monadic level should descend
into the ego in its threefold manifestation of spirit, intuition and
intelligence; and then, as he makes the two crosses between the Chalice and
his own breast he draws that influence into his own mental and astral
bodies, that through him it may radiate fully upon his people.
The symbology here is precise and beautiful,
and it is remarkable that it should have been preserved so exactly through
the centuries in which it would seem that its meaning was almost entirely
lost. All through the earlier stages of evolution the Monad hovers over its
lower manifestations, brooding over them, acting upon them, but never
touching them; so the Priest holds the Host above the Chalice, yet never
touches the one with the other until the appointed time has come.
As the Priest concludes the prayer, he makes
what is called the Minor Elevation, raising the Host in his right hand above
the Chalice in his left, thus not only typifying the hovering of the Monad,
but also showing the line down which the force is flowing. It is now the
custom for the Priest to hold the sacred elements before his breast, but in
earlier days he probably raised them high enough for the people to see. It
is at this point that in many Liturgies occur the words Sancta Sanctis—"holy
things to the holy."
In trying to follow the symbolism, we must
always bear in mind that Christianity is a cult of the Second Aspect of the
Logos—one of the religions which emphasize the Second Person of the blessed
Trinity; and thus we find ourselves especially worshipping the Word, and
setting forth the Wisdom even before the Strength and the Beauty. There must
be wisdom to conceive, strength to execute, and beauty to adorn. The
Vaishnavite tendency in the Hindu religion, and the remarkable cult of
Mithra, which so nearly superseded Christianity in the Roman world, are
other examples of the same type. The Saivite aspect of Hinduism emphasizes
the First Person, as do Muhammadanism and Judaism, so far as the latter has
shaken itself free from the blood thirsty elemental-worship of its
beginnings. All the feminine cults—the worship of Isis, Astarte, Vesta,
Venus, Pallas Athene—essentially emphasize the third Person, whom now we
call God the Holy Spirit.
Note
The hymns after the Consecration generate a blazing mass of colours, some of
the finest of which collect around the celebrant and can be seen as through
an amber-coloured crystal, for a golden cocoon-like shape surrounds him and
the purified colours from the people enter into this and gleam out through
it. This aspiration and thanksgiving are poured through the elements into
the Angel of the Presence at the five crosses in the prayer following the
Adeste Fideles, for we now re-form the link between ourselves and the
elements. When the Angel goes, this glittering cocoon seems to disappear
also. And the same moment, the two lines of light connecting him with each
of the elements vanish, thereby depriving us of the trinity made by the
Host, the Wine and himself. Now that the main part of the work is done, the
Priest is able to take the place of the Angel, and so complete the
triangular arrangement. This he immediately does by the next three crosses
over the wafer, the chalice and himself. The Host glows gold, representing
the First Person; the cup flames out with the crimson of the Holy Ghost, and
the celebrant, who takes the place of the extensions of Christ's
Consciousness which has just departed, shines with the light sapphire color
of the Christ.
This which glows in the Priest is the part of
the Christ's own consciousness which was put into him (or rather vivified
within him) when the direct personal link with the Christ was given to him
at his ordination. This makes a wonderful sight—the red and gold on the
Altar, each with a line of that colour connected to the blue in the
celebrant, who is surrounded with the golden buddhic power and with many
other colours which stream out all around him. It may be thought that from
the ceremonial point of view—for the sake of perfectly correct form—the
celebrant should represent the Arm of the Logos stretched out in activity in
matter—the Third Person—while the Host and the Chalice should represent the
Father and the Son. But as this is a religion of the Second Person, this
arrangement is not followed, and the Christ is represented by His Priest.
The three crosses which follow, when the
people are hallowed, quickened and blessed, are an extension of this
connection with the officiant to include the congregation. They follow the
same order as the previous set of three, so that it is the Holy Ghost, the
Life-Giver, who "quickens" the congregation. In this act of extending the
triple influence at the Altar to include all present, their various chakras
are affected in the following order; by the first cross, at the word
"hallow"—the Brahmarandhra or Sahasrara and the pituitary body; by the
second cross, at the word "quicken"—all the lower centres; including the
solar plexus, the spleen, and the centre at the base of the spine; by the
third cross, at the word "bless"—the heart and throat. At the same time the
three lights at the "point of entry" are made to shine out, but in the order
of white, red and blue, instead of the more usual white, blue and red.
At the next three crosses, when we
"acknowledge and confess . . . that by Him . . .with Him . . . and in Him"
"were all things made," the three lights at each man's point of entry again
glow out, but this time in their customary order of white, blue and crimson,
corresponding with the power of the Father, Son and Spirit. This part of the
ceremony establishes the full and complete unity in Christ of the celebrant,
the elements and the congregation because we are here uniting and offering
ourselves from the very core of our beings. We begin with dedicating the
Atma, then the Buddhi, and then the Manas; and at the next two crosses, we
continue down to the mental and astral bodies.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Let us pray. Taught by the
precepts of salvation and fol-
lowing the divine command-
ment, we make bold to say:
Our Father, who are in
heaven, hallowed by thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our tres-
passes, as we forgive them that
trespass against us. And lead
us not into temptation. R. But
deliver us from evil.
|
Let us pray. Instructed by
the words of sacred Scripture,
and the following the tradition
of holy Church from of old, we
now say:
Our Father, who are in
heaven, hallowed by Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our tres-
passes, as we forgive them that
trespass against us. And lead
us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. For Thine
is the kingdom, the power and
the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
|
In the Roman ritual the Lord's Prayer or
Paternoster follows in this place. It appears in every known Liturgy, so we
have inserted it here, as many of the faithful cling to it for the sake of
sentimental associations. I rarely use it myself, for it has no part in the
magic of the ceremony, and I must in honesty remain silent during the
repetition of several of its clauses. If I am to ask God to give us this day
our daily bread, I must perforce seek for some symbolical interpretation of
the phrase, for I know that God does not give daily bread to any man
unless he earns it, or is able to pay for it, or receives it as a gift from
some other man. It is not true in these days, if it ever was, that ravens
will bring food to a man who sits down in the desert and waits for it. If it
be a request for spiritual food it would surely be better to say so; and
even in that sense the prayer is unnecessary, for God is always offering to
every man all that he is capable of receiving, and if he fails to take
advantage of it he has only himself to blame.
To the petition "forgive us our trespasses"
there is the same objection as to the expressions in the older
confessions—the suggestion that God would hold a grudge against the man if
the application were not made. The wording implies lack of faith—an
altogether wrong conception of God. Still worse is the next clause "lead us
not into temptation," for that is an actual insult to the heavenly Father.
No good deity has ever led men into temptation. St. James remarks with
refreshing common sense; "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But
every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed."
This is exactly what scientific research into higher worlds also teaches us.
The Petition "deliver us from evil" may no
doubt be taken in various senses, but again it has a faithless flavour. No
evil can come to us unless we have deserved it, and as that happens under
God's law it may be said to be in accordance with His will; but our duty is
clearly to meet it bravely and truly, so that out of that long-past wrong
which was the cause of it we may make a present good for ourselves by
developing courage, cheerfulness and resourcefulness. One interpretation of
these words which would enable one to use them is to take them as an
apostrophy to the God within us to guide us through stress of evil; but even
so one feels that it might be more clearly expressed.
For the clauses of the prayer which introduce
and follow those to which I have referred I have the greatest admiration; if
the whole middle of it were cut out we could all conscientiously repeat it.
Many who cannot approve its sentiments feel
bound to recite in because our Lord Himself is supposed to be its author. He
may or may not have prescribed it for His disciples, but it is at least
certain that He did not compose it, for every clause of it was used in
Jewish synagogues and Bablyonian temples centuries before His birth at
Bethlehem. The Rev. John Gregorie quotes the following form of it, put
together from the Jewish Euchologues.
Our Father which are in heaven, be gracious to
us; O Lord our God, hallowed be thy name, and let the remembrance of thee be
glorified in heaven above, and upon earth here below. Let thy kingdom reign
over us now and for ever. The holy men of old, said remit and forgive unto
all men whatsoever they have done against me. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil thing. For thine is the kingdom,
and thou shalt reign in glory for ever and for evermore.
There is no question as to the antiquity of
the prayer. Basnage, in his Histoire des Fuifs, tells us that some of
its clauses occur in the Kadish, one of the oldest prayers preserved
by the Jews, so old that it was traditionally recited in the Chaldæan
language, coming down from the return from the captivity. So we need not
feel bound to use it on account of its authorship.
Thus it affects me; but there are many to whom
it is dear from long association and for sentimental reasons; and for their
sakes I append here a most beautiful interpretation of it given by my dear
and learned friend, Mr. Jinarajadasa:
"What better mode of bringing His mighty
mystic action here and now within our hearts, than the words He once gave
men in Palestine? You repeat them so often; repeat them again, but do it now
in a new way. You have said them, and say them every day: 'Our Father, which
art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.' Yes, but He is our Brother too, and
His heaven is not far away; His life is flashing through us every day, and
His Name is hallowed, for it is He who stands rejoicing with the great life
of God, though there is also the evil, the grief of all men, in His
consciousness.
"'Thy kingdom come,' we say. Not a far-off
kingdom, but this Kingdom which He is planning to bring to all men, a part
of the great divine Plan that He shall establish on earth for all men, for
the first time in the history of humanity, truly the Kingdom of
Righteousness on earth. When we say this, let us think of this Kingdom He is
going to bring to all men, and long to help in its achievement.
"'Thy will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven.' Who can understand these words so well as we? For in that invisible
world of His consciousness, in that mysterious heaven-world that is here and
not far away, He is flashing His inspiration; there no misery is, nor
tribulation, but one insistent joy, and He is there, flashing that joy on
all His beloved children.
"And that joy it is that He desires to give to
all men on earth. Always is God's will there, in the heaven-world; but it is
so rarely that conditions may be so arranged that something of heaven may be
known by men here on earth. He has gathered His children of the Star for
that, and we prepare ourselves for that service by doing His will here.
"Give us this day our daily bread. What is
that daily bread which all men require? Not earthly sustenance, but that
bread of Love which will make our hearts new each morning, and wake them to
a new spring of life each day. For so hard are the conditions of life for
all of us, that Love it is that we require to make our load easier. That
Love is everywhere, but we cannot see it. Let then our prayer mean to us;
'Teach us to see this love, this daily bread everywhere.' For it is there
for us, if only we will stretch out our hands to receive. Hard though life
may be to us all, yet to His children of the Star every occasion in life can
become an opportunity to love.
"'And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
them that trespass against us.' So difficult that, to forgive the trespass
of the other, to understand why he trespassed, to sympathize and to forgive.
That requires almost divine understanding, and yet there is our Brother, the
Great Brother, by our side, to teach us. And so, if we will be taught by
Him, He will teach us. He is teaching us. He has come into our lives and
told us of Devotion, Steadfastness and Gentleness; If we will only live for
these great ideals, He will help us; and then we shall find He does forgive
us our trespasses, and that the burden of our trespass goes, and much as we
have to pay the debt to nature, the guilt has gone. For the Great Teacher
will make our guilt His guilt, and He will unweave all the wrong and make it
as though it never has been.
"'And lead us not into temptation.'
Temptations are on all sides to transgress the law of love, but He is with
us to show us how to overcome them; we must never doubt that. As we work for
Him and in His Name, His strength is our strength.
"'But deliver us from evil.' It is love that
delivers us from all evil, and His wealth of love is ours to transmute all
evil power into good.
"'For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the
glory.' Yea, truly, since we seek most the great Kingdom of Love; it is His
Kingdom we seek, and more and more it is ours as more and more we love. Our
power to love is made to grow by Him as God's Mediator; our glory is His
glory too, since we are His, and He is God's.
"These are the ways of finding Him. We need
but to understand and say His prayer, to will that His Kingdom shall be
established on earth, and determine and be steadfast for its establishment,
and we shall find He knows our hearts and abides there."
1
The Message of the Future,
by C. Jinarajadasa, M.A. (Cantab.), p.84.
I have received yet another interpretation of
the Lord's Prayer from a very learned and most kindly critic—an
interpretation so ingenious and at the same time so well-supported that I
feel sure it will both please and interest my readers. It is as follows:
"The objections you make to the Paternoster
are—from your point of view and your interpretation of the text—very real
and important. But your conception of the prayer is that the individual
postulant independently approaches Deity with a personal request, and uses
historic and ancient words in the meaning which they would bear if he had
himself spontaneously worded them. So that, for instance, 'Lead us not into
temptation' must mean, in effect: 'I suspect the All-Holy of designs to lure
me, by means of a bait, into doing what I know to be wrong; but I will try,
by truckling to Him, to wheedle Him into foregoing this design.' The
petitioner is (1) thinking only of himself; (2) has no inkling that the word
περασμοσ means any kind of trial—not necessarily a moral temptation,
and that the evil, τον πονηρον is very probably the devil (that is, a
general term for anything that in any way harms mankind) and in any case is
probably not abstract moral evil, sin, but 'the evil man' or 'whatsoever
works ill' of any kind. It is evident that such a prayer is selfish,
unheroic, faithless, involving a crude and coarse conception of God. Taking
your ground, I am entirely with you; but I do not in this matter take your
ground.
"Notice that in the account given in the sixth
chapter of Matthew several sayings on prayer, some addressed to disciples in
the plural, some to the individual, have been brought together; but the
prologue to the Lord's Prayer begins at the seventh verse, and after that
all the verbs are in the second person plural. Notice also in the eighth
verse that individual needs are not accounted fit matter for prayer—as if
God did not know what we really need! In the prayer itself every petition is
in the plural; the disciples are supposed to be praying collectively—each
for all and all for each.
"Three spiritual prayers begin—purely
spiritual—which involve spiritual aspiration and effort. They are that the
loftiest possible conception of God may be entertained, that His kingdom may
be established, that His will may be done. It is obvious that these prayers
imply self-consecration, giving in prayer, not getting, and continual
evolution in holiness.
"Next come three prayers covering the
circumstances and needs of men: (1) for the supply of man's physical needs;
(2) for mutual kindliness and forbearance, emphasized by a reminder that we
all need forbearance and charity from the Supernal; (3) for relief from
every kind of trial, and for deliverance, physical, mental and moral (that
is, spiritual)>
"Here then is a prayer which is to be offered
collectively (even when the petitioner is alone); it expresses aspirations
that cannot be achieved except collectively, and yet calls on the best
effort of each worshipper. And in the three specifically human petitions it
links men up so closely that they cannot pray sincerely without vowing, and
acting on their vows. 'Give me my daily bread' may be selfish. 'Give us
our daily bread,' whatever breadth or narrowness you assign to the symbolic
'bread,' must be unselfish. It means, for each petitioner: 'I
sincerely desire that all may have their needs supplied': and consequently
it means: 'I shall supply other men's needs so far as my means may reach.'
"'Lead me not into trial or temptation' is—not
indeed a base prayer; 'Lead us not into trial or temptation' is a
noble prayer. It is full of kindly concern for all human beings especially
such as we can associate with and influence, and it certainly entails a vow
that we (including I) will not try any fellow-man exorbitantly, even
in seeking our just dues, and cannot be capable of luring them into base
conduct. So also 'Forgive, for even we forgive each other' (or, in the
variant, 'as we forgive each other') is a vow as well as a prayer. All these
petitions express a sense of imperfection (with a longing for advance
towards perfection), a sense of membership in each other, and a common will
to shield, aid and forbear with one another, and the acknowledgment that
this is the will of God.
"When we regard the actual words of the
Paternoster and the words that introduce it, we see that its intention is
the very reverse of what you impute to it. It is a lesson in kindliness and
fellowship, sanctified by the thought of God. It expresses our
responsibility for the physical and superphysical needs of our fellows. It
expresses a religious horror of oppressing or misleading our brothers and
sisters, and a religious duty to protect them from every evil, from
indigence to vileness or blasphemy, from which we ask God to protect us, the
actual petitioners. No doubt in actual history it has prompted many a
Christian to share his crust or his fortune, to abstain from harsh
insistence on his rights or from seduction of others, and to feel the
inspiration of belonging to a holy family.
"When we appreciate its plurality, the ye
of the introduction and the we of the prayer, it ceases to be a
puling cry intended to appease an angry Deity, and becomes a hallowing of
love and fellowship, an offering rather than a claim.
"Lest there should be any ambiguity remaining,
I append a rough sketch of what, in sum, I mean: Jesus found personal prayer
to God an institution. He discerned in it much formalism, much vanity, much
selfishness, much futility. His plan was always not to destroy but to fulfil
(to complete, to perfect) all institutions of religion which were not wholly
bad. Therefore He first taught His disciples not to insult God by asking
selfishly, but to leave the Universal Father to attend to His children's
real wants. It is not necessary to inform God; if it were possible to
wrap His will, it would be disastrous.
"Then He taught them to be brotherly and
sisterly, in the sense that they really had one Divine Father; and to carry
this brotherliness into their prayers by addressing that Father, and praying
always as a family. In that way the Paternoster was a purification of
prayer—the very antithesis of what an individualist interpretation makes of
it. Instead of degrading both God and man (as the individualist
interpretation implies) it was a grand enlargement both of intellectual
scope and of faith in man, and also enshrined a nobler conception of God.
'I' and 'me' and 'my' are banished. 'We' and 'us' and 'our' take their
place."
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Deliver us, O Lord, we be-
seech thee, from all evils, past,
present and to come; and by
the pleading of the blessed and
glorious Mary, ever a virgin
and mother of God, and of thy
holy apostles Peter and Paul,
and of Andrew, and of all the
saints,
mercifully grant peace
in our times, that through the
help of thy bountiful mercy we
may always be free from sin
and safe from all trouble.
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Here do we give unto thee,
O Lord, most high praise and
hearty thanks for the wonderful
grace and virtue declared in
holy Mary, the ever-virgin
Mother, and in all Thy glorious
saints from the beginning of the
world, who have been the choice
vessels of Thy grace and a
shining light unto many genera-
tions. And we
join with
them in worship before Thy
great white throne, whence flow
all love and light and blessing
through all the worlds which
Thou hast made.
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The shorter form is simply:
We praise and thank Thee, holy Lord, for the
glory of Thy saints, and we
join with them in worship before thy great white throne, whence flow all
love and light and blessing through all the worlds which thou hast made.
Here again the symbology is prominent, for as
the Priest says these words he withdraws the paten from its seclusion and
makes the sign of the cross over himself with it. Just as the Host signifies
the Monad, so does the paten typify the vehicle of the Monad—that Triple
Spirit through which alone the Monad influences us or can in any way become
known to us at our present stage of evolution. Now that Triple Spirit rests
in what, because of it, we call the spiritual world (or sometimes the atmic
or nirvanic plane), and it is at that level that the consciousness of all
Adepts and great Saints functions. It is at that level only that we can
perfectly join with them, and so the Priest makes the sign of that junction
with the paten, and them proceeds to slide it under the Host, to show that
the Monad is assuming its vehicle, in order that it may influence the ego.
Yet the elements are not merely symbols; they
are also magical implements, by means of which what is symbolized is
actually done, as far as it can be done. If members of the congregation were
sufficiently advanced in spiritual growth, there would be a these
words a perfect blending of consciousness between them and the great Saints
of old; and though that cannot be as yet, we assuredly do reach up as far as
we can towards those Holy Ones, and come into contact with their thought and
feeling at such level as we have attained. The perfect unity of the
spiritual world is not for us while still we walk below; but the wondrously
close union of the intuitional world is to some extent open to us.
Many of us have no conscious development at
that level, and so we cannot as yet have the calm certainty of knowledge;
but before that is gained, there is a long gestation period—a time of
unconscious growth comparable to that of a chicken within the egg; and that
has already begun for many earnest and devoted people. They may not yet be
able to see, but at any rate they can feel something of what is taking
place, and they may well be conscious of great upliftment and perhaps
sometimes of a rush of emotion at some of the critical points of the
Service.
The church is filled with the most powerful
vibrations, and they must inevitably stimulate the higher thought and the
higher feeling of all who are present, whether they are conscious of the
effect or not. The Service is arranged to help all, and each man gains from
it what at his stage of advancement he is able to gain. Something comes to
every one, but most of all to the man who understands what is being done,
and knows how to make himself receptive.
The Roman prayer at this point mentions
several Saints, and asks for their intercession; we make special reference
only to Our Lady. This is not the place to explain the wondrous wealth of
meaning which for us lies behind that title; it will be found in a later
volume on the Christian Festivals.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Through the same Jesus
Christ, thy Son, our Lord.
Who liveth and reigneth with
thee in the unity of the Holy
Ghost; For ever and ever. R.
Amen. The
peace of the
Lord be
always with
you.
R. And with thy spirit.
May this mingling and hal-
lowing of the body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ avail us
that receive it unto life ever-
lasting. Amen.
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O Son of God, who showest
Thyself this day upon a thou-
sand Altars and yet art one and
indivisible. in token of Thy
great Sacrifice we break this
Thy body, praying that by the
action, ordained from of old,
Thy
strength, Thy
peace,
Thy
blessing, which Thou
dost give us in this holy Sacra-
ment, may be spread abroad
upon thy flock; and as Thou,
O Lord Christ, wast made
known to Thy disciples in the
breaking of bread, so may Thy
many children know themselves
to be one in Thee, even as Thou
art one with the Father. R.
Amen.
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I have already written of the "Presence upon a
thousand Altars" which the Priest is here showing forth in symbolism. In
token of the great Sacrifice the descent of (the Second Aspect of the Logos
into matter( he breaks the Host into two parts, typifying that primordial
division of the One into Two, the Unmanifested and the Manifested, which
later leads us to Spirit and Matter, positive and negative, male and female,
and is the beginning of all the pairs of opposites which we find down here.
Then, because the right hand always signifies the higher and the left hand
the lower, he breaks a tiny piece from the left half to recall the
continuation of the process, the further division of that lower
manifestation into the many, and with that fragment he magnetizes the
Chalice as he prays that strength and peace and blessing may be spread
abroad upon the world.
Hitherto the ceremony has been directed
towards the gathering and storage of the force; and its effect upon those
who are present; now with these words begins the great outpouring upon the
neighbourhood which is one of the principal objects of the Eucharist. It
commences now, but it continues all through the Salutation of Peace and the
Communion—practically through the rest of the Service. We must not confuse
this with the radiations of Forces A and B, which have been going on all the
time; this is a distinct flood of the third force which we have called C,
pouring out at high pressure through the doors of the eucharistic edifice,
and being directed and specialized by the minor Angels to whom that task has
been assigned.
It must be understood that the whole scheme of
the magic which is arranged for the Christian Church is intended to be
available and effective even though none of the people concerned, neither
the Priests nor the congregation, know anything about it. The student learns
intentionally and comprehendingly to use the higher forces, but the scheme
of the Church is especially planned to give something of the benefit of
these forces to those who are ignorant of them. Therefore exists the special
reservoir; therefore it is decreed that his daily ceremonies, and that
influence shall be poured out upon the entire parish, even though there may
be but few in it who are sufficiently responsive to obtain any great
benefit.
The power which radiates from the reserved
Host was better realized in the Middle Ages, for in all the older villages
in England we find the cottages clustering round the church, and it was
considered the proper thing to go into the church each morning and pray for
a time, even apart from attendance at any Service. The older religions,
though flowing from the same divine source, have not the same plan of a
special reservoir and of distribution of spiritual force by means of a
public Service. that is the special new idea which the World-Teacher, if we
may in all reverence venture to say so, invented for this religion, and the
Christian Church is the first in which it has been tried exactly in that
form.
The older religions have practically no public
Services; they are almost entirely individual. Each man comes to the temple
when he likes, makes his own little offering and says his own little
prayers. The images which the missionary ignorantly calls idols are highly
charged with magnetism, and each man as he puts himself into touch with them
receives an outpouring of that magnetism. It also is to some extent
permanently radiating out upon the district surrounding it. The new
invention of our Lord for Christianity was the daily ceremony at which a
special and tremendously intensified wave of force would be called down by
the new daily act of magic and so, besides the gently though persistent
radiation, there should be at least once a day a much stronger stimulus. I
know, of course, that the Eucharist was not always celebrated daily, but I
hold that our Lord inspired His Church to move in that direction when the
proper time came.
Men have asked whether it would not indicate a
higher stage of development to be able to do without these "means of grace,"
and whether they cannot by private meditation obtain the same benefit that
the Priest gains in the Eucharist. It is unquestionably a higher stage when
a person can, through his own higher principles, realize himself as a part
of the Lord and in direct touch with Him, and that is what students are
gradually learning to do. The "means of grace" are provided principally for
those who cannot do this, and are effective for them; there is no reason why
we (who know a little more) should not take advantage of them also, so long
as we feel them to be of any value to us; but when really highly
developed we can, no doubt, do without them. At the same time, in the
intermediate stages while we are yet learning, if we attend these means
there is no doubt that we gain very much more from them than the people who
do not understand them.
The Priest is not seeking primarily to gain
any benefit for himself when he celebrates the Holy Eucharist, but is making
himself a vehicle for enormous spiritual benefit to his fellow-men. the
power from the reserved Host is entirely different from anything which can
be gained in private meditation. We cannot compare two things which are
radically different. The pouring forth from the Host tunes up and
strengthens the various vehicles of those who come under its influence.
Meditation is a kind of spiritual and mental athletics to develop the powers
of the higher vehicles. The ordinary man is raised and helped by the
influence of the Service; the student is gradually training himself in quite
another way to be able to help others. The Priest is doing his appointed
work as a channel which brings down the forces to these lower planes; the
student is aiming at presently qualifying himself for the universal
priesthood of the servants of God upon higher planes—the priesthood of the
Order of Melchizedek.
When, in the prayer which we are considering,
the Priest makes the three signs of power, he symbolizes the threefold
constitution of the ego—the spirit, intuition and intelligence which in it
represent the Three Aspects of the Divine; for God made man in His own
image. Then he drops the fragment of the Host into the Chalice, signifying
thereby the descent of the ray of the Monad into the ego. Before, the Monad
has brooded over the lower forms from above, but without contact; now a ray
is actually dropped, and Wisdom, Strength and Beauty are manifested one
stage lower down. Yet as he drops it he prays that men may realize their
unity with God and with one another; for though so far as physical
appearance goes—the Host is broken, in spiritual reality it is still one,
for the part can never be separated from that to which it belongs, and we
are all one in Him, even as He is one with the Father. And though a ray as
been dropped into the ego, far more remains behind—the stupendous divine
reality which as yet we cannot know.
The student should take heed that in his
enjoyment of all this beautiful sequence of symbolism, he never forgets that
it is not mere symbology, but is intended all the while to act
definitely upon the higher vehicles of those who are present, according to
the stage of their development. Its power in this way to reproduce that
which it typifies is most remarkable, and so far as we know it is limited
only by the capacity of the recipient to be influenced.
Note
The Christ-Principle is the celebrant, who is
now acting as the representative or head or a perfectly united congregation,
reaches up at the commemoration of the Saints—to that great Brotherhood, and
touches Its collective consciousness, as he makes the sign of the cross over
himself with the paten, the symbol of that Atmic life. A Priest who is
himself an Initiate of that Brotherhood, can touch its consciousness at
lower levels also; and in doing this he sends up a great geyser of light
through his brahmarandhra chakra. Even an uninitiated celebrant has this
centre at the top of the head working well at this point, and sends up a
line of light through it.
With the next three crosses made with the
particle of the Host over the chalice, the beautiful Force C commences its
outpouring. It runs down like yellow sand under a tropic sunset—like new and
shining gold-dust.
When the fragment of the Wafer is dropped into
the Wine, symbolizing the descent of the Monad into the ego, a beautiful red
spreads out and enfolds the people. This colour may perhaps be caused by the
fact that when the Monad touches the ego, it is naturally through that part
of him which comes furthest into matter—the third aspect of him which
corresponds to the third Person whose outpouring is as a crimson flame. It
is also doubtless partially due to the unifying influence of the Love of the
Christ, to whom at this moment we are praying that we may be united with
him, even as he is united with the Father.
The Salutation Of Peace
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
Lamb of God, who takest
away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takest
away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takest
away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who
didst say unto thine apostles,
I leave you peace, my peace I
give unto you; look not upon
my sins but upon the faith of
thy church; and vouchsafe to
grant her peace and union ac-
cording to thy will: who livest
and reignest God for ever and
ever. Amen.
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Omitted from the liberal
Catholic Liturgy.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who
didst say to Thine apostles:
"Peace I leave with you, My
peace I give unto you,:" regard
not our weakness, but the faith
of Thy Church, and grant her
that peace and unity which are
agreeable to Thy holy will and
commandment. R. Amen.
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ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. Peace by with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
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P. The Peace of the Lord be always
with you
C. And with thy spirit.
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This form of the Minor Benediction is slightly
different from the other nine found in the Service of the Eucharist. Instead
of holding out his hands towards the whole congregation and using the usual
formula, the celebrant turns to the cleric highest in rank who is present in
the channel and gives him what was, according to ancient tradition, called
the Kiss of Peace. We call it now the Salutation of Peace, for the lips are
no longer used, but the celebrant touches his neighbour lightly on both
shoulders simultaneously as though embracing him, and says to him: "The
peace of the Lord be always with you." The cleric who receives this greeting
extends his own arms as he kneels and touches the elbows of the celebrant,
also symbolizing an embrace, and replies with the usual words: "And with thy
spirit." Immediately he rises to his feet and passes on the greeting to the
cleric next in rank, using the same words and gestures, and in this way the
greeting is handed on until all those in the chancel have received it and
responded to it.
. In older times it was the custom that the
youngest of the acolytes, who was the last to receive the greeting,
descended the chancel steps and passed it on to some member of the
congregation in the front seats, who in his turn sent it along the row; it
was then transmitted to the next row, and so on until every person in the
whole congregation had been definitely individually linked in this way in an
unbroken chain with the celebrant.
Modern conditions do not now permit the full
detail of this touching old ceremony; our hurried European life leaves
little time for such individual attention; so when the greeting has passed
round among the officials of the church, sometimes the celebrant himself,
sometimes the youngest acolyte who has just received it, comes down to the
chancel gates and standing in the entrance gives the greeting to the whole
congregation en masse, and the laity reply together; "And with thy
spirit." Clearly in this there is a double signification: first, to make the
strong individual magnetic link of actual touch with every person present;
and secondly, to express strongly and clearly the idea that all are
absolutely at peace with one another and in perfect harmony and love before
they engage in the wondrous and beautiful act of Communion.
This ceremony is also of great importance to
those who are for some reason unable to communicate; for from the closeness
of the connection which is thus made with the Priest they are able to
partake spiritually of his communion. In the shorter form of the Service the
physical touch is omitted, and the Priest is enjoined to make his link by a
strong effort of the will, as in the other Minor Benedictions. On our modern
plan this of course makes no difference to the members of the congregation,
who do not receive the physical touch in any case.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
the living God, who according
to the will of thy Father didst
by thy death, through the co-
operation of the Holy Ghost,
give life to the world, deliver
me by this thy most holy body
and blood from all my trans-
gressions and from every evil;
and make me always cleave to
thy commandments, and never
suffer me to be separated from
thee: who livest and reignest
with the same God and Father
world without end. Amen.
Let not the receiving of thy
body, O Lord Jesus Christ,
which I, though unworthy, pre-
sume to take, turn against me
unto judgment and damnation;
but through thy loving-kindness
may it avail me for a safeguard
and healing remedy for my soul
and body who with God the
Father, in the unity of the Holy
Ghost, livest and reignest God
for ever and ever. Amen.
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O Thou who in this adorable
Sacrament hast left us a living
memorial and pledge of Thy
marvellous love for mankind,
and dost therein graciously draw
us into wondrous and mystic
communion with Thee, grant us
so to receive the sacred mys-
teries of Thy Body and Blood
that our souls may be lifted
into the immensity of Thy love
and that, being filled with a
high endeavour, we may ever be
mindful of Thine indwelling Pre-
sence and breathe forth the
fragrance of a holy life. R.
Amen.
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The people being thus drawn closely together
the celebrant utters on their behalf a peculiarly beautiful prayer that
their reception of this holy Sacrament may have upon them to the full the
effect which our Lord intends it to have—that they may realize His love and
His perpetual presence, and may thereby be encouraged to live a holy life of
noble work in His service for their fellow-men.
The celebrant then immediately proceeds to his
own Communion; and we must remember that this is not merely an action
personal to himself, but a necessary part of the whole ceremony. It is
through him that the final and most physical side of the outpouring takes
place. He partakes of both the Bread and the Wine, since as he is the
important factor in the distribution of the force, he must be able to
transmute it. When he partakes of both he can more easily perform the
transmutation, because as the Bread and Wine enter his body they become part
of him, and therefore all of his forces are at the disposition on the
physical plane of the power which flows through him.
If he did not take the chalice, he would be
but a partial channel, and the forces would not flow so easily. The Sacred
Elements become one with him, permeate him, making it possible for force to
be brought down through him in a different way, and to a greater degree. The
Host is intended to bring the mighty power of the Life of the Christ down to
the lower mental level; the Wine is truly the vehicle for its astral
manifestation, and the water for the etheric. But when the Host alone is
received, the power filters down from it to the lower levels, and is just as
strong, though perhaps not quite so easily assimilable. If the Priest did
not himself partake, the force would lose its outer ring or circle of
influence on the physical level of things, for the celebrant is the pivotal
centre of the distribution.
He next administers the most holy Sacrament to
those among the clergy and the choir who wish to receive it, and then,
blessing the whole congregation with one of the smaller Hosts, he calls up
those who desire to partake of the Communion.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
I will take the bread of
heaven and will call upon the
name of the Lord.
Lord, I am not worthy that
thou should enter under my
roof; say but the word, and my
soul shall be healed.
May the body of our Lord
Jesus Christ keep my soul unto
life everlasting. Amen.
What return shall I make to
the Lord for all he has given to
me? I will take the chalice of
salvation and call upon the
name of the Lord. Praising, I
will call upon the Lord, and
shall be saved from my enemies.
May the blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ keep my soul unto
life everlasting. Amen.
After giving communion to the
people:
Grant, O Lord, that what we
have taken with our mouth, we
may receive with a clean mind,
and that from a temporal gift it
may become for us an everlast-
ing remedy.
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The Body of our Lord Jesus
Christ keep me unto life eternal.
The Blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ keep me unto life eternal.
Ye
that desire to partake
of the Body of the Lord, draw
nigh and receive this most holy
Sacrament.
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For the communicant this is the culmination of
the Service. He draws into himself that line of divine and living Fire which
comes unbroken directly from the Christ Himself—and that in the double
sense; from the Christ, the World-Teacher, who is the Man, but also through
Him from the Logos, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, of whom He
is in sacred mystery so real an epiphany. For Christ is verily God and Man,
and has indeed two Natures—not in the sense generally supposed, but in this
far higher and truer meaning.
The tremendous waves of force which the
communicant has thus drawn into the closest possible association with
himself cannot but seriously influence his higher bodies. For the time these
waves raise his vibrations into harmony with themselves, producing in him,
if he is at all sensitive, a feeling of intense exaltation. This, however,
is a considerable strain upon his various vehicles, which naturally tend
gradually to fall back again to their normal rates.
For a long time the indescribably vivid higher
influence struggles against this tendency to slow down, but the dead weight
of the comparatively enormous mass of the man's own ordinary undulations
acts as a drag upon even its incredible energy, and gradually brings it and
themselves down to the common level. But undoubtedly every such experience
draws the man just an infinitesimal fraction higher than he was before and
so leaves a permanent result behind it. He has been for a few moments or
even for a few hours, in direct contact with forces of a world far higher
than any that he can otherwise touch.
Not only is the communicant stimulated and
strengthened in every way by coming into so close a relation with this
splendid manifestation of the divine power, but he himself becomes for the
time a subsidiary centre of that power, and radiates it in turn upon those
around him in the same readily assimilable and material form as does the
Priest. Thus for the time he assumes the very function of the Priest, and
becomes a radiant sun among his brethren, exemplifying thus the doctrine of
the priesthood of the laity. In this way he greatly helps the other members
of the congregation, and any neighbours and friends among whom he happens to
move during the next few hours.
Some of the lesser Angels hover for a while
about those who have partaken of the communion, since there is around them
such a tremendous manifestation of a higher power on this lower plane that
the Angels do not willingly relinquish the pleasure and advantage of bathing
in its influence while there is anything of it left. The reason is that they
cannot reach the level of that force under normal conditions, so it is to
them an intense delight and a great opportunity when it thus comes down to
the physical plane, and radiates from a human body.
To understand clearly all its different modes
of action, we must bear in mind that the force manifested at the Eucharist
comes down from the Deity Himself, and as it descends through the various
grades of matter it radiates out on all the levels as it reaches them, and
not only on the lowest. So while the physical radiation is acting upon the
dense and etheric physical matter the astral radiation is affecting the
astral bodies of the congregation and also of the astral visitors; and at
the same time the mental radiation is influencing the mental bodies of the
congregation, of the dead and of those Angels who do not manifest below the
mental plane. If a man is at all developed on the intuitional level, he will
receive a still greater stimulation from the force—a stimulation altogether
out of proportion to anything known in lower realms of thought and
experience. In that higher world the result shows itself as an increased
glow in the light which ever surrounds those who are conscious there.
What of it all a man is able to assimilate
depends upon two factors: the stage of his advancement in evolution, and the
attitude in which he approaches the Sacrament. When a vehicle is as yet
practically dormant, even this wondrous eucharistic force can operate upon
it only as heat works upon the germ within the egg, by bringing it nearer to
conscious life. That much at least is being done at all levels for every one
who is present during the Service. But some development of astral and mental
consciousness there must be in all who attend, and wherever it exists it is
stimulated. No doubt some receive only a tiny fraction of what they might
obtain; but the more a man opens his heart and soul to the influence, the
nearer he can come to the feeling of unity, the more will he gain from
presence at the ceremony, or from the reception of the sacred Bread.
All this marvellous aid to spiritual growth,
all this unequalled opportunity of doing good to our fellow-men, is offered
to us daily by our holy Mother the Church. Verily those of her members who
neglect to take frequent advantage of it are not only ungrateful but
foolish. It is not indeed "necessary to salvation," as some have rashly
said, but it unquestionably offers men very powerful assistance in
quickening their evolution.
Our Church follows the Roman plan of
administering the Sacrament in one kind only, and of placing the consecrated
wafer by preference directly in the mouth of the communicant rather than in
his hands. In some ancient Churches, and sometimes now in the Church of
England, the custom has obtained, of placing the right hand, palm upwards,
upon the left, receiving the Host in that open palm, and then reverently
consuming it. I see no objection to this method, except that it involves an
additional and unnecessary touching of the holy symbol.
The laity do not lose anything essential by
not partaking of the Chalice as well as of the Host, though I personally
should be very willing to give both to them if anyway of doing so could be
devised which is at once reverent, safe and sanitary. The Anglican scheme
that all shall drink from the same cup is to me repulsive, and is certainly
hygienically unsafe, even though the lip of the cup be wiped immediately
after each mouth touches it. Besides, that very act of wiping is itself
hardly reverent.
The suggestion that each person should bring a
cup of his own is open to the objection that it is the Priest's duty to
carry out the ablutions with the utmost care, and he could not possibly
delegate that task to laymen. Even if the church supplied a multitude of
little cups and collected them, the ablutions would present a serious
difficulty, and would occupy so much time as to make the plan practically
unworkable. Besides, to pour the consecrated wine into hundreds of tiny
cuplets would involve a risk of profanation by spilling which no Priest
would care to face.
In the Mysteries of ancient Egypt a sacrament
was administered in which each communicant brought a tiny earthenware cup of
no value, in which the officiating priest placed a spoonful of the sacred
fluid. As soon as this was swallowed the cup was deposited by an acolyte in
a great golden bowl, the contents of which were afterward carefully emptied
into the Nile by the Chief Priest. Thus the same cup was never used twice;
but as this method required that each communicant should come up separately
to the celebrant, it was obviously suited for small numbers only. Besides,
it has always been the custom of the Christian Church that the Sacred
Elements should touch only linen and gold.
The plan of intinction has been tried—the
dipping of each Host in the Chalice just before administering it; but in
that there is terrible danger of irreverence, as the moistened Host becomes
limp and unmanageable. The Eastern Church obviates that difficulty by giving
to each member a spoonful from the Chalice, and dropping into each spoonful
a minute fragment of the Host; but as the same spoon goes into all mouths,
this is even worse than drinking from the one cup. Absorption through a reed
has been tried, but is open to similar objection; for there must either be
one reed or many, and we are again faced with the question of the ablutions.
Assuredly much time is saved, and reverence, safety and hygiene are secured,
by administration in one kind only; let us see what, if any, are the
drawbacks to this plan.
It will be remembered that the celebrant
dropped a fragment of the Host into the Chalice, thereby mystically linking
the two elements. And the communion of the Priest (who in turn has been most
closely linked with his people) has brought down both sets of radiations to
the same definitely physical level, so that unquestionably he who receives
the consecrated Host receives the power of both the elements. If he partook
of the Chalice as well, it would be a supplementary application to him of
the secondary form of the force, at a somewhat lower level, and in a more
immediately assimilable form, but he would not actually receive anything
new.
If the celebrant had not partaken of the
Chalice, the stream of force would not have fully permeated the Physical
plane, and so would have been only partially available; but since that has
been duly achieved, the reception of the Host alone does all that can be
done for the communicant. The latter must not therefore imagine that the
Priest's communion takes the place of his own; truly he obtains great
benefit from merely assisting at the action of the celebrant; but in order
that he may profit to the fullest extent, in order that he may draw the life
of the Christ into himself and radiate it on others, he must himself eat of
that sacred Bread. But he would receive that divine grace no more fully if
he drank of the cup as well. Yet for literal compliance with the recorded
words of the Christ one would fain do it if it could be done; though of
course those to whom that command was addressed were apostles, to whom also
were spoken those other words: "Whose sins ye remit, they are
remitted"—which were certainly not of general application!
A custom upon which many ecclesiastical
authorities strongly insist is that of fasting communion. Those of our
members who prefer to adopt it are perfectly at liberty to do so; but we do
not prescribe it, as after exhaustive investigation we have been unable to
find that the presence of food in the stomach makes the slightest difference
in the action or intensity of the force.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
The following is said during
the ablutions:
May thy body, O Lord,
which I have received, and thy
blood which I have drunk,
cleave to my bowels; and grant,
that no stain of sin may remain
in me, whom thy pure and holy
sacraments have refreshed: who
livest and reignest, world with-
out end. Amen. |
The following is said after
the ablutions:
Under the veil of earthly
things now have we communion
with our Lord Jesus Christ;
soon with open face shall we
behold Him, and, rejoicing in
His glory, be made like unto
Him. Then shall His true dis-
ciples be brought by Him with
exceeding joy before the pre-
sence of His Father's glory.
|
Here the statement is made that we are now in
the fullest sense in direct touch with the Lord Christ Himself. we express
our hope and our belief that by following this, the line of development
directed by the Church, we may soon draw nearer still; as is written in the
Scripture, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and when we
wake up in His likeness, we shall we satisfied with it. then a hint is given
of a yet further advancement beyond even that, when through Him we shall be
brought face to face with the glory of the Father.
Communio
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
The Communio varies. That
which follows is of Trinity Sunday.
We bless the God of heaven,
and we will praise him before
all living; because he hath
shown his mercy to us.
|
Amen. Blessing, and glory,
and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honour, and power, and
might, be unto our God for
ever and ever. Amen.
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And with thy spirit. |
The whole congregation now joins in a splendid
outburst of thanksgiving, the force generated by which is poured outwards
and upwards by the Angels. Then the Priest pronounces again the Minor
Benediction, endeavouring once more to share with his people the new and
higher conditions which have now been set up. The idea is also present that
those who have actually taken the sacred Body and Blood should through this
Minor Benediction share yet again the blessing which they have received with
those who for some reason have not taken it, though present at the
sacrifice. And yet, again, beyond that is the idea of sharing with outsiders
not present in church at all, and the thought (expressed also in the next
prayer) of the necessity of employing in definite practice the strength
which has been received.
Postcommunio
ROMAN
|
LIBERAL
|
The Postcommunio varies That which
follows is of Trinity Sunday.
Grant, we beseech thee, O
Lord, that, filled with so great
gifts, we may both receive
graces for our salvation and
may never cease from thy
praise. Through or Lord.
|
We who have been refreshed
with Thy heavenly gifts, do
pray Thee, O Lord, that Thy
grace may be so grafted inward-
ly in our hearts, that it may
continually be made manifest in
our lives. Through Christ our
Lord. R. Amen.
|
We have here an interesting little prayer that
the wondrous stimulus which we have received may not evaporate in mere
feeling, but may so continue to do its work within us as to affect the whole
of our future lives. And this is no mere empty form of words, for (as I have
already said) if the fullest advantage has been taken of the outpouring of
spiritual force a permanent balance to the good is unquestionably left, even
after the overflowing tide of temporary enthusiasm has ebbed back to the
prosaic level of ordinary life. Indeed, for the Christian who regularly and
frequently enters thus into high communion with his Lord, ordinary life soon
ceases to be prosaic, for it is lived under the continuous radiance of the
light that never was on sea or land, the effect of one great outburst of
sunlight persisting until it is renewed by the next.
This prayer fills a part analogous to the
action of "locking" a talisman after it had been magnetized, in order that
the force which has been stored in that talisman may not be prodigally and
uselessly dissipated, but may radiate in a steady flow, so that it may
continue to do its appointed work for many years.
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
V. The Lord be with you
R. And with thy spirit.
Then either:
V. Ite, messa est.
Or
V. Benedicamus Domino.
R. Deo gratias
May my worship and bounden
duty be pleasing unto thee, O
holy Trinity: and grant that the
sacrifice which I have offered
all unworthy in the sight of thy
majesty may be received by
thee and win forgiveness from
thy mercy for me and for all
those for whom I have offered it
up. Though Christ our Lord.
Amen
|
P. the Lord be with you.
C. And with thy spirit.
P. Ite, missa est.
C. Deo gratias.
|
The last instance of the Minor Benediction
immediately precedes the mystic words: Ite, missa est, by which the
end of the magical part of the ceremony is announced. There have been
various theories as to the exact meaning of this, all based upon the idea
that the words are addressed to the people. The explanation usually accepted
is that missa is a late Latin form of missio, originally
signifying merely dismissal. In the primitive Church the catechumens were
sent away with these words before the Canon, and so it is thought that a
custom arose of repeating them again for the faithful at the end of the
whole Service: "Go, it is the dismissal."
In reality the phrase is addressed, not to the
congregation, but to the great host of Angel messengers who have gathered
round to take their part in this most wonderful of acts. It is, as it were,
their word of dismissal, their formal release from the service to
which they have been devoting themselves. It is the signal for a splendid
exodus of majestic rainbow-coloured forms, each charged with his proportion
of the divine outpouring, and hastening to fulfil the mission entrusted to
him. Since there seems so much doubt about its translation, it is perhaps as
well to leave it in the picturesque uncertainty of the original Latin.
The people respond with all heartiness:
"Thanks be to God," thus again finally expressing their gratitude to the
holy angels who have given us such wondrous help, as well as to Him who sent
them. We may somewhat fancifully interpret the phrase, along with the Minor
Benediction immediately preceding it, as having a sort of meaning for the
congregation as well; it is as though the celebrant said to them: "Go now;
but as you are about to leave, draw yet again as close as you can to receive
the final outpouring of God's blessing."
Now that it has done its beneficent work, the
Directing Angel sweeps together the material of the mighty edifice which he
has been using as his instrument, so that all the love and devotion which
have gone to the building of it are shed abroad upon the world, along with
the benediction with which the celebrant immediately thereafter concludes
the Service. He turns to the people and says:
Second Ray Benediction
ROMAN |
LIBERAL |
May God almighty bless you.
The Priest turns towards the People.
Father, Son
,
and Holy Ghost.
R. Amen.
|
The peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love
of God, and of His Son, Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God
Almighty, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you
always.
R. Amen.
|
This beautiful blessing is taken from the
Communion Service of the Church of England. It was borrowed by the compilers
of that Prayer Book from the Churching Office of the Roman Ritual and
enlarged by a quotation from the Epistle to the Philipians. It was certainly
a happy inspiration, for it has proved an appropriate and effective ending
to many Services. It has a strong keynote of peace and sympathy, and it
spreads its influence over the people on waves of lovely delicate
rose-coloured and green, When given by a bishop, it has additional beauties;
but it is always one of the impressive and dramatic points of any Service in
which it is used.
It is essentially a blessing of the second
Ray, and so a most appropriate conclusion to a ceremony which has definitely
the character of that Ray; and it makes the Service end, as it began, with
the Name of the ever-blessed Trinity. In Roman and Anglican Services, as
soon as this is done the Directing Angel, with a graceful gesture of
farewell, disappears from the scene of his labours. We have, however, found
it useful in our Service to add to it a further blessing of different
character, belonging to the first Ray—the Ray of Power; so the angel waits
yet a few moments longer to give this special blessing in the Name of the
spiritual King.
First Ray Benediction
|
LIBERAL |
|
May the Holy Ones, whose pupils you
aspire to become, show you the Light you seek, give you the strong
aid of their compassion and Their wisdom. There is a peace that
passeth understanding; it abides in the hearts of those who live in
the Eternal; there is a power that maketh all things new; it lives
and moves in those who know the Self as One. May that peace brood
over you, that power uplift you, till you stand where the One
Initiator is invoked, till you see His Star shine forth.
R. Amen. |
This is not used, so far as we are aware, in
any other Liturgy, but its effect is wonderfully invigorating. The Holy Ones
are of course the Great White Brotherhood, the communion of the Saints. All
of us who are striving to press forward along the upward path to perfection
desire to put ourselves under their tutelage; and so the Priest sends forth
a fervent aspiration that we may be able to learn from Them the Diving
Wisdom which we need. The One Initiator is a title given to the Head of that
great Hierarchy, the chief representative of that first Ray upon earth. The
silver Star is His sign, and its shining forth is a token of His approval of
a candidate for one of the Initiations which lead from degree to degree in
that great Lodge, from step to step on that upward path.
This is then a prayer that all present may
attain the sublime heights to which they aspire, and that on the way to such
attainment the divine peace and strength may support them. The flood which
it pours over the congregation is of many colours, among which an electric
blue is perhaps predominant, but all are strongly suffused with a glorious
golden light, and dazzling silvery rays dart constantly through its stream.
When it is spoken, clairvoyants have sometimes caught the gleam of the Star
upon the forehead of the Angel as he stands above the head of the celebrant.
Here our Service ends with a recessional hymn,
but the Roman Mass adds the Last Gospel. This is not found in any of the
earlier Liturgies, but was inserted in its present place by Pope Pius V in
1570. Before that time it was sometimes said as a private devotion by
Priests after Mass, and the Sarum Missal prescribes it to be recited during
the procession back to the sacristy. Even now a Bishop says it privately
while returning to his throne after the conclusion of the Service.
The Last Gospel
ROMAN |
|
The beginning of the Holy Gospel according to John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was
made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the
light of men: and the light shineth in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose
name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the
light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light,
but was to bear witness of the light. That was the true light which
enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
But as many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the
sons of God, to them that believe in his name; who are born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God.
Here all kneel.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of
the Father), full of grace and truth.
R. Thanks be to God. |
|
This is clearly not a necessary part of the
Service, but perhaps we may account for it somewhat in this fashion. Once
more by means of the Minor Benediction the Priest makes his final link with
his people before he reads the last Gospel—a lection which comes not
inopportunely to remind them of the source of all this beauty and this
glory. It is as though he said to them: "Now that you have God's blessing,
yet once more share it to the full and let us preserve it, never forgetting
that we owe it all to the mighty Logos whose glory we have now beheld, the
Light and Life of men. Many there are who know not God, and in their
ignorance are therefore ungrateful; but you have now experienced His
sweetness and His love; see to it that you never forget it."
Note
The beautiful words referring to Initiation
which commence "Under the veil of earthly things," wake the people on to the
physical plane again, and they begin to feel their way back to collective
action; but now, with the wonderful stimulus of the Host acting from within
them, their aspirations, rise coloured, as all this last part of the Service
seems to be, with gold and rose. These are the colours which, when fully
waked and roused to a final effort of praise, the congregation send
streaming up and out through the openings of the edifice at the Communio.
This is a very wonderful uprush because of the power of the Host working in
the congregation, and the response to it is proportionally fine. The
celebrant immediately spreads out this down-pouring by the Minor
Benediction, which glows most gloriously, and this time with gold rather
than primrose.
Every one's connections with his higher self
are not fully opened, and at the Post Communio this condition is
strengthened, for a curious sort of white substance seems to come down into
the communicating channels, so as to hold them open. This ensures that the
power of the Host within the man will have a clear path down which it can
act, through each person who has partaken of it, as a powerful radiating
centre on to the world in general. But though this substance keeps the
channel between the lower and higher parts of the person open, it also has a
second function of preventing too sudden an outrush of power in a way that
might prove less effective than its conserved and gradual distribution. This
is what is meant when this part of the Service is compared to the locking of
a talisman.
A great flood of power rushes down into all
present; this is specially the case with the celebrant, who therefore
immediately shares it with the congregation in the following Dominus
Vobiscum.
289
With the words Deo Gratias, a great wave of thankfulness goes up to
the Angels, who, as a parting gift, send back a fine stream in response.
This is caught by the celebrant and poured out during the final benediction,
along with the power and material of which the whole eucharistic edifice was
constructed, which, as it is broken up, dissolves into great streams of
rushing force and a mighty shower of countless myriads of tiny
snowflakes—not white only, but of every imaginable bright colour, which fall
as gently as confetti, spreading benediction wherever they go.
Chapter III.
Baptism and Confirmation
To quote
from our Liturgy: “Baptism is a Sacrament by which the recipient is solemnly
admitted to membership of Christ's holy Church and grafted into His mystical
body.”
It opens with the usual invocation, as do all
our Services, to show that all our work is done in the Name and by the power
of the ever-blessed and most holy Trinity. Then the sponsor presents the
child to the Priest, asking that he may be admitted into the fellowship of
the Church; and the Priest, in acceding, addresses the congregation thus:
Brethern, our fair Father Christ, in His
great loving-kindness, hath ordained that His mystic Bride, our holy Mother
the Church, shall guide and protect her children at every stage from the
cradle to the grave. To this end is the Sacrament of holy Baptism ordained,
that in His Name the Church may give welcome and blessing to him who is
newly come into this world of pilgrimage, and that the soul may dwell in a
body purified from the taint of evil, sanctified and set apart for the
service of Almighty God. Therefore, brethren of Christ's catholic Church, I
pray you to join with me in this our holy rite, whereby this child shall be
made partaker of these heavenly gifts and a member of His mystical body.
We see from this that the Church meets the
soul as soon as he comes into his new set of vehicles, and offers him
welcome and assistance. What help can be given to a soul when he first comes
into a new physical body? Remember, we cannot reach the soul himself; we are
dealing with vehicles on the physical plane. What the soul most needs is to
bring that new set of vehicles into order, so that he can work through them.
He comes laden with the results of his past lives, which means that he has
within him seeds of good qualities and also seeds of evil qualities. Those
seeds of evil have often been called original sin, and quite wrongly
connected with the fabled action of Adam and Eve. That is a mere distortion
of the fact that each soul brings with him his own qualities, some good,
some less good, some even definitely evil, according to what his previous
lives have been.
Obviously the duty of the parent or guardian
towards the child is to do all that he can to stimulate the good germs and
to freeze or starve out those which are evil, by giving them no
encouragement whatever. The student of the inner life will understand that
the development of these qualities depends largely upon the surroundings
given to the child. If he is surrounded with love and gentleness, the love
and gentleness in him will be called out and developed. If, on the
contrary, he meets with angry vibrations and irritability, if there is in
him the least trace of germs of that kind (as there is almost sure to be),
they will be called out and developed; and it makes an enormous
difference to his life which set of vibrations is first set in motion.
The Sacrament of Baptism is especially
designed to deal with this state of affairs. The water used is magnetized
with a special view to the effect of its vibrations upon the higher
vehicles, so that all the germs of good qualities in the unformed astral and
mental bodies of the child may thereby receive a strong stimulus, while at
the same time the germs of evil may be isolated and deadened. The central
idea is to take this early opportunity of fostering the growth of the good
germs, in order that their development may precede that of the evil—in order
that when at a later period the latter germs begin to bear their fruit, the
good may already be so far evolved that the control of the evil will be a
comparatively easy matter.
This is one side of the baptismal ceremony; it
has also another aspect, as typical of the Initiation towards which it is
hoped that the young member of the Church will direct his steps as he grows
up. It is a consecration and a setting apart of the new set of vehicles to
the true expression of the soul within, and to the service of the Great
White Brotherhood; yet it also has its hidden side with regard to these new
vehicles themselves, and when the ceremony is properly and intelligently
performed there can be no doubt that its effect is a powerful one. It is
distinctly, therefore, what may be called an act of white magic, producing
definite results which affect the whole future life of the child.
What are the factors which are influencing the
newly-born child? First, there is what is called by students the karmic
elemental, which requires some explanation to those who are unacquainted
with the details of the process of rebirth. At the end of each life there is
a balancing of accounts, and a form is made in etheric matter which
represents the kind of body that the man has earned for his next adventure
upon earth. When he returns, this form is vivified by a nature-spirit and
becomes the mould into which the child's new physical body is built; it is
the result of the actions of his past life, and that nature-spirit is the
main force among those which are moulding him, Secondly, the soul himself is
trying to see what he can do with his new vehicles—to take hold of them as
soon as may be; but he is usually not a powerful factor in the early stages,
because he has great difficulty in coming into touch with the new body. He
does this by degrees, and is supposed to have grasped it fully and finally
by the time that it is seven years old. In some few cases he masters it
earlier; but sometimes it seems that he never gains complete control, or at
least not until old age is attained. These two are the main factors, but
there are other subordinate forces at play; for example, the thought of the
mother has immense effect upon the vehicles of the child, both before birth
and after.
The soul, then, is trying to influence the
vehicles in the right direction as far as he can. The Sacrament of Baptism
brings another new force into activity on his side. It is often said by
Catholics that at Baptism a guardian Angel is given to the child. That is
so, though perhaps not exactly in the form in which it is generally
understood; but it is a beautiful symbol of what does happen in reality,
because at Baptism a new though-form or artificial elemental is built, which
is filled by the divine force, and also ensouled by a higher kind of
nature-spirit called a slyph. This remains with the child as a factor on the
side of good; so to all intents and purposes it is a guardian Angel. Through
work such as this it becomes individualized, and grows from a slyph into a
seraph—through its association with a thought-form permeated by the life and
thought of Head of the Church Himself.
That does not mean the Christ is thinking
about every baby, in the sense in which we ordinarily use that word. A
tremendous power such as that of the Christ can be spread simultaneously
over millions of cases, without requiring what we should commonly call
“attention” from Him at all. As I mentioned when speaking of His presence
upon a thousand Altars, a case parallel, but at an infinitely lower level,
is that of a man in the heaven-world. He makes thought-images of his
friends, and these constitute an appeal to the souls of those friends. These
souls at once put themselves down into those thought-images and inhabit
them. The personalities of the friends down here know nothing about it, but
the real friend, the ego, the soul, the true man, is expressing himself
through a hundred such thought-forms simultaneously in the heaven-lives of
different people, Something of the same sort, though infinitely greater,
takes place here in Baptism; and that is the first help which Christ gives
to His people through His Church.
A Sacrament is not a magical nostrum. It
cannot alter the disposition of a man, but it can help to make his vehicles
a little easier to manage. It does not suddenly make a devil into an angel,
or a wicked man into a good one, but it certainly gives the man a better
chance. That is precisely what Baptism is intended to do, and that is the
limit of its power.
After giving to the congregation the
explanation already quoted, the Priest reads to them from St. Mark the
account of the bringing of little children to Christ, and then recites the
following prayer:
O God, Omnipotent and Omnipresent, whose
power worketh in every living creature, who alone are the source of all life
and goodness, deign to shed upon this thy servant, who has been called to
the rudiments of the faith, a ray of Thy light; drive out from him all
blindness of heart, break all the chains of iniquity wherewith he has been
bound; open to him, O Lord, the gate of Thy glory, that being replenished
with the spirit of Thy wisdom and strengthened by Thy mighty power, he may
be free from the taint of evil desire, and steadfastly advancing in holiness
may joyfully serve Thee in the course Thou has appointed for him. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
This prayer is an appeal for help for the
child, but it is also intended to direct the thought of the Priest, and
enable him to gather up his forces for the exorcism immediately following
it, during which the rubric instructs him to hold the requisite intention
firmly in his mind.
The Roman ritual for Baptism begins by using
rather strong language, assuming the devil to be in that poor innocent baby,
abusing him as an accursed one and, generally speaking, trying to
exterminate him. There is no such thing as a personal devil; that is one of
the curious accretions which have arisen during the ages. It all really
means nothing but what I have just mentioned, an endeavour to check and
repress any evil germ. It is an effort, as we have put it in our ritual, to
lay the spell of Christ's holy Church upon all influences and seeds of evil,
“that they may be bound fast as with iron chains and cast into outer
darkness, that they trouble not this servant of God”. The idea is that they
should not be fed or encouraged in any way, and that the result of that will
be to bind them down into their present condition; and presently they will,
for lack of nutriment, be atrophied and fall out.
All these germs of evil may be regarded as a
sort of temptation. There they are, ready to start into life; and as soon as
their vibrations become vigorous they will inevitably tend to arouse similar
vibrations in the various bodies of the unfortunate child, and so exercise
upon him a steady pressure in the direction of evil. If they can be
repressed, the temptation is removed from the child and he has a better
opportunity. The average man is very much a creature of his surroundings,
and if we can give him better surroundings, in all human probability we are
making him a much better man than he otherwise would be. That is exactly
what the Church does; it gives him a better chance.
It is for this reason that so much importance
is attached to the Baptism of infants, especially if they are in danger of
death. It would be quite possible for the germs of evil brought over from
the previous life to be unfolded to a considerable extent in the astral
world on the other side of death. There is always plenty of influence about
in that world which may stimulate them. Therefore it is considered of great
importance to do whatever can be done to deaden them before the child dies.
In the same way the good germs may also be stimulated during the short
astral life of a baby, so that Baptism distinctly gives him a better chance
in that life also. When he takes his next new body the evil germs will not
have developed, and so he will bear just where he was before, with the
additional advantage of any good quality which the spiritual stimulus may
have worked into his character.
Then comes another curious feature of the
Service. In the old Roman ritual it is ordered that the Priest shall say
over the child, quoting the words of the Christ: “Ephphatha, that is to say,
be thou opened.” At the same time he is directed to make the sign of the
cross over the ears and nostrils of the child. Looking back to olden times,
we find that the Priest made the sign over the forehead, the throat, the
heart and the solar plexus, so we have restored that arrangement in the
ritual of the Liberal Catholic Church. These are four of the special
force-centres in the human body, and the effect of the sign, and of the
intelligent exercise of the will, is to set these centres in motion.
If a clairvoyant looks at a new-born baby he
will see these centres marked; but they are tiny little circles like a
threepenny piece—little hard discs scarcely moving at all, and only faintly
glowing. The particular power which the Priest exercises in Baptism opens up
these centres and sets them moving much more rapidly, so that a clairvoyant
will see them growing before his eyes to the size, perhaps of a crown-piece,
and beginning to sparkle and whirl, as they do in grown-up people. The
centre opens much in the same way as the eye of a cat opens in the dark; or
it is still more like the way in which a properly-made iris shutter opens in
a photographic camera. These centres are opened in order that the force
which is to be poured in may flow more readily; otherwise it would burst its
way in with violence, which puts an unnecessary strain on the baby body.
When the Priest has performed this action, he continues:
Let thy mind and thy heart be opened to the
most holy Spirit of the living God, that thy whole nature may be dedicated
for ever to His service; so mayest thou have power to receive the heavenly
precepts and to be such in thy conduct that thou mayest be a pure temple of
the living God.
Still standing, he stretches out his right
hand over the child, and says:
Do thou, O Lord, with Thy ever-abiding
power, watch over this Thy chosen servant, whom we dedicate to Thy service,
that, using well the beginnings of Thy glory and heedfully observing Thy
holy laws, he may be found worthy to attain to the fullness of the new
birth. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In these words he tries still further to
prepare the child for the great outpouring of divine force which is about to
be bestowed upon him; and then, placing the end of his stole upon the
child's shoulder, he says: “Come into the temple of God, that thou mayest
have part with Christ unto life eternal.” It is said that in old times the
service up to this point took place in a vestibule outside the church
proper, and that with these words the priest let the candidate (or the
person carrying the baby) into the baptistery.
Having thus opened the centres, the Priest
proceeds to make the thought-form. In the Liberal Catholic Church, just as
in the Roman and the Greek Churches, we use not only water at Baptism, but
also oil. Three different kinds of oil are used by the Church, and they are
magnetized for different purposes, just as a talisman is magnetized. One of
these kinds of oil is taken here (that which is called the Oil of
Catechumens), and with that the signs are made which build up the
thought-form. The Priest says:
In the Name of Christ our Lord, I anoint
there with oil for thy safeguarding; may His holy Angel go before thee;
Meanwhile he makes a small cross upon the
breast of the child with the oil, and a large one in the air before the
child, reaching to the entire length of the body; and as he says:
and after thee;
he makes a small sign on the skin between the
shoulders, followed by a larger cross in the air down the entire length of
the back, and continues:
may he be with thee in thy downsitting and
thine uprising, and keep thee in all thy ways.
I fancy that many a Priest who performs that
ceremony almost every day has little idea of what he is really doing. He is
building the two sides of the thought-form by that effect—making a sort of
cuirass of white light before and behind the child. While doing this he
ought to visualize that armour strongly, as he says the words; “May His holy
Angel go before thee and follow after thee.” A priest who does not know
anything about all this usually makes only a thin film; one who understands
it, and uses his will, makes a far stronger form. Having opened the centres
and built the thought-form, the Priest now substitutes a white stole for the
violet which he has been wearing, and proceeds to pour in the triple
spiritual force, thinking all the time very intently of what he is doing.
While the godparents hold the child over the font, the Priest, using a shell
or other convenient vessel, pours some of the consecrated baptismal water
over the head of the child thrice. The water should be poured upon the top
of the head in the form of a cross, care being taken that some of it flows
over the skin of the forehead. At the same time he pronounces the words:
N.: I baptize thee in the name of the
Father X and of the Son
X and of the Holy
X Ghost. Amen.
That pouring in of the force is the actual
Baptism, and for that all through history the Church has told us that two
things are necessary: The use of water and of a certain form of words: “I
baptize thee” (or, in the Russian Church, “Thy servant of God is baptized”)
“in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.
There is reason for both these things, and
certainly they are necessary in order to make the ceremony effective. The
magnetized water is needed because as I have already said, we cannot yet
reach the soul; but through the magnetized physical water the Priest sets
violently in vibration the etheric part of the physical body, stimulates the
brain, and through the pituitary body affects the astral body, and through
that in turn the mental body. So the force rushes down and up again, like
water finding its own level. In this lies the necessity for the use of
water, and for its definite contact with the skin, and not with the hair
merely. If the water were not properly applied the Sacrament would be
truncated—would, as it were, miss fire as far as the personality is
concerned. It is possible that even then something of the divine force or
its influence might reach the soul by some kind of osmosis or through
another dimension; the touch of the Priest and the exertion of his will must
produce some sort of result, but it is not the Sacrament of Baptism working
through the appointed channel.
Then comes the invocation of the Three Persons
of the Blessed Trinity. That is a true word of power, which calls down three
kinds of force, and ought not to need much explanation to thoughtful
students. Let me put it very briefly, referring readers for a fuller
statement to the volume on theology in this series. God has made man in His
own image. Theologians tell us that God, when making Adam, foresaw the
physical form which Christ would take when He came down into the world, and
made Adam according to that pattern. That seems to us a laboured,
round-about and ridiculous explanation, for we know that the body of man was
gradually evolved from lower forms. We say rather that it is not the body of
man that is made in the form of God, but the soul.
Precisely as in God there are Three Persons,
so in man there is the Triple Spirit which manifests itself as what the
Indian philosophers thousands of years ago called in Sanskrit atma,
buddhi, manas—spirit, intuition and intelligence—exactly as the Three
Aspects of the Trinity manifest Themselves as the Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost. Therefore man is not a mere reflection of God, but actually in
some mysterious way an expression of Him; and each of those principles
(Diagram
21) in the man is, in a way which we cannot yet hope to understand, part
of a corresponding Principle or Person of the Deity.
So the use of those words, with the effort of
will to bless in that Name, brings down from on high that threefold force,
which acts upon the three principles in man simultaneously. The force
unquestionably flows from the Three Persons of the Solar Deity Himself,
though it reaches us only through intermediate stages. It is stored in the
great reservoir of which we shall write when we come to deal with Holy
Orders, and it seems to be drawn thence into the corresponding principles of
the Lord Christ, the Head of the Church. At his ordination the Priest's
principles are linked in a special way with those of his Master the Christ;
and thus it is through the Christ and His Priest that the divine force
reaches the child, and the thought which fills the form and makes the
guardian Angel is really that of the Christ. It is force which will help the
soul in his endeavour to gain control, and will encourage him to persevere.
Baptism by a deacon is less powerful than that
by a Priest, as he is not so fully connected with the Lord; that by a layman
is still less effective, for he cannot draw upon the reservoir or attract
the force through the Lord Christ in that special way. Nevertheless, in
using those words with intention he calls, however ignorantly, upon the
spirit, intuition and intelligence in himself, and they in turn draw down
some influence from their far higher counterparts. So a layman's Baptism
avails, and is unquestionably useful and effective; but it is by no means
the same thing as that of a Priest. Even if the layman is not himself a
Christian (for example, he might be a Jewish doctor) his Baptism would still
be operative if he used pure water and the right words, having in his mind
the honest intention to do what the child's relations wished done, and to
help and satisfy them. The word “validity” is often used in this connection;
but it is calculated to convey a false impression. The rite is intended to
help, and does so with varying degrees of efficiency according to the means
employed.
As soon as the divine force has been poured
in, the Priest proceeds to close the centres which he has opened, so that
the force may not immediately pass out again, but may abide in the child as
a living power, and radiate from him but slowly, and so influence others.
Therefore the next step is to take another kind of sacred oil, the chrism,
and with that the centres are closed.
The Priest says:
With Christ's holy chrism do I anoint
X thee, that His strength may
prevent thee in thy going out and thy coming in, and may guide thee into
life everlasting.
The chrism is that kind of sacred oil which
contains incense, and therefore it is used always for purificatory purposes.
Incense is made in various ways, as we have said; but it almost always
contains benzoin, and benzoin is a powerful purifying agent. Therefore it is
the chrism with which the cross is made on the top of the child's head—in
order, as an old ritual said “to purify the gateway”. Remember that man,
when he “goes to sleep,” as we call it, passes out of and away from his
physical body through the force-centre at the top of the head, and returns
that way on awakening. Therefore this chrism is applied to the gateway
through which he goes out and comes in, while the Priest utters the word
given above. The word “prevent” is of course used here in the old English
sense of “come before,” not in our modern meaning of “thwart”.
The effect of this anointing is great, even
upon those who are but little evolved. It makes the force-center into a kind
of sieve, which rejects the coarser feelings, influences, or particles; it
has been likened to a doorscraper, to remove pollution from the man, or to
an acid which dissolves certain constituents in the finer vehicles, while
leaving others untouched. If during the day the man has yielded to lower
passion of any kind, whether it be anger or lust, this magnetized
force-centre seizes upon the excited astral particles as they sweep out and
will not let them pass until their vibrations are to a certain extend
deadened. In the same way if undesirable emotions have been aroused in the
man while away from his physical body, the sieve comes into operation in the
opposite direction, and slows the vibrations as he passes through it on his
way back to waking life.
The four centres which have been opened—the
forehead, the throat, the heart and the solar plexus—are now closed by an
effort of the will of the Priest. Each centre is still distended, but only a
small effective aperture remains, like the pupil of an eye. While it was
open it was all pupil, like an eye into which belladonna has been injected.
Now the pupil is closed to its normal dimensions, and a large iris remains,
which contracts only slightly after the immediate effect of the ceremony
wears off. The centre at the base of the spine is not touched, because it is
not desired at this stage to arouse the force latent within it, which is
called in the old books the serpent-fire. The spleen is not touched, because
that is already in full activity in absorbing and specializing physical
vitality for the child. The centre at the top of the head has been dealt
with by the chrism, so that now all of them have been awakened, and set to
their respective work.
After that part of the ceremony has been
performed, the Priest formally admits the child to the Church. To this
action also there is an inner and magical side. The Priest lays his hand
upon the child's head, and says: “I receive this child into the fellowship
of Christ's holy Church and do sign him with the sign of the cross.” He
makes the sign upon the child's forehead with the purifying oil. This is a
beautiful symbol; but it is much more than that, because the cross which is
made in this way is visible in the etheric double all through the life of
the person. It is the sign of the Christian, precisely in the same way as
the tilaka spot is the sign of Shiva, and the trident of Vishnu.
Those marks are placed upon the forehead in India with ordinary physical
paint, but they are the outward and visible signs of an inner and real
dedication which may be seen on the higher planes. This signing with the
cross, then, is the dedication of the child to Christ's service, the setting
of Christ's seal upon him, and his admission to the body of the faithful.
Then follow two pretty little bits of
primitive symbolism. The Priest brings from the Altar a white silk
handkerchief or scarf, and places it upon the shoulders of the child,
saying:
Receive from holy Church this white vesture
as a pattern of the spotless purity and brightness of Him whose service thou
hast entered to-day, and for a token of thy fellowship with Christ and His
holy Angels, that thy life may be filled with His peace.
He then bring from the Altar a candle which
has been lighted from the Altar light on the Gospel side, and, delivering it
to the child, says:
Take this burning light, enkindled from the
fire of God's holy Altar, for a sign of the ever-burning light of thy
spirit. God grant that hereafter His love shall so shine through thy heart
that thou mayest continually enlighten the lives of thy fellow-men.
The candle is replaced upon the Altar and
subsequently extinguished by the server.
In the early Church a white robe was placed
upon the child or the adult candidate at this point, to indicate the
condition of comparative purity which the Sacrament had produced in him, and
as an expression of the hope that he would in his future life endeavour to
fulfil the good promise of this auspicious beginning, and never forget the
privilege and the obligation laid upon him by his admission to Christ's holy
Church. We see no sense in exacting vicarious pledges from the godparents as
to what the baby shall do and shall believe when he grows up, for a pledge
is a solemn thing, by no means to be given lightly, or when one has no
possibility of controlling its fulfilment. So we entirely omit that part of
the Service; but in this fragment of symbolism we express the earnest hope
that the seed sown in this beautiful Sacrament may bring forth good fruit in
due season.
The white silk scarf is given by the
godparents, but is blessed by the Priest and laid upon the Altar before the
Service begins. It is intended that it shall be carefully kept for the child
and embroidered with his name, and that when he comes to receive the
Sacrament of Confirmation he shall wear it round his neck. In the early
Church it was called poetically “the white robe of the Angels” and “this
gift from Christ to His newly-born son”. It is the lineal descendant of the
white garment which was always worn by the candidate in the ancient
Mysteries; indeed, the very word “candidate” is derived from it, for
candidus in Latin means white.
The candle lighted from the Altar is a symbol
of the love of God manifested towards His creature, and is again expressive
of a hope—the hope that in gratitude for the help now extended to him, the
child may in later life devote his strength to the helping of others. The
baby often grasps at the candle; if not, his hand is guided to touch it by
the godparent, who must of course see that no harm is done by the flame, and
that the candle is duly handed to the server.
The Priest then lays his hand upon the child's
head in blessing, and says to him: “Go in peace, and may the Lord be with
thee.” He then proceeds to deliver to the sponsors the following charge:
Ye who have brought this child here to be
baptized, seeing that now he is regenerate of water and the Holy spirit, and
grafted into the mystical body of Christ's Church, remember that there lies
upon you a duty not lightly to be cast aside. It is your part to see that so
soon as he is old enough to understand, he is taught God's holy will and
commandment, as it was spoken by our Lord Himself when He said: “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all
thy mind and with all thy strength. This is the first and great commandment;
and the second is like unto it: Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Also he shall be taught the doctrine of the
holy catholic Church into which he has this day been admitted, and shall be
brought in due course to the Bishop to be confirmed by him.
These are the real responsibilities of the
sponsors—not to make impossible promises on the child's behalf, but to see
that his is taught the great law of love, and that he has the advantage of
the Sacrament of Confirmation as soon as he is old enough to profit by it.
The commandment taught to him is not the weird Jehovistic jumble of the
Mosiac decalogue, with its blasphemous attribution to the Deity of one of
man's worst and most foolish sins, but the version given by our Lord
Himself.
Much embittered controversy has surrounded the
question of the exact signification of regeneration. The word means simply
being born again, and it is by no means inappropriate as a description of
what takes place at Baptism. The opening of the centres in the body to
spiritual influence, the repression of the germs of evil, and the endowment
of the child with what is practically a guardian Angel, a new and powerful
influence in the direction of good—all these together constitute so marked a
change in the condition of the child that it may well be regarded as a
second birth—a birth into Christ's Church, following speedily upon his
re-entry into the physical world.
The
Baptism of Older Children and of Adults
Two other forms of the baptismal Service are
given in our Liturgy—one for children who are of an age to understand
something of what is being done, and the one for adults who are desirous to
be formally admitted to the church. Only such modification are introduced as
are necessary to adapt the prayers and charges to the age of the candidate.
The exorcism of all influences and seeds of evil, and the opening and
closing of the force-centres are omitted, because for good or for evil those
centres are already working and those seeds have to some extent developed.
For the exorcism a prayer is substituted that the candidate may be so
purified that he may be able rightly to receive the Sacrament.
If the candidate has already received some
form of Baptism, but there is uncertainty as to whether the words of power
were said, or whether water was properly used, we rebaptize him
conditionally saying: “If thou are not already baptized, then do I baptize
thee.” Even if we have knowledge, evidence, or presumption that the Baptism
was fully performed, but that the anointings and other parts of the ceremony
were omitted (as would be the case, for example, with one baptized in the
Church of England), it is permissible to repeat the rite in order to supply
the missing parts if the candidate desires it. In this case also the
conditional form must of course be used.
If any form of Baptism has been
previously administered, the reception into Christ's Church is omitted, for
Baptism admits to that Church as a whole, and not to one section of it only,
and we must presume that any person whatever who administered that rite must
have had at least so much of intention. In the final charge the exhortation
is addressed not to the sponsors, but to the candidate himself.
In the case of adults, the gospel referring to
Christ's reception of little children is omitted, and also usually the
giving of the white scarf and the light, unless these are specially desired.
Baptism is primarily intended for infants, and its omission in infancy
cannot be fully supplied by Baptism in later life. The operation of the
Sacrament upon the baby is far-reaching, for the power rushes through all
the vehicles and cleans them thoroughly, setting the machinery going in
exactly the right way.
The adult has necessarily long ago set things
going for himself, and his currents are flowing much in the same way as
Baptism would have caused them to flow, but it will usually be found that
the corners are not cleaned up, much of the man's aura seems unvivified, and
there is a large amount of indeterminate matter with which nothing is being
done, and therefore it has a tendency to pass out of the general
circulation, to settle and form a deposit, and so gradually to clog the
machinery and prevent its efficient working. Much of this unpleasant results
is obviated when a person has been baptized in infancy; for in infant
Baptism it is the power of the Christ Himself which awakens the germs of
good into activity and thereby lays a splendid foundation for subsequent
development. The child who is not baptized has to do this work for himself,
and is likely to do it less satisfactorily, the more so as he has not
received the further advantage of the repression of the germs of evil.
Another reason in favour of infant Baptism is
that there is in the child a clear field for action, which does not exist in
the adult; and so, though the thought-form is made in the same way, the
conditions under which the sylph has to work are so different that it is not
operative to anything like the same extent. In fact, for the older people
quite a different type of slyph is given, with somewhat less, perhaps, of
the motherlike love of the seraph, but a more worldly-wise entity, capable
of development into a keener intelligence. There is something half-cynical
about him; he has unwearying patience, but he does not seen to be expecting
much, while the Angel of the baby is optimistic—vaguer, it may be, than the
other, but full of love and hope and schemes for the future. Still, a
wholesome and beneficent influence is exercised by the administration of the
Sacrament to the adult; the anointing with chrism is not without its use in
cleansing the gateway, and even the making of the cuirass is good,
especially for those who are young and unmarried.
The Sacrament are arranged in a definite
order—Baptism to meet and help the child soon after birth, Confirmation to
strengthen him through the difficult time of puberty, and the Holy Eucharist
to give him frequent spiritual sustenance during the whole of his life. It
is unquestionably best that they should be taken at the time and in the
order intended, but I see no foundation for the theory that the absence of
one invalidates the others. It is the Roman belief that a man who has not
been baptized cannot be validly ordained, and this idea has caused a great
deal of anxiety in certain cases. There used to be doubt in the minds of
many as to the Baptism of the late Archbishop Tait of Canterbury (he having
been of a Scottish Presbyterian family) and of various other Anglican
prelates; and for that reason some have feared that the clergy ordained by
them might not really be Priests at all, and that consequently Sacraments
celebrated by these clergy might be inefficacious. This does not appear to
be the fact.
At the same time, to remove the slightest
possibility of any doubt or difficulty in the minds of our members, or
people of other Churches, we of the Liberal Catholic Church are always
careful to rebaptize conditionally any candidates for ordination unless we
have irrefragable evidence that they have already been baptized according to
a full and absolutely reliable rite, such as that of the Church of Rome.
The water to be used for Baptism is according
to Roman custom blessed only once a year on Holy Saturday, a little of the
sacred oils being poured into it. We find it more convenient to bless water
afresh for each occasion, using the same formula as in making holy water,
except that the Priest holds strongly the special intention of preparing it
for the Sacrament of Baptism.
The next sacramental help which the Church
offers to her young members is that of Confirmation. It consists of a
wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, given to the child as soon as he is
at all able to receive it understandingly, and is capable to a certain
extent of thinking for himself. It is obvious that no exact age can be
prescribed, as children differ so much in the rate of development; but in
the Western Church it is not the custom to administer this Sacrament before
the age of seven, by which time the soul is supposed to have definitely
taken hold of its vehicles. The theological presentation of this truth
(meagre and distorted, as is so often the case) is that before the age of
seven a child is incapable of mortal sin. About twelve is perhaps the ideal
age. Though many children are ready for it much sooner. It is not advisable
to deter it much beyond that, as it is primarily intended to meet the child
when he is approaching puberty, and to help him through a difficult period
of his life. The Service, as contained in our Liturgy, explains itself so
well that much of it may be quoted without comment.
The Bishop, vested in white cope and mitre,
and holding his pastoral staff in his hand, is seated on a faldstool before
the Altar facing westwards, and the candidates for Confirmation are seated
in due order before him outside the chancel—their sponsors also, if still
alive and able to attend, being near at hand to present them at the proper
time. Then the Bishop delivers the following exhortation:
My beloved children; on your entry into
this mortal life you were brought into the house of God, and our holy Mother
the Church met you with such help as then you could receive. Now that you
can think and speak for yourselves, she offers you a further boon—the gift
of God's most Holy Spirit. This world in which we live is God's world, and
it is growing better and better day by day and year by year; but it is still
far from perfect. There is still much of sin and selfishness; there are
still many who know not God, neither understand His laws. So there is a
constant struggle between good and evil, and, since you are members of
Christ's Church, you will be eager to take your stand upon God's side and
fight under the banner of our Lord.
In this Sacrament of Confirmation the
Church gives you both the opportunity to enrol yourselves in Christ's army
and strength to quit yourselves like men.
But if you enter His most holy service,
take heed that you are such soldiers as He would have you be. Strong must
you be as the lion, yet gentle as the lamb, ready ever to protect the weak
watchful ever to help where help is needed, to give reverence to those to
whom it is due, and to show knightly courtesy to all. Never forgetting that
God is Love, make it your constant care to shed love around you wherever you
may go; so will you fan into living flame the smouldering fires of love in
the hearts of those in whom as yet the spark burns low. Remember that the
Soldier of the Cross must utterly uproot from his heart the giant weed of
selfishness, and must live not for himself but for the service of the world;
for this commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his
brother also. Remember that the power of God, which you are now about to
receive from my hand, will ever work within you for righteousness, inclining
you unto a noble and upright life. Strive therefore earnestly, that your
thoughts, your words, and your works shall be such as befit a child of
Christ and a knight dedicated to His service. All this shall you zealously
try to do for Christ's sweet sake and in His most Holy Name
The Bishop then asks the candidates whether
they will strive to live in the spirit of love with all mankind, and
manfully to fight against sin and selfishness; whether they will endeavour
to show forth in their thoughts, words and works the power of God which he
is about to give them. They reply in the affirmative, and the Bishop
pronounces over them this blessing:
May the blessing of the Holy Ghost come
down upon you, and may the power of the Most High preserve you in all your
ways.
This preliminary blessing is intended to widen
out the connection between the soul and his vehicles—to prepare the way for
what is coming. We might put it that the object is to stretch both soul and
vehicles to their utmost capacity, that they may be able to receive more of
the divine outpouring. Immediately after this (all kneeling) the hymn
Veni Creator is sung.
This has been called the most famous of hymns.
Its authorship is uncertain. It has been attributed to St. Ambrose, to
Gregory the Great, and to the Emperor Charlemagne, but perhaps the weight of
evidence is rather in favour of Rabanus Maurus, who was archbishop of Mainz
and abbot of Fulda about the year A.D. 850. There are some sixty English
translations and paraphrases, of varying degrees of merit. That which we
have selected will be found in our Liturgy in the Confirmation Service.
It is assigned in the Roman breviary to
Vespers and Terce of Whitsunday and its octave, and is also sung at the
coronation of Kings, the consecration of Bishops and the ordination of
Priests. In the Liberal Catholic Church we use it on the last two occasions
mentioned, and also at the ordination of deacons and Confirmation. It has
become the accepted form for the appeal to God the Holy Ghost on all
occasions when we ask for a special outpouring of His mighty power, and its
effect is vary remarkable. As it is being sung, the whole church is
gradually filled with a wonderful red glow, a kind of luminous fiery mist,
which is quite distinct from the splendid crimson of love on the one hand,
and the vermillion tinged with orange that indicates anger on the other. It
is indeed a magnificent colour—nearest perhaps to what we call amaranth red,
which when one sees it in an aura signifies high courage and determination.
I have seen a rare variety of rose which comes near to it—I think it is the
kind called Kitchener of Khartoum. This celestial fire grows stronger and
stronger as the hymn proceeds, and eventually a mighty vortex of it forms
itself above the head of the Bishop, and pours itself down through him
shortly afterwards at the critical moment of the imposition of his hand. As
soon as the hymn is finished, the Bishop immediately proceeds with the
actual Confirmation.
He takes his seat upon the faldstool—or if
there be no proper faldstool, an ordinary chair may be used—still wearing
his mitre and holding his crosier. A gremial—which is a linen cloth like a
towel, having often some sacred symbols embroidered upon it in red thread,
and is intended as a kind of apron to protect the Bishop's vestments—is
spread over his knees, and a cushion placed at his feet. Each candidate is
severally let up to him by the sponsors, and instructed to kneel upon the
cushion and to place his hands together, palm to palm, resting them upon the
gremial. The Bishop, relinquishing his staff to his attendant, lays his
hands upon each side of those of the candidate, so that the candidate's
joined hands lie between his, the candidate, prompted if necessary by his
sponsor, then says:
“Right Reverened Father, I offer myself to be
a knight in Christ's service”; and the Bishop, pressing his hands lightly,
answers: “In Christ's most holy Name do I accept thee.”
In the Liberal Catholic Church the whole
Service has a military and chivalric flavour, and this emerges very clearly
at this stage. The candidate adopts precisely the position of those who come
before the King at his coronation to do homage to him and declare themselves
to be his men, at his disposal in utter loyalty and self-abnegation; and the
Bishop touches the hands of the child on each side in response, just as the
King does when he accepts the homage and promises his protection. The vow
goes up through him to the Christ, from whom the response flows down. The
Bishop now utters the words of power. Holding his staff in his left hand, he
takes some chrism upon his thumb, and lays his right hand on the head of the
candidate, saying:
Receive the Holy Ghost for the sweet savour
of a godly life; whereunto I do sign thee with the sign of the cross, and I
confirm thee with the chrism of salvation. In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
As he says “I do sign thee,” he makes the
cross with the chrism upon the forehead of the neophyte, and after the word
“salvation” he rises his hand and makes the sign three times over the head
of the neophyte, but without touching him, as he recites the Names of the
Holy Trinity.
The power which the Bishop pours into the
candidate is definitely and distinctly that of the Third Person of the
Blessed Trinity, and Third Aspect of the Deity; but it comes in three waves,
and its acts at the three levels upon the principles of the candidate. As in
Baptism, there is first an opening up by the force, which moves from below
upwards; then there is a filling and a sealing process, which moves from
above downwards.
But we are dealing now with the soul, and not
merely with his vehicles. At the words: “Receive the Holy Ghost,” the divine
power rushes in through the soul or ego of the Bishop into that lower
stratum of the soul of the candidate which we call the intelligence (or in
Sanskrit the higher manas); at the signing of the cross it pushes upwards
into the next stage, the intuition or buddhi; and at the words: “I confirm
thee with the chrism of salvation,” it presses upwards into the spirit or
atma. But it must be understood that there is a Third-Person aspect to each
of these principles
(Diagram 21), and that it is through it in each case that the work is
being done; it is all the direct action of the Holy Spirit. Some candidates
are far more susceptible to this process of opening up than others; upon
some the effect produced is enormous and lasting; in the case of others it
is often but slight, because as yet that which has to be awakened is so
little developed as to be barely capable of any response.
When the awakening has been achieved as far as
it may be, comes the filling and the sealing. This is done, as ever, by the
utterance of the great word of power, the Name of the Blessed Trinity. At
the Name of the Father the highest principle is filled and sealed; at the
Name of the Son the same is done to the intuitional principle, and at the
Name of the Holy Ghost the work is finished by the action upon the higher
intelligence. As this further outpouring which I have called the filling
takes place, the effect upon the spirit is reflected into the etheric double
of the neophyte so far as his development allows; the impression upon the
intuition is in the same way reproduced in the emotional vehicle; and what
is done to the higher mind should similarly mirror itself in the lower. But
all these reflections into the personality depend upon the extent to which
it is able to express and reflect the soul behind it.
The very intention of the Sacrament is to
tighten the links all the way up—to bring about a closer connection between
the soul and its vehicle the personality, but also between that soul and the
spirit which it in turn expresses. This result is not merely temporary; the
opening up of these connections makes a wider channel through which a
constant flow can be kept going. Confirmation arms and equips a boy for the
battle of life, and makes it easier for the soul to act on and through its
vehicles.
When his great sacramental act has been
performed, the Bishop again lays his hand upon the head of the neophyte,
saying: “Therefore go thou forth, my brother, in the Name of the Lord, for
in His strength thou canst do all things.”
Then he touches him lightly on the cheek as a
caress of dismissal, and says to him: “Peace be with thee.”
When all the neophytes have returned to their
places, a beautiful and appropriate hymn is sung. After this is finished,
the Bishop addresses a few wards of advice to the neophytes, telling them to
see to it that their bodies are ever pure and clean as befits the temple of
the most high God and the channel of so great a power; and he further tells
them that as they keep that channel open by a useful life spent in the
service of others, so will the divine life that is within them shine forth
with ever greater and greater glory. Then he makes a prayer in which he
offers unto Christ the lives which He that day has blessed, asking that
those whom He has thus accepted as soldiers in the Church militant here on
earth may bear themselves as true and faithful knights, so that they may be
found worthy to stand before Him in the ranks of the Church triumphant
hereafter.
Then, holding his crosier and wearing his
mitre, so that the neophytes may have the fullest benefit of all possible
channels, he dismisses them with a beautiful variant of the Aaronic
blessing:
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy
Spirit, bless, preserve, and sanctify you; the Lord in His loving-kindness
look down upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up the light of
His countenance upon you and give you His peace, now and for evermore.
This is followed by the first-Ray benediction,
just as at the end of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
There is also in this Sacrament, as I said
before, the idea of preparing the boy (or girl) for the temptations and
difficulties of attaining to puberty, and, generally speaking, to help him
to think and act for himself. Its effect is undoubtedly a great stimulation
and strengthening. What use the neophyte makes of this opportunity depends
upon himself, but at any rate the opportunity is given to him by the Church.
After receiving this, he is then considered eligible for the greatest help
of all, the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Church, however, has
universally recognized that it is not an essential prerequisite, for she has
always been ready to admit to her Altars those who are “ready and willing to
be confirmed”.
I have often been asked whether we are willing
to repeat the Sacrament of Confirmation for those who have received it from
the Church of England. We are ready to do so if desired, because that Church
has dropped so many points from the form of Confirmation which has been
handed down through the ages, that we believe we can add something to what
she has given. We do not, of course, insist upon it, for there is no actual
necessity for this or any other Sacrament; but we recommend it, for
we know that it is helpful, and that the help may often act in unexpected
directions. Our attitude is that since our dear Lord and Master has in His
lovingkindness offered us this most valuable assistance, it would be foolish
as well as ungrateful not to accept it. The sum of His love is always
shining; why should we refuse to come out into the sunshine? But if one
comes to us from the Roman Church it would be useless and improper to repeat
the ceremony, since her form contains everything that we can give.
In the Eastern Church Confirmation in our
sense of the word cannot be said to exist. What is called by that name is a
ceremony supplementary to Baptism, and administered to the infant
immediately thereafter by the Priest, though with chrism that has been
blessed by the Bishop. It may perhaps be a survival of the tradition of
anointing with chrism at Baptism, so that the two Sacraments have become to
some extent confused.
I QUOTE from the preface to this section
of our Liturgy:
“Holy Orders is the Sacrament by which, in
their various degrees, ministers of the Church receive power and
authority to perform their sacred duties. Our Lord works through human
agency, and to the end that those who are chosen for this sacred
ministry as Bishops, Priests, or deacons shall become readier channels
for His grace, He has ordained that they shall be linked closely with
Him by this holy rite, and shall thereby be empowered to administer His
Sacraments and act as almoners of His blessing. but it is most important
that the people should remember that they receive all Sacraments from
the hand of Christ Himself, and that the Priest is but an instrument in
that hand.”
Among students of Church history widely
divergent views are held about the origin of Holy Orders. The Roman
Church has always maintained that the three Orders (Bishop, Priest and
deacon) were instituted by Christ Himself, and that the first Bishops
were consecrated by the apostles. Presbyterians and others, not
themselves possessing the apostolic succession, contend that in the
earliest times Bishops and presbyters were synonymous terms. They
advance the idea that if a church was founded under Jewish influence its
officers were called elders, but if Gentile influence predominated, the
name of Bishop was used. Some of them attached great importance to the
tactual succession, but consider that it is conveyed through the
unbroken line of presbyters from Christ's day to this, and that there is
consequently no need of the intervention of the Bishop. Bishop Lightfoot
wrote a painstaking and scholarly essay on the question, taking the view
that the priesthood and the diaconate were probably first instituted,
and that the episcopate was added very soon afterwards, as the needs of
the growing Church required it. When St. Ignatius wrote in the year A.D.
107 the three orders of Bishops, Priests and deacons were already
considered necessary to the very name of a Church.
A document called the Didache, or
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, to which reference is made in the
writings of some of the Fathers, was rediscovered in 1883 by Bryennios,
the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Nicomedia. In this treatise there are
some obscure passages bearing on this subject, which suggest that the
earliest Orders were apostles, prophets and teachers, who were appointed
charismatically or by direct inspiration, but that in addition to this
there was a local and administrative ministry. The date and origin of
the Didache, however, are unknown, though it must have been a
very early production, and some writers are therefore not disposed to
attach much weight to it. Bishop Gore, for example, speaks of it as
emanating from a semi-Christian community, and Dr. Swete says that at
best it illustrates the practice of some remote Church, and its
trustworthiness as a historical monument has been called in question.
It appears to be true that in the earliest
days of the Church there existed bodies of believers (indeed, one such
is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles) who were unacquainted with
sacramental rites, though some fragments of the preaching of the Christ
had penetrated to them. It is quite possible that the Didache may
represent the belief of such a body. The Rev. A. E. J. Rawlinson, in his
essay in the will known book Foundations, graphically describes the
position of the argument as one of stalemate. The historical evidence
available is insufficient to prove any of the theories. On p. 384 he
says: “All are more or less legitimate interpretations of the evidence;
none is certainly demonstrable.” That fairly sums up the result of the
large amount of minute and careful study which has been devoted to the
question. Those who wish to read for themselves an impartial statement
by scholars whose learning gives weight to their opinions may be
referred to Essays on the Early History of the Church and the
Ministry, edited by Dr. Swete. I select the following remarks from
those of the editor, when epitomizing in his preface the conclusions at
which the essayists arrive: “Primitive Christianity recognized . . . no
assured gifts of grace outside the Catholic community. In the earlier
stage the Bishop is a presbyter distinguished from other presbyters by
his power of ordination. The theory of a charismatic ministry based upon
the Didache is found to have no support from St. Paul's Epistles.
It was the Gnostic peril of the second century which gave prominence to
the principle of apostolic succession. When Gnosticism laid claim to a
secret tradition derived from the apostles, the Catholic Church replied
by pointing to churches whose Bishops could show an unbroken succession
from apostolic founders. There is no ground for thinking that prophets
were ever admitted to the presbyterate without ordination.” Another book
on the subject is The Government of the Church in the first Century,
by the Rev. William Moran; and a clear, terse statement of the Roman
doctrine will be found in the article on Holy Orders in The Catholic
Encyclopædia, from which I extract the following paragraph:
“The New Testament does not clearly show
the distinction between presbyters and Bishops, and we must examine its
evidence in the light of later times. Towards the end of the second
century there is a universal and unquestioned tradition that Bishops and
their superior authority date from Apostolic times. Towards the end of
the second century there is a universal and unquestioned tradition that
Bishops and their superior authority date from Apostolic times. It
throws much light on the New-Testament evidence, and we find that what
appears distinctly at the time of Ignatius can be traced through the
pastoral epistles of St. Paul, to the very beginning of the history of
the Mother Church at Jerusalem, where St. James, the brother of the
Lord, appears to occupy the position of Bishop. Timothy and Titus
possess full episcopal authority, and were ever thus recognized in
tradition. No doubt there is much obscurity in the New Testament, but
this is accounted for by many reasons. The monuments of tradition never
give us the life of the Church in all its fullness, and we cannot expect
this fullness, with regard to the internal organization of the Church
existing in Apostolic times, from the cursory references in the
occasional writings of the New Testament. The position of Bishops would
necessarily be much less prominent than in later times. The supreme
authority of the Apostles, the great number of charismatically gifted
persons, the fact that various Churches were ruled by Apostolic
delegates who exercised episcopal authority under Apostolic direction,
would prevent that special prominence. The union between Bishops and
presbyters was close, and the names remained interchangeable long after
the distinction between presbyters and Bishops was commonly recognized,
e.g., in Iren., Adv. hæres, IV, xxvi, 2. Hence it would
seem that already, in the New Testament, we find, obscurely no doubt,
the same ministry which appears so distinctly afterwards,”
Clairvoyant investigation into those early
periods absolutely confirms the contention of the Roman Church.1
In the minds of those who have learnt how to look back into the
indelible records of the past there can be no doubt whatever that the
Christ definitely intended and founded 2 the three Orders of
His Church; so for them this historical discussion is not of primary
interest. They know that there has been no break in the apostolic
succession, but they also know that the Gnostics were right in claiming
the existence of a secret tradition—that the Christ, not only after His
resurrection but even after His ascension, taught His apostles many
things concerning the kingdom of heaven, and that of these “many things”
some at least were by His order kept secret among the members of the
Essene community to which He had belonged. The further explanation of
all this, however, belongs rather to our later volume on Christian
doctrine.
There are two groups of Orders in the
Christian Church as it stands to-day—the minor and the major; and there
is a preliminary stage leading up to each group. The minor Orders are
four, and the ancient names may be translated as doorkeeper, reader,
exorcist and acolyte. The preliminary step leading up to the first of
these is the cleric.
The major Orders of the Church are
three—deacon, Priest and Bishop. The step leading from the minor group
to the major is that of the subdeacon. Let us tabulate them that we may
have them clearly in mind.
Minor Orders
|
Major Orders
|
Preliminary step: Cleric |
Preliminary step: Subdeacon |
1. Doorkeeper |
1. Deacon |
2. Reader |
2. Priest |
3. Exorcist |
3. Bishop |
4. Acolyte |
|
These three last-mentioned are the only
Orders universally recognized in the Church—the only Orders in the true
and higher sense that they put the recipient in relation with the Christ
as His representative, and confer definite powers. Minor Orders have
their uses, but they do not do that, nor are they part of Christ's
original institution, as are the major Orders.
There are many ways in which laymen can
help in the Service of the Church, and it is a natural and beautiful
idea that those who devote themselves to such work, as regularly and
constantly as their worldly occupations will allow, should receive the
Church's especial blessing on their labours. It was in this manner that
minor Orders originally arose. They were not then intended as stages of
progress, nor was it expected that any one man should pass through all
of them; but each man was blessed for the work that he undertook to do.
The doorkeeper had his little blessing, the lay-reader had his. Those
who were found to be men of great faith and strong will, and so capable
of curing cases of obsession, received a benediction which was aimed at
strengthening them still further for that work; while those who showed
especial devotion, purity and holiness of life were chosen and blessed
for the actual service of the Altar.
So these four Orders came into existence,
and it was only at a considerably later date that they were arranged in
their present order, and regarded as necessary or at any rate desirable
preliminaries to the greater Orders. Though the Roman Church places them
thus consecutively, her Services for these minor Orders take no note of
the fact, and are evidently relics of the time when each stood alone. In
the Liberal Catholic Church, we have thought it well to emphasize their
sequence, and to make clear the precise effect which each is intended to
produce. The charges put in the mouth of the Bishop in our Liturgy
explain this so well that it will be enough for our present purpose to
reproduce them almost without comment.
The Orders of Cleric
The cleric dedicates himself to the divine
service, and is willing to make some sacrifice for it; go give up a good
deal of his spare time, for example, to helping in religious work, or to
put aside worldly ambition in order to devote himself to the needs of
the sanctuary. In older days he cut off his hair as a token of this
readiness to sacrifice, for at that time long and scented hair was
considered a great glory. The real reason for the tonsure, which however
was never mentioned and probably not even widely known, was to leave
uncovered the force-centre at the top of the head (the gateway to which
we referred when considering the Sacrament of Baptism) so that there
might be not even the slightest hindrance in the way of the psychic
force which in their meditations the candidates were intended to try to
arouse.
In the charge which he gives to the
clerics the Bishop outlines for them the whole course which lies before
those who wish to take minor Orders, laying stress upon the control and
care of the physical body which marks this first step on the upward
path. He speaks as follows:
Those who in ancient days desired to
dedicate their lives to the service of Christ's holy church were
admitted, as a preliminary step, to this Order of Cleric. Being set
apart from the life of the world, they were admonished to put away
worldly distractions and secular desire, the abandonment of which, as
typified by outer adornment of the person, was indicated by the shaving
of hair from the head and the relinquishment of secular garb.
You, who now come before us, are
likewise minded to dedicate yourselves to the service of Christ, and
desire to enter this ancient Order that you may receive help and
instruction in preparing yourselves for the life of service. In these
later days it is no longer necessary to be tonsured or to wear a special
dress outside of the Church; but none the less is it true that he who
wishes faithfully to serve the Christ must set himself apart from the
world, in that considerations of Christ's work must take pre-eminence
over the fulfilment of merely personal desires.
In this grade of cleric you set before
yourselves a great and glorious ideal—to become fellow-workers with God,
to co-operate in His Plan for the perfecting of His creation. For this
you must both learn self-control and acquire additional powers. Instead
of allowing your body to direct and enslave you, you should endeavour to
live for the soul. Wherefore as a first step you must learn in this
grade of cleric to control, and rightly to express yourselves through,
the physical body, as in the next stage, that of doorkeeper, it will be
your duty to control and rightly to develop, the emotions, that whatever
power in them lies may be used for the service of God. In the grade of
reader you are taught to take in hand the powers of the mind and devote
those also to God's service. Having thus diligently laboured at the
training of the body, the emotions and the mind, you enter upon a higher
phase of your work, and in the Order of Exorcist you develop more
definitely the power of the will, that you may conquer evil in
yourselves and such evil suggestions as may be imposed upon you from
outside; also you will now the better be able to help others to cast out
evil from their natures. Above the grade of exorcist lies that of
acolyte, wherein your task is to quicken the intuition and to open
yourselves to all manner of spiritual influence.
Beyond these grades, which among us are
intended for the many, there lies for the few a higher, though straiter
service in which the man is to set himself wholly apart for the service
of the Christ, and, having passed the probationary grade of subdeacon,
enters upon the greater Orders of deacon and Priest. but even should you
elect not to enter upon this higher path, yet happy indeed will you be,
for even in the minor Orders you will have unfolded many powers within
yourselves, and with those powers rightly developed and trained will be
able to offer acceptable service to Him in whose service there is
perfect freedom.
In this Order of Cleric, then, you must
learn self-control with regard to the body. It must be trained to habits
of accuracy and neatness; it must be kept in perfect health, and
cleanliness, and you must see that it devotes its energies to God's
service, not in disorderliness and selfishness, but in harmony and
rhythm. In your gesture, in your manner and your speech, strive to show
forth the ideal of beauty, never forgetting that our physical bodies are
the temple of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, as you learn to respect your own
body, so must you scrupulously respect the bodies of others, picturing
them ever as the temple of the eternal Beauty.
The charge being ended, the candidates
kneel before the Bishop, who rises and says:
O Lord Christ, who art ever ready to
receive and to strengthen the earnest aspirations of Thy children, look
down in Thy love upon these Thy servants who desire to become worthy to
serve Thee as clerics in Thy holy Church. Sanctify them, O Lord, with
Thy heavenly grace, that growing continually in virtue they can rightly
practice the duties of their office and so be found acceptable in Thy
sight, O Thou great King of Love, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
R. Amen
The ordinands kneel before the Bishop in
succession. He places his right hand on the head of each, as he says:
In the Name of Christ our Lord, I admit
thee to the Order of Cleric.
The Bishop places a surplice on each of
the ordinands, saying to him:
I clothe thee with the vesture of
holiness, and do admonish thee diligently to develop the powers that are
in thee, that thy service may be of good effect.
Having ordained the several candidates, he
blesses the new clerics in the following words:
The blessing of God Almighty, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost come down upon you, that you may
rightly fulfil that which to-day you have undertaken. R. Amen
The Order of Doorkeeper
The special object set before the
doorkeeper for attainment is a general purification and control of the
emotional side of his nature. The bishop's charge to him is as follows:
It was the duty of the doorkeeper in olden
times to ring the church bells, to open the church at the appointed
times to the faithful but to keep it even closed to unbelievers, to open
the book for the preacher and to guard with diligence the church
furniture, lest any should be lost. In our time these functions no
longer appertain to the Order of Doorkeeper, but rather do we treat them
as symbolical and invest them with a moral significance. It will thus be
your duty as doorkeepers to keep the keys of your heart, to open the
heart at all times for the expression of that which is noble and good,
but sternly to keep it closed against evil and unworthy suggestions. As
it is your duty to keep your own heart, so should you also seek to
predispose the hearts of others to things which are beautiful, and seek
in persuasive language to set forth to them the attractiveness of noble
ideals. Thus may you, in these days, discharge the duties of service
which marked the work of our earlier brethren.
In this degree you learn control of the
emotions and passions, as before you learned to master the crude
instincts of the physical body. There are those who have thought of
emotions as necessarily evil, and have taught others to uproot it from
the nature. Not for you is it to think thus. God had given us the power
to feel emotion, and it, too, is a power which can become mighty in His
service. At whatever stage a man's emotions may be, they represent the
working of the divine power within him, and should not be suppressed,
but raised and consecrated to the service of God. If through
carelessness or selfishness the emotions have been allowed to become
self-centered, it is our duty not to kill them out, but to purify and
raise them; to substitute for devotion to our own pleasure devotion to
God and humanity; to put aside, as far as may be, affection for self for
the affection that gives, caring nothing for any return; not to ask
love, but to give love. Hence it is your task as doorkeepers to train
your emotions, laying them as a gift on Christ's holy Altar, that they
too may be used in His service.
The Bishop then formally admits them to
the Order, and hands each in turn a key and a bell. Each ordinand locks
and unlocks the door of the church and rings the bell thrice. The Bishop
says to him:
Like as he who bears the key throws open
the church for the use of all mankind, so shalt thou throw open the
doors of thy heart for the service of thy brethren. And as he who rings
the bell summons men to divine worship, so by the force of good example
shalt thou also summon men to the service of God.
The Order Of Reader
As in the last stage the candidate is
intended to learn to control his emotional nature, so in this stage it
is his business to learn to wield the forces of the mind, and the power
which the Bishop pours into him is specially directed to strengthen him
for that purpose. So the charge runs:
We learn from ancient tradition that it
belonged to the reader in olden times to read for him who was about to
preach, to intone the lessons, to bless bread and all first-fruits. The
passage of time has stripped the office of reader of these duties and
its functions, but it is still of the essence of his office that he
dedicate the gift of his mind to the glory of God. You have learned in
the preceding Orders that you should control the physical body and train
the emotions for service; and you will have seen from experience that in
so far as your affection has been bestowed upon others you have greatly
helped to develop affection in them. It is now your duty at once to
train your own mind and to influence for good the minds of others. As
you have had to conquer and control wrong tendencies of emotion, so now
is it also necessary to discipline your thought; for just as you know
that the physical body is not yourself, nor your emotions, however
glorious and beautiful they may be, so also the mind is not you. Your
thought is a power, splendid and great, given to you for the service of
God; it also has to be your servant and not your master. It needs
careful training. and that training is the especial purpose of this step
you are about to take. You will find yourself prone to wandering
thought; this you must conquer. You must develop within yourself the
power of concentration, that you may study effectively and communicate
the results of that study to others.
As you had to learn to purify emotion,
so also must your mind be pure. As you learned to perceive the necessity
for physical cleanliness, or to throw off with repugnance the lower
emotions, so also must you thrust away unworthy thought, remembering
that all thought is unworthy that is impure, selfish, mean or base;
such, for example, as would seek for flaws instead of gems in thinking
of the character or work of another. All such thought is impure beside
the white light of the thought of the Christ, Who is our pattern and
perfect ensample. Wherefore as a reader it is your duty to train and
develop the powers of your mind, to study and fit yourself that you may
help to train and develop the minds of others.
The prayer and the form of admission are
as before, and the Bishop hands a book to each ordinand, saying:
Study diligently the Sacred Science,
that thou mayest the better be able to devote thy mind and all its
powers to the service of God.
The Order Of Exorcist
The ordination of the cleric is intended
to act principally on the etheric body, that of the doorkeeper on the
astral, and that of the reader or lector on the mental. Continuing the
sequence, the ordination of the exorcist is aimed at the causal body,
and is intended to develop the will and to give the soul fuller control
of the lower vehicle. The Bishop's exhortation is as follows:
It was the duty of the exorcist in the
ancient Church to cast out devils, to warn the people that
non-communicants should make room for those who were going to communion,
and to pour out the water needed in divine service. The book of exorcism
was handed to him with the words: “Take and commit this to memory, and
receive the power to lay hands on demoniacs, whether they be baptized or
catechumens.” The candidate was admonished that as he cast out devils
from the bodies of others he should rid his own mind and body of all
uncleanness and wickedness, lest he be overcome by those whom he drove
out of others by his ministry. For then only would he be able safely to
exercise mastery over the demons in others, when he should first have
overcome their manifold wickedness within himself.
Such exorcism as is now performed in
the Church is undertaken only by those who have been ordained Priest,
and even for them a special authorization is usually required; also with
the passage of time the other duties attaching to the office of exorcist
have fallen into abeyance. Moreover, our conception of these matters is
different in some respects from that entertained in former times. Men of
old thought of temptation as being due to the attacts of demons from
without. But in truth this not generally so. There lies behind each one
of us a past which, since we are growing in grace, must have been less
desirable than the present. There are habits, very instinct, built into
the bodies, which rise against us when we try to live the higher life.
This which we try to conquer is not a devil of great power attaching us
from outside, not is it even inherent wickedness in ourselves. It is the
consequence and relic of earlier action permitted in days of ignorance.
In the grade of exorcist it is your duty by strenuous effort to develop
the power of will, and by it exercise to cast out from yourselves the
evil spirit of separateness and selfishness. Having learned to control
your own evil habits, you will have greater power to help others to cast
out the evil from themselves, not only by example but by precept, and
even by direct action on our part. In olden times it was often true and
still in rare cases remains true, that, through weakness or by
persistence in evil, men allow their bodies to become obsessed or
partially controlled by evil spirits. To some, especial power and
authority is given to hold unclean spirits in check and to cast out this
evil influence from the bodies of others. There are some, too, who
possess the gift of healing, and are able by the virtue flowing from
then to alleviate suffering and sooth afflictions of the body; this gift
may likewise be strengthened in the Order of Exorcist; indeed, in
ancient times the exorcist was regarded as a healer in the Church.
Wherefore, dearly beloved sons, strive
diligently in this new office to which you are called to exercise
mastery over yourselves, that you may the more effectively help others
to gain a similar mastery over their weakness.
The symbols handed by the Bishop to the
ordinand are in this case a sword and a book, and as he given them he
says:
Take this sword for a symbol of the
will, and this book for a symbol of knowledge, whereby thou shalt be
strong in the warfare of the spirit.
The Order Of Acolyte
This is assuredly the most important of
the four minor Orders, not only because it qualifies its recipient for
direct service at the Altar, but because its special outpouring of force
is intended to develop and stimulate within him the power of the higher
intuition. The charge is this:
It was the duty of the acolyte in olden
times to carry the candlestick, to light the tapers and lamps of the
church, and to present wine and water for the eucharistic offering.
These duties are no longer confined to the acolyte, but are usually
discharged by lay boys or men; therefore, as in the case of the previous
Orders, we treat the duties as symbolical and invest them with a moral
significance. Where the acolyte served before the Altar of the church
you now serve before the altar of the human heart, on which each man
must truly offer himself as a sacrifice to God. You will have noticed
that in the former degrees the training consisted partly in the
cultivation of your own powers, but also in learning to exercise those
powers for the helping of others. Assuredly this training through which
you have passed were vain did it not lead you for Christ's sake to
consecrate your powers to wider interests of humanity. Remember the
words of the Christ, how He said: “Whosoever will be chief among you let
him be your servant: even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister.” Wherefore as you are about to offer yourself to
Him to be enrolled in the fellowship of those who seek to be in very
truth spiritual servers of the world, do you endeavour in singleness of
heart to perform the office you now undertake. For then only will you
meetly present wine and water to be used at the sacrifice of God, when
by the continual practice of unselfishness you shall have offered
yourself as an acceptable sacrifice to God.
In the ancient symbolism of this Order
the candidate, in addition to receiving a cruet as the visible token of
this sacrifice, is also given a candlestick with a candle, and told that
he is bound to light the lights of the church in the Name of the Lord.
That lighting of lights may be your duty in the literal sense, and it
should bear ever with you the spiritual light of Christ's holy Presence,
and strive to enkindle that sense of His Presence within the hearts of
your brethren, who form the great catholic Church of humanity. In many
forms of religious faith light has been taken as a symbol of Deity—the
Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That Light is
universal, but it also dwells in the heart of man. It is our duty to see
that Light in every one, however dimly it may burn, however veiled and
darkened it may appear to our ordinary perception. And having learned
thus to recognize the Light both in ourselves and in others, we may help
them to cause that radiance of their inner Divinity to shine forth in
its pristine glory and splendour, till the Light within becomes one with
the universal Light without. To this end, indeed, are we constantly
admonished in the words of the Christian Scriptures: “Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father who is in heaven.” “They that be wise shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament, but they that turn many to righteousness as
the stars for ever and ever.” Or as the Apostle Paul Speaks: “In the
midst of 'a crooked and perverse generation' among whom shine ye as
stars in the world.” Or again: “Let then your loins be girded about and
lamps burning in your hands, that ye may be children of light.” “For ye
were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as
children of light.”
This degree of acolyte is intended to
help you to quicken your spiritual faculties, and especially the
intuition through which the light of the divine love and wisdom may
lighten your understanding. As you fulfil worthily your ministry by
helping others, so shall you be helped by those Great Ones, whose ears
are never deaf, whose hearts are never closed against the world They
love.
At the end of his charge the Bishop
presents to each ordinand two objects; first, a candlestick with a
lighted candle in it, with the words: “As thou dost bear this visible
light, so shalt thou ever shed around thee the brightness of the divine
Light”; and secondly, a cruet, saying: See to it that thou dost pour out
thy life in union with the great Sacrifice by which the world is
maintained.”
It will be seen that with us the minor
Orders represent a series of definite opportunities for spiritual
progress. A common custom in later centuries has been to confer them all
on the same day; but one can see that they might effectively be
separated by periods of some months, during which the candidate might
make a determined effort towards the unfoldment of the characteristics
required by each stage, and might be assisted therein by selected
meditations, by special advice, or by a course of classes or lectures.
The admission into one of these Orders cannot of course confer the
qualities assigned to it; but the Bishop, as he lays his hand on the
head of the ordinand, pours into him a current of force calculated to
stimulate their growth, and to provide a reservoir of energy upon which
the recipient can draw for that purpose.
As stated in our Liturgy, lay boys or men
are now frequently permitted to serve at the Altar, and a little Service
for the admission of a layman to that office is provided in our
prayer-book; but when at all possible it is eminently desirable that
those who do so should take these minor Orders, that they may be to some
extent set apart for the holy work which they are privileged to do. It
is obvious, however, that no one should be recommended for such Orders
unless he is known to be of good character and really devoted to the
work of the Church.
It is appropriate that those who have
taken one or other of these steps should, while taking part in the
Services of the Church, wear some small badge or token of their
Order—say, a key for the door-keeper, a book for the lector, a sword for
the exorcist, a sun with rays for the acolyte. Such badges might either
be embroidered on silk and attached to the surplice or cotta, or made of
metal and suspended by a chain or ribbon.
We come now to the consideration of the
greater Orders of the Church—those which definitely confer power.
Putting aside the subdiaconate, which is purely preparatory and confers
no power, these major Orders are three—Bishop, Priest and deacon. The
deacon is practically a kind of apprentice or assistant Priest. He has
not yet the power to consecrate the Sacrament, to bless the people or to
forgive their sins; he may baptize children, but, as I have already
explained, even a layman is permitted to do that in case of emergency.
After a year in the diaconate he is eligible for ordination as a Priest,
and it is this second ordination which confers upon him the fuller power
to draw forth the force from the reservoir to which I have already
referred. To him is then given the power to consecrate the Host and also
various other objects, to bless the people in the Name of the Christ,
and to pronounce the forgiveness of their sins. In addition to all these
powers, the Bishop has that of ordaining other Priests, and so carrying
on the apostolic succession. He alone has the right to administer the
rite of Confirmation and to consecrate a church, that is to say, to set
it apart for the service of God. These three are the only Orders which
mean definite grades, separated from one another by ordinations which
confer different powers. You may hear many titles applied to Christian
clergy, such as those of Archbishop, archdeacon, dean, canon,
prebendary, rector or vicar, but these are only the titles of offices,
and involve differences of duty, but not of grade in the sense of
spiritual power.
The clergy exist for the benefit of the
world; they are intended to act as channels for the distribution of
God's grace. Priests and Bishops have sometimes forgotten that primary
fact, and have yielded to the temptation to seek power for themselves
and for the branch of the Church to which they belong. Their duty is to
explain the truth as they see it and to offer guidance and advice where
it is needed; never under any circumstances have they the right to
attempt to dominate the minds of others, or force them into any course
of action. Any branch of the Church which entangles itself in politics
thereby betrays its spiritual heritage and departs from the path which
our Lord has marked out for it; and in so doing it lays itself open to
the just condemnation of honest and right-thinking men.
I fear there is little doubt that the
great Roman Church has laid herself open to this charge in the past, and
is even now open to it in various parts of the world. The condition
existing in the Middle Ages is well expressed in a recent book of
considerable influence. “The Roman pontiff, clinging to political
claims, unable to conceive the Church's function as essentially
spiritual, became merely one in a crowd of jostling monarchs. The Church
became one of the great powers of Europe, and fell into grave danger of
ceasing to be the channel of the power of God. The energies and genius
of faithful churchmen were required in the service of upholding her
political interests, bargaining and plotting with the mob of diplomats,
winning worldly allies, brow-beating weak foes and fawning upon strong
ones. The Church began to look as if she were existing for her own sake,
and for her own sake not as the Bride of Christ, but as a political and
financial corporation whose hand was at one time or another against
every nation, and every nation's hand against her.”
Most sincerely do I hope, most firmly do I
trust, that our Liberal Catholic Church, which begins its career under
such benign auspices, may never thus be false to Christ our Lord and
Master; for His kingdom is not of this world; His throne is the heart of
man.
The grace of God is the life of God, and
it is poured incessantly upon the world in many ways and at many levels.
It is one of the purposes of every religion to provide its people with
channels for this outpouring, and to prepare them to take full advantage
of it. It is obviously the will of God that as His people climb higher
and higher up the ladder of evolution, and so learn to see Him more
clearly and to comprehend His plan better, they should have the
opportunity and the privilege of co-operating in this mighty and
wonderful scheme of His. To understand how they can do this we need a
little knowledge of what may be called the physics of the higher
worlds—the laws under which these mighty forces act, and the way in
which advantage can be taken of them.
On every plane of His solar system God
pours forth His light, His power, His life; and naturally it is on the
higher planes that this outpouring of divine strength can be given most
fully. The descent from each plane to that next below it means an almost
paralysing imitation—a limitation entirely incomprehensible except to
those who have experienced the higher possibilities of human
consciousness. Thus the divine life flows forth with incomparably
greater fullness at the mental level than at the astral; and yet even
its glory in the mental world is ineffably transcended by that at the
intuitional level. Normally each of these wondrous waves of influence
spreads about its appropriate plane (horizontally, as it were), but it
does not pass into the obscuration of a world lower than that for which
it was originally intended.
Yet there are conditions under which the
grace and strength peculiar to a higher plane may in a measure be
brought down to a lower level, and may be spread abroad there with
wonderful effect. Repeated experiment and long-continued patient
investigation show us that this happens only when a special channel is
for the moment opened; and that work must be done from below and by the
effect of man. When a man's thought or feeling is selfish, the energy
which it produces moves in a closed curve, and thus inevitably returns
and expends itself upon its own level; but when the thought or feeling
is absolutely unselfish, its energy rushes forth in an open curve, and
thus does not return in the ordinary sense, but pierces through
into the plane above, because only in that higher condition, with its
additional dimension, can it find room for its expansion.
But in thus breaking though, such a
thought or feeling may be said to hold open a door of size equivalent to
its own diameter, and thus furnishes the requisite channel through which
the divine force appropriate to the higher plane can pour itself into
the lower with marvellous results, not only for the thinker but for
others. An infinite flood of the higher type of force is always ready
and waiting to pour through when the channel is offered, just as the
water in a cistern may be said to be waiting to pour through the first
pipe that may be opened. The result of such a descent of the divine life
is not only a great strengthening and uplifting of the maker of the
channel, but also the radiation all about his of a most powerful and
beneficial influence. This effect has often been described as an answer
to prayer, and has been attributed by the ignorant to what they call a
special interposition of providence, instead of to the unerring action
of the great and immutable divine law.
It will be readily understood that the
great Saints and Angels have a power of devotion far above our own, and
that their efforts can reach higher levels than we can at present hope
to attain. There have been Saints in all religions, and for millenniums
these great ones have been flooding the world with spiritual power of
the most exalted type, so that what may be called a great reservoir of
such force has been formed, which is under certain conditions available
for the helping and uplifting of humanity. Many holy men and women,
especially those of the contemplative orders, devote themselves all
unconsciously to this work; and even we, in our humbler way, may share
that glorious privilege.
Tiny though our efforts may be as compared
with the splendid outpouring of force of the Saint or Angel, we also can
add our little drops to the great store in that reservoir, and we can do
it by the unselfish love or devotion of which I have just written. Not
only does such a thought or feeling hold open the door of heaven, as I
have described, but the grandest and noblest part of its force ascends
to the very throne of God Himself, and the magnificent response of
benediction which instantly pours forth from Him falls into that
reservoir for the helping of mankind. So that it is within the power of
every one of us, even the weakest and the poorest, to help the world in
this most beautiful manner. It is this adding to the reservoir of
spiritual force which is the truth that lies behind the curious idea of
works of supererogation.
The arrangement made by the Christ with
regard to His new religion was that of a kind of special compartment of
that reservoir should be reserved for its use, and that a set of
officials should be empowered by the use of certain special ceremonies,
certain words and sign of power, to draw upon it for the spiritual
benefit of their people.
The scheme adopted for passing on the
power is what is called ordination, and thus we see at once the real
meaning of the doctrine of the apostolic succession, about which there
has been so much of argument. To this I shall return later.
The economy and efficiency of the whole
plane of the Christ depend upon the fact that much greater powers can
easily be arranged for a small body of men, who are spiritually prepared
to receive them, then could possibly be universally distributed without
a waste of energy which could not be contemplated for a moment. In the
Hindu religion, for example, every man is a priest for his own
household, and therefore we have to deal with millions of such priests
of all possible varieties of temperament, and not in any way specially
prepared. In Christianity the scheme of the ordination of the Priests
gives a greater power to a limited number, who have by that very
ordination been specially set apart for the work.
Carrying the same principle a little
further, still higher powers are given to a still smaller number—the
Bishops. They are made channels for the force which confers ordination,
and for the much smaller manifestation of the same force which
accompanies the rite of Confirmation. The hidden side of these
ceremonies is always of great interest to the student of the realities
of life. There are many cases now, unfortunately, where all these things
are mere matters of form, and though that does not prevent their result,
it does minimize it; but where the old forms are used as they were meant
to be used, the unseen effect is out of all proportion to anything that
is visible in the physical world.
It is by this Sacrament of Holy Orders
that a man is endowed with power to draw for certain definite purposes
upon the reservoir of which I have written. The three stages of deacon,
Priest and Bishop represent three degrees of this power, and at the same
time three degrees of connection with the Lord. Each ordination confers
its own special powers, and as the ordinand rises from one rank in the
Church to the other he draws nearer and nearer to his great Master the
Christ. He comes more and more closely into touch, and he controls more
and more of the mighty reservoir. In that reservoir itself there are
different levels and different degrees of power. The working of the
whole scheme can be to some extent indicated or symbolized by a diagram,
and we shall presently try to help our comprehension of it by that
means; but naturally anything in the nature of a mechanical drawing can
only very faintly adumbrate what is really taking place. For all these
forces are living and divine; and though there is a mechanical side to
their working, there is always also another which can never be portrayed
by drawings or by words.
This
reserved portion of the reservoir is not easy to describe. It extends
through several planes or states of matter, and if we try to represent
it by a form confined to our three dimensions, the nearest we can come
to an expression of it is a vast bell-shaped object not unlike a
Buddhist dagoba. (Diagram 10.) It is divided into three parts, which we
have labeled A, B and C. The ordination of a deacon puts him in touch
with the rim of the bell, marked C, and enables him to draw strength
from it—strength, primarily, for his own progress and for his
preparation for the reception of that which is to come; yet he may also
to some extent pass it on to others by an effort of his will, and so he
can help people both astrally and mentally.
But it is at the next stage, that of the
priesthood, that the real power begins. The Priest draws from the part
marked B, the main body of the form; by his ordination the ego (or soul)
has been more definitely awakened, and thus he can act directly upon
other souls at the level of the causal body. It is this relation which
gives him the power to straighten out the distortion caused by deviation
from the path of right, and so it is said that he can remit sin. In him
also is vested the power to bless, and to offer the sacrifice of the
Holy Eucharist. The strength which the Priest brings down is not for
himself, but for the flock which is committed to his care.
The spire of the dagoba, the handle of the
bell-form (marked A ) reaches up into the intuitional and spiritual
planes; and it is upon this that the episcopate can draw. The Bishop is
intended to be a veritable manifestation of the Christ principle,
capable of radiating that upon all with whom he comes into contact. The
power for good which lies within his reach is not easily to be
exaggerated.
so there are two aspects of ordination—the
gift of the Holy Ghost, which provides the key to the reservoir, and the
personal link of the Christ Himself with His minister. The former of
these is the official connection which enable a Priest, for example, to
consecrate the Host and to dispense absolution and blessing. This is the
irreducible minimum of power, which is equally possessed by all properly
ordained Priests, and is quite independent of their acquirements in
other directions—their spiritual or devotional development, for example,
or their comprehension of the mechanism of the Sacraments which they
administer—just as a man may be a rapid and accurate telegraphist, even
though he does no know what electricity is, and though his moral
character is not above reproach.
Many people think this strange, because
they have not grasped the nature of the Priest's relation to the
Sacrament. If the Host were a talisman into which he had to put his
personal magnetism, obviously the nature of that magnetism would be
all-important. There is, however, here no question of magnetization, but
of the due performance of a certain ceremony, in which the character of
the performer has nothing to do with the matter. If the faithful had to
institute an exhaustive enquiry into the private character of a Priest
before they could feel certain of the validity of the Sacraments
received from his hands, an element of intolerable uncertainty would be
introduced, which would practically render inutile this
wondrously-conceived device of the Christ for the the helping of His
people. He has not planned His gracious gift so ineptly as that. To
compare great things to small, to attend a celebration of the Holy
Eucharist is like going to a bank to draw out a sum of money in gold;
the tellers' hands may be clean or dirty, and assuredly cleanliness is
preferable to dirt; but we obtain the gold all the same in either case.
It is obviously better from all points of view that the Priest should be
a man of noble character and deep devotion, and should thoroughly
understand, so far as mortal man may, the stupendous mystery which he
administers; but whether all this be so or not, the key which unlocks a
certain door has been placed in his hands, and it is the opening of the
door which chiefly concerns us.
I cannot do better than repeat here some
part of what I wrote in The Hidden Side of Things on this
subject, when I first investigated it:
“First, only those Priests who have been
lawfully ordained, and have the apostolic succession, can produce this
effect at all. Other men, not being part of this definite organization,
cannot perform this feat, no matter how devoted or good or saintly they
may be. Secondly, neither the character of the Priest, nor his knowledge
or ignorance as to what he is really doing, affects the result in any
way whatever.
“If one thinks of it, neither of these
statements ought to seem to us in any way astonishing, since it is
obviously a question of being able to perform a certain action, and only
those who have passed through a certain ceremony have received the gift
of the ability to perform it. Just in the same way, in order to be able
to speak to a certain set of people one must know their language, and a
man who does not know that language cannot communicate with them, no
matter how good and earnest and devoted he may be. Also his ability to
communicate with them is not affected by his private character, but only
by the one fact that he has, or has not, the power to speak to them
which is conferred by knowledge of their language. I do not for a moment
say that these other considerations are without their due effect; I
shall come to that later, but what I do say is that no one can draw upon
this particular reservoir unless he has received the power to do so
which comes from a due appointment given according to the direction left
by the Christ.
“I think that we can see a very good
reason why precisely this arrangement has been made. Some plan was
needed which should put a splendid outpouring of force within the reach
of every one simultaneously in thousands of churches all over the world.
Perhaps it might be possible for a man of most exceptional power and
holiness to call down through the strength of his devotion an amount of
higher force commensurate with that obtained through the rites which I
have described. But men of such exceptional power are always excessively
rare, and it could never at any time in the world's history have been
possible to find enough of them simultaneously to fill even one
thousandth part of the places where they are needed. But here is a plan
whose arrangement is to a certain extent mechanical; it is ordained that
a certain act when duly performed shall be the recognized method of
bringing down the force; and this can be done with comparatively little
training by anyone upon whom the power is conferred. A strong man is
needed to pump up water, but any child can turn on a tap. It needs a
strong man to make a door and to hang it in its place, but when it is
once on its hinges any child can open it.
“Being myself a Priest ordained in the
Church of England, and knowing how keen are the disputes as to whether
that Church really has the apostolic succession or not, I was naturally
interested in discovering whether its Priests possessed this power. I
was much pleased to find that they did; but I also soon found by
examination that ministers of what are commonly called dissenting sects
did not possess this power, no matter how good and earnest they might
be. Their goodness and earnestness produced plenty of other effects
which I shall presently describe, but their effects did not draw
upon the particular reservoir to which I have referred.
“I was especially interested in the case
of one such minister whom I knew personally to be a good and devout man,
and also a well-read student of the inner things. Here was a man who
knew much more about the real meaning of the act of consecration than
nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand of the Priests who
constantly perform it; and yet I am bound to admit that his best effort
did not produce this particular effect, while the others as
unquestionably did. (Once more, of course, he produced other things
which they did not—of which more anon.) If we think of it, we must see
that it could not have been otherwise. suppose, for example, that a
certain sum of money is left by a rich Freemason for distribution among
his poorer brethren, the law would never sanction the division of that
money among any others than the Freemasons for whom it was intended; and
the fact that other poor people outside the Masonic body might be more
devout or more deserving would not weigh with it in the slightest
degree.
“Another point which interested me greatly
was the endeavour to discover to what extent, of at all, the intention
of the Priest affected the result produced. In the Roman Church I found
many Priests who went through the ceremony somewhat mechanically, and as
a matter of daily duty, without any decided thought on the subject; but
whether from ingrained reverence or from long habit they always seemed
to recover themselves just before the moment of consecration and to
perform that act with a definite intention.
“I turned then to what is called the Low
Church divisions of the Anglican community to see what would happen with
them because I knew that many of them would reject altogether the name
of Priest, and though they might follow the rubric in performing the act
of consecration, their intention in doing it would be exactly the same
as that of ministers of various denominations outside the Chruch. Yet I
found that the Low Churchman could and did produce the effect, and that
the others outside did not. Hence I infer that the “intention” which is
always said to be required must be no more than the intention to do
whatever the Church means, without reference to the private opinion of
the particular Priest as to what that meaning is. Indeed, there was once
a Bishop so blatant in his ignorance as explicitly to state to his
unfortunate candidates for ordination that he did not ordain them as
sacrificing Priests, but only as gospel ministers. Yet even in a case so
extreme as this, his ill-directed will was unable to render nugatory
what his Church intended him to do. Verily it is true that all
Sacraments are received from the hands of Christ Himself, no matter how
weak and ignorant may be the instruments through whom they come. I have
no doubt that many people will think that all this ought to be quite
differently arranged, but I can only report faithfully what my
investigations have shown me to be the fact.
“I must not for a moment be understood as
saying that the devotion and earnestness, the knowledge and the good
character of the officiant make no difference. They make a great
difference; but they do not affect the power to draw from that
particular reservoir. When the Priest is earnest and devoted, his whole
feeling radiates out upon his people and calls forth similar feelings in
such of them as are capable of expressing them. Also his devotion calls
down its inevitable response, and the down-pouring of force thus evoked
benefits his congregation as well as himself; so that a Priest who
throws his heart and soul into the work which he does may be said to
bring a double blessing upon his people, though the second class of
influence can scarcely be considered as being of the same order of
magnitude as the first. This second outpouring, which is drawing down by
devotion itself, is of course to be found just as often outside the
Church as within in it.
The additional power of helpfulness which
the Priest may develop depends largely upon his cultivation of the
second gift which he receives at ordination—the personal link
established between himself and his Lord and Master. This also was
explained by the Christ to His apostles; He tells them that He has
prayed to his Father that they may be one with Him in the same way that
He is one with His Father. People think of such sayings quite vaguely,
and do not realize that they refer to definite scientific facts. Again
He says with absolute clearness: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the age.”
If we examine the inner side of the
ceremony of ordination, we shall see that there is a special sense in
which this promise is kept. It is not merely that there is the Christ
principle in the Priest, as there is in every man; so great is the
wonderful love, and condescension of the great World-Teacher that by the
act of ordination He draws His Priest into a close personal union with
Him, creating a definite link through which the divine force can flow,
making them channels for Him in imitation, at an almost infinitely lower
level, of the mysterious and wonderful way in which He is a channel for
the Second Aspect, the Second Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity. Of
course there are many Priests who are entirely unconscious of this;
unfortunately there are also many who so live as to make but little use
of the splendid possibility which this channel opens for them.
Nevertheless this statement is entirely true; and therefore to describe
Him as still present with His Church, is still definitely guiding those
who lay themselves open to His influence, is no mere figure of speech,
but the expression of a sublime reality.
A diagram cannot express this great
spiritual truth, but it may help us to understand a little of the method
of its working. Anything which does that has its value, because the fact
becomes more real to us when we are thus enabled to see a little more of
it. Those who have not yet opened within themselves the power of
clairvoyant sight cannot actually see these processes taking
place, as some of us can; but they can form their own opinion as to the
reasonableness of what is reported by those of us who do see, and they
can also obtain a good deal of corroborative evidence on various
points—sometimes from their own feelings, sometimes from those of
others. For those who know me I offer my assurance that all which is
here recorded is the result of oft-repeated observation and experiment,
so that I have no doubt of its accuracy as far as it goes.
I have remarked in an earlier chapter that
God made man in His own image, and that consequently the soul in man
shows a threefold manifestation corresponding at his level to the
threefold manifestation of the Deity; and also that in this case the
lower is not a mere reflection or symbol of the higher, but actually in
some way an expression of it.
The true man, the Monad (marked 1 in
Diagram 11), is a spark of the divine life existing on a plane to which,
because of that, we give the name of monadic. That plane is at present
beyond the reach of our clairvoyant investigation, and the highest which
any of us actually know of man from direct observation is the
manifestation of that Monad as the Triple Spirit a stage lower. Each of
the three aspects or division of this spirit has its own qualities and
characteristics. The first stays at ist own level, while the second
descends (or more correctly, moves outwards) to the intuitional plane;
the third moves down (or out) through two stages, and shows itself in
the higher part of the mental world as intelligence. It is these three
manifestations (numbered 2, 5 and 7 in the diagram) taken together which
constitute the soul or ego in man; it inhabits the causal body, and in
that body is often called the augoeides. It passes from life to life
unchanged, except for such development as may accrue to it from the good
deeds of each incarnation. Behind the principles marked 5 and 7 (the
intuition and the intelligence) there remain three others, in us still
latent and undeveloped, which are marked 3, 4 and 6 (fig. 1, Diagram
11). It must of course be understood that 2, 5 and 7, though not
actually latent like the others, are very far as yet from the full
development which they will attain in the perfected spirit. (Fig. 10,
Diagram 11.)
Christ our Lord is
Perfect Man, as we are told in the Anthanasian Creed. In Him also
therefore these principles exist in exactly the same order, but in His
case all are fully developed and mystically one with the Second Person
of the Ever-blessed Trinity. The second of the gifts conferred by
ordination is the linking of certain of these principles in the ordinand
with the corresponding principles of his Lord and Master, so that a
definite channel is made down which spiritual strength and wisdom will
flow, up to the fullest limit of the ordinand's receptivity.
This opening of a channel is so great a
departure form ordinary life that it can be done only by stages, and the
first step towards it is practically a psychic surgical operation. This
is performed in the ordination to the diaconate, while the subdiaconate
(Fig. 2, Diagram 11) is a time of preparation intended to bring the
patient into a condition favourable to the success of the operation. The
giving of the Holy Ghost described above, which confers priestly power,
is full, definite, final for each of its stages, and the same in all
cases; but this operation of linking the man to the Christ, while it can
never fail, may yet succeed more fully in one case than in another,
because of the subject's greater or less advancement along the path of
evolution, which governs the degree of his sensitiveness to the divine
influence. Also this sensitivity is cultivable; it can be very greatly
increased after ordination by earnest aspiration and devotion, and the
determined effort of the Priest to bring his human nature into harmony
with the divine Nature—to live the life of the Christ.
In the ordination of a deacon, (Fig. 3,
Diagram 11) the first drill is driven through the rock, and a definite
link is made, the intelligence (marked 7 in the diagram) being joined to
the corresponding principle in the Christ, so that the latter can
influence the former, and stir it into beneficent activity. It does not
at all follow that it will so affect it; that depends upon the
deacon; but at least the way is laid open, the communication is
established, and it is for him to make of it what he can. It is for him
to acquire as much knowledge as he can of these inner things of the
soul, and to strive earnestly to develop both the higher and the lower
mind within himself, that in both he may reflect and express the thought
of his Lord. “Let the same mind be in you which is also in Christ
Jesus.” He must endeavour to adapt himself to his new condition, to take
full advantage of the opportunity which is offered to him. So will he be
ready in due course to receive the higher benediction of the priestly
Order.
DIAGRAM 11—The Awakening of the Human
Principles at Ordination. In the diagram 1 represents the Monad; 2,
3 and 4 the Triple Spirit manifested in the spiritual world; 5 and 6 the
dual Intuitional nature in the intuition world; 7 the Intelligence in
the causal or soul body; 8, the link between the individual and the
personality; while 9 represents the mind in the mental body.
Fig. 1. In an intelligent and cultured
layman the causal body is only partially awakened. There may also be
slight awakening of the Intuition, 5, and even of the Spirit, 2. The
link, 8, between the individuality and the personality is slight.
Fig. 2. At the ordination of the
subdeaconate the connection, 8, is widened to prepare it for the
sudden expansion which takes place at the next ordination.
Fig. 3 At the ordination to the
deaconate the connection is widened to become a channel, and the
Intelligence, 7, is linked with the corresponding principle of the
Christ. Principle 5 may also in some case be awakened and made to low
slightly, thereby establishing a slight line of connection between it
and 7.
Fig. 4. At the first imposition of
hands in the ordination of the priesthood principle 2 and 5 are made
to glow, a line between 2 and 5 is established, while that already
existing between 5 and 7 is intensified. The glow is usually slight in 2
but more marked in 5. The channel 8 is widened.
Fig. 5. At the second imposition of
hands principle 5 in the new Priest is linked with that of the
Christ, while the link previously made with 7 is strengthened. The
oblique line between 2, 5 and 7 is intensified and 7 is opened still
more to permit the flow of more force coming from the oblique line.
Fig. 6. The development of an ideal
Priest is possible to a man of great determination who for years
works at strengthening the connection between his own principles and
those of the Christ. He can intensify the link made with 6 and 7, and
can arouse to vigorous action principles 2 and 5, thereby making himself
a channel of extraordinary power.
Fig. 7. At the consecration of a
Bishop, when the actual words of consecration are said, principles 4
and 5 are linked with the Christ, and the links already made with 6 and
7 greatly increased
Fig. 8. When the head of the Bishop is
anointed with chrism, his principles 2 and 3 glow out most
wonderfully. The three lines connecting principles 4, 6 and 7 indicate
that a Bishop can draw down into the causal body, and thus ray forth in
blessing, the threefold power of the Triple Spirit.
Fig. 9. The development of an ideal
Bishop is possible to one who takes advantage of every opportunity.
All of his principles become responsive channels to the power and love
of the Christ, and he becomes a veritable sun of spiritual energy and
blessing.
Fig. 10. The perfect man is not
only linked up with the Christ with his own Highest Self, the Monad, but
becomes ever more and more an epiphany of the Logos, the Deity, who
brought forth the solar system. He becomes the Master, for whom
incarnation is no longer necessary.
The responsibility of the Priest is far
greater, because so much more power is in his hands. For him the
connection is pushed a stage higher, and the hitherto latent principle
which we have numbered 6 is called into activity, and linked with that
of the Christ. (Fig. 5, Diagram 11.) This also involves a widening of
the tube from 7 which was previously opened, so that it can transmit a
far greater volume of power. Furthermore, another type of connection
comes into play, which is to the former as Marconi's discovery is to the
ordinary form of telegraphy. To clairvoyant vision a clearly
distinguishable line of fire links principles 6 and 7 in a Priest to his
Master; but in addition to this, the spirit and intuition in him (marked
2 and 5 in Fig. 4, Diagram 11) are made to glow by sympathetic vibration
in harmony with the blinding light of the corresponding principles in
his Lord.
This effect is usually but slight in the
case of the spirit, but is very marked in the intuition. Anyone in whom
the faculty of clairvoyance is developed will at once understand the
difference between these two methods of connection, but for a man who
has not yet unfolded that inner sense it is probably impossible to
indicate it except by the clumsy symbolism which I have just adopted.
The result is that by this second aspect of ordination the Priest is
united with his Master, and becomes “His man,” in a very real sense an
outpost of His consciousness, a channel for His grace, an almoner to
distribute His force to the people—in English country speech, the
parson, which means of course nothing more than the person who
represents Christ in a certain parish.
If we remember the derivation of the word
person from the Latin per (through) and sona (a sound),
and further bear in mind that persona was used to designate the
mask which a Roman actor wore, through which came the sound of his
voice, we shall begin to realize what the old word parson was intended
to convey. Obviously it is the parson's part to vivify this sacred inner
connection, and become more and more a personal manifestation of his
Lord. All the more sad is it to have to recognize that thousands of
Priests use only the mechanical link with the reservoir which enables
them to do their official duty, and remain ignorant of this direct
individual connection with the Christ whose ministers they are. Happily
there are also many Priests who, without knowing anything about the
science of it all, are nevertheless really beautiful and Christ-like in
their lives, so that His power flows through them mightily and sweetly
for the healing of His people.
The consecration of a Bishop represents
the highest possibility of attainment along this line of Holy Orders. In
his case two more very important links are added to those possessed by
the Priest. In the first place, the line of the intelligence, first
opened at the diaconate, and pressed a stage further up in the
priesthood, is now immensely widened and pushed up to the furthest limit
at present within our reach, the third aspect of the Triple Spirit,
marked 4 in Diagram 11, Fig. 7.
Secondly, a direct connection is opened
between the intuition (which we have marked 5) and the corresponding
principle in our dear Lord. It is this function which gives the power to
pass on the Orders, and it means also the potentiality of
awakening the Christ principle to the second stage (3). In the Bishop,
then, we find the direct connection operative for 4, 5, 6 and 7, and a
strong sympathetic glow in 2 and 3. We see at once how closely
affiliated is the Bishop to the Lord for whom he acts as legate, and
what a tremendous power for good is put into his hands.
We shall now examine and comment upon the
Services for the various stages of these major Orders.
The Subdiaconate
This is so essentially merely a
preparation for what is to follow it that it has many of the
characteristics of the minor Orders, and indeed it seems to have been
counted among them until the middle of the Twelfth century. The earliest
historical mention of the order is in a letter from Pope Cornelius to
Fabius of Antioch in the year A.D. 255. St. Cyprian, writing in the same
century, also refers to it, as does the synod of Elvira in Spain fifty
years later. The Greek Church stills regards it as a minor Order, and
the Church of England ignores it altogether. There is no reference to it
in the New Testament, and it is not claimed that it was instituted by
the Christ during His earth-life, or even by His immediate apostles.
From the inner point of view it confers no power, but it does assist in
preparing the way for what we have called the surgical operation of the
diaconate.
In the Service of the Roman Church for the
admission to this Order there is no imposition of hands, but there is in
the Greek Service. In this respect we have followed the example of the
latter, for our ritual directs the Bishop to lay his right hand upon the
head of the ordinand, and admit him solemnly in the Name of Christ our
Lord, just as was done in the case of the minor Orders. The Roman Church
regards this Order as binding its recipient to celibacy and to daily
recitation of the divine Office. The general purpose of the rite is
clearly to enable the ego to express himself more freely through the
personality. I will proceed, as before, to quote the Bishop's charge.
Dearly beloved sons, this Order of
Subdeacon is a grade of probation of the greater Orders of Deacon and
Priest. It gives to those who receive it greater strength and
steadfastness of purpose, to the end that with singleness of heart they
may dedicate their lives to Christ in His holy Church. So great, indeed,
is the responsibility laid upon those who in these greater Orders become
Christ's representatives, that a season of trial in this preparatory
grade of the subdiaconate is oft-times appointed, wherein they who
aspire to so sublime an estate may test themselves if need be, more
especially if they be young in body or in experience of matters
ecclesiastical, that they enter not lightly or unadvisedly upon so
solemn an undertaking.
You, well-beloved sons, having already
offered yourselves to the service of God and to help forward His kingdom
upon earth, are now moved in your hearts to devote yourselves still
further to His service and to that of your brethren. On this purpose we
invoke the divine blessing; and, with the help and ready concurrence of
the faithful here assembled, shall now proceed in the exercise of our
office to bring you as a holy oblation into the Presence of Christ, not
doubting that at the latter end you, having the witness of faithful
service, will shine, pure and lustrous, as jewels in the crown of our
Master.
In the Roman rite there follows here a
wearisome and inappropriate litany, full of slavish appeals for mercy
and deliverance. For this we have substituted a metrical litany of the
Holy Spirit, which may be supposed to take, in this preparatory Service,
the place occupied in the greater ordinations by the Veni Creator.
The importance of these litanies, whether Roman or Liberal, centres in
three petitions offered by the Bishop, in the course of which he makes a
special effort, by the use of the sign of power, to purify the physical,
astral and mental bodies of the candidates. One cross is made for the
physical body, two for the astral and three for the mental. These three
verses of the litany are sung by the Bishop alone; and for the more
effective achievement of his task he rises from his knees, assumes his
mitre and holds his crosier, so that, thus fully panoplied, he may be a
more perfect channel for the divine force. The verses are:
We beseech Thee, hear our prayer:
Bless
X
Thy servants, prostrate there;
Hold them in Thy loving care;
Hear us, Holy Trinity. |
Hear Thy servants as they pray,
Help Thy chosen ones to-day,
Bless
X
and
X
hallow them for aye;
Hear us, Holy Trinity. |
Pour Thy living kindness great
On each chosen candidate,
Bless
X
them,
X
hallow,
X
consecrate;
Hear us, Holy Trinity .
|
The closing verse of the litany is then
sung by all, and the Bishop resumes his charge as follows:
Dearly beloved sons, who are about to
be admitted to the Office of subdeacon, you should know what manner of
ministry was in former times committed unto your Order. It appertained
to the subdeacon to provide water for the service of the Altar, to
minister to the deacon, to wash the Altar cloths and corporals, to
present to the deacon the chalice and paten to be used at the sacrifice,
to guard the church doors or the gates of the sanctuary, and in later
times to read the Epistles before the people. Endeavour, then by
fulfilling readily with neatness and diligence such of these visible
ministries as are still part of your office, to show true reverence for
the invisible things they may be said to typify. For the Altar of holy
Church is the throne of Christ Himself, and it is indeed fitting that
they who minister before it should walk circumspectly, and realize that
upon them is laid the high honour of its guardianship. Do you therefore
take heed that you be watchful sentinels of the heavenly warfare, so
that, growing ever in virtue you may shine, lustrous and chaste, in the
company of the saints. Strive earnestly to pattern yourselves after the
ensample of our divine Master, that you may meetly minister at the
divine sacrifice, as well in the invisible sanctuary of your hearts as
in the visible sanctuary of holy Church.
From ancient times, also, it has been
required of those who enter this Order that they strive to acquire
certain virtues of character, such as are typified by the vestments
delivered unto them. By the amice, control of speech; by the maniple,
the love of service or diligence in all good works; by the tunicle, the
spirit of joy and gladness, or freedom from care and depression, that is
to say, confidence in the Good Law, which may be interpreted as a
recognition of the Plan revealed by Almighty God for the perfecting of
His creation.
The Bishop then asks from the ordinands a
solemn promise that they will, as far as in them lies, order their lives
in accordance with the precepts which he has laid down; and upon their
assent, he extends his hands towards them and prays that their hearts
and minds may be so opened to receive that which he is about to give
them that they may be steadfast in Christ's service, and may so grow in
knowledge that they may offer their lives as a holy and continual
sacrifice unto Him. Herewith he makes over them the sign of the cross;
and immediately thereafter each candidate kneels before him and is
formally admitted to the Order of Subdeacon, just as in the minor
Orders.
The effect of the subdiaconate must be
considered in reference to what is to follow at the next step. At the
ordination of a deacon a serious operation is to be performed, and it is
felt that this will be more successful if a certain preparation has been
undertaken. The Bishop attempts gently to widen the connection. (Fig. 2,
Diagram 11) between the soul and the body, so that the former may be
able more fully to work upon and through the latter.
The Bishop then proceeds to give to each
neophyte what may not inappropriately be called the working tools of his
degree, and to invest him with its especial badges. First he hands him
an empty chalice and paten, admonishing him so to demean himself in his
ministry as to be commendable in the sight of God. Then in the Name of
the Holy Trinity, and with the triple sign of power he endures him with
the amice, the maniple and the tunicle, in each case again referring to
the virtues which these vestments are respectively supposed to signify.
He then hands to each the book of Epistles, giving him authority to read
them in God's holy Church both for the living and the dead; and he
closes the ordination by a solemn blessing, giving especially to the end
that the neophytes may preserve with steadfastness and zeal in the life
which they have undertaken.
The degree of subdeacon can be conferred
only during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and immediately after
the recitation of the Collects; and after the ordination one of the
newly-made subdeacons is appointed to read the Epistle of the day.
The Diaconate
The ordination of deacons takes place
after the Epistle, and before the Gradual is sung. The Service begins
with the presentation of the candidates by a Priest, who brings them
before the Bishop and says:
Right Reverend Father, our holy Mother
the Church catholic prays that you would ordain these subdeacons here
present to the charge of the diaconate.
The Bishop asks whether he knows them to
be worthy of this advancement, and he replies:
As far as human frailty allows me to
judge, I do both know and attest that they are worthy of the charge of
this office.
The Bishop then addresses the congregation
as follows:
Dearly beloved brethren, these
subdeacons here before you are presented for the Order of the Diaconate,
to be irrevocably set apart for the service of the Christ by the gift of
God's most holy Spirit. Mindful of the sacred trust reposed in us, we
have sought to ensure that only such as may be profitable to Christ's
holy Church be thus presented; yet for further precaution it is seemly
that we should enquire if any know cause or just impediment why these
persons should not be admitted to the exercise of the deacon's office.
If, then, any of you know aught against them, in the Name of God and for
the benefit of His Church, let him boldly come forward and speak;
howbeit, let him be mindful of his own estate.
This last clause is intended to warn any
possible objector of the danger of libel, and the necessity of being
sure of his ground before venturing upon any adverse criticism. If no
one speaks, the Bishop proceeds with the following short exhortation:
Dearly beloved sons, who are now about
to be raised to the Order of Deacon, do you endeavour to receive it
worthily, and blamelessly to fulfil its duties when you have received
it. It appertains to the deacon to minister at the Altar, to read or
intone the Gospel, to preach, and in the absence of the Priest to
baptize. Wherefore, dearly beloved sons, as now you are charged to
minister to the flock of Christ, be you raised above all unworthy
propensities which war against the soul; be seemly, courteous in
demeanour, and full of noble desires and of love for God and man, as
befits the ministers of Christ and stewards charged to dispense the
mysteries of God. And as you now have a share in offering and dispensing
the Body and Blood of the Lord, as Holy Writ has it: “Be ye clean, ye
that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Be it your care to set forth to
others, by living deeds, the gospel your lips will proclaim to them,
that of you it may be said: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the
feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.”
He receives their promise that they will
strive to use worthily the power which he is about to entrust to them.
and they then lie prostrate before the Altar while the metrical litany
is sung—not this time that of the Holy Ghost, but a special appeal to
the Lord Christ, recognizing His Presence, announcing that the Bishop is
about to use the power conferred upon him by the same Lord at his
consecration, and asking that his hands may be strengthened for this
great work.
The Bishop then recites a prayer in the
course of which he twice makes the sign of the cross over the ordinands.
The first time he does this with the intent of holding strongly the
three vehicles which have been cleansed in the litany, and working up
through them to the link which connects the personality with the
soul—the link which the Indian philosophers call the antahkarana.
The object here, as in the subdiaconate, is to widen that connection,
and so give the soul more influence over his bodies.
If the Bishop has the good fortune to be
clairvoyant, and so can see the pituitary body, and watch the action of
the force which he is sending out, so much the better, for he can then
direct it more scientifically. Having thus opened more fully the way up
to the causal body, he aims his second cross at that body itself, with
the object of carrying the same process a little further, so that the
candidate may be able to receive more of the power of the Holy Ghost.
Having thus prepared the way as far as may be, the traditional call to
God the Holy Ghost is sent out—-the Veni Creator; and immediately
thereafter the Bishop (wearing his mitre, and holding his crosier in his
left hand) lays his right hand on the head of the ordinand and says:
Receive the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of a deacon in the Church of God.
At these words comes the downrush of the
power; yet that term gives but an imperfect picture, for in reality that
power flashes downward and upward many times with inconceivable
rapidity, just as lightning does. The amount that a man can receive
depends upon the preparation which he has made, the extent to which he
has opened himself to the divine influence. The crust is now broken
through, the link with his Lord and Master is made, as far as principle
7 is concerned (Fig. 3, Diagram 11); the channel has been widened, and
it is for him to hold it in that improved condition by keeping the
divine grace constantly flowing through it for the helping of his
fellow-men.
This idea is put prominently before the
newly-ordained deacon when the Bishop invests him with a white stole,
saying:
Take thou the white stole for a symbol
of thine office; remembering that as for the service and love of man
thou dost exercise the power which now is in thee, so will it flow
through thee in ever greater fullness and glory.
As he says this, he makes the sign of the
cross over the heart of the deacon, so that an awakening or
strengthening of the intuitional principle (5) which may have taken
place at the moment of ordination shall be conserved and increased. The
stole, which is always supposed to symbolize the yoke of Christ, denotes
the deacon's office only because of the sash-like way in which he wears
it over the left shoulder, and fastened under the right arm. The Priest
wears it over both shoulders, to show that he has fully assumed the yoke
and the responsibility, only a small part of which rests upon the
deacon.
The Bishop then in the Name of the Holy
Trinity, and with the triple cross, invests each new deacon with a
dalmatic, saying:
The Lord clothe thee with the vesture
of gladness, and ever encompass thee with the dalmatic of justice.
In the same holy Name, and with the same
triple sign of power, he gives him authority to read the Gospel in the
Church of God, both for the living and the dead. In each of these cases
the threefold influence of which the Bishop is so especially the
custodian is energized, poured forth, called strongly into
manifestation, so that by playing upon the corresponding principles in
the ordinand it stirs them into sympathetic vibration, so that they are,
at any rate for the time, enormously more active and receptive than ever
before. It is for the deacon to see that this great temporary advance is
maintained and increased.
The service concludes with a beautiful
prayer referring to the close association with the angelic hosts which
those enjoy whose happy work it is to minister within the sanctuary.
O Christ, the Lord of Love, who, by the
heavenly and earthly service of Angels which Thou orderest, dost shed
over all the elements the efficacy of Thy will, pour out on thee Thy
servants of the fullness of Thy X
blessing, that in the fellowship of these glorious Angels they may
minister worthily at Thy holy Altars, and being endowed with heavenly
virtue and grace they may ever be watchful and zealous in the service of
Thy Church, thou Who reignest for ever and ever. R. Amen.
The final cross made during this prayer
produces a general intensification of all that has been done. Its
especial purpose is to thicken the walls of the much-expanded link
between the soul and the personality, to harden them and hold them more
firmly in their new form. It is as though a sort of frame-work were
erected within, a lining to prevent the widened channel from
contracting. It will be readily understood that it is distinctly
advantageous to have a considerable interval between the ordination to
the diaconate and that to the priesthood, so that this link in its
widened form may be consolidated. The first opening of this channel,
which we have likened to a surgical operation, is so great a change, so
radical a departure from all that has gone before, that the man needs
time to adjust himself to the new conditions before any further strain
is put upon him. Therefore the Church prescribes that when possible the
neophyte should remain for a year in deacon's orders before being
advanced to the priesthood.
It is again obvious how incalculable is
the advantage possessed by those among the clergy who know what they are
doing in these matters, and even still more by those who can see
the effect of their operations. the vast majority of Bishops are working
blindly, yet no one need doubt that their end is achieved; but
unquestionably it would be far more fully achieved if they had greater
knowledge of the spiritual world, and of the operation of its forces.
One of the newly-ordained deacons reads
the Gospel, and the Holy Eucharist is then continued as usual, except
the special mention is made in the prayer of consecration of those who
in Christ's holy Name have just been admitted to the Order of the
Diaconate. Such a clause is inserted in all the major ordinations, but
not in the minors; indeed, these latter may be conferred apart from the
celebration of the Eucharist, though it must be before the hour of noon.
The Priesthood
The ordination to the priesthood is
solemnized after the singing of the Gradual, and begins with the
presentation of the candidates by a Priest, just as in the previous
Service. The Bishop then delivers the charge:
Dearly beloved brethren, as both the
captain of a ship and the passengers it carries have equal cause for
security or for fear, it behoves them whose interests are common to be
of one mind. Nor has it without purpose that the Fathers decreed that
the people also should be consulted touching the election of those who
are to be employed in the service of the Altar, for what is unknown of
the many concerning the life and conversion of those who are presented,
may oft-times be known to a few, and all will necessarily yield a more
ready obedience, to one when ordained, to whose ordination they have
signified their assent.
If, then, anyone has aught to the
prejudice of these men, in the Name of God and for the benefit of His
Church, let them boldly come forward and speak; howbeit, let him be
mindful of his own estate.
After a pause, the Bishop, addressing
himself to the ordinands, charges them as follows:
Dearly beloved sons, it is now our part
solemnly and for the last time, before the irrevocable act shall be
accomplished, which shall lay upon you the sweet but heavy burden of the
priesthood, to charge you how great is the dignity and responsibility of
this office and how weighty are the duties to be performed by those
ordained thereto. It appertains to the Priest to offer sacrifice, to
bless, to preside, to loose and to bind, to anoint, to preach and to
baptize.
Wherefore, dearly beloved sons, whom
the award of our brethren has chosen that you may be consecrated to this
office as our helpers, after solemn premeditation only and with great
awe is so sublime an office to be approached, and great indeed must be
the care with which we determine that they who are chosen to represent
our Blessed Lord and to preside in His Church commend themselves by
great wisdom, by worthiness of life and the persevering practice of
justice and truth. Do you, then, dearly beloved sons, keep these things
in remembrance and let the fruit thereof be seen in your walk and
conversation, in chaste and holy integrity of life, in continually
abounding in all manner of good works. Strive without ceasing to
increase within yourselves the perfection of heavenly love, that having
your hearts filled with the love of God and of man, you may be almoners
of Christ's blessing and bearers of His Love to the hearts of mankind.
Forget never how great a privilege is yours to bring the little ones to
Him through the gateway of baptism and to lift the heavy burden of the
sorrow and sin of the world by the grace of absolution. Consider
attentively what you do, imitate those things which in the Church of God
it is your duty to handle and to transact. And forasmuch as you will now
be called upon to offer the Holy Sacrifice before the throne of God, and
to celebrate the sacred Mysteries of the Lord's love, be earnest in
ridding your members of all imperfections. Ye whose duty it is to offer
unto God the sweet incense of prayer and adoration, let your teaching be
a spiritual remedy unto God's people; let your words of blessing and
consolation be their help and strength; let the sweet savour of your
life be a fragrance in the Church of God.
Thus both by word and deed may you
fashion the temple of God, so that neither shall we appear blameworthy
before the Lord, who in His Name shall thus advance you, nor ye who
shall thus be advanced; but rather may we all find acceptance and
abundant recompense for this day's act, which of His infinite goodness
and loving-kindness may He deign to grant.
The customary promise to strive to use the
power worthily is then asked and given, and the special ordination
litany sung, as at the previous Service, the candidates lying prostrate
before the Altar. The prayer which follows begins with the same words as
that used for the diaconate, but differs in its later petitions.
O Lord Christ, the Fountain of all
goodness, Who by the operation of the Holy Spirit hast appointed divers
Orders in Thy Church, and for its greater enrichment and perfecting dost
pour down Thy gifts abundantly upon men, do Thou pour forth Thy
sanctifying grace upon these Thy servants, who are about to be numbered
among the Priests of Thy Church. May their hand be strong to achieve,
may wisdom guide and direct their life, may the beauty of holiness
sanctify them and shed a spiritual fragrance about their path, so that
in all their works begin, continued and ended in Thee, they may show
forth the abundance of Thy power and glorify Thy Holy Name, O Thou great
King of Love, to Whom be praise and adoration from men and from the
Angel host. R. Amen.
Immediately after this prayer the Bishop
amid perfect silence lays both hands on the head of each ordinand. The
same is done after him successively by all the Priests present, each
willing intensely to give all that he can of help and consecration to
the candidate. The Bishop uses his power to pour into him the power of
the Christ and to draw him into the closest possible relation to Him.
Referring back to Diagram 11, Fig. 4, the three principles of spirit,
intuition and intelligence (numbered 2, 5 and 7) in the ordinand are
made to glow with indescribable fervour. The oblique line connecting
them is opened up into activity, and greatly widened, so that not only
does the spirit become much more one with the Christ-spirit, but he is
also able to express himself far more fully than before through the
intuition and intelligence.
It does not at all follow that he will
do so in daily life; that depends upon the individual effort of the
Priest; but the potentiality is there, and he who knows of it may use it
to great effect if he will. The whole aura of the ordinand expands
prodigiously with this direct influx of power from the Christ; every
atom within him is shaken as its various orders of spirillæ1
are aroused. The influx rushes into 2, 5 and 7 through the corresponding
principles of the Bishop himself, which is the reason why he lays both
hands upon the head of the candidate, instead of using only the right
hand to distribute what is drawn though the crosier in his left, as he
does in the case of the deacon, or at Confirmation.
When the neophyte's aura is thus dilated
and extremely sensitive, the Priests pour in their influence. They do
not confer power as the Bishop does, but each gives his quota of good;
and adds whatever he has that is of value, while the neophyte is in a
condition to receive it. The Priests may quite probably be on different
Rays, and at any rate are sure to differ in character, so each will have
some quality to contribute. The bestowal of the priesthood is above all
things the granting of a wonderful, colossal opportunity, and no effort
is spared to help the recipient to take advantage of it.
The power of the Christ, the direct
outflow from the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, comes always in the
silence, for it has not yet descended sufficiently into materiality to
manifest as sound; but the Holy Ghost came as a rushing, mighty wind and
showed Himself in tongues of fire, conferring upon the apostles an
unusual power of speech. So at the second imposition of hands later the
word of power is employed as in the other Orders; but the tremendous
gift of the first imposition descends in a silence that is felt. It is
this act which actually makes the man a Priest and endows him with the
power to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. The prayer which immediately
follows the ordination beautifully refers to this:
O Lord Christ, whose strength is in the
silence, grant that these Thy servants whom now Thou dost join unto
Thyself in the holy bond of the priesthood may hence forward minister
faithfully of the priestly power to those who ask in Thy Name. R. Amen.
Let us pray, dearest brethren, that
Almighty God may multiply the gifts of the Spirit in these His servants
for the work of the priesthood.
In the Liberal Catholic Church we sing the
Veni Creator here, and proceed at once to the second imposition
of hands; but the Roman Church has quite a different arrangement. In her
ritual there comes at this point an interesting prayer invoking upon the
newly-made priests “the blessing of the Holy Ghost and the power of
priestly grace”—a prayer which was originally intended to do the work
now done by the second imposition—that is to say, to push upward the
channel made for the deacon, and enormously to widen it. In the case of
the deacon, principle 7 in our diagram was linked to the corresponding
principle in the Lord Christ; now the same connection is made for
principle 6 (Fig.5, Diagram 11), while that to 7 is greatly strengthened
and increased. The diagonal line which was called into existence at the
first imposition between 2, 5 and 7 is intensified; and 7 is opened out,
so as to allow the force from that oblique line to flow out better, as
without that there would be danger of a great congestion.
The single sign of the cross which
accompanies the utterance of the words above quoted seems to have been
found insufficient to do the work thoroughly, and so about the twelfth
century the second imposition was introduced, with its definite
scriptural formula. Some Roman books, indeed count this prayer for “the
blessing of the Holy Ghost” (which is recited by the Bishop with his
hands extended over the new Priests) as a second imposition, and call
that which comes later in the Service the third.
After the recitation of that prayer in the
roman rite the Sursum Corda is sung, but instead of “therefore
with angels and archangels” come the words: “the source of hierarchical
honours and the Dispenser of every dignity.” The prayer or exordium runs
on through a sort of historical retrospect of examples of early
priesthood, citing Moses, Eleazer and Ithamar. After that the Roman
Bishop rearranges the stoles of the new Priests, and vest them with the
folded chasuble. Then he recites a prayer which in the early Pontificals
is called the Consecration, or sometimes the Consummation (or finishing
touch) of the Priest. It invokes (with the sign of power) the grace of
God's blessing upon the neophytes, and plays a useful part in the
ceremony, as will be explained when we come to consider our own version
of it, which we place just after the second imposition.
After this prayer (still according to
Roman ritual) comes the Veni Creator, and while it is being sung
the Bishop anoints and binds the hands of his new Priests, and gives
them authority to offer sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass both for
the living and the dead.
Then the ordinary course of the Eucharist
is resumed with the Gospel, the Creed and the Offertory, the Priests
reciting the words of the Service along with the Bishop from “Receive, O
holy Father.” It is only after the communion has been received that the
Bishop pronounces the words of tremendous import: “Receive the Holy
Ghost.”
I have thought it well to make this long
digression to explain the order adopted in the Roman ritual, in order
that it may be clear that in our own we omit none of its salient points,
though we arrange them as we find to be best from the consideration of
the play of inner force. We will now resume the comment upon our own
Service, from which we turned aside at p. 381. Immediately after the
exhortation there quoted to pray that God will multiply the gifts of the
Spirit, the people respond by singing the Veni Creator, and at
once the Bishop rises from his knees and, laying both hands on the head
of each new Priest in turn, says:
Receive the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of a Priest in the Church of God; whose sins thou dost forgive,
they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained.
We have already considered the effect
produced by the down-pouring which accompanies these momentous words,
and have only to add that the connection made with principle 6 enables
the Priest to draw upon the great central chamber of the reservoir,
which we have marked as B (Diagram 10). It is that connection which
enables him effectually to give absolution and to bless in the Name of
the Holy Trinity. The Church of England uses a somewhat longer form of
ordination, for after the words “Church of God” she inserts, “now
committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands”; and at the end,
after the word “retained,” she adds “and be thou a faithful dispenser of
the word of God and of His holy Sacraments, in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
In this place follows our version of the
prayer called Consummation, to which I referred above. It runs thus:
O God, the source of all holiness, of
whom are true consecration and the fullness of spiritual benediction, we
pray Thee, O Lord, to X open
to Thy heavenly grace the hearts and minds of these Thy servants, who
have been raised to the priesthood, that through them Thy power may
abundantly flow for the service of Thy people. May they be earnest and
zealous as fellow-workers in our Order, and thus prove themselves worthy
of the sacred charge committed unto them. And, as by a spotless blessing
they now shall change for the service of Thy people bread and wine into
the most holy Body and Blood of Thy Son, may they be ever watchful that
they keep the vessel of their ministry pure and undefiled. May every
kind of righteousness spring forth within them, and may their hearts be
so filled with compassion for the multitude, that they may forget
themselves in the love of others. Thus steadfast in that Thy most joyous
service, may the radiance of Thy love and Thy glory shine ever more
brightly in their hearts, till they rise unto mature spiritual manhood,
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, when their
lives shall be hid with Christ in God. R. Amen.
The sign of power made at the word “open”
is intended to clear the way between the higher principles and the
physical brain. The blessing floods the etheric brain, and is meant to
run up through the pituitary body, which is the point of closest
junction between the dense physical, the etheric and the astral; but if
the Bishop can at the same time pour the force into the mental body of
the Priest and work downwards, so much the better.
We come now to the vesting and anointing.
The neophytes are still wearing their stoles in diaconal fashion, so the
Bishop rearranges them as a Priest should have them, and then crosses
them over the breast as they are worn by the celebrant at the Holy
Eucharist. The words with which he accompanies this act refer not only
to the symbolism of the stole, but also to its actual use as a conductor
of force:
Take thou this stole, for a symbol of
the power of the priestly office, and as a channel of the ever-flowing
stream to Christ's love.
He next vests each new Priest with the
chasuble, saying:
Take thou the priestly vestment, that
in it thou mayest offer with our Lord Christ the most holy sacrifice of
His sacred Body and Blood.
He then proceeds to the anointing of the
hands of the new Priests with the oil of the catechumens. The Priest
lays his hands together, palms upward, upon the gremial spread upon the
Bishop's knees, and the latter, taking some of the oil upon his right
thumb, draws there with a line from the right thumb of the Priest across
the palms and up the first finger of the Priest's left hand. Then he
reverses the motion, starting down the Priest's left thumb, across the
palms and up the first finger of his right hand. He makes a cross on
each palm, and rubs the oil in all over with a circular motion, After
doing all this, he says:
Be pleased, O Lord, to consecrate and
hallow these hands by this anointing and our
X blessing; that whatsoever
they X bless may be blessed,
and whatsoever they consecrate may be consecrated and hallowed, in the
Name of our Lord Christ. R. Amen.
The Bishop now closes the hands together,
palm to palm, and they are bound together with a strip of white linen.
This is a quaint and interesting symbolical ceremony, but it is also
much more than that, for like all rites it has its practical side. The
oil of catechumens is constructive, and is used in the building up of
forms. The anointing with it is a setting apart of the hands for saintly
service, a moulding of them for the transmission of that wondrous power.
The hand of the Priest is a specialized instrument that can transmit
blessing. The anointing brings the opening forces to bear upon the
hands, and endues them with power whereby along the lines that are made
in the anointing the influence can pour out; it will be noticed that the
two fingers with which Bishop specially deals are precisely those that
touch the Host.
It is not only that lines of force are set
up in the aura; it is still more a matter of higher working altogether.
It is something like a magnetization of steel: the anointing operates so
that forces can pass through the hand, and at the same time tempers the
hands so that they can bear those forces. It is not only a consecration,
a setting-apart, but also a preparing of the spiritual side of the
Priest so that he can conduct the power; and there is the idea
associated with this of being able to transmit that power safely. It is
like conducting lightning, and without the anointing this might well be
dangerous. The power of the Host may work curious results in unworthy
surroundings; for example, there are stories of the touch of the Host
burning a vampire.
Of the two crosses which the Bishop makes
while reciting the words, the first is intended to arrange for the
distribution of the force which rushes down the diagonal line (2, 5, 7)
in Diagram 11, Fig. 5, and the second for the dispensing to that which
flows from principle 6. As this preparatory magnetism takes a little
time to penetrate and permeate the hands, the plan of tying them
together for a while has a distinct practical utility. The Bishop then
holds out to the Priest a chalice containing wine and water, with a
paten and a wafer upon it, these being the practical working tools of
the degree in the Church which he has now attained. As the Priest's
hands are bound together, he cannot grasp the sacred vessels, but he
receives then between the tips of his fingers, taking care to touch both
the chalice and the paten. The Bishop says to him:
Take thou authority to offer sacrifice
to God, and to celebrate the Holy Eucharist both for the living and for
the dead. In the Name of the Lord. R. Amen.
The hands of the Priest are then unbound;
they cleanse them according to mediæval custom with lemon and
breadcrumbs, and the Celebration proceeds with the reading of the
Gospel. Just before the Offertorium, the new Priests kneel for a moment
before the Bishop and each presents to him a lighted candle as a visible
token of gratitude for the gift received, and of the sacrifice of their
lives for Christ's work. Thereafter the new Priests recite with the
Bishop the remainder of the Holy Eucharist word for word, taking
particular care to say simultaneously with him the Words of Consecration
with due intention to consecrate. A special clause referring to the new
Priests is inserted in the prayer of Consecration, and after the
ablutions they come forward and kneel once more before the Bishop. They
take what is called the oath of canonical obedience, pledging themselves
to accept the Bishop's ruling on all matters connected with the Services
of the church, and not to depart from the prescribed forms without his
permission. He warns them in the following words of the danger of
removing any of the ancient landmarks and of the necessity for caution
and watchfulness in the celebration of the sacraments.
Dearly beloved sons, as what you have
to handle is not without its mischances, I warn you that you do most
diligently attend to the course of the Holy Eucharist, and especially to
that which regards the Consecration, the breaking and communion of the
Host. Be you also careful that in everything which appertains to the
administration of the Sacraments of Christ's holy Church, you do adhere
to the form set forth by lawful authority and presume not to depart
therefrom in any detail.
He then gives them a special blessing for
the new work which they have to do:
The blessing of God Almighty, the
X Father, the
X son, and the Holy
X Ghost, come down upon you,
that you may be blessed in the priestly order, and in the offering of
sacrifice to Almighty God, to Whom belong honour and glory to the ages
of ages. R. Amen.
He closes the ordination Service with a
beautiful little reminder of the only way in which they can both show
gratitude to God for what He has given them, and also continue steadily
to draw ever nearer and nearer to Him.
Dearly beloved sons, consider
attentively the Order you have taken and be ever mindful of the sacred
trust reposed in you. Since it hath pleased our Lord to call you closer
to Himself, forget not the service of your brethren, which is the golden
pathway to his most glorious Presence. Freely ye have received, freely
give.
The Holy Eucharist is then continued to
its close as usual.
Before leaving the subject of the
priesthood it may be well to refer to certain questions which have often
been asked about it. One is whether the sadly truncated Service of the
Church of England confers anything less than the fuller ritual of the
Roman Church. The Orders of the Church of England are valid, and her
form of ordination gives the power to draw upon the reservoir of
spiritual force, and links her Priests with their Lord and Master. All
that is essential, therefore, is done; but one is bound to confess that
it is less thoroughly done, in that a number of valuable aids are not
given.
The special preparation of the hands
undoubtedly makes them capable of transmitting safely a far greater
volume of force; the opening of the channel to the physical brain
enables the Priest in his ordinary everyday consciousness to feel much
more of what he is doing, and so give him greater confidence. Many an
Anglican Priest, I feel sure, does not actually know what he achieves in
his sacerdotal office; by an act of sublime and fully-justified faith he
believes that he is enabled to change bread and wine into the
Body and Blood of Christ, that sins are forgiven and that blessing is
poured through him; but often he may not perceive by his own feeling the
mighty rush of divine power of which he is the channel, and so he has
not the absolute certainty which permits him to say “I know.”
That certainty can be attained by
self-development, by constant work and earnest aspiration; but its
attainment is not made easy for him at his ordination, as it is in the
older Churches. The opening is made by the Anglican rite, but its
enlargement is left entirely to the enterprise and the knowledge of the
individual Priest, and so it is not always done. The collateral
ceremonies, too, open up many lines of activity which do not exist in
the same way for the man who has not passed through them. It is to be
remembered that forces running along different lines react upon and
intensify each other, and that a great deal of additional power is
gained in this way.
Another question to which much importance
has been attached is that of the celibacy of the clergy. The Roman
Church insists upon it as a matter both of discipline and convenience,
though admitting that it is not an apostolical institution. The Eastern
Church forbids a clergyman to marry, though if he was married before his
ordination he does not put away his wife. In Greece itself it is stated
that there are more than twenty times as many married priests as
unmarried, while in Russia marriage seems to be practically a condition
of ordination, though there is no actual rule on the subject, The Church
of England leaves her clergy free in the matter, as does our Liberal
Catholic Church.
From the especial point of view which I am
emphasizing in this book marriage apparently makes no difference
whatever; it certainly does not in any way affect the man's power to
transmit any of the forces. Celibacy may or may not be desirable from
the standpoint of expediency; there is much to be said on both sides of
that argument; but as far as the inner side of the work is concerned it
is immaterial. Obviously a man who is a slave to fleshly lusts is unfit
to serve God as a Priest, whether he be married or unmarried; but that
is quite another question.
It is often asked whether a woman could
validly be ordained. That question has practically been answered in an
earlier chapter. The forces now arranged for distribution through the
priesthood would not work efficiently through a feminine body; but it is
quite conceivable that the present arrangements may be altered by the
Lord Himself. It would no doubt be easy for Him, if He so chose, either
to revive some form of the old religions in which the feminine Aspect of
the Deity was served by priestesses, or so to modify the physics of the
Catholic scheme of forces that a feminine body could be satisfactorily
employed in the work. Meantime we have no choice but to administer His
Church along the lines laid down for us.
Objection is sometimes made to the oath of
canonical obedience. It is thought that as we leave our people free in
matters of belief, so ought we to leave our Priests free to use any
ritual they choose, or none. Any man is already free to do that without
joining any Church at all; but if he desires the stupendous privilege of
the priesthood he must be willing to accept its conditions. Christ's
Church exists in order to help mankind by the distribution of His power,
and He has arranged that that shall be done in certain definite ways.
Those who believe that they know better then He , and wish to do the
work in some other way, are obviously out of the place in such a body as
ours, and there seems no reason why they should wish to become its
Priests. It is necessary that the control of the public Services of the
Church should be in the hands of those who know something of the working
of the inner forces involved; otherwise the fair fame of the Church
might be stained by all kinds of grotesquery and inefficiency.
Another objection occasionally raised by
the ignorant is that canonical obedience may include political
obedience—that a Priest might thereby be compelled to vote or to act
against his conscience. Such a suggestion is of course childish, for the
adjective clearly defines the limits of the promise. The Priest
undertakes to use in public Services only the forms provided by the
Church which he represents; if for any good reason he desires to vary
them in any way, he must apply to his Bishop for permission to do so. He
is free to vote as he will, to espouse any cause which commends itself
to him; but he must make it clear that he does so as a private
individual, and not as representing the Church to which he belongs. The
Church stands absolutely aloof from politics, though each member of it
is free to take his own line.
THE EPISCOPATE
This, the final and highest ceremony of
Holy Orders, is perhaps the most beautiful of all—as, indeed, it ought
to be. All through the scheme of conferring the successive Orders, the
progress in their importance has been indicated in various ways—one
among them being the position occupied by the Service. The ordination of
a cleric may take place at any hour, but the other four degrees in minor
Orders may be conferred only in the morning. They may be given apart
from the Holy Eucharist, but if they are conferred during that Service,
the ordination to the degree of cleric takes place after the Introit,
and to the other four degrees after the Kyrie. The major Orders can be
given only during the Holy Eucharist; the ordination of a subdeacon is
performed after the Collects, that of a deacon after the Epistle, that
of a Priest and a Bishop after the Gradual; but in these last, parts of
the Service are interspersed at various points of the eucharistic rite.
For example, it is at the end of the Asperges that the Service
for the consecration of a Bishop begins with his presentation to the
consecrator by the senior assistant Bishop. The protocol of election is
then read, and the Bishop-elect, kneeling before the consecrator, takes
the oath of canonical obedience in the follow form:
In the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. I, N., chosen Bishop of the Church, do
promise all due reverence and obedience in matters canonical to . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . and to his successors. So help me God, through
Jesus Christ.
From this point onward, in all parts of
the ceremony outside of the usual course of the Holy Eucharist, the
assistant Bishops (of whom there should if possible be two) repeat all
that is said by the consecrator, making also the various signs over the
Bishop-elect a number of pledges as to the use which he will make of the
power so soon to be entrusted to him, so that the following dialogue
takes place between them;
Consecrator.
The order established of old by the
Fathers teaches and commands that whoso is elected to the Episcopal
Order shall beforehand diligently examined in all charity concerning the
doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and the divers relations and virtues
suitable to this charge; and it is seemly that this practice be
maintained. For since we verily believe that this stewardship has been
committed unto us by Christ Himself, it behoves us to assure ourselves
that they to whom we in turn commit it shall know, and in their hearts
be fully persuaded, how great is their responsibility before Him. In His
Name, therefore, and in virtue of this authority and commandment, we now
ask of thee, well-beloved brother, in sincere charity, whether if thou
be ordained to this sacred charge, thou wilt exercise its powers wholly
for what seemeth unto thee the true benefit of Christ's holy catholic
Church, and for no other purpose whatsoever, laying aside utterly all
thought of personal predilection or advancement.
Bishop-elect.
With my whole heart I will endeavour so to
do.
Con.
Wilt thou, so far as in thee lies, set thy
affection on things above and not on things of earth?
B.E.
I will.
Con.
Wilt thou with God's help ever remember,
that in this high office to which thou art called it is thy bounden
duty, and should be thy constant care, to show an example of godly life
to all those given into thy charge?
B.E.
I will.
Con. Wilt
thou ever cherish as a sacred trust the power now to be committed unto
thee, and solemnly pledge thyself to exercise all care and discretion in
the choice of those upon whom in Christ's Name thou shalt bestow the
gift of Holy Orders?
B.E.
I will.
Con.
Wilt thou hold thyself ever ready to do
service in Christ's Name to all men so far as thou art able, remembering
that the noblest title of a Bishop is “Servant of the servants of God”?
B.E.
I will.
Con.
Wilt thou, for the sake of the Lord's
Name, seek ever to be gentle and tender to the sorrowful and to those
who suffer want?
B.E.
I will.
Con. Wilt
thou ever bethink thee that thou shouldst be a father unto thy people,
and most of all show love unto the little ones among thy flock;
remembering how Christ spake: “Suffer the little children to come unto
Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God?
B.E.
I will.
Con.
The Lord keep thee in these things,
well-beloved brother, and strengthen thee in all goodness R. Amen.
The consecrator continues:
Dost thou believe, according to the
measure of thy understanding and the powers of thy mind, in the holy
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, from Whom, by Whom, and in Whom
are all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, bodily and
spiritual?
B.E.
I do.
Con.
The Lord increase this faith in thee,
well-beloved brother in Christ, that thou mayest lead thy flock to a
knowledge to the Divine Wisdom. R. Amen.
In the Roman rite many more questions are
asked with regard to belief, and in some of them the wording is so
grossly material that it would scarcely be possible for one who
understands the truth to answer them in the affirmative. It may be
thought that, as we leave our congregations entirely free in the matter
of faith, it is inconsistent that we should demand even thus much from
our Bishops. But while we do not think that either ignorance or any form
of honest belief or disbelief should disqualify a man from receiving the
help given by Christ in the Sacraments, we feel that those whom we
entrust with their administration should have such knowledge as will
enable them to give a reasonable explanation of the great divine Plan so
far as it is at present known to us; and therefore we are willing to
retain thus much of the ancient catechism. Another reason is that as a
Bishop has to deal so fundamentally in his work with the power of the
holy Trinity, that much of belief and of comprehension is eminently
desirable. But we entirely decline to anathematize those who do not
agree with us, and in the Roman form a Bishop is expected to do that.
The consecrator and the Bishop-elect now
assume the eucharistic vestments, and the consecrator begins the
Celebration as usual. After he has pronounced the absolution, the
Bishop-elect, escorted by the assistant Bishops, proceeds to a
side-Altar which has been set up within the sanctuary, and from that
point he recites the Eucharist along with the consecrator. After the
Gradual has been sung, the consecrator takes his seat on a faldstool in
front of the high Altar. The Bishop-elect is brought before him, and he
thus addresses him:
It appertains to a Bishop to
consecrate, to ordain, to offer sacrifice, to anoint, to bless, to loose
and to bind, to baptize and to confirm, to preside, to interpret and to
judge.
Then the ordination litany is sung, just
as for the Priest or deacon, the Bishop-elect lying prostrate, and the
three Bishops rising and blessing him together at the appointed verses.
After this an open book of the Gospels is laid upon the neck and
shoulders of the Bishop-elect as he kneels, and is held there by one of
the clergy, while the consecrator, and his assistants, with hands
extended over him, recite the following form of the prayer which always
precedes the actual ordination in the major Orders, though its phrasing
is varied to suit the degree which is about to be conferred.
O Lord Christ, the Fountain of all
goodness, who by the operation of the Holy Spirit hast appointed divers
Orders in Thy Church, and for its greater enrichment and perfecting dost
pour down Thy gifts abundantly upon men, making some to excel in wisdom,
others in devotion and yet others to be well-skilled in action, pour
down upon this Thy servant of the fullness of the Holy Ghost, that in
the pontifical dignity to which we are about to raise him he may shine
resplendent with all manner of heavenly virtue, O Thou great shepherd
and Bishop of the souls of men, to Whom be praise and adoration from men
and from the Angel host. R. Amen.
All then kneel, and the Veni Creator
is sung. When it is ended the consecrator and the assistant Bishops
rise, but the congregation remains kneeling. The consecrator and the
assistant Bishops, still wearing their mitres and having their crosiers
held behind them by chaplains, simultaneously and most solemnly lay both
hands upon the head of the Bishop-elect (Plate 16), all saying slowly
and distinctly:
Receive the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of a Bishop in the Church of God.
Excepting only Hoc est Corpus Meum
these are the most momentous words uttered in the Liturgy, and the
down-pouring of divine force which they evoke is tremendous and
indescribable. Referring once more to
Diagram 11, Fig. 7, they push up the perpendicular line on the right
to 4, and enormously widen the channels connecting 6 and 7 with the
corresponding principles in the Lord Christ Himself. The Bishop is thus
linked through 4 directly with the Triple Spirit of our Lord, so that
blessing from that level flows through him, for those three Aspects are
very truly one; and that is why he signs the people with a triple cross
instead of with one only, as the Priest does. The Priest draws his
blessing down the diagonal line 2, 5, 7 through his own principles, and
emits it through his causal body; The Bishop, being developed more
fully, is able to let the power shine through more immediately and
therefore far more strongly. At the Bishop's consecration an entirely
new line is also opened, linking his intuitional principle (5) directly
with that of our Lord, and thus giving it the potentiality of a
development far beyond our imagination. It is this wonderful
Christ-force which enables him to hand on his powers to others.
It is noteworthy that there is a steady
progress, as it were, in the outward signs of ordination. At
confirmation and in the minor Orders the Bishop puts one hand on the
head of the candidate, holding his staff. It is the same when he ordains
a subdeacon or a deacon, but when he ordains a Priest he abandons the
staff, and lays both hands on the head of the Priest. One Bishop ordains
the Priest; if there be other Bishops and Priests present they lay their
hands on the head of the newly-ordained Priest successively, because
each has, or should have, something to give, something to help to make
that ordination fuller. Some of those Priests and Bishops belong to
different Rays, and so each one has something special, something of his
own to give to the Priest who has been newly opened up and is in a
condition to receive such influence. When we come to the highest stage
in the Orders conferred by the Christ, the greatest possible power
converges, so for the consecration of a Bishop all the Bishops present
act simultaneously and all say the words, whereas in the ordination of a
Priest only one utters the formula, and the others contribute what they
can afterwards. Be sure that in these Services every detail has its
meaning.
After a pause, with hands now extended
over the new Bishop, the consecrator continues with the following
prayer, the assistant Bishops likewise extending their hands, and, as
already indicated, accompanying him in a low voice:
O God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Ghost, most blessed and adorable Trinity, Who wert and art and
art to come as thou has now bestowed upon this Thy servant of Thine
awful power, and hast deigned to consecrate him as thy representative
and a teacher of Thy people, X
open, we pray thee, his heart and mind to Thy heavenly grace, that he
may handle wisely that which he has received and, being ever mindful of
Thee, he may exercise his sacred power to the honour and glory of thy
holy Name. Fulfill in Thy chosen Bishop the perfection of Thy service,
and having entrusted him with the supreme dignity, do Thou sanctify him
with unction from above.
This
takes the place of the roman prayer that God will shed upon the
newly-consecrated Bishop His strengthening blessing, and it plays an
important part in the work, for it opens the way down into the mental
and astral vehicles for the influence of the amazing development which
has just been made possible for the intuitional principle. While all the
spiritual powers of a Bishop are conferred simultaneously at the
utterance of the words of power, it would be exceedingly difficult to
bring them into practical operation without the aids which are given by
this opening and by the anointing of head and hands. The Anglican Church
loses much, and makes the work of its prelates more arduous and less
readily effective by curtailing all this. She does indeed to some extent
supply the place of this prayer by inserting just before the closing
benediction a petition for heavenly blessing; but it would be much more
efficient in its proper place. She also lengthens considerably the
actual formula of consecration, which with her is as follows:
Receive the Holy Ghost, for the Office
and work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by
the imposition of our hands; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir up the grace
of God which is given thee by this Imposition of our hands; for God hath
not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and soberness.
It will be seen how determined is the
effort made here to impress upon the Bishop-elect the reality of the
power conferred upon him by the action ordained by Christ—an impression
still further strengthened by the invocation of the Name of the most
Holy Trinity. The exhortation to “stir up the grace” is quaint, but it
shows that even the co-called reformers had a glimpse of the great truth
that all power given from on high grows greater precisely in the
proportion in which it is used. It is this sentence which, in this
maimed rite, does as far as it can the work of opening, arranging and
connecting which in more scientific schemes is achieved by the
anointing.
Resuming the consideration of our own
ritual, the consecrator now takes his seat and assumes his mitre. The
head of the newly-made Bishop is then bound with a long napkin, and the
consecrator with his thumb anoints the head with holy chrism, the first
in the form of a cross over the entire top of the head, then with a
series of extending circles till all is covered with the sacred oil. He
says:
May thy head be anointed and
consecrated with the heavenly blessing in the pontifical Order, so that
the power which thou dost receive from on high may flow forth from thee
in ever greater abundance and glory. In the Name of the
X Father and of the
X Son and of the Holy
X Ghost. R. Amen.
This anointing of the head is an important
item in the ceremony, for the chrism is especially the vehicle of the
divine Fire. On the lower levels it is a powerful purifying influence,
and on the higher it gives strength and clearness. Although it is
applied down here in the physical world, its effects extend far above
into unseen realms. The soul mirrors itself in the personality, and this
reflection, like many others, is upside down. The higher mind or
intellect is reflected in the lower mind, the intuition in the emotional
or astral body, and the spirit itself down here in the physical vehicle.
Ordinarily the triple spirit is so widely separate from the man as we
know him that there is no apparent result from this reflection; but as
in the Bishop this triple spirit has the opportunity of awakening, the
application of chrism to the head intensifies the power of reflection,
and makes the triple spirit glow most wonderfully, besides, clearing the
way down into the physical brain for the flow of the new forces.
The force-centre at the top of the head
(called by Indian students of higher physics the Sahasrara chakra,
and referred to in Baptism as the gateway through which the man passes
in and out) is in most men a vortex producing a small saucer-like
depression, just as are the other centres in the human body. They take
that shape because force is constantly flowing into the physical man
through them from higher planes; but in the great Saint force which he
himself generates is constantly rushing outwards through this
centre for the helping of the world, and so the vortex, rotating more
rapidly than ever, becomes a cone instead of a depression, and is often
to be seen in statues of the Lord Buddha as a distinct projection at the
top of the head.
Manifestly it is intended that the Bishop
shall join this more advanced type of souls, for the action of the
chrism tends strongly in the direction of this development. If he
understands his business and uses his opportunities, every Bishop ought
to be a veritable radiating sun, a lighthouse amid the stormy sea of
life, a battery charged with almost unlimited power for good, so that he
may be a fountain of strength, of love and of peace, and his mere
presence may itself be a benediction.
After this anointing, the consecrator
rises, and, again extending his hands, says:
Thou Who are wisdom strength, and
beauty, show forth thy glory in this Thy servant. Let Thy wisdom dwell
in his mind and enlighten his understanding, that in judgment he may be
true, and a wise counseller unto his people discerning in all spiritual
knowledge. May he be strong and of good courage, sustaining his people
in the face of darkness and despondency, a tower of strength to them
that falter on the way. Let the beauty of holiness shine forth in his
conversation and his actions. Do Thou fill him, O Lord, with reverence,
and make him devout and steadfast in Thy service. May gentleness adorn
his life, that he may win the hearts of men and open them to the light
of the Holy Spirit. Above all, may he be so filled with Thy love that he
may touch the hearts of men with the fire from heaven and bring them
from the darkness of ignorance into Thy marvellous Light: Thou Who
livest and reignest, O Trinity of Might and Wisdom and Love, one holy
God throughout all ages of ages. R. Amen.
The consecrator now anoints the hands of
the new Bishop with the sacred chrism. He says:
May these hands be consecrated and
hallowed for the work of the pontifical Order by this anointing with the
holy chrism of sanctification. In the Name of the
X Father, and of the
X Son, and of Holy
X Ghost. R. Amen.
This anointing of the hands with chrism
arranges the mechanism for the distribution of the three kinds of force
(coming forth, if we push our investigation far enough back into light
of ineffably glory, from the Three Aspects or Persons of the
ever-blessed Trinty) which flow through the Bishop by virtue of the gift
of the Holy Ghost at his consecration. For that reason the triple cross
is made over him.
The consecrator makes the sign of the
cross first over the heart of the newly consecrated Bishop, then over
his hands, saying:
Mayest thou abound with the fullness of
spiritual X blessing, so
that whatsoever thou dost X
bless may be blessed, and whatsoever thou dost hallow may be hallowed,
and that the laying on of this consecrated hand may avail for the
spiritual safeguarding of Thy people: in the Name of our Lord Christ.
R. Amen.
He then joins the consecrated hands and
binds them with a linen strip. The sign of power made at the words “the
fullness of spiritual blessing” opens fully the direct line of
connection between the intuition and the emotional or astral body, so
that if and when that intuition is developed it may flash through at
once into what is intended to be its expression in physical life.
The un-evolved man is guided almost
entirely by his feelings and emotions; and often these may be the merest
impulses, born of prejudice or mistaken ideas. Later, the lower mind
unfolds itself, and the man begins to check his impulses by reasoning,
which, however, is often narrow and based on wrong premises. At this
stage he is often a rabid freethinker, noisily denying the existence of
anything which with his very limited faculties he cannot feel, see or
understand.
Gradually the higher mind appears, and
enables him to take a broader and saner view, to realize that he must
collate his tiny personal experiences with those of others, and that the
straitened limit of his comprehension is not necessarily the frontier of
the universe. Thus he learns to subordinate isolated observation to
general laws, and to weigh conclusions before accepting them. Very
slowly he learns that above and beyond the store of knowledge obtained
by wide experience there is a wisdom which knows the truth by instinct,
which infallibly and instantaneously distinguishes fact from error; and
to that inner faculty we give the name of intuition.
Its true habitat is that higher plane
which we name after it—that to which in Oriental lands is given the
title of buddhi or enlightenment; but down here in the outer
world it shows itself through the emotional body as instinctive feeling.
Little by little, step by step, it dawns upon the consciousness of man,
and until he can recognize it with certainty he wisely fears to trust
it; yet how often has it happened to all of us to reason ourselves out
of obedience to some instinctive feeling, and afterward bitterly to
regret that we neglected the warning.
Intuition exists—let none doubt it; but
not all of us are yet sufficiently developed to be certain of instantly
recognizing it when it flashes upon us; and the dangers attendant upon
mistaking impulse for intuition are so serious that we do well to be
cautious. The attainment of reliable intuition in daily life means the
opening of that direct channel between the intuitional and emotional
vehicles; and that is the very result which the sign of power over the
heart of the newly-made Bishop is intended to produce. When the link is
thus brought into operation, it remains for the Bishop himself to
develop the faculty by making use of it.
The sign made over the heart is by no
means merely sybolical, for it is through that centre rather than
through the mind that intuition acts; and the sign made over the hands
at the words “that whatsoever thou dost bless may be blessed” arranges
the mechanism for the distribution of that wonderful Christ-force which
pours through the Bishop as a result of the link made between his
intuition and that of his Master.
Then follows the blessing by the
consecrator of the crosier, pectoral cross and ring, and immediately
afterwards the delivery to the new Bishop of these, which may very truly
be called the working tools of the sublime degree conferred upon him.
Taking the crosier in his hands, the consecrator says:
Eternal Triune God, before whose great
white throne seven flaming Spirits stand, whom yet Thou dost send forth
through all the world, X
pour out upon this staff Thy sevenfold fire, that it may be a rod of
power for the ruling and strengthening of Thy Church. Through Christ our
Lord. R. Amen
I shall explain in a later chapter the
arrangement of the seven jewels in the Altar-stone, and their especial
linking with the earthly Heads of the seven Rays, who are in turn the
representatives for our planet of the seven Spirits, who while ever
standing before the throne of God, yet permeate the whole of the solar
system. A similar plan is adopted with regard to the Bishop's crosier
and his pectoral cross. The linking of the jewels with the vicegerents
of the great Spirits is done yearly by the Bishop on the festival of St.
Michael and all Angels, so the object of this prayer is not to make that
link, but to offer this crosier as a channel for the divine power and to
invoke the divine blessing upon it. The reference to the Rod of Power
will be appreciated by the deeper student of the inner side of life;
among Eastern mystics it is sometimes called the dorje.
The consecrator not takes the pectoral
cross between his hands, and says:
Almighty God, Who of Thine own most
holy will didst offer Thyself as a sacrifice for all the world, and hast
by that limitation of Thyself hallowed the sign of the cross and made it
for ever Thine own, let the seven Rays of Thine ineffable glory
X shine through this sacred
symbol, that this holy cross may ever by a radiant sun to him who
weareth it, and a fount of light and benison to all Thy faithful people.
O thou Who reignest from the cross for ever. R. Amen
This again, like the previous prayer,
offers the cross as a channel for mighty cosmic forces; and all who have
the inner sight will recognize the appropriateness of describing it as a
radiant sun, for that is exactly the appearance which it presents to
them. Each jewel flashes with its own especial colour, yet they blend
into a wonderful and harmonious whole, and certainly the sacred symbol
shed a most powerful and continuous influence not only upon the wearer
but upon all who come in contact with him. The fact that the cross
typifies the Sacrifice involved in the descent of the Second Person of
the Holy Trinity into matter, in order that we and all the worlds may
be, makes the symbol still more suitable as a vehicle through which His
grace may shine upon the world which owes its very existence to that
which the cross signifies.
The consecrator lays aside the pectoral
cross, and takes the ring between his hands in the same way, saying:
O Christ, pure Lord of Love, whom Angel
hosts obey, touch Thou with sacred fire this ring which in Thy Name we
X bless, that he who wears
it shall ever show Thy love and purity, and all who touch it shall know
Thy healing grace. R. Amen.
It will be seen that this prayer differs
in character from those which precede it. It is no longer an appeal to
the Deity to recognize a connection already made, but a petition to the
World-Teacher to accept the ring as a centre of radiation for the fire
of His wondrous love. This ring, so magnetized, becomes the most
powerful of talismans, through which the special blessing of the Christ
is ever flowing forth without the intervention of the Bishop, though he
is able to concentrate and direct it by the exertion of his will. This
is further explained in Part III dealing with the instruments of the
Sacraments.
All these instruments being now duly
prepared, the consecrator presents them one by one to the new Bishop.
first the crosier, which the recipient has to take between the tips of
his fingers, as his hands are still bound together by the strip of
linen. The consecrator says:
Receive this staff, and wield thy power
with care as Shepard of Christ's flock. By virtue of the sevenfold fire
of god the Holy Ghost be thou all things to all men; giving more
strength unto the strong, yet showing gentleness unto the weak; full of
wisdom for the wise, and for the devout full of deep devotion. Yet as
the seven flashing colours of the bow make but one pure white ray, so
shall thy sevenfold power be all the one great power of love.
The consecrator now suspends the cross
around the neck of the new Bishop, saying:
Receive this cross, remembering that
only by the perfect sacrifice of the lower nature to the higher canst
thou fit thyself to bear it worthily. Go forth in the power of the
cross, and may the sevenfold light of the Holy Spirit so shine through
thee that thou mayest win others to the beauty of sacrifice.
He places the ring on the ring-finger of
the right hand of the newly-made Bishop, saying:
Receive this ring in token of the link
which binds thee to our Lord, for symbol of thine office as His legate
to thy people. In His most holy name, be thou a healer of the souls of
men, a channel of His love.
Then deliver to him the book of Gospels,
closed, which had previously been held on his shoulders, he says:
Recieve the Book of Gospels, and be
thou a teacher of the Divine Wisdom unto the people entrusted to thee.
The consecrator, and after him the
assistant Bishops, give the salutation of peace to the newly consecrated
Bishop, whose hands are then unbound. Both he and the consecrator then
wash their hands. The now Bishop and the assistant Bishops withdraw to
the side-Altar. The Gospel is read, and the Creed sung. After the Credo
and immediately before the Offertorium is read, the new Bishop presents
his offerings to the consecrator. According to ancient custom these
consists of two small loaves of bread, two torches or candles, and two
miniature barrels with the arms of the consecrator on a golden shield
and those of the new Bishop upon a silver shield.
The newly-consecrated Bishop, accompanied
by his assistant Bishops, then proceeds to the south end of the high
Altar and says aloud the remainder of the office of the Holy Eucharist
with the consecrator word for word. Except for a special clause inserted
in the prayer of consecration, the Service proceeds to the end as usual.
After the final blessing the consecrator and the new Bishop assume the
cope. The consecrator then proceeds to the faldstool. The mitre and
gloves of the new Bishop are held before him, and he blesses them. The
three Bishops then place the mitre on the head of the newly consecrated
Bishop, the consecrator saying:
Receive this mitre, wherewith I crown
thee for the service of that our most dear Lord, Who, although He be God
and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; and as in Himself He doth
insolubly unite two natures, so mayest thou in thyself for ever join the
attributes of wisdom and that of love.
It may be of interest here to quote the
corresponding passage in the Roman ritual, as the symbology of the mitre
there given differs from ours.
We set on the head of this Bishop, O
Lord, Thy Champion, the helmet of defence and of salvation, that with
comely face and with his head armed with the horns of either Testament,
he may appear terrible to the gainsayers of the truth, and may become
their vigorous assailant, through the abundant gift of Thy grace, who
didst make the fact of Thy servant Moses to shine after familiar
converse with Thee, and didst adorn it with the resplendent horns of Thy
brightness and Thy truth, and commandedst the mitre to be set on the
head of Aaron Thy high-priest. Through Christ our Lord.
In the Roman rite the following prayer is
said when the gloves are placed on the hands of the new Bishop.
Compass about, O Lord, the hands of
this servant of Thine, with the purity of the new Man, who came down
from Heaven; that, like as Jacob, Thy beloved one, covering his hands
with the skins of kids and bring to his father most savoury meat and
drink, obtained Isaac's blessing, so may he, presenting with his hands
the Saving Victim, be found worthy to obtain Thy gracious blessing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who, in the likeness of sinful
flesh, did offer Himself to Thee, on our behalf. R. Amen.
In the Liberal Liturgy no prayer is said,
the consecrator, with the aid of the assistant Bishops, putting the
gloves on the hands of the new Bishop in silence. This being
accomplished, the consecrator rises and says:
Do Thou, we pray Thee, O Lord, fulfill
in Thy servant that which is betokened by these visible emblems, so that
the virtue which in these garments is prefigured by sheen of gold, by
flashing of gems and cunning of varied embroidery, may continually shine
forth in his life and actions. R. Amen.
Then the new Bishop is solemnly enthroned,
the consecrator leading him by the right hand, and the senior assistant
Bishop by the left. His crosier is handed to him, and a solemn Te
Deum is sung, during which the new Bishop, attended by the assistant
Bishops, proceeds round the church and gives his blessing to the people.
We have found it desirable to modify some of the verses of the Te
Deum, as there are phrases in the original which we do not feel that
we can honestly recite.
When the procession returns to the
sanctuary, the new Bishop is seated on the throne or faldstool, the
consecrator standing upon his right hand, and the assistant Bishops upon
his left. The consecrator turns to the people, gives the Minor
Benediction, and says:
O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all
the faithful, look down in Thy loving kindness on this servant of Thine
who has now become a pontiff and ruler in Thy Church; grant him, we pray
Thee, O Lord both by his ministration and by word and example, so to
profit those over whom he is placed that, together with the flock
committed to his care, he may continually increase in the knowledge of
Thy mysteries. Though Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
The consecrator and the assistant Bishops,
one on either side of him, stand at the gospel side of the Altar. The
new Bishop advances to the middle of the Altar and thence gives his
solemn benediction in the ordinary form. The newly-consecrated Bishop
then pays homage to the consecrator according to the ancient tradition
of the Church. He advances by three stages to the consecrator,
genuflecting each time and saying: Ad multos annos (unto many
years), finally receiving from the consecrator and assistant Bishops the
salutation of peace. This concluded, the procession leaves the chancel.
Though the rubric demands the presence of
three Bishops to consecrate a fourth, this is by no means necessary to
the validity of the Sacrament. One Bishop is fully able to hand on the
episcopate, and in history has often done so. When three take part in
the ceremony, each is an independent channel of force; so that even if
the consecrator were himself through some strange mistake not a
properly-ordained Bishop, the action of the others would remedy the
deficiency, and the consecration would be valid. The assistant Bishops
would have the intention of consecrating, and would have the form of
consecration explicitly in their minds; and that intention would operate
at the laying on of hands, even if they did not give it vocal utterance.
Still, for safety's sake it is ordained that all three shall speak the
words simultaneously.
Those of the laity who have the
opportunity of seeing any of the major Ordinations are privileged
people. It is a great thing, a fine thing to be able to see the carrying
on of this scheme given to by the Christ hundreds of years ago. By their
presence, by their earnest devotion. the laity can help, and can
strengthen the hands of those who are passing on this wondrous gift.
They themselves have not been ordained, therefore it is not in their
power to pass on the Holy Orders; but it is in their power to uphold the
hands of those who are doing it, and to give in that way very real help
in what is being done.
Another point is that such a Service
offers a magnificent opportunity to those who are trying to develop
clairvoyance. Those who are beginning to see should try to see all they
can. Humanity is evolving, the powers of our higher bodies are coming
nearer to the surface, and sometimes some of us are able to see a little
more than we used to see. Here are occasions when there is a great deal
more to be seen than is visible to the physical eye. It is well worth
while for those present to make an effort to put themselves into a
receptive attitude, in the hope of seeing or feeling something of what
lies behind the outer form of what is done.
There will be wondrous outpourings of
power visible to those have learnt how to perceive them—floods of light,
flashes of splendid colour, great Angels who have come to help. Many can
feel their presence, and there are some who can see them. There is no
reason why others should not share this advantage. Let them put
themselves in an attitude of sympathy; let them try to see and to feel.
That is one way in which we, the clergy, like the laity to cooperate
with us in the work which we have to do.
IN the ordinary life of the world, a
man's marriage is often one of the most important points, for with
it he begins an entirely new section of that life. Therefore at that
point the Church steps in to give his action her formal recognition
an blessing, to start him on that new section in the right spirit,
and to give him such help along his way as he is able to receive.
The general intention of the marriage
Service is to open the natures of the bride and bridegroom towards
each other, especially at the astral and mental levels; and then,
having done this, to draw a ring round them, separating them to a
certain extent from the rest of the world. From the point of view of
the inner life matrimony is a tremendous experiment, in which the
parties agree to make certain sacrifices of individual freedom and
preferences, in the hope and with the intention first, that through
their mutual reaction each will intensify the inner life of the
other, so that their joint output of spiritual force may be far
greater than the sum of their separate efforts would be, and
secondly, that they may have the privilege of providing suitable
vehicles for souls who desire and deserve a good opportunity of
rapid evolution.
Naturally there are many cases in
which these results are not achieved; a very real and careful
co-operation is required, and many people are not capable of giving
this. It exacts a high standard; it aims at nothing less than
keeping them perpetually in love with each other, not in any silly
or gushing way, but strongly, deeply, truly, with common sense and
utmost self-forgetfulness. There is no doubt that each sacrifices
something; the bachelor can pour himself out equally in all
directions, and gain great results therefrom; but married people, in
order to obtain this closer linking, must focus specially upon each
other, even though it is done in order to procure still better
results by this ecstasy of devotion. Just as these two are brought
together, and made practically one by ceaseless mutual consideration
and self-sacrifice, so should all humanity be brought together; and
one day it will be. Meantime, the wedded state is exceedingly good
practice.
The Church Service for holy matrimony
is short and simple. It begins with an address to the congregation,
announcing the wish of the couple to be joined together in marriage,
and demanding whether anyone present knows any reason against such
union. If no objection is raised, the Priest asks each of the
parties in turn whether he or she is fully willing to accept the
other; and if both reply in the affirmative, the ring is placed upon
a silver salver, and the Priest sprinkles it with holy water and
solemnly blesses it, strongly impressing upon it the thought of true
faith and ever-deepening love, so that it becomes a powerful
talisman.
The father or guardian of the bride
than comes forward, takes her by the right hand, and formally
delivers her over to the Priest, as representing Christ's Church;
the Priest immediately hands her on to the bridegroom with the
words: “Receive the precious gift of God.” Then the bridegroom
repeats after the Priest the great and solemn obligation of the
marriage:
I take thee to be my wedded wife,
to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, to
cherish and to honour, till death us here do part; and thereunto, in
the presence of God, and in the power and love of Christ our Lord
and Master, I plight thee my troth. Amen.
And at the end of this solemn promise
comes the Amen, signifying, as I explained in an earlier chapter, on
the part of the bridegroom an emphatic pledge: “By Amen, Lord of
Life, I swear that this shall be so,” and on the part of the
congregation a most earnest prayer: “So may it be; may the vow be
kept.”
The bride now takes upon her the same
obligation towards her husband, and then follows the strange and
ancient ceremony of enduing her with the consecrated ring, which is
placed first for a moment upon the thumb, and then upon the first
and second fingers, before it finally reaches its permanent
abiding-place upon the third, the bridegroom meanwhile invoking the
sacred Names of the Holy Trinity, and ending with the usual
asseveration. Then he repeats another ancient vow:
With this ring I thee wed; my
truest love I thee pledge; with my body I give thee reverence, and
with all my strength I thee shield. Amen.
The Priest now touches the foreheads
of the bride and bridegroom with holy water, joins their right hands
and, holding them together with his own right hands, pronounces the
actual formula which makes them husband and wife:
I join you together in marriage in
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Covering their clasped hands with the
end of his stole, to signify the protection of the Church, he adds
the well-known words: “To whom God hath joined together, let no man
seek to put asunder.” Then he turns to the congregation and make
formal public proclamation that the wedding is an accomplished fact.
The marriage ceremony has its legal as well as its ecclesiastical
side; the English custom of publishing the banns for three weeks,
the demand at the beginning of the Service whether anyone present
knows of any impediment, and now this definite announcement to the
world in general, are all clear evidence of its legal character, and
have nothing to do with its inner or sacramental aspect.
Here follow some versicles in which
the Priest invokes for the newly-married couple blessing, love,
wisdom and strength; and after these should come two prayers for
their future—one that they may ever remember to keep their vows, and
the other (to be used only when suitable) that they may receive the
“dower of blessed children” mentioned in the hymn which immediately
follows the prayers. The second of these prayers we have had to omit
(although tradition is entirely in its favour) in deference to the
quaint modern custom of refusing to recognize the existence of the
most obvious facts in nature. This part of the Service explains
itself; it will be sufficient to quote it.
O Eternal God, Creator and
Preserver of all mankind, giver of all spiritual grace, the author
of everlasting life, send Thy blessing upon these Thy servants, this
man and this woman, whom we bless in Thy Name; that these persons
may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made,
and may so hold their lives in the knowledge and love of Thee that
they may dwell together in holy love and peace. R. Amen.
Father of Lights, in whose hand are
the souls who come to earth, do thou bless the marriage of these Thy
servants with fruitfulness of increase. May their lives be so
sanctified in Thy service that to them may be given children radiant
with thy power and glory. R. Amen.
Then follows Keble's will-known
Wedding Hymn, in which, however, we have been compelled to make
somewhat extensive alterations in order to bring it into harmony
with the ideals of our Church.
The Priest pronounces this blessing
over the bride and bridegroom.
Almighty God pour upon you the
riches of His grace, sanctify and bless you, that you may serve Him
both in body and soul, and live together in holy love unto your
lives' end. R. Amen.
It is considered fitting that either
at the time of the wedding, or as soon after it as convenient, the
bride and bridegroom should receive Holy Communion together. If this
is done at the time of the wedding, the Service is, after the Roman
custom, called the nuptial Mass. In this a few appropriate changes
are introduced, over which we need not linger, as they are duly
given in our Liturgy, and need no explanation.
Naturally, this Sacrament of matrimony
is not the occasion of a vast general outpouring of spiritual force
such as that which accompanies the Holy Eucharist, or Vespers and
Solemn Benediction. But it is of immense importance to those
intimately concerned in it, and its inner effect upon them may be
not only great at the time but permanent, if they are ready to take
what it can give them. Sometimes both parties are so self-conscious,
or so nervous and flustered that but little good can be done; but
there are those who are collected and deeply in earnest, and when
that is the case the inner side of the ceremony is well worth
watching.
As the bridegroom utters the
troth-plight, his whole aura shines and swells until it completely
enfolds his bride; and when her turn comes, she surrounds him in the
same way, and the two greatly enlarged auras remain thus
interpenetrating and of course strongly interacting. Into this magic
double-sphere comes the consecrated ring, instantly lighting up both
of them, and so raising their vibrations that they become far more
sensitive than they usually are. While this condition of extended
consciousness and high receptivity still exists, the Priest
pronounces the formula of marriage; and as he says the words a flood
of light surges from him through the combined auras, and for the
time welds them into one.
That light and that wondrous unity
persist during the rest of the Service, and probably under
favourable circumstances for some little time afterwards. Then
gradually each settles back again into something like its previous
form and condition; yet it so permanently enlarged and modified, and
each retains a special sympathy in vibration with the other, so that
it can far more readily be influenced by it than by any other
stimulus from without. So the parties may continue indefinitely to
react upon each other for good if they are able to preserve perfect
harmony.
So great an opportunity necessarily
brings with it its responsibility and its danger. The intimate
connection which enables these two to help each other inevitably
makes them abnormally sensitive each to the other's influence and
feeling; so that if they allow disharmony to arise the link is as
powerful for evil and for sorrow as it would otherwise be for good
and for joy. As I began by saying, marriage is a tremendous
experiment, and it needs tact, unselfishness, adaptability and an
inexhaustible fount of love to make it a complete success.
A link so close and so strong is not
broken by physical death; the power to influence and the
susceptibility to that power reside not in the physical body, so
they are not lost when it is dropped. Souls differ much in this
respect; for their natures and their deserts are different; some
rise quickly out of touch with earth, some are held against their
will for many years in its immediate neighbourhood, and some
intentionally hold themselves back in order to remain nearer to
those whom they love. Knowing of the continuance of the link, the
Church looks with some doubt upon second marriages, though she does
not refuse to celebrate them; but at least there should be a decent
interval.
Holy Matrimony should always be
celebrated before noon, as after that hour the magnetic conditions
are far less favourable.
Absolution
I have already explained the action of
the Sacrament of absolution when writing of its place and value in
the course of the Holy Eucharist (p. 76). It will perhaps be well,
as an appendix to that explanation, to quote some sentences of what
is written upon the subject in our Liturgy.
It is strictly forbidden to the
Priest and the suppliant for absolution respectively to ask and
disclose the identity of others implicated in any wrongdoing
confessed. The suppliant comes to confess his own faults, not those
of others. The Priest should be as sympathetic, natural and humane
as possible with those who come to him to receive absolution.
Children under seven are not
subjects for confession, since it is the tradition of the Church
that they are not capable of serious and responsible sin. Above that
age and until they are responsible agents they may, in the Liberal
Catholic Church, make auricular confession (save in emergency) only
with the consent of one or other of the parents.
The Priest hears the confession
without interruption, unless that be necessary. He then gives such
counsel as he may think well. In the Liberal Catholic usage he does
not impose a penance, but may suggest that the suppliant should
attend the Holy Eucharist, with the desire that the power which then
comes to him shall be used against some particular fault or set of
faults.
Holy Unction
Again I quote from our Liturgy:
The purpose of the Sacrament of
Holy Unction are: (a) to aid in the restoration of bodily health,
(b) to prepare the man for death, (c) to which may be added
remission of sin, since it also involves a form of absolution.
Notwithstanding the trend of custom in the Latin Church which has
been to limit the administration of this rite to those in grave
danger of death, it is desirable that the rite should be more
generally employed as an aid to recover from any serious sickness.
For this reason it is among us called “Holy Unction” rather than
“Extreme Unction,” though the latter name is sometimes said to
originate from the idea that it is the last of the unctions given to
the ordinary Christian, those of Baptism and Confirmation preceding
it.
Holy Unction is not to be regarded
as having in ordinary circumstances any quasi-miraculous effect. It
is intended simply to aid the normal process of nature by freeing
the body from lower influences and opening it to spiritual
influence.
There is little reliable information
to be had as to this Sacrament. It is often supposed to originate
from the instruction given by St. James; “Is any sick among you? Let
him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of
faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if
he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Pray for one
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.” But there is, of course, no evidence
that the idea was the writer's own; it is quite possible that, as
many believe, the plan was suggested by the Christ and that St.
James was merely repeating for the benefit of his followers what he
had heard from the Master.
This healing aspect of the Sacrament
seems to have been overlooked in later years, and it has come to be
regarded merely as a final preparation for death. There is probably
some confusion here with the old custom of sealing all the
force-centres in the body of a dying man, lest objectionable
entities should seize upon that body as the owner left it, and
employ it for purposes of evil magic. This was no doubt in process
of time changed into the present Roman Method of anointing the
organs of the senses, and asking God to forgive the patients the
various sins that he had committed by their means. But down to the
twelfth century the practice in the Western Church undoubtedly was
to give the unction freely to all who were suffering from serious
illness, without considering whether there was imminent danger of
death. Various reasons conspired to limit its use to the dying; the
Catholic Encyclopædia suggests the rapacity of the Priests,
who demanded an unconscionable price for its administration, and the
arising of certain popular superstitions that if the anointed person
recovered he was for the rest of his life precluded from exercising
the rights of marriage, eating flesh, making a will, or walking with
bare feet.
It seems not improbable that in the
near future we may see a considerable revival of the use of this
Sacrament for healing purposes, as well as for the helping of those
at the point of death. In anticipation of this we have included in
the second edition of our Liturgy a simpler form of it, not for use
with one sick man, but arranged especially as a public Service of
Healing, to be held in the church. I quote the following passages
from the introduction.
“The purpose of the Service of Healing
is two-fold; first, to bring spiritual upliftment to those who are
in sore need thereof; second, to give some relief, when possible, to
those who are suffering from various physical ills.
“At the outset, by means of the
Asperges, the thought-atmosphere of the church is purified and made
ready for the coming of a healing Angel, who is immediately
thereafter invoked. The Confiteor follows, and the attitude of those
who joined in those glowing sentences should be an earnest desire to
rise above the imperfections of their nature and to live the higher
and nobler life. Such an attitude of intense earnestness calls to
the deeps within us and arouses our spiritual powers to activity.
The Priest then pronounces the Absolution. It must be remembered
that this does not relieve a man of responsibility for the
consequences of his wrong-doing, because it is only by paying each
debt which he contracts that he can learn the great lessons of life.
Absolution does make it easier, however, to do what is right after a
mistake has been made, by clearing away the mental and emotional
entanglements which blind the inner nature, and by straightening out
distortions in the etheric body.
“The people rise and sing a hymn
which is intended to incline their hearts to the Christ, and to
enable them to feel the nearness of His Presence and the wonder of
His Love. The words of this hymn should be felt as well as sung by
those who desire help. St. James' instructions as to the anointing
of the sick are then read, and the Veni Creator, which is the
traditional call for the aid of God the Holy Ghost, is sung by His
kneeling worshippers. While this is sung, for eyes that can see, the
whole Church slowly fills with that glorious glow of fire which is
the outward token of the power of the Presence of the Third Person
of the Blessed Trinity; and in the strength of that Presence the
Priest sends forth that cleansing current of exorcism which is
intended to clear away anything that might block the way of the
healing force.
“The next step is to follow the
apostolic custom of anointing the patient with consecrated oil,
invoking the mighty Leader of the Hosts of the healing Angels, the
Archangel Raphael. The possibility of angelic assistance is
unsuspected by the majority of people in this blind and
materialistic age, but it is nevertheless a wonderful and beautiful
fact which will be comprehended more and more clearly as the years
roll on. Then the Priest lays his hands upon the patient's head, and
pours into him, with all the strength which God has given to him,
the uplifting and curative force of the Lord Christ. He has been
specially prepared by his ordination to be a channel for this force
and for the power of God the Holy Spirit, so in doing this he is but
exercising one of the functions of his ministry. If a Bishop
conducts the Service he has the additional opportunity of helping by
the imposition of his crosier, the healing power of which has long
been recognized.
“During the anointing and laying on of
hands the attitude of the patient should be that of love for our
Lord Christ and confidence in His mighty power. The whole nature
should be opened to the down-pouring spiritual influence, even as a
flower opens its chalice to the sun. The less the thoughts of a
person are centred upon himself at this supreme moment, the more the
depths of his nature are responsive to the compassionate Presence of
the Christ, and the greater is the possibility of cure.
“The last great means of spiritual aid
and physical healing is now given to the patient in the Holy
Communion. No greater help both for body and soul can be offered
than this, for with the reception of the Sacred Host the human body
becomes for a few hours a veritable shrine, radiating the glowing
love and power of the Christ.
“It is not expected that those
instantaneous cures which are commonly (though wrongly) called
miraculous will often occur at these Service. They may and they
do happen in certain cases; but we are not sufficiently
conversant with the method of working of these stupendous powers to
be able to predict results. Many patients, especially chronic cases,
feel considerable temporary improvement, but gradually relapse and
slide back either partially or entirely. Such patients should try
again. Where there is a slight amelioration, only temporary at the
first attempt a second may well carry it further; a third, a fourth,
a fifth, a sixth may carry it much further still. Even the Christ
Himself had to apply His treatment twice in the case of the man born
blind.
“If a patient is not restored to
health even after repeated trials, it must not be thought that
Christ cannot cure, that the Holy Spirit cannot cure; it should be
remembered that the channels are human, frail and imperfect, and it
may well be that, for any one of a dozen reasons, the divine force
does not flow through this Priest or that in just the way that will
cure a particular patient. The Priest will do his best to help; the
patient will do his best to prepare himself to be helped; what will
come of it is in higher hands than ours—in the hands of Christ the
Healer and the King.”
It will be noted that we invoke
especially the aid of the Archangel Raphael, as his name has always
been associated with the distribution of the healing forces of
nature. In the book of Tobit we read:
God hath sent me to heal thee and thy
daughter, for I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels who present
the prayers of the saints, and go in and out before the glory of the
Holy One. Then they were troubled and fell upon their faces; for
they feared. But the Angel said unto them: Fear not; it shall go
well with you. Not of any favour of mine, but of the will of our God
I come; therefore praise Him for ever and give Him thanks, for I go
up to Him that sent me. (Tob., xii, 14.)
I presume therefore that the gigantic
figure which appeared in answer to our invocation was a
representative of that Archangel; he certainly seemed to be of that
Ray and type. He was a very tall and dignified personage, whose
consciousness appears to function normally on the spiritual or
nirvanic plane, although he pours his forces down to the etheric
level. His aura glows chiefly with green and purple; the purple
forces flow through the Bishop at the exorcism which precedes the
Anointing, while the green forces seem to be those of the actual
healing. I noticed that he took especial advantage of the singing of
the Veni Creator, the traditional call to God the Holy Ghost,
which is so powerful a factor in this Service. As I have mentioned
before, whenever that is sung the church fills with a wonderful red
glow, like a glorious sunset shining through a faint mist, and the
Angel seizes upon this mist, takes it into his arms as it were, and
weaves it into a huge vortex, which he directs upon the person with
whom the Priest is dealing at the moment—or rather directs it upon
the Priest and pours it upon the patient through him.
It is most interesting to watch the
working of the consciousness of this great Healing Angel, but it is
very difficult to explain it physically. The mind of an Angel works
in many compartments, and he can keep them all going simultaneously.
One can see an Angel's thoughts just as one can see a man's; but one
sees a bewildering number of them because his consciousness is so
complex. This great healing Angel, for example, unquestionably had
many departments of his thought, each of which was working upon a
separate case; and yet he was giving to each of those cases
something equivalent to what to us would be our whole concentrated
attention. While he was working in our church, working hard and
incessantly, he was also equally present in a number of other
places—at least thirty or forty—all connected in some way with the
curing of disease. All these scenes somehow reflected themselves in
little compartments in his aura, like a number of vividly coloured
moving pictures.
One was that of a surgeon performing
an operation—a scene in which all the actors were dressed in white.
The surgeon made some mistake—cut something which he did not mean to
cut, or ought not to have cut—and was all unnerved and full of sick
horror; but instantly the Angel sent him a flash of blinding
lightning which was somehow like the waving of a sword, and in a
moment that steadied his nerves and showed him what to do, so that
the patient's life was saved.
In another picture some nuns were
kneeling round the bed of one who was apparently their Mother
Superior, and was evidently near to dying. But their prayers wove a
lovely coloured network about the figure on the bed; and the Angel
took advantage of that, and poured vitality into the network so
gently and carefully that the Mother Superior did not die, but
presently a little colour came into her cheeks, and she raised
herself in the bed and held out her hand, blessing the praying nuns.
Then they all kissed her hand one by one, and went away weeping
joyously; and the Mother Superior drank something from a bowl into
which the Angel poured his light, and then she sank into a healthy
sleep, and is now rapidly recovering. Our Blessed Lady the
World-Mother was also helping in that case, for we stood near the
dying nun, and flooded the room with her wonderful blue peace. But
what seemed so strange to us was that all these events, and many
more, were happening at the same time, and the Angel was taking part
equally in all of them, and they were all mirrored in different
parts of his consciousness.
There was at the same time another
case going on, of which I saw only the end—that of a shipwrecked
sailor (or rather, I think, a ship's officer) who was cast upon a
desolate island, very badly hurt and almost dying. Yet he could not
be allowed to die, because of the perpetual earnest prayers of his
wife and little daughter far away at home, whose karma was such that
they had not deserved the sorrow of losing him. So he had to be
strengthened and nursed back to health by a number of what seemed
almost miraculous little coincidences—a fruit falling from a tree
and rolling within his reach, a hawk chased by an eagle dropping a
fish actually upon him, and the sea casting upon the beach near him
other small things that were of use to him. Also the Angel helped
the praying daughter to materialize beside him and comfort him and
enabled her to remember her visit to him when she awoke, and relate
it to her mother as a dream which she felt to be true; so that when
they heard of the loss of the ship they were not dismayed, but were
quite sure that he had been saved, and would presently be rescued
and brought back to them. Evidently the work of a healing Angel is
much more extensive and varied than we had supposed.
All this was to me entirely
unexpected, because I had not realized that there were Angels who
took part in such work. Obviously this opens up all kinds of
possibilities: the work of Angels may perhaps touch our lives at
many more points than we have hitherto realized. It may well be that
Angels watch over the sick with general blessing and strengthening,
for in that great Angel's consciousness I also saw a number of still
sheeted forms lying side by side—probably a ward in a hospital—and
the Angel was brooding over them and pouring out influence upon
them. Sick people are often wonderfully cheerful under their
troubles; and after this experience I have wondered whether Angels
may not be to a large extent responsible for that cheerfulness.
There is certainly much going on all around us of which we know very
little.
For those who are at the point of
death the reception of the Holy Communion has always been regarded
as most desirable when it is at all possible, and this final
administration is called the viaticum, or provision for the journey.
Unction may be employed in curing
etheric disease. Most diseases are complicated by nervous
affections, and it is probable that such could be helped by the
anointing with consecrated oil. The Sacrament is calculated to help
and heal the man if possible, but if he must leave his physical body
it makes the parting easy and simple for him. When a man is
obviously dying, it is well that the Church should dismiss him with
her blessing, giving him a final impusle towards good by the
viaticum, and sealing up the centres so that no undesirable use can
be made of the corpse, either by the man himself or by others. For
there have been cases in which ill-instructed and terrified men have
made frantic efforts to re-enter their bodies after death; and
success in such an attempt would lead to conditions so unnatural and
harmful that it is wise to make it impossible. There is a vast and
most interesting literature on the subject of the life after death;
but this in not the place to consider it.
IN the early days of Christianity the
churches were invariably erected in the basilica form, in the
imitation of the pubic buildings of the period. The basilica was not
unlike the average church of to-day, for it consisted of an oblong
hall corresponding to our nave, and aisles with galleries, separated
from the nave by rows of pillars. At the east end was a small
semi-circular apse, in which the magistrates sat when the building
was used as a court of justice. This was divided from the body of
the hall by a screen of lattice-work, the progenitor of our modern
rood-screen. In the Greek Church, this has developed into a lofty
wooden wall, gorgeously painted, which entirely prevents the
congregation from seeing the Altar, except when the chancel doors
are thrown open at certain parts of the Service.
In
some of our English cathedrals the barrier is just as formidable,
but in most modern churches it has dwindled to the chancel-rail at
which the congregation kneels to receive Holy Communion. In medieval
times the idea of the cruciform church arose, and large numbers are
still built in that shape for the sake of the symbolism. It is not a
good plan for practical purposes, for if the church be of any size,
the people at the lower end of the nave are too far from the Altar,
and most of those in the transepts can neither see not hear. An
attempt to improve their position was made by the invention of the
hagioscope—an opening in the corners of the tower walls between the
transepts and the chancel; but it was only a very partial remedy.
The important points are that every
member of the congregation should hear what is said. These are
exactly the desiderata in a theatre also, and I think that in
planning our ideal church we should do well to profit by the
experience of theatrical architects. Our building must certainly be
lofty, and I feel that when we can do so it is better to dispense
with galleries, though I recognize that they are inevitable where it
is necessary to accommodate a large congregation on a comparatively
small site. Adequate ventilation, heating and lighting arrangements
are also imperative.
The Right Rev. Irving S. Cooper,
Regionary Bishop of our Liberal Catholic Church in the Unites States
of America, has submitted to me a plan for a building intended for
our own form of worship which seems to me to have much to recommend
it. I reproduce it herewith, with his explanation of it. (Diagram
12)
Whatever form it takes, when it is
built our Church must be consecrated. The Service used for this
purpose will be found in our Liturgy. The address with which it
begins will explain its objects and method.
It is the immemorial custom of holy
Church to consecrate the building in which her services are
permanently to be held; and it is for this purpose that we are net
together to-day. Our first step in this ceremony is to endeavour to
purify the mental atmosphere of the building by the use of holy
water and of incense, so that worldly thought and influence may e
banished from it, and our thoughts during our first procession
should be devoted to that end. Having performed the ritual of
purification, we call upon Almighty God to consecrate and to hallow
its various parts to the purposes in His service for which they are
destined, and to that end we anoint with holy oil certain special
centres of influence. In that second procession of consecration our
minds should be strongly fixed upon the idea that this church shall
be not only a place free from selfish or worldly thought, but
definitely an active centre of good and holy thought—not merely free
from evil, but actively good. When this great act of consecration
has been duly performed, we at once begin our first Service—the
highest and holiest Service that we know—the Holy Eucharist which
Christ Himself ordained. In the course of this celebration the third
procession will take place, and the sacred Host will be borne round
the Church as a crowning benediction. During that time our hearts
should be filled with deepest adoration to our Lord and with
heartiest thankfulness for His wondrous love. Remember, than, these
three keynotes of the different portions of the Service—first
purification, secondly consecration, and thirdly adoration and
thankfulness.
The first section of the Service
begins with a prayer that the building may be so purified by the
influence of the Holy Spirit that no evil thought may enter therein.
To that end the Bishop takes the aspergill, and standing before the
Altar sprinkles it thrice with holy water; then he moves round the
Altar, sprinkling it all the time, and after that turns to the
people and asperes them. then a procession is formed, which passes
all round close the to the walls of the church, the bishop
sprinkling them plentifully with the holy water. Meantime a hymn is
sung—usually “Onward, Christian Soldiers”.
The purification being ended, the
consecration begins with a beautiful prayer adapted from the
Irvingite Liturgy.
God the Father, God the Son, God the
Ghost, X accept, and
X hallow and
X bless this place to
the end whereunto we have separated it, even to be a sanctuary of
the Most High, and a church of the Living God. The Lord with His
favour graciously regard our work, and so send down His spiritual
benediction and grace, that it may be unto Him the house of God, and
unto His people worshipping therein the gate of heaven. R. Amen.
The Bishop then goes to the Altar, and
with chrism makes the sign of the cross upon each of the five
crosses carved upon the Altar Stone. He then anoints the cross upon
the tabernacle and the Altar-cross with chrism, and says:
O God, Whose wisdom mightily and
sweetly ordereth all things, lookdown, we pray Thee, upon the
handiwork of Thy servants, and fill this house with heavenly wisdom,
that they who serve Thee here may be so filled with the Spirit of
wisdom and love that they may constantly labour to raise Thy people
from the darkness of ignorance to the light of Thy holy truth.
Wherefore do we
X consecrate and
X hallow this Altar to
the glory of God, to the perfecting of humanity, and in honour of
His glorious Martyr, the holy St. . . .In the Name of the
X Father, and of the
X Son, and of the Holy
X Ghost. R. Amen.
When that is finished the Altar is
dressed, the chalice and paten arranged upon it as usual, and the
candles lighted; and the Bishop then censes it in the usual manner.
A procession is formed, and again marches all round the church,
singing the hymn, “Blessed city, heavenly Salem,” and stopping at
each of the crosses—for in place of the awful pictures called
Stations of the Cross which disfigure Roman churches we put upon our
walls crosses to represent the seven Rays, thus carrying out still
further an idea which I shall fully explain when writing about the
Altar-stone.
We arrange them to correspond as far
as possible with the jewels inserted in the latter. The cross on the
door of the tabernacle is taken as that of the second Ray; that of
the first Ray is erected as nearly as may be in the center of the
church; that representing the fourth ray is placed in the
south-east, and that of the fifth in the south-west; that of the
seventh in the west, the sixth in the north-west, and that of the
third in the north-east (Diagram 8). Each has engraved upon it the
symbol of its Ray, and a tiny speck of its appropriate gem is
embedded in it. When, as sometimes happens, an already existing
building has to be adapted to our use, the orientation of the church
may be inaccurate; in that case the relative position of these
crosses should be maintained, though the points of the compass may
have to varied.
It is unfortunate when the Altar is
not set in the east, as it imposes additional difficulties upon the
angelic helpers in the work which they do at our Services. When the
church is properly oriented, they utilize the etheric currents which
are always flowing over the surface of the earth at right angles to
each other—north and south, east and west; but when the church is
set askew, they have to drive their lines of force across the
earth-currents at all sorts of odd angles. It can be done, of
course, but it needs much more exertion; it is like swimming against
the tide.
Our theory of this world, and of
the solar system of which it forms a part, is that there is much
more in them than there is usually supposed to be—that they
extend much farther than is commonly thought, not outward, but
inward.
We hold that there is an unseen
world, that it is around us here and now, and not far away from
us, and that it remains unseen only because most of us have not
yet developed the senses by which it can be perceived; that for
those who have developed these senses that world is not unseen
and not unknown, but is entirely within reach, and can be
explored and investigated as may be desired, precisely as any
country here on earth might be.
We find that besides the matter
which we can see about us, and besides the matter which we do
not see, but of whose presence science assures us—the various
gases and the ether, for example—there exists many other still
finer kinds of matter, which can only be seen by means of these
finer senses. We put this before you as a hypothesis, for your
consideration and examination; but it is only fair to tell you
that to us it is much more than a hypothesis—that to many of us
it is a certainty based upon our own individual observations. We
have worked for many years at these studies; I myself have been
a student for five and forty years, and when a man has devoted
practically his whole time during all those years to a single
subject, he begins to know something about it, and to have its
broad principles clearly and definitely in his mind.
It is therefore quite true that
with regard to many of these subjects, which will seem to you
new and strange, I am in a somewhat different position, for to
me all these things are matters of course—in many cases matters
of daily experience. Many of us know from our own experiments
that these things are true, but we do not ask you to believe
this because we do, but only to accept our testimony as you
would any other evidence, and take it into account. We are not
seeking for converts, we are not tying to induce people to
believe what we say; we are simply putting before them a system
of study, in the hope that they may be sufficiently interested
to take it up and follow it further for themselves. There is an
immense literature upon these subjects so that anyone who will
may readily study further.
As far as we are concerned, then,
we know that these finer kinds of matter exist, and that
there are whole worlds composed of them, which we call the
higher planes of nature. Remember that I am still of the same
matter which you all know; we recognize only one matter, though
it may be in different conditions. Just as you may have hydrogen
in its normal gaseous condition, or (under sufficient pressure
and with the proper temperature) you may have it liquefied, or
even solidified—so we find that its condition may be changed in
the opposite direction, and we may have it in a finer state,
which we called the etheric.
In that etheric condition we might
have gold or silver, lithium or platinum or any of the so-called
“elements”. We do not apply the name of elements to these
substances, because we find that they are all capable of further
subdivision. As long ago as 1887 Sir William Crookes propounded
the theory that all known elements might very well be variations
of one—that they might all be reduced to an original substance
to which he gave the name of protyle. The truth, as seen by our
students, goes a little farther than that; for instead of
finding at the back of everything a homogeneous substance, we
find that there is such a thing as physical atom. A chemist
speaks of atoms of any of his elements, but really these may all
be further subdivided, broken up into the true atoms, of which
they are simply different arrangements.
These ultimate physical atoms are
found to be all alike (except that some of them are positive,
and some negative), and they pervade all space of which we know
anything. They are inconceivable minute, and far beyond the
reach of the most powerful microscope ever made, or ever likely
to be made; but they can nevertheless be observed by means of
the developed senses of man. The inner science approaches its
problems from a different point of view; instead of developing
and improving its instruments, as outer science has been so
wonderfully successful in doing, it goes to work to develop the
observer. It develops within the man other and finer faculties,
by means of which he is able to perceive these exceedingly
minute objects, and thus it penetrates farther into the heart of
nature than any instrument can ever do. Do not imagine that
there is anything supernatural or uncanny about these higher
faculties; they are simply straight-forward developments of
powers which man already possesses and will come to everyone in
due course, though some people have taken special trouble to
develop them now in advance of the rest.
There are, then, ultimate physical
atoms which can be observed and examined. It would be out of
place to describe them here in detail, but I should perhaps say
that an atom is roughly heart-shaped, and looks as though it
were constructed of wires like a birdcage. (Diagram 20). Each
wire is a spiral, made in turn of still finer spirals, which we
call spirillae. The atom is in reality a vortex, formed by the
flow of the divine life-force. If that force were for a moment
withdrawn, the atom would instantly disappear—would cease to be,
just as a little column of dust and leaves whirling at a
street-corner falls to pieces when the wind drops.
When we reach that ultimate
physical atom, is there any further possibility, can our
observation take us any further still? We find that it can. The
word atom is derived from the Greek meaning that which cannot be
cut or further subdivided. But that term is not strictly
applicable, for these physical atoms can be divided; but when
they are, we have a type of matter which is totally unaffected
by and heat or cold that we can produce. It seems probable that
solar temperatures would affect even this finely subdivided
matter, but certainly ours do not. But this higher matter is
exceedingly interesting, and we find that there is a whole world
composed of it existing all around us. interpenetrating all
matter that we know—lying all about us, in the atmosphere,
within our own bodies, and within all solid objects. Just as
science tells us that ether interpenetrates all objects,
ourselves included, so does this still finer matter.
There
are several stages of this subdivision of matter, by which we
mean simply divisions of matter according to its degree of
density. All the matter which you know we should describe as
that of the physical plane, including a condition even finer
than gas. Beyond that we come to another class—the same matter
still, remember, only more finely subdivided, and we call this
astral matter. This is a name which was given to it by the
mediaeval alchemists, who were well aware of its existence.
Modern
science has no name for it yet, but it probably soon will have,
for its researches are drawing nearer and nearer to this finer
matter every day; indeed, it seems probable that what it calls
an electron is what we call an astral atom. We have carried on
this process of subdivision and refining to another stage, and
have found another condition of matter higher still; and to that
we have given the name of mental matter, because what is called
the mental body of men is composed of this type of matter. That
sounds [like] a startling statement, no doubt, but nevertheless
it is a true one, based on definite experiment on scientific
lines.
Still more of these subdivisions
rise one above another, and beginning from the bottom, we call
them physical, astral, mental, intuitional, spiritual, monadic
and divine. Do not be deceived by the use of the word “above”.
Do not think for a moment of our enquiry as passing away from
earth. to rise higher in this investigation means simply to
withdraw more and more into the self, so as to be able to sense
finer and finer stages of matter; but all these stages are
existing about us here and now and all the time, simply
interpenetrating one another, just as the air or gas in aerated
water interpenetrates the liquid. Just so, in and amongst all
physical particles exist astral particles, and amongst the
astral particles exist the mental in turn.
If we carry on these subdivisions
to the very end, we come to a countless number of inconceivable
tiny dots or beads, all spherical, of the simplest possible
construction and absolutely identical. Though they are the basis
of all matter, they are not themselves matter; they are not
blocks, but bubbles blown in the ether of space—blown by
that creative Breath of God of which ancient Scriptures tell us.
So the universe exists while God holds it with His breath; if He
drew in that breath there would be no universe. In view of this
marvellous distribution of Himself in space, the familiar
concept of the Sacrifice of the Logos takes on a new depth and
splendour; this is His dying in matter, this His perpetual
Sacrifice. Is it not His very glory that He can thus sacrifice
Himself to the uttermost by permeating and making Himself one
with that portion of the aether which He chooses as the field of
His universe?
Now, having in view these ideas
with regard to the nature of matter, let us turn to the
constitution of man. the ordinary man thinks of himself as
consisting of a body certainly, and possibly a soul, though he
usually speaks of himself as possessing this latter, and being
responsible for saving it, as though it were some kind of pet
animal which he kept, or something attached to him and floating
above him, like a captive balloon. We should say that he is
entirely wrong in supposing that he has a soul, but he would be
quite right if he said that he is a soul. The ordinary statement
is a comical inversion of the fact; for the truth is that man is
a soul and has a body, which is simply one of the vestments that
he puts on. You all know that this is so, if you think of it. I
am quite aware of the theory that nothing exists but matter, and
that all the thoughts and aspirations of man are nothing but
chemical reactions among the constituent particles of the grey
matter of his brain; but as there are thousands of facts for
which this theory does not account, I think we may dismiss it in
favour of something more rational.
There are hundreds of cases on
record in which a man has gone away from his physical body in
trance or under the influence of anaesthetics, or even in
ordinary sleep; and it is found that under such circumstances,
when he is far away from his physical brain, with its grey
matter and its chemical action, he can still think and observe
and remember just as when he has his physical vehicle in use. It
is therefore evident that man is not the body, since he can
exist apart from it; the body is only an instrument which he
uses for his own purposes.
Some may ask whether we have any
definite proof outside our own observation as to this crucial
fact that man can live1 without his body. Certainly there is a
great deal of proof for anyone who cares to take the trouble to
look for it. Read the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research, and you will see what it has done in this line—how a
committee of scientific men has again and again been satisfied
with regard to the appearance of a man's “double” at a distance
from where his physical body was at the time. It is quite
definitely known to all investigators that a man may under
certain circumstances travel away from his body, see what is
taking place at a distance, and then return and reanimate his
body, and tell where he has been and what he has seen and done.
In some of my own books you will
find a number of instances collected; and in Sir William F.
Barrett's On the Threshold of the Unseen, or his
Psychical Research, or in Myer's profoundly interesting book
in two volumes, Human Personality and its Survival of bodily
Death, you will find many examples, with the fullest
possible authentication. The ordinary materialistic theory does
not explain these occurrences at all, and because it cannot
explain them, it usually denies them, and declares that they do
not happen—which disingenuous, for a little examination proves
conclusively that they happen constantly.
Since these things occur, how do
they occur? Their explanation is intimately connected with our
subject, for the first step towards a comprehension of them is
to realize that man is a soul, and has not one body only, but
several. This is not a new idea. We read of a soul and a spirit
in St. Paul's writings, and because men in these days are so
ignorant of psychology as to confuse these terms, they imagine
that St. Paul was equally ignorant, and was employing them as
synonyms. He uses two entirely distinct Greek words—πνευμα,
spirit and ψυχη, soul—and he attaches precisely the same meaning
to each of them as any other educated man of his period did. If
you want to grasp the exact shades of that meaning, you must not
trust to the blank ignorance of the modern religious enthusiast,
but study the contemporaneous philosophy.
I am of course aware that much
controversy surrounds the precise signification to be attached
to these two Greek words. I have taken them here in what seems
to me the most probable sense, considering their relation to the
rest of St. Paul's argument; but some students would place them
at a higher level altogether, and say that the word ψυχικος,
which is here translated “natural,” ought to be rendered by the
English word derived from it, “psychic”. If that theory be
accepted, the “natural body” is the astro-mental, and that other
higher vehicle which is called “spiritual” must be the causal
body, which is the permanent vehicle of the soul, lasting
through all the long succession of physical incarnations. But
even if that be so, it still remains true that St. Paul bears
witness to the fact that man possesses more than one body, and
that when one of them dies, be lives again in another.
Our theory of man and his origin
is that he is essentially a spirit, a spark of the Divine Fire.
That spark is individualized, marked off as it were, from the
great ocean of the Godhead by something which we may call a
soul. That which separates him we usually call the causal body,
but we leave that aside for the present, and deal only with his
lower vehicles, for that causal body is unchanging, except that
it gradually evolves, whereas the mental, astral and physical
are taken afresh for each incarnation.
Why should he take upon himself
these various bodies?—it may be asked. Because this is the
method of evolution appointed for him—that he shall gain
experience through learning to respond to impacts from without.
He takes on these lower bodies in order that he may be able to
receive and respond to vibrations of stronger, coarser type than
any which could be found in his own higher world. For some
students this whole subject is most easily comprehended by
considering it along this line of vibrations.
Think of it thus: Every impression
which reaches us from without, no matter what it is, comes to us
as a vibration. We see by means of the waves in the ether, we
hear by means of waves in the air. What then is conveyed to us
by the vibrations of the finer type of matter of which I have
been speaking, and how are we able to receive them? the answer
is simple, but far-reaching. By their means we are able to
perceive the higher part of our world, which is usually hidden
from us; and we may learn to appreciate them by means of the
finer matter which exists in us—through the senses of these
finer bodies, in fact.
Here I am entering into a domain
as yet untouched by ordinary science, but I am saying nothing
which is in any way contradictory to that science. You may put
this aside as unproven, but you cannot say that it is
unreasonable or unscientific. Science recognizes vast numbers of
possible vibrations and knows that out of all these our physical
senses can respond to only a few. Yet through these few we have
learnt all that we know so far; and it is obvious that if we can
learn to use more of these waves from without we shall receive
more information. Now that is precisely what a clairvoyant
does—he receives information about a world which we ordinarily
do not see; and he receives it by means of vibrations which
impinge upon his higher vehicles. So a clairvoyant is a man who
has learnt to focus his consciousness in his higher bodies at
will. That at least is what a thoroughly trained clairvoyant
could do, but there are many who only passively clairvoyant, and
cannot control the faculties which they possess.
Science also quite recognizes how
partial our vision is, and how a slight alteration in our power
to respond to these waves from without would change for us the
whole appearance of the world. Once Sir William Crookes gave a
good example of that. He explained that if, instead of seeing by
rays of light, we saw by electrical rays, the whole of our
surroundings would seem totally different. One point was that in
that case the air about us would seem perfectly opaque, because
air is not a conductor of electrical vibrations, while a wire or
an iron bar would be a whole through which we could see, because
these substances are good conductors.
Many people suppose that our
faculties are limited—that they have their definite bounds,
beyond which none of us can go. But this is not so. Now and then
we find an abnormal person who has the X-ray sight by nature and
is able to see far more than others; but we can observe
variations for ourselves without going as far as that. If we
take a spectroscope, which is an arrangement of a series of
prisms, its spectrum, instead of being an inch or an inch and a
half long, will extend several feet, although it will be much
fainter. If we throw that upon a huge sheet of white paper, and
induce a number of our friends to mark on that sheet of paper
exactly how far they can see light, how far the red extends at
one end, or how far the violet extends at the other we shall be
surprised to find that some of our friends can see farther at
one end, and some farther at the other end. We may come upon
someone who can see a great deal farther than most people at
both ends of the spectrum; and if so, we have someone who is on
the way to becoming clairvoyant.
It might be supposed that it is
only a question of keenness of sight, but it is not that in the
least; it is a question of sight which is able to respond to
different series of vibrations; and of two people the keeness of
whose sight is absolutely equal, we may find that one can
exercise it only toward the violet end, and the other toward the
red end. The whole phenomenon of colour-blindness hinges on this
capacity; but when we find a person who can see a great deal
farther at both ends of this spectrum, we have someone who is
partially clairvoyant, who can respond to more vibrations; and
that is the secret of seeing so much more. There may be and
there are many entities, many objects about us which do not
reflect rays of light that we can see, but do reflect these
other rays of rates of vibration which we do not see;
consequently some of such things can be photographed, though our
eyes cannot see them.
The experiments of the late Dr.
Baraduc, of Paris, seem to show conclusively the possibility of
photographing these invisible vibrations. When last I saw him,
he showed me a large series of photographs in which he had
succeeded in reproducing some of the effects of emotion and of
thought. He has one of a child mourning over the death of a pet
bird, where a curious sort of network of lines produced by the
emotion surrounds both the bird and the child. Another of two
children, taken the moment after they were suddenly startled,
shows a speckled and palpitating cloud. Anger at an insult is
manifested by a number of little thought-forms thrown off in the
shape of flecks or incomplete globules.
All these experiments show us how
much is visible to the eye of the camera which is invisible to
ordinary human vision; and it is therefore obvious that if the
human vision can be made as sensitive as the plates used in
photography we shall see many things to which now we are blind.
It is within the power of man not only to equal the highest
sensitiveness attainable by chemicals, but greatly to transcend
it; and by this means a vast amount of information about this
unseen world may be gained.
To put the same idea from another
point of view, the senses, by means of which we obtain all our
information about external objects, are as yet imperfectly
developed; therefore the information obtained is partial. What
we see in the world about us is by no means all that there is to
see, and a man who will take the trouble to cultivate his senses
will find that, in proportion as he succeeds, life will become
fuller and richer for him. For the lover of nature, of art, of
music, a vast field of incredibly intensified and exalted
pleasure lies close at hand, if he will fit himself to enter
upon it. Above all, for the lover of his fellow-man there is the
possibility of far more intimate comprehension and therefore far
wider usefulness.
No wonder, therefore, that when we
learn to see by an entirely new set of waves in astral matter,
we find quite a different world opening to our gaze. One change
is that we find ourselves then able to see astral matter in
other men—to look at their astral bodies instead of their
physical vehicles only. I have written a book, Man Visible
and Invisible, upon this subject of the higher bodies of
man, which is illustrated with coloured pictures drawn for me by
one who is himself able to see these bodies; from that you will
be able to form some idea as to how these things appear to the
sight of the clairvoyant, and I think you will find it a most
interesting study.
The astral body is especially the
vehicle of passion, emotion and desire in man, so that when a
sudden wave of some great emotion sweeps over a man, it shows
itself by exceedingly violent vibrations of the astral matter.
Suppose that with astral sight you were watching a man, and that
man should unfortunately lose his temper. Instead of seeing the
physical expression of annoyance, you would see a remarkable
change in his astral body. The whole vehicle would be pulsating
with a violent vibration, and since colour is only a certain
rate of vibration, this sudden change would involve also a
change in the colour of the astral body as well. When we speak
of the surging of passions, we are nearer the truth than we
think, for that is exactly the appearance produced. As the man
cools down, his astral body will resume its usual colour and
appearance, yet a slight permanent trace is perceptible to the
trained eye. The same thing is true of all other emotions, good
or bad. If a man feels a great rush of devotion emotion, or of
intense affection, each of these will at once manifest itself by
its appropriate change in the astral body, and each will leave
its slight permanent trace upon the man's character.
When we come to deal with that
other vehicle of still finer matter which we call the mental
body, we find that that also vibrates, but in response to quite
a different set of impressions. No emotion under any
circumstances ought to affect it in the least, for this is not
the home of the passions or emotions, but of thought. It is not
a new idea to speak of vibration in connection with thought. All
experiments in telepathy and thought-transference depend upon
this fact that every thought creates a vibration, and that this
can be conveyed along a line of mental particles, and will
excite a similar vibration in the mental body of another man.
There may still be those who do not believe in telepathy, for it
is hard to find the limits of human obstinacy: But this is a
matter upon which anyone may so easily convince himself that
unbelief simply means indifference to the question. A man may
remain ignorant if he will, but when he has wilfully chosen that
position he has no right to deny the knowledge of those who have
taken more trouble than he has.
Here, then, are two of the bodies
of man—the astral body, which is the vehicle of his sensations,
passions and emotions; and the mental body, which is the medium
of his thought. But each of these has its possibilities of
development, for at each level there are various types of
matter. A man may have a comparatively gross astral body, which
answers readily to low, undesirable vibrations, and buy
carefully working at it, and learning to control it, he may
gradually change its composition considerably, until it becomes
capable of responding to waves of emotions of a much better
type.
In the mental body he may have a
fine type of mental matter, or a somewhat grosser mental matter;
and upon that it will depend whether good and high thoughts come
naturally and easily to him or the reverse. But this also is in
his own power, for he can alter it if he will. And it is not
only during his earth-life that this will make a great
difference to him and to his emotions, but also in the life
after death. When the man puts off his physical body he still
retains these others, the astral and the mental, and upon their
condition depends much of his happiness in the new world (which
yet is part of the old one) in which he finds himself. Remember
that these are matters not of mere belief but of experiment for
many of us.
It will readily be understood that
a man when manifesting himself through one of these vehicles
will present to the world surrounding him an appearance modified
by that vehicle. A man living in his astral body is living in
his emotions; he can express himself only through them, he can
be influenced by others only through their emotional vehicles.
That same man living in his mental body may well seen quite a
different person, for in that state he expresses himself through
his thoughts; and equal differences will be found to exist when
he is using other vestures. So distinct are these various
presentations of the man that, though they are in reality only
aspects of him, they are often described as though they were
separate parts of factors in his constitution, and from that
point of view are called his “principles” (Diagram 21). When the
student meets with this word in our literature, he must
understand that they are the constituent parts or aspects of the
man, each showing a good deal of life and activity of its own,
yet fundamentally all one.
Here,
then, is our theory, the result of our experiments, and in
explaining it to you I am giving you the benefit of more than
forty years of work and study—slow, toilsome, difficult work of
many kinds, involving no little self-control and self-training.
I think that all my fellow students who have borne the burden
and heat of those years will agree that it has been hard and
slow work, but still a steady progress and development in many
ways: and out of it all has emerged for all of us a certainty
that nothing can shake, that makes us know where we stand.
Diagram 21—The Human
Principles. The consciousness of man is a unit, not a
multiplicity; but as it manifests itself in the different bodies
or vehicles, it presents different aspects. These aspects or
presentations of consciousness are termed “principles”. An
analogy may be traced in the aspects of an electrical current as
it flows round a bar of soft iron, through a coil of
German-silver wire, and within a tube filled with mercury
vapour, giving rise to magnetism, heat and light respectively.
The current is the same, but its manifestations vary according
to the nature of the matter through which it is acting. It
somewhat the same way the bodies of man split up the current of
consciousness into various manifestations. A principle is not a
body, but the expression of consciousness in a body.
The Monad (1) (termed by St. Paul
the Spirit) is a Spark of Divine Fire—the divine source of the
human consciousness. Of it nothing is known directly by our
investigators, as in order to reach and examine the conditions
at the level of the monadic world, a man must have attained the
stage of development called Adeptship. When the consciousness of
the Monad manifests in the spiritual world, it is always a
triplicity (2, 3, and 4), the Triple Spirit of philosophy.
Principle 2 does not descend below that level, and is,
therefore, called the Spirit of man. The other two principles do
manifest in the next lower world, the intuitional, giving rise
to the dual intuitive nature. Principle 5 does not manifest
below that level, and is, therefore, called the Intuition.
Principle 6 pours itself down into the next world, the mental,
and in its higher levels manifests as the Intelligence in man.
These three (2, 5, and 7) taken together, constitute the ego in
man, the reincarnating centre of consciousness which persists
through the whole series of human lives.
The ego probably corresponds to
what St. Paul calls the soul. In the lower worlds the ego is
reflected in principle 9, 10 and 11 which collectively
constitute the transitory personality of one life. The link
between the ego and the personality is marked 8, and in Indian
philosophy is called the antahkarana. If we think of the
ego as the true man, then the personality is the hand which he
dips down into matter in order to work through it, and the
antahkarana is the arm linking that hand to his body. In the
lower mental world the Intelligence of man is dimly reflected as
the mind—that part of our consciousness which busies itself in
gathering, arranging and classifying concrete images and facts.
607In
the astral world, through the astral body, our emotions,
passions, desires and appetites are able to express themselves;
while in the physical body resides an instinctive consciousness
(which, however, in most people, is largely subconscious). That
which we call our waking consciousness is the partial reflection
in the brain of the activities of the astral and mental bodies.
In our illustration is
diagrammatically represented the fact that our physical body is
made up of seven grades or densities of physical matter; this is
likewise true of the other bodies, though it is not shown in the
diagram; each is composed of the matter of the subplanes of the
world in which it finds itself, and the stage of the man's
development is shown by the proportion of the finer and the
grosser types. Take the astral body, for example. The rough and
unevolved person has a great preponderance of matter belonging
to the lower astral subplanes (which can vibrate only in
response to coarse and selfish emotions) and comparatively
little of the finer types of matter belonging to the higher
subdivisions of the same plane.
As the man progresses, there will
be fewer of these crude vibrations, and so the coarse particles
which live by them will gradually atrophy and drop out, their
places being taken by the finer particles of the higher astral
subplanes which respond only to the gentler undulations of
unselfish emotion. Precisely the same thing happens in the
mental body; low thoughts mean coarse mental matter, and it is
replaced by finer mental matter as the man's thought becomes
higher in type. The relationships shown in the diagram are not
spatial, but show only the connections between the various
expressions of that complex thing which we call the human
consciousness.
Out of it has come a firm and
definite adhesion to this glorious knowledge, which has done so
much for us, which we find to account for so many things which
would otherwise be insoluble mysteries, which stands by us in
times of trouble and difficulty, and explains so clearly and
reasonably why the trouble and the difficulty come, and what
they are going to do for us. It is the most intensely practical
theory all the way through, and assuredly we wish for nothing
that is not practical and reasonable. Humbly following in the
footsteps of the mighty Indian teacher of 2,500 years ago, the
Lord Buddha, we would say to you what he said to the people of
the village of Kalama when they came and asked him what, amid
all the varied doctrines of the world, they ought to believe:
“Do not believe in a thing said
merely because it is said; nor in traditions because they have
been handed down from antiquity; nor in rumours, as such; nor in
writings by sages, merely because sages wrote them; nor in
fancies that you may suspect to have been inspired in you by an
Angel (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor in
inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption you may have
made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on
the mere authority of your own teaches or masters. But we are to
believe when the writing, doctrine or saying is corroborated by
our own reason and consciousness. For this I have taught you,
not to believe merely because you have heard; but when you
believe of your own consciousness, when to act accordingly and
abundantly.” (Dalama Sutta of the Anguttara Nikaya).
That is a fine attitude for the
teacher of any religion to take, and that is precisely the
attitude we wish to take. We are not seeking for converts in the
ordinary sense of that word. We are in no way under the delusion
from which so many estimable orthodox people suffer, that unless
you believe as we do, you will have an unpleasant and
sulphureous time hereafter. We know perfectly well that every
one of you will attain the final goal of humanity, whether you
now believe what we tell you or whether you do not. The progress
of every man is absolutely certain; but he may make his road
easy or he may make it difficult.
If he goes on in ignorance, and
seeks selfish ends in that ignorance, he is likely to find it
hard and painful. If he learns the truth about life and death,
about God and man, and the relation between them, he will
understand how to travel so as to make the path easy for
himself, and also (which is much more important) so as to be
able to lend a helping hand to his fellow-travellers who know
less than he. That is what you may do, and what we hope you will
do. We have found this philosophy useful to us; we have found
that it helps us in difficulties, that it makes life easier to
bear, and death easier to face, and so we wish to share our
gospel with you. We ask no blind faith from you; we simply put
this philosophy before you and ask you to study it, and we
believe that if you do so you will find what we have found—rest
and peace and help, and the power to be of use in the world.
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[1] A
Musical Liturgy, published by the St. Alban Press, may be had from
the Secretary, The Manor, Mosman, N.S.W., Australia.
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