25
Look not to the morrow to solve thy doubts, nor question oracles for good or better days,
As naught from the silence speaks but thou, oh voice divine, the dweller of the heart, who biddest all perform good works.
No day on earth is better than the rest, each day is what you make it, neither more nor less.
They who deliverance seek beyond the clouds, and they who look for reward of good works done, both here themselves deceive.
Rewards my friends are neither then nor there, rewards are sent to those right here, who make no claim on merit won.
26
Neither the sages of the past, nor those yet forth to come, nor what the books have said though of Holy Men inspired, do Him reveal.
To us he only doth reveal himself in works, in acts, in deeds done and undone, and by no other way may we hope him to know or see.
It is but the foolish who cry I save! I save!! For unto the smallest insect, not again can they impart that breath divine when it has onward fled.
Such claims as these, which some lips here do make, by wiser lore are closed at last.
27
Why then consult the Doctor or the Saint, they both from the same place came, and both to the same place go.
But if for confirmation of the Future Life ye seek, look to the Universe and know the same great cause that cast its mould gave you your birth of clay.
Think! know that thou and it are part and part, of which beginning saw no dawn, and eve no ending.
The same doth regulate the hours, the days, the weeks, the years, the infinite time space, and likewise thine.
28
This then is the Law of Fate and how of the way of Freedom all may learn, who freedom seek.
Know thou that thoughts mature into deeds and acts! and all seeds sown in the flesh shall ripen with thy years.
This life is but the harvest of what you've sown before; sift out the tares before thou cast the grain for future years.
29
Out of the Endless came I here! Into the Endless will I once more flow;
Out of it again in trust I come! Better for the trails of dust below.
30
Ushered into being by an Endless Unspent Cause which moveth unto good, and by all on earth adored.
Whence and where I went, only in deep reverence these words were spoke,
Oh Cup, from whence the very Gods have drunk, [20]experience is thy name, Oh let me freely drink from thee, thou slayer of my foes.
[20] Experience is the only teacher, and thus becomes our liberator from the bonds of selfishness and greed, the parents of crime and ignorance.
31
What is it but madness to compare yesterday's sorrows with today's despairs, or tomorrow's triumphs?
For they but lend the means to quicken our perceptions of whence we came, why, and whither we go.
Drink thou of Life's Ruby Wine, and to those who dare for more to ask within themselves the answer will be found!
Drink deep! this is enough!!
32
[21]What if the Sun of the Moon should question why? What if the Stars of the World should ask, where did you die, for what, when and why?
Friends, deep in the hearts of all a Voice exclaims, cease, why, what, whence, and where, the solution thus, is never found.
Dismiss the I, dismiss the you, with you and I dismissed, the universe is thou, in which is found neither what, why, whence, where nor how.
[21] The moral to this paragraph is simply waste not your time in questioning, but act, and thus through action the knowledge you will gain.
33
Then waste not thy life in the letter of dispute, argument is death to the voicing of the Truth.
Religion debate with none. For it but tends to widen out the breach and thus defeat its ends.
Let thine acts declare the life within, happiness doth express the soul that dwells therein.
While sadness that bitter fruit which has been here maintained, is the vine from which all life its being drew,
Ah friends, this is an error sad indeed, for happiness was the grape from which the wine of life was pressed, not sorrow's prickly pears.
34
Their secrets then within the man are placed, guard well! For once revealed no more can they be hid!
Thus born of fire the cause of life supreme, in earth your soul was cast, in air thy thoughts took wing.
And from the brooding waters, knowledge took shape and came, as the means of man's deliverance from birth and from the grave.
This triple knowledge has been told how EARTH the body is, and fire the soul, air is life's thoughts, and the waters the sacred lore contain.
Earth the infant, fire the youth, the waters enlightened manhood, and air the carrier to the great unknown beyond the grave.
Of which death is the messenger, not the sting, and the grave the separation of life's elements, and hence the victory of all living things.
[22] Here refers to our intellectual senses, or Intuition, Perception, Retention, Imagination and Analization, which raise us from our lower or physical conditions, and exalt us into our spiritual or higher nature.
35
Thus in the earth thy roots of life are struck, and from thy mother receive their nourishment.
Quickened into being by that cause divine, to be! Who hands to thee the clay [23]to mould, Oh friend, to mould?
[23] All beings are created equal, and each for himself must individualize his work or actions.
36
And this all here may know, how came the first great light to earth, that kindler of love's flame, that consumer of earthly hate.
When thou hast received one ray of this imperishable light then thou art saved [24]though thy temple is destroyed.
[24] When we can perceive that through our conventionalities and self formed opinions we delay our spiritual progress through limitations, we can then embrace the inclusive and forego the exclusive, thus changing our manner of living and entering the path that unto freedom leads.
37
Up to the Eternals cast thy weary eyes, earth is not thy home, no more than heavenly skies.
Question those Heavenly [25]Symbols of Mars the God of War, Jupiter of Benevolence, Mercury of Lore, Venus of Life's Pleasures.
Saturn of Old Age, ask Uranus of what is hidden, the Moon of Bringing Forth, and the Sun of Life's Fecundity, and each will in turn declare that they like thee are dependants,
Upon that one great cause to share, the knowledge of their being, which all may read who dare.
[25] The planets, signs and constellations symbolized to the ancients the universal creative energies, their powers and equivalents.
38
Here then is the Key, thy Will that Door unlocks, thy Future Faith must be the knowledge of thyself.
[26] Through the analyzing of our natures we learn that we are as it were a miniature of the universe and that we are potentially its equal.
39
Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Ether, the elements that compose the sum of all that under heaven blows,
And if ye then should ask, how they their birth received, or whence they came, or of what consist, or where they go, and of their final destiny?
This will all ages answer! He only knows! He Only knows!
40
The Heavenly signs are but the symbols of that book, whose chemistry Birth's secrets here make plain.
Thus are written in characters eternal, where none can erase one word of those recorded histories of men, of things, of worlds.
From off its open pages bound in heaven's eternal blue,
Here then is the veil, the lamp, the voice within; learn thou to be lord and master, prophet, priest and king.
Thy birthright here now enter, and know ye the law of laws, the wise man rules, the fool doth tread where angels fear to go.
41
Thus from the Law of Life and Death we learn, and why with hate and strife this earthly urn doth burn.
Yet a Voice from out of the depths doth speak "murmur not"! Make ye the best of life,
Waste not thy opportunities! For when ye once have onward passed, to clay ye never shall return.!!
42
This is the way of Happiness and how to live free from vain regrets;
Whatsoever thy mind findeth to think, think ye only on such things as ye will never have to here unthink.
Whatsoever thy hands find to do, do only such things as ye will never have to here undo.
That which ye give, seek never to reclaim, nor profit make of friendship, nor from the stranger within thy gates, excepting what the law prescribes as lawful and as just,
This is an old but well proven Path, and kisses from such lips as these dry never, neither parch they the mouth of the giver, or the given.
43
In passing through this Life of Clay, I came across a Barren Waste of life, and questioned of a friend its name, he answer made, insane! insan¡Ǝ!
And when I asked if here the Potter's hand had not surely blundered, seeing so many monstrous shapes in clay called man,
He but answered "Nay, the same hand made the poison, that gave the antidote."
Ah, Friends and Foes, let us here unite, and make war on this all consuming vice; don't blame the Potter or his clay, we have but here ourselves to blame.
44
Listen a moment whilst I quote from a book that no man wrote; it is from Mother Earth, so friends give ear, attend! attend!
"It is you who knead and mould, not I, I'm but the plastic side of life, and thou the potter who doth spin this wheel of life continually."
Thus, Oh Brothers and Sisters learn, who will while here give birth to child,
Seek ye to mould it free from fear, seek ye to mould it strong and firm, let no thought its mind pervert, mould it true and fit for birth.
Mould it friend, oh mother mould, in that likeness god of old, though thy name on earth is man, yet of that kingdom, prince!.
A child divine art thou.
45
That which we mould again returns to earth, and this is a lesson, friends, which the Bright Ones unto thee have sent!
"The Beauteous Lily that neither toils nor spins will to the earth return again.
Pure was its perfume and its life, pure its color, snowy white; from its seed shall others come, which will bloom, then fade and die."
May we in such simple trust, hope again a lip to touch, fairer mother, fairer child, god and man unite as one.
46
Let not this Cup of Life contain that Bitter Drug, Remorse by name, nor to Brother nor to Friend let us cause a burning tear;
Since these tears again give back salt for salt and smart for smart.
Never let thy salt tears fall on this clay to bring forth more.
Drink not then from this Cup of Pain, for here is the secret of the Potter and his wheel—
Life is the clay with which the Soul doth spin, the Potter is the will by which the wheel is turned.
The Pot so called the Mind, which doth the thoughts contain, Experience is Life's Wheel which action turns! Do Good, it recompenses with peace and bliss, the evils here performed with pain and death.
Thus do we learn of the unwinding of life's entangled skeins, of fear, of hate and of all things unlovable.
47
Yet there's another wine which fresh from Life's vintage into the cup of immortality is drawn.
[27]It is in color ruby red, resurrected from the dead. Drink ye! Drink ye! of this wine, the product of the vine of vines.
They who from this cup do drink with eternal bliss do meet.
Born of the perfumes of the flowers, watered by these tears of ours, nourished by the stress of life, our crown of thorns the crown of glory wins.
[27] The grapes must pass through the press to give up the wine; so must we through our earthly experience give up the material before we can accept the spiritual.
48
So when Death's Angel doth us call, instead of pains its joys we know.
The fears and stings of death were made by earthly priests but not the potter's gentle hands.
This dark wine quaff and the cup to earth return, for you that stream have crossed and the further shore attained.
There's where thy soul its heavenly garb assumes, of which this dust of earth is too gross its frame to build.
49
This life is but the Pathway that unto freedom leads, from pains and greivous sorrows, to where the soul is free.
To roam to worlds and spheres sublime and gather there from off the vines those ripened grapes for wine.
From limits then it's freed and towards its sun it soars, and there in bliss supreme that soul in god is merged.
50
Thus the body is a tent wherein the soul a day or so must dwell, when Death again that life relieves,
And that freed soul above must speed to some new realm of thought unknown to it.
Would that all this simple truth did know, there would be then no fear of that after life to come.
51
Here then we learn that Law of Fate, as into this world we're born from different planes of life.
And here we all must tarry till this Earthly Life has run, when turning down this earthen cup,
The fluid of the soul is poured into a vase of finer ware.
Countless thousands have come and gone through these silent gates of fate,
Which but open once for birth, then close till death, as ripples follow ripples on a wind swept lake.
52
Thus do we lift veil after veil before, thus do we drop veil after veil behind,
Onward, ever onward, do all who are born progress, none from this wheel break free, none can this law control.
Born of endless rounds, from sphere to sphere we climb, through countless suns of systems, through countless terms of years.
Systems of worlds we leave, whilst approaching unknown suns, with colors of nameless hues, for which no tongue a name hath found.
On those heavens the sunsets rest, and the tints of the morning skies.
53
Ah, questioning Friend, what is it you would know, from whence Existence came, and how Existence stays?
This is the Cross you'll carry, as long as you will cast the ruby of the present in the dust heap of the past.
It was not born, nor does it ever die; it from no place came, nor of anything was it; unborn, eternal, everlasting, deathless, it will remain, though all should pass away.
This is the Secret that the Wise alone can solve, how existence the thread doth cut, which perchance divides those four.
The finite from the infinite, and the false from every true.
54
Could you right here this problem solve of what is false and true, no more would heaven yonder be, no more would erring thought heaven's truths obscure,
For at last the false is here out grown, and the Finite Mind ceases to reflect the evils of the past, which are forever lost in forgetfulness;
And only the Infinite Thoughts (which are life's pearls) are then reflected in that Mind Supreme.
So whilst in this home of clay we live, could we for a moment grasp this cause supreme in its entirety, which moveth all, that life doth know, to good, to better, then to best;
God will here and there alike be known, and of that supreme peace we will stand on earth possessed.
So seek within this treasure house, for the key you'll surely find, which will unlock the Palace Gates and all mysteries there contained.
And seated there, all pure and white, that king of kings who reigns supreme is known of all celestial hosts, as thou, oh soul, divine.
55
A secret here I have to tell which I'll write between these lines, how one may find [28]the serpent coiled within the human spine.
Deep in the Breath of the Senses its secret presence you will find, running divided, yet united, it is the breath of life divine.
It brings to name and form all thought, and though these change and pass from sight, it ever here remains to bring that wisdom of the gods to men.
[28] This means the seat of all functional activity.
56
Look to thy body there to find the Mystic Numbers it contains, the Coccyx Four on which the Sacrum Five do rest, where spirit matter joins, and the tree of life again puts forth.
Upon this nine, though to five this nine returns, rest the dorsal twelve, the Sacred Temples of those Mysteries from which the tribes of is and ra were named,
In the Cervical Seven dwell supreme those powers of god enthroned in man; these do contain the three in one of which the ages have all sung, about that trinity sublime which moves the worlds to good.
Now three in one, and four plus five, and twelve plus seven, and you have found those marks thirty and two of perfect birth.
57
There is a line that all may find, stretched from the utmost heavens (or maybe far beyond) which towards the earth comes unerringly,
Which has by all Sages here been called "the plumb line of the universe," adored and reverenced by all the Wise.
And where this Line the Earth doth greet the level forms on which all meet,
There the setting sun you will then face, and life's fatal square will upon thee fall no more.
Being thus free and accepted of the gods, raised by the master's hands, exalted from the dead, to greet again, and yet again, thy brethren.
Brothers, tell them who have the rule forgot, how time is measured dot by dot; how the master from the east must rise and in splendor sit upon the noonday skies.
How at high twelve upon that arch divine he sits, and the quarters of the world doth there survey each noon.
And upon that [29]trestle-board, which is watched and guarded by the four regents, he the orders writes, for the masters to transcribe.
Then that mystic line he crosses and hastens to his fall, and thus are the days all reached, in which he and all his fellow-craft repose must seek.
None can here deny that this forms not a perfect day, for it has been tried and proved by that unerring line.
No yesterday, no tomorrow, all is endless day enwrapped in endless night, in which all sleep, in which all wake, both here and there.
[29] These Jewels of Masonic Lore must appeal to all true readers of the trestle-board. May they hear the fraternal voice of the past, which is now speaking through the lips of the present, and seek that reward which alone can come when the earthly lodge is closed and the heavenly is declared open for the work to all who have been found worthy and qualified.
58
Thus in the hands of mortals are placed the builder's tools, the plumb, the guiding line 'twixt heaven and the tomb.
The square most blessed of all known tools for it reveals that glorious cross from which the wise their lore of life have gained.
And though it's hidden fourfold deep its root can be obtained, which will the cube-stone form again, oh, mystery sublime.
Born thus of Earth, by Air, by Fire and Water Tried, nailed to the cross the proof of life to find.
Ushered in the east the way of birth for all, in the south is manhood reached, in the west where all must fall, it is the place of peace which all must haste to reach;
It is there that you mark well and the fatal square reverse, the north of death doth know from whence ye have come forth,
To take within thy hand the builder's mystic trowel.
59
And having built my earthly home, one day in its porch I sat, and coming through its shades and glooms was a face that fixed itself upon my memory.
It was my soul invisible that brought a message divine, which from earthly fetters saved me and in freedom bade me rise;
To those effulgent skies of skies, the fountain heads from whence do flow the waters of eternity.
And from a chalice wrought of gold the wine of immortality was poured and having drunk that Wine of Wines, I returned the [30]Cup which from Gold was made.
[30] The Cup wrought out of gold here refers to our collective experiences.
60
Thus having quenched my thirst of years wherefore I asked of Him, are there so many here, who spend their lives in tears,
And waste their days in arguments over what is right or wrong?
He in these powerful words His answer gave!
"All men and women were equal made! And of tears and sorrows gave he none to man; none can suffer except those who suffering choose."
Which sufferings being but deliverant pains of birth, give to the soul its freedom.
To my second question He answered thus!
Who dares of right or wrong to judge, since the motive of a crime in ages past has disappeared, and crimes that were unknown to them are living here with you?
But to those who seek true judgment this is the way it's found!
There is a Judge who never errs who sits in the human heart, whose judgments are not heard without, but in life's deeds are proven.
No human tongue can yet define, nor will it here be given, that power on earth to understand the infinite law of heaven.
61
To meet my needs through life he gave these beauteous words of praise!
Thou mighty peace, truth breathing lord, of all the hordes of darkness and of light adored.
Thou subduer of fears and sorrows which this earthly life infest, and leader forth to that future rest beyond the grave, where dwell the sages of all the past.
In that name thy refuge seek, take thou thy refuge in its law of peace, take thou its hand of future hope, and rest thou in its law which worketh unto good, to better and to best.
Thus was I taught of the love divine.
62
[31]This life is the vine on which the grape doth grow, and fresh from its press the wine of life doth flow.
And there on the waste heap of sorrow lies the pulp of wantonness, from which the fool a strong and hurtful beverage brews, that works destruction unto all who of it drink!
They who are clean need no stimulants, except that one contained within the vintage of life's experience.
All other wines are rods of pain in which remorse is found in many garments dressed. Beware! beware!!
Many men do question thus, Why was it put here if a curse? The swine the question here might put, Why must he eat what's on him thrust?
Present no more such reasoning pray for the answer is here given.
None but the fool the wine of earth doth quaff, none but the wise the wine of life do draw.
[31] All that this life is, is the sum total of what the preceding one was.
63
Here I am compelled to write about another form of vice; some endure it in its legal form whilst others are slaves to a nameless form;
Never Brother, never Friend, wreck thy life on the shoals of shame, nor cast thy virtue in the dust.
No two wrongs will one right make, no hands in prayer can a foul deed change, or a virtue make!
Ah, this is the bitter cup of life and whosoever from it drinks, into the dust descends. Beware! beware!!
64
The means that do the ends of life defeat, are: drink! fornication and other unlawful acts committed by the flesh, gambling and untruth.
No threats of hell, no hope of heaven, can lift the cloud that doth enshroud a defiled earthly temple.
Such flowers as these forever die, uselessness has no place in creation's fertile fields.
65
Oft has the way on earth been blazed, that all the path might see and rightly follow.
And though so many have pushed those darkened doors aside, none have returned of that way here to tell!
Which to discover, all for themselves must tread.
[32] Pateran means a leaf which travelers used to place at the cross roads to show the way to their followers.
66
Yet some may question the Wisdom of the Law, that free salvation grants to all on earth who fall.
Yet falling they must rise again, oh slayer of our foes, renunciation is thy name!
With thee we fight the hordes of pain, and passion slay, and thus destroy the cause of all our ills.
Each his own salvation wins! Each all earthly sin must here renounce! Thus have the wise all taught.
67
Let us call him the all merciful for he the path doth light, so man from mortal darkness may be led into the light.
Hear ye then this simple, yet most ancient of the truths, how man can gain the knowledge of life beyond the tomb.
"Control thyself, and with thy senses send thy soul unto its elements, there to wring out the secret of its birth and end."
And the gentle voice of the silence whispers soft and low, and bids me reader, write you the answer here below!
I myself am heaven, I myself am hell, I am the cause creative, I am the way, the end.
68
This then is a vision of heaven that fulfiller of all desires, and this is the shade of gehenna the sorrows that life acquires.
Cast thyself boldly on this ocean, fear not though the current is strong, thy body's the boat, thy will the helm, thy life the sails doth fill.
And serenely sitting, all composed, thy Soul doth grasp the helm and steers thy Barque through storms and stress, in safety past the shoals of death.
With its cargo that's consigned to him who rules the winds, the tides, oh master pilot, hail to thee! thou giver of eternity.