The herald., 1896-05-25

from the objective to the subjective side
of its being. 1t may withdraw before
what is miscalled death takes place,
hence the extreme seniity and helpless
ness of advanced age The man has
become a child again, indeed. He Is
going to sleep, for death is only sleep
and dreaming. Geniuses may thus
be also accounted for. They are egos.
who in past lives made great progress
and good use of opportunities then and
there afforded, and now enjoy great IA
cilities as natural consequence.
DR.. Grifflths will deliver two more lee
lures before leaving the city-next Sun
day morning his subject will be Suicide:
and In the evening incubation and
| Hypnotism. The public is invited.
Unity Church
Yesterday morning the pastor of IN
| ity church, Rev. J. S. Thomson, preached
q sermon on The Spiritual Interpreta-
ton Of the Bible. using the text, The let
| ter killeth, but the spirit givith life; II.
Corinthians, ill., 6. He said in part:
In the ancient mysteries the word of
God was said to be alive. This was
taught before the discovery of the art
or writing, and, consequently, before
| the sacred Scriptures of the race. 1t
was the breath of God by which He made
all things. This is the reason that some
| lords are inspired, and some are not
inspired. The inspired word has the
breath and life of God in it. 1t is spirit
and lie. Other words are without these
| inner forces. The Bible has an inner
as well as the outer or literal sense. The
story of the Garden of Eden is spirit
ual allegory. 1t is absurd as literal
fact Of history 1t is a. very true story
in all our lives; for experience Is the
naming sword which prevents us from
! fe-entering the state of Ignorance out
| or which education delivers us. Great
| minds in the Jewish and in the Christian
church have taught that the Bible has
| both literal and @ spiritual sense.
| Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of
| Alexandria, showed that the Old Tes-
lament is collection of moral and spir-
itual allegories, and that to interpret it
| literally Is to miss its celestial signiiI-
cations. Origen held and taught that
the New Testament is not to be inter-
| preted according to the letter. He says:
There is an interior sense to the events
| recorded in the Evangelists." and 1.-The
| different kinds of sickness which the
Savior cured relate to the spiritual in
| hrmitieS of human SOULS" Athanasilis
| said that SHOULD we understand sacred
| writ according to the letter, we should
| fall into the most enormous blasphe-
| mics" Pastor John Robinson said to
| the Pilgrims as they were about to leave
England for America, II am very conf
| dent that the Lord hath more truth to
OIcdh lOIIH Out Oh HIS holy WOTU. line
| greatest spiritual expounder of the Bible
| In modern times was the celebrated
| mathematician, scholar and seer, Eman-
uel Swedenborg. He had spiritual
| genius for detecting the esoteric mean
| Ing of Scripture. Christ himself was the
81 eatest spiritual interpreter OF theBible.
| All His parallels are spiritual allegories.
| In His conversation with 'Nicodemus,
! He declares that the grandest thoughts
! of the universe can be comprehehded
only by him who has been twice born.
He told his hearers on one occasion that
| they should search the Scriptures"
! They were not to be contented with a
literal knowledge. When the SadLucees
! questioned Him about certain matters
showing that they accepted the letter OF
Scripture only, He replied, Eye do err.
not knowing the scriptures" They hai
| not been illuminated with the spiritual
and real sense of the book. In His con-
versation with His disciples atEmmans.
| after His resurrection, He opened to
them the Scriptures. Through the nat
ural we rise gradually to the spiritual
| In each person there is the natural
man as we'll as the spiritual man. But
natural eyes cannot see the deepest
| truth. There are three classes of peo-
| pie that cannot discover the life and the
spirit in the inspired parts of Scripture
lngersoll represents the natural man.
| the animal class of human beings that
live only in their senses. "The natural
man receivetht not the things Of the
! spirit Of God, for they are foolishness
unto him; neither can he know them, be-
| cause they are spiritually discern ed
The so-called higher criticism has a
| following of narrow minded, one sided.
| dogmatic men, and exceedingly conceit-
ed men, that are utterly ignorant OF the
| deeper and truer meanings of Scripture.
They assume that the discovery of a few
guesses, few dates, and few relations
| rnf nv-tty rs I, ~ .I~-
other, have exhausted all knowledge
| about the Bible. The Catholics anu the
| Trinitarian Professionals accept the latter
and reject the spirit Of Scripture. There
| Is veil upon their eyes, when they rea j
the Testaments, preventing them from
| seeing the glory of revelation. Paul re-
! ferred to such blinded people in his own
| clay, when he wrote, their minds were
blinded. But even unto this day,
when Moses is read. the vail is upon
| their hearts" and although Christ said
| that sit is the spirit that quickeneth, the
| nal Interpretation, the flesh 1nterpreta-
ton, satisfies the millions. And although
Paul said, "the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life" Yet the spirit Is
denied and the letter enacted by all or
thodox denominations. The Bible is the
Protestants' unknown God, and the
Catholics demi-God; for not one in a
million Of either party has ever studied
the Bible to find out it's inner and spir-
itual truth.
But who can find this esoteric,mean-
ing? Any person with q sound mind
that is religiously in earnest to know
the truth, that banishes all prejudices
and bigotry from his soul, that prays
for the guidance and inspiration Of God g
spirit, will in due time understand and
feel the life and truth of every inspired
word In the Scriptures 1t requires in
spiration to understand inspirations; for
no uninspired person can ever appreciate
inspiration. The Bible in its divinest
parts is sealed book to the literalist:
but the uninspired man can find and UNI
derstand all that is necessary to saliva
ton and development in the Bible: for
the necessary things are all plain. The
TRANSPORTATION Mount can be assembled
| only by the elect and the initiated. The
crowds stop at the foot Of the sacred
mount with it's smoke, fire. cloud and
mysteries. And yet there Is no sane soul
that cannot qualify itself to converse
| with the Master. and to have its under
| standing opened.
| The Cathedral
Right Rev. Bishop Mora administered
| confirmation to a large number of boys
and girls yesterday morning at the
! cathedral. The confirmation services