The Washington herald., 1914-06-21
ESSENTIALS OF
THE SACRAMENT
DR.. W. W. Baker Explains Its
Application to Religious
Ceremonials.
TWO CHIEF PROPERTIES
saersments Cover Whole of Life from
Welcome of Baptism to Farewell,
!, Of Extreme Unehon.
TWO CHIEF PROPERTIES
ny pR. VI. W. RAKER.


The word sacrament is one applied tc
certain eeremonials that exist in all re.
ngions. and regarded as Of vital impor-
lance by the believers in the religion
conferring certain benefits on those
taking part in them.
The peculiar characteristics of sacra-
ment resides in two Of its properties
First. there is the exoteric ceremony,
which is pictorial alIegory, a represen-
tatIon OF something by actions and ma
terials-not verbal aliegory. a teaching
given in words. conveying truth; but
acted representation. certain definite ma
;erial things used In a particular way.
Its second Property.
The second characteristic property Of q
sacrament should possess this knowledge,
visible worlds, and is studied by occult
science. The person who ofiiciates in the
sacrament should possess this knoledge,
as much. though not all, Of the operative
power of the sacrament depends on the
knowledge of the officiatOr. A sacrament
links the material world with the subtle
and Invisible regions to which that world
is related: it is a link between the visible
and the invisible. And il is not only a
Eink between this world and other worlds,
but II is also a method by which the
energies OF the invisible world are trans
faitted into action in the physical; an
actual method Of changing energies Of
one kind into energies Of another, as lit
orally as in the gslvanic cell chemical
energies are changed into electrical.
A sacrament serves as kind Of cruci-
Bile in which spiritual alchemy takes
place.
The sacraments of Christianity cover
the whole or life. from the welcome of
baptism to the farewell Of extreme Unc-
ton. They were established by occullists,
by men who knew the invisible worlds;
A and the materials used, the words spoken,
the signs made, were all deliberately
chosen and arranged with a view to
bringing about certain results.
Al the time of the Reformation. the
seeding churches which threw on the
yoke of Rome, were evidently not led
by occultists, but by ordinary men of
the world. some good and some bad. but
all profoundly ignorant of the facts Of
the invisible worlds. and conscious only
Of the outer shell Of Christianity, its
literal dogmas and eNOteric worship. The
consequence OF this was that the sacra-
ments lost their supreme place in Chris
tian worship, and in most Protestant
communities were reduced to two, bap-
tism and the Eucharist. The Catechism
of the Church of England. defines a
sacrament TO be: An outward and visi-
Bile sign OF an inward and spiritual grace
given unto vs.. ordained by Christ him
self, as means whereby We receive
the same and a pledge TO assure US
thereof"
Two Distinguishing Characteristics.
In this definition we find laid down
the two distinguishing characteristics of
n sacrament The outward and visible
sign' is the pictorial allegory, and the
phrase the means whereby We receive
the inward and spiritual grace" covers
the second property. This last phrase
should be carefully noted by those mem
bers of Protestant churches who regard
sacraments as mere external forms and
outer ceremonies.
In order 10 understand a sacrament il
Is necessary that We should definitely
recognize the existance of an occult, or
hidden, side Of nature; this is spoken
OF as the Iife-side Of nature, the con-
sCiousness-side. more accurately the mind
in nature Underlying all sacramental
action there is the belief that the invisible
world exercises a potent influence over
the visible, and to understand sacra-
ment we must understand something of
the invisible intelligences who admins
ter Nature.
Stretching between the Trinity and hu-
manity are many grades and hierarChies
of invisible beings; the highest of these |
are the seven spirits Of God, the seven
fires, or flames, that are before the !
throne of God Each Of these stands |
at the head of a vast host Of iutelhgences'
all of whom share His nature and act
under His direction; these are themselves
graded, and are the thrones, powers, |
princes, nominations, archangels, angels, |
of whom mention is found in the writings |
of the Christian fathers who were Yersed 1
in the mysteries Thus there are seven /
great hosts OF these beings. and they rep
resent in their intelligence the divine /
minds in Nature. They are found in all |
regions, and they ensoul the energies Of
Nature From the standpoint of occult
ism there is no dead force or dead mat
ter.
Force and matter alike are living and
active, and an energy or a group Of ener-
gies is the veil of an Intelligence, of a
consciousness who has that energy as
his outer expression, and the matter in
which that energy moves, Yields a form
from which he guides or ensouls.
Link Worlds Together.
These innumerable angels link the
worlds together; they are themselves
evolving while helping the evolution OF
beings lower than themselves, and new
light is shed on evolution when we see
that men form grades in these hier-
archles of intelligent beings.
These numberless lives, above and be-
low man. come into touch with human
consciousness by very definite ways, ana
among these ways are sounds and colors.
Each sound has a form in the invisible
world, and combination of sounds create
complicated shapes. In the subtle mat
ter of those worlds all sounds are ae-
companied by colors, so that they give
rise TO many-hued shapes, in many cases
exceedingly beautiful. The vibrations set
up in the visible world when a note is
sounded set up vibrations in the worlds
invisible each one with its own specific
character. and capable Of producing GER
tain effects.
This effect on the subtle bodies Is a |
most important part OF the occult use of .
sounds. These bodies, like the physical.
are in constant vibratory motion. the
vibrations changing with every thought {
or desire
The subtle bodies must be tuned to the J
nuenee is 10 find free way through the {
nature OF the worshipper. and this was ]
ever done Of old by the use OF sounds !
Hence. music has ever formed an in
tegrai part OF worship. and certain def
mite cadences have been preserved with J
care, handed on from age TO age
In every religion there exist sounds 1f
Npeculiar character called words OF
oW>erH consisting Of sentences in rsTr-
culAr language chanted in particular
ray. leach religion possesses g stock OF | I
nch sentences. special SUGGESTIONS ut | \