The Washington herald., 1915-02-14
BY DIR. W. W. BAKER.

portion TO the submergence of the per-
sonality and the intensity of the upward
aspiration will be the answer from the
wider life within and without us. We
separate ourselves. II we cease the
separation and make ourselves one with
the greater, We find that light and life
and strength flow into us. When the
separate will Is turned away from its own
objects and set to serve the divine pur-
pose, then the strength Of the Divine
pours into it. As a man swims against
the stream he makes slow progress; but
with it, he is carried on by all the force
of the current. In every department of
Nature the divine energies are working,
and everything that a man does he does
by means of the energies that are work
ing in the line along which he desires
to go; his greatest achievements are
wrought, not by his own energies. but
by the skill with which he selects and
combines the forces that aid him. and
neutralises those that oppose him by
those that are favorable Forces that
would whirl us away as straws in the
wind become our most effective servants
when We work with them. Is it then any
wonder that in prayer, as in everything
else, the divine energies become associ-
, ated with the man who, by his prayer.
seeks to work part of the Divine?
This highest form Of prayer in Class E
mcrges almost imperceptibly into Class
c, where prayer loses its petitiOnary
character, and becomes either a meditI
tion on or n worship of God. Medita-
tiOn is the steady quiet fiSinG OF the mind
on God, whereby the lower mind is stilled
and presently left vacant. 50 that the
Spirit, escaping from it, rises into con-
temptation of the divine Perfection. and
reflects within himself the divine Image.
'Meditation Is silent or unuttered prayer.
or as Plato expressed It: the ardent turn
ing OF the Soul towards the Divine: not
to ask any particular good (as in the
common meaning of prayer). but for good
itself, for the Universal Supreme Good. "
This is the prayer that by thus libeTat-
ing the Spirit, is the means of union
between man and God. BY the working
of the laws of thought man becomes
that which he thinks. and when he medi-
tat"s on the divine perfections he grad
ually reprOduceS in himself that on
which his mind is fixed. Such a mind.
shaped to the higher and not the lower.
cannot bind the Spirit, and the freed
Spirit leaping upward to his source, pray
er Is lost in union and scparateuess is
left behind.
Worship also. the rapt alteration from
which all petition is absent, and which
seeks to pour itself forth in sheer love
of the Perfect, dimly sensed, IS a means
the easiest meaRS-of union with God.
In this the consciousness. limited by the
brain. contemplates in mute ecstasy the
Image it creates of Him 1t knows to be
beyond imagining. and oft, rapt by the
intensity of his love beyond the limits
of the intellect the man as free Spirit
scars upwards into realms where these
limits are transcribed, and feels and
knows far more than on his return he
can tell in words or clOthe in form.
Thus the Mystic gazes on the Beatifc
Vision: thus the Sage rests in the calm
of the Wisdom that is beyond knowledge;
thus the Saint reaches the purity where
in God is seen. Such prayer irradiates
the woTshiPper. and from the mount of
such high communion descending to the
plains of earth. the very face Of flesh
shines with supernal glory. translucent
TO the flame that burns within. Happy
they who know the reality which no
words may convey to those who know
II not. Those whose eyes have seen the
King in His beauty will remember and
they will understand.
When prayer Is thus understood. its
perennial necessity for all who believe
in religion will be patent. and We see
why It's practice has been SO much ad-
voCated by all who study the higher
life. For the student of the Lesser Mys-
teries prayer should be Of the kinds
grouped under Class 3, and he would
endeavOur to rise to the pure meditation
and worship of the last class, eschewing
altogether OF the lower kinds. For him
the teaching of IambliChus on the sub
Ject is useful IambliChus says that
prayers produce an indissoluble and
sacred communion with the Gods" and
then proceeds to give some interesting
details on prayer. as considered by the
practical OcCultiSt. For this is Of it.
self thing worthy to be concerning the
Gods I say. therefore. that the first
species of prayer is Collective; and that
it is also the leader of contact with. and
knowledge OF, divinity. The second
species is the bond of concordant Com
munion. calling forth, prior to the energy
of speech. the gifts impaired by the
Gods and perfecting the whole of our
operations prior to our intellectual con-
ceptions. And the third and most per-
feet species Of prayer is the seal of in
effable Union with the divinities, in
whom it establishes all the power and
authority of prayer; and thus causes the
soul to repose in the Gods, as In a
never falling port. But from these three
terms, in which all the divine measures
are contained, suppliant alteration not
only cOnCiliateS to US the friendship of
the Gods but supernally extends to us
three fruits, being as 1t were three
Hesperian apples of gold. The first vi
these pertains to Illumination; the sec
ond to communion of operation;
but through the energy of the third
We receive a perfect plentitude of di-
vine fire. No operation, however, in
sacred concerns can succeed without the
Intervention of prayer. Lastly. the con-
tinuaI exercise Of prayer nOurishes the
vigor of our intellect. and renders the
receptacIc of the soul far more Capacious |
for the communications OF the Gods. Il !
likewise is :he divine key, which opens
to men the penetralia Of the Gods: ac-
customs us to the splendid rivers of |
supernal light; in a short time peTfects |
our inmost recesses. and GispOses them |
for the incffable embrace and contact of
the Gods: and does not dcsist till il
raises us to the summit Of all It also /,
gradually and silently draws upward the !
manners of our soul. by dIvesting them
of everything foreign to a divine ma !
of the Gods. Besides this, ii produces |
an indissolubie communication and
friendship with divinity. nouTishes a di- !
vine love, and infames the divine part
OF the soul Whatever is of an opposing |
and contrary nature in the soul, II eX-
plates and purifies; expels whatever Is |
prone to generation and retains anything |
of the dregs of mortality in Its ethereal
and splendid spirit; perfects a good hope |
and faith concerning the reception of
divine light; and in one word, renders |
those by whom 1t Is employed the IA