The Goal of Life, by Hiram Butler, [1908], at sacred-texts.com
The Goal of Life, by Hiram Butler, [1908], at sacred-texts.com
In the preceding chapter we considered references in early Biblical history to the physical manifestation of the Order of Melchisedek. The unequivocal declaration in Hebrews that Jesus was of that Order is a fact, whatever the belief may be regarding the authenticity of the Epistle to the Hebrews or of the Bible.
The existence in all times past of what are called mystic orders, is evidence in itself that instructions have been left on record concerning laws and methods of life by which man may obtain superordinary, not supernatural, powers. These records are not so full in the Bible as in the chronicles of a few of the most ancient orders still surviving. These chronicles contain, however, scarcely more than shadows of the truth—reflections from the time when "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen. vi. 5.) Because of these evil imaginations whatever of divine truth man was able to obtain through the members of the
[paragraph continues] Order of Melchisedek; was degraded for selfish purposes; and so, as the ages rolled on, perversion increased until, when the Christ came, the light of those truths had almost left the earth.
We have in the Bible, accounts of three persons that attained complete unity with the Father and overcame death, although in the case of the first, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, the account is so meager that we are left largely to speculation in regard to his attainment, for we read simply that "Enoch walked with Elohim: and he was not; for Elohim took him." We are told that Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. Heaven means merely the region above us. Now, these men may have been taken to the locality of this Brotherhood, on earth, or, their bodies having been transmuted to spirit-bodies, they may have joined. the Brotherhood in the heavens.
Everybody is familiar with the account of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and with the fact that he took special pains to demonstrate beyond question to his disciples that it was not a spirit-body that he possessed after the resurrection, but the same physical structure that was placed in the grave. This demonstration that he had power over death, as well as over all other enemies, was the crowning revelation that he came to give to the world.
We noticed in a former chapter that of this Order of Melchisedek—this Eternal Brotherhood that has
been from all eternity and will be to all eternity—are the angel messengers of Elohim who guide and control the affairs of earth; and they have caused to be put on record the truths of the Hebraic and Christian Bible—still held sacred by a few.
We are told that Abraham was chosen and was led out from Ur of the Chaldees, the greatest and most enlightened nation then living on the planet; but a nation, like the Egyptian, devoted to magic, which they had perverted. Abraham was chosen because, having reached a development superior to that of his race, he was better fitted to become the progenitor of a people who would in the fulness of time constitute the first ripe fruit of the earth, a center around which all other nations would gather, a body that would become the light of the world.
The great truths held by this divine Order of Melchisedek and the purpose in the mind of the Elohim in the creation of the world, were set forth in the types and shadows of the Mosaic law, and in what was denominated the ten commandments, "the everlasting covenant." And, finally, Abraham's posterity, Israel, the covenant people, were watched over by the Elohim and guided by their angels—members of the Order of Melchisedek—until the vital formula of types and shadows could no longer hold them, or, in other words, until the nation had developed to a point where the symbolism of religion had accomplished its work, when one of the grand order of Elohim came to earth,
and, as the writer of Hebrews says in reference to Jesus, "took on him the seed of Abraham."
You will observe that these words refer to a personality who performed a voluntary act independently of the seed of Abraham, or of the fleshly body which grew from the germ. This implies that Jesus was the incarnation of a personality who voluntarily came to earth and took on a fleshly body, and that the fleshly body which he took was from the seed of Abraham. We have, then, in this declaration two personalities, so to speak, the spiritual soul, or the pre-existing man, and the fleshly body that "he took on him." The English Revised Version has it, "He taketh hold of the seed of Abraham." "Taking hold of" suggests the thought of taking hold of an instrument—a carpenter takes hold of his plane when he would use it; an engineer takes hold of his engine, and thus the engine is caused to express his will. All the prophecies, from beginning to end, demand that the fleshly body of Jesus come of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David. (See Deut. xviii. 15-19.)
We are not left to speculate as to what Christ meant when he said, "I am the son of God," "I and my Father are one," "God is my Father," varied expressions, all agreeing with his injunction to the early church, "Call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." The early church claimed that they
were the sons of God, as, in fact, do the church of the present day, notwithstanding they have ceased to believe it.
At the moment of his death on the cross Jesus made it known more fully who was his Father when he said, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The word "Eloi" is the possessive form of "Eloah" whose plural is "Elohim." Jesus said, "The Father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works," and again, "I can do nothing of myself," and when Eloah left the physical body, which, up to that time, he had occupied as a temple, the body immediately bowed its head and died. That in calling on the Elohim he used the singular form of the name, indicates the fact that the body had learned that it was the temple of one of the Elohim and that it had been the power of the Elohim manifesting itself to the world through his body. It was the wisdom of one of these wonderful Masters—wonderful to our comprehension—that caused to be recorded in the teachings of the Christ the most practical, the most minute and exact methods by which a man may become a member of that Eternal Order, may become Yahveh Elohim, as were those whom we have been considering.
It was because of this, in part, that Jesus so emphatically declared, "I am the door," "he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter [door keeper] openeth."
[paragraph continues] Now these words of the Christ, "I am the door," direct our attention to the use of a door as the means by which admittance is gained into an enclosure; at another time Jesus declared, "I am the way, the truth and the life," which was equivalent to saying, "I am the door." Again he said, "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."
All these declarations—of which the last may be considered the more explanatory—center in the one thought that he was and is the door. To abide in him is to follow his example, to continue to do as he did; and if his words abide in you, you believe his words, you "believe on him." If, therefore, you believe his words, and they abide in your life, that is, if you live in keeping with their requirements, with the directions that he gave, and follow the method s that he taught, then you attain oneness with him, then you are admitted, by virtue of perfect life, in through the door, or gate, into the city of the living God, into membership in that Eternal Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of all the ages; and as the angel said to John, "They go no more out forever."
Thus we are led to the conclusion that in the person of Jesus the Christ was the incarnation of Eloah, one of the Elohim, for the purpose to which he referred in the words, "For this purpose came I into the world." The example that we should notice and follow, is his faithfulness in keeping his
thought on the accomplishing of that purpose, announced in the words that we have so often quoted: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Gen. i. 26.)
One of the Elohim came and "took on him the seed of Abraham," that, doing away with types and shadows of religious service, he might give to the world all of the vital truth that it was possible for man to receive, and to establish a means by which the higher consciousness of the race can be kept in touch with and under the direct control and instruction of Yahveh Elohim. Thus, so to speak, the leading strings with which to lead the race along regular lines of experimentation have been given to him until the time comes when man has outgrown the knowledge that he is capable of receiving from the recorded teachings of the Christ of Nazareth; then the anointing Spirit of Elohim will again be manifested to the world in a personality that will be called Elijah; for Jesus said concerning Elijah, "Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things." Now mark you, he declared that Elijah should first come and restore all things, but he added in rather an equivocal way, "Elijah is come already, * and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed"—they killed him (John the Baptist).
It is generally thought that he referred to the reincarnation of Elijah, that personality who lived in the time of the Kings and was a light and
power to Israel; but God is no respecter of persons (personalities), and in the Eternal Brotherhood, the Elohim, man is named and identified not by his personal appearance, not by his incarnation in the physical body, not by his father and mother, but by his quality and sphere of use. "Elijah" means, Yahveh is my God, my power.
The last declaration of the Old Testament reads as follows:
"Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Yahveh: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi iv. 5, 6.)
Mark you, this is the last declaration of 'the Old Testament Scriptures, where the promise is emphatic that before the closing of this dispensation there will be a man or a body of men whose power will be wholly from Yahveh. In other words, he will become the embodiment and expression of Yahveh Elohim, and will—as Jesus said—"restore all things."
What things?—That which has been lost; for in order to restore a thing it must have been taken away or lost. Jesus came as the redeemer, to save man from the result of Adam's sin (Is. lii. 3), a redemption which is referred to in the fourteenth verse of the last chapter of the last book of the New Testament: "Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." This, then, refers to man's sin and fall and to his being driven out of Eden and from the tree of life, which, symbolically, was guarded by a flaming sword; and the restoration is to be through obedience to the commandments which he has broken, for disobedience was the cause of the fall, or the descent into matter.
While this is, in a way, symbolism, yet it is more than symbolism; it is the quintessence, the epitome, of everything in the revelation that God gave to man from the time of Adam down to the present period, and the accomplishing of the purpose that was declared in Genesis i. 26.
Therefore, when Elijah comes, he will be the "Elijah" because he has accepted the Everlasting Covenant, which opens with the words—as translated in King James Version—"I am the Lord your God," the meaning of which in the Hebrew is, I will be your power, your strength, and then continues, "Thou shalt have no other God," no other power, you shall trust in nothing but in my name, in me. In other words, you shall surrender the animal self-will and merge it into the Eternal Will, Yahveh, the God of the universe, in order that you may become what it was designed that you should be, a "son of God," the embodiment and expression of Yahveh, a member of the organized body of the Elohim; and then you will have become his image
and his likeness. This will constitute the Elijah that is coming to restore all things.
The restitution consists in bringing man into Divine Order, in the reorganizing of that Holy and Immortal Order, of all ages and worlds, that existed from all eternity and will exist to all eternity. And woe to the man or to the woman who attempts to organize that order, not having been prepared and "sent" of God to do that work!
A WORD OF CAUTION
We have presented in this chapter the thought of a mystic order that, from all eternity, has existed in all worlds and systems of worlds. The methods of this order lead men from the narrow sphere of his earthly consciousness into the consciousness of having become a center through which the mind of the Infinite finds free and perfect expression.
This teaching opens the door for the deceptive influences that are now very active to deceive the people. The suggestions made by us in former writings have already been taken up by spiritualistic mediums and by selfish persons who wish to make money out of the desire of the people for the higher life—the reaching out for the mystic now so prevalent.
Organizations have been formed, malignant in character, and of a nature to appeal to certain evils dominating the life of the people. Truths expressed in this chapter have been perverted and
made the means of attracting the people and gathering them into these organizations of perverse and dark psychic influences, thus misleading and destroying those who are seeking the mystic.
Consequently, our readers will no doubt hear ideas presented in this chapter expressed in perverted ways by different societies; but remember, the only safety is to accept the teachings of the Christ, who is the Door, and to follow them absolutely until all the evils of your nature are conquered, and the soul awakens to a conscious unity with the Spirit of the Highest. Remember that "as many as are led by the Spirit of God [not by spirits that profess great things, but by the Spirit of God], they are the sons of God."
Again, it should be remembered that Jesus lived the regenerate life; and although his period was not the time for regeneration to be taught, yet it is understood by the Roman Catholic Church, and the clergy of that church have always been required to live the regenerate life.
The foundation of the Esoteric teachings is laid in the regenerate life—this is the only door, and we repeat the words of the Christ, "He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."
You that are Christ's, sheep of his flock, you that are the sons of God, will seek God and his righteousness wholly and will not be misled by these deceivers of whom Jesus said that "if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect;" for if you conquer all the evils of your nature and unselfishly seek God with all your heart, then his angels will guide you and shed a constant light on your path, so that nothing can deceive you.
161:* Matt. xvii. 12, "An Elijah has come already." (Rotherham's version.)