Concerning The ''Great Work,'' The Redemption, And The Share Of Christ Jesus Therein

No. V

CONCERNING THE "GREAT WORK," THE REDEMPTION, AND THE SHARE OF CHRIST JESUS THEREIN ¹

"FOR this cause is Christ manifest, that he may destroy the works of the devil."

2. In this text of the holy writings is contained the explanation of the mission of the Christ, and the nature of the Great Work.

3. Now the devil, or old serpent, the enemy of God, is that which gives pre-eminence to matter.

4. He is disorder, confusion, distortion, falsification, error. He is not personal, he is not positive, he is not formulated. Whatever God is, that the devil is not.

5. God is light, truth, order, harmony, reason: and God's works are illumination, knowledge, understanding, love, and sanity.

6. Therefore the devil is darkness, falsehood, disorder, discord, ignorance; and his works are confusion, folly, division, hatred and delirium.

7. The devil is therefore the negation of God's Positive. God is I AM: the devil is NOT. He has no individuality and no existence; for he represents the not-being. Wherever God's kingdom is not, the devil reigns.

8. Now the Great Work is the redemption of spirit from matter; that is, the establishment of the kingdom of God.

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9. Jesus being asked when the kingdom of God should come, answered, "When Two shall be as One, and that which is Without as that which is Within." ¹

10. In saying this, he expressed the nature of the Great Work. The Two are spirit and matter: the within is the real invisible; the without is the illusory visible.

11. The kingdom of God shall come when spirit and matter shall be one substance, and the phenomenal shall be absorbed into the real.

12. His design was therefore to destroy the dominion of matter, and to dissipate the devil and his works.

13. And this he intended to accomplish by proclaiming the knowledge of the Universal Dissolvent, and giving to men the keys of the kingdom of God.

14. Now, the kingdom of God is within us; that is, it is interior, invisible, mystic, spiritual.

15. There is a power by means of which the outer may be absorbed into the inner.

16. There is a power by means of which matter may be ingested into its original substance.

17. He who possesses this power is Christ, and he has the devil under foot.

18. For he reduces chaos to order, and indraws the external to the centre.

19. He has learnt that matter is illusion, and that spirit alone is real.

20. He has found his own central point: and all power is given unto him in heaven and on earth.

21. Now, the central point is the number thirteen: it is the number of the marriage of the Son of God.

22. And all the members of the microcosm are bidden to the banquet of the marriage.

23. But if there chance to be even one among them which has not on a wedding garment,

24. Such a one is a traitor, and the microcosm is found divided against itself.

25. And that it may be wholly regenerate, it is necessary that Judas be cast out.

26. Now the members of the microcosm are twelve: of the senses three, of the mind three, of the heart three, and of the conscience three.

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27. For of the body there are four elements; and the sign of the four is sense, in the which are three gates;

28. The gate of the eye, the gate of the ear, and the gate of touch. ¹

29. Renounce vanity, and be poor: renounce praise, and be humble: renounce luxury, and be chaste.

30. Offer unto God a pure oblation: let the fire of the altar search thee, and prove thy fortitude.

31. Cleanse thy sight, thine hands, and thy feet: carry the censer of thy worship into the courts of the Lord; and let thy vows be unto the Most High.

32. And for the magnetic man ² there are four elements: and the covering of the four is mind, in the which are three gates;

33. The gate of desire, the gate of labour, and the gate of illumination.

34. Renounce the world, and aspire heavenward: labour not for the meat which perishes, but ask of God thy daily bread: beware of wandering doctrines, and let the Word of the Lord be thy light.

35. Also of the soul there are four elements: and the seat of the four is the heart, whereof likewise there are three gates:

36. The gate of obedience, the gate of prayer, and the gate of discernment.

37. Renounce thine own will, and let the law of God only be within thee: renounce doubt: pray always and faint not: be pure of heart also, and thou shalt see God.

38. And within the soul is the Spirit: and the Spirit is One, yet has it likewise three elements.

39. And these are the gates of the oracle of God, which is the ark of the covenant:

40. The rod, the host, ³ and the law:

41. The force which solves, and transmutes, and divines: the bread of heaven which is the substance of all things and the food of angels; the table of the law, which is the will of God, written with the finger of the Lord.

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42. If these three be within thy spirit, then shall the Spirit of God be within thee.

43. And the glory shall be upon the propitiatory, in the holy place of thy prayer.

44. These are the twelve gates of regeneration: through which if a man enter he shall have right to the tree of life.

45. For the number of that tree is thirteen.

46. It may happen to a man to have three, to another five, to another seven, to another ten.

47. But until a man have twelve, he is not master over the last enemy.

48. Therefore was Jesus betrayed to death by Judas: because he was not yet perfected.

49. But he was perfected through suffering: yea, by the passion, the cross, and the burial.

50. For he could not wholly die: neither could his body see corruption.

51. So he revived: for the elements of death were not in his flesh; and his molecules retained the polarity of life eternal.

52. He therefore was raised and became perfect: having the power of the dissolvent and of transmutation.

53. And God glorified the Son of Man: yea, he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

54. Thence also the Christ shall come again: in power like unto the power of his ascension.

55. For as yet the devil is undissipated: the Virgin indeed has crushed his head; but still he lies in wait for her heel.

56. Therefore the Great Work is yet to be accomplished.

57. When the leaven shall have leavened the whole lump; when the seed shall have become a tree; when the net shall have gathered all things into it.

58. For in the same power and glory he had at his ascension, shall Christ Jesus be manifested from heaven before angels and men.

59. For when the cycle of the creation is completed, whether of the macrocosm, or of the microcosm, the Great Work is accomplished.

60. Six for the manifestation, and six for the interpretation: six for the outgoing, and six for the ingathering: six for the man, and six for the woman.

61. Then shall be the Sabbath of the Lord God. ¹

Footnotes

137:1 Commenced in Paris, September 30, 1878, to v. 20. Completed in London, July 13, 1881. Received chiefly in sleep.    E. M.

Referred to in Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 280, 281, 353, 354; vol. ii, pp. 267, 268.

138:1 2 Ep. Clement, v. i.

139:1 Smell and taste are modes of touch, as all three involve contact with the object itself that is perceived, while sight and hearing involve contact with vibrations set up by that object in an intervening medium (see Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. ii, pp. 170, 171).    S. H. H.

139:2 I.e. the magnetic or astral part of Man, which is accounted a person or system in itself.    E. M.

139:3 The Sacramental bread called by the Hebrews "Shewbread."    E. M.

140:1 See note to Part I, No. L (8): also Appendix, "Second Coming."