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17 August 1912 |
The worlds of God are in perfect harmony and correspondence one
with another. Each world in this limitless universe is, as it were, a
mirror reflecting the history and nature of all the rest. The physical
universe is, likewise, in perfect correspondence with the spiritual
or divine realm. The world of matter is an outer expression or facsimile
of the inner kingdom of spirit. The world of minds corresponds
with the world of hearts.
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If we look reflectively upon the material world, we realize that
all outer phenomena are dependent upon the sun. Without the sun
the phenomenal world would be in a state of utter darkness and devoid
of life. All earthly creation—whether mineral, vegetable,
animal or human—is dependent upon the heat, light and splendor
of the great central solar body for training and development. Were
it not for the solar heat and sunlight, no minerals would have been
formed, no vegetable, animal and human organisms would or could
have become existent. It is clearly evident, therefore, that the sun
is the source of life to all earthly and outer phenomena.
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In the inner world, the world of the Kingdom, the Sun of Reality
is the Trainer and Educator of minds, souls and spirits. Were it not
for the effulgent rays of the Sun of Reality, they would be deprived
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of growth and development; nay, rather, they would be nonexistent.
For just as the physical sun is the trainer of all outer and
phenomenal forms of being through the radiation of its light and
heat, so the radiation of the light and heat of the Sun of Reality
gives growth, education and evolution to minds, souls and spirits
toward the station of perfection.
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Christ was the Sun of Reality which shone from the heavenly
horizon of Christianity, training, protecting, confirming minds,
souls and spirits until they came into harmony with the divine
Kingdom and attained capacity for descent of the infinite bounties
of God. Were it not for the appearance of His splendor, they would
have remained in the darkness of imperfection and remoteness
from God. But because that Sun of Reality shone forth and flooded
its light into the world of minds, souls and spirits, they became
radiant. He conferred a new and eternal life upon them.
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When the phenomenal sun appears from the vernal point of
dawning in the zodiac, a wondrous and vibrant commotion is set up
in the body of the earthly world. The withered trees are quickened
with animation, the black soil becomes verdant with new growth,
fresh and fragrant flowers bloom, the world of dust is refreshed,
renewed life forces surge through the veins of every animate being,
and a new springtime carpets the meadows, plains, mountains and
valleys with wondrous forms of life. That which was dead and desolate
is revived and resuscitated; that which was withered, faded
and stricken is transformed by the spirit of a new creation. In the
same way the Sun of Reality, when it illumines the horizon of the
inner world, animates, vivifies and quickens with a divine and
wonderful power. The trees of human minds clothe themselves in
new and verdant robes, putting on leaves and blossoms and bearing
spiritual fruits of the heavenly glad tidings. Then fragrant flowers
of inner significances appear from the soil of human souls, and the
whole being of man awakens to a new and divine activity. This is
the growth and development of the inner world through the effulgent
light of divine guidance and the heat of the fire of the love of
God.
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The physical sun has its rising and its setting. The earthly world
has its day and its night. After each sunset there is a sunrise and the
coming of a new dawn. The Sun of Reality, likewise, has its rising
and setting. There is a day and a night in the world of spirituality.
After each departure there is a return and the dawning light of a
new day.
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Furthermore, the reality of Divinity is characterized by certain
names and attributes. Among these names are Creator, Resuscitator,
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Provider, the All-Present, Almighty, Omniscient and
Giver. These names and attributes of Divinity are eternal and not
accidental. This is a very subtle point which demands close attention.
Their existence is proved and necessitated by the appearance
of phenomena. For example, Creator presupposes creation, Resuscitator
implies resuscitation, Provider necessitates provision;
otherwise, these would be empty and impossible names. Merciful
evidences an object upon which mercy is bestowed. If mercy were
not manifest, this attribute of God would not be realized. The name
Lord proves the existence of subjects over whom sovereignty is
exercised. The name Omniscient demands the objects of all-knowing.
Unless these objects existed, omniscience would be
meaningless and without function. The name the Wise necessitates
objects for the exercise of wisdom; and unless wisdom comprehended
them, this name would be inconceivable. Therefore,
the divine names and attributes presuppose the existence of
phenomena implied by those names and attributes. And vice
versa—the sovereignty of God is proved and established through
their verity and being.
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Reflect then carefully that the sovereignty of God is not accidental
but everlasting and eternal, and that it necessitates the existence
of phenomenal being. Kingship necessitates a kingdom, an
army, a treasury, subjects, a court and ministers. How could there
be a king without subjects, dominion and wealth? Otherwise, anybody
could claim to be a king. “Where is your army?” “I do not
need one.” “Where is your country?” “It is unnecessary. I am a
king without a kingdom, without army, subjects or sovereignty.”
Is this possible?
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Therefore, divine sovereignty necessitates a creation over
which its dominion is exercised. There must be evidences of sovereignty.
If we try to conceive of a time when creation was nonexistent,
when there were no subjects or creatures under divine
dominion and control, Divinity itself would disappear; there would
be a cessation of the bounty of God, just as the kingship and favor
of an earthly monarch would disappear if his kingdom did not
exist. The sovereignty of God is eternal. There has been no beginning;
there will be no end. This is as evident as the sun at midday,
even to one endowed with limited reason.
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When we consider the phenomenal sun, we see that its heat and
light are continuous. There is no cessation to the solar bounty. If
the sun at any time were without light or heat, it would not be the
sun. How do we recognize the sun? Through its heat and effulgence.
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If it be deprived of its rays and heat, it is no longer a sun;
it is merely a dark globe or sphere in the heavens. The bounties of
the sun must be perpetual in order that it may be qualified as a solar
center of energy, illumination and attraction.
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Likewise, the divine bounties of the Sun of Reality are perpetual.
Its light is forever shining. Its love is forever radiating. Its
bounty never ceases. It could not be said that the power and effulgence
of God was ever subject to cessation. It could not be
claimed that the divinity of the Almighty One had come to an end.
For the divinity of God is eternal. Therefore, the divine bounties—whether phenomenal and accidental or spiritual and ideal—are perpetual. But the people of religion are of two kinds: Some
worship the sun, and some adore the dawning points from which
the sun rises. For instance, the Jews adore the Mosaic point of
dawning, the Zoroastrians that of Zoroaster. The people of Abraham
turned to the point of rising in Abraham. When the Sun of
Reality transferred its illumination from the Abrahamic to the
Mosaic point of dawning, the people of Abraham denied its appearance
because they were turning toward the point and not to the
Sun of Reality itself. When that Sun of Reality with its divine bestowal,
its heavenly glow and effulgence transferred to the Messianic
point of rising, the Jews denied its appearance in Jesus, for
they were not worshipers of the Sun itself but adored its rising in
Moses. Had they been worshipers of the Sun of Reality, they
would have turned to Christ instead of denying Him as the Messiah.
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What was the reason of this deprivation? It was simply because
they were imitating fathers and ancestors in forms of belief instead
of turning toward the Sun of Divinity. For this reason they were
deprived of the bounty which dawned in the Messianic dayspring.
Holding tenaciously to the former dawning point, they still remain
in this position of deprivation. Consider the people and nations of
the earth today and observe this same tenacious allegiance to ancestral
belief. He whose father was a Zoroastrian is a Zoroastrian.
He whose father was a Buddhist remains a Buddhist. The son of a
Muslim continues a Muslim, and so on throughout. Why is this?
Because they are slaves and captives of mere imitation. They have
not investigated the reality of religion and arrived at its fundamentals
and conclusions. The Jew, for instance, has not proved the validity
of Moses by investigating reality. He is a Jew because his
father was a Jew. He imitates the forms and belief of his fathers and
ancestors. There is no thought or mention of reality. And so it is
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with the other peoples of religion. This is the purpose of our statement
that they worship the dawning point rather than the Sun of
Reality itself.
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If in the day of Jesus Christ the Jews had forsaken imitation and
investigated reality, they would assuredly have believed in and accepted
Him, for the Messianic effulgence was far greater than the
Mosaic. The Sun of Reality, when it appeared from the dawning
point of Christ, was as the midsummer sun in brilliancy and
beauty.
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Now, therefore, we must be admonished and realize that mere
imitation of fathers and ancestors is fruitless. Nay, rather, we must
exert ourselves to the utmost in investigating and turning toward
the Sun of Reality, no matter from what dayspring or dawning
point it may appear. The phenomenal sun is one sun. If tomorrow it
should rise in the West, it is the same sun. We cannot say, “This is
not the sun because it has appeared in the West.” For East and
West are but earthly and imaginary directions. In the station of the
sun there is neither East nor West. It is ever shining from its place
in the heavens. In the focal point of the solar circle there is no rising,
no setting. Therefore, sunrise and sunset have relation to
earthly observation and not to the luminary itself. Nay, rather,
night in the solar orb is inconceivable. In that center of effulgence,
constant light and illumination prevail. Its risings and settings are,
therefore, only apparent and not actual. They have relation to our
earthly point of view. We could not consider it the sun if there were
a cessation of its light, heat and splendor. To do so would be equivalent
to calling a black stone a diamond. This would be meaningless.
If a man is a miser and you call him generous, it will produce
no change in him.
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The purport of this is that God is almighty, but His greatness
cannot be brought within the grasp of human limitation. We cannot
limit God to a boundary. Man is limited, but the world of Divinity
is unlimited. Prescribing limitation to God is human ignorance.
God is the Ancient, the Almighty; His attributes are infinite. He is
God because His light, His sovereignty, is infinite. If He can be
limited to human ideas, He is not God. Strange it is that, notwithstanding
these are self-evident truths, man continues to build
walls and fences of limitation about God, about Divinity so glorious,
illimitable, boundless. Consider the endless phenomena of
His creation. They are infinite; the universe is infinite. Who shall
declare its height, its depth and length? It is absolutely infinite.
How could an almighty sovereignty, a Divinity so wondrous, be
brought within the limitations of faulty human minds even as to
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terms and definition? Shall we then say that God has performed a
certain thing and He will never be able to perform it again? That the
Sun of His effulgence once shone upon the world but now has set
forever? That His mercy, His grace, His bounty once descended
but now have ceased? Is this possible? No! We can never say nor
believe with truth that His Manifestation, the adored verity, the
Sun of Reality, shall cease to shine upon the world.
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O Lord! Remove the veils from their eyes, and dispel the darkness
of ignorance. Confer upon them the light of knowledge and
wisdom. Illumine these contrite hearts with the radiance of the Sun
of Reality. Make these eyes perceptive through witnessing the
lights of Thy sovereignty. Suffer these spirits to rejoice through the
great glad tidings, and receive these souls into Thy supreme Kingdom.
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O Lord! The horizons of the world are darkened by this dissension.
O God! Illumine them, and through the lights of Thy love let
the hearts become radiant. Through the blessing of Thy bestowal
resuscitate the spirits until every soul shall perceive and act in accordance
with Thy teachings. Thou art the Almighty. Thou art the
Omniscient. Thou art the Seer. O Lord, be compassionate to all.
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