which will seem to us to be our very life, to the Cross of Christ, and nail it thereon; which means that we must with courage and endurance do everything that is most distasteful to the false imagination. Then, through lack of the nourishment which comes of indulgence, it will gradually weaken and at length die. Then the new birth will take place and the new creation come to conscious being.
Conclusion.
Some of Boehme's learned friends had put in his hands the works of Paracelsus; and it was Ifrom this author that he took much of his alchemical terminology. The reader will at first be perplexed by these terms. The three principal ones which he uses most frequently are Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. I think that if the reader takes these as indicating Spirit, Soul, and Body, he will not be far wrong. Each has, says Boehme, a good and a bad quality; for there is an evil spirit as well as a holy; a blind as well as an enlightened soul; and a gross four elemental matter as well as the " One Pure Element."
The "Virgin," the "Pearl," the "Grain of Mustard Seed," mean our heavenly, divine nature which at the Fall went into the hiddenness and are now lost to us. Yet only " lost," and it should be the work of our lives to recover them. The
" Virgin" expresses that this lost something is no abstract quality, but of human form, only far more glorious than the body we now bear, made "like the beasts that perish." Somewhat of this is in me now; and it is because of this that I am human and not animal. But the greater part is in the hiddenness, and is of the contrary sex to that manifested in me here. In the union of the two, the two (as sex distinctions) disappear; just as in the union of oxygen and hydrogen the separate elements disappear and an entirely different " body" comes out of the hiddenness, in which they are, but not manifested.
By the " Pearl" and the idea of it in our Lord's parable, Boehme seeks to express the transcending preciousness and value of the " Virgin ": worth all our external life and its possessions. By the "Mustard Seed" he would express that though to the earthly mind it may seem small and of no value, it will, if cultivated, manifest an unexpected fulness of content; and prove, in fact, the basis and potency of every joy and delight.
Lastly, may I say this? You, my friend, who are about to study an aspect of truth hidden from the world, remember you cannot open this mystery and yet remain in the same relation to the world as you were before. The inexorable condition of its opening to you is that, when opened, you shall be resolved to live in the light of it. It is the lack of these perceptions, grasped and acted on, that makes this world a fallen world; that sets human life in the power of the Fire, and makes civilisation a real war of conflicting interests. The moment you see the truth, you become bound to be a witness to it, either in word or in deed (and the latter is the more efficacious). For these are not matters of intellectual interest merely; but eternal verities that touch and colour every department of life, and are endowed with the divine creative force. So that they must and will, and cannot but, be dynamic. That is, they must work something; if not good, then harm. You cannot see these truths, and yet be no different for the seeing. " The whole creation," says St Paul, " is waiting Ifor the manifesting of the sons of God." Boehme's philosophy gives us some rough but practical idea how to begin to operate towards this end in our own case. He never thought of himself as a great teacher; but only as a humble guide to the one great Teacher, the Holy Spirit, by indicating how, and in what attitude of heart and mind, He must be approached: a meekness which is too strong to be frightened or ashamed; a love which is too mighty to say, "That I cannot do." The world is not all and only evil: the good is in it, only in a hiddenness, and needs not creating but only developing. In some around you it may be so near the surface that but a word, a faithful example, may be all that is needed to bring it to manifestation. Therefore if God opens in you the knowledge, do not disappoint the "earnest expectation of the creation." " Let your light
which will seem to us to be our very life, to the Cross of Christ, and nail it thereon; which means that we must with courage and endurance do everything that is most distasteful to the false imagination. Then, through lack of the nourishment which comes of indulgence, it will gradually weaken and at length die. Then the new birth will take place and the new creation come to conscious being.
Conclusion.
Some of Boehme's learned friends had put in his hands the works of Paracelsus; and it was Ifrom this author that he took much of his alchemical terminology. The reader will at first be perplexed by these terms. The three principal ones which he uses most frequently are Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. I think that if the reader takes these as indicating Spirit, Soul, and Body, he will not be far wrong. Each has, says Boehme, a good and a bad quality; for there is an evil spirit as well as a holy; a blind as well as an enlightened soul; and a gross four elemental matter as well as the " One Pure Element."
The "Virgin," the "Pearl," the "Grain of Mustard Seed," mean our heavenly, divine nature which at the Fall went into the hiddenness and are now lost to us. Yet only " lost," and it should be the work of our lives to recover them. The
" Virgin" expresses that this lost something is no abstract quality, but of human form, only far more glorious than the body we now bear, made "like the beasts that perish." Somewhat of this is in me now; and it is because of this that I am human and not animal. But the greater part is in the hiddenness, and is of the contrary sex to that manifested in me here. In the union of the two, the two (as sex distinctions) disappear; just as in the union of oxygen and hydrogen the separate elements disappear and an entirely different " body" comes out of the hiddenness, in which they are, but not manifested.
By the " Pearl" and the idea of it in our Lord's parable, Boehme seeks to express the transcending preciousness and value of the " Virgin ": worth all our external life and its possessions. By the "Mustard Seed" he would express that though to the earthly mind it may seem small and of no value, it will, if cultivated, manifest an unexpected fulness of content; and prove, in fact, the basis and potency of every joy and delight.
Lastly, may I say this? You, my friend, who are about to study an aspect of truth hidden from the world, remember you cannot open this mystery and yet remain in the same relation to the world as you were before. The inexorable condition of its opening to you is that, when opened, you shall be resolved to live in the light of it. It is the lack of these perceptions, grasped and acted on, that makes this world a fallen world; that sets human life in the power of the Fire, and makes civilisation a real war of conflicting interests. The moment you see the truth, you become bound to be a witness to it, either in word or in deed (and the latter is the more efficacious). For these are not matters of intellectual interest merely; but eternal verities that touch and colour every department of life, and are endowed with the divine creative force. So that they must and will, and cannot but, be dynamic. That is, they must work something; if not good, then harm. You cannot see these truths, and yet be no different for the seeing. " The whole creation," says St Paul, " is waiting Ifor the manifesting of the sons of God." Boehme's philosophy gives us some rough but practical idea how to begin to operate towards this end in our own case. He never thought of himself as a great teacher; but only as a humble guide to the one great Teacher, the Holy Spirit, by indicating how, and in what attitude of heart and mind, He must be approached: a meekness which is too strong to be frightened or ashamed; a love which is too mighty to say, "That I cannot do." The world is not all and only evil: the good is in it, only in a hiddenness, and needs not creating but only developing. In some around you it may be so near the surface that but a word, a faithful example, may be all that is needed to bring it to manifestation. Therefore if God opens in you the knowledge, do not disappoint the "earnest expectation of the creation." " Let your light
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