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The Ten Commandments are supplemented by divers laws and regulations which, unlike the Decalogue, are specifically applicable to the particular people to whom they were given and for the stage of development through which they were then passing. At the time these judgments were delivered by Jehovah to the early post-Atlanteans, the majority of the people were guided more by feeling and cunning than by reason and love.
Regulations prescribed for their conduct were framed in accordance with these facts. Even God Himself must deal with people as they are and where they are, and not according to where they might be or will be. Fear of punishment was the greatest deterrent to wrong doing in that day. To do right for right's sake, or because of altruistic consideration for others, was not dominant in their undeveloped natures. The Lord (Law) was to them, first of all, a dreaded Being who thundered prohibitions against their many ungodly inclinations. Love had not yet become manifest in the incarnated Christ; nor had it awakened in the hearts of man.
All the while the race was being schooled in the operation of the universal, infallible law that like begets like, iniquity breeds iniquity, evil returns as evil. To it the law was stated as "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, strife for strife." (Exodus 23:25) In terms they could understand they were learning that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
The law is first imposed from without. Then as man progresses, that law is transferred to the heart and conscience becomes his guide. Later, the love of God for man so floods his heart that all consciousness of law as something to be obeyed out of necessity gives way to a joyous, spontaneous fulfillment through having become one with it. God is still Law, but henceforth is conceived of in His aspect of Love. Through love, the Law is fulfilled.
Among the many ordinances laid down for ancient Israel was one designating times to be observed with appropriate ceremonies and festivities. (Exodus 23:14-16) These were three in number: the first, in the months of Abio (March) and Nisan (April), the beginning of the sacred year, was in commemoration of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage; the second was the feast of the harvest in midsummer, when the first fruits of that which they had sown were making their appearance; the third was the feast of ingathering at the end of the growing season.
Three of the four Sacred Seasons of the year are here specified as times to be observed with religious remembrance for bounties received from the Giver of all good. The Passover is the Spring Equinox; the harvest festival, the Summer Solstice; and the feast of the ingathering, the Autumn Equinox. The last of the four festive times, the Winter Solstice, did not enter prominently into the Fifth Epoch religious calendar until the coming of Christ. Since then, Christmas and Easter have assumed foremost importance in the festive rituals of the Christian world.
At these four turning points of the year spiritual activity in relation to Earth is of such a nature as to offer most favorable conditions for quickening static energies into dynamic powers. They have, therefore, been occasions for initiatory rites in all Mystery Schools, ancient and modern. The Essenes were qualified to receive and transmit something of these Mysteries during the years of Christ Jesus' ministry on Earth. The Disciples carried it forward and the early Church Fathers possessed it. Since then Initiation has been a closed book to popular Christianity, so the deeper significance of the four Sacred Seasons has been temporarily lost. Added knowledge is being released in this day as we stand at the close of one cycle and the beginning of another. We are now on the verge of a general recovery of these sublime truths and an application of the forces released in the daily lives of individuals.
Again, reference is made to the Race Spirit whose mission is to lead the people coming under its jurisdiction "into the place" the divine plan has "prepared" for them.
As previously observed, Race Spirits belong to the Archangelic Hierarchy. Like members of the human life wave, the Archangels are not all of equal development. Those who serve as animal Group Spirits are among the least advanced. Among those serving mankind, the more advanced assume the greater tasks by leading the major races and the most progressive nations. They become, as it were, the corporate soul of a people, feeling and willing for its collective good.
They devise means by which the evolution of their wards may be accelerated and directed toward objectives in harmony with their destiny. They inspire their people with love of race and country, and devotion to the goals to which they are dedicated. Leaders are especially inspired in their task of carrying a nation or race forward in accordance with its particular genius and toward realization of the ideals inherent in it. Truly, an Angel goes before and helps a people on its way.
The Christ, as highest Initiate of the Archangelic kingdom, gives guidance to all nations of Earth. He is the supreme unifier. His influence makes for universality. As the consciousness He fosters gains ascendancy, racial differences will be overcome, national boundary lines will disappear, and many tongues will be welded into a universal language.
— Corinne Heline
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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