THE BIBLE'S OWN ACCOUNT OF ITSELF.
By EDWARD MAITLAND (B.A., Cantab)
Author of "The Keys of the Creeds," "The Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation," "The Life of Anna Kingsford," etc.; and Joint Writer with Dr. Anna Kingsford of "The Perfect Way," etc.
EDITED BY SAMUEL HOPGOOD HART.
Second Edition, (Complete) with Appendix, PRICE SIXPENCE.
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"Now there come out of the darkness and the storm which shall arise upon the earth, two dragons. And they fight and tear each other, until there arises a star, a fountain of light, a queen, who is Esther."—The Vision of Mordecai, as interpreted in "Clothed with the Sun," I., IX.
Birmingham: The Ruskin Press, Stafford St., and all Booksellers.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS
OF
The Story of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland
and of
The New Gospel of Interpretation.
Literary World—"A strangely interesting book—very curious—few who have any sympathy with mental phenomena of the 'occult' kind will fail to read it with sustained interest."
Light—"A psychic history of umblemished veracity and astounding facts—supremely interesting—'full of beauty and perfect simplicity of purpose'—and showing that the 'fig-tree of the inward understanding is no longer barren, but has budded and blossomed and borne fruit.'"
Church Bells, 27th April, 1894—"Mr. Maitland has written a fascinating book."
The Gentleman's Journal, March, 1894—"Nothing Mr. Maitland writes would I like to miss—I never study his searching and striking pages without profit."
Agnostic Journal—"A fascinating volume—the history of a work calculated to effect a fundamental revolution in religion—told in language which leaves nothing to be desired."
The Illustrated Church News, 31st March, 1894—"This work is to Christians of real interest; for it enables them to study Gnosticism alive and vigorous in the nineteenth century."
Brighouse Gazette—"One of those really great books associated with the names of Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland."
The Unknown World—"There is no man now known to be living in England who has had such an abundant transcendental experience."
RELIGION AND MENTAL PHENOMENA.
From the "Christian Union."
Whatever may be said in favour or disfavour of Mr. Edward Maitland's "Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation," it is one of the most remarkable and most fascinating books on mental-visional perceptions of Divine Revelation that has appeared at any time. It is a book that carries the reader away from the materialistic to the mystical and spiritual. The author claims to bring to the old revelation a new interpretation, or more correctly, to restore the original and spiritual interpretation which has been lost through literalism. According to the narrative, the two persons concerned were for some years in reception of revelations which convinced them that they had been enabled "to tap a boundless reservoir of wisdom and knowledge" before the method and source were declared to them.... At length it was made clear to them that the knowledges they had acquired were due to intuitional recollection occuring under Divine illumination. "Inborn knowledge and the perception of things—these are the sources of Revelation. The soul of the man instructeth him, having already learned by experience. Intuition is inborn experience, that which the soul knoweth of old and of former lives." The ordinary mind will doubtless be ready to pronounce it to be strange mental phenomena, and nothing more. But surely mental phenomena of an extraordinary character must have an extraordinary use and purpose. And so few persons know enough of the psyhic powers latent in man, to be able to believe in the reality of these manifestations.... The nature of the results is such as to negative all materialistic explanations. For the knowledges recovered are real, solving problems in the profoundest domains of theology, hitherto given up as mysteries hopeless of solution. And they are being thus recognised far and wide by the profoundest students of spiritual science.... Judge the story of the New Gospel of Interpretation in what light we may, it has in it all the evidences of a marvellous work in its mental and spiritual conception, exposition, interpretation, illustration, and Divine communication. It stands out conspicuously as a fuller development of Biblical truth, such as Cardinal Newman must have anticipated when he said that he saw no hope for religion, save in a new Revelation.
THE RUSKIN PRESS.
STAFFORD STREET, BIRMINGHAM,
PRINTERS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] E.M. Letter in "Light" of 29th August, 1891.
[2] See further as to this, an article by A.K. and E.M. in "Light" of 23rd September, 1882, reprinted in Life A.K. Vol. II. p. 77.
[3] E.M. Letter in "Light" of 22nd July, 1893.
[4] E.M. Letter in "Light" of 17th December, 1892.
[5] A.K. died on the 22nd February, 1888
[6] The original title of this book was "The Story of the New Gospel of Interpretation." See preface to the present edition. S.H.H.
[7] Apologia pro vitâ suâ, by J. H. Newman. New edition of 1893, pp. 26, 27.
[8] The book was "By and By: An Historical Romance of the Future," its object being to show a state of society in which the intuition is supreme, and individuals follow their own ideals. It represents a step in E.M.'s unfoldment, but not his final conclusions. In 1873 A.K., having read a review of this book in the Examiner (which also contained a notice of one of her tales), communicated with E.M. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 27.)
[9] This was not the first time that E.M. met A.K. He had met her once before, in January, 1874, in a picture gallery in London. "It was but for a short time, and during a single afternoon"; but it was "sufficient to convince" him of "the unusual character of the personality" with which he had come into contact. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 32.)
[10] Her "very first published production" was a poem in a religious magazine, when she was "but nine years old." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 29.)
[11] "Beatrice: A Tale of the Early Christians," was written by A.K. in 1859, for the Churchman's Companion, "but the publisher thought it worthy to make a separate volume, and offered to bring it out in that form, and to give her a present for it," which offer was accepted. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 4.)
[12] The Story was "In my Lady's Chamber," and purported to be a "speculative romance touching a few questions of the day." It was afterwards published separately as by "Colossa." (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 21, 22.)
[13] The first edition of "The Pilgrim and the Shrine" was published in 1867.
[14] E.M. did not marry again. He had one child, Charles Bradley Maitland, and he died on the 16th February, 1901.
[16] E.M. says that "The Keys of the Creeds" brought his thought up to the extreme limits of a thought merely intellectual, to transcend which it would be necessary to penetrate the barrier between the worlds of sense and of spirit. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 54.)
[17] Statement E.C.U. p. 80.
[18] In 1875. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 73.)
[19] The book was "England and Islam: or The Counsel of Caiaphas," which was published in 1877.
[20] This vision occurred in London in November, 1876. It was merely referred to in the previous editions of this book, but I have inserted it here in full from "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 115-117. It is also given in "England and Islam," pp. 438-442. S.H.H.
[22] E. and I. p. 299.
[23] It is probable that E.M. intended this statement to apply only to the N.T., or to the Gospels, because, before February, 1874, when he first visited A.K. at her house (p. [2]), she had received in sleep "an exposition of the Story of the Fall, exhibiting it as a parable having a significance purely spiritual" and E.M. certainty regarded the Biblical Story of the Fall as "Scripture." S.H.H.
[24] The expression of which the above is an adaptation, had recently been applied by Mr Gladstone to the Turkish power. For the period was the eve of the Turco-Russian War; and Mr Gladstone had found vent for his strong sacerdotal proclivities by siding fiercely against the priest-hating and prophet-venerating Turks, and demanding their expulsion from Europe, very much on the plea that "it was good for Europe that one nation die for the rest." It was in recognition of the part thus played by him that I took for the sub-title of my book ("England and Islam") "The Counsel of Caiaphas." The book—which was written under a high degree of illumination—contained an earnest appeal to Mr Gladstone, which, if heeded, would have saved the country from its subsequent humiliations. Among other things I was clearly shown that the policy which sought to detach England from the East, was of infernal instigation, being intended to thwart the rapprochement between Christianity and Buddhism from which the new humanity was to spring. But the circumstances of the book's production—it was poured through me at great speed and printed off as it came—precluded due revision and elimination of redundant matter; and for these and other reasons, I have suffered it to go out of print. E.M.
[25] There is another fact, referred to in "The Life of A.K.," that must be taken into consideration in connection with experiences of this nature, that is, "the survival for an indefinite period of the images of events occurring on the earth, in the astral light, or memory of the planet, called the anima mundi, which images can be evoked and beheld." (Life A.K. Vol I. p. 125.) S.H.H.
[26] This "Vision of Adonai" by A.K. was merely referred to in the previous editions of this book. I have extracted the following account of the most interesting part of it from "The Life of A.K." (Vol. I. pp. 193-196.) S.H.H.
[27] Speaking of this vision, E.M. says:—"Her apprehension was not without justification; for her body was completely torpid, and several hours passed before consciousness was fully restored to it." (C.W.S. p. 283.)
[28] This is one of the illuminations that were received by A.K., during the latter part of 1878, "directly from the hierarchy of the Church Invisible and Celestial." Speaking of these illuminations, which "dealt with the profoundest subjects of cognition," E.M. says that he and A.K. found in them "a synthesis and an analysis combined of the sacred mysteries of all the great religions of antiquity, and the true origines of Christianity as originally and divinely intended, together with the secret and method of its corruption and perversion into that which now bears its name"; and they "were at no loss to recognise in them the destined Scriptures of the future, so long promised and at length vouchsafed in interpretation of the Scriptures of the past." (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 293, 294.) S.H.H.
[29] A.K. knew nothing of Spinoza at this time, and was unaware that he was an optician. Subsequent experience made it clear that the spectacles in question were intended to represent her own remarkable faculty of intuitional and interpretative perception. (See Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 150-1.) S.H.H.
[31] The 22nd September, 1877.
[32] The book referred to was a treatise entitled "Fruit and Bread," which had been sent to her anonymously the previous day. E.M.
[33] The "Hymn to Hermes" was received by A.K. in 1878, "under illumination occurring in sleep." She remembered it so perfectly that on waking she wrote it without hesitation or error. Representing knowledges long lost, by no amount of mere scholarship could it have been reproduced. It is given at length in the P.W. pp. 357-358, and in "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. p. 287. S.H.H.
[34] As to the recovery by A.K. of the Hymn to the Planet-God, see p. 122-3.
[35] These dream-verses are from "Through the Ages," a poem received by A.K., "in sleep," in 1880. In this poem, "some of her earliest incarnations" are referred to. (D. and D-S. p. 77.) S.H.H.
[38] That is, in the place of God and the Soul.
[39] The four planes being, from without inwards, those of the body, mind, soul, and spirit. S.H.H.
[40] The 28th March, 1880. S.H.H.
[41] The name by which I was thus addressed had been given me by our illuminators as an initiation name, as that of "Mary" to her. It denoted love as the dominant note of our work, and was an equivalent for "John the Beloved," who—we were given to understand—is one of the two controlling "angels" of the new illumination—Daniel being the other—in accordance with the intimations given by Jesus, one to His disciples and the other to the Seer of the Apocalypse himself, that John should tarry within reach of the earth-plane to bear part in the event which was to constitute the second advent of Christ. These names had a further correspondence in the Greek parable of Eros and Psyche, which denotes love as the vivifying principle of the soul. E.M.
[42] Materialism and Superstition.
[43] The name Esther denotes a star or fountain of light, a dawn or rising.
[44] The spelling of the names is that of the Douay Version, the Protestants having relegated the second part of the book of Esther, in which the latter part of this narrative occurs, to the Apocrypha. As also that of Ezra above cited. E.M.
[45] These are disclosed in "The Life of A.K." The personality referred to on this occasion was "Faustine, the Roman," the Empress of Marcus Aurelius. (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 353-354.) S.H.H.
[46] The "Hymn of Aphrodite," including the "Discourse of the Communion of Souls, and of the Uses of Love between Creature and Creature; being part of the Golden Book of Venus," from which latter the above is taken, is given in full in the P.W. pp. 350-356.
[47] The instruction concerning inspiration and prophesying was received by A.K. in Paris on the 7th February, 1880. S.H.H.
[48] P.W. pp. 311-314. Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 344-345.
[49] The occasion of the receipt by A.K. and E.M. of the above was one of peculiar interest. It was given in reference to a visit from the late Laurence Oliphant, an account of which will be found in "The Life of A.K." It will suffice to say here that, having heard of their work, Oliphant came to them as an emissary from his chief in America, Thomas Lake Harris, to summon them to place themselves and all that they were and had, at his disposal as the king and Christ of the new dispensation. The above instruction was given to them in direct reference to this incident. It was followed by others fully exposing the delusive source and nature of the doctrine and practice of Laurence Oliphant and Thomas Lake Harris. The above Exhortation of Hermes to his Neophytes is now given in full in this book for the first time. It is taken from "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 282-283. S.H.H.
[51] The above reference is to an experience of mine which does not call for relation here. E.M.
[52] Says E.M. in "The Life of A.K."—"The subtlety with which my most sensitive places were searched out, and the mercilessness with which they were probed by the influences which had now obtained access to us, seemed to me to belong altogether to the infernal." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 318.) S.H.H.
[53] The date was 27th March, 1880. S.H.H.
[54] The Hymn to the Planet-God has been referred to on p. [79]. It is given in full in the P.W. pp. 341-349: a portion of it concerning the passage of the Soul, and concerning the Mystic Exodus, are given on pp. 169-173 post. The method of the recovery by A. K. of this most important Hymn "was such as to constitute it a proof positive of the great doctrine set forth in it, the doctrine of Reincarnation; for it was as one of a band of initiates, making solemn procession through the aisles of a vast Egyptian temple, chanting it in chorus, that 'Mary,' being asleep, recollected it." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 456.) S.H.H.
[55] That is, the "strained conditions" under which their association was then maintained and their work carried on. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 374.) S.H.H.
[57] On the night of the 23rd June, 1880. This vision was received by E.M. as he pondered and while he was awake. (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 376-377.) S.H.H.
[58] Some of A.K.'s illuminations have thus been lost to the world. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 374.) S.H.H.
[59] Lady Caithness. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 329.) See pp. [137] and [185] post. S.H.H.
[60] On the 13th-14th January, 1881. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 435.) S.H.H.
[61] A full account of this interview with William Lily is given in "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 435-441.
[62] On the 9th April, 1877, in London. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 172.) S.H.H.
[63] Christmas Day, 1880. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 430.)
[64] The time referred to was September, 1878. (Life A.K. Vol. I. pp. 285-385.)
[65] A.K. was preparing for her second Doctorat, and E.M. was elaborating out of his own consciousness "a key to the interpretation especially of the initial chapters of Genesis." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 264.)
[66] On the 4th June, 1878. (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 265.)
[67] E.M. says:—"Her notes, of course, disappeared with her dream, and she had to reproduce it from memory. But this was abnormally enhanced, for she said that the words presented themselves again to her as she wrote, and stood out luminously to view." (Life A.K. Vol. I. p. 269.)
[68] That is the outer sense and lower reason.
[69] The illumination in question was received by A.K. in Paris on the night of the 25th July, 1877, and was written down under trance. Further portions are given on pp. [158], [159], [161]. It is given in full in "The Life of A.K." Vol. I. pp. 202-203.
[70] See further on this most important subject "The Bible's Own Account of Itself," by E.M., the only complete edition of which is published by "The Ruskin Press," Ruskin House, Stafford Street, Birmingham. S.H.H.
[71] From the exposition concerning the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, referred to on p. [151].
[72] From the exposition concerning the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, referred to on p. [151].
[73] From the exposition concerning the Christian Mysteries given in full in "The Life of A.K." Vol. II. pp. 99-100.
[74] Taste and smell being modes of touch. E.M.
[75] I.e., the astral and mental part of man, which is accounted a person or system in itself. E.M.
[76] The Sacramental bread called by the Hebrews "showbread."
[77] See note on p. [122], ante.
[78] The names Nyssa, Nysa, Nysas, and Nissi are identical with each other, and also with Sinai, Sion, and those of other sacred mounts. For they all are names for the Mount of Regeneration, the mount or "holy hill" of the Lord, within the man, to be on which is to be in the Spirit. The river Hiddekel has the like import. It is the river of the soul, herself fluidic and called Maria (waters), which, as the receptacle of the divine nucleus, winds about and encompasses the Spirit. Thus Daniel is said to be "on Hiddekel" when under divine illumination. ("The Life of A.K." Vol. I. p. 459.)
[79] A.K. was distinctly and positively assured that the incident then shown to her was one that actually occurred, and that she had borne part of it though no record of it survives. S.H.H.
[80] This instruction is taken from "The Life of A.K." Vol. I, pp. 424-425.
[81] The French edition, subsequently issued at Paris, is also due to her zeal and generosity. See p [137], ante.
[82] For the meaning of the "Four Rivers of Eden" see P. W., vi. par. 6. See note on p. [172], ante as to meaning of river Hiddekel.
[83] This indictment is as true to-day as it was twelve years ago, when the above passage was written. S.H.H.
[84] Cited from the preface to the second and succeeding editions of "The P. W."
[85] Cited from "The Life of A. K." Vol. II. p. 155.
[86] The Theosophist, May, 1882.
[87] The term Theosophy is here used in its Pauline and ancient sense of the science of the realisation of man's potential divinity;—the process, that is, of the Christ.—1 Cor. ii. 7. E.M.
[88] From an address given on the 17th July, 1883, by A.K. to the Theosophical Society, a full report of which is given in "The Life of A.K." Vol. II. pp. 124-128.
[89] A term which signifies forethought. The remonstrance is against undue anxiety and alarm on the soul's behalf while in the path of duty, as implying distrust of the divine sufficiency. E.M.
[90] Meaning that in such case the flesh itself is the impediment.
[91] In a letter on "The Church and the Bible," in the "Agnostic Journal" of 5th January, 1895, E.M. says:—
"Among the fallacies to be discarded is the fallacy which consists in believing that the Church, so vehemently denounced in its own sacred books for its manifold, grievous, and fatal perversions of the truth contained in those books, and so ignorant as to be unaware either of the source or of the meaning of its own dogmas, must understand its doctrines better than I understand them, whose high privilege it is to have been one of the two recipients of the New Gospel of Interpretation, which has been vouchsafed expressly to correct those perversions, and who not only have that gospel by heart, but who know absolutely by my own soul's experience—as also did my colleague—the truth of every word of it." (A long extract from this letter, including the above, is printed in the appendix to B.O.A.I. p. 83.) S.H.H.
[92] See also E.M.'s remarks to the same effect in the "Statement E.C.U." pp. 10-11.
[93] See Life A.K. Vol. II. pp. 52-53.
[94] See Life A.K. Vol. II. p. 241.
Transcribers notes:
Maintained original spelling and punctuation.
Silently corrected obvious typesetting errors.