“Pilgrims: you have now entered into the joy of your Lord, because the blight of wrong, the mildew of neglect, hath no surface on your minds. Rule is surrendered to God. No authority rests in you to withhold when others need. No sorrow will pass unrelieved, and no fear sear the soul, unmitigated. All ignorance demands removal, and he who serves his friend in need, serves God. The circle will now sing the song of the free, when other minds will address you.”
The song was sung, but no words can describe its richness. The poor were made rich, and equality pervaded the immense multitude.
When the song was ended, I heard a mind say, “I have the key of wisdom, and I will now unlock the door of knowledge.” Proceeding forward, he addressed us as follows: “True greatness is goodness; true wisdom is what will make the mind good. I have seen power in the hands of weakness. I have seen weakness mock at the voice of wisdom, and cast her reproach at its votaries; but the reproach rebounded on her own head. I have seen mind pleading for mercy at the gate of poverty. Alas! mistaken mind sought for bread where it was not, and the heart languished in despair. The voice of nature has been derided, and the weakness of ignorance has assumed dominion. Poverty is wrong, and wrong is poverty. No good thing has poverty to bestow. At its gate, the hungry wait, and wait to be disappointed. I have sought, but not found. I have wondered at my misfortune, and complained of the dealings of God. I have seen no key to unlock the mystery, and my soul has been disquieted within me. But I sought for bread where it was not, and for wisdom in a college of ignorance. Opinions were numerous, and as grainless as husks. Faiths were not wanting in number or variety, but no mind was satisfied therewith. Views of God were conflicting and contradictory, and my mind was worn with the wrangling of unsettled controversy. I sought for peace amid the turbulent waters, but found only agitation and discontent. I was as wild as the sea on which my bark floated, without hope or moorings, save the disputed and unsettled opinions of a dismal theology. In my dreams of the future, social good was never promised. Philanthropy was selfish, and charity not a span long. Goodness dwelt in temples, and virtue signified conformity to others’ views. Parsimony was common law, and beggars were common outlaws. Nature smiled then as now, but I saw not the smile. Brotherhood was without children, and conventional limits were drawn over the face of famishing souls. Imagination portrayed calamities, and wrongs sustained the wrong.
“Pilgrims, I have a key. It will unlock the iron door, and show you the secret of all this mischief and wrong. It is a key of knowledge. It is a key which closes the door of hope. It bars the gate of joy. It shuts the portal of salvation. It wrongs the poor of bread. It aggrandizes the indolent from the labor of the industrious. It keeps mind away from its inheritance, and secludes the riches of heirship. I hold the key by which all this wrong and mischief has been done to mind, and I propose to open the door for your personal inspection.”
He opened the door, and drew therefrom a book of seven seals. He began to unloose the first seal, when he said:
“Pilgrims: The first seal of this book, represents the first circle. It will show you, that all wisdom cometh to mind by successive degrees of development. The mind in embryo, hath no wisdom; but when nature introduces mind into individualized being, the individual mind breaks the first seal, and wisdom is realized. Nature so orders, by an immutable law, that self-hood shall be sustained, and therefore provides the mind with an innate and natural relish for such things as are adapted to its welfare. It needs no compulsion, or external force, to induce a reception of those things which are congenial to its enjoyment. Whatever nature requires, nature has provided. The innate desire of the mind for sustenance, harmonizes with the supply nature affords. The nourishment is adapted to the condition, and the condition to the nourishment. Self-hood is maintained by innate desire, and innate desire is supplied by maternal condition. The harmony of these conditions is essential to self-hood. The mother supplies the wants of nature in her offspring, never so much as suspecting that they should be disregarded. The child partakes of nature’s provision and realizes enjoyment. These conditions of want and supply unfold the harmony of nature, and should not be overlooked in other relations of mind.
“The innate desire is the individual property of the possessor. The supply is the maternal property, and is wanted only to nourish offspring. In this economy of nature, the useless to one, is the useful to the other. And what is not needed by one, is freely given to the other. It is given because the want of the dependent requires it. The want of the dependent is the only reason for the gift. Nature exacts the gift, and self-hood receives the favor. By the favor, mutual affinities become strengthened, and sympathy answers sympathy. The law of God is observed, and nature rewards obedience. The self-hood of the dependent is made subservient to the love of the parent. Both act as nature demands, and no wrong is done. The good of the mother, blesses the child, and the blessing of the child is the blessing of herself, and a disturbance of her love, would be attended with anxiety and pain.
“The second seal represents the second circle. Mind acts with mind. The opening blossom is not the full blown flower. The vase is wet with water. Nourishment is wanted to mature the circle. The industry of other hands is required. The second seal must be unloosed. Progress never stops in nature, though, sometimes, it is obstructed. Mind sympathizes with mind. The sympathy of mind with mind is wise. It saves. Mind without sympathy could not enjoy society. Mind with it, enjoys. Nature has not wronged mind by sympathy. The sympathy of mind with mind corresponds with natural affinities. Mutual attractions never repulse each other. They unite. Chemistry sustains the idea of mutual attractions. Philosophy reveals the mutual tendencies to sympathy of things which possess harmonious properties. The wisdom of the second circle demonstrates the fact, that one mind sympathizes with another. But the mind acts as self-hood prompts. Mind acts as self-hood justifies. Self-hood justifies what is adapted to the enjoyment of self. It condemns what is opposed to its own enjoyment. Thus, its sympathy must be controlled with the wisdom it possesses. Self-hood consults what self-love approves. It is limited. The good of others will, sometimes, be consulted, as when no loss to self is sustained. It wills what will do self good, what will gratify selfish wants. No wisdom above its own wants, shares in its counsels. Others’ wrongs are disregarded, because its benevolence is not sufficiently developed to aid the needy. Others’ good is neglected, because self-hood has not the love of brotherhood. It is confined. Limit is established to its wisdom and benevolence. It sees what self-hood discloses. Manhood is not unfolded. The third seal is unbroken. It acts within the circle of its wisdom. It is a development of mind, that needs to be developed. It wrangles with others for self. It flatters others for self. It sympathizes with others for self. It yields to others for self. It neglects others for self. It will not receive the wisdom of superiors, because others, with whom it sympathizes, are opposed to new things. It will not aid reform, until reformed.
“The third seal represents the third circle of mind. It will open the soul to a greater wisdom and love. It will do good without fear or favor. It will show what mind should do for mind. It will seek peace and pursue it. But it is conservative. It neglects, oftentimes, its own good. It neglects, sometimes, the good of others. I will unloose the seal. The same good to others as to self. The same degree of wisdom also. The whole duty of this circle is considered as being embraced in doing by others, as it would have others do by it. The seal of wisdom and benevolence, needs further development. It has been the mission of minds, I am now instructing to aid them. Success has attended your efforts, and reform has been attained. The whole duty of mind is not contained in doing by others as you would have others do unto you. But the wisdom of the third seal goes no further. It was wise to mind, when it was unloosed. It saw a new creation, and the old vanished away. It passed into disrepute. It was respected by those who saw the opening wonder no more. It was a new heaven, and a new earth to mind, emerging from the weakness of the second seal. It was a freedom to mind, which had served two masters, hope and fear. It was wisdom of superior worth to the ignorance of the second seal. But the third seal was not the end of progress. Eternity will have no end. Mind will have no end. Time will have no end. Periods will end. Time is marked by periods. Day and night is a period. Circles are periods indefinite. Years are not known to you, only as the reckoning of the rudimental condition. Night is as day. Circles are as periods of progress. Minds work as circles of wisdom in their degree control. I have aided you where you will now instruct, as you are instructed.
“The fourth seal is now broken. Its condition is good to all. It recognizes no enemies. It never wrangles. It will bless enemies. Your own experience was the criterion of truth. Fear and favor were powerless over you. No wrong was where you labored, but the wrong of less wisdom. It was not wise to make others unhappy, because you deemed unhappiness a recommendation to the favor of God. It was not wise with what wretchedness required, but harmonious with the eternal law of order and love. It sought and relieved mind from the uncongenial elements of social wrong. It was interested in the progress of mind, and the social good of society. It gave beauty for ashes, and the garments of praise for the spirit of weariness. It was wise in good things, and shunned not the truth. It was worthy of elevation to a higher circle, for which cause the circle I am now addressing was advanced.