16. THOMAS PAINE AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN
The crusading of Tom Paine definitely advanced for Americans that secret destiny
by which all people shall be free and equal. There is little doubt that he assisted Jefferson
in writing the Declaration of Independence. ... Paine emphasized the necessity
of separating the spheres of Church and State in government, preached religious tolerance
in a day when the spirit of persecution was still strong, attacked the special privileges
of the aristocracy. ... Only by thousands of years of conditioning can mankind
be brought to the perfectionist state envisioned by this American patriot.
Of Thomas Paine it has been said that he did more to win the independence of the colonies with his pen than George Washington accomplished with his sword, Only complete reorganization of government, religion, and education would bring us even today to the perfectionist state Tom Paine envisioned
THE stormy petrel of Revolutionary days in America and France was Thomas Paine. Son of a hard working Quaker who made his living cutting barrel staves, young Thomas's formal education ended in gram mar school; he practiced his father's trade for a time before turning his mind to politics and the social problems of his time. Benjamin Franklin inspired Thomas Paine to become a champion of human rights. Their first meeting took place in England, and at Franklin's suggestion Paine came to America and entered into the publishing business. English born, he became an outstanding champion in the cause of freedom for the colonies. His writings so fanned the flame of patriotism that it has been said of him that he did more to win the independence of the colonies with his pen than George Washington accomplished with his sword.
There is little doubt that Thomas Paine assisted Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence. Present research even points to the probability that he composed the entire document, then submitted it to Jefferson for editing and revision. The references in the Declaration of Independence to "the Laws of Nature" and "Nature's God" especially reflect Paine's theological convictions.
Paine held several offices in the Continental government during the period of the Revolutionary War, and in 1789 returned to Europe. Three years later he published his Rights of Man. Although the truths contained in the essay were never successfully controverted, the book, caused repercussions that forced him to leave England to escape trial for treason. He sought refuge in France. Almost immediately he became involved in the French Revolution as a staunch supporter of the revolutionary party. He boldly advocated the perpetual banishment of Louis XVI, but was opposed to the execution of the king. His tolerant views on this subject must have alienated the Terrorists, for Robespierre caused him to be imprisoned under sentence of death by the guillotine. It was just before this imprisonment that he published the first part of his immortal book, Age of Reason; he wrote the second part during the ten months of his incarceration.
Paine's escape from death in France was by one of those unforeseen circumstances which so often have changed the course of history. Robespierre fell from power. His successors restored Paine to his seat in the revolutionary convention.
When things in France had settled down to the sober process of setting up a permanent government, Paine turned his attention to George Washington, whom he bitterly attacked, thus losing much of his popularity in America.
Paine returned to the United States in 1802 and his closing years were comparatively uneventful. He died in 1809. Ten years later his body was sent back to England to be re-interred in his native earth.
Thomas Paine was a free thinker, a radical pamphleter. It was his misfortune to be "born out of time." Yet by his very birth and the energy of his nature he helped to change the face of time. He attacked the corruption of the British Government with such honesty and skill that he was the most feared man in England. Then, with the simple conviction of a Quaker Deist, he threw the power of his written word against the religious corruption that burdened the peoples of Europe and interfered with the social progress of mankind.
In the Age of Reason, Paine emphasized the necessity of separating the spheres of Church and State, looking at both institutions in their practical state of corruption rather than in their ideal state of mutual integrity. He held a broad view of religion in general, believing that all faiths were naturally good and were necessary to the spiritual security of humanity. Such broadness was out of season, and it made him numerous enemies among those holding fanatical convictions. It was dangerous to preach religious tolerance in his day, when the spirit of persecution was still strong.
When the clergy involved itself in the political conspiracies of the State and descended to the level of self-interest, their spiritual power was prostituted; and, said Paine, they lost all claim upon public respect. Paine saw the conniving, plotting, and counter plotting of religious leaders who had cast their lot with the aristocracy against long suffering and exploited citizens. With a Church such as this he had no patience, and he had the eloquence and abundant courage to express his convictions regardless of the cost.
He held the aristocracy in general in equal antipathy. Privileged classes, to him, were little better than parasites, living off the toil of honest men in total indifference to the public good. A government compounded from a dissolute nobility and fawning professional office holders, ever catering to the longer purse, brought Paine's righteous indignation to the boiling point, indignation which he could apply in words understandable to the masses. It was his simple reasoning that such a Church, plus such a State, equalled chaos. It was bad enough for government to burden the people with extravagances, but it was still worse for the Church to preach that men should accept this load as coming from God, to see it designed to purify their souls by the practice of patience and humility.
It was not enough for Paine to believe that all men were created free and equal; these free men had the inalienable right of representative government; and the further right to improve themselves to the enjoyment of all natural good.
He was more of a perfectionist than was practical in his own day or even in our time. Like most idealists, he failed to accept the weakness in that very human nature which he sought so desperately to champion. Only thousands of years of conditioning and the complete reorganization of government, religion, and education could bring mankind to the estate which Paine envisioned. He called men to a high destiny, and men understood in part and applied in part, but lacked the capacity for a full and understanding acceptance.
This probably explains Paine's bitter attack on George Washington. Paine had been present when the American government was formed, and he must have been at least a witness to the bickerings which went on during those most critical years. As a president, Washington was not universally popular; it was only after considerable engineering that his election had been accomplished. Almost immediately the new government fell into political difficulty. Self-seeking politicians appeared on the scene at the very beginning, just as they have never since been absent from the picture. Paine, seeing some of the noblest ideals of the new State perverted and misinterpreted, dared to speak when discretion held the tongues of other men.
In Paine's own public career, made up largely of reverses, he chose to accept all forms of personal humiliation rather than modify any of his attitudes. He never accepted that such a policy as he advocated would be impractical in a permanent form of government.
Political experience leads the wisest of public men to the realization that the possibilities of public office are limited, and that good things must be brought about slowly and opportunely if they are to survive public inertia and opposition. But in principle Paine was right, and he has left imperishable landmarks.
He was a Utopian, a dreamer with a mighty courage of conviction. And when the dream of world democracy is finally realized, Paine's name and memory will be immortalized; for he was outstanding among the great pioneers of human progress.
Thomas Paine's crusading was part of that secret destiny which has ordained that all people shall be free and equal.
Many times his career appeared to have been ended by the accidents of ill fortune, but always he was preserved against his enemies, and even against himself. He was one of the links in that golden chain which binds the earth to the pinnacle of high Olympus.
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17. THE UNKNOWN WHO SWAYED THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Faced with the death penalty for high treason, courageous men debated
long before they picked up the quill pen to sign the parchment
that declared the independence of the colonies from the mother country.
For many hours they had debated in the State House at Philadelphia,
with the lower chamber doors locked and a guard posted--when suddenly a voice rang out
from the balcony. A burst of eloquence to the keynote, "God has given America to be free!"
ended with the delegates rushing forward to sign. ... The American patriots
then turned to express their gratitude to the unknown speaker. The speaker was not
in the balcony; he was not to be found anywhere. How he entered and left
the locked and guarded room is not known. No one knows to this day who he was.
SOME years ago, while visiting the Theosophical colony at Ojai, California, A.P. Warrington, esoteric secretary of the society, discussed with me a number of historical curiosities, which led to examination of his rare old volume of early American political speeches of a date earlier than those preserved in the first volumes of the Congressional Record.
He made particular mention of a speech by an unknown man at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The particular book was not available at that moment, but Mr. Warrington offered to send me a copy of the speech, and he did; but unfortunately neglected to append the title or the date of the book. He went to India subsequently, and died at the Theosophical headquarters at Adyar, in Madras. Then, in May, 1938, the speech appeared in The Theosophist, official organ of the society published in Adyar. In all probability the original book is now in the library of the Theosophical society. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy and authenticity of Mr. Warrington's copy, but I am undertaking such investigation as is possible to discover the source of the speech.
On July 4, 1776, in the old State House in Philadelphia, a group of patriotic men were gathered for the solemn purpose of proclaiming the liberty of the American colonies. From the letters of Thomas Jefferson which are preserved in the Library of Congress, I have been able to gather considerable data concerning this portentous session.
In reconstructing the scene, it is well to remember that if the Revolutionary War failed every man who had signed the parchment then lying on the table would be subject to the penalty of death for high treason. It should also be remembered that the delegates representing the various colonies were not entirely of one mind as to the policies which should dominate the new nation.
There were several speeches. In the balcony patriotic citizens crowded all available space and listened attentively to the proceedings. Jefferson expressed himself with great vigor; and john Adams, of Boston, spoke and with great strength. The Philadelphia printer, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, quiet and calm as usual, spoke his mind with well chosen words. The delegates hovered between sympathy and uncertainty as the long hours of the summer day crept by, for life is sweet when there is danger of losing it. The lower doors were locked and a guard was posted to prevent interruption.
According to Jefferson, it was late in the afternoon before the delegates gathered their courage to the sticking point. The talk was about axes, scaffolds, and the gibbet, when suddenly a strong, bold voice sounded -- "Gibbet ! They may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land; they may turn every rock into a scaffold; every tree into a gallows; every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die ! They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds, and yet from every drop that dyes the axe a new champion of freedom will spring into birth ! The British King may blot out the stars of God from the sky, but he cannot blot out His words written on that parchment there. The works of God may perish: His words never !
"The words of this declaration will live in the world long after our bones are dust. To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope: to the slave in the mines freedom: but to the coward kings, these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot choose but hear...
"Sign that parchment ! Sign, if the next moment the gibbet's rope is about your neck ! Sign, if the next minute this hall rings with the clash of falling axes ! Sign, by all your hopes in life or death, as men, as husbands, as fathers, brothers, sign your names to the parchment, or be accursed forever ! Sign, and not only for yourselves, but for all ages, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the bible of the rights of man forever.
"Nay, do not start and whisper with surprise ! It is truth, your own hearts witness it: God proclaims it. Look at this strange band of exiles and outcasts, suddenly transformed into a people; a handful of men, weak in arms, but mighty in God-like faith; nay, look at your recent achievements, your Bunker Hill, your Lexington, and then tell me, if you can, that God has not given America to be free !
"It is not given to our poor human intellect to climb to the skies, and to pierce the Council of the Almighty One. But methinks I stand among the awful clouds which veil the brightness of Jehovah's throne.
"Methinks I see the recording Angel come trembling up to that throne and speak his dread message. 'Father, the old world is baptized in blood. Father, look with one glance of Thine eternal eye, and behold evermore that terrible sight, man trodden beneath the oppressor's feet, nations lost in blood, murder, and superstition, walking hand in hand over the graves of the victims, and not a single voice of hope to man !'
"He stands there, the Angel, trembling with the record of human guilt. But hark! The voice of God speaks from out the awful cloud: Let there be light again ! Tell my people, the poor and oppressed, to go out from the old world, from oppression and blood, and build My altar in the new.'
"As I live, my friends, I believe that to be His voice ! Yes, were my soul trembling on the verge of eternity, were this hand freezing in death, were this voice choking in the last struggle, I would still, with the last impulse of that soul, with the last wave of that hand, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember this truth--God has given America to be free !
"Yes, as I sank into the gloomy shadows of the grave, with my last faint whisper I would beg you to sign that parchment for the sake of those millions whose very breath is now hushed in intense expectation as they look up to you for the awful words: You are free.' "
The unknown speaker fell exhausted into his seat. The delegates, carried away by his enthusiasm, rushed forward. John Hancock scarcely had time to pen his bold signature before the quill was grasped by another. It was done.
The delegates turned to express their gratitude to the unknown speaker for his eloquent words. He was not there.
Who was this strange man, who seemed to speak with a divine authority, whose solemn words gave courage to the doubters and sealed the destiny of the new nation ?
Unfortunately, no one knows.
His name is not recorded; none of those present knew him; or if they did, not one acknowledged the acquaintance.
How he had entered into the locked and guarded room is not told, nor is there any record of the manner of his departure.
No one claimed to have seen him before, and there is no mention of him after this single episode. Only his imperishable speech bears witness to his presence.
There are many interesting implications in his words.
He speaks of the rights of man,' although Thomas Paine's book by that name was not published until thirteen years later.
He mentions the all-seeing eye of God which was afterwards to appear on the reverse of the Great Seal of the new nation.
In all, there is much to indicate that the unknown speaker was one of the agents of the secret Order, guarding and directing the destiny of America.
Some time ago, an eastern publisher suggested to me that an interesting and important title for a book would be, "The History of Unknown Men." This publisher was a great reader of history; and it was his observation that nearly all great causes are furthered by mysterious and obscure persons who receive little or no credit for the part which they have played.
To write the history of these men would be to write the history of the Order of the Quest, the story of the unknown philosophers. Some, like Francis Bacon, come to high estate; but most of the unknowns work obscurely through other men, who gain the credit and the fame.
In an old book of rules used by the brothers of the secret orders, is the following: "Our brothers shall wear the dress and practice the customs of those nations to which they travel so that they shall not be conspicuous or convey any appearance that is different or unusual. Under no condition shall they reveal their true identity, or the work which they have come to accomplish; but shall accomplish all things secretly and without violating the laws or statutes of the countries in which they work."
Of those who did not reveal their true identity', or the work which they came to accomplish, one is the mysterious Professor who inspired the design of our flag, and remains unknown and unnamed. And similarly, another is the unknown speaker whose words removed indecision about signing the Declaration of Independence; it is not known who he was, and the incident is preserved only in a rare old book, the very existence of which it is difficult to prove.
It is reasonably conceivable that in secrecy and anonymity well ordered aid has been given to the struggle for human equity and justice that has been America's destiny through the past into our present time. It is our duty and our privilege to contribute what we can to this Universal plan. It will go on, served by the unknowns, until the Platonic empire is established on the earth, and the towers of the new Atlantis rise from the ruins of a materialistic and selfish world.
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18. THE SYMBOLS OF THE GREAT SEAL OF THE U.S.
Is the American eagle actually a Phoenix ? Selection of the fabulous bird
of the ancients seems to have been the intention of the designer of our nation's Great Seal.
The Phoenix is the symbol of the Reborn in wisdom. ... The design
on the reverse of the Great Seal is even more definitely related to the Order of the Quest.
The pyramid and the all-seeing eye represent the Universal House surmounted by the radiant
emblem of the Great Architect of the Universe .... These three symbols in combination is more than chance or coincidence.
WHEN the time came to select an appropriate emblem for the great seal of the United States of America, several designs were submitted. These are described by Gaillard Hunt, in The History of the Seal of the United States, published in Washington, D.C., in 1909. Most of the designs originally submitted had the Phoenix bird on its nest of flames as the central motif. One of the designs now familiar to us was finally selected, and Benjamin Franklin was asked for his opinion of the choice.
Franklin gave his immediate approval, observing naively that it was very appropriate to select the wild turkey as the symbol of the new country: The turkey was a bird of admirable quality, hard working and industrious, and of good moral character, and a fowl also with a marked adversion for the color red, at that time unpopular among the colonists.
When it was explained to Franklin that the bird on the seal was intended to represent an eagle he was bitterly disappointed; and he insisted that the drawing did not look like an eagle to him, and furthermore, an eagle was a bird of prey with few of the respectable qualities of the wild turkey.
It has been said that the designer had drawn a Phoenix. Its selection would of course have been appropriate.
Among the ancients a fabulous bird called the Phoenix is described by early writers such as Clement, Herodotus, and Pliny; in size and shape it resembled the eagle, but with certain differences. The body of the Phoenix is one covered with glossy purple feathers, and the plumes in its tail are alternately blue and red. The head of the bird is light in color, and about its neck is a circlet of golden plumage. At the back of its head the Phoenix has a crest of feathers of brilliant color. Only one of these birds was supposed to live at a time, with its home in the distant parts of Arabia, in a nest of frankincense and myrrh. The Phoenix, it was said, lives for 500 years, and at its death its body opens and the new born Phoenix emerges. Because of this symbolism, the Phoenix is generally regarded as representing immortality and resurrection.
All symbols have their origin in something tangible, and the Phoenix is one sign of the secret orders of the ancient world and of the initiate of those orders, for it was common to refer to one who had been accepted into the temples as a man twice-born, or re-born. Wisdom confers a new life, and those who become wise are born again.
The Phoenix symbol is important in another way, as an emblem among nearly all civilized na tions of royalty, power, superiority, and immor tality. The Phoenix of China is identical in meaning with the Phoenix of Egypt; and the Phoenix of the Greeks is the same as the Thunder Bird of the American Indians.
In the accompanying drawing, the head of the bird as it appeared on the great seal of 1782 is compared with the present form. It is immediately evident that the bird on the original seal is not an eagle, nor even a wild turkey as Franklin had hoped, but the Phoenix, the ancient symbol of human aspiration toward Universal good. The beak is of a different shape, the neck is much longer, and the small tuft of hair at the back of the head leaves no doubt as to the artist's intention.
But if this design on the obverse side of the seal is stamped with the signature of the Order of the Quest, the design on the reverse is even more definitely related to the old Mysteries.
Here is represented the great pyramid of Gizah, composed of 13 rows of masonry, showing 72 stones. The pyramid is without a cap stone, and above its upper platform floats a triangle containing the All-Seeing Eye surrounded by rays of light.
This design was not pleasing to Professor Charles Eliot Norton, of Harvard; he summed up his displeasure in the following words. "The device adopted by Congress is practically incapable of effective treatment; it can hardly (however artistically treated by the designer) look otherwise than as a dull emblem of a Masonic Fraternity." The quotation is from The History of the Seal of the United States.
If incapable of artistic treatment, the great seal is susceptible of profound interpretation. The Pyramid of Gizah was believed by the ancient Egyptians to be the shrine tomb of the god Hermes, or Thot, the personification of Universal Wisdom.
No trace has ever been found of the cap of the great pyramid. A flat platform about thirty feet square gives no indication that this part of the structure was ever otherwise finished; and this is appropriate, as the Pyramid represents human society itself, imperfect and incomplete. The structure's ascending converging angles and faces represent the common aspiration of humankind; above floats the symbol of the esoteric orders, the radiant triangle with its all-seeing eye. The triangle itself is in the shape of the Greek letter D, the Delta, the first letter of the name of God--the divine part of nature completing the works of men.
The 72 stones are the 72 arrangements of the Tetragrammaton, or the four-lettered name of God, in Hebrew. These four letters can be combined in 72 combinations, resulting in what is called the Shemhamforesh, which represents, in turn, the laws, powers, and energies of Nature by which the perfection of man is achieved.
The Pyramid then is the Universal house, and above its unfinished apex is the radiant emblem of the Great Architect of the Universe.
There is a legend that in the lost Atlantis stood a great university in which originated most of the arts and sciences of the present race. The University was in the form of an immense pyramid with many galleries and corridors, and on the top was an observatory for the study of the stars. This temple to the sciences in the old Atlantis is shadowed forth in the seal of the new Atlantis. Was it the society of the unknown philosophers who scaled the new nation with the eternal emblems, that all the nations might know the purpose for which the new country had been founded ?
The obverse of the great seal has been used by the Department of State since 1782, but the reverse was not cut at that time because it was regarded as a symbol of a secret society and not the proper device for a sovereign State. Quite rare are discoveries of the use of this symbol in any important form until recent years. Most American citizens learned for the first time what was the design on the reverse of their seal when it appeared on the dollar bill, series of 1935A.
So far as anyone may know, the use of the seal in 1935 was probably without premeditation or special implication. But it is interesting that its appearance should coincide with great changes affecting democracy in all parts of the world. As early as 1935 the long shadows of a world tyranny had extended themselves across the surface of the globe. Democracy was on the threshold of its most severe testing. The rights of man, that Thomas Paine defended, were being assailed on every hand by selfishness, ambition, and tyranny. Then on the common medium of our currency appeared the eternal emblem of our purpose.
The combination of the Phoenix, the pyramid, and the all-seeing eye is more than chance or coincidence. There is nothing about the early struggles of the colonists to suggest such a selection to farmers, shopkeepers, and country gentlemen. There is only one possible origin for these symbols, and that is the secret societies which came to this country 150 years before the Revolutionary War. Most of the patriots who achieved American independence belonged to these societies, and derived their inspiration, courage, and high purpose from the ancient teaching. There can be no question that the great seal was directly inspired by these orders of the human Quest, and that it set forth the purpose far this nation as that purpose was seen and known to the Founding Fathers.
The monogram of the new Atlantis reveals this continent as set apart for the accomplishment of the great work--here is to arise the pyramid of human aspiration, the school of the secret sciences. Over this nation rules the supreme king, the Ever Living God. This nation is dedicated to the fulfillment of the Divine Will. To the degree that men realize this, and dedicate themselves and their works to this purpose, their land will flourish.
To depart from the symbol of this high destiny is to be false to the great trust given as a priceless inheritance.
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19. THE PROPHETIC DREAM OF GENERAL MC CLELLAN
In a dark hour of military apprehension the General of the Union forces was visited by a vision
in a dream. A voice spoke and a map came alive with troop movements
as the enemy forces moved into the very positions he had intended to occupy.
The voice told him that he had been betrayed; he raised his eyes and looked into the face
of George Washington ... When McClellan awoke his map was covered with marks
and signs and figures, indicating the strategy that prevented the capture of the nation's Capitol.
... Also included in the dream was the warning of the Father of Our Country
that we would wage still another struggle for existence "ere another century shall have gone by" against the "oppressors of the whole earth."
THE vision of Constantine changed the course of the Roman Empire. The visions of Joan of Arc preserved France in an hour of darkest need. And the vision that came to General McClellan was a powerful force in preserving the Union of the American people.
The story of General McClellan's dream, preserved in the General's own words, seems to have appeared in print for the first time in the Portland (Maine), Evening Courier, of March 8, 1862. Had the story not been true, it is almost certain that McClellan himself would have made some statement of disproval or demanded a retraction.
General McClellan's career as a soldier was not exceptionally brilliant; he was a good organizer, but made many enemies because of certain fixations of temperament; but there can be no question of his sincerity and his dedication to the cause of the Union. In the interests of brevity here we will give a digest of parts of the story of the dream, with the General's own words preserved in the more significant passages.
At two o'clock of the third night after General McClellan's arrival at Washington, D.C., to take command of the United States Army, he was working over his maps and studying the reports of scouts. A feeling of intense weariness came over him, and leaning his forehead on his folded arm he fell asleep at his table. He had not been sleeping more than ten minutes when it seemed that the locked door of his room was suddenly thrown open, and someone strode up to him and in a voice terrible with power spoke: "General McClellan, do you sleep at your post ? Rouse you, or ere it can be prevented, the foe will be in Washington."
The General then describes in some detail his strange feeling. At the moment he seemed to be suspended in the center of infinite space, and the voice came from a hollow distance all about him. He started up, but whether he was really awake he was never able to decide. The table covered with maps was still before him, but the furniture, the walls of the room, and other familiar objects were no longer visible. Instead, he was gazing upon a living map including the entire area of the country from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic ocean.
McClellan tried to see the features of the being that stood with him, but could discern nothing but a vapor having the general outline of a man.
As he looked upon the great map, McClellan was amazed to see the movements of the various troops and regiments, and a complete pattern of the enemy's lines and distribution of forces. The General was immediately infused with a great elation, for he felt that the movements on this extraordinary map would enable him to bring the war to a speedy and victorious termination.
Then his elation changed to great apprehension, he saw the enemy's forces moving to certain points which he himself had intended to occupy within the next few days. He quietly realized that in some way his plans were known to the enemy.
Then again the voice spoke. "General McClellan, you have been betrayed. And had God not willed otherwise, ere the sun of tomorrow had set the Confederate flag would have waved above the Capitol and your own grave. But note what you see. Your time is short."
His pencil moving with the speed of thought, McClellan transferred the troop positions from the living map to the paper map on his desk. When this had been done, McClellan became aware that the figure standing near him had increased in light and glory until it shone like the noonday sun. And as he raised his eyes he looked into the face of George Washington.
The first President with sublime and gentle dignity looked upon the bewildered officer, and spoke as follows: "General McClellan, while yet in the flesh I beheld the birth of the American Republic. It was indeed a hard and bloody one, but God's blessing was upon the nation and, therefore, through this, her first great struggle for existence, He sustained her and with His mighty hand brought her out triumphantly. A century has not passed since then, and yet the child Republic has taken her position of peer with nations whose pages of history extend for ages into the past. She has, since those dark days, by the favor of God, greatly prospered. And now, by very reason of this prosperity, has she been brought to her second great struggle. This is by far the most perilous ordeal she has to endure; passing as she is from childhood to opening maturity, she is called on to accomplish that vast result, self-conquest; to learn that important lesson, self-control, self rule, that in the future will place her in the van of power and civilization ...
"But her mission will not then be finished; for ere another century shall have gone by, the oppressors of the whole earth, hating and envying her exaltation, shall join themselves together and raise up their hands against her. But if she still be found worthy of her high calling they shall surely be discomfited, and then will be ended her third and last great struggle for existence. Thenceforth shall the Republic go on, increasing in power and goodness, until her borders shall end only in the remotest corners of the earth, and the whole earth shall beneath her shadowing wing become a Universal Republic. Let her in her prosperity, however, remember the Lord her God, her trust be always in Him, and she shall never be confounded."
As the spirit visitor ceased speaking he raised his hand over McClellan's head in blessing, and the next instant a peal of thunder rumbled through space. McClellan woke with a start. He was again in his room with his maps spread out on the table before him.
But there was one difference; the maps were covered with the marks, signs, and figures which he had inscribed there during the vision.
McClellan walked about the room to convince himself that he was really awake. He then returned and looked at the maps. The markings were still there.
Convinced now that the experience was heaven sent, McClellan had his horse saddled and rode from camp to camp making the necessary changes in his strategy to meet the enemy's planned offensive.
His moves were successful, and he prevented the capture of the city of Washington. At that time the Confederate Army was so close that Abraham Lincoln, sitting in his study at the White House, could hear the rumble of the Confederate artillery.
General McClellan concludes his account of the strange vision that saved the Union with these words: "Our beloved, glorious Washington shall again rest quietly, sweetly in his tomb, until perhaps the end of the Prophetic Century approaches that is to bring the Republic to a third and final struggle, when he may once more, laying aside the crements of Mount Vernon, became a Messenger of Succor and Peace from the Great Ruler, who has all the Nations of the Earth in his keeping.
"But the future is too vast for our comprehension; we are the children of the present. When peace shall again have folded her bright wings and settled upon our land, the strange, unearthly map marked while the Spirit eyes of Washington looked down, shall be preserved among American archives, as a precious reminder to the American nation of what in their second great struggle for existence, they owe to God and the Glorified Spirit of Washington. Verily the works of God are above the understanding of man !"
It is not difficult to understand how a man who has been granted so strange an experience should come to realize that a secret destiny is overshadowing the country for which he fought.
The prophetic import contained in the vision is now apparent, and as the entire account was published in 1862 there can be no doubt that we are in the presence of a genuine example of foreknowledge. It is now 80 years since Washington appeared to General McClellan, and within the century the powers of the earth have risen to destroy the concept of world democracy. America is in the vanguard of the democratic nations, seeking to preserve its heritage from the encroachments of totalitarian powers. Already it is obvious that in the postwar period of reconstruction America must become a leader of nations in the establishment of a commonwealth of peoples. The purpose for which we are created is revealing itself through the long processes of time, and that purpose is indeed our most sacred heritage.
It is written in the old books that when the brothers of the Quest desire to bring about changes in the mortal state they send messengers and strange dreams and mystic visions and, accomplish their purpose by revealing their will to the leaders of nations in sundry and curious ways. Whether we wish to believe that the spirits of the dead return to guide the living, or whether we choose to accept that man possesses faculties and powers which under great stress may bring his consciousness a little nearer to Universal Truth, one thing is certain: Men unaccustomed to the spiritual ways of life have received visions, and have heard voices, and by obeying these mysterious powers they have contributed to the progress and security of their fellow men.
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20. THE END OF THE QUEST
In America shall be erected a shrine to Universal Truth, as here arises the global
democratic Commonwealth--the true wealth of all mankind, which is designed
in the foundation that men shall abide together in peace and shall devote
their energies to the common cause of discovery. ... The power of man lies in his dreams,
his visions, and his ideals. This has been the common vision of man's necessity
in the secret empire of the Brotherhood of the Quest, consecrated
to fulfilling the destiny for which we in America were brought into being.
Religion, science, and philosophy are the three parts of essential learning. A government based upon one or even two of these parts must ultimately degenerate into a tyranny, either of men or opinion. These three realize the unity of knowledge; they are the orders of the Quest
PHILOSOPHY teaches that the completion of the great work of social regeneration must be accomplished not in society but in man himself.
The democratic commonwealth can never be legislated into existence. Nor can it result from formal treaties or conferences. This is clearly indicated in the tragedy of the League of Nations. The League failed to prevent war because the nations which composed the League lacked the courage of high conviction; they failed the very institution which they themselves had established.
Permanent progress results from education, and not from legislation. The true purpose of education is to inform the mind in basic truths concerning conduct and the consequences of conduct. Education is not merely the fitting of the individual for the problems of economic survival. This is only the lesser part of learning.
The greater part deals with the intangibles of right motivation and right use. No human being who is moved to action through wrong motivations, or misuses the privileges of his times, can be regarded as educated, regardless of the amount of formal schooling he has received.
The human mind is established in knowledge not alone by the reading of books or the study of arts and sciences, but by the examples set up by leaders and the personal experiences of living. According to the Baconian system, there are three sources of learning. The first is tradition, which may be derived from books. The second is observation, by which we learn from the actions of each other. And the third is by experimentation, which is a study of causes and consequences brought about by personal conduct.
The supreme human purpose is the perfection of man. This must come first, and when this end has been achieved all good things will inevitably follow.
Only enlightened men can sustain enlightened leadership; only the wise can recognize and reward wisdom.
In a democratic way of life the very survival of the State depends upon the intelligent cooperation of its people. Where men make their own laws, they must live according to the merits and demerits of the statutes which they have framed.
The Greek law giver, Solon, declared that in the ideal State laws are few and simple, because they have been derived from certainties. In the corrupt State, laws are many and confused, because they have been derived from uncertainties. These corrupt laws are like the web of a spider which catches small insects but permits the stronger creatures to break through and escape.
Where there are many laws there is much lawlessness, and men come to despise and ridicule the restraints that are imposed upon freedom of action. Corrupt laws, resulting from efforts to amend inadequate legislation by further inadequate legislation, reveal a general ignorance of right and wrong. Where such ignorance exists the ideal function of democracy is impossible, and liberty degenerates into license.
The half-truth is the most dangerous form of lie, because it can be defended in part by incontestable logic. Wherever the body of learning is broken up, the fragments become partial truths. We live in a day of partial truths; and until we remedy the condition we must suffer the inevitable consequences of division.
According to the Ancients, religion, philosophy, and science are the three parts of essential learning. Not one of these parts is capable if separated from the rest, of assuring the security of the human state. A government based upon one or even two of these parts must ultimately degenerate into a tyranny, either of men or of opinion.
Religion is the spiritual part of learning, philosophy the mental part, and the sciences, including the arts and crafts, the physical part. As man himself has a spiritual, mental, and physical nature, and all of these natures manifest in his daily living, he must become equally informed in all the parts of his nature if he is to be self-governing. "Unbalanced forces perish in the void," declared a prophet of old; and this is true beyond possibility of dispute.
The Platonic commonwealth had as its true foundation the unity of learning. In the midst of the philosophic empire stands the school of the three-fold truth. Religion is the quest of truth by means of the mystical powers latent in the consciousness of man. Philosophy is the quest for truth by the extension of the intellectual powers toward the substance of reality. Science is the quest for truth by the study of the anatomy and the physiology of the body of truth, as it is revealed in the material creation.
These three, then, are the orders of the Quest. Together they can bring about the perfection of man through the discovery of the Plan for man.
One of the great secrets of antiquity was this realization of the unity of knowledge and the identity of the Quest in all the branches of learning. The great philosophers of the past were truly great because they approached the problem of life as priest-philosopher-scientist. The title "The Wise" is properly applied only to those in whose consciousness the unity of knowledge has been established as the pattern of the Quest.
It was part of the ancient plan that has descended to us to build again the ideal university--the college of the six days work. Here would be taught the same arts and sciences that we teach today, but from a different basic premise. Here men would learn that the sciences are as sacred as the theologies, and the philosophies are as practical as the crafts and trades. Those mystical extra-sensory perceptions viewed with suspicion by the materialist would then be developed according to the disciplines of the sciences, and all learning would be consecrated to the supreme end that men become as the gods, knowing good and evil.
This university is the beginning of democratic empire. No longer would it be a secret school--the House of the Unknown Philosophers. It would emerge from the clouds which have concealed it from the profane for thousands of years and take its rightful place as the center and fountain-head of the Ever Living Good.
When humanity willfully ignores the Universal laws which govern its destiny, Nature has devious ways of pressing home its lessons. Civilization after civilization has been built up by human courage and destroyed by human ignorance. We stand again on the threshold of a great decision. Once more the workings of time have revealed the weaknesses of our social structure. Once more we have come to a day of reckoning.
In the postwar world one of two courses lies before us. Either we will make the old mistakes again, and try to force our own concepts upon the Universe; or we will gather our strength for one heroic effort to put things right.
If we make the old mistakes we will be rewarded by the old pain. But if we make the new effort, we can set up imperishable footings and bestow as a heritage the beginnings of a better way of life. According to our choice the results will be in evitable, for Nature will never change her ways. Let us consider her ways and be wise.
Centuries ago, one of the secret masters of the Quest wrote: "The Eternal Good reveals its will and pleasure through the body of Nature and the motions of Universal Law. Within the body of Nature and Law there is a soul which must be discovered by great thoughtfulness. And within that soul of Nature and Law there is a spirit which must be sought with great understanding; for verily I say unto you, my brothers, that it is this spirit concealed from the profane but revealed to the thoughtful, which giveth life."
This, then, is the design of our foundations: that men shall abide together in peace and shall devote their energies to the common cause of discovery.
Man is greater than the animal, not in strength of body, nor in shrewdness, nor in the power of his senses, nor even in skill and patience; man is superior because he contains within himself the faculties and powers by which he can perceive his true place in a divine order of life.
His power lies in his dreams, his visions, and his ideals. If these intangibles are left uncultivated, man is at best but a superior kind of beast, subject to all the ills and vicissitudes of an unenlightened creation.
But, as man has locked within him, hidden from the public gaze, this diviner part, so it is true that human society has within itself concealed from our common view a nobler part composed of the idealists and dreamers of all ages and of all races who have been bound together by their common vision of man's necessity. This is the secret empire of the poets, this is the order of the Unknown Philosophers, this is the Brotherhood of the Quest.
And never will these dreamers cease their silent working until that dream is perfected in our daily life. They are resolved that the Word which was made flesh shall become the Word made Soul.
The great University of the Six Days Work must be built here in our Western world, to become a guide unto the nations. About this shrine to Universal Truth shall rise the democratic Commonwealth - the wealth of all mankind.
This is the destiny for which we were brought into being. The plan, which was devised in secrecy long ago, and in far places, shall be fulfilled openly ... as the greatest wonder born out of time.
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