THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
One of the most interesting symbols that has come down to us from the
ancients is that of the Ark, or the box that was said to contain the
sacred relics. Many people believe that this belongs particularly to
the Jewish nation, but this is a great mistake, because it has been the
birthright of every country to have the Ark. All have, like the Jewish
people, lost much of their power and glory when they lost the sacred
Ark. In ancient Chaldea and Phoenicia the Ark was well known. India
celebrates it as the Lotus, and the ancient Egyptians tell how the moon
god Osiris was imprisoned in an ark. In all the Mystery Religions of the
world, individually and cosmically, the ark represents the fountain-head
of wisdom. Over it the Shekinah’s glory hovers, as a column of flames
by night and a pillar of smoke by day. Every country has seen and felt
its presence when the Priest Kings and Initiates bring out of an old
civilization, lost because of crystallization, the sacred Ark, and
surrounded by those faithful to the truth carry it into other lands and
among other peoples.
In every creed and religion we find crystallization. We find small groups
of people separating themselves from their brother man. We find those
who, clinging to the old, refuse to advance with the new, and whenever
we find this crystallization, we find the spirit of truth carried away
to other people and embodied in other doctrines. The ancient Ark of the
Israelite never had removed from it the staves by which it was carried
and moved, until finally it was placed in Solomon’s temple. Neither does
the spirit fire in man rest until finally it is enthroned in the holy
place of his solar temple. Ever towards the rising sun its bearers carry
this sacred truth.
Nations are born of those who love the truth, and are buried when they
forget it. The time has come when its silent bearers have taken the
sacred Ark and the Shekinah’s glory, and in solemn file have moved across
the waters and brought it to the new world. The call has sounded through
the universe, and those who are true to their own higher principles have
surrounded the sacred chest. Those who have sworn alliance to their own
higher being are following the priests and their sacred burden, and a
beautiful mystery temple is being built in this beautiful land of ours,
loved and guarded by those who are laboring for humanity. The staves are
still in the Ark, however, and only when real good can be done by it will
it remain.
The opportunity is now confronting the Western World. The knowledge of
the ancients, the wisdom of the ages is knocking at the door and seeking
those who will follow it. The bearers of the Ark have stopped and are
gathering a nucleus of spiritual souls to carry on their work, and
whether or not the word of the Lord will remain with a nation depends
upon its own actions, and the actions of a nation are the collective
actions of its individuals. If it finds nothing here attuned to itself,
if it finds few that will answer to its call, the call of service and
brotherhood, then will its priests lift again the staves and the sacred
work will go out into other lands.
The life of a country thus gone, like the ancient city of the Golden Gate
it will be swallowed up in oblivion. The call is sounding, and those who
love the Truth and think and care for the Light must join that band of
servers who have for centuries dedicated themselves to the preservation
of Truth. Their lives they have given a thousand times, their happiness
has been second to their duty. They are the keepers of the sacred Word,
and the law of attraction draws to them all who love and live the Truth.
A great influx of spiritual light comes to those who live the life and
have learned the doctrine, and regardless of clan or country they have
joined the silent file of watchers and workers around the sacred Ark of
the Covenant. Every individual by his daily actions is expressing more
plainly than by words his ideals, his desires, and his attitude towards
this great work. The composite attitude of a certain number of people
either shuts out or lets in the light. Therefore every individual has a
great duty, a great work has to be done, and to that the true student
must dedicate his life. Then wherever he may go, whatever he may do, he
is being led, and the Shekinah’s glory directs his footsteps.
[Illustration: The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tablets of
the Law:
In these three things contained within the Ark we see the threefold
spirit contained within the ark of man’s bodies.]
In the brain of man, between the wings of the kneeling cherubim, is
the mercy seat, and there man speaks with his God as the priest of the
tabernacle spoke to the spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings
of the Angels. Man is again the Ark, and within him are the three
principles, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--the tablets of the
law, the pot of manna, and the rod that budded. But as in the case of the
ancient Israelites, when they became crystallized the pot of manna and
the rod that budded were removed from the Ark, and all that was left were
the tablets or the letters of the law. When the individual crystallizes
and excludes various sidelights from his mind, he excludes the life force
which was flowing to him. In shutting out strangers, he shuts out his own
life, and all that he has left are the tablets of the law, the material
reasons from which the spiritual life has gone.
Solomon’s temple, or the perfected temple of the human body, the
perfected temple of the universe and the perfected temple of the soul,
finally forms the perfect shrine for the living Ark. There at the head
of a great cross it is placed, and there in man it becomes permanently
fixed. The staves of polarity upon which it was carried are removed,
and it becomes a living thing, a permanent place where man converses
with his God. There man, the purified priest, arrayed in the robes of
his order, the garments of his soul, converses with the spirit hovering
over the Mercy Seat. This Ark within is always present, but man can only
reach it after he has passed through the outer court of the Tabernacle,
after he has passed through all the degrees of initiation, and after he
has taken the Third Degree and becomes a Grand Master. Then and then only
can he enter into the presence of his Lord, and there in the darkened
chamber, lighted by the jewels of his own breast plate, he converses with
the Most High, the true spiritual essence within himself.
We are working towards this, and the time will come when each person
for himself will know the mystery of the Ark, when the student through
purification shall be led through the door of the Holy of Holies and
there be enveloped by the Light of Truth. This was his birthright which
he sold for a mess of pottage. “To this end came he into the world that
he might bear witness to this truth, that through this light all men
might be saved.” The Ark, that great spiritual principle, surrounded by
its loving workers, is calling all to follow it.
When through materiality and degeneracy a great people are destroyed or
a continent sinks beneath the ocean, then those that are true are called
around the Ark, and as its faithful servers are led out of the land of
darkness into the new world and a promised paradise. All great teachings
set forth the same thing. The student will find that it is true, and
when he allies himself with the powers of light, when he becomes a
channel for its expression, and when he radiates it from himself to all
who need it, then indeed will the Light protect him and he shall become a
Sun of God.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The Holy Grail:
See in this cup your own body within which is the life blood of the Sun
Spirit of the Universe. Each day that we live we perpetuate the Last
Supper, and in all that we do we drink again the blood of Christ, the
life power of the Cosmos.]