may be cited, but they never saw Substance in its purity and entirely independent of the senses. Both, however, knew of its existence and Swedenborg availed himself wonderfully of its help in determining the nature and laws of the physical universe. We indeed owe much to such men as Swedenborg and Spinoza for their pioneer work in clearing the field of vision and thereby giving us a wider horizon. It might be well to note here that Jesus of Nazareth never referred to these objects of the senses though His disciples did. He always spoke of Spirit as something He could see and as a result of seeing Spirit He claimed that it dictated everything He did. To the Samaritan woman at the well He talked of vital and final things but she saw no visions. Moreover, she was convinced when there was neither similitude nor sign except His intelligence. It would have been interesting and helpful had Jesus named the vision through which He saw Spirit. However, had He done so He would not have been understood at the time since we are just beginning to make the distinction between the different ways of seeing. While bodily vision is the most useful and highly prized human faculty it is through the vision of the mind that we have received our intelligence, but the vision Jesus referred to was spiritual vision.

A sudden realization of Substance, even a feeble realization of it, produces a marked chemico-vital effect. During this chemico-vitalization, when the bodily vision is dissolving and this objective is being replaced by Substance one is likely to see many elusive objects that will never appear again, after we have seen Substance through pure spiritual vision. A consciousness of the

pure Substance-Spirit explains how a little of divine presence unconsciously perceived along with a strong sense of matter as a reality makes possible the materializations and dematerializations of matter. The effect of this realization on a man of Paul's nature is vividly described in the Bible and is sustained by my own experience in acquainting others with Substance and by the origin of mental species.

We have had only one attempt to describe this state of mind or vision and that is the Apocalypse of St. John. It is said that Paul wrote one but it has been lost and there may have been others. It would, indeed, be interesting to compare them. However, without spiritual vision it would be to no more purpose than comparing the four gospels. There is, however, one indisputable point about the Apocalypse of St. John and that is the style in which it is written. Beyond all doubt it was never intended to signify anything expressed by human symbols or words. The writer certainly had a meaning and wished to express something but human words will not, as they are at present defined, convey that meaning unless we know what he meant to convey. Spiritual vision alone is the key to this mystery.

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"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." Whatever this was that John saw we must bear in mind that he saw it when living like ourselves in the flesh: a man like ourselves using our modes of expression and communication, and moreover he was endeavoring to tell us about something he saw while one of us. He does not tell us we will see

1 Bible-Revelation 21:1.

this after we are dead and have passed into another state, but here and now. If this was possible to John, why is it not possible to others? Jesus is reported by the faithful John as saying: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 1 What we want to know is what John saw and what mental process will enable us to see what John saw. Spiritual vision alone makes this possible. Tradition tells us that when Saul of Tarsus saw this vision he exclaimed: "The City and the World." There is a striking analogy between these two exclamations. John was, like many who have traveled the same highway of life he trod, tired of the old earth and the old idea of heaven. Paul was proud of being a citizen of Rome, for Rome was to his material vision the city and the world. However, when he saw this vision he beheld what he quickly acknowledged to be the only city and the only world. Besides, this vision made him a different man and what is more important it potentized his words to the extent that he influenced thousands of men and women while he lived. Moreover this potentialization has continued to the extent that even those who do not understand his words venerate them and those who deny them would not have the temerity to efface them. All of this happened while he was a citizen of Rome and a man among men.

It is my experience, knowledge and demonstration that these men had reached the state of mental purification or desymbolization where they were able to see Substance. We have considered both the appearance of this Substance and its effect on the human mind. There are, however, two effects of great moment. One

1 Bible-John 14:9.

is the power of those possessing it to be able to reflect and benefit others physically, for nearly all of them have been endowed to some extent with the power to heal disease. The other and by far the most important and far reaching in its effect is the value of the teachings of these men to their fellow men. On account of the worshipful nature of the male and female minds anyone possessing a little knowledge or power supposedly from this source becomes so venerated and such an object of worship it is dangerous to call attention to his human attributes while he is exercising holy authority. Since this is a philosophical work the purpose of which is to separate in Bible language the chaff from the wheat and in our language the graven images of the thought-out mind from pure Substance we must be faithful to our text and risk the opprobrium of those who will not study and only believe.

There are men and women who see Substance. They are few in number and their advent spans centuries and often tens of centuries. Their appearance marks an epoch in human history and their influence is never entirely eliminated by their successors, by the process of natural transformation, the extermination of their race or of civilization. Even the dumb objects of their tombs interest us, talk to us and through the vision of the mind we define their symbols, learn their language and feel a sacred influence we are fain to name.

They have all taught the same thing. In view of the contradictions of religions this sounds like a strange statement; nevertheless it is true. They have all taught what has become known as the golden rule. Do

unto others as you would be done by and love one another, has been the substance of all their teachings. The basis of this has been their knowledge that Substance-God was the Father of all life and necessarily the father of all men. Their knowledge that Substance was always harmonious and peaceful implied this possibility among men. This is the Substance and basis of the teachings of all of them. It may have come through the morals of Confucius, the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius or the transcendent wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth. It is graven in stone, cast in bronze and printed in every method known from hieroglyphic to linotype. It was the principle of the literature of the ancients and there is a revival of it at the present time.

Moreover, the organizations based on the teachings of those who had seen Substance have always held the balance of power in the world. It would be interesting to know how many of these teachers conceived in the beginning of their work the idea of establishing an organized religion; to what extent they contributed to such an organization; the scope and extent of its purpose and the nature of its central ideal. Jesus of Nazareth never referred to the need of one and contributed nothing to the construction of the organization supposed to commemorate his advent. He did say: "Upon this rock I will build my church," but church with him consisted of a knowledge of himself and his Father, -in Spirit and in Truth. John in his Apocalypse continually uses the words: "Hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." But since neither the human brain nor the human organization can hear Spirit it is evi

1 Bible-Matthew 16:18.

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