Alwyn's eyes rested on the speaker in reverent yet anxious inquiry.
"Surely"--he said--"you will begin to proclaim it now?"
"Yes, we shall begin," answered Heliobas, his brow darkening as with a cloud of troubled thought--"But we are in a certain difficulty,--for we may not speak in public ourselves, nor write for publication,--our ancient vow binds us to this, and may not be broken. Moreover, the Master gave us a strange command,--namely, that when the hour came for the gradual declaration of the Secret of His Doctrine, we should intrust it, in the first place, to the hands of one who should be young,--IN the world, yet not OF it,-- simple as a child, yet wise with the wisdom of faith,--of little or no estimation among men,--and who should have the distinctive quality of loving NOTHING in earth or Heaven more dearly than His Name and Honor. For this unique being we have searched, and are searching still,--we can find many who are young and both wise and innocent, but, alas! one who loves the unseen Christ actually more than all things,--this is indeed a perplexity! I have fancied of late that I have discovered in my own circle,--that is, among those who have been DRAWN to study God and Nature according to my views,--one who makes swift and steady progress in the higher sciences, and who, so far as I have been able to trace, really loves our Master with singular adoration above all joys on earth and hopes of Heaven; but I cannot be sure--and there are many tests and trials to be gone through before we dare bid this little human lamp of love shine forth upon the raging storm."
He was silent a moment,--then went on in a low tone, as though speaking to himself: "WHEN THE MECHANISM OF THIS UNIVERSE IS EXPLAINED IN SUCH WISE THAT NO DISCOVERY OF SCIENCE CAN EVER DISPROVE, BUT MUST RATHER SUPPORT IT, . . WHEN THE ESSENCE OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL IN MAN IS DESCRIBED IN CLEAR AND CONCISE LANGUAGE,--AND WHEN THE MARVELLOUS ACTION OF SPIRIT ON MATTER IS SHOWN TO BE ACTUALLY EXISTENT AND NEVER IDLE,--then, if the world still doubts and denies God, it will only have itself to blame!--But to you"--and he resumed his ordinary tone--"all things, through your Angel's love, are made more or less plain,--and I have told you the history of our Fraternity merely that you may understand how it is we know so much that the outer world is ignorant of. There are very few of us left nowadays,--only a dozen Brotherhoods scattered far apart on different portions of the earth,--but, such as we are, we are all UNITED, and have never, through these eighteen hundred years, had a shade of difference in opinion concerning the Divinity of Christ. Through Him we have learned TRUE Spiritualism, and all the miraculous power which is the result of it; and as there is a great deal of FALSE spiritualism rampant just now, I may as well give you a few hints whereby you may distinguish it at once,-- Imprimis: if a so-called Spiritualist tells you that he can summon spirits who will remove tables and chairs, write letters, play the piano, and rap on the walls, he is a CHARLATAN. FOR SPIRITS CAN TOUCH NOTHING CORPOREAL UNLESS THEY TAKE CORPOREAL SHAPE FOR THE MOMENT, as in the case of your angelic Edris. But in this condition, they are only seen by the one person whom they visit,-- never by several persons at once--remember that! Nor can they keep their corporeal state long,--except, by their express wish and will, they should seek to enter absolutely into the life of humanity, which, I must tell you, HAS BEEN DONE, but so seldom, that in all the history of Christian Spirituality there are only about four examples. Here are six tests for all the 'spiritualists' you may chance to meet: "First. Do they serve themselves more than others? If so, they are entirely lacking in spiritual attributes.