The seven sages of the world meet in Alexandria.
IN every age since time began have seven sages lived.
2) At first of every age these sages meet to note the course of nations, peoples, tribes and tongues;
3) To note how far toward justice, love and righteousness the race has gone;
4) To formulate the code of laws, religious postulates and plans of rule best suited to the coming age.
5) An age had passed, and lo, another age had come; the sages must convene.
6) Now, Alexandria was the center of the world's best thought, and here in Philo's home the sages met.
7) From China came Meng-tse; from India Vidyapati came; from Persia Kaspar came; and from Assyria Ashbina came; from Greece Apollo came; Matheno was the Egyptian sage, and Philo was the chief of Hebrew thought.
8 ) The time was due; the council met and sat in silence seven days.
9) And then Meng-tse arose and said,
The wheel of time has turned once more; the race is on a higher plane of thought.
10) The garments that our fathers wove have given out; the cherubim have woven a celestial cloth; have placed it in our hands and we must make for men new garbs.
11) The sons of men are looking up for greater light. No longer do they care for gods hewn out of wood, or made of clay. They seek a God not made with hands.
12) They see the beams of coming day, and yet they comprehend them not.
13) The time is ripe, and we must fashion well these garments for the race.
15) And Vidyapati said,
Our priests have all gone mad; they saw a demon in the wilds and at him cast their lamps and they are broken up, and not a gleam of light has any priest for men.
16) The night is dark; the heart of India calls for light.
17) The priesthood cannot be reformed; it is already dead; its greatest needs are graves and funeral chants.
18 ) The new age calls for liberty; the kind that makes each man a priest, enables him to go alone, and lay his offerings on the shrine of God.
19) And Kaspar said,
In Persia people walk in fear; they do the good for fear to do the wrong.
20) The devil is the greatest power in our land, and though a myth, he dandles on his knee both youth and age.
21) Our land is dark, and evil prospers in the dark.
22) Fear rides on every passing breeze, and lurks in every form of life.
23) The fear of evil is a myth, is an illusion and a snare; but it will live until some mighty power shall come to raise the ethers to the plane of light.
24) When this shall come to pass the magian land will glory in the light. The soul of Persia calls for light.
ASHBINA said,
Assyria is the land of doubt; the chariot of my people, that in which they mostly ride, is labeled Doubt.
2) Once Faith walked forth in Babylon; and she was bright and fair; but she was clothed in such white robes that men became afraid of her.
3) And every wheel began to turn, and Doubt made war on her, and drove her from the land; and she came back no more.
4) In form men worship God, the One; in heart they are not sure that God exists.
5) Faith worships at the shrine of one not seen; but Doubt must see her God.
6) The greatest need of all Assyria is faith – a faith that seasons every thing that is, with certainty.
7) And then Apollo said,
The greatest needs of Greece are true concepts of God.
8 ) Theogony in Greece is rudderless, for every thought may be a god, and worshipped as a god.
9) The plane of thought is broad, and full of sharp antagonists; and so the circle of the gods is filled with enmity, with wars and base intrigues.
10) Greece needs a master mind to stand above the gods; to raise the thoughts of men away from many gods to God the One.
11) We know that light is coming o'er the hills. God speed the light.
12) Matheno said,
Behold this land of mystery! This Egypt of the dead!
13) Our temples long have been the tombs of all the hidden things of time; our temples, crypts and caves are dark.
14) In light there are no secret things. The sun reveals all hidden truth. There are no mysteries in God.
15) Behold the rising sun! His beams are entering every door; yea, every crevice of the mystic crypts of Mizraim.
16) We hail the light! All Egypt craves the light.
17) And Philo said,
The need of Hebrew thought and life is liberty.
18 ) The Hebrew prophets, seers, and givers of the law, were men of power, men of holy thought, and they bequeathed to us a system of philosophy that was ideal; one strong enough and good enough to lead our people to the goal of perfectness.
19) But carnal minds repudiated holiness; a priesthood filled with selfishness arose, and purity in heart became a myth; the people were enslaved.
20) The priesthood is the curse of Israel; but when he comes, who is to come, he will proclaim emancipation for the slaves; my people will be free.
21) Behold, for God has made incarnate wisdom, love and light, which he has called Immanuel.
22) To him is given the keys to open up the dawn; and here, as man, he walks with us.
23) And then the council chamber door was opened and the Logos stood among the sages of the world.
24) Again the sages sat in silence seven days.