The Perfect Way: Or, The Finding of Christ

thrown down"? This completes the quote from the previous page: "not one stone be left upon another that shall not be thrown down," a reference to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:2 regarding the destruction of the Temple. What way shall we take to Sion Sion (or Zion) traditionally refers to the holy hill of Jerusalem, used here as a symbol for the spiritual home or the "City of God.", if the old road be buried beneath the avalanche? Agnosticism and Atheism Agnosticism is the view that the divine is unknown or unknowable; Atheism is the lack of belief in gods. The author sees these as the dominant intellectual forces of the 19th century. have seized upon the best intellects of the age, conscience has become eclipsed by self-interest, mind obscured by matter, and man's percipience Clear spiritual perception or intuitive awareness. of his higher nature and needs suppressed in favour of his lower. The rule of conduct among men is fast becoming that of the beast of prey:—self before all, and that the earthly, brutish, and ignoble self. Everywhere are the meaning and uses even of life seriously called in question; everywhere is it sought to sustain humanity by means which are in themselves subversive of humanity; everywhere are the fountains of the great deep of human society breaking up, and a deluge is seen to be impending, the height, extent, and duration of which no one can forecast. And nowhere is yet discernible the Ark A reference to Noah's Ark, symbolizing a vessel of salvation or a new system of belief that can carry humanity through a period of social and spiritual chaos., by taking refuge in which mankind may surmount and survive the flood.

Nevertheless this Ark so anxiously looked for, this Way so painfully sought, this work of Reconstruction The rebuilding of a spiritual and moral framework after the collapse of traditional religious systems. so sorely needed, are all attainable by man. The certainty of their attainment is involved in the nature itself of existence, and ratified in every expression given to the mysteries of that nature A reference to the "Ancient Mysteries"—the hidden spiritual truths and initiation rites found in various historical traditions. from the beginning of the world.

The prime object of the present work is, then, not to demolish, but to reconstruct. Already the needful service