SRIA - Mystic-Cristianity [Ingles]

THE

Mystical Principlc :-

The Mystical Principie is not an expression of the opinion of any one person or group of persons, nor is it the exclusive possession of any school, cult, creed or philosophy. It is the Great Principle exprest by the Christ in Parable, and which underlies the entire plan of Scriptural revelatian.

Copyrighted 1926, by the

SEMINARY OF BlBLlCAL RESEARCH,

New York City

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OU, among other intelligent people, want to know the truth contained in that greatest of all booksthe HOL y BIBLE. To learn the truth you must know how to diseern the "Spitit of the Word." What is this "spirit of the Word"? The Bible is held by millions to be the "W ord of God." In the Bible we are told that the "WORD" was made i lesh. Do you know just what this means? I t is a eryptie statement; full of m ystery and of cosmie profundity. The same Bible tells us that the letter of the word hilleth, while the SPIRIT of the W ord giueth lite. From this it may be seen that there is something baek of the literal printed word that qniekens the spiritual and intelleetual vision and GIVES LIFE. That "somethinq" is the invisible, subtle, Divine poteney that we dimly recognize as the manifest wil1 and purpose of our Creative Souree. It is the purpose of Holy Seripture to reveal this invisible "sornething" to man, but as it is essentially mystic or "hiddcn." we ean truly recognize and ..understand it on lv thru the "MYSTICAL PRINCIPLE" that underlies all Seriptural history, prophee f, teaehing and revelation. This booklet explains a new eourse of instruetion in the Holy Scriptures, based upon the Mvstical Principle. PAGE

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T is regrettable in the extreme that Christia nity should be liable to the influence of the fads of the day. In reality it is noto True Christianity can not be altered, can not be improved, can not be "brot up to date." It is aluraijs up to date. The principies of its Founder are ageless. It is only a perverted sense of values rife in the modern mind, twisting the perspective from which life is viewed that creates the false practices and false concepts which are calIed "Modern Chrisrianity ." The principies of the Christ stand far stronger than a shaft of granite, while the notions of a neo-scientific age, the whims of a pseudo-analytical youth, the fancies of an ultramaterialistic "civilizarion " eddy ineffectualIy about their base. This is an age of materialism : an age of literal transl rtions. Thinking men and women profess Christianity with reseruations; reservations of belief in certain words. Others cast it entirely aside; again because of their inability to believe the letter of the word. Sincere upholders of the true faith are reduced to pitiful, modernistic measures to attract people to church and to keep them in attendance. Basic belief is shaken and individ ual faiths are declared; boundaries of credence are set and what falIs outside those boundaries is calIed, by the "rnodern Christian" falseo In almost every case these boundaries are establisht by the interpretation of phrases and even single words; literal in tcrpretations, always, with no regard for the spirit of the word. Debate, contention and strife tear the church from within, while criticism, incredulity, distrust and unconcern assail it from without. Divines are unfrockt and congregations melt away before the heat of exegetic controversy. Al! this for the letter of the word,-the letter of the word which killeth. while the SPIRIT of the word which giueth Ide is misunderstood, slighted and ignored. The peaceful, enobling, elevating influence of Christianity is defeated in its mission for good by the carping scholasts and dogma tic fundamentalists who insist, not only upon a literal interpretation of the Word itself but--more narrowly stilI, upon their sectarian concept of that verbatim exegesis. PACE

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B VIOUSL y some remedy for cxisting disscnsion is needed at once. Some new, clear light must be directed upon the Bible, that the earth-bound. literal-minded men and women who are at heart real seekers after truth may see and understand thc beauty, rnajesty and power they have overlookt. Truly. they have been "unable to see the forest for the trees."

y ou have felt this need. Every Christian, clergyman or layman, has recognized the importance of a common met hod of interpretation. The goal has ever been the same. Without a key, understandable to all, subject to no slightest variation of meaning, discussion is fruitless. It is to supply this key, to afford all men a common language for this discussion, to relieve a world curst by materialism that The Seminary of Biblical Research has been founded. This is a day of concrete and steel, a day of turbines. dynamos, engines. T'he stock markct, the banks and the clearing house fill the waking thoughts of half of mankind. Life demands a singleness of purpose-a concentration of all thought upon facts, hard and cold. The facts that earn his daily bread, the facts by which he lives, the facts he reads for recreation must be concrete, understandable, valuable to a business mano Al! else is a "fairy tale" fit only for the entertainment of children. If this attitude, this utter subservience to material existencc does not occupy man's life to the exclusion of all higher. brighter, more noble thoughts, it does something nearly as bad It warps his point of view, twists his aesthetic and religious sense, colors his understanding of faith and blinds him to his need for God. He and asks tract or Truth. be taught

thinks of the Bible in terms of Rotary and Kiwanis that Holy W rit be made as comprehensible as a cona bill of sale. He is not to blame. His goal too is But the scriptures must be explained to him. He must to see the forest-not the individual trees.

It is the sole purpose of The Seminary of Biblical Research to give all men a clear understanding of the Bible. to disclose the vast spiritual meaning behind the words of the Master. PAGE

FOUR

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E periodic excitement regarding Genesis in the light of science has waxed and waned hundreds of times in history. Seldom is the instigator of the flurry either a scientist or a deep student of theology. Most scientists are Christians, members of churches. and practicing the principIes of Christ.

The generally accepted arrangement of the words Science vs Theology is utterly misleading. To thus place these two fields of endeavor in the position of combatants is to declare the ministry backward, unprogressive, obstinate and imbecile. Christianity and its professors are in no sense opposed to Science. No one better appreciates the marvelous work of those unselfish men who delve in the mysteries of Nature and History than do the ministers of the Gospel. The work of each supplcments the other and their respective spheres can be made to clash only by malicious or ignorant misconstruction of thcir separate motives, methods and aims. Where these two "factions" have a common aim thev invariably agree. It is only in the branches of research where they are entirely dissimilar that controversy arises and there only between ill-informed enquirers. To compare all of Scicnce with all of Religion is to attempt to judge the flavor of a n apple by gazing at an elephant. These two profound studies rrunister to two entirely sepárate needs of man and can not be confused when both thc Bible and the microscope are understood in their entirety. In its pursuit of a primal cause, science offends no Christian who has learned to understand in his spirit the true meaning of Genesis. The progress of the geologists, biologists, anthropologists and meteorologists has already led them into the unseen and invisible in their quest for the Omnific principie of matter. What is this plane of unseeable power save that of spirit ? The Seminary of Biblical Research, in its instructive work. makes plain the folly of antagonism between Science and Theology and draws into closer accord the efforts of these tw o armies destined to go through histor y, united-hand in hand. rsc» sts

JESUS fhe MYSTKC EFERE CE to Jesus as a "Mystic" has always aroused a ccrtain rebellion in rhe breasts of many orthodox churchmen. Any reference to mysticism is decried by thcrn as a relic of an earlier and less enlightened age, an age of black-magic and superstition to which the Christ brot light and liberation. He is, to thern. the antithesis of a m ystic, His works the opposite of magic. Hindu fakirs and the chicanery of Mediaeval charlatans are brot to their minds by the use of these terms. If they were true mystics. rhen, irideed, He is maligned by the termo But those imposters were in no sense mystics. The true, the beautiful and the good are embodied in the mysticism which Christ exemplitied and taught. Its soundness is attested by bis every word and deed. The true Mystical Principie is the exclusive property, attribute and characteristic of true Christianity. as the repository and fulfilment of ancient prophccies and divine revelation. A truc mystic is defined as "one who professes direct divine illumination. One who endeavors to obra in un ion w ith Deity by contemplation and self-surrender: one w ho believes that by such methods he can obtain a spiritual knowledge of mysteries beyond humano comprehension." This accepted academic definition demonstrates thar .Iesus, beyond all parallels was the greatest mystic of all time. for he surely did possess direct divine illumination: he did enjoy union with Deity for he continually emphasized the unity between the Father a nd himself. and above al l, by his self-surrender. he had a mastery of m ysteries beyond human comprehension. In the above sense, Christ was a true Mysric Initiateand his recorded deeds show him to be the Last Great Iniriate, for non e have arisen since to equal him. Clergy and laity alike have accepted the evidence in support of his novitiate among the mystic Essenes. in prepararion and training for his wonderful ministry. Every creed. sect and denomination has always asserted the existence of the mystical element in the fundamentals of Christian faith and practice, especially in regard to regeneration. the impartation of grace in Baptism and in t11.2Communion. Some religious bodies emphasize this mysrical element in a more extended series of sacraments, and all agree in the presence of the mystical element in the life, work. crucifixion and later manifestations of Jesus the Christ. T'.\GR

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