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the divine peace and strength may support them. The flood which it pours over the congregation is of many colours, among which an electric blue is perhaps predominant, but all are strongly suffused with a glorious golden light, and dazzling silvery rays dart constantly through its stream. When it is spoken, clairvoyants have sometimes caught the gleam of the Star upon the forehead of the Angel as he stands above the head of the celebrant.

Here our service ends with a recessional hymn, but the Roman Mass adds the Last Gospel. This is not found in any of the earlier liturgies, but was inserted in its present place by Pope Pius V. in 1570. Before that time it was sometimes said as a private devotion by priests after Mass, and the Sarum Missal prescribes it to be recited during the procession back to the sacristy. Even now a bishop says it privately while returning to his throne after the conclusion of the service.

THE LAST GOSPEL

ROMAN

The beginning of the holy Gospel according to John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men: and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to bear witness of the light. That was the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made

by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name; who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here all kneel.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.

R. Thanks be to God.

This is clearly not a necessary part of the service, but perhaps we may account for it somewhat in this fashion. Once more by means of the Minor Benediction the priest makes his final link with his people before he reads the last Gospel-a lection which comes not inopportunely to remind them of the source of all this beauty and this glory. It is as though he said to them: "Now that you have God's blessing, yet once more share it to the full and let us preserve it, never forgetting that we owe it all to the mighty Logos whose glory we have now beheld, the Light and Life of men. Many there

are who know not God, and in their ignorance are therefore ungrateful; but you have now experienced His sweetness and His love; see to it that you never forget it."

CHAPTER III.

HOLY BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION

To quote from our Liturgy: "Baptism is a Sacrament by which the recipient is solemnly admitted to membership of Christ's holy Church and grafted into His mystical body."

It opens with the usual invocation, as do all our services, to show that all our work is done in the Name and by the power of the ever-blessed and most holy Trinity. Then the sponsor presents the child to the priest, asking that he may be admitted into the fellowship of the Church; and the priest, in acceding, addresses the congregation thus:

Brethren, our fair Father Christ, in His great lovingkindness, hath ordained that His mystic Bride, our holy Mother the Church, shall guide and protect her children at every stage from the cradle to the grave. To this end is the Sacrament of holy Baptism ordained, that in His Name the Church may give welcome and blessing to him who is newly come into this world of pilgrimage, and that the soul may dwell in a body purified from the taint of evil, sanctified and set apart for the service of Almighty God. Therefore, brethren of Christ's catholic Church, I pray you to join with me in this our holy rite, whereby this child shall be made partaker of these heavenly gifts and a member of His mystical body.

We see from this that the Church meets the soul as soon as he comes into his new set of vehicles, and offers him welcome and assistance. What help can

be given to a soul when he first comes into a new physical body? Remember, we cannot get at the soul himself; we are dealing with vehicles on the physical plane. What the soul most needs is to get that new set of vehicles into order, so that he can work through them. He comes laden with the result of his past lives, which means that he has within him seeds of good qualities and also seeds of evil qualities. Those seeds of evil have often been called original sin, and quite wrongly connected with the fabled action of Adam and Eve. That is a mere distortion of the fact that each soul brings with him his own qualities, some good, some less good, some even definitely evil, according to what his previous lives have been. Obviously the duty of the parent or guardian towards the child is to do all that he can to stimulate the good germs and to freeze or starve out those which are evil, by giving them no encouragement whatever. The student of the inner life will understand that the development of these qualities depends largely upon the surroundings given to the child. If he is surrounded with love and gentleness, the love and gentleness in him will be called out and developed. If, on the contrary, he meets with angry vibrations and irritability, if there is in him the least trace of germs of that kind (as there is almost sure to be), they will be called out and developed; and it makes an enormous difference to his life which set of vibrations is first set in motion. The Sacrament of baptism is especially designed to deal with this state of affairs. The water used is magnetized with a special view to the effect of its vibrations upon the higher vehicles, so that all the germs of good qualities in the un

formed astral and mental bodies of the child may thereby receive a strong stimulus, while at the same time the germs of evil may be isolated and deadened. The central idea is to take this early oppportunity of fostering the growth of the good germs, in order that their development may precede that of the evil -in order that when at a later period the latter germs begin to bear their fruit, the good may already be so far evolved that the control of the evil will be a comparatively easy matter.

This is one side of the baptismal ceremony; it has also another aspect, as typical of the Initiation towards which it is hoped that the young member of the Church will direct his steps as he grows up. It is a consecration and a setting apart of the new set of vehicles to the true expression of the soul within, and to the service of the Great White Brotherhood; yet it also has its hidden side with regard to these new vehicles themselves, and when the ceremony is properly and intelligently performed there can be no doubt that its effect is a powerful one. It is distinctly therefore what may be called an act of white magic, producing definite results which affect the whole future life of the child.

What are the factors which are influencing the newly-born child? First, there is what is called by students the karmic elemental, which requires some explanation to those who are unacquainted with the details of the process of rebirth. At the end of

each life there is a balancing of accounts, and a form is made in etheric matter which represents the kind of body that the man has earned for his next adventure upon earth. When he returns, this form

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