“WE do not doubt—” said Heliobas— “WE know, — we have touched Reality! But see yonder!” — and he pointed through the window to the crowded thoroughfare below— “There are the flying phantoms of life, — the men and women who are God-oblivious, and who are therefore no more actually LIVING than the shadows of Al-Kyris! They shall pass as a breath and be no more, — and this roaring, trafficking metropolis, this immediate centre of civilization, shall ere long disappear off the surface of the earth, and leave not a stone to mark the spot where once it stood! So have thousands of such cities fallen since this planet was flung into space, — and even so shall thousands still fall. Learning, civilization, science, progress, — these things exist merely for the training and education of a chosen few — and out of many earth centuries and generations of men, shall be won only a very small company of angels! Be glad that you have fathomed the mystery of your own life’s purpose, — for you are now as much a Positive Identity among vanishing spectres, as you were when, on the Field of Ardath, you witnessed and took part in the Mirage of your Past.”
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A MISSING RECORD.
He spoke the last words with deep feeling and earnestness, and Alwyn, meeting his clear, grave, brilliant eyes, was more than ever impressed by the singular dignity and overpowering magnetism of his presence. Remembering how insufficiently he had realized this man’s true worth, when he had first sought him out in his monastic retreat, he was struck by a sudden sense of remorse, and leaning across the table, gently touched his hand.
“How greatly I wronged you once, Heliobas!” he said penitently, with a tremor of appeal in his voice— “Forgive me, will you? — though I shall never forgive myself!”
Heliobas smiled, and cordially pressed the extended hand in his own.
“Nay, there is nothing to forgive, my friend,” he answered cheerfully— “and nothing to regret. Your doubts of me were very natural, — indeed, viewed by the world’s standard of opinion, much more natural than your present faith, for faith is always a SUPER-natural instinct. Would you be practically sensible according to modern social theories? — then learn to suspect everybody and everything, even your best friend’s good intentions!”
He laughed, and the luncheon being concluded, he rose from the table, and taking an easy-chair nearer the window, motioned Alwyn to do the same.
“I want to talk to you” — he continued, “We may not meet again for years, — you are entering on a difficult career, and a few hints from one who knows and thoroughly understands your position may possibly be of use to you. In the first place, then, let me ask you, have you told any one, save me, the story of your Ardath adventure?”
“One friend only, — my old school comrade, Frank Villiers” — replied
Alwyn.
“And what does he say about it?”
“Oh, he thinks it was a dream from beginning to end,” — and Alwyn smiled a little,— “He believes that I set out on my journey with my brain already heated to an imaginative excess, and that the whole thing, even my Angel’s presence, was a pure delusion of my own overwrought fancy, — a curious and wonderful delusion, but always a delusion.”
“He is a very excellent fellow to judge you so leniently” — observed
Heliobas composedly, “Most people would call you mad.”
“Mad!” exclaimed Alwyn hotly— “Why, I am as sane as any man in London!”
“Saner, I should say,” — replied Heliobas, smiling,— “Compared with some of the eminently ‘practical’ speculating maniacs that howl and struggle among the fluctuating currents of the Stock Exchange, for instance, you are indeed a marvel of sound and wholesome mental capability! But let us view the matter coolly. You must not expect such an exceptional experience as yours to be believed in by ordinary persons. Because the majority of people, being utterly UNspiritual and worldly, have NO such experiences, and they therefore deem them impossible; — they are the gold-fish born in a bowl, who have no consciousness of the existence of an ocean. Moreover, you have no proofs of the truth of your narrative, beyond the change in your own life and disposition, — and that can be easily referred to various other causes. You spoke of having gathered one of the miracle-flowers on the Prophet’s field, — may I see it?”
Silently Alwyn drew from his breast-pocket the velvet case in which he always kept the cherished blossom, and taking it tenderly out, placed it in his companion’s hand.
“An immortelle” — said Heliobas softly, while the flower, uncurling its silvery petals in the warmth of his palm, opened star-like and white as snow. “An immortelle, rare and possibly unique! — that is all the world would say of it! It cannot be matched, — it will not fade, — true! but you will get no one to believe that! Frown not, good Poet! — I want you to consider me for the moment a practical worldling, bent on driving you from the spiritual position yon have taken up, — and you will see how necessary it is for you to keep the secret of your own enlightenment to yourself, or at least only hint at it through the parables of poesy.”
He gave back the Ardath blossom to its owner with reverent care, — and when Alwyn had as reverently put it by, he resumed:
“Your friend Villiers has offered you a perfectly logical and common-sense solution of the mystery of Ardath, — one which, if you chose to accept it, would drive you back into skepticism as easily as a strong wind blows a straw. Only see how simple the intricate problem is unravelled by this means! You, a man of ardent and imaginative temperament, made more or less unhappy by the doctrines of materialism, come to me, Heliobas, a Chaldean student of the Higher Philosophies, an individual whose supposed mysterious power and inexplicably studious way of life entitle him to be considered by the world at large an IMPOSTER! — Now don’t look so indignant!” — and he laughed,— “I am merely discussing the question from the point of view that would be sure to be adopted by ‘wise’ modern society! Thus — I, Heliobas, the impostor, take advantage of your state of mind to throw you into a trance, in which, by occult means, you see the vision of an Angel, who bids you meet her at a place called Ardath, — and you, also, in your hypnotized condition, write a poem which you entitle ‘Nourhalma.’ Then I, — always playing my own little underhand game! — read you portions of ‘Esdras,’ and prove to you that ‘Ardath’ exists, while I delicately SUGGEST, if I do not absolutely COMMAND, your going thither. You go, — but I, still by magnetic power, retain my influence over you. You visit Elzear, a hermit, whom we will, for the sake of the present argument, call my accomplice, — he reads between the lines of the letter you deliver to him from me, and he understands its secret import. He continues, no matter how, your delusion. You broke your fast with him, — and surely it was easy for him to place some potent drug in the wine he gave you, which made you DREAM the rest; — nay, viewed from this standpoint, it is open to question whether you ever went to the Field of Ardath at all, but merely DREAMED you did! You see how admirably I can, with little trouble, disprove the whole story, and make myself out to be the veriest charlatan and trickster that ever duped his credulous fellow-man! How do you like my practical dissection of your new-found joys?”
Alwyn was gazing at him with puzzled and anxious eyes.
“I do not like it at all” — he murmured, in a pained tone— “It is an insidious SEMBLANCE of truth; — but I know it is not the Truth itself!”
“Why, how obstinate you are!” said Heliobas, good-humoredly, with a quick, flashing glance at him. “You insist on seeing things in a directly reverse way to that in which the world sees them! How can you be so foolish! To the world your Ardath adventure is the SEMBLANCE of truth, — and only man’s opinion thereon is worth trusting as the Truth itself!”
Over the wistful, brooding thoughtfulness of Alwyn’s countenance swept a sudden light of magnificent resolution.
“Heliobas, do not jest with me!” he cried passionately— “I know, better perhaps than most men, how divine things can be argued away by the jargon of tongue
s, till heart and brain grow weary, — I know, God help me! — how the noblest ideals of the soul can be swept down and dispersed into blank ruin, by the specious arguments of cold-blooded casuists, — but I also know, by a supreme INNER knowledge beyond all human proving, that GOD EXISTS, and with His Being exist likewise all splendors, great and small, spiritual and material, — splendors vaster than our intelligence can reach, — ideals loftier than imagination can depict! I want no proof of this save those that burn in my own individual consciousness, — I do not need a miserable taper of human reason to help me to discern the Sun! I, OF MY OWN CHOICE, PRAYER, AND HOPE, voluntarily believe in God, in Christ, in angels, in all things beautiful and pure and grand! — let the world and its ephemeral opinions wither, I will NOT be shaken down from the first step of the ladder whereon one climbs to Heaven!”
His features were radiant with fervor and feeling, — his eyes brilliant with the kindling inward light of noblest aspiration, — and Heliobas, who had watched him intently, now bent toward him with a grave gesture of the gentlest homage.
“How strong is he whom an Angel’s love makes glorious!” he said— “We are partners in the same destiny, my friend, — and I have but spoken to you as the world might speak, to prepare you for opposition. The specious arguments of men confront us at every turn, in every book, in every society, — and it is not always that we are ready to meet them. As a rule, silence on all matters of personal faith is best, — let your life bear witness for you; — it shall thunder loud oracles when your mortal limbs are dumb.”
He paused a moment — then went on: “You have desired to know the secret of the active and often miraculous power of the special form of religion I and my brethren follow; well, it is all contained in Christ, and Christ only. His is the only true Spiritualism in the world — there was never any before He came. We obey Christ in the simple rules he preached, — Christ according to His own enunciated wish and will. Moreover, we, — that is, our Fraternity, — received our commission from Christ Himself in person.”
Alwyn started, — his eyes dilated with amazement and awe.
“From Christ Himself in person?” — he echoed incredulously.
“Even so” — returned Heliobas calmly. “What do you suppose our Divine Master was about during the years between His appearance among the Rabbis of the Temple and the commencement of His public preaching? Do you, can you, imagine with the rest of the purblind world, that he would have left His marvellous Gospel in the charge of a few fishermen and common folk ONLY.”
“I never thought, — I never inquired—” began Alwyn hurriedly.
“No!” — and Heliobas smiled rather sadly, “Few men do think or inquire very far on sacred subjects! Listen, — for what I have to say to you will but strengthen you in your faith, — and you will need more than all the strength of the Four Evangelists to bear you stiffly up against the suicidal Negation of this present disastrous epoch. Ages ago, — ay, more than six or seven thousand years ago, there were certain communities of men in the East, — scholars, sages, poets, astronomers, and scientists, who, desiring to give themselves up entirely to study and research, withdrew from the world, and formed themselves into Fraternities, dividing whatever goods they had in common, and living together under one roof as the brotherhoods of the Catholic Church do to this day. The primal object of these men’s investigations was a search after the Divine Cause of Creation; and as it was undertaken with prayer, penance, humility, and reverence, much enlightenment was vouchsafed to them, and secrets of science, both spiritual and material, were discovered by them, — secrets which the wisest of modern sages know nothing of as yet. Out of these Fraternities came many of the prophets and preachers of the Old Testament, — Esdras for one, — Isaiah for another. They were the chroniclers of many now forgotten events, — they kept the history of the times, as far is it was possible, — and in their ancient records your city of Al-Kyris is mentioned as a great and populous place, which was suddenly destroyed by the bursting out of a volcano beneath its foundations — Yes!” — this as Alwyn uttered an eager exclamation,— “Your vision was a perfectly faithful reflection of the manner in which it perished. I must tell you, however, that nothing concerning its kings or great men has been preserved, — only a few allusions to one Hyspiros, a writer of tragedies, whose genius seems to have corresponded to that of our Shakespeare of to-day. The name of Sah-luma is nowhere extant.”
A burning wave of color flushed Alwyn’s face, but he was silent.
Heliobas went on gently:
“At a very early period of their formation, these Fraternities I tell you of were in possession of most of the MATERIAL scientific facts of the present day, — such things as the electric wire and battery, the phonograph, the telephone, and other ‘new’ discoveries, being perfectly familiar to them. The SPIRITUAL manifestations of Nature were more intricate and difficult to penetrate, — and though they knew that material effects could only be produced by spiritual causes, they worked in the dark, as it were, only groping toward the light. However, the wisdom and purity of the lives they led was not without its effect, — emperors and kings sought their advice, and gave them great stores of wealth, which they divided, according to rule, into equal portions, and used for the benefit of those in need, willing the remainder to their successors; so that, at the present time, the few brotherhoods that are left hold immense treasures accumulated through many centuries, — treasures which are theirs to share with one another in prosecution of discoveries and the carrying on of good works in secret. Ages before the coming of Christ, one Aselzion, a man of austere and strict life, belonging to a Fraternity stationed in Syria, was engaged in working out a calculation of the average quantity of heat and light provided per minute by the sun’s rays, when, glancing upward at the sky, the hour being clear noonday, he beheld a Cross of crimson hue suspended in the sky, whereon hung the cloudy semblance of a human figure. Believing himself to be the victim of some optical delusion, he hastened to fetch some of his brethren, who at a glance perceived the self-same marvel, — which presently was viewed with reverent wonder by the whole assembled community. For one entire hour the Symbol stayed — then vanished suddenly, a noise like thunder accompanying its departure. Within a few months of its appearance, messages came from all the other Fraternities stationed in Egypt, in Spain, in Greece, in Etruria, stating that they also had seen this singular sight, and suggesting that from henceforth the Cross should be adopted by the united Brotherhoods as a holy sign of some Deity unrevealed, — a proposition that was at once agreed to. This happened some five thousand years before Christ, — and hence the Sign of the Cross became known in all, or nearly all, the ancient rites of worship, the multitude considering that because it was the emblem of the Philosophical Fraternities, it must have some sacred meaning. So it was used in the service of Serapis and the adoration of the Nile-god, — it has been found carved on Egyptian disks and obelisks, and it was included among the numerous symbols of Saturn.”
He paused. Alwyn was listening with eager, almost breathless, attention.
“After this” — went on Heliobas— “came a long period of prefigurements; types and suggestions, that, running through all the various religions that sprang up swiftly and as swiftly decayed, hinted vaguely at the birth of a child, — offspring of a pure Virgin — a miraculously generated God-in-Man — an absolutely Sinless One, who should be sent to remind Humanity of its intended final high destiny, and who should, by precept and example, draw the Earth nearer to Heaven. I would here ask you to note what most people seem to forget, — namely, that since Christ came, all these shadowy types and prefigurements have CEASED; a notable fact, even to skeptical minds. The world waited dimly for something, it knew not what, — the various Fraternities of the Cross waited also, feeling conscious that some great era of hope and happiness was about to dawn for all men. When the Star in the East arose announcing the Redeemer’s birth, there were some forty or fifty of these Fraternities existing, three
in the ancient province of Chaldea, from whence a company of the wisest seers and sages were sent to acknowledge by their immediate homage the Divinity born in Bethlehem. These were the ‘wise men out of the East’ mentioned in the Gospel. We knew — I say WE, because I am descended directly from one of these men, and have always belonged to their Brotherhood — we knew it was DIVINITY that had come amongst us, — and in our parchment chronicles there is a long account of how the deserts of Arabia rang with music that holy night — what wealth of flowers sprang up in places that had hither to lain waste and dry — how the sky blazed with rings of roseate radiance, — how fair and wondrous shapes were seen flitting across the heavens, — the road of communication between men and Angels being opened at a touch by the Saviour’s advent.”
Again he paused, — and after a little silence resumed:
“Then we added the Star to our existing Symbol, the Cross, and became the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star. As such, after the Redeemer’s birth, we put all other matters from us, and set ourselves to chronicle His life and actions, to pray and wait, unknowing what might be the course of His work or will. One Day He came to us, — ah! happy those whom He found watching, and whose privilege it was to receive their Divine Guest!”
His voice had a passionate thrill within it, as of tears, — and Alwyn’s heart beat fast, — what a wonderful new chapter was here revealed of the old, old story of the Only Perfect Life on earth!
“One of the Fraternities,” went on Heliobas, “had its habitation in the wilderness where, some years later, the Master wandered fasting forty days and forty nights. To that solitary abode of prayerful men He came, when He was about twenty-three earthly years of age; the record of His visit has been reverently penned and preserved, and from it we know how fair and strong He was, — how stately and like a King — how gracious and noble in bearing — how far exceeding in beauty all the sons of men! His speech was music that thrilled to the heart, — the wondrous glory of His eyes gave life to those who knelt and worshipped Him — His touch was pardon — His smile was peace! From His own lips a store of wisdom was set down, — and prophecies concerning the fate of His own teaching, which then He uttered, are only now, at this very day, being fulfilled. Therefore we know the time has come—” he broke off, and sighed deeply.
Delphi Collected Works of Marie Corelli Page 197