Ardath eBook

Marie Corelli
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 793 pages of information about Ardath.

Ardath eBook

Marie Corelli
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 793 pages of information about Ardath.

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.”

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Project Gutenberg
Ardath from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.