Comte de Gabalis [1913], at sacred-texts.com
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. ISAIAH, CHAPTER lii., VERSES 7, 8, 10, 13, 15.
Proof that this prophecy has not been as yet fulfilled lies in the fad that no Saviour has arisen whom the Jews have recognised as such; whereas they were promised a messenger from God whom they should know, "Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak:" ISAIAH lii, 6. Their prophets of old
foretold the coming of a Giver of the Law to the Nations whom Israel should acknowledge and follow. The covenant of the Most High is sure, and the fulfillment of His promise shall not fail.
The word mountains is often used in the Old Testament to signify those higher levels of consciousness wherein the Law of God is understood and obeyed. The prophet is able to ascend into these states of consciousness and descending, retains and makes known to his fellowmen a knowledge of divine concerns. Man in the flesh is encompassed by illusion, a wanderer in the valley of the shadow. Let him lift up his eyes unto the hills whence cometh his help, seeking "for the precious things of the lasting hills," hearkening for "the sounding again of the mountains." DEUTERONOMY xxxiii, 15. EZEKIEL. vii, 7.
The feet upon the mountains are that manifestation of the Messenger which is nearest to earth. Upon the higher levels of consciousness the prophet is conscious of this Divine Influence to which the generality of mankind are not at the period, consciously subject.
The meaning of the word watchmen is indicated by Ezekiel iii, 17. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me." In this sense of the word, the watchmen are the witnesses
of the Lord whose advent Muhammed foretells in his Prophecy of Truth.
The word "watchmen" has also an inner meaning which is revealed in Ecclesiasticus xxxvii, 14, where, after exhorting the disciple to heed the counsel of his own heart (higher nature), the Sage warns him against the danger of being led astray by the mind ever the prey of illusion when not governed by the soul. "For a man's mind is sometime wont to tell him more than seven watchmen, that sit above in an high tower." Used in this sense, the word watchmen signifies the seven principal ganglia of the sympathetic system † which when awakened and energised by the inflowing Solar Force establish in man superphysical states of consciousness, and endow him with knowledge of the Law of Nature, God, which wills obedience from all things. The answer given by the Oracle at Delphi when questioned regarding Proclus sheds light upon the mystical meaning of this verse, "Oft when the bolts. of thy mind willed of their own impulse to follow crooked ways, the deathless ones set them aright to move in their fixed curves and eternal path and gave to thine eyes the frequent gleam of lights that from their night-shrouded watch-tower they might clearly see." TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK, PORPHYRIUS,, DE VITA PLOTINI §22.
That this inner meaning of the word watchmen is also intended is shown by the explanatory phrase, "for they shall see eye to eye." The word eye is not infrequently employed in the sacred writings of Israel to denote these ganglia or focussing centres of the Divine Force, "Those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord," Zechariah iv, 10. To say that the watchmen shall see "eye to eye," is to say that these ganglia shall be energised, and joined "eye to eye," by the currents of the Solar Force, and that man shall become God-enlightened.
To arrive at a just estimate of Hebrew word values in the Old Testament, it is necessary to bear in mind that the language and religion of Egypt exercised an appreciable influence upon the Jews during their captivity. The word "eye," used in the sense here noted, is an instance of this influence. To the Egyptians, the "Sun behind the Sun" was known as Osiris, * whose name was written by the hieroglyph of the eye, and also by that of the scarabeus. Of this species of beetle, no female is known to exist. The male scarabeus pro- duces the element of life, rolls it in a ball of earth, and leaves it to be brought to birth by the warmth and life-giving force of the Sun. Hence the scarabeus became the fitting symbol of the Divine or Solar Spark in man, placed in the earth sphere that it may be regenerated and brought to "the birth from above" by
the rays of the Solar Force. † "The so-called scarabeus, the great cockchafer of southern countries, was considered an especially mysterious and sacred animal, and the figure of this insect was almost as symbolic to the followers of the Egyptian religion as the cross is to the §Christian." ‡ Under the New Empire, the Egyptians replaced the heart of the dead by a stone scarabeus, emblem of Osiris, * and, as it were, a finite symbol of the Omnipotent Eye of the Sun behind the Sun, and an enduring expression of their prayer that the departed soul might receive that Creative Light which would perfect its immortal evolution and bring it to the Everlasting Land. This use of the scarabeus bears mute witness to the fad that there existed in Ancient Egypt, knowledge concerning that centre in the human heart whose awakening or 'lifting up' to a higher plane of evolution or consciousness reveals to man the vista of his immortal destiny. A proof that Israel also had this knowledge is found in Ecclesiaticus xvii, 8. " He set his eye upon their hearts, that he might shew them the greatness of his works."
Primarily applied to the manifestation of the force of the Sun behind the Sun in the human heart, the word eye came in course of time to denote the centres of the cerebro-spinal * and sympathetic nervous systems, and especially the seven principal centres of the latter, whose perfe&ing brings man into greater knowledge and love of God. "For the eyes of the Lord are upon them that love him, he is their mighty protection and strong stay, a defence from heat, and a cover from the Sun at noon, a preservation from stumbling, and an help from falling. He raiseth up the soul, and lighteneth the eyes: he giveth health, life, and blessing." Ecclesiasticus xxxiv, 16, 17. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." PSALM XIX, 8.
The word here translated Lord is "YHWH, the (ineffable) name of God." "These substitutions of 'Adonay' and Elohim' for YHWH were devised to avoid the profanation of the Ineffable Name." † But Elohim, exoteric name of YHWH (Jehovah), is the Sun behind the Sun. ‡ The holy arm of the Lord is therefore seen to be a ray of its Divine Force. This Force is more or less potent on earth according to cyclic law. At the beginning and end of the age, the Sun
behind the Sun is in conjunction with the .Sun of our Solar System, and its energy, descending deep into matter, brings to birth God-enlightened men; which the prophet states figuratively when he says that this Divine or Super-Solar Force shall manifest "in the eyes of all the nations." "Awake, awake, pat on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon. *?" Isaiah li, 9.
And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, Numbers viii, 7. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. . . A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. . . . And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. EZEKIEL xxxvi, EXTRACTS VERSES 25-27.
This prophecy foretells the cyclic return of that Force, subtle in character but positive in demand, which proceeds from the Lord and Giver of Life, the Great Architect of the Universe, the Supreme Source. This Divine Ray liberates the souls of its servants in every nation that they may labour as one for the establishment of Truth, Justice and Peace.
324:† Compare The Inmates of the Cave or the Story of the Seven Sleepers, Page 256.
325:* Compare The Principle of All Things, page 88.
326:† Solar Force defined, Pages 48, 50, 42.
326:§ Christ is called "The Sun-rising from on high," Luke i, 78.
326:‡ Adolf Erman "Life in Ancient Egypt." Page 315.
326:* "Homage to thee, O Governor of those who are in Amentel, who dost make men and women to be born again." PAPYRUS OF HU-NEFER.
327:* The back-bone was sacred to Osiris.
327:† Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. vii Pages 87, 88.
327:‡ Authority for this Statement given Page 26.
328:* Dragon defined, pages 276, 260.