The Life Everlasting | Page 4

VI.
RECOGNITION VII. MEMORIES VIII. VISIONS IX. DOUBTFUL
DESTINY X. STRANGE ASSOCIATIONS XI. ONE WAY OF LOVE
XII. A LOVE-LETTER XIII. THE HOUSE OF ASELZION XIV.
CROSS AND STAR XV. A FIRST LESSON XVI. SHADOW AND
SOUND XVII. THE MAGIC BOOK XVIII. DREAMS WITHIN A
DREAM XIX. THE UNKNOWN DEEP XX. INTO THE LIGHT

THE LIFE EVERLASTING
A REALITY OF ROMANCE

AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE
In the Gospels of the only Divine Friend this world has ever had or ever
will have, we read of a Voice, a 'Voice in the Wilderness.' There have
been thousands of such Voices;--most of them ineffectual. All through
the world's history their echoes form a part of the universal record, and
from the very beginning of time they have sounded forth their warnings

or entreaties in vain. The Wilderness has never cared to hear them. The
Wilderness does not care to hear them now.
Why, then, do I add an undesired note to the chorus of rejected appeal?
How dare I lift up my voice in the Wilderness, when other voices, far
stronger and sweeter, are drowned in the laughter of fools and the
mockery of the profane? Truly, I do not know. But I am sure that I am
not moved by egotism or arrogance. It is simply out of love and pity for
suffering human kind that I venture to become another Voice
discarded--a voice which, if heard at all, may only serve to awaken the
cheap scorn and derision of the clowns of the piece.
Yet, should this be so, I would not have it otherwise, I have never at
any time striven to be one with the world, or to suit my speech pliantly
to the conventional humour of the moment. I am often attacked, yet am
not hurt; I am equally often praised, and am not elated. I have no time
to attend to the expression of opinions, which, whether good or bad, are
to me indifferent. And whatever pain I have felt or feel, in experiencing
human malice, has been, and is, in the fact that human malice should
exist at all,--not for its attempted wrong towards myself. For I,
personally speaking, have not a moment to waste among the mere
shadows of life which are not Life itself. I follow the glory,--not the
gloom.
So whether you, who wander in darkness of your own making, care to
come towards the little light which leads me onward, or whether you
prefer to turn away from me altogether into your self-created darker
depths, is not my concern. I cannot force you to bear me company. God
Himself cannot do that, for it is His Will and Law that each human soul
shall shape its own eternal future. No one mortal can make the
happiness or salvation of another. I, like yourselves, am in the
'Wilderness,'--but I know that there are ways of making it blossom like
the rose! Yet,--were all my heart and all my love outpoured upon you, I
could not teach you the Divine transfiguring charm,--unless you,
equally with all your hearts and all your love, resolutely and
irrevocably WILLED to learn.
Nevertheless, despite your possible indifference,--your often sheer

inertia--I cannot pass you by, having peace and comfort for myself
without at least offering to share that peace and comfort with you.
Many of you are very sad,--and I would rather you were happy. Your
ways of living are trivial and unsatisfactory--your so-called 'pleasant'
vices lead you into unforeseen painful perplexities--your ideals of what
may be best for your own enjoyment and advancement fall far short of
your dreams,--your amusements pall on your over- wearied
senses,--your youth hurries away like a puff of thistledown on the
wind,--and you spend all your time feverishly in trying to live without
understanding Life. Life, the first of all things, the essence of all
things,--Life which is yours to hold and to keep, and to RE-CREATE
over and over again in your own persons,--this precious jewel you
throw away, and when it falls out of your possession by your own act,
you think such an end was necessary and inevitable. Poor unhappy
mortals! So self-sufficient, so proud, so ignorant! Like some foolish
rustic, who, finding a diamond, sees no difference between it and a bit
of glass, you, with the whole Universe sweeping around you in mighty
beneficent circles of defensive, protective and ever re-creative
power,--power which is yours to use and to control- -imagine that the
entire Cosmos is the design of mere blind unintelligent Chance, and
that the Divine Life which thrills within you serves no purpose save to
lead you to Death! Most wonderful and most pitiful it is that such folly,
such blasphemy should still prevail,--and that humanity should still
ascribe to the Almighty Creator less wisdom and less