Chapter VI

THE WAGES OF SIN AND THE WAYS OF SALVATION

£{rriHE wages of sin is death," says the Bible, and
JL when we sow to the flesh we must expect to
reap corruption. Neither should we be surprised that
one who is negative of character, like the class de-
scribed as the Sons of Seth, represented by Mar-
guerite in the Faust myth, falls a prey to this law of
nature at an early date after his measure of sin has
been filled. The speedy apprehension of Marguerite
for the crime of matricide is an illustration of how
the law works. The holy" horror of the church that
was remiss in not guarding her while there was yet
time, is an example of how society seeks to cover up
its negligence, and holds up its hands, shocked by the
crimes for which it is itself, in a great measure re-
sponsible.

Had the priest sought the confidence of Marguerite
instead of coveting the jewels, he might have pro-
tected her from the fate that befell her, and though
she might have suffered by losing her lover, she would
have remained pure. It is, however, through the inten-

SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN 41

sity of sorrow that the suffering soul finds its way
back to the source of its being, for we have all as
grodigal sons left our Father in Heaven; we have
wandered afar from the realms of spirit, to feed upon
the husks of matter, to gather experience and to gain
individuality.

When we are in the slough of despair we begin to
realize our high parentage and exclaim, "I will arise
and go to my Father." Membership in churches, or
the study of mysticism from an intellectual point of
view, does not bring the realization of the whither,
which is necessary before we can follow the Path. But
when we are bereft of all earthly support, when we
are sick and in prison, we are nearer and dearer to
the Saviour than at any other time. Therefore, Mar-
guerite in prison and under the ban of society, is
closer to God than the innocent, beautiful and pure
Marguerite, who had the world before her when she
met Faust in the garden.

The Christ has no message for those who are satis-
fied and love the world and its ways. So long as
they are in that condition of mind He cannot speak to
them nor can they hear His voice. But there is an
infinite tenderness in the words of the Saviour:
"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." The sinning soul
symbolized by Marguerite in her prison cell, standing
alone, ostracized from society as a moral and social
leper, is impelled to turn her eyes heavenward and her
prayer is not in vain. Yet, even to the last moment,

42 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

temptations beset the seeking soul. The gate of hell
and the gate of heaven are equally close to the prison
cell of Marguerite, as illustrated by the visit of Faust
and Lucifer who endeavor to drag her from prison
and impending death to a life of shame and bondage.
But she stands firm ; she prefers prison and death to
life and liberty in the company of Lucifer. She has
thus stood the test and qualified for the Kingdom of
God.

Solomon was the serf of Jehovah and as a Son of
Seth he was bound to the God who created him and
his ancestors. But in a later life, as Jesus, he left his
former Master at the Baptism and then received the
Spirit of the Christ. So every Son of Seth, must some
day leave his guardians and take a stand for Christ,
regardless of the sacrifice entailed thereby, even
though life be the price.

Marguerite in her prison cell takes that important
step and qualifies for citizenship in the New Heaven
and the New Earth, ~by faith in Christ. Faust, on
the other hand, remains with the Lucifer spirit for a
considerable time. He is a more positive character, a
true Son of Cain, and though the wages of sin must
eventually bring him death, salvation may come
through a purer conception of love and through works.

In the second part of Faust we find the hero broken
in spirit over the disaster which has befallen Mar-
guerite through his instrumentality. He realizes his
fault and begins to climblhe road of redemption. He
uses the Lucifer spirit, bound to him by the bargain

SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN 43

of blood as a means of attaining his end. He becomes
an important factor in the affairs of state of the coun-
try whither he has journeyed, for all the Sons of Cain
delight in statecraft as the Sons of Seth love church-
craft.

Not content, however, to serve another, under ex-
isting conditions, Faust sets the diabolical forces un-
der his command to create a land, to raise it out of
the sea and make a New Earth. He dreams a Utopian
dream of how this free land shall be the home of a free
people who shall dwell there in peace and content-
ment living up to the highest ideals of life.

These ideals are generated in his soul by the love of
a character called Helen, which is a love of the loftiest
and most spiritual nature, entirely separate from the
thought of sex and passion. In the course of time he
sees this land rise from the sea but his eyes are grow-
ing blind, for he is shifting his gaze from an earthly
to a heavenly condition. While he thus stands look-
ing at the forces marshalled by Lucifer, toiling at his
behest day and night, Faust realizes that he has made
real the claim of Lucifer, to be

"The power that still

Works for good though scheming ill."

He sees his work with the lower forces nearing com-
pletion, but his sight grows dimmer, and with that in-

44 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

tense longing which comes to the soul to see the fruit-
age of its works, he desires to retain his sight until
all shall have been accomplished and his Utopian
dream shall have become a reality. Therefore, as the
vision before him — the land rising from the sea and
the happy people who live upon it in good fellowship
— fades from his sightless eyes, he utters the fateful
words named by him in his bargain with Lucifer :

11 Whenever to the passing hour
I say, * Oh stay ! thou art so fair,
Then unto thee I give the power
To drag me down to deep despair.
Then let my knell no longer linger,
Then from my service thou art free ;
Fall from the clock the index finger,
Be time all over then for me."

By the terms of that bargain, when Faust has uttered
the fateful words the forces of hell are loosed from
bondage to him, and he in turn becomes their prey:
at least so it would seem. But Faust did not desire
to stay the march of time for the purpose of enjoy-
ing sensual pleasures nor of gratifying selfish desires,
as contemplated by the bargain. It was for the real-
ization of an altruistic and a noble ideal that he
wished to stay the passing hour. Therefore, he is
really free from Lucifer, and a battle between the
angelic forces and the hosts of Lucifer finally results
in the triumph of the former, who carry the seeking

SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN 45

soul to the haven of rest in the kingdom of the Christ,
while they utter the following words :

' ' Saved is the noble soul from ill,
Our spirit peer. Whoever
Strives forward with unswerving will
Him can we aye deliver.
And if with him celestial love
Hath taken part, to meet him
Come down the angels from above;
With cordial hail they greet him."

Thus the Faust of the myth is an entirely different
character from the Faust of the stage ; and the drama
which begins in heaven where permission was given
Lucifer to tempt him, as Job was tempted in ancient
times, also ends in heaven when the temptation has
been overcome and the soul has returned to its
Father.

Goethe, the great mystic, fittingly ends his version
with that most mystic of all stanzas found in any
literature :

"All that is perishable,
Is but a likeness.
The unattainable
Here is accomplished.
The indescribable,
Here it is done.
The Eternal Feminine
Draws us on. ' '

46 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

This stanza puzzles all who are not able to pene-
trate into the realms where it is supposed to be sung,
namely heaven.

It speaks of all that is perishable being but a like-
ness, that is to say, the material forms which are sub-
ject to death and transmutation are but a likeness of
the archetype seen in heaven. "The unattainable
here is accomplished" — that which seemed impossible
on earth is accomplished in heaven. No one knows
that better than one able to function in that realm,
for there every high and lofty aspiration finds frui-
tion. The indescribable longings, ideas and experiences
of the soul, which even it cannot express to itself are
clearly defined in heaven; the Eternal Feminine, the
great Creative Force in nature, the Mother God, which
draws us along the path of evolution, becomes there a
reality. Thus the Faust myth tells the story of the
World Temple, which the two classes of people are
building and which will be finally the New Heaven
and the New Earth prophesied in the Book of Books.

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