Preface

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REGENERATION
Being Part U. of the Temple of the Rosy Cross
R^B/:|)OWD. - K
\
AUTHOR OF " THK TRMFLR OF THE ROSY CROSS,"
THE DOUBLE MAN," ETC.
^
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit^ he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God* That which is born of the flesh b flesh; and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye mtsst be bom again* — John hi., 5-7.
SALEM, MASS. THE EULIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
THE HEW YORI PUBUC LIBRARY
809383 A
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDBN FOUNDATIONS
IK 1935 L
Copyright, 1900,
BY
The Temple Publishing Company.
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, All rights reserved.
, • • • •
To SORONA, A
The
matchless
Teacher of
the Rosy^ Cross
and Guide to the Light
of the Temple, the following
pages are reverently dedicated by
THE AUTHOR.'.
PREFACE.
The kindly reception accorded by many earnest souls to "The Temple of the Rosy Cross," has impelled me to press to further conclusions certain points only suggested in that book. Reincarnation is generally accepted by Rosicrucians as a truth. This acceptance is, of course, based on ample reasons for belief in the continuous life, on which the doctrine depends. The origin and purpose of human life has been from time immemorial a theme for philosophic speculation and religious discussion, while the masses contend that the purpose of it is wisely concealed in the mind of the God who rules, or gods who rule mundane affairs ; partially revealed, perhaps, to a select few, who in turn trade on this assumption of superior knowledge.
These opinions belong to the childhood of the race ; but is the race always to remain in child- hood ? The discoveries and inventions of the last half-century demonstrate that man is not the de- pendent creature we have been taught to consider him. There is a manhood of the race, as there is a childhood ; a manhood in which each individual
vi Preface,
stands erect, and recognizes within himself that life is for his own purpose.
The voice of nature heard in every living thing counsels him to provide for himself. It affirms that the purpose of his existence is to provide for himself He is the architect of his own fortunes, the creator of his weal or woe according to the conditions in which he finds himself, and those conditions are mainly the result of health and in- telligence. This is unquestionable. But in actual practice man has scarcely lived long enough to get a slight understanding of life before he must lie down and die. Is life worth living.? Is it a good, a blessing } If so, death is an evil until the good of life is exhausted. Death is for the weak, the worn out, but is not a necessity even to them.
Is eternal life and vigor a fact t Ask the sim and stars and this prolific old world on which we stand. The gods do not grow old or die, and in your inner self you are unconscious of the flight of years.
In view of death, the love of life and the instinct of immortality has led man to predicate life and immortality on the other side of the grave; but the Rosicrucians hold that immortality in the flesh is the purpose of evolution, and that reincarnation is a necessary factor in the evolution of the immor- tal principle until it is fully demonstrated that
Preface, vii
bodily immortality right here and now is within the range of man's developed powers.
Why should not man be immortal here as well as in some other world ? The law of change is no barrier, for a changeless life can hardly be con- ceived by the mind. It is rather that man has within himself the power to change at will all the conditions of life in the flesh, to transmute this animal life into spiritual substance, thus rendering the flesh so ethereal and so pure that corruption can find no lodgment therein.
The- inventive spirit of the age exhausts itself in the field of mechanics and the finer material forces, but the time is at hand when the interior nature with its mental and spiritual phenomena will com- mand equal attention. Once man becomes a unit with the thought, desire, and purpose of living formulated in the Universal Consciousness, this panorama of weakness, folly, disease, and death will pass away.
The purpose of existence is with the God who dwells within every son and daughter of Adam, lying latent and unknown in many ; while the ten- dency of religious teaching is to hush inquiry and paralyze self-reliance, closing the door of dissatis- faction with the nature of things as he sees them, the door through which man must pass to higher knowledge and greater light. To give a definite purpose to life, to aid in formulating immortality
viii Preface.
in the mind of the world, and to aHsist the growth of spirit in the flesh, *' (Jod with us the hope of Glory," have I written this book,
In I-ove and Truth,
F. W Down.
Hempstead^ Tcxas^
November, l8(^.
CONTENTS.
PAGE