Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Anterior: IX - Sobre a Profecia do Livro de Ester Seguinte: XI - Sobre a Profecia do Fim dos Tempos
Nº. X
CONCERNING THE PROPHECY OF
THE
VISION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR (2)
THE King Nebuchadnezzar is mystically
identical with king Assuerus, in that each alike
denotes the spirit of the latter age, that, namely, of mere Intellectualism, as
distinguished from and opposed to Intuitionalism. And both narratives, as well
also as that of the Deluge and of the book of Esther, are prophecies which now
are beginning to have their accomplishment on a scale greater than ever before.
For, the image shown to the king in his dream represents the various systems of
thought and belief which find favour with the world. Of these the intellectual
philosophy which rests upon the basis of a science merely physical is the head,
and is symbolised by the gold. And this rightly, so far as concerns the
intellect; for it is indeed king of kings, and all the children of men, the
beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, are given into its hands. This is
to say, all the activities of society, its learning, its industry, and its art,
are made subordinate to the intellect. The breast and arms of the image are of
silver. This is the domain of morality and sentiment, which under the reign of
the mere intellect hold a subordinate place. Belonging to the region of the
heart, it is feminine; and implying the intuition, which is of the woman, and
her assigned inferiority, it is of silver. The thighs and the belly are of
brass, and this kingdom is said to rule over the whole world. By this is meant
the universality under a regime wholly
animal and non-moral, of falsehood,
cruelty, impurity, blasphemy, and all those deprivations of the true humanity,
which characterise an age of materialism. The iron, of which the legs are made,
represents force, and denotes the negation of love,
and the consequent prevalence of might over right, and the universal rule of
selfishness. By the mingling of iron and clay in the feet is implied the
weakness and instability of the whole structure, the clay representing matter,
which is made the foundation of the system instead of spirit, which alone is
stable and enduring.
The Stone cut out without hands,
which destroys this image, and becomes a great mountain filling the whole earth,
is that “Stone of the Philosophers,” a perfected spirit, and the true gospel of
the inner knowledge which appertains thereto. This it is which smites the age
upon its feet, or fundamental basis, its materialistic hypothesis. And with the
demonstration of the falseness of its doctrine, now being made to the
world, shall fall the whole fabric of society, with its empire of force,
its exaltation of the masculine mode of the mind, its subjection of women, its
torture of animals, and its oppression of the poor. With its clay, its iron, its
brass, its silver, and its gold, all swept away as chaff by the wind, the true
knowledge and spirit of understanding, which are of the intuition, shall usher
in the kingdom of God, and the “stone,” become a mountain, shall fill the whole
earth.
Footnotes
(22:2)
Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Anterior: IX - Sobre a Profecia do Livro de Ester Seguinte: XI - Sobre a Profecia do Fim dos Tempos