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the Veil ******** The Mystics Corner
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You are to hang this curtain (veil) under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain (veil). The curtain (veil) will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. You are to put the atonement lid on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place **** Exodus 26:33,34
The Lord said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord" **** Numbers 12:6-8 After the second curtain (veil) there was a tent called the "Holy of Holies". ** We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain (veil), where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf ** we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain (veil), that is, through his flesh. **** Hebrews 6:19,20; 9:3; 10:19,20 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. **** 1 Corinthians 13:12 We all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another **** 2 Corinthians 3:18 |
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In mysticism, as in everything human, there is an admixture of good and evil. Some writers give prominence to what they consider its errors and dangers, and count mysticism in principle to be untrue and unhealthy. In the Preface to Vaughan's, "Hours with the Mystics", the author writes: "Mysticism, though an error, has been associated, for the most part, with a measure of truth so considerable, that its good has greatly outweighed its evil." The statement that what is at heart an error should effect so much more good than evil, cannot but strike one as somewhat strange. It would be surely more correct to say: "Mysticism, because it is at root a truth, its good has, not withstanding a considerable amount of error, greatly outweighed its evil." The writer of "Hours with the Mystics" would wish the word applied to the error in mysticism alone, and thinks that St. John ought not to be called a mystic. In this case, we should need another word to express that special element which is so marked a characteristic of the apostle. "Others, looking at its good, which even, according to Vaughan, so greatly outweighs the evil, noticing how many of the noblest and holiest of us have breathed its spirit, and remembering what the wonderful attraction its teaching often has for the most earnest and thoughtful minds, maintain that there must be truth in its root-principle, and that its errors must be put to the account of human weakness, and the difficulties of the high problem with which it deals." Lange says (Herzog-Schaff Cyclopcedia) — "Mysticism has been defined as belief in an immediate and continuous communication between God and the soul, which may be established by means of certain peculiar religious exercises; as belief in an inner light, which may almost dispense with the written revelation." This definition identifies mysticism too closely with its extravagances, its more or less unsound developments, and overlooks that there is a mystical element in all true religion, both objectively in the revelation and subjectively in the faith. According to common acceptation, mysticism is simply a one-sided development of that element." It is evident from what has just been said, that it is not easy to define what mysticism is. It is not a system of doctrine. It is found in all religious systems -- in heathenism and pantheism, as well as in Christianity. Within the Church of Christ, it is not a sect or party; every Church has its representatives. In every complete Christian character there is an element of mysticism. It is the outgrowth of a certain disposition or temperament, which ever seeks for the deepest ground or root of spiritual things. The close connection between the words "mystic" and "mystery" will help us to understand what it means. In all religion, in all existence, there are hidden mysteries: for these the mystic has a natural affinity. In all the mysteries of revelation there is a human side, which the mind of man can master and reduce to a system.
What we have said is enough to indicate very generally what distinguishes the mystic from the ordinary Christian. Click [ Here ] for more detailed information.
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That we be not, on the one hand, led unaware into error, nor, on the other, be prejudiced against truth by undue apprehension, it may be well for us to consider what this word "mystic " means.
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