wool, as white as snow;
and his eyes were as a flame of fire." We are told (i. 20) that "the
seven candlesticks are the seven churches." This means that the
candlesticks are seven different ways of attaining to the divine. They
are all more or less imperfect. And the Son of Man "had in his right
hand seven stars" (v. 16). The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches (v. 20). The guiding spirits, or daimons (_cf._ p. 87), of
the wisdom of the Mysteries have here become the guiding angels of the
churches. The churches are represented as bodies for spiritual
beings, and the angels are the souls of those bodies, just as human
souls are the guiding powers of human bodies. The churches are the
imperfect ways to the divine, and the souls of the churches were to
become guides along those paths. For this purpose they must themselves
have for their leader the being who has in his right hand seven stars.
"And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." This sword is
also found in the Mysteries. The candidate for initiation was
terrified by a flashing sword (_cf._ p. 18). This indicates the
situation of one who wishes to know the divine by experience, so that
the face of wisdom may shine upon him like the sun. St. John also goes
through this experience. It is to be a test of his strength (_cf._ p.
18). "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not" (v. 17). The candidate
for initiation must pass through the experiences which otherwise man
only undergoes at the gate of death. His guide must lead him beyond
the region in which birth and death have a meaning. The initiate
enters upon a new life. "And I was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Thus prepared, St. John is led on to learn the secrets of existence.
"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and
the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with
me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must
be hereafter." The messages to the seven spirits of the churches make
known to St. John what is to take place in the physical world in order
to prepare the way for Christianity. What he now sees "in the Spirit"
takes him to the spiritual fountain-head of things, hidden behind
physical evolution, but which will be realised, in a spiritu