SECOND ADVENT; OR CHRIST AS God IN ALL HIS DIVINE SPLENDOUR; THE ANGELS UPON THE EARTH. Christ lays aside His Human Envelope-The Spirit which divests Itself from the Body--The Christ, pure Spirit, is an Immortal THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY. The Mystery of the Trinity explained by Examples-The Trinity conceived by Reason-The Son is not a Creature-The Three THE MYSTERY OF THE EVERLASTING. The Supreme Enigma (concerning the Reason for Existence) consid- ered from the view of Iopular Conception-The Supreme Enigma before the Philosophers-The World, the Universal Substance, is but an Intelligible Being--The origin of the Page. THE PHILOSOPHICAL EVANGEL. CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL EVANGEL AND THE HISTORY OFf the GranD MONARCH. The King Philosopher and His Strange History-The King and His Sovereignty over the Mundane Powers-The Power of the King over Nature and Social Evolution-The War of Nations and Triumph of the King—The Mysterious Law which will Govern the World--The King is Awakened. THE KING PHILOSOPHER AND HIS STRANGE HISTORY. During the travels which I have undertaken at various times throughout the divers countries of the world, it has given me much pleasure to study the mind and thought of the people, and to collect their traditions. I happened to make the acquaintance of a Philosopher-a Priest of God, full of veneration. who has left upon my mind an impression never to be forgotten. I will relate that history. According to traditions having a very ancient origin, scattered throughout the Orient, a celebrated Prince, bearing the name of a very great and holy King, and descended from a very illustrious Royal race, reposes asleep under the Sanctuary of the Temple of Saint-Sophia at Constantinople, since the taking of that capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Turks. Pious persons assure us that they have succeeded in seeing that King half-awake, under the brightness of the candles that God kindled around his bed in the vault of the celebrated Temple. It is even said that Mohammed the Prophet of Islam, passing one day through the Church, according to his custom, to offer his prayer to God, allowed: "Ben those words full of meaning to escape from his lips: padichah Allah adam, this Lord is the Power of God." I have had occasion to meet several Sages, near to the Academy of Plato, at Athens, who seriously affirmed to me that they had seen Minerva herself, whom people believe to be dead-proceed majestically from the Parthenon, upon rare nights, under the brightness of the moon. Several have taken it for the incarnation of the King; others say that the King never takes any other form; that the Goddess, however, always closely follows him with a piercing eye, in order to cover him with her invulnerable Ægis, and defend him with her invincible lance, in case of need. I have also seen those who await the near awakening of this Sovereign with all the pomp of a great potentate, proceeding from the Orient with the rapidity of the tempest, to possess Himself of the Universe. Those who will follow Him will reign with Him, for the others there will remain only the disgrace of having been so obstinate in the prejudices of the past. The power of God, in awakening Him, will give Him the mission to establish the Cosmopolitan Commonwealth upon earth, where all nations, reunited into one family-one human fraternity-will worship in spirit and in truth the Power that has made all things. Well, said the Philosopher to me, the history of this great King is very true, but the crowd do not understand who He is. Is He truly a King, or is it some spiritual movement or other that will reform the world? God knows. THE KING AND HIS SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE MUNDANE POWERS. I said to the Priest that immense riches are preserved in the bowels of the earth by impure spirits; that I had seen nations that spent their lifetime in trying to discover a certain secret capable of subduing those spirits, in order to possess themselves of immense riches. Upon the point of |