It was the sin of our progenitors in ancient Lemuria that _they scattered their seed_ regardless of law and without love. But it is the privilege of the Christian to redeem himself by purity of life in remembrance of the Lord. John says, “His seed remaineth in him,” and this is the hidden meaning of the bread and wine. In the English version we read simply: “This is the _cup_ of the New Testament,” but in the German the word for cup is “_Kelch_,” and in the Latin, “_Calix_,” both meaning the outer covering of the seed pod of the flower. In the Greek we have a still more subtle meaning, not conveyed in other languages, in the word “_poterion_,” a meaning which will be evident when we consider the etymology of the word “pot.” This at once gives us the same idea as the chalice or calix—a receptacle; and the Latin “_potare_” (to drink) also shows that the “cup” is a receptacle capable of holding a fluid. Our English words “potent” and “impotent,” meaning to possess or to lack virile strength, further show the meaning of this Greek word, which foreshadows the evolution from man to superman. We have already lived through a mineral, a plant, and an animal-like existence before becoming human as we are today, and beyond us lie still further evolutions where we shall approach the Divine more and more. It will be readily conceded that it is our animal passions which restrain us upon the path of attainment; the lower nature is constantly warring against the higher self. At least in those who have experienced a spiritual awakening, a war is being fought silently within, and is all the more bitter for being suppressed. Goethe with masterly art voiced that sentiment in the words of Faust, the aspiring soul, speaking to his more materialistic friend, Wagner: “Thou by one sole impulse art possessed, Unconscious of the other still remain. Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast, And struggle there for undivided reign. One, to the earth with passionate desire, And closely clinging organs still adheres; Above the mists the other doth aspire With sacred ardor unto purer spheres.” It was the knowledge of this absolute necessity of chastity (save when procreation is the object) upon the part of those who have had a spiritual awakening which dictated the words of Christ, and the Apostle Paul stated an esoteric truth when he said that _those who partook of the Communion without living the life were in danger of sickness and death_. For just as under a spiritual tutelage, purity of life may elevate the disciple wonderfully, so also unchastity has a much stronger effect upon his more sensitized bodies than upon those who are yet under the law, and have not became partakers of grace by the cup of the New Covenant. Chapter V THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM