The philosophy of history shows clearly how, in the first ages of the world, the original word of Divine revelation formed the firm central point of faith for the future reunion of the dispersed race of man; how later, amidst the various powers intellectual as well as political which (in the middle period of the world) all ruling nations exerted on their times, according to the measure allotted to them, it was alone the power of eternal love in the Christian religion which truly emancipated and redeemed mankind; and how the pure light of this Divine truth, universally diffused through the world and through all science, will crown in conclusion the progress of this restoration in the future. The fulfilment of the term of all Christian hope and Divine promise is reserved for the last period of consummation--for the new dispensation which the closing century is ushering in. The esoteric meaning of the second coming of our Lord is thus intimated to those who are watching for the triumph of justice and truth. "Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according to his work." Theosophy interprets the often-quoted Scripture passage of "the seven Spirits which are before His throne" as the cosmical, creative, sustaining, and world-governing potencies, the principles of which God avails Himself as His instruments, organs, and media. This is what the Kabbala implies with its seven "Sephiroth," what Schelling means by the "potencies," or principles in the inner life of God; and it is by their emergence, separation, and tension that they become cosmical potencies. If we stop short at these general considerations, this is precisely the idea of Theosophy. When it is asked what special activities are to be ascribed to each of the seven Spirits, striving to apprehend more closely the uncreated potencies through which the Deity works in its manifestation, and to which Scripture itself makes unmistakable allusion, revelation is silent, intimating only by veiled suggestions. It is here that Theosophy leads the way to the open book of Nature: the title-page of which we have only begun to turn.