"It will be rent in twain when Man is once more in absolute harmony with the Infinite. Don't you remember that in St. John's vision of the Throne, in addition to the Spirits and the Elders, there were four Beasts full of eyes, each with six wings? I believe that these six-winged Beasts--which Isaiah speaks of as Seraphim--are the great forces of Nature, the Powers of wind and water and earth and fire: those Powers which the ancients set up as gods and worshipped." "Then you believe in the old gods?" I shook my head. "Not as gods, but as great forces; Man's initial error lay in treating them as gods." "And you believe that these strange Beings--these Principalities and Powers--are not of evil?" asked Arthur. "On the contrary, they are wholly of good when put in their proper places, and regarded not as Man's masters, but as Man's fellow-worshippers of the Most High. They rest not day or night, crying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy'; but Man is at present so stupid that he hasn't ears to hear their _Sanctus_." Arthur was silent for a moment, then he said: "I like these ideas of yours, Reggie; they blow through one's dusty, stereotyped notions like a strong wind from the mountains. That is a fine conception of yours of a temple where the choristers are the constellations, and the acolytes the powers of the air. It makes one feel that the universe is so big and wide. But I don't quite see how all this explains your original proposition that Magic must not be confounded with Prayer." "I'm sorry," I said; "I fear I am generally more or less of a wandering sheep where conversation is concerned. But what I mean--to put it tersely--is that Magic is more or less of a command, while Prayer altogether is a supplication. Both involve a mystical communion with an unseen Power; but while we may command the lesser Powers, we can do nothing but abase ourselves before the Highest Power of all." "I see your point," said Arthur. "Since Magic is, so to speak, more or less mechanical, certain results must necessarily follow certain rituals; but with Prayer the final result lies with the Power to whom the request is made, and is therefore what one might call optional."