The "Throne of God" is whiteness, purity; the innermost and uttermost Heavens; the state of perfect Being. In Kabalistic and Egyptian symbolism alabaster is whiteness, being interpreted for that which is absolute and pure. Everywhere in the symbolism of the Orient the White stone is the synonym of purity, perfectness. The "Throne" or "Kingdom" (as well as the King of the Kingdom) is Malens or Malcuth; here also is the Kether, the crown. Nearest the Throne are the Cherubim and Seraphim.

In all the definitions in modern languages, you find the Cherubim are "the highest order of angels;" the Seraphim are "the highest order of angels;" but you must go back to the derivations of the Ancient language to find the primal meaning. Cherubim: the strong ones. Seraphim: the lofty (or bright) ones. Strength here means Wisdom; the first expression of the God-like nature from the Soul. Lofty - or bright - means perfect, like unto God; Love. ' When the Soul passes first from the "presence of God," - by which we do not mean is to depart from Him, but when it passes into expression, from the state which resembles Deity - the state which is The Cherub and the Seraph is the first expression of the soul.

The Cherub is the Masculine; the Seraph, the Feminine. These are the primal potentialities.

This is the first departure from the "Father's dwelling," from the "Kingdom." This first step toward expression, i. e., from the innermost life, is this dual expression of Cherubim and Seraphim; having no form that can be named a form, but only consciousness. In the Sacred symbols you will Bee the winged heads of the Cherubim and Seraphim without the form, associated with something that is not earthly and yet not like God; one degree removed from the absolute; the first condition of expression, from the state that is eternal to the state that is not eternal.

The impulsion of the Soul toward, and its expression in, or through, matter we name involution.

We use the word Involution in contradistinction to the word employed by science to explain the process of development in nature: Evolution. Involution is the descent from being to existence. By descent we only mean as regards expression in matter; i. e, the state of the Soul being absolute, the descent or involution is in that which is relative, changeful, shadowed. As the eternal state is the day, so the expression as the Cherub and Seraph might be compared to the twilight that precedes the night of earthly existence. One might consider that this would seem almost like celestial death; this expression, this passing from out the light of the Divine and from the Absolute.

This impulsion toward expression in matter would seem to be what has been herein typified as the passing out of the "presence of God," save that God's Love is Omnipresent; for, so far as expression is concerned, there is withdrawal from God; that is, the withdrawal from the state which is like God, because veiled; or between the unit which is Soul and the unit which is God, as one may draw a silken screen, or pass into another room and be parted that way, though not separated from another in Love, so the veil is just drawn, in the Cherub and Seraph, between the Soul in the absolute and the expression of the Soul.

You now perceive the Soul is entering upon what we term its Involution. There is no permanent state that can be described to the human mind as being the state of the Cherubim and Seraphim. It is only in the innermost: that you can understand that first transition from the oneness to the consciousness of being two. In the first separation that, perhaps, faltering upon the verge and barriers of time and of becoming aware of sense, of becoming at last incarnate in the material form, there is something of the divine loss of the one, without knowing the experience of the two. Not yet is the final division and separation caused by matter; but in the state of the Cherubim and Seraphim are angels preparing the way, and making manifest unto the Soul, thus divided, that which shall constitute the expression of being through mortal existence.

Tub duality of the Soul is as eternal as its unity.

This is the two in one which is never divided in the absolute, hut only divided in expression. That which was absolute becomes relative; neither the Seraph nor the Cherub is a Soul, the two are the first act of impulsion of the Soul toward expression.

Angels are appointed, in ways hereafter to be explained, to have charge of those stages of involution, as the Soul approaches matter. This is not a sudden flight or descent, this does not occur in an instant. There are gradations of involution for the Soul as there are gradations of evolution for the body: not instantly, was the atom ready to produce the form of man as the first generic expression of life upon the earth; not instantly is the Soul ready, with the first step of involution, for expression in matter. There are degrees; each step being somewhat of a withdrawal from the state of perfectness; gradually the light and splendor of perfection which belongs to the Soul must be veiled in order that existence in matter may be expressed; what those degrees may represent may not be remembered, because the way is carefully closed that not too much of that light, not too much of that perfect glory, may shine in upon the darkened state in which the Soul-impulsion becomes involved, ere the beginning of the pilgrimage of Earth.

The process of involution is not a state of activity. It is not a state of angelic ministrations, of the all-conquering power of something that has been attained, hut the first steps of weakness, the loss of the God-like state; no Cherub ever winged its way on ministration bent; no Seraph is capable of ministration. It is a mistake to ever use the words ministering spirits, angels, or archangels, synonymously with the words Cherubim and Seraphim.

All states in which the Soul passes toward expression are Dot degrees of activity, but degrees of preparation. As a man cannot carry a burden uphill while he is descending, so while the Soul is passing from the oneness, through dual expression, toward matter, there is no potency from within, the activities are turned within, and grow less and less. So when this process of involution is being experienced, it is as though from some splendid and wonderful height, some glittering and glorious sun or world, one were willing to start on a mission, or pilgrimage, and kind hands would gradually close the way that there might be no looking back regretfully at all the glory that was left behind; or as a child passing from the parental roof may not look back longingly into the mother's eyes, nor yet remember too keenly the joys of home, for a new hope shuts out childhood and the youth from sight, so the attendant angels draw the veil on the Soul thus passing out from the Parental dwelling. This is the passage of the eternal Bride and Bridegroom, the Soul, into the shadow of mortal night May we not here promise the glorious return?