THF TREE OF LIFE. 233
No other religion than that of Israel ever had complete and all-comprehensive symbols like the Twelve Tribes, the New Jerusalem, and the Tree of Life with its twelve fruits. The philosophical historian is therefore bound to give this religion a full con
sideration.
THE TREE OF LIFE 1S given in the Bible as directly connected with the past and the future destiny of man. What was the tree and why of such great importance ? I t w a s not until 1861 that science was able to give the final answer to this question.
In all plants and animals
each organ is modelled from
the essential plan of a leaf or XQe`
tree. This plan includes a -'of WC, nylivaxti ;
central tube, or bundle of tubes, with branches which terminate in minute or microscopic cells. These cells do the vital or constructive work of life. The tubes convey currents of liquids or of
force. ~*,
to
The brain and spinalis in man give the 4h - highest example of these tree-forms. This
is the great Tree of Life spoken of by the ancient seers and poets of all nations. The twelve groups of faculties produce "the twelve manner of fruits." All that is sweet and noble and true, in the private life of man or in the public history of nations, have been the fruit of this great tree.
In our second chapter we have shown that the higher branches of this tree have not yet been represented in our institutions.
It is evident that the Bible writers of this account regarded our spiritual or religious life as twelve-fold. Yet up to the present time the Christian world has overlooked this important truth.
THE RIVER OF LIFE has its four heads in the four chambers of the heart, the two auricles and the two ventricles. These are marked RA, LA, RV and LV. From these four heads the arteries and veins extend upward or north, to the head; eastward and westward to the arms and lungs, and south to the trunk and lower limbs. We have supposed our man lying down, with his head to the north, as we would place a map of the earth.
THE WATER OF LIFE is the blood with its bioplasm and cells. It is three-fourths water, with living matter diffused through it. In the ancient sacrifices the blood was used as a true symbol of life and of healing forces. In the Hebrew there is no word that means pain, or penalty or suffering, that is ever applied to the sacrifices. The common idea about them is utterly false. In reality the ancient sacrifices were feasts. They expressed gratitude and good will, or spiritual healing and reconciliation.
The Latin word " sacrifice '' means " to make sacred," not to punish or destroy.
FORGIVENESS and atonement are both natural. They are efforts to restore the normal conditions of health and harmony. In the living body the power to heal is in the very nature of all the tissues. And so in the spiritual realm, atonement is not a Contra-
