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THE SECRET SENSE
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that is above, namely, the pure natural condition of the soul-substance, that is Spirit, is diviñe and free, which is the true mother (nature or source of being) of all living beings. But although the soul-substance is
barren' (functionless) now on account of the bondage of sin, still her natural purity is only held in
bondage ': it has not been destroyed altogether. She is, therefore, bidden to rejoice, because she will be enabled, under proper guidance and instruction, to manifest her infinity of divine attributes. The moral of the story is drawn in the last four verses in its application to human life. We, too, like the Isaac of the allegory; are the children of promise (that is to say, have the full spiritual nature), though still subject to persecution from the physical (i.e., the bodily) self, that is to be destroyed. Religion exhorts us to cast out the bondwoman and the lower ego (described as her son), for the two, i.e., the lower and the spiritual egos, cannot be heir to the divine inheritance together, by any possibility.
Of course it is possible for us to say that St. Paul did not know what he was talking about, and that the other authorities referred to in this connection are all wrong, and that Abraham and the members of his family were nothing but historical personages; but we shall be losing sight of the fact that St. Paul has infallibility ascribed to him by those who have bequeathed the New Testament to us, and in interpreting the sacred compilation termed the Bible, we shall have to be guided, if we are reasonable men, by what he says, and not by our individual faltering notions.
With reference to the merit of this interpretation, it can be seen at a glance that a historical reading of the
