THEIR OWN SPIRITUALLY PERFECT BEING WAS THE VERY TEMPLE OF GOD

 
The greatest of iconoclasts were never the heretics of the accepted order; they were such as Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Mohammed; and they functioned within the religion of their respective birth. From them dates the passing of the old order. The message of love proves ever the great emancipator. New religions arose only after these great living exponents of their own teachings had departed from earthly existence.

Even scriptures were set down oftentimes by disciples after the Master's mission was finished on earth. No external religious form took place during their lifetime. Their own spiritually perfect being was the very temple of God.

From time to time in the history of religions there have been revivals when man asserted his right to know God for himself and demanded his own experience uncircumscribed by rites and creeds. No amount of persecution could dim such fervor, and only when the experience ceased to be direct and intimate did the wave subside.

Religion itself is inspired from the living example on earth of God as man. God the abstract can be worshipped from afar, prayed to, meditated or pondered upon; but when Divine Love awakens the heart the affections become concentrated and objectified. God the Beloved has ever appeared in the form of a Savior. He who, like Christ, has become one with God is God-Man.