First let us see what is meant by a sacrament, and why the rites of baptism, communion, marriage, and extreme unction are properly so called; then we shall be in a position to understand what sacrilege is and why it is unpardonable.
The Rosicrucians teach, only with more detail, the same doctrine that Paul preached in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, starting at the thirty-fifth verse, that in addition to the body of flesh and blood we have a soul body, _soma psuchicon_, (mistranslated “natural” body), and a spiritual body; that each of these bodies is grown from a different _seed_ atom and that there are _three_ stages of unfoldment for Adam, or man. The first Adam was taken from the ground and was without sentient life. Soul was added to the _second Adam_; thus he had life within, a leaven laboring to elevate the clod to God. When the potential of the soul extracted from the physical body has been raised to the spiritual, the _last Adam_ will become a life _giving_ spirit, capable of transmitting the life impulse to others directly as flame from one candle can be communicated to many without diminishing the magnitude of the original light.
In the meantime the germ for our earthly body had to be properly placed in fruitful soil to grow a suitable vehicle, and generative organs were provided from the beginning to accomplish this purpose. It is stated in Genesis 1:27, that Elohim created them _male_ and _female_. The Hebrew words are “_sacre va n’cabah_.” _These are names of the sex organs._ Literally translated, _sacr_ means “bearer of the germ.” Thus marriage is a _sacr_-ament, for it opens the way for transmission of a physical seed atom from the father to the mother, and tends to preserve the race against the ravages of death. Baptism as a _Sacr_ament signifies the germinal urge of the soul for the higher life. Holy Communion, in which we partake of bread (made from the _seed_ of chaste plants), and of wine (the cup symbolizing the passionless _seed_-pod), points to the age to come, an age wherein it will be unnecessary to _transmit_ the seed through a father and mother, but where we may feed directly upon cosmic life and thus conquer death. Finally, extreme unction is the _sacr_ament which marks the loosening of the silver cord, and the extraction of the sacred germ, freeing it until it shall again be planted in another _n’cabah_, or mother.