{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26938/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26938","id":"gutenberg_26938","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26938","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity -- Miscellanea","Mysticism","Theosophy"],"text":"Produced by Thierry Alberto, Erica Hills, Henry Craig, and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note: The many inconsistently spelt words in this book\n(e.g. Samskrit/Sanskrit) have been retained as in the original.\n\n\nESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY\nOR\nTHE LESSER MYSTERIES.\n\n\n\nBY\nANNIE BESANT.\n\n\n\n[SECOND EDITION]\n\n\n\nThe Theosophical Publishing Society.\nLONDON AND BENARES.\n1905.\n\n\n\n\n     In proceeding to the contemplation of the mysteries of knowledge,\n     we shall adhere to the celebrated and venerable rule of tradition,\n     commencing from the origin of the universe, setting forth those\n     points of physical contemplation which are necessary to be\n     premised, and removing whatever can be an obstacle on the way; so\n     that the ear may be prepared for the reception of the tradition of\n     the Gnosis, the ground being cleared of weeds and fitted for the\n     planting of the vineyard; for there is a conflict before the\n     conflict, and mysteries before the mysteries.--_S. Clement of\n     Alexandria._\n\n     Let the specimen suffice to those who have ears. For it is not\n     required to unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is\n     sufficient.--_Ibid._\n\n     He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.--_S. Matthew._\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD.\n\n\nThe object of this book is to suggest certain lines of thought as to\nthe deep truths underlying Christianity, truths generally overlooked,\nand only too often denied. The generous wish to share with all what is\nprecious, to spread broadcast priceless truths, to shut out none from\nthe illumination of true knowledge, has resulted in a zeal without\ndiscretion that has vulgarised Christianity, and has presented its\nteachings in a form that often repels the heart and alienates the\nintellect. The command to \"preach the Gospel to every\ncreature\"[1]--though admittedly of doubtful authenticity--has been\ninterpreted as forbidding the teaching of the Gnosis to a few, and has\napparently erased the less popular saying of the same Great Teacher:\n\"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your\npearls before swine.\"[2]\n\nThis spurious sentimentality--which refuses to recognise the obvious\ninequalities of intelligence and morality, and thereby reduces the\nteaching of the highly developed to the level attainable by the least\nevolved, sacrificing the higher to the lower in a way that injures\nboth--had no place in the virile common sense of the early Christians.\nS. Clement of Alexandria says quite bluntly, after alluding to the\nMysteries: \"Even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before\nswine, lest they tread them underfoot, and turn and rend us.' For it is\ndifficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting\nthe true Light to swinish and untrained hearers.\"[3]\n\nIf true knowledge, the Gnosis, is again to form a part of Christian\nteachings, it can only be under the old restrictions, and the idea of\nlevelling down to the capacities of the least developed must be\ndefinitely surrendered. Only by teaching above the grasp of the little\nevolved can the way be opened up for a restoration of arcane knowledge,\nand the study of the Lesser Mysteries must precede that of the Greater.\nThe Greater will never be published through the printing-press; they can\nonly be given by Teacher to pupil, \"from mouth to ear.\" But the Lesser\nMysteries, the partial unveiling of deep truths, can even now be\nrestored, and such a volume as the present is intended to outline these,\nand to show the _nature_ of the teachings which have to be mastered.\nWhere only hints are given, quiet meditation on the truths hinted at\nwill cause their outlines to become visible, and the clearer light\nobtained by continued meditation will gradually show them more fully.\nFor meditation quiets the lower mind, ever engaged in thinking about\nexternal objects, and when the lower mind is tranquil then only can it\nbe illuminated by the Spirit. Knowledge of spiritual truths must be thus\nobtained, from within and not from without, from the divine Spirit whose\ntemple we are[4] and not from an external Teacher. These things are\n\"spiritually discerned\" by that divine indwelling Spirit, that \"mind of\nChrist,\" whereof speaks the Great Apostle,[5] and that inner light is\nshed upon the lower mind.\n\nThis is the way of the Divine Wisdom, the true THEOSOPHY. It is not, as\nsome think, a diluted version of Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Taoism, or of\nany special religion. It is Esoteric Christianity as truly as it is\nEsoteric Buddhism, and belongs equally to all religions, exclusively to\nnone. This is the source of the suggestions made in this little volume,\nfor the helping of those who seek the Light--that \"true Light which\nlighteth every man that cometh into the world,\"[6] though most have not\nyet opened their eyes to it. It does not bring the Light. It only says:\n\"Behold the Light!\" For thus have we heard. It appeals only to the few\nwho hunger for more than the exoteric teachings give them. For those who\nare fully satisfied with the exoteric teachings, it is not intended; for\nwhy should bread be forced on those who are not hungry? For those who\nhunger, may it prove bread, and not a stone.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                              PAGE\nFOREWORD                                      vii.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n  THE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS                  1\n\nCHAPTER II.\n  THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY              36\n\nCHAPTER III.\n  THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY              69\n    (_concluded_)\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n  THE HISTORICAL JESUS                        120\n\nCHAPTER V.\n  THE MYTHIC CHRIST                           145\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n  THE MYSTIC CHRIST                           170\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n  THE ATONEMENT                               193\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n  RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION                  231\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n  THE TRINITY                                 253\n\nCHAPTER X.\n  PRAYER                                      276\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n  THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS                     301\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n  SACRAMENTS                                  324\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n  SACRAMENTS (_continued_)                    346\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n  REVELATION                                  369\n\nAFTERWORD                                     386\n\nINDEX                                         388\n\n\n\n\n\nESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS.\n\n\nMany, perhaps most, who see the title of this book will at once traverse\nit, and will deny that there is anything valuable which can be rightly\ndescribed as \"Esoteric Christianity.\" There is a wide-spread, and withal\na popular, idea that there is no such thing as an occult teaching in\nconnection with Christianity, and that \"The Mysteries,\" whether Lesser\nor Greater, were a purely Pagan institution. The very name of \"The\nMysteries of Jesus,\" so familiar in the ears of the Christians of the\nfirst centuries, would come with a shock of surprise on those of their\nmodern successors, and, if spoken as denoting a special and definite\ninstitution in the Early Church, would cause a smile of incredulity. It\nhas actually been made a matter of boast that Christianity has no\nsecrets, that whatever it has to say it says to all, and whatever it has\nto teach it teaches to all. Its truths are supposed to be so simple,\nthat \"a way-faring man, though a fool, may not err therein,\" and the\n\"simple Gospel\" has become a stock phrase.\n\nIt is necessary, therefore, to prove clearly that in the Early Church,\nat least, Christianity was no whit behind other great religions in\npossessing a hidden side, and that it guarded, as a priceless treasure,\nthe secrets revealed only to a select few in its Mysteries. But ere\ndoing this it will be well to consider the whole question of this hidden\nside of religions, and to see why such a side must exist if a religion\nis to be strong and stable; for thus its existence in Christianity will\nappear as a foregone conclusion, and the references to it in the\nwritings of the Christian Fathers will appear simple and natural instead\nof surprising and unintelligible. As a historical fact, the existence\nof this esotericism is demonstrable; but it may also be shown that\nintellectually it is a necessity.\n\nThe first question we have to answer is: What is the object of\nreligions? They are given to the world by men wiser than the masses of\nthe people on whom they are bestowed, and are intended to quicken human\nevolution. In order to do this effectively they must reach individuals\nand influence them. Now all men are not at the same level of evolution,\nbut evolution might be figured as a rising gradient, with men stationed\non it at every point. The most highly evolved are far above the least\nevolved, both in intelligence and character; the capacity alike to\nunderstand and to act varies at every stage. It is, therefore, useless\nto give to all the same religious teaching; that which would help the\nintellectual man would be entirely unintelligible to the stupid, while\nthat which would throw the saint into ecstasy would leave the criminal\nuntouched. If, on the other hand, the teaching be suitable to help the\nunintelligent, it is intolerably crude and jejune to the philosopher,\nwhile that which redeems the criminal is utterly useless to the saint.\nYet all the types need religion, so that each may reach upward to a life\nhigher than that which he is leading, and no type or grade should be\nsacrificed to any other. Religion must be as graduated as evolution,\nelse it fails in its object.\n\nNext comes the question: In what way do religions seek to quicken human\nevolution? Religions seek to evolve the moral and intellectual natures,\nand to aid the spiritual nature to unfold itself. Regarding man as a\ncomplex being, they seek to meet him at every point of his constitution,\nand therefore to bring messages suitable for each, teachings adequate to\nthe most diverse human needs. Teachings must therefore be adapted to\neach mind and heart to which they are addressed. If a religion does not\nreach and master the intelligence, if it does not purify and inspire the\nemotions, it has failed in its object, so far as the person addressed is\nconcerned.\n\nNot only does it thus direct itself to the intelligence and the\nemotions, but it seeks, as said, to stimulate the unfoldment of the\nspiritual nature. It answers to that inner impulse which exists in\nhumanity, and which is ever pushing the race onwards. For deeply within\nthe heart of all--often overlaid by transitory conditions, often\nsubmerged under pressing interests and anxieties--there exists a\ncontinual seeking after God. \"As the hart panteth after the\nwater-brooks, so panteth\"[7] humanity after God. The search is sometimes\nchecked for a space, and the yearning seems to disappear. Phases recur\nin civilisation and in thought, wherein this cry of the human Spirit for\nthe divine--seeking its source as water seeks its level, to borrow a\nsimile from Giordano Bruno--this yearning of the human Spirit for that\nwhich is akin to it in the universe, of the part for the whole, seems to\nbe stilled, to have vanished; none the less does that yearning reappear,\nand once more the same cry rings out from the Spirit. Trampled on for a\ntime, apparently destroyed, though the tendency may be, it rises again\nand again with inextinguishable persistence, it repeats itself again\nand again, no matter how often it is silenced; and it thus proves itself\nto be an inherent tendency in human nature, an ineradicable constituent\nthereof. Those who declare triumphantly, \"Lo! it is dead!\" find it\nfacing them again with undiminished vitality. Those who build without\nallowing for it find their well-constructed edifices riven as by an\nearthquake. Those who hold it to be outgrown find the wildest\nsuperstitions succeed its denial. So much is it an integral part of\nhumanity, that man _will_ have some answer to his questionings; rather\nan answer that is false, than none. If he cannot find religious truth,\nhe will take religious error rather than no religion, and will accept\nthe crudest and most incongruous ideals rather than admit that the ideal\nis non-existent.\n\nReligion, then, meets this craving, and taking hold of the constituent\nin human nature that gives rise to it, trains it, strengthens it,\npurifies it and guides it towards its proper ending--the union of the\nhuman Spirit with the divine, so \"that God may be all in all.\"[8]\n\n\nThe next question which meets us in our enquiry is: What is the source\nof religions? To this question two answers have been given in modern\ntimes--that of the Comparative Mythologists and that of the Comparative\nReligionists. Both base their answers on a common basis of admitted\nfacts. Research has indisputably proved that the religions of the world\nare markedly similar in their main teachings, in their possession of\nFounders who display superhuman powers and extraordinary moral\nelevation, in their ethical precepts, in their use of means to come into\ntouch with invisible worlds, and in the symbols by which they express\ntheir leading beliefs. This similarity, amounting in many cases to\nidentity, proves--according to both the above schools--a common origin.\n\nBut on the nature of this common origin the two schools are at issue.\nThe Comparative Mythologists contend that the common origin is the\ncommon ignorance, and that the loftiest religious doctrines are simply\nrefined expressions of the crude and barbarous guesses of savages, of\nprimitive men, regarding themselves and their surroundings. Animism,\nfetishism, nature-worship, sun-worship--these are the constituents of\nthe primeval mud out of which has grown the splendid lily of religion. A\nKrishna, a Buddha, a Lao-tze, a Jesus, are the highly civilised\nbut lineal descendants of the whirling medicine-man of the savage. God\nis a composite photograph of the innumerable Gods who are the\npersonifications of the forces of nature. And so forth. It is all summed\nup in the phrase: Religions are branches from a common trunk--human\nignorance.\n\nThe Comparative Religionists consider, on the other hand, that all\nreligions originate from the teachings of Divine Men, who give out to\nthe different nations of the world, from time to time, such parts of the\nfundamental verities of religion as the people are capable of receiving,\nteaching ever the same morality, inculcating the use of similar means,\nemploying the same significant symbols. The savage religions--animism\nand the rest--are degenerations, the results of decadence, distorted and\ndwarfed descendants of true religious beliefs. Sun-worship and pure\nforms of nature-worship were, in their day, noble religions, highly\nallegorical but full of profound truth and knowledge. The great\nTeachers--it is alleged by Hindus, Buddhists, and by some Comparative\nReligionists, such as Theosophists--form an enduring Brotherhood of men\nwho have risen beyond humanity, who appear at certain periods to\nenlighten the world, and who are the spiritual guardians of the human\nrace. This view may be summed up in the phrase: \"Religions are branches\nfrom a common trunk--Divine Wisdom.\"\n\nThis Divine Wisdom is spoken of as the Wisdom, the Gnosis, the\nTheosophia, and some, in different ages of the world, have so desired to\nemphasise their belief in this unity of religions, that they have\npreferred the eclectic name of Theosophist to any narrower designation.\n\nThe relative value of the contentions of these two opposed schools must\nbe judged by the cogency of the evidence put forth by each. The\nappearance of a degenerate form of a noble idea may closely resemble\nthat of a refined product of a coarse idea, and the only method of\ndeciding between degeneration and evolution would be the examination, if\npossible, of intermediate and remote ancestors. The evidence brought\nforward by believers in the Wisdom is of this kind. They allege: that\nthe Founders of religions, judged by the records of their teachings,\nwere far above the level of average humanity; that the Scriptures of\nreligions contain moral precepts, sublime ideals, poetical aspirations,\nprofound philosophical statements, which are not even approached in\nbeauty and elevation by later writings in the same religions--that is,\nthat the old is higher than the new, instead of the new being higher\nthan the old; that no case can be shown of the refining and improving\nprocess alleged to be the source of current religions, whereas many\ncases of degeneracy from pure teachings can be adduced; that even among\nsavages, if their religions be carefully studied, many traces of lofty\nideas can be found, ideas which are obviously above the productive\ncapacity of the savages themselves.\n\nThis last idea has been worked out by Mr. Andrew Lang, who--judging by\nhis book on _The Making of Religion_--should be classed as a Comparative\nReligionist rather than as a Comparative Mythologist. He points to the\nexistence of a common tradition, which, he alleges, cannot have been\nevolved by the savages for themselves, being men whose ordinary beliefs\nare of the crudest kind and whose minds are little developed. He shows,\nunder crude beliefs and degraded views, lofty traditions of a sublime\ncharacter, touching the nature of the Divine Being and His relations\nwith men. The deities who are worshipped are, for the most part, the\nveriest devils, but behind, beyond all these, there is a dim but\nglorious over-arching Presence, seldom or never named, but whispered of\nas source of all, as power and love and goodness, too tender to awaken\nterror, too good to require supplication. Such ideas manifestly cannot\nhave been conceived by the savages among whom they are found, and they\nremain as eloquent witnesses of the revelations made by some great\nTeacher--dim tradition of whom is generally also discoverable--who was\na Son of the Wisdom, and imparted some of its teachings in a long\nbye-gone age.\n\nThe reason, and, indeed, the justification, of the view taken by the\nComparative Mythologists is patent. They found in every direction low\nforms of religious belief, existing among savage tribes. These were seen\nto accompany general lack of civilisation. Regarding civilised men as\nevolving from uncivilised, what more natural than to regard civilised\nreligion as evolving from uncivilised? It is the first obvious idea.\nOnly later and deeper study can show that the savages of to-day are not\nour ancestral types, but are the degenerated offsprings of great\ncivilised stocks of the past, and that man in his infancy was not left\nto grow up untrained, but was nursed and educated by his elders, from\nwhom he received his first guidance alike in religion and civilisation.\nThis view is being substantiated by such facts as those dwelt on by\nLang, and will presently raise the question, \"Who were these elders, of\nwhom traditions are everywhere found?\"\n\nStill pursuing our enquiry, we come next to the question: To what people\nwere religions given? And here we come at once to the difficulty with\nwhich every Founder of a religion must deal, that already spoken of as\nbearing on the primary object of religion itself, the quickening of\nhuman evolution, with its corollary that all grades of evolving humanity\nmust be considered by Him. Men are at every stage of evolution, from the\nmost barbarous to the most developed; men are found of lofty\nintelligence, but also of the most unevolved mentality; in one place\nthere is a highly developed and complex civilisation, in another a crude\nand simple polity. Even within any given civilisation we find the most\nvaried types--the most ignorant and the most educated, the most\nthoughtful and the most careless, the most spiritual and the most\nbrutal; yet each one of these types must be reached, and each must be\nhelped in the place where he is. If evolution be true, this difficulty\nis inevitable, and must be faced and overcome by the divine Teacher,\nelse will His work be a failure. If man is evolving as all around him\nis evolving, these differences of development, these varied grades of\nintelligence, must be a characteristic of humanity everywhere, and must\nbe provided for in each of the religions of the world.\n\nWe are thus brought face to face with the position that we cannot have\none and the same religious teaching even for a single nation, still less\nfor a single civilisation, or for the whole world. If there be but one\nteaching, a large number of those to whom it is addressed will entirely\nescape its influence. If it be made suitable for those whose\nintelligence is limited, whose morality is elementary, whose perceptions\nare obtuse, so that it may help and train them, and thus enable them to\nevolve, it will be a religion utterly unsuitable for those men, living\nin the same nation, forming part of the same civilisation, who have keen\nand delicate moral perceptions, bright and subtle intelligence, and\nevolving spirituality. But if, on the other hand, this latter class is\nto be helped, if intelligence is to be given a philosophy that it can\nregard as admirable, if delicate moral perceptions are to be still\nfurther refined, if the dawning spiritual nature is to be enabled to\ndevelope into the perfect day, then the religion will be so spiritual,\nso intellectual, and so moral, that when it is preached to the former\nclass it will not touch their minds or their hearts, it will be to them\na string of meaningless phrases, incapable of arousing their latent\nintelligence, or of giving them any motive for conduct which will help\nthem to grow into a purer morality.\n\nLooking, then, at these facts concerning religion, considering its\nobject, its means, its origin, the nature and varying needs of the\npeople to whom it is addressed, recognising the evolution of spiritual,\nintellectual, and moral faculties in man, and the need of each man for\nsuch training as is suitable for the stage of evolution at which he has\narrived, we are led to the absolute necessity of a varied and graduated\nreligious teaching, such as will meet these different needs and help\neach man in his own place.\n\nThere is yet another reason why esoteric teaching is desirable with\nrespect to a certain class of truths. It is eminently the fact in\nregard to this class that \"knowledge is power.\" The public promulgation\nof a philosophy profoundly intellectual, sufficient to train an already\nhighly developed intellect, and to draw the allegiance of a lofty mind,\ncannot injure any. It can be preached without hesitation, for it does\nnot attract the ignorant, who turn away from it as dry, stiff, and\nuninteresting. But there are teachings which deal with the constitution\nof nature, explain recondite laws, and throw light on hidden processes,\nthe knowledge of which gives control over natural energies, and enables\nits possessor to direct these energies to certain ends, as a chemist\ndeals with the production of chemical compounds. Such knowledge may be\nvery useful to highly developed men, and may much increase their power\nof serving the race. But if this knowledge were published to the world,\nit might and would be misused, just as the knowledge of subtle poisons\nwas misused in the Middle Ages by the Borgias and by others. It would\npass into the hands of people of strong intellect, but of unregulated\ndesires, men moved by separative instincts, seeking the gain of their\nseparate selves and careless of the common good. They would be attracted\nby the idea of gaining powers which would raise them above the general\nlevel, and place ordinary humanity at their mercy, and would rush to\nacquire the knowledge which exalts its possessors to a superhuman rank.\nThey would, by its possession, become yet more selfish and confirmed in\ntheir separateness, their pride would be nourished and their sense of\naloofness intensified, and thus they would inevitably be driven along\nthe road which leads to diabolism, the Left Hand Path, whose goal is\nisolation and not union. And they would not only themselves suffer in\ntheir inner nature, but they would also become a menace to Society,\nalready suffering sufficiently at the hands of men whose intellect is\nmore evolved than their conscience. Hence arises the necessity of\nwithholding certain teachings from those who, morally, are as yet\nunfitted to receive them; and this necessity presses on every Teacher\nwho is able to impart such knowledge. He desires to give it to those\nwho will use the powers it confers for the general good, for quickening\nhuman evolution; but he equally desires to be no party to giving it to\nthose who would use it for their own aggrandisement at the cost of\nothers.\n\nNor is this a matter of theory only, according to the Occult Records,\nwhich give the details of the events alluded to in Genesis vi. _et seq._\nThis knowledge was, in those ancient times and on the continent of\nAtlantis, given without any rigid conditions as to the moral elevation,\npurity, and unselfishness of the candidates. Those who were\nintellectually qualified were taught, just as men are taught ordinary\nscience in modern days. The publicity now so imperiously demanded was\nthen given, with the result that men became giants in knowledge but also\ngiants in evil, till the earth groaned under her oppressors and the cry\nof a trampled humanity rang through the worlds. Then came the\ndestruction of Atlantis, the whelming of that vast continent beneath the\nwaters of the ocean, some particulars of which are given in the Hebrew\nScriptures in the story of the Noachian deluge, and in the Hindu\nScriptures of the further East in the story of Vaivasvata Manu.\n\nSince that experience of the danger of allowing unpurified hands to\ngrasp the knowledge which is power, the great Teachers have imposed\nrigid conditions as regards purity, unselfishness, and self-control on\nall candidates for such instruction. They distinctly refuse to impart\nknowledge of this kind to any who will not consent to a rigid\ndiscipline, intended to eliminate separateness of feeling and interest.\nThey measure the moral strength of the candidate even more than his\nintellectual development, for the teaching itself will develope the\nintellect while it puts a strain on the moral nature. Far better that\nthe Great Ones should be assailed by the ignorant for Their supposed\nselfishness in withholding knowledge, than that They should precipitate\nthe world into another Atlantean catastrophe.\n\nSo much of theory we lay down as bearing on the necessity of a hidden\nside in all religions. When from theory we turn to facts, we naturally\nask: Has this hidden side existed in the past, forming a part of the\nreligions of the world? The answer must be an immediate and unhesitating\naffirmative; every great religion has claimed to possess a hidden\nteaching, and has declared that it is the repository of theoretical\nmystic, and further of practical mystic, or occult, knowledge. The\nmystic explanation of popular teaching was public, and expounded the\nlatter as an allegory, giving to crude and irrational statements and\nstories a meaning which the intellect could accept. Behind this\ntheoretical mysticism, as it was behind the popular, there existed\nfurther the practical mysticism, a hidden spiritual teaching, which was\nonly imparted under definite conditions, conditions known and published,\nthat must be fulfilled by every candidate. S. Clement of Alexandria\nmentions this division of the Mysteries. After purification, he says,\n\"are the Minor Mysteries, which have some foundation of instruction and\nof preliminary preparation for what is to come after; and the Great\nMysteries, in which nothing remains to be learned of the universe, but\nonly to contemplate and comprehend nature and things.\"[9]\n\nThis position cannot be controverted as regards the ancient religions.\nThe Mysteries of Egypt were the glory of that ancient land, and the\nnoblest sons of Greece, such as Plato, went to Sais and to Thebes to be\ninitiated by Egyptian Teachers of Wisdom. The Mithraic Mysteries of the\nPersians, the Orphic and Bacchic Mysteries and the later Eleusinian\nsemi-Mysteries of the Greeks, the Mysteries of Samothrace, Scythia,\nChaldea, are familiar in name, at least, as household words. Even in the\nextremely diluted form of the Eleusinian Mysteries, their value is most\nhighly praised by the most eminent men of Greece, as Pindar, Sophocles,\nIsocrates, Plutarch, and Plato. Especially were they regarded as useful\nwith regard to _post-mortem_ existence, as the Initiated learned that\nwhich ensured his future happiness. Sopater further alleged that\nInitiation established a kinship of the soul with the divine Nature, and\nin the exoteric Hymn to Demeter covert references are made to the holy\nchild, Iacchus, and to his death and resurrection, as dealt with in the\nMysteries.[10]\n\nFrom Iamblichus, the great theurgist of the third and fourth centuries\nA.D., much may be learned as to the object of the Mysteries. Theurgy was\nmagic, \"the last part of the sacerdotal science,\"[11] and was practised\nin the Greater Mysteries, to evoke the appearance of superior Beings.\nThe theory on which these Mysteries were based may be very briefly thus\nstated: There is ONE, prior to all beings, immovable, abiding in the\nsolitude of His own unity. From THAT arises the Supreme God, the\nSelf-begotten, the Good, the Source of all things, the Root, the God of\nGods, the First Cause, unfolding Himself into Light.[12] From Him\nsprings the Intelligible World, or ideal universe, the Universal Mind,\nthe _Nous_ and the incorporeal or intelligible Gods belong to this.\nFrom this the World-Soul, to which belong the \"divine intellectual forms\nwhich are present with the visible bodies of the Gods.\"[13] Then come\nvarious hierarchies of superhuman beings, Archangels, Archons (Rulers)\nor Cosmocratores, Angels, Daimons, &c. Man is a being of a lower order,\nallied to these in his nature, and is capable of knowing them; this\nknowledge was achieved in the Mysteries, and it led to union with\nGod.[14] In the Mysteries these doctrines are expounded, \"the\nprogression from, and the regression of all things to, the One, and the\nentire domination of the One,\"[15] and, further, these different Beings\nwere evoked, and appeared, sometimes to teach, sometimes, by Their mere\npresence, to elevate and purify. \"The Gods,\" says Iamblichus, \"being\nbenevolent and propitious, impart their light to theurgists in unenvying\nabundance, calling upwards their souls to themselves, procuring them a\nunion with themselves, and accustoming them, while they are yet in body,\nto be separated from bodies, and to be led round to their eternal and\nintelligible principle.\"[16] For \"the soul having a twofold life, one\nbeing in conjunction with body, but the other being separate from all\nbody,\"[17] it is most necessary to learn to separate it from the body,\nthat thus it may unite itself with the Gods by its intellectual and\ndivine part, and learn the genuine principles of knowledge, and the\ntruths of the intelligible world.[18] \"The presence of the Gods, indeed,\nimparts to us health of body, virtue of soul, purity of intellect, and,\nin one word, elevates everything in us to its proper nature. It exhibits\nthat which is not body as body to the eyes of the soul, through those of\nthe body.\"[19] When the Gods appear, the soul receives \"a liberation\nfrom the passions, a transcendent perfection, and an energy entirely\nmore excellent, and participates of divine love and an immense joy.\"[20]\nBy this we gain a divine life, and are rendered in reality divine.[21]\n\nThe culminating point of the Mysteries was when the Initiate became a\nGod, whether by union with a divine Being outside himself, or by the\nrealisation of the divine Self within him. This was termed ecstasy, and\nwas a state of what the Indian Yogi would term high Samadhi, the gross\nbody being entranced and the freed soul effecting its own union with the\nGreat One. This \"ecstasy is not a faculty properly so called, it is a\nstate of the soul, which transforms it in such a way that it then\nperceives what was previously hidden from it. The state will not be\npermanent until our union with God is irrevocable; here, in earth life,\necstasy is but a flash.... Man can cease to become man, and become God;\nbut man cannot be God and man at the same time.\"[22] Plotinus states\nthat he had reached this state \"but three times as yet.\"\n\nSo also Proclus taught that the one salvation of the soul was to return\nto her intellectual form, and thus escape from the \"circle of\ngeneration, from abundant wanderings,\" and reach true Being, \"to the\nuniform and simple energy of the period of sameness, instead of the\nabundantly wandering motion of the period which is characterised by\ndifference.\" This is the life sought by those initiated by Orpheus into\nthe Mysteries of Bacchus and Proserpine, and this is the result of the\npractice of the purificatory, or cathartic, virtues.[23]\n\nThese virtues were necessary for the Greater Mysteries, as they\nconcerned the purifying of the subtle body, in which the soul worked\nwhen out of the gross body. The political or practical virtues belonged\nto man's ordinary life, and were required to some extent before he could\nbe a candidate even for such a School as is described below. Then came\nthe cathartic virtues, by which the subtle body, that of the emotions\nand lower mind, was purified; thirdly the intellectual, belonging to the\nAugoeides, or the light-form of the intellect; fourthly the\ncontemplative, or paradigmatic, by which union with God was realised.\nPorphyry writes: \"He who energises according to the practical virtues is\na worthy man; but he who energises according to the purifying virtues is\nan angelic man, or is also a good daimon. He who energises according to\nthe intellectual virtues alone is a God; but he who energises according\nto the paradigmatic virtues is the Father of the Gods.\"[24]\n\nMuch instruction was also given in the Mysteries by the archangelic and\nother hierarchies, and Pythagoras, the great teacher who was initiated\nin India, and who gave \"the knowledge of things that are\" to his pledged\ndisciples, is said to have possessed such a knowledge of music that he\ncould use it for the controlling of men's wildest passions, and the\nilluminating of their minds. Of this, instances are given by Iamblichus\nin his _Life of Pythagoras_. It seems probable that the title of\nTheodidaktos, given to Ammonius Saccas, the master of Plotinus, referred\nless to the sublimity of his teachings than to this divine instruction\nreceived by him in the Mysteries.\n\nSome of the symbols used are explained by Iamblichus,[25] who bids\nPorphyry remove from his thought the image of the thing symbolised and\nreach its intellectual meaning. Thus \"mire\" meant everything that was\nbodily and material; the \"God sitting above the lotus\" signified that\nGod transcended both the mire and the intellect, symbolised by the\nlotus, and was established in Himself, being seated. If \"sailing in a\nship,\" His rule over the world was pictured. And so on.[26] On this use\nof symbols Proclus remarks that \"the Orphic method aimed at revealing\ndivine things by means of symbols, a method common to all writers of\ndivine lore.\"[27]\n\nThe Pythagorean School in Magna Graecia was closed at the end of the\nsixth century B.C., owing to the persecution of the civil power, but\nother communities existed, keeping up the sacred tradition.[28] Mead\nstates that Plato intellectualised it, in order to protect it from an\nincreasing profanation, and the Eleusinian rites preserved some of its\nforms, having lost its substance. The Neo-Platonists inherited from\nPythagoras and Plato, and their works should be studied by those who\nwould realise something of the grandeur and the beauty preserved for\nthe world in the Mysteries.\n\nThe Pythagorean School itself may serve as a type of the discipline\nenforced. On this Mead gives many interesting details,[29] and remarks:\n\"The authors of antiquity are agreed that this discipline had succeeded\nin producing the highest examples, not only of the purest chastity and\nsentiment, but also a simplicity of manners, a delicacy, and a taste for\nserious pursuits which was unparalleled. This is admitted even by\nChristian writers.\" The School had outer disciples, leading the family\nand social life, and the above quotation refers to these. In the inner\nSchool were three degrees--the first of Hearers, who studied for two\nyears in silence, doing their best to master the teachings; the second\ndegree was of Mathematici, wherein were taught geometry and music, the\nnature of number, form, colour, and sound; the third degree was of\nPhysici, who mastered cosmogony and metaphysics. This led up to the true\nMysteries. Candidates for the School must be \"of an unblemished\nreputation and of a contented disposition.\"\n\nThe close identity between the methods and aims pursued in these various\nMysteries and those of Yoga in India is patent to the most superficial\nobserver. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the nations of\nantiquity drew from India; all alike drew from the one source, the Grand\nLodge of Central Asia, which sent out its Initiates to every land. They\nall taught the same doctrines, and pursued the same methods, leading to\nthe same ends. But there was much intercommunication between the\nInitiates of all nations, and there was a common language and a common\nsymbolism. Thus Pythagoras journeyed among the Indians, and received in\nIndia a high Initiation, and Apollonius of Tyana later followed in his\nsteps. Quite Indian in phrase as well as thought were the dying words of\nPlotinus: \"Now I seek to lead back the Self within me to the\nAll-self.\"[30]\n\nAmong the Hindus the duty of teaching the supreme knowledge only to the\nworthy was strictly insisted on. \"The deepest mystery of the end of\nknowledge ... is not to be declared to one who is not a son or a pupil,\nand who is not tranquil in mind.\"[31] So again, after a sketch of Yoga\nwe read: \"Stand up! awake! having found the Great Ones, listen! The road\nis as difficult to tread as the sharp edge of a razor. Thus say the\nwise.\"[32] The Teacher is needed, for written teaching alone does not\nsuffice. The \"end of knowledge\" is to know God--not only to believe; to\nbecome one with God--not only to worship afar off. Man must know the\nreality of the divine Existence, and then know--not only vaguely believe\nand hope--that his own innermost Self is one with God, and that the aim\nof life is to realise that unity. Unless religion can guide a man to\nthat realisation, it is but \"as sounding brass or a tinkling\ncymbal.\"[33]\n\nSo also it was asserted that man should learn to leave the gross body:\n\"Let a man with firmness separate it [the soul] from his own body, as a\ngrass-stalk from its sheath.\"[34] And it was written! \"In the golden\nhighest sheath dwells the stainless, changeless Brahman; It is the\nradiant white Light of lights, known to the knowers of the Self.\"[35]\n\"When the seer sees the golden-coloured Creator, the Lord, the Spirit,\nwhose womb is Brahman, then, having thrown away merit and demerit,\nstainless, the wise one reaches the highest union.\"[36]\n\nNor were the Hebrews without their secret knowledge and their Schools of\nInitiation. The company of prophets at Naioth presided over by\nSamuel[37] formed such a School, and the oral teaching was handed down\nby them. Similar Schools existed at Bethel and Jericho,[38] and in\nCruden's _Concordance_[39] there is the following interesting note: \"The\nSchools or Colleges of the prophets are the first [schools] of which we\nhave any account in Scripture; where the children of the prophets, that\nis, their disciples, lived in the exercises of a retired and austere\nlife, in study and meditation, and reading of the law of God.... These\nSchools, or Societies, of the prophets were succeeded by the\nSynagogues.\" The _Kabbala_, which contains the semi-public teaching, is,\nas it now stands, a modern compilation, part of it being the work of\nRabbi Moses de Leon, who died A.D. 1305. It consists of five books,\nBahir, Zohar, Sepher Sephiroth, Sepher Yetzirah, and Asch Metzareth, and\nis asserted to have been transmitted orally from very ancient times--as\nantiquity is reckoned historically. Dr. Wynn Westcott says that \"Hebrew\ntradition assigns the oldest parts of the Zohar to a date antecedent to\nthe building of the second Temple;\" and Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai is said\nto have written down some of it in the first century A.D. The Sepher\nYetzirah is spoken of by Saadjah Gaon, who died A.D. 940, as \"very\nancient.\"[40] Some portions of the ancient oral teaching have been\nincorporated in the _Kabbala_ as it now stands, but the true archaic\nwisdom of the Hebrews remains in the guardianship of a few of the true\nsons of Israel.\n\nBrief as is this outline, it is sufficient to show the existence of a\nhidden side in the religions of the world outside Christianity, and we\nmay now examine the question whether Christianity was an exception to\nthis universal rule.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY.\n\n\n_(a)_ THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES.\n\nHaving seen that the religions of the past claimed with one voice to\nhave a hidden side, to be custodians of \"Mysteries,\" and that this claim\nwas endorsed by the seeking of initiation by the greatest men, we must\nnow ascertain whether Christianity stands outside this circle of\nreligions, and alone is without a Gnosis, offering to the world only a\nsimple faith and not a profound knowledge. Were it so, it would indeed\nbe a sad and lamentable fact, proving Christianity to be intended for a\nclass only, and not for all types of human beings. But that it is not\nso, we shall be able to prove beyond the possibility of rational doubt.\n\nAnd that proof is the thing which Christendom at this time most sorely\nneeds, for the very flower of Christendom is perishing for lack of\nknowledge. If the esoteric teaching can be re-established and win\npatient and earnest students, it will not be long before the occult is\nalso restored. Disciples of the Lesser Mysteries will become candidates\nfor the Greater, and with the regaining of knowledge will come again the\nauthority of teaching. And truly the need is great. For, looking at the\nworld around us, we find that religion in the West is suffering from the\nvery difficulty that theoretically we should expect to find.\nChristianity, having lost its mystic and esoteric teaching, is losing\nits hold on a large number of the more highly educated, and the partial\nrevival during the past few years is co-incident with the\nre-introduction of some mystic teaching. It is patent to every student\nof the closing forty years of the last century, that crowds of\nthoughtful and moral people have slipped away from the churches, because\nthe teachings they received there outraged their intelligence and\nshocked their moral sense. It is idle to pretend that the wide-spread\nagnosticism of this period had its root either in lack of morality or in\ndeliberate crookedness of mind. Everyone who carefully studies the\nphenomena presented will admit that men of strong intellect have been\ndriven out of Christianity by the crudity of the religious ideas set\nbefore them, the contradictions in the authoritative teachings, the\nviews as to God, man, and the universe that no trained intelligence\ncould possibly admit. Nor can it be said that any kind of moral\ndegradation lay at the root of the revolt against the dogmas of the\nChurch. The rebels were not too bad for their religion; on the contrary,\nit was the religion that was too bad for them. The rebellion against\npopular Christianity was due to the awakening and the growth of\nconscience; it was the conscience that revolted, as well as the\nintelligence, against teachings dishonouring to God and man alike, that\nrepresented God as a tyrant, and man as essentially evil, gaining\nsalvation by slavish submission.\n\nThe reason for this revolt lay in the gradual descent of Christian\nteaching into so-called simplicity, so that the most ignorant might be\nable to grasp it. Protestant religionists asserted loudly that nothing\nought to be preached save that which every one could grasp, that the\nglory of the Gospel lay in its simplicity, and that the child and the\nunlearned ought to be able to understand and apply it to life. True\nenough, if by this it were meant that there are some religious truths\nthat all can grasp, and that a religion fails if it leaves the lowest,\nthe most ignorant, the most dull, outside the pale of its elevating\ninfluence. But false, utterly false, if by this it be meant that\nreligion has no truths that the ignorant cannot understand, that it is\nso poor and limited a thing that it has nothing to teach which is above\nthe thought of the unintelligent or above the moral purview of the\ndegraded. False, fatally false, if such be the meaning; for as that view\nspreads, occupying the pulpits and being sounded in the churches, many\nnoble men and women, whose hearts are half-broken as they sever the\nlinks that bind them to their early faith, withdraw from the churches,\nand leave their places to be filled by the hypocritical and the\nignorant. They pass either into a state of passive agnosticism, or--if\nthey be young and enthusiastic--into a condition of active aggression,\nnot believing that that can be the highest which outrages alike\nintellect and conscience, and preferring the honesty of open unbelief to\nthe drugging of the intellect and the conscience at the bidding of an\nauthority in which they recognise nothing that is divine.\n\nIn thus studying the thought of our time we see that the question of a\nhidden teaching in connection with Christianity becomes of vital\nimportance. Is Christianity to survive as _the_ religion of the West? Is\nit to live through the centuries of the future, and to continue to play\na part in moulding the thought of the evolving western races? If it is\nto live, it must regain the knowledge it has lost, and again have its\nmystic and its occult teachings; it must again stand forth as an\nauthoritative teacher of spiritual verities, clothed with the only\nauthority worth anything, the authority of knowledge. If these teachings\nbe regained, their influence will soon be seen in wider and deeper\nviews of truth; dogmas, which now seem like mere shells and fetters,\nshall again be seen to be partial presentments of fundamental realities.\nFirst, Esoteric Christianity will reappear in the \"Holy Place,\" in the\nTemple, so that all who are capable of receiving it may follow its lines\nof published thought; and secondly, Occult Christianity will again\ndescend into the Adytum, dwelling behind the Veil which guards the \"Holy\nof Holies,\" into which only the Initiate may enter. Then again will\noccult teaching be within the reach of those who qualify themselves to\nreceive it, according to the ancient rules, those who are willing in\nmodern days to meet the ancient demands, made on all those who would\nfain know the reality and truth of spiritual things.\n\nOnce again we turn our eyes to history, to see whether Christianity was\nunique among religions in having no inner teaching, or whether it\nresembled all others in possessing this hidden treasure. Such a question\nis a matter of evidence, not of theory, and must be decided by the\nauthority of the existing documents and not by the mere _ipse dixit_ of\nmodern Christians.\n\nAs a matter of fact both the \"New Testament\" and the writings of the\nearly Church make the same declarations as to the possession by the\nChurch of such teachings, and we learn from these the fact of the\nexistence of Mysteries--called the Mysteries of Jesus, or the Mystery of\nthe Kingdom--the conditions imposed on candidates, something of the\ngeneral nature of the teachings given, and other details. Certain\npassages in the \"New Testament\" would remain entirely obscure, if it\nwere not for the light thrown on them by the definite statements of the\nFathers and Bishops of the Church, but in that light they became clear\nand intelligible.\n\nIt would indeed have been strange had it been otherwise when we consider\nthe lines of religious thought which influenced primitive Christianity.\nAllied to the Hebrews, the Persians, and the Greeks, tinged by the older\nfaiths of India, deeply coloured by Syrian and Egyptian thought, this\nlater branch of the great religious stem could not do other than again\nre-affirm the ancient traditions, and place in the grasp of western\nraces the full treasure of the ancient teaching. \"The faith once\ndelivered to the saints\" would indeed have been shorn of its chief value\nif, when delivered to the West, the pearl of esoteric teaching had been\nwithheld.\n\nThe first evidence to be examined is that of the \"New Testament.\" For\nour purpose we may put aside all the vexed questions of different\nreadings and different authors, that can only be decided by scholars.\nCritical scholarship has much to say on the age of MSS., on the\nauthenticity of documents, and so on. But we need not concern ourselves\nwith these. We may accept the canonical Scriptures, as showing what was\nbelieved in the early Church as to the teaching of the Christ and of His\nimmediate followers, and see what they say as to the existence of a\nsecret teaching given only to the few. Having seen the words put into\nthe mouth of Jesus Himself, and regarded by the Church as of supreme\nauthority, we will look at the writings of the great apostle S. Paul;\nthen we will consider the statements made by those who inherited the\napostolic tradition and guided the Church during the first centuries\nA.D. Along this unbroken line of tradition and written testimony the\nproposition that Christianity had a hidden side can be established. We\nshall further find that the Lesser Mysteries of mystic interpretation\ncan be traced through the centuries to the beginning of the 19th\ncentury, and that though there were no Schools of Mysticism recognised\nas preparatory to Initiation, after the disappearance of the Mysteries,\nyet great Mystics, from time to time, reached the lower stages of\nexstasy, by their own sustained efforts, aided doubtless by invisible\nTeachers.\n\nThe words of the Master Himself are clear and definite, and were, as we\nshall see, quoted by Origen as referring to the secret teaching\npreserved in the Church. \"And when he was alone, they that were about\nHim with the twelve asked of Him the parable. And He said unto them,\n'Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but\nunto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.'\" And\nlater: \"With many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they\nwere able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them; and\nwhen they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples.\"[41] Mark\nthe significant words, \"when they were alone,\" and the phrase, \"them\nthat are without.\" So also in the version of S. Matthew: \"Jesus sent the\nmultitude away, and went into the house; and His disciples came unto\nHim.\" These teachings given \"in the house,\" the innermost meanings of\nHis instructions, were alleged to be handed on from teacher to teacher.\nThe Gospel gives, it will be noted, the allegorical mystic explanation,\nthat which we have called The Lesser Mysteries, but the deeper meaning\nwas said to be given only to the Initiates.\n\nAgain, Jesus tells even His apostles: \"I have yet many things to say to\nyou, but ye cannot bear them now.\"[42] Some of them were probably said\nafter His death, when He was seen of His disciples, \"speaking of the\nthings pertaining to the kingdom of God.\"[43] None of these have been\npublicly recorded, but who can believe that they were neglected or\nforgotten, and were not handed down as a priceless possession? There was\na tradition in the Church that He visited His apostles for a\nconsiderable period after His death, for the sake of giving them\ninstruction--a fact that will be referred to later--and in the famous\nGnostic treatise, the _Pistis Sophia_, we read: \"It came to pass, when\nJesus had risen from the dead, that He passed eleven years speaking with\nHis disciples and instructing them.\"[44] Then there is the phrase, which\nmany would fain soften and explain away: \"Give not that which is holy to\nthe dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine\"[45]--a precept which\nis of general application indeed, but was considered by the early\nChurch to refer to the secret teachings. It should be remembered that\nthe words had not the same harshness of sound in the ancient days as\nthey have now; for the words \"dogs\"--like \"the vulgar,\" \"the\nprofane\"--was applied by those within a certain circle to all who were\noutside its pale, whether by a society or association, or by a\nnation--as by the Jews to all Gentiles.[46] It was sometimes used to\ndesignate those who were outside the circle of Initiates, and we find it\nemployed in that sense in the early Church; those who, not having been\ninitiated into the Mysteries, were regarded as being outside \"the\nkingdom of God,\" or \"the spiritual Israel,\" had this name applied to\nthem.\n\nThere were several names, exclusive of the term \"The Mystery,\" or \"The\nMysteries,\" used to designate the sacred circle of the Initiates or\nconnected with Initiation: \"The Kingdom,\" \"The Kingdom of God,\" \"The\nKingdom of Heaven,\" \"The Narrow Path,\" \"The Strait Gate,\" \"The\nPerfect,\" \"The Saved,\" \"Life Eternal,\" \"Life,\" \"The Second Birth,\" \"A\nLittle One,\" \"A Little Child.\" The meaning is made plain by the use of\nthese words in early Christian writings, and in some cases even outside\nthe Christian pale. Thus the term, \"The Perfect,\" was used by the\nEssenes, who had three orders in their communities: the Neophytes, the\nBrethren, and the Perfect--the latter being Initiates; and it is\nemployed generally in that sense in old writings. \"The Little Child\" was\nthe ordinary name for a candidate just initiated, _i.e._, who had just\ntaken his \"second birth.\"\n\nWhen we know this use, many obscure and otherwise harsh passages become\nintelligible. \"Then said one unto Him: Lord, are there few that be\nsaved? And He said unto them: Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for\nmany, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able.\"[47]\nIf this be applied in the ordinary Protestant way to salvation from\neverlasting hell-fire, the statement becomes incredible, shocking. No\nSaviour of the world can be supposed to assert that many will seek to\navoid hell and enter heaven, but will not be able to do so. But as\napplied to the narrow gateway of Initiation and to salvation from\nrebirth, it is perfectly true and natural. So again: \"Enter ye in at the\nstrait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to\ndestruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is\nthe gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life; and few there be\nthat find it.\"[48] The warning which immediately follows against the\nfalse prophets, the teachers of the dark Mysteries, is most apposite in\nthis connection. No student can miss the familiar ring of these words\nused in this same sense in other writings. The \"ancient narrow way\" is\nfamiliar to all; the path \"difficult to tread as the sharp edge of a\nrazor,\"[49] already mentioned; the going \"from death to death\" of those\nwho follow the flower-strewn path of desires, who do not know God; for\nthose men only become immortal and escape from the wide mouth of death,\nfrom ever repeated destruction, who have quitted all desires.[50] The\nallusion to death is, of course, to the repeated births of the soul into\ngross material existence, regarded always as \"death\" compared to the\n\"life\" of the higher and subtler worlds.\n\nThis \"Strait Gate\" was the gateway of Initiation, and through it a\ncandidate entered \"The Kingdom.\" And it ever has been, and must be, true\nthat only a few can enter that gateway, though myriads--an exceedingly\n\"great multitude, which no man could number,\"[51] not a few--enter into\nthe happiness of the heaven-world. So also spoke another great Teacher,\nnearly three thousand years earlier: \"Among thousands of men scarce one\nstriveth for perfection; of the successful strivers scarce one knoweth\nme in essence.\"[52] For the Initiates are few in each generation, the\nflower of humanity; but no gloomy sentence of everlasting woe is\npronounced in this statement on the vast majority of the human race.\nThe saved are, as Proclus taught,[53] those who escape from the circle\nof generation, within which humanity is bound.\n\nIn this connection we may recall the story of the young man who came to\nJesus, and, addressing Him as \"Good Master,\" asked how he might win\neternal life--the well-recognised liberation from rebirth by knowledge\nof God.[54] His first answer was the regular exoteric precept: \"Keep the\ncommandments.\" But when the young man answered: \"All these things have I\nkept from my youth up;\" then, to that conscience free from all knowledge\nof transgression, came the answer of the true Teacher: \"If thou wilt be\nperfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou\nshalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.\" \"If thou wilt be\nperfect,\" be a member of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience must be\nembraced. And then to His own disciples Jesus explains that a rich man\ncan hardly enter the Kingdom of Heaven, such entrance being more\ndifficult than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle; with men\nsuch entrance could not be, with God all things were possible.[55] Only\nGod in man can pass that barrier.\n\nThis text has been variously explained away, it being obviously\nimpossible to take it in its surface meaning, that a rich man cannot\nenter a post-mortem state of happiness. Into that state the rich man may\nenter as well as the poor, and the universal practice of Christians\nshows that they do not for one moment believe that riches imperil their\nhappiness after death. But if the real meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven\nbe taken, we have the expression of a simple and direct fact. For that\nknowledge of God which is Eternal Life[56] cannot be gained till\neverything earthly is surrendered, cannot be learned until everything\nhas been sacrificed. The man must give up not only earthly wealth, which\nhenceforth may only pass through his hands as steward, but he must give\nup his inner wealth as well, so far as he holds it as his own against\nthe world; until he is stripped naked he cannot pass the narrow gateway.\nSuch has ever been a condition of Initiation, and \"poverty, obedience,\nchastity,\" has been the vow of the candidate.\n\nThe \"second birth\" is another well-recognised term for Initiation; even\nnow in India the higher castes are called \"twice-born,\" and the ceremony\nthat makes them twice-born is a ceremony of Initiation--mere husk truly,\nin these modern days, but the \"pattern of things in the heavens.\"[57]\nWhen Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, He states that \"Except a man be\nborn again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,\" and this birth is spoken\nof as that \"of water and the Spirit;\"[58] this is the first Initiation;\na later one is that of \"the Holy Ghost and fire,\"[59] the baptism of the\nInitiate in his manhood, as the first is that of birth, which welcomes\nhim as \"the Little Child\" entering the Kingdom.[60] How thoroughly this\nimagery was familiar among the mystic of the Jews is shown by the\nsurprise evinced by Jesus when Nicodemus stumbled over His mystic\nphraseology: \"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these\nthings?\"[61]\n\nAnother precept of Jesus which remains as \"a hard saying\" to his\nfollowers is: \"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in\nheaven is perfect.\"[62] The ordinary Christian knows that he cannot\npossibly obey this command; full of ordinary human frailties and\nweaknesses, how can he become perfect as God is perfect? Seeing the\nimpossibility of the achievement set before him, he quietly puts it\naside, and thinks no more about it. But seen as the crowning effort of\nmany lives of steady improvement, as the triumph of the God within us\nover the lower nature, it comes within calculable distance, and we\nrecall the words of Porphyry, how the man who achieves \"the paradigmatic\nvirtues is the Father of the Gods,\"[63] and that in the Mysteries these\nvirtues were acquired.\n\nS. Paul follows in the footsteps of his Master, and speaks in exactly\nthe same sense, but, as might be expected from his organising work in\nthe Church, with greater explicitness and clearness. The student should\nread with attention chapters ii. and iii., and verse 1 of chapter iv. of\nthe First Epistle to the Corinthians, remembering, as he reads, that the\nwords are addressed to baptised and communicant members of the Church,\nfull members from the modern standpoint, although described as babes and\ncarnal by the Apostle. They were not catechumens or neophytes, but men\nand women who were in complete possession of all the privileges and\nresponsibilities of Church membership, recognised by the Apostle as\nbeing separate from the world, and expected not to behave as men of the\nworld. They were, in fact, in possession of all that the modern Church\ngives to its members. Let us summarise the Apostle's words:\n\n\"I came to you bearing the divine testimony, not alluring you with human\nwisdom but with the power of the Spirit. Truly 'we speak wisdom among\nthem that are perfect,' but it is no human wisdom. 'We speak the wisdom\nof God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before\nthe world' began, and which none even of the princes of this world know.\nThe things of that wisdom are beyond men's thinking, 'but God hath\nrevealed them unto us by his Spirit ... the deep things of God,' 'which\nthe Holy Ghost teacheth.'[64] These are spiritual things, to be\ndiscerned only by the spiritual man, in whom is the mind of Christ. 'And\nI, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto\ncarnal, even as unto babes in Christ.... Ye were not able to bear it,\nneither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.' 'As a wise\nmaster-builder[65] I have laid the foundation,' and 'ye are the temple\nof God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.' 'Let a man so account\nof us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the Mysteries of\nGod.'\"\n\nCan any one read this passage--and all that has been done in the summary\nis to bring out the salient points--without recognising the fact that\nthe Apostle possessed a divine wisdom given in the Mysteries, that his\nCorinthian followers were not yet able to receive? And note the\nrecurring technical terms: the \"wisdom,\" the \"wisdom of God in a\nmystery,\" the \"hidden wisdom,\" known only to the \"spiritual\" man, spoken\nof only among the \"perfect,\" wisdom from which the non-\"spiritual,\" the\n\"babes in Christ,\" the \"carnal,\" were excluded, known to the \"wise\nmaster-builder,\" the \"steward of the Mysteries of God.\"\n\nAgain and again he refers to these Mysteries. Writing to the Ephesian\nChristians he says that \"by revelation,\" by the unveiling, had been\n\"made known unto me the Mystery,\" and hence his \"knowledge in the\nMystery of Christ\"; all might know of the \"fellowship of the\nMystery.\"[66] Of this Mystery, he repeated to the Colossians, he was\n\"made a minister,\" \"the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from\ngenerations, but now is made manifest to His saints\"; not to the world,\nnor even to Christians, but only to the Holy Ones. To them was unveiled\n\"the glory of this Mystery\"; and what was it? \"Christ _in you_\"--a\nsignificant phrase, which we shall see, in a moment, belonged to the\nlife of the Initiate; thus ultimately must every man learn the wisdom,\nand become \"perfect in Christ Jesus.\"[67] These Colossians he bids pray\n\"that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of\nChrist,\"[68] a passage to which S. Clement refers as one in which the\napostle \"clearly reveals that knowledge belongs not to all.\"[69] So\nalso he writes to his loved Timothy, bidding him select his deacons from\nthose who hold \"the Mystery of the faith in a pure conscience,\" that\ngreat \"Mystery of Godliness,\" that he had learned,[70] knowledge of\nwhich was necessary for the teachers of the Church.\n\nNow S. Timothy holds an important position, as representing the next\ngeneration of Christian teachers. He was a pupil of S. Paul, and was\nappointed by him to guide and rule a portion of the Church. He had been,\nwe learn, initiated into the Mysteries by S. Paul himself, and reference\nis made to this, the technical phrases once more serving as a clue.\n\"This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the\nprophecies which went before on thee,\"[71] the solemn benediction of the\nInitiator, who admitted the candidate; but not alone was the Initiator\npresent: \"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by\nprophecy, by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery,\"[72] of the\nElder Brothers. And he reminds him to lay hold of that \"eternal life,\nwhereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession\nbefore many witnesses\"[73]--the vow of the new Initiate, pledged in the\npresence of the Elder Brothers, and of the assembly of Initiates. The\nknowledge then given was the sacred charge of which S. Paul cries out so\nforcibly: \"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy\ntrust\"[74]--not the knowledge commonly possessed by Christians, as to\nwhich no special obligation lay upon S. Timothy, but the sacred deposit\ncommitted to his trust as an Initiate, and essential to the welfare of\nthe Church. S. Paul later recurs again to this, laying stress on the\nsupreme importance of the matter in a way that would be exaggerated had\nthe knowledge been the common property of Christian men: \"Hold fast the\nform of sound words which thou hast heard of me.... That good thing\nwhich was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in\nus\"[75]--as serious an adjuration as human lips could frame. Further,\nit was his duty to provide for the due transmission of this sacred\ndeposit, that it might be handed on to the future, and the Church might\nnever be left without teachers: \"The things that thou hast heard of me\namong many witnesses\"--the sacred oral teachings given in the assembly\nof Initiates, who bore witness to the accuracy of the transmission--\"the\nsame commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others\nalso.\"[76]\n\nThe knowledge--or, if the phrase be preferred, the supposition--that the\nChurch possessed these hidden teachings throws a flood of light on the\nscattered remarks made by S. Paul about himself, and when they are\ngathered together, we have an outline of the evolution of the Initiate.\nS. Paul asserts that though he was already among the perfect, the\ninitiated--for he says: \"Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be\nthus minded\"--he had not yet \"attained,\" was indeed not yet wholly\n\"perfect,\" for he had not yet won Christ, he had not yet reached the\n\"high calling of God in Christ,\" \"the power of His resurrection, and\nthe fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His\ndeath;\" and he was striving, he says, \"if by any means I might attain\nunto the resurrection of the dead.\"[77] For this was the Initiation that\nliberated, that made the Initiate the Perfect Master, the Risen Christ,\nfreeing Him finally from the \"dead,\" from the humanity within the circle\nof generation, from the bonds that fettered the soul to gross matter.\nHere again we have a number of technical terms, and even the surface\nreader should realise that the \"resurrection of the dead\" here spoken of\ncannot be the ordinary resurrection of the modern Christian, supposed to\nbe inevitable for all men, and therefore obviously not requiring any\nspecial struggle on the part of any one to attain to it. In fact the\nvery word \"attain\" would be out of place in referring to a universal and\ninevitable human experience. S. Paul could not avoid _that_\nresurrection, according to the modern Christian view. What then was the\nresurrection to attain which he was making such strenuous efforts? Once\nmore the only answer comes from the Mysteries. In them the Initiate\napproaching the Initiation that liberated from the cycle of rebirth, the\ncircle of generation, was called \"the suffering Christ;\" he shared the\nsufferings of the Saviour of the world, was crucified mystically, \"made\nconformable to His death,\" and then attained the resurrection, the\nfellowship of the glorified Christ, and, after, that death had over him\nno power.[78] This was \"the prize\" towards which the great Apostle was\npressing, and he urged \"as many as be perfect,\" _not the ordinary\nbeliever_, thus also to strive. Let them not be content with what they\nhad gained, but still press onwards.\n\nThis resemblance of the Initiate to the Christ is, indeed, the very\ngroundwork of the Greater Mysteries, as we shall see more in detail when\nwe study \"The Mystical Christ.\" The Initiate was no longer to look on\nChrist as outside himself: \"Though we have known Christ after the\nflesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.\"[79]\n\nThe ordinary believer had \"put on Christ;\" \"as many of you as have been\nbaptised into Christ have put on Christ.\"[80] Then they were the \"babes\nin Christ\" to whom reference has already been made, and Christ was the\nSaviour to whom they looked for help, knowing Him \"after the flesh.\" But\nwhen they had conquered the lower nature and were no longer \"carnal,\"\nthen they were to enter on a higher path, and were themselves to become\nChrist. This which he himself had already reached, was the longing of\nthe Apostle for his followers: \"My little children, of whom I travail in\nbirth again until Christ be formed _in you_.\"[81] Already he was their\nspiritual father, having \"begotten you through the gospel.\"[82] But now\n\"again\" he was as a parent, as their mother to bring them to the second\nbirth. Then the infant Christ, the Holy Child, was born in the soul,\n\"the hidden man of the heart;\"[83] the Initiate thus became that\n\"Little Child\"; henceforth he was to live out in his own person the life\nof the Christ, until he became the \"perfect man,\" growing \"unto the\nmeasure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.\"[84] Then he, as S. Paul\nwas doing, filled up the sufferings of Christ in his own flesh,[85] and\nalways bore \"about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,\"[86] so that\nhe could truly say: \"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;\nyet not I, but Christ liveth in me.\"[87] Thus was the Apostle himself\nsuffering; thus he describes himself. And when the struggle is over, how\ndifferent is the calm tone of triumph from the strained effort of the\nearlier years: \"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my\ndeparture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my\ncourse, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a\ncrown of righteousness.\"[88] This was the crown given to \"him that\novercometh,\" of whom it is said by the ascended Christ: \"I will make him\na pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out.\"[89] For\nafter the \"Resurrection\" the Initiate has become the Perfect Man, the\nMaster, and He goes out no more from the Temple, but from it serves and\nguides the worlds.\n\nIt may be well to point out, ere closing this chapter, that S. Paul\nhimself sanctions the use of the theoretical mystic teaching in\nexplaining the historical events recorded in the Scriptures. The history\ntherein written is not regarded by him as a mere record of facts, which\noccurred on the physical plane. A true mystic, he saw in the physical\nevents the shadows of the universal truths ever unfolding in higher and\ninner worlds, and knew that the events selected for preservation in\noccult writings were such as were typical, the explanation of which\nwould subserve human instruction. Thus he takes the story of Abraham,\nSarai, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, and saying, \"which things are an\nallegory,\" he proceeds to give the mystical interpretation.[90]\nReferring to the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, he speaks of the\nRed Sea as a baptism, of the manna and the water as spiritual meat and\nspiritual drink, of the rock from which the water flowed as Christ.[91]\nHe sees the great mystery of the union of Christ and His Church in the\nhuman relation of husband and wife, and speaks of Christians as the\nflesh and the bones of the body of Christ.[92] The writer of the Epistle\nto the Hebrews allegorises the whole Jewish system of worship. In the\nTemple he sees a pattern of the heavenly Temple, in the High Priest he\nsees Christ, in the sacrifices the offering of the spotless Son; the\npriests of the Temple are but \"the example and shadow of heavenly\nthings,\" of the heavenly priesthood serving in \"the true tabernacle.\" A\nmost elaborate allegory is thus worked out in chapters iii.-x., and the\nwriter alleges that the Holy Ghost thus signified the deeper meaning;\nall was \"a figure for the time.\"\n\nIn this view of the sacred writings, it is not alleged that the events\nrecorded did not take place, but only that their physical happening was\na matter of minor importance. And such explanation is the unveiling of\nthe Lesser Mysteries, the mystic teaching which is permitted to be given\nto the world. It is not, as many think, a mere play of the imagination,\nbut is the outcome of a true intuition, seeing the patterns in the\nheavens, and not only the shadows cast by them on the screen of earthly\ntime.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY(_concluded_).\n\n(_(b)_) THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH.\n\n\nWhile it may be that some would be willing to admit the possession by\nthe Apostles and their immediate successors of a deeper knowledge of\nspiritual things than was current among the masses of the believers\naround them, few will probably be willing to take the next step, and,\nleaving that charmed circle, accept as the depository of their sacred\nlearning the Mysteries of the Early Church. Yet we have S. Paul\nproviding for the transmission of the unwritten teaching, himself\ninitiating S. Timothy, and instructing S. Timothy to initiate others in\nhis turn, who should again hand it on to yet others. We thus see the\nprovision of four successive generations of teachers, spoken of in the\nScriptures themselves, and these would far more than overlap the writers\nof the Early Church, who bear witness to the existence of the Mysteries.\nFor among these are pupils of the Apostles themselves, though the most\ndefinite statements belong to those removed from the Apostles by one\nintermediate teacher. Now, as soon as we begin to study the writings of\nthe Early Church, we are met by the facts that there are allusions which\nare only intelligible by the existence of the Mysteries, and then\nstatements that the Mysteries are existing. This might, of course, have\nbeen expected, seeing the point at which the New Testament leaves the\nmatter, but it is satisfactory to find the facts answer to the\nexpectation.\n\nThe first witnesses are those called the Apostolic Fathers, the\ndisciples of the Apostles; but very little of their writings, and that\ndisputed, remains. Not being written controversially, the statements are\nnot as categorical as those of the later writers. Their letters are for\nthe encouragement of the believers. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and\nfellow-disciple with Ignatius of S. John,[93] expresses a hope that his\ncorrespondents are \"well versed in the sacred Scriptures and that\nnothing is hid from you; but to me this privilege is not yet\ngranted\"[94]--writing, apparently, before reaching full Initiation.\nBarnabas speaks of communicating \"some portion of what I have myself\nreceived,\"[95] and after expounding the Law mystically, declares that\n\"we then, rightly understanding His commandments, explain them as the\nLord intended.\"[96] Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, a disciple of S.\nJohn,[97] speaks of himself as \"not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For I\nnow begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as my\nfellow-disciples,\"[98] and he speaks of them as \"initiated into the\nmysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred.\"[99] Again\nhe says: \"Might I not write to you things more full of mystery? But I\nfear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes.\nPardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their\nweighty import, ye should be strangled by them. For even I, though I am\nbound [for Christ] and am able to understand heavenly things, the\nangelic orders, and the different sorts of angels and hosts, the\ndistinction between powers and dominions, and the diversities between\nthrones and authorities, the mightiness of the aeons, and the\npre-eminence of the cherubim and seraphim, the sublimity of the Spirit,\nthe kingdom of the Lord, and above all the incomparable majesty of\nAlmighty God--though I am acquainted with these things, yet am I not\ntherefore by any means perfect, nor am I such a disciple as Paul or\nPeter.\"[100] This passage is interesting, as indicating that the\norganisation of the celestial hierarchies was one of the subjects in\nwhich instruction was given in the Mysteries. Again he speaks of the\nHigh Priest, the Hierophant, \"to whom the holy of holies has been\ncommitted, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of\nGod.\"[101]\n\nWe come next to S. Clement of Alexandria and his pupil Origen, the two\nwriters of the second and third centuries who tell us most about the\nMysteries in the Early Church; though the general atmosphere is full of\nmystic allusions, these two are clear and categorical in their\nstatements that the Mysteries were a recognised institution.\n\nNow S. Clement was a disciple of Pantaenus, and he speaks of him and of\ntwo others, said to be probably Tatian and Theodotus, as \"preserving the\ntradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy\nApostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul,\"[102] his link with the Apostles\nthemselves consisting thus of only one intermediary. He was the head of\nthe Catechetical School of Alexandria in A.D. 189, and died about A.D.\n220. Origen, born about A.D. 185, was his pupil, and he is, perhaps,\nthe most learned of the Fathers, and a man of the rarest moral beauty.\nThese are the witnesses from whom we receive the most important\ntestimony as to the existence of definite Mysteries in the Early Church.\n\nThe _Stromata_, or Miscellanies, of S. Clement are our source of\ninformation about the Mysteries in his time. He himself speaks of these\nwritings as a \"miscellany of Gnostic notes, according to the true\nphilosophy,\"[103] and also describes them as memoranda of the teachings\nhe had himself received from Pantaenus. The passage is instructive: \"The\nLord ... allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of\nthat holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not\ncertainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to\nthe few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of\nreceiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are\nentrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if\none say[104] that it is written, 'There is nothing secret which shall\nnot be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,' let him also\nhear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall\nbe manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who\nis able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is\nveiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall\nappear manifest to the few.... The Mysteries are delivered mystically,\nthat what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in\nhis voice, but in his understanding.... The writing of these memoranda\nof mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of\ngrace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall\nthe archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus.\" The Thyrsus, we\nmay here interject, was the wand borne by Initiates, and candidates were\ntouched with it during the ceremony of Initiation. It had a mystic\nsignificance, symbolising the spinal cord and the pineal gland in the\nLesser Mysteries, and a Rod, known to Occultists, in the Greater. To\nsay, therefore, \"to him who was struck with the Thyrsus\" was exactly the\nsame as to say, \"to him who was initiated in the Mysteries.\" Clement\nproceeds: \"We profess not to explain secret things sufficiently--far\nfrom it--but only to recall them to memory, whether we have forgot\naught, or whether for the purpose of not forgetting. Many things, I well\nknow, have escaped us, through length of time, that have dropped away\nunwritten.... There are then some things of which we have no\nrecollection; for the power that was in the blessed men was great.\" A\nfrequent experience of those taught by the Great Ones, for Their\npresence stimulates and renders active powers which are normally latent,\nand which the pupil, unassisted, cannot evoke. \"There are also some\nthings which remained unnoted long, which have now escaped; and others\nwhich are effaced, having faded away in the mind itself, since such a\ntask is not easy to those not experienced; these I revive in my\ncommentaries. Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a wise\nselection, afraid to write what I guarded against speaking; not\ngrudging--for that were wrong--but fearing for my readers, lest they\nshould stumble by taking them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb\nsays, we should be found 'reaching a sword to a child.' For it is\nimpossible that what has been written should not escape [become known],\nalthough remaining unpublished by me. But being always revolved, using\nthe one only voice, that of writing, they answer nothing to him that\nmakes enquiries beyond what is written; for they require of necessity\nthe aid of some one, either of him who wrote, or of some one else who\nhas walked in his footsteps. Some things my treatise will hint; on some\nit will linger; some it will merely mention. It will try to speak\nimperceptibly, to exhibit secretly, and to demonstrate silently.\"[105]\n\nThis passage, if it stood alone, would suffice to establish the\nexistence of a secret teaching in the Early Church. But it stands by no\nmeans alone. In Chapter xii. of this same Book I., headed, \"The\nMysteries of the Faith not to be divulged to all,\" Clement declares\nthat, since others than the wise may see his work, \"it is requisite,\ntherefore, to hide in a Mystery the wisdom spoken, which the Son of God\ntaught.\" Purified tongue of the speaker, purified ears of the hearer,\nthese were necessary. \"Such were the impediments in the way of my\nwriting. And even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before\nswine, lest they tread them under foot and turn and rend us.' For it is\ndifficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting\nthe true light, to swinish and untrained hearers. For scarcely could\nanything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the\nmultitude; nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more\ninspiring to those of noble nature. But the wise do not utter with their\nmouth what they reason in council. 'But what ye hear in the ear,' said\nthe Lord, 'proclaim upon the houses'; bidding them receive the secret\ntraditions of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and\nconspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to\nwhom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without\ndistinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a\ndelineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sown sparse and\nbroadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like\njackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will\ngerminate and will produce corn.\"\n\nClement might have added that to \"proclaim upon the houses\" was to\nproclaim or expound in the assembly of the Perfect, the Initiated, and\nby no means to shout aloud to the man in the street.\n\nAgain he says that those who are \"still blind and dumb, not having\nunderstanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative\nsoul ... must stand outside of the divine choir.... Wherefore, in\naccordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly\ndivine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was\nby the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them _adyta_, and\nby the Hebrews by the veil. Only the consecrated ... were allowed access\nto them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for 'the impure to touch\nthe pure.' Thence the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas, and\nthe Mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but\nonly after certain purifications and previous instructions.\"[106] He\nthen descants at great length on Symbols, expounding Pythagorean,\nHebrew, Egyptian,[107] and then remarks that the ignorant and unlearned\nman fails in understanding them. \"But the Gnostic apprehends. Now then\nit is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to\nall and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have\nnot even in a dream been purified in soul (for it is not allowed to hand\nto every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious\nefforts); nor are the Mysteries of the Word to be expounded to the\nprofane.\" The Pythagoreans and Plato, Zeno, and Aristotle had exoteric\nand esoteric teachings. The philosophers established the Mysteries, for\n\"was it not more beneficial for the holy and blessed contemplation of\nrealities to be concealed?\"[108] The Apostles also approved of \"veiling\nthe Mysteries of the Faith,\" \"for there is an instruction to the\nperfect,\" alluded to in Colossians i. 9-11 and 25-27. \"So that, on the\none hand, then, there are the Mysteries which were hid till the time of\nthe Apostles, and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord,\nand, concealed in the Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And,\non the other hand, there is 'the riches of the glory of the mystery in\nthe Gentiles,' which is faith and hope in Christ; which in another place\nhe has called the 'foundation.'\" He quotes S. Paul to show that this\n\"knowledge belongs not to all,\" and says, referring to Heb. v. and vi.,\nthat \"there were certainly among the Hebrews, some things delivered\nunwritten;\" and then refers to S. Barnabas, who speaks of God, \"who has\nput into our hearts wisdom and the understanding of His secrets,\" and\nsays that \"it is but for few to comprehend these things,\" as showing a\n\"trace of Gnostic tradition.\" \"Wherefore instruction, which reveals\nhidden things, is called illumination, as it is the teacher only who\nuncovers the lid of the ark.\"[109] Further referring to S. Paul, he\ncomments on his remark to the Romans that he will \"come in the fulness\nof the blessing of Christ,\"[110] and says that he thus designates \"the\nspiritual gift and the Gnostic interpretation, while being present he\ndesires to impart to them present as 'the fulness of Christ, according\nto the revelation of the Mystery sealed in the ages of eternity, but now\nmanifested by the prophetic Scriptures'[111].... But only to a few of\nthem is shown what those things are which are contained in the Mystery.\nRightly, then, Plato, in the epistles, treating of God, says: 'We must\nspeak in enigmas; that should the tablet come by any mischance on its\nleaves either by sea or land, he who reads may remain ignorant.'\"[112]\n\nAfter much examination of Greek writers, and an investigation into\nphilosophy, S. Clement declares that the Gnosis \"imparted and revealed\nby the Son of God, is wisdom.... And the Gnosis itself is that which has\ndescended by transmission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by\nthe Apostles.\"[113] A very long exposition of the life of the Gnostic,\nthe Initiate, is given, and S. Clement concludes it by saying: \"Let the\nspecimen suffice to those who have ears. For it is not required to\nunfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is sufficient for those\nwho are partakers in knowledge to bring it to mind.\"[114]\n\nRegarding Scripture as consisting of allegories and symbols, and as\nhiding the sense in order to stimulate enquiry and to preserve the\nignorant from danger.[115] S. Clement naturally confined the higher\ninstruction to the learned. \"Our Gnostic will be deeply learned,\"[116]\nhe says. \"Now the Gnostic must be erudite.\"[117] Those who had acquired\nreadiness by previous training could master the deeper knowledge, for\nthough \"a man can be a believer without learning, so also we assert that\nit is impossible for a man without learning to comprehend the things\nwhich are declared in the faith.\"[118] \"Some who think themselves\nnaturally gifted, do not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; nay\nmore, they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand bare faith\nalone.... So also I call him truly learned who brings everything to bear\non the truth--so that, from geometry, and music, and grammar, and\nphilosophy itself, culling what is useful, he guards the faith against\nassault.... How necessary is it for him who desires to be partaker of\nthe power of God, to treat of intellectual subjects by\nphilosophising.\"[119] \"The Gnostic avails himself of branches of\nlearning as auxiliary preparatory exercises.\"[120] So far was S.\nClement from thinking that the teaching of Christianity should be\nmeasured by the ignorance of the unlearned. \"He who is conversant with\nall kinds of wisdom will be pre-eminently a Gnostic.\"[121] Thus while he\nwelcomed the ignorant and the sinner, and found in the Gospel what was\nsuited to their needs, he considered that only the learned and the pure\nwere fit candidates for the Mysteries. \"The Apostle, in\ncontradistinction to Gnostic perfection, calls the common faith _the\nfoundation_, and sometimes _milk_,\"[122] but on that foundation the\nedifice of the Gnosis was to be raised, and the food of men was to\nsucceed that of babes. There is nothing of harshness nor of contempt in\nthe distinction he draws, but only a calm and wise recognition of the\nfacts.\n\nEven the well-prepared candidate, the learned and trained pupil, could\nonly hope to advance step by step in the profound truths unveiled in the\nMysteries. This appears clearly in his comments on the vision of\nHermas, in which he also throws out some hints on methods of reading\noccult works. \"Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas in the\nVision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription the book which\nshe wished to be made known to the elect? And this, he says, he\ntranscribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the\nsyllables. And this signified that the Scripture is clear to all, when\ntaken according to base reading; and that this is the faith which\noccupies the place of the rudiments. Wherefore also the figurative\nexpression is employed, 'reading according to the letter,' while we\nunderstand that the gnostic unfolding of Scriptures, when faith has\nalready reached an advanced state, is likened to reading according to\nthe syllables.... Now that the Saviour has taught the Apostles the\nunwritten rendering of the written (scriptures) has been handed down\nalso to us, inscribed by the power of God on hearts new, according to\nthe renovation of the book. Thus those of highest repute among the\nGreeks dedicate the fruit of the pomegranate to Hermes, who they say is\nspeech, on account of its interpretation. For speech conceals much....\nThat it is therefore not only to those who read simply that the\nacquisition of the truth is so difficult, but that not even to those\nwhose prerogative the knowledge of the truth is, is the contemplation of\nit vouchsafed all at once, the history of Moses teaches; until\naccustomed to gaze, as the Hebrews on the glory of Moses, and the\nprophets of Israel on the visions of angels, so we also become able to\nlook the splendours of truth in the face.\"[123]\n\nYet more references might be given, but these should suffice to\nestablish the fact that S. Clement knew of, had been initiated into, and\nwrote for the benefit of those who had also been initiated into, the\nMysteries in the Church.\n\nThe next witness is his pupil Origen, that most shining light of\nlearning, courage, sanctity, devotion, meekness, and zeal, whose works\nremain as mines of gold wherein the student may dig for the treasures of\nwisdom.\n\nIn his famous controversy with Celsus attacks were made on Christianity\nwhich drew out a defence of the Christian position in which frequent\nreferences were made to the secret teachings.[124]\n\nCelsus had alleged, as a matter of attack, that Christianity was a\nsecret system, and Origen traverses this by saying that while certain\ndoctrines were secret, many others were public, and that this system of\nexoteric and esoteric teachings, adopted in Christianity, was also in\ngeneral use among philosophers. The reader should note, in the following\npassage, the distinction drawn between the resurrection of Jesus,\nregarded in a historical light, and the \"mystery of the resurrection.\"\n\n\"Moreover, since he [Celsus] frequently calls the Christian doctrine a\nsecret system [of belief], we must confute him on this point also, since\nalmost the entire world is better acquainted with what Christians preach\nthan with the favourite opinions of philosophers. For who is ignorant\nof the statement that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that He was\ncrucified, and that His resurrection is an article of faith among many,\nand that a general judgment is announced to come, in which the wicked\nare to be punished according to their deserts, and the righteous to be\nduly rewarded? And yet the Mystery of the resurrection, not being\nunderstood, is made a subject of ridicule among unbelievers. In these\ncircumstances, to speak of the Christian doctrine as a _secret_ system,\nis altogether absurd. But that there should be certain doctrines, not\nmade known to the multitude, which are [revealed] after the exoteric\nones have been taught, is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone, but\nalso of philosophic systems, in which certain truths are exoteric and\nothers esoteric. Some of the hearers of Pythagoras were content with his\n_ipse dixit_; while others were taught in secret those doctrines which\nwere not deemed fit to be communicated to profane and insufficiently\nprepared ears. Moreover, all the Mysteries that are celebrated\neverywhere throughout Greece and barbarous countries, although held in\nsecret, have no discredit thrown upon them, so that it is in vain he\nendeavours to calumniate the secret doctrines of Christianity, seeing\nthat he does not correctly understand its nature.\"[125]\n\nIt is impossible to deny that, in this important passage, Origen\ndistinctly places the Christian Mysteries in the same category as those\nof the Pagan world, and claims that what is not regarded as a discredit\nto other religions should not form a subject of attack when found in\nChristianity.\n\nStill writing against Celsus, he declares that the secret teachings of\nJesus were preserved in the Church, and refers specifically to the\nexplanations that He gave to His disciples of His parables, in answering\nCelsus' comparison of \"the inner Mysteries of the Church of God\" with\nthe Egyptian worship of animals. \"I have not yet spoken of the\nobservance of all that is written in the Gospels, each one of which\ncontains much doctrine difficult to be understood, not merely by the\nmultitude, but even by certain of the more intelligent, including a\nvery profound explanation of the parables which Jesus delivered to\n'those without,' while reserving the exhibition of their full meaning\nfor those who had passed beyond the stage of exoteric teaching, and who\ncame to Him privately in the house. And when he comes to understand it,\nhe will admire the reason why some are said to be 'without,' and others\n'in the house.'\"[126]\n\nAnd he refers guardedly to the \"mountain\" which Jesus ascended, from\nwhich he came down again to help \"those who were unable to follow Him\nwhither His disciples went.\" The allusion is to \"the Mountain of\nInitiation,\" a well-known mystical phrase, as Moses also made the\nTabernacle after the pattern \"showed thee in the mount.\"[127] Origen\nrefers to it again later, saying that Jesus showed himself to be very\ndifferent in his real appearance when on the \"Mountain,\" from what those\nsaw who could not \"follow Him on high.\"[128]\n\nSo also, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Chap, xv., dealing\nwith the episode of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Origen remarks: \"And\nperhaps, also, of the words of Jesus there are some loaves which it is\npossible to give to the more rational, as to children, only; and others\nas it were crumbs from the great house and table of the well-born, which\nmay be used by some souls like dogs.\"\n\nCelsus complaining that sinners were brought into the Church, Origen\nanswers that the Church had medicine for those that were sick, but also\nthe study and the knowledge of divine things for those who were in\nhealth. Sinners were taught not to sin, and only when it was seen that\nprogress had been made, and men were \"purified by the Word,\" \"then and\nnot before do we invite them to participation in our Mysteries. For we\nspeak wisdom among them that are perfect.\"[129] Sinners came to be\nhealed: \"For there are in the divinity of the Word some helps towards\nthe cure of those who are sick.... Others, again, which to the pure in\nsoul and body exhibit the 'revelation of the Mystery, which was kept\nsecret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures\nof the prophets,' and 'by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,' which\n'appearing' is manifested to each one of those who are perfect, and\nwhich enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things.\"[130] Such\nappearances of divine Beings took place, we have seen, in the Pagan\nMysteries, and those of the Church had equally glorious visitants. \"God\nthe Word,\" he says, \"was sent as a physician to sinners, but as a\nTeacher of Divine Mysteries to those who are already pure, and who sin\nno more.\"[131] \"Wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor\ndwell in a body that is involved in sin;\" hence these higher teachings\nare given only to those who are \"athletes in piety and in every virtue.\"\n\nChristians did not admit the impure to this knowledge, but said:\n\"Whoever has clean hands, and, therefore, lifts up holy hands to God ...\nlet him come to us ... whoever is pure not only from all defilement,\nbut from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly\ninitiated in the Mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only\nto the holy and the pure.\" Hence also, ere the ceremony of Initiation\nbegan, he who acts as Initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, the\nHierophant, made the significant proclamation \"to those who have been\npurified in heart: He, whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious\nof no evil, especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the\nWord, let such a one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by\nJesus to His genuine disciples.\" This was the opening of the \"initiating\nthose who were already purified into the sacred Mysteries.\"[132] Such\nonly might learn the realities of the unseen worlds, and might enter\ninto the sacred precincts where, as of old, angels were the teachers,\nand where knowledge was given by sight and not only by words. It is\nimpossible not to be struck with the different tone of these Christians\nfrom that of their modern successors. With them perfect purity of life,\nthe practice of virtue, the fulfilling of the divine Law in every detail\nof outer conduct, the perfection of righteousness, were--as with the\nPagans--only the beginning of the way instead of the end. Nowadays\nreligion is considered to have gloriously accomplished its object when\nit has made the Saint; then, it was to the Saints that it devoted its\nhighest energies, and, taking the pure in heart, it led them to the\nBeatific Vision.\n\nThe same fact of secret teaching comes out again, when Origen is\ndiscussing the arguments of Celsus as to the wisdom of retaining\nancestral customs, based on the belief that \"the various quarters of the\nearth were from the beginning allotted to different superintending\nSpirits, and were thus distributed among certain governing Powers, and\nin this way the administration of the world is carried on.\"[133]\n\nOrigen having animadverted on the deductions of Celsus, proceeds: \"But\nas we think it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper\ninvestigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay\ndown some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and\nsecret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters\nof the earth among different superintending Spirits.\"[134] He says that\nCelsus has misunderstood the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement\nof terrestrial affairs, some of which are even touched upon in Grecian\nhistory. Then he quotes Deut. xxxii. 8-9: \"When the Most High divided\nthe nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of\nthe people according to the number of the Angels of God; and the Lord's\nportion was his people Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance.\"\nThis is the wording of the Septuagint, not that of the English\nauthorised version, but it is very suggestive of the title the \"Lord\"\nbeing regarded as that of the Ruling Angel of the Jews only, and not of\nthe \"Most High,\" _i.e._ God. This view has disappeared, from ignorance,\nand hence the impropriety of many of the statements referring to the\n\"Lord,\" when they are transferred to the \"Most High,\" _e.g._ Judges i.\n19.\n\nOrigen then relates the history of the Tower of Babel, and continues:\n\"But on these subjects much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said;\nin keeping with which is the following: 'It is good to keep close the\nsecret of a king,' Tobit xii. 7, in order that the doctrine of the\nentrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration\nfrom one body into another) may not be thrown before the common\nunderstanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast\nbefore swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to\na betrayal of the mysterious declarations of God's wisdom.... It is\nsufficient, however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative\nwhat is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that\nthose who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates\nto the subject.\"[135] He then expounds more fully the Tower of Babel\nstory, and writes: \"Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity\nlet him understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which\ncontains some things that are literally true, while yet it conveys a\ndeeper meaning....\"[136]\n\nAfter endeavouring to show that the \"Lord\" was more powerful than the\nother superintending Spirits of the different quarters of the earth, and\nthat he sent his people forth to be punished by living under the\ndominion of the other powers, and afterwards reclaimed them with all of\nthe less favoured nations who could be drawn in, Origen concludes by\nsaying: \"As we have previously observed, these remarks are to be\nunderstood as being made by us with a concealed meaning, by way of\npointing out the mistakes of those who assert ...\"[137] as did Celsus.\n\nAfter remarking that \"the object of Christianity is that we should\nbecome wise,\"[138] Origen proceeds: \"If you come to the books written\nafter the time of Jesus, you will find that those multitudes of\nbelievers who hear the parables are, as it were, 'without,' and worthy\nonly of exoteric doctrines, while the disciples learn in private the\nexplanation of the parables. For, privately, to His own disciples did\nJesus open up all things, esteeming above the multitudes those who\ndesired to know His wisdom. And He promises to those who believe on Him\nto send them wise men and scribes.... And Paul also in the catalogue of\n'Charismata' bestowed by God, placed first 'the Word of wisdom,' and\nsecond, as being inferior to it, 'the word of knowledge,' but third, and\nlower down, 'faith.' And because he regarded 'the Word' as higher than\nmiraculous powers, he for that reason places 'workings of miracles' and\n'gifts of healings' in a lower place than gifts of the Word.\"[139]\n\nThe Gospel truly helped the ignorant, \"but it is no hindrance to the\nknowledge of God, but an assistance, to have been educated, and to have\nstudied the best opinions, and to be wise.\"[140] As for the\nunintelligent, \"I endeavour to improve such also to the best of my\nability, although I would not desire to build up the Christian community\nout of such materials. For I seek in preference those who are more\nclever and acute, because they are able to comprehend the meaning of the\nhard sayings.\"[141] Here we have plainly stated the ancient Christian\nidea, entirely at one with the considerations submitted in Chapter I. of\nthis book. There is room for the ignorant in Christianity, but it is not\nintended _only_ for them, and has deep teachings for the \"clever and\nacute.\"\n\nIt is for these that he takes much pains to show that the Jewish and\nChristian Scriptures have hidden meanings, veiled under stories the\nouter meaning of which repels them as absurd, alluding to the serpent\nand the tree of life, and \"the other statements which follow, which\nmight of themselves lead a candid reader to see that all these things\nhad, not inappropriately, an allegorical meaning.\"[142] Many chapters\nare devoted to these allegorical and mystical meanings, hidden beneath\nthe words of the Old and New Testaments, and he alleges that Moses, like\nthe Egyptians, gave histories with concealed meanings.[143] \"He who\ndeals candidly with histories\"--this is Origen's general canon of\ninterpretation--\"and would wish to keep himself also from being imposed\non by them, will exercise his judgment as to what statements he will\ngive his assent to, and what he will accept figuratively, seeking to\ndiscover the meaning of the authors of such inventions, and from what\nstatements he will withhold his beliefs, as having been written for the\ngratification of certain individuals. And we have said this by way of\nanticipation respecting the whole history related in the Gospels\nconcerning Jesus.\"[144] A great part of his Fourth Book is taken up with\nillustrations of the mystical explanations of the Scripture stories, and\nanyone who wishes to pursue the subject can read through it.\n\nIn the _De Principiis_, Origen gives it as the received teaching of the\nChurch \"that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and have\na meaning, not only such as is apparent at first sight, but also\nanother, which escapes the notice of most. For those [words] which are\nwritten are the forms of certain Mysteries, and the images of divine\nthings. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole\nChurch, that the whole law is indeed spiritual; but that the spiritual\nmeaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on\nwhom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and\nknowledge.\"[145] Those who remember what has already been quoted will\nsee in the \"Word of wisdom\" and \"the word of knowledge\" the two typical\nmystical instructions, the spiritual and the intellectual.\n\nIn the Fourth Book of _De Principiis_, Origen explains at length his\nviews on the interpretation of Scripture. It has a \"body,\" which is the\n\"common and historical sense\"; a \"soul,\" a figurative meaning to be\ndiscovered by the exercise of the intellect; and a \"spirit,\" an inner\nand divine sense, to be known only by those who have \"the mind of\nChrist.\" He considers that incongruous and impossible things are\nintroduced into the history to arouse an intelligent reader, and compel\nhim to search for a deeper explanation, while simple people would read\non without appreciating the difficulties.[146]\n\nCardinal Newman, in his _Arians of the Fourth Century_, has some\ninteresting remarks on the _Disciplina Arcani_, but, with the\ndeeply-rooted ingrained scepticism of the nineteenth century, he cannot\nbelieve to the full in the \"riches of the glory of the Mystery,\" or\nprobably never for a moment conceived the possibility of the existence\nof such splendid realities. Yet he was a believer in Jesus, and the\nwords of the promise of Jesus were clear and definite: \"I will not leave\nyou comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world\nseeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At\nthat day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in\nyou.\"[147] The promise was amply redeemed, for He came to them and\ntaught them in His Mysteries; therein they saw Him, though the world saw\nHim no more, and they knew the Christ as in them, and their life as\nChrist's.\n\nCardinal Newman recognises a secret tradition, handed down from the\nApostles, but he considers that it consisted of Christian doctrines,\nlater divulged, forgetting that those who were told that they were not\nyet fit to receive it were not heathen, nor even catechumens under\ninstruction, but full communicating members of the Christian Church.\nThus he states that this secret tradition was later \"authoritatively\ndivulged and perpetuated in the form of symbols,\" and was embodied \"in\nthe creeds of the early Councils.\"[148] But as the doctrines in the\ncreeds are to be found clearly stated in the Gospels and Epistles, this\nposition is wholly untenable, all these having been already divulged to\nthe world at large; and in all of them the members of the Church were\ncertainly thoroughly instructed. The repeated statements as to secrecy\nbecome meaningless if thus explained. The Cardinal, however, says that\nwhatever \"has not been thus authenticated, whether it was prophetical\ninformation or comment on the past dispensations, is, from the\ncircumstances of the case, lost to the Church.\"[149] That is very\nprobably, in fact certainly, true, so far as the Church is concerned,\nbut it is none the less recoverable.\n\nCommenting on Irenaeus, who in his work _Against Heresies_ lays much\nstress on the existence of an Apostolic Tradition in the Church, the\nCardinal writes: \"He then proceeds to speak of the clearness and cogency\nof the traditions preserved in the Church, as containing that true\nwisdom of the perfect, of which S. Paul speaks, and to which the\nGnostics pretended. And, indeed, without formal proofs of the existence\nand the authority in primitive times of an Apostolic Tradition, it is\nplain that there must have been such a tradition, granting that the\nApostles conversed, and their friends had memories, like other men. It\nis quite inconceivable that they should not have been led to arrange\nthe series of revealed doctrines more systematically than they record\nthem in Scripture, as soon as their converts became exposed to the\nattacks and misrepresentations of heretics; unless they were forbidden\nto do so, a supposition which cannot be maintained. Their statements\nthus occasioned would be preserved as a matter of course; together with\nthose other secret but less important truths, to which S. Paul seems to\nallude, and which the early writers more or less acknowledge, whether\nconcerning the types of the Jewish Church, or the prospective fortunes\nof the Christian. And such recollections of apostolical teaching would\nevidently be binding on the faith of those who were instructed in them;\nunless it can be supposed that, though coming from inspired teachers,\nthey were not of divine origin.\"[150] In a part of the section dealing\nwith the allegorising method, he writes in reference to the sacrifice of\nIsaac, &c., as \"typical of the New Testament revelation\": \"In\ncorroboration of this remark, let it be observed, that there seems to\nhave been[151] in the Church a traditionary explanation of these\nhistorical types, derived from the Apostles, but kept among the secret\ndoctrines, as being dangerous to the majority of hearers; and certainly\nS. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, affords us an instance of such a\ntradition, both as existing and as secret (even though it be shown to be\nof Jewish origin), when, first checking himself and questioning his\nbrethren's faith, he communicates, not without hesitation, the\nevangelical scope of the account of Melchisedec, as introduced into the\nbook of Genesis.\"[152]\n\nThe social and political convulsions that accompanied its dying now\nbegan to torture the vast frame of the Roman Empire, and even the\nChristians were caught up in the whirlpool of selfish warring interests.\nWe still find scattered references to special knowledge imparted to the\nleaders and teachers of the Church, knowledge of the heavenly\nhierarchies, instructions given by angels, and so on. But the lack of\nsuitable pupils caused the Mysteries to be withdrawn as an institution\npublicly known to exist, and teaching was given more and more secretly\nto those rarer and rarer souls, who by learning, purity, and devotion\nshowed themselves capable of receiving it. No longer were schools to be\nfound wherein the preliminary teachings were given, and with the\ndisappearance of these the \"door was shut.\"\n\nTwo streams may nevertheless be tracked through Christendom, streams\nwhich had as their source the vanished Mysteries. One was the stream of\nmystic learning, flowing from the Wisdom, the Gnosis, imparted in the\nMysteries; the other was the stream of mystic contemplation, equally\npart of the Gnosis, leading to the exstasy, to spiritual vision. This\nlatter, however, divorced from knowledge, rarely attained the true\nexstasis, and tended either to run riot in the lower regions of the\ninvisible worlds, or to lose itself amid a variegated crowd of subtle\nsuperphysical forms, visible as objective appearances to the inner\nvision--prematurely forced by fastings, vigils, and strained\nattention--but mostly born of the thoughts and emotions of the seer.\nEven when the forms observed were not externalised thoughts, they were\nseen through a distorting atmosphere of preconceived ideas and beliefs,\nand were thus rendered largely unreliable. None the less, some of the\nvisions were verily of heavenly things, and Jesus truly appeared from\ntime to time to His devoted lovers, and angels would sometimes brighten\nwith their presence the cell of monk and nun, the solitude of rapt\ndevotee and patient seeker after God. To deny the possibility of such\nexperiences would be to strike at the very root of that \"which has been\nmost surely believed\" in all religions, and is known to all\nOccultists--the intercommunication between Spirits veiled in flesh and\nthose clad in subtler vestures, the touching of mind with mind across\nthe barriers of matter, the unfolding of the Divinity in man, the sure\nknowledge of a life beyond the gates of death.\n\nGlancing down the centuries we find no time in which Christendom was\nleft wholly devoid of mysteries. \"It was probably about the end of the\n5th century, just as ancient philosophy was dying out in the Schools of\nAthens, that the speculative philosophy of neo-Platonism made a definite\nlodgment in Christian thought through the literary forgeries of the\nPseudo-Dionysius. The doctrines of Christianity were by that time so\nfirmly established that the Church could look upon a symbolical or\nmystical interpretation of them without anxiety. The author of the\n_Theologica Mystica_ and the other works ascribed to the Areopagite\nproceeds, therefore, to develop the doctrines of Proclus with very\nlittle modification into a system of esoteric Christianity. God is the\nnameless and supra-essential One, elevated above goodness itself. Hence\n'negative theology,' which ascends from the creature to God by dropping\none after another every determinate predicate, leads us nearest to the\ntruth. The return to God is the consummation of all things and the goal\nindicated by Christian teaching. The same doctrines were preached with\nmore of churchly fervour by Maximus the Confessor (580-622). Maximus\nrepresents almost the last speculative activity of the Greek Church, but\nthe influence of the Pseudo-Dionysian writing was transmitted to the\nWest in the ninth century by Erigena, in whose speculative spirit both\nthe scholasticism and the mysticism of the Middle Ages have their rise.\nErigena translated Dionysius into Latin along with the commentaries of\nMaximus, and his system is essentially based upon theirs. The negative\ntheology is adopted, and God is stated to be predicateless Being, above\nall categories, and therefore not improperly called Nothing [_query_,\nNo-Thing]. Out of this Nothing or incomprehensible essence the world of\nideas or primordial causes is eternally created. This is the Word or Son\nof God, in whom all things exist, so far as they have substantial\nexistence. All existence is a theophany, and as God is the beginning of\nall things, so also is He the end. Erigena teaches the restitution of\nall things under the form of the Dionysian _adunatio_ or _deificatio_.\nThese are the permanent outlines of what may be called the philosophy\nof mysticism in Christian times, and it is remarkable with how little\nvariation they are repeated from age to age.\"[153]\n\nIn the eleventh century Bernard of Clairvaux (A.D. 1091-1153) and Hugo\nof S. Victor carry on the mystic tradition, with Richard of S. Victor in\nthe following century, and S. Bonaventura the Seraphic Doctor, and the\ngreat S. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1227-1274) in the thirteenth. Thomas\nAquinas dominates the Europe of the Middle Ages, by his force of\ncharacter no less than by his learning and piety. He asserts\n\"Revelation\" as one source of knowledge, Scripture and tradition being\nthe two channels in which it runs, and the influence, seen in his\nwritings, of the Pseudo-Dionysius links him to the Neo-Platonists. The\nsecond source is Reason, and here the channels are the Platonic\nphilosophy and the methods of Aristotle--the latter an alliance that did\nChristianity no good, for Aristotle became an obstacle to the advance of\nthe higher thought, as was made manifest in the struggles of Giordano\nBruno, the Pythagorean. Thomas Aquinas was canonised in A.D. 1323, and\nthe great Dominican remains as a type of the union of theology and\nphilosophy--the aim of his life. These belong to the great Church of\nwestern Europe, vindicating her claim to be regarded as the transmitter\nof the holy torch of mystic learning. Around her there also sprang up\nmany sects, deemed heretical, yet containing true traditions of the\nsacred secret learning, the Cathari and many others, persecuted by a\nChurch jealous of her authority, and fearing lest the holy pearls should\npass into profane custody. In this century also S. Elizabeth of Hungary\nshines out with sweetness and purity, while Eckhart (A.D. 1260-1329)\nproves himself a worthy inheritor of the Alexandrian Schools. Eckhart\ntaught that \"The Godhead is the absolute Essence (Wesen), unknowable not\nonly by man but also by Itself; It is darkness and absolute\nindeterminateness, _Nicht_ in contrast to _Icht_, or definite and\nknowable existence. Yet It is the potentiality of all things, and Its\nnature is, in a triadic process, to come to consciousness of Itself as\nthe triune God. Creation is not a temporal act, but an eternal\nnecessity, of the divine nature. I am as necessary to God, Eckhart is\nfond of saying, as God is necessary to me. In my knowledge and love God\nknows and loves Himself.\"[154]\n\nEckhart is followed, in the fourteenth century, by John Tauler, and\nNicolas of Basel, \"the Friend of God in the Oberland.\" From these sprang\nup the Society of the Friends of God, true mystics and followers of the\nold tradition. Mead remarks that Thomas Aquinas, Tauler, and Eckhart\nfollowed the Pseudo-Dionysius, who followed Plotinus, Iamblichus, and\nProclus, who in turn followed Plato and Pythagoras.[155] So linked\ntogether are the followers of the Wisdom in all ages. It was probably a\n\"Friend\" who was the author of _Die Deutsche Theologie_, a book of\nmystical devotion, which had the curious fortune of being approved by\nStaupitz, the Vicar-General of the Augustinian Order, who recommended it\nto Luther, and by Luther himself, who published it A.D. 1516, as a book\nwhich should rank immediately after the _Bible_ and the writings of S.\nAugustine of Hippo. Another \"Friend\" was Ruysbroeck, to whose influence\nwith Groot was due the founding of the Brethren of the Common Lot or\nCommon Life--a Society that must remain ever memorable, as it numbered\namong its members that prince of mystics, Thomas a Kempis (A.D.\n1380-1471), the author of the immortal _Imitation of Christ_.\n\nIn the fifteenth century the more purely intellectual side of mysticism\ncomes out more strongly than the exstatic--so dominant in these\nsocieties of the fourteenth--and we have Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa, with\nGiordano Bruno, the martyred knight-errant of philosophy, and\nParacelsus, the much slandered scientist, who drew his knowledge\ndirectly from the original eastern fountain, instead of through Greek\nchannels.\n\nThe sixteenth century saw the birth of Jacob Boehme (A.D. 1575-1624), the\n\"inspired cobbler,\" an Initiate in obscuration truly, sorely persecuted\nby unenlightened men; and then too came S. Teresa, the much-oppressed\nand suffering Spanish mystic; and S. John of the Cross, a burning flame\nof intense devotion; and S. Francois de Sales. Wise was Rome in\ncanonising these, wiser than the Reformation that persecuted Boehme, but\nthe spirit of the Reformation was ever intensely anti-mystical, and\nwherever its breath hath passed the fair flowers of mysticism have\nwithered as under the sirocco.\n\nRome, however, who, though she canonised Teresa dead, had sorely harried\nher while living--did ill with Mme. de Guyon (A.D. 1648-1717), a true\nmystic, and with Miguel de Molinos (1627-1696), worthy to sit near S.\nJohn of the Cross, who carried on in the seventeenth century the high\ndevotion of the mystic, turned into a peculiarly passive form--the\nQuietist.\n\nIn this same century arose the school of Platonists in Cambridge, of\nwhom Henry More (A.D. 1614-1687) may serve as salient example; also\nThomas Vaughan, and Robert Fludd the Rosicrucian; and there is formed\nalso the Philadelphian Society, and we see William Law (A.D. 1686-1761)\nactive in the eighteenth century, and overlapping S. Martin (A.D.\n1743-1803), whose writings have fascinated so many nineteenth century\nstudents.[156]\n\nNor should we omit Christian Rosenkreutz (d. A.D. 1484), whose mystic\nSociety of the Rosy Cross, appearing in 1614, held true knowledge, and\nwhose spirit was reborn in the \"Comte de S. Germain,\" the mysterious\nfigure that appears and disappears through the gloom, lit by lurid\nflashes, of the closing eighteenth century. Mystics too were some of the\nQuakers, the much-persecuted sect of Friends, seeking the illumination\nof the Inner Light, and listening ever for the Inner Voice. And many\nanother mystic was there, \"of whom the world was not worthy,\" like the\nwholly delightful and wise Mother Juliana of Norwich, of the fourteenth\ncentury, jewels of Christendom, too little known, but justifying\nChristianity to the world.\n\nYet, as we salute reverently these Children of the Light, scattered over\nthe centuries, we are forced to recognise in them the absence of that\nunion of acute intellect and high devotion which were welded together by\nthe training of the Mysteries, and while we marvel that they soared so\nhigh, we cannot but wish that their rare gifts had been developed under\nthat magnificent _disciplina arcani_.\n\nAlphonse Louis Constant, better known under his pseudonym, Eliphas Levi,\nhas put rather well the loss of the Mysteries, and the need for their\nre-institution. \"A great misfortune befell Christianity. The betrayal of\nthe Mysteries by the false Gnostics--for the Gnostics, that is, _those\nwho know_, were the Initiates of primitive Christianity--caused the\nGnosis to be rejected, and alienated the Church from the supreme truths\nof the Kabbala, which contain all the secrets of transcendental\ntheology.... Let the most absolute science, let the highest reason,\nbecome once more the patrimony of the leaders of the people; let the\nsacerdotal art and the royal art take the double sceptre of antique\ninitiations, and the social world will once more issue from its chaos.\nBurn the holy images no longer; demolish the temples no more; temples\nand images are necessary for men; but drive the hirelings from the house\nof prayer; let the blind be no longer leaders of the blind, reconstruct\nthe hierarchy of intelligence and holiness, and recognise only those who\nknow as the teachers of those who believe.\"[157]\n\nWill the Churches of to-day again take up the mystic teaching, the\nLesser Mysteries, and so prepare their children for the re-establishment\nof the Greater Mysteries, again drawing down the Angels as Teachers, and\nhaving as Hierophant the Divine Master, Jesus? On the answer to that\nquestion depends the future of Christianity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE HISTORICAL CHRIST.\n\n\nWe have already spoken, in the first chapter, on the identities existing\nin all the religions of the world, and we have seen that out of a study\nof these identities in beliefs, symbolisms, rites, ceremonies,\nhistories, and commemorative festivals, has arisen a modern school which\nrelates the whole of these to a common source in human ignorance, and in\na primitive explanation of natural phenomena. From these identities have\nbeen drawn weapons for the stabbing of each religion in turn, and the\nmost effective attacks on Christianity and on the historical existence\nof its Founder have been armed from this source. On entering now on the\nstudy of the life of the Christ, of the rites of Christianity, its\nsacraments, its doctrines, it would be fatal to ignore the facts\nmarshalled by Comparative Mythologists. Rightly understood, they may be\nmade serviceable instead of mischievous. We have seen that the Apostles\nand their successors dealt very freely with the Old Testament as having\nan allegorical and mystic sense far more important than the historical,\nthough by no means negating it, and that they did not scruple to teach\nthe instructed believer that some of the stories that were apparently\nhistorical were really purely allegorical. Nowhere, perhaps, is it more\nnecessary to understand this than when we are studying the story of\nJesus, surnamed the Christ, for when we do not disentangle the\nintertwisted threads, and see where symbols have been taken as events,\nallegories as histories, we lose most of the instructiveness of the\nnarrative and much of its rarest beauty. We cannot too much insist on\nthe fact that Christianity gains, it does not lose, when knowledge is\nadded to faith and virtue, according to the apostolic injunction.[158]\nMen fear that Christianity will be weakened when reason studies it, and\nthat it is \"dangerous\" to admit that events thought to be historical\nhave the deeper significance of the mythical or mystical meaning. It is,\non the contrary, strengthened, and the student finds, with joy, that the\npearl of great price shines with a purer, clearer lustre when the\ncoating of ignorance is removed and its many colours are seen.\n\nThere are two schools of thought at the present time, bitterly opposed\nto each other, who dispute over the story of the great Hebrew Teacher.\nAccording to one school there is nothing at all in the accounts of His\nlife save myths and legends--myths and legends that were given as\nexplanations of certain natural phenomena, survivals of a pictorial way\nof teaching certain facts of nature, of impressing on the minds of the\nuneducated certain grand classifications of natural events that were\nimportant in themselves, and that lent themselves to moral instruction.\nThose who endorse this view form a well-defined school to which belong\nmany men of high education and strong intelligence, and round them\ngather crowds of the less instructed, who emphasise with crude\nvehemence the more destructive elements in their pronouncements. This\nschool is opposed by that of the believers in orthodox Christianity, who\ndeclare that the whole story of Jesus is history, unadulterated by\nlegend or myth. They maintain that this history is nothing more than the\nhistory of the life of a man born some nineteen centuries ago in\nPalestine, who passed through all the experiences set down in the\nGospels, and they deny that the story has any significance beyond that\nof a divine and human life. These two schools stand in direct\nantagonism, one asserting that everything is legend, the other declaring\nthat everything is history. Between them lie many phases of opinion\ngenerally labelled \"freethinking,\" which regard the life-story as partly\nlegendary and partly historical, but offer no definite and rational\nmethod of interpretation, no adequate explanation of the complex whole.\nAnd we also find, within the limits of the Christian Church, a large and\never-increasing number of faithful and devout Christians of refined\nintelligence, men and women who are earnest in their faith and\nreligious in their aspirations, but who see in the Gospel story more\nthan the history of a single divine Man. They allege--defending their\nposition from the received Scriptures--that the story of the Christ has\na deeper and more significant meaning than lies on the surface; while\nthey maintain the historical character of Jesus, they at the same time\ndeclare that THE CHRIST is more than the man Jesus, and has a mystical\nmeaning. In support of this contention they point to such phrases as\nthat used by S. Paul: \"My little children, of whom I travail in birth\nagain again until Christ be formed in you\";[159] here S. Paul obviously\ncannot refer to a historical Jesus, but to some forthputting from the\nhuman soul which is to him the shaping of Christ therein. Again the same\nteacher declares that though he had known Christ after the flesh yet\nfrom henceforth he would know him thus no more;[160] obviously implying\nthat while he recognised the Christ of the flesh--Jesus--there was a\nhigher view to which he had attained which threw into the shade the\nhistorical Christ. This is the view which many are seeking in our own\ndays, and--faced by the facts of Comparative Religion, puzzled by the\ncontradictions of the Gospels, confused by problems they cannot solve so\nlong as they are tied down to the mere surface meanings of their\nScripture--they cry despairingly that the letter killeth while the\nspirit giveth life, and seek to trace some deep and wide significance in\na story which is as old as the religions of the world, and has always\nserved as the very centre and life of every religion in which it has\nreappeared. These struggling thinkers, too unrelated and indefinite to\nbe spoken of as forming a school, seem to stretch out a hand on one side\nto those who think that all is legend, asking them to accept a\nhistorical basis; on the other side they say to their fellow Christians\nthat there is a growing danger lest, in clinging to a literal and unique\nmeaning, which cannot be defended before the increasing knowledge of the\nday, the spiritual meaning should be entirely lost. There is a danger of\nlosing \"the story of the Christ,\" with that thought of the Christ which\nhas been the support and inspiration of millions of noble lives in East\nand West, though the Christ be called by other names and worshipped\nunder other forms; a danger lest the pearl of great price should escape\nfrom our hold, and man be left the poorer for evermore.\n\nWhat is needed, in order that this danger may be averted, is to\ndisentangle the different threads in the story of the Christ, and to lay\nthem side by side--the thread of history, the thread of legend, the\nthread of mysticism. These have been intertwined into a single strand,\nto the great loss of the thoughtful, and in disentangling them we shall\nfind that the story becomes more, not less, valuable as knowledge is\nadded to it, and that here, as in all that is basically of the truth,\nthe brighter the light thrown upon it the greater the beauty that is\nrevealed.\n\nWe will study first the historical Christ; secondly, the mythic Christ;\nthirdly, the mystic Christ. And we shall find that elements drawn from\nall these make up the Jesus Christ of the Churches. They all enter into\nthe composition of the grandiose and pathetic Figure which dominates the\nthoughts and the emotions of Christendom, the Man of Sorrows, the\nSaviour, the Lover and Lord of Men.\n\n\nTHE HISTORICAL CHRIST, OR JESUS THE HEALER AND TEACHER.\n\nThe thread of the life-story of Jesus is one which may be disentangled\nfrom those with which it is intertwined without any great difficulty. We\nmay fairly here aid our study by reference to those records of the past\nwhich experts can reverify for themselves, and from which certain\ndetails regarding the Hebrew Teacher have been given to the world by H.\nP. Blavatsky and by others who are experts in occult investigation. Now\nin the minds of many there is apt to arise a challenge when this word\n\"expert\" is used in connection with occultism. Yet it only means a\nperson who by special study, by special training, has accumulated a\nspecial kind of knowledge, and has developed powers that enable him to\ngive an opinion founded on his own individual knowledge of the subject\nwith which he is dealing. Just as we speak of Huxley as an expert in\nbiology, as we speak of a Senior Wrangler as an expert in mathematics,\nor of Lyell as an expert in geology, so we may fairly call a man an\nexpert in occultism who has first mastered intellectually certain\nfundamental theories of the constitution of man and the universe, and\nsecondly has developed within himself the powers that are latent in\neveryone--and are capable of being developed by those who give\nthemselves to appropriate studies--capacities which enable him to\nexamine for himself the more obscure processes of nature. As a man may\nbe born with a mathematical faculty, and by training that faculty year\nafter year may immensely increase his mathematical capacity, so may a\nman be born with certain faculties within him, faculties belonging to\nthe Soul, which he can develop by training and by discipline. When,\nhaving developed those faculties, he applies them to the study of the\ninvisible world, such a man becomes an expert in Occult Science, and\nsuch a man can at his will reverify the records to which I have\nreferred. Such reverification is as much out of the reach of the\nordinary person as a mathematical book written in the symbols of the\nhigher mathematics is out of the reach of those who are untrained in\nmathematical science. There is nothing exclusive in the knowledge save\nas every science is exclusive; those who are born with a faculty, and\ntrain the faculty, can master its appropriate science, while those who\nstart in life without any faculty, or those who do not develop it if\nthey have it, must be content to remain in ignorance. These are the\nrules everywhere of the obtaining of knowledge, in Occultism as in every\nother science.\n\nThe occult records partly endorse the story told in the Gospels, and\npartly do not endorse it; they show us the life, and thus enable us to\ndisentangle it from the myths which are intertwined therewith.\n\nThe child whose Jewish name has been turned into that of Jesus was born\nin Palestine B.C. 105, during the consulate of Publius Rutilius Rufus\nand Gnaeus Mallius Maximus. His parents were well-born though poor, and\nhe was educated in a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. His fervent\ndevotion and a gravity beyond his years led his parents to dedicate him\nto the religious and ascetic life, and soon after a visit to Jerusalem,\nin which the extraordinary intelligence and eagerness for knowledge of\nthe youth were shown in his seeking of the doctors in the Temple, he was\nsent to be trained in an Essene community in the southern Judaean desert.\nWhen he had reached the age of nineteen he went on to the Essene\nmonastery near Mount Serbal, a monastery which was much visited by\nlearned men travelling from Persia and India to Egypt, and where a\nmagnificent library of occult works--many of them Indian of the\nTrans-Himalayan regions--had been established. From this seat of mystic\nlearning he proceeded later to Egypt. He had been fully instructed in\nthe secret teachings which were the real fount of life among the\nEssenes, and was initiated in Egypt as a disciple of that one sublime\nLodge from which every great religion has its Founder. For Egypt has\nremained one of the world-centres of the true Mysteries, whereof all\nsemi-public Mysteries are the faint and far-off reflections. The\nMysteries spoken of in history as Egyptian were the shadows of the true\nthings \"in the Mount,\" and there the young Hebrew received the solemn\nconsecration which prepared him for the Royal Priesthood he was later to\nattain. So superhumanly pure and so full of devotion was he, that in his\ngracious manhood he stood out pre-eminently from the severe and somewhat\nfanatical ascetics among whom he had been trained, shedding on the stern\nJews around him the fragrance of a gentle and tender wisdom, as a\nrose-tree strangely planted in a desert would shed its sweetness on the\nbarrenness around. The fair and stately grace of his white purity was\nround him as a radiant moonlit halo, and his words, though few, were\never sweet and loving, winning even the most harsh to a temporary\ngentleness, and the most rigid to a passing softness. Thus he lived\nthrough nine-and-twenty years of mortal life, growing from grace to\ngrace.\n\nThis superhuman purity and devotion fitted the man Jesus, the disciple,\nto become the temple of a loftier Power, of a mighty, indwelling\nPresence. The time had come for one of those Divine manifestations which\nfrom age to age are made for the helping of humanity, when a new impulse\nis needed to quicken the spiritual evolution of mankind, when a new\ncivilisation is about to dawn. The world of the West was then in the\nwomb of time, ready for the birth, and the Teutonic sub-race was to\ncatch the sceptre of empire falling from the failing hands of Rome. Ere\nit started on its journey a World-Saviour must appear, to stand in\nblessing beside the cradle of the infant Hercules.\n\nA mighty \"Son of God\" was to take flesh upon earth, a supreme Teacher,\n\"full of grace and truth\"--[161] One in whom the Divine Wisdom abode in\nfullest measure, who was verily \"the Word\" incarnate, Light and Life in\noutpouring richness, a very Fountain of the Waters of Life. Lord of\nCompassion and of Wisdom--such was His name--and from His dwelling in\nthe Secret Places He came forth into the world of men.\n\nFor Him was needed an earthly tabernacle, a human form, the body of a\nman, and who so fit to yield his body in glad and willing service to One\nbefore whom Angels and men bow down in lowliest reverence, as this\nHebrew of the Hebrews, this purest and noblest of \"the Perfect,\" whose\nspotless body and stainless mind offered the best that humanity could\nbring? The man Jesus yielded himself a willing sacrifice, \"offered\nhimself without spot\" to the Lord of Love, who took unto Himself that\npure form as tabernacle, and dwelt therein for three years of mortal\nlife.\n\nThis epoch is marked in the traditions embodied in the Gospels as that\nof the Baptism of Jesus, when the Spirit was seen \"descending from\nheaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him,\"[162] and a celestial voice\nproclaimed Him as the beloved Son, to whom men should give ear. Truly\nwas He the beloved Son in whom the Father was well-pleased,[163] and\nfrom that time forward \"Jesus began to preach,\"[164] and was that\nwondrous mystery, \"God manifest in the flesh\"[165]--not unique in that\nHe was God, for: \"Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If\nhe called them Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture\ncannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and\nsent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of\nGod?\"[166] Truly all men are Gods, in respect to the Spirit within them,\nbut not in all is the Godhead manifested, as in that well-beloved Son of\nthe Most High.\n\nTo that manifested Presence the name of \"the Christ\" may rightly be\ngiven, and it was He who lived and moved in the form of the man Jesus\nover the hills and plains of Palestine, teaching, healing diseases, and\ngathering round Him as disciples a few of the more advanced souls. The\nrare charm of His royal love, outpouring from Him as rays from a sun,\ndrew round Him the suffering, the weary, and the oppressed, and the\nsubtly tender magic of His gentle wisdom purified, ennobled, and\nsweetened the lives that came into contact with His own. By parable and\nluminous imagery He taught the uninstructed crowds who pressed around\nHim, and, using the powers of the free Spirit, He healed many a disease\nby word or touch, reinforcing the magnetic energies belonging to His\npure body with the compelling force of His inner life. Rejected by His\nEssene brethren among whom He first laboured--whose arguments against\nHis purposed life of loving labour are summarised in the story of the\ntemptation--because he carried to the people the spiritual wisdom that\nthey regarded as their proudest and most secret treasure, and because\nHis all-embracing love drew within its circle the outcast and the\ndegraded--ever loving in the lowest as in the highest the Divine\nSelf--He saw gathering round Him all too quickly the dark clouds of\nhatred and suspicion. The teachers and rulers of His nation soon came to\neye Him with jealousy and anger; His spirituality was a constant\nreproach to their materialism, His power a constant, though silent,\nexposure of their weakness. Three years had scarcely passed since His\nbaptism when the gathering storm outbroke, and the human body of Jesus\npaid the penalty for enshrining the glorious Presence of a Teacher more\nthan man.\n\nThe little band of chosen disciples whom He had selected as repositories\nof His teachings were thus deprived of their Master's physical presence\nere they had assimilated His instructions, but they were souls of high\nand advanced type, ready to learn the Wisdom, and fit to hand it on to\nlesser men. Most receptive of all was that \"disciple whom Jesus loved,\"\nyoung, eager, and fervid, profoundly devoted to his Master, and sharing\nHis spirit of all-embracing love. He represented, through the century\nthat followed the physical departure of the Christ, the spirit of mystic\ndevotion that sought the exstasis, the vision of and the union with the\nDivine, while the later great Apostle, S. Paul, represented the wisdom\nside of the Mysteries.\n\nThe Master did not forget His promise to come to them after the world\nhad lost sight of Him,[167] and for something over fifty years He\nvisited them in His subtle spiritual body, continuing the teachings He\nhad begun while with them, and training them in a knowledge of occult\ntruths. They lived together, for the most part, in a retired spot on the\noutskirts of Judaea, attracting no attention among the many apparently\nsimilar communities of the time, studying the profound truths He taught\nthem and acquiring \"the gifts of the Spirit.\"\n\nThese inner instructions, commenced during His physical life among them\nand carried on after He had left the body, formed the basis of the\n\"Mysteries of Jesus,\" which we have seen in early Church History, and\ngave the inner life which was the nucleus round which gathered the\nheterogeneous materials which formed ecclesiastical Christianity.\n\nIn the remarkable fragment called the _Pistis Sophia_, we have a\ndocument of the greatest interest bearing on the hidden teaching,\nwritten by the famous Valentinus. In this it is said that during the\neleven years immediately after His death Jesus instructed His disciples\nso far as \"the regions of the first statutes only, and up to the regions\nof the first mystery, the mystery within the veil.\"[168] They had not so\nfar learned the distribution of the angelic orders, of part whereof\nIgnatius speaks.[169] Then Jesus, being \"in the Mount\" with His\ndisciples, and having received His mystic Vesture, the knowledge of all\nthe regions and the Words of Power which unlocked them, taught His\ndisciples further, promising: \"I will perfect you in every perfection,\nfrom the mysteries of the interior to the mysteries of the exterior: I\nwill fill you with the Spirit, so that ye shall be called spiritual,\nperfect in all perfections.\"[170] And He taught them of Sophia, the\nWisdom, and of her fall into matter in her attempt to rise unto the\nHighest, and of her cries to the Light in which she had trusted, and of\nthe sending of Jesus to redeem her from chaos, and of her crowning with\nHis light, and leading forth from bondage. And He told them further of\nthe highest Mystery the ineffable, the simplest and clearest of all,\nthough the highest, to be known by him alone who utterly renounced the\nworld;[171] by that knowledge men became Christs for such \"men are\nmyself, and I am these men,\" for Christ is that highest Mystery.[172]\nKnowing that, men are \"transformed into pure light and are brought into\nthe light.\"[173] And He performed for them the great ceremony of\nInitiation, the baptism \"which leadeth to the region of truth and into\nthe region of light,\" and bade them celebrate it for others who were\nworthy: \"But hide ye this mystery, give it not unto every man, but unto\nhim [only] who shall do all things which I have said unto you in my\ncommandments.\"[174]\n\nThereafter, being fully instructed, the apostles went forth to preach,\never aided by their Master.\n\nMoreover these same disciples and their earliest colleagues wrote down\nfrom memory all the public sayings and parables of the Master that they\nhad heard, and collected with great eagerness any reports they could\nfind, writing down these also, and circulating them all among those who\ngradually attached themselves to their small community. Various\ncollections were made, any member writing down what he himself\nremembered, and adding selections from the accounts of others. The inner\nteachings, given by the Christ to His chosen ones, were not written\ndown, but were taught orally to those deemed worthy to receive them, to\nstudents who formed small communities for leading a retired life, and\nremained in touch with the central body.\n\nThe historical Christ, then, is a glorious Being belonging to the great\nspiritual hierarchy that guides the spiritual evolution of humanity, who\nused for some three years the human body of the disciple Jesus; who\nspent the last of these three years in public teaching throughout Judaea\nand Samaria; who was a healer of diseases and performed other remarkable\noccult works; who gathered round Him a small band of disciples whom He\ninstructed in the deeper truths of the spiritual life; who drew men to\nHim by the singular love and tenderness and the rich wisdom that\nbreathed from His Person; and who was finally put to death for\nblasphemy, for teaching the inherent Divinity of Himself and of all men.\nHe came to give a new impulse of spiritual life to the world; to\nre-issue the inner teachings affecting spiritual life; to mark out again\nthe narrow ancient way; to proclaim the existence of the \"Kingdom of\nHeaven,\" of the Initiation which admits to that knowledge of God which\nis eternal life; and to admit a few to that Kingdom who should be able\nto teach others. Round this glorious Figure gathered the myths which\nunited Him to the long array of His predecessors, the myths telling in\nallegory the story of all such lives, as they symbolise the work of the\nLogos in the Kosmos and the higher evolution of the individual human\nsoul.\n\nBut it must not be supposed that the work of the Christ for His\nfollowers was over after He had established the Mysteries, or was\nconfined to rare appearances therein. That Mighty One who had used the\nbody of Jesus as His vehicle, and whose guardian care extends over the\nwhole spiritual evolution of the fifth race of humanity, gave into the\nstrong hands of the holy disciple who had surrendered to Him his body\nthe care of the infant Church. Perfecting his human evolution, Jesus\nbecame one of the Masters of Wisdom, and took Christianity under His\nspecial charge, ever seeking to guide it to the right lines, to protect,\nto guard and nourish it. He was the Hierophant in the Christian\nMysteries, the direct Teacher of the Initiates. His the inspiration that\nkept alight the Gnosis in the Church, until the superincumbent mass of\nignorance became so great that even His breath could not fan the flame\nsufficiently to prevent its extinguishment. His the patient labour which\nstrengthened soul after soul to endure through the darkness, and cherish\nwithin itself the spark of mystic longing, the thirst to find the Hidden\nGod. His the steady inpouring of truth into every brain ready to\nreceive it, so that hand stretched out to hand across the centuries and\npassed on the torch of knowledge, which thus was never extinguished. His\nthe Form which stood beside the rack and in the flames of the burning\npile, cheering His confessors and His martyrs, soothing the anguish of\ntheir pains, and filling their hearts with His peace. His the impulse\nwhich spoke in the thunder of Savonarola, which guided the calm wisdom\nof Erasmus, which inspired the deep ethics of the God-intoxicated\nSpinoza. His the energy which impelled Roger Bacon, Galileo, and\nParacelsus in their searchings into nature. His the beauty that allured\nFra Angelica and Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, that inspired the genius\nof Michelangelo, that shone before the eyes of Murillo, and that gave\nthe power that raised the marvels of the world, the Duomo of Milan, the\nSan Marco of Venice, the Cathedral of Florence. His the melody that\nbreathed in the masses of Mozart, the sonatas of Beethoven, the\noratorios of Handel, the fugues of Bach, the austere splendour of\nBrahms. His the Presence that cheered the solitary mystics, the hunted\noccultists, the patient seekers after truth. By persuasion and by\nmenace, by the eloquence of a S. Francis and by the gibes of a Voltaire,\nby the sweet submission of a Thomas a Kempis, and the rough virility of\na Luther, He sought to instruct and awaken, to win into holiness or to\nscourge from evil. Through the long centuries He has striven and\nlaboured, and, with all the mighty burden of the Churches to carry, He\nhas never left uncared for or unsolaced one human heart that cried to\nHim for help. And now He is striving to turn to the benefit of\nChristendom part of the great flood of the Wisdom poured out for the\nrefreshing of the world, and He is seeking through the Churches for some\nwho have ears to hear the Wisdom, and who will answer to His appeal for\nmessengers to carry it to His flock: \"Here am I; send me.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE MYTHIC CHRIST.\n\n\nWe have already seen the use that is made of Comparative Mythology\nagainst Religion, and some of its most destructive attacks have been\nlevelled against the Christ. His birth of a Virgin at \"Christmas,\" the\nslaughter of the Innocents, His wonder-working and His teachings, His\ncrucifixion, resurrection, and ascension--all these events in the story\nof His life are pointed to in the stories of other lives, and His\nhistorical existence is challenged on the strength of these identities.\nSo far as the wonder-working and the teachings are concerned, we may\nbriefly dismiss these first with the acknowledgment that most great\nTeachers have wrought works which, on the physical plane, appear as\nmiracles in the sight of their contemporaries, but are known by\noccultists to be done by the exercise of powers possessed by all\nInitiates above a certain grade. The teachings He gave may also be\nacknowledged to be non-original; but where the student of Comparative\nMythology thinks that he has proved that none is divinely inspired, when\nhe shows that similar moral teachings fell from the lips of Manu, from\nthe lips of the Buddha, from the lips of Jesus, the occultist says that\ncertainly Jesus must have repeated the teachings of His predecessors,\nsince He was a messenger from the same Lodge. The profound verities\ntouching the divine and the human Spirit were as much truths twenty\nthousand years before Jesus was born in Palestine as after He was born;\nand to say that the world was left without such teaching, and that man\nwas left in moral darkness from his beginnings to twenty centuries ago,\nis to say that there was a humanity without a Teacher, children without\na Father, human souls crying for light into a darkness that gave them no\nanswer--a conception as blasphemous of God as it is desperate for man, a\nconception contradicted by the appearance of every Sage, by the mighty\nliterature, by the noble lives, in the thousands of ages ere the Christ\ncame forth.\n\nRecognising then in Jesus the great Master of the West, the leading\nMessenger of the Lodge to the western world, we must face the difficulty\nwhich has made havoc of this belief in the minds of many: Why are the\nfestivals that commemorate events in the life of Jesus found in\npre-Christian religions, and in them commemorate identical events in the\nlives of other Teachers?\n\nComparative Mythology, which has drawn public attention to this question\nin modern times, may be said to be about a century old, dating from the\nappearance of Dulaure's _Histoire Abregee de differens Cultes_, of\nDupuis' _Origine de tous les Cultes_, of Moor's _Hindu Pantheon_, and of\nGodfrey Higgins' _Anacalypsis_. These works were followed by a shoal of\nothers, growing more scientific and rigid in their collection and\ncomparison of facts, until it has become impossible for any educated\nperson to even challenge the identities and similarities existing in\nevery direction. Christians are not to be found, in these days, who are\nprepared to contend that Christian symbols, rites, and ceremonies are\nunique--except, indeed, among the ignorant. There we still behold\nsimplicity of belief hand-in-hand with ignorance of facts; but outside\nthis class we do not find even the most devout Christians alleging that\nChristianity has not very much in common with faiths older than itself.\nBut it is well known that in the first centuries \"after Christ\" these\nlikenesses were on all hands admitted, and that modern Comparative\nMythology is only repeating with great precision that which was\nuniversally recognised in the Early Church. Justin Martyr, for instance,\ncrowds his pages with references to the religions of his time, and if a\nmodern assailant of Christianity would cite a number of cases in which\nChristian teachings are identical with those of elder religions, he can\nfind no better guides than the apologists of the second century. They\nquote Pagan teachings, stories, and symbols, pleading that the very\nidentity of the Christian with these should prevent the off-hand\nrejection of the latter as in themselves incredible. A curious reason\nis, indeed, given for this identity, one that will scarcely find many\nadherents in modern days. Says Justin Martyr: \"Those who hand down the\nmyths which the poets have made adduce no proof to the youths who learn\nthem; and we proceed to demonstrate that they have been uttered by the\ninfluence of the wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human\nrace. For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the\nChrist was to come, and that the ungodly among men were to be punished\nby fire, they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the\nimpression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the\nthings which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales,\nlike the things which were said by the poets.\" \"And the devils, indeed,\nhaving heard this washing published by the prophet, instigated those who\nenter their temples, and are about to approach them with libations and\nburnt offerings, also to sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also\nto wash themselves entirely as they depart.\" \"Which [the Lord's Supper]\nthe wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding\nthe same thing to be done.\"[175] \"For I myself, when I discovered the\nwicked disguise which the evil spirits had thrown around the divine\ndoctrines of the Christians, to turn aside others from joining them,\nlaughed.\"[176]\n\nThese identities were thus regarded as the work of devils, copies of the\nChristian originals, largely circulated in the pre-Christian world with\nthe object of prejudicing the reception of the truth when it came. There\nis a certain difficulty in accepting the earlier statements as copies\nand the later as originals, but without disputing with Justin Martyr\nwhether the copies preceded the original or the original the copies, we\nmay be content to accept his testimony as to the existence of these\nidentities between the faith flourishing in the Roman empire of his\ntime and the new religion he was engaged in defending.\n\nTertullian speaks equally plainly, stating the objection made in his\ndays also to Christianity, that \"the nations who are strangers to all\nunderstanding of spiritual powers, ascribe to their idols the imbuing of\nwaters with the self-same efficacy.\" \"So they do,\" he answers quite\nfrankly, \"but these cheat themselves with waters that are widowed. For\nwashing is the channel through which they are initiated into some sacred\nrites of some notorious Isis or Mithra; and the Gods themselves they\nhonour by washings.... At the Apollinarian and Eleusinian games they\nare baptised; and they presume that the effect of their doing that is\nthe regeneration and the remission of the penalties due to their\nperjuries. Which fact, being acknowledged, we recognise here also the\nzeal of the devil rivalling the things of God, while we find him too\npractising baptism in his subjects.\"[177]\n\nTo solve the difficulty of these identities we must study the Mythic\nChrist, the Christ of the solar myths or legends, these myths being the\npictorial forms in which certain profound truths were given to the\nworld.\n\nNow a \"myth\" is by no means what most people imagine it to be--a mere\nfanciful story erected on a basis of fact, or even altogether apart from\nfact. A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a\nstory of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances\nthat cast the shadows. As above so below; and _first_ above and _then_\nbelow. There are certain great principles according to which our system\nis built; there are certain laws by which these principles are worked\nout in detail; there are certain Beings who embody the principles and\nwhose activities are the laws; there are hosts of inferior beings who\nact as vehicles for these activities, as agents, as instruments; there\nare the Egos of men intermingled with all these, performing their share\nof the great kosmic drama. These multifarious workers in the invisible\nworlds cast their shadows on physical matter, and these shadows are\n\"things\"--the bodies, the objects, that make up the physical universe.\nThese shadows give but a poor idea of the objects that cast them, just\nas what we call shadows down here give but a poor idea of the objects\nthat cast them; they are mere outlines, with blank darkness in lieu of\ndetails, and have only length and breadth, no depth.\n\nHistory is an account, very imperfect and often distorted, of the dance\nof these shadows in the shadow-world of physical matter. Anyone who has\nseen a clever Shadow-Play, and has compared what goes on behind the\nscreen on which the shadows are cast with the movements of the shadows\non the screen, may have a vivid idea of the illusory nature of the\nshadow-actions, and may draw therefrom several not misleading\nanalogies.[178]\n\nMyth is an account of the movements of those who cast the shadows; and\nthe language in which the account is given is what is called the\nlanguage of symbols. Just as here we have words which stand for\nthings--as the word \"table\" is a symbol for a recognised article of a\ncertain kind--so do symbols stand for objects on higher planes. They are\na pictorial alphabet, used by all myth-writers, and each has its\nrecognised meaning. A symbol is used to signify a certain object just as\nwords are used down here to distinguish one thing from another, and so a\nknowledge of symbols is necessary for the reading of a myth. For the\noriginal tellers of great myths are ever Initiates, who are accustomed\nto use the symbolic language, and who, of course, use symbols in their\nfixed and accepted meanings.\n\nA symbol has a chief meaning, and then various subsidiary meanings\nrelated to that chief meaning. For instance, the Sun is the symbol of\nthe Logos; that is its chief or primary significance. But it stands also\nfor an incarnation of the Logos, or for any of the great Messengers who\nrepresent Him for the time, as an ambassador represents his King. High\nInitiates who are sent on special missions to incarnate among men and\nlive with them for a time as Rulers or Teachers, would be designated by\nthe symbol of the Sun; for though it is not their symbol in an\nindividual sense, it is theirs in virtue of their office.\n\nAll those who are signified by this symbol have certain characteristics,\npass through certain situations, perform certain activities, during\ntheir lives on earth. The Sun is the physical shadow, or body, as it is\ncalled, of the Logos; hence its yearly course in nature reflects His\nactivity, in the partial way in which a shadow represents the activity\nof the object that casts it. The Logos, \"the Son of God,\" descending\ninto matter, has as shadow the annual course of the Sun, and the\nSun-Myth tells it. Hence, again, an incarnation of the Logos, or one of\nHis high ambassadors, will also represent that activity, shadow-like, in\nHis body as a man. Thus will necessarily arise identities in the\nlife-histories of these ambassadors. In fact, the absence of such\nidentities would at once point out that the person concerned was not a\nfull ambassador, and that his mission was of a lower order.\n\nThe Solar Myth, then, is a story which primarily representing the\nactivity of the Logos, or Word, in the kosmos, secondarily embodies the\nlife of one who is an incarnation of the Logos, or is one of His\nambassadors. The Hero of the myth is usually represented as a God, or\nDemi-God, and his life, as will be understood by what has been said\nabove, must be outlined by the course of the Sun, as the shadow of the\nLogos. The part of the course lived out during the human life is that\nwhich falls between the winter solstice and the reaching of the zenith\nin summer. The Hero is born at the winter solstice, dies at the spring\nequinox, and, conquering death, rises into mid-heaven.\n\nThe following remarks are interesting in this connection, though looking\nat myth in a more general way, as an allegory, picturing inner truths:\n\"Alfred de Vigny has said that legend is frequently more true than\nhistory, because legend recounts not acts which are often incomplete\nand abortive, but the genius itself of great men and great nations. It\nis pre-eminently to the Gospel that this beautiful thought is\napplicable, for the Gospel is not merely the narration of what has been;\nit is the sublime narration of what is and what always will be. Ever\nwill the Saviour of the world be adored by the kings of intelligence,\nrepresented by the Magi; ever will He multiply the eucharistic bread, to\nnourish and comfort our souls; ever, when we invoke Him in the night and\nthe tempest, will He come to us walking on the waters, ever will He\nstretch forth His hand and make us pass over the crests of the billows;\never will He cure our distempers and give back light to our eyes; ever\nwill He appear to His faithful, luminous and transfigured upon Tabor,\ninterpreting the law of Moses and moderating the zeal of Elias.\"[179]\n\nWe shall find that myths are very closely related to the Mysteries, for\npart of the Mysteries consisted in showing living pictures of the\noccurrences in the higher worlds that became embodied in myths. In fact\nin the Pseudo-Mysteries, mutilated fragments of the living pictures of\nthe true Mysteries were represented by actors who acted out a drama, and\nmany secondary myths are these dramas put into words.\n\nThe broad outlines of the story of the Sun-God are very clear, the\neventful life of the Sun-God being spanned within the first six months\nof the solar year, the other six being employed in the general\nprotecting and preserving. He is always born at the winter solstice,\nafter the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the 24th of\nDecember, when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as this\nsign is rising, he is born always of a virgin, and she remains a virgin\nafter she has given birth to her Sun-Child, as the celestial Virgo\nremains unchanged and unsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the\nheavens. Weak, feeble as an infant is he, born when the days are\nshortest and the nights are longest--we are on the north of the\nequatorial line--surrounded with perils in his infancy, and the reign of\nthe darkness far longer than his in his early days. But he lives\nthrough all the threatening dangers, and the day lengthens towards the\nspring equinox, till the time comes for the crossing over, the\ncrucifixion, the date varying with each year. The Sun-God is sometimes\nfound sculptured within the circle of the horizon, with the head and\nfeet touching the circle at north and south, and the outstretched hands\nat east and west--\"He was crucified.\" After this he rises triumphantly\nand ascends into heaven, and ripens the corn and the grape, giving his\nvery life to them to make their substance and through them to his\nworshippers. The God who is born at the dawning of December 25th is ever\ncrucified at the spring equinox, and ever gives his life as food to his\nworshippers--these are among the most salient marks of the Sun-God. The\nfixity of the birth-date and the variableness of the death-date are full\nof significance, when we remember that the one is a fixed and the other\na variable solar position. \"Easter\" is a movable event, calculated by\nthe relative positions of sun and moon, an impossible way of fixing year\nby year the anniversary of a historical event, but a very natural and\nindeed inevitable way of calculating a solar festival. These changing\ndates do not point to the history of a man, but to the Hero of a solar\nmyth.\n\nThese events are reproduced in the lives of the various Solar Gods, and\nantiquity teems with illustrations of them. Isis of Egypt like Mary of\nBethlehem was our Immaculate Lady, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven,\nMother of God. We see her in pictures standing on the crescent moon,\nstar-crowned; she nurses her child Horus, and the cross appears on the\nback of the seat in which he sits on his mother's knee. The Virgo of the\nZodiac is represented in ancient drawings as a woman suckling a\nchild--the type of all future Madonnas with their divine Babes, showing\nthe origin of the symbol. Devaki is likewise figured with the divine\nKrishna in her arms, as is Mylitta, or Istar, of Babylon, also\nwith the recurrent crown of stars, and with her child Tammuz on her\nknee. Mercury and Aesculapius, Bacchus and Hercules, Perseus and the\nDioscuri, Mithras and Zarathustra, were all of divine and human birth.\n\nThe relation of the winter solstice to Jesus is also significant. The\nbirth of Mithras was celebrated in the winter solstice with great\nrejoicings, and Horus was also then born: \"His birth is one of the\ngreatest mysteries of the [Egyptian] religion. Pictures representing it\nappeared on the walls of temples.... He was the child of Deity. At\nChristmas time, or that answering to our festival, his image was brought\nout of the sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies, as the image of the\ninfant Bambino is still brought out and exhibited at Rome.\"[180]\n\nOn the fixing of the 25th December as the birthday of Jesus, Williamson\nhas the following: \"All Christians know that the 25th December is _now_\nthe recognised festival of the birth of Jesus, but few are aware that\nthis has not always been so. There have been, it is said, one hundred\nand thirty-six different dates fixed on by different Christian sects.\nLightfoot gives it as 15th September, others as in February or August.\nEpiphanius mentions two sects, one celebrating it in June, the other in\nJuly. The matter was finally settled by Pope Julius I., in 337 A.D., and\nS. Chrysostom, writing in 390, says: 'On this day [_i.e._ 25th December]\nalso the birth of Christ was lately fixed at Rome, in order that while\nthe heathen were busy with their ceremonies [the Brumalia, in honour of\nBacchus] the Christians might perform their rites undisturbed.' Gibbon\nin his _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, writes: 'The [Christian]\nRomans, as ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his [Christ's\nbirth] fixed the solemn festival to the 25th December, the Brumalia or\nwinter solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the\nSun.' King, in his _Gnostics and their Remains_, also says: 'The ancient\nfestival held on the 25th December in honour of the birthday of the\nInvincible One,[181] and celebrated by the great games at the Circus,\nwas afterwards transferred to the commemoration of the birth of Christ,\nthe precise date of which many of the Fathers confess was then unknown;'\nwhile at the present day Canon Farrar writes that 'all attempts to\ndiscover the month and day of the nativity are useless. No data whatever\nexist to enable us to determine them with even approximate accuracy.'\nFrom the foregoing it is apparent that the great festival of the winter\nsolstice has been celebrated during past ages, and in widely separated\nlands, in honour of the birth of a God, who is almost invariably alluded\nto as a 'Saviour,' and whose mother is referred to as a pure virgin. The\nstriking resemblances, too, which have been instanced not only in the\nbirth but in the life of so many of these Saviour-Gods are far too\nnumerous to be accounted for by any mere coincidence.\"[182]\n\nIn the case of the Lord Buddha we may see how a myth attaches itself to\na historical personage. The story of His life is well known, and in the\ncurrent Indian accounts the birth-story is simple and human. But in the\nChinese account He is born of a virgin, Mayadevi, the archaic myth\nfinding in Him a new Hero.\n\nWilliamson also tells us that fires were and are lighted on the 25th\nDecember on the hills among Keltic peoples, and these are still known\namong the Irish and the Scotch Highlanders as Bheil or Baaltinne, the\nfires thus bearing the name of Bel, Bal, or Baal, their ancient Deity,\nthe Sun-God, though now lighted in honour of Christ.[183]\n\nRightly considered, the Christmas festival should take on new elements\nof rejoicing and of sacredness, when the lovers of Christ see in it the\nrepetition of an ancient solemnity, see it stretching all the world\nover, and far, far back into dim antiquity; so that the Christmas bells\nare ringing throughout human history, and sound musically out of the\nfar-off night of time. Not in exclusive possession, but in universal\nacceptance, is found the hallmark of truth.\n\nThe death-date, as said above, is not a fixed one, like the birth-date.\nThe date of the death is calculated by the relative positions of Sun and\nMoon at the spring equinox, varying with each year, and the death-date\nof each Solar Hero is found to be celebrated in this connection. The\nanimal adopted as the symbol of the Hero is the sign of the Zodiac in\nwhich the Sun is at the vernal equinox of his age, and this varies with\nthe precession of the equinoxes. Oannes of Assyria had the sign of\nPisces, the Fish, and is thus figured. Mithra is in Taurus, and,\ntherefore, rides on a Bull, and Osiris was worshipped as Osiris-Apis, or\nSerapis, the Bull. Merodach of Babylon was worshipped as a Bull, as was\nAstarte of Syria. When the Sun is in the sign of Aries, the Ram or Lamb,\nwe have Osiris again as Ram, and so also Astarte, and Jupiter Ammon, and\nit is this same animal that became the symbol of Jesus--the Lamb of God.\nThe use of the Lamb as His symbol, often leaning on a cross, is common\nin the sculptures of the catacombs. On this Williamson says: \"In the\ncourse of time the Lamb was represented on the cross, but it was not\nuntil the sixth synod of Constantinople, held about the year 680, that\nit was ordained that instead of the ancient symbol, the figure of a\n_man_ fastened to a cross should be represented. This canon was\nconfirmed by Pope Adrian I.\"[184] The very ancient Pisces is also\nassigned to Jesus, and He is thus pictured in the catacombs.\n\nThe death and resurrection of the Solar Hero at or about the vernal\nequinox is as wide-spread as his birth at the winter solstice. Osiris\nwas then slain by Typhon, and He is pictured on the circle of the\nhorizon, with outstretched arms, as if crucified--a posture originally\nof benediction, not of suffering. The death of Tammuz was annually\nbewailed at the spring equinox in Babylonia and Syria, as were Adonis in\nSyria and Greece, and Attis in Phrygia, pictured \"as a man fastened with\na lamb at the foot.\"[185] Mithras' death was similarly celebrated in\nPersia, and that of Bacchus and Dionysius--one and the same--in Greece.\nIn Mexico the same idea re-appears, as usual accompanied with the cross.\n\nIn all these cases the mourning for the death is immediately followed by\nthe rejoicing over the resurrection, and on this it is interesting to\nnotice that the name of Easter has been traced to the virgin-mother of\nthe slain Tammuz, Ishtar.[186]\n\nIt is interesting also to notice that the fast preceding the death at\nthe vernal equinox,--the modern Lent--is found in Mexico, Egypt, Persia,\nBabylon, Assyria, Asia Minor, in some cases definitely for forty\ndays.[187]\n\nIn the Pseudo-Mysteries, the Sun-God story was dramatised, and in the\nancient Mysteries it was lived by the Initiate, and hence the solar\n\"myths\" and the great facts of Initiation became interwoven together.\nHence when the Master Christ became the Christ of the Mysteries, the\nlegends of the older Heroes of those Mysteries gathered round Him, and\nthe stories were again recited with the latest divine Teacher as the\nrepresentative of the Logos in the Sun. Then the festival of His\nnativity became the immemorial date when the Sun was born of the Virgin,\nwhen the midnight sky was filled with the rejoicing hosts of the\ncelestials, and\n\nVery early, very early, Christ was born.\n\nAs the great legend of the Sun gathered round Him, the sign of the Lamb\nbecame that of His crucifixion as the sign of the Virgin had become that\nof His birth. We have seen that the Bull was sacred to Mithras and the\nFish to Oannes, and that the Lamb was sacred to Christ, and for the same\nreason; it was the sign of the spring equinox, at the period of history\nin which He crossed the great circle of the horizon, was \"crucified in\nspace.\"\n\nThese Sun myths, ever recurring throughout the ages, with a different\nname for their Hero in each new recension, cannot pass unrecognised by\nthe student, though they may naturally and rightly be ignored by the\ndevotee; and when they are used as a weapon to mutilate or destroy the\nmajestic figure of the Christ, they must be met, not by denying the\nfacts, but by understanding the deeper meaning of the stories, the\nspiritual truths that the legends expressed under a veil.\n\nWhy have these legends mingled with the history of Jesus, and\ncrystallised round Him, as a historical personage? These are really the\nstories not of a particular individual named Jesus but of the universal\nChrist; of a Man who symbolised a Divine Being, and who represented a\nfundamental truth in nature; a Man who filled a certain office and held\na certain characteristic position towards humanity; standing towards\nhumanity in a special relationship, renewed age after age, as generation\nsucceeded generation, as race gave way to race. Hence He was, as are all\nsuch, the \"Son of Man,\" a peculiar and distinctive title, the title of\nan office, not of an individual. The Christ of the Solar Myth was the\nChrist of the Mysteries, and we find the secret of the mythic in the\nmystic Christ.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE MYSTIC CHRIST.\n\n\nWe now approach that deeper side of the Christ story that gives it its\nreal hold upon the hearts of men. We approach that perennial life which\nbubbles up from an unseen source, and so baptises its representative\nwith its lucent flood that human hearts cling round the Christ, and feel\nthat they could almost more readily reject the apparent facts of history\nthan deny that which they intuitively feel to be a vital, an essential\ntruth of the higher life. We draw near the sacred portal of the\nMysteries, and lift a corner of the veil that hides the sanctuary.\n\nWe have seen that, go back as far as we may into antiquity, we find\neverywhere recognised the existence of a hidden teaching, a secret\ndoctrine, given under strict and exacting conditions to approved\ncandidates by the Masters of Wisdom. Such candidates were initiated into\n\"The Mysteries\"--a name that covers in antiquity, as we have seen, all\nthat was most spiritual in religion, all that was most profound in\nphilosophy, all that was most valuable in science. Every great Teacher\nof antiquity passed through the Mysteries and the greatest were the\nHierophants of the Mysteries; each who came forth into the world to\nspeak of the invisible worlds had passed through the portal of\nInitiation and had learned the secret of the Holy Ones from Their own\nlips: each who came forth came forth with the same story, and the solar\nmyths are all versions of this story, identical in their essential\nfeatures, varying only in their local colour.\n\nThis story is primarily that of the descent of the Logos into matter,\nand the Sun-God is aptly His symbol, since the Sun is His body, and He\nis often described as \"He that dwelleth in the Sun.\" In one aspect, the\nChrist of the Mysteries is the Logos descending into matter, and the\ngreat Sun-Myth is the popular teaching of this sublime truth. As in\nprevious cases, the Divine Teacher, who brought the Ancient Wisdom and\nrepublished it in the world, was regarded as a special manifestation of\nthe Logos, and the Jesus of the Churches was gradually draped with the\nstories which belonged to this great One; thus He became identified, in\nChristian nomenclature, with the Second Person in the Trinity, the\nLogos, or Word of God,[188] and the salient events recounted in the myth\nof the Sun-God became the salient events of the story of Jesus, regarded\nas the incarnate Deity, the \"mythic Christ.\" As in the macrocosm, the\nkosmos, the Christ of the Mysteries represents the Logos, the Second\nPerson in the Trinity, so in the microcosm, man, does He represent the\nsecond aspect of the Divine Spirit in man--hence called in man \"the\nChrist.\"[189] The second aspect of the Christ of the Mysteries is then\nthe life of the Initiate, the life which is entered on at the first\ngreat Initiation, at which the Christ is born in man, and after which He\ndevelops in man. To make this quite intelligible, we must consider the\nconditions imposed on the candidate for Initiation, and the nature of\nthe Spirit in man.\n\nOnly those could be recognised as candidates for Initiation who were\nalready good as men count goodness, according to the strict measure of\nthe law. Pure, holy, without defilement, clean from sin, living without\ntransgression--such were some of the descriptive phrases used of\nthem.[190] Intelligent also must they be, of well-developed and\nwell-trained minds.[191] The evolution carried on in the world life\nafter life, developing and mastering the powers of the mind, the\nemotions, and the moral sense, learning through exoteric religions,\npractising the discharge of duties, seeking to help and lift others--all\nthis belongs to the ordinary life of an evolving man. When all this is\ndone, the man has become \"a good man,\" the Chrestos of the Greeks, and\nthis he must be ere he can become the Christos, the Anointed. Having\naccomplished the exoteric good life, he becomes a candidate for the\nesoteric life, and enters on the preparation for Initiation, which\nconsists in the fulfilment of certain conditions.\n\nThese conditions mark out the attributes he is to acquire, and while he\nis labouring to create these, he is sometimes said to be treading the\nProbationary Path, the Path which leads up to the \"Strait Gate,\" beyond\nwhich is the \"Narrow Way,\" or the \"Path of Holiness,\" the \"Way of the\nCross.\" He is not expected to develop these attributes perfectly, but he\nmust have made some progress in all of them, ere the Christ can be born\nin him. He must prepare a pure home for that Divine Child who is to\ndevelop within him.\n\nThe first of these attributes--they are all mental and moral--is\n_Discrimination_; this means that the aspirant must begin to separate in\nhis mind the Eternal from the Temporary, the Real from the Unreal, the\nTrue from the False, the Heavenly from the Earthly. \"The things which\nare seen are temporal,\" says the Apostle; \"but the things which are not\nseen are eternal.\"[192] Men are constantly living under the glamour of\nthe seen, and are blinded by it to the unseen. The aspirant must learn\nto discriminate between them, so that what is unreal to the world may\nbecome real to him, and that which is real to the world may to him\nbecome unreal, for thus only is it possible to \"walk by faith, not by\nsight.\"[193] And thus also must a man become one of those of whom the\nApostle says that they \"are of full age, even those who by reason of use\nhave their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.\"[194] Next,\nthis sense of unreality must breed in him _Disgust_ with the unreal and\nthe fleeting, the mere husks of life, unfit to satisfy hunger, save the\nhunger of swine.[195] This stage is described in the emphatic language\nof Jesus: \"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother,\nand wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life\nalso, he cannot be my disciple.\"[196] Truly a \"hard saying,\" and yet out\nof this hatred will spring a deeper, truer, love, and the stage may not\nbe escaped on the way to the Strait Gate. Then the aspirant must learn\n_Control of thoughts_, and this will lead to _Control of actions_, the\nthought being, to the inner eye, the same as the action: \"Whosoever\nlooketh on a woman to lust after her, _hath committed adultery_ with her\nalready in his heart.\"[197] He must acquire _Endurance_, for they who\naspire to tread \"the Way of the Cross\" will have to brave long and\nbitter sufferings, and they must be able to endure, \"as seeing Him who\nis invisible.\"[198] He must add to these _Tolerance_, if he would be the\nchild of Him who \"maketh His sun to rise on the evil, and on the good,\nand sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,\"[199] the disciple of\nHim who bade His apostles not to forbid a man to use His name because he\ndid not follow with them.[200] Further, he must acquire the _Faith_ to\nwhich nothing is impossible,[201] and the _Balance_ which is described\nby the Apostle.[202] Lastly, he must seek only \"those things which are\nabove,\"[203] and long to reach the beatitude of the vision of and union\nwith God.[204] When a man has wrought these qualities into his character\nhe is regarded as fit for Initiation, and the Guardians of the Mysteries\nwill open for him the Strait Gate. Thus, but thus only, he becomes the\nprepared candidate.\n\nNow, the Spirit in man is the gift of the Supreme God, and contains\nwithin itself the three aspects of the Divine Life--Intelligence, Love,\nWill--being the Image of God. As it evolves, it first develops the\naspect of Intelligence, develops the intellect, and this evolution is\neffected in the ordinary life in the world. To have done this to a high\npoint, accompanying it with moral development, brings the evolving man\nto the condition of the candidate. The second aspect of the Spirit is\nthat of Love, and the evolution of that is the evolution of the Christ.\nIn the true Mysteries this evolution is undergone--the disciple's life\nis the Mystery Drama, and the Great Initiations mark its stages. In the\nMysteries performed on the physical plane these used to be dramatically\nrepresented, and the ceremonies followed in many respects \"the pattern\"\never shown forth \"on the Mount,\" for they were the shadows in a\ndeteriorating age of the mighty Realities in the spiritual world.\n\nThe Mystic Christ, then, is twofold--the Logos, the Second Person of the\nTrinity, descending into matter, and the Love, or second, aspect of the\nunfolding Divine Spirit in man. The one represents kosmic processes\ncarried on in the past and is the root of the Solar Myth; the other\nrepresents a process carried on in the individual, the concluding stage\nof his human evolution, and added many details in the Myth. Both of\nthese have contributed to the Gospel story, and together form the Image\nof the \"Mystic Christ.\"\n\nLet us consider first the kosmic Christ, Deity becoming enveloped in\nmatter, the becoming incarnate of the Logos, the clothing of God in\n\"flesh.\"\n\nWhen the matter which is to form our solar system is separated off from\nthe infinite ocean of matter which fills space, the Third Person of the\nTrinity--the Holy Spirit--pours His Life into this matter to vivify it,\nthat it may presently take form. It is then drawn together, and form is\ngiven to it by the life of the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity,\nwho sacrifices Himself by putting on the limitations of matter, becoming\nthe \"Heavenly Man,\" in whose Body all forms exist, of whose Body all\nforms are part. This was the kosmic story, dramatically shown in the\nMysteries--in the true Mysteries seen as it occurred in space, in the\nphysical plane Mysteries represented by magical or other means, and in\nsome parts by actors.\n\nThese processes are very distinctly stated in the _Bible_; when the\n\"Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters\" in the darkness that\nwas \"upon the face of the deep,\"[205] the great deep of matter showed\nno forms, it was void, inchoate. Form was given by the Logos, the Word,\nof whom it is written that \"all things were made by Him; and without Him\nwas not anything made that was made.\"[206] C. W. Leadbeater has well put\nit: \"The result of this first great outpouring [the 'moving' of the\nSpirit] is the quickening of that wonderful and glorious vitality which\npervades all matter (inert though it may seem to our dim physical eyes),\nso that the atoms of the various planes develop, when electrified by it,\nall sorts of previously latent attractions and repulsions, and enter\ninto combinations of all kinds.\"[207]\n\nOnly when this work of the Spirit has been done can the Logos, the\nkosmic Mystic Christ, take on Himself the clothing of matter, entering\nin very truth the Virgin's womb, the womb of Matter as yet virgin,\nunproductive. This matter had been vivified by the Holy Spirit, who,\novershadowing the Virgin, poured into it His life, thus preparing it to\nreceive the life of the Second Logos, who took this matter as the\nvehicle for His energies. This is the becoming incarnate of the Christ,\nthe taking flesh--\"Thou did'st not despise the Virgin's womb.\"\n\nIn the Latin and English translations of the original Greek text of the\nNicene Creed, the phrase which describes this phase of the descent has\nchanged the prepositions and so changed the sense. The original ran:\n\"and was incarnate _of_ the Holy Ghost _and_ the Virgin Mary,\" whereas\nthe translation reads: \"and was incarnate _by_ the Holy Ghost _of_ the\nVirgin Mary.\"[208] The Christ \"takes form not of the 'Virgin' matter\nalone, but of matter which is already instinct and pulsating with the\nlife of the Third Logos,[209] so that both the life and the matter\nsurround Him as a vesture.\"[210]\n\nThis is the descent of the Logos into matter, described as the birth of\nthe Christ of a Virgin, and this, in the Solar Myth, becomes the birth\nof the Sun-God as the sign Virgo rises.\n\nThen come the early workings of the Logos in matter, aptly typified by\nthe infancy of the myth. To all the feebleness of infancy His majestic\npowers bow themselves, letting but little play forth on the tender forms\nthey ensoul. Matter imprisons, seems as though threatening to slay, its\ninfant King, whose glory is veiled by the limitations He has assumed.\nSlowly He shapes it towards high ends, and lifts it into manhood, and\nthen stretches Himself on the cross of matter that He may pour forth\nfrom that cross all the powers of His surrendered life. This is the\nLogos of whom Plato said that He was in the figure of a cross on the\nuniverse; this is the Heavenly Man, standing in space, with arms\noutstretched in blessing; this is the Christ crucified, whose death on\nthe cross of matter fills all matter with His life. Dead He seems and\nburied out of sight, but He rises again clothed in the very matter in\nwhich He seemed to perish, and carries up His body of now radiant\nmatter into heaven, where it receives the downpouring life of the\nFather, and becomes the vehicle of man's immortal life. For it is the\nlife of the Logos which forms the garment of the Soul in man, and He\ngives it that men may live through the ages and grow to the measure of\nHis own stature. Truly are we clothed in Him, first materially and then\nspiritually. He sacrificed Himself to bring many sons into glory, and He\nis with us always, even to the end of the age.\n\nThe crucifixion of Christ, then, is part of the great kosmic sacrifice,\nand the allegorical representation of this in the physical Mysteries,\nand the sacred symbol of the crucified man in space, became materialised\ninto an actual death by crucifixion, and a crucifix bearing a dying\nhuman form; then this story, now the story of a man, was attached to the\nDivine Teacher, Jesus, and became the story of His physical death, while\nthe birth from a Virgin, the danger-encircled infancy, the resurrection\nand ascension, became also incidents in His human life. The Mysteries\ndisappeared, but their grandiose and graphic representations of the\nkosmic work of the Logos encircled and uplifted the beloved figure of\nthe Teacher of Judaea, and the kosmic Christ of the Mysteries, with the\nlineaments of the Jesus of history, thus became the central Figure of\nthe Christian Church.\n\nBut even this was not all; the last touch of fascination is added to the\nChrist-story by the fact that there is another Christ of the Mysteries,\nclose and dear to the human heart--the Christ of the human Spirit, the\nChrist who is in every one of us, is born and lives, is crucified, rises\nfrom the dead, and ascends into heaven, in every suffering and\ntriumphant \"Son of Man.\"\n\nThe life-story of every Initiate into the true, the heavenly Mysteries,\nis told in its salient features in the Gospel biography. For this\nreason, S. Paul speaks as we have seen[211] of the birth of the Christ\nin the disciple, and of His evolution and His full stature therein.\nEvery man is a potential Christ, and the unfolding of the Christ-life\nin a man follows the outline of the Gospel story in its striking\nincidents, which we have seen to be universal, and not particular.\n\nThere are five great Initiations in the life of a Christ, each one\nmarking a stage in the unfolding of the Life of Love. They are given\nnow, as of old, and the last marks the final triumph of the Man who has\ndeveloped into Divinity, who has transcended humanity, and has become a\nSaviour of the world.\n\nLet us trace this life-story, ever newly repeated in spiritual\nexperience, and see the Initiate living out the life of the Christ.\n\nAt the first great Initiation the Christ is born in the disciple; it is\nthen that he realises for the first time _in himself_ the outpouring of\nthe divine Love, and experiences that marvellous change which makes him\nfeel himself to be one with all that lives. This is the \"Second Birth,\"\nand at that birth the heavenly ones rejoice, for he is born into \"the\nkingdom of heaven,\" as one of the \"little ones,\" as \"a little\nchild\"--the names ever given to the new Initiates. Such is the meaning\nof the words of Jesus, that a man must become a little child to enter\ninto the Kingdom.[212] It is significantly said in some of the early\nChristian writers that Jesus was \"born in a cave\"--the \"stable\" of the\ngospel narrative; the \"Cave of Initiation\" is a well-known ancient\nphrase, and the Initiate is ever born therein; over that cave \"where the\nyoung child\" is burns the \"Star of Initiation,\" the Star that ever\nshines forth in the East when a Child-Christ is born. Every such child\nis surrounded by perils and menaces, strange dangers that befall not\nother babes; for he is anointed with the chrism of the second birth and\nthe Dark Powers of the unseen world ever seek his undoing. Despite all\ntrials, however, he grows into manhood, for the Christ once born can\nnever perish, the Christ once beginning to develop can never fail in his\nevolution; his fair life expands and grows, ever-increasing in wisdom\nand in spiritual stature, until the time comes for the second great\nInitiation, the Baptism of the Christ by Water and the Spirit, that\ngives him the powers necessary for the Teacher, who is to go forth and\nlabour in the world as \"the beloved Son.\"\n\nThen there descends upon him in rich measure the divine Spirit, and the\nglory of the unseen Father pours down its pure radiance on him; but from\nthat scene of blessing is he led by the Spirit into the wilderness and\nis once more exposed to the ordeal of fierce temptations. For now the\npowers of the Spirit are unfolding themselves in him, and the Dark Ones\nstrive to lure him from his path by these very powers, bidding him use\nthem for his own helping instead of resting on his Father in patient\ntrust. In the swift, sudden transitions which test his strength and\nfaith, the whisper of the embodied Tempter follows the voice of the\nFather, and the burning sands of the wilderness scorch the feet\nerstwhile laved in the cool waters of the holy river. Conqueror over\nthese temptations he passes into the world of men to use for their\nhelping the powers he would not put forth for his own needs, and he who\nwould not turn one stone to bread for the stilling of his own cravings\nfeeds \"five thousand men, besides women and children,\" with a few\nloaves.\n\nInto his life of ceaseless service comes another brief period of glory,\nwhen he ascends \"a high mountain apart\"--the sacred Mount of Initiation.\nThere he is transfigured and there meets some of his great Forerunners,\nthe Mighty Ones of old who trod where he now is treading. He passes thus\nthe third great Initiation, and then the shadow of his coming Passion\nfalls on him, and he steadfastly sets his face to go to\nJerusalem--repelling the tempting words of one of his\ndisciples--Jerusalem, where awaits him the baptism of the Holy Ghost and\nof Fire. After the Birth, the attack by Herod; after the Baptism, the\ntemptation in the wilderness; after the Transfiguration, the setting\nforth towards the last stage of the Way of the Cross. Thus is triumph\never followed by ordeal, until the goal is reached.\n\nStill grows the life of love, ever fuller and more perfect, the Son of\nMan shining forth more clearly as the Son of God, until the time draws\nnear for his final battle; and the fourth great Initiation leads him in\ntriumph into Jerusalem, into sight of Gethsemane and Calvary. He is now\nthe Christ ready to be offered, ready for the sacrifice on the cross. He\nis now to face the bitter agony in the Garden, where even his chosen\nones sleep while he wrestles with his mortal anguish, and for a moment\nprays that the cup may pass from his lips; but the strong will triumphs\nand he stretches out his hand to take and drink, and in his loneliness\nan angel comes to him and strengthens him, as angels are wont to do when\nthey see a Son of Man bending beneath his load of agony. The drinking of\nthe bitter cup of betrayal, of desertion, of denial, meets him as he\ngoes forth, and alone amid his jeering foes he passes to his last fierce\ntrial. Scourged by physical pain, pierced by cruel thorns of suspicion,\nstripped of his fair garments of purity in the eyes of the world, left\nin the hands of his foes, deserted apparently by God and man, he endures\npatiently all that befalls him, wistfully looking in his last extremity\nfor aid. Left still to suffer, crucified, to die to the life of form,\nto surrender all life that belongs to the lower world, surrounded by\ntriumphant foes who mock him, the last horror of great darkness\nenvelopes him, and in the darkness he meets all the forces of evil; his\ninner vision is blinded, he finds himself alone, utterly alone, till the\nstrong heart, sinking in despair, cries out to the Father who seems to\nhave abandoned him, and the human soul faces, in uttermost loneliness,\nthe crushing agony of apparent defeat. Yet, summoning all the strength\nof the \"unconquerable spirit,\" the lower life is yielded up, its death\nis willingly embraced, the body of desire is abandoned, and the Initiate\n\"descends into hell,\" that no region of the universe he is to help may\nremain untrodden by him, that none may be too outcast to be reached by\nhis all-embracing love. And then springing upwards from the darkness, he\nsees the light once more, feels himself again as the Son, inseparable\nfrom the Father whose he is, rises to the life that knows no ending,\nradiant in the consciousness of death faced and overcome, strong to help\nto the uttermost every child of man, able to pour out his life into\nevery struggling soul. Among his disciples he remains awhile to teach,\nunveiling to them the mysteries of the spiritual worlds, preparing them\nalso to tread the path he has trodden, until, the earth-life over, he\nascends to the Father, and, in the fifth great Initiation, becomes the\nMaster triumphant, the link between God and man.\n\nSuch was the story lived through in the true Mysteries of old and now,\nand dramatically pourtrayed in symbols in the physical plane Mysteries,\nhalf veiled, half shown. Such is the Christ of the Mysteries in His dual\naspect, Logos and man, kosmic and individual. Is it any wonder that this\nstory, dimly felt, even when unknown, by the mystic, has woven itself\ninto the heart, and served as an inspiration to all noble living? The\nChrist of the human heart is, for the most part, Jesus seen as the\nmystic human Christ, struggling, suffering, dying, finally triumphant,\nthe Man in whom humanity is seen crucified and risen, whose victory is\nthe promise of victory to every one who, like Him, is faithful through\ndeath and beyond--the Christ who can never be forgotten while He is born\nagain and again in humanity, while the world needs Saviours, and\nSaviours give themselves for men.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE ATONEMENT.\n\n\nWe will now proceed to study certain aspects of the Christ-Life, as they\nappear among the doctrines of Christianity. In the exoteric teachings\nthey appear as attached only to the Person of the Christ; in the\nesoteric they are seen as belonging indeed to Him, since in their\nprimary, their fullest and deepest meaning they form part of the\nactivities of the Logos, but as being only secondarily reflected in the\nChrist, and therefore also in every Christ-Soul that treads the way of\nthe Cross. Thus studied they will be seen to be profoundly true, while\nin their exoteric form they often bewilder the intelligence and jar the\nemotions.\n\nAmong these stands prominently forward the doctrine of the Atonement;\nnot only has it been a point of bitter attack from those outside the\npale of Christianity, but it has wrung many sensitive consciences within\nthat pale. Some of the most deeply Christian thinkers of the last half\nof the nineteenth century have been tortured with doubts as to the\nteaching of the churches on this matter, and have striven to see, and to\npresent it, in a way that softens or explains away the cruder notions\nbased on an unintelligent reading of a few profoundly mystical texts.\nNowhere, perhaps, more than in connection with these should the warning\nof S. Peter be borne in mind: \"Our beloved brother Paul also, according\nto the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you--as also in all his\nepistles--speaking in them of these things; in which are some things\nhard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,\nas they do also the other scriptures, unto own destruction.\"[213] For\nthe texts that tell of the identity of the Christ with His brother-men\nhave been wrested into a legal substitution of Himself for them, and\nhave thus been used as an escape from the results of sin, instead of as\nan inspiration to righteousness.\n\nThe general teaching in the Early Church on the doctrine of the\nAtonement was that Christ, as the Representative of Humanity, faced and\nconquered Satan, the representative of the Dark Powers, who held\nhumanity in bondage, wrested his captive from him, and set him free.\nSlowly, as Christian teachers lost touch with spiritual truths, and they\nreflected their own increasing intolerance and harshness on the pure and\nloving Father of the teachings of the Christ, they represented Him as\nangry with man, and the Christ was made to save man from the wrath of\nGod instead of from the bondage of evil. Then legal phrases intruded,\nstill further materialising the once spiritual idea, and the \"scheme of\nredemption\" was forensically outlined. \"The seal was set on the\n'redemption scheme' by Anselm in his great work, _Cur Deus Homo_, and\nthe doctrine which had been slowly growing into the theology of\nChristendom was thenceforward stamped with the signet of the Church.\nRoman Catholics and Protestants, at the time of the Reformation, alike\nbelieved in the vicarious and substitutionary character of the atonement\nwrought by Christ. There is no dispute between them on this point. I\nprefer to allow the Christian divines to speak for themselves as to the\ncharacter of the atonement.... Luther teaches that 'Christ did truly and\neffectually feel for all mankind the wrath of God, malediction, and\ndeath.' Flavel says that 'to wrath, to the wrath of an infinite God\nwithout mixture, to the very torments of hell, was Christ delivered, and\nthat by the hand of his own father.' The Anglican homily preaches that\n'sin did pluck God out of heaven to make him feel the horrors and pains\nof death,' and that man, being a firebrand of hell and a bondsman of the\ndevil, 'was ransomed by the death of his only and well-beloved son'; the\n'heat of his wrath,' 'his burning wrath,' could only be 'pacified' by\nJesus, 'so pleasant was the sacrifice and oblation of his son's death.'\nEdwards, being logical, saw that there was a gross injustice in sin\nbeing twice punished, and in the pains of hell, the penalty of sin,\nbeing twice inflicted, first on Jesus, the substitute of mankind, and\nthen on the lost, a portion of mankind; so he, in common with most\nCalvinists, finds himself compelled to restrict the atonement to the\nelect, and declared that Christ bore the sins, not of the world, but of\nthe chosen out of the world; he suffers 'not for the world, but for them\nwhom thou hast given me.' But Edwards adheres firmly to the belief in\nsubstitution, and rejects the universal atonement for the very reason\nthat 'to believe Christ died for all is the surest way of proving that\nhe died for none in the sense Christians have hitherto believed.' He\ndeclares that 'Christ suffered the wrath of God for men's sins'; that\n'God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell\nfor,' sin. Owen regards Christ's sufferings as 'a full valuable\ncompensation to the justice of God for all the sins' of the elect, and\nsays that he underwent 'that same punishment which ... they themselves\nwere bound to undergo.'\"[214]\n\nTo show that these views were still authoritatively taught in the\nchurches, I wrote further: \"Stroud makes Christ drink 'the cup of the\nwrath of God.' Jenkyn says 'He suffered as one disowned and reprobated\nand forsaken of God.' Dwight considers that he endured God's 'hatred and\ncontempt.' Bishop Jeune tells us that 'after man had done his worst,\nworse remained for Christ to bear. He had fallen into his father's\nhands.' Archbishop Thomson preaches that 'the clouds of God's wrath\ngathered thick over the whole human race: they discharged themselves on\nJesus only.' He 'becomes a curse for us and a vessel of wrath.' Liddon\nechoes the same sentiment: 'The apostles teach that mankind are slaves,\nand that Christ on the cross is paying their ransom. Christ crucified is\nvoluntarily devoted and accursed'; he even speaks of 'the precise amount\nof ignominy and pain needed for the redemption,' and says that the\n'divine victim' paid more than was absolutely necessary.\"[215]\n\nThese are the views against which the learned and deeply religious Dr.\nMcLeod Campbell wrote his well-known work, _On the Atonement_, a volume\ncontaining many true and beautiful thoughts; F. D. Maurice and many\nother Christian men have also striven to lift from Christianity the\nburden of a doctrine so destructive of all true ideas as to the\nrelations between God and man.\n\nNone the less, as we look backwards over the effects produced by this\ndoctrine, we find that belief in it, even in its legal--and to us crude\nexoteric--form, is connected with some of the very highest developments\nof Christian conduct, and that some of the noblest examples of Christian\nmanhood and womanhood have drawn from it their strength, their\ninspiration, and their comfort. It would be unjust not to recognise this\nfact. And whenever we come upon a fact that seems to us startling and\nincongruous, we do well to pause upon that fact, and to endeavour to\nunderstand it. For if this doctrine contained nothing more than is seen\nin it by its assailants inside and outside the churches, if it were in\nits true meaning as repellent to the conscience and the intellect as it\nis found to be by many thoughtful Christians, then it could not possibly\nhave exercised over the minds and hearts of men a compelling\nfascination, nor could it have been the root of heroic self-surrenders,\nof touching and pathetic examples of self-sacrifice in the service of\nman. Something more there must be in it than lies on the surface, some\nhidden kernel of life which has nourished those who have drawn from it\ntheir inspiration. In studying it as one of the Lesser Mysteries we\nshall find the hidden life which these noble ones have unconsciously\nabsorbed, these souls which were so at one with that life that the form\nin which it was veiled could not repel them.\n\nWhen we come to study it as one of the Lesser Mysteries, we shall feel\nthat for its understanding some spiritual development is needed, some\nopening of the inner eyes. To grasp it requires that its spirit should\nbe partly evolved in the life, and only those who know practically\nsomething of the meaning of self-surrender will be able to catch a\nglimpse of what is implied in the esoteric teaching on this doctrine, as\nthe typical manifestation of the Law of Sacrifice. We can only\nunderstand it as applied to the Christ, when we see it as a special\nmanifestation of the universal law, a reflection below of the Pattern\nabove, showing us in a concrete human life what sacrifice means.\n\nThe Law of Sacrifice underlies our system and all systems, and on it all\nuniverses are builded. It lies at the root of evolution, and alone makes\nit intelligible. In the doctrine of the Atonement it takes a concrete\nform in connection with men who have reached a certain stage in\nspiritual development, the stage that enables them to realise their\noneness with humanity, and to become, in very deed and truth, Saviours\nof men.\n\nAll the great religions of the world have declared that the universe\nbegins by an act of sacrifice, and have incorporated the idea of\nsacrifice into their most solemn rites. In Hinduism, the dawn of\nmanifestation is said to be by sacrifice,[216] mankind is emanated with\nsacrifice,[217] and it is Deity who sacrifices Himself;[218] the object\nof the sacrifice is manifestation; He cannot become manifest unless an\nact of sacrifice be performed, and inasmuch as nothing can be manifest\nuntil He manifests,[219] the act of sacrifice is called \"the dawn\" of\ncreation.\n\nIn the Zoroastrian religion it was taught that in the Existence that is\nboundless, unknowable, unnameable, sacrifice was performed and manifest\nDeity appeared; Ahura-mazdao was born of an act of sacrifice.[220]\n\nIn the Christian religion the same idea is indicated in the phrase: \"the\nLamb slain from the foundation of the world,\"[221] slain at the origin\nof things. These words can but refer to the important truth that there\ncan be no founding of a world until the Deity has made an act of\nsacrifice. This act is explained as limiting Himself in order to become\nmanifest. \"The Law of Sacrifice might perhaps more truly be called The\nLaw of Manifestation, or the Law of Love and of Life, for throughout the\nuniverse, from the highest to the lowest, it is the cause of\nmanifestation and life.\"[222]\n\n\"Now, if we study this physical world, as being the most available\nmaterial, we find that all life in it, all growth, all progress, alike\nfor units and for aggregates, depend on continual sacrifice and the\nendurance of pain. Mineral is sacrificed to vegetable, vegetable to\nanimal, both to man, men to men, and all the higher forms again break\nup, and reinforce again with their separated constituents the lowest\nkingdom. It is a continual sequence of sacrifices from the lowest to the\nhighest, and the very mark of progress is that the sacrifice from being\ninvoluntary and imposed becomes voluntary and self-chosen, and those who\nare recognised as greatest by man's intellect and loved most by man's\nheart are the supreme sufferers, those heroic souls who wrought,\nendured, and died that the race might profit by their pain. If the world\nbe the work of the Logos, and the law of the world's progress in the\nwhole and the parts is sacrifice, then the Law of Sacrifice must point\nto something in the very nature of the Logos; it must have its root in\nthe Divine Nature itself. A little further thought shows us that if\nthere is to be a world, a universe at all, this can only be by the One\nExistence conditioning Itself and thus making manifestation possible,\nand that the very Logos is the Self-limited God; limited to become\nmanifest; manifested to bring a universe into being; such\nself-limitation and manifestation can only be a supreme act of\nsacrifice, and what wonder that on every hand the world should show its\nbirth-mark, and that the Law of Sacrifice should be the law of being,\nthe law of the derived lives.\n\n\"Further, as it is an act of sacrifice in order that individuals may\ncome into existence to share the Divine bliss, it is very truly a\nvicarious act--an act done for the sake of others; hence the fact\nalready noted, that progress is marked by sacrifice becoming voluntary\nand self-chosen, and we realise that humanity reaches its perfection in\nthe man who gives himself for men, and by his own suffering purchases\nfor the race some lofty good.\n\n\"Here, in the highest regions, is the inmost verity of vicarious\nsacrifice, and however it may be degraded and distorted, this inner\nspiritual truth makes it indestructible, eternal, and the fount whence\nflows the spiritual energy which, in manifold forms and ways, redeems\nthe world from evil and draws it home to God.\"[223]\n\nWhen the Logos comes forth from \"the bosom of the Father\" in that \"Day\"\nwhen He is said to be \"begotten,\"[224] the dawn of the Day of Creation,\nof Manifestation, when by Him God \"made the worlds,\"[225] He by His own\nwill limits Himself, making as it were a sphere enclosing the Divine\nLife, coming forth as a radiant orb of Deity, the Divine Substance,\nSpirit within and limitation, or Matter, without. This is the veil of\nmatter which makes possible the birth of the Logos, Mary, the\nWorld-Mother, necessary for the manifestation in time of the Eternal,\nthat Deity may manifest for the building of the worlds.\n\nThat circumscription, that self-limitation, is the act of sacrifice, a\nvoluntary action done for love's sake, that other lives may be born from\nHim. Such a manifestation has been regarded as a death, for, in\ncomparison with the unimaginable life of God in Himself, such\ncircumscription in matter may truly be called death. It has been\nregarded, as we have seen, as a crucifixion in matter, and has been thus\nfigured, the true origin of the symbol of the cross, whether in its\nso-called Greek form, wherein the vivifying of matter by the Holy Ghost\nis signified, or in its so-called Latin, whereby the Heavenly Man is\nfigured, the supernal Christ.[226]\n\n\"In tracing the symbolism of the Latin cross, or rather of the crucifix,\nback into the night of time, the investigators had expected to find the\nfigure disappear, leaving behind what they supposed to be the earlier\ncross-emblem. As a matter of fact exactly the reverse took place, and\nthey were startled to find that eventually the cross drops away, leaving\nonly the figure with uplifted arms. No longer is there any thought of\npain or sorrow connected with that figure, though still it tells of\nsacrifice; rather is it now the symbol of the purest joy the world can\nhold--the joy of freely giving--for it typifies the Divine Man standing\nin space with arms upraised in blessing, casting abroad His gifts to all\nhumanity, pouring forth freely of Himself in all directions, descending\ninto that 'dense sea' of matter, to be cribbed, cabined, and confined\ntherein, in order that through that descent _we_ may come into\nbeing.\"[227]\n\nThis sacrifice is perpetual, for in every form in this universe of\ninfinite diversity this life is enfolded, and is its very heart, the\n\"Heart of Silence\" of the Egyptian ritual, the \"Hidden God.\" This\nsacrifice is the secret of evolution. The Divine Life, cabined within a\nform, ever presses outwards in order that the form may expand, but\npresses gently, lest the form should break ere yet it had reached its\nutmost limit of expansion. With infinite patience and tact and\ndiscretion, the divine One keeps up the constant pressure that expands,\nwithout loosing a force that would disrupt. In every form, in mineral,\nin vegetable, in animal, in man, this expansive energy of the Logos is\nceaselessly working. That is the evolutionary force, the lifting life\nwithin the forms, the rising energy that science glimpses, but knows not\nwhence it comes. The botanist tells of an energy within the plant, that\npulls ever upwards; he knows not how, he knows not why, but he gives it\na name--the _vis a fronte_--because he finds it there, or rather finds\nits results. Just as it is in plant life, so is it in other forms as\nwell, making them more and more expressive of the life within them. When\nthe limit of any form is reached, and it can grow no further, so that\nnothing more can be gained through it by the soul of it--that germ of\nHimself, which the Logos is brooding over--then He draws away His\nenergy, and the form disintegrates--we call it death and decay. But the\nsoul is with Him, and He shapes for it a new form, and the death of the\nform is the birth of the soul into fuller life. If we saw with the eyes\nof the Spirit instead of with the eyes of the flesh, we should not weep\nover a form, which is a corpse giving back the materials out of which it\nwas builded, but we should joy over the life passing onwards into nobler\nform, to expand under the unchanging process the powers still latent\nwithin.\n\nThrough that perpetual sacrifice of the Logos all lives exist; it is the\nlife by which the universe is ever becoming. This life is One, but it\nembodies itself in myriad forms, ever drawing them together and gently\novercoming their resistance. Thus it is an At-one-ment, a unifying\nforce, by which the separated lives are gradually made conscious of\ntheir unity, labouring to develop in each a self-consciousness, which\nshall at last know itself to be one with all others, and its root One\nand divine.\n\nThis is the primary and ever-continued sacrifice, and it will be seen\nthat it is an outpouring of Life directed by Love, a voluntary and glad\npouring forth of Self for the making of other Selves. This is \"the joy\nof thy Lord\"[228] into which the faithful servant enters, significantly\nfollowed by the statement that He was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, a\nstranger and in prison, in the helped or neglected children of men. To\nthe free Spirit to give itself is joy, and it feels its life the more\nkeenly, the more it pours itself forth. And the more it gives, the more\nit grows, for the law of the growth of life is that it increases by\npouring itself forth and not by drawing from without--by giving, not by\ntaking. Sacrifice, then, in its primary meaning, is a thing of joy; the\nLogos pours Himself out to make a world, and, seeing the travail of His\nsoul, is satisfied.[229]\n\nBut the word has come to be associated with suffering, and in all\nreligious rites of sacrifice some suffering, if only that of a trivial\nloss to the sacrificer, is present. It is well to understand how this\nchange has come about, so that when the word \"sacrifice\" is used the\ninstinctive connotation is one of pain.\n\nThe explanation is seen when we turn from the manifesting Life to the\nforms in which it is embodied, and look at the question of sacrifice\nfrom the side of the forms. While the life of Life is in giving, the\nlife, or persistence, of form is in taking, for the form is wasted as it\nis exercised, it is diminished as it is exerted. If the form is to\ncontinue, it must draw fresh material from outside itself in order to\nrepair its losses, else will it waste and vanish away. The form must\ngrasp, keep, build into itself what it has grasped, else it cannot\npersist; and the law of growth of the form is to take and assimilate\nthat which the wider universe supplies. As the consciousness identifies\nitself with the form, regarding the form as itself, sacrifice takes on a\npainful aspect; to give, to surrender, to lose what has been acquired,\nis felt to undermine the persistence of the form, and thus the Law of\nSacrifice becomes a law of pain instead of a law of joy.\n\nMan had to learn by the constant breaking up of forms, and the pain\ninvolved in the breaking, that he must not identify himself with the\nwasting and changing forms, but with the growing persistent life, and he\nwas taught his lesson not only by external nature, but by the deliberate\nlessons of the Teachers who gave him religions.\n\nWe can trace in the religions of the world four great stages of\ninstruction in the Law of Sacrifice. First, man was taught to sacrifice\npart of his material possession in order to gain increased material\nprosperity, and sacrifices were made in charity to men and in offerings\nto Deities, as we may read in the scriptures of the Hindus, the\nZoroastrians, the Hebrews, indeed all the world over. The man gave up\nsomething he valued to insure future prosperity to himself, his family,\nhis community, his nation. He sacrificed in the present to gain in the\nfuture. Secondly, came a lesson a little harder to learn; instead of\nphysical prosperity and worldly good, the fruit to be gained by\nsacrifice was celestial bliss. Heaven was to be won, happiness was to\nbe enjoyed on the other side of death--such was the reward for\nsacrifices made during the life led on earth.\n\nA considerable step forward was made when a man learned to give up the\nthings for which his body craved for the sake of a distant good which he\ncould not see nor demonstrate. He learned to surrender the visible for\nthe invisible, and in so doing rose in the scale of being; for so great\nis the fascination of the visible and the tangible, that if a man be\nable to surrender them for the sake of an unseen world in which he\nbelieves, he has acquired much strength and has made a long step towards\nthe realisation of that unseen world. Over and over again martyrdom has\nbeen endured, obloquy has been faced, man has learned to stand alone,\nbearing all that his race could pour upon him of pain, misery, and\nshame, looking to that which is beyond the grave. True, there still\nremains in this a longing for celestial glory, but it is no small thing\nto be able to stand alone on earth and rest on spiritual companionship,\nto cling firmly to the inner life when the outer is all torture.\n\nThe third lesson came when a man, seeing himself as part of a greater\nlife, was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the whole, and so\nbecame strong enough to recognise that sacrifice was right, that a part,\na fragment, a unit in the sum total of life, should subordinate the part\nto the whole, the fragment to the totality. Then he learned to do right,\nwithout being affected by the outcome to his own person, to do duty,\nwithout wishing for result to himself, to endure because endurance was\nright not because it would be crowned, to give because gifts were due to\nhumanity not because they would be repaid by the Lord. The hero-soul\nthus trained was ready for the fourth lesson: that sacrifice of all the\nseparated fragment possesses is to be offered because the Spirit is not\nreally separate but is part of the divine Life, and knowing no\ndifference, feeling no separation, the man pours himself forth as part\nof the Life Universal, and in the expression of that Life he shares the\njoy of his Lord.\n\nIt is in the three earlier stages that the pain-aspect of sacrifice is\nseen. The first meets but small sufferings; in the second the physical\nlife and all that earth has to give may be sacrificed; the third is the\ngreat time of testing, of trying, of the growth and evolution of the\nhuman soul. For in that stage duty may demand all in which life seems to\nconsist, and the man, still identified in _feeling_ with the form,\nthough _knowing_ himself theoretically to transcend it, finds that all\nhe feels as life is demanded of him, and questions: \"If I let this go,\nwhat then will remain?\" It seems as though consciousness itself would\ncease with this surrender, for it must loose its hold on all it\nrealises, and it sees nothing to grasp on the other side. An\nover-mastering conviction, an imperious voice, call on him to surrender\nhis very life. If he shrinks back, he must go on in the life of\nsensation, the life of the intellect, the life of the world, and as he\nhas the joys he dared not resign, he finds a constant dissatisfaction, a\nconstant craving, a constant regret and lack of pleasure in the world,\nand he realises the truth of the saying of the Christ that \"he that\nwill save his life shall lose it,\"[230] and that the life that was loved\nand clung to is only lost at last. Whereas if he risks all in obedience\nto the voice that summons, if he throws away his life, then in losing\nit, he finds it unto life eternal,[231] and he discovers that the life\nhe surrendered was only death in life, that all he gave up was illusion,\nand that he found reality. In that choice the metal of the soul is\nproved, and only the pure gold comes forth from the fiery furnace, where\nlife seemed to be surrendered but where life was won. And then follows\nthe joyous discovery that the life thus won is won for all, not for the\nseparated self, that the abandoning of the separated self has meant the\nrealising of the Self in man, and that the resignation of the limit\nwhich alone seemed to make life possible has meant the pouring out into\nmyriad forms, an undreamed vividness and fulness, \"the power of an\nendless life.\"[232]\n\nSuch is an outline of the Law of Sacrifice, based on the primary\nSacrifice of the Logos, that Sacrifice of which all other sacrifices are\nreflexions.\n\nWe have seen how the man Jesus, the Hebrew disciple, laid down His body\nin glad surrender that a higher Life might descend and become embodied\nin the form He thus willingly sacrificed, and how by that act He became\na Christ of full stature, to be the Guardian of Christianity, and to\npour out His life into the great religion founded by the Mighty One with\nwhom the sacrifice had identified Him. We have seen the Christ-Soul\npassing through the great Initiations--born as a little child, stepping\ndown into the river of the world's sorrows, with the waters of which he\nmust be baptised into his active ministry, transfigured on the Mount,\nled to the scene of his last combat, and triumphing over death. We have\nnow to see in what sense he is an atonement, how in the Christ-life the\nLaw of Sacrifice finds a perfect expression.\n\nThe beginning of what may be called the ministry of the Christ come to\nmanhood is in that intense and permanent sympathy with the world's\nsorrows which is typified by the stepping down into the river. From that\ntime forward the life must be summed up in the phrase, \"He went about\ndoing good;\" for those who sacrifice the separated life to be a channel\nof the divine Life, can have no interest in this world save the helping\nof others. He learns to identify himself with the consciousness of those\naround him, to feel as they feel, think as they think, enjoy as they\nenjoy, suffer as they suffer, and thus he brings into his daily waking\nlife that sense of unity with others which he experiences in the higher\nrealms of being. He must develop a sympathy which vibrates in perfect\nharmony with the many-toned chord of human life, so that he may link in\nhimself the human and the divine lives, and become a mediator between\nheaven and earth.\n\nPower is now manifested in him, for the Spirit is resting on him, and he\nbegins to stand out in the eyes of men as one of those who are able to\nhelp their younger brethren to tread the path of life. As they gather\nround him, they feel the power that comes out from him, the divine Life\nin the accredited Son of the Highest. The souls that are hungry come to\nhim and he feeds them with the bread of life; the diseased with sin\napproach him, and he heals them with the living word which cures the\nsickness and makes whole the soul; the blind with ignorance draw nigh\nhim, and he opens their eyes by the light of his wisdom. It is the chief\nmark in his ministry that the lowest and the poorest, the most desperate\nand the most degraded, feel in approaching him no wall of separation,\nfeel as they throng around him welcome and not repulsion; for there\nradiates from him a love that understands and that can therefore never\nwish to repel. However low the soul may be, he never feels the\nChrist-Soul as standing above him but rather as standing beside him,\ntreading with human feet the ground he also treads; yet as filled with\nsome strange uplifting power that raises him upwards and fills him also\nwith new impulse and fresh inspiration.\n\nThus he lives and labours, a true Saviour of men, until the time comes\nwhen he must learn another lesson, losing for awhile his consciousness\nof that divine Life of which his own has been becoming ever more and\nmore the expression. And this lesson is that the true centre of divine\nLife lies within and not without. The Self has its centre within each\nhuman soul--truly is \"the centre everywhere,\" for Christ is _in_ all,\nand God in Christ--and no embodied life, nothing \"out of the\nEternal\"[233] can help him in his direst need. He has to learn that the\ntrue unity of Father and Son is to be found within and not without, and\nthis lesson can only come in uttermost isolation, when he feels forsaken\nby the God outside himself. As this trial approaches, he cries out to\nthose who are nearest to him to watch with him through his hour of\ndarkness; and then, by the breaking of every human sympathy, the failing\nof every human love, he finds himself thrown back on the life of the\ndivine Spirit, and cries out to his Father, feeling himself in conscious\nunion with Him, that the cup may pass away. Having stood alone, save for\nthat divine Helper, he is worthy to face the last ordeal, where the God\nwithout him vanishes, and only the God within is left. \"My God, my God,\nwhy hast Thou forsaken me?\" rings out the bitter cry of startled love\nand fear. The last loneliness descends on him, and he feels himself\nforsaken and alone. Yet never is the Father nearer to the Son than at\nthe moment when the Christ-Soul feels himself forsaken, for as he thus\ntouches the lowest depth of sorrow, the hour of his triumph begins to\ndawn. For now he learns that he must himself become the God to whom he\ncries, and by feeling the last pang of separation he finds the eternal\nunity, he feels the fount of life is within, and knows himself eternal.\n\nNone can become fully a Saviour of men nor sympathise perfectly with all\nhuman suffering, unless he has faced and conquered pain and fear and\ndeath unaided, save by the aid he draws from the God within him. It is\neasy to suffer when there is unbroken consciousness between the higher\nand the lower; nay, suffering is not, while that consciousness remains\nunbroken, for the light of the higher makes darkness in the lower\nimpossible, and pain is not pain when borne in the smile of God. There\nis a suffering that men have to face, that every Saviour of man must\nface, where darkness is on the human consciousness, and never a glimmer\nof light comes through; he must know the pang of the despair felt by the\nhuman soul when there is darkness on every side, and the groping\nconsciousness cannot find a hand to clasp. Into that darkness every Son\nof Man goes down, ere he rises triumphant; that bitterest experience is\ntasted by every Christ, ere he is \"able to save them to the\nuttermost\"[234] who seek the Divine through him.\n\nSuch a one has become truly divine, a Saviour of men, and he takes up\nthe world-work for which all this has been the preparation. Into him\nmust pour all the forces that make against man, in order that in him\nthey may be changed into forces that help. Thus he becomes one of the\nPeace-centres of the world, which transmute the forces of combat that\nwould otherwise crush man. For the Christs of the world are these\nPeace-centres into which pour all warring forces, to be changed within\nthem and then poured out as forces that work for harmony.\n\nPart of the sufferings of the Christ not yet perfect lies in this\nharmonising of the discord-making forces in the world. Although a Son,\nhe yet learns by suffering and is thus \"made perfect.\"[235] Humanity\nwould be far more full of combat and rent with strife were it not for\nthe Christ-disciples living in its midst, and harmonising many of the\nwarring forces into peace.\n\nWhen it is said that the Christ suffers \"for men,\" that His strength\nreplaces their weakness, His purity their sin, His wisdom their\nignorance, a truth is spoken; for the Christ so becomes one with men\nthat they share with Him and He with them. There is no substitution of\nHim for them, but the taking of their lives into His, and the pouring of\nHis life into theirs. For, having risen to the plane of unity, He is\nable to share all He has gained, to give all He has won. Standing above\nthe plane of separateness and looking down at the souls immersed in\nseparateness, He can reach each while they cannot reach each other.\nWater can flow from above into many pipes, open to the reservoir though\nclosed as regards each other, and so He can send His life into each\nsoul. Only one condition is needed in order that a Christ may share His\nstrength with a younger brother: that in the separated life the human\nconsciousness will open itself to the divine, will show itself receptive\nof the offered life, and take the freely outpoured gift. For so reverent\nis God to that Spirit which is Himself in man, that He will not even\npour into the human soul a flood of strength and life unless that soul\nis willing to receive it. There must be an opening from below as well as\nan outpouring from above, the receptiveness of the lower nature as well\nas the willingness of the higher to give. That is the link between the\nChrist and the man; that is what the churches have called the outpouring\nof \"divine grace\"; that is what is meant by the \"faith\" necessary to\nmake the grace effective. As Giordano Bruno once put it--the human soul\nhas windows, and can shut those windows close. The sun outside is\nshining, the light is unchanging; let the windows be opened and the\nsunlight must stream in. The light of God is beating against the windows\nof every human soul, and when the windows are thrown open, the soul\nbecomes illuminated. There is no change in God, but there is a change in\nman; and man's will may not be forced, else were the divine Life in him\nblocked in its due evolution.\n\nThus in every Christ that rises, all humanity is lifted a step higher,\nand by His wisdom the ignorance of the whole world is lessened. Each man\nis less weak because of His strength, which pours out over all humanity\nand enters the separated soul. Out of that doctrine, seen narrowly, and\ntherefore mis-seen, grew the idea of the vicarious Atonement as a legal\ntransaction between God and man, in which Jesus took the place of the\nsinner. It was not understood that One who had touched that height was\nverily one with all His brethren; identity of nature was mistaken for a\npersonal substitution, and thus the spiritual truth was lost in the\nharshness of a judicial exchange.\n\n\"Then he comes to a knowledge of his place in the world, of his function\nin nature--to be a Saviour and to make atonement for the sins of the\npeople. He stands in the inner Heart of the world, the Holy of Holies,\nas a High Priest of Humanity. He is one with all his brethren, not by a\nvicarious substitution, but by the unity of a common life. Is any\nsinful? he is sinful in them, that his purity may purge them. Is any\nsorrowful? in them he is the man of sorrows; every broken heart breaks\nhis, in every pierced heart his heart is pierced. Is any glad? in them\nhe is joyous, and pours out his bliss. Is any craving? in them he is\nfeeling want that he may fill them with his utter satisfaction. He has\neverything, and because it is his it is theirs. He is perfect; then they\nare perfect with him. He is strong; who then can be weak, since he is in\nthem? He climbed to his high place that he might pour out to all below\nhim, and he lives in order that all may share his life. He lifts the\nwhole world with him as he rises, the path is easier for all men,\nbecause he has trodden it.\n\n\"Every son of man may become such a manifested Son of God, such a\nSaviour of the world. In each such Son is 'God manifest in the\nflesh,'[236] the atonement that aids all mankind, the living power that\nmakes all things new. Only one thing is needed to bring that power into\nmanifested activity in any individual soul; the soul must open the door\nand let Him in. Even He, all-permeating, cannot force His way against\nHis brother's will; the human will can hold its own alike against God\nand man, and by the law of evolution it must voluntarily associate\nitself with divine action, and not be broken into sullen submission. Let\nthe will throw open the door, and the life will flood the soul. While\nthe door is closed it will only gently breathe through it its\nunutterable fragrance, that the sweetness of that fragrance may win,\nwhere the barrier may not be forced by strength.\n\n\"This it is, in part, to be a Christ; but how can mortal pen mirror the\nimmortal, or mortal words tell of that which is beyond the power of\nspeech? Tongue may not utter, the unillumined mind may not grasp, that\nmystery of the Son who has become one with the Father, carrying in His\nbosom the sons of men.\"[237]\n\nThose who would prepare to rise to such a life in the future must begin\neven now to tread in the lower life the path of the Shadow of the Cross.\nNor should they doubt their power to rise, for to do so is to doubt the\nGod within them. \"Have faith in yourself,\" is one of the lessons that\ncomes from the higher view of man, for that faith is really in the God\nwithin. There is a way by which the shadow of the Christ-life may fall\non the common life of man, and that is by doing every act as a\nsacrifice, not for what it will bring to the doer but for what it will\nbring to others, and, in the daily common life of small duties, petty\nactions, narrow interests, by changing the motive and thus changing all.\nNot one thing in the outer life need necessarily be varied; in any life\nsacrifice may be offered, amid any surroundings God may be served.\nEvolving spirituality is marked not by what a man does, but by how he\ndoes it; not in the circumstances, but in the attitude of a man towards\nthem, lies the opportunity of growth. \"And indeed this symbol of the\ncross may be to us as a touchstone to distinguish the good from the evil\nin many of the difficulties of life. 'Only those actions through which\nshines the light of the cross are worthy of the life of the disciple,'\nsays one of the verses in a book of occult maxims; and it is interpreted\nto mean that all that the aspirant does should be prompted by the\nfervour of self-sacrificing love. The same thought appears in a later\nverse: 'When one enters the path, he lays his heart upon the cross; when\nthe cross and the heart have become one, then hath he reached the goal.'\nSo, perchance, we may measure our progress by watching whether\nselfishness or self-sacrifice is dominant in our lives.\"[238]\n\nEvery life which begins thus to shape itself is preparing the cave in\nwhich the Child-Christ shall be born, and the life shall become a\nconstant at-one-ment, bringing the divine more and more into the human.\nEvery such life shall grow into the life of a \"beloved Son,\" and shall\nhave in it the glory of the Christ. Every man may work in that direction\nby making every act and power a sacrifice, until the gold is purged from\nthe dross, and only the pure ore remains.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nRESURRECTION AND ASCENSION\n\n\nThe doctrines of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ also form part\nof the Lesser Mysteries, being integral portions of \"The Solar Myth,\"\nand of the life-story of the Christ in man.\n\nAs regards Christ Himself they have their historical basis in the facts\nof His continuing to teach His apostles after His physical death, and of\nHis appearance in the Greater Mysteries as Hierophant after His direct\ninstructions had ceased, until Jesus took His place. In the mythic tales\nthe resurrection of the hero and his glorification invariably formed the\nconclusion of his death-story; and in the Mysteries, the body of the\ncandidate was always thrown into a death-like trance, during which he,\nas a liberated soul, travelled through the invisible world, returning\nand reviving the body after three days. And in the life-story of the\nindividual, who is becoming a Christ, we shall find, as we study it,\nthat the dramas of the Resurrection and Ascension are repeated.\n\nBut before we can intelligently follow that story, we must master the\noutlines of the human constitution, and understand the natural and\nspiritual bodies of man. \"There is a natural body, and there is a\nspiritual body.\"[239]\n\nThere are still some uninstructed people who regard man as a mere\nduality, made up of \"soul\" and \"body.\" Such people use the words \"soul\"\nand \"spirit\" as synonyms, and speak indifferently of \"soul and body\" or\n\"spirit and body,\" meaning that man is composed of two constituents, one\nof which perishes at death, while the other survives. For the very\nsimple and ignorant this rough division is sufficient, but it will not\nenable us to understand the mysteries of the Resurrection and\nAscension.\n\nEvery Christian who has made even a superficial study of the human\nconstitution recognises in it three distinct constituents--Spirit, Soul,\nand Body. This division is sound, though needing further subdivision for\nmore profound study, and it has been used by S. Paul in his prayer that\n\"your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.\"[240] That\nthreefold division is accepted in Christian Theology.\n\nThe Spirit itself is really a Trinity, the reflexion and image of the\nSupreme Trinity, and this we shall study in the following chapter.[241]\nThe true man, the immortal, who is the Spirit, is the Trinity in man.\nThis is life, consciousness, and to this the spiritual body belongs,\neach aspect of the Trinity having its own Body. The Soul is dual, and\ncomprises the mind and the emotional nature, with its appropriate\ngarments. And the Body is the material instrument of Spirit and Soul. In\none Christian view of man he is a twelve-fold being, six modifications\nforming the spiritual man, and six the natural man; according to\nanother, he is divisible into fourteen, seven modifications of\nconsciousness and seven corresponding types of form. This latter view is\npractically identical with that studied by Mystics, and it is usually\nspoken of as seven-fold, because there are really seven divisions, each\nbeing two-fold, having a life-side and a form-side.\n\nThese divisions and sub-divisions are somewhat confusing and perplexing\nto the dull, and hence Origen and Clement, as we have seen,[242] laid\ngreat stress on the need for intelligence on the part of all who desired\nto become Gnostics. After all, those who find them troublesome can leave\nthem on one side, without grudging them to the earnest student, who\nfinds them not only illuminative, but absolutely necessary to any clear\nunderstanding of the Mysteries of Life and Man.\n\nThe word Body means a vehicle of consciousness, or an instrument of\nconsciousness; that in which consciousness is carried about, as in a\nvehicle, or which consciousness uses to contact the external world, as a\nmechanic uses an instrument. Or, we may liken it to a vessel, in which\nconsciousness is held, as a jar holds liquid. It is a form used by a\nlife, and we know nothing of consciousness save as connected with such\nforms. The form may be of rarest, subtlest, materials, may be so\ndiaphanous that we are only conscious of the indwelling life; still it\nis there, and it is composed of Matter. It may be so dense, that it\nhides the indwelling life, and we are conscious only of the form; still\nthe life is there, and it is composed of the opposite of Matter--Spirit.\nThe student must study and re-study this fundamental fact--the duality\nof all manifested existence, the inseparable co-existence of Spirit and\nMatter in a grain of dust, in the Logos, the God manifested. The idea\nmust become part of him; else must he give up the study of the Lesser\nMysteries. The Christ, as God and Man, only shows out on the kosmic\nscale the same fact of duality that is repeated everywhere in nature. On\nthat original duality everything in the universe is formed.\n\nMan has a \"natural body,\" and this is made up of four different and\nseparable portions, and is subject to death. Two of these are composed\nof physical matter, and are never completely separated from each other\nuntil death, though a partial separation may be caused by anaesthetics,\nor by disease. These two may be classed together as the Physical Body.\nIn this the man carries on his conscious activities while he is awake;\nspeaking technically, it is his vehicle of consciousness in the physical\nworld.\n\nThe third portion is the Desire Body, so called because man's feeling\nand passional nature finds in this its special vehicle. In sleep, the\nman leaves the physical body, and carries on his conscious activities in\nthis, which functions in the invisible world closest to our visible\nearth. It is therefore his vehicle of consciousness in the lowest of the\nsuper-physical worlds, which is also the first world into which men pass\nat death.\n\nThe fourth portion is the Mental Body, so called because man's\nintellectual nature, so far as it deals with the concrete, functions in\nthis. It is his vehicle of consciousness in the second of the\nsuper-physical worlds, which is also the second, or lower heavenly\nworld, into which men pass after death, when freed from the world\nalluded to in the preceding paragraph.\n\nThese four portions of his encircling form, made up of the dual physical\nbody, the desire body, and the mental body, form the natural body of\nwhich S. Paul speaks.\n\nThis scientific analysis has fallen out of the ordinary Christian\nteaching, which is vague and confused on this matter. It is not that the\nchurches have never possessed it; on the contrary, this knowledge of the\nconstitution of man formed part of the teachings in the Lesser\nMysteries; the simple division into Spirit, Soul, and Body was exoteric,\nthe first rough and ready division given as a foundation. The\nsubdivision as regards the \"Body\" was made in the course of later\ninstruction, as a preliminary to the training by which the instructor\nenabled his pupil to separate one vehicle from another, and to use each\nas a vehicle of consciousness in its appropriate region.\n\nThis conception should be readily enough grasped. If a man wants to\ntravel on the solid earth, he uses as his vehicle a carriage or a train.\nIf he wants to travel on the liquid seas, he changes his vehicle, and\ntakes a ship. If he wants to travel in the air, he changes his vehicle\nagain and uses a balloon. He is the same man throughout, but he is using\nthree different vehicles, according to the kind of matter he wants to\ntravel in. The analogy is rough and inadequate, but it is not\nmisleading. When a man is busy in the physical world, his vehicle is the\nphysical body, and his consciousness works in and through that body.\nWhen he passes into the world beyond the physical, in sleep and at\ndeath, his vehicle is the desire body, and he may learn to use this\nconsciously, as he uses the physical consciously. He already uses it\nunconsciously every day of his life when he is feeling and desiring, as\nwell as every night of his life. When he goes on into the heavenly world\nafter death, his vehicle is the mental body, and this also he is daily\nusing, when he is thinking, and there would be no thought in the brain\nwere there none in the mental body.\n\nMan has further \"a spiritual body.\" This is made up of three separable\nportions, each portion belonging to one of, and separating off, the\nthree Persons in the Trinity of the human Spirit. S. Paul speaks of\nbeing \"caught up to the third heaven,\" and of there hearing \"unspeakable\nwords which it is not lawful for a man to utter.\"[243] These different\nregions of the invisible supernal worlds are known to Initiates, and\nthey are well aware that those who pass beyond the first heaven need the\ntruly spiritual body as their vehicle, and that according to the\ndevelopment of its three divisions is the heaven into which they can\npenetrate.\n\nThe lowest of these three divisions is usually called the Causal Body,\nfor a reason that will be only fully assimilable by those who have\nstudied the teaching of Reincarnation--taught in the Early Church--and\nwho understand that human evolution needs very many successive lives on\nearth, ere the germinal soul of the savage can become the perfected\nsoul of the Christ, and then, becoming perfect as the Father in\nHeaven,[244] can realise the union of the Son with the Father.[245] It\nis a body that lasts from life to life, and in it all memory of the past\nis stored. From it come forth the causes that build up the lower bodies.\nIt is the receptacle of human experience, the treasure-house in which\nall we gather in our lives is stored up, the seat of Conscience, the\nwielder of the Will.\n\nThe second of the three divisions of the spiritual body is spoken of by\nS. Paul in the significant words: \"We have a building of God, an house\nnot made with hands, eternal in the heavens.\"[246] That is the Bliss\nBody, the glorified body of the Christ, \"the Resurrection Body.\" It is\nnot a body which is \"made with hands,\" by the working of consciousness\nin the the lower vehicles; it is not formed by experience, not builded\nout of the materials gathered by man in his long pilgrimage. It is a\nbody which belongs to the Christ-life, the life of Initiation; to the\ndivine unfoldment in man; it is builded of God, by the activity of the\nSpirit, and grows during the whole life or lives of the Initiate, only\nreaching its perfection at \"the Resurrection.\"\n\nThe third division of the spiritual body is the fine film of subtle\nmatter that separates off the individual Spirit as a Being, and yet\npermits the interpenetration of all by all, and is thus the expression\nof the fundamental unity. In the day when the Son Himself shall \"be\nsubject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in\nall,\"[247] this film will be transcended, but for us it remains the\nhighest division of the spiritual body, in which we ascend to the\nFather, and are united with Him.\n\nChristianity has always recognised the existence of three worlds, or\nregions, through which a man passes; first, the physical world;\nsecondly, an intermediate state into which he passes at death; thirdly,\nthe heavenly world. These three worlds are universally believed in by\neducated Christians; only the uninstructed imagine that a man passes\nfrom his death-bed into the final state of beatitude. But there is some\ndifference of opinion as to the nature of the intermediate world. The\nRoman Catholic names it Purgatory, and believes that every soul passes\ninto it, save that of the Saint, the man who has reached perfection, or\nthat of a man who has died in \"mortal sin.\" The great mass of humanity\npass into a purifying region, wherein a man remains for a period varying\nin length according to the sins he has committed, only passing out of it\ninto the heavenly world when he has become pure. The various communities\nthat are called Protestant vary in their teachings as to details, and\nmostly repudiate the idea of _post mortem_ purification; but they agree\nbroadly that there is an intermediate state, sometimes spoken of as\n\"Paradise,\" or as a \"waiting period.\" The heavenly world is almost\nuniversally, in modern Christendom, regarded as a final state, with no\nvery definite or general idea as to its nature, or as to the progress or\nstationary condition of those attaining to it. In early Christianity\nthis heaven was considered to be, as it really is, a stage in the\nprogress of the soul, re-incarnation in one form or another, the\npre-existence of the soul, being then very generally taught. The result\nwas, of course, that the heavenly state was a temporary condition,\nthough often a very prolonged one, lasting for \"an age\"--as stated in\nthe Greek of the New Testament, the age being ended by the return of the\nman for the next stage of his continuing life and progress--and not\n\"everlasting,\" as in the mistranslation of the English authorised\nversion.[248]\n\nIn order to complete the outline necessary for the understanding of the\nResurrection and Ascension, we must see how these various bodies are\ndeveloped in the higher evolution.\n\nThe physical body is in a constant state of flux, its minute particles\nbeing continually renewed, so that it is ever building; and as it is\ncomposed of the food we eat, the liquids we drink, the air we breathe,\nand particles drawn from our physical surroundings, both people and\nthings, we can steadily purify it, by choosing its materials well, and\nthus make it an ever purer vehicle through which to act, receptive of\nsubtler vibrations, responsive to purer desires, to nobler and more\nelevated thoughts. For this reason all who aspired to attain to the\nMysteries were subjected to rules of diet, ablution, &c., and were\ndesired to be very careful as to the people with whom they associated,\nand the places to which they went.\n\nThe desire body also changes, in similar fashion, but the materials for\nit are expelled and drawn in by the play of the desires, arising from\nthe feelings, passions, and emotions. If these are coarse, the materials\nbuilt into the desire body are also coarse, while as these are purified,\nthe desire body grows subtle and becomes very sensitive to the higher\ninfluences. In proportion as a man dominates his lower nature, and\nbecomes unselfish in his wishes, feelings, and emotions, as he makes his\nlove for those around him less selfish and grasping, he is purifying\nthis higher vehicle of consciousness; the result is that when out of the\nbody in sleep he has higher, purer, and more instructive experiences,\nand when he leaves the physical body at death, he passes swiftly through\nthe intermediate state, the desire body disintegrating with great\nrapidity, and not delaying him in his onward journey.\n\nThe mental body is similarly being built now, in this case by thoughts.\nIt will be the vehicle of consciousness in the heavenly world, but is\nbeing built now by aspirations, by imagination, reason, judgment,\nartistic faculties, by the use of all the mental powers. Such as the man\nmakes it, so must he wear it, and the length and richness of his\nheavenly state depend on the kind of mental body he has built during his\nlife on earth.\n\nAs a man enters the higher evolution, this body comes into independent\nactivity on this side of death, and he gradually becomes conscious of\nhis heavenly life, even amid the whirl of mundane existence. Then he\nbecomes \"the Son of man which is in heaven,\"[249] who can speak with the\nauthority of knowledge on heavenly things. When the man begins to live\nthe life of the Son, having passed on to the Path of Holiness, he lives\nin heaven while remaining on earth, coming into conscious possession and\nuse of this heavenly body. And inasmuch as heaven is not far away from\nus, but surrounds us on every side, and we are only shut out from it by\nour incapacity to feel its vibrations, not by their absence; inasmuch as\nthose vibrations are playing upon us at every moment of our lives; all\nthat is needed to be in Heaven is to become conscious of those\nvibrations. We become conscious of them with the vitalising, the\norganising, the evolution of this heavenly body, which, being builded\nout of the heavenly materials, answers to the vibrations of the matter\nof the heavenly world. Hence the \"Son of man\" is ever in heaven. But we\nknow that the \"Son of man\" is a term applied to the Initiate, not to\nthe Christ risen and glorified but to the Son while he is yet \"being\nmade perfect.\"[250]\n\nDuring the stages of evolution that lead up to and include the\nProbationary Path, the first division of the spiritual body--the Causal\nBody--develops rapidly, and enables the man, after death, to rise into\nthe second heaven. After the Second Birth, the birth of the Christ in\nman, begins the building of the Bliss Body \"in the heavens.\" This is the\nbody of the Christ, developing during the days of His service on earth,\nand, as it develops, the consciousness of the \"Son of God\" becomes more\nand more marked, and the coming union with the Father illuminates the\nunfolding Spirit.\n\nIn the Christian Mysteries--as in the ancient Egyptian, Chaldean, and\nothers--there was an outer symbolism which expressed the stages through\nwhich the man was passing. He was brought into the chamber of\nInitiation, and was stretched on the ground with his arms extended,\nsometimes on a cross of wood, sometimes merely on the stone floor, in\nthe posture of a crucified man. He was then touched with the thyrsus on\nthe heart--the \"spear\" of the crucifixion--and, leaving the body, he\npassed into the worlds beyond, the body falling into a deep trance, the\ndeath of the crucified. The body was placed in a sarcophagus of stone,\nand there left, carefully guarded. Meanwhile the man himself was\ntreading first the strange obscure regions called \"the heart of the\nearth,\" and thereafter the heavenly mount, where he put on the perfected\nbliss body, now fully organised as a vehicle of consciousness. In that\nhe returned to the body of flesh, to re-animate it. The cross bearing\nthat body, or the entranced and rigid body, if no cross had been used,\nwas lifted out of the sarcophagus and placed on a sloping surface,\nfacing the east, ready for the rising of the sun on the third day. At\nthe moment that the rays of the sun touched the face, the Christ, the\nperfected Initiate or Master, re-entered the body, glorifying it by the\nbliss body He was wearing, changing the body of flesh by contact with\nthe body of bliss, giving it new properties, new powers, new capacities,\ntransmuting it into His own likeness. That was the Resurrection of the\nChrist, and thereafter the body of flesh itself was changed, and took on\na new nature.\n\nThis is why the sun has ever been taken as the symbol of the rising\nChrist, and why, in Easter hymns, there is constant reference to the\nrising of the Sun of Righteousness. So also is it written of the\ntriumphant Christ: \"I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am\nalive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.\"[251]\nAll the powers of the lower worlds have been taken under the dominion of\nthe Son, who has triumphed gloriously; over Him death no more has power,\n\"He holdeth life and death in His strong hand.\"[252] He is the risen\nChrist, the Christ triumphant.\n\nThe Ascension of the Christ was the Mystery of the third part of the\nspiritual body, the putting on of the Vesture of Glory, preparatory to\nthe union of the Son with the Father, of man with God, when the Spirit\nre-entered the glory it had \"before the world was.\"[253] Then the triple\nSpirit becomes one, knows itself eternal, and the Hidden God is found.\nThat is imaged in the doctrine of the Ascension, so far as the\nindividual is concerned.\n\nThe Ascension for humanity is when the whole race has attained the\nChrist condition, the state of the Son, and that Son becomes one with\nthe Father, and God is all in all. That is the goal, prefigured in the\ntriumph of the Initiate, but reached only when the human race is\nperfected, and when \"the great orphan Humanity\" is no longer an orphan,\nbut consciously recognises itself as the Son of God.\n\nThus studying the doctrines of the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the\nAscension, we reach the truths unfolded concerning them in the Lesser\nMysteries, and we begin to understand the full truth of the apostolic\nteaching that Christ was not a unique personality, but \"the first\nfruits of them that slept,\"[254] and that every man was to become a\nChrist. Not then was the Christ regarded as an external Saviour, by\nwhose imputed righteousness men were to be saved from divine wrath.\nThere was current in the Church the glorious and inspiring teaching that\nHe was but the first fruits of humanity, the model that every man should\nreproduce in himself, the life that all should share. The Initiates have\never been regarded as these first fruits, the promise of a race made\nperfect. To the early Christian, Christ was the living symbol of his own\ndivinity, the glorious fruit of the seed he bore in his own heart. Not\nto be saved by an external Christ, but to be glorified into an inner\nChrist, was the teaching of esoteric Christianity, of the Lesser\nMysteries. The stage of discipleship was to pass into that of Sonship.\nThe life of the Son was to be lived among men till it was closed by the\nResurrection, and the glorified Christ became one of the perfected\nSaviours of the world.\n\nHow far greater a Gospel than the one of modern days! Placed beside that\ngrandiose ideal of esoteric Christianity, the exoteric teaching of the\nchurches seems narrow and poor indeed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE TRINITY.\n\n\nAll fruitful study of the Divine Existence must start from the\naffirmation that it is One. All the Sages have thus proclaimed It; every\nreligion has thus affirmed It; every philosophy thus posits It--\"One\nonly without a second.\"[255] \"Hear, O Israel!\" cried Moses, \"The Lord\nour God is one Lord.\"[256] \"To us there is but one God,\"[257] declares\nS. Paul. \"There is no God but God,\" affirms the founder of Islam, and\nmakes the phrase the symbol of his faith. One Existence unbounded, known\nin Its fulness only to Itself--the word It seems more reverent and\ninclusive than He, and is therefore used. That is the Eternal Darkness,\nout of which is born the Light.\n\nBut as the Manifested God, the One appears as Three. A Trinity of Divine\nBeings, One as God, Three as manifested Powers. This also has ever been\ndeclared, and the truth is so vital in its relation to man and his\nevolution that it is one which ever forms an essential part of the\nLesser Mysteries.\n\nAmong the Hebrews, in consequence of their anthropomorphising\ntendencies, the doctrine was kept secret, but the Rabbis studied and\nworshipped the Ancient of Days, from whom came forth the Wisdom, from\nwhom the Understanding--Kether, Chochmah, Binah, these formed the\nSupreme Trinity, the shining forth in time of the One beyond time. The\nBook of the Wisdom of Solomon refers to this teaching, making Wisdom a\nBeing. \"According to Maurice, 'The first Sephira, who is denominated\nKether the Crown, Kadmon the pure Light, and En Soph the Infinite,[258]\nis the omnipotent Father of the universe.... The second is the\nChochmah, whom we have sufficiently proved, both from sacred and\nRabbinical writings, to be the creative Wisdom. The third is the Binah,\nor heavenly Intelligence, whence the Egyptians had their Cneph, and\nPlato his _Nous Demiurgos_. He is the Holy Spirit who ... pervades,\nanimates, and governs this boundless universe.'\"[259]\n\nThe bearing of this doctrine on Christian teaching is indicated by Dean\nMilman in his _History of Christianity_. He says: \"This Being [the Word\nor the Wisdom] was more or less distinctly impersonated, according to\nthe more popular or more philosophic, the more material or the more\nabstract, notions of the age or people. This was the doctrine from the\nGanges, or even the shores of the Yellow Sea, to the Ilissus; it was the\nfundamental principle of the Indian religion and the Indian philosophy;\nit was the basis of Zoroastrianism; it was pure Platonism; it was the\nPlatonic Judaism of the Alexandrian school. Many fine passages might be\nquoted from Philo on the impossibility that the first self-existing\nBeing should become cognisable to the sense of man; and even in\nPalestine, no doubt, John the Baptist and our Lord Himself spoke no new\ndoctrine, but rather the common sentiment of the more enlightened, when\nthey declared 'that no man had seen God at any time.' In conformity with\nthis principle the Jews, in the interpretation of the older Scriptures,\ninstead of direct and sensible communication from the one great Deity,\nhad interposed either one or more intermediate beings as the channels of\ncommunication. According to one accredited tradition alluded to by S.\nStephen, the law was delivered 'by the disposition of angels'; according\nto another this office was delegated to a single angel, sometimes called\nthe Angel of the Law (see Gal. iii. 19); at others the Metatron. But the\nmore ordinary representative, as it were, of God, to the sense and mind\nof man, was the Memra, or the Divine Word; and it is remarkable that the\nsame appellation is found in the Indian, the Persian, the Platonic, and\nthe Alexandrian systems. By the Targumists, the earliest Jewish\ncommentators on the Scriptures, this term had been already applied to\nthe Messiah; nor is it necessary to observe the manner in which it has\nbeen sanctified by its introduction into the Christian scheme.\"[260]\n\nAs above said by the learned Dean, the idea of the Word, the Logos, was\nuniversal, and it formed part of the idea of a Trinity. Among the\nHindus, the philosophers speak of the manifested Brahman as\nSat-Chit-Ananda, Existence, Intelligence, and Bliss. Popularly, the\nManifested God is a Trinity; Shiva, the Beginning and the End; Vishnu,\nthe Preserver; Brahma, the Creator of the Universe. The Zoroastrian\nfaith presents a similar Trinity; Ahuramazdao, the Great One, the First;\nthen \"the twins,\" the dual Second Person--for the Second Person in a\nTrinity is ever dual, deteriorated in modern days into an opposing God\nand Devil--and the Universal Wisdom, Armaiti. In Northern Buddhism we\nfind Amitabha, the boundless Light; Avalokiteshvara, the source of\nincarnations, and the Universal Mind, Mandjusri. In Southern Buddhism\nthe idea of God has faded away, but with significant tenacity the\ntriplicity re-appears as that in which the Southern Buddhist takes his\nrefuge--the Buddha, the Dharma (the Doctrine), the Sangha (the Order).\nBut the Buddha Himself is sometimes worshipped as a Trinity; on a stone\nin Buddha Gaya is inscribed a salutation to Him as an incarnation of the\nEternal One, and it is said: \"Om! Thou art Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesha\n(Shiva) ... I adore Thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names and\nunder various forms, in the shape of Buddha, the God of Mercy.\"[261]\n\nIn extinct religions the same idea of a Trinity is found. In Egypt it\ndominated all religious worship. \"We have a hieoroglyphical inscription\nin the British Museum as early as the reign of Senechus of the eighth\ncentury before the Christian era, showing that the doctrine of Trinity\nin Unity already formed part of their religion.\"[262] This is true of a\nfar earlier date. Ra, Osiris, and Horus formed one widely worshipped\nTrinity; Osiris, Isis, and Horus were worshipped at Abydos; other names\nare given in different cities, and the triangle is the frequently used\nsymbol of the Triune God. The idea which underlay these Trinities,\nhowever named, is shown in a passage quoted from Marutho, in which an\noracle, rebuking the pride of Alexander the Great, speaks of: \"First\nGod, then the Word, and with Them the Spirit.\"[263]\n\nIn Chaldaea, Anu, Ea, and Bel were the Supreme Trinity, Anu being the\nOrigin of all, Ea the Wisdom, and Bel the creative Spirit. Of China\nWilliamson remarks: \"In ancient China the emperors used to sacrifice\nevery third year to 'Him who is one and three.' There was a Chinese\nsaying, 'Fo is one person but has three forms.' ... In the lofty\nphilosophical system known in China as Taoism, a trinity also figures:\n'Eternal Reason produced One, One produced Two, Two produced Three, and\nThree produced all things,' which, as Le Compte goes on to say, 'seems\nto show as if they had some knowledge of the Trinity.'\"[264]\n\nIn the Christian doctrine of the Trinity we find a complete agreement\nwith other faiths as to the functions of the three Divine Persons, the\nword Person coming from _persona_, a mask, that which covers something,\nthe mask of the One Existence, Its Self-revelation under a form. The\nFather is the Origin and End of all; the Son is dual in His nature, and\nis the Word, or the Wisdom; the Holy Spirit is the creative\nIntelligence, that brooding over the chaos of primeval matter organises\nit into the materials out of which forms can be constructed.\n\nIt is this identity of functions under so many varying names which shows\nthat we have here not a mere outer likeness, but an expression of an\ninner truth. There is something of which this triplicity is a\nmanifestation, something that can be traced in nature and in evolution,\nand which, being recognised, will render intelligible the growth of man,\nthe stages of his evolving life. Further, we find that in the universal\nlanguage of symbolism the Persons are distinguished by certain emblems,\nand may be recognised by these under diversity of forms and names.\n\nBut there is one other point that must be remembered ere we leave the\nexoteric statement of the Trinity--that in connection with all these\nTrinities there is a fourth fundamental manifestation, the Power of the\nGod, and this has always a feminine form. In Hinduism each Person in the\nTrinity has His manifested Power, the One and these six aspects making\nup the sacred Seven. With many of the Trinities one feminine form\nappears, then ever specially connected with the Second Person, and then\nthere is the sacred Quaternary.\n\nLet us now see the inner truth.\n\nThe One becomes manifest as the First Being, the Self-Existent Lord, the\nRoot of all, the Supreme Father; the word Will, or Power, seems best to\nexpress this primary Self-revealing, since until there is Will to\nmanifest there can be no manifestation, and until there is Will\nmanifested, impulse is lacking for further unfoldment. The universe may\nbe said to be rooted in the divine Will. Then follows the second aspect\nof the One--Wisdom; Power is guided by Wisdom, and therefore it is\nwritten that \"without Him was not anything made that is made;\"[265]\nWisdom is dual in its nature, as will presently be seen. When the\naspects of Will and Wisdom are revealed, a third aspect must follow to\nmake them effective--Creative Intelligence, the divine mind in Action. A\nJewish prophet writes: \"He hath made the earth by His Power, He hath\nestablished the world by His Wisdom; and hath stretched out the heaven\nby His Understanding,\"[266] the reference to the three functions being\nvery clear.[267] These Three are inseparable, indivisible, three aspects\nof One. Their functions may be thought of separately, for the sake of\nclearness, but cannot be disjoined. Each is necessary to each, and each\nis present in each. In the First Being, Will, Power, is seen as\npredominant, as characteristic, but Wisdom and Creative Action are also\npresent; in the Second Being, Wisdom is seen as predominant, but Power\nand Creative Action are none the less inherent in Him; in the Third\nBeing, Creative Action is seen as predominant, but Power and Wisdom are\never also to be seen. And though the words First, Second, Third are\nused, because the Beings are thus manifested in Time, in the order of\nSelf-unfolding, yet in Eternity they are known as interdependent and\nco-equal, \"None is greater or less than Another.\"[268]\n\nThis Trinity is the divine Self, the divine Spirit, the Manifested God,\nHe that \"was and is and is to come,\"[269] and He is the root of the\nfundamental triplicity in life, in consciousness.\n\nBut we saw that there was a Fourth Person, or in some religions a second\nTrinity, feminine, the Mother. This is That which makes manifestation\npossible, That which eternally in the One is the root of limitation and\ndivision, and which, when manifested, is called Matter. This is the\ndivine Not-Self, the divine Matter, the manifested Nature. Regarded as\nOne, She is the Fourth, making possible the activity of the Three, the\nField of Their operations by virtue of Her infinite divisibility, at\nonce the \"Handmaid of the Lord,\"[270] and also His Mother, yielding of\nHer substance to form His Body, the universe, when overshadowed by His\npower.[271] Regarded carefully She is seen to be triple also, existing\nin three inseparable aspects, without which She could not be. These are\nStability--Inertia or Resistance--Motion, and Rhythm; the fundamental or\nessential qualities of Matter, these are called. They alone render\nSpirit effective, and have therefore been regarded as the manifested\nPowers of the Trinity. Stability or Inertia affords a basis, the fulcrum\nfor the lever; Motion is then rendered manifest, but could make only\nchaos, then Rhythm is imposed, and there is Matter in vibration, capable\nof being shaped and moulded. When the three qualities are in\nequilibrium, there is the One, the Virgin Matter, unproductive. When the\npower of the Highest overshadows Her, and the breath of the Spirit comes\nupon Her, the qualities are thrown out of equilibrium, and She becomes\nthe divine Mother of the worlds.\n\nThe first interaction is between Her and the Third Person of the\nTrinity; by His action She becomes capable of giving birth to form. Then\nis revealed the Second Person, who clothes Himself in the material thus\nprovided, and thus become the Mediator, linking in His own Person Spirit\nand Matter, the Archetype of all forms. Only through Him does the First\nPerson become revealed, as the Father of all Spirits.\n\nIt is now possible to see why the Second Person of the Trinity of Spirit\nis ever dual; He is the One who clothes Himself in Matter, in whom the\ntwin-halves of Deity appear in union, not as one. Hence also is He\nWisdom; for Wisdom on the side of Spirit is the Pure Reason that knows\nitself as the One Self and knows all things in that Self, and on the\nside of Matter it is Love, drawing the infinite diversity of forms\ntogether, and making each form a unit, not a mere heap of particles--the\nprinciple of attraction which holds the worlds and all in them in a\nperfect order and balance. This is the Wisdom which is spoken of as\n\"mightily and sweetly ordering all things,\"[272] which sustains and\npreserves the universe.\n\nIn the world-symbols, found in every religion, the Point--that which has\nposition only--has been taken as a symbol of the First Person in the\nTrinity. On this symbol St. Clement of Alexandria remarks that we\nabstract from a body its properties, then depth, then breadth, then\nlength; \"the point which remains is a unit, so to speak, having\nposition; from which if we abstract position, there is the conception of\nunity.\"[273] He shines out, as it were, from the infinite Darkness, a\nPoint of Light, the centre of a future universe, a Unit, in whom all\nexists inseparate; the matter which is to form the universe, the field\nof His work, is marked out by the backward and forward vibration of the\nPoint in every direction, a vast sphere, limited by His Will, His Power.\nThis is the making of \"the earth by His Power,\" spoken of by\nJeremiah.[274] Thus the full symbol is a Point within a sphere,\nrepresented usually as a Point within a circle. The Second Person is\nrepresented by a Line, a diameter of this circle, a single complete\nvibration of the Point, and this Line is equally in every direction\nwithin the sphere; this Line dividing the circle in twain signifies also\nHis duality, that in Him Matter and Spirit--a unity in the First\nPerson--are visibly two, though in union. The Third Person is\nrepresented by a Cross formed by two diameters at right angles to each\nother within the circle, the second line of the Cross separating the\nupper part of the circle from the lower. This is the Greek Cross.[275]\n\nWhen the Trinity is represented as a Unity, the Triangle is used,\neither inscribed within a circle, or free. The universe is symbolised\nby two triangles interlaced, the Trinity of Spirit with the apex of the\ntriangle upward, the Trinity of Matter with the apex of the triangle\ndownward, and if colours are used, the first is white, yellow, golden or\nflame-coloured, and the second black, or some dark shade.\n\nThe kosmic process can now be readily followed. The One has become Two,\nand the Two Three, and the Trinity is revealed. The Matter of the\nuniverse is marked out and awaits the action of Spirit. This is the \"in\nthe beginning\" of Genesis, when \"God created the heaven and the\nearth,\"[276] a statement further elucidated by the repeated phrases that\nHe \"laid the foundations of the earth;\"[277] we have here the marking\nout of the material, but a mere chaos, \"without form and void.\"[278]\n\nOn this begins the action of the Creative Intelligence, the Holy Spirit,\nwho \"moved upon the face of the waters,\"[279] the vast ocean of matter.\nThus His was the first activity, though He was the Third Person--a point\nof great importance.\n\nIn the Mysteries this work was shown in its detail as the preparation of\nthe matter of the universe, the formation of atoms, the drawing of these\ntogether into aggregates, and the grouping of these together into\nelements, and of these again into gaseous, liquid, and solid compounds.\nThis work includes not only the kind of matter called physical, but also\nall the subtle states of matter in the invisible worlds. He further as\nthe \"Spirit of Understanding\" conceived the forms into which the\nprepared matter should be shaped, not building the forms, but by the\naction of the Creative Intelligence producing the Ideas of them, the\nheavenly prototypes, as they are often called. This is the work referred\nto when it is written, He \"stretched out the heaven by His\nUnderstanding.\"[280]\n\nThe work of the Second Person follows that of the Third. He by virtue of\nHis Wisdom \"established the world,\"[281] building all globes and all\nthings upon them, \"all things were made by Him.\"[282] He is the\norganising Life of the worlds, and all beings are rooted in Him.[283]\nThe life of the Son thus manifested in the matter prepared by the Holy\nSpirit--again the great \"Myth\" of the Incarnation--is the life that\nbuilds up, preserves, and maintains all forms, for He is the Love, the\nattracting power, that gives cohesion to forms, enabling them to grow\nwithout falling apart, the Preserver, the Supporter, the Saviour. That\nis why all must be subject to the Son,[284] all must be gathered up in\nHim, and why \"no man cometh unto the Father but by\" Him.[285]\n\nFor the work of the First Person follows that of the Second, as that of\nthe Second follows that of the Third. He is spoken of as \"the Father of\nSpirits,\"[286] the \"God of the Spirits of all flesh,\"[287] and His is\nthe gift of the divine Spirit, the true Self in man. The human Spirit\nis the outpoured divine Life of the Father, poured into the vessel\nprepared by the Son, out of the materials vivified by the Spirit. And\nthis Spirit in man, being from the Father--from whom came forth the Son\nand the Holy Spirit--is a Unity like Himself, with the three aspects in\nOne, and man is thus truly made \"in our image, after our likeness,\"[288]\nand is able to become \"perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven\nis perfect.\"[289]\n\nSuch is the kosmic process, and in human evolution it is repeated; \"as\nabove, so below.\"\n\nThe Trinity of the Spirit in man, being in the divine likeness, must\nshow out the divine characteristics, and thus we find in him Power,\nwhich, whether in its higher form of Will or its lower form of Desire,\ngives the impulse to his evolution. We find also in him Wisdom, the Pure\nReason, which has Love as its expression in the world of forms, and\nlastly Intelligence, or Mind, the active shaping energy. And in man\nalso we find that the manifestation of these in his evolution is from\nthe third to the second, and from the second to the first. The mass of\nhumanity is unfolding the mind, evolving the intelligence, and we can\nsee its separative action everywhere, isolating, as it were, the human\natoms and developing each severally, so that they may be fit materials\nfor building up a divine Humanity. To this point only has the race\narrived, and here it is still working.\n\nAs we study a small minority of our race, we see that the second aspect\nof the divine Spirit in man is appearing, and we speak of it in\nChristendom as the Christ in man. Its evolution lies, as we have seen,\nbeyond the first of the Great Initiations, and Wisdom and Love are the\nmarks of the Initiate, shining out more and more as he develops this\naspect of the Spirit. Here again is it true that \"no man cometh to the\nFather but by Me,\" for only when the life of the Son is touching on\ncompletion can He pray: \"Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own\nSelf, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.\"[290]\nThen the Son ascends to the Father and becomes one with Him in the\ndivine glory; He manifests self-existence, the existence inherent in his\ndivine nature, unfolded from seed to flower, for \"as the Father hath\nlife in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in\nHimself.\"[291] He becomes a living self-conscious Centre in the Life of\nGod, a Centre able to exist as such, no longer bound by the limitations\nof his earlier life, expanding to divine consciousness, while keeping\nthe identity of his life unshaken, a living, fiery Centre in the divine\nFlame.\n\nIn this evolution now lies the possibility of divine Incarnations in the\nfuture, as this evolution in the past has rendered possible divine\nIncarnations in our own world. These living Centres do not lose Their\nidentity, nor the memory of Their past, of aught that They have\nexperienced in the long climb upwards; and such a Self-conscious Being\ncan come forth from the Bosom of the Father, and reveal Himself for the\nhelping of the world. He has maintained the union in Himself of Spirit\nand Matter, the duality of the Second Person--all divine Incarnations in\nall religions are therefore connected with the Second Person in the\nTrinity--and hence can readily re-clothe Himself for physical\nmanifestation, and again become Man. This nature of the Mediator He has\nretained, and is thus a link between the celestial and terrestrial\nTrinities, \"God with us\"[292] He has ever been called.\n\nSuch a Being, the glorious fruit of a past universe, can come into the\npresent world with all the perfection of His divine Wisdom and Love,\nwith all the memory of His past, able by virtue of that memory to be the\nperfect Helper of every living Being, knowing every stage because He has\nlived it, able to help at every point because He has experienced all.\n\"In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour\nthem that are tempted.\"[293]\n\nIt is in the humanity behind Him that lies this possibility of divine\nIncarnation; He comes down, having climbed up, in order to help others\nto climb the ladder. And as we understand these truths, and something of\nthe meaning of the Trinity, above and below, what was once a mere hard\nunintelligible dogma becomes a living and vivifying truth. Only by the\nexistence of the Trinity in man is human evolution intelligible, and we\nsee how man evolves the life of the intellect, and then the life of the\nChrist. On that fact mysticism is based, and our sure hope that we shall\nknow God. Thus have the Sages taught, and as we tread the Path they\nshow, we find that their testimony is true.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nPRAYER.[294]\n\n\nWhat is sometimes called \"the modern spirit\" is exceedingly antagonistic\nto prayer, failing to see any causal nexus between the uttering of a\npetition and the happening of an event, whereas the religious spirit is\nas strongly attached to it, and finds its very life in prayer. Yet even\nthe religious man sometimes feels uneasy as to the rationale of prayer;\nis he teaching the All-wise, is he urging beneficence on the All-Good,\nis he altering the will of Him in \"whom is no variableness, neither\nshadow of turning?\"[295] Yet he finds in his own experience and in that\nof others \"answers to prayer,\" a definite sequence of a request and a\nfulfilment.\n\nMany of these do not refer to subjective experiences, but to hard facts\nof the so-called objective world. A man has prayed for money, and the\npost has brought him the required amount; a woman has prayed for food,\nand food has been brought to her door. In connection with charitable\nundertakings, especially, there is plenty of evidence of help prayed for\nin urgent need, and of speedy and liberal response. On the other hand,\nthere is also plenty of evidence of prayers left unanswered; of the\nhungry starving to death, of the child snatched from its mother's arms\nby disease, despite the most passionate appeals to God. Any true view of\nprayer must take into account all these facts.\n\nNor is this all. There are many facts in this experience which are\nstrange and puzzling. A prayer that perhaps is trivial meets with an\nanswer, while another on an important matter fails; a passing trouble is\nrelieved, while a prayer poured out to save a passionately beloved life\nfinds no response. It seems almost impossible for the ordinary student\nto discover the law according to which a prayer is or is not\nproductive.\n\nThe first thing necessary in seeking to understand this law is to\nanalyse prayer itself, for the word is used to cover various activities\nof the consciousness, and prayers cannot be dealt with as though they\nformed a simple whole. There are prayers which are petitions for\ndefinite worldly advantages, for the supply of physical\nnecessities--prayers for food, clothing, money, employment, success in\nbusiness, recovery from illness, &c. These may be grouped together as\nclass A. Then we have prayers for help in moral and intellectual\ndifficulties and for spiritual growth--for the overcoming of\ntemptations, for strength, for insight, for enlightenment. These may be\ngrouped as Class B. Lastly, there are the prayers that ask for nothing,\nthat consist in meditation on and adoration of the divine Perfection, in\nintense aspiration for union with God--the ecstasy of the mystic, the\nmeditation of the sage, the soaring rapture of the saint. This is the\ntrue \"communion between the Divine and the human,\" when the man pours\nhimself out in love and veneration for THAT which is inherently\nattractive, that compels the love of the heart. These we will call Class\nC.\n\nIn the invisible worlds there exist many kinds of Intelligences, which\ncome into relationship with man, a veritable Jacob's ladder, on which\nthe Angels of God ascend and descend, and above which stands the Lord\nHimself.[296] Some of these Intelligences are mighty spiritual Powers,\nothers are exceedingly limited beings, inferior in consciousness to man.\nThis occult side of Nature--of which more will presently be\nsaid[297]--is a fact, recognised by all religions. All the world is\nfilled with living things, invisible to fleshly eyes. The invisible\nworlds interpenetrate the visible, and crowds of intelligent beings\nthrong round us on every side. Some of these are accessible to human\nrequests, and others are amenable to the human will. Christianity\nrecognises the existence of the higher classes of Intelligences under\nthe general name of Angels, and teaches that they are \"ministering\nspirits, sent forth to minister;\"[298] but what is their ministry, what\nthe nature of their work, what their relationship to human beings, all\nthat was part of the instruction given in the Lesser Mysteries, as the\nactual communication with them was enjoyed in the Greater, but in modern\ndays these truths have sunk into the background, except the little that\nis taught in the Greek and Roman communions. For the Protestant, \"the\nministry of angels\" is little more than a phrase. In addition to all\nthese, man is himself a constant creator of invisible beings, for the\nvibrations of his thoughts and desires create forms of subtle matter the\nonly life of which is the thought or the desire which ensouls them; he\nthus creates an army of invisible servants, who range through the\ninvisible worlds seeking to do his will. Yet, again, there are in these\nworlds human helpers, who work there in their subtle bodies while their\nphysical bodies are sleeping, whose attentive ear may catch a cry for\nhelp. And to crown all, there is the ever-present, ever-conscious Life\nof God Himself, potent and responsive at every point of His realm, of\nHim without whose knowledge not a sparrow falleth to the ground,[299]\nnot a dumb creature thrills in joy or pain, not a child laughs or\nsobs--that all-pervading, all-embracing, all-sustaining Life and Love,\nin which we live and move.[300] As nought that can give pleasure or pain\ncan touch the human body without the sensory nerves carrying the message\nof its impact to the brain-centres, and as there thrills down from those\ncentres through the motor nerves the answer that welcomes or repels, so\ndoes every vibration in the universe, which is His body, touch the\nconsciousness of God, and draw thence responsive action. Nerve-cells,\nnerve-threads, and muscular fibres may be the agents of feeling and\nmoving, but it is the _man_ that feels and acts; so may myriads of\nIntelligences be the agents, but it is God who knows and answers.\nNothing can be so small as not to affect that delicate omnipresent\nconsciousness, nothing so vast as to transcend it. We are so limited\nthat the very idea of such an all-embracing consciousness staggers and\nconfounds us; yet perhaps a gnat might be as hard bestead if he tried to\nmeasure the consciousness of Pythagoras. Professor Huxley, in a\nremarkable passage, has imagined the possibility of the existence of\nbeings rising higher and higher in intelligence, the consciousness ever\nexpanding, and the reaching of a stage as much above the human as the\nhuman is above that of the blackbeetle.[301] That is not a flight of the\nscientific imagination, but a description of a fact. There is a Being\nwhose consciousness is present at every point of His universe, and\ntherefore can be affected from any point. That consciousness is not only\nvast in its field, but inconceivably acute, not diminished in delicate\ncapacity to respond because it stretches its vast area in every\ndirection, but is more responsive than a more limited consciousness,\nmore perfect in understanding than the more restricted. So far from it\nbeing the case that the more exalted the Being the more difficult would\nit be to reach His consciousness, the very reverse is true. The more\nexalted the Being, the more easily is His consciousness affected.\n\nNow this all-pervading Life is everywhere utilising as channels all the\nembodied lives to which He has given birth, and any one of them may be\nused as an agent of that all-conscious Will. In order that that Will may\nexpress itself in the outer world, a means of expression must be found,\nand these beings, in proportion to their receptivity, offer the\nnecessary channels, and become the intermediary workers between one\npoint of the kosmos and another. They act as the motor nerves of His\nbody, and bring about the required action.\n\nLet us now take the classes into which we have divided prayers, and see\nthe methods by which they will be answered.\n\nWhen a man utters a prayer of Class A there are several means by which\nhis prayer may be answered. Such a man is simple in his nature, with a\nconception of God natural, inevitable, at the stage of evolution in\nwhich he is; he regards Him as the supplier of his own needs, in close\nand immediate touch with his daily necessities, and he turns to Him for\nhis daily bread as naturally as a child turns to his father or mother. A\ntypical instance of this is the case of George Mueller, of Bristol,\nbefore he was known to the world as a philanthropist, when he was\nbeginning his charitable work, and was without friends or money. He\nprayed for food for the children who had no resource save his bounty,\nand money always came sufficient for the immediate needs. What had\nhappened? His prayer was a strong, energetic desire, and that desire\ncreates a form, of which it is the life and directing energy. That\nvibrating, living creature has but one idea, the idea that ensouls\nit--help is wanted, food is wanted; and it ranges the subtle world,\nseeking. A charitable man desires to give help to the needy, is seeking\nopportunity to give. As the magnet to soft iron, so is such a person to\nthe desire-form, and it is attracted to him. It rouses in his brain\nvibrations identical with its own--George Mueller, his orphanage, its\nneeds--and he sees the outlet for his charitable impulse, draws a\ncheque, and sends it. Quite naturally, George Mueller would say that God\nput it into the heart of such a one to give the needed help. In the\ndeepest sense of the words that is true, since there is no life, no\nenergy, in His universe that does not come from God; but the\nintermediate agency, according to the divine laws, is the desire-form\ncreated by the prayer.\n\nThe result could be obtained equally well by a deliberate exercise of\nthe will, without any prayer, by a person who understood the mechanism\nconcerned, and the way to put it in motion. Such a man would think\nclearly of what he needed, would draw to him the kind of subtle matter\nbest suited to his purpose to clothe the thought, and by a deliberate\nexercise of his will would either send it to a definite person to\nrepresent his need, or to range his neighbourhood and be attracted by a\ncharitably disposed person. There is here no prayer, but a conscious\nexercise of will and knowledge.\n\nIn the case of most people, however, ignorant of the forces of the\ninvisible worlds and unaccustomed to exercise their wills, the\nconcentration of mind and the earnest desire which are necessary for\nsuccessful action are far more easily reached by prayer than by a\ndeliberate mental effort to put forth their own strength. They would\ndoubt their own power, even if they understood the theory, and doubt is\nfatal to the exercise of the will. That the person who prays does not\nunderstand the machinery he sets going in no wise affects the result. A\nchild who stretches out his hand and grasps an object need not\nunderstand anything of the working of the muscles, nor of the electrical\nand chemical changes set up by the movement in muscles and nerves, nor\nneed he elaborately calculate the distance of the object by measuring\nthe angle made by the optic axes; he wills to take hold of the thing he\nwants, and the apparatus of his body obeys his will though he does not\neven know of its existence. So is it with the man who prays, unknowing\nof the creative force of his thought, of the living creature he has\nsent out to do his bidding. He acts as unconsciously as the child, and\nlike the child grasps what he wants. In both cases God is equally the\nprimal Agent, all power being from Him; in both cases the actual work is\ndone by the apparatus provided by His laws.\n\nBut this is not the only way in which prayers of this class are\nanswered. Some one temporarily out of the physical body and at work in\nthe invisible worlds, or a passing Angel, may hear the cry for help, and\nmay then put the thought of sending the required aid into the brain of\nsome charitable person. \"The thought of so-and-so came into my head this\nmorning,\" such a person will say. \"I daresay a cheque would be useful to\nhim.\" Very many prayers are answered in this way, the link between the\nneed and the supply being some invisible Intelligence. Herein is part of\nthe ministry of the lower Angels, and they will thus supply personal\nnecessities, as well as bring aid to charitable undertakings.\n\nThe failure of prayers of this class is due to another hidden cause.\nEvery man has contracted debts which have to be paid; his wrong\nthoughts, wrong desires, and wrong actions have built up obstacles in\nhis way, and sometimes even hem him in as the walls of a prison-house. A\ndebt of wrong is discharged by a payment of suffering; a man must bear\nthe consequences of the wrongs he has wrought. A man condemned to die of\nstarvation by his own wrong-doing in the past, may hurl his prayers\nagainst that destiny in vain. The desire-form he creates will seek but\nwill not find; it will be met and thrown back by the current of past\nwrong. Here, as everywhere, we are living in a realm of law, and forces\nmay be modified or entirely frustrated by the play of other forces with\nwhich they come into contact. Two exactly similar forces might be\napplied to two exactly similar balls; in one case, no other force might\nbe applied to the ball, and it might strike the mark aimed at; in the\nother, a second force might strike the ball and send it entirely out of\nits course. And so with two similar prayers; one may go on its way\nunopposed and effect its object; the other may be flung aside by the\nfar stronger force of a past wrong. One prayer is answered, the other\nunanswered; but in both cases the result is by law.\n\nLet us consider Class B. Prayers for help in moral and intellectual\ndifficulties have a double result; they act directly to attract help,\nand they react on the person who prays. They draw the attention of the\nAngels, of the disciples working outside the body, who are ever seeking\nto help the bewildered mind, and counsel, encouragement, illumination,\nare thrown into the brain-consciousness, thus giving the answer to\nprayer in the most direct way. \"And he kneeled down and prayed ... and\nthere appeared an Angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.\"[302]\nIdeas are suggested which clear away an intellectual difficulty, or\nthrow light on an obscure moral problem, or the sweetest comfort is\npoured into the distressed heart, soothing its perturbations and calming\nits anxieties. And truly if no Angel were passing that way, the cry of\nthe distressed would reach the \"Hidden Heart of Heaven,\" and a messenger\nwould be sent to carry comfort, some Angel, ever ready to fly swiftly on\nfeeling the impulse, bearing the divine will to help.\n\nThere is also what is sometimes called a subjective answer to such\nprayers, the re-action of the prayer on the utterer. His prayer places\nhis heart and mind in the receptive attitude, and this stills the lower\nnature, and thus allows the strength and illuminative power of the\nhigher to stream into it unchecked. The currents of energy which\nnormally flow downwards, or outwards, from the Inner Man, are, as a\nrule, directed to the external world, and are utilised in the ordinary\naffairs of life by the brain-consciousness, for the carrying on of its\ndaily activities. But when this brain-consciousness turns away from the\nouter world, and shutting its outward-going doors, directs its gaze\ninwards; when it deliberately closes itself to the outer and opens\nitself to the inner; then it becomes a vessel able to receive and to\nhold, instead of a mere conduit-pipe between the interior and exterior\nworlds. In the silence obtained by the cessation of the noises of\nexternal activities, the \"still small voice\" of the Spirit can make\nitself heard, and the concentrated attention of the expectant mind\nenables it to catch the soft whisper of the Inner Self.\n\nEven more markedly does help come from without and from within, when the\nprayer is for spiritual enlightenment, for spiritual growth. Not only do\nall helpers, angelic and human, most eagerly seek to forward spiritual\nprogress, seizing on every opportunity offered by the upward-aspiring\nsoul; but the longing for such growth liberates energy of a high kind,\nthe spiritual longing calling forth an answer from the spiritual realm.\nOnce more the law of sympathetic vibrations asserts itself, and the note\nof lofty aspiration is answered by a note of its own order, by a\nliberation of energy of its own kind, by a vibration synchronous with\nitself. The divine Life is ever pressing from above against the limits\nthat bind it, and when the upward-rising force strikes against those\nlimits from below, the separating wall is broken through, and the divine\nLife floods the Soul. When a man feels that inflow of spiritual life,\nhe cries: \"My prayer has been answered, and God has sent down His Spirit\ninto my heart.\" Truly so; yet he rarely understands that that Spirit is\never seeking entrance, but that coming to His own, His own receive Him\nnot.[303] \"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my\nvoice, and open the door, I will come in to him.\"[304]\n\nThe general principle with regard to all prayers of this class is that\njust in proportion to the submergence of the personality and the\nintensity of the upward aspiration will be the answer from the wider\nlife within and without us. We separate ourselves. If we cease the\nseparation and make ourselves one with the greater, we find that light\nand life and strength flow into us. When the separate will is turned\naway from its own objects and set to serve the divine purpose, then the\nstrength of the Divine pours into it. As a man swims against the stream,\nhe makes slow progress; but with it, he is carried on by all the force\nof the current. In every department of Nature the divine energies are\nworking, and everything that a man does he does by means of the energies\nthat are working in the line along which he desires to do; his greatest\nachievements are wrought, not by his own energies, but by the skill with\nwhich he selects and combines the forces that aid him, and neutralises\nthose that oppose him by those that are favourable. Forces that would\nwhirl us away as straws in the wind become our most effective servants\nwhen we work with them. Is it then any wonder that in prayer, as in\neverything else, the divine energies become associated with the man who,\nby his prayer, seeks to work as part of the Divine?\n\nThis highest form of prayer in Class B merges almost imperceptibly into\nClass C, where prayer loses its petitionary character, and becomes\neither a meditation on, or a worship of, God. Meditation is the steady\nquiet fixing of the mind on God, whereby the lower mind is stilled and\npresently left vacant, so that the Spirit, escaping from it, rises into\ncontemplation of the divine Perfection, and reflects within himself the\ndivine Image. \"Meditation is silent or _unuttered_ prayer, or as Plato\nexpressed it: 'the ardent turning of the Soul towards the Divine; not to\nask any particular good (as in the common meaning of prayer), but for\ngood itself, for the Universal Supreme Good.'\"[305]\n\nThis is the prayer that, by thus liberating the Spirit, is the means of\nunion between man and God. By the working of the laws of thought a man\nbecomes that which he thinks, and when he meditates on the divine\nperfections he gradually reproduces in himself that on which his mind is\nfixed. Such a mind, shaped to the higher and not the lower, cannot bind\nthe Spirit, and the freed Spirit leaping upward to his source, prayer is\nlost in union and separateness is left behind.\n\nWorship also, the rapt adoration from which all petition is absent, and\nwhich seeks to pour itself forth in sheer love of the Perfect, dimly\nsensed, is a means--the easiest means--of union with God. In this the\nconsciousness, limited by the brain, contemplates in mute exstasy the\nImage it creates of Him whom it knows to be beyond imagining, and oft,\nrapt by the intensity of his love beyond the limits of the intellect,\nthe man as a free Spirit soars upwards into realms where these limits\nare transcended, and feels and knows far more than on his return he can\ntell in words or clothe in form.\n\nThus the Mystic gazes on the Beatific Vision; thus the Sage rests in the\ncalm of the Wisdom that is beyond knowledge; thus the Saint reaches the\npurity wherein God is seen. Such prayer irradiates the worshipper, and\nfrom the mount of such high communion descending to the plains of earth,\nthe very face of flesh shines with supernal glory, translucent to the\nflame that burns within. Happy they who know the reality which no words\nmay convey to those who know it not. Those whose eyes have seen \"the\nKing in His beauty\"[306] will remember, and they will understand.\n\nWhen prayer is thus understood, its perennial necessity for all who\nbelieve in religion will be patent, and we see why its practice has\nbeen so much advocated by all who study the higher life. For the student\nof the Lesser Mysteries prayer should be of the kinds grouped under\nClass B, and he should endeavour to rise to the pure meditation and\nworship of the last class, eschewing altogether the lower kinds. For him\nthe teaching of Iamblichus on this subject is useful. Iamblichus says\nthat prayers \"produce an indissoluble and sacred communion with the\nGods,\" and then proceeds to give some interesting details on prayer, as\nconsidered by the practical Occultist. \"For this is of itself a thing\nworthy to be known, and renders more perfect the science concerning the\nGods. I say, therefore, that the first species of prayer is Collective;\nand that it is also the leader of contact with, and a knowledge of,\ndivinity. The second species is the bond of concordant Communion,\ncalling forth, prior to the energy of speech, the gifts imparted by the\nGods, and perfecting the whole of our operations prior to our\nintellectual conceptions. And the third and most perfect species of\nprayer is the seal of ineffable Union with the divinities, in whom it\nestablishes all the power and authority of prayer; and thus causes the\nsoul to repose in the Gods, as in a never failing port. But from these\nthree terms, in which all the divine measures are contained, suppliant\nadoration not only conciliates to us the friendship of the Gods, but\nsupernally extends to us three fruits, being as it were three Hesperian\napples of gold. The first of these pertains to illumination; the second\nto a communion of operation; but through the energy of the third we\nreceive a perfect plenitude of divine fire.... No operation, however, in\nsacred concerns, can succeed without the intervention of prayer. Lastly,\nthe continual exercise of prayer nourishes the vigour of our intellect,\nand renders the receptacle of the soul far more capacious for the\ncommunications of the Gods. It likewise is the divine key, which opens\nto men the penetralia of the Gods; accustoms us to the splendid rivers\nof supernal light; in a short time perfects our inmost recesses, and\ndisposes them for the ineffable embrace and contact of the Gods; and\ndoes not desist till it raises us to the summit of all. It also\ngradually and silently draws upward the manners of our soul, by\ndivesting them of everything foreign to a divine nature, and clothes us\nwith the perfections of the Gods. Besides this, it produces an\nindissoluble communion and friendship with divinity, nourishes a divine\nlove, and inflames the divine part of the soul. Whatever is of an\nopposing and contrary nature in the soul, it expiates and purifies;\nexpels whatever is prone to generation and retains anything of the dregs\nof mortality in its ethereal and splendid spirit; perfects a good hope\nand faith concerning the reception of divine light; and in one word,\nrenders those by whom it is employed the familiars and domestics of the\nGods.\"[307]\n\nOut of such study and practice one inevitable result arises, as a man\nbegins to understand, and as the wider range of human life unfolds\nbefore him. He sees that by knowledge his strength is much increased,\nthat there are forces around him that he can understand and control, and\nthat in proportion to his knowledge is his power. Then he learns that\nDivinity lies hidden within himself, and that nothing that is fleeting\ncan satisfy that God within; that only union with the One, the Perfect,\ncan still his cravings. Then there gradually arises within him the will\nto set himself at one with the Divine; he ceases to vehemently seek to\nchange circumstances, and to throw fresh causes into the stream of\neffects. He recognises himself as an agent rather than an actor, a\nchannel rather than a source, a servant rather than a master, and seeks\nto discover the divine purposes and to work in harmony therewith.\n\nWhen a man has reached that point, he has risen above all prayer, save\nthat which is meditation and worship; he has nothing to ask for, in this\nworld or in any other; he remains in a steadfast serenity, seeking but\nto serve God. That is the state of Sonship, where the will of the Son is\none with the will of the Father, where the one calm surrender is made,\n\"Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. I am content to do it; yea, Thy law\nis within my heart.\"[308] Then all prayer is seen to be unnecessary;\nall asking is felt as an impertinence; nothing can be longed for that is\nnot already in the purposes of that Will, and all will be brought into\nactive manifestation as the agents of that Will perfect themselves in\nthe work.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.\n\n\n\"I believe in ... the forgiveness of sins.\" \"I acknowledge one baptism\nfor the remission of sins.\" The words fall facilely from the lips of\nworshippers in every Christian church throughout the world, as they\nrepeat the familiar creeds called those of the Apostles and the Nicene.\nAmong the sayings of Jesus the words frequently recur: \"Thy sins are\nforgiven thee,\" and it is noteworthy that this phrase constantly\naccompanies the exercise of His healing powers, the release from\nphysical and moral disease being thus marked as simultaneous. In fact,\non one occasion He pointed to the healing of a palsy-stricken man as a\nsign that he had a right to declare to a man that his sins were\nforgiven.[309] So also of one woman it was said: \"Her sins, which are\nmany, are forgiven, for she loved much.\"[310] In the famous Gnostic\ntreatise, the _Pistis Sophia_, the very purpose of the Mysteries is said\nto be the remission of sins. \"Should they have been sinners, should they\nhave been in all the sins and all the iniquities of the world, of which\nI have spoken unto you, nevertheless if they turn themselves and repent,\nand have made the renunciation which I have just described unto you,\ngive ye unto them the mysteries of the kingdom of light; hide them not\nfrom them at all. It is because of sin that I have brought these\nmysteries into the world, for the remission of all the sins which they\nhave committed from the beginning. Wherefore have I said unto you\naforetime, 'I came not to call the righteous.' Now, therefore, I have\nbrought the mysteries, that the sins of all men may be remitted, and\nthey be brought into the kingdom of light. For these mysteries are the\nboon of the first mystery of the destruction of the sins and iniquities\nof all sinners.\"[311]\n\nIn these Mysteries, the remission of sin is by baptism, as in the\nacknowledgment in the Nicene Creed. Jesus says: \"Hearken, again, that I\nmay tell you the word in truth, of what type is the mystery of baptism\nwhich remitteth sins.... When a man receiveth the mysteries of the\nbaptisms, those mysteries become a mighty fire, exceedingly fierce,\nwise, which burneth up all sins; they enter into the soul occultly, and\ndevour all the sins which the spiritual counterfeit hath implanted in\nit.\" And after describing further the process of purification, Jesus\nadds: \"This is the way in which the mysteries of the baptisms remit sins\nand every iniquity.\"[312]\n\nIn one form or another the \"forgiveness of sins\" appears in most, if not\nin all, religions; and wherever this consensus of opinion is found, we\nmay safely conclude, according to the principle already laid down, that\nsome fact in nature underlies it. Moreover, there is a response in\nhuman nature to this idea that sins are forgiven; we notice that people\nsuffer under a consciousness of wrong-doing, and that when they shake\nthemselves clear of their past, and free themselves from the shackling\nfetters of remorse, they go forward with glad heart and sunlit eyes,\nthough erstwhile enclouded by darkness. They feel as though a burden\nwere lifted off them, a clog removed. The \"sense of sin\" has\ndisappeared, and with it the gnawing pain. They know the springtime of\nthe soul, the word of power which makes all things new. A song of\ngratitude wells up as the natural outburst of the heart, the time for\nthe singing of birds is come, there is \"joy among the Angels.\" This not\nuncommon experience is one that becomes puzzling, when the person\nexperiencing it, or seeing it in another, begins to ask himself what has\nreally taken place, what has brought about the change in consciousness,\nthe effects of which are so manifest.\n\nModern thinkers, who have thoroughly assimilated the idea of changeless\nlaws underlying all phenomena, and who have studied the workings of\nthese laws, are at first apt to reject any and every theory of the\nforgiveness of sins as being inconsistent with that fundamental truth,\njust as the scientist, penetrated with the idea of the inviolability of\nlaw, repels all thought which is inconsistent with it. And both are\nright in founding themselves on the unfaltering working of law, for law\nis but the expression of the divine Nature, in which there is no\nvariableness, neither shadow of turning. Any view of the forgiveness of\nsins that we may adopt must not clash with this fundamental idea, as\nnecessary to ethical as to physical science. \"The bottom would fall out\nof everything\" if we could not rest securely in the everlasting arms of\nthe Good Law.\n\nBut in pursuing our investigations, we are struck with the fact that the\nvery Teachers who are most insistent on the changeless working of law\nare also those who emphatically proclaim the forgiveness of sins. At one\ntime Jesus is saying: \"That every idle word that men shall speak, they\nshall give account thereof in the day of judgment,\"[313] and at\nanother: \"Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.\"[314] So in\nthe _Bhagavad Gita_ we read constantly of the bonds of action, that \"the\nworld is bound by action,\"[315] and that a man \"recovereth the\ncharacteristics of his former body;\"[316] and yet it is said that \"even\nif the most sinful worship me, with undivided heart, he, too, must be\naccounted righteous.\"[317] It would seem, then, that whatever may have\nbeen intended in the world's Scriptures by the phrase, \"the forgiveness\nof sins,\" it was not thought, by Those who best know the law, to clash\nwith the inviolable sequence of cause and effect.\n\nIf we examine even the crudest idea of the forgiveness of sins prevalent\nin our own day, we find that the believer in it does not mean that the\nforgiven sinner is to escape from the consequences of his sin in this\nworld; the drunkard, whose sins are forgiven on his repentance, is still\nseen to suffer from shaken nerves, impaired digestion, and the lack of\nconfidence shown towards him by his fellow-men. The statements made as\nto forgiveness, when they are examined, are ultimately found to refer to\nthe relations between the repentant sinner and God, and to the\n_post-mortem_ penalties attached to unforgiven sin in the creed of the\nspeaker, and not to any escape from the mundane consequences of sin. The\nloss of belief in reincarnation, and of a sane view as to the continuity\nof life, whether it were spent in this or in the next two worlds,[318]\nbrought with it various incongruities and indefensible assertions, among\nthem the blasphemous and terrible idea of the eternal torture of the\nhuman soul for sins committed during the brief span of one life spent on\nearth. In order to escape from this nightmare, theologians posited a\nforgiveness which should release the sinner from this dread imprisonment\nin an eternal hell. It did not, and was never supposed to, set him free\nin this world from the natural consequences of his ill-doings,\nnor--except in modern Protestant communities--was it held to deliver\nhim from prolonged purgatorial sufferings, the direct results of sin,\nafter the death of the physical body. The law had its course, both in\nthis world and in purgatory, and in each world sorrow followed on the\nheels of sin, even as the wheels follow the ox. It was but eternal\ntorture--which existed only in the clouded imagination of the\nbeliever--that was escaped by the forgiveness of sins; and we may\nperhaps go so far as to suggest that the dogmatist, having postulated an\neternal hell as the monstrous result of transient errors, felt compelled\nto provide a way of escape from an incredible and unjust fate, and\ntherefore further postulated an incredible and unjust forgiveness.\nSchemes that are elaborated by human speculation, without regard to the\nfacts of life, are apt to land the speculator in thought-morasses,\nwhence he can only extricate himself by blundering through the mire in\nan opposite direction. A superfluous eternal hell was balanced by a\nsuperfluous forgiveness, and thus the uneven scales of justice were\nagain rendered level. Leaving these aberrations of the unenlightened,\nlet us return into the realm of fact and right reason.\n\nWhen a man has committed an evil action he has attached himself to a\nsorrow, for sorrow is ever the plant that springs from the seed of sin.\nIt may be said, even more accurately, that sin and sorrow are but the\ntwo sides of one act, not two separate events. As every object has two\nsides, one of which is behind, out of sight, when the other is in front,\nin sight, so every act has two sides, which cannot both be seen at once\nin the physical world. In other worlds, good and happiness, evil and\nsorrow, are seen as the two sides of the same thing. This is what is\ncalled karma--a convenient and now widely-used term, originally\nSamskrit, expressing this connection or identity, literally meaning\n\"action\"--and the suffering is therefore called the karmic result of the\nwrong. The result, the \"other side,\" may not follow immediately, may not\neven accrue during the present incarnation, but sooner or later it will\nappear and clasp the sinner with its arms of pain. Now a result in the\nphysical world, an effect experienced through our physical\nconsciousness, is the final outcome of a cause set going in the past; it\nis the ripened fruit; in it a particular force becomes manifest and\nexhausts itself. That force has been working outwards, and its effects\nare already over in the mind ere it appears in the body. Its bodily\nmanifestation, its appearance, in the physical world, is the sign of the\ncompletion of its course.[319] If at such a moment the sinner, having\nexhausted the karma of his sin, comes into contact with a Sage who can\nsee the past and the present, the invisible and the visible, such a Sage\nmay discern the ending of the particular karma, and, the sentence being\ncompleted, may declare the captive free. Such an instance seems to be\ngiven in the story of the man sick of the palsy, already alluded to, a\ncase typical of many. A physical ailment is the last expression of a\npast ill-doing; the mental and moral outworking is completed, and the\nsufferer is brought--by the agency of some Angel, as an administrator of\nthe law--into the presence of One able to relieve physical disease by\nthe exertion of a higher energy. First, the Initiate declares that the\nman's sins are forgiven, and then justifies his insight by the\nauthoritative word, \"Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.\"\nHad no such enlightened One been there, the disease would have passed\naway under the restoring touch of nature, under a force applied by the\ninvisible angelic Intelligences, who carry out in this world the\nworkings of karmic law; when a greater One is acting, this force is of\nmore swiftly compelling power, and the physical vibrations are at once\nattuned to the harmony that is health. All such forgiveness of sins may\nbe termed declaratory; the karma is exhausted, and a \"knower of karma\"\ndeclares the fact. The assurance brings a relief to the mind that is\nakin to the relief experienced by a prisoner when the order for his\nrelease is given, that order being as much a part of the law as the\noriginal sentence; but the relief of the man who thus learns of the\nexhaustion of an evil karma is keener, because he cannot himself tell\nthe term of its action.\n\nIt is noticeable that these declarations of forgiveness are constantly\ncoupled with the statement that the sufferer showed \"faith,\" and that\nwithout this nothing could be done; _i.e._, the real agent in the ending\nof this karma is the sinner himself. In the case of the \"woman that was\na sinner,\" the two declarations are coupled: \"Thy sins are forgiven....\nThy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.\"[320] This \"faith\" is the\nup-welling in man of his own divine essence, seeking the divine ocean of\nlike essence, and when this breaks through the lower nature that holds\nit in--as the water-spring breaks through the encumbering\nearth-clods--the power thus liberated works on the whole nature,\nbringing it into harmony with itself. The man only becomes conscious of\nthis as the karmic crust of evil is broken up by its force, and that\nglad consciousness of a power within himself hitherto unknown,\nasserting itself as soon as the evil karma is exhausted, is a large\nfactor in the joy, relief, and new strength that follow on the feeling\nthat sin is \"forgiven,\" that its results are past.\n\nAnd this brings us to the heart of the subject--the changes that go on\nin a man's inner nature, unrecognised by that part of his consciousness\nwhich works within the limits of his brain, until they suddenly assert\nthemselves within those limits, coming apparently from nowhere, bursting\nforth \"from the blue,\" pouring from an unknown source. What wonder that\na man, bewildered by their downrush--knowing nothing of the mysteries of\nhis own nature, nothing of \"the inner God\" that is verily\nhimself--imagines that to be from without which is really from within,\nand, unconscious of his own Divinity, thinks only of Divinities in the\nworld external to himself. And this misconception is the more easy,\nbecause the final touch, the vibration that breaks the imprisoning\nshell, is often the answer from the Divinity within another man, or\nwithin some superhuman being, responding to the insistent cry from the\nimprisoned Divinity within himself; he oft-times recognises the\nbrotherly aid, while not recognising that he himself, the cry from his\ninner nature, called it forth. As an explanation from a wiser than\nourselves may make an intellectual difficulty clear to our mind, though\nit is our own mind that, thus aided, grasps the solution; as an\nencouraging word from one purer than ourselves may nerve us to a moral\neffort that we should have thought beyond our power, though it is our\nown strength that makes it; so may a loftier Spirit than our own, one\nmore conscious of its Divinity, aid us to put forth our own divine\nenergy, though it is that very putting forth that lifts us to a higher\nplane. We are all bound by ties of brotherly help to those above us as\nto those below us, and why should we, who so constantly find ourselves\nable to help in their development souls less advanced than ourselves,\nhesitate to admit that we can receive similar help from Those far above\nus, and that our progress may be rendered much swifter by Their aid?\n\nNow among the changes that go on in a man's inner nature, unknown to his\nlower consciousness, are those that have to do with the putting forth of\nhis will. The Ego, glancing backward over his past, balancing up its\nresults, suffering under its mistakes, determines on a change of\nattitude, on a change of activity. While his lower vehicle is still,\nunder his former impulses, plunging along lines of action that bring it\ninto sharp collisions with the law, the Ego determines on an opposite\ncourse of conduct. Hitherto he has turned his face longingly to the\nanimal, the pleasures of the lower world have held him fast enchained.\nNow he turns his face to the true goal of evolution, and determines to\nwork for loftier joys. He sees that the whole world is evolving, and\nthat if he sets himself against that mighty current it clashes him\naside, bruising him sorely in the process; he sees that if he sets\nhimself with it, it will bear him onwards on its bosom and land him in\nthe desired haven.\n\nHe then resolves to change his life, he turns determinedly on his steps,\nhe faces the other way. The first result of the effort to turn his\nlower nature into the changed course, is much distress and disturbance.\nThe habits formed under the impacts of the old views resist stubbornly\nthe impulses flowing from the new, and a bitter conflict arises.\nGradually the consciousness working in the brain accepts the decision\nmade on higher planes, and then \"becomes conscious of sin\" by this very\nrecognition of the law. The sense of error deepens, remorse preys on the\nmind; spasmodic efforts are made towards improvement, and, frustrated by\nold habits, repeatedly fail, till the man, overwhelmed by grief for the\npast, despair of the present, is plunged into hopeless gloom. At last,\nthe ever-increasing suffering wrings from the Ego a cry for help,\nanswered from the inner depths of his own nature, from the God within as\nwell as around him, the Life of his life. He turns from the lower nature\nthat is thwarting him to the higher which is his innermost being, from\nthe separated self that tortures him to the One Self that is the Heart\nof all.\n\nBut this change of front means that he turns his face from the\ndarkness, that he turns his face to the light. The light was always\nthere, but his back was towards it; now he sees the sun, and its\nradiance cheers his eyes, and overfloods his being with delight. His\nheart was closed; it is now flung open, and the ocean of life flows in,\nin full tide, suffusing him with joy. Wave after wave of new life\nuplifts him, and the gladness of the dawn surrounds him. He sees his\npast as past, because his will is set to follow a higher path, and he\nrecks little of the suffering that the past may bequeath to him, since\nhe knows he will not hand on such bitter legacy from his present. This\nsense of peace, of joy, of freedom, is the feeling spoken of as the\nresult of the forgiveness of sins. The obstacles set up by the lower\nnature between the God within and the God without are swept away, and\nthat nature scarce recognises that the change is in itself and not in\nthe Oversoul. As a child, having thrust away the mother's guiding hand\nand hidden its face against the wall, may fancy itself alone and\nforgotten, until, turning with a cry, it finds around it the protecting\nmother-arms that were never but a handsbreadth away; so does man in his\nwilfulness push away the shielding arms of the divine Mother of the\nworlds, only to find, when he turns back his face, that he has never\nbeen outside their protecting shelter, and that wherever he may wander\nthat guarding love is round him still.\n\nThe key to this change in the man, that brings about \"forgiveness,\" is\ngiven in the verse of the _Bhagavad-Gita_ already partly quoted: \"Even\nif the most sinful worship me, with undivided heart, he too must be\naccounted righteous, _for he hath rightly resolved_.\" On that right\nresolution follows the inevitable result: \"Speedily he becometh dutiful\nand goeth to peace.\"[321] The essence of sin lies in setting the will of\nthe part against the will of the whole, the human against the Divine.\nWhen this is changed, when the Ego puts his separate will into union\nwith the will that works for evolution, then, in the world where to will\nis to do, in the world where effects are seen as present in causes, the\nman is \"accounted righteous;\" the effects on the lower planes must\ninevitably follow; \"speedily he becometh dutiful\" in action, having\nalready become dutiful in will. Here we judge by actions, the dead\nleaves of the past; there they judge by wills, the germinating seeds of\nthe future. Hence the Christ ever says to men in the lower world: \"Judge\nnot.\"[322]\n\nEven after the new direction has been definitely followed, and has\nbecome the normal habit of the life, there come times of failure,\nalluded to in the _Pistis Sophia_, when Jesus is asked whether a man may\nbe again admitted to the Mysteries, after he has fallen away, if he\nagain repents. The answer of Jesus is in the affirmative, but he states\nthat a time comes when re-admission is beyond the power of any save of\nthe highest Mystery, who pardons ever. \"Amen, amen, I say unto you,\nwhosoever shall receive the mysteries of the first mystery, and then\nshall turn back and transgress twelve times [even], and then should\nagain repent twelve times, offering prayer in the mystery of the first\nmystery, he shall be forgiven. But if he should transgress after twelve\ntimes, should he turn back and transgress, it shall not be remitted unto\nhim for ever, so that he may turn again unto his mystery, whatever it\nbe. For him there is no means of repentance unless he have received the\nmysteries of that ineffable, which hath compassion at all times and\nremitteth sins for ever and ever.\"[323] These restorations after\nfailure, in which \"sin is remitted,\" meet us in human life, especially\nin the higher phases of evolution. A man is offered an opportunity,\nwhich, taken, would open up to him new possibilities of growth. He fails\nto grasp it, and falls away from the position he had gained that made\nthe further opportunity possible. For him, for the time, further\nprogress is blocked; he must turn all his efforts wearily to retread the\nground he had already trodden, and to regain and make sure his footing\non the place from which he had slipped. Only when this is accomplished\nwill he hear the gentle Voice that tells him that the past is out-worn,\nthe weakness turned to strength, and that the gateway is again open for\nhis passage. Here again the \"forgiveness\" is but the declaration by a\nproper authority of the true state of affairs, the opening of the gate\nto the competent, its closure to the incompetent. Where there had been\nfailure, with its accompanying suffering, this declaration would be felt\nas a \"baptism for the remission of sins,\" re-admitting the aspirant to a\nprivilege lost by his own act; this would certainly give rise to\nfeelings of joy and peace, to a relief from the burden of sorrow, to a\nfeeling that the clog of the past had at last fallen from the feet.\n\nRemains one truth that should never be forgotten: that we are living in\nan ocean of light, of love, of bliss, that surrounds us at all times,\nthe Life of God. As the sun floods the earth with his radiance so does\nthat Life enlighten all, only that Sun of the world never sets to any\npart of it. We shut this light out of our consciousness by our\nselfishness, our heartlessness, our impurity, our intolerance, but it\nshines on us ever the same, bathing us on every side, pressing against\nour self-built walls with gentle, strong persistence. When the soul\nthrows down these excluding walls, the light flows in, and the soul\nfinds itself flooded with sunshine, breathing the blissful air of\nheaven. \"For the Son of man is in heaven,\" though he know it not, and\nits breezes fan his brow if he bares it to their breaths. God ever\nrespects man's individuality, and will not enter his consciousness until\nthat consciousness opens to give welcome; \"Behold I stand at the door\nand knock\"[324] is the attitude of every spiritual Intelligence towards\nthe evolving human soul; not in lack of sympathy is rooted that waiting\nfor the open door, but in deepest wisdom.\n\nMan is not to be compelled; he is to be free. He is not a slave, but a\nGod in the making, and the growth cannot be forced, but must be willed\nfrom within. Only when the will consents, as Giordano Bruno teaches,\nwill God influence man, though He be \"everywhere present, and ready to\ncome to the aid of whosoever turns to Him through the act of the\nintelligence, and who unreservedly presents himself with the affection\nof the will.\"[325] \"The divine potency which is all in all does not\nproffer or withhold, except through assimilation or rejection by\noneself.\"[326] \"It is taken in quickly, as the solar light, without\nhesitation, and makes itself present to whoever turns himself to it and\nopens himself to it ... the windows are opened, but the sun enters in a\nmoment, so does it happen similarly in this case.\"[327]\n\nThe sense of \"forgiveness,\" then, is the feeling which fills the heart\nwith joy when the will is tuned to harmony with the Divine, when, the\nsoul having opened its windows, the sunshine of love and light and bliss\npours in, when the part feels its oneness with the whole, and the One\nLife thrills each vein. This is the noble truth that gives vitality to\neven the crudest presentation of the \"forgiveness of sins,\" and that\nmakes it often, despite its intellectual incompleteness, an inspirer to\npure and spiritual living. And this is the truth, as seen in the Lesser\nMysteries.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSACRAMENTS.\n\n\nIn all religions there exist certain ceremonials, or rites, which are\nregarded as of vital importance by the believers in the religion, and\nwhich are held to confer certain benefits on those taking part in them.\nThe word Sacrament, or some equivalent term, has been applied to these\nceremonials, and they all have the same character. Little exact\nexposition has been given as to their nature and meaning, but this is\nanother of the subjects explained of old in the Lesser Mysteries.\n\nThe peculiar characteristic of a Sacrament resides in two of its\nproperties. First, there is the exoteric ceremony, which is a pictorial\nallegory, a representation of something by actions and materials--not a\nverbal allegory, a teaching given in words, conveying a truth; but an\nacted representation, certain definite material things used in a\nparticular way. The object in choosing these materials, and aimed at in\nthe ceremonies by which their manipulation is accompanied, is to\nrepresent, as in a picture, some truth which it is desired to impress\nupon the minds of the people present. That is the first and obvious\nproperty of a Sacrament, differentiating it from other forms of worship\nand meditation. It appeals to those who without this imagery would fail\nto catch a subtle truth, and shows to them in a vivid and graphic form\nthe truth which otherwise would escape them. Every Sacrament, when it is\nstudied, should be taken first from this standpoint, that it is a\npictorial allegory; the essential things to be studied will therefore\nbe: the material objects which enter into the allegory, the method in\nwhich they are employed, and the meaning which the whole is intended to\nconvey.\n\nThe second characteristic property of a Sacrament belongs to the facts\nof the invisible worlds, and is studied by occult science. The person\nwho officiates in the Sacrament should possess this knowledge, as much,\nthough not all, of the operative power of the Sacrament depends on the\nknowledge of the officiator. A Sacrament links the material world with\nthe subtle and invisible regions to which that world is related; it is a\nlink between the visible and the invisible. And it is not only a link\nbetween this world and other worlds, but it is also a method by which\nthe energies of the invisible world are transmuted into action in the\nphysical; an actual method of changing energies of one kind into\nenergies of another, as literally as in the galvanic cell chemical\nenergies are changed into electrical. The essence of all energies is one\nand the same, whether in the visible or invisible worlds; but the\nenergies differ according to the grades of matter through which they\nmanifest. A Sacrament serves as a kind of crucible in which spiritual\nalchemy takes place. An energy placed in this crucible and subjected to\ncertain manipulations comes forth different in expression. Thus an\nenergy of a subtle kind, belonging to one of the higher regions of the\nuniverse, may be brought into direct relation with people living in the\nphysical world, and may be made to affect them in the physical world as\nwell as in its own realm; the Sacrament forms the last bridge from the\ninvisible to the visible, and enables the energies to be directly\napplied to those who fulfil the necessary conditions and who take part\nin the Sacrament.\n\nThe Sacraments of the Christian Church lost much of their dignity and of\nthe recognition of their occult power among those who separated from the\nRoman Catholic Church at the time of the \"Reformation.\" The previous\nseparation between the East and the West, leaving the Greek Orthodox\nChurch on the one side and the Roman Church on the other, in no way\naffected belief in the Sacraments. They remained in both great\ncommunities as the recognised links between the seen and the unseen, and\nsanctified the life of the believer from cradle to grave. The Seven\nSacraments of Christianity cover the whole of life, from the welcome of\nBaptism to the farewell of Extreme Unction. They were established by\nOccultists, by men who knew the invisible worlds; and the materials\nused, the words spoken, the signs made, were all deliberately chosen and\narranged with a view to bringing about certain results.\n\nAt the time of the Reformation, the seceding Churches, which threw off\nthe yoke of Rome, were not led by Occultists, but by ordinary men of the\nworld, some good and some bad, but all profoundly ignorant of the facts\nof the invisible worlds, and conscious only of the outer shell of\nChristianity, its literal dogmas and exoteric worship. The consequence\nof this was that the Sacraments lost their supreme place in Christian\nworship, and in most Protestant communities were reduced to two, Baptism\nand the Eucharist. The sacramental nature of the others was not\nexplicitly denied in the most important of the seceding Churches, but\nthe two were set apart from the five, as of universal obligation, of\nwhich every member of the Church must partake in order to be recognised\nas a full member.\n\nThe general definition of a Sacrament is given quite accurately, save\nfor the superfluous words, \"ordained by Christ Himself,\" in the\nCatechism of the Church of England, and even these words might be\nretained if the mystic meaning be given to the word \"Christ.\" A\nSacrament is there said to be: \"An outward and visible sign of an inward\nand spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a\nmeans whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof.\"\n\nIn this definition we find laid down the two distinguishing\ncharacteristics of a Sacrament as given above. The \"outward and visible\nsign\" is the pictorial allegory, and the phrase, the \"means whereby we\nreceive the\" \"inward and spiritual grace\" covers the second property.\nThis last phrase should be carefully noted by those members of\nProtestant Churches who regard Sacraments as mere external forms and\nouter ceremonies. For it distinctly alleges that the Sacrament is really\na means whereby the grace is conveyed, and thus implies that without it\nthe grace does not pass in the same fashion from the spiritual to the\nphysical world. It is the distinct recognition of a Sacrament in its\nsecond aspect, as a means whereby spiritual powers are brought into\nactivity on earth.\n\nIn order to understand a Sacrament, it is necessary that we should\ndefinitely recognise the existence of an occult, or hidden, side of\nNature; this is spoken of as the life-side of Nature, the\nconsciousness-side, more accurately the mind _in_ Nature. Underlying all\nsacramental action there is the belief that the invisible world\nexercises a potent influence over the visible, and to understand a\nSacrament we must understand something of the invisible Intelligences\nwho administer Nature. We have seen in studying the doctrine of the\nTrinity that Spirit is manifested as the triple Self, and that as the\nField for His manifestation there is Matter, the form-side of Nature,\noften regarded, and rightly, as Nature herself. We have to study both\nthese aspects, the side of life and that of form, in order to understand\na Sacrament.\n\nStretching between the Trinity and humanity are many grades and\nhierarchies of invisible beings; the highest of these are the seven\nSpirits of God, the seven Fires, or Flames, that are before the throne\nof God.[328] Each of these stands at the head of a vast host of\nIntelligences, all of whom share His nature and act under His direction;\nthese are themselves graded, and are the Thrones, Powers, Princes,\nDominations, Archangels, Angels, of whom mention is found in the\nwritings of the Christian Fathers, who were versed in the Mysteries.\nThus there are seven great hosts of these Beings, and they represent in\ntheir intelligence the divine Mind in Nature. They are found in all\nregions, and they ensoul the energies of Nature. From the standpoint of\noccultism there is no dead force and no dead matter. Force and matter\nalike are living and active, and an energy or a group of energies is the\nveil of an Intelligence, of a Consciousness, who has that energy as his\nouter expression, and the matter in which that energy moves yields a\nform which he guides or ensouls. Unless a man can thus look at Nature\nall esoteric teaching must remain for him a sealed book. Without these\nangelic Lives, these countless invisible Intelligences, these\nConsciousnesses which ensoul the force and matter[329] which is Nature,\nNature herself would not only remain unintelligible, but she would be\nout of relation alike to the divine Life that moves within and around\nher, and to the human lives that are developing in her midst. These\ninnumerable Angels link the worlds together; they are themselves\nevolving while helping the evolution of beings lower than themselves,\nand a new light is shed on evolution when we see that men form grades in\nthese hierarchies of intelligent beings. These angels are the \"sons of\nGod\" of an earlier birth than ours, who \"shouted for joy\"[330] when the\nfoundations of the earth were laid amid the choiring of the Morning\nStars.\n\nOthers beings are below us in evolution--animals, plants, minerals, and\nelemental lives--as the Angels are above us; and as we thus study, a\nconception dawns upon us of a vast Wheel of Life, of numberless\nexistences, inter-related and necessary each to each, man as a living\nIntelligence, as a self-conscious being, having his own place in this\nWheel. The Wheel is ever turning by the divine Will, and the living\nIntelligences who form it learn to co-operate with that Will, and if in\nthe action of those Intelligences there is any break or gap due to\nneglect or opposition, then the Wheel drags, turning slowly, and the\nchariot of the evolution of the worlds goes but heavily upon its way.\n\nThese numberless Lives, above and below man, come into touch with human\nconsciousness in very definite ways, and among these ways are sounds and\ncolours. Each sound has a form in the invisible world, and combinations\nof sounds create complicated shapes.[331] In the subtle matter of those\nworlds all sounds are accompanied by colours, so that they give rise to\nmany-hued shapes, in many cases exceedingly beautiful. The vibrations\nset up in the visible world when a note is sounded set up vibrations in\nthe worlds invisible, each one with its own specific character, and\ncapable of producing certain effects. In communicating with the\nsub-human Intelligences connected with the lower invisible world and\nwith the physical, and in controlling and directing these, sounds must\nbe used fitted to bring about the desired results, as language made up\nof definite sounds is used here. And in communicating with the higher\nIntelligences certain sounds are useful, to create a harmonious\natmosphere, suitable for their activities, and to make our own subtle\nbodies receptive of their influences.\n\nThis effect on the subtle bodies is a most important part of the occult\nuse of sounds. These bodies, like the physical, are in constant\nvibratory motion, the vibrations changing with every thought or desire.\nThese changing irregular vibrations offer an obstacle to any fresh\nvibration coming from outside, and, in order to render the bodies\nsusceptible to the higher influences, sounds are used which reduce the\nirregular vibrations to a steady rhythm, like in its nature to the\nrhythm of the Intelligence sought to be reached. The object of all\noften-repeated sentences is to effect this, as a musician sounds the\nsame note over and over again, until all the instruments are in tune.\nThe subtle bodies must be tuned to the note of the Being sought, if his\ninfluence is to find free way through the nature of the worshipper, and\nthis was ever done of old by the use of sounds. Hence, music has ever\nformed an integral part of worship, and certain definite cadences have\nbeen preserved with care, handed on from age to age.\n\nIn every religion there exist sounds of a peculiar character, called\n\"Words of Power,\" consisting of sentences in a particular language\nchanted in a particular way; each religion possesses a stock of such\nsentences, special successions of sounds, now very generally called\n\"mantras,\" that being the name given to them in the East, where the\nscience of mantras has been much studied and elaborated. It is not\nnecessary that a mantra--a succession of sounds arranged in a particular\nmanner to bring about a definite result--should be in any one particular\nlanguage. Any language can be used for the purpose, though some are more\nsuitable than others, provided that the person who makes the mantra\npossesses the requisite occult knowledge. There are hundreds of mantras\nin the Samskrit tongue, made by Occultists of the past, who were\nfamiliar with the laws of the invisible worlds. These have been handed\ndown from generation to generation, definite words in a definite order\nchanted in a definite way. The effect of the chanting is to create\nvibrations, hence forms, in the physical and super-physical worlds, and\naccording to the knowledge and purity of the singer will be the worlds\nhis song is able to affect If his knowledge be wide and deep, if his\nwill be strong and his heart pure, there is scarcely any limit to the\npowers he may exercise in using some of these ancient mantras.\n\nAs said, it is not necessary that any one particular language should be\nused. They may be in Samskrit, or in any one of the languages of the\nworld, in which men of knowledge have put them together.\n\nThis is the reason why, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin language\nis always used in important acts of worship. It is not used as a dead\nlanguage here, a tongue \"not understanded of the people,\" but as a\nliving force in the invisible worlds. It is not used to hide knowledge\nfrom the people, but in order that certain vibrations may be set up in\nthe invisible worlds which cannot be set up in the ordinary languages of\nEurope, unless a great Occultist should compose in them the necessary\nsuccessions of sounds. To translate a mantra is to change it from a\n\"Word of Power\" into an ordinary sentence; the sounds being changed,\nother sound-forms are created.\n\nSome of the arrangements of Latin words, with the music wedded to them\nin Christian worship, cause the most marked effects in the\nsupra-physical worlds, and any one who is at all sensitive will be\nconscious of peculiar effects caused by the chanting of some of the most\nsacred sentences, especially in the Mass. Vibratory effects may be felt\nby any one who will sit quiet and receptive as some of these sentences\nare uttered by priest or choristers. And at the same time effects are\ncaused in the higher worlds directly affecting the subtle bodies of the\nworshippers in the way above described, and also appealing to the\nIntelligences in those worlds with a meaning as definite as the words\naddressed by one person to another on the physical plane, whether as\nprayer or, in some cases, as command. The sounds, causing active\nflashing forms, rise through the worlds, affecting the consciousness of\nthe Intelligences residing in them, and bringing some of them to render\nthe definite services required by those who are taking part in the\nchurch office.\n\nSuch mantras form an essential part of every Sacrament.\n\nThe next essential part of the Sacrament, in its outward and visible\nform, are certain gestures. These are called Signs, or Seals, or\nSigils--the three words meaning the same thing in a Sacrament. Each sign\nhas its own particular meaning, and marks the direction imposed on the\ninvisible forces with which the celebrant is dealing, whether those\nforces be his own or poured through him. In any case, they are needed to\nbring about the desired result, and they are an essential portion of the\nsacramental rite. Such a sign is called a \"Sign of Power,\" as the mantra\nis a \"Word of Power.\"\n\nIt is interesting to read in occult works of the past references to\nthese facts, true then as now, true now as then. In the Egyptian _Book\nof the Dead_ is described the _post-mortem_ journey of the Soul, and we\nread how he is stopped and challenged at various stages of that journey.\nHe is stopped and challenged by the Guardians of the Gate of each\nsuccessive world, and the Soul cannot pass through the Gate and go on\nhis way unless he knows two things: he must pronounce a word, the Word\nof Power: he must make a sign, the Sign of Power. When that Word is\nspoken, when that Sign is given, the bars of the Gate fall down, and\nthe Guardians stand aside to let the Soul pass through. A similar\naccount is given in the great mystic Christian Gospel, the _Pistis\nSophia_, before mentioned.[332] Here the passage through the worlds is\nnot of a Soul set free from the body by death, but of one who has\nvoluntarily left it in the course of Initiation. There are great Powers,\nthe Powers of Nature, that bar his way, and till the Initiate gives the\nWord and the Sign, they will not allow him to pass through the portals\nof their realms. This double knowledge, then, was necessary--to speak\nthe Word of Power, to make the Sign of Power. Without these progress was\nblocked, and without these a Sacrament is no Sacrament.\n\nFurther, in all Sacraments some physical material is used, or should be\nused.[333] This is ever a symbol of that which is to be gained by the\nSacrament, and points to the nature of the \"inward and spiritual grace\"\nreceived through it. This is also the material means of conveying the\ngrace, not symbolically, but actually, and a subtle change in this\nmaterial adapts it for high ends.\n\nNow a physical object consists of the solid, liquid, and gaseous\nparticles into which a chemist would resolve it by analysis, and further\nof ether, which interpenetrates the grosser stuffs. In this ether play\nthe magnetic energies. It is further connected with counterparts of\nsubtle matter, in which play energies subtler than the magnetic, but\nlike them in nature and more powerful.\n\nWhen such an object is magnetised a change is effected in the ethereal\nportion, the wave-motions are altered and systematised, and made to\nfollow the wave-motions of the ether of the magnetiser; it thus comes to\nshare his nature, and the denser particles of the object, played on by\nthe ether, slowly change their rates of vibration. If the magnetiser has\nthe power of affecting the subtler counterparts also he makes them\nsimilarly vibrate in assonance with his own.\n\nThis is the secret of magnetic cures: the irregular vibrations of the\ndiseased person are so worked on as to accord with the regular\nvibrations of the healthy operator, as definitely as an irregularly\nswinging object may be made to swing regularly by repeated and timed\nblows. A doctor will magnetise water and cure his patient therewith. He\nwill magnetise a cloth, and the cloth, laid on the seat of pain, will\nheal. He will use a powerful magnet, or a current from a galvanic cell,\nand restore energy to a nerve. In all cases the ether is thrown into\nmotion, and by this the denser physical particles are affected.\n\nA similar result accrues when the materials used in a Sacrament are\nacted on by the Word of Power and the Sign of Power. Magnetic changes\nare caused in the ether of the physical substance, and the subtle\ncounterparts are affected according to the knowledge, purity, and\ndevotion of the celebrant who magnetises--or, in the religious term,\nconsecrates--it. Further, the Word and the Sign of Power summon to the\ncelebration the Angels specially concerned with the materials used and\nthe nature of the act performed, and they lend their powerful aid,\npouring their own magnetic energies into the subtle counterparts, and\neven into the physical ether, thus reinforcing the energies of the\ncelebrant. No one who knows anything of the powers of magnetism can\ndoubt the possibility of the changes in material objects thus indicated.\nAnd if a man of science, who may have no faith in the unseen, has the\npower to so impregnate water with his own vital energy that it cures a\nphysical disease, why should power of a loftier, though _similar_,\nnature be denied to those of saintly life, of noble character, of\nknowledge of the invisible? Those who are able to sense the higher forms\nof magnetism know very well that consecrated objects vary much in their\npower, and that the magnetic difference is due to the varying knowledge,\npurity, and spirituality of the priest who consecrates them. Some deny\nall vital magnetism, and would reject alike the holy water of religion\nand the magnetised water of medical science. They are consistent, but\nignorant. But those who admit the utility of the one, and laugh at the\nother, show themselves to be not wise but prejudiced, not learned but\none-sided, and prove that their want of belief in religion biases their\nintelligence, predisposing them to reject from the hand of religion that\nwhich they accept from the hand of science. A little will be added to\nthis with regard to \"sacred objects\" generally in Chapter XIV.\n\nWe thus see that the outer part of the Sacrament is of very great\nimportance. Real changes are made in the materials used. They are made\nthe vehicles of energies higher than those which naturally belong to\nthem; persons approaching them, touching them, will have their own\netheric and subtle bodies affected by their potent magnetism, and will\nbe brought into a condition very receptive of higher influences, being\ntuned into accord with the lofty Beings connected with the Word and the\nSign used in consecration; Beings belonging to the invisible world will\nbe present during the sacramental rite, pouring out their benign and\ngracious influences; and thus all who are worthy participants in the\nceremony--sufficiently pure and devoted to be tuned by the vibrations\ncaused--will find their emotions purified and stimulated, their\nspirituality quickened, and their hearts filled with peace, by coming\ninto such close touch with the unseen realities.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nSACRAMENTS (_continued_).\n\n\nWe have now to apply these general principles to concrete examples, and\nto see how they explain and justify the sacramental rites found in all\nreligions.\n\nIt will be sufficient if we take as examples three out of the Seven\nSacraments used in the Church Catholic. Two are recognised as obligatory\nby all Christians, although extreme Protestants deprive them of their\nsacramental character, giving them a declaratory and remembrance value\nonly instead of a sacramental; yet even among them the heart of true\ndevotion wins something of the sacramental blessing the head denies. The\nthird is not recognised as even nominally a Sacrament by Protestant\nChurches, though it shows the essential signs of a Sacrament, as given\nin the definition in the Catechism of the Church of England already\nquoted.[334] The first is that of Baptism; the second that of the\nEucharist; the third that of Marriage. The putting of Marriage out of\nthe rank of a Sacrament has much degraded its lofty ideal, and has led\nto much of that loosening of its tie that thinking men deplore.\n\nThe Sacrament of Baptism is found in all religions, not only at the\nentrance into earth-life, but more generally as a ceremony of\npurification. The ceremony which admits the new-born--or adult--incomer\ninto a religion has a sprinkling with water as an essential part of the\nrite, and this was as universal in ancient days as it is now. The Rev.\nDr. Giles remarks: \"The idea of using water as emblematic of spiritual\nwashing is too obvious to allow surprise at the antiquity of this rite.\nDr. Hyde, in his treatise on the _Religion of the Ancient Persians_,\nxxxiv. 406, tells us that it prevailed among that people. 'They do not\nuse circumcision for their children, but only baptism, or washing for\nthe purification of the soul. They bring the child to the priest into\nthe church, and place him in front of the sun and fire, which ceremony\nbeing completed, they look upon him as more sacred than before. Lord\nsays that they bring the water for this purpose in bark of the\nHolm-tree; that tree is in truth the Haum of the Magi, of which we spoke\nbefore on another occasion. Sometimes also it is otherwise done by\nimmersing him in a large vessel of water, as Tavernier tells us. After\nsuch washing, or baptism, the priest imposes on the child the name given\nby the parents.'\"[335] A few weeks after the birth of a Hindu child a\nceremony is performed, a part of which consists in sprinkling the child\nwith water--such sprinkling entering into all Hindu worship. Williamson\ngives authorities for the practise of Baptism in Egypt, Persia, Thibet,\nMongolia, Mexico, Peru, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and among the\nDruids.[336] Some of the prayers quoted are very fine: \"I pray that this\ncelestial water, blue and light blue, may enter into thy body and there\nlive. I pray that it may destroy in thee, and put away from thee, all\nthe things evil and adverse that were given to thee before the beginning\nof the world.\" \"O child! receive the water of the Lord of the world who\nis our life: it is to wash and to purify; may these drops remove the sin\nwhich was given to thee before the creation of the world, since all of\nus are under its power.\"\n\nTertullian mentions the very general use of Baptism among non-Christian\nnations in a passage already quoted,[337] and others of the Fathers\nrefer to it.\n\nIn most religious communities a minor form of Baptism accompanies all\nreligious ceremonies, water being used as a symbol of purification, and\nthe idea being that no man should enter upon worship until he has\npurified his heart and conscience, the outer washing symbolising the\ninner lustration. In the Greek and Roman Churches a small receptacle for\nholy water is placed near every door, and every incoming worshipper\ntouches it, making with it on himself the sign of the cross ere he goes\nonward towards the altar. On this Robert Taylor remarks: \"The baptismal\nfonts in our Protestant churches, and we need hardly say more especially\nthe little cisterns at the entrance of our Catholic chapels, are not\nimitations, but an unbroken and never interrupted continuation of the\nsame _aqua minaria_, or _amula_, which the learned Montfaucon, in his\n_Antiquities_, shows to have been vases of holy water, which were placed\nby the heathens at the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle themselves\nwith upon entering those sacred edifices.\"[338]\n\nWhether in the Baptism of initial reception into the Church, or in these\nminor lustrations, water is the material agent employed, the great\ncleansing fluid in Nature, and therefore the best symbol for\npurification. Over this water a mantra is pronounced, in the English\nritual represented by the prayer, \"Sanctify this water to the mystical\nwashing away of sin,\" concluding with the formula, \"In the name of the\nFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.\" This is the Word\nof Power, and it is accompanied by the Sign of Power, the Sign of the\nCross made over the surface of the water.\n\nThe Word and the Sign give to the water, as before explained, a property\nit previously had not, and it is rightly named \"holy water.\" The dark\npowers will not approach it; sprinkled on the body it gives a sense of\npeace, and conveys new spiritual life. When a child is baptised, the\nspiritual energy given to the water by the Word and the Sign reinforces\nthe spiritual life in the child, and then the Word of Power is again\nspoken, this time over the child, and the Sign is traced on his\nforehead, and in his subtle bodies the vibrations are felt, and the\nsummons to guard the life thus sanctified goes forth through the\ninvisible world; for this Sign is at once purifying and\nprotective--purifying by the life that is poured forth through it,\nprotective by the vibrations it sets up in the subtle bodies. Those\nvibrations form a guardian wall against the attacks of hostile\ninfluences in the invisible worlds, and every time that holy water is\ntouched, the Word pronounced, and the Sign made, the energy is renewed,\nthe vibrations are reinforced, both being recognised as potent in the\ninvisible worlds, and bringing aid to the operator.\n\nIn the early Church, Baptism was preceded by a very careful preparation,\nthose admitted to the Church being mostly converts from surrounding\nfaiths. A convert passed through three definite stages of instruction,\nremaining in each grade till he had mastered its teachings, and he was\nthen admitted to the Church by Baptism. Only after that was he taught\nthe Creed, which was not committed to writing, nor ever repeated in the\npresence of an unbeliever; it thus served as a sign of recognition, and\na proof of the position of the man who was able to recite it, showing\nthat he was a baptised member of the Church. How truly in those days the\ngrace conveyed by Baptism was believed in is shown by the custom of\ndeath-bed Baptism that grew up. Believing in the reality of Baptism, men\nand women of the world, unwilling to resign its pleasures or to keep\ntheir lives pure from stain, would put off the rite of Baptism until\nDeath's hand was upon them, so that they might benefit by the\nsacramental grace, and pass through Death's portal pure and clean, full\nof spiritual energy. Against that abuse some of the great Fathers of the\nChurch struggled, and struggled effectively. There is a quaint story\ntold by one of them, I think by S. Athanasius, who was a man of caustic\nwit, not averse to the use of humour in the attempt to make his hearers\nunderstand at times the folly or perversity of their behaviour. He told\nhis congregation that he had had a vision, and had gone up to the\ngateway of heaven, where S. Peter stood as Warder. No pleased smile had\nhe for the visitant, but a frown of stern displeasure. \"Athanasius,\"\nsaid he, \"why are you continually sending me these empty bags, carefully\nsealed up, with nothing inside?\" It was one of the piercing sayings we\nmeet with in Christian antiquity, when these things were real to\nChristian men, and not mere forms, as they too often are to-day.\n\nThe custom of Infant Baptism gradually grew up in the Church, and hence\nthe instruction which in the early days preceded Baptism came to be the\npreparation for Confirmation, when the awakened mind and intelligence\ntake up and re-affirm the baptismal promises. The reception of the\ninfant into the Church is seen to be rightly done, when man's life is\nrecognised as being lived in the three worlds, and when the Spirit and\nSoul who have come to inhabit the new-born body are known to be not\nunconscious and unintelligent, but conscious, intelligent, and potent in\nthe invisible worlds. It is right and just that the \"Hidden Man of the\nheart\"[339] should be welcomed to the new stage of his pilgrimage, and\nthat the most helpful influences should be brought to bear upon the\nvehicle in which he is to dwell, and which he has to mould to his\nservice. If the eyes of men were opened, as were of old those of the\nservant of Elisha, they would still see the horses and chariots of fire\ngathered round the mountain where is the prophet of the Lord.[340]\n\nWe come to the second of the Sacraments selected for study, that of the\nSacrifice of the Eucharist, a symbol of the eternal Sacrifice already\nexplained, the daily sacrifice of the Church Catholic throughout the\nworld imaging that eternal Sacrifice by which the worlds were made, and\nby which they are evermore sustained. It is to be daily offered, as its\narchetype is perpetually existent, and men in that act take part in the\nworking of the Law of Sacrifice, identify themselves with it, recognise\nits binding nature, and voluntarily associate themselves with it in its\nworking in the worlds; in such identification, to partake of the\nmaterial part of the Sacrament is necessary, if the identification is to\nbe complete, but many of the benefits may be shared, and the influence\ngoing forth to the worlds may be increased, by devout worshippers, who\nassociate themselves mentally, but not physically, with the act.\n\nThis great function of Christian worship loses its force and meaning\nwhen it is regarded as nothing more than a mere commemoration of a past\nsacrifice, as a pictorial allegory without a deep ensouling truth, as a\nbreaking of bread and a pouring out of wine without a sharing in the\neternal Sacrifice. So to see it is to make it a mere shell, a dead\npicture instead of a living reality. \"The cup of blessing which we\nbless, is it not the communion [the communication of, the sharing in] of\nthe blood of Christ?\" asks the apostle. \"The bread which we break, is it\nnot the communion of the body of Christ?\"[341] And he goes on to point\nout that all who eat of a sacrifice become partakers of a common nature,\nand are joined into a single body, which is united to, shares the nature\nof, that Being who is, present in the sacrifice. A fact of the invisible\nworld is here concerned, and he speaks with the authority of knowledge.\nInvisible Beings pour of their essence into the materials used in any\nsacramental rite, and those who partake of those materials--which become\nassimilated in the body and enter into its ingredients--are thereby\nunited to those whose essence is in it, and they all share a common\nnature. This is true when we take even ordinary food from the hand of\nanother--part of his nature, his vital magnetism, mingles with our own;\nhow much more true then when the food has been solemnly and purposely\nimpregnated with higher magnetisms, which affect the subtle bodies as\nwell as the physical. If we would understand the meaning and use of the\nEucharist we must realise these facts of the invisible worlds, and we\nmust see in it a link between the earthly and the heavenly, as well as\nan act of the universal worship, a co-operation, an association, with\nthe Law of Sacrifice, else it loses the greater part of its\nsignificance.\n\nThe employment of bread and wine as the materials for this\nSacrament--like the use of water in the Sacrament of Baptism--is of very\nancient and general usage. The Persians offered bread and wine to\nMithra, and similar offerings were made in Tibet and Tartary. Jeremiah\nspeaks of the cakes and the drink offered to the Queen of Heaven by the\nJews in Egypt, they taking part in the Egyptian worship.[342] In Genesis\nwe read that Melchisedek, the King-Initiate, used bread and wine in the\nblessing of Abraham.[343] In the various Greek Mysteries bread and wine\nwere used, and Williamson mentions their use also among the Mexicans,\nPeruvians, and Druids.[344]\n\nThe bread stands as the general symbol for the food that builds up the\nbody, and the wine as symbol of the blood, regarded as the life-fluid,\n\"for the life of the flesh is in the blood.\"[345] Hence members of a\nfamily are said to share the same blood, and to be of the blood of a\nperson is to be of his kin. Hence, also, the old ceremonies of the\n\"blood-covenant\"; when a stranger was made one of a family or of a\ntribe, some drops of blood from a member were transfused into his veins,\nor he drank them--usually mingled with water--and was thenceforth\nconsidered as being a born member of the family or tribe, as being of\nits blood. Similarly, in the Eucharist, the worshippers partake of the\nbread, symbolising the body, the nature, of the Christ, and of the wine\nsymbolising the blood, the life of the Christ, and become of His kin,\none with Him.\n\nThe Word of Power is the formula \"This is My Body,\" \"This is My Blood.\"\nThis it is which works the change which we shall consider in a moment,\nand transforms the materials into vehicles of spiritual energies. The\nSign of Power is the hand extended over the bread and the wine, and the\nSign of the Cross should be made upon them, though this is not always\ndone among Protestants. These are the outer essentials of the Sacrament\nof the Eucharist.\n\nIt is important to understand the change which takes place in this\nSacrament, for it is more than the magnetisation previously explained,\nthough this also is wrought. We have here a special instance of a\ngeneral law.\n\nBy the occultist, a visible thing is regarded as the last, the physical,\nexpression of an invisible truth. Everything is the physical expression\nof a thought. An object is but an idea externalised and densified. All\nthe objects in the world are Divine ideas expressed in physical matter.\nThat being so, the reality of the object does not lie in the outer form\nbut in the inner life, in the idea that has shaped and moulded the\nmatter into an expression of itself. In the higher worlds, the matter\nbeing very subtle and plastic, shapes itself very swiftly to the idea,\nand changes form as the thought changes. As matter becomes denser,\nheavier, it changes form less readily, more slowly, until, in the\nphysical world, the changes are at their slowest in consequence of the\nresistance of the dense matter of which the physical world is composed.\nLet sufficient time be given, however, and even this heavy matter\nchanges under the pressure of the ensouling idea, as may be seen by the\ngraving on the face of the expressions of habitual thoughts and\nemotions.\n\nThis is the truth which underlies what is called the doctrine of\nTransubstantiation, so extraordinarily misunderstood by the ordinary\nProtestant. But such is the fate of occult truths when they are\npresented to the ignorant. The \"substance\" that is changed is the idea\nwhich makes a thing to be what it is; \"bread\" is not mere flour and\nwater; the idea which governs the mixing, the manipulation, of the flour\nand water, that is the \"substance\" which makes it \"bread,\" and the flour\nand the water are what are technically called the \"accidents,\" the\narrangements of matter that give form to the idea. With a different\nidea, or substance, flour and water would take a different form, as\nindeed they do when assimilated by the body. So also chemists have\ndiscovered that the same kind and the same number of chemical atoms may\nbe arranged in different ways and thus become entirely different things\nin their properties, though the materials are unchanged; such \"isomeric\ncompounds\" are among the most interesting of modern chemical\ndiscoveries; the arrangement of similar atoms under different ideas\ngives different bodies.\n\nWhat, then, is this change of substance in the materials used in the\nEucharist? The idea that makes the object has been changed; in their\nnormal condition bread and wine are food-stuffs, expressive of the\ndivine ideas of nutritive objects, objects fitted for the building up of\nbodies. The new idea is that of the Christ nature and life, fitted for\nthe building up of the spiritual nature and life of man. That is the\nchange of substance; the object remains unchanged in its \"accidents,\"\nits physical material, but the subtle matter connected with it has\nchanged under the pressure of the changed idea, and new properties are\nimparted by this change. They affect the subtle bodies of the\nparticipants, and attune them to the nature and life of the Christ. On\nthe \"worthiness\" of the participant depends the extent to which he can\nbe thus attuned.\n\nThe unworthy participant, subjected to the same process, is injuriously\naffected by it, for his nature, resisting the pressure, is bruised and\nrent by the forces to which it is unable to respond, as an object may be\nbroken into pieces by vibrations which it is unable to reproduce.\n\nThe worthy partaker, then, becomes one with the Sacrifice, with the\nChrist, and so becomes at one with also, united to, the divine Life,\nwhich is the Father of the Christ. Inasmuch as the act of Sacrifice on\nthe side of form is the yielding up of the life it separates from others\nto be part of the common Life, the offering of the separated channel to\nbe a channel of the one Life, so by that surrender the sacrificer\nbecomes one with God. It is the giving itself of the lower to be a part\nof the higher, the yielding of the body as an instrument of the\nseparated will to be an instrument of the divine Will, the presenting of\nmen's \"bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.\"[346]\nThus it has been truly taught in the Church that those who rightly take\npart in the Eucharist enjoy a partaking of the Christ-life poured out\nfor men. The transmuting of the lower into the higher is the object of\nthis, as of all, Sacraments. The changing of the lower force by its\nunion with the loftier is what is sought by those who participate in it;\nand those who know the inner truth, and realise the fact of the higher\nlife, may in any religion, by means of its sacraments, come into fuller,\ncompleter touch with the divine Life that upholds the worlds, if they\nbring to the rite the receptive nature, the act of faith, the opened\nheart, which are necessary for the possibilities of the Sacrament to be\nrealised.\n\nThe Sacrament of Marriage shows out the marks of a Sacrament as clearly\nand as definitely as do Baptism and the Eucharist. Both the outer sign\nand the inward grace are there. The material is the Ring--the circle\nwhich is the symbol of the everlasting. The Word of Power is the ancient\nformula, \"In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy\nGhost.\" The Sign of Power is the joining of hands, symbolising the\njoining of the lives. These make up the outer essentials of the\nSacrament.\n\nThe inner grace is the union of mind with mind, of heart with heart,\nwhich makes possible the realisation of the unity of spirit, without\nwhich Marriage is no Marriage, but a mere temporary conjunction of\nbodies. The giving and receiving of the ring, the pronouncing of the\nformula, the joining of hands, these form the pictorial allegory; if the\ninner grace be not received, if the participants do not open themselves\nto it by their wish for the union of their whole natures, the Sacrament\nfor them loses its beneficent properties, and becomes a mere form.\n\nBut Marriage has a yet deeper meaning; religions with one voice have\nproclaimed it to be the image on earth of the union between the earthly\nand the heavenly, the union between God and man. And even then its\nsignificance is not exhausted, for it is the image of the relation\nbetween Spirit and Matter, between the Trinity and the Universe. So\ndeep, so far-reaching, is the meaning of the joining of man and woman in\nMarriage.\n\nHerein the man stands as representing the Spirit, the Trinity of Life,\nand the woman as representing the Matter, the Trinity of formative\nmaterial. One gives life, the other receives and nourishes it. They are\ncomplementary to each other, two inseparable halves of one whole,\nneither existing apart from the other. As Spirit implies Matter and\nMatter Spirit, so husband implies wife and wife husband. As the abstract\nExistence manifests in two aspects, as a duality of Spirit and Matter,\nneither independent of the other, but each coming into manifestation\nwith the other, so is humanity manifested in two aspects--husband and\nwife, neither able to exist apart, and appearing together. They are not\ntwain but one, a dual-faced unity. God and the Universe are imaged in\nMarriage; thus closely linked are husband and wife.\n\nIt is said above that Marriage is also an image of the union between God\nand man, between the universal and the individualised Spirits. This\nsymbolism is used in all the great scriptures of the world--Hindu,\nHebrew, Christian. And it has been extended by taking the individualised\nSpirit as a Nation or a Church, a collection of such Spirits knit into a\nunity. So Isaiah declared to Israel: \"Thy Maker is thine Husband; the\nLord of hosts is His name.... As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the\nbride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.\"[347] So S. Paul wrote that\nthe mystery of Marriage represented Christ and the Church.[348]\n\nIf we think of Spirit and Matter as latent, unmanifested, then we see no\nproduction; manifested together, there is evolution. And so when the\nhalves of humanity are not manifested as husband and wife, there is no\nproduction of fresh life. Moreover, they should be united in order that\nthere may be a growth of life in each, a swifter evolution, a more rapid\nprogress, by the half that each can give to each, each supplying what\nthe other lacks. The twain should be blended into one, setting forth the\nspiritual possibilities of man. And they show forth also the perfect\nMan, in whose nature Spirit and Matter are both completely developed and\nperfectly balanced, the divine Man who unites in his own person husband\nand wife, the male and female elements in nature, as \"God and Man are\none Christ.\"[349]\n\nThose who thus study the Sacrament of Marriage will understand why\nreligions have ever regarded Marriage as indissoluble, and have thought\nit better that a few ill-matched pairs should suffer for a few years\nthan that the ideal of true Marriage should be permanently lowered for\nall. A nation must choose whether it will adopt as its national ideal a\nspiritual or an earthly bond in Marriage, the seeking in it of a\nspiritual unity, or the regarding it as merely a physical union. The one\nis the religious idea of Marriage as a Sacrament; the other the\nmaterialistic idea of it as an ordinary terminable contract. The student\nof the Lesser Mysteries must ever see in it a sacramental rite.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nREVELATION.\n\n\nAll the religions known to us are the custodians of Sacred Books, and\nappeal to these books for the settlement of disputed questions. They\nalways contain the teachings given by the founder of the religion, or by\nlater teachers regarded as possessing super-human knowledge. Even when a\nreligion gives birth to many discordant sects, each sect will cling to\nthe Sacred Canon, and will put upon its word the interpretation which\nbest fits in with its own peculiar doctrines. However widely may be\nseparated in belief the extreme Roman Catholic and the extreme\nProtestant, they both appeal to the same _Bible_. However far apart may\nbe the philosophic Vedantin and the most illiterate Vallabhacharya, they\nboth regard the same _Vedas_ as supreme. However bitterly opposed to\neach other may be the Shias and the Sunnis, they both regard as sacred\nthe same _Kuran_. Controversies and quarrels may arise as to the meaning\nof texts, but the Book itself, in every case, is looked on with the\nutmost reverence. And rightly so; for all such books contain fragments\nof The Revelation, selected by One of the great Ones who hold it in\ntrust; such a fragment is embodied in what down here we call a\nRevelation, or a Scripture, and some part of the world rejoices in it as\nin a treasure of vast value. The fragment is chosen according to the\nneeds of the time, the capacity of the people to whom it is given, the\ntype of the race whom it is intended to instruct. It is generally given\nin a peculiar form, in which the outer history, or story, or song, or\npsalm, or prophecy, appears to the superficial or ignorant reader to be\nthe whole book; but in these deeper meanings lie concealed, sometimes in\nnumbers, sometimes in words constructed on a hidden plan--a cypher, in\nfact--sometimes in symbols, recognisable by the instructed, sometimes in\nallegories written as histories, and in many other ways. These Books,\nindeed, have something of a sacramental character about them, an outer\nform and an inner life, an outer symbol and an inner truth. Those only\ncan explain the hidden meaning who have been trained by those instructed\nin it; hence the dictum of S. Peter that \"no prophecy of the Scripture\nis of any private interpretation.\"[350] The elaborate explanations of\ntexts of the Bible, with which the volumes of patristic literature\nabound, seem fanciful and overstrained to the prosaic modern mind. The\nplay upon numbers, upon letters, the apparently fantastic\ninterpretations of paragraphs that, on the face of them, are ordinary\nhistorical statements of a simple character, exasperate the modern\nreader, who demands to have his facts presented clearly and coherently,\nand above all, requires what he feels to be solid ground under his feet.\nHe declines absolutely to follow the light-footed mystic over what seem\nto him to be quaking morasses, in a wild chase after dancing\nwill-o'-the-wisps, which appear and disappear with bewildering and\nirrational caprice. Yet the men who wrote these exasperating treatises\nwere men of brilliant intellect and calm judgment, the master-builders\nof the Church. And to those who read them aright they are still full of\nhints and suggestions, and indicate many an obscure pathway that leads\nto the goal of knowledge, and that might otherwise be missed.\n\nWe have already seen that Origen, one of the sanest of men, and versed\nin occult knowledge, teaches that the Scriptures are three-fold,\nconsisting of Body, Soul, and Spirit.[351] He says that the Body of the\nScriptures is made up of the outer words of the histories and the\nstories, and he does not hesitate to say that these are not literally\ntrue, but are only stories for the instruction of the ignorant. He even\ngoes so far as to remark that statements are made in those stories that\nare obviously untrue, in order that the glaring contradictions that lie\non the surface may stir people up to inquire as to the real meaning of\nthese impossible relations. He says that so long as men are ignorant,\nthe Body is enough for them; it conveys teaching, it gives instruction,\nand they do not see the self-contradictions and impossibilities involved\nin the literal statements, and therefore are not disturbed by them. As\nthe mind grows, as the intellect develops, these contradictions and\nimpossibilities strike the attention, and bewilder the student; then he\nis stirred up to seek for a deeper meaning, and he begins to find the\nSoul of the Scriptures. That Soul is the reward of the intelligent\nseeker, and he escapes from the bonds of the letter that killeth.[352]\nThe Spirit of the Scriptures may only be seen by the spiritually\nenlightened man; only those in whom the Spirit is evolved can understand\nthe spiritual meaning: \"the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit\nof God ... which things also we speak, not in the words which man's\nwisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.\"[353]\n\nThe reason for this method of Revelation is not far to seek; it is the\nonly way in which one teaching can be made available for minds at\ndifferent stages of evolution, and thus train not only those to whom it\nis immediately given, but also those who, later in time, shall have\nprogressed beyond those to whom the Revelation was first made. Man is\nprogressive; the outer meaning given long ago to unevolved men must\nneeds be very limited, and unless something deeper and fuller than this\nouter meaning were hidden within it, the value of the Scripture would\nperish when a few millennia had passed away. Whereas by this method of\nsuccessive meanings it is given a perennial value, and evolved men may\nfind in it hidden treasures, until the day when, possessing the whole,\nthey no longer need the part.\n\nThe world-Bibles, then, are fragments--fragments of Revelation, and\ntherefore are rightly described as Revelation.\n\nThe next deeper sense of the word describes the mass of teaching held by\nthe great Brotherhood of spiritual Teachers in trust for men; this\nteaching is embodied in books, written in symbols, and in these is\ncontained an account of kosmic laws, of the principles on which the\nkosmos is founded, of the methods by which it is evolved, of all the\nbeings that compose it, of its past, its present, its future; this is\nThe Revelation. This is the priceless treasure which the Guardians of\nhumanity hold in charge, and from which they select, from time to time,\nfragments to form the Bibles of the world.\n\nThirdly, the Revelation, highest, fullest, best, is the Self-unveiling\nof Deity in the kosmos, the revealing of attribute after attribute,\npower after power, beauty after beauty, in all the various forms which\nin their totality compose the universe. He shows His splendour in the\nsun, His infinity in the star-flecked fields of space, His strength in\nmountains, His purity in snow-clad peaks and translucent air, His energy\nin rolling ocean-billows, His beauty in tumbling mountain-torrent, in\nsmooth, clear lake, in cool, deep forest and in sunlit plain, His\nfearlessness in the hero, His patience in the saint, His tenderness in\nmother-love, His protecting care in father and in king, His wisdom in\nthe philosopher, His knowledge in the scientist, His healing power in\nthe physician, His justice in the judge, His wealth in the merchant, His\nteaching power in the priest, His industry in the artisan. He whispers\nto us in the breeze, He smiles on us in the sunshine, He chides us in\ndisease, He stimulates us, now by success and now by failure. Everywhere\nand in everything He gives us glimpses of Himself to lure us on to love\nHim, and He hides Himself that we may learn to stand alone. To know Him\neverywhere is the true Wisdom; to love Him everywhere is the true\nDesire; to serve Him everywhere is the true Action. This Self-revealing\nof God is the highest Revelation; all others are subsidiary and partial.\n\nThe inspired man is the man to whom some of this Revelation has come by\nthe direct action of the universal Spirit on the separated Spirit that\nis His offspring, who has felt the illuminating influence of Spirit on\nSpirit. No man knows the truth so that he can never lose it, no man\nknows the truth so that he can never doubt it, until the Revelation has\ncome to him as though he stood alone on earth, until the Divine without\nhas spoken to the Divine within, in the temple of the human heart, and\nthe man thus knows by himself and not by another.\n\nIn a lesser degree a man is inspired when one greater than he stimulates\nwithin him powers which as yet are normally inactive, or even takes\npossession of him, temporarily using his body as a vehicle. Such an\nilluminated man, at the time of his inspiration, can speak that which is\nbeyond his knowledge, and utter truths till then unguessed. Truths are\nsometimes thus poured out through a human channel for the helping of the\nworld, and some One greater than the speaker sends down his life into\nthe human vehicle, and they rush forth from human lips; then a great\nteacher speaks yet more greatly than he knows, the Angel of the Lord\nhaving touched his lips with fire.[354] Such are the Prophets of the\nrace, who at some periods have spoken with overwhelming conviction, with\nclear insight, with complete understanding of the spiritual needs of\nman. Then the words live with a life immortal, and the speaker is truly\na messenger from God. The man who has thus known can never again quite\nlose the memory of the knowledge, and he carries within his heart a\ncertainty which can never quite disappear. The light may vanish and the\ndarkness come down upon him; the gleam from heaven may fade and clouds\nmay surround him; threat, question, challenge, may assail him; but\nwithin his heart there nestles the Secret of Peace--he knows, or knows\nthat he has known.\n\nThat remembrance of true inspiration, that reality of the hidden life,\nhas been put into beautiful and true words by Frederick Myers, in his\nwell-known poem, _S. Paul_. The apostle is speaking of his own\nexperience, and is trying to give articulate expression to that which he\nremembers; he is figured as unable to thoroughly reproduce his\nknowledge, although he knows and his certainty does not waver:\n\n  So, even I, athirst for His inspiring,\n    I, who have talked with Him, forget again;\n  Yes, many days with sobs and with desiring,\n    Offer to God a patience and a pain.\n\n  Then through the mid complaint of my confession,\n    Then through the pang and passion of my prayer,\n  Leaps with a start the shock of His possession,\n    Thrills me and touches, and the Lord is there.\n\n  Lo, if some pen should write upon your rafter\n    Mene and Mene in the folds of flame,\n  Think ye could any memories thereafter\n    Wholly retrace the couplet as it came?\n\n  Lo, if some strange intelligible thunder\n    Sang to the earth the secret of a star,\n  Scarce should ye catch, for terror and for wonder,\n    Shreds of the story that was pealed so far!\n\n  Scarcely I catch the words of His revealing,\n    Hardly I hear Him, dimly understand.\n  Only the power that is within me pealing\n    Lives on my lips, and beckons to my hand.\n\n  Whoso hath felt the Spirit of the Highest\n    Cannot confound, nor doubt Him, nor deny;\n  Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest,\n    Stand thou on that side, for on this am I.\n\n  Rather the world shall doubt when her retrieving\n    Pours in the rain and rushes from the sod;\n  Rather than he in whom the great conceiving\n    Stirs in his soul to quicken into God.\n\n  Nay, though thou then shouldst strike him from his glory,\n    Blind and tormented, maddened and alone,\n  E'en on the cross would he maintain his story,\n    Yes, and in Hell would whisper, \"I have known.\"\n\nThose who have in any sense realised that God is around them, in them,\nand in everything, will be able to understand how a place or an object\nmay become \"sacred\" by a slight objectivisation of this perennial\nuniversal Presence, so that those become able to sense Him who do not\nnormally feel His omnipresence. This is generally effected by some\nhighly advanced man, in whom the inner Divinity is largely unfolded, and\nwhose subtle bodies are therefore responsive to the subtler vibrations\nof consciousness. Through such a man, or by such a man, spiritual\nenergies may be poured forth, and these will unite themselves with his\npure vital magnetism. He can then pour them forth on any object, and its\nether and bodies of subtler matter will become attuned to his\nvibrations, as before explained, and further, the Divinity within it can\nmore easily manifest. Such an object becomes \"magnetised,\" and, if this\nbe strongly done, the object will itself become a magnetic centre,\ncapable in turn of magnetising those who approach it. Thus a body\nelectrified by an electric machine will affect other bodies near which\nit may be placed.\n\nAn object thus rendered \"sacred\" is a very useful adjunct to prayer and\nmeditation. The subtle bodies of the worshipper are attuned to its high\nvibrations, and he finds himself quieted, soothed, pacified, without\neffort on his own part. He is thrown into a condition in which prayer\nand meditation are easy and fruitful instead of difficult and barren,\nand an irksome exercise becomes insensibly delightful. If the object be\na representation of some sacred Person--a Crucifix, a Madonna and Child,\nan Angel, a Saint--there is a yet further gain. The Being represented,\nif his magnetism has been thrown into the image by the appropriate Word\nand Sign of Power, can re-inforce that magnetism with a very slight\nexpenditure of spiritual energy, and may thus influence the devotee, or\neven show himself through the image, when otherwise he would not have\ndone so. For in the spiritual world economy of forces is observed, and a\nsmall amount of energy will be expended where a larger would be\nwithheld.\n\nAn application of these same occult laws may be made to explain the use\nof all consecrated objects--relics, amulets, &c. They are all magnetised\nobjects, more or less powerful, or useless, according to the knowledge,\npurity, and spirituality of the person who magnetises them.\n\nPlaces may similarly be made sacred, by the living in them of saints,\nwhose pure magnetism, radiating from them, attunes the whole atmosphere\nto peace-giving vibrations. Sometimes holy men, or Beings from the\nhigher worlds, will directly magnetise a certain place, as in the case\nmentioned in the Fourth Gospel, where an Angel came at a certain season\nand touched the water, giving it healing qualities.[355] In such places\neven careless worldly men will sometimes feel the blessed influence, and\nwill be temporarily softened and inclined toward higher things. The\ndivine Life in each man is ever trying to subdue the form, and mould it\ninto an expression of itself; and it is easy to see how that Life will\nbe aided by the form being thrown into vibrations sympathetic with\nthose of a more highly evolved Being, its own efforts being reinforced\nby a stronger power. The outer recognition of this effect is a sense of\nquiet, calm, and peace; the mind loses its restlessness, the heart its\nanxiety. Any one who observes himself will find that some places are\nmore conducive to calm, to meditation, to religious thought, to worship,\nthan others. In a room, a building, where there has been a great deal of\nworldly thought, of frivolous conversation, of mere rush of ordinary\nworldly life, it is far harder to quiet the mind and to concentrate the\nthought, than in a place where religious thought has been carried on\nyear after year, century after century; there the mind becomes calm and\ntranquillised insensibly, and that which would have demanded serious\neffort in the first place is done without effort in the second.\n\nThis is the rationale of places of pilgrimage, of temporary retreats\ninto seclusion; the man turns inward to seek the God within him, and is\naided by the atmosphere created by thousands of others, who before him\nhave sought the same in the same place. For in such a place there is not\nonly the magnetisation produced by a single saint, or by the visit of\nsome great Being of the invisible world; each person, who visits the\nspot with a heart full of reverence and devotion, and is attuned to its\nvibrations, reinforces those vibrations with his own life, and leaves\nthe spot better than it was when he came to it. Magnetic energy slowly\ndisperses, and a sacred object or place becomes gradually demagnetised\nif put aside or deserted. It becomes more magnetised as it is used or\nfrequented. But the presence of the ignorant scoffer injures such\nobjects and places, by setting up antagonistic vibrations which weaken\nthose already existing there. As a wave of sound may be met by another\nwhich extinguishes it, and the result is silence, so do the vibrations\nof the scoffing thought weaken or extinguish the vibrations of the\nreverent and loving one. The effect produced will, of course, vary with\nthe relative strengths of the vibrations, but the mischievous one cannot\nbe without result, for the laws of vibration are the same in the higher\nworlds as in the physical, and thought vibrations are the expression of\nreal energies.\n\nThe reason and the effect of the consecration of churches, chapels,\ncemeteries, will now be apparent. The act of consecration is not the\nmere public setting aside of a place for a particular purpose; it is the\nmagnetisation of the place for the benefit of all those who frequent it.\nFor the visible and the invisible worlds are inter-related, interwoven,\neach with each, and those can best serve the visible by whom the\nenergies of the invisible can be wielded.\n\n\n\n\nAFTERWORD.\n\n\nWe have reached the end of a small book on a great subject, and have\nonly lifted a corner of the Veil that hides the Virgin of Eternal Truth\nfrom the careless eyes of men. The hem of her garment only has been\nseen, heavy with gold, richly dight with pearls. Yet even this, as it\nwaves slowly, breathes out celestial fragrances--the sandal and\nrose-attar of fairer worlds than ours. What should be the unimaginable\nglory, if the Veil were lifted, and we saw the splendour of the Face of\nthe divine Mother, and in Her arms the Child who is the very Truth?\nBefore that Child the Seraphim ever veil their faces; who then of mortal\nbirth may look on Him and live?\n\nYet since in man abides His very Self, who shall forbid him to pass\nwithin the Veil, and to see with \"open face the glory of the Lord\"?\nFrom the Cave to highest Heaven; such was the pathway of the Word made\nFlesh, and known as the Way of the Cross. Those who share the manhood\nshare also the Divinity, and may tread where He has trodden. \"What Thou\nart, That am I.\"\n\n\nPEACE TO ALL BEINGS.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.                               PAGE\n\n_Acts of the Apostles_ referred to;  281\n\nA Kempis, Thomas;  115\n\nAfterword;  376\n\nAllegory;  66\n\nAllegories, Old Testament; 121\n\nAll-wide Consciousness; 281 _et seq._\n\nAmmonius Saccas; 28\n\nAnimal Symbols of Zodiac; 165\n\nAnselm and Redemption; 195\n\nAnswers to Prayer; 277\n  \"        Subjective Prayer; 290\n\nApollonius of Tyana; 31\n\nApostolic Fathers; 70\n\nAppearances of Divine Beings; 93\n\nAquinas, Thomas; 112\n\n_Arians of the Fourth Century_, quoted; 103\n\nAristotle, Effect on Mediaeval Christianity; 112\n\nAscension, The; 231, 250\n  \"      and Solar Myth; 231\n  \"      of the Christ; 249\n\n_Asiatic Researches_, quoted; 258\n\nAspects of the ONE; 262\n\nAthanasius, Story of; 353\n\nAthanasian Creed, quoted; 263, 367\n\nAtlantis, Continent of; 18\n\nAt-one-ment; 209\n\nAtonement as one of Lesser Mysteries; 200\n  \"     Early Church on the; 195\n  \"     Calvinistic View of; 197\n  \"     Edwards on the; 197\n  \"     Flavel on the; 196\n  \"     Luther's Views on the; 196\n  \"     Dr. McLeod Campbell on the; 199\n  \"     F. D. Maurice on the; 199\n  \"     Vicarious and Substitutionary; 196\n\nAtonement--Views of Dwight, Jeune, Jenkyn, Liddon, Owen,\n             Stroud, and Thomson; 198\n  \"     Truth underlying the Doctrine of; 199\n  \"     Pamphlet on, quoted; 198\n  \"     _Nineteenth Century_ quoted on; 205\n\nAugoeides; 27\n\n\nBarnabas; 71\n\nBaptism, A Mantram in; 350\n  \"     A Minor Form of; 349\n  \"     Belief in Death-bed; 352\n  \"     Infant; 353\n  \"     In the Early Church; 352\n  \"     In Other Religions; 348\n  \"     of Initiate; 53\n  \"     of Holy Ghost and Fire; 188\n  \"     of Jesus; 133\n  \"     of the Christ; 186\n  \"     Tertullian on; 349\n\nBeatific Vision, The; 95, 295\n\nBernard of Clairvaux; 112\n\nBel-fires; 164\n\n_Bhagavad Gita_ referred to; 50, 202, 270, 306, 318\n\nBible Account of Creation; 179\n\nBirth, Second; 247\n\nBlavatsky, H. P., referred to; 127\n\nBlood of Christ symbolised in Eucharist; 359\n\nBoehme, Jacob; 115\n\nBody, Causal; 239, 247\n  \"   Desire, Changes in;  244\n  \"   Meaning of a; 234\n  \"   Mental; 236\n  \"     \"     Building of; 245\n  \"   Natural or Physical; 236\n  \"   Natural, of St. Paul; 237\n  \"   of Bliss; 240\n  \"   of Desire; 236\n  \"   Physical, Changes in; 243\n  \"   Resurrection; 240\n\nBody, Spiritual; 239\n\n_Book of Job_, quoted; 268, 332\n  \"  _of the Dead_, referred to; 339\n  \"  _of Wisdom_, quoted; 266\n\nBread, General Symbol in Sacraments; 358\n\n_Brihadaranyakopanishat_, quoted; 50, 202\n\nBrotherhood of Great Teachers; 9\n\nBruno, Giordano, referred to; 5, 113, 115, 225, 322\n\nBuddha, Birth Story of; 164\n\nBuddhist Trinity; 258\n\n\nCalvinistic Doctrine; 197\n\nCardinal Nicolas of Cusa; 115\n\nCathari, The, referred to; 113\n\nCave of Initiation; 186\n\nCelsus--Controversy with Origen; 88\n\n_Chhandogyopanishat_, quoted; 253\n\nChrestos and Christos; 174\n\nChrist as Hierophant of Mysteries; 231\n  \"   Baptism of; 186\n  \"   Crucifixion of; 183\n  \"   Disciples of; 223\n  \"   in the Spiritual Body; 137\n  \"   Life of the; 217\n  \"   of the Mysteries; 191\n  \"   The; 132, 134\n  \"   the Crucified; 182\n  \"   the Historical; 120, 140\n  \"   the Kosmic; 179\n  \"   the Mystic; 170\n  \"   the Mythic; 145\n  \"   Sufferings of the; 223\n\n_Christian Creed_, referred to; 180, 181\n  \"                quoted; 206, 207, 229\n\nChristian Disciples--their work; 223\n\n_Christian Records_, quoted; 348\n\nChristian Symbols, &c., not unique; 148\n\nChristianity has the Gnosis; 36\n\nChristmas Day; 159, 161\n\nChristmas Festival, rightly regarded; 164\n\n_Clarke's Ante-Nicene_ Library, quoted; viii., 21, 58, 71, 72, 73, 74,\n    77, 78, 80 _et seq._, 87, 88, 90 _et seq._, 103, 150, 151, 266\n\nClasses of Prayers; 283\n\nClement of Alexandria, quoted; viii., 20\n  \"  \"     referred to; 73\n  \"  \"     on the Gnosis; 83, 84\n  \"  \"     on Scripture Allegories; 83\n  \"  \"     on Symbols; 80\n  \"  \"     and Catechetical School; 73\n  \"  \"     a Pupil of Pantaenus; 73\n\n_Colossians, Epistle to_, referred to;  58, 65, 81, 177\n\nComparative Mythologists; 7\n  \"  \"  Theory of; 8\n  \"  Religionists; 7, 8\n  \"  Mythology; 147\n\nConsecrated Objects; 382\n\nConsecration of Churches, Cemeteries, &c.; 385\n\nConstant, Alphonse Louis; 118\n\nConversion, Phenomenon of; 313 _et seq._\n\n_Corinthians, Epistles to_, quoted; ix., x., 6, 32, 55, 64, 67, 124,\n    175, 177, 232, 239, 240, 241, 251, 253, 270, 356, 373\n\nCreed, taught after Baptism in Early Church; 352\n\n_Cruden's Concordance_, quoted; 33\n\n_Cur Deus Homo_ of Anselm; 195\n\n\nDangers to Christianity; 125\n\nDark Powers in Nature;  186, 187\n\nDean Milman, quoted; 255 _et seq._\n\nDeath of Solar Heroes; 166\n\n_De Principiis_ of Origen; 101, 102\n\n_Deuteronomy_, quoted; 96, 253\n\n_Diegesis_ of R. Taylor, quoted; 350\n\n_Die Deutsche Theologie_; 114\n\nDionysius the Areopagite; 110\n\nDisappearance of the Mysteries; 184\n\nDisciples, The; 136\n  \"  Work of the; 223\n  \"  Writings of the; 140\n\nDivine Beings, Appearance in Mysteries; 93\n\n\"Divine Grace,\" What it is;  224\n  \"  Ideation; 359\n  \"  Illumination; 377\n  \"  Incarnations; 273, 274\n\nDuality of Manifested Existence; 235\n  \"  of Second Person of Trinity; 265\n\n\nEaster Festival; 159\n\nEckhart, Teachings of; 113\n\nEdwards on the Atonement; 197\n\nEgypt and the Mysteries; 131\n\n_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, referred to; 22, 23, 117\n  \"  \"  quoted; 110 _et seq._\n\n_Ephesians, Epistle to_, quoted; 57, 65, 67, 366\n\n_Epistle of James_, quoted;  276\n  \"  _of Peter_, quoted; 64, 121, 194, 354, 371\n\nEsoteric Christianity, Popular Denial of; 2\n  \"  Teaching in Early Church; 2\n\nEssentials of Religion; 4\n\nEucharist, Bread and Wine of; 357\n  \"  Change of Substance in; 361\n  \"  connected with Law of Sacrifice; 357\n  \"  Meaning and Use of;  357\n  \"  Sacrifice of; 355\n  \"  Unworthy Participants in; 362\n\n_Exodus, Book of_, quoted; 91\n\nExstasy; 295\n\n\nFaith Needed for Forgiveness; 312\n\nFathers, The Christian, on Scriptures; 371\n\nFestivals; 147\n\nFish Symbol in Religions; 166\n\nFlavel on Atonement; 196\n\nFludd, Robert; 116\n\nForgiveness of Sins; 301\n  \"  in Lesser Mysteries; 323\n  \"  in most Religions; 303\n  \"  ultimately refers to _Post-Mortem_ Penalties; 307\n\nFourth Manifestation Feminine; 261\n  \"  Person; 263\n\nFree-thinking in Christianity; 123\n\n_Friends of God in the Oberland_; 114\n\nFriends, Society of; 117\n\nFuture of Christianity; 41\n\n\n_Galatians, Epistle to_, quoted; 64, 65, 66, 124\n\n_Genesis_, quoted; 18, 180, 268, 269, 271, 279, 358\n\nGermain, Comte de S.; 117\n\nGestures in Sacraments;  338\n\nGibbon's _Decline and Fall of R. Empire_, quoted;  162\n\nGiles, Rev. Dr., quoted;  347\n\nGnosis, The;   viii., 9, 108\n  \"      \" in Christianity;  36\n\nGnostic, The, of S. Clement; 84 _et seq._\n\n_Gnostics and their Remains_, quoted; 162\n\nGods in the Mysteries; 25\n\nGrades of Hierarchies; 331\n\nGrand Lodge of Central Asia; 31\n\nGreek Cross, The;  267\n\nGuyon, Mme. de; 116\n\n\nHaug, Dr., _Essay on Parsis_, cited; 202\n\n_Hebrews, Epistle to_, quoted; 53, 67, 81, 91, 175, 176, 205,\n    216, 222, 223, 247, 270, 274, 280\n\nHebrew Trinity; 254\n\nHell-fire Dogma, The; 48\n\n_Heroic Enthusiasts, The_, quoted; 323\n\nHidden God, The;  207\n  \"  Meanings in Jewish and Christian Scriptures; 100\n  \"  Side of Christianity; 36\n  \"  Teaching in all Religions; 20\n\nHierarchies of Divine Beings; 331\n  \"  of Superhuman Beings; 23\n\nHindu, Trinity, The; 257\n\nHistory _versus_ Myth; 153\n\nHoly Spirit as Creator; 269\n\nHoly Water; 343, 349, 351\n\nHuman Evolution repeats Kosmic Process; 271\n\nHuxley, T. H., quoted; 282\n\nHyde, Dr., quoted;  347\n\n_Hymn to Demeter_; 22\n\n\nIamblichus, _On the Mysteries_, quoted; 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29,\n    296 _et seq._\n\nIamblichus, _Life of Pythagoras_, referred to; 28\n\nIgnatius; 71\n\nIncarnation of Logos;  179\n\nInitiation and Rebirth;  51, 53\n  \"  Cave of;  186\n  \"  Ceremonies of; 247 _et seq._\n  \"  Conditions of; 173\n  \"  Mount of;  91\n\nInspiration, True; 378\n\nIntelligences in Invisible Worlds; 279\n\nInviolability of Law; 305\n\nInvisible Helpers; 280\n\nInvisible Worlds interpenetrate the Visible; 279\n\nIrenaeus, _Against Heresies_, referred to; 105\n\n_Isaiah_, quoted; 210, 295, 366, 377\n\nIsomeric Compounds; 361\n\n\n_Jeremiah, Book of_, quoted; 262, 357\n\nJesus at Mount Serbal;  130\n  \"  Baptism of;  133\n  \"  Date and Place of Birth; 130\n  \"  His Work in Christendom;  143\n  \"  in Egypt; 130\n  \"  Inner Instructions of; 137\n  \"  Master of the West; 147\n  \"  Sacrifice of; 133\n  \"  the Divine Teacher; 183\n  \"  the Healer and Teacher; 127\n  \"  training in Essene Community; 130\n  \"  the Master; 142\n\n_Judges, Book of_, quoted;  97\n\nJuliana Mother; 117\n\nJustin Martyr;  148\n  \"  \"  quoted; 149 _et seq._\n\n\n_Kabbala_, Five Books of, referred to; 34\n\nKarma;  288, 309\n\n_Kathopanishat_, quoted; 32, 33, 49\n\n_Key to Theosophy_, quoted; 294\n\nKingdom of Heaven--real meaning; 52\n\n_Kings, Book of_, quoted; 33, 354\n\nKosmic Christ, The; 179\n  \"  Process of becoming; 268\n  \"  Sacrifice; 183\n\n\nLang, Andrew, referred to; 11, 12\n\nLanguage of Symbols; 153\n\nLatin Cross, Origin of; 206\n  \"  Use of, in Roman Church; 337\n\nLaw of Sacrifice; 201\n  \"  \"  in Hinduism;  202\n  \"  \"  in Nature of Logos;  204\n  \"  \"  in Zoroastrianism;  202\n  \"  \"  or Manifestation; 203\n\nLaw, William; 117\n\nLeft-hand Path; 17\n\nLent; 167\n\nLevi Eliphas; 118\n\n_Leviticus_, quoted; 358\n\n_Light on the Path_, quoted; 220\n\n\"Little Child\"; 65\n\nLogos, Birth of the; 205\n  \"  and Sacrifice; 204\n  \"  Life of, in every form; 208\n  \"  Meaning of the Term; 172\n  \"  of Plato; 182\n  \"  Perpetual Sacrifice of; 209\n\nLoss of Mystic Teaching in Christianity; 37\n\n_Luke, Gospel of_, quoted; 45, 48, 175, 176, 264, 289, 302, 312\n\nLuther on the Atonement; 196\n\n\nMadonnas; 160\n\nMagnetic Cures, Secret of; 342\n  \"  Change in Sacramental Substance; 342\n  \"  Energies in Ether;  341\n\nMagnetisation of Substances; 341\n\n_Making_ of _Religion_, The, referred to; 11\n\nMan as Microcosm;  271\n  \"  and Woman Complementary; 365\n  \"  develops Second Aspect; 272\n\nMan's Manifold Nature; 234\n\n_Mandakopanishat_, quoted; 202\n\n\"Mantras\"; 335\n  \"  essential in Sacraments; 338\n  \"  in rite of Baptism; 350\n  \"  in Sanskrit;  336\n  \"  spoilt by translation; 337\n\n_Mark, Gospel of_, quoted; vii., 45, 47\n\nMartin, St.; 117\n\nMarriage, Deeper meaning of; 365\n  \"  in Lesser Mysteries; 368\n  \"  Mystery of; 366\n  \"  Sacrament of;  364\n  \"  type of union between God and Man; 366\n\nMary, the World Mother;  206\n\nMaster, Jesus, the; 142\n\n_Matthew, Gospel of_, quoted;   vii., 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 54, 92, 134,\n    176, 177, 186, 210, 216, 240, 271, 274, 281, 306, 319\n\nMaurice, cited; 254\n\nMead, G. R. S., quoted; 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 114\n\nMediator, Nature of;  274\n\nMeditation--What it is; 293\n  \"  Growth by; 299\n\nMen at different levels; 3\n\nMiguel de Molinos; 116\n\nMinistry of Angels, The; 287, 289\n\nMiracles; 145\n\nMithras, Birth of; 161\n\nModern Spirit antagonistic to Prayer; 276\n\nMore, Henry; 116\n\nMother Juliana of Norwich; 117\n\nMount Serbal; 130\n\nMount of Initiation; 91, 188\n\nMueller, George, Case of; 284 _et seq._\n\nMusic in Worship; 335, 337\n\nMyers (F.), St. Paul; 378\n\nMystery Gods; 25\n  \"  of Christ;  57\n\nMysteries, Christian, Symbolism of; 247\n\nMysteries and Yoga; 31\n  \"  Christ as Hierophant of; 231\n  \"  Disappearance of the; 184\n  \"  Eliphas Levi on the; 118\n  \"  established by Christ; 142\n  \"  Greater, The; ix., 1, 22, 27, 63\n  \"  in the Gospels; 45\n  \"  in Egypt; 131\n  \"  in relation to Myth; 157\n  \"  Lesser; ix., 1, 22\n  \"  \"  and Prayer; 280\n  \"  \"  as to Bodies; 237\n  \"  \"  Teaching of; 251\n  \"  Names in Christianity; 47\n  \"  of Bacchus; 21, 27\n  \"  of Chaldaea, Egypt, Eleusis, Mithras, Orpheus, Samothrace,\n        Scythia; 21\n  \"  of God; 57\n  \"  of Jesus; 1, 42, 94\n  \"  of the Early Church; 69 _et seq_.\n  \"  of Magic, quoted; 157\n  \"  praised by Learned Greeks; 21\n  \"  Pseudo, and Sun-God Story; 167\n  \"  source of Mystic Learning; 108\n  \"  The; 171, 178\n  \"  taught, _Post-mortem_ Existence; 21\n  \"  The True; 179\n  \"  The Christ of the; 184\n  \"  Theory of the; 22\n  \"  withdrawn; 108\n\nMystic Christ, The; 170\n  \"  \"  Twofold; 178\n  \"  Vesture, The; 138\n\nMythic Christ, The; 145\n\nMyth, Meaning of; 152, 153\n  \"  Solar; 156\n\nMythology Comparative; 147\n\n\nNatural and Spiritual Bodies; 232\n  \"  Body--of St. Paul; 237\n\nNatural Body, The; 235 _et seq._\n\nNeed for Graded Religion; 14\n\nNeoplatonists;  29, 112\n\nNewman, Cardinal, quoted; 103 _et seq._\n  \"  Recognises a Secret Tradition; 104\n\nNew Testament Proofs of Esotericism; 42 _et seq._\n\nNicene Creed; 181\n\nNicolas of Basel; 114\n\nNoachian Deluge; 19\n\n_Nous Demiurgos_ of Plato; 255\n\n_Numbers, Book of_, quoted; 270\n\n\nObject of all Religions; 3\n\nOccult Experts; 127\n  \"  Knowledge, Danger of; 16\n  \"  Records; 18\n  \"  \"  and the Gospels; 129\n  \"  side of Nature; 279\n  \"  use of Sounds;  334\n\nOld Testament Allegories; 121\n\nOne Existence, The; 253\n\nOne, The, Three aspects of; 262\n \"  \"  Manifest; 261\n\nOrigen _Against Celsus_; 88 _et seq._\n  \"  \"  \";  95\n  \"  on the Need of Wisdom; 99\n  \"  \"  Mysteries;  89\n  \"  \"  Scriptures; 372\n  \"  \"  Tower of Babel; 97\n  \"  referred to;  44\n  \"  Shining Light of Learning; 87\n\n_Orpheus_, Mead's, quoted; 28, 29, 30, 114\n\nOwen on Atonement; 197\n\n\nPantaenus; 73, 74\n\nParacelsus; 115\n\nParadise; 242\n\nPath of Discipleship; 174\n\n_Philippians, Epistle to_, quoted; 62\n\nPhysical Ailments final expression of Karma; 310\n\nPhysical Body, Changes in; 243\n  \"  Material in Sacraments; 340\n\nPilgrimages, Rationale of; 382\n\n_Pistis Sophia_, quoted; 46, 138, 139, 302 _et seq._,\n    319 _et seq._, 340\n  \"  \"  referred to; 137\n\nPlato's Cave; 153\n\nPlato initiated in Egypt; 21\n\nPlatonists of Cambridge; 116\n\nPlotinus, Dying Words of; 31\n  \"  referred to; 23\n  \"  Mead's, quoted; 31\n\nPolycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; 70\n\nPopular Christianity, Mistake of; vii.\n  \"  Denial of Esoteric Christianity; 1\n\nPorphyry, quoted;  27, 54\n\nPrayer; 276\n  \"  Answers to; 277\n  \"  as Will; 285\n  \"  Class B--general principle; 292\n  \"  Failure of; 287\n  \"  for Spiritual Enlightenment; 291\n  \"  for the Student of Lesser Mysteries; 296\n  \"  Highest form of; 293\n  \"  Puzzling Facts as to; 277\n\nPrayers classified; 278\n\nProbationary Path, The; 247\n\n\"Proclaim upon the houses\"--Mystical meaning; 79\n\nProclus, Teaching of; 26, 29, 51\n\nPsalms, quoted; 5, 299\n\nPseudo-Mysteries and Sun-God Drama; 167\n\nPupils of the Apostles; 70\n\nPurgatory; 242\n\nPurification; 244\n\nPythagoras, referred to; 28\n  \"  in India; 31\n\nPythagorean School, Discipline of; 29, 30\n\n\nQualifications of Disciple; 175\n\nQuietists, The; 116\n\n\nRegions of the Invisible Worlds; 239\n\nRe-incarnation;  239\n\nReligion, Need for graded; 14\n\n_Religion of Ancient Persians_, quoted; 347\n\nReligions, Common origin of; 7\n  \"  Custodians of Sacred Books; 369\n  \"  Essentials of; 4\n  \"  fitted for Stages of Growth; 13\n  \"  Object of all; 3\n  \"  Source of all; 7\n\nReligious Founders; 10\n  \"  Scriptures; 10\n  \"  Teachers; 9\n\nResurrection and Solar Myth; 231, 250\n  \"  Body; 240\n  \"  of the Christ; 249\n  \"  of the Dead; 62\n  \"  The--Part of Lesser Mysteries; 231\n\nRevelation; 369\n   \"  Fragments of in Sacred Books; 370\n   \"  in Cypher; 370\n   \"  of Deity in Kosmos; 375\n\n_Revelations, Book of_, quoted; 50, 63, 66, 249, 263,\n    292, 322, 331\n\nRevolt against Dogma; 38\n\nRoman Empire dying; 107\n\n_Romans, Epistle to_, quoted; 82, 363\n\nRosenkreutz Christian; 117\n\nRuling Angel of Jews; 96, 98\n\nRuysbroeck; 115\n\n\nSacrament, a kind of crucible; 326\n  \"  a Pictorial Allegory; 325\n  \"  Change in substance at; 343\n  \"  link between Visible and Invisible; 326, 327\n  \"  of Baptism; 347\n  \"  of Eucharist; 347\n  \"  of Marriage; 347, 364\n  \"  of Penance; 340\n\nSacraments; 324\n  \"  Angels connected with; 343\n  \"  defined in Church Catechism; 329\n\nSacraments, Gestures used in; 338\n  \"  in all Religions; 324\n  \"  Lost at Reformation; 327\n  \"  Mantrams in; 338\n  \"  of Christian Church; 327\n  \"  Peculiar Characteristics; 324\n  \"  Seven, of Christianity; 327, 346\n  \"  Signs, Seals, or Sigils in; 339\n  \"  \"Substance\" and \"Accidents\" of; 361\n  \"  Twofold Nature of; 324 _et seq._\n  \"  Two, In Protestant Communities; 328, 346\n\nSacred Places and Objects; 380\n\nSacred Quaternery, The; 261\n\nSacrifice as Joy; 210 _et seq._\n  \"  Law of; 201\n  \"  \"  Four Stages in; 212\n  \"  Lessons in; 212 _et seq._\n  \"  of Jesus; 133\n\nSaint Bonaventura; 112\n  \"  Elizabeth; 113\n  \"  Francois de Sales; 116\n  \"  John of the Cross; 116\n  \"  _John's Gospel_, quoted; x., 46, 52, 53, 54, 56, 103, 132, 133,\n       134, 137, 177, 180, 216, 240, 246, 250, 262, 270, 273, 292, 382\n  \"  Paul, quoted; 55 _et seq._, 124, 184\n  \"  Paul an Initiate; 61\n  \"  \"  and Mysteries; 57\n  \"  \"  and Timothy; 59, 69\n  \"  \"  on Allegory; 66\n  \"  Peter, quoted; 194\n  \"  Teresa; 116\n  \"  Timothy, referred to; 59\n\n_Samuel, Book of_, quoted; 33\n\nSavage Deities; 11\n\nSavages as Descendants of Civilisation; 12\n\nSaviour, The True; 219 _et seq._\n\nSayings of Jesus; 53, 54, 301\n\nScientific Analysis of Vehicles; 237\n\nSearch for God, The; 5\n\nSecret Teachings of Jesus; 90\n  \"  Tradition recognised by Newman; 104\n\nSecond Birth; 185, 247\n\n_Sepher Yetzirah_, quoted; 34\n\n_Sharpe's Egyptian Mythology_, quoted; 259\n\n_Shvetashvataropanishat_, quoted; 32\n\n\"Sign of Power\"; 339\n\nSociety of Friends; 117\n\nSolar Gods; 160\n  \"  Myth, Root of; 178\n\nSopater, quoted; 21\n\nSophia--The Wisdom; 138\n\nSoul--Dual; 233\n\nSound and Form in the Invisible Worlds; 333\n\nSound, Occult use of; 334\n\nSource of Religions; 7\n\nSpirit and Matter; 367\n\nSpirit threefold; 233\n  \"  manifested as triple Self; 330\n\nSpiritual Body, Divisions of; 240 _et seq._\n\n\"Star of Initiation\"; 186\n\n\"Strait Gate\" term of Initiation; 49, 50, 174, 177\n\n_Stromata_ or Miscellanies of S. Clement, quoted; 58, 74 _et seq._,\n   78, 83, 84, 85, 87\n\nSufferings of the Christ; 223\n\nSuperintending Spirits; 98\n\nSun God Legend; 158\n  \"  \"  Symbol of Logos; 171\n  \" Heroes; 165\n  \" Myths, recurring; 169\n  \" of Righteousness; 249\n  \" Symbol of the Logos; 154\n  \" Symbols; 155\n\nSurvival of Christianity?; 40\n\nSymbol of Jesus; 165\n  \"  of Trinity; 267\n\nSymbols--animal, in Zodiac; 165\n  \"  Language of; 153\n\nSymbols of Logoi; 266 _et seq._\n\n\nTatian and Theodotus, referred to;  73\n\nTauler, John; 114\n\nTaylor, Robert, quoted; 350\n\nTeachings common to all Religions; 146\n  \"  in the hands of Spiritual Brotherhood; 374\n\nTertullian on Baptism; 151\n\nThe Christ; 132, 134\n\nThe Hidden Side of Religions; 1\n  \"  of Christianity; 36\n\nThe Disciples; 136\n\nThe \"Simple Gospel\"; 39\n\nThe title of Lord; 96\n\nThe Testimony of the Scriptures; 36\n\nThe Tower of Babel; 97\n\nThe Thyrsus; 75\n\nThe True Exstasis; 108\n\nThe Trinity; 253\n  \"  among the Hebrews; 254\n  \"  Hindu; 257\n  \"  in Buddhism; 258\n  \"  in Chaldaea; 259\n  \"  in China; 259\n  \"  in Extinct Religions; 258\n  \"  in Egypt; 259\n  \"  in Man; 177, 233\n  \"  in Manifestation; 254\n  \"  in Zoroastrianism; 257\n\nThe Word of Wisdom, of Knowledge; 102\n\nTheological Hell; 308\n\n_Theosophical Review_, quoted; 228\n\n_Thessalonians, Epistle to_, quoted; 233\n\nThree Worlds, The; 241\n\n_Timothy, Epistle to_, quoted; 59, 60, 61, 65, 134, 227\n\nTradition of _Post-mortem_ Teaching of Jesus; 46\n\nTransubstantiation--Truth Underlying; 360\n\nTriangle as a Symbol of Trinity; 267\n\nTrinity, A Second; 263\n  \"  of Spirit; 233\n\nTrinity in Christian agrees with other Faiths; 260\n\nTriple Aspect of Matter; 264\n\nTriplicity in Nature; 261\n\nTrue Theosophy defined; x.\n\nTwo Schools of Christian Interpretation; 122\n\nTwo-fold Division of Man Insufficient; 232\n\n\nVaivasvata Manu; 19\n\nValentinus; 137\n\nVaughan, Thomas; 116\n\nVehicles of Consciousness, Need for Different; 238\n\nVibrations; 334\n\nVibratory Effects of Mass; 338\n\nVirgin Matter; 264\n  \"  \"  and Third Person of Trinity; 265\n  \"  \"  and Second  \"  \" ; 265\n  \"  Mother; 264\n\nVirgin's Womb, Meaning of; 180\n\nVirgo, Zodiacal Sign of; 158, 160\n\nVirtues in the Mysteries; 27\n\n_Voice of the Silence_, quoted; 249\n\n_Voice Figures_--Mrs. Watts Hughes, referred to; 333\n\n\nWilliamson's _Great Law_, quoted; 161, 163 _et seq._,\n   166, 167, 203, 255, 259, 348, 358.\n\nWill as Prayer; 285\n\nWords of Power; 335\n\nWork of the Holy Spirit; 179, 268\n  \"  Second Person; 179, 269\n  \"  First Person; 270\n\nWorking of Logos in Matter; 182\n\nWorkers in Kosmos; 283\n  \"  the Invisible Worlds; 152, 280\n\nWorld Bibles, fragments of Revelation; 374\n\nWorld Soul, The; 23\n\nWorld Symbols; 266\n\nWritings of the Disciples; 140\n\n\n_Zechariah_, quoted; 268\n\nZodiac, The; 160\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] S. Mark xvi. 15.\n\n[2] S. Matt vii. 6.\n\n[3] Clarke's Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. IV. Clement of\nAlexandria. _Stromata_, bk. I., ch. xii.\n\n[4] I. Cor. iii. 16.\n\n[5] _Ibid._, ii. 14, 16.\n\n[6] S. John, i. 9.\n\n[7] Psalms, xlii. 1.\n\n[8] 1 Cor. xv. 28.\n\n[9] Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XII. Clement of Alexandria. _Stromata_,\nbk. V., ch. xi.\n\n[10] See Article on \"Mysteries,\" _Encyc. Britannica_ ninth edition.\n\n[11] Psellus, quoted in _Iamblichus on the Mysteries_. T. Taylor, p.\n343, note on p. 23, second edition.\n\n[12] _Iamblichus_, as _ante_, p. 301.\n\n[13] _Ibid._, p. 72.\n\n[14] The article on \"Mysticism\" in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ has\nthe following on the teaching of Plotinus (204-206 A.D.): \"The One\n[the Supreme God spoken of above] is exalted above the _nous_ and the\n'ideas'; it transcends existence altogether and is not cognisable by\nreason. Remaining itself in repose, it rays out, as it were, from its\nown fulness, an image of itself, which is called _nous_, and which\nconstitutes the system of ideas of the intelligible world. The soul is\nin turn the image or product of the _nous_, and the soul by its motion\nbegets corporeal matter. The soul thus faces two ways--towards the\n_nous_, from which it springs, and towards the material life, which is\nits own product. Ethical endeavour consists in the repudiation of the\nsensible; material existence is itself estrangement from God.... To\nreach the ultimate goal, thought itself must be left behind; for\nthought is a form of motion, and the desire of the soul is for the\nmotionless rest which belongs to the One. The union with transcendent\ndeity is not so much knowledge or vision as ecstasy, coalescence,\n_contact_.\" Neo-Platonism is thus \"first of all a system of complete\nrationalism; it is assumed, in other words, that reason is capable of\nmapping out the whole system of things. But, inasmuch as a God is\naffirmed beyond reason, the mysticism becomes in a sense the necessary\ncomplement of the would-be all-embracing rationalism. The system\nculminates in a mystical act.\"\n\n[15] _Iamblichus_, as _ante_, p. 73.\n\n[16] _Ibid_, pp. 55, 56.\n\n[17] _Ibid_, pp. 118, 119.\n\n[18] _Ibid_, p. 118, 119.\n\n[19] _Ibid_, pp. 95, 100.\n\n[20] _Ibid_, p. 101.\n\n[21] _Ibid_, p. 330.\n\n[22] G. R. S. Mead. _Plotinus_, p. 42.\n\n[23] _Iamblichus_, p. 364, note on p. 134.\n\n[24] G. R. S. Mead. _Orpheus_, pp. 285, 286.\n\n[25] _Iamblichus_, p. 364, note on p. 134.\n\n[26] _Iamblichus_, p. 285, _et seq._\n\n[27] G. R. S. Mead. _Orpheus_, p. 59.\n\n[28] _Ibid_, p. 30.\n\n[29] _Ibid_, pp. 263, 271.\n\n[30] G. R. S. Mead. _Plotinus_, p. 20.\n\n[31] _Shvetashvataropanishat_, vi., 22.\n\n[32] _Kathopanishat_, iii., 14.\n\n[33] I. Cor. xiii. 1.\n\n[34] _Kathopanishat_, vi. 17.\n\n[35] _Mundakopanishat_, II., ii. 9.\n\n[36] _Ibid_., III., i. 3.\n\n[37] I Sam. xix. 20.\n\n[38] II. Kings ii. 2, 5.\n\n[39] Under \"School.\"\n\n[40] Dr. Wynn Westcott. _Sepher Yetzirah_, p. 9.\n\n[41] S. Mark iv. 10, 11, 33, 34. See also S. Matt. xiii. 11, 34, 36,\nand S. Luke viii. 10.\n\n[42] S. John xvi. 12.\n\n[43] Acts i. 3.\n\n[44] _Loc. cit._ Trans. by G. R. S. Mead. I. i. 1.\n\n[45] S. Matt. vii. 6.\n\n[46] As to the Greek woman: \"It is not meet to take the children's\nbread, and to cast it unto the dogs.\"--S. Mark vii. 27.\n\n[47] S. Luke xiii. 23, 24.\n\n[48] S. Matt. vii. 13, 14.\n\n[49] _Kathopanishat_ II. iv. 10, 11.\n\n[50] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_. IV. iv. 7.\n\n[51] Rev. vii. 9.\n\n[52] _Bahgavad Gita_, vii. 3.\n\n[53] _Ante_, p. 26.\n\n[54] It must be remembered that the Jews believed that all imperfect\nsouls returned to live again on earth.\n\n[55] S. Matt. xix. 16-26.\n\n[56] S. John xvii. 3.\n\n[57] Heb. ix. 23.\n\n[58] S. John. iii. 3, 5.\n\n[59] S. Matt. iii. 11.\n\n[60] _Ibid._ xviii. 3.\n\n[61] S. John iii. 10.\n\n[62] S. Matt. v. 48.\n\n[63] _Ante_, p.24\n\n[64] Note how this chimes in with the promise of Jesus in S. John xvi.\n12-14: \"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear\nthem now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide\nyou into all truth.... He will show you things to come.... He shall\nreceive of mine, and shall show it unto you.\"\n\n[65] Another technical name in the Mysteries.\n\n[66] Eph. iii. 3, 4, 9.\n\n[67] Col i. 23, 25-28. But S. Clement, in his _Stromata_, translates\n\"every man,\" as \"the whole man.\" See Bk. V., ch. x.\n\n[68] Col. iv. 3.\n\n[69] Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XII. Clement of Alexandria. _Stromata_,\nbk. V. ch. x. Some additional sayings of the Apostles will be found in\nthe quotations from Clement, showing what meaning they bore in the\nminds of those who succeeded the apostles, and were living in the same\natmosphere of thought.\n\n[70] I. Tim. iii. 9, 16.\n\n[71] I. Tim. i. 18.\n\n[72] _Ibid._, iv. 14.\n\n[73] _Ibid._, vi. 13.\n\n[74] _Ibid._, 20.\n\n[75] II. Tim. i. 13, 14.\n\n[76] _Ibid._, ii. 2.\n\n[77] Phil. iii. 8, 10-12, 14, 15.\n\n[78] Rev. i. 18. \"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am\nalive for evermore. Amen.\"\n\n[79] II. Cor. v. 16.\n\n[80] Gal. iii. 27.\n\n[81] Gal. iv. 19.\n\n[82] I. Cor. iv. 15.\n\n[83] I. S. Pet. iii. 4.\n\n[84] Eph. iv. 13.\n\n[85] Col. i. 24.\n\n[86] II. Cor. iv. 10.\n\n[87] Gal. ii. 20.\n\n[88] II. Tim. iv. 6, 8.\n\n[89] Rev. iii. 12.\n\n[90] Gal. iv. 22-31.\n\n[91] I Cor. x. 1-4.\n\n[92] Eph. v. 23-32.\n\n[93] Vol. I. _The Martyrdom of Ignatius_, ch. iii. The translations\nused are those of Clarke's Ante-Nicene Library, a most useful\ncompendium of Christian antiquity. The number of the volume which\nstands first in the references is the number of the volume in that\nSeries.\n\n[94] _Ibid. The Epistle of Polycarp_, ch. xii.\n\n[95] _Ibid. The Epistle of Barnabas_, ch. i.\n\n[96] _Ibid._ ch. x.\n\n[97] _Ibid. The Martyrdom of Ignatius,_ ch. i.\n\n[98] _Ibid. Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians_, ch. iii.\n\n[99] _Ibid._ ch. xii.\n\n[100] _Ibid. to the Trallians_, ch. v.\n\n[101] _Ibid. to the Philadelphians_, ch. ix.\n\n[102] Vol. IV. Clement of Alexandria _Stromata_, bk. I. ch. i.\n\n[103] Vol. IV. _Stromata_, bk. I. ch. xxviii.\n\n[104] It appears that even in those days there were some who objected\nto any truth being taught secretly!\n\n[105] _Ibid._ bk. I, ch. i.\n\n[106] _Ibid._ bk. V., ch. iv.\n\n[107] _Ibid._ ch. v.-viii.\n\n[108] _Ibid._ ch. ix.\n\n[109] _Ibid._ bk. V., ch. x.\n\n[110] Loc. Cit. xv. 29.\n\n[111] _Ibid._ xvi. 25, 26; the version quoted differs in words, but\nnot in meaning, from the English Authorised Version.\n\n[112] _Stromata_, bk. V., ch. x.\n\n[113] _Ibid._ bk. VI., ch. vii.\n\n[114] _Ibid._ bk. VII., ch. xiv.\n\n[115] _Ibid._ bk. VI., ch. xv.\n\n[116] _Ibid._ bk. VI. x.\n\n[117] _Ibid._ bk. VI. vii.\n\n[118] _Ibid._ bk. I. ch. vi.\n\n[119] _Ibid._ ch. ix.\n\n[120] _Ibid._ bk. VI. ch. x.\n\n[121] _Ibid._ bk. I. ch. xiii.\n\n[122] Vol XII. _Stromata_, bk. V. ch. iv.\n\n[123] _Ibid._ bk. VI. ch. xv.\n\n[124] Book I. of _Against Celsus_ is found in Vol. X. of the\nAnte-Nicene Library. The remaining books are in Vol. XXIII.\n\n[125] Vol. X. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. I. ch. vii.\n\n[126] _Ibid._\n\n[127] Ex. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30, and compare with Heb. viii. 5, and ix.\n25.\n\n[128] _Origen against Celsus_, bk. IV. ch. xvi.\n\n[129] _Ibid._ bk. III. ch. lix.\n\n[130] _Ibid._ ch. lxi.\n\n[131] _Ibid._ ch. lxii.\n\n[132] _Ibid._, ch. lx.\n\n[133] Vol. XXIII. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. V. ch. xxv.\n\n[134] _Ibid._ ch. xxviii.\n\n[135] _Ibid._ ch. xxix.\n\n[136] _Ibid._ ch. xx xi.\n\n[137] _Ibid._ ch. xxxii.\n\n[138] _Ibid._ ch. xlv.\n\n[139] _Ibid._ ch. xlvi.\n\n[140] _Ibid._ chs. xlvii.-liv.\n\n[141] _Ibid._ ch. lxxiv.\n\n[142] _Ibid._ bk. IV., ch. xxxix.\n\n[143] Vol. X. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. I., ch. xvii, and others.\n\n[144] _Ibid._ ch. xlii.\n\n[145] Vol. X. _De Principiis_, Preface, p. 8.\n\n[146] _Ibid._ ch. i.\n\n[147] S. John xiv. 18-20.\n\n[148] _Loc. cit._ ch. i. sec. III. p. 55.\n\n[149] _Ibid._ ch. I. Sec. III. pp. 55, 56.\n\n[150] _Ibid._ pp. 54, 55.\n\n[151] \"Seems to have been\" is a somewhat weak expression, after what\nis said by Clement and Origen, of which some specimens are given in\nthe text.\n\n[152] _Ibid._, p. 62.\n\n[153] Article on \"Mysticism.\"--_Encyc. Britan._\n\n[154] Article \"Mysticism.\" _Encyclopaedia Britannica._\n\n[155] _Orpheus_, pp. 53, 54.\n\n[156] Obligation must be here acknowledged to the Article \"Mysticism,\"\nin the _Encyc. Brit._, though that publication is by no means\nresponsible for the opinions expressed.\n\n[157] _The Mysteries of Magic._ Trans. by A. E. Waite, pp. 58 and 60.\n\n[158] II. S. Peter i. 5.\n\n[159] Gal. iv. 19.\n\n[160] II. Cor. v. 16.\n\n[161] S. John i. 14.\n\n[162] S. John i. 32.\n\n[163] S. Matt. iii. 17.\n\n[164] _Ibid._ iv. 17.\n\n[165] I. Tim. iii. 16.\n\n[166] S. John x. 34-36.\n\n[167] S. John xiv. 18, 19.\n\n[168] Valentinus. Trans. by G. R. S. Mead. _Pistis Sophia_, bk. i., I.\n\n[169] _Ante_, p. 72.\n\n[170] _Ibid._ 60.\n\n[171] _Ibid._ bk. ii., 218.\n\n[172] _Ibid._ 230.\n\n[173] _Ibid._ 357.\n\n[174] _Ibid._ 377.\n\n[175] Vol. II. Justin Martyr. _First Apology_, ch. liv., lxii., and\nlxvi.\n\n[176] Vol. II. Justin Martyr. _Second Apology_, ch. xiii.\n\n[177] Vol. VII. Tertullian, _On Baptism_, ch. v.\n\n[178] The student might read Plato's account of the \"Cave\" and its\ninhabitants, remembering that Plato was an Initiate. _Republic_, Bk.\nvii.\n\n[179] Eliphas Levi _The Mysteries of Magic_, p. 48.\n\n[180] Bonwick. _Egyptian Belief_, p. 157. Quoted in Williamson's\n_Great Law_, p. 26.\n\n[181] The festival \"Natalis Solis Invicti,\" the birthday of the\nInvincible Sun.\n\n[182] Williamson. _The Great Law_, pp. 40-42. Those who wish to study\nthis matter as one of Comparative Religion cannot do better than read\n_The Great Law_, whose author is a profoundly religious man and a\nChristian.\n\n[183] _Ibid._ pp. 36, 37.\n\n[184] _The Great Law_, p. 116.\n\n[185] _Ibid._ p. 58.\n\n[186] _Ibid._ p. 56.\n\n[187] _Ibid._ pp. 120-123.\n\n[188] See on this the opening of the Johannine Gospel, i. 1-5. The\nname Logos, ascribed to the manifested God, shaping matter--\"all\nthings were made by Him\"--is Platonic, and is hence directly derived\nfrom the Mysteries; ages before Plato, Vak, Voice, derived from the\nsame source, was used among Hindus.\n\n[189] See _Ante_, pp. 124.\n\n[190] See _Ante_, pp. 93-94.\n\n[191] See _Ante_, p. 85.\n\n[192] II. Cor. iv. 18.\n\n[193] II. Cor. v. 7.\n\n[194] Heb. v. 14.\n\n[195] S. Luke xv. 16.\n\n[196] _Ibid._ xiv. 26.\n\n[197] S. Matt. v. 28.\n\n[198] Heb. xi. 27.\n\n[199] S. Matt v. 45.\n\n[200] S. Luke ix. 49, 50.\n\n[201] S. Matt xvii. 20.\n\n[202] II. Cor. vi. 8-10.\n\n[203] Col. iii. 1.\n\n[204] S. Matt. v. 8, and S. John xvii. 21.\n\n[205] Gen. i. 2.\n\n[206] S. John i. 3.\n\n[207] _The Christian Creed_, p. 29. This is a most valuable and\nfascinating little book, on the mystical meaning of the creeds.\n\n[208] _Ibid._ p. 42.\n\n[209] A name of the Holy Ghost.\n\n[210] _Ibid._ p. 43.\n\n[211] _Ante_, p. 124.\n\n[212] S. Matt. xviii. 3.\n\n[213] 2 S. Peter iii. 15, 16.\n\n[214] A. Besant. _Essay on the Atonement._\n\n[215] _Ibid._\n\n[216] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_, I. i. 1.\n\n[217] _Bhagavad Gita_, iii. 10.\n\n[218] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_, I. ii. 7.\n\n[219] _Mundakopanishat_, II. ii. 10.\n\n[220] Haug. _Essays on the Parsis_, pp. 12-14.\n\n[221] Rev. xiii. 8.\n\n[222] W. Williamson. _The Great Law_, p. 406.\n\n[223] A. Besant. _Nineteenth Century_, June, 1895, \"The Atonement.\"\n\n[224] Heb. i. 5.\n\n[225] _Ibid._, 2.\n\n[226] C.W. Leadbeater. _The Christian Creed_, pp. 54-56.\n\n[227] _Ibid._ pp. 56, 57.\n\n[228] S. Matt. xxv. 21, 23, 31-45.\n\n[229] Is. liii. 11.\n\n[230] S. Matt. xvi. 25.\n\n[231] S. John xii. 25.\n\n[232] Heb. vii. 16.\n\n[233] _Light on the Path_, ch. 8.\n\n[234] Heb. vii. 25.\n\n[235] Heb. v. 8, 9.\n\n[236] I Tim. iii. 16.\n\n[237] Annie Besant. _Theosophical Review_, Dec., 1898, pp. 344, 345.\n\n[238] C. W. Leadbeater. _The Christian Creed_, pp. 61, 62.\n\n[239] I Cor. xv. 44.\n\n[240] I Thess. v. 23.\n\n[241] See Chapter IX., \"The Trinity.\"\n\n[242] See _Ante_, pp. 84, 99, 100.\n\n[243] 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.\n\n[244] S. Matt. v. 48.\n\n[245] S. John xvii. 22, 23.\n\n[246] 2 Cor. v. 1.\n\n[247] 1 Cor. xv. 28.\n\n[248] This mistranslation was a very natural one, as the translation\nwas made in the seventeenth century, and all idea of the pre-existence\nof the soul and of its evolution had long faded out of Christendom,\nsave in the teachings of a few sects regarded as heretical and\npersecuted by the Roman Catholic Church.\n\n[249] S. John iii. 13.\n\n[250] Heb. v. 9.\n\n[251] Rev. i. 18.\n\n[252] H. P. Blavatsky. _The Voice of the Silence_, p. 90, 5th Edition.\n\n[253] S. John. xvii. 5.\n\n[254] 1 Cor. xv. 20.\n\n[255] _Chhandogyopanishat_, VI. ii., 1.\n\n[256] Deut. vi. 4.\n\n[257] 1 Cor. viii. 6.\n\n[258] An error: En, or Ain, Soph is not one of the Trinity, but the\nOne Existence, manifested in the Three; nor is Kadmon, or Adam Kadmon,\none Sephira, but their totality.\n\n[259] Quoted in Williamson's _The Great Law_, pp. 201, 202.\n\n[260] H. H. Milman. _The History of Christianity_, 1867, pp. 70-72.\n\n[261] _Asiatic Researches_, i. 285.\n\n[262] S. Sharpe. _Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christology_, p. 14.\n\n[263] See Williamson's _The Great Law_, p. 196.\n\n[264] _Loc. Cit._, pp. 208, 209.\n\n[265] S. John i. 3.\n\n[266] Jer. li. 15.\n\n[267] See _Ante_, pp. 179-180.\n\n[268] Athanasian Creed.\n\n[269] Rev. iv. 8.\n\n[270] S. Luke. i. 38.\n\n[271] _Ibid_, 35.\n\n[272] Book of Wisdom, viii. 1.\n\n[273] Vol. IV. Ante-Nicene Library. S. Clement of Alexandria.\n_Stromata_, bk. V., ch. ii.\n\n[274] See _Ante_, p. 262.\n\n[275] See _Ante_, p. 207.\n\n[276] Gen. i. 1.\n\n[277] Job xxxviii. 4; Zech. xii. 1; &c.\n\n[278] Gen. i. 2.\n\n[279] Gen. i. 2.\n\n[280] See _Ante_, p. 262.\n\n[281] See _Ante_, p. 262.\n\n[282] S. John i. 3.\n\n[283] _Bhagavad Gita_ ix. 4.\n\n[284] 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28.\n\n[285] S. John xiv. 6. See also the further meaning of this text on p.\n272.\n\n[286] Heb. xii. 9.\n\n[287] Numb. xvi. 22.\n\n[288] Gen. i. 26.\n\n[289] S. Matt. v. 48.\n\n[290] S. John xvii. 5.\n\n[291] S. John v. 26.\n\n[292] S. Matt. i. 22.\n\n[293] Heb. ii. 18.\n\n[294] Much of this chapter has already appeared in an earlier work by\nthe author, entitled, _Some Problems of Life_.\n\n[295] S. James i. 17.\n\n[296] Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.\n\n[297] See Chapter xii.\n\n[298] Heb. i. 14.\n\n[299] S. Matt. x. 29.\n\n[300] Acts xvii. 28.\n\n[301] T. H. Huxley. _Essays on some Controverted Questions_, p. 36.\n\n[302] S. Luke xxii. 41, 43.\n\n[303] S. John i. 11.\n\n[304] Rev. iii. 20.\n\n[305] H. P. Blavatsky. _Key to Theosophy_, p. 10.\n\n[306] Is. xxxiii. 17.\n\n[307] _On the Mysteries_, sec. v. ch. 26.\n\n[308] Ps. xl. 7, 8, Prayer Book version.\n\n[309] S. Luke, v. 18-26.\n\n[310] _Ibid._ vii. 47.\n\n[311] G. R. S. Mead, translated. _Loc. cit._, bk. ii., chapters 260, 261.\n\n[312] _Ibid._ chapters 299, 300.\n\n[313] S. Matt. xii. 36.\n\n[314] _Ibid._ ix. 2.\n\n[315] _Loc. cit._ iii. 9.\n\n[316] _Ibid._ vi. 43.\n\n[317] _Ibid._ ix. 30.\n\n[318] See _ante_, Chap. VIII.\n\n[319] This is the cause of the sweetness and patience often noticed in\nthe sick who are of very pure nature. They have learned the lesson of\nsuffering, and they do not make fresh evil karma by impatience under\nthe result of past bad karma, then exhausting itself.\n\n[320] S. Luke, vii. 48, 50.\n\n[321] _Loc. cit._, ix. 31.\n\n[322] S. Matt. vii. 1.\n\n[323] _Loc. cit._, bk. ii. ch. 305.\n\n[324] Rev. iii. 20.\n\n[325] G. Bruno, trans. by L. Williams. _The Heroic Enthusiasts_, vol.\ni., p. 133.\n\n[326] _Ibid._, vol. ii., pp. 27, 28.\n\n[327] _Ibid._, pp. 102, 103.\n\n[328] Rev. iv. 5.\n\n[329] The phrase \"force and matter\" is used as it is so well-known in\nscience. But force is one of the properties of matter, the one\nmentioned as Motion. See _Ante_, p. 264.\n\n[330] Job xxxviii. 7.\n\n[331] See on forms created by musical notes any scientific book on\nSound, and also Mrs. Watts-Hughes' illustrated book on _Voice\nFigures_.\n\n[332] See _ante_, p. 138 and p. 302.\n\n[333] In the Sacrament of Penance the ashes are now usually omitted,\nexcept on special occasions, but none the less they form part of the\nrite.\n\n[334] See _ante_ p. 329.\n\n[335] _Christian Records_, p. 129.\n\n[336] _The Great Law_, pp. 161-166.\n\n[337] See _ante_, p. 151.\n\n[338] _Diegesis_, p. 219.\n\n[339] 1 Pet. iii. 4.\n\n[340] 2 Kings vi. 17.\n\n[341] 1 Cor. x. 16.\n\n[342] Jer. xliv.\n\n[343] Gen. xiv. 18, 19.\n\n[344] _The Great Law_, pp. 177-181, 185.\n\n[345] Lev. xvii. 11.\n\n[346] Rom. xii. 1.\n\n[347] Isaiah liv. 5; lxii. 5.\n\n[348] Eph. v. 23-32.\n\n[349] Athanasian Creed.\n\n[350] 2 Pet. i. 20.\n\n[351] 1 See _ante_, p. 102.\n\n[352] 2 Cor. iii. 6.\n\n[353] 1 Cor. ii. 11, 13.\n\n[354] Is. vi. 6, 7.\n\n[355] S. John v. 4.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWILLIAM BYLES & SONS, PRINTERS, BRADFORD.","title":"Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":74207}