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diff --git a/26938.txt b/26938.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5ac55d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/26938.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8696 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser +Mysteries, by Annie Besant + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries + +Author: Annie Besant + +Release Date: October 16, 2008 [EBook #26938] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Erica Hills, Henry Craig, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The many inconsistently spelt words in this book +(e.g. Samskrit/Sanskrit) have been retained as in the original. + + +ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY +OR +THE LESSER MYSTERIES. + + + +BY +ANNIE BESANT. + + + +[SECOND EDITION] + + + +The Theosophical Publishing Society. +LONDON AND BENARES. +1905. + + + + + In proceeding to the contemplation of the mysteries of knowledge, + we shall adhere to the celebrated and venerable rule of tradition, + commencing from the origin of the universe, setting forth those + points of physical contemplation which are necessary to be + premised, and removing whatever can be an obstacle on the way; so + that the ear may be prepared for the reception of the tradition of + the Gnosis, the ground being cleared of weeds and fitted for the + planting of the vineyard; for there is a conflict before the + conflict, and mysteries before the mysteries.--_S. Clement of + Alexandria._ + + Let the specimen suffice to those who have ears. For it is not + required to unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is + sufficient.--_Ibid._ + + He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.--_S. Matthew._ + + + + +FOREWORD. + + +The object of this book is to suggest certain lines of thought as to +the deep truths underlying Christianity, truths generally overlooked, +and only too often denied. The generous wish to share with all what is +precious, to spread broadcast priceless truths, to shut out none from +the illumination of true knowledge, has resulted in a zeal without +discretion that has vulgarised Christianity, and has presented its +teachings in a form that often repels the heart and alienates the +intellect. The command to "preach the Gospel to every +creature"[1]--though admittedly of doubtful authenticity--has been +interpreted as forbidding the teaching of the Gnosis to a few, and has +apparently erased the less popular saying of the same Great Teacher: +"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your +pearls before swine."[2] + +This spurious sentimentality--which refuses to recognise the obvious +inequalities of intelligence and morality, and thereby reduces the +teaching of the highly developed to the level attainable by the least +evolved, sacrificing the higher to the lower in a way that injures +both--had no place in the virile common sense of the early Christians. +S. Clement of Alexandria says quite bluntly, after alluding to the +Mysteries: "Even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before +swine, lest they tread them underfoot, and turn and rend us.' For it is +difficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting +the true Light to swinish and untrained hearers."[3] + +If true knowledge, the Gnosis, is again to form a part of Christian +teachings, it can only be under the old restrictions, and the idea of +levelling down to the capacities of the least developed must be +definitely surrendered. Only by teaching above the grasp of the little +evolved can the way be opened up for a restoration of arcane knowledge, +and the study of the Lesser Mysteries must precede that of the Greater. +The Greater will never be published through the printing-press; they can +only be given by Teacher to pupil, "from mouth to ear." But the Lesser +Mysteries, the partial unveiling of deep truths, can even now be +restored, and such a volume as the present is intended to outline these, +and to show the _nature_ of the teachings which have to be mastered. +Where only hints are given, quiet meditation on the truths hinted at +will cause their outlines to become visible, and the clearer light +obtained by continued meditation will gradually show them more fully. +For meditation quiets the lower mind, ever engaged in thinking about +external objects, and when the lower mind is tranquil then only can it +be illuminated by the Spirit. Knowledge of spiritual truths must be thus +obtained, from within and not from without, from the divine Spirit whose +temple we are[4] and not from an external Teacher. These things are +"spiritually discerned" by that divine indwelling Spirit, that "mind of +Christ," whereof speaks the Great Apostle,[5] and that inner light is +shed upon the lower mind. + +This is the way of the Divine Wisdom, the true THEOSOPHY. It is not, as +some think, a diluted version of Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Taoism, or of +any special religion. It is Esoteric Christianity as truly as it is +Esoteric Buddhism, and belongs equally to all religions, exclusively to +none. This is the source of the suggestions made in this little volume, +for the helping of those who seek the Light--that "true Light which +lighteth every man that cometh into the world,"[6] though most have not +yet opened their eyes to it. It does not bring the Light. It only says: +"Behold the Light!" For thus have we heard. It appeals only to the few +who hunger for more than the exoteric teachings give them. For those who +are fully satisfied with the exoteric teachings, it is not intended; for +why should bread be forced on those who are not hungry? For those who +hunger, may it prove bread, and not a stone. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE +FOREWORD vii. + +CHAPTER I. + THE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS 1 + +CHAPTER II. + THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY 36 + +CHAPTER III. + THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY 69 + (_concluded_) + +CHAPTER IV. + THE HISTORICAL JESUS 120 + +CHAPTER V. + THE MYTHIC CHRIST 145 + +CHAPTER VI. + THE MYSTIC CHRIST 170 + +CHAPTER VII. + THE ATONEMENT 193 + +CHAPTER VIII. + RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 231 + +CHAPTER IX. + THE TRINITY 253 + +CHAPTER X. + PRAYER 276 + +CHAPTER XI. + THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS 301 + +CHAPTER XII. + SACRAMENTS 324 + +CHAPTER XIII. + SACRAMENTS (_continued_) 346 + +CHAPTER XIV. + REVELATION 369 + +AFTERWORD 386 + +INDEX 388 + + + + + +ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE HIDDEN SIDE OF RELIGIONS. + + +Many, perhaps most, who see the title of this book will at once traverse +it, and will deny that there is anything valuable which can be rightly +described as "Esoteric Christianity." There is a wide-spread, and withal +a popular, idea that there is no such thing as an occult teaching in +connection with Christianity, and that "The Mysteries," whether Lesser +or Greater, were a purely Pagan institution. The very name of "The +Mysteries of Jesus," so familiar in the ears of the Christians of the +first centuries, would come with a shock of surprise on those of their +modern successors, and, if spoken as denoting a special and definite +institution in the Early Church, would cause a smile of incredulity. It +has actually been made a matter of boast that Christianity has no +secrets, that whatever it has to say it says to all, and whatever it has +to teach it teaches to all. Its truths are supposed to be so simple, +that "a way-faring man, though a fool, may not err therein," and the +"simple Gospel" has become a stock phrase. + +It is necessary, therefore, to prove clearly that in the Early Church, +at least, Christianity was no whit behind other great religions in +possessing a hidden side, and that it guarded, as a priceless treasure, +the secrets revealed only to a select few in its Mysteries. But ere +doing this it will be well to consider the whole question of this hidden +side of religions, and to see why such a side must exist if a religion +is to be strong and stable; for thus its existence in Christianity will +appear as a foregone conclusion, and the references to it in the +writings of the Christian Fathers will appear simple and natural instead +of surprising and unintelligible. As a historical fact, the existence +of this esotericism is demonstrable; but it may also be shown that +intellectually it is a necessity. + +The first question we have to answer is: What is the object of +religions? They are given to the world by men wiser than the masses of +the people on whom they are bestowed, and are intended to quicken human +evolution. In order to do this effectively they must reach individuals +and influence them. Now all men are not at the same level of evolution, +but evolution might be figured as a rising gradient, with men stationed +on it at every point. The most highly evolved are far above the least +evolved, both in intelligence and character; the capacity alike to +understand and to act varies at every stage. It is, therefore, useless +to give to all the same religious teaching; that which would help the +intellectual man would be entirely unintelligible to the stupid, while +that which would throw the saint into ecstasy would leave the criminal +untouched. If, on the other hand, the teaching be suitable to help the +unintelligent, it is intolerably crude and jejune to the philosopher, +while that which redeems the criminal is utterly useless to the saint. +Yet all the types need religion, so that each may reach upward to a life +higher than that which he is leading, and no type or grade should be +sacrificed to any other. Religion must be as graduated as evolution, +else it fails in its object. + +Next comes the question: In what way do religions seek to quicken human +evolution? Religions seek to evolve the moral and intellectual natures, +and to aid the spiritual nature to unfold itself. Regarding man as a +complex being, they seek to meet him at every point of his constitution, +and therefore to bring messages suitable for each, teachings adequate to +the most diverse human needs. Teachings must therefore be adapted to +each mind and heart to which they are addressed. If a religion does not +reach and master the intelligence, if it does not purify and inspire the +emotions, it has failed in its object, so far as the person addressed is +concerned. + +Not only does it thus direct itself to the intelligence and the +emotions, but it seeks, as said, to stimulate the unfoldment of the +spiritual nature. It answers to that inner impulse which exists in +humanity, and which is ever pushing the race onwards. For deeply within +the heart of all--often overlaid by transitory conditions, often +submerged under pressing interests and anxieties--there exists a +continual seeking after God. "As the hart panteth after the +water-brooks, so panteth"[7] humanity after God. The search is sometimes +checked for a space, and the yearning seems to disappear. Phases recur +in civilisation and in thought, wherein this cry of the human Spirit for +the divine--seeking its source as water seeks its level, to borrow a +simile from Giordano Bruno--this yearning of the human Spirit for that +which is akin to it in the universe, of the part for the whole, seems to +be stilled, to have vanished; none the less does that yearning reappear, +and once more the same cry rings out from the Spirit. Trampled on for a +time, apparently destroyed, though the tendency may be, it rises again +and again with inextinguishable persistence, it repeats itself again +and again, no matter how often it is silenced; and it thus proves itself +to be an inherent tendency in human nature, an ineradicable constituent +thereof. Those who declare triumphantly, "Lo! it is dead!" find it +facing them again with undiminished vitality. Those who build without +allowing for it find their well-constructed edifices riven as by an +earthquake. Those who hold it to be outgrown find the wildest +superstitions succeed its denial. So much is it an integral part of +humanity, that man _will_ have some answer to his questionings; rather +an answer that is false, than none. If he cannot find religious truth, +he will take religious error rather than no religion, and will accept +the crudest and most incongruous ideals rather than admit that the ideal +is non-existent. + +Religion, then, meets this craving, and taking hold of the constituent +in human nature that gives rise to it, trains it, strengthens it, +purifies it and guides it towards its proper ending--the union of the +human Spirit with the divine, so "that God may be all in all."[8] + + +The next question which meets us in our enquiry is: What is the source +of religions? To this question two answers have been given in modern +times--that of the Comparative Mythologists and that of the Comparative +Religionists. Both base their answers on a common basis of admitted +facts. Research has indisputably proved that the religions of the world +are markedly similar in their main teachings, in their possession of +Founders who display superhuman powers and extraordinary moral +elevation, in their ethical precepts, in their use of means to come into +touch with invisible worlds, and in the symbols by which they express +their leading beliefs. This similarity, amounting in many cases to +identity, proves--according to both the above schools--a common origin. + +But on the nature of this common origin the two schools are at issue. +The Comparative Mythologists contend that the common origin is the +common ignorance, and that the loftiest religious doctrines are simply +refined expressions of the crude and barbarous guesses of savages, of +primitive men, regarding themselves and their surroundings. Animism, +fetishism, nature-worship, sun-worship--these are the constituents of +the primeval mud out of which has grown the splendid lily of religion. A +Krishna, a Buddha, a Lao-tze, a Jesus, are the highly civilised +but lineal descendants of the whirling medicine-man of the savage. God +is a composite photograph of the innumerable Gods who are the +personifications of the forces of nature. And so forth. It is all summed +up in the phrase: Religions are branches from a common trunk--human +ignorance. + +The Comparative Religionists consider, on the other hand, that all +religions originate from the teachings of Divine Men, who give out to +the different nations of the world, from time to time, such parts of the +fundamental verities of religion as the people are capable of receiving, +teaching ever the same morality, inculcating the use of similar means, +employing the same significant symbols. The savage religions--animism +and the rest--are degenerations, the results of decadence, distorted and +dwarfed descendants of true religious beliefs. Sun-worship and pure +forms of nature-worship were, in their day, noble religions, highly +allegorical but full of profound truth and knowledge. The great +Teachers--it is alleged by Hindus, Buddhists, and by some Comparative +Religionists, such as Theosophists--form an enduring Brotherhood of men +who have risen beyond humanity, who appear at certain periods to +enlighten the world, and who are the spiritual guardians of the human +race. This view may be summed up in the phrase: "Religions are branches +from a common trunk--Divine Wisdom." + +This Divine Wisdom is spoken of as the Wisdom, the Gnosis, the +Theosophia, and some, in different ages of the world, have so desired to +emphasise their belief in this unity of religions, that they have +preferred the eclectic name of Theosophist to any narrower designation. + +The relative value of the contentions of these two opposed schools must +be judged by the cogency of the evidence put forth by each. The +appearance of a degenerate form of a noble idea may closely resemble +that of a refined product of a coarse idea, and the only method of +deciding between degeneration and evolution would be the examination, if +possible, of intermediate and remote ancestors. The evidence brought +forward by believers in the Wisdom is of this kind. They allege: that +the Founders of religions, judged by the records of their teachings, +were far above the level of average humanity; that the Scriptures of +religions contain moral precepts, sublime ideals, poetical aspirations, +profound philosophical statements, which are not even approached in +beauty and elevation by later writings in the same religions--that is, +that the old is higher than the new, instead of the new being higher +than the old; that no case can be shown of the refining and improving +process alleged to be the source of current religions, whereas many +cases of degeneracy from pure teachings can be adduced; that even among +savages, if their religions be carefully studied, many traces of lofty +ideas can be found, ideas which are obviously above the productive +capacity of the savages themselves. + +This last idea has been worked out by Mr. Andrew Lang, who--judging by +his book on _The Making of Religion_--should be classed as a Comparative +Religionist rather than as a Comparative Mythologist. He points to the +existence of a common tradition, which, he alleges, cannot have been +evolved by the savages for themselves, being men whose ordinary beliefs +are of the crudest kind and whose minds are little developed. He shows, +under crude beliefs and degraded views, lofty traditions of a sublime +character, touching the nature of the Divine Being and His relations +with men. The deities who are worshipped are, for the most part, the +veriest devils, but behind, beyond all these, there is a dim but +glorious over-arching Presence, seldom or never named, but whispered of +as source of all, as power and love and goodness, too tender to awaken +terror, too good to require supplication. Such ideas manifestly cannot +have been conceived by the savages among whom they are found, and they +remain as eloquent witnesses of the revelations made by some great +Teacher--dim tradition of whom is generally also discoverable--who was +a Son of the Wisdom, and imparted some of its teachings in a long +bye-gone age. + +The reason, and, indeed, the justification, of the view taken by the +Comparative Mythologists is patent. They found in every direction low +forms of religious belief, existing among savage tribes. These were seen +to accompany general lack of civilisation. Regarding civilised men as +evolving from uncivilised, what more natural than to regard civilised +religion as evolving from uncivilised? It is the first obvious idea. +Only later and deeper study can show that the savages of to-day are not +our ancestral types, but are the degenerated offsprings of great +civilised stocks of the past, and that man in his infancy was not left +to grow up untrained, but was nursed and educated by his elders, from +whom he received his first guidance alike in religion and civilisation. +This view is being substantiated by such facts as those dwelt on by +Lang, and will presently raise the question, "Who were these elders, of +whom traditions are everywhere found?" + +Still pursuing our enquiry, we come next to the question: To what people +were religions given? And here we come at once to the difficulty with +which every Founder of a religion must deal, that already spoken of as +bearing on the primary object of religion itself, the quickening of +human evolution, with its corollary that all grades of evolving humanity +must be considered by Him. Men are at every stage of evolution, from the +most barbarous to the most developed; men are found of lofty +intelligence, but also of the most unevolved mentality; in one place +there is a highly developed and complex civilisation, in another a crude +and simple polity. Even within any given civilisation we find the most +varied types--the most ignorant and the most educated, the most +thoughtful and the most careless, the most spiritual and the most +brutal; yet each one of these types must be reached, and each must be +helped in the place where he is. If evolution be true, this difficulty +is inevitable, and must be faced and overcome by the divine Teacher, +else will His work be a failure. If man is evolving as all around him +is evolving, these differences of development, these varied grades of +intelligence, must be a characteristic of humanity everywhere, and must +be provided for in each of the religions of the world. + +We are thus brought face to face with the position that we cannot have +one and the same religious teaching even for a single nation, still less +for a single civilisation, or for the whole world. If there be but one +teaching, a large number of those to whom it is addressed will entirely +escape its influence. If it be made suitable for those whose +intelligence is limited, whose morality is elementary, whose perceptions +are obtuse, so that it may help and train them, and thus enable them to +evolve, it will be a religion utterly unsuitable for those men, living +in the same nation, forming part of the same civilisation, who have keen +and delicate moral perceptions, bright and subtle intelligence, and +evolving spirituality. But if, on the other hand, this latter class is +to be helped, if intelligence is to be given a philosophy that it can +regard as admirable, if delicate moral perceptions are to be still +further refined, if the dawning spiritual nature is to be enabled to +develope into the perfect day, then the religion will be so spiritual, +so intellectual, and so moral, that when it is preached to the former +class it will not touch their minds or their hearts, it will be to them +a string of meaningless phrases, incapable of arousing their latent +intelligence, or of giving them any motive for conduct which will help +them to grow into a purer morality. + +Looking, then, at these facts concerning religion, considering its +object, its means, its origin, the nature and varying needs of the +people to whom it is addressed, recognising the evolution of spiritual, +intellectual, and moral faculties in man, and the need of each man for +such training as is suitable for the stage of evolution at which he has +arrived, we are led to the absolute necessity of a varied and graduated +religious teaching, such as will meet these different needs and help +each man in his own place. + +There is yet another reason why esoteric teaching is desirable with +respect to a certain class of truths. It is eminently the fact in +regard to this class that "knowledge is power." The public promulgation +of a philosophy profoundly intellectual, sufficient to train an already +highly developed intellect, and to draw the allegiance of a lofty mind, +cannot injure any. It can be preached without hesitation, for it does +not attract the ignorant, who turn away from it as dry, stiff, and +uninteresting. But there are teachings which deal with the constitution +of nature, explain recondite laws, and throw light on hidden processes, +the knowledge of which gives control over natural energies, and enables +its possessor to direct these energies to certain ends, as a chemist +deals with the production of chemical compounds. Such knowledge may be +very useful to highly developed men, and may much increase their power +of serving the race. But if this knowledge were published to the world, +it might and would be misused, just as the knowledge of subtle poisons +was misused in the Middle Ages by the Borgias and by others. It would +pass into the hands of people of strong intellect, but of unregulated +desires, men moved by separative instincts, seeking the gain of their +separate selves and careless of the common good. They would be attracted +by the idea of gaining powers which would raise them above the general +level, and place ordinary humanity at their mercy, and would rush to +acquire the knowledge which exalts its possessors to a superhuman rank. +They would, by its possession, become yet more selfish and confirmed in +their separateness, their pride would be nourished and their sense of +aloofness intensified, and thus they would inevitably be driven along +the road which leads to diabolism, the Left Hand Path, whose goal is +isolation and not union. And they would not only themselves suffer in +their inner nature, but they would also become a menace to Society, +already suffering sufficiently at the hands of men whose intellect is +more evolved than their conscience. Hence arises the necessity of +withholding certain teachings from those who, morally, are as yet +unfitted to receive them; and this necessity presses on every Teacher +who is able to impart such knowledge. He desires to give it to those +who will use the powers it confers for the general good, for quickening +human evolution; but he equally desires to be no party to giving it to +those who would use it for their own aggrandisement at the cost of +others. + +Nor is this a matter of theory only, according to the Occult Records, +which give the details of the events alluded to in Genesis vi. _et seq._ +This knowledge was, in those ancient times and on the continent of +Atlantis, given without any rigid conditions as to the moral elevation, +purity, and unselfishness of the candidates. Those who were +intellectually qualified were taught, just as men are taught ordinary +science in modern days. The publicity now so imperiously demanded was +then given, with the result that men became giants in knowledge but also +giants in evil, till the earth groaned under her oppressors and the cry +of a trampled humanity rang through the worlds. Then came the +destruction of Atlantis, the whelming of that vast continent beneath the +waters of the ocean, some particulars of which are given in the Hebrew +Scriptures in the story of the Noachian deluge, and in the Hindu +Scriptures of the further East in the story of Vaivasvata Manu. + +Since that experience of the danger of allowing unpurified hands to +grasp the knowledge which is power, the great Teachers have imposed +rigid conditions as regards purity, unselfishness, and self-control on +all candidates for such instruction. They distinctly refuse to impart +knowledge of this kind to any who will not consent to a rigid +discipline, intended to eliminate separateness of feeling and interest. +They measure the moral strength of the candidate even more than his +intellectual development, for the teaching itself will develope the +intellect while it puts a strain on the moral nature. Far better that +the Great Ones should be assailed by the ignorant for Their supposed +selfishness in withholding knowledge, than that They should precipitate +the world into another Atlantean catastrophe. + +So much of theory we lay down as bearing on the necessity of a hidden +side in all religions. When from theory we turn to facts, we naturally +ask: Has this hidden side existed in the past, forming a part of the +religions of the world? The answer must be an immediate and unhesitating +affirmative; every great religion has claimed to possess a hidden +teaching, and has declared that it is the repository of theoretical +mystic, and further of practical mystic, or occult, knowledge. The +mystic explanation of popular teaching was public, and expounded the +latter as an allegory, giving to crude and irrational statements and +stories a meaning which the intellect could accept. Behind this +theoretical mysticism, as it was behind the popular, there existed +further the practical mysticism, a hidden spiritual teaching, which was +only imparted under definite conditions, conditions known and published, +that must be fulfilled by every candidate. S. Clement of Alexandria +mentions this division of the Mysteries. After purification, he says, +"are the Minor Mysteries, which have some foundation of instruction and +of preliminary preparation for what is to come after; and the Great +Mysteries, in which nothing remains to be learned of the universe, but +only to contemplate and comprehend nature and things."[9] + +This position cannot be controverted as regards the ancient religions. +The Mysteries of Egypt were the glory of that ancient land, and the +noblest sons of Greece, such as Plato, went to Sais and to Thebes to be +initiated by Egyptian Teachers of Wisdom. The Mithraic Mysteries of the +Persians, the Orphic and Bacchic Mysteries and the later Eleusinian +semi-Mysteries of the Greeks, the Mysteries of Samothrace, Scythia, +Chaldea, are familiar in name, at least, as household words. Even in the +extremely diluted form of the Eleusinian Mysteries, their value is most +highly praised by the most eminent men of Greece, as Pindar, Sophocles, +Isocrates, Plutarch, and Plato. Especially were they regarded as useful +with regard to _post-mortem_ existence, as the Initiated learned that +which ensured his future happiness. Sopater further alleged that +Initiation established a kinship of the soul with the divine Nature, and +in the exoteric Hymn to Demeter covert references are made to the holy +child, Iacchus, and to his death and resurrection, as dealt with in the +Mysteries.[10] + +From Iamblichus, the great theurgist of the third and fourth centuries +A.D., much may be learned as to the object of the Mysteries. Theurgy was +magic, "the last part of the sacerdotal science,"[11] and was practised +in the Greater Mysteries, to evoke the appearance of superior Beings. +The theory on which these Mysteries were based may be very briefly thus +stated: There is ONE, prior to all beings, immovable, abiding in the +solitude of His own unity. From THAT arises the Supreme God, the +Self-begotten, the Good, the Source of all things, the Root, the God of +Gods, the First Cause, unfolding Himself into Light.[12] From Him +springs the Intelligible World, or ideal universe, the Universal Mind, +the _Nous_ and the incorporeal or intelligible Gods belong to this. +From this the World-Soul, to which belong the "divine intellectual forms +which are present with the visible bodies of the Gods."[13] Then come +various hierarchies of superhuman beings, Archangels, Archons (Rulers) +or Cosmocratores, Angels, Daimons, &c. Man is a being of a lower order, +allied to these in his nature, and is capable of knowing them; this +knowledge was achieved in the Mysteries, and it led to union with +God.[14] In the Mysteries these doctrines are expounded, "the +progression from, and the regression of all things to, the One, and the +entire domination of the One,"[15] and, further, these different Beings +were evoked, and appeared, sometimes to teach, sometimes, by Their mere +presence, to elevate and purify. "The Gods," says Iamblichus, "being +benevolent and propitious, impart their light to theurgists in unenvying +abundance, calling upwards their souls to themselves, procuring them a +union with themselves, and accustoming them, while they are yet in body, +to be separated from bodies, and to be led round to their eternal and +intelligible principle."[16] For "the soul having a twofold life, one +being in conjunction with body, but the other being separate from all +body,"[17] it is most necessary to learn to separate it from the body, +that thus it may unite itself with the Gods by its intellectual and +divine part, and learn the genuine principles of knowledge, and the +truths of the intelligible world.[18] "The presence of the Gods, indeed, +imparts to us health of body, virtue of soul, purity of intellect, and, +in one word, elevates everything in us to its proper nature. It exhibits +that which is not body as body to the eyes of the soul, through those of +the body."[19] When the Gods appear, the soul receives "a liberation +from the passions, a transcendent perfection, and an energy entirely +more excellent, and participates of divine love and an immense joy."[20] +By this we gain a divine life, and are rendered in reality divine.[21] + +The culminating point of the Mysteries was when the Initiate became a +God, whether by union with a divine Being outside himself, or by the +realisation of the divine Self within him. This was termed ecstasy, and +was a state of what the Indian Yogi would term high Samadhi, the gross +body being entranced and the freed soul effecting its own union with the +Great One. This "ecstasy is not a faculty properly so called, it is a +state of the soul, which transforms it in such a way that it then +perceives what was previously hidden from it. The state will not be +permanent until our union with God is irrevocable; here, in earth life, +ecstasy is but a flash.... Man can cease to become man, and become God; +but man cannot be God and man at the same time."[22] Plotinus states +that he had reached this state "but three times as yet." + +So also Proclus taught that the one salvation of the soul was to return +to her intellectual form, and thus escape from the "circle of +generation, from abundant wanderings," and reach true Being, "to the +uniform and simple energy of the period of sameness, instead of the +abundantly wandering motion of the period which is characterised by +difference." This is the life sought by those initiated by Orpheus into +the Mysteries of Bacchus and Proserpine, and this is the result of the +practice of the purificatory, or cathartic, virtues.[23] + +These virtues were necessary for the Greater Mysteries, as they +concerned the purifying of the subtle body, in which the soul worked +when out of the gross body. The political or practical virtues belonged +to man's ordinary life, and were required to some extent before he could +be a candidate even for such a School as is described below. Then came +the cathartic virtues, by which the subtle body, that of the emotions +and lower mind, was purified; thirdly the intellectual, belonging to the +Augoeides, or the light-form of the intellect; fourthly the +contemplative, or paradigmatic, by which union with God was realised. +Porphyry writes: "He who energises according to the practical virtues is +a worthy man; but he who energises according to the purifying virtues is +an angelic man, or is also a good daimon. He who energises according to +the intellectual virtues alone is a God; but he who energises according +to the paradigmatic virtues is the Father of the Gods."[24] + +Much instruction was also given in the Mysteries by the archangelic and +other hierarchies, and Pythagoras, the great teacher who was initiated +in India, and who gave "the knowledge of things that are" to his pledged +disciples, is said to have possessed such a knowledge of music that he +could use it for the controlling of men's wildest passions, and the +illuminating of their minds. Of this, instances are given by Iamblichus +in his _Life of Pythagoras_. It seems probable that the title of +Theodidaktos, given to Ammonius Saccas, the master of Plotinus, referred +less to the sublimity of his teachings than to this divine instruction +received by him in the Mysteries. + +Some of the symbols used are explained by Iamblichus,[25] who bids +Porphyry remove from his thought the image of the thing symbolised and +reach its intellectual meaning. Thus "mire" meant everything that was +bodily and material; the "God sitting above the lotus" signified that +God transcended both the mire and the intellect, symbolised by the +lotus, and was established in Himself, being seated. If "sailing in a +ship," His rule over the world was pictured. And so on.[26] On this use +of symbols Proclus remarks that "the Orphic method aimed at revealing +divine things by means of symbols, a method common to all writers of +divine lore."[27] + +The Pythagorean School in Magna Graecia was closed at the end of the +sixth century B.C., owing to the persecution of the civil power, but +other communities existed, keeping up the sacred tradition.[28] Mead +states that Plato intellectualised it, in order to protect it from an +increasing profanation, and the Eleusinian rites preserved some of its +forms, having lost its substance. The Neo-Platonists inherited from +Pythagoras and Plato, and their works should be studied by those who +would realise something of the grandeur and the beauty preserved for +the world in the Mysteries. + +The Pythagorean School itself may serve as a type of the discipline +enforced. On this Mead gives many interesting details,[29] and remarks: +"The authors of antiquity are agreed that this discipline had succeeded +in producing the highest examples, not only of the purest chastity and +sentiment, but also a simplicity of manners, a delicacy, and a taste for +serious pursuits which was unparalleled. This is admitted even by +Christian writers." The School had outer disciples, leading the family +and social life, and the above quotation refers to these. In the inner +School were three degrees--the first of Hearers, who studied for two +years in silence, doing their best to master the teachings; the second +degree was of Mathematici, wherein were taught geometry and music, the +nature of number, form, colour, and sound; the third degree was of +Physici, who mastered cosmogony and metaphysics. This led up to the true +Mysteries. Candidates for the School must be "of an unblemished +reputation and of a contented disposition." + +The close identity between the methods and aims pursued in these various +Mysteries and those of Yoga in India is patent to the most superficial +observer. It is not, however, necessary to suppose that the nations of +antiquity drew from India; all alike drew from the one source, the Grand +Lodge of Central Asia, which sent out its Initiates to every land. They +all taught the same doctrines, and pursued the same methods, leading to +the same ends. But there was much intercommunication between the +Initiates of all nations, and there was a common language and a common +symbolism. Thus Pythagoras journeyed among the Indians, and received in +India a high Initiation, and Apollonius of Tyana later followed in his +steps. Quite Indian in phrase as well as thought were the dying words of +Plotinus: "Now I seek to lead back the Self within me to the +All-self."[30] + +Among the Hindus the duty of teaching the supreme knowledge only to the +worthy was strictly insisted on. "The deepest mystery of the end of +knowledge ... is not to be declared to one who is not a son or a pupil, +and who is not tranquil in mind."[31] So again, after a sketch of Yoga +we read: "Stand up! awake! having found the Great Ones, listen! The road +is as difficult to tread as the sharp edge of a razor. Thus say the +wise."[32] The Teacher is needed, for written teaching alone does not +suffice. The "end of knowledge" is to know God--not only to believe; to +become one with God--not only to worship afar off. Man must know the +reality of the divine Existence, and then know--not only vaguely believe +and hope--that his own innermost Self is one with God, and that the aim +of life is to realise that unity. Unless religion can guide a man to +that realisation, it is but "as sounding brass or a tinkling +cymbal."[33] + +So also it was asserted that man should learn to leave the gross body: +"Let a man with firmness separate it [the soul] from his own body, as a +grass-stalk from its sheath."[34] And it was written! "In the golden +highest sheath dwells the stainless, changeless Brahman; It is the +radiant white Light of lights, known to the knowers of the Self."[35] +"When the seer sees the golden-coloured Creator, the Lord, the Spirit, +whose womb is Brahman, then, having thrown away merit and demerit, +stainless, the wise one reaches the highest union."[36] + +Nor were the Hebrews without their secret knowledge and their Schools of +Initiation. The company of prophets at Naioth presided over by +Samuel[37] formed such a School, and the oral teaching was handed down +by them. Similar Schools existed at Bethel and Jericho,[38] and in +Cruden's _Concordance_[39] there is the following interesting note: "The +Schools or Colleges of the prophets are the first [schools] of which we +have any account in Scripture; where the children of the prophets, that +is, their disciples, lived in the exercises of a retired and austere +life, in study and meditation, and reading of the law of God.... These +Schools, or Societies, of the prophets were succeeded by the +Synagogues." The _Kabbala_, which contains the semi-public teaching, is, +as it now stands, a modern compilation, part of it being the work of +Rabbi Moses de Leon, who died A.D. 1305. It consists of five books, +Bahir, Zohar, Sepher Sephiroth, Sepher Yetzirah, and Asch Metzareth, and +is asserted to have been transmitted orally from very ancient times--as +antiquity is reckoned historically. Dr. Wynn Westcott says that "Hebrew +tradition assigns the oldest parts of the Zohar to a date antecedent to +the building of the second Temple;" and Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai is said +to have written down some of it in the first century A.D. The Sepher +Yetzirah is spoken of by Saadjah Gaon, who died A.D. 940, as "very +ancient."[40] Some portions of the ancient oral teaching have been +incorporated in the _Kabbala_ as it now stands, but the true archaic +wisdom of the Hebrews remains in the guardianship of a few of the true +sons of Israel. + +Brief as is this outline, it is sufficient to show the existence of a +hidden side in the religions of the world outside Christianity, and we +may now examine the question whether Christianity was an exception to +this universal rule. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY. + + +_(a)_ THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES. + +Having seen that the religions of the past claimed with one voice to +have a hidden side, to be custodians of "Mysteries," and that this claim +was endorsed by the seeking of initiation by the greatest men, we must +now ascertain whether Christianity stands outside this circle of +religions, and alone is without a Gnosis, offering to the world only a +simple faith and not a profound knowledge. Were it so, it would indeed +be a sad and lamentable fact, proving Christianity to be intended for a +class only, and not for all types of human beings. But that it is not +so, we shall be able to prove beyond the possibility of rational doubt. + +And that proof is the thing which Christendom at this time most sorely +needs, for the very flower of Christendom is perishing for lack of +knowledge. If the esoteric teaching can be re-established and win +patient and earnest students, it will not be long before the occult is +also restored. Disciples of the Lesser Mysteries will become candidates +for the Greater, and with the regaining of knowledge will come again the +authority of teaching. And truly the need is great. For, looking at the +world around us, we find that religion in the West is suffering from the +very difficulty that theoretically we should expect to find. +Christianity, having lost its mystic and esoteric teaching, is losing +its hold on a large number of the more highly educated, and the partial +revival during the past few years is co-incident with the +re-introduction of some mystic teaching. It is patent to every student +of the closing forty years of the last century, that crowds of +thoughtful and moral people have slipped away from the churches, because +the teachings they received there outraged their intelligence and +shocked their moral sense. It is idle to pretend that the wide-spread +agnosticism of this period had its root either in lack of morality or in +deliberate crookedness of mind. Everyone who carefully studies the +phenomena presented will admit that men of strong intellect have been +driven out of Christianity by the crudity of the religious ideas set +before them, the contradictions in the authoritative teachings, the +views as to God, man, and the universe that no trained intelligence +could possibly admit. Nor can it be said that any kind of moral +degradation lay at the root of the revolt against the dogmas of the +Church. The rebels were not too bad for their religion; on the contrary, +it was the religion that was too bad for them. The rebellion against +popular Christianity was due to the awakening and the growth of +conscience; it was the conscience that revolted, as well as the +intelligence, against teachings dishonouring to God and man alike, that +represented God as a tyrant, and man as essentially evil, gaining +salvation by slavish submission. + +The reason for this revolt lay in the gradual descent of Christian +teaching into so-called simplicity, so that the most ignorant might be +able to grasp it. Protestant religionists asserted loudly that nothing +ought to be preached save that which every one could grasp, that the +glory of the Gospel lay in its simplicity, and that the child and the +unlearned ought to be able to understand and apply it to life. True +enough, if by this it were meant that there are some religious truths +that all can grasp, and that a religion fails if it leaves the lowest, +the most ignorant, the most dull, outside the pale of its elevating +influence. But false, utterly false, if by this it be meant that +religion has no truths that the ignorant cannot understand, that it is +so poor and limited a thing that it has nothing to teach which is above +the thought of the unintelligent or above the moral purview of the +degraded. False, fatally false, if such be the meaning; for as that view +spreads, occupying the pulpits and being sounded in the churches, many +noble men and women, whose hearts are half-broken as they sever the +links that bind them to their early faith, withdraw from the churches, +and leave their places to be filled by the hypocritical and the +ignorant. They pass either into a state of passive agnosticism, or--if +they be young and enthusiastic--into a condition of active aggression, +not believing that that can be the highest which outrages alike +intellect and conscience, and preferring the honesty of open unbelief to +the drugging of the intellect and the conscience at the bidding of an +authority in which they recognise nothing that is divine. + +In thus studying the thought of our time we see that the question of a +hidden teaching in connection with Christianity becomes of vital +importance. Is Christianity to survive as _the_ religion of the West? Is +it to live through the centuries of the future, and to continue to play +a part in moulding the thought of the evolving western races? If it is +to live, it must regain the knowledge it has lost, and again have its +mystic and its occult teachings; it must again stand forth as an +authoritative teacher of spiritual verities, clothed with the only +authority worth anything, the authority of knowledge. If these teachings +be regained, their influence will soon be seen in wider and deeper +views of truth; dogmas, which now seem like mere shells and fetters, +shall again be seen to be partial presentments of fundamental realities. +First, Esoteric Christianity will reappear in the "Holy Place," in the +Temple, so that all who are capable of receiving it may follow its lines +of published thought; and secondly, Occult Christianity will again +descend into the Adytum, dwelling behind the Veil which guards the "Holy +of Holies," into which only the Initiate may enter. Then again will +occult teaching be within the reach of those who qualify themselves to +receive it, according to the ancient rules, those who are willing in +modern days to meet the ancient demands, made on all those who would +fain know the reality and truth of spiritual things. + +Once again we turn our eyes to history, to see whether Christianity was +unique among religions in having no inner teaching, or whether it +resembled all others in possessing this hidden treasure. Such a question +is a matter of evidence, not of theory, and must be decided by the +authority of the existing documents and not by the mere _ipse dixit_ of +modern Christians. + +As a matter of fact both the "New Testament" and the writings of the +early Church make the same declarations as to the possession by the +Church of such teachings, and we learn from these the fact of the +existence of Mysteries--called the Mysteries of Jesus, or the Mystery of +the Kingdom--the conditions imposed on candidates, something of the +general nature of the teachings given, and other details. Certain +passages in the "New Testament" would remain entirely obscure, if it +were not for the light thrown on them by the definite statements of the +Fathers and Bishops of the Church, but in that light they became clear +and intelligible. + +It would indeed have been strange had it been otherwise when we consider +the lines of religious thought which influenced primitive Christianity. +Allied to the Hebrews, the Persians, and the Greeks, tinged by the older +faiths of India, deeply coloured by Syrian and Egyptian thought, this +later branch of the great religious stem could not do other than again +re-affirm the ancient traditions, and place in the grasp of western +races the full treasure of the ancient teaching. "The faith once +delivered to the saints" would indeed have been shorn of its chief value +if, when delivered to the West, the pearl of esoteric teaching had been +withheld. + +The first evidence to be examined is that of the "New Testament." For +our purpose we may put aside all the vexed questions of different +readings and different authors, that can only be decided by scholars. +Critical scholarship has much to say on the age of MSS., on the +authenticity of documents, and so on. But we need not concern ourselves +with these. We may accept the canonical Scriptures, as showing what was +believed in the early Church as to the teaching of the Christ and of His +immediate followers, and see what they say as to the existence of a +secret teaching given only to the few. Having seen the words put into +the mouth of Jesus Himself, and regarded by the Church as of supreme +authority, we will look at the writings of the great apostle S. Paul; +then we will consider the statements made by those who inherited the +apostolic tradition and guided the Church during the first centuries +A.D. Along this unbroken line of tradition and written testimony the +proposition that Christianity had a hidden side can be established. We +shall further find that the Lesser Mysteries of mystic interpretation +can be traced through the centuries to the beginning of the 19th +century, and that though there were no Schools of Mysticism recognised +as preparatory to Initiation, after the disappearance of the Mysteries, +yet great Mystics, from time to time, reached the lower stages of +exstasy, by their own sustained efforts, aided doubtless by invisible +Teachers. + +The words of the Master Himself are clear and definite, and were, as we +shall see, quoted by Origen as referring to the secret teaching +preserved in the Church. "And when he was alone, they that were about +Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable. And He said unto them, +'Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but +unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.'" And +later: "With many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they +were able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them; and +when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples."[41] Mark +the significant words, "when they were alone," and the phrase, "them +that are without." So also in the version of S. Matthew: "Jesus sent the +multitude away, and went into the house; and His disciples came unto +Him." These teachings given "in the house," the innermost meanings of +His instructions, were alleged to be handed on from teacher to teacher. +The Gospel gives, it will be noted, the allegorical mystic explanation, +that which we have called The Lesser Mysteries, but the deeper meaning +was said to be given only to the Initiates. + +Again, Jesus tells even His apostles: "I have yet many things to say to +you, but ye cannot bear them now."[42] Some of them were probably said +after His death, when He was seen of His disciples, "speaking of the +things pertaining to the kingdom of God."[43] None of these have been +publicly recorded, but who can believe that they were neglected or +forgotten, and were not handed down as a priceless possession? There was +a tradition in the Church that He visited His apostles for a +considerable period after His death, for the sake of giving them +instruction--a fact that will be referred to later--and in the famous +Gnostic treatise, the _Pistis Sophia_, we read: "It came to pass, when +Jesus had risen from the dead, that He passed eleven years speaking with +His disciples and instructing them."[44] Then there is the phrase, which +many would fain soften and explain away: "Give not that which is holy to +the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine"[45]--a precept which +is of general application indeed, but was considered by the early +Church to refer to the secret teachings. It should be remembered that +the words had not the same harshness of sound in the ancient days as +they have now; for the words "dogs"--like "the vulgar," "the +profane"--was applied by those within a certain circle to all who were +outside its pale, whether by a society or association, or by a +nation--as by the Jews to all Gentiles.[46] It was sometimes used to +designate those who were outside the circle of Initiates, and we find it +employed in that sense in the early Church; those who, not having been +initiated into the Mysteries, were regarded as being outside "the +kingdom of God," or "the spiritual Israel," had this name applied to +them. + +There were several names, exclusive of the term "The Mystery," or "The +Mysteries," used to designate the sacred circle of the Initiates or +connected with Initiation: "The Kingdom," "The Kingdom of God," "The +Kingdom of Heaven," "The Narrow Path," "The Strait Gate," "The +Perfect," "The Saved," "Life Eternal," "Life," "The Second Birth," "A +Little One," "A Little Child." The meaning is made plain by the use of +these words in early Christian writings, and in some cases even outside +the Christian pale. Thus the term, "The Perfect," was used by the +Essenes, who had three orders in their communities: the Neophytes, the +Brethren, and the Perfect--the latter being Initiates; and it is +employed generally in that sense in old writings. "The Little Child" was +the ordinary name for a candidate just initiated, _i.e._, who had just +taken his "second birth." + +When we know this use, many obscure and otherwise harsh passages become +intelligible. "Then said one unto Him: Lord, are there few that be +saved? And He said unto them: Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for +many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able."[47] +If this be applied in the ordinary Protestant way to salvation from +everlasting hell-fire, the statement becomes incredible, shocking. No +Saviour of the world can be supposed to assert that many will seek to +avoid hell and enter heaven, but will not be able to do so. But as +applied to the narrow gateway of Initiation and to salvation from +rebirth, it is perfectly true and natural. So again: "Enter ye in at the +strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to +destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is +the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life; and few there be +that find it."[48] The warning which immediately follows against the +false prophets, the teachers of the dark Mysteries, is most apposite in +this connection. No student can miss the familiar ring of these words +used in this same sense in other writings. The "ancient narrow way" is +familiar to all; the path "difficult to tread as the sharp edge of a +razor,"[49] already mentioned; the going "from death to death" of those +who follow the flower-strewn path of desires, who do not know God; for +those men only become immortal and escape from the wide mouth of death, +from ever repeated destruction, who have quitted all desires.[50] The +allusion to death is, of course, to the repeated births of the soul into +gross material existence, regarded always as "death" compared to the +"life" of the higher and subtler worlds. + +This "Strait Gate" was the gateway of Initiation, and through it a +candidate entered "The Kingdom." And it ever has been, and must be, true +that only a few can enter that gateway, though myriads--an exceedingly +"great multitude, which no man could number,"[51] not a few--enter into +the happiness of the heaven-world. So also spoke another great Teacher, +nearly three thousand years earlier: "Among thousands of men scarce one +striveth for perfection; of the successful strivers scarce one knoweth +me in essence."[52] For the Initiates are few in each generation, the +flower of humanity; but no gloomy sentence of everlasting woe is +pronounced in this statement on the vast majority of the human race. +The saved are, as Proclus taught,[53] those who escape from the circle +of generation, within which humanity is bound. + +In this connection we may recall the story of the young man who came to +Jesus, and, addressing Him as "Good Master," asked how he might win +eternal life--the well-recognised liberation from rebirth by knowledge +of God.[54] His first answer was the regular exoteric precept: "Keep the +commandments." But when the young man answered: "All these things have I +kept from my youth up;" then, to that conscience free from all knowledge +of transgression, came the answer of the true Teacher: "If thou wilt be +perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou +shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." "If thou wilt be +perfect," be a member of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience must be +embraced. And then to His own disciples Jesus explains that a rich man +can hardly enter the Kingdom of Heaven, such entrance being more +difficult than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle; with men +such entrance could not be, with God all things were possible.[55] Only +God in man can pass that barrier. + +This text has been variously explained away, it being obviously +impossible to take it in its surface meaning, that a rich man cannot +enter a post-mortem state of happiness. Into that state the rich man may +enter as well as the poor, and the universal practice of Christians +shows that they do not for one moment believe that riches imperil their +happiness after death. But if the real meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven +be taken, we have the expression of a simple and direct fact. For that +knowledge of God which is Eternal Life[56] cannot be gained till +everything earthly is surrendered, cannot be learned until everything +has been sacrificed. The man must give up not only earthly wealth, which +henceforth may only pass through his hands as steward, but he must give +up his inner wealth as well, so far as he holds it as his own against +the world; until he is stripped naked he cannot pass the narrow gateway. +Such has ever been a condition of Initiation, and "poverty, obedience, +chastity," has been the vow of the candidate. + +The "second birth" is another well-recognised term for Initiation; even +now in India the higher castes are called "twice-born," and the ceremony +that makes them twice-born is a ceremony of Initiation--mere husk truly, +in these modern days, but the "pattern of things in the heavens."[57] +When Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, He states that "Except a man be +born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," and this birth is spoken +of as that "of water and the Spirit;"[58] this is the first Initiation; +a later one is that of "the Holy Ghost and fire,"[59] the baptism of the +Initiate in his manhood, as the first is that of birth, which welcomes +him as "the Little Child" entering the Kingdom.[60] How thoroughly this +imagery was familiar among the mystic of the Jews is shown by the +surprise evinced by Jesus when Nicodemus stumbled over His mystic +phraseology: "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these +things?"[61] + +Another precept of Jesus which remains as "a hard saying" to his +followers is: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in +heaven is perfect."[62] The ordinary Christian knows that he cannot +possibly obey this command; full of ordinary human frailties and +weaknesses, how can he become perfect as God is perfect? Seeing the +impossibility of the achievement set before him, he quietly puts it +aside, and thinks no more about it. But seen as the crowning effort of +many lives of steady improvement, as the triumph of the God within us +over the lower nature, it comes within calculable distance, and we +recall the words of Porphyry, how the man who achieves "the paradigmatic +virtues is the Father of the Gods,"[63] and that in the Mysteries these +virtues were acquired. + +S. Paul follows in the footsteps of his Master, and speaks in exactly +the same sense, but, as might be expected from his organising work in +the Church, with greater explicitness and clearness. The student should +read with attention chapters ii. and iii., and verse 1 of chapter iv. of +the First Epistle to the Corinthians, remembering, as he reads, that the +words are addressed to baptised and communicant members of the Church, +full members from the modern standpoint, although described as babes and +carnal by the Apostle. They were not catechumens or neophytes, but men +and women who were in complete possession of all the privileges and +responsibilities of Church membership, recognised by the Apostle as +being separate from the world, and expected not to behave as men of the +world. They were, in fact, in possession of all that the modern Church +gives to its members. Let us summarise the Apostle's words: + +"I came to you bearing the divine testimony, not alluring you with human +wisdom but with the power of the Spirit. Truly 'we speak wisdom among +them that are perfect,' but it is no human wisdom. 'We speak the wisdom +of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before +the world' began, and which none even of the princes of this world know. +The things of that wisdom are beyond men's thinking, 'but God hath +revealed them unto us by his Spirit ... the deep things of God,' 'which +the Holy Ghost teacheth.'[64] These are spiritual things, to be +discerned only by the spiritual man, in whom is the mind of Christ. 'And +I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto +carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.... Ye were not able to bear it, +neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.' 'As a wise +master-builder[65] I have laid the foundation,' and 'ye are the temple +of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.' 'Let a man so account +of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the Mysteries of +God.'" + +Can any one read this passage--and all that has been done in the summary +is to bring out the salient points--without recognising the fact that +the Apostle possessed a divine wisdom given in the Mysteries, that his +Corinthian followers were not yet able to receive? And note the +recurring technical terms: the "wisdom," the "wisdom of God in a +mystery," the "hidden wisdom," known only to the "spiritual" man, spoken +of only among the "perfect," wisdom from which the non-"spiritual," the +"babes in Christ," the "carnal," were excluded, known to the "wise +master-builder," the "steward of the Mysteries of God." + +Again and again he refers to these Mysteries. Writing to the Ephesian +Christians he says that "by revelation," by the unveiling, had been +"made known unto me the Mystery," and hence his "knowledge in the +Mystery of Christ"; all might know of the "fellowship of the +Mystery."[66] Of this Mystery, he repeated to the Colossians, he was +"made a minister," "the Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from +generations, but now is made manifest to His saints"; not to the world, +nor even to Christians, but only to the Holy Ones. To them was unveiled +"the glory of this Mystery"; and what was it? "Christ _in you_"--a +significant phrase, which we shall see, in a moment, belonged to the +life of the Initiate; thus ultimately must every man learn the wisdom, +and become "perfect in Christ Jesus."[67] These Colossians he bids pray +"that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of +Christ,"[68] a passage to which S. Clement refers as one in which the +apostle "clearly reveals that knowledge belongs not to all."[69] So +also he writes to his loved Timothy, bidding him select his deacons from +those who hold "the Mystery of the faith in a pure conscience," that +great "Mystery of Godliness," that he had learned,[70] knowledge of +which was necessary for the teachers of the Church. + +Now S. Timothy holds an important position, as representing the next +generation of Christian teachers. He was a pupil of S. Paul, and was +appointed by him to guide and rule a portion of the Church. He had been, +we learn, initiated into the Mysteries by S. Paul himself, and reference +is made to this, the technical phrases once more serving as a clue. +"This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the +prophecies which went before on thee,"[71] the solemn benediction of the +Initiator, who admitted the candidate; but not alone was the Initiator +present: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by +prophecy, by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery,"[72] of the +Elder Brothers. And he reminds him to lay hold of that "eternal life, +whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession +before many witnesses"[73]--the vow of the new Initiate, pledged in the +presence of the Elder Brothers, and of the assembly of Initiates. The +knowledge then given was the sacred charge of which S. Paul cries out so +forcibly: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy +trust"[74]--not the knowledge commonly possessed by Christians, as to +which no special obligation lay upon S. Timothy, but the sacred deposit +committed to his trust as an Initiate, and essential to the welfare of +the Church. S. Paul later recurs again to this, laying stress on the +supreme importance of the matter in a way that would be exaggerated had +the knowledge been the common property of Christian men: "Hold fast the +form of sound words which thou hast heard of me.... That good thing +which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in +us"[75]--as serious an adjuration as human lips could frame. Further, +it was his duty to provide for the due transmission of this sacred +deposit, that it might be handed on to the future, and the Church might +never be left without teachers: "The things that thou hast heard of me +among many witnesses"--the sacred oral teachings given in the assembly +of Initiates, who bore witness to the accuracy of the transmission--"the +same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others +also."[76] + +The knowledge--or, if the phrase be preferred, the supposition--that the +Church possessed these hidden teachings throws a flood of light on the +scattered remarks made by S. Paul about himself, and when they are +gathered together, we have an outline of the evolution of the Initiate. +S. Paul asserts that though he was already among the perfect, the +initiated--for he says: "Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be +thus minded"--he had not yet "attained," was indeed not yet wholly +"perfect," for he had not yet won Christ, he had not yet reached the +"high calling of God in Christ," "the power of His resurrection, and +the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His +death;" and he was striving, he says, "if by any means I might attain +unto the resurrection of the dead."[77] For this was the Initiation that +liberated, that made the Initiate the Perfect Master, the Risen Christ, +freeing Him finally from the "dead," from the humanity within the circle +of generation, from the bonds that fettered the soul to gross matter. +Here again we have a number of technical terms, and even the surface +reader should realise that the "resurrection of the dead" here spoken of +cannot be the ordinary resurrection of the modern Christian, supposed to +be inevitable for all men, and therefore obviously not requiring any +special struggle on the part of any one to attain to it. In fact the +very word "attain" would be out of place in referring to a universal and +inevitable human experience. S. Paul could not avoid _that_ +resurrection, according to the modern Christian view. What then was the +resurrection to attain which he was making such strenuous efforts? Once +more the only answer comes from the Mysteries. In them the Initiate +approaching the Initiation that liberated from the cycle of rebirth, the +circle of generation, was called "the suffering Christ;" he shared the +sufferings of the Saviour of the world, was crucified mystically, "made +conformable to His death," and then attained the resurrection, the +fellowship of the glorified Christ, and, after, that death had over him +no power.[78] This was "the prize" towards which the great Apostle was +pressing, and he urged "as many as be perfect," _not the ordinary +believer_, thus also to strive. Let them not be content with what they +had gained, but still press onwards. + +This resemblance of the Initiate to the Christ is, indeed, the very +groundwork of the Greater Mysteries, as we shall see more in detail when +we study "The Mystical Christ." The Initiate was no longer to look on +Christ as outside himself: "Though we have known Christ after the +flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more."[79] + +The ordinary believer had "put on Christ;" "as many of you as have been +baptised into Christ have put on Christ."[80] Then they were the "babes +in Christ" to whom reference has already been made, and Christ was the +Saviour to whom they looked for help, knowing Him "after the flesh." But +when they had conquered the lower nature and were no longer "carnal," +then they were to enter on a higher path, and were themselves to become +Christ. This which he himself had already reached, was the longing of +the Apostle for his followers: "My little children, of whom I travail in +birth again until Christ be formed _in you_."[81] Already he was their +spiritual father, having "begotten you through the gospel."[82] But now +"again" he was as a parent, as their mother to bring them to the second +birth. Then the infant Christ, the Holy Child, was born in the soul, +"the hidden man of the heart;"[83] the Initiate thus became that +"Little Child"; henceforth he was to live out in his own person the life +of the Christ, until he became the "perfect man," growing "unto the +measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."[84] Then he, as S. Paul +was doing, filled up the sufferings of Christ in his own flesh,[85] and +always bore "about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,"[86] so that +he could truly say: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; +yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."[87] Thus was the Apostle himself +suffering; thus he describes himself. And when the struggle is over, how +different is the calm tone of triumph from the strained effort of the +earlier years: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my +departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a +crown of righteousness."[88] This was the crown given to "him that +overcometh," of whom it is said by the ascended Christ: "I will make him +a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out."[89] For +after the "Resurrection" the Initiate has become the Perfect Man, the +Master, and He goes out no more from the Temple, but from it serves and +guides the worlds. + +It may be well to point out, ere closing this chapter, that S. Paul +himself sanctions the use of the theoretical mystic teaching in +explaining the historical events recorded in the Scriptures. The history +therein written is not regarded by him as a mere record of facts, which +occurred on the physical plane. A true mystic, he saw in the physical +events the shadows of the universal truths ever unfolding in higher and +inner worlds, and knew that the events selected for preservation in +occult writings were such as were typical, the explanation of which +would subserve human instruction. Thus he takes the story of Abraham, +Sarai, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, and saying, "which things are an +allegory," he proceeds to give the mystical interpretation.[90] +Referring to the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, he speaks of the +Red Sea as a baptism, of the manna and the water as spiritual meat and +spiritual drink, of the rock from which the water flowed as Christ.[91] +He sees the great mystery of the union of Christ and His Church in the +human relation of husband and wife, and speaks of Christians as the +flesh and the bones of the body of Christ.[92] The writer of the Epistle +to the Hebrews allegorises the whole Jewish system of worship. In the +Temple he sees a pattern of the heavenly Temple, in the High Priest he +sees Christ, in the sacrifices the offering of the spotless Son; the +priests of the Temple are but "the example and shadow of heavenly +things," of the heavenly priesthood serving in "the true tabernacle." A +most elaborate allegory is thus worked out in chapters iii.-x., and the +writer alleges that the Holy Ghost thus signified the deeper meaning; +all was "a figure for the time." + +In this view of the sacred writings, it is not alleged that the events +recorded did not take place, but only that their physical happening was +a matter of minor importance. And such explanation is the unveiling of +the Lesser Mysteries, the mystic teaching which is permitted to be given +to the world. It is not, as many think, a mere play of the imagination, +but is the outcome of a true intuition, seeing the patterns in the +heavens, and not only the shadows cast by them on the screen of earthly +time. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY(_concluded_). + +(_(b)_) THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH. + + +While it may be that some would be willing to admit the possession by +the Apostles and their immediate successors of a deeper knowledge of +spiritual things than was current among the masses of the believers +around them, few will probably be willing to take the next step, and, +leaving that charmed circle, accept as the depository of their sacred +learning the Mysteries of the Early Church. Yet we have S. Paul +providing for the transmission of the unwritten teaching, himself +initiating S. Timothy, and instructing S. Timothy to initiate others in +his turn, who should again hand it on to yet others. We thus see the +provision of four successive generations of teachers, spoken of in the +Scriptures themselves, and these would far more than overlap the writers +of the Early Church, who bear witness to the existence of the Mysteries. +For among these are pupils of the Apostles themselves, though the most +definite statements belong to those removed from the Apostles by one +intermediate teacher. Now, as soon as we begin to study the writings of +the Early Church, we are met by the facts that there are allusions which +are only intelligible by the existence of the Mysteries, and then +statements that the Mysteries are existing. This might, of course, have +been expected, seeing the point at which the New Testament leaves the +matter, but it is satisfactory to find the facts answer to the +expectation. + +The first witnesses are those called the Apostolic Fathers, the +disciples of the Apostles; but very little of their writings, and that +disputed, remains. Not being written controversially, the statements are +not as categorical as those of the later writers. Their letters are for +the encouragement of the believers. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and +fellow-disciple with Ignatius of S. John,[93] expresses a hope that his +correspondents are "well versed in the sacred Scriptures and that +nothing is hid from you; but to me this privilege is not yet +granted"[94]--writing, apparently, before reaching full Initiation. +Barnabas speaks of communicating "some portion of what I have myself +received,"[95] and after expounding the Law mystically, declares that +"we then, rightly understanding His commandments, explain them as the +Lord intended."[96] Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, a disciple of S. +John,[97] speaks of himself as "not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For I +now begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as my +fellow-disciples,"[98] and he speaks of them as "initiated into the +mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred."[99] Again +he says: "Might I not write to you things more full of mystery? But I +fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes. +Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their +weighty import, ye should be strangled by them. For even I, though I am +bound [for Christ] and am able to understand heavenly things, the +angelic orders, and the different sorts of angels and hosts, the +distinction between powers and dominions, and the diversities between +thrones and authorities, the mightiness of the aeons, and the +pre-eminence of the cherubim and seraphim, the sublimity of the Spirit, +the kingdom of the Lord, and above all the incomparable majesty of +Almighty God--though I am acquainted with these things, yet am I not +therefore by any means perfect, nor am I such a disciple as Paul or +Peter."[100] This passage is interesting, as indicating that the +organisation of the celestial hierarchies was one of the subjects in +which instruction was given in the Mysteries. Again he speaks of the +High Priest, the Hierophant, "to whom the holy of holies has been +committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of +God."[101] + +We come next to S. Clement of Alexandria and his pupil Origen, the two +writers of the second and third centuries who tell us most about the +Mysteries in the Early Church; though the general atmosphere is full of +mystic allusions, these two are clear and categorical in their +statements that the Mysteries were a recognised institution. + +Now S. Clement was a disciple of Pantaenus, and he speaks of him and of +two others, said to be probably Tatian and Theodotus, as "preserving the +tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy +Apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul,"[102] his link with the Apostles +themselves consisting thus of only one intermediary. He was the head of +the Catechetical School of Alexandria in A.D. 189, and died about A.D. +220. Origen, born about A.D. 185, was his pupil, and he is, perhaps, +the most learned of the Fathers, and a man of the rarest moral beauty. +These are the witnesses from whom we receive the most important +testimony as to the existence of definite Mysteries in the Early Church. + +The _Stromata_, or Miscellanies, of S. Clement are our source of +information about the Mysteries in his time. He himself speaks of these +writings as a "miscellany of Gnostic notes, according to the true +philosophy,"[103] and also describes them as memoranda of the teachings +he had himself received from Pantaenus. The passage is instructive: "The +Lord ... allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of +that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not +certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to +the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of +receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are +entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if +one say[104] that it is written, 'There is nothing secret which shall +not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,' let him also +hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall +be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who +is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is +veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall +appear manifest to the few.... The Mysteries are delivered mystically, +that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in +his voice, but in his understanding.... The writing of these memoranda +of mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of +grace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall +the archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus." The Thyrsus, we +may here interject, was the wand borne by Initiates, and candidates were +touched with it during the ceremony of Initiation. It had a mystic +significance, symbolising the spinal cord and the pineal gland in the +Lesser Mysteries, and a Rod, known to Occultists, in the Greater. To +say, therefore, "to him who was struck with the Thyrsus" was exactly the +same as to say, "to him who was initiated in the Mysteries." Clement +proceeds: "We profess not to explain secret things sufficiently--far +from it--but only to recall them to memory, whether we have forgot +aught, or whether for the purpose of not forgetting. Many things, I well +know, have escaped us, through length of time, that have dropped away +unwritten.... There are then some things of which we have no +recollection; for the power that was in the blessed men was great." A +frequent experience of those taught by the Great Ones, for Their +presence stimulates and renders active powers which are normally latent, +and which the pupil, unassisted, cannot evoke. "There are also some +things which remained unnoted long, which have now escaped; and others +which are effaced, having faded away in the mind itself, since such a +task is not easy to those not experienced; these I revive in my +commentaries. Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a wise +selection, afraid to write what I guarded against speaking; not +grudging--for that were wrong--but fearing for my readers, lest they +should stumble by taking them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb +says, we should be found 'reaching a sword to a child.' For it is +impossible that what has been written should not escape [become known], +although remaining unpublished by me. But being always revolved, using +the one only voice, that of writing, they answer nothing to him that +makes enquiries beyond what is written; for they require of necessity +the aid of some one, either of him who wrote, or of some one else who +has walked in his footsteps. Some things my treatise will hint; on some +it will linger; some it will merely mention. It will try to speak +imperceptibly, to exhibit secretly, and to demonstrate silently."[105] + +This passage, if it stood alone, would suffice to establish the +existence of a secret teaching in the Early Church. But it stands by no +means alone. In Chapter xii. of this same Book I., headed, "The +Mysteries of the Faith not to be divulged to all," Clement declares +that, since others than the wise may see his work, "it is requisite, +therefore, to hide in a Mystery the wisdom spoken, which the Son of God +taught." Purified tongue of the speaker, purified ears of the hearer, +these were necessary. "Such were the impediments in the way of my +writing. And even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before +swine, lest they tread them under foot and turn and rend us.' For it is +difficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting +the true light, to swinish and untrained hearers. For scarcely could +anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the +multitude; nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more +inspiring to those of noble nature. But the wise do not utter with their +mouth what they reason in council. 'But what ye hear in the ear,' said +the Lord, 'proclaim upon the houses'; bidding them receive the secret +traditions of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and +conspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to +whom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without +distinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a +delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sown sparse and +broadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like +jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will +germinate and will produce corn." + +Clement might have added that to "proclaim upon the houses" was to +proclaim or expound in the assembly of the Perfect, the Initiated, and +by no means to shout aloud to the man in the street. + +Again he says that those who are "still blind and dumb, not having +understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative +soul ... must stand outside of the divine choir.... Wherefore, in +accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly +divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was +by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them _adyta_, and +by the Hebrews by the veil. Only the consecrated ... were allowed access +to them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for 'the impure to touch +the pure.' Thence the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas, and +the Mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but +only after certain purifications and previous instructions."[106] He +then descants at great length on Symbols, expounding Pythagorean, +Hebrew, Egyptian,[107] and then remarks that the ignorant and unlearned +man fails in understanding them. "But the Gnostic apprehends. Now then +it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to +all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have +not even in a dream been purified in soul (for it is not allowed to hand +to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious +efforts); nor are the Mysteries of the Word to be expounded to the +profane." The Pythagoreans and Plato, Zeno, and Aristotle had exoteric +and esoteric teachings. The philosophers established the Mysteries, for +"was it not more beneficial for the holy and blessed contemplation of +realities to be concealed?"[108] The Apostles also approved of "veiling +the Mysteries of the Faith," "for there is an instruction to the +perfect," alluded to in Colossians i. 9-11 and 25-27. "So that, on the +one hand, then, there are the Mysteries which were hid till the time of +the Apostles, and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord, +and, concealed in the Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And, +on the other hand, there is 'the riches of the glory of the mystery in +the Gentiles,' which is faith and hope in Christ; which in another place +he has called the 'foundation.'" He quotes S. Paul to show that this +"knowledge belongs not to all," and says, referring to Heb. v. and vi., +that "there were certainly among the Hebrews, some things delivered +unwritten;" and then refers to S. Barnabas, who speaks of God, "who has +put into our hearts wisdom and the understanding of His secrets," and +says that "it is but for few to comprehend these things," as showing a +"trace of Gnostic tradition." "Wherefore instruction, which reveals +hidden things, is called illumination, as it is the teacher only who +uncovers the lid of the ark."[109] Further referring to S. Paul, he +comments on his remark to the Romans that he will "come in the fulness +of the blessing of Christ,"[110] and says that he thus designates "the +spiritual gift and the Gnostic interpretation, while being present he +desires to impart to them present as 'the fulness of Christ, according +to the revelation of the Mystery sealed in the ages of eternity, but now +manifested by the prophetic Scriptures'[111].... But only to a few of +them is shown what those things are which are contained in the Mystery. +Rightly, then, Plato, in the epistles, treating of God, says: 'We must +speak in enigmas; that should the tablet come by any mischance on its +leaves either by sea or land, he who reads may remain ignorant.'"[112] + +After much examination of Greek writers, and an investigation into +philosophy, S. Clement declares that the Gnosis "imparted and revealed +by the Son of God, is wisdom.... And the Gnosis itself is that which has +descended by transmission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by +the Apostles."[113] A very long exposition of the life of the Gnostic, +the Initiate, is given, and S. Clement concludes it by saying: "Let the +specimen suffice to those who have ears. For it is not required to +unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is sufficient for those +who are partakers in knowledge to bring it to mind."[114] + +Regarding Scripture as consisting of allegories and symbols, and as +hiding the sense in order to stimulate enquiry and to preserve the +ignorant from danger.[115] S. Clement naturally confined the higher +instruction to the learned. "Our Gnostic will be deeply learned,"[116] +he says. "Now the Gnostic must be erudite."[117] Those who had acquired +readiness by previous training could master the deeper knowledge, for +though "a man can be a believer without learning, so also we assert that +it is impossible for a man without learning to comprehend the things +which are declared in the faith."[118] "Some who think themselves +naturally gifted, do not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; nay +more, they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand bare faith +alone.... So also I call him truly learned who brings everything to bear +on the truth--so that, from geometry, and music, and grammar, and +philosophy itself, culling what is useful, he guards the faith against +assault.... How necessary is it for him who desires to be partaker of +the power of God, to treat of intellectual subjects by +philosophising."[119] "The Gnostic avails himself of branches of +learning as auxiliary preparatory exercises."[120] So far was S. +Clement from thinking that the teaching of Christianity should be +measured by the ignorance of the unlearned. "He who is conversant with +all kinds of wisdom will be pre-eminently a Gnostic."[121] Thus while he +welcomed the ignorant and the sinner, and found in the Gospel what was +suited to their needs, he considered that only the learned and the pure +were fit candidates for the Mysteries. "The Apostle, in +contradistinction to Gnostic perfection, calls the common faith _the +foundation_, and sometimes _milk_,"[122] but on that foundation the +edifice of the Gnosis was to be raised, and the food of men was to +succeed that of babes. There is nothing of harshness nor of contempt in +the distinction he draws, but only a calm and wise recognition of the +facts. + +Even the well-prepared candidate, the learned and trained pupil, could +only hope to advance step by step in the profound truths unveiled in the +Mysteries. This appears clearly in his comments on the vision of +Hermas, in which he also throws out some hints on methods of reading +occult works. "Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas in the +Vision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription the book which +she wished to be made known to the elect? And this, he says, he +transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the +syllables. And this signified that the Scripture is clear to all, when +taken according to base reading; and that this is the faith which +occupies the place of the rudiments. Wherefore also the figurative +expression is employed, 'reading according to the letter,' while we +understand that the gnostic unfolding of Scriptures, when faith has +already reached an advanced state, is likened to reading according to +the syllables.... Now that the Saviour has taught the Apostles the +unwritten rendering of the written (scriptures) has been handed down +also to us, inscribed by the power of God on hearts new, according to +the renovation of the book. Thus those of highest repute among the +Greeks dedicate the fruit of the pomegranate to Hermes, who they say is +speech, on account of its interpretation. For speech conceals much.... +That it is therefore not only to those who read simply that the +acquisition of the truth is so difficult, but that not even to those +whose prerogative the knowledge of the truth is, is the contemplation of +it vouchsafed all at once, the history of Moses teaches; until +accustomed to gaze, as the Hebrews on the glory of Moses, and the +prophets of Israel on the visions of angels, so we also become able to +look the splendours of truth in the face."[123] + +Yet more references might be given, but these should suffice to +establish the fact that S. Clement knew of, had been initiated into, and +wrote for the benefit of those who had also been initiated into, the +Mysteries in the Church. + +The next witness is his pupil Origen, that most shining light of +learning, courage, sanctity, devotion, meekness, and zeal, whose works +remain as mines of gold wherein the student may dig for the treasures of +wisdom. + +In his famous controversy with Celsus attacks were made on Christianity +which drew out a defence of the Christian position in which frequent +references were made to the secret teachings.[124] + +Celsus had alleged, as a matter of attack, that Christianity was a +secret system, and Origen traverses this by saying that while certain +doctrines were secret, many others were public, and that this system of +exoteric and esoteric teachings, adopted in Christianity, was also in +general use among philosophers. The reader should note, in the following +passage, the distinction drawn between the resurrection of Jesus, +regarded in a historical light, and the "mystery of the resurrection." + +"Moreover, since he [Celsus] frequently calls the Christian doctrine a +secret system [of belief], we must confute him on this point also, since +almost the entire world is better acquainted with what Christians preach +than with the favourite opinions of philosophers. For who is ignorant +of the statement that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that He was +crucified, and that His resurrection is an article of faith among many, +and that a general judgment is announced to come, in which the wicked +are to be punished according to their deserts, and the righteous to be +duly rewarded? And yet the Mystery of the resurrection, not being +understood, is made a subject of ridicule among unbelievers. In these +circumstances, to speak of the Christian doctrine as a _secret_ system, +is altogether absurd. But that there should be certain doctrines, not +made known to the multitude, which are [revealed] after the exoteric +ones have been taught, is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone, but +also of philosophic systems, in which certain truths are exoteric and +others esoteric. Some of the hearers of Pythagoras were content with his +_ipse dixit_; while others were taught in secret those doctrines which +were not deemed fit to be communicated to profane and insufficiently +prepared ears. Moreover, all the Mysteries that are celebrated +everywhere throughout Greece and barbarous countries, although held in +secret, have no discredit thrown upon them, so that it is in vain he +endeavours to calumniate the secret doctrines of Christianity, seeing +that he does not correctly understand its nature."[125] + +It is impossible to deny that, in this important passage, Origen +distinctly places the Christian Mysteries in the same category as those +of the Pagan world, and claims that what is not regarded as a discredit +to other religions should not form a subject of attack when found in +Christianity. + +Still writing against Celsus, he declares that the secret teachings of +Jesus were preserved in the Church, and refers specifically to the +explanations that He gave to His disciples of His parables, in answering +Celsus' comparison of "the inner Mysteries of the Church of God" with +the Egyptian worship of animals. "I have not yet spoken of the +observance of all that is written in the Gospels, each one of which +contains much doctrine difficult to be understood, not merely by the +multitude, but even by certain of the more intelligent, including a +very profound explanation of the parables which Jesus delivered to +'those without,' while reserving the exhibition of their full meaning +for those who had passed beyond the stage of exoteric teaching, and who +came to Him privately in the house. And when he comes to understand it, +he will admire the reason why some are said to be 'without,' and others +'in the house.'"[126] + +And he refers guardedly to the "mountain" which Jesus ascended, from +which he came down again to help "those who were unable to follow Him +whither His disciples went." The allusion is to "the Mountain of +Initiation," a well-known mystical phrase, as Moses also made the +Tabernacle after the pattern "showed thee in the mount."[127] Origen +refers to it again later, saying that Jesus showed himself to be very +different in his real appearance when on the "Mountain," from what those +saw who could not "follow Him on high."[128] + +So also, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Chap, xv., dealing +with the episode of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Origen remarks: "And +perhaps, also, of the words of Jesus there are some loaves which it is +possible to give to the more rational, as to children, only; and others +as it were crumbs from the great house and table of the well-born, which +may be used by some souls like dogs." + +Celsus complaining that sinners were brought into the Church, Origen +answers that the Church had medicine for those that were sick, but also +the study and the knowledge of divine things for those who were in +health. Sinners were taught not to sin, and only when it was seen that +progress had been made, and men were "purified by the Word," "then and +not before do we invite them to participation in our Mysteries. For we +speak wisdom among them that are perfect."[129] Sinners came to be +healed: "For there are in the divinity of the Word some helps towards +the cure of those who are sick.... Others, again, which to the pure in +soul and body exhibit the 'revelation of the Mystery, which was kept +secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures +of the prophets,' and 'by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,' which +'appearing' is manifested to each one of those who are perfect, and +which enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things."[130] Such +appearances of divine Beings took place, we have seen, in the Pagan +Mysteries, and those of the Church had equally glorious visitants. "God +the Word," he says, "was sent as a physician to sinners, but as a +Teacher of Divine Mysteries to those who are already pure, and who sin +no more."[131] "Wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor +dwell in a body that is involved in sin;" hence these higher teachings +are given only to those who are "athletes in piety and in every virtue." + +Christians did not admit the impure to this knowledge, but said: +"Whoever has clean hands, and, therefore, lifts up holy hands to God ... +let him come to us ... whoever is pure not only from all defilement, +but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly +initiated in the Mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only +to the holy and the pure." Hence also, ere the ceremony of Initiation +began, he who acts as Initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, the +Hierophant, made the significant proclamation "to those who have been +purified in heart: He, whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious +of no evil, especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the +Word, let such a one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by +Jesus to His genuine disciples." This was the opening of the "initiating +those who were already purified into the sacred Mysteries."[132] Such +only might learn the realities of the unseen worlds, and might enter +into the sacred precincts where, as of old, angels were the teachers, +and where knowledge was given by sight and not only by words. It is +impossible not to be struck with the different tone of these Christians +from that of their modern successors. With them perfect purity of life, +the practice of virtue, the fulfilling of the divine Law in every detail +of outer conduct, the perfection of righteousness, were--as with the +Pagans--only the beginning of the way instead of the end. Nowadays +religion is considered to have gloriously accomplished its object when +it has made the Saint; then, it was to the Saints that it devoted its +highest energies, and, taking the pure in heart, it led them to the +Beatific Vision. + +The same fact of secret teaching comes out again, when Origen is +discussing the arguments of Celsus as to the wisdom of retaining +ancestral customs, based on the belief that "the various quarters of the +earth were from the beginning allotted to different superintending +Spirits, and were thus distributed among certain governing Powers, and +in this way the administration of the world is carried on."[133] + +Origen having animadverted on the deductions of Celsus, proceeds: "But +as we think it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper +investigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay +down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and +secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters +of the earth among different superintending Spirits."[134] He says that +Celsus has misunderstood the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement +of terrestrial affairs, some of which are even touched upon in Grecian +history. Then he quotes Deut. xxxii. 8-9: "When the Most High divided +the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of +the people according to the number of the Angels of God; and the Lord's +portion was his people Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance." +This is the wording of the Septuagint, not that of the English +authorised version, but it is very suggestive of the title the "Lord" +being regarded as that of the Ruling Angel of the Jews only, and not of +the "Most High," _i.e._ God. This view has disappeared, from ignorance, +and hence the impropriety of many of the statements referring to the +"Lord," when they are transferred to the "Most High," _e.g._ Judges i. +19. + +Origen then relates the history of the Tower of Babel, and continues: +"But on these subjects much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said; +in keeping with which is the following: 'It is good to keep close the +secret of a king,' Tobit xii. 7, in order that the doctrine of the +entrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration +from one body into another) may not be thrown before the common +understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast +before swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to +a betrayal of the mysterious declarations of God's wisdom.... It is +sufficient, however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative +what is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that +those who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates +to the subject."[135] He then expounds more fully the Tower of Babel +story, and writes: "Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity +let him understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which +contains some things that are literally true, while yet it conveys a +deeper meaning...."[136] + +After endeavouring to show that the "Lord" was more powerful than the +other superintending Spirits of the different quarters of the earth, and +that he sent his people forth to be punished by living under the +dominion of the other powers, and afterwards reclaimed them with all of +the less favoured nations who could be drawn in, Origen concludes by +saying: "As we have previously observed, these remarks are to be +understood as being made by us with a concealed meaning, by way of +pointing out the mistakes of those who assert ..."[137] as did Celsus. + +After remarking that "the object of Christianity is that we should +become wise,"[138] Origen proceeds: "If you come to the books written +after the time of Jesus, you will find that those multitudes of +believers who hear the parables are, as it were, 'without,' and worthy +only of exoteric doctrines, while the disciples learn in private the +explanation of the parables. For, privately, to His own disciples did +Jesus open up all things, esteeming above the multitudes those who +desired to know His wisdom. And He promises to those who believe on Him +to send them wise men and scribes.... And Paul also in the catalogue of +'Charismata' bestowed by God, placed first 'the Word of wisdom,' and +second, as being inferior to it, 'the word of knowledge,' but third, and +lower down, 'faith.' And because he regarded 'the Word' as higher than +miraculous powers, he for that reason places 'workings of miracles' and +'gifts of healings' in a lower place than gifts of the Word."[139] + +The Gospel truly helped the ignorant, "but it is no hindrance to the +knowledge of God, but an assistance, to have been educated, and to have +studied the best opinions, and to be wise."[140] As for the +unintelligent, "I endeavour to improve such also to the best of my +ability, although I would not desire to build up the Christian community +out of such materials. For I seek in preference those who are more +clever and acute, because they are able to comprehend the meaning of the +hard sayings."[141] Here we have plainly stated the ancient Christian +idea, entirely at one with the considerations submitted in Chapter I. of +this book. There is room for the ignorant in Christianity, but it is not +intended _only_ for them, and has deep teachings for the "clever and +acute." + +It is for these that he takes much pains to show that the Jewish and +Christian Scriptures have hidden meanings, veiled under stories the +outer meaning of which repels them as absurd, alluding to the serpent +and the tree of life, and "the other statements which follow, which +might of themselves lead a candid reader to see that all these things +had, not inappropriately, an allegorical meaning."[142] Many chapters +are devoted to these allegorical and mystical meanings, hidden beneath +the words of the Old and New Testaments, and he alleges that Moses, like +the Egyptians, gave histories with concealed meanings.[143] "He who +deals candidly with histories"--this is Origen's general canon of +interpretation--"and would wish to keep himself also from being imposed +on by them, will exercise his judgment as to what statements he will +give his assent to, and what he will accept figuratively, seeking to +discover the meaning of the authors of such inventions, and from what +statements he will withhold his beliefs, as having been written for the +gratification of certain individuals. And we have said this by way of +anticipation respecting the whole history related in the Gospels +concerning Jesus."[144] A great part of his Fourth Book is taken up with +illustrations of the mystical explanations of the Scripture stories, and +anyone who wishes to pursue the subject can read through it. + +In the _De Principiis_, Origen gives it as the received teaching of the +Church "that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and have +a meaning, not only such as is apparent at first sight, but also +another, which escapes the notice of most. For those [words] which are +written are the forms of certain Mysteries, and the images of divine +things. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole +Church, that the whole law is indeed spiritual; but that the spiritual +meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on +whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and +knowledge."[145] Those who remember what has already been quoted will +see in the "Word of wisdom" and "the word of knowledge" the two typical +mystical instructions, the spiritual and the intellectual. + +In the Fourth Book of _De Principiis_, Origen explains at length his +views on the interpretation of Scripture. It has a "body," which is the +"common and historical sense"; a "soul," a figurative meaning to be +discovered by the exercise of the intellect; and a "spirit," an inner +and divine sense, to be known only by those who have "the mind of +Christ." He considers that incongruous and impossible things are +introduced into the history to arouse an intelligent reader, and compel +him to search for a deeper explanation, while simple people would read +on without appreciating the difficulties.[146] + +Cardinal Newman, in his _Arians of the Fourth Century_, has some +interesting remarks on the _Disciplina Arcani_, but, with the +deeply-rooted ingrained scepticism of the nineteenth century, he cannot +believe to the full in the "riches of the glory of the Mystery," or +probably never for a moment conceived the possibility of the existence +of such splendid realities. Yet he was a believer in Jesus, and the +words of the promise of Jesus were clear and definite: "I will not leave +you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world +seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At +that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in +you."[147] The promise was amply redeemed, for He came to them and +taught them in His Mysteries; therein they saw Him, though the world saw +Him no more, and they knew the Christ as in them, and their life as +Christ's. + +Cardinal Newman recognises a secret tradition, handed down from the +Apostles, but he considers that it consisted of Christian doctrines, +later divulged, forgetting that those who were told that they were not +yet fit to receive it were not heathen, nor even catechumens under +instruction, but full communicating members of the Christian Church. +Thus he states that this secret tradition was later "authoritatively +divulged and perpetuated in the form of symbols," and was embodied "in +the creeds of the early Councils."[148] But as the doctrines in the +creeds are to be found clearly stated in the Gospels and Epistles, this +position is wholly untenable, all these having been already divulged to +the world at large; and in all of them the members of the Church were +certainly thoroughly instructed. The repeated statements as to secrecy +become meaningless if thus explained. The Cardinal, however, says that +whatever "has not been thus authenticated, whether it was prophetical +information or comment on the past dispensations, is, from the +circumstances of the case, lost to the Church."[149] That is very +probably, in fact certainly, true, so far as the Church is concerned, +but it is none the less recoverable. + +Commenting on Irenaeus, who in his work _Against Heresies_ lays much +stress on the existence of an Apostolic Tradition in the Church, the +Cardinal writes: "He then proceeds to speak of the clearness and cogency +of the traditions preserved in the Church, as containing that true +wisdom of the perfect, of which S. Paul speaks, and to which the +Gnostics pretended. And, indeed, without formal proofs of the existence +and the authority in primitive times of an Apostolic Tradition, it is +plain that there must have been such a tradition, granting that the +Apostles conversed, and their friends had memories, like other men. It +is quite inconceivable that they should not have been led to arrange +the series of revealed doctrines more systematically than they record +them in Scripture, as soon as their converts became exposed to the +attacks and misrepresentations of heretics; unless they were forbidden +to do so, a supposition which cannot be maintained. Their statements +thus occasioned would be preserved as a matter of course; together with +those other secret but less important truths, to which S. Paul seems to +allude, and which the early writers more or less acknowledge, whether +concerning the types of the Jewish Church, or the prospective fortunes +of the Christian. And such recollections of apostolical teaching would +evidently be binding on the faith of those who were instructed in them; +unless it can be supposed that, though coming from inspired teachers, +they were not of divine origin."[150] In a part of the section dealing +with the allegorising method, he writes in reference to the sacrifice of +Isaac, &c., as "typical of the New Testament revelation": "In +corroboration of this remark, let it be observed, that there seems to +have been[151] in the Church a traditionary explanation of these +historical types, derived from the Apostles, but kept among the secret +doctrines, as being dangerous to the majority of hearers; and certainly +S. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, affords us an instance of such a +tradition, both as existing and as secret (even though it be shown to be +of Jewish origin), when, first checking himself and questioning his +brethren's faith, he communicates, not without hesitation, the +evangelical scope of the account of Melchisedec, as introduced into the +book of Genesis."[152] + +The social and political convulsions that accompanied its dying now +began to torture the vast frame of the Roman Empire, and even the +Christians were caught up in the whirlpool of selfish warring interests. +We still find scattered references to special knowledge imparted to the +leaders and teachers of the Church, knowledge of the heavenly +hierarchies, instructions given by angels, and so on. But the lack of +suitable pupils caused the Mysteries to be withdrawn as an institution +publicly known to exist, and teaching was given more and more secretly +to those rarer and rarer souls, who by learning, purity, and devotion +showed themselves capable of receiving it. No longer were schools to be +found wherein the preliminary teachings were given, and with the +disappearance of these the "door was shut." + +Two streams may nevertheless be tracked through Christendom, streams +which had as their source the vanished Mysteries. One was the stream of +mystic learning, flowing from the Wisdom, the Gnosis, imparted in the +Mysteries; the other was the stream of mystic contemplation, equally +part of the Gnosis, leading to the exstasy, to spiritual vision. This +latter, however, divorced from knowledge, rarely attained the true +exstasis, and tended either to run riot in the lower regions of the +invisible worlds, or to lose itself amid a variegated crowd of subtle +superphysical forms, visible as objective appearances to the inner +vision--prematurely forced by fastings, vigils, and strained +attention--but mostly born of the thoughts and emotions of the seer. +Even when the forms observed were not externalised thoughts, they were +seen through a distorting atmosphere of preconceived ideas and beliefs, +and were thus rendered largely unreliable. None the less, some of the +visions were verily of heavenly things, and Jesus truly appeared from +time to time to His devoted lovers, and angels would sometimes brighten +with their presence the cell of monk and nun, the solitude of rapt +devotee and patient seeker after God. To deny the possibility of such +experiences would be to strike at the very root of that "which has been +most surely believed" in all religions, and is known to all +Occultists--the intercommunication between Spirits veiled in flesh and +those clad in subtler vestures, the touching of mind with mind across +the barriers of matter, the unfolding of the Divinity in man, the sure +knowledge of a life beyond the gates of death. + +Glancing down the centuries we find no time in which Christendom was +left wholly devoid of mysteries. "It was probably about the end of the +5th century, just as ancient philosophy was dying out in the Schools of +Athens, that the speculative philosophy of neo-Platonism made a definite +lodgment in Christian thought through the literary forgeries of the +Pseudo-Dionysius. The doctrines of Christianity were by that time so +firmly established that the Church could look upon a symbolical or +mystical interpretation of them without anxiety. The author of the +_Theologica Mystica_ and the other works ascribed to the Areopagite +proceeds, therefore, to develop the doctrines of Proclus with very +little modification into a system of esoteric Christianity. God is the +nameless and supra-essential One, elevated above goodness itself. Hence +'negative theology,' which ascends from the creature to God by dropping +one after another every determinate predicate, leads us nearest to the +truth. The return to God is the consummation of all things and the goal +indicated by Christian teaching. The same doctrines were preached with +more of churchly fervour by Maximus the Confessor (580-622). Maximus +represents almost the last speculative activity of the Greek Church, but +the influence of the Pseudo-Dionysian writing was transmitted to the +West in the ninth century by Erigena, in whose speculative spirit both +the scholasticism and the mysticism of the Middle Ages have their rise. +Erigena translated Dionysius into Latin along with the commentaries of +Maximus, and his system is essentially based upon theirs. The negative +theology is adopted, and God is stated to be predicateless Being, above +all categories, and therefore not improperly called Nothing [_query_, +No-Thing]. Out of this Nothing or incomprehensible essence the world of +ideas or primordial causes is eternally created. This is the Word or Son +of God, in whom all things exist, so far as they have substantial +existence. All existence is a theophany, and as God is the beginning of +all things, so also is He the end. Erigena teaches the restitution of +all things under the form of the Dionysian _adunatio_ or _deificatio_. +These are the permanent outlines of what may be called the philosophy +of mysticism in Christian times, and it is remarkable with how little +variation they are repeated from age to age."[153] + +In the eleventh century Bernard of Clairvaux (A.D. 1091-1153) and Hugo +of S. Victor carry on the mystic tradition, with Richard of S. Victor in +the following century, and S. Bonaventura the Seraphic Doctor, and the +great S. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1227-1274) in the thirteenth. Thomas +Aquinas dominates the Europe of the Middle Ages, by his force of +character no less than by his learning and piety. He asserts +"Revelation" as one source of knowledge, Scripture and tradition being +the two channels in which it runs, and the influence, seen in his +writings, of the Pseudo-Dionysius links him to the Neo-Platonists. The +second source is Reason, and here the channels are the Platonic +philosophy and the methods of Aristotle--the latter an alliance that did +Christianity no good, for Aristotle became an obstacle to the advance of +the higher thought, as was made manifest in the struggles of Giordano +Bruno, the Pythagorean. Thomas Aquinas was canonised in A.D. 1323, and +the great Dominican remains as a type of the union of theology and +philosophy--the aim of his life. These belong to the great Church of +western Europe, vindicating her claim to be regarded as the transmitter +of the holy torch of mystic learning. Around her there also sprang up +many sects, deemed heretical, yet containing true traditions of the +sacred secret learning, the Cathari and many others, persecuted by a +Church jealous of her authority, and fearing lest the holy pearls should +pass into profane custody. In this century also S. Elizabeth of Hungary +shines out with sweetness and purity, while Eckhart (A.D. 1260-1329) +proves himself a worthy inheritor of the Alexandrian Schools. Eckhart +taught that "The Godhead is the absolute Essence (Wesen), unknowable not +only by man but also by Itself; It is darkness and absolute +indeterminateness, _Nicht_ in contrast to _Icht_, or definite and +knowable existence. Yet It is the potentiality of all things, and Its +nature is, in a triadic process, to come to consciousness of Itself as +the triune God. Creation is not a temporal act, but an eternal +necessity, of the divine nature. I am as necessary to God, Eckhart is +fond of saying, as God is necessary to me. In my knowledge and love God +knows and loves Himself."[154] + +Eckhart is followed, in the fourteenth century, by John Tauler, and +Nicolas of Basel, "the Friend of God in the Oberland." From these sprang +up the Society of the Friends of God, true mystics and followers of the +old tradition. Mead remarks that Thomas Aquinas, Tauler, and Eckhart +followed the Pseudo-Dionysius, who followed Plotinus, Iamblichus, and +Proclus, who in turn followed Plato and Pythagoras.[155] So linked +together are the followers of the Wisdom in all ages. It was probably a +"Friend" who was the author of _Die Deutsche Theologie_, a book of +mystical devotion, which had the curious fortune of being approved by +Staupitz, the Vicar-General of the Augustinian Order, who recommended it +to Luther, and by Luther himself, who published it A.D. 1516, as a book +which should rank immediately after the _Bible_ and the writings of S. +Augustine of Hippo. Another "Friend" was Ruysbroeck, to whose influence +with Groot was due the founding of the Brethren of the Common Lot or +Common Life--a Society that must remain ever memorable, as it numbered +among its members that prince of mystics, Thomas a Kempis (A.D. +1380-1471), the author of the immortal _Imitation of Christ_. + +In the fifteenth century the more purely intellectual side of mysticism +comes out more strongly than the exstatic--so dominant in these +societies of the fourteenth--and we have Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa, with +Giordano Bruno, the martyred knight-errant of philosophy, and +Paracelsus, the much slandered scientist, who drew his knowledge +directly from the original eastern fountain, instead of through Greek +channels. + +The sixteenth century saw the birth of Jacob Boehme (A.D. 1575-1624), the +"inspired cobbler," an Initiate in obscuration truly, sorely persecuted +by unenlightened men; and then too came S. Teresa, the much-oppressed +and suffering Spanish mystic; and S. John of the Cross, a burning flame +of intense devotion; and S. Francois de Sales. Wise was Rome in +canonising these, wiser than the Reformation that persecuted Boehme, but +the spirit of the Reformation was ever intensely anti-mystical, and +wherever its breath hath passed the fair flowers of mysticism have +withered as under the sirocco. + +Rome, however, who, though she canonised Teresa dead, had sorely harried +her while living--did ill with Mme. de Guyon (A.D. 1648-1717), a true +mystic, and with Miguel de Molinos (1627-1696), worthy to sit near S. +John of the Cross, who carried on in the seventeenth century the high +devotion of the mystic, turned into a peculiarly passive form--the +Quietist. + +In this same century arose the school of Platonists in Cambridge, of +whom Henry More (A.D. 1614-1687) may serve as salient example; also +Thomas Vaughan, and Robert Fludd the Rosicrucian; and there is formed +also the Philadelphian Society, and we see William Law (A.D. 1686-1761) +active in the eighteenth century, and overlapping S. Martin (A.D. +1743-1803), whose writings have fascinated so many nineteenth century +students.[156] + +Nor should we omit Christian Rosenkreutz (d. A.D. 1484), whose mystic +Society of the Rosy Cross, appearing in 1614, held true knowledge, and +whose spirit was reborn in the "Comte de S. Germain," the mysterious +figure that appears and disappears through the gloom, lit by lurid +flashes, of the closing eighteenth century. Mystics too were some of the +Quakers, the much-persecuted sect of Friends, seeking the illumination +of the Inner Light, and listening ever for the Inner Voice. And many +another mystic was there, "of whom the world was not worthy," like the +wholly delightful and wise Mother Juliana of Norwich, of the fourteenth +century, jewels of Christendom, too little known, but justifying +Christianity to the world. + +Yet, as we salute reverently these Children of the Light, scattered over +the centuries, we are forced to recognise in them the absence of that +union of acute intellect and high devotion which were welded together by +the training of the Mysteries, and while we marvel that they soared so +high, we cannot but wish that their rare gifts had been developed under +that magnificent _disciplina arcani_. + +Alphonse Louis Constant, better known under his pseudonym, Eliphas Levi, +has put rather well the loss of the Mysteries, and the need for their +re-institution. "A great misfortune befell Christianity. The betrayal of +the Mysteries by the false Gnostics--for the Gnostics, that is, _those +who know_, were the Initiates of primitive Christianity--caused the +Gnosis to be rejected, and alienated the Church from the supreme truths +of the Kabbala, which contain all the secrets of transcendental +theology.... Let the most absolute science, let the highest reason, +become once more the patrimony of the leaders of the people; let the +sacerdotal art and the royal art take the double sceptre of antique +initiations, and the social world will once more issue from its chaos. +Burn the holy images no longer; demolish the temples no more; temples +and images are necessary for men; but drive the hirelings from the house +of prayer; let the blind be no longer leaders of the blind, reconstruct +the hierarchy of intelligence and holiness, and recognise only those who +know as the teachers of those who believe."[157] + +Will the Churches of to-day again take up the mystic teaching, the +Lesser Mysteries, and so prepare their children for the re-establishment +of the Greater Mysteries, again drawing down the Angels as Teachers, and +having as Hierophant the Divine Master, Jesus? On the answer to that +question depends the future of Christianity. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE HISTORICAL CHRIST. + + +We have already spoken, in the first chapter, on the identities existing +in all the religions of the world, and we have seen that out of a study +of these identities in beliefs, symbolisms, rites, ceremonies, +histories, and commemorative festivals, has arisen a modern school which +relates the whole of these to a common source in human ignorance, and in +a primitive explanation of natural phenomena. From these identities have +been drawn weapons for the stabbing of each religion in turn, and the +most effective attacks on Christianity and on the historical existence +of its Founder have been armed from this source. On entering now on the +study of the life of the Christ, of the rites of Christianity, its +sacraments, its doctrines, it would be fatal to ignore the facts +marshalled by Comparative Mythologists. Rightly understood, they may be +made serviceable instead of mischievous. We have seen that the Apostles +and their successors dealt very freely with the Old Testament as having +an allegorical and mystic sense far more important than the historical, +though by no means negating it, and that they did not scruple to teach +the instructed believer that some of the stories that were apparently +historical were really purely allegorical. Nowhere, perhaps, is it more +necessary to understand this than when we are studying the story of +Jesus, surnamed the Christ, for when we do not disentangle the +intertwisted threads, and see where symbols have been taken as events, +allegories as histories, we lose most of the instructiveness of the +narrative and much of its rarest beauty. We cannot too much insist on +the fact that Christianity gains, it does not lose, when knowledge is +added to faith and virtue, according to the apostolic injunction.[158] +Men fear that Christianity will be weakened when reason studies it, and +that it is "dangerous" to admit that events thought to be historical +have the deeper significance of the mythical or mystical meaning. It is, +on the contrary, strengthened, and the student finds, with joy, that the +pearl of great price shines with a purer, clearer lustre when the +coating of ignorance is removed and its many colours are seen. + +There are two schools of thought at the present time, bitterly opposed +to each other, who dispute over the story of the great Hebrew Teacher. +According to one school there is nothing at all in the accounts of His +life save myths and legends--myths and legends that were given as +explanations of certain natural phenomena, survivals of a pictorial way +of teaching certain facts of nature, of impressing on the minds of the +uneducated certain grand classifications of natural events that were +important in themselves, and that lent themselves to moral instruction. +Those who endorse this view form a well-defined school to which belong +many men of high education and strong intelligence, and round them +gather crowds of the less instructed, who emphasise with crude +vehemence the more destructive elements in their pronouncements. This +school is opposed by that of the believers in orthodox Christianity, who +declare that the whole story of Jesus is history, unadulterated by +legend or myth. They maintain that this history is nothing more than the +history of the life of a man born some nineteen centuries ago in +Palestine, who passed through all the experiences set down in the +Gospels, and they deny that the story has any significance beyond that +of a divine and human life. These two schools stand in direct +antagonism, one asserting that everything is legend, the other declaring +that everything is history. Between them lie many phases of opinion +generally labelled "freethinking," which regard the life-story as partly +legendary and partly historical, but offer no definite and rational +method of interpretation, no adequate explanation of the complex whole. +And we also find, within the limits of the Christian Church, a large and +ever-increasing number of faithful and devout Christians of refined +intelligence, men and women who are earnest in their faith and +religious in their aspirations, but who see in the Gospel story more +than the history of a single divine Man. They allege--defending their +position from the received Scriptures--that the story of the Christ has +a deeper and more significant meaning than lies on the surface; while +they maintain the historical character of Jesus, they at the same time +declare that THE CHRIST is more than the man Jesus, and has a mystical +meaning. In support of this contention they point to such phrases as +that used by S. Paul: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth +again again until Christ be formed in you";[159] here S. Paul obviously +cannot refer to a historical Jesus, but to some forthputting from the +human soul which is to him the shaping of Christ therein. Again the same +teacher declares that though he had known Christ after the flesh yet +from henceforth he would know him thus no more;[160] obviously implying +that while he recognised the Christ of the flesh--Jesus--there was a +higher view to which he had attained which threw into the shade the +historical Christ. This is the view which many are seeking in our own +days, and--faced by the facts of Comparative Religion, puzzled by the +contradictions of the Gospels, confused by problems they cannot solve so +long as they are tied down to the mere surface meanings of their +Scripture--they cry despairingly that the letter killeth while the +spirit giveth life, and seek to trace some deep and wide significance in +a story which is as old as the religions of the world, and has always +served as the very centre and life of every religion in which it has +reappeared. These struggling thinkers, too unrelated and indefinite to +be spoken of as forming a school, seem to stretch out a hand on one side +to those who think that all is legend, asking them to accept a +historical basis; on the other side they say to their fellow Christians +that there is a growing danger lest, in clinging to a literal and unique +meaning, which cannot be defended before the increasing knowledge of the +day, the spiritual meaning should be entirely lost. There is a danger of +losing "the story of the Christ," with that thought of the Christ which +has been the support and inspiration of millions of noble lives in East +and West, though the Christ be called by other names and worshipped +under other forms; a danger lest the pearl of great price should escape +from our hold, and man be left the poorer for evermore. + +What is needed, in order that this danger may be averted, is to +disentangle the different threads in the story of the Christ, and to lay +them side by side--the thread of history, the thread of legend, the +thread of mysticism. These have been intertwined into a single strand, +to the great loss of the thoughtful, and in disentangling them we shall +find that the story becomes more, not less, valuable as knowledge is +added to it, and that here, as in all that is basically of the truth, +the brighter the light thrown upon it the greater the beauty that is +revealed. + +We will study first the historical Christ; secondly, the mythic Christ; +thirdly, the mystic Christ. And we shall find that elements drawn from +all these make up the Jesus Christ of the Churches. They all enter into +the composition of the grandiose and pathetic Figure which dominates the +thoughts and the emotions of Christendom, the Man of Sorrows, the +Saviour, the Lover and Lord of Men. + + +THE HISTORICAL CHRIST, OR JESUS THE HEALER AND TEACHER. + +The thread of the life-story of Jesus is one which may be disentangled +from those with which it is intertwined without any great difficulty. We +may fairly here aid our study by reference to those records of the past +which experts can reverify for themselves, and from which certain +details regarding the Hebrew Teacher have been given to the world by H. +P. Blavatsky and by others who are experts in occult investigation. Now +in the minds of many there is apt to arise a challenge when this word +"expert" is used in connection with occultism. Yet it only means a +person who by special study, by special training, has accumulated a +special kind of knowledge, and has developed powers that enable him to +give an opinion founded on his own individual knowledge of the subject +with which he is dealing. Just as we speak of Huxley as an expert in +biology, as we speak of a Senior Wrangler as an expert in mathematics, +or of Lyell as an expert in geology, so we may fairly call a man an +expert in occultism who has first mastered intellectually certain +fundamental theories of the constitution of man and the universe, and +secondly has developed within himself the powers that are latent in +everyone--and are capable of being developed by those who give +themselves to appropriate studies--capacities which enable him to +examine for himself the more obscure processes of nature. As a man may +be born with a mathematical faculty, and by training that faculty year +after year may immensely increase his mathematical capacity, so may a +man be born with certain faculties within him, faculties belonging to +the Soul, which he can develop by training and by discipline. When, +having developed those faculties, he applies them to the study of the +invisible world, such a man becomes an expert in Occult Science, and +such a man can at his will reverify the records to which I have +referred. Such reverification is as much out of the reach of the +ordinary person as a mathematical book written in the symbols of the +higher mathematics is out of the reach of those who are untrained in +mathematical science. There is nothing exclusive in the knowledge save +as every science is exclusive; those who are born with a faculty, and +train the faculty, can master its appropriate science, while those who +start in life without any faculty, or those who do not develop it if +they have it, must be content to remain in ignorance. These are the +rules everywhere of the obtaining of knowledge, in Occultism as in every +other science. + +The occult records partly endorse the story told in the Gospels, and +partly do not endorse it; they show us the life, and thus enable us to +disentangle it from the myths which are intertwined therewith. + +The child whose Jewish name has been turned into that of Jesus was born +in Palestine B.C. 105, during the consulate of Publius Rutilius Rufus +and Gnaeus Mallius Maximus. His parents were well-born though poor, and +he was educated in a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. His fervent +devotion and a gravity beyond his years led his parents to dedicate him +to the religious and ascetic life, and soon after a visit to Jerusalem, +in which the extraordinary intelligence and eagerness for knowledge of +the youth were shown in his seeking of the doctors in the Temple, he was +sent to be trained in an Essene community in the southern Judaean desert. +When he had reached the age of nineteen he went on to the Essene +monastery near Mount Serbal, a monastery which was much visited by +learned men travelling from Persia and India to Egypt, and where a +magnificent library of occult works--many of them Indian of the +Trans-Himalayan regions--had been established. From this seat of mystic +learning he proceeded later to Egypt. He had been fully instructed in +the secret teachings which were the real fount of life among the +Essenes, and was initiated in Egypt as a disciple of that one sublime +Lodge from which every great religion has its Founder. For Egypt has +remained one of the world-centres of the true Mysteries, whereof all +semi-public Mysteries are the faint and far-off reflections. The +Mysteries spoken of in history as Egyptian were the shadows of the true +things "in the Mount," and there the young Hebrew received the solemn +consecration which prepared him for the Royal Priesthood he was later to +attain. So superhumanly pure and so full of devotion was he, that in his +gracious manhood he stood out pre-eminently from the severe and somewhat +fanatical ascetics among whom he had been trained, shedding on the stern +Jews around him the fragrance of a gentle and tender wisdom, as a +rose-tree strangely planted in a desert would shed its sweetness on the +barrenness around. The fair and stately grace of his white purity was +round him as a radiant moonlit halo, and his words, though few, were +ever sweet and loving, winning even the most harsh to a temporary +gentleness, and the most rigid to a passing softness. Thus he lived +through nine-and-twenty years of mortal life, growing from grace to +grace. + +This superhuman purity and devotion fitted the man Jesus, the disciple, +to become the temple of a loftier Power, of a mighty, indwelling +Presence. The time had come for one of those Divine manifestations which +from age to age are made for the helping of humanity, when a new impulse +is needed to quicken the spiritual evolution of mankind, when a new +civilisation is about to dawn. The world of the West was then in the +womb of time, ready for the birth, and the Teutonic sub-race was to +catch the sceptre of empire falling from the failing hands of Rome. Ere +it started on its journey a World-Saviour must appear, to stand in +blessing beside the cradle of the infant Hercules. + +A mighty "Son of God" was to take flesh upon earth, a supreme Teacher, +"full of grace and truth"--[161] One in whom the Divine Wisdom abode in +fullest measure, who was verily "the Word" incarnate, Light and Life in +outpouring richness, a very Fountain of the Waters of Life. Lord of +Compassion and of Wisdom--such was His name--and from His dwelling in +the Secret Places He came forth into the world of men. + +For Him was needed an earthly tabernacle, a human form, the body of a +man, and who so fit to yield his body in glad and willing service to One +before whom Angels and men bow down in lowliest reverence, as this +Hebrew of the Hebrews, this purest and noblest of "the Perfect," whose +spotless body and stainless mind offered the best that humanity could +bring? The man Jesus yielded himself a willing sacrifice, "offered +himself without spot" to the Lord of Love, who took unto Himself that +pure form as tabernacle, and dwelt therein for three years of mortal +life. + +This epoch is marked in the traditions embodied in the Gospels as that +of the Baptism of Jesus, when the Spirit was seen "descending from +heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him,"[162] and a celestial voice +proclaimed Him as the beloved Son, to whom men should give ear. Truly +was He the beloved Son in whom the Father was well-pleased,[163] and +from that time forward "Jesus began to preach,"[164] and was that +wondrous mystery, "God manifest in the flesh"[165]--not unique in that +He was God, for: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If +he called them Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture +cannot be broken; say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and +sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of +God?"[166] Truly all men are Gods, in respect to the Spirit within them, +but not in all is the Godhead manifested, as in that well-beloved Son of +the Most High. + +To that manifested Presence the name of "the Christ" may rightly be +given, and it was He who lived and moved in the form of the man Jesus +over the hills and plains of Palestine, teaching, healing diseases, and +gathering round Him as disciples a few of the more advanced souls. The +rare charm of His royal love, outpouring from Him as rays from a sun, +drew round Him the suffering, the weary, and the oppressed, and the +subtly tender magic of His gentle wisdom purified, ennobled, and +sweetened the lives that came into contact with His own. By parable and +luminous imagery He taught the uninstructed crowds who pressed around +Him, and, using the powers of the free Spirit, He healed many a disease +by word or touch, reinforcing the magnetic energies belonging to His +pure body with the compelling force of His inner life. Rejected by His +Essene brethren among whom He first laboured--whose arguments against +His purposed life of loving labour are summarised in the story of the +temptation--because he carried to the people the spiritual wisdom that +they regarded as their proudest and most secret treasure, and because +His all-embracing love drew within its circle the outcast and the +degraded--ever loving in the lowest as in the highest the Divine +Self--He saw gathering round Him all too quickly the dark clouds of +hatred and suspicion. The teachers and rulers of His nation soon came to +eye Him with jealousy and anger; His spirituality was a constant +reproach to their materialism, His power a constant, though silent, +exposure of their weakness. Three years had scarcely passed since His +baptism when the gathering storm outbroke, and the human body of Jesus +paid the penalty for enshrining the glorious Presence of a Teacher more +than man. + +The little band of chosen disciples whom He had selected as repositories +of His teachings were thus deprived of their Master's physical presence +ere they had assimilated His instructions, but they were souls of high +and advanced type, ready to learn the Wisdom, and fit to hand it on to +lesser men. Most receptive of all was that "disciple whom Jesus loved," +young, eager, and fervid, profoundly devoted to his Master, and sharing +His spirit of all-embracing love. He represented, through the century +that followed the physical departure of the Christ, the spirit of mystic +devotion that sought the exstasis, the vision of and the union with the +Divine, while the later great Apostle, S. Paul, represented the wisdom +side of the Mysteries. + +The Master did not forget His promise to come to them after the world +had lost sight of Him,[167] and for something over fifty years He +visited them in His subtle spiritual body, continuing the teachings He +had begun while with them, and training them in a knowledge of occult +truths. They lived together, for the most part, in a retired spot on the +outskirts of Judaea, attracting no attention among the many apparently +similar communities of the time, studying the profound truths He taught +them and acquiring "the gifts of the Spirit." + +These inner instructions, commenced during His physical life among them +and carried on after He had left the body, formed the basis of the +"Mysteries of Jesus," which we have seen in early Church History, and +gave the inner life which was the nucleus round which gathered the +heterogeneous materials which formed ecclesiastical Christianity. + +In the remarkable fragment called the _Pistis Sophia_, we have a +document of the greatest interest bearing on the hidden teaching, +written by the famous Valentinus. In this it is said that during the +eleven years immediately after His death Jesus instructed His disciples +so far as "the regions of the first statutes only, and up to the regions +of the first mystery, the mystery within the veil."[168] They had not so +far learned the distribution of the angelic orders, of part whereof +Ignatius speaks.[169] Then Jesus, being "in the Mount" with His +disciples, and having received His mystic Vesture, the knowledge of all +the regions and the Words of Power which unlocked them, taught His +disciples further, promising: "I will perfect you in every perfection, +from the mysteries of the interior to the mysteries of the exterior: I +will fill you with the Spirit, so that ye shall be called spiritual, +perfect in all perfections."[170] And He taught them of Sophia, the +Wisdom, and of her fall into matter in her attempt to rise unto the +Highest, and of her cries to the Light in which she had trusted, and of +the sending of Jesus to redeem her from chaos, and of her crowning with +His light, and leading forth from bondage. And He told them further of +the highest Mystery the ineffable, the simplest and clearest of all, +though the highest, to be known by him alone who utterly renounced the +world;[171] by that knowledge men became Christs for such "men are +myself, and I am these men," for Christ is that highest Mystery.[172] +Knowing that, men are "transformed into pure light and are brought into +the light."[173] And He performed for them the great ceremony of +Initiation, the baptism "which leadeth to the region of truth and into +the region of light," and bade them celebrate it for others who were +worthy: "But hide ye this mystery, give it not unto every man, but unto +him [only] who shall do all things which I have said unto you in my +commandments."[174] + +Thereafter, being fully instructed, the apostles went forth to preach, +ever aided by their Master. + +Moreover these same disciples and their earliest colleagues wrote down +from memory all the public sayings and parables of the Master that they +had heard, and collected with great eagerness any reports they could +find, writing down these also, and circulating them all among those who +gradually attached themselves to their small community. Various +collections were made, any member writing down what he himself +remembered, and adding selections from the accounts of others. The inner +teachings, given by the Christ to His chosen ones, were not written +down, but were taught orally to those deemed worthy to receive them, to +students who formed small communities for leading a retired life, and +remained in touch with the central body. + +The historical Christ, then, is a glorious Being belonging to the great +spiritual hierarchy that guides the spiritual evolution of humanity, who +used for some three years the human body of the disciple Jesus; who +spent the last of these three years in public teaching throughout Judaea +and Samaria; who was a healer of diseases and performed other remarkable +occult works; who gathered round Him a small band of disciples whom He +instructed in the deeper truths of the spiritual life; who drew men to +Him by the singular love and tenderness and the rich wisdom that +breathed from His Person; and who was finally put to death for +blasphemy, for teaching the inherent Divinity of Himself and of all men. +He came to give a new impulse of spiritual life to the world; to +re-issue the inner teachings affecting spiritual life; to mark out again +the narrow ancient way; to proclaim the existence of the "Kingdom of +Heaven," of the Initiation which admits to that knowledge of God which +is eternal life; and to admit a few to that Kingdom who should be able +to teach others. Round this glorious Figure gathered the myths which +united Him to the long array of His predecessors, the myths telling in +allegory the story of all such lives, as they symbolise the work of the +Logos in the Kosmos and the higher evolution of the individual human +soul. + +But it must not be supposed that the work of the Christ for His +followers was over after He had established the Mysteries, or was +confined to rare appearances therein. That Mighty One who had used the +body of Jesus as His vehicle, and whose guardian care extends over the +whole spiritual evolution of the fifth race of humanity, gave into the +strong hands of the holy disciple who had surrendered to Him his body +the care of the infant Church. Perfecting his human evolution, Jesus +became one of the Masters of Wisdom, and took Christianity under His +special charge, ever seeking to guide it to the right lines, to protect, +to guard and nourish it. He was the Hierophant in the Christian +Mysteries, the direct Teacher of the Initiates. His the inspiration that +kept alight the Gnosis in the Church, until the superincumbent mass of +ignorance became so great that even His breath could not fan the flame +sufficiently to prevent its extinguishment. His the patient labour which +strengthened soul after soul to endure through the darkness, and cherish +within itself the spark of mystic longing, the thirst to find the Hidden +God. His the steady inpouring of truth into every brain ready to +receive it, so that hand stretched out to hand across the centuries and +passed on the torch of knowledge, which thus was never extinguished. His +the Form which stood beside the rack and in the flames of the burning +pile, cheering His confessors and His martyrs, soothing the anguish of +their pains, and filling their hearts with His peace. His the impulse +which spoke in the thunder of Savonarola, which guided the calm wisdom +of Erasmus, which inspired the deep ethics of the God-intoxicated +Spinoza. His the energy which impelled Roger Bacon, Galileo, and +Paracelsus in their searchings into nature. His the beauty that allured +Fra Angelica and Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, that inspired the genius +of Michelangelo, that shone before the eyes of Murillo, and that gave +the power that raised the marvels of the world, the Duomo of Milan, the +San Marco of Venice, the Cathedral of Florence. His the melody that +breathed in the masses of Mozart, the sonatas of Beethoven, the +oratorios of Handel, the fugues of Bach, the austere splendour of +Brahms. His the Presence that cheered the solitary mystics, the hunted +occultists, the patient seekers after truth. By persuasion and by +menace, by the eloquence of a S. Francis and by the gibes of a Voltaire, +by the sweet submission of a Thomas a Kempis, and the rough virility of +a Luther, He sought to instruct and awaken, to win into holiness or to +scourge from evil. Through the long centuries He has striven and +laboured, and, with all the mighty burden of the Churches to carry, He +has never left uncared for or unsolaced one human heart that cried to +Him for help. And now He is striving to turn to the benefit of +Christendom part of the great flood of the Wisdom poured out for the +refreshing of the world, and He is seeking through the Churches for some +who have ears to hear the Wisdom, and who will answer to His appeal for +messengers to carry it to His flock: "Here am I; send me." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MYTHIC CHRIST. + + +We have already seen the use that is made of Comparative Mythology +against Religion, and some of its most destructive attacks have been +levelled against the Christ. His birth of a Virgin at "Christmas," the +slaughter of the Innocents, His wonder-working and His teachings, His +crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension--all these events in the story +of His life are pointed to in the stories of other lives, and His +historical existence is challenged on the strength of these identities. +So far as the wonder-working and the teachings are concerned, we may +briefly dismiss these first with the acknowledgment that most great +Teachers have wrought works which, on the physical plane, appear as +miracles in the sight of their contemporaries, but are known by +occultists to be done by the exercise of powers possessed by all +Initiates above a certain grade. The teachings He gave may also be +acknowledged to be non-original; but where the student of Comparative +Mythology thinks that he has proved that none is divinely inspired, when +he shows that similar moral teachings fell from the lips of Manu, from +the lips of the Buddha, from the lips of Jesus, the occultist says that +certainly Jesus must have repeated the teachings of His predecessors, +since He was a messenger from the same Lodge. The profound verities +touching the divine and the human Spirit were as much truths twenty +thousand years before Jesus was born in Palestine as after He was born; +and to say that the world was left without such teaching, and that man +was left in moral darkness from his beginnings to twenty centuries ago, +is to say that there was a humanity without a Teacher, children without +a Father, human souls crying for light into a darkness that gave them no +answer--a conception as blasphemous of God as it is desperate for man, a +conception contradicted by the appearance of every Sage, by the mighty +literature, by the noble lives, in the thousands of ages ere the Christ +came forth. + +Recognising then in Jesus the great Master of the West, the leading +Messenger of the Lodge to the western world, we must face the difficulty +which has made havoc of this belief in the minds of many: Why are the +festivals that commemorate events in the life of Jesus found in +pre-Christian religions, and in them commemorate identical events in the +lives of other Teachers? + +Comparative Mythology, which has drawn public attention to this question +in modern times, may be said to be about a century old, dating from the +appearance of Dulaure's _Histoire Abregee de differens Cultes_, of +Dupuis' _Origine de tous les Cultes_, of Moor's _Hindu Pantheon_, and of +Godfrey Higgins' _Anacalypsis_. These works were followed by a shoal of +others, growing more scientific and rigid in their collection and +comparison of facts, until it has become impossible for any educated +person to even challenge the identities and similarities existing in +every direction. Christians are not to be found, in these days, who are +prepared to contend that Christian symbols, rites, and ceremonies are +unique--except, indeed, among the ignorant. There we still behold +simplicity of belief hand-in-hand with ignorance of facts; but outside +this class we do not find even the most devout Christians alleging that +Christianity has not very much in common with faiths older than itself. +But it is well known that in the first centuries "after Christ" these +likenesses were on all hands admitted, and that modern Comparative +Mythology is only repeating with great precision that which was +universally recognised in the Early Church. Justin Martyr, for instance, +crowds his pages with references to the religions of his time, and if a +modern assailant of Christianity would cite a number of cases in which +Christian teachings are identical with those of elder religions, he can +find no better guides than the apologists of the second century. They +quote Pagan teachings, stories, and symbols, pleading that the very +identity of the Christian with these should prevent the off-hand +rejection of the latter as in themselves incredible. A curious reason +is, indeed, given for this identity, one that will scarcely find many +adherents in modern days. Says Justin Martyr: "Those who hand down the +myths which the poets have made adduce no proof to the youths who learn +them; and we proceed to demonstrate that they have been uttered by the +influence of the wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human +race. For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the +Christ was to come, and that the ungodly among men were to be punished +by fire, they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the +impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the +things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, +like the things which were said by the poets." "And the devils, indeed, +having heard this washing published by the prophet, instigated those who +enter their temples, and are about to approach them with libations and +burnt offerings, also to sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also +to wash themselves entirely as they depart." "Which [the Lord's Supper] +the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding +the same thing to be done."[175] "For I myself, when I discovered the +wicked disguise which the evil spirits had thrown around the divine +doctrines of the Christians, to turn aside others from joining them, +laughed."[176] + +These identities were thus regarded as the work of devils, copies of the +Christian originals, largely circulated in the pre-Christian world with +the object of prejudicing the reception of the truth when it came. There +is a certain difficulty in accepting the earlier statements as copies +and the later as originals, but without disputing with Justin Martyr +whether the copies preceded the original or the original the copies, we +may be content to accept his testimony as to the existence of these +identities between the faith flourishing in the Roman empire of his +time and the new religion he was engaged in defending. + +Tertullian speaks equally plainly, stating the objection made in his +days also to Christianity, that "the nations who are strangers to all +understanding of spiritual powers, ascribe to their idols the imbuing of +waters with the self-same efficacy." "So they do," he answers quite +frankly, "but these cheat themselves with waters that are widowed. For +washing is the channel through which they are initiated into some sacred +rites of some notorious Isis or Mithra; and the Gods themselves they +honour by washings.... At the Apollinarian and Eleusinian games they +are baptised; and they presume that the effect of their doing that is +the regeneration and the remission of the penalties due to their +perjuries. Which fact, being acknowledged, we recognise here also the +zeal of the devil rivalling the things of God, while we find him too +practising baptism in his subjects."[177] + +To solve the difficulty of these identities we must study the Mythic +Christ, the Christ of the solar myths or legends, these myths being the +pictorial forms in which certain profound truths were given to the +world. + +Now a "myth" is by no means what most people imagine it to be--a mere +fanciful story erected on a basis of fact, or even altogether apart from +fact. A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a +story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances +that cast the shadows. As above so below; and _first_ above and _then_ +below. There are certain great principles according to which our system +is built; there are certain laws by which these principles are worked +out in detail; there are certain Beings who embody the principles and +whose activities are the laws; there are hosts of inferior beings who +act as vehicles for these activities, as agents, as instruments; there +are the Egos of men intermingled with all these, performing their share +of the great kosmic drama. These multifarious workers in the invisible +worlds cast their shadows on physical matter, and these shadows are +"things"--the bodies, the objects, that make up the physical universe. +These shadows give but a poor idea of the objects that cast them, just +as what we call shadows down here give but a poor idea of the objects +that cast them; they are mere outlines, with blank darkness in lieu of +details, and have only length and breadth, no depth. + +History is an account, very imperfect and often distorted, of the dance +of these shadows in the shadow-world of physical matter. Anyone who has +seen a clever Shadow-Play, and has compared what goes on behind the +screen on which the shadows are cast with the movements of the shadows +on the screen, may have a vivid idea of the illusory nature of the +shadow-actions, and may draw therefrom several not misleading +analogies.[178] + +Myth is an account of the movements of those who cast the shadows; and +the language in which the account is given is what is called the +language of symbols. Just as here we have words which stand for +things--as the word "table" is a symbol for a recognised article of a +certain kind--so do symbols stand for objects on higher planes. They are +a pictorial alphabet, used by all myth-writers, and each has its +recognised meaning. A symbol is used to signify a certain object just as +words are used down here to distinguish one thing from another, and so a +knowledge of symbols is necessary for the reading of a myth. For the +original tellers of great myths are ever Initiates, who are accustomed +to use the symbolic language, and who, of course, use symbols in their +fixed and accepted meanings. + +A symbol has a chief meaning, and then various subsidiary meanings +related to that chief meaning. For instance, the Sun is the symbol of +the Logos; that is its chief or primary significance. But it stands also +for an incarnation of the Logos, or for any of the great Messengers who +represent Him for the time, as an ambassador represents his King. High +Initiates who are sent on special missions to incarnate among men and +live with them for a time as Rulers or Teachers, would be designated by +the symbol of the Sun; for though it is not their symbol in an +individual sense, it is theirs in virtue of their office. + +All those who are signified by this symbol have certain characteristics, +pass through certain situations, perform certain activities, during +their lives on earth. The Sun is the physical shadow, or body, as it is +called, of the Logos; hence its yearly course in nature reflects His +activity, in the partial way in which a shadow represents the activity +of the object that casts it. The Logos, "the Son of God," descending +into matter, has as shadow the annual course of the Sun, and the +Sun-Myth tells it. Hence, again, an incarnation of the Logos, or one of +His high ambassadors, will also represent that activity, shadow-like, in +His body as a man. Thus will necessarily arise identities in the +life-histories of these ambassadors. In fact, the absence of such +identities would at once point out that the person concerned was not a +full ambassador, and that his mission was of a lower order. + +The Solar Myth, then, is a story which primarily representing the +activity of the Logos, or Word, in the kosmos, secondarily embodies the +life of one who is an incarnation of the Logos, or is one of His +ambassadors. The Hero of the myth is usually represented as a God, or +Demi-God, and his life, as will be understood by what has been said +above, must be outlined by the course of the Sun, as the shadow of the +Logos. The part of the course lived out during the human life is that +which falls between the winter solstice and the reaching of the zenith +in summer. The Hero is born at the winter solstice, dies at the spring +equinox, and, conquering death, rises into mid-heaven. + +The following remarks are interesting in this connection, though looking +at myth in a more general way, as an allegory, picturing inner truths: +"Alfred de Vigny has said that legend is frequently more true than +history, because legend recounts not acts which are often incomplete +and abortive, but the genius itself of great men and great nations. It +is pre-eminently to the Gospel that this beautiful thought is +applicable, for the Gospel is not merely the narration of what has been; +it is the sublime narration of what is and what always will be. Ever +will the Saviour of the world be adored by the kings of intelligence, +represented by the Magi; ever will He multiply the eucharistic bread, to +nourish and comfort our souls; ever, when we invoke Him in the night and +the tempest, will He come to us walking on the waters, ever will He +stretch forth His hand and make us pass over the crests of the billows; +ever will He cure our distempers and give back light to our eyes; ever +will He appear to His faithful, luminous and transfigured upon Tabor, +interpreting the law of Moses and moderating the zeal of Elias."[179] + +We shall find that myths are very closely related to the Mysteries, for +part of the Mysteries consisted in showing living pictures of the +occurrences in the higher worlds that became embodied in myths. In fact +in the Pseudo-Mysteries, mutilated fragments of the living pictures of +the true Mysteries were represented by actors who acted out a drama, and +many secondary myths are these dramas put into words. + +The broad outlines of the story of the Sun-God are very clear, the +eventful life of the Sun-God being spanned within the first six months +of the solar year, the other six being employed in the general +protecting and preserving. He is always born at the winter solstice, +after the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the 24th of +December, when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as this +sign is rising, he is born always of a virgin, and she remains a virgin +after she has given birth to her Sun-Child, as the celestial Virgo +remains unchanged and unsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the +heavens. Weak, feeble as an infant is he, born when the days are +shortest and the nights are longest--we are on the north of the +equatorial line--surrounded with perils in his infancy, and the reign of +the darkness far longer than his in his early days. But he lives +through all the threatening dangers, and the day lengthens towards the +spring equinox, till the time comes for the crossing over, the +crucifixion, the date varying with each year. The Sun-God is sometimes +found sculptured within the circle of the horizon, with the head and +feet touching the circle at north and south, and the outstretched hands +at east and west--"He was crucified." After this he rises triumphantly +and ascends into heaven, and ripens the corn and the grape, giving his +very life to them to make their substance and through them to his +worshippers. The God who is born at the dawning of December 25th is ever +crucified at the spring equinox, and ever gives his life as food to his +worshippers--these are among the most salient marks of the Sun-God. The +fixity of the birth-date and the variableness of the death-date are full +of significance, when we remember that the one is a fixed and the other +a variable solar position. "Easter" is a movable event, calculated by +the relative positions of sun and moon, an impossible way of fixing year +by year the anniversary of a historical event, but a very natural and +indeed inevitable way of calculating a solar festival. These changing +dates do not point to the history of a man, but to the Hero of a solar +myth. + +These events are reproduced in the lives of the various Solar Gods, and +antiquity teems with illustrations of them. Isis of Egypt like Mary of +Bethlehem was our Immaculate Lady, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, +Mother of God. We see her in pictures standing on the crescent moon, +star-crowned; she nurses her child Horus, and the cross appears on the +back of the seat in which he sits on his mother's knee. The Virgo of the +Zodiac is represented in ancient drawings as a woman suckling a +child--the type of all future Madonnas with their divine Babes, showing +the origin of the symbol. Devaki is likewise figured with the divine +Krishna in her arms, as is Mylitta, or Istar, of Babylon, also +with the recurrent crown of stars, and with her child Tammuz on her +knee. Mercury and Aesculapius, Bacchus and Hercules, Perseus and the +Dioscuri, Mithras and Zarathustra, were all of divine and human birth. + +The relation of the winter solstice to Jesus is also significant. The +birth of Mithras was celebrated in the winter solstice with great +rejoicings, and Horus was also then born: "His birth is one of the +greatest mysteries of the [Egyptian] religion. Pictures representing it +appeared on the walls of temples.... He was the child of Deity. At +Christmas time, or that answering to our festival, his image was brought +out of the sanctuary with peculiar ceremonies, as the image of the +infant Bambino is still brought out and exhibited at Rome."[180] + +On the fixing of the 25th December as the birthday of Jesus, Williamson +has the following: "All Christians know that the 25th December is _now_ +the recognised festival of the birth of Jesus, but few are aware that +this has not always been so. There have been, it is said, one hundred +and thirty-six different dates fixed on by different Christian sects. +Lightfoot gives it as 15th September, others as in February or August. +Epiphanius mentions two sects, one celebrating it in June, the other in +July. The matter was finally settled by Pope Julius I., in 337 A.D., and +S. Chrysostom, writing in 390, says: 'On this day [_i.e._ 25th December] +also the birth of Christ was lately fixed at Rome, in order that while +the heathen were busy with their ceremonies [the Brumalia, in honour of +Bacchus] the Christians might perform their rites undisturbed.' Gibbon +in his _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, writes: 'The [Christian] +Romans, as ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his [Christ's +birth] fixed the solemn festival to the 25th December, the Brumalia or +winter solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the +Sun.' King, in his _Gnostics and their Remains_, also says: 'The ancient +festival held on the 25th December in honour of the birthday of the +Invincible One,[181] and celebrated by the great games at the Circus, +was afterwards transferred to the commemoration of the birth of Christ, +the precise date of which many of the Fathers confess was then unknown;' +while at the present day Canon Farrar writes that 'all attempts to +discover the month and day of the nativity are useless. No data whatever +exist to enable us to determine them with even approximate accuracy.' +From the foregoing it is apparent that the great festival of the winter +solstice has been celebrated during past ages, and in widely separated +lands, in honour of the birth of a God, who is almost invariably alluded +to as a 'Saviour,' and whose mother is referred to as a pure virgin. The +striking resemblances, too, which have been instanced not only in the +birth but in the life of so many of these Saviour-Gods are far too +numerous to be accounted for by any mere coincidence."[182] + +In the case of the Lord Buddha we may see how a myth attaches itself to +a historical personage. The story of His life is well known, and in the +current Indian accounts the birth-story is simple and human. But in the +Chinese account He is born of a virgin, Mayadevi, the archaic myth +finding in Him a new Hero. + +Williamson also tells us that fires were and are lighted on the 25th +December on the hills among Keltic peoples, and these are still known +among the Irish and the Scotch Highlanders as Bheil or Baaltinne, the +fires thus bearing the name of Bel, Bal, or Baal, their ancient Deity, +the Sun-God, though now lighted in honour of Christ.[183] + +Rightly considered, the Christmas festival should take on new elements +of rejoicing and of sacredness, when the lovers of Christ see in it the +repetition of an ancient solemnity, see it stretching all the world +over, and far, far back into dim antiquity; so that the Christmas bells +are ringing throughout human history, and sound musically out of the +far-off night of time. Not in exclusive possession, but in universal +acceptance, is found the hallmark of truth. + +The death-date, as said above, is not a fixed one, like the birth-date. +The date of the death is calculated by the relative positions of Sun and +Moon at the spring equinox, varying with each year, and the death-date +of each Solar Hero is found to be celebrated in this connection. The +animal adopted as the symbol of the Hero is the sign of the Zodiac in +which the Sun is at the vernal equinox of his age, and this varies with +the precession of the equinoxes. Oannes of Assyria had the sign of +Pisces, the Fish, and is thus figured. Mithra is in Taurus, and, +therefore, rides on a Bull, and Osiris was worshipped as Osiris-Apis, or +Serapis, the Bull. Merodach of Babylon was worshipped as a Bull, as was +Astarte of Syria. When the Sun is in the sign of Aries, the Ram or Lamb, +we have Osiris again as Ram, and so also Astarte, and Jupiter Ammon, and +it is this same animal that became the symbol of Jesus--the Lamb of God. +The use of the Lamb as His symbol, often leaning on a cross, is common +in the sculptures of the catacombs. On this Williamson says: "In the +course of time the Lamb was represented on the cross, but it was not +until the sixth synod of Constantinople, held about the year 680, that +it was ordained that instead of the ancient symbol, the figure of a +_man_ fastened to a cross should be represented. This canon was +confirmed by Pope Adrian I."[184] The very ancient Pisces is also +assigned to Jesus, and He is thus pictured in the catacombs. + +The death and resurrection of the Solar Hero at or about the vernal +equinox is as wide-spread as his birth at the winter solstice. Osiris +was then slain by Typhon, and He is pictured on the circle of the +horizon, with outstretched arms, as if crucified--a posture originally +of benediction, not of suffering. The death of Tammuz was annually +bewailed at the spring equinox in Babylonia and Syria, as were Adonis in +Syria and Greece, and Attis in Phrygia, pictured "as a man fastened with +a lamb at the foot."[185] Mithras' death was similarly celebrated in +Persia, and that of Bacchus and Dionysius--one and the same--in Greece. +In Mexico the same idea re-appears, as usual accompanied with the cross. + +In all these cases the mourning for the death is immediately followed by +the rejoicing over the resurrection, and on this it is interesting to +notice that the name of Easter has been traced to the virgin-mother of +the slain Tammuz, Ishtar.[186] + +It is interesting also to notice that the fast preceding the death at +the vernal equinox,--the modern Lent--is found in Mexico, Egypt, Persia, +Babylon, Assyria, Asia Minor, in some cases definitely for forty +days.[187] + +In the Pseudo-Mysteries, the Sun-God story was dramatised, and in the +ancient Mysteries it was lived by the Initiate, and hence the solar +"myths" and the great facts of Initiation became interwoven together. +Hence when the Master Christ became the Christ of the Mysteries, the +legends of the older Heroes of those Mysteries gathered round Him, and +the stories were again recited with the latest divine Teacher as the +representative of the Logos in the Sun. Then the festival of His +nativity became the immemorial date when the Sun was born of the Virgin, +when the midnight sky was filled with the rejoicing hosts of the +celestials, and + +Very early, very early, Christ was born. + +As the great legend of the Sun gathered round Him, the sign of the Lamb +became that of His crucifixion as the sign of the Virgin had become that +of His birth. We have seen that the Bull was sacred to Mithras and the +Fish to Oannes, and that the Lamb was sacred to Christ, and for the same +reason; it was the sign of the spring equinox, at the period of history +in which He crossed the great circle of the horizon, was "crucified in +space." + +These Sun myths, ever recurring throughout the ages, with a different +name for their Hero in each new recension, cannot pass unrecognised by +the student, though they may naturally and rightly be ignored by the +devotee; and when they are used as a weapon to mutilate or destroy the +majestic figure of the Christ, they must be met, not by denying the +facts, but by understanding the deeper meaning of the stories, the +spiritual truths that the legends expressed under a veil. + +Why have these legends mingled with the history of Jesus, and +crystallised round Him, as a historical personage? These are really the +stories not of a particular individual named Jesus but of the universal +Christ; of a Man who symbolised a Divine Being, and who represented a +fundamental truth in nature; a Man who filled a certain office and held +a certain characteristic position towards humanity; standing towards +humanity in a special relationship, renewed age after age, as generation +succeeded generation, as race gave way to race. Hence He was, as are all +such, the "Son of Man," a peculiar and distinctive title, the title of +an office, not of an individual. The Christ of the Solar Myth was the +Christ of the Mysteries, and we find the secret of the mythic in the +mystic Christ. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MYSTIC CHRIST. + + +We now approach that deeper side of the Christ story that gives it its +real hold upon the hearts of men. We approach that perennial life which +bubbles up from an unseen source, and so baptises its representative +with its lucent flood that human hearts cling round the Christ, and feel +that they could almost more readily reject the apparent facts of history +than deny that which they intuitively feel to be a vital, an essential +truth of the higher life. We draw near the sacred portal of the +Mysteries, and lift a corner of the veil that hides the sanctuary. + +We have seen that, go back as far as we may into antiquity, we find +everywhere recognised the existence of a hidden teaching, a secret +doctrine, given under strict and exacting conditions to approved +candidates by the Masters of Wisdom. Such candidates were initiated into +"The Mysteries"--a name that covers in antiquity, as we have seen, all +that was most spiritual in religion, all that was most profound in +philosophy, all that was most valuable in science. Every great Teacher +of antiquity passed through the Mysteries and the greatest were the +Hierophants of the Mysteries; each who came forth into the world to +speak of the invisible worlds had passed through the portal of +Initiation and had learned the secret of the Holy Ones from Their own +lips: each who came forth came forth with the same story, and the solar +myths are all versions of this story, identical in their essential +features, varying only in their local colour. + +This story is primarily that of the descent of the Logos into matter, +and the Sun-God is aptly His symbol, since the Sun is His body, and He +is often described as "He that dwelleth in the Sun." In one aspect, the +Christ of the Mysteries is the Logos descending into matter, and the +great Sun-Myth is the popular teaching of this sublime truth. As in +previous cases, the Divine Teacher, who brought the Ancient Wisdom and +republished it in the world, was regarded as a special manifestation of +the Logos, and the Jesus of the Churches was gradually draped with the +stories which belonged to this great One; thus He became identified, in +Christian nomenclature, with the Second Person in the Trinity, the +Logos, or Word of God,[188] and the salient events recounted in the myth +of the Sun-God became the salient events of the story of Jesus, regarded +as the incarnate Deity, the "mythic Christ." As in the macrocosm, the +kosmos, the Christ of the Mysteries represents the Logos, the Second +Person in the Trinity, so in the microcosm, man, does He represent the +second aspect of the Divine Spirit in man--hence called in man "the +Christ."[189] The second aspect of the Christ of the Mysteries is then +the life of the Initiate, the life which is entered on at the first +great Initiation, at which the Christ is born in man, and after which He +develops in man. To make this quite intelligible, we must consider the +conditions imposed on the candidate for Initiation, and the nature of +the Spirit in man. + +Only those could be recognised as candidates for Initiation who were +already good as men count goodness, according to the strict measure of +the law. Pure, holy, without defilement, clean from sin, living without +transgression--such were some of the descriptive phrases used of +them.[190] Intelligent also must they be, of well-developed and +well-trained minds.[191] The evolution carried on in the world life +after life, developing and mastering the powers of the mind, the +emotions, and the moral sense, learning through exoteric religions, +practising the discharge of duties, seeking to help and lift others--all +this belongs to the ordinary life of an evolving man. When all this is +done, the man has become "a good man," the Chrestos of the Greeks, and +this he must be ere he can become the Christos, the Anointed. Having +accomplished the exoteric good life, he becomes a candidate for the +esoteric life, and enters on the preparation for Initiation, which +consists in the fulfilment of certain conditions. + +These conditions mark out the attributes he is to acquire, and while he +is labouring to create these, he is sometimes said to be treading the +Probationary Path, the Path which leads up to the "Strait Gate," beyond +which is the "Narrow Way," or the "Path of Holiness," the "Way of the +Cross." He is not expected to develop these attributes perfectly, but he +must have made some progress in all of them, ere the Christ can be born +in him. He must prepare a pure home for that Divine Child who is to +develop within him. + +The first of these attributes--they are all mental and moral--is +_Discrimination_; this means that the aspirant must begin to separate in +his mind the Eternal from the Temporary, the Real from the Unreal, the +True from the False, the Heavenly from the Earthly. "The things which +are seen are temporal," says the Apostle; "but the things which are not +seen are eternal."[192] Men are constantly living under the glamour of +the seen, and are blinded by it to the unseen. The aspirant must learn +to discriminate between them, so that what is unreal to the world may +become real to him, and that which is real to the world may to him +become unreal, for thus only is it possible to "walk by faith, not by +sight."[193] And thus also must a man become one of those of whom the +Apostle says that they "are of full age, even those who by reason of use +have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."[194] Next, +this sense of unreality must breed in him _Disgust_ with the unreal and +the fleeting, the mere husks of life, unfit to satisfy hunger, save the +hunger of swine.[195] This stage is described in the emphatic language +of Jesus: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, +and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life +also, he cannot be my disciple."[196] Truly a "hard saying," and yet out +of this hatred will spring a deeper, truer, love, and the stage may not +be escaped on the way to the Strait Gate. Then the aspirant must learn +_Control of thoughts_, and this will lead to _Control of actions_, the +thought being, to the inner eye, the same as the action: "Whosoever +looketh on a woman to lust after her, _hath committed adultery_ with her +already in his heart."[197] He must acquire _Endurance_, for they who +aspire to tread "the Way of the Cross" will have to brave long and +bitter sufferings, and they must be able to endure, "as seeing Him who +is invisible."[198] He must add to these _Tolerance_, if he would be the +child of Him who "maketh His sun to rise on the evil, and on the good, +and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,"[199] the disciple of +Him who bade His apostles not to forbid a man to use His name because he +did not follow with them.[200] Further, he must acquire the _Faith_ to +which nothing is impossible,[201] and the _Balance_ which is described +by the Apostle.[202] Lastly, he must seek only "those things which are +above,"[203] and long to reach the beatitude of the vision of and union +with God.[204] When a man has wrought these qualities into his character +he is regarded as fit for Initiation, and the Guardians of the Mysteries +will open for him the Strait Gate. Thus, but thus only, he becomes the +prepared candidate. + +Now, the Spirit in man is the gift of the Supreme God, and contains +within itself the three aspects of the Divine Life--Intelligence, Love, +Will--being the Image of God. As it evolves, it first develops the +aspect of Intelligence, develops the intellect, and this evolution is +effected in the ordinary life in the world. To have done this to a high +point, accompanying it with moral development, brings the evolving man +to the condition of the candidate. The second aspect of the Spirit is +that of Love, and the evolution of that is the evolution of the Christ. +In the true Mysteries this evolution is undergone--the disciple's life +is the Mystery Drama, and the Great Initiations mark its stages. In the +Mysteries performed on the physical plane these used to be dramatically +represented, and the ceremonies followed in many respects "the pattern" +ever shown forth "on the Mount," for they were the shadows in a +deteriorating age of the mighty Realities in the spiritual world. + +The Mystic Christ, then, is twofold--the Logos, the Second Person of the +Trinity, descending into matter, and the Love, or second, aspect of the +unfolding Divine Spirit in man. The one represents kosmic processes +carried on in the past and is the root of the Solar Myth; the other +represents a process carried on in the individual, the concluding stage +of his human evolution, and added many details in the Myth. Both of +these have contributed to the Gospel story, and together form the Image +of the "Mystic Christ." + +Let us consider first the kosmic Christ, Deity becoming enveloped in +matter, the becoming incarnate of the Logos, the clothing of God in +"flesh." + +When the matter which is to form our solar system is separated off from +the infinite ocean of matter which fills space, the Third Person of the +Trinity--the Holy Spirit--pours His Life into this matter to vivify it, +that it may presently take form. It is then drawn together, and form is +given to it by the life of the Logos, the Second Person of the Trinity, +who sacrifices Himself by putting on the limitations of matter, becoming +the "Heavenly Man," in whose Body all forms exist, of whose Body all +forms are part. This was the kosmic story, dramatically shown in the +Mysteries--in the true Mysteries seen as it occurred in space, in the +physical plane Mysteries represented by magical or other means, and in +some parts by actors. + +These processes are very distinctly stated in the _Bible_; when the +"Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" in the darkness that +was "upon the face of the deep,"[205] the great deep of matter showed +no forms, it was void, inchoate. Form was given by the Logos, the Word, +of whom it is written that "all things were made by Him; and without Him +was not anything made that was made."[206] C. W. Leadbeater has well put +it: "The result of this first great outpouring [the 'moving' of the +Spirit] is the quickening of that wonderful and glorious vitality which +pervades all matter (inert though it may seem to our dim physical eyes), +so that the atoms of the various planes develop, when electrified by it, +all sorts of previously latent attractions and repulsions, and enter +into combinations of all kinds."[207] + +Only when this work of the Spirit has been done can the Logos, the +kosmic Mystic Christ, take on Himself the clothing of matter, entering +in very truth the Virgin's womb, the womb of Matter as yet virgin, +unproductive. This matter had been vivified by the Holy Spirit, who, +overshadowing the Virgin, poured into it His life, thus preparing it to +receive the life of the Second Logos, who took this matter as the +vehicle for His energies. This is the becoming incarnate of the Christ, +the taking flesh--"Thou did'st not despise the Virgin's womb." + +In the Latin and English translations of the original Greek text of the +Nicene Creed, the phrase which describes this phase of the descent has +changed the prepositions and so changed the sense. The original ran: +"and was incarnate _of_ the Holy Ghost _and_ the Virgin Mary," whereas +the translation reads: "and was incarnate _by_ the Holy Ghost _of_ the +Virgin Mary."[208] The Christ "takes form not of the 'Virgin' matter +alone, but of matter which is already instinct and pulsating with the +life of the Third Logos,[209] so that both the life and the matter +surround Him as a vesture."[210] + +This is the descent of the Logos into matter, described as the birth of +the Christ of a Virgin, and this, in the Solar Myth, becomes the birth +of the Sun-God as the sign Virgo rises. + +Then come the early workings of the Logos in matter, aptly typified by +the infancy of the myth. To all the feebleness of infancy His majestic +powers bow themselves, letting but little play forth on the tender forms +they ensoul. Matter imprisons, seems as though threatening to slay, its +infant King, whose glory is veiled by the limitations He has assumed. +Slowly He shapes it towards high ends, and lifts it into manhood, and +then stretches Himself on the cross of matter that He may pour forth +from that cross all the powers of His surrendered life. This is the +Logos of whom Plato said that He was in the figure of a cross on the +universe; this is the Heavenly Man, standing in space, with arms +outstretched in blessing; this is the Christ crucified, whose death on +the cross of matter fills all matter with His life. Dead He seems and +buried out of sight, but He rises again clothed in the very matter in +which He seemed to perish, and carries up His body of now radiant +matter into heaven, where it receives the downpouring life of the +Father, and becomes the vehicle of man's immortal life. For it is the +life of the Logos which forms the garment of the Soul in man, and He +gives it that men may live through the ages and grow to the measure of +His own stature. Truly are we clothed in Him, first materially and then +spiritually. He sacrificed Himself to bring many sons into glory, and He +is with us always, even to the end of the age. + +The crucifixion of Christ, then, is part of the great kosmic sacrifice, +and the allegorical representation of this in the physical Mysteries, +and the sacred symbol of the crucified man in space, became materialised +into an actual death by crucifixion, and a crucifix bearing a dying +human form; then this story, now the story of a man, was attached to the +Divine Teacher, Jesus, and became the story of His physical death, while +the birth from a Virgin, the danger-encircled infancy, the resurrection +and ascension, became also incidents in His human life. The Mysteries +disappeared, but their grandiose and graphic representations of the +kosmic work of the Logos encircled and uplifted the beloved figure of +the Teacher of Judaea, and the kosmic Christ of the Mysteries, with the +lineaments of the Jesus of history, thus became the central Figure of +the Christian Church. + +But even this was not all; the last touch of fascination is added to the +Christ-story by the fact that there is another Christ of the Mysteries, +close and dear to the human heart--the Christ of the human Spirit, the +Christ who is in every one of us, is born and lives, is crucified, rises +from the dead, and ascends into heaven, in every suffering and +triumphant "Son of Man." + +The life-story of every Initiate into the true, the heavenly Mysteries, +is told in its salient features in the Gospel biography. For this +reason, S. Paul speaks as we have seen[211] of the birth of the Christ +in the disciple, and of His evolution and His full stature therein. +Every man is a potential Christ, and the unfolding of the Christ-life +in a man follows the outline of the Gospel story in its striking +incidents, which we have seen to be universal, and not particular. + +There are five great Initiations in the life of a Christ, each one +marking a stage in the unfolding of the Life of Love. They are given +now, as of old, and the last marks the final triumph of the Man who has +developed into Divinity, who has transcended humanity, and has become a +Saviour of the world. + +Let us trace this life-story, ever newly repeated in spiritual +experience, and see the Initiate living out the life of the Christ. + +At the first great Initiation the Christ is born in the disciple; it is +then that he realises for the first time _in himself_ the outpouring of +the divine Love, and experiences that marvellous change which makes him +feel himself to be one with all that lives. This is the "Second Birth," +and at that birth the heavenly ones rejoice, for he is born into "the +kingdom of heaven," as one of the "little ones," as "a little +child"--the names ever given to the new Initiates. Such is the meaning +of the words of Jesus, that a man must become a little child to enter +into the Kingdom.[212] It is significantly said in some of the early +Christian writers that Jesus was "born in a cave"--the "stable" of the +gospel narrative; the "Cave of Initiation" is a well-known ancient +phrase, and the Initiate is ever born therein; over that cave "where the +young child" is burns the "Star of Initiation," the Star that ever +shines forth in the East when a Child-Christ is born. Every such child +is surrounded by perils and menaces, strange dangers that befall not +other babes; for he is anointed with the chrism of the second birth and +the Dark Powers of the unseen world ever seek his undoing. Despite all +trials, however, he grows into manhood, for the Christ once born can +never perish, the Christ once beginning to develop can never fail in his +evolution; his fair life expands and grows, ever-increasing in wisdom +and in spiritual stature, until the time comes for the second great +Initiation, the Baptism of the Christ by Water and the Spirit, that +gives him the powers necessary for the Teacher, who is to go forth and +labour in the world as "the beloved Son." + +Then there descends upon him in rich measure the divine Spirit, and the +glory of the unseen Father pours down its pure radiance on him; but from +that scene of blessing is he led by the Spirit into the wilderness and +is once more exposed to the ordeal of fierce temptations. For now the +powers of the Spirit are unfolding themselves in him, and the Dark Ones +strive to lure him from his path by these very powers, bidding him use +them for his own helping instead of resting on his Father in patient +trust. In the swift, sudden transitions which test his strength and +faith, the whisper of the embodied Tempter follows the voice of the +Father, and the burning sands of the wilderness scorch the feet +erstwhile laved in the cool waters of the holy river. Conqueror over +these temptations he passes into the world of men to use for their +helping the powers he would not put forth for his own needs, and he who +would not turn one stone to bread for the stilling of his own cravings +feeds "five thousand men, besides women and children," with a few +loaves. + +Into his life of ceaseless service comes another brief period of glory, +when he ascends "a high mountain apart"--the sacred Mount of Initiation. +There he is transfigured and there meets some of his great Forerunners, +the Mighty Ones of old who trod where he now is treading. He passes thus +the third great Initiation, and then the shadow of his coming Passion +falls on him, and he steadfastly sets his face to go to +Jerusalem--repelling the tempting words of one of his +disciples--Jerusalem, where awaits him the baptism of the Holy Ghost and +of Fire. After the Birth, the attack by Herod; after the Baptism, the +temptation in the wilderness; after the Transfiguration, the setting +forth towards the last stage of the Way of the Cross. Thus is triumph +ever followed by ordeal, until the goal is reached. + +Still grows the life of love, ever fuller and more perfect, the Son of +Man shining forth more clearly as the Son of God, until the time draws +near for his final battle; and the fourth great Initiation leads him in +triumph into Jerusalem, into sight of Gethsemane and Calvary. He is now +the Christ ready to be offered, ready for the sacrifice on the cross. He +is now to face the bitter agony in the Garden, where even his chosen +ones sleep while he wrestles with his mortal anguish, and for a moment +prays that the cup may pass from his lips; but the strong will triumphs +and he stretches out his hand to take and drink, and in his loneliness +an angel comes to him and strengthens him, as angels are wont to do when +they see a Son of Man bending beneath his load of agony. The drinking of +the bitter cup of betrayal, of desertion, of denial, meets him as he +goes forth, and alone amid his jeering foes he passes to his last fierce +trial. Scourged by physical pain, pierced by cruel thorns of suspicion, +stripped of his fair garments of purity in the eyes of the world, left +in the hands of his foes, deserted apparently by God and man, he endures +patiently all that befalls him, wistfully looking in his last extremity +for aid. Left still to suffer, crucified, to die to the life of form, +to surrender all life that belongs to the lower world, surrounded by +triumphant foes who mock him, the last horror of great darkness +envelopes him, and in the darkness he meets all the forces of evil; his +inner vision is blinded, he finds himself alone, utterly alone, till the +strong heart, sinking in despair, cries out to the Father who seems to +have abandoned him, and the human soul faces, in uttermost loneliness, +the crushing agony of apparent defeat. Yet, summoning all the strength +of the "unconquerable spirit," the lower life is yielded up, its death +is willingly embraced, the body of desire is abandoned, and the Initiate +"descends into hell," that no region of the universe he is to help may +remain untrodden by him, that none may be too outcast to be reached by +his all-embracing love. And then springing upwards from the darkness, he +sees the light once more, feels himself again as the Son, inseparable +from the Father whose he is, rises to the life that knows no ending, +radiant in the consciousness of death faced and overcome, strong to help +to the uttermost every child of man, able to pour out his life into +every struggling soul. Among his disciples he remains awhile to teach, +unveiling to them the mysteries of the spiritual worlds, preparing them +also to tread the path he has trodden, until, the earth-life over, he +ascends to the Father, and, in the fifth great Initiation, becomes the +Master triumphant, the link between God and man. + +Such was the story lived through in the true Mysteries of old and now, +and dramatically pourtrayed in symbols in the physical plane Mysteries, +half veiled, half shown. Such is the Christ of the Mysteries in His dual +aspect, Logos and man, kosmic and individual. Is it any wonder that this +story, dimly felt, even when unknown, by the mystic, has woven itself +into the heart, and served as an inspiration to all noble living? The +Christ of the human heart is, for the most part, Jesus seen as the +mystic human Christ, struggling, suffering, dying, finally triumphant, +the Man in whom humanity is seen crucified and risen, whose victory is +the promise of victory to every one who, like Him, is faithful through +death and beyond--the Christ who can never be forgotten while He is born +again and again in humanity, while the world needs Saviours, and +Saviours give themselves for men. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ATONEMENT. + + +We will now proceed to study certain aspects of the Christ-Life, as they +appear among the doctrines of Christianity. In the exoteric teachings +they appear as attached only to the Person of the Christ; in the +esoteric they are seen as belonging indeed to Him, since in their +primary, their fullest and deepest meaning they form part of the +activities of the Logos, but as being only secondarily reflected in the +Christ, and therefore also in every Christ-Soul that treads the way of +the Cross. Thus studied they will be seen to be profoundly true, while +in their exoteric form they often bewilder the intelligence and jar the +emotions. + +Among these stands prominently forward the doctrine of the Atonement; +not only has it been a point of bitter attack from those outside the +pale of Christianity, but it has wrung many sensitive consciences within +that pale. Some of the most deeply Christian thinkers of the last half +of the nineteenth century have been tortured with doubts as to the +teaching of the churches on this matter, and have striven to see, and to +present it, in a way that softens or explains away the cruder notions +based on an unintelligent reading of a few profoundly mystical texts. +Nowhere, perhaps, more than in connection with these should the warning +of S. Peter be borne in mind: "Our beloved brother Paul also, according +to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you--as also in all his +epistles--speaking in them of these things; in which are some things +hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, +as they do also the other scriptures, unto own destruction."[213] For +the texts that tell of the identity of the Christ with His brother-men +have been wrested into a legal substitution of Himself for them, and +have thus been used as an escape from the results of sin, instead of as +an inspiration to righteousness. + +The general teaching in the Early Church on the doctrine of the +Atonement was that Christ, as the Representative of Humanity, faced and +conquered Satan, the representative of the Dark Powers, who held +humanity in bondage, wrested his captive from him, and set him free. +Slowly, as Christian teachers lost touch with spiritual truths, and they +reflected their own increasing intolerance and harshness on the pure and +loving Father of the teachings of the Christ, they represented Him as +angry with man, and the Christ was made to save man from the wrath of +God instead of from the bondage of evil. Then legal phrases intruded, +still further materialising the once spiritual idea, and the "scheme of +redemption" was forensically outlined. "The seal was set on the +'redemption scheme' by Anselm in his great work, _Cur Deus Homo_, and +the doctrine which had been slowly growing into the theology of +Christendom was thenceforward stamped with the signet of the Church. +Roman Catholics and Protestants, at the time of the Reformation, alike +believed in the vicarious and substitutionary character of the atonement +wrought by Christ. There is no dispute between them on this point. I +prefer to allow the Christian divines to speak for themselves as to the +character of the atonement.... Luther teaches that 'Christ did truly and +effectually feel for all mankind the wrath of God, malediction, and +death.' Flavel says that 'to wrath, to the wrath of an infinite God +without mixture, to the very torments of hell, was Christ delivered, and +that by the hand of his own father.' The Anglican homily preaches that +'sin did pluck God out of heaven to make him feel the horrors and pains +of death,' and that man, being a firebrand of hell and a bondsman of the +devil, 'was ransomed by the death of his only and well-beloved son'; the +'heat of his wrath,' 'his burning wrath,' could only be 'pacified' by +Jesus, 'so pleasant was the sacrifice and oblation of his son's death.' +Edwards, being logical, saw that there was a gross injustice in sin +being twice punished, and in the pains of hell, the penalty of sin, +being twice inflicted, first on Jesus, the substitute of mankind, and +then on the lost, a portion of mankind; so he, in common with most +Calvinists, finds himself compelled to restrict the atonement to the +elect, and declared that Christ bore the sins, not of the world, but of +the chosen out of the world; he suffers 'not for the world, but for them +whom thou hast given me.' But Edwards adheres firmly to the belief in +substitution, and rejects the universal atonement for the very reason +that 'to believe Christ died for all is the surest way of proving that +he died for none in the sense Christians have hitherto believed.' He +declares that 'Christ suffered the wrath of God for men's sins'; that +'God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell +for,' sin. Owen regards Christ's sufferings as 'a full valuable +compensation to the justice of God for all the sins' of the elect, and +says that he underwent 'that same punishment which ... they themselves +were bound to undergo.'"[214] + +To show that these views were still authoritatively taught in the +churches, I wrote further: "Stroud makes Christ drink 'the cup of the +wrath of God.' Jenkyn says 'He suffered as one disowned and reprobated +and forsaken of God.' Dwight considers that he endured God's 'hatred and +contempt.' Bishop Jeune tells us that 'after man had done his worst, +worse remained for Christ to bear. He had fallen into his father's +hands.' Archbishop Thomson preaches that 'the clouds of God's wrath +gathered thick over the whole human race: they discharged themselves on +Jesus only.' He 'becomes a curse for us and a vessel of wrath.' Liddon +echoes the same sentiment: 'The apostles teach that mankind are slaves, +and that Christ on the cross is paying their ransom. Christ crucified is +voluntarily devoted and accursed'; he even speaks of 'the precise amount +of ignominy and pain needed for the redemption,' and says that the +'divine victim' paid more than was absolutely necessary."[215] + +These are the views against which the learned and deeply religious Dr. +McLeod Campbell wrote his well-known work, _On the Atonement_, a volume +containing many true and beautiful thoughts; F. D. Maurice and many +other Christian men have also striven to lift from Christianity the +burden of a doctrine so destructive of all true ideas as to the +relations between God and man. + +None the less, as we look backwards over the effects produced by this +doctrine, we find that belief in it, even in its legal--and to us crude +exoteric--form, is connected with some of the very highest developments +of Christian conduct, and that some of the noblest examples of Christian +manhood and womanhood have drawn from it their strength, their +inspiration, and their comfort. It would be unjust not to recognise this +fact. And whenever we come upon a fact that seems to us startling and +incongruous, we do well to pause upon that fact, and to endeavour to +understand it. For if this doctrine contained nothing more than is seen +in it by its assailants inside and outside the churches, if it were in +its true meaning as repellent to the conscience and the intellect as it +is found to be by many thoughtful Christians, then it could not possibly +have exercised over the minds and hearts of men a compelling +fascination, nor could it have been the root of heroic self-surrenders, +of touching and pathetic examples of self-sacrifice in the service of +man. Something more there must be in it than lies on the surface, some +hidden kernel of life which has nourished those who have drawn from it +their inspiration. In studying it as one of the Lesser Mysteries we +shall find the hidden life which these noble ones have unconsciously +absorbed, these souls which were so at one with that life that the form +in which it was veiled could not repel them. + +When we come to study it as one of the Lesser Mysteries, we shall feel +that for its understanding some spiritual development is needed, some +opening of the inner eyes. To grasp it requires that its spirit should +be partly evolved in the life, and only those who know practically +something of the meaning of self-surrender will be able to catch a +glimpse of what is implied in the esoteric teaching on this doctrine, as +the typical manifestation of the Law of Sacrifice. We can only +understand it as applied to the Christ, when we see it as a special +manifestation of the universal law, a reflection below of the Pattern +above, showing us in a concrete human life what sacrifice means. + +The Law of Sacrifice underlies our system and all systems, and on it all +universes are builded. It lies at the root of evolution, and alone makes +it intelligible. In the doctrine of the Atonement it takes a concrete +form in connection with men who have reached a certain stage in +spiritual development, the stage that enables them to realise their +oneness with humanity, and to become, in very deed and truth, Saviours +of men. + +All the great religions of the world have declared that the universe +begins by an act of sacrifice, and have incorporated the idea of +sacrifice into their most solemn rites. In Hinduism, the dawn of +manifestation is said to be by sacrifice,[216] mankind is emanated with +sacrifice,[217] and it is Deity who sacrifices Himself;[218] the object +of the sacrifice is manifestation; He cannot become manifest unless an +act of sacrifice be performed, and inasmuch as nothing can be manifest +until He manifests,[219] the act of sacrifice is called "the dawn" of +creation. + +In the Zoroastrian religion it was taught that in the Existence that is +boundless, unknowable, unnameable, sacrifice was performed and manifest +Deity appeared; Ahura-mazdao was born of an act of sacrifice.[220] + +In the Christian religion the same idea is indicated in the phrase: "the +Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"[221] slain at the origin +of things. These words can but refer to the important truth that there +can be no founding of a world until the Deity has made an act of +sacrifice. This act is explained as limiting Himself in order to become +manifest. "The Law of Sacrifice might perhaps more truly be called The +Law of Manifestation, or the Law of Love and of Life, for throughout the +universe, from the highest to the lowest, it is the cause of +manifestation and life."[222] + +"Now, if we study this physical world, as being the most available +material, we find that all life in it, all growth, all progress, alike +for units and for aggregates, depend on continual sacrifice and the +endurance of pain. Mineral is sacrificed to vegetable, vegetable to +animal, both to man, men to men, and all the higher forms again break +up, and reinforce again with their separated constituents the lowest +kingdom. It is a continual sequence of sacrifices from the lowest to the +highest, and the very mark of progress is that the sacrifice from being +involuntary and imposed becomes voluntary and self-chosen, and those who +are recognised as greatest by man's intellect and loved most by man's +heart are the supreme sufferers, those heroic souls who wrought, +endured, and died that the race might profit by their pain. If the world +be the work of the Logos, and the law of the world's progress in the +whole and the parts is sacrifice, then the Law of Sacrifice must point +to something in the very nature of the Logos; it must have its root in +the Divine Nature itself. A little further thought shows us that if +there is to be a world, a universe at all, this can only be by the One +Existence conditioning Itself and thus making manifestation possible, +and that the very Logos is the Self-limited God; limited to become +manifest; manifested to bring a universe into being; such +self-limitation and manifestation can only be a supreme act of +sacrifice, and what wonder that on every hand the world should show its +birth-mark, and that the Law of Sacrifice should be the law of being, +the law of the derived lives. + +"Further, as it is an act of sacrifice in order that individuals may +come into existence to share the Divine bliss, it is very truly a +vicarious act--an act done for the sake of others; hence the fact +already noted, that progress is marked by sacrifice becoming voluntary +and self-chosen, and we realise that humanity reaches its perfection in +the man who gives himself for men, and by his own suffering purchases +for the race some lofty good. + +"Here, in the highest regions, is the inmost verity of vicarious +sacrifice, and however it may be degraded and distorted, this inner +spiritual truth makes it indestructible, eternal, and the fount whence +flows the spiritual energy which, in manifold forms and ways, redeems +the world from evil and draws it home to God."[223] + +When the Logos comes forth from "the bosom of the Father" in that "Day" +when He is said to be "begotten,"[224] the dawn of the Day of Creation, +of Manifestation, when by Him God "made the worlds,"[225] He by His own +will limits Himself, making as it were a sphere enclosing the Divine +Life, coming forth as a radiant orb of Deity, the Divine Substance, +Spirit within and limitation, or Matter, without. This is the veil of +matter which makes possible the birth of the Logos, Mary, the +World-Mother, necessary for the manifestation in time of the Eternal, +that Deity may manifest for the building of the worlds. + +That circumscription, that self-limitation, is the act of sacrifice, a +voluntary action done for love's sake, that other lives may be born from +Him. Such a manifestation has been regarded as a death, for, in +comparison with the unimaginable life of God in Himself, such +circumscription in matter may truly be called death. It has been +regarded, as we have seen, as a crucifixion in matter, and has been thus +figured, the true origin of the symbol of the cross, whether in its +so-called Greek form, wherein the vivifying of matter by the Holy Ghost +is signified, or in its so-called Latin, whereby the Heavenly Man is +figured, the supernal Christ.[226] + +"In tracing the symbolism of the Latin cross, or rather of the crucifix, +back into the night of time, the investigators had expected to find the +figure disappear, leaving behind what they supposed to be the earlier +cross-emblem. As a matter of fact exactly the reverse took place, and +they were startled to find that eventually the cross drops away, leaving +only the figure with uplifted arms. No longer is there any thought of +pain or sorrow connected with that figure, though still it tells of +sacrifice; rather is it now the symbol of the purest joy the world can +hold--the joy of freely giving--for it typifies the Divine Man standing +in space with arms upraised in blessing, casting abroad His gifts to all +humanity, pouring forth freely of Himself in all directions, descending +into that 'dense sea' of matter, to be cribbed, cabined, and confined +therein, in order that through that descent _we_ may come into +being."[227] + +This sacrifice is perpetual, for in every form in this universe of +infinite diversity this life is enfolded, and is its very heart, the +"Heart of Silence" of the Egyptian ritual, the "Hidden God." This +sacrifice is the secret of evolution. The Divine Life, cabined within a +form, ever presses outwards in order that the form may expand, but +presses gently, lest the form should break ere yet it had reached its +utmost limit of expansion. With infinite patience and tact and +discretion, the divine One keeps up the constant pressure that expands, +without loosing a force that would disrupt. In every form, in mineral, +in vegetable, in animal, in man, this expansive energy of the Logos is +ceaselessly working. That is the evolutionary force, the lifting life +within the forms, the rising energy that science glimpses, but knows not +whence it comes. The botanist tells of an energy within the plant, that +pulls ever upwards; he knows not how, he knows not why, but he gives it +a name--the _vis a fronte_--because he finds it there, or rather finds +its results. Just as it is in plant life, so is it in other forms as +well, making them more and more expressive of the life within them. When +the limit of any form is reached, and it can grow no further, so that +nothing more can be gained through it by the soul of it--that germ of +Himself, which the Logos is brooding over--then He draws away His +energy, and the form disintegrates--we call it death and decay. But the +soul is with Him, and He shapes for it a new form, and the death of the +form is the birth of the soul into fuller life. If we saw with the eyes +of the Spirit instead of with the eyes of the flesh, we should not weep +over a form, which is a corpse giving back the materials out of which it +was builded, but we should joy over the life passing onwards into nobler +form, to expand under the unchanging process the powers still latent +within. + +Through that perpetual sacrifice of the Logos all lives exist; it is the +life by which the universe is ever becoming. This life is One, but it +embodies itself in myriad forms, ever drawing them together and gently +overcoming their resistance. Thus it is an At-one-ment, a unifying +force, by which the separated lives are gradually made conscious of +their unity, labouring to develop in each a self-consciousness, which +shall at last know itself to be one with all others, and its root One +and divine. + +This is the primary and ever-continued sacrifice, and it will be seen +that it is an outpouring of Life directed by Love, a voluntary and glad +pouring forth of Self for the making of other Selves. This is "the joy +of thy Lord"[228] into which the faithful servant enters, significantly +followed by the statement that He was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, a +stranger and in prison, in the helped or neglected children of men. To +the free Spirit to give itself is joy, and it feels its life the more +keenly, the more it pours itself forth. And the more it gives, the more +it grows, for the law of the growth of life is that it increases by +pouring itself forth and not by drawing from without--by giving, not by +taking. Sacrifice, then, in its primary meaning, is a thing of joy; the +Logos pours Himself out to make a world, and, seeing the travail of His +soul, is satisfied.[229] + +But the word has come to be associated with suffering, and in all +religious rites of sacrifice some suffering, if only that of a trivial +loss to the sacrificer, is present. It is well to understand how this +change has come about, so that when the word "sacrifice" is used the +instinctive connotation is one of pain. + +The explanation is seen when we turn from the manifesting Life to the +forms in which it is embodied, and look at the question of sacrifice +from the side of the forms. While the life of Life is in giving, the +life, or persistence, of form is in taking, for the form is wasted as it +is exercised, it is diminished as it is exerted. If the form is to +continue, it must draw fresh material from outside itself in order to +repair its losses, else will it waste and vanish away. The form must +grasp, keep, build into itself what it has grasped, else it cannot +persist; and the law of growth of the form is to take and assimilate +that which the wider universe supplies. As the consciousness identifies +itself with the form, regarding the form as itself, sacrifice takes on a +painful aspect; to give, to surrender, to lose what has been acquired, +is felt to undermine the persistence of the form, and thus the Law of +Sacrifice becomes a law of pain instead of a law of joy. + +Man had to learn by the constant breaking up of forms, and the pain +involved in the breaking, that he must not identify himself with the +wasting and changing forms, but with the growing persistent life, and he +was taught his lesson not only by external nature, but by the deliberate +lessons of the Teachers who gave him religions. + +We can trace in the religions of the world four great stages of +instruction in the Law of Sacrifice. First, man was taught to sacrifice +part of his material possession in order to gain increased material +prosperity, and sacrifices were made in charity to men and in offerings +to Deities, as we may read in the scriptures of the Hindus, the +Zoroastrians, the Hebrews, indeed all the world over. The man gave up +something he valued to insure future prosperity to himself, his family, +his community, his nation. He sacrificed in the present to gain in the +future. Secondly, came a lesson a little harder to learn; instead of +physical prosperity and worldly good, the fruit to be gained by +sacrifice was celestial bliss. Heaven was to be won, happiness was to +be enjoyed on the other side of death--such was the reward for +sacrifices made during the life led on earth. + +A considerable step forward was made when a man learned to give up the +things for which his body craved for the sake of a distant good which he +could not see nor demonstrate. He learned to surrender the visible for +the invisible, and in so doing rose in the scale of being; for so great +is the fascination of the visible and the tangible, that if a man be +able to surrender them for the sake of an unseen world in which he +believes, he has acquired much strength and has made a long step towards +the realisation of that unseen world. Over and over again martyrdom has +been endured, obloquy has been faced, man has learned to stand alone, +bearing all that his race could pour upon him of pain, misery, and +shame, looking to that which is beyond the grave. True, there still +remains in this a longing for celestial glory, but it is no small thing +to be able to stand alone on earth and rest on spiritual companionship, +to cling firmly to the inner life when the outer is all torture. + +The third lesson came when a man, seeing himself as part of a greater +life, was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the whole, and so +became strong enough to recognise that sacrifice was right, that a part, +a fragment, a unit in the sum total of life, should subordinate the part +to the whole, the fragment to the totality. Then he learned to do right, +without being affected by the outcome to his own person, to do duty, +without wishing for result to himself, to endure because endurance was +right not because it would be crowned, to give because gifts were due to +humanity not because they would be repaid by the Lord. The hero-soul +thus trained was ready for the fourth lesson: that sacrifice of all the +separated fragment possesses is to be offered because the Spirit is not +really separate but is part of the divine Life, and knowing no +difference, feeling no separation, the man pours himself forth as part +of the Life Universal, and in the expression of that Life he shares the +joy of his Lord. + +It is in the three earlier stages that the pain-aspect of sacrifice is +seen. The first meets but small sufferings; in the second the physical +life and all that earth has to give may be sacrificed; the third is the +great time of testing, of trying, of the growth and evolution of the +human soul. For in that stage duty may demand all in which life seems to +consist, and the man, still identified in _feeling_ with the form, +though _knowing_ himself theoretically to transcend it, finds that all +he feels as life is demanded of him, and questions: "If I let this go, +what then will remain?" It seems as though consciousness itself would +cease with this surrender, for it must loose its hold on all it +realises, and it sees nothing to grasp on the other side. An +over-mastering conviction, an imperious voice, call on him to surrender +his very life. If he shrinks back, he must go on in the life of +sensation, the life of the intellect, the life of the world, and as he +has the joys he dared not resign, he finds a constant dissatisfaction, a +constant craving, a constant regret and lack of pleasure in the world, +and he realises the truth of the saying of the Christ that "he that +will save his life shall lose it,"[230] and that the life that was loved +and clung to is only lost at last. Whereas if he risks all in obedience +to the voice that summons, if he throws away his life, then in losing +it, he finds it unto life eternal,[231] and he discovers that the life +he surrendered was only death in life, that all he gave up was illusion, +and that he found reality. In that choice the metal of the soul is +proved, and only the pure gold comes forth from the fiery furnace, where +life seemed to be surrendered but where life was won. And then follows +the joyous discovery that the life thus won is won for all, not for the +separated self, that the abandoning of the separated self has meant the +realising of the Self in man, and that the resignation of the limit +which alone seemed to make life possible has meant the pouring out into +myriad forms, an undreamed vividness and fulness, "the power of an +endless life."[232] + +Such is an outline of the Law of Sacrifice, based on the primary +Sacrifice of the Logos, that Sacrifice of which all other sacrifices are +reflexions. + +We have seen how the man Jesus, the Hebrew disciple, laid down His body +in glad surrender that a higher Life might descend and become embodied +in the form He thus willingly sacrificed, and how by that act He became +a Christ of full stature, to be the Guardian of Christianity, and to +pour out His life into the great religion founded by the Mighty One with +whom the sacrifice had identified Him. We have seen the Christ-Soul +passing through the great Initiations--born as a little child, stepping +down into the river of the world's sorrows, with the waters of which he +must be baptised into his active ministry, transfigured on the Mount, +led to the scene of his last combat, and triumphing over death. We have +now to see in what sense he is an atonement, how in the Christ-life the +Law of Sacrifice finds a perfect expression. + +The beginning of what may be called the ministry of the Christ come to +manhood is in that intense and permanent sympathy with the world's +sorrows which is typified by the stepping down into the river. From that +time forward the life must be summed up in the phrase, "He went about +doing good;" for those who sacrifice the separated life to be a channel +of the divine Life, can have no interest in this world save the helping +of others. He learns to identify himself with the consciousness of those +around him, to feel as they feel, think as they think, enjoy as they +enjoy, suffer as they suffer, and thus he brings into his daily waking +life that sense of unity with others which he experiences in the higher +realms of being. He must develop a sympathy which vibrates in perfect +harmony with the many-toned chord of human life, so that he may link in +himself the human and the divine lives, and become a mediator between +heaven and earth. + +Power is now manifested in him, for the Spirit is resting on him, and he +begins to stand out in the eyes of men as one of those who are able to +help their younger brethren to tread the path of life. As they gather +round him, they feel the power that comes out from him, the divine Life +in the accredited Son of the Highest. The souls that are hungry come to +him and he feeds them with the bread of life; the diseased with sin +approach him, and he heals them with the living word which cures the +sickness and makes whole the soul; the blind with ignorance draw nigh +him, and he opens their eyes by the light of his wisdom. It is the chief +mark in his ministry that the lowest and the poorest, the most desperate +and the most degraded, feel in approaching him no wall of separation, +feel as they throng around him welcome and not repulsion; for there +radiates from him a love that understands and that can therefore never +wish to repel. However low the soul may be, he never feels the +Christ-Soul as standing above him but rather as standing beside him, +treading with human feet the ground he also treads; yet as filled with +some strange uplifting power that raises him upwards and fills him also +with new impulse and fresh inspiration. + +Thus he lives and labours, a true Saviour of men, until the time comes +when he must learn another lesson, losing for awhile his consciousness +of that divine Life of which his own has been becoming ever more and +more the expression. And this lesson is that the true centre of divine +Life lies within and not without. The Self has its centre within each +human soul--truly is "the centre everywhere," for Christ is _in_ all, +and God in Christ--and no embodied life, nothing "out of the +Eternal"[233] can help him in his direst need. He has to learn that the +true unity of Father and Son is to be found within and not without, and +this lesson can only come in uttermost isolation, when he feels forsaken +by the God outside himself. As this trial approaches, he cries out to +those who are nearest to him to watch with him through his hour of +darkness; and then, by the breaking of every human sympathy, the failing +of every human love, he finds himself thrown back on the life of the +divine Spirit, and cries out to his Father, feeling himself in conscious +union with Him, that the cup may pass away. Having stood alone, save for +that divine Helper, he is worthy to face the last ordeal, where the God +without him vanishes, and only the God within is left. "My God, my God, +why hast Thou forsaken me?" rings out the bitter cry of startled love +and fear. The last loneliness descends on him, and he feels himself +forsaken and alone. Yet never is the Father nearer to the Son than at +the moment when the Christ-Soul feels himself forsaken, for as he thus +touches the lowest depth of sorrow, the hour of his triumph begins to +dawn. For now he learns that he must himself become the God to whom he +cries, and by feeling the last pang of separation he finds the eternal +unity, he feels the fount of life is within, and knows himself eternal. + +None can become fully a Saviour of men nor sympathise perfectly with all +human suffering, unless he has faced and conquered pain and fear and +death unaided, save by the aid he draws from the God within him. It is +easy to suffer when there is unbroken consciousness between the higher +and the lower; nay, suffering is not, while that consciousness remains +unbroken, for the light of the higher makes darkness in the lower +impossible, and pain is not pain when borne in the smile of God. There +is a suffering that men have to face, that every Saviour of man must +face, where darkness is on the human consciousness, and never a glimmer +of light comes through; he must know the pang of the despair felt by the +human soul when there is darkness on every side, and the groping +consciousness cannot find a hand to clasp. Into that darkness every Son +of Man goes down, ere he rises triumphant; that bitterest experience is +tasted by every Christ, ere he is "able to save them to the +uttermost"[234] who seek the Divine through him. + +Such a one has become truly divine, a Saviour of men, and he takes up +the world-work for which all this has been the preparation. Into him +must pour all the forces that make against man, in order that in him +they may be changed into forces that help. Thus he becomes one of the +Peace-centres of the world, which transmute the forces of combat that +would otherwise crush man. For the Christs of the world are these +Peace-centres into which pour all warring forces, to be changed within +them and then poured out as forces that work for harmony. + +Part of the sufferings of the Christ not yet perfect lies in this +harmonising of the discord-making forces in the world. Although a Son, +he yet learns by suffering and is thus "made perfect."[235] Humanity +would be far more full of combat and rent with strife were it not for +the Christ-disciples living in its midst, and harmonising many of the +warring forces into peace. + +When it is said that the Christ suffers "for men," that His strength +replaces their weakness, His purity their sin, His wisdom their +ignorance, a truth is spoken; for the Christ so becomes one with men +that they share with Him and He with them. There is no substitution of +Him for them, but the taking of their lives into His, and the pouring of +His life into theirs. For, having risen to the plane of unity, He is +able to share all He has gained, to give all He has won. Standing above +the plane of separateness and looking down at the souls immersed in +separateness, He can reach each while they cannot reach each other. +Water can flow from above into many pipes, open to the reservoir though +closed as regards each other, and so He can send His life into each +soul. Only one condition is needed in order that a Christ may share His +strength with a younger brother: that in the separated life the human +consciousness will open itself to the divine, will show itself receptive +of the offered life, and take the freely outpoured gift. For so reverent +is God to that Spirit which is Himself in man, that He will not even +pour into the human soul a flood of strength and life unless that soul +is willing to receive it. There must be an opening from below as well as +an outpouring from above, the receptiveness of the lower nature as well +as the willingness of the higher to give. That is the link between the +Christ and the man; that is what the churches have called the outpouring +of "divine grace"; that is what is meant by the "faith" necessary to +make the grace effective. As Giordano Bruno once put it--the human soul +has windows, and can shut those windows close. The sun outside is +shining, the light is unchanging; let the windows be opened and the +sunlight must stream in. The light of God is beating against the windows +of every human soul, and when the windows are thrown open, the soul +becomes illuminated. There is no change in God, but there is a change in +man; and man's will may not be forced, else were the divine Life in him +blocked in its due evolution. + +Thus in every Christ that rises, all humanity is lifted a step higher, +and by His wisdom the ignorance of the whole world is lessened. Each man +is less weak because of His strength, which pours out over all humanity +and enters the separated soul. Out of that doctrine, seen narrowly, and +therefore mis-seen, grew the idea of the vicarious Atonement as a legal +transaction between God and man, in which Jesus took the place of the +sinner. It was not understood that One who had touched that height was +verily one with all His brethren; identity of nature was mistaken for a +personal substitution, and thus the spiritual truth was lost in the +harshness of a judicial exchange. + +"Then he comes to a knowledge of his place in the world, of his function +in nature--to be a Saviour and to make atonement for the sins of the +people. He stands in the inner Heart of the world, the Holy of Holies, +as a High Priest of Humanity. He is one with all his brethren, not by a +vicarious substitution, but by the unity of a common life. Is any +sinful? he is sinful in them, that his purity may purge them. Is any +sorrowful? in them he is the man of sorrows; every broken heart breaks +his, in every pierced heart his heart is pierced. Is any glad? in them +he is joyous, and pours out his bliss. Is any craving? in them he is +feeling want that he may fill them with his utter satisfaction. He has +everything, and because it is his it is theirs. He is perfect; then they +are perfect with him. He is strong; who then can be weak, since he is in +them? He climbed to his high place that he might pour out to all below +him, and he lives in order that all may share his life. He lifts the +whole world with him as he rises, the path is easier for all men, +because he has trodden it. + +"Every son of man may become such a manifested Son of God, such a +Saviour of the world. In each such Son is 'God manifest in the +flesh,'[236] the atonement that aids all mankind, the living power that +makes all things new. Only one thing is needed to bring that power into +manifested activity in any individual soul; the soul must open the door +and let Him in. Even He, all-permeating, cannot force His way against +His brother's will; the human will can hold its own alike against God +and man, and by the law of evolution it must voluntarily associate +itself with divine action, and not be broken into sullen submission. Let +the will throw open the door, and the life will flood the soul. While +the door is closed it will only gently breathe through it its +unutterable fragrance, that the sweetness of that fragrance may win, +where the barrier may not be forced by strength. + +"This it is, in part, to be a Christ; but how can mortal pen mirror the +immortal, or mortal words tell of that which is beyond the power of +speech? Tongue may not utter, the unillumined mind may not grasp, that +mystery of the Son who has become one with the Father, carrying in His +bosom the sons of men."[237] + +Those who would prepare to rise to such a life in the future must begin +even now to tread in the lower life the path of the Shadow of the Cross. +Nor should they doubt their power to rise, for to do so is to doubt the +God within them. "Have faith in yourself," is one of the lessons that +comes from the higher view of man, for that faith is really in the God +within. There is a way by which the shadow of the Christ-life may fall +on the common life of man, and that is by doing every act as a +sacrifice, not for what it will bring to the doer but for what it will +bring to others, and, in the daily common life of small duties, petty +actions, narrow interests, by changing the motive and thus changing all. +Not one thing in the outer life need necessarily be varied; in any life +sacrifice may be offered, amid any surroundings God may be served. +Evolving spirituality is marked not by what a man does, but by how he +does it; not in the circumstances, but in the attitude of a man towards +them, lies the opportunity of growth. "And indeed this symbol of the +cross may be to us as a touchstone to distinguish the good from the evil +in many of the difficulties of life. 'Only those actions through which +shines the light of the cross are worthy of the life of the disciple,' +says one of the verses in a book of occult maxims; and it is interpreted +to mean that all that the aspirant does should be prompted by the +fervour of self-sacrificing love. The same thought appears in a later +verse: 'When one enters the path, he lays his heart upon the cross; when +the cross and the heart have become one, then hath he reached the goal.' +So, perchance, we may measure our progress by watching whether +selfishness or self-sacrifice is dominant in our lives."[238] + +Every life which begins thus to shape itself is preparing the cave in +which the Child-Christ shall be born, and the life shall become a +constant at-one-ment, bringing the divine more and more into the human. +Every such life shall grow into the life of a "beloved Son," and shall +have in it the glory of the Christ. Every man may work in that direction +by making every act and power a sacrifice, until the gold is purged from +the dross, and only the pure ore remains. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION + + +The doctrines of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ also form part +of the Lesser Mysteries, being integral portions of "The Solar Myth," +and of the life-story of the Christ in man. + +As regards Christ Himself they have their historical basis in the facts +of His continuing to teach His apostles after His physical death, and of +His appearance in the Greater Mysteries as Hierophant after His direct +instructions had ceased, until Jesus took His place. In the mythic tales +the resurrection of the hero and his glorification invariably formed the +conclusion of his death-story; and in the Mysteries, the body of the +candidate was always thrown into a death-like trance, during which he, +as a liberated soul, travelled through the invisible world, returning +and reviving the body after three days. And in the life-story of the +individual, who is becoming a Christ, we shall find, as we study it, +that the dramas of the Resurrection and Ascension are repeated. + +But before we can intelligently follow that story, we must master the +outlines of the human constitution, and understand the natural and +spiritual bodies of man. "There is a natural body, and there is a +spiritual body."[239] + +There are still some uninstructed people who regard man as a mere +duality, made up of "soul" and "body." Such people use the words "soul" +and "spirit" as synonyms, and speak indifferently of "soul and body" or +"spirit and body," meaning that man is composed of two constituents, one +of which perishes at death, while the other survives. For the very +simple and ignorant this rough division is sufficient, but it will not +enable us to understand the mysteries of the Resurrection and +Ascension. + +Every Christian who has made even a superficial study of the human +constitution recognises in it three distinct constituents--Spirit, Soul, +and Body. This division is sound, though needing further subdivision for +more profound study, and it has been used by S. Paul in his prayer that +"your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless."[240] That +threefold division is accepted in Christian Theology. + +The Spirit itself is really a Trinity, the reflexion and image of the +Supreme Trinity, and this we shall study in the following chapter.[241] +The true man, the immortal, who is the Spirit, is the Trinity in man. +This is life, consciousness, and to this the spiritual body belongs, +each aspect of the Trinity having its own Body. The Soul is dual, and +comprises the mind and the emotional nature, with its appropriate +garments. And the Body is the material instrument of Spirit and Soul. In +one Christian view of man he is a twelve-fold being, six modifications +forming the spiritual man, and six the natural man; according to +another, he is divisible into fourteen, seven modifications of +consciousness and seven corresponding types of form. This latter view is +practically identical with that studied by Mystics, and it is usually +spoken of as seven-fold, because there are really seven divisions, each +being two-fold, having a life-side and a form-side. + +These divisions and sub-divisions are somewhat confusing and perplexing +to the dull, and hence Origen and Clement, as we have seen,[242] laid +great stress on the need for intelligence on the part of all who desired +to become Gnostics. After all, those who find them troublesome can leave +them on one side, without grudging them to the earnest student, who +finds them not only illuminative, but absolutely necessary to any clear +understanding of the Mysteries of Life and Man. + +The word Body means a vehicle of consciousness, or an instrument of +consciousness; that in which consciousness is carried about, as in a +vehicle, or which consciousness uses to contact the external world, as a +mechanic uses an instrument. Or, we may liken it to a vessel, in which +consciousness is held, as a jar holds liquid. It is a form used by a +life, and we know nothing of consciousness save as connected with such +forms. The form may be of rarest, subtlest, materials, may be so +diaphanous that we are only conscious of the indwelling life; still it +is there, and it is composed of Matter. It may be so dense, that it +hides the indwelling life, and we are conscious only of the form; still +the life is there, and it is composed of the opposite of Matter--Spirit. +The student must study and re-study this fundamental fact--the duality +of all manifested existence, the inseparable co-existence of Spirit and +Matter in a grain of dust, in the Logos, the God manifested. The idea +must become part of him; else must he give up the study of the Lesser +Mysteries. The Christ, as God and Man, only shows out on the kosmic +scale the same fact of duality that is repeated everywhere in nature. On +that original duality everything in the universe is formed. + +Man has a "natural body," and this is made up of four different and +separable portions, and is subject to death. Two of these are composed +of physical matter, and are never completely separated from each other +until death, though a partial separation may be caused by anaesthetics, +or by disease. These two may be classed together as the Physical Body. +In this the man carries on his conscious activities while he is awake; +speaking technically, it is his vehicle of consciousness in the physical +world. + +The third portion is the Desire Body, so called because man's feeling +and passional nature finds in this its special vehicle. In sleep, the +man leaves the physical body, and carries on his conscious activities in +this, which functions in the invisible world closest to our visible +earth. It is therefore his vehicle of consciousness in the lowest of the +super-physical worlds, which is also the first world into which men pass +at death. + +The fourth portion is the Mental Body, so called because man's +intellectual nature, so far as it deals with the concrete, functions in +this. It is his vehicle of consciousness in the second of the +super-physical worlds, which is also the second, or lower heavenly +world, into which men pass after death, when freed from the world +alluded to in the preceding paragraph. + +These four portions of his encircling form, made up of the dual physical +body, the desire body, and the mental body, form the natural body of +which S. Paul speaks. + +This scientific analysis has fallen out of the ordinary Christian +teaching, which is vague and confused on this matter. It is not that the +churches have never possessed it; on the contrary, this knowledge of the +constitution of man formed part of the teachings in the Lesser +Mysteries; the simple division into Spirit, Soul, and Body was exoteric, +the first rough and ready division given as a foundation. The +subdivision as regards the "Body" was made in the course of later +instruction, as a preliminary to the training by which the instructor +enabled his pupil to separate one vehicle from another, and to use each +as a vehicle of consciousness in its appropriate region. + +This conception should be readily enough grasped. If a man wants to +travel on the solid earth, he uses as his vehicle a carriage or a train. +If he wants to travel on the liquid seas, he changes his vehicle, and +takes a ship. If he wants to travel in the air, he changes his vehicle +again and uses a balloon. He is the same man throughout, but he is using +three different vehicles, according to the kind of matter he wants to +travel in. The analogy is rough and inadequate, but it is not +misleading. When a man is busy in the physical world, his vehicle is the +physical body, and his consciousness works in and through that body. +When he passes into the world beyond the physical, in sleep and at +death, his vehicle is the desire body, and he may learn to use this +consciously, as he uses the physical consciously. He already uses it +unconsciously every day of his life when he is feeling and desiring, as +well as every night of his life. When he goes on into the heavenly world +after death, his vehicle is the mental body, and this also he is daily +using, when he is thinking, and there would be no thought in the brain +were there none in the mental body. + +Man has further "a spiritual body." This is made up of three separable +portions, each portion belonging to one of, and separating off, the +three Persons in the Trinity of the human Spirit. S. Paul speaks of +being "caught up to the third heaven," and of there hearing "unspeakable +words which it is not lawful for a man to utter."[243] These different +regions of the invisible supernal worlds are known to Initiates, and +they are well aware that those who pass beyond the first heaven need the +truly spiritual body as their vehicle, and that according to the +development of its three divisions is the heaven into which they can +penetrate. + +The lowest of these three divisions is usually called the Causal Body, +for a reason that will be only fully assimilable by those who have +studied the teaching of Reincarnation--taught in the Early Church--and +who understand that human evolution needs very many successive lives on +earth, ere the germinal soul of the savage can become the perfected +soul of the Christ, and then, becoming perfect as the Father in +Heaven,[244] can realise the union of the Son with the Father.[245] It +is a body that lasts from life to life, and in it all memory of the past +is stored. From it come forth the causes that build up the lower bodies. +It is the receptacle of human experience, the treasure-house in which +all we gather in our lives is stored up, the seat of Conscience, the +wielder of the Will. + +The second of the three divisions of the spiritual body is spoken of by +S. Paul in the significant words: "We have a building of God, an house +not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."[246] That is the Bliss +Body, the glorified body of the Christ, "the Resurrection Body." It is +not a body which is "made with hands," by the working of consciousness +in the the lower vehicles; it is not formed by experience, not builded +out of the materials gathered by man in his long pilgrimage. It is a +body which belongs to the Christ-life, the life of Initiation; to the +divine unfoldment in man; it is builded of God, by the activity of the +Spirit, and grows during the whole life or lives of the Initiate, only +reaching its perfection at "the Resurrection." + +The third division of the spiritual body is the fine film of subtle +matter that separates off the individual Spirit as a Being, and yet +permits the interpenetration of all by all, and is thus the expression +of the fundamental unity. In the day when the Son Himself shall "be +subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in +all,"[247] this film will be transcended, but for us it remains the +highest division of the spiritual body, in which we ascend to the +Father, and are united with Him. + +Christianity has always recognised the existence of three worlds, or +regions, through which a man passes; first, the physical world; +secondly, an intermediate state into which he passes at death; thirdly, +the heavenly world. These three worlds are universally believed in by +educated Christians; only the uninstructed imagine that a man passes +from his death-bed into the final state of beatitude. But there is some +difference of opinion as to the nature of the intermediate world. The +Roman Catholic names it Purgatory, and believes that every soul passes +into it, save that of the Saint, the man who has reached perfection, or +that of a man who has died in "mortal sin." The great mass of humanity +pass into a purifying region, wherein a man remains for a period varying +in length according to the sins he has committed, only passing out of it +into the heavenly world when he has become pure. The various communities +that are called Protestant vary in their teachings as to details, and +mostly repudiate the idea of _post mortem_ purification; but they agree +broadly that there is an intermediate state, sometimes spoken of as +"Paradise," or as a "waiting period." The heavenly world is almost +universally, in modern Christendom, regarded as a final state, with no +very definite or general idea as to its nature, or as to the progress or +stationary condition of those attaining to it. In early Christianity +this heaven was considered to be, as it really is, a stage in the +progress of the soul, re-incarnation in one form or another, the +pre-existence of the soul, being then very generally taught. The result +was, of course, that the heavenly state was a temporary condition, +though often a very prolonged one, lasting for "an age"--as stated in +the Greek of the New Testament, the age being ended by the return of the +man for the next stage of his continuing life and progress--and not +"everlasting," as in the mistranslation of the English authorised +version.[248] + +In order to complete the outline necessary for the understanding of the +Resurrection and Ascension, we must see how these various bodies are +developed in the higher evolution. + +The physical body is in a constant state of flux, its minute particles +being continually renewed, so that it is ever building; and as it is +composed of the food we eat, the liquids we drink, the air we breathe, +and particles drawn from our physical surroundings, both people and +things, we can steadily purify it, by choosing its materials well, and +thus make it an ever purer vehicle through which to act, receptive of +subtler vibrations, responsive to purer desires, to nobler and more +elevated thoughts. For this reason all who aspired to attain to the +Mysteries were subjected to rules of diet, ablution, &c., and were +desired to be very careful as to the people with whom they associated, +and the places to which they went. + +The desire body also changes, in similar fashion, but the materials for +it are expelled and drawn in by the play of the desires, arising from +the feelings, passions, and emotions. If these are coarse, the materials +built into the desire body are also coarse, while as these are purified, +the desire body grows subtle and becomes very sensitive to the higher +influences. In proportion as a man dominates his lower nature, and +becomes unselfish in his wishes, feelings, and emotions, as he makes his +love for those around him less selfish and grasping, he is purifying +this higher vehicle of consciousness; the result is that when out of the +body in sleep he has higher, purer, and more instructive experiences, +and when he leaves the physical body at death, he passes swiftly through +the intermediate state, the desire body disintegrating with great +rapidity, and not delaying him in his onward journey. + +The mental body is similarly being built now, in this case by thoughts. +It will be the vehicle of consciousness in the heavenly world, but is +being built now by aspirations, by imagination, reason, judgment, +artistic faculties, by the use of all the mental powers. Such as the man +makes it, so must he wear it, and the length and richness of his +heavenly state depend on the kind of mental body he has built during his +life on earth. + +As a man enters the higher evolution, this body comes into independent +activity on this side of death, and he gradually becomes conscious of +his heavenly life, even amid the whirl of mundane existence. Then he +becomes "the Son of man which is in heaven,"[249] who can speak with the +authority of knowledge on heavenly things. When the man begins to live +the life of the Son, having passed on to the Path of Holiness, he lives +in heaven while remaining on earth, coming into conscious possession and +use of this heavenly body. And inasmuch as heaven is not far away from +us, but surrounds us on every side, and we are only shut out from it by +our incapacity to feel its vibrations, not by their absence; inasmuch as +those vibrations are playing upon us at every moment of our lives; all +that is needed to be in Heaven is to become conscious of those +vibrations. We become conscious of them with the vitalising, the +organising, the evolution of this heavenly body, which, being builded +out of the heavenly materials, answers to the vibrations of the matter +of the heavenly world. Hence the "Son of man" is ever in heaven. But we +know that the "Son of man" is a term applied to the Initiate, not to +the Christ risen and glorified but to the Son while he is yet "being +made perfect."[250] + +During the stages of evolution that lead up to and include the +Probationary Path, the first division of the spiritual body--the Causal +Body--develops rapidly, and enables the man, after death, to rise into +the second heaven. After the Second Birth, the birth of the Christ in +man, begins the building of the Bliss Body "in the heavens." This is the +body of the Christ, developing during the days of His service on earth, +and, as it develops, the consciousness of the "Son of God" becomes more +and more marked, and the coming union with the Father illuminates the +unfolding Spirit. + +In the Christian Mysteries--as in the ancient Egyptian, Chaldean, and +others--there was an outer symbolism which expressed the stages through +which the man was passing. He was brought into the chamber of +Initiation, and was stretched on the ground with his arms extended, +sometimes on a cross of wood, sometimes merely on the stone floor, in +the posture of a crucified man. He was then touched with the thyrsus on +the heart--the "spear" of the crucifixion--and, leaving the body, he +passed into the worlds beyond, the body falling into a deep trance, the +death of the crucified. The body was placed in a sarcophagus of stone, +and there left, carefully guarded. Meanwhile the man himself was +treading first the strange obscure regions called "the heart of the +earth," and thereafter the heavenly mount, where he put on the perfected +bliss body, now fully organised as a vehicle of consciousness. In that +he returned to the body of flesh, to re-animate it. The cross bearing +that body, or the entranced and rigid body, if no cross had been used, +was lifted out of the sarcophagus and placed on a sloping surface, +facing the east, ready for the rising of the sun on the third day. At +the moment that the rays of the sun touched the face, the Christ, the +perfected Initiate or Master, re-entered the body, glorifying it by the +bliss body He was wearing, changing the body of flesh by contact with +the body of bliss, giving it new properties, new powers, new capacities, +transmuting it into His own likeness. That was the Resurrection of the +Christ, and thereafter the body of flesh itself was changed, and took on +a new nature. + +This is why the sun has ever been taken as the symbol of the rising +Christ, and why, in Easter hymns, there is constant reference to the +rising of the Sun of Righteousness. So also is it written of the +triumphant Christ: "I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am +alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."[251] +All the powers of the lower worlds have been taken under the dominion of +the Son, who has triumphed gloriously; over Him death no more has power, +"He holdeth life and death in His strong hand."[252] He is the risen +Christ, the Christ triumphant. + +The Ascension of the Christ was the Mystery of the third part of the +spiritual body, the putting on of the Vesture of Glory, preparatory to +the union of the Son with the Father, of man with God, when the Spirit +re-entered the glory it had "before the world was."[253] Then the triple +Spirit becomes one, knows itself eternal, and the Hidden God is found. +That is imaged in the doctrine of the Ascension, so far as the +individual is concerned. + +The Ascension for humanity is when the whole race has attained the +Christ condition, the state of the Son, and that Son becomes one with +the Father, and God is all in all. That is the goal, prefigured in the +triumph of the Initiate, but reached only when the human race is +perfected, and when "the great orphan Humanity" is no longer an orphan, +but consciously recognises itself as the Son of God. + +Thus studying the doctrines of the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the +Ascension, we reach the truths unfolded concerning them in the Lesser +Mysteries, and we begin to understand the full truth of the apostolic +teaching that Christ was not a unique personality, but "the first +fruits of them that slept,"[254] and that every man was to become a +Christ. Not then was the Christ regarded as an external Saviour, by +whose imputed righteousness men were to be saved from divine wrath. +There was current in the Church the glorious and inspiring teaching that +He was but the first fruits of humanity, the model that every man should +reproduce in himself, the life that all should share. The Initiates have +ever been regarded as these first fruits, the promise of a race made +perfect. To the early Christian, Christ was the living symbol of his own +divinity, the glorious fruit of the seed he bore in his own heart. Not +to be saved by an external Christ, but to be glorified into an inner +Christ, was the teaching of esoteric Christianity, of the Lesser +Mysteries. The stage of discipleship was to pass into that of Sonship. +The life of the Son was to be lived among men till it was closed by the +Resurrection, and the glorified Christ became one of the perfected +Saviours of the world. + +How far greater a Gospel than the one of modern days! Placed beside that +grandiose ideal of esoteric Christianity, the exoteric teaching of the +churches seems narrow and poor indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE TRINITY. + + +All fruitful study of the Divine Existence must start from the +affirmation that it is One. All the Sages have thus proclaimed It; every +religion has thus affirmed It; every philosophy thus posits It--"One +only without a second."[255] "Hear, O Israel!" cried Moses, "The Lord +our God is one Lord."[256] "To us there is but one God,"[257] declares +S. Paul. "There is no God but God," affirms the founder of Islam, and +makes the phrase the symbol of his faith. One Existence unbounded, known +in Its fulness only to Itself--the word It seems more reverent and +inclusive than He, and is therefore used. That is the Eternal Darkness, +out of which is born the Light. + +But as the Manifested God, the One appears as Three. A Trinity of Divine +Beings, One as God, Three as manifested Powers. This also has ever been +declared, and the truth is so vital in its relation to man and his +evolution that it is one which ever forms an essential part of the +Lesser Mysteries. + +Among the Hebrews, in consequence of their anthropomorphising +tendencies, the doctrine was kept secret, but the Rabbis studied and +worshipped the Ancient of Days, from whom came forth the Wisdom, from +whom the Understanding--Kether, Chochmah, Binah, these formed the +Supreme Trinity, the shining forth in time of the One beyond time. The +Book of the Wisdom of Solomon refers to this teaching, making Wisdom a +Being. "According to Maurice, 'The first Sephira, who is denominated +Kether the Crown, Kadmon the pure Light, and En Soph the Infinite,[258] +is the omnipotent Father of the universe.... The second is the +Chochmah, whom we have sufficiently proved, both from sacred and +Rabbinical writings, to be the creative Wisdom. The third is the Binah, +or heavenly Intelligence, whence the Egyptians had their Cneph, and +Plato his _Nous Demiurgos_. He is the Holy Spirit who ... pervades, +animates, and governs this boundless universe.'"[259] + +The bearing of this doctrine on Christian teaching is indicated by Dean +Milman in his _History of Christianity_. He says: "This Being [the Word +or the Wisdom] was more or less distinctly impersonated, according to +the more popular or more philosophic, the more material or the more +abstract, notions of the age or people. This was the doctrine from the +Ganges, or even the shores of the Yellow Sea, to the Ilissus; it was the +fundamental principle of the Indian religion and the Indian philosophy; +it was the basis of Zoroastrianism; it was pure Platonism; it was the +Platonic Judaism of the Alexandrian school. Many fine passages might be +quoted from Philo on the impossibility that the first self-existing +Being should become cognisable to the sense of man; and even in +Palestine, no doubt, John the Baptist and our Lord Himself spoke no new +doctrine, but rather the common sentiment of the more enlightened, when +they declared 'that no man had seen God at any time.' In conformity with +this principle the Jews, in the interpretation of the older Scriptures, +instead of direct and sensible communication from the one great Deity, +had interposed either one or more intermediate beings as the channels of +communication. According to one accredited tradition alluded to by S. +Stephen, the law was delivered 'by the disposition of angels'; according +to another this office was delegated to a single angel, sometimes called +the Angel of the Law (see Gal. iii. 19); at others the Metatron. But the +more ordinary representative, as it were, of God, to the sense and mind +of man, was the Memra, or the Divine Word; and it is remarkable that the +same appellation is found in the Indian, the Persian, the Platonic, and +the Alexandrian systems. By the Targumists, the earliest Jewish +commentators on the Scriptures, this term had been already applied to +the Messiah; nor is it necessary to observe the manner in which it has +been sanctified by its introduction into the Christian scheme."[260] + +As above said by the learned Dean, the idea of the Word, the Logos, was +universal, and it formed part of the idea of a Trinity. Among the +Hindus, the philosophers speak of the manifested Brahman as +Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence, Intelligence, and Bliss. Popularly, the +Manifested God is a Trinity; Shiva, the Beginning and the End; Vishnu, +the Preserver; Brahma, the Creator of the Universe. The Zoroastrian +faith presents a similar Trinity; Ahuramazdao, the Great One, the First; +then "the twins," the dual Second Person--for the Second Person in a +Trinity is ever dual, deteriorated in modern days into an opposing God +and Devil--and the Universal Wisdom, Armaiti. In Northern Buddhism we +find Amitabha, the boundless Light; Avalokiteshvara, the source of +incarnations, and the Universal Mind, Mandjusri. In Southern Buddhism +the idea of God has faded away, but with significant tenacity the +triplicity re-appears as that in which the Southern Buddhist takes his +refuge--the Buddha, the Dharma (the Doctrine), the Sangha (the Order). +But the Buddha Himself is sometimes worshipped as a Trinity; on a stone +in Buddha Gaya is inscribed a salutation to Him as an incarnation of the +Eternal One, and it is said: "Om! Thou art Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesha +(Shiva) ... I adore Thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names and +under various forms, in the shape of Buddha, the God of Mercy."[261] + +In extinct religions the same idea of a Trinity is found. In Egypt it +dominated all religious worship. "We have a hieoroglyphical inscription +in the British Museum as early as the reign of Senechus of the eighth +century before the Christian era, showing that the doctrine of Trinity +in Unity already formed part of their religion."[262] This is true of a +far earlier date. Ra, Osiris, and Horus formed one widely worshipped +Trinity; Osiris, Isis, and Horus were worshipped at Abydos; other names +are given in different cities, and the triangle is the frequently used +symbol of the Triune God. The idea which underlay these Trinities, +however named, is shown in a passage quoted from Marutho, in which an +oracle, rebuking the pride of Alexander the Great, speaks of: "First +God, then the Word, and with Them the Spirit."[263] + +In Chaldaea, Anu, Ea, and Bel were the Supreme Trinity, Anu being the +Origin of all, Ea the Wisdom, and Bel the creative Spirit. Of China +Williamson remarks: "In ancient China the emperors used to sacrifice +every third year to 'Him who is one and three.' There was a Chinese +saying, 'Fo is one person but has three forms.' ... In the lofty +philosophical system known in China as Taoism, a trinity also figures: +'Eternal Reason produced One, One produced Two, Two produced Three, and +Three produced all things,' which, as Le Compte goes on to say, 'seems +to show as if they had some knowledge of the Trinity.'"[264] + +In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity we find a complete agreement +with other faiths as to the functions of the three Divine Persons, the +word Person coming from _persona_, a mask, that which covers something, +the mask of the One Existence, Its Self-revelation under a form. The +Father is the Origin and End of all; the Son is dual in His nature, and +is the Word, or the Wisdom; the Holy Spirit is the creative +Intelligence, that brooding over the chaos of primeval matter organises +it into the materials out of which forms can be constructed. + +It is this identity of functions under so many varying names which shows +that we have here not a mere outer likeness, but an expression of an +inner truth. There is something of which this triplicity is a +manifestation, something that can be traced in nature and in evolution, +and which, being recognised, will render intelligible the growth of man, +the stages of his evolving life. Further, we find that in the universal +language of symbolism the Persons are distinguished by certain emblems, +and may be recognised by these under diversity of forms and names. + +But there is one other point that must be remembered ere we leave the +exoteric statement of the Trinity--that in connection with all these +Trinities there is a fourth fundamental manifestation, the Power of the +God, and this has always a feminine form. In Hinduism each Person in the +Trinity has His manifested Power, the One and these six aspects making +up the sacred Seven. With many of the Trinities one feminine form +appears, then ever specially connected with the Second Person, and then +there is the sacred Quaternary. + +Let us now see the inner truth. + +The One becomes manifest as the First Being, the Self-Existent Lord, the +Root of all, the Supreme Father; the word Will, or Power, seems best to +express this primary Self-revealing, since until there is Will to +manifest there can be no manifestation, and until there is Will +manifested, impulse is lacking for further unfoldment. The universe may +be said to be rooted in the divine Will. Then follows the second aspect +of the One--Wisdom; Power is guided by Wisdom, and therefore it is +written that "without Him was not anything made that is made;"[265] +Wisdom is dual in its nature, as will presently be seen. When the +aspects of Will and Wisdom are revealed, a third aspect must follow to +make them effective--Creative Intelligence, the divine mind in Action. A +Jewish prophet writes: "He hath made the earth by His Power, He hath +established the world by His Wisdom; and hath stretched out the heaven +by His Understanding,"[266] the reference to the three functions being +very clear.[267] These Three are inseparable, indivisible, three aspects +of One. Their functions may be thought of separately, for the sake of +clearness, but cannot be disjoined. Each is necessary to each, and each +is present in each. In the First Being, Will, Power, is seen as +predominant, as characteristic, but Wisdom and Creative Action are also +present; in the Second Being, Wisdom is seen as predominant, but Power +and Creative Action are none the less inherent in Him; in the Third +Being, Creative Action is seen as predominant, but Power and Wisdom are +ever also to be seen. And though the words First, Second, Third are +used, because the Beings are thus manifested in Time, in the order of +Self-unfolding, yet in Eternity they are known as interdependent and +co-equal, "None is greater or less than Another."[268] + +This Trinity is the divine Self, the divine Spirit, the Manifested God, +He that "was and is and is to come,"[269] and He is the root of the +fundamental triplicity in life, in consciousness. + +But we saw that there was a Fourth Person, or in some religions a second +Trinity, feminine, the Mother. This is That which makes manifestation +possible, That which eternally in the One is the root of limitation and +division, and which, when manifested, is called Matter. This is the +divine Not-Self, the divine Matter, the manifested Nature. Regarded as +One, She is the Fourth, making possible the activity of the Three, the +Field of Their operations by virtue of Her infinite divisibility, at +once the "Handmaid of the Lord,"[270] and also His Mother, yielding of +Her substance to form His Body, the universe, when overshadowed by His +power.[271] Regarded carefully She is seen to be triple also, existing +in three inseparable aspects, without which She could not be. These are +Stability--Inertia or Resistance--Motion, and Rhythm; the fundamental or +essential qualities of Matter, these are called. They alone render +Spirit effective, and have therefore been regarded as the manifested +Powers of the Trinity. Stability or Inertia affords a basis, the fulcrum +for the lever; Motion is then rendered manifest, but could make only +chaos, then Rhythm is imposed, and there is Matter in vibration, capable +of being shaped and moulded. When the three qualities are in +equilibrium, there is the One, the Virgin Matter, unproductive. When the +power of the Highest overshadows Her, and the breath of the Spirit comes +upon Her, the qualities are thrown out of equilibrium, and She becomes +the divine Mother of the worlds. + +The first interaction is between Her and the Third Person of the +Trinity; by His action She becomes capable of giving birth to form. Then +is revealed the Second Person, who clothes Himself in the material thus +provided, and thus become the Mediator, linking in His own Person Spirit +and Matter, the Archetype of all forms. Only through Him does the First +Person become revealed, as the Father of all Spirits. + +It is now possible to see why the Second Person of the Trinity of Spirit +is ever dual; He is the One who clothes Himself in Matter, in whom the +twin-halves of Deity appear in union, not as one. Hence also is He +Wisdom; for Wisdom on the side of Spirit is the Pure Reason that knows +itself as the One Self and knows all things in that Self, and on the +side of Matter it is Love, drawing the infinite diversity of forms +together, and making each form a unit, not a mere heap of particles--the +principle of attraction which holds the worlds and all in them in a +perfect order and balance. This is the Wisdom which is spoken of as +"mightily and sweetly ordering all things,"[272] which sustains and +preserves the universe. + +In the world-symbols, found in every religion, the Point--that which has +position only--has been taken as a symbol of the First Person in the +Trinity. On this symbol St. Clement of Alexandria remarks that we +abstract from a body its properties, then depth, then breadth, then +length; "the point which remains is a unit, so to speak, having +position; from which if we abstract position, there is the conception of +unity."[273] He shines out, as it were, from the infinite Darkness, a +Point of Light, the centre of a future universe, a Unit, in whom all +exists inseparate; the matter which is to form the universe, the field +of His work, is marked out by the backward and forward vibration of the +Point in every direction, a vast sphere, limited by His Will, His Power. +This is the making of "the earth by His Power," spoken of by +Jeremiah.[274] Thus the full symbol is a Point within a sphere, +represented usually as a Point within a circle. The Second Person is +represented by a Line, a diameter of this circle, a single complete +vibration of the Point, and this Line is equally in every direction +within the sphere; this Line dividing the circle in twain signifies also +His duality, that in Him Matter and Spirit--a unity in the First +Person--are visibly two, though in union. The Third Person is +represented by a Cross formed by two diameters at right angles to each +other within the circle, the second line of the Cross separating the +upper part of the circle from the lower. This is the Greek Cross.[275] + +When the Trinity is represented as a Unity, the Triangle is used, +either inscribed within a circle, or free. The universe is symbolised +by two triangles interlaced, the Trinity of Spirit with the apex of the +triangle upward, the Trinity of Matter with the apex of the triangle +downward, and if colours are used, the first is white, yellow, golden or +flame-coloured, and the second black, or some dark shade. + +The kosmic process can now be readily followed. The One has become Two, +and the Two Three, and the Trinity is revealed. The Matter of the +universe is marked out and awaits the action of Spirit. This is the "in +the beginning" of Genesis, when "God created the heaven and the +earth,"[276] a statement further elucidated by the repeated phrases that +He "laid the foundations of the earth;"[277] we have here the marking +out of the material, but a mere chaos, "without form and void."[278] + +On this begins the action of the Creative Intelligence, the Holy Spirit, +who "moved upon the face of the waters,"[279] the vast ocean of matter. +Thus His was the first activity, though He was the Third Person--a point +of great importance. + +In the Mysteries this work was shown in its detail as the preparation of +the matter of the universe, the formation of atoms, the drawing of these +together into aggregates, and the grouping of these together into +elements, and of these again into gaseous, liquid, and solid compounds. +This work includes not only the kind of matter called physical, but also +all the subtle states of matter in the invisible worlds. He further as +the "Spirit of Understanding" conceived the forms into which the +prepared matter should be shaped, not building the forms, but by the +action of the Creative Intelligence producing the Ideas of them, the +heavenly prototypes, as they are often called. This is the work referred +to when it is written, He "stretched out the heaven by His +Understanding."[280] + +The work of the Second Person follows that of the Third. He by virtue of +His Wisdom "established the world,"[281] building all globes and all +things upon them, "all things were made by Him."[282] He is the +organising Life of the worlds, and all beings are rooted in Him.[283] +The life of the Son thus manifested in the matter prepared by the Holy +Spirit--again the great "Myth" of the Incarnation--is the life that +builds up, preserves, and maintains all forms, for He is the Love, the +attracting power, that gives cohesion to forms, enabling them to grow +without falling apart, the Preserver, the Supporter, the Saviour. That +is why all must be subject to the Son,[284] all must be gathered up in +Him, and why "no man cometh unto the Father but by" Him.[285] + +For the work of the First Person follows that of the Second, as that of +the Second follows that of the Third. He is spoken of as "the Father of +Spirits,"[286] the "God of the Spirits of all flesh,"[287] and His is +the gift of the divine Spirit, the true Self in man. The human Spirit +is the outpoured divine Life of the Father, poured into the vessel +prepared by the Son, out of the materials vivified by the Spirit. And +this Spirit in man, being from the Father--from whom came forth the Son +and the Holy Spirit--is a Unity like Himself, with the three aspects in +One, and man is thus truly made "in our image, after our likeness,"[288] +and is able to become "perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven +is perfect."[289] + +Such is the kosmic process, and in human evolution it is repeated; "as +above, so below." + +The Trinity of the Spirit in man, being in the divine likeness, must +show out the divine characteristics, and thus we find in him Power, +which, whether in its higher form of Will or its lower form of Desire, +gives the impulse to his evolution. We find also in him Wisdom, the Pure +Reason, which has Love as its expression in the world of forms, and +lastly Intelligence, or Mind, the active shaping energy. And in man +also we find that the manifestation of these in his evolution is from +the third to the second, and from the second to the first. The mass of +humanity is unfolding the mind, evolving the intelligence, and we can +see its separative action everywhere, isolating, as it were, the human +atoms and developing each severally, so that they may be fit materials +for building up a divine Humanity. To this point only has the race +arrived, and here it is still working. + +As we study a small minority of our race, we see that the second aspect +of the divine Spirit in man is appearing, and we speak of it in +Christendom as the Christ in man. Its evolution lies, as we have seen, +beyond the first of the Great Initiations, and Wisdom and Love are the +marks of the Initiate, shining out more and more as he develops this +aspect of the Spirit. Here again is it true that "no man cometh to the +Father but by Me," for only when the life of the Son is touching on +completion can He pray: "Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own +Self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."[290] +Then the Son ascends to the Father and becomes one with Him in the +divine glory; He manifests self-existence, the existence inherent in his +divine nature, unfolded from seed to flower, for "as the Father hath +life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in +Himself."[291] He becomes a living self-conscious Centre in the Life of +God, a Centre able to exist as such, no longer bound by the limitations +of his earlier life, expanding to divine consciousness, while keeping +the identity of his life unshaken, a living, fiery Centre in the divine +Flame. + +In this evolution now lies the possibility of divine Incarnations in the +future, as this evolution in the past has rendered possible divine +Incarnations in our own world. These living Centres do not lose Their +identity, nor the memory of Their past, of aught that They have +experienced in the long climb upwards; and such a Self-conscious Being +can come forth from the Bosom of the Father, and reveal Himself for the +helping of the world. He has maintained the union in Himself of Spirit +and Matter, the duality of the Second Person--all divine Incarnations in +all religions are therefore connected with the Second Person in the +Trinity--and hence can readily re-clothe Himself for physical +manifestation, and again become Man. This nature of the Mediator He has +retained, and is thus a link between the celestial and terrestrial +Trinities, "God with us"[292] He has ever been called. + +Such a Being, the glorious fruit of a past universe, can come into the +present world with all the perfection of His divine Wisdom and Love, +with all the memory of His past, able by virtue of that memory to be the +perfect Helper of every living Being, knowing every stage because He has +lived it, able to help at every point because He has experienced all. +"In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour +them that are tempted."[293] + +It is in the humanity behind Him that lies this possibility of divine +Incarnation; He comes down, having climbed up, in order to help others +to climb the ladder. And as we understand these truths, and something of +the meaning of the Trinity, above and below, what was once a mere hard +unintelligible dogma becomes a living and vivifying truth. Only by the +existence of the Trinity in man is human evolution intelligible, and we +see how man evolves the life of the intellect, and then the life of the +Christ. On that fact mysticism is based, and our sure hope that we shall +know God. Thus have the Sages taught, and as we tread the Path they +show, we find that their testimony is true. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PRAYER.[294] + + +What is sometimes called "the modern spirit" is exceedingly antagonistic +to prayer, failing to see any causal nexus between the uttering of a +petition and the happening of an event, whereas the religious spirit is +as strongly attached to it, and finds its very life in prayer. Yet even +the religious man sometimes feels uneasy as to the rationale of prayer; +is he teaching the All-wise, is he urging beneficence on the All-Good, +is he altering the will of Him in "whom is no variableness, neither +shadow of turning?"[295] Yet he finds in his own experience and in that +of others "answers to prayer," a definite sequence of a request and a +fulfilment. + +Many of these do not refer to subjective experiences, but to hard facts +of the so-called objective world. A man has prayed for money, and the +post has brought him the required amount; a woman has prayed for food, +and food has been brought to her door. In connection with charitable +undertakings, especially, there is plenty of evidence of help prayed for +in urgent need, and of speedy and liberal response. On the other hand, +there is also plenty of evidence of prayers left unanswered; of the +hungry starving to death, of the child snatched from its mother's arms +by disease, despite the most passionate appeals to God. Any true view of +prayer must take into account all these facts. + +Nor is this all. There are many facts in this experience which are +strange and puzzling. A prayer that perhaps is trivial meets with an +answer, while another on an important matter fails; a passing trouble is +relieved, while a prayer poured out to save a passionately beloved life +finds no response. It seems almost impossible for the ordinary student +to discover the law according to which a prayer is or is not +productive. + +The first thing necessary in seeking to understand this law is to +analyse prayer itself, for the word is used to cover various activities +of the consciousness, and prayers cannot be dealt with as though they +formed a simple whole. There are prayers which are petitions for +definite worldly advantages, for the supply of physical +necessities--prayers for food, clothing, money, employment, success in +business, recovery from illness, &c. These may be grouped together as +class A. Then we have prayers for help in moral and intellectual +difficulties and for spiritual growth--for the overcoming of +temptations, for strength, for insight, for enlightenment. These may be +grouped as Class B. Lastly, there are the prayers that ask for nothing, +that consist in meditation on and adoration of the divine Perfection, in +intense aspiration for union with God--the ecstasy of the mystic, the +meditation of the sage, the soaring rapture of the saint. This is the +true "communion between the Divine and the human," when the man pours +himself out in love and veneration for THAT which is inherently +attractive, that compels the love of the heart. These we will call Class +C. + +In the invisible worlds there exist many kinds of Intelligences, which +come into relationship with man, a veritable Jacob's ladder, on which +the Angels of God ascend and descend, and above which stands the Lord +Himself.[296] Some of these Intelligences are mighty spiritual Powers, +others are exceedingly limited beings, inferior in consciousness to man. +This occult side of Nature--of which more will presently be +said[297]--is a fact, recognised by all religions. All the world is +filled with living things, invisible to fleshly eyes. The invisible +worlds interpenetrate the visible, and crowds of intelligent beings +throng round us on every side. Some of these are accessible to human +requests, and others are amenable to the human will. Christianity +recognises the existence of the higher classes of Intelligences under +the general name of Angels, and teaches that they are "ministering +spirits, sent forth to minister;"[298] but what is their ministry, what +the nature of their work, what their relationship to human beings, all +that was part of the instruction given in the Lesser Mysteries, as the +actual communication with them was enjoyed in the Greater, but in modern +days these truths have sunk into the background, except the little that +is taught in the Greek and Roman communions. For the Protestant, "the +ministry of angels" is little more than a phrase. In addition to all +these, man is himself a constant creator of invisible beings, for the +vibrations of his thoughts and desires create forms of subtle matter the +only life of which is the thought or the desire which ensouls them; he +thus creates an army of invisible servants, who range through the +invisible worlds seeking to do his will. Yet, again, there are in these +worlds human helpers, who work there in their subtle bodies while their +physical bodies are sleeping, whose attentive ear may catch a cry for +help. And to crown all, there is the ever-present, ever-conscious Life +of God Himself, potent and responsive at every point of His realm, of +Him without whose knowledge not a sparrow falleth to the ground,[299] +not a dumb creature thrills in joy or pain, not a child laughs or +sobs--that all-pervading, all-embracing, all-sustaining Life and Love, +in which we live and move.[300] As nought that can give pleasure or pain +can touch the human body without the sensory nerves carrying the message +of its impact to the brain-centres, and as there thrills down from those +centres through the motor nerves the answer that welcomes or repels, so +does every vibration in the universe, which is His body, touch the +consciousness of God, and draw thence responsive action. Nerve-cells, +nerve-threads, and muscular fibres may be the agents of feeling and +moving, but it is the _man_ that feels and acts; so may myriads of +Intelligences be the agents, but it is God who knows and answers. +Nothing can be so small as not to affect that delicate omnipresent +consciousness, nothing so vast as to transcend it. We are so limited +that the very idea of such an all-embracing consciousness staggers and +confounds us; yet perhaps a gnat might be as hard bestead if he tried to +measure the consciousness of Pythagoras. Professor Huxley, in a +remarkable passage, has imagined the possibility of the existence of +beings rising higher and higher in intelligence, the consciousness ever +expanding, and the reaching of a stage as much above the human as the +human is above that of the blackbeetle.[301] That is not a flight of the +scientific imagination, but a description of a fact. There is a Being +whose consciousness is present at every point of His universe, and +therefore can be affected from any point. That consciousness is not only +vast in its field, but inconceivably acute, not diminished in delicate +capacity to respond because it stretches its vast area in every +direction, but is more responsive than a more limited consciousness, +more perfect in understanding than the more restricted. So far from it +being the case that the more exalted the Being the more difficult would +it be to reach His consciousness, the very reverse is true. The more +exalted the Being, the more easily is His consciousness affected. + +Now this all-pervading Life is everywhere utilising as channels all the +embodied lives to which He has given birth, and any one of them may be +used as an agent of that all-conscious Will. In order that that Will may +express itself in the outer world, a means of expression must be found, +and these beings, in proportion to their receptivity, offer the +necessary channels, and become the intermediary workers between one +point of the kosmos and another. They act as the motor nerves of His +body, and bring about the required action. + +Let us now take the classes into which we have divided prayers, and see +the methods by which they will be answered. + +When a man utters a prayer of Class A there are several means by which +his prayer may be answered. Such a man is simple in his nature, with a +conception of God natural, inevitable, at the stage of evolution in +which he is; he regards Him as the supplier of his own needs, in close +and immediate touch with his daily necessities, and he turns to Him for +his daily bread as naturally as a child turns to his father or mother. A +typical instance of this is the case of George Mueller, of Bristol, +before he was known to the world as a philanthropist, when he was +beginning his charitable work, and was without friends or money. He +prayed for food for the children who had no resource save his bounty, +and money always came sufficient for the immediate needs. What had +happened? His prayer was a strong, energetic desire, and that desire +creates a form, of which it is the life and directing energy. That +vibrating, living creature has but one idea, the idea that ensouls +it--help is wanted, food is wanted; and it ranges the subtle world, +seeking. A charitable man desires to give help to the needy, is seeking +opportunity to give. As the magnet to soft iron, so is such a person to +the desire-form, and it is attracted to him. It rouses in his brain +vibrations identical with its own--George Mueller, his orphanage, its +needs--and he sees the outlet for his charitable impulse, draws a +cheque, and sends it. Quite naturally, George Mueller would say that God +put it into the heart of such a one to give the needed help. In the +deepest sense of the words that is true, since there is no life, no +energy, in His universe that does not come from God; but the +intermediate agency, according to the divine laws, is the desire-form +created by the prayer. + +The result could be obtained equally well by a deliberate exercise of +the will, without any prayer, by a person who understood the mechanism +concerned, and the way to put it in motion. Such a man would think +clearly of what he needed, would draw to him the kind of subtle matter +best suited to his purpose to clothe the thought, and by a deliberate +exercise of his will would either send it to a definite person to +represent his need, or to range his neighbourhood and be attracted by a +charitably disposed person. There is here no prayer, but a conscious +exercise of will and knowledge. + +In the case of most people, however, ignorant of the forces of the +invisible worlds and unaccustomed to exercise their wills, the +concentration of mind and the earnest desire which are necessary for +successful action are far more easily reached by prayer than by a +deliberate mental effort to put forth their own strength. They would +doubt their own power, even if they understood the theory, and doubt is +fatal to the exercise of the will. That the person who prays does not +understand the machinery he sets going in no wise affects the result. A +child who stretches out his hand and grasps an object need not +understand anything of the working of the muscles, nor of the electrical +and chemical changes set up by the movement in muscles and nerves, nor +need he elaborately calculate the distance of the object by measuring +the angle made by the optic axes; he wills to take hold of the thing he +wants, and the apparatus of his body obeys his will though he does not +even know of its existence. So is it with the man who prays, unknowing +of the creative force of his thought, of the living creature he has +sent out to do his bidding. He acts as unconsciously as the child, and +like the child grasps what he wants. In both cases God is equally the +primal Agent, all power being from Him; in both cases the actual work is +done by the apparatus provided by His laws. + +But this is not the only way in which prayers of this class are +answered. Some one temporarily out of the physical body and at work in +the invisible worlds, or a passing Angel, may hear the cry for help, and +may then put the thought of sending the required aid into the brain of +some charitable person. "The thought of so-and-so came into my head this +morning," such a person will say. "I daresay a cheque would be useful to +him." Very many prayers are answered in this way, the link between the +need and the supply being some invisible Intelligence. Herein is part of +the ministry of the lower Angels, and they will thus supply personal +necessities, as well as bring aid to charitable undertakings. + +The failure of prayers of this class is due to another hidden cause. +Every man has contracted debts which have to be paid; his wrong +thoughts, wrong desires, and wrong actions have built up obstacles in +his way, and sometimes even hem him in as the walls of a prison-house. A +debt of wrong is discharged by a payment of suffering; a man must bear +the consequences of the wrongs he has wrought. A man condemned to die of +starvation by his own wrong-doing in the past, may hurl his prayers +against that destiny in vain. The desire-form he creates will seek but +will not find; it will be met and thrown back by the current of past +wrong. Here, as everywhere, we are living in a realm of law, and forces +may be modified or entirely frustrated by the play of other forces with +which they come into contact. Two exactly similar forces might be +applied to two exactly similar balls; in one case, no other force might +be applied to the ball, and it might strike the mark aimed at; in the +other, a second force might strike the ball and send it entirely out of +its course. And so with two similar prayers; one may go on its way +unopposed and effect its object; the other may be flung aside by the +far stronger force of a past wrong. One prayer is answered, the other +unanswered; but in both cases the result is by law. + +Let us consider Class B. Prayers for help in moral and intellectual +difficulties have a double result; they act directly to attract help, +and they react on the person who prays. They draw the attention of the +Angels, of the disciples working outside the body, who are ever seeking +to help the bewildered mind, and counsel, encouragement, illumination, +are thrown into the brain-consciousness, thus giving the answer to +prayer in the most direct way. "And he kneeled down and prayed ... and +there appeared an Angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him."[302] +Ideas are suggested which clear away an intellectual difficulty, or +throw light on an obscure moral problem, or the sweetest comfort is +poured into the distressed heart, soothing its perturbations and calming +its anxieties. And truly if no Angel were passing that way, the cry of +the distressed would reach the "Hidden Heart of Heaven," and a messenger +would be sent to carry comfort, some Angel, ever ready to fly swiftly on +feeling the impulse, bearing the divine will to help. + +There is also what is sometimes called a subjective answer to such +prayers, the re-action of the prayer on the utterer. His prayer places +his heart and mind in the receptive attitude, and this stills the lower +nature, and thus allows the strength and illuminative power of the +higher to stream into it unchecked. The currents of energy which +normally flow downwards, or outwards, from the Inner Man, are, as a +rule, directed to the external world, and are utilised in the ordinary +affairs of life by the brain-consciousness, for the carrying on of its +daily activities. But when this brain-consciousness turns away from the +outer world, and shutting its outward-going doors, directs its gaze +inwards; when it deliberately closes itself to the outer and opens +itself to the inner; then it becomes a vessel able to receive and to +hold, instead of a mere conduit-pipe between the interior and exterior +worlds. In the silence obtained by the cessation of the noises of +external activities, the "still small voice" of the Spirit can make +itself heard, and the concentrated attention of the expectant mind +enables it to catch the soft whisper of the Inner Self. + +Even more markedly does help come from without and from within, when the +prayer is for spiritual enlightenment, for spiritual growth. Not only do +all helpers, angelic and human, most eagerly seek to forward spiritual +progress, seizing on every opportunity offered by the upward-aspiring +soul; but the longing for such growth liberates energy of a high kind, +the spiritual longing calling forth an answer from the spiritual realm. +Once more the law of sympathetic vibrations asserts itself, and the note +of lofty aspiration is answered by a note of its own order, by a +liberation of energy of its own kind, by a vibration synchronous with +itself. The divine Life is ever pressing from above against the limits +that bind it, and when the upward-rising force strikes against those +limits from below, the separating wall is broken through, and the divine +Life floods the Soul. When a man feels that inflow of spiritual life, +he cries: "My prayer has been answered, and God has sent down His Spirit +into my heart." Truly so; yet he rarely understands that that Spirit is +ever seeking entrance, but that coming to His own, His own receive Him +not.[303] "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my +voice, and open the door, I will come in to him."[304] + +The general principle with regard to all prayers of this class is that +just in proportion to the submergence of the personality and the +intensity of the upward aspiration will be the answer from the wider +life within and without us. We separate ourselves. If we cease the +separation and make ourselves one with the greater, we find that light +and life and strength flow into us. When the separate will is turned +away from its own objects and set to serve the divine purpose, then the +strength of the Divine pours into it. As a man swims against the stream, +he makes slow progress; but with it, he is carried on by all the force +of the current. In every department of Nature the divine energies are +working, and everything that a man does he does by means of the energies +that are working in the line along which he desires to do; his greatest +achievements are wrought, not by his own energies, but by the skill with +which he selects and combines the forces that aid him, and neutralises +those that oppose him by those that are favourable. Forces that would +whirl us away as straws in the wind become our most effective servants +when we work with them. Is it then any wonder that in prayer, as in +everything else, the divine energies become associated with the man who, +by his prayer, seeks to work as part of the Divine? + +This highest form of prayer in Class B merges almost imperceptibly into +Class C, where prayer loses its petitionary character, and becomes +either a meditation on, or a worship of, God. Meditation is the steady +quiet fixing of the mind on God, whereby the lower mind is stilled and +presently left vacant, so that the Spirit, escaping from it, rises into +contemplation of the divine Perfection, and reflects within himself the +divine Image. "Meditation is silent or _unuttered_ prayer, or as Plato +expressed it: 'the ardent turning of the Soul towards the Divine; not to +ask any particular good (as in the common meaning of prayer), but for +good itself, for the Universal Supreme Good.'"[305] + +This is the prayer that, by thus liberating the Spirit, is the means of +union between man and God. By the working of the laws of thought a man +becomes that which he thinks, and when he meditates on the divine +perfections he gradually reproduces in himself that on which his mind is +fixed. Such a mind, shaped to the higher and not the lower, cannot bind +the Spirit, and the freed Spirit leaping upward to his source, prayer is +lost in union and separateness is left behind. + +Worship also, the rapt adoration from which all petition is absent, and +which seeks to pour itself forth in sheer love of the Perfect, dimly +sensed, is a means--the easiest means--of union with God. In this the +consciousness, limited by the brain, contemplates in mute exstasy the +Image it creates of Him whom it knows to be beyond imagining, and oft, +rapt by the intensity of his love beyond the limits of the intellect, +the man as a free Spirit soars upwards into realms where these limits +are transcended, and feels and knows far more than on his return he can +tell in words or clothe in form. + +Thus the Mystic gazes on the Beatific Vision; thus the Sage rests in the +calm of the Wisdom that is beyond knowledge; thus the Saint reaches the +purity wherein God is seen. Such prayer irradiates the worshipper, and +from the mount of such high communion descending to the plains of earth, +the very face of flesh shines with supernal glory, translucent to the +flame that burns within. Happy they who know the reality which no words +may convey to those who know it not. Those whose eyes have seen "the +King in His beauty"[306] will remember, and they will understand. + +When prayer is thus understood, its perennial necessity for all who +believe in religion will be patent, and we see why its practice has +been so much advocated by all who study the higher life. For the student +of the Lesser Mysteries prayer should be of the kinds grouped under +Class B, and he should endeavour to rise to the pure meditation and +worship of the last class, eschewing altogether the lower kinds. For him +the teaching of Iamblichus on this subject is useful. Iamblichus says +that prayers "produce an indissoluble and sacred communion with the +Gods," and then proceeds to give some interesting details on prayer, as +considered by the practical Occultist. "For this is of itself a thing +worthy to be known, and renders more perfect the science concerning the +Gods. I say, therefore, that the first species of prayer is Collective; +and that it is also the leader of contact with, and a knowledge of, +divinity. The second species is the bond of concordant Communion, +calling forth, prior to the energy of speech, the gifts imparted by the +Gods, and perfecting the whole of our operations prior to our +intellectual conceptions. And the third and most perfect species of +prayer is the seal of ineffable Union with the divinities, in whom it +establishes all the power and authority of prayer; and thus causes the +soul to repose in the Gods, as in a never failing port. But from these +three terms, in which all the divine measures are contained, suppliant +adoration not only conciliates to us the friendship of the Gods, but +supernally extends to us three fruits, being as it were three Hesperian +apples of gold. The first of these pertains to illumination; the second +to a communion of operation; but through the energy of the third we +receive a perfect plenitude of divine fire.... No operation, however, in +sacred concerns, can succeed without the intervention of prayer. Lastly, +the continual exercise of prayer nourishes the vigour of our intellect, +and renders the receptacle of the soul far more capacious for the +communications of the Gods. It likewise is the divine key, which opens +to men the penetralia of the Gods; accustoms us to the splendid rivers +of supernal light; in a short time perfects our inmost recesses, and +disposes them for the ineffable embrace and contact of the Gods; and +does not desist till it raises us to the summit of all. It also +gradually and silently draws upward the manners of our soul, by +divesting them of everything foreign to a divine nature, and clothes us +with the perfections of the Gods. Besides this, it produces an +indissoluble communion and friendship with divinity, nourishes a divine +love, and inflames the divine part of the soul. Whatever is of an +opposing and contrary nature in the soul, it expiates and purifies; +expels whatever is prone to generation and retains anything of the dregs +of mortality in its ethereal and splendid spirit; perfects a good hope +and faith concerning the reception of divine light; and in one word, +renders those by whom it is employed the familiars and domestics of the +Gods."[307] + +Out of such study and practice one inevitable result arises, as a man +begins to understand, and as the wider range of human life unfolds +before him. He sees that by knowledge his strength is much increased, +that there are forces around him that he can understand and control, and +that in proportion to his knowledge is his power. Then he learns that +Divinity lies hidden within himself, and that nothing that is fleeting +can satisfy that God within; that only union with the One, the Perfect, +can still his cravings. Then there gradually arises within him the will +to set himself at one with the Divine; he ceases to vehemently seek to +change circumstances, and to throw fresh causes into the stream of +effects. He recognises himself as an agent rather than an actor, a +channel rather than a source, a servant rather than a master, and seeks +to discover the divine purposes and to work in harmony therewith. + +When a man has reached that point, he has risen above all prayer, save +that which is meditation and worship; he has nothing to ask for, in this +world or in any other; he remains in a steadfast serenity, seeking but +to serve God. That is the state of Sonship, where the will of the Son is +one with the will of the Father, where the one calm surrender is made, +"Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. I am content to do it; yea, Thy law +is within my heart."[308] Then all prayer is seen to be unnecessary; +all asking is felt as an impertinence; nothing can be longed for that is +not already in the purposes of that Will, and all will be brought into +active manifestation as the agents of that Will perfect themselves in +the work. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. + + +"I believe in ... the forgiveness of sins." "I acknowledge one baptism +for the remission of sins." The words fall facilely from the lips of +worshippers in every Christian church throughout the world, as they +repeat the familiar creeds called those of the Apostles and the Nicene. +Among the sayings of Jesus the words frequently recur: "Thy sins are +forgiven thee," and it is noteworthy that this phrase constantly +accompanies the exercise of His healing powers, the release from +physical and moral disease being thus marked as simultaneous. In fact, +on one occasion He pointed to the healing of a palsy-stricken man as a +sign that he had a right to declare to a man that his sins were +forgiven.[309] So also of one woman it was said: "Her sins, which are +many, are forgiven, for she loved much."[310] In the famous Gnostic +treatise, the _Pistis Sophia_, the very purpose of the Mysteries is said +to be the remission of sins. "Should they have been sinners, should they +have been in all the sins and all the iniquities of the world, of which +I have spoken unto you, nevertheless if they turn themselves and repent, +and have made the renunciation which I have just described unto you, +give ye unto them the mysteries of the kingdom of light; hide them not +from them at all. It is because of sin that I have brought these +mysteries into the world, for the remission of all the sins which they +have committed from the beginning. Wherefore have I said unto you +aforetime, 'I came not to call the righteous.' Now, therefore, I have +brought the mysteries, that the sins of all men may be remitted, and +they be brought into the kingdom of light. For these mysteries are the +boon of the first mystery of the destruction of the sins and iniquities +of all sinners."[311] + +In these Mysteries, the remission of sin is by baptism, as in the +acknowledgment in the Nicene Creed. Jesus says: "Hearken, again, that I +may tell you the word in truth, of what type is the mystery of baptism +which remitteth sins.... When a man receiveth the mysteries of the +baptisms, those mysteries become a mighty fire, exceedingly fierce, +wise, which burneth up all sins; they enter into the soul occultly, and +devour all the sins which the spiritual counterfeit hath implanted in +it." And after describing further the process of purification, Jesus +adds: "This is the way in which the mysteries of the baptisms remit sins +and every iniquity."[312] + +In one form or another the "forgiveness of sins" appears in most, if not +in all, religions; and wherever this consensus of opinion is found, we +may safely conclude, according to the principle already laid down, that +some fact in nature underlies it. Moreover, there is a response in +human nature to this idea that sins are forgiven; we notice that people +suffer under a consciousness of wrong-doing, and that when they shake +themselves clear of their past, and free themselves from the shackling +fetters of remorse, they go forward with glad heart and sunlit eyes, +though erstwhile enclouded by darkness. They feel as though a burden +were lifted off them, a clog removed. The "sense of sin" has +disappeared, and with it the gnawing pain. They know the springtime of +the soul, the word of power which makes all things new. A song of +gratitude wells up as the natural outburst of the heart, the time for +the singing of birds is come, there is "joy among the Angels." This not +uncommon experience is one that becomes puzzling, when the person +experiencing it, or seeing it in another, begins to ask himself what has +really taken place, what has brought about the change in consciousness, +the effects of which are so manifest. + +Modern thinkers, who have thoroughly assimilated the idea of changeless +laws underlying all phenomena, and who have studied the workings of +these laws, are at first apt to reject any and every theory of the +forgiveness of sins as being inconsistent with that fundamental truth, +just as the scientist, penetrated with the idea of the inviolability of +law, repels all thought which is inconsistent with it. And both are +right in founding themselves on the unfaltering working of law, for law +is but the expression of the divine Nature, in which there is no +variableness, neither shadow of turning. Any view of the forgiveness of +sins that we may adopt must not clash with this fundamental idea, as +necessary to ethical as to physical science. "The bottom would fall out +of everything" if we could not rest securely in the everlasting arms of +the Good Law. + +But in pursuing our investigations, we are struck with the fact that the +very Teachers who are most insistent on the changeless working of law +are also those who emphatically proclaim the forgiveness of sins. At one +time Jesus is saying: "That every idle word that men shall speak, they +shall give account thereof in the day of judgment,"[313] and at +another: "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee."[314] So in +the _Bhagavad Gita_ we read constantly of the bonds of action, that "the +world is bound by action,"[315] and that a man "recovereth the +characteristics of his former body;"[316] and yet it is said that "even +if the most sinful worship me, with undivided heart, he, too, must be +accounted righteous."[317] It would seem, then, that whatever may have +been intended in the world's Scriptures by the phrase, "the forgiveness +of sins," it was not thought, by Those who best know the law, to clash +with the inviolable sequence of cause and effect. + +If we examine even the crudest idea of the forgiveness of sins prevalent +in our own day, we find that the believer in it does not mean that the +forgiven sinner is to escape from the consequences of his sin in this +world; the drunkard, whose sins are forgiven on his repentance, is still +seen to suffer from shaken nerves, impaired digestion, and the lack of +confidence shown towards him by his fellow-men. The statements made as +to forgiveness, when they are examined, are ultimately found to refer to +the relations between the repentant sinner and God, and to the +_post-mortem_ penalties attached to unforgiven sin in the creed of the +speaker, and not to any escape from the mundane consequences of sin. The +loss of belief in reincarnation, and of a sane view as to the continuity +of life, whether it were spent in this or in the next two worlds,[318] +brought with it various incongruities and indefensible assertions, among +them the blasphemous and terrible idea of the eternal torture of the +human soul for sins committed during the brief span of one life spent on +earth. In order to escape from this nightmare, theologians posited a +forgiveness which should release the sinner from this dread imprisonment +in an eternal hell. It did not, and was never supposed to, set him free +in this world from the natural consequences of his ill-doings, +nor--except in modern Protestant communities--was it held to deliver +him from prolonged purgatorial sufferings, the direct results of sin, +after the death of the physical body. The law had its course, both in +this world and in purgatory, and in each world sorrow followed on the +heels of sin, even as the wheels follow the ox. It was but eternal +torture--which existed only in the clouded imagination of the +believer--that was escaped by the forgiveness of sins; and we may +perhaps go so far as to suggest that the dogmatist, having postulated an +eternal hell as the monstrous result of transient errors, felt compelled +to provide a way of escape from an incredible and unjust fate, and +therefore further postulated an incredible and unjust forgiveness. +Schemes that are elaborated by human speculation, without regard to the +facts of life, are apt to land the speculator in thought-morasses, +whence he can only extricate himself by blundering through the mire in +an opposite direction. A superfluous eternal hell was balanced by a +superfluous forgiveness, and thus the uneven scales of justice were +again rendered level. Leaving these aberrations of the unenlightened, +let us return into the realm of fact and right reason. + +When a man has committed an evil action he has attached himself to a +sorrow, for sorrow is ever the plant that springs from the seed of sin. +It may be said, even more accurately, that sin and sorrow are but the +two sides of one act, not two separate events. As every object has two +sides, one of which is behind, out of sight, when the other is in front, +in sight, so every act has two sides, which cannot both be seen at once +in the physical world. In other worlds, good and happiness, evil and +sorrow, are seen as the two sides of the same thing. This is what is +called karma--a convenient and now widely-used term, originally +Samskrit, expressing this connection or identity, literally meaning +"action"--and the suffering is therefore called the karmic result of the +wrong. The result, the "other side," may not follow immediately, may not +even accrue during the present incarnation, but sooner or later it will +appear and clasp the sinner with its arms of pain. Now a result in the +physical world, an effect experienced through our physical +consciousness, is the final outcome of a cause set going in the past; it +is the ripened fruit; in it a particular force becomes manifest and +exhausts itself. That force has been working outwards, and its effects +are already over in the mind ere it appears in the body. Its bodily +manifestation, its appearance, in the physical world, is the sign of the +completion of its course.[319] If at such a moment the sinner, having +exhausted the karma of his sin, comes into contact with a Sage who can +see the past and the present, the invisible and the visible, such a Sage +may discern the ending of the particular karma, and, the sentence being +completed, may declare the captive free. Such an instance seems to be +given in the story of the man sick of the palsy, already alluded to, a +case typical of many. A physical ailment is the last expression of a +past ill-doing; the mental and moral outworking is completed, and the +sufferer is brought--by the agency of some Angel, as an administrator of +the law--into the presence of One able to relieve physical disease by +the exertion of a higher energy. First, the Initiate declares that the +man's sins are forgiven, and then justifies his insight by the +authoritative word, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." +Had no such enlightened One been there, the disease would have passed +away under the restoring touch of nature, under a force applied by the +invisible angelic Intelligences, who carry out in this world the +workings of karmic law; when a greater One is acting, this force is of +more swiftly compelling power, and the physical vibrations are at once +attuned to the harmony that is health. All such forgiveness of sins may +be termed declaratory; the karma is exhausted, and a "knower of karma" +declares the fact. The assurance brings a relief to the mind that is +akin to the relief experienced by a prisoner when the order for his +release is given, that order being as much a part of the law as the +original sentence; but the relief of the man who thus learns of the +exhaustion of an evil karma is keener, because he cannot himself tell +the term of its action. + +It is noticeable that these declarations of forgiveness are constantly +coupled with the statement that the sufferer showed "faith," and that +without this nothing could be done; _i.e._, the real agent in the ending +of this karma is the sinner himself. In the case of the "woman that was +a sinner," the two declarations are coupled: "Thy sins are forgiven.... +Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."[320] This "faith" is the +up-welling in man of his own divine essence, seeking the divine ocean of +like essence, and when this breaks through the lower nature that holds +it in--as the water-spring breaks through the encumbering +earth-clods--the power thus liberated works on the whole nature, +bringing it into harmony with itself. The man only becomes conscious of +this as the karmic crust of evil is broken up by its force, and that +glad consciousness of a power within himself hitherto unknown, +asserting itself as soon as the evil karma is exhausted, is a large +factor in the joy, relief, and new strength that follow on the feeling +that sin is "forgiven," that its results are past. + +And this brings us to the heart of the subject--the changes that go on +in a man's inner nature, unrecognised by that part of his consciousness +which works within the limits of his brain, until they suddenly assert +themselves within those limits, coming apparently from nowhere, bursting +forth "from the blue," pouring from an unknown source. What wonder that +a man, bewildered by their downrush--knowing nothing of the mysteries of +his own nature, nothing of "the inner God" that is verily +himself--imagines that to be from without which is really from within, +and, unconscious of his own Divinity, thinks only of Divinities in the +world external to himself. And this misconception is the more easy, +because the final touch, the vibration that breaks the imprisoning +shell, is often the answer from the Divinity within another man, or +within some superhuman being, responding to the insistent cry from the +imprisoned Divinity within himself; he oft-times recognises the +brotherly aid, while not recognising that he himself, the cry from his +inner nature, called it forth. As an explanation from a wiser than +ourselves may make an intellectual difficulty clear to our mind, though +it is our own mind that, thus aided, grasps the solution; as an +encouraging word from one purer than ourselves may nerve us to a moral +effort that we should have thought beyond our power, though it is our +own strength that makes it; so may a loftier Spirit than our own, one +more conscious of its Divinity, aid us to put forth our own divine +energy, though it is that very putting forth that lifts us to a higher +plane. We are all bound by ties of brotherly help to those above us as +to those below us, and why should we, who so constantly find ourselves +able to help in their development souls less advanced than ourselves, +hesitate to admit that we can receive similar help from Those far above +us, and that our progress may be rendered much swifter by Their aid? + +Now among the changes that go on in a man's inner nature, unknown to his +lower consciousness, are those that have to do with the putting forth of +his will. The Ego, glancing backward over his past, balancing up its +results, suffering under its mistakes, determines on a change of +attitude, on a change of activity. While his lower vehicle is still, +under his former impulses, plunging along lines of action that bring it +into sharp collisions with the law, the Ego determines on an opposite +course of conduct. Hitherto he has turned his face longingly to the +animal, the pleasures of the lower world have held him fast enchained. +Now he turns his face to the true goal of evolution, and determines to +work for loftier joys. He sees that the whole world is evolving, and +that if he sets himself against that mighty current it clashes him +aside, bruising him sorely in the process; he sees that if he sets +himself with it, it will bear him onwards on its bosom and land him in +the desired haven. + +He then resolves to change his life, he turns determinedly on his steps, +he faces the other way. The first result of the effort to turn his +lower nature into the changed course, is much distress and disturbance. +The habits formed under the impacts of the old views resist stubbornly +the impulses flowing from the new, and a bitter conflict arises. +Gradually the consciousness working in the brain accepts the decision +made on higher planes, and then "becomes conscious of sin" by this very +recognition of the law. The sense of error deepens, remorse preys on the +mind; spasmodic efforts are made towards improvement, and, frustrated by +old habits, repeatedly fail, till the man, overwhelmed by grief for the +past, despair of the present, is plunged into hopeless gloom. At last, +the ever-increasing suffering wrings from the Ego a cry for help, +answered from the inner depths of his own nature, from the God within as +well as around him, the Life of his life. He turns from the lower nature +that is thwarting him to the higher which is his innermost being, from +the separated self that tortures him to the One Self that is the Heart +of all. + +But this change of front means that he turns his face from the +darkness, that he turns his face to the light. The light was always +there, but his back was towards it; now he sees the sun, and its +radiance cheers his eyes, and overfloods his being with delight. His +heart was closed; it is now flung open, and the ocean of life flows in, +in full tide, suffusing him with joy. Wave after wave of new life +uplifts him, and the gladness of the dawn surrounds him. He sees his +past as past, because his will is set to follow a higher path, and he +recks little of the suffering that the past may bequeath to him, since +he knows he will not hand on such bitter legacy from his present. This +sense of peace, of joy, of freedom, is the feeling spoken of as the +result of the forgiveness of sins. The obstacles set up by the lower +nature between the God within and the God without are swept away, and +that nature scarce recognises that the change is in itself and not in +the Oversoul. As a child, having thrust away the mother's guiding hand +and hidden its face against the wall, may fancy itself alone and +forgotten, until, turning with a cry, it finds around it the protecting +mother-arms that were never but a handsbreadth away; so does man in his +wilfulness push away the shielding arms of the divine Mother of the +worlds, only to find, when he turns back his face, that he has never +been outside their protecting shelter, and that wherever he may wander +that guarding love is round him still. + +The key to this change in the man, that brings about "forgiveness," is +given in the verse of the _Bhagavad-Gita_ already partly quoted: "Even +if the most sinful worship me, with undivided heart, he too must be +accounted righteous, _for he hath rightly resolved_." On that right +resolution follows the inevitable result: "Speedily he becometh dutiful +and goeth to peace."[321] The essence of sin lies in setting the will of +the part against the will of the whole, the human against the Divine. +When this is changed, when the Ego puts his separate will into union +with the will that works for evolution, then, in the world where to will +is to do, in the world where effects are seen as present in causes, the +man is "accounted righteous;" the effects on the lower planes must +inevitably follow; "speedily he becometh dutiful" in action, having +already become dutiful in will. Here we judge by actions, the dead +leaves of the past; there they judge by wills, the germinating seeds of +the future. Hence the Christ ever says to men in the lower world: "Judge +not."[322] + +Even after the new direction has been definitely followed, and has +become the normal habit of the life, there come times of failure, +alluded to in the _Pistis Sophia_, when Jesus is asked whether a man may +be again admitted to the Mysteries, after he has fallen away, if he +again repents. The answer of Jesus is in the affirmative, but he states +that a time comes when re-admission is beyond the power of any save of +the highest Mystery, who pardons ever. "Amen, amen, I say unto you, +whosoever shall receive the mysteries of the first mystery, and then +shall turn back and transgress twelve times [even], and then should +again repent twelve times, offering prayer in the mystery of the first +mystery, he shall be forgiven. But if he should transgress after twelve +times, should he turn back and transgress, it shall not be remitted unto +him for ever, so that he may turn again unto his mystery, whatever it +be. For him there is no means of repentance unless he have received the +mysteries of that ineffable, which hath compassion at all times and +remitteth sins for ever and ever."[323] These restorations after +failure, in which "sin is remitted," meet us in human life, especially +in the higher phases of evolution. A man is offered an opportunity, +which, taken, would open up to him new possibilities of growth. He fails +to grasp it, and falls away from the position he had gained that made +the further opportunity possible. For him, for the time, further +progress is blocked; he must turn all his efforts wearily to retread the +ground he had already trodden, and to regain and make sure his footing +on the place from which he had slipped. Only when this is accomplished +will he hear the gentle Voice that tells him that the past is out-worn, +the weakness turned to strength, and that the gateway is again open for +his passage. Here again the "forgiveness" is but the declaration by a +proper authority of the true state of affairs, the opening of the gate +to the competent, its closure to the incompetent. Where there had been +failure, with its accompanying suffering, this declaration would be felt +as a "baptism for the remission of sins," re-admitting the aspirant to a +privilege lost by his own act; this would certainly give rise to +feelings of joy and peace, to a relief from the burden of sorrow, to a +feeling that the clog of the past had at last fallen from the feet. + +Remains one truth that should never be forgotten: that we are living in +an ocean of light, of love, of bliss, that surrounds us at all times, +the Life of God. As the sun floods the earth with his radiance so does +that Life enlighten all, only that Sun of the world never sets to any +part of it. We shut this light out of our consciousness by our +selfishness, our heartlessness, our impurity, our intolerance, but it +shines on us ever the same, bathing us on every side, pressing against +our self-built walls with gentle, strong persistence. When the soul +throws down these excluding walls, the light flows in, and the soul +finds itself flooded with sunshine, breathing the blissful air of +heaven. "For the Son of man is in heaven," though he know it not, and +its breezes fan his brow if he bares it to their breaths. God ever +respects man's individuality, and will not enter his consciousness until +that consciousness opens to give welcome; "Behold I stand at the door +and knock"[324] is the attitude of every spiritual Intelligence towards +the evolving human soul; not in lack of sympathy is rooted that waiting +for the open door, but in deepest wisdom. + +Man is not to be compelled; he is to be free. He is not a slave, but a +God in the making, and the growth cannot be forced, but must be willed +from within. Only when the will consents, as Giordano Bruno teaches, +will God influence man, though He be "everywhere present, and ready to +come to the aid of whosoever turns to Him through the act of the +intelligence, and who unreservedly presents himself with the affection +of the will."[325] "The divine potency which is all in all does not +proffer or withhold, except through assimilation or rejection by +oneself."[326] "It is taken in quickly, as the solar light, without +hesitation, and makes itself present to whoever turns himself to it and +opens himself to it ... the windows are opened, but the sun enters in a +moment, so does it happen similarly in this case."[327] + +The sense of "forgiveness," then, is the feeling which fills the heart +with joy when the will is tuned to harmony with the Divine, when, the +soul having opened its windows, the sunshine of love and light and bliss +pours in, when the part feels its oneness with the whole, and the One +Life thrills each vein. This is the noble truth that gives vitality to +even the crudest presentation of the "forgiveness of sins," and that +makes it often, despite its intellectual incompleteness, an inspirer to +pure and spiritual living. And this is the truth, as seen in the Lesser +Mysteries. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SACRAMENTS. + + +In all religions there exist certain ceremonials, or rites, which are +regarded as of vital importance by the believers in the religion, and +which are held to confer certain benefits on those taking part in them. +The word Sacrament, or some equivalent term, has been applied to these +ceremonials, and they all have the same character. Little exact +exposition has been given as to their nature and meaning, but this is +another of the subjects explained of old in the Lesser Mysteries. + +The peculiar characteristic of a Sacrament resides in two of its +properties. First, there is the exoteric ceremony, which is a pictorial +allegory, a representation of something by actions and materials--not a +verbal allegory, a teaching given in words, conveying a truth; but an +acted representation, certain definite material things used in a +particular way. The object in choosing these materials, and aimed at in +the ceremonies by which their manipulation is accompanied, is to +represent, as in a picture, some truth which it is desired to impress +upon the minds of the people present. That is the first and obvious +property of a Sacrament, differentiating it from other forms of worship +and meditation. It appeals to those who without this imagery would fail +to catch a subtle truth, and shows to them in a vivid and graphic form +the truth which otherwise would escape them. Every Sacrament, when it is +studied, should be taken first from this standpoint, that it is a +pictorial allegory; the essential things to be studied will therefore +be: the material objects which enter into the allegory, the method in +which they are employed, and the meaning which the whole is intended to +convey. + +The second characteristic property of a Sacrament belongs to the facts +of the invisible worlds, and is studied by occult science. The person +who officiates in the Sacrament should possess this knowledge, as much, +though not all, of the operative power of the Sacrament depends on the +knowledge of the officiator. A Sacrament links the material world with +the subtle and invisible regions to which that world is related; it is a +link between the visible and the invisible. And it is not only a link +between this world and other worlds, but it is also a method by which +the energies of the invisible world are transmuted into action in the +physical; an actual method of changing energies of one kind into +energies of another, as literally as in the galvanic cell chemical +energies are changed into electrical. The essence of all energies is one +and the same, whether in the visible or invisible worlds; but the +energies differ according to the grades of matter through which they +manifest. A Sacrament serves as a kind of crucible in which spiritual +alchemy takes place. An energy placed in this crucible and subjected to +certain manipulations comes forth different in expression. Thus an +energy of a subtle kind, belonging to one of the higher regions of the +universe, may be brought into direct relation with people living in the +physical world, and may be made to affect them in the physical world as +well as in its own realm; the Sacrament forms the last bridge from the +invisible to the visible, and enables the energies to be directly +applied to those who fulfil the necessary conditions and who take part +in the Sacrament. + +The Sacraments of the Christian Church lost much of their dignity and of +the recognition of their occult power among those who separated from the +Roman Catholic Church at the time of the "Reformation." The previous +separation between the East and the West, leaving the Greek Orthodox +Church on the one side and the Roman Church on the other, in no way +affected belief in the Sacraments. They remained in both great +communities as the recognised links between the seen and the unseen, and +sanctified the life of the believer from cradle to grave. The Seven +Sacraments of Christianity cover the whole of life, from the welcome of +Baptism to the farewell of Extreme Unction. They were established by +Occultists, by men who knew the invisible worlds; and the materials +used, the words spoken, the signs made, were all deliberately chosen and +arranged with a view to bringing about certain results. + +At the time of the Reformation, the seceding Churches, which threw off +the yoke of Rome, were not led by Occultists, but by ordinary men of the +world, some good and some bad, but all profoundly ignorant of the facts +of the invisible worlds, and conscious only of the outer shell of +Christianity, its literal dogmas and exoteric worship. The consequence +of this was that the Sacraments lost their supreme place in Christian +worship, and in most Protestant communities were reduced to two, Baptism +and the Eucharist. The sacramental nature of the others was not +explicitly denied in the most important of the seceding Churches, but +the two were set apart from the five, as of universal obligation, of +which every member of the Church must partake in order to be recognised +as a full member. + +The general definition of a Sacrament is given quite accurately, save +for the superfluous words, "ordained by Christ Himself," in the +Catechism of the Church of England, and even these words might be +retained if the mystic meaning be given to the word "Christ." A +Sacrament is there said to be: "An outward and visible sign of an inward +and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a +means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof." + +In this definition we find laid down the two distinguishing +characteristics of a Sacrament as given above. The "outward and visible +sign" is the pictorial allegory, and the phrase, the "means whereby we +receive the" "inward and spiritual grace" covers the second property. +This last phrase should be carefully noted by those members of +Protestant Churches who regard Sacraments as mere external forms and +outer ceremonies. For it distinctly alleges that the Sacrament is really +a means whereby the grace is conveyed, and thus implies that without it +the grace does not pass in the same fashion from the spiritual to the +physical world. It is the distinct recognition of a Sacrament in its +second aspect, as a means whereby spiritual powers are brought into +activity on earth. + +In order to understand a Sacrament, it is necessary that we should +definitely recognise the existence of an occult, or hidden, side of +Nature; this is spoken of as the life-side of Nature, the +consciousness-side, more accurately the mind _in_ Nature. Underlying all +sacramental action there is the belief that the invisible world +exercises a potent influence over the visible, and to understand a +Sacrament we must understand something of the invisible Intelligences +who administer Nature. We have seen in studying the doctrine of the +Trinity that Spirit is manifested as the triple Self, and that as the +Field for His manifestation there is Matter, the form-side of Nature, +often regarded, and rightly, as Nature herself. We have to study both +these aspects, the side of life and that of form, in order to understand +a Sacrament. + +Stretching between the Trinity and humanity are many grades and +hierarchies of invisible beings; the highest of these are the seven +Spirits of God, the seven Fires, or Flames, that are before the throne +of God.[328] Each of these stands at the head of a vast host of +Intelligences, all of whom share His nature and act under His direction; +these are themselves graded, and are the Thrones, Powers, Princes, +Dominations, Archangels, Angels, of whom mention is found in the +writings of the Christian Fathers, who were versed in the Mysteries. +Thus there are seven great hosts of these Beings, and they represent in +their intelligence the divine Mind in Nature. They are found in all +regions, and they ensoul the energies of Nature. From the standpoint of +occultism there is no dead force and no dead matter. Force and matter +alike are living and active, and an energy or a group of energies is the +veil of an Intelligence, of a Consciousness, who has that energy as his +outer expression, and the matter in which that energy moves yields a +form which he guides or ensouls. Unless a man can thus look at Nature +all esoteric teaching must remain for him a sealed book. Without these +angelic Lives, these countless invisible Intelligences, these +Consciousnesses which ensoul the force and matter[329] which is Nature, +Nature herself would not only remain unintelligible, but she would be +out of relation alike to the divine Life that moves within and around +her, and to the human lives that are developing in her midst. These +innumerable Angels link the worlds together; they are themselves +evolving while helping the evolution of beings lower than themselves, +and a new light is shed on evolution when we see that men form grades in +these hierarchies of intelligent beings. These angels are the "sons of +God" of an earlier birth than ours, who "shouted for joy"[330] when the +foundations of the earth were laid amid the choiring of the Morning +Stars. + +Others beings are below us in evolution--animals, plants, minerals, and +elemental lives--as the Angels are above us; and as we thus study, a +conception dawns upon us of a vast Wheel of Life, of numberless +existences, inter-related and necessary each to each, man as a living +Intelligence, as a self-conscious being, having his own place in this +Wheel. The Wheel is ever turning by the divine Will, and the living +Intelligences who form it learn to co-operate with that Will, and if in +the action of those Intelligences there is any break or gap due to +neglect or opposition, then the Wheel drags, turning slowly, and the +chariot of the evolution of the worlds goes but heavily upon its way. + +These numberless Lives, above and below man, come into touch with human +consciousness in very definite ways, and among these ways are sounds and +colours. Each sound has a form in the invisible world, and combinations +of sounds create complicated shapes.[331] In the subtle matter of those +worlds all sounds are accompanied by colours, so that they give rise to +many-hued shapes, in many cases exceedingly beautiful. The vibrations +set up in the visible world when a note is sounded set up vibrations in +the worlds invisible, each one with its own specific character, and +capable of producing certain effects. In communicating with the +sub-human Intelligences connected with the lower invisible world and +with the physical, and in controlling and directing these, sounds must +be used fitted to bring about the desired results, as language made up +of definite sounds is used here. And in communicating with the higher +Intelligences certain sounds are useful, to create a harmonious +atmosphere, suitable for their activities, and to make our own subtle +bodies receptive of their influences. + +This effect on the subtle bodies is a most important part of the occult +use of sounds. These bodies, like the physical, are in constant +vibratory motion, the vibrations changing with every thought or desire. +These changing irregular vibrations offer an obstacle to any fresh +vibration coming from outside, and, in order to render the bodies +susceptible to the higher influences, sounds are used which reduce the +irregular vibrations to a steady rhythm, like in its nature to the +rhythm of the Intelligence sought to be reached. The object of all +often-repeated sentences is to effect this, as a musician sounds the +same note over and over again, until all the instruments are in tune. +The subtle bodies must be tuned to the note of the Being sought, if his +influence is to find free way through the nature of the worshipper, and +this was ever done of old by the use of sounds. Hence, music has ever +formed an integral part of worship, and certain definite cadences have +been preserved with care, handed on from age to age. + +In every religion there exist sounds of a peculiar character, called +"Words of Power," consisting of sentences in a particular language +chanted in a particular way; each religion possesses a stock of such +sentences, special successions of sounds, now very generally called +"mantras," that being the name given to them in the East, where the +science of mantras has been much studied and elaborated. It is not +necessary that a mantra--a succession of sounds arranged in a particular +manner to bring about a definite result--should be in any one particular +language. Any language can be used for the purpose, though some are more +suitable than others, provided that the person who makes the mantra +possesses the requisite occult knowledge. There are hundreds of mantras +in the Samskrit tongue, made by Occultists of the past, who were +familiar with the laws of the invisible worlds. These have been handed +down from generation to generation, definite words in a definite order +chanted in a definite way. The effect of the chanting is to create +vibrations, hence forms, in the physical and super-physical worlds, and +according to the knowledge and purity of the singer will be the worlds +his song is able to affect If his knowledge be wide and deep, if his +will be strong and his heart pure, there is scarcely any limit to the +powers he may exercise in using some of these ancient mantras. + +As said, it is not necessary that any one particular language should be +used. They may be in Samskrit, or in any one of the languages of the +world, in which men of knowledge have put them together. + +This is the reason why, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin language +is always used in important acts of worship. It is not used as a dead +language here, a tongue "not understanded of the people," but as a +living force in the invisible worlds. It is not used to hide knowledge +from the people, but in order that certain vibrations may be set up in +the invisible worlds which cannot be set up in the ordinary languages of +Europe, unless a great Occultist should compose in them the necessary +successions of sounds. To translate a mantra is to change it from a +"Word of Power" into an ordinary sentence; the sounds being changed, +other sound-forms are created. + +Some of the arrangements of Latin words, with the music wedded to them +in Christian worship, cause the most marked effects in the +supra-physical worlds, and any one who is at all sensitive will be +conscious of peculiar effects caused by the chanting of some of the most +sacred sentences, especially in the Mass. Vibratory effects may be felt +by any one who will sit quiet and receptive as some of these sentences +are uttered by priest or choristers. And at the same time effects are +caused in the higher worlds directly affecting the subtle bodies of the +worshippers in the way above described, and also appealing to the +Intelligences in those worlds with a meaning as definite as the words +addressed by one person to another on the physical plane, whether as +prayer or, in some cases, as command. The sounds, causing active +flashing forms, rise through the worlds, affecting the consciousness of +the Intelligences residing in them, and bringing some of them to render +the definite services required by those who are taking part in the +church office. + +Such mantras form an essential part of every Sacrament. + +The next essential part of the Sacrament, in its outward and visible +form, are certain gestures. These are called Signs, or Seals, or +Sigils--the three words meaning the same thing in a Sacrament. Each sign +has its own particular meaning, and marks the direction imposed on the +invisible forces with which the celebrant is dealing, whether those +forces be his own or poured through him. In any case, they are needed to +bring about the desired result, and they are an essential portion of the +sacramental rite. Such a sign is called a "Sign of Power," as the mantra +is a "Word of Power." + +It is interesting to read in occult works of the past references to +these facts, true then as now, true now as then. In the Egyptian _Book +of the Dead_ is described the _post-mortem_ journey of the Soul, and we +read how he is stopped and challenged at various stages of that journey. +He is stopped and challenged by the Guardians of the Gate of each +successive world, and the Soul cannot pass through the Gate and go on +his way unless he knows two things: he must pronounce a word, the Word +of Power: he must make a sign, the Sign of Power. When that Word is +spoken, when that Sign is given, the bars of the Gate fall down, and +the Guardians stand aside to let the Soul pass through. A similar +account is given in the great mystic Christian Gospel, the _Pistis +Sophia_, before mentioned.[332] Here the passage through the worlds is +not of a Soul set free from the body by death, but of one who has +voluntarily left it in the course of Initiation. There are great Powers, +the Powers of Nature, that bar his way, and till the Initiate gives the +Word and the Sign, they will not allow him to pass through the portals +of their realms. This double knowledge, then, was necessary--to speak +the Word of Power, to make the Sign of Power. Without these progress was +blocked, and without these a Sacrament is no Sacrament. + +Further, in all Sacraments some physical material is used, or should be +used.[333] This is ever a symbol of that which is to be gained by the +Sacrament, and points to the nature of the "inward and spiritual grace" +received through it. This is also the material means of conveying the +grace, not symbolically, but actually, and a subtle change in this +material adapts it for high ends. + +Now a physical object consists of the solid, liquid, and gaseous +particles into which a chemist would resolve it by analysis, and further +of ether, which interpenetrates the grosser stuffs. In this ether play +the magnetic energies. It is further connected with counterparts of +subtle matter, in which play energies subtler than the magnetic, but +like them in nature and more powerful. + +When such an object is magnetised a change is effected in the ethereal +portion, the wave-motions are altered and systematised, and made to +follow the wave-motions of the ether of the magnetiser; it thus comes to +share his nature, and the denser particles of the object, played on by +the ether, slowly change their rates of vibration. If the magnetiser has +the power of affecting the subtler counterparts also he makes them +similarly vibrate in assonance with his own. + +This is the secret of magnetic cures: the irregular vibrations of the +diseased person are so worked on as to accord with the regular +vibrations of the healthy operator, as definitely as an irregularly +swinging object may be made to swing regularly by repeated and timed +blows. A doctor will magnetise water and cure his patient therewith. He +will magnetise a cloth, and the cloth, laid on the seat of pain, will +heal. He will use a powerful magnet, or a current from a galvanic cell, +and restore energy to a nerve. In all cases the ether is thrown into +motion, and by this the denser physical particles are affected. + +A similar result accrues when the materials used in a Sacrament are +acted on by the Word of Power and the Sign of Power. Magnetic changes +are caused in the ether of the physical substance, and the subtle +counterparts are affected according to the knowledge, purity, and +devotion of the celebrant who magnetises--or, in the religious term, +consecrates--it. Further, the Word and the Sign of Power summon to the +celebration the Angels specially concerned with the materials used and +the nature of the act performed, and they lend their powerful aid, +pouring their own magnetic energies into the subtle counterparts, and +even into the physical ether, thus reinforcing the energies of the +celebrant. No one who knows anything of the powers of magnetism can +doubt the possibility of the changes in material objects thus indicated. +And if a man of science, who may have no faith in the unseen, has the +power to so impregnate water with his own vital energy that it cures a +physical disease, why should power of a loftier, though _similar_, +nature be denied to those of saintly life, of noble character, of +knowledge of the invisible? Those who are able to sense the higher forms +of magnetism know very well that consecrated objects vary much in their +power, and that the magnetic difference is due to the varying knowledge, +purity, and spirituality of the priest who consecrates them. Some deny +all vital magnetism, and would reject alike the holy water of religion +and the magnetised water of medical science. They are consistent, but +ignorant. But those who admit the utility of the one, and laugh at the +other, show themselves to be not wise but prejudiced, not learned but +one-sided, and prove that their want of belief in religion biases their +intelligence, predisposing them to reject from the hand of religion that +which they accept from the hand of science. A little will be added to +this with regard to "sacred objects" generally in Chapter XIV. + +We thus see that the outer part of the Sacrament is of very great +importance. Real changes are made in the materials used. They are made +the vehicles of energies higher than those which naturally belong to +them; persons approaching them, touching them, will have their own +etheric and subtle bodies affected by their potent magnetism, and will +be brought into a condition very receptive of higher influences, being +tuned into accord with the lofty Beings connected with the Word and the +Sign used in consecration; Beings belonging to the invisible world will +be present during the sacramental rite, pouring out their benign and +gracious influences; and thus all who are worthy participants in the +ceremony--sufficiently pure and devoted to be tuned by the vibrations +caused--will find their emotions purified and stimulated, their +spirituality quickened, and their hearts filled with peace, by coming +into such close touch with the unseen realities. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SACRAMENTS (_continued_). + + +We have now to apply these general principles to concrete examples, and +to see how they explain and justify the sacramental rites found in all +religions. + +It will be sufficient if we take as examples three out of the Seven +Sacraments used in the Church Catholic. Two are recognised as obligatory +by all Christians, although extreme Protestants deprive them of their +sacramental character, giving them a declaratory and remembrance value +only instead of a sacramental; yet even among them the heart of true +devotion wins something of the sacramental blessing the head denies. The +third is not recognised as even nominally a Sacrament by Protestant +Churches, though it shows the essential signs of a Sacrament, as given +in the definition in the Catechism of the Church of England already +quoted.[334] The first is that of Baptism; the second that of the +Eucharist; the third that of Marriage. The putting of Marriage out of +the rank of a Sacrament has much degraded its lofty ideal, and has led +to much of that loosening of its tie that thinking men deplore. + +The Sacrament of Baptism is found in all religions, not only at the +entrance into earth-life, but more generally as a ceremony of +purification. The ceremony which admits the new-born--or adult--incomer +into a religion has a sprinkling with water as an essential part of the +rite, and this was as universal in ancient days as it is now. The Rev. +Dr. Giles remarks: "The idea of using water as emblematic of spiritual +washing is too obvious to allow surprise at the antiquity of this rite. +Dr. Hyde, in his treatise on the _Religion of the Ancient Persians_, +xxxiv. 406, tells us that it prevailed among that people. 'They do not +use circumcision for their children, but only baptism, or washing for +the purification of the soul. They bring the child to the priest into +the church, and place him in front of the sun and fire, which ceremony +being completed, they look upon him as more sacred than before. Lord +says that they bring the water for this purpose in bark of the +Holm-tree; that tree is in truth the Haum of the Magi, of which we spoke +before on another occasion. Sometimes also it is otherwise done by +immersing him in a large vessel of water, as Tavernier tells us. After +such washing, or baptism, the priest imposes on the child the name given +by the parents.'"[335] A few weeks after the birth of a Hindu child a +ceremony is performed, a part of which consists in sprinkling the child +with water--such sprinkling entering into all Hindu worship. Williamson +gives authorities for the practise of Baptism in Egypt, Persia, Thibet, +Mongolia, Mexico, Peru, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and among the +Druids.[336] Some of the prayers quoted are very fine: "I pray that this +celestial water, blue and light blue, may enter into thy body and there +live. I pray that it may destroy in thee, and put away from thee, all +the things evil and adverse that were given to thee before the beginning +of the world." "O child! receive the water of the Lord of the world who +is our life: it is to wash and to purify; may these drops remove the sin +which was given to thee before the creation of the world, since all of +us are under its power." + +Tertullian mentions the very general use of Baptism among non-Christian +nations in a passage already quoted,[337] and others of the Fathers +refer to it. + +In most religious communities a minor form of Baptism accompanies all +religious ceremonies, water being used as a symbol of purification, and +the idea being that no man should enter upon worship until he has +purified his heart and conscience, the outer washing symbolising the +inner lustration. In the Greek and Roman Churches a small receptacle for +holy water is placed near every door, and every incoming worshipper +touches it, making with it on himself the sign of the cross ere he goes +onward towards the altar. On this Robert Taylor remarks: "The baptismal +fonts in our Protestant churches, and we need hardly say more especially +the little cisterns at the entrance of our Catholic chapels, are not +imitations, but an unbroken and never interrupted continuation of the +same _aqua minaria_, or _amula_, which the learned Montfaucon, in his +_Antiquities_, shows to have been vases of holy water, which were placed +by the heathens at the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle themselves +with upon entering those sacred edifices."[338] + +Whether in the Baptism of initial reception into the Church, or in these +minor lustrations, water is the material agent employed, the great +cleansing fluid in Nature, and therefore the best symbol for +purification. Over this water a mantra is pronounced, in the English +ritual represented by the prayer, "Sanctify this water to the mystical +washing away of sin," concluding with the formula, "In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." This is the Word +of Power, and it is accompanied by the Sign of Power, the Sign of the +Cross made over the surface of the water. + +The Word and the Sign give to the water, as before explained, a property +it previously had not, and it is rightly named "holy water." The dark +powers will not approach it; sprinkled on the body it gives a sense of +peace, and conveys new spiritual life. When a child is baptised, the +spiritual energy given to the water by the Word and the Sign reinforces +the spiritual life in the child, and then the Word of Power is again +spoken, this time over the child, and the Sign is traced on his +forehead, and in his subtle bodies the vibrations are felt, and the +summons to guard the life thus sanctified goes forth through the +invisible world; for this Sign is at once purifying and +protective--purifying by the life that is poured forth through it, +protective by the vibrations it sets up in the subtle bodies. Those +vibrations form a guardian wall against the attacks of hostile +influences in the invisible worlds, and every time that holy water is +touched, the Word pronounced, and the Sign made, the energy is renewed, +the vibrations are reinforced, both being recognised as potent in the +invisible worlds, and bringing aid to the operator. + +In the early Church, Baptism was preceded by a very careful preparation, +those admitted to the Church being mostly converts from surrounding +faiths. A convert passed through three definite stages of instruction, +remaining in each grade till he had mastered its teachings, and he was +then admitted to the Church by Baptism. Only after that was he taught +the Creed, which was not committed to writing, nor ever repeated in the +presence of an unbeliever; it thus served as a sign of recognition, and +a proof of the position of the man who was able to recite it, showing +that he was a baptised member of the Church. How truly in those days the +grace conveyed by Baptism was believed in is shown by the custom of +death-bed Baptism that grew up. Believing in the reality of Baptism, men +and women of the world, unwilling to resign its pleasures or to keep +their lives pure from stain, would put off the rite of Baptism until +Death's hand was upon them, so that they might benefit by the +sacramental grace, and pass through Death's portal pure and clean, full +of spiritual energy. Against that abuse some of the great Fathers of the +Church struggled, and struggled effectively. There is a quaint story +told by one of them, I think by S. Athanasius, who was a man of caustic +wit, not averse to the use of humour in the attempt to make his hearers +understand at times the folly or perversity of their behaviour. He told +his congregation that he had had a vision, and had gone up to the +gateway of heaven, where S. Peter stood as Warder. No pleased smile had +he for the visitant, but a frown of stern displeasure. "Athanasius," +said he, "why are you continually sending me these empty bags, carefully +sealed up, with nothing inside?" It was one of the piercing sayings we +meet with in Christian antiquity, when these things were real to +Christian men, and not mere forms, as they too often are to-day. + +The custom of Infant Baptism gradually grew up in the Church, and hence +the instruction which in the early days preceded Baptism came to be the +preparation for Confirmation, when the awakened mind and intelligence +take up and re-affirm the baptismal promises. The reception of the +infant into the Church is seen to be rightly done, when man's life is +recognised as being lived in the three worlds, and when the Spirit and +Soul who have come to inhabit the new-born body are known to be not +unconscious and unintelligent, but conscious, intelligent, and potent in +the invisible worlds. It is right and just that the "Hidden Man of the +heart"[339] should be welcomed to the new stage of his pilgrimage, and +that the most helpful influences should be brought to bear upon the +vehicle in which he is to dwell, and which he has to mould to his +service. If the eyes of men were opened, as were of old those of the +servant of Elisha, they would still see the horses and chariots of fire +gathered round the mountain where is the prophet of the Lord.[340] + +We come to the second of the Sacraments selected for study, that of the +Sacrifice of the Eucharist, a symbol of the eternal Sacrifice already +explained, the daily sacrifice of the Church Catholic throughout the +world imaging that eternal Sacrifice by which the worlds were made, and +by which they are evermore sustained. It is to be daily offered, as its +archetype is perpetually existent, and men in that act take part in the +working of the Law of Sacrifice, identify themselves with it, recognise +its binding nature, and voluntarily associate themselves with it in its +working in the worlds; in such identification, to partake of the +material part of the Sacrament is necessary, if the identification is to +be complete, but many of the benefits may be shared, and the influence +going forth to the worlds may be increased, by devout worshippers, who +associate themselves mentally, but not physically, with the act. + +This great function of Christian worship loses its force and meaning +when it is regarded as nothing more than a mere commemoration of a past +sacrifice, as a pictorial allegory without a deep ensouling truth, as a +breaking of bread and a pouring out of wine without a sharing in the +eternal Sacrifice. So to see it is to make it a mere shell, a dead +picture instead of a living reality. "The cup of blessing which we +bless, is it not the communion [the communication of, the sharing in] of +the blood of Christ?" asks the apostle. "The bread which we break, is it +not the communion of the body of Christ?"[341] And he goes on to point +out that all who eat of a sacrifice become partakers of a common nature, +and are joined into a single body, which is united to, shares the nature +of, that Being who is, present in the sacrifice. A fact of the invisible +world is here concerned, and he speaks with the authority of knowledge. +Invisible Beings pour of their essence into the materials used in any +sacramental rite, and those who partake of those materials--which become +assimilated in the body and enter into its ingredients--are thereby +united to those whose essence is in it, and they all share a common +nature. This is true when we take even ordinary food from the hand of +another--part of his nature, his vital magnetism, mingles with our own; +how much more true then when the food has been solemnly and purposely +impregnated with higher magnetisms, which affect the subtle bodies as +well as the physical. If we would understand the meaning and use of the +Eucharist we must realise these facts of the invisible worlds, and we +must see in it a link between the earthly and the heavenly, as well as +an act of the universal worship, a co-operation, an association, with +the Law of Sacrifice, else it loses the greater part of its +significance. + +The employment of bread and wine as the materials for this +Sacrament--like the use of water in the Sacrament of Baptism--is of very +ancient and general usage. The Persians offered bread and wine to +Mithra, and similar offerings were made in Tibet and Tartary. Jeremiah +speaks of the cakes and the drink offered to the Queen of Heaven by the +Jews in Egypt, they taking part in the Egyptian worship.[342] In Genesis +we read that Melchisedek, the King-Initiate, used bread and wine in the +blessing of Abraham.[343] In the various Greek Mysteries bread and wine +were used, and Williamson mentions their use also among the Mexicans, +Peruvians, and Druids.[344] + +The bread stands as the general symbol for the food that builds up the +body, and the wine as symbol of the blood, regarded as the life-fluid, +"for the life of the flesh is in the blood."[345] Hence members of a +family are said to share the same blood, and to be of the blood of a +person is to be of his kin. Hence, also, the old ceremonies of the +"blood-covenant"; when a stranger was made one of a family or of a +tribe, some drops of blood from a member were transfused into his veins, +or he drank them--usually mingled with water--and was thenceforth +considered as being a born member of the family or tribe, as being of +its blood. Similarly, in the Eucharist, the worshippers partake of the +bread, symbolising the body, the nature, of the Christ, and of the wine +symbolising the blood, the life of the Christ, and become of His kin, +one with Him. + +The Word of Power is the formula "This is My Body," "This is My Blood." +This it is which works the change which we shall consider in a moment, +and transforms the materials into vehicles of spiritual energies. The +Sign of Power is the hand extended over the bread and the wine, and the +Sign of the Cross should be made upon them, though this is not always +done among Protestants. These are the outer essentials of the Sacrament +of the Eucharist. + +It is important to understand the change which takes place in this +Sacrament, for it is more than the magnetisation previously explained, +though this also is wrought. We have here a special instance of a +general law. + +By the occultist, a visible thing is regarded as the last, the physical, +expression of an invisible truth. Everything is the physical expression +of a thought. An object is but an idea externalised and densified. All +the objects in the world are Divine ideas expressed in physical matter. +That being so, the reality of the object does not lie in the outer form +but in the inner life, in the idea that has shaped and moulded the +matter into an expression of itself. In the higher worlds, the matter +being very subtle and plastic, shapes itself very swiftly to the idea, +and changes form as the thought changes. As matter becomes denser, +heavier, it changes form less readily, more slowly, until, in the +physical world, the changes are at their slowest in consequence of the +resistance of the dense matter of which the physical world is composed. +Let sufficient time be given, however, and even this heavy matter +changes under the pressure of the ensouling idea, as may be seen by the +graving on the face of the expressions of habitual thoughts and +emotions. + +This is the truth which underlies what is called the doctrine of +Transubstantiation, so extraordinarily misunderstood by the ordinary +Protestant. But such is the fate of occult truths when they are +presented to the ignorant. The "substance" that is changed is the idea +which makes a thing to be what it is; "bread" is not mere flour and +water; the idea which governs the mixing, the manipulation, of the flour +and water, that is the "substance" which makes it "bread," and the flour +and the water are what are technically called the "accidents," the +arrangements of matter that give form to the idea. With a different +idea, or substance, flour and water would take a different form, as +indeed they do when assimilated by the body. So also chemists have +discovered that the same kind and the same number of chemical atoms may +be arranged in different ways and thus become entirely different things +in their properties, though the materials are unchanged; such "isomeric +compounds" are among the most interesting of modern chemical +discoveries; the arrangement of similar atoms under different ideas +gives different bodies. + +What, then, is this change of substance in the materials used in the +Eucharist? The idea that makes the object has been changed; in their +normal condition bread and wine are food-stuffs, expressive of the +divine ideas of nutritive objects, objects fitted for the building up of +bodies. The new idea is that of the Christ nature and life, fitted for +the building up of the spiritual nature and life of man. That is the +change of substance; the object remains unchanged in its "accidents," +its physical material, but the subtle matter connected with it has +changed under the pressure of the changed idea, and new properties are +imparted by this change. They affect the subtle bodies of the +participants, and attune them to the nature and life of the Christ. On +the "worthiness" of the participant depends the extent to which he can +be thus attuned. + +The unworthy participant, subjected to the same process, is injuriously +affected by it, for his nature, resisting the pressure, is bruised and +rent by the forces to which it is unable to respond, as an object may be +broken into pieces by vibrations which it is unable to reproduce. + +The worthy partaker, then, becomes one with the Sacrifice, with the +Christ, and so becomes at one with also, united to, the divine Life, +which is the Father of the Christ. Inasmuch as the act of Sacrifice on +the side of form is the yielding up of the life it separates from others +to be part of the common Life, the offering of the separated channel to +be a channel of the one Life, so by that surrender the sacrificer +becomes one with God. It is the giving itself of the lower to be a part +of the higher, the yielding of the body as an instrument of the +separated will to be an instrument of the divine Will, the presenting of +men's "bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God."[346] +Thus it has been truly taught in the Church that those who rightly take +part in the Eucharist enjoy a partaking of the Christ-life poured out +for men. The transmuting of the lower into the higher is the object of +this, as of all, Sacraments. The changing of the lower force by its +union with the loftier is what is sought by those who participate in it; +and those who know the inner truth, and realise the fact of the higher +life, may in any religion, by means of its sacraments, come into fuller, +completer touch with the divine Life that upholds the worlds, if they +bring to the rite the receptive nature, the act of faith, the opened +heart, which are necessary for the possibilities of the Sacrament to be +realised. + +The Sacrament of Marriage shows out the marks of a Sacrament as clearly +and as definitely as do Baptism and the Eucharist. Both the outer sign +and the inward grace are there. The material is the Ring--the circle +which is the symbol of the everlasting. The Word of Power is the ancient +formula, "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy +Ghost." The Sign of Power is the joining of hands, symbolising the +joining of the lives. These make up the outer essentials of the +Sacrament. + +The inner grace is the union of mind with mind, of heart with heart, +which makes possible the realisation of the unity of spirit, without +which Marriage is no Marriage, but a mere temporary conjunction of +bodies. The giving and receiving of the ring, the pronouncing of the +formula, the joining of hands, these form the pictorial allegory; if the +inner grace be not received, if the participants do not open themselves +to it by their wish for the union of their whole natures, the Sacrament +for them loses its beneficent properties, and becomes a mere form. + +But Marriage has a yet deeper meaning; religions with one voice have +proclaimed it to be the image on earth of the union between the earthly +and the heavenly, the union between God and man. And even then its +significance is not exhausted, for it is the image of the relation +between Spirit and Matter, between the Trinity and the Universe. So +deep, so far-reaching, is the meaning of the joining of man and woman in +Marriage. + +Herein the man stands as representing the Spirit, the Trinity of Life, +and the woman as representing the Matter, the Trinity of formative +material. One gives life, the other receives and nourishes it. They are +complementary to each other, two inseparable halves of one whole, +neither existing apart from the other. As Spirit implies Matter and +Matter Spirit, so husband implies wife and wife husband. As the abstract +Existence manifests in two aspects, as a duality of Spirit and Matter, +neither independent of the other, but each coming into manifestation +with the other, so is humanity manifested in two aspects--husband and +wife, neither able to exist apart, and appearing together. They are not +twain but one, a dual-faced unity. God and the Universe are imaged in +Marriage; thus closely linked are husband and wife. + +It is said above that Marriage is also an image of the union between God +and man, between the universal and the individualised Spirits. This +symbolism is used in all the great scriptures of the world--Hindu, +Hebrew, Christian. And it has been extended by taking the individualised +Spirit as a Nation or a Church, a collection of such Spirits knit into a +unity. So Isaiah declared to Israel: "Thy Maker is thine Husband; the +Lord of hosts is His name.... As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the +bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."[347] So S. Paul wrote that +the mystery of Marriage represented Christ and the Church.[348] + +If we think of Spirit and Matter as latent, unmanifested, then we see no +production; manifested together, there is evolution. And so when the +halves of humanity are not manifested as husband and wife, there is no +production of fresh life. Moreover, they should be united in order that +there may be a growth of life in each, a swifter evolution, a more rapid +progress, by the half that each can give to each, each supplying what +the other lacks. The twain should be blended into one, setting forth the +spiritual possibilities of man. And they show forth also the perfect +Man, in whose nature Spirit and Matter are both completely developed and +perfectly balanced, the divine Man who unites in his own person husband +and wife, the male and female elements in nature, as "God and Man are +one Christ."[349] + +Those who thus study the Sacrament of Marriage will understand why +religions have ever regarded Marriage as indissoluble, and have thought +it better that a few ill-matched pairs should suffer for a few years +than that the ideal of true Marriage should be permanently lowered for +all. A nation must choose whether it will adopt as its national ideal a +spiritual or an earthly bond in Marriage, the seeking in it of a +spiritual unity, or the regarding it as merely a physical union. The one +is the religious idea of Marriage as a Sacrament; the other the +materialistic idea of it as an ordinary terminable contract. The student +of the Lesser Mysteries must ever see in it a sacramental rite. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +REVELATION. + + +All the religions known to us are the custodians of Sacred Books, and +appeal to these books for the settlement of disputed questions. They +always contain the teachings given by the founder of the religion, or by +later teachers regarded as possessing super-human knowledge. Even when a +religion gives birth to many discordant sects, each sect will cling to +the Sacred Canon, and will put upon its word the interpretation which +best fits in with its own peculiar doctrines. However widely may be +separated in belief the extreme Roman Catholic and the extreme +Protestant, they both appeal to the same _Bible_. However far apart may +be the philosophic Vedantin and the most illiterate Vallabhacharya, they +both regard the same _Vedas_ as supreme. However bitterly opposed to +each other may be the Shias and the Sunnis, they both regard as sacred +the same _Kuran_. Controversies and quarrels may arise as to the meaning +of texts, but the Book itself, in every case, is looked on with the +utmost reverence. And rightly so; for all such books contain fragments +of The Revelation, selected by One of the great Ones who hold it in +trust; such a fragment is embodied in what down here we call a +Revelation, or a Scripture, and some part of the world rejoices in it as +in a treasure of vast value. The fragment is chosen according to the +needs of the time, the capacity of the people to whom it is given, the +type of the race whom it is intended to instruct. It is generally given +in a peculiar form, in which the outer history, or story, or song, or +psalm, or prophecy, appears to the superficial or ignorant reader to be +the whole book; but in these deeper meanings lie concealed, sometimes in +numbers, sometimes in words constructed on a hidden plan--a cypher, in +fact--sometimes in symbols, recognisable by the instructed, sometimes in +allegories written as histories, and in many other ways. These Books, +indeed, have something of a sacramental character about them, an outer +form and an inner life, an outer symbol and an inner truth. Those only +can explain the hidden meaning who have been trained by those instructed +in it; hence the dictum of S. Peter that "no prophecy of the Scripture +is of any private interpretation."[350] The elaborate explanations of +texts of the Bible, with which the volumes of patristic literature +abound, seem fanciful and overstrained to the prosaic modern mind. The +play upon numbers, upon letters, the apparently fantastic +interpretations of paragraphs that, on the face of them, are ordinary +historical statements of a simple character, exasperate the modern +reader, who demands to have his facts presented clearly and coherently, +and above all, requires what he feels to be solid ground under his feet. +He declines absolutely to follow the light-footed mystic over what seem +to him to be quaking morasses, in a wild chase after dancing +will-o'-the-wisps, which appear and disappear with bewildering and +irrational caprice. Yet the men who wrote these exasperating treatises +were men of brilliant intellect and calm judgment, the master-builders +of the Church. And to those who read them aright they are still full of +hints and suggestions, and indicate many an obscure pathway that leads +to the goal of knowledge, and that might otherwise be missed. + +We have already seen that Origen, one of the sanest of men, and versed +in occult knowledge, teaches that the Scriptures are three-fold, +consisting of Body, Soul, and Spirit.[351] He says that the Body of the +Scriptures is made up of the outer words of the histories and the +stories, and he does not hesitate to say that these are not literally +true, but are only stories for the instruction of the ignorant. He even +goes so far as to remark that statements are made in those stories that +are obviously untrue, in order that the glaring contradictions that lie +on the surface may stir people up to inquire as to the real meaning of +these impossible relations. He says that so long as men are ignorant, +the Body is enough for them; it conveys teaching, it gives instruction, +and they do not see the self-contradictions and impossibilities involved +in the literal statements, and therefore are not disturbed by them. As +the mind grows, as the intellect develops, these contradictions and +impossibilities strike the attention, and bewilder the student; then he +is stirred up to seek for a deeper meaning, and he begins to find the +Soul of the Scriptures. That Soul is the reward of the intelligent +seeker, and he escapes from the bonds of the letter that killeth.[352] +The Spirit of the Scriptures may only be seen by the spiritually +enlightened man; only those in whom the Spirit is evolved can understand +the spiritual meaning: "the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit +of God ... which things also we speak, not in the words which man's +wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."[353] + +The reason for this method of Revelation is not far to seek; it is the +only way in which one teaching can be made available for minds at +different stages of evolution, and thus train not only those to whom it +is immediately given, but also those who, later in time, shall have +progressed beyond those to whom the Revelation was first made. Man is +progressive; the outer meaning given long ago to unevolved men must +needs be very limited, and unless something deeper and fuller than this +outer meaning were hidden within it, the value of the Scripture would +perish when a few millennia had passed away. Whereas by this method of +successive meanings it is given a perennial value, and evolved men may +find in it hidden treasures, until the day when, possessing the whole, +they no longer need the part. + +The world-Bibles, then, are fragments--fragments of Revelation, and +therefore are rightly described as Revelation. + +The next deeper sense of the word describes the mass of teaching held by +the great Brotherhood of spiritual Teachers in trust for men; this +teaching is embodied in books, written in symbols, and in these is +contained an account of kosmic laws, of the principles on which the +kosmos is founded, of the methods by which it is evolved, of all the +beings that compose it, of its past, its present, its future; this is +The Revelation. This is the priceless treasure which the Guardians of +humanity hold in charge, and from which they select, from time to time, +fragments to form the Bibles of the world. + +Thirdly, the Revelation, highest, fullest, best, is the Self-unveiling +of Deity in the kosmos, the revealing of attribute after attribute, +power after power, beauty after beauty, in all the various forms which +in their totality compose the universe. He shows His splendour in the +sun, His infinity in the star-flecked fields of space, His strength in +mountains, His purity in snow-clad peaks and translucent air, His energy +in rolling ocean-billows, His beauty in tumbling mountain-torrent, in +smooth, clear lake, in cool, deep forest and in sunlit plain, His +fearlessness in the hero, His patience in the saint, His tenderness in +mother-love, His protecting care in father and in king, His wisdom in +the philosopher, His knowledge in the scientist, His healing power in +the physician, His justice in the judge, His wealth in the merchant, His +teaching power in the priest, His industry in the artisan. He whispers +to us in the breeze, He smiles on us in the sunshine, He chides us in +disease, He stimulates us, now by success and now by failure. Everywhere +and in everything He gives us glimpses of Himself to lure us on to love +Him, and He hides Himself that we may learn to stand alone. To know Him +everywhere is the true Wisdom; to love Him everywhere is the true +Desire; to serve Him everywhere is the true Action. This Self-revealing +of God is the highest Revelation; all others are subsidiary and partial. + +The inspired man is the man to whom some of this Revelation has come by +the direct action of the universal Spirit on the separated Spirit that +is His offspring, who has felt the illuminating influence of Spirit on +Spirit. No man knows the truth so that he can never lose it, no man +knows the truth so that he can never doubt it, until the Revelation has +come to him as though he stood alone on earth, until the Divine without +has spoken to the Divine within, in the temple of the human heart, and +the man thus knows by himself and not by another. + +In a lesser degree a man is inspired when one greater than he stimulates +within him powers which as yet are normally inactive, or even takes +possession of him, temporarily using his body as a vehicle. Such an +illuminated man, at the time of his inspiration, can speak that which is +beyond his knowledge, and utter truths till then unguessed. Truths are +sometimes thus poured out through a human channel for the helping of the +world, and some One greater than the speaker sends down his life into +the human vehicle, and they rush forth from human lips; then a great +teacher speaks yet more greatly than he knows, the Angel of the Lord +having touched his lips with fire.[354] Such are the Prophets of the +race, who at some periods have spoken with overwhelming conviction, with +clear insight, with complete understanding of the spiritual needs of +man. Then the words live with a life immortal, and the speaker is truly +a messenger from God. The man who has thus known can never again quite +lose the memory of the knowledge, and he carries within his heart a +certainty which can never quite disappear. The light may vanish and the +darkness come down upon him; the gleam from heaven may fade and clouds +may surround him; threat, question, challenge, may assail him; but +within his heart there nestles the Secret of Peace--he knows, or knows +that he has known. + +That remembrance of true inspiration, that reality of the hidden life, +has been put into beautiful and true words by Frederick Myers, in his +well-known poem, _S. Paul_. The apostle is speaking of his own +experience, and is trying to give articulate expression to that which he +remembers; he is figured as unable to thoroughly reproduce his +knowledge, although he knows and his certainty does not waver: + + So, even I, athirst for His inspiring, + I, who have talked with Him, forget again; + Yes, many days with sobs and with desiring, + Offer to God a patience and a pain. + + Then through the mid complaint of my confession, + Then through the pang and passion of my prayer, + Leaps with a start the shock of His possession, + Thrills me and touches, and the Lord is there. + + Lo, if some pen should write upon your rafter + Mene and Mene in the folds of flame, + Think ye could any memories thereafter + Wholly retrace the couplet as it came? + + Lo, if some strange intelligible thunder + Sang to the earth the secret of a star, + Scarce should ye catch, for terror and for wonder, + Shreds of the story that was pealed so far! + + Scarcely I catch the words of His revealing, + Hardly I hear Him, dimly understand. + Only the power that is within me pealing + Lives on my lips, and beckons to my hand. + + Whoso hath felt the Spirit of the Highest + Cannot confound, nor doubt Him, nor deny; + Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest, + Stand thou on that side, for on this am I. + + Rather the world shall doubt when her retrieving + Pours in the rain and rushes from the sod; + Rather than he in whom the great conceiving + Stirs in his soul to quicken into God. + + Nay, though thou then shouldst strike him from his glory, + Blind and tormented, maddened and alone, + E'en on the cross would he maintain his story, + Yes, and in Hell would whisper, "I have known." + +Those who have in any sense realised that God is around them, in them, +and in everything, will be able to understand how a place or an object +may become "sacred" by a slight objectivisation of this perennial +universal Presence, so that those become able to sense Him who do not +normally feel His omnipresence. This is generally effected by some +highly advanced man, in whom the inner Divinity is largely unfolded, and +whose subtle bodies are therefore responsive to the subtler vibrations +of consciousness. Through such a man, or by such a man, spiritual +energies may be poured forth, and these will unite themselves with his +pure vital magnetism. He can then pour them forth on any object, and its +ether and bodies of subtler matter will become attuned to his +vibrations, as before explained, and further, the Divinity within it can +more easily manifest. Such an object becomes "magnetised," and, if this +be strongly done, the object will itself become a magnetic centre, +capable in turn of magnetising those who approach it. Thus a body +electrified by an electric machine will affect other bodies near which +it may be placed. + +An object thus rendered "sacred" is a very useful adjunct to prayer and +meditation. The subtle bodies of the worshipper are attuned to its high +vibrations, and he finds himself quieted, soothed, pacified, without +effort on his own part. He is thrown into a condition in which prayer +and meditation are easy and fruitful instead of difficult and barren, +and an irksome exercise becomes insensibly delightful. If the object be +a representation of some sacred Person--a Crucifix, a Madonna and Child, +an Angel, a Saint--there is a yet further gain. The Being represented, +if his magnetism has been thrown into the image by the appropriate Word +and Sign of Power, can re-inforce that magnetism with a very slight +expenditure of spiritual energy, and may thus influence the devotee, or +even show himself through the image, when otherwise he would not have +done so. For in the spiritual world economy of forces is observed, and a +small amount of energy will be expended where a larger would be +withheld. + +An application of these same occult laws may be made to explain the use +of all consecrated objects--relics, amulets, &c. They are all magnetised +objects, more or less powerful, or useless, according to the knowledge, +purity, and spirituality of the person who magnetises them. + +Places may similarly be made sacred, by the living in them of saints, +whose pure magnetism, radiating from them, attunes the whole atmosphere +to peace-giving vibrations. Sometimes holy men, or Beings from the +higher worlds, will directly magnetise a certain place, as in the case +mentioned in the Fourth Gospel, where an Angel came at a certain season +and touched the water, giving it healing qualities.[355] In such places +even careless worldly men will sometimes feel the blessed influence, and +will be temporarily softened and inclined toward higher things. The +divine Life in each man is ever trying to subdue the form, and mould it +into an expression of itself; and it is easy to see how that Life will +be aided by the form being thrown into vibrations sympathetic with +those of a more highly evolved Being, its own efforts being reinforced +by a stronger power. The outer recognition of this effect is a sense of +quiet, calm, and peace; the mind loses its restlessness, the heart its +anxiety. Any one who observes himself will find that some places are +more conducive to calm, to meditation, to religious thought, to worship, +than others. In a room, a building, where there has been a great deal of +worldly thought, of frivolous conversation, of mere rush of ordinary +worldly life, it is far harder to quiet the mind and to concentrate the +thought, than in a place where religious thought has been carried on +year after year, century after century; there the mind becomes calm and +tranquillised insensibly, and that which would have demanded serious +effort in the first place is done without effort in the second. + +This is the rationale of places of pilgrimage, of temporary retreats +into seclusion; the man turns inward to seek the God within him, and is +aided by the atmosphere created by thousands of others, who before him +have sought the same in the same place. For in such a place there is not +only the magnetisation produced by a single saint, or by the visit of +some great Being of the invisible world; each person, who visits the +spot with a heart full of reverence and devotion, and is attuned to its +vibrations, reinforces those vibrations with his own life, and leaves +the spot better than it was when he came to it. Magnetic energy slowly +disperses, and a sacred object or place becomes gradually demagnetised +if put aside or deserted. It becomes more magnetised as it is used or +frequented. But the presence of the ignorant scoffer injures such +objects and places, by setting up antagonistic vibrations which weaken +those already existing there. As a wave of sound may be met by another +which extinguishes it, and the result is silence, so do the vibrations +of the scoffing thought weaken or extinguish the vibrations of the +reverent and loving one. The effect produced will, of course, vary with +the relative strengths of the vibrations, but the mischievous one cannot +be without result, for the laws of vibration are the same in the higher +worlds as in the physical, and thought vibrations are the expression of +real energies. + +The reason and the effect of the consecration of churches, chapels, +cemeteries, will now be apparent. The act of consecration is not the +mere public setting aside of a place for a particular purpose; it is the +magnetisation of the place for the benefit of all those who frequent it. +For the visible and the invisible worlds are inter-related, interwoven, +each with each, and those can best serve the visible by whom the +energies of the invisible can be wielded. + + + + +AFTERWORD. + + +We have reached the end of a small book on a great subject, and have +only lifted a corner of the Veil that hides the Virgin of Eternal Truth +from the careless eyes of men. The hem of her garment only has been +seen, heavy with gold, richly dight with pearls. Yet even this, as it +waves slowly, breathes out celestial fragrances--the sandal and +rose-attar of fairer worlds than ours. What should be the unimaginable +glory, if the Veil were lifted, and we saw the splendour of the Face of +the divine Mother, and in Her arms the Child who is the very Truth? +Before that Child the Seraphim ever veil their faces; who then of mortal +birth may look on Him and live? + +Yet since in man abides His very Self, who shall forbid him to pass +within the Veil, and to see with "open face the glory of the Lord"? +From the Cave to highest Heaven; such was the pathway of the Word made +Flesh, and known as the Way of the Cross. Those who share the manhood +share also the Divinity, and may tread where He has trodden. "What Thou +art, That am I." + + +PEACE TO ALL BEINGS. + + + + +INDEX. PAGE + +_Acts of the Apostles_ referred to; 281 + +A Kempis, Thomas; 115 + +Afterword; 376 + +Allegory; 66 + +Allegories, Old Testament; 121 + +All-wide Consciousness; 281 _et seq._ + +Ammonius Saccas; 28 + +Animal Symbols of Zodiac; 165 + +Anselm and Redemption; 195 + +Answers to Prayer; 277 + " Subjective Prayer; 290 + +Apollonius of Tyana; 31 + +Apostolic Fathers; 70 + +Appearances of Divine Beings; 93 + +Aquinas, Thomas; 112 + +_Arians of the Fourth Century_, quoted; 103 + +Aristotle, Effect on Mediaeval Christianity; 112 + +Ascension, The; 231, 250 + " and Solar Myth; 231 + " of the Christ; 249 + +_Asiatic Researches_, quoted; 258 + +Aspects of the ONE; 262 + +Athanasius, Story of; 353 + +Athanasian Creed, quoted; 263, 367 + +Atlantis, Continent of; 18 + +At-one-ment; 209 + +Atonement as one of Lesser Mysteries; 200 + " Early Church on the; 195 + " Calvinistic View of; 197 + " Edwards on the; 197 + " Flavel on the; 196 + " Luther's Views on the; 196 + " Dr. McLeod Campbell on the; 199 + " F. D. Maurice on the; 199 + " Vicarious and Substitutionary; 196 + +Atonement--Views of Dwight, Jeune, Jenkyn, Liddon, Owen, + Stroud, and Thomson; 198 + " Truth underlying the Doctrine of; 199 + " Pamphlet on, quoted; 198 + " _Nineteenth Century_ quoted on; 205 + +Augoeides; 27 + + +Barnabas; 71 + +Baptism, A Mantram in; 350 + " A Minor Form of; 349 + " Belief in Death-bed; 352 + " Infant; 353 + " In the Early Church; 352 + " In Other Religions; 348 + " of Initiate; 53 + " of Holy Ghost and Fire; 188 + " of Jesus; 133 + " of the Christ; 186 + " Tertullian on; 349 + +Beatific Vision, The; 95, 295 + +Bernard of Clairvaux; 112 + +Bel-fires; 164 + +_Bhagavad Gita_ referred to; 50, 202, 270, 306, 318 + +Bible Account of Creation; 179 + +Birth, Second; 247 + +Blavatsky, H. P., referred to; 127 + +Blood of Christ symbolised in Eucharist; 359 + +Boehme, Jacob; 115 + +Body, Causal; 239, 247 + " Desire, Changes in; 244 + " Meaning of a; 234 + " Mental; 236 + " " Building of; 245 + " Natural or Physical; 236 + " Natural, of St. Paul; 237 + " of Bliss; 240 + " of Desire; 236 + " Physical, Changes in; 243 + " Resurrection; 240 + +Body, Spiritual; 239 + +_Book of Job_, quoted; 268, 332 + " _of the Dead_, referred to; 339 + " _of Wisdom_, quoted; 266 + +Bread, General Symbol in Sacraments; 358 + +_Brihadaranyakopanishat_, quoted; 50, 202 + +Brotherhood of Great Teachers; 9 + +Bruno, Giordano, referred to; 5, 113, 115, 225, 322 + +Buddha, Birth Story of; 164 + +Buddhist Trinity; 258 + + +Calvinistic Doctrine; 197 + +Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa; 115 + +Cathari, The, referred to; 113 + +Cave of Initiation; 186 + +Celsus--Controversy with Origen; 88 + +_Chhandogyopanishat_, quoted; 253 + +Chrestos and Christos; 174 + +Christ as Hierophant of Mysteries; 231 + " Baptism of; 186 + " Crucifixion of; 183 + " Disciples of; 223 + " in the Spiritual Body; 137 + " Life of the; 217 + " of the Mysteries; 191 + " The; 132, 134 + " the Crucified; 182 + " the Historical; 120, 140 + " the Kosmic; 179 + " the Mystic; 170 + " the Mythic; 145 + " Sufferings of the; 223 + +_Christian Creed_, referred to; 180, 181 + " quoted; 206, 207, 229 + +Christian Disciples--their work; 223 + +_Christian Records_, quoted; 348 + +Christian Symbols, &c., not unique; 148 + +Christianity has the Gnosis; 36 + +Christmas Day; 159, 161 + +Christmas Festival, rightly regarded; 164 + +_Clarke's Ante-Nicene_ Library, quoted; viii., 21, 58, 71, 72, 73, 74, + 77, 78, 80 _et seq._, 87, 88, 90 _et seq._, 103, 150, 151, 266 + +Classes of Prayers; 283 + +Clement of Alexandria, quoted; viii., 20 + " " referred to; 73 + " " on the Gnosis; 83, 84 + " " on Scripture Allegories; 83 + " " on Symbols; 80 + " " and Catechetical School; 73 + " " a Pupil of Pantaenus; 73 + +_Colossians, Epistle to_, referred to; 58, 65, 81, 177 + +Comparative Mythologists; 7 + " " Theory of; 8 + " Religionists; 7, 8 + " Mythology; 147 + +Consecrated Objects; 382 + +Consecration of Churches, Cemeteries, &c.; 385 + +Constant, Alphonse Louis; 118 + +Conversion, Phenomenon of; 313 _et seq._ + +_Corinthians, Epistles to_, quoted; ix., x., 6, 32, 55, 64, 67, 124, + 175, 177, 232, 239, 240, 241, 251, 253, 270, 356, 373 + +Creed, taught after Baptism in Early Church; 352 + +_Cruden's Concordance_, quoted; 33 + +_Cur Deus Homo_ of Anselm; 195 + + +Dangers to Christianity; 125 + +Dark Powers in Nature; 186, 187 + +Dean Milman, quoted; 255 _et seq._ + +Death of Solar Heroes; 166 + +_De Principiis_ of Origen; 101, 102 + +_Deuteronomy_, quoted; 96, 253 + +_Diegesis_ of R. Taylor, quoted; 350 + +_Die Deutsche Theologie_; 114 + +Dionysius the Areopagite; 110 + +Disappearance of the Mysteries; 184 + +Disciples, The; 136 + " Work of the; 223 + " Writings of the; 140 + +Divine Beings, Appearance in Mysteries; 93 + +"Divine Grace," What it is; 224 + " Ideation; 359 + " Illumination; 377 + " Incarnations; 273, 274 + +Duality of Manifested Existence; 235 + " of Second Person of Trinity; 265 + + +Easter Festival; 159 + +Eckhart, Teachings of; 113 + +Edwards on the Atonement; 197 + +Egypt and the Mysteries; 131 + +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, referred to; 22, 23, 117 + " " quoted; 110 _et seq._ + +_Ephesians, Epistle to_, quoted; 57, 65, 67, 366 + +_Epistle of James_, quoted; 276 + " _of Peter_, quoted; 64, 121, 194, 354, 371 + +Esoteric Christianity, Popular Denial of; 2 + " Teaching in Early Church; 2 + +Essentials of Religion; 4 + +Eucharist, Bread and Wine of; 357 + " Change of Substance in; 361 + " connected with Law of Sacrifice; 357 + " Meaning and Use of; 357 + " Sacrifice of; 355 + " Unworthy Participants in; 362 + +_Exodus, Book of_, quoted; 91 + +Exstasy; 295 + + +Faith Needed for Forgiveness; 312 + +Fathers, The Christian, on Scriptures; 371 + +Festivals; 147 + +Fish Symbol in Religions; 166 + +Flavel on Atonement; 196 + +Fludd, Robert; 116 + +Forgiveness of Sins; 301 + " in Lesser Mysteries; 323 + " in most Religions; 303 + " ultimately refers to _Post-Mortem_ Penalties; 307 + +Fourth Manifestation Feminine; 261 + " Person; 263 + +Free-thinking in Christianity; 123 + +_Friends of God in the Oberland_; 114 + +Friends, Society of; 117 + +Future of Christianity; 41 + + +_Galatians, Epistle to_, quoted; 64, 65, 66, 124 + +_Genesis_, quoted; 18, 180, 268, 269, 271, 279, 358 + +Germain, Comte de S.; 117 + +Gestures in Sacraments; 338 + +Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of R. Empire_, quoted; 162 + +Giles, Rev. Dr., quoted; 347 + +Gnosis, The; viii., 9, 108 + " " in Christianity; 36 + +Gnostic, The, of S. Clement; 84 _et seq._ + +_Gnostics and their Remains_, quoted; 162 + +Gods in the Mysteries; 25 + +Grades of Hierarchies; 331 + +Grand Lodge of Central Asia; 31 + +Greek Cross, The; 267 + +Guyon, Mme. de; 116 + + +Haug, Dr., _Essay on Parsis_, cited; 202 + +_Hebrews, Epistle to_, quoted; 53, 67, 81, 91, 175, 176, 205, + 216, 222, 223, 247, 270, 274, 280 + +Hebrew Trinity; 254 + +Hell-fire Dogma, The; 48 + +_Heroic Enthusiasts, The_, quoted; 323 + +Hidden God, The; 207 + " Meanings in Jewish and Christian Scriptures; 100 + " Side of Christianity; 36 + " Teaching in all Religions; 20 + +Hierarchies of Divine Beings; 331 + " of Superhuman Beings; 23 + +Hindu, Trinity, The; 257 + +History _versus_ Myth; 153 + +Holy Spirit as Creator; 269 + +Holy Water; 343, 349, 351 + +Human Evolution repeats Kosmic Process; 271 + +Huxley, T. H., quoted; 282 + +Hyde, Dr., quoted; 347 + +_Hymn to Demeter_; 22 + + +Iamblichus, _On the Mysteries_, quoted; 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, + 296 _et seq._ + +Iamblichus, _Life of Pythagoras_, referred to; 28 + +Ignatius; 71 + +Incarnation of Logos; 179 + +Initiation and Rebirth; 51, 53 + " Cave of; 186 + " Ceremonies of; 247 _et seq._ + " Conditions of; 173 + " Mount of; 91 + +Inspiration, True; 378 + +Intelligences in Invisible Worlds; 279 + +Inviolability of Law; 305 + +Invisible Helpers; 280 + +Invisible Worlds interpenetrate the Visible; 279 + +Irenaeus, _Against Heresies_, referred to; 105 + +_Isaiah_, quoted; 210, 295, 366, 377 + +Isomeric Compounds; 361 + + +_Jeremiah, Book of_, quoted; 262, 357 + +Jesus at Mount Serbal; 130 + " Baptism of; 133 + " Date and Place of Birth; 130 + " His Work in Christendom; 143 + " in Egypt; 130 + " Inner Instructions of; 137 + " Master of the West; 147 + " Sacrifice of; 133 + " the Divine Teacher; 183 + " the Healer and Teacher; 127 + " training in Essene Community; 130 + " the Master; 142 + +_Judges, Book of_, quoted; 97 + +Juliana Mother; 117 + +Justin Martyr; 148 + " " quoted; 149 _et seq._ + + +_Kabbala_, Five Books of, referred to; 34 + +Karma; 288, 309 + +_Kathopanishat_, quoted; 32, 33, 49 + +_Key to Theosophy_, quoted; 294 + +Kingdom of Heaven--real meaning; 52 + +_Kings, Book of_, quoted; 33, 354 + +Kosmic Christ, The; 179 + " Process of becoming; 268 + " Sacrifice; 183 + + +Lang, Andrew, referred to; 11, 12 + +Language of Symbols; 153 + +Latin Cross, Origin of; 206 + " Use of, in Roman Church; 337 + +Law of Sacrifice; 201 + " " in Hinduism; 202 + " " in Nature of Logos; 204 + " " in Zoroastrianism; 202 + " " or Manifestation; 203 + +Law, William; 117 + +Left-hand Path; 17 + +Lent; 167 + +Levi Eliphas; 118 + +_Leviticus_, quoted; 358 + +_Light on the Path_, quoted; 220 + +"Little Child"; 65 + +Logos, Birth of the; 205 + " and Sacrifice; 204 + " Life of, in every form; 208 + " Meaning of the Term; 172 + " of Plato; 182 + " Perpetual Sacrifice of; 209 + +Loss of Mystic Teaching in Christianity; 37 + +_Luke, Gospel of_, quoted; 45, 48, 175, 176, 264, 289, 302, 312 + +Luther on the Atonement; 196 + + +Madonnas; 160 + +Magnetic Cures, Secret of; 342 + " Change in Sacramental Substance; 342 + " Energies in Ether; 341 + +Magnetisation of Substances; 341 + +_Making_ of _Religion_, The, referred to; 11 + +Man as Microcosm; 271 + " and Woman Complementary; 365 + " develops Second Aspect; 272 + +Man's Manifold Nature; 234 + +_Mandakopanishat_, quoted; 202 + +"Mantras"; 335 + " essential in Sacraments; 338 + " in rite of Baptism; 350 + " in Sanskrit; 336 + " spoilt by translation; 337 + +_Mark, Gospel of_, quoted; vii., 45, 47 + +Martin, St.; 117 + +Marriage, Deeper meaning of; 365 + " in Lesser Mysteries; 368 + " Mystery of; 366 + " Sacrament of; 364 + " type of union between God and Man; 366 + +Mary, the World Mother; 206 + +Master, Jesus, the; 142 + +_Matthew, Gospel of_, quoted; vii., 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 54, 92, 134, + 176, 177, 186, 210, 216, 240, 271, 274, 281, 306, 319 + +Maurice, cited; 254 + +Mead, G. R. S., quoted; 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 114 + +Mediator, Nature of; 274 + +Meditation--What it is; 293 + " Growth by; 299 + +Men at different levels; 3 + +Miguel de Molinos; 116 + +Ministry of Angels, The; 287, 289 + +Miracles; 145 + +Mithras, Birth of; 161 + +Modern Spirit antagonistic to Prayer; 276 + +More, Henry; 116 + +Mother Juliana of Norwich; 117 + +Mount Serbal; 130 + +Mount of Initiation; 91, 188 + +Mueller, George, Case of; 284 _et seq._ + +Music in Worship; 335, 337 + +Myers (F.), St. Paul; 378 + +Mystery Gods; 25 + " of Christ; 57 + +Mysteries, Christian, Symbolism of; 247 + +Mysteries and Yoga; 31 + " Christ as Hierophant of; 231 + " Disappearance of the; 184 + " Eliphas Levi on the; 118 + " established by Christ; 142 + " Greater, The; ix., 1, 22, 27, 63 + " in the Gospels; 45 + " in Egypt; 131 + " in relation to Myth; 157 + " Lesser; ix., 1, 22 + " " and Prayer; 280 + " " as to Bodies; 237 + " " Teaching of; 251 + " Names in Christianity; 47 + " of Bacchus; 21, 27 + " of Chaldaea, Egypt, Eleusis, Mithras, Orpheus, Samothrace, + Scythia; 21 + " of God; 57 + " of Jesus; 1, 42, 94 + " of the Early Church; 69 _et seq_. + " of Magic, quoted; 157 + " praised by Learned Greeks; 21 + " Pseudo, and Sun-God Story; 167 + " source of Mystic Learning; 108 + " The; 171, 178 + " taught, _Post-mortem_ Existence; 21 + " The True; 179 + " The Christ of the; 184 + " Theory of the; 22 + " withdrawn; 108 + +Mystic Christ, The; 170 + " " Twofold; 178 + " Vesture, The; 138 + +Mythic Christ, The; 145 + +Myth, Meaning of; 152, 153 + " Solar; 156 + +Mythology Comparative; 147 + + +Natural and Spiritual Bodies; 232 + " Body--of St. Paul; 237 + +Natural Body, The; 235 _et seq._ + +Need for Graded Religion; 14 + +Neoplatonists; 29, 112 + +Newman, Cardinal, quoted; 103 _et seq._ + " Recognises a Secret Tradition; 104 + +New Testament Proofs of Esotericism; 42 _et seq._ + +Nicene Creed; 181 + +Nicolas of Basel; 114 + +Noachian Deluge; 19 + +_Nous Demiurgos_ of Plato; 255 + +_Numbers, Book of_, quoted; 270 + + +Object of all Religions; 3 + +Occult Experts; 127 + " Knowledge, Danger of; 16 + " Records; 18 + " " and the Gospels; 129 + " side of Nature; 279 + " use of Sounds; 334 + +Old Testament Allegories; 121 + +One Existence, The; 253 + +One, The, Three aspects of; 262 + " " Manifest; 261 + +Origen _Against Celsus_; 88 _et seq._ + " " "; 95 + " on the Need of Wisdom; 99 + " " Mysteries; 89 + " " Scriptures; 372 + " " Tower of Babel; 97 + " referred to; 44 + " Shining Light of Learning; 87 + +_Orpheus_, Mead's, quoted; 28, 29, 30, 114 + +Owen on Atonement; 197 + + +Pantaenus; 73, 74 + +Paracelsus; 115 + +Paradise; 242 + +Path of Discipleship; 174 + +_Philippians, Epistle to_, quoted; 62 + +Physical Ailments final expression of Karma; 310 + +Physical Body, Changes in; 243 + " Material in Sacraments; 340 + +Pilgrimages, Rationale of; 382 + +_Pistis Sophia_, quoted; 46, 138, 139, 302 _et seq._, + 319 _et seq._, 340 + " " referred to; 137 + +Plato's Cave; 153 + +Plato initiated in Egypt; 21 + +Platonists of Cambridge; 116 + +Plotinus, Dying Words of; 31 + " referred to; 23 + " Mead's, quoted; 31 + +Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; 70 + +Popular Christianity, Mistake of; vii. + " Denial of Esoteric Christianity; 1 + +Porphyry, quoted; 27, 54 + +Prayer; 276 + " Answers to; 277 + " as Will; 285 + " Class B--general principle; 292 + " Failure of; 287 + " for Spiritual Enlightenment; 291 + " for the Student of Lesser Mysteries; 296 + " Highest form of; 293 + " Puzzling Facts as to; 277 + +Prayers classified; 278 + +Probationary Path, The; 247 + +"Proclaim upon the houses"--Mystical meaning; 79 + +Proclus, Teaching of; 26, 29, 51 + +Psalms, quoted; 5, 299 + +Pseudo-Mysteries and Sun-God Drama; 167 + +Pupils of the Apostles; 70 + +Purgatory; 242 + +Purification; 244 + +Pythagoras, referred to; 28 + " in India; 31 + +Pythagorean School, Discipline of; 29, 30 + + +Qualifications of Disciple; 175 + +Quietists, The; 116 + + +Regions of the Invisible Worlds; 239 + +Re-incarnation; 239 + +Religion, Need for graded; 14 + +_Religion of Ancient Persians_, quoted; 347 + +Religions, Common origin of; 7 + " Custodians of Sacred Books; 369 + " Essentials of; 4 + " fitted for Stages of Growth; 13 + " Object of all; 3 + " Source of all; 7 + +Religious Founders; 10 + " Scriptures; 10 + " Teachers; 9 + +Resurrection and Solar Myth; 231, 250 + " Body; 240 + " of the Christ; 249 + " of the Dead; 62 + " The--Part of Lesser Mysteries; 231 + +Revelation; 369 + " Fragments of in Sacred Books; 370 + " in Cypher; 370 + " of Deity in Kosmos; 375 + +_Revelations, Book of_, quoted; 50, 63, 66, 249, 263, + 292, 322, 331 + +Revolt against Dogma; 38 + +Roman Empire dying; 107 + +_Romans, Epistle to_, quoted; 82, 363 + +Rosenkreutz Christian; 117 + +Ruling Angel of Jews; 96, 98 + +Ruysbroeck; 115 + + +Sacrament, a kind of crucible; 326 + " a Pictorial Allegory; 325 + " Change in substance at; 343 + " link between Visible and Invisible; 326, 327 + " of Baptism; 347 + " of Eucharist; 347 + " of Marriage; 347, 364 + " of Penance; 340 + +Sacraments; 324 + " Angels connected with; 343 + " defined in Church Catechism; 329 + +Sacraments, Gestures used in; 338 + " in all Religions; 324 + " Lost at Reformation; 327 + " Mantrams in; 338 + " of Christian Church; 327 + " Peculiar Characteristics; 324 + " Seven, of Christianity; 327, 346 + " Signs, Seals, or Sigils in; 339 + " "Substance" and "Accidents" of; 361 + " Twofold Nature of; 324 _et seq._ + " Two, In Protestant Communities; 328, 346 + +Sacred Places and Objects; 380 + +Sacred Quaternery, The; 261 + +Sacrifice as Joy; 210 _et seq._ + " Law of; 201 + " " Four Stages in; 212 + " Lessons in; 212 _et seq._ + " of Jesus; 133 + +Saint Bonaventura; 112 + " Elizabeth; 113 + " Francois de Sales; 116 + " John of the Cross; 116 + " _John's Gospel_, quoted; x., 46, 52, 53, 54, 56, 103, 132, 133, + 134, 137, 177, 180, 216, 240, 246, 250, 262, 270, 273, 292, 382 + " Paul, quoted; 55 _et seq._, 124, 184 + " Paul an Initiate; 61 + " " and Mysteries; 57 + " " and Timothy; 59, 69 + " " on Allegory; 66 + " Peter, quoted; 194 + " Teresa; 116 + " Timothy, referred to; 59 + +_Samuel, Book of_, quoted; 33 + +Savage Deities; 11 + +Savages as Descendants of Civilisation; 12 + +Saviour, The True; 219 _et seq._ + +Sayings of Jesus; 53, 54, 301 + +Scientific Analysis of Vehicles; 237 + +Search for God, The; 5 + +Secret Teachings of Jesus; 90 + " Tradition recognised by Newman; 104 + +Second Birth; 185, 247 + +_Sepher Yetzirah_, quoted; 34 + +_Sharpe's Egyptian Mythology_, quoted; 259 + +_Shvetashvataropanishat_, quoted; 32 + +"Sign of Power"; 339 + +Society of Friends; 117 + +Solar Gods; 160 + " Myth, Root of; 178 + +Sopater, quoted; 21 + +Sophia--The Wisdom; 138 + +Soul--Dual; 233 + +Sound and Form in the Invisible Worlds; 333 + +Sound, Occult use of; 334 + +Source of Religions; 7 + +Spirit and Matter; 367 + +Spirit threefold; 233 + " manifested as triple Self; 330 + +Spiritual Body, Divisions of; 240 _et seq._ + +"Star of Initiation"; 186 + +"Strait Gate" term of Initiation; 49, 50, 174, 177 + +_Stromata_ or Miscellanies of S. Clement, quoted; 58, 74 _et seq._, + 78, 83, 84, 85, 87 + +Sufferings of the Christ; 223 + +Superintending Spirits; 98 + +Sun God Legend; 158 + " " Symbol of Logos; 171 + " Heroes; 165 + " Myths, recurring; 169 + " of Righteousness; 249 + " Symbol of the Logos; 154 + " Symbols; 155 + +Survival of Christianity?; 40 + +Symbol of Jesus; 165 + " of Trinity; 267 + +Symbols--animal, in Zodiac; 165 + " Language of; 153 + +Symbols of Logoi; 266 _et seq._ + + +Tatian and Theodotus, referred to; 73 + +Tauler, John; 114 + +Taylor, Robert, quoted; 350 + +Teachings common to all Religions; 146 + " in the hands of Spiritual Brotherhood; 374 + +Tertullian on Baptism; 151 + +The Christ; 132, 134 + +The Hidden Side of Religions; 1 + " of Christianity; 36 + +The Disciples; 136 + +The "Simple Gospel"; 39 + +The title of Lord; 96 + +The Testimony of the Scriptures; 36 + +The Tower of Babel; 97 + +The Thyrsus; 75 + +The True Exstasis; 108 + +The Trinity; 253 + " among the Hebrews; 254 + " Hindu; 257 + " in Buddhism; 258 + " in Chaldaea; 259 + " in China; 259 + " in Extinct Religions; 258 + " in Egypt; 259 + " in Man; 177, 233 + " in Manifestation; 254 + " in Zoroastrianism; 257 + +The Word of Wisdom, of Knowledge; 102 + +Theological Hell; 308 + +_Theosophical Review_, quoted; 228 + +_Thessalonians, Epistle to_, quoted; 233 + +Three Worlds, The; 241 + +_Timothy, Epistle to_, quoted; 59, 60, 61, 65, 134, 227 + +Tradition of _Post-mortem_ Teaching of Jesus; 46 + +Transubstantiation--Truth Underlying; 360 + +Triangle as a Symbol of Trinity; 267 + +Trinity, A Second; 263 + " of Spirit; 233 + +Trinity in Christian agrees with other Faiths; 260 + +Triple Aspect of Matter; 264 + +Triplicity in Nature; 261 + +True Theosophy defined; x. + +Two Schools of Christian Interpretation; 122 + +Two-fold Division of Man Insufficient; 232 + + +Vaivasvata Manu; 19 + +Valentinus; 137 + +Vaughan, Thomas; 116 + +Vehicles of Consciousness, Need for Different; 238 + +Vibrations; 334 + +Vibratory Effects of Mass; 338 + +Virgin Matter; 264 + " " and Third Person of Trinity; 265 + " " and Second " " ; 265 + " Mother; 264 + +Virgin's Womb, Meaning of; 180 + +Virgo, Zodiacal Sign of; 158, 160 + +Virtues in the Mysteries; 27 + +_Voice of the Silence_, quoted; 249 + +_Voice Figures_--Mrs. Watts Hughes, referred to; 333 + + +Williamson's _Great Law_, quoted; 161, 163 _et seq._, + 166, 167, 203, 255, 259, 348, 358. + +Will as Prayer; 285 + +Words of Power; 335 + +Work of the Holy Spirit; 179, 268 + " Second Person; 179, 269 + " First Person; 270 + +Working of Logos in Matter; 182 + +Workers in Kosmos; 283 + " the Invisible Worlds; 152, 280 + +World Bibles, fragments of Revelation; 374 + +World Soul, The; 23 + +World Symbols; 266 + +Writings of the Disciples; 140 + + +_Zechariah_, quoted; 268 + +Zodiac, The; 160 + + + * * * * * + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] S. Mark xvi. 15. + +[2] S. Matt vii. 6. + +[3] Clarke's Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. IV. Clement of +Alexandria. _Stromata_, bk. I., ch. xii. + +[4] I. Cor. iii. 16. + +[5] _Ibid._, ii. 14, 16. + +[6] S. John, i. 9. + +[7] Psalms, xlii. 1. + +[8] 1 Cor. xv. 28. + +[9] Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XII. Clement of Alexandria. _Stromata_, +bk. V., ch. xi. + +[10] See Article on "Mysteries," _Encyc. Britannica_ ninth edition. + +[11] Psellus, quoted in _Iamblichus on the Mysteries_. T. Taylor, p. +343, note on p. 23, second edition. + +[12] _Iamblichus_, as _ante_, p. 301. + +[13] _Ibid._, p. 72. + +[14] The article on "Mysticism" in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ has +the following on the teaching of Plotinus (204-206 A.D.): "The One +[the Supreme God spoken of above] is exalted above the _nous_ and the +'ideas'; it transcends existence altogether and is not cognisable by +reason. Remaining itself in repose, it rays out, as it were, from its +own fulness, an image of itself, which is called _nous_, and which +constitutes the system of ideas of the intelligible world. The soul is +in turn the image or product of the _nous_, and the soul by its motion +begets corporeal matter. The soul thus faces two ways--towards the +_nous_, from which it springs, and towards the material life, which is +its own product. Ethical endeavour consists in the repudiation of the +sensible; material existence is itself estrangement from God.... To +reach the ultimate goal, thought itself must be left behind; for +thought is a form of motion, and the desire of the soul is for the +motionless rest which belongs to the One. The union with transcendent +deity is not so much knowledge or vision as ecstasy, coalescence, +_contact_." Neo-Platonism is thus "first of all a system of complete +rationalism; it is assumed, in other words, that reason is capable of +mapping out the whole system of things. But, inasmuch as a God is +affirmed beyond reason, the mysticism becomes in a sense the necessary +complement of the would-be all-embracing rationalism. The system +culminates in a mystical act." + +[15] _Iamblichus_, as _ante_, p. 73. + +[16] _Ibid_, pp. 55, 56. + +[17] _Ibid_, pp. 118, 119. + +[18] _Ibid_, p. 118, 119. + +[19] _Ibid_, pp. 95, 100. + +[20] _Ibid_, p. 101. + +[21] _Ibid_, p. 330. + +[22] G. R. S. Mead. _Plotinus_, p. 42. + +[23] _Iamblichus_, p. 364, note on p. 134. + +[24] G. R. S. Mead. _Orpheus_, pp. 285, 286. + +[25] _Iamblichus_, p. 364, note on p. 134. + +[26] _Iamblichus_, p. 285, _et seq._ + +[27] G. R. S. Mead. _Orpheus_, p. 59. + +[28] _Ibid_, p. 30. + +[29] _Ibid_, pp. 263, 271. + +[30] G. R. S. Mead. _Plotinus_, p. 20. + +[31] _Shvetashvataropanishat_, vi., 22. + +[32] _Kathopanishat_, iii., 14. + +[33] I. Cor. xiii. 1. + +[34] _Kathopanishat_, vi. 17. + +[35] _Mundakopanishat_, II., ii. 9. + +[36] _Ibid_., III., i. 3. + +[37] I Sam. xix. 20. + +[38] II. Kings ii. 2, 5. + +[39] Under "School." + +[40] Dr. Wynn Westcott. _Sepher Yetzirah_, p. 9. + +[41] S. Mark iv. 10, 11, 33, 34. See also S. Matt. xiii. 11, 34, 36, +and S. Luke viii. 10. + +[42] S. John xvi. 12. + +[43] Acts i. 3. + +[44] _Loc. cit._ Trans. by G. R. S. Mead. I. i. 1. + +[45] S. Matt. vii. 6. + +[46] As to the Greek woman: "It is not meet to take the children's +bread, and to cast it unto the dogs."--S. Mark vii. 27. + +[47] S. Luke xiii. 23, 24. + +[48] S. Matt. vii. 13, 14. + +[49] _Kathopanishat_ II. iv. 10, 11. + +[50] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_. IV. iv. 7. + +[51] Rev. vii. 9. + +[52] _Bahgavad Gita_, vii. 3. + +[53] _Ante_, p. 26. + +[54] It must be remembered that the Jews believed that all imperfect +souls returned to live again on earth. + +[55] S. Matt. xix. 16-26. + +[56] S. John xvii. 3. + +[57] Heb. ix. 23. + +[58] S. John. iii. 3, 5. + +[59] S. Matt. iii. 11. + +[60] _Ibid._ xviii. 3. + +[61] S. John iii. 10. + +[62] S. Matt. v. 48. + +[63] _Ante_, p.24 + +[64] Note how this chimes in with the promise of Jesus in S. John xvi. +12-14: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear +them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide +you into all truth.... He will show you things to come.... He shall +receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." + +[65] Another technical name in the Mysteries. + +[66] Eph. iii. 3, 4, 9. + +[67] Col i. 23, 25-28. But S. Clement, in his _Stromata_, translates +"every man," as "the whole man." See Bk. V., ch. x. + +[68] Col. iv. 3. + +[69] Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. XII. Clement of Alexandria. _Stromata_, +bk. V. ch. x. Some additional sayings of the Apostles will be found in +the quotations from Clement, showing what meaning they bore in the +minds of those who succeeded the apostles, and were living in the same +atmosphere of thought. + +[70] I. Tim. iii. 9, 16. + +[71] I. Tim. i. 18. + +[72] _Ibid._, iv. 14. + +[73] _Ibid._, vi. 13. + +[74] _Ibid._, 20. + +[75] II. Tim. i. 13, 14. + +[76] _Ibid._, ii. 2. + +[77] Phil. iii. 8, 10-12, 14, 15. + +[78] Rev. i. 18. "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am +alive for evermore. Amen." + +[79] II. Cor. v. 16. + +[80] Gal. iii. 27. + +[81] Gal. iv. 19. + +[82] I. Cor. iv. 15. + +[83] I. S. Pet. iii. 4. + +[84] Eph. iv. 13. + +[85] Col. i. 24. + +[86] II. Cor. iv. 10. + +[87] Gal. ii. 20. + +[88] II. Tim. iv. 6, 8. + +[89] Rev. iii. 12. + +[90] Gal. iv. 22-31. + +[91] I Cor. x. 1-4. + +[92] Eph. v. 23-32. + +[93] Vol. I. _The Martyrdom of Ignatius_, ch. iii. The translations +used are those of Clarke's Ante-Nicene Library, a most useful +compendium of Christian antiquity. The number of the volume which +stands first in the references is the number of the volume in that +Series. + +[94] _Ibid. The Epistle of Polycarp_, ch. xii. + +[95] _Ibid. The Epistle of Barnabas_, ch. i. + +[96] _Ibid._ ch. x. + +[97] _Ibid. The Martyrdom of Ignatius,_ ch. i. + +[98] _Ibid. Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians_, ch. iii. + +[99] _Ibid._ ch. xii. + +[100] _Ibid. to the Trallians_, ch. v. + +[101] _Ibid. to the Philadelphians_, ch. ix. + +[102] Vol. IV. Clement of Alexandria _Stromata_, bk. I. ch. i. + +[103] Vol. IV. _Stromata_, bk. I. ch. xxviii. + +[104] It appears that even in those days there were some who objected +to any truth being taught secretly! + +[105] _Ibid._ bk. I, ch. i. + +[106] _Ibid._ bk. V., ch. iv. + +[107] _Ibid._ ch. v.-viii. + +[108] _Ibid._ ch. ix. + +[109] _Ibid._ bk. V., ch. x. + +[110] Loc. Cit. xv. 29. + +[111] _Ibid._ xvi. 25, 26; the version quoted differs in words, but +not in meaning, from the English Authorised Version. + +[112] _Stromata_, bk. V., ch. x. + +[113] _Ibid._ bk. VI., ch. vii. + +[114] _Ibid._ bk. VII., ch. xiv. + +[115] _Ibid._ bk. VI., ch. xv. + +[116] _Ibid._ bk. VI. x. + +[117] _Ibid._ bk. VI. vii. + +[118] _Ibid._ bk. I. ch. vi. + +[119] _Ibid._ ch. ix. + +[120] _Ibid._ bk. VI. ch. x. + +[121] _Ibid._ bk. I. ch. xiii. + +[122] Vol XII. _Stromata_, bk. V. ch. iv. + +[123] _Ibid._ bk. VI. ch. xv. + +[124] Book I. of _Against Celsus_ is found in Vol. X. of the +Ante-Nicene Library. The remaining books are in Vol. XXIII. + +[125] Vol. X. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. I. ch. vii. + +[126] _Ibid._ + +[127] Ex. xxv. 40, xxvi. 30, and compare with Heb. viii. 5, and ix. +25. + +[128] _Origen against Celsus_, bk. IV. ch. xvi. + +[129] _Ibid._ bk. III. ch. lix. + +[130] _Ibid._ ch. lxi. + +[131] _Ibid._ ch. lxii. + +[132] _Ibid._, ch. lx. + +[133] Vol. XXIII. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. V. ch. xxv. + +[134] _Ibid._ ch. xxviii. + +[135] _Ibid._ ch. xxix. + +[136] _Ibid._ ch. xx xi. + +[137] _Ibid._ ch. xxxii. + +[138] _Ibid._ ch. xlv. + +[139] _Ibid._ ch. xlvi. + +[140] _Ibid._ chs. xlvii.-liv. + +[141] _Ibid._ ch. lxxiv. + +[142] _Ibid._ bk. IV., ch. xxxix. + +[143] Vol. X. _Origen against Celsus_, bk. I., ch. xvii, and others. + +[144] _Ibid._ ch. xlii. + +[145] Vol. X. _De Principiis_, Preface, p. 8. + +[146] _Ibid._ ch. i. + +[147] S. John xiv. 18-20. + +[148] _Loc. cit._ ch. i. sec. III. p. 55. + +[149] _Ibid._ ch. I. Sec. III. pp. 55, 56. + +[150] _Ibid._ pp. 54, 55. + +[151] "Seems to have been" is a somewhat weak expression, after what +is said by Clement and Origen, of which some specimens are given in +the text. + +[152] _Ibid._, p. 62. + +[153] Article on "Mysticism."--_Encyc. Britan._ + +[154] Article "Mysticism." _Encyclopaedia Britannica._ + +[155] _Orpheus_, pp. 53, 54. + +[156] Obligation must be here acknowledged to the Article "Mysticism," +in the _Encyc. Brit._, though that publication is by no means +responsible for the opinions expressed. + +[157] _The Mysteries of Magic._ Trans. by A. E. Waite, pp. 58 and 60. + +[158] II. S. Peter i. 5. + +[159] Gal. iv. 19. + +[160] II. Cor. v. 16. + +[161] S. John i. 14. + +[162] S. John i. 32. + +[163] S. Matt. iii. 17. + +[164] _Ibid._ iv. 17. + +[165] I. Tim. iii. 16. + +[166] S. John x. 34-36. + +[167] S. John xiv. 18, 19. + +[168] Valentinus. Trans. by G. R. S. Mead. _Pistis Sophia_, bk. i., I. + +[169] _Ante_, p. 72. + +[170] _Ibid._ 60. + +[171] _Ibid._ bk. ii., 218. + +[172] _Ibid._ 230. + +[173] _Ibid._ 357. + +[174] _Ibid._ 377. + +[175] Vol. II. Justin Martyr. _First Apology_, ch. liv., lxii., and +lxvi. + +[176] Vol. II. Justin Martyr. _Second Apology_, ch. xiii. + +[177] Vol. VII. Tertullian, _On Baptism_, ch. v. + +[178] The student might read Plato's account of the "Cave" and its +inhabitants, remembering that Plato was an Initiate. _Republic_, Bk. +vii. + +[179] Eliphas Levi _The Mysteries of Magic_, p. 48. + +[180] Bonwick. _Egyptian Belief_, p. 157. Quoted in Williamson's +_Great Law_, p. 26. + +[181] The festival "Natalis Solis Invicti," the birthday of the +Invincible Sun. + +[182] Williamson. _The Great Law_, pp. 40-42. Those who wish to study +this matter as one of Comparative Religion cannot do better than read +_The Great Law_, whose author is a profoundly religious man and a +Christian. + +[183] _Ibid._ pp. 36, 37. + +[184] _The Great Law_, p. 116. + +[185] _Ibid._ p. 58. + +[186] _Ibid._ p. 56. + +[187] _Ibid._ pp. 120-123. + +[188] See on this the opening of the Johannine Gospel, i. 1-5. The +name Logos, ascribed to the manifested God, shaping matter--"all +things were made by Him"--is Platonic, and is hence directly derived +from the Mysteries; ages before Plato, Vak, Voice, derived from the +same source, was used among Hindus. + +[189] See _Ante_, pp. 124. + +[190] See _Ante_, pp. 93-94. + +[191] See _Ante_, p. 85. + +[192] II. Cor. iv. 18. + +[193] II. Cor. v. 7. + +[194] Heb. v. 14. + +[195] S. Luke xv. 16. + +[196] _Ibid._ xiv. 26. + +[197] S. Matt. v. 28. + +[198] Heb. xi. 27. + +[199] S. Matt v. 45. + +[200] S. Luke ix. 49, 50. + +[201] S. Matt xvii. 20. + +[202] II. Cor. vi. 8-10. + +[203] Col. iii. 1. + +[204] S. Matt. v. 8, and S. John xvii. 21. + +[205] Gen. i. 2. + +[206] S. John i. 3. + +[207] _The Christian Creed_, p. 29. This is a most valuable and +fascinating little book, on the mystical meaning of the creeds. + +[208] _Ibid._ p. 42. + +[209] A name of the Holy Ghost. + +[210] _Ibid._ p. 43. + +[211] _Ante_, p. 124. + +[212] S. Matt. xviii. 3. + +[213] 2 S. Peter iii. 15, 16. + +[214] A. Besant. _Essay on the Atonement._ + +[215] _Ibid._ + +[216] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_, I. i. 1. + +[217] _Bhagavad Gita_, iii. 10. + +[218] _Brihadaranyakopanishat_, I. ii. 7. + +[219] _Mundakopanishat_, II. ii. 10. + +[220] Haug. _Essays on the Parsis_, pp. 12-14. + +[221] Rev. xiii. 8. + +[222] W. Williamson. _The Great Law_, p. 406. + +[223] A. Besant. _Nineteenth Century_, June, 1895, "The Atonement." + +[224] Heb. i. 5. + +[225] _Ibid._, 2. + +[226] C.W. Leadbeater. _The Christian Creed_, pp. 54-56. + +[227] _Ibid._ pp. 56, 57. + +[228] S. Matt. xxv. 21, 23, 31-45. + +[229] Is. liii. 11. + +[230] S. Matt. xvi. 25. + +[231] S. John xii. 25. + +[232] Heb. vii. 16. + +[233] _Light on the Path_, ch. 8. + +[234] Heb. vii. 25. + +[235] Heb. v. 8, 9. + +[236] I Tim. iii. 16. + +[237] Annie Besant. _Theosophical Review_, Dec., 1898, pp. 344, 345. + +[238] C. W. Leadbeater. _The Christian Creed_, pp. 61, 62. + +[239] I Cor. xv. 44. + +[240] I Thess. v. 23. + +[241] See Chapter IX., "The Trinity." + +[242] See _Ante_, pp. 84, 99, 100. + +[243] 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. + +[244] S. Matt. v. 48. + +[245] S. John xvii. 22, 23. + +[246] 2 Cor. v. 1. + +[247] 1 Cor. xv. 28. + +[248] This mistranslation was a very natural one, as the translation +was made in the seventeenth century, and all idea of the pre-existence +of the soul and of its evolution had long faded out of Christendom, +save in the teachings of a few sects regarded as heretical and +persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. + +[249] S. John iii. 13. + +[250] Heb. v. 9. + +[251] Rev. i. 18. + +[252] H. P. Blavatsky. _The Voice of the Silence_, p. 90, 5th Edition. + +[253] S. John. xvii. 5. + +[254] 1 Cor. xv. 20. + +[255] _Chhandogyopanishat_, VI. ii., 1. + +[256] Deut. vi. 4. + +[257] 1 Cor. viii. 6. + +[258] An error: En, or Ain, Soph is not one of the Trinity, but the +One Existence, manifested in the Three; nor is Kadmon, or Adam Kadmon, +one Sephira, but their totality. + +[259] Quoted in Williamson's _The Great Law_, pp. 201, 202. + +[260] H. H. Milman. _The History of Christianity_, 1867, pp. 70-72. + +[261] _Asiatic Researches_, i. 285. + +[262] S. Sharpe. _Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christology_, p. 14. + +[263] See Williamson's _The Great Law_, p. 196. + +[264] _Loc. Cit._, pp. 208, 209. + +[265] S. John i. 3. + +[266] Jer. li. 15. + +[267] See _Ante_, pp. 179-180. + +[268] Athanasian Creed. + +[269] Rev. iv. 8. + +[270] S. Luke. i. 38. + +[271] _Ibid_, 35. + +[272] Book of Wisdom, viii. 1. + +[273] Vol. IV. Ante-Nicene Library. S. Clement of Alexandria. +_Stromata_, bk. V., ch. ii. + +[274] See _Ante_, p. 262. + +[275] See _Ante_, p. 207. + +[276] Gen. i. 1. + +[277] Job xxxviii. 4; Zech. xii. 1; &c. + +[278] Gen. i. 2. + +[279] Gen. i. 2. + +[280] See _Ante_, p. 262. + +[281] See _Ante_, p. 262. + +[282] S. John i. 3. + +[283] _Bhagavad Gita_ ix. 4. + +[284] 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28. + +[285] S. John xiv. 6. See also the further meaning of this text on p. +272. + +[286] Heb. xii. 9. + +[287] Numb. xvi. 22. + +[288] Gen. i. 26. + +[289] S. Matt. v. 48. + +[290] S. John xvii. 5. + +[291] S. John v. 26. + +[292] S. Matt. i. 22. + +[293] Heb. ii. 18. + +[294] Much of this chapter has already appeared in an earlier work by +the author, entitled, _Some Problems of Life_. + +[295] S. James i. 17. + +[296] Gen. xxviii. 12, 13. + +[297] See Chapter xii. + +[298] Heb. i. 14. + +[299] S. Matt. x. 29. + +[300] Acts xvii. 28. + +[301] T. H. Huxley. _Essays on some Controverted Questions_, p. 36. + +[302] S. Luke xxii. 41, 43. + +[303] S. John i. 11. + +[304] Rev. iii. 20. + +[305] H. P. Blavatsky. _Key to Theosophy_, p. 10. + +[306] Is. xxxiii. 17. + +[307] _On the Mysteries_, sec. v. ch. 26. + +[308] Ps. xl. 7, 8, Prayer Book version. + +[309] S. Luke, v. 18-26. + +[310] _Ibid._ vii. 47. + +[311] G. R. S. Mead, translated. _Loc. cit._, bk. ii., chapters 260, 261. + +[312] _Ibid._ chapters 299, 300. + +[313] S. Matt. xii. 36. + +[314] _Ibid._ ix. 2. + +[315] _Loc. cit._ iii. 9. + +[316] _Ibid._ vi. 43. + +[317] _Ibid._ ix. 30. + +[318] See _ante_, Chap. VIII. + +[319] This is the cause of the sweetness and patience often noticed in +the sick who are of very pure nature. They have learned the lesson of +suffering, and they do not make fresh evil karma by impatience under +the result of past bad karma, then exhausting itself. + +[320] S. Luke, vii. 48, 50. + +[321] _Loc. cit._, ix. 31. + +[322] S. Matt. vii. 1. + +[323] _Loc. cit._, bk. ii. ch. 305. + +[324] Rev. iii. 20. + +[325] G. Bruno, trans. by L. Williams. _The Heroic Enthusiasts_, vol. +i., p. 133. + +[326] _Ibid._, vol. ii., pp. 27, 28. + +[327] _Ibid._, pp. 102, 103. + +[328] Rev. iv. 5. + +[329] The phrase "force and matter" is used as it is so well-known in +science. But force is one of the properties of matter, the one +mentioned as Motion. See _Ante_, p. 264. + +[330] Job xxxviii. 7. + +[331] See on forms created by musical notes any scientific book on +Sound, and also Mrs. Watts-Hughes' illustrated book on _Voice +Figures_. + +[332] See _ante_, p. 138 and p. 302. + +[333] In the Sacrament of Penance the ashes are now usually omitted, +except on special occasions, but none the less they form part of the +rite. + +[334] See _ante_ p. 329. + +[335] _Christian Records_, p. 129. + +[336] _The Great Law_, pp. 161-166. + +[337] See _ante_, p. 151. + +[338] _Diegesis_, p. 219. + +[339] 1 Pet. iii. 4. + +[340] 2 Kings vi. 17. + +[341] 1 Cor. x. 16. + +[342] Jer. xliv. + +[343] Gen. xiv. 18, 19. + +[344] _The Great Law_, pp. 177-181, 185. + +[345] Lev. xvii. 11. + +[346] Rom. xii. 1. + +[347] Isaiah liv. 5; lxii. 5. + +[348] Eph. v. 23-32. + +[349] Athanasian Creed. + +[350] 2 Pet. i. 20. + +[351] 1 See _ante_, p. 102. + +[352] 2 Cor. iii. 6. + +[353] 1 Cor. ii. 11, 13. + +[354] Is. vi. 6, 7. + +[355] S. John v. 4. + + + * * * * * + +WILLIAM BYLES & SONS, PRINTERS, BRADFORD. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser +Mysteries, by Annie Besant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY *** + +***** This file should be named 26938.txt or 26938.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/3/26938/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Erica Hills, Henry Craig, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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