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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.
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