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{{Page|97|JUSTIN MARTYR’S CONFESSION ABOUT THEURGIC AMULETS.}} | {{Page|97|JUSTIN MARTYR’S CONFESSION ABOUT THEURGIC AMULETS.}} | ||
modify some of their erroneously-established theories of science. “Nothing but such pitiable prejudice,” says Gross, “can have thus misrepresented the theology of heathenism, and distorted—nay, caricatured—its forms of religious worship. It is time that posterity should raise its voice in vindication of violated truth, and that the present age should learn a little of that common sense of which it boasts with as much self-complacency as if the prerogative of reason was the birthright only of modern times.” | {{Style P-No indent|modify some of their erroneously-established theories of science. “Nothing but such pitiable prejudice,” says Gross, “can have thus misrepresented the theology of heathenism, and distorted—nay, caricatured—its forms of religious worship. It is time that posterity should raise its voice in vindication of violated truth, and that the present age should learn a little of that common sense of which it boasts with as much self-complacency as if the prerogative of reason was the birthright only of modern times.”}} | ||
All this gives a sure clew to the real cause of the hatred felt by the early and mediæval Christian toward his Pagan brother and dangerous rival. We hate but what we fear. The Christian thaumaturgist once having broken all association with the Mysteries of the temples and with “these schools so renowned for magic,” described by St. Hilarion, | All this gives a sure clew to the real cause of the hatred felt by the early and mediæval Christian toward his Pagan brother and dangerous rival. We hate but what we fear. The Christian thaumaturgist once having broken all association with the Mysteries of the temples and with “these schools so renowned for magic,” described by St. Hilarion,{{Footnote mark|*|fn1069}} could certainly expect but little to rival the Pagan wonder-workers. No apostle, with the exception perhaps of healing by mesmeric power, has ever equalled Apollonius of Tyana; and the scandal created among the apostles by the miracle-doing Simon Magus, is too notorious to be repeated here again. “How is it,” asks Justin Martyr, in evident dismay, “how is it that the talismans of Apollonius (the τελεσματα) have power in certain members of creation, for they prevent, {{Style S-Italic|as we see,}} the fury of the waves, and the violence of the winds, and the attacks of wild beasts; and whilst our Lord’s miracles are preserved by tradition alone, those of Apollonius {{Style S-Italic|are most numerous,}} and actually manifested in present facts, so as to lead astray all beholders?”{{Footnote mark|†|fn1070}} This perplexed martyr solves the problem by attributing very correctly the efficacy and potency of the charms used by Apollonius to his profound knowledge of the sympathies and antipathies (or repugnances) of nature. | ||
Unable to deny the evident superiority of their enemies’ powers, the fathers had recourse to the old but ever successful method—that of slander. They honored the theurgists with the same insinuating calumny that had been resorted to by the Pharisees against Jesus. “Thou hast a dæmon,” the elders of the Jewish Synagogue had said to him. “Thou hast the Devil,” repeated the cunning fathers, with equal truth, addressing the Pagan thaumaturgist; and the widely-bruited charge, erected later into an article of faith, won the day. | Unable to deny the evident superiority of their enemies’ powers, the fathers had recourse to the old but ever successful method—that of slander. They honored the theurgists with the same insinuating calumny that had been resorted to by the Pharisees against Jesus. “Thou hast a dæmon,” the elders of the Jewish Synagogue had said to him. “Thou hast the Devil,” repeated the cunning fathers, with equal truth, addressing the Pagan thaumaturgist; and the widely-bruited charge, erected later into an article of faith, won the day. | ||
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But the modern heirs of these ecclesiastical falsifiers, who charge magic, spiritualism, and even magnetism with being produced by a demon, forget or perhaps never read the classics. None of our bigots has ever looked with more scorn on the {{Style S-Italic|abuses}} of magic than did the true initiate | But the modern heirs of these ecclesiastical falsifiers, who charge magic, spiritualism, and even magnetism with being produced by a demon, forget or perhaps never read the classics. None of our bigots has ever looked with more scorn on the {{Style S-Italic|abuses}} of magic than did the true initiate | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1069}} “Peres du Desert d’Orient,” vol. ii., p. 283. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1070}} Justin Martyr: “Quæst.,” xxiv. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
98 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|98|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
of old. No modern or even mediæval law could be more severe than that of the hierophant. True, he had more discrimination, charity, and justice, than the Christian clergy; for while banishing the “unconscious” sorcerer, the person troubled with a demon, from within the sacred precincts of the adyta, the priests, instead of mercilessly burning him, took care of the unfortunate “possessed one.” Having hospitals expressly for that purpose in the neighborhood of temples, the ancient “medium,” if obsessed, was taken care of and restored to health. But with one who had, by conscious {{Style S-Italic|witchcraft,}} acquired powers dangerous to his fellow-creatures, the priests of old were as severe as justice herself. “Any person {{Style S-Italic|accidentally}} guilty of homicide, or of any crime, or convicted of {{Style S-Italic|witchcraft,}} was excluded from the Eleusinian Mysteries.” | {{Style P-No indent|of old. No modern or even mediæval law could be more severe than that of the hierophant. True, he had more discrimination, charity, and justice, than the Christian clergy; for while banishing the “unconscious” sorcerer, the person troubled with a demon, from within the sacred precincts of the adyta, the priests, instead of mercilessly burning him, took care of the unfortunate “possessed one.” Having hospitals expressly for that purpose in the neighborhood of temples, the ancient “medium,” if obsessed, was taken care of and restored to health. But with one who had, by conscious {{Style S-Italic|witchcraft,}} acquired powers dangerous to his fellow-creatures, the priests of old were as severe as justice herself. “Any person {{Style S-Italic|accidentally}} guilty of homicide, or of any crime, or convicted of {{Style S-Italic|witchcraft,}} was excluded from the Eleusinian Mysteries.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1071}} And so were they from all others. This law, mentioned by all writers on the ancient initiation, speaks for itself. The claim of Augustine, that all the explanations given by the Neo-platonists were invented by themselves is absurd. For nearly every ceremony in their true and successive order is given by Plato himself, in a more or less covered way. The Mysteries are as old as the world, and one well versed in the esoteric mythologies of various nations can trace them back to the days of the ante-Vedic period in India. A condition of the strictest virtue and purity is required from the {{Style S-Italic|Vatou,}} or candidate in India before he can become an initiate, whether he aims to be a simple fakir, a {{Style S-Italic|Purohita}} (public priest) or a {{Style S-Italic|Sannyâsi,}} a saint of the second degree of initiation, the most holy as the most revered of them all. After having conquered, in the terrible trials preliminary to admittance to the inner temple in the subterranean crypts of his pagoda, the sannyâsi passes the rest of his life in the temple, practicing the eighty-four rules and ten virtues prescribed to the Yogis.}} | ||
“No one who has not practiced, during his whole life, the ten virtues which the divine Manu makes incumbent as a duty, can be initiated into the Mysteries of the council,” say the Hindu books of initiation. | “No one who has not practiced, during his whole life, the ten virtues which the divine Manu makes incumbent as a duty, can be initiated into the Mysteries of the council,” say the Hindu books of initiation. | ||
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And now we will try to give a clear insight into one of the chief ob- | And now we will try to give a clear insight into one of the chief ob- | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1071}} See Taylor’s “Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries;” Porphyry and others. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
99 THE WHISPERED SECRETS OF INITIATION. | {{Page|99|THE WHISPERED SECRETS OF INITIATION.}} | ||
jects of this work. What we desire to prove is, that underlying every ancient popular religion was the same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and identical, professed and practiced by the initiates of every country, who alone were aware of its existence and importance. To ascertain its origin, and the precise age in which it was matured, is now beyond human possibility. A single glance, however, is enough to assure one that it could not have attained the marvellous perfection in which we find it pictured to us in the relics of the various esoteric systems, except after a succession of ages. A philosophy so profound, a moral code so ennobling, and practical results so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is not the growth of a generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been piled upon fact, deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science, and myriads of the brightest human intellects have reflected upon the laws of nature, before this ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. The proofs of this identity of fundamental doctrine in the old religions are found in the prevalence of a system of initiation; in the secret sacerdotal castes who had the guardianship of mystical words of power, and a public display of a phenomenal control over natural forces, indicating association with preterhuman beings. Every approach to the Mysteries of all these nations was guarded with the same jealous care, and in all, the penalty of death was inflicted upon initiates of any degree who divulged the secrets entrusted to them. We have seen that such was the case in the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, among the Chaldean Magi, and the Egyptian hierophants; while with the Hindus, from whom they were all derived, the same rule has prevailed from time immemorial. We are left in no doubt upon this point; for the {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai}} says explicitly, “Every initiate, to whatever degree he may belong, who reveals the great sacred formula, must be put to death.” | {{Style P-No indent|jects of this work. What we desire to prove is, that underlying every ancient popular religion was the same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and identical, professed and practiced by the initiates of every country, who alone were aware of its existence and importance. To ascertain its origin, and the precise age in which it was matured, is now beyond human possibility. A single glance, however, is enough to assure one that it could not have attained the marvellous perfection in which we find it pictured to us in the relics of the various esoteric systems, except after a succession of ages. A philosophy so profound, a moral code so ennobling, and practical results so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is not the growth of a generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been piled upon fact, deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science, and myriads of the brightest human intellects have reflected upon the laws of nature, before this ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. The proofs of this identity of fundamental doctrine in the old religions are found in the prevalence of a system of initiation; in the secret sacerdotal castes who had the guardianship of mystical words of power, and a public display of a phenomenal control over natural forces, indicating association with preterhuman beings. Every approach to the Mysteries of all these nations was guarded with the same jealous care, and in all, the penalty of death was inflicted upon initiates of any degree who divulged the secrets entrusted to them. We have seen that such was the case in the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, among the Chaldean Magi, and the Egyptian hierophants; while with the Hindus, from whom they were all derived, the same rule has prevailed from time immemorial. We are left in no doubt upon this point; for the {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai}} says explicitly, “Every initiate, to whatever degree he may belong, who reveals the great sacred formula, must be put to death.”}} | ||
Naturally enough, this same extreme penalty was prescribed in all the multifarious sects and brotherhoods which at different periods have sprung from the ancient stock. We find it with the early Essenes, Gnostics, theurgic Neo-platonists, and mediæval philosophers; and in our day, even the Masons perpetuate the memory of the old obligations in the penalties of throat-cutting, dismemberment, and disemboweling, with which the candidate is threatened. As the Masonic “master’s word” is communicated only at “low breath,” so the selfsame precaution is prescribed in the Chaldean {{Style S-Italic|Book of Numbers}} and the Jewish {{Style S-Italic|Mercaba.}} When initiated, the neophyte was led by an {{Style S-Italic|ancient}} to a secluded spot, and there the latter whispered {{Style S-Italic|in his ear}} the great secret. | Naturally enough, this same extreme penalty was prescribed in all the multifarious sects and brotherhoods which at different periods have sprung from the ancient stock. We find it with the early Essenes, Gnostics, theurgic Neo-platonists, and mediæval philosophers; and in our day, even the Masons perpetuate the memory of the old obligations in the penalties of throat-cutting, dismemberment, and disemboweling, with which the candidate is threatened. As the Masonic “master’s word” is communicated only at “low breath,” so the selfsame precaution is prescribed in the Chaldean {{Style S-Italic|Book of Numbers}} and the Jewish {{Style S-Italic|Mercaba.}} When initiated, the neophyte was led by an {{Style S-Italic|ancient}} to a secluded spot, and there the latter whispered {{Style S-Italic|in his ear}} the great secret.{{Footnote mark|*|fn1072}} The Mason swears, under the most frightful penalties, that he will not communicate the secrets of | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1072}} Franck: “Die Kabbala.” | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
100 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|100|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
any degree “to a brother of an {{Style S-Italic|inferior degree;”}} and the {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai}} says: “Any initiate of the third degree who reveals before the prescribed time, to the initiates of the second degree, the superior truths, must be put to death.” Again, the Masonic apprentice consents to have his “tongue torn out by the roots” if he divulge anything to a profane; and in the Hindu books of initiation, the same {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai,}} we find that any initiate of the first degree (the lowest) who betrays the secrets of his initiation, to members of other castes, for whom the science should be a closed book, must have “his {{Style S-Italic|tongue cut out,”}} and suffer other mutilations. | {{Style P-No indent|any degree “to a brother of an {{Style S-Italic|inferior degree;”}} and the {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai}} says: “Any initiate of the third degree who reveals before the prescribed time, to the initiates of the second degree, the superior truths, must be put to death.” Again, the Masonic apprentice consents to have his “tongue torn out by the roots” if he divulge anything to a profane; and in the Hindu books of initiation, the same {{Style S-Italic|Agrushada Parikshai,}} we find that any initiate of the first degree (the lowest) who betrays the secrets of his initiation, to members of other castes, for whom the science should be a closed book, must have “his {{Style S-Italic|tongue cut out,”}} and suffer other mutilations.}} | ||
As we proceed, we will point out the evidences of this identity of vows, formulas, rites, and doctrines, between the ancient faiths. We will also show that not only their memory is still preserved in India, but also that the Secret Association is still alive and as active as ever. That, after reading what we have to say, it may be inferred that the chief pontiff and hierophants, the {{Style S-Italic|Brahmâtma,}} is still accessible to those “who know,” though perhaps recognized by another name; and that the ramifications of his influence extend throughout the world. But we will now return again to the early Christian period. | As we proceed, we will point out the evidences of this identity of vows, formulas, rites, and doctrines, between the ancient faiths. We will also show that not only their memory is still preserved in India, but also that the Secret Association is still alive and as active as ever. That, after reading what we have to say, it may be inferred that the chief pontiff and hierophants, the {{Style S-Italic|Brahmâtma,}} is still accessible to those “who know,” though perhaps recognized by another name; and that the ramifications of his influence extend throughout the world. But we will now return again to the early Christian period. | ||
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It is positively absurd to judge the ancients from our own standpoint of propriety and virtue. And most assuredly it is not for the Church—which now stands accused by all the modern symbologists of having adopted precisely these same emblems in their coarsest aspect, and feels herself powerless to refute the accusations—to throw the stone at those who were her models. When men like Pythagoras, Plato, and Iamblichus, renowned for their severe morality, took part in the Mysteries, and spoke of them with veneration, it ill behooves our modern critics to judge them so rashly upon their merely external aspects. Iamblichus explains the worst; and his explanation, for an unprejudiced mind, ought to be | It is positively absurd to judge the ancients from our own standpoint of propriety and virtue. And most assuredly it is not for the Church—which now stands accused by all the modern symbologists of having adopted precisely these same emblems in their coarsest aspect, and feels herself powerless to refute the accusations—to throw the stone at those who were her models. When men like Pythagoras, Plato, and Iamblichus, renowned for their severe morality, took part in the Mysteries, and spoke of them with veneration, it ill behooves our modern critics to judge them so rashly upon their merely external aspects. Iamblichus explains the worst; and his explanation, for an unprejudiced mind, ought to be | ||
101 THE MYSTERIES ENNOBLING IN TENDENCY. | {{Page|101|THE MYSTERIES ENNOBLING IN TENDENCY.}} | ||
perfectly plausible. “Exhibitions of this kind,” he says, “in the Mysteries were designed to free us from licentious passions, by gratifying the sight, and at the same time vanquishing all evil thought, through {{Style S-Italic|the awful sanctity}} with which these rites were accompanied.” | {{Style P-No indent|perfectly plausible. “Exhibitions of this kind,” he says, “in the Mysteries were designed to free us from licentious passions, by gratifying the sight, and at the same time vanquishing all evil thought, through {{Style S-Italic|the awful sanctity}} with which these rites were accompanied.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1073}} “The wisest and best men in the Pagan world,” adds Dr. Warburton, “are unanimous in this, that the Mysteries were instituted pure, and proposed the noblest ends by the worthiest means.”{{Footnote mark|†|fn1074}} }} | ||
In these celebrated rites, although persons of both sexes and all classes were allowed to take a part, and a participation in them was even obligatory, very few indeed attained the higher and final initiation. The gradation of the Mysteries is given us by Proclus in the fourth book of his {{Style S-Italic|Theology of Plato.}} “The perfective rite τελετη, precedes in order the initiation—{{Style S-Italic|Muesis—}}and the initiation, {{Style S-Italic|Epopteia,}} or the final apocalypse (revelation).” Theon of Smyrna, in {{Style S-Italic|Mathematica,}} also divides the mystic rites into five parts: “the first of which is the previous purification; for {{Style S-Italic|neither are the Mysteries communicated to all}} who are willing to receive them; . . . there are certain persons who are prevented by the voice of the crier (κηρυξ) . . . since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain purifications which the reception of the sacred rites succeeds. The third part is denominated {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} or reception. And the fourth, which is the end and design of the revelation, is {{Style S-Italic|the binding of the head and fixing of the crowns | In these celebrated rites, although persons of both sexes and all classes were allowed to take a part, and a participation in them was even obligatory, very few indeed attained the higher and final initiation. The gradation of the Mysteries is given us by Proclus in the fourth book of his {{Style S-Italic|Theology of Plato.}} “The perfective rite τελετη, precedes in order the initiation—{{Style S-Italic|Muesis—}}and the initiation, {{Style S-Italic|Epopteia,}} or the final apocalypse (revelation).” Theon of Smyrna, in {{Style S-Italic|Mathematica,}} also divides the mystic rites into five parts: “the first of which is the previous purification; for {{Style S-Italic|neither are the Mysteries communicated to all}} who are willing to receive them; . . . there are certain persons who are prevented by the voice of the crier (κηρυξ) . . . since it is necessary that such as are not expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain purifications which the reception of the sacred rites succeeds. The third part is denominated {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} or reception. And the fourth, which is the end and design of the revelation, is {{Style S-Italic|the binding of the head and fixing of the crowns{{Footnote mark|‡|fn1075}}}} . . . whether after this he (the initiated person) becomes . . . an hierophant or sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is produced from all these, {{Style S-Italic|is friendship and interior communion with God.”}} And this was the last and most awful of all the Mysteries. | ||
There are writers who have often wondered at the meaning of this claim to a “friendship and interior communion with God.” Christian authors have denied the pretensions of the “Pagans” to such “communion,” affirming that only Christian saints were and are capable of enjoying it; materialistic skeptics have altogether scoffed at the idea of both. After long ages of religious materialism and spiritual stagnation, it has most certainly become difficult if not altogether impossible to substantiate the claims of either party. The old Greeks, who had once crowded | There are writers who have often wondered at the meaning of this claim to a “friendship and interior communion with God.” Christian authors have denied the pretensions of the “Pagans” to such “communion,” affirming that only Christian saints were and are capable of enjoying it; materialistic skeptics have altogether scoffed at the idea of both. After long ages of religious materialism and spiritual stagnation, it has most certainly become difficult if not altogether impossible to substantiate the claims of either party. The old Greeks, who had once crowded | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1073}} “Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.” | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1074}} “Divine Legation of Moses;” The “Eleusinian Mysteries” as quoted by Thos. Taylor. | |||
{{Footnote return|‡|fn1075}} This expression must not be understood literally; for as in the initiation of certain Brotherhoods it has a secret meaning, hinted at by Pythagoras, when he describes his feelings after the initiation and tells that he was crowned by the gods in whose presence he had drunk “the waters of life”—in Hindu, {{Style S-Italic|â-bi-hayât}}, fount of life. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
102 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|102|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
around the Agora of Athens, with its altar to the “Unknown God,” are no more; and their descendants firmly believe that they have found the “Unknown” in the Jewish Jehova. The divine ecstasies of the early Christians have made room for visions of a more modern character, in perfect keeping with progress and civilization. The “Son of man” appearing to the rapt vision of the ancient Christian as coming from the seventh heaven, in a cloud of glory, and surrounded with angels and winged seraphim, has made room for a more prosaic and at the same time more business-like Jesus. The latter is now shown as making morning calls upon Mary and Martha in Bethany; as seating himself on “the {{Style S-Italic|ottoman”}} with the younger sister, a lover of “ethics,” while Martha goes off to the kitchen to cook. Anon the heated fancy of a blasphemous Brooklyn preacher and harlequin, the Reverend Dr. Talmage, makes us see her rushing back “with besweated brow, a pitcher in one hand and the tongs in the other . . . into the presence of Christ,” and blowing him up for not caring that her sister hath left her “to serve alone.” | {{Style P-No indent|around the Agora of Athens, with its altar to the “Unknown God,” are no more; and their descendants firmly believe that they have found the “Unknown” in the Jewish Jehova. The divine ecstasies of the early Christians have made room for visions of a more modern character, in perfect keeping with progress and civilization. The “Son of man” appearing to the rapt vision of the ancient Christian as coming from the seventh heaven, in a cloud of glory, and surrounded with angels and winged seraphim, has made room for a more prosaic and at the same time more business-like Jesus. The latter is now shown as making morning calls upon Mary and Martha in Bethany; as seating himself on “the {{Style S-Italic|ottoman”}} with the younger sister, a lover of “ethics,” while Martha goes off to the kitchen to cook. Anon the heated fancy of a blasphemous Brooklyn preacher and harlequin, the Reverend Dr. Talmage, makes us see her rushing back “with besweated brow, a pitcher in one hand and the tongs in the other . . . into the presence of Christ,” and blowing him up for not caring that her sister hath left her “to serve alone.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1076}}}} | ||
From the birth of the solemn and majestic conception of the unrevealed Deity of the ancient adepts to such caricatured descriptions of him who died on the Cross for his philanthropic devotion to humanity, long centuries have intervened, and their heavy tread seems to have almost entirely obliterated all sense of a spiritual religion from the hearts of his professed followers. No wonder then, that the sentence of Proclus is no longer understood by the Christians, and is rejected as a “vaglary” by the materialists, who, in their negation, are less blasphemous and atheistical than many of the reverends and members of the churches. But, although the Greek {{Style S-Italic|epoptai}} are no more, we have now, in our own age, a people far more ancient than the oldest Hellenes, who practice the so-called “preterhuman” gifts to the same extent as did their ancestors far earlier than the days of Troy. It is to this people that we draw the attention of the psychologist and philosopher. | From the birth of the solemn and majestic conception of the unrevealed Deity of the ancient adepts to such caricatured descriptions of him who died on the Cross for his philanthropic devotion to humanity, long centuries have intervened, and their heavy tread seems to have almost entirely obliterated all sense of a spiritual religion from the hearts of his professed followers. No wonder then, that the sentence of Proclus is no longer understood by the Christians, and is rejected as a “vaglary” by the materialists, who, in their negation, are less blasphemous and atheistical than many of the reverends and members of the churches. But, although the Greek {{Style S-Italic|epoptai}} are no more, we have now, in our own age, a people far more ancient than the oldest Hellenes, who practice the so-called “preterhuman” gifts to the same extent as did their ancestors far earlier than the days of Troy. It is to this people that we draw the attention of the psychologist and philosopher. | ||
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One need not go very deep into the literature of the Orientalists to become convinced that in most cases they do not even suspect that in | One need not go very deep into the literature of the Orientalists to become convinced that in most cases they do not even suspect that in | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1076}} This original and very long sermon was preached in a church at Brooklyn, N. Y., on the 15th day of April, 1877. On the following morning, the reverend orator was called in the “Sun” a gibbering charlatan; but this deserved epithet will not prevent other reverend buffoons doing the same and even worse. And this is the religion of Christ! Far better disbelieve in him altogether than caricature one’s God in such a manner. We heartily applaud the “Sun” for the following views: “And then when Talmage makes Christ say to Martha in the tantrums: ‘Don’t worry, but sit down on this ottoman,’ he adds the climax to a scene that the inspired writers had nothing to say about. Talmage’s buffoonery is going too far. If he were the worst heretic in the land, instead of being straight in his orthodoxy, he would not do so much evil to religion as he does by his familiar blasphemies.” | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
103 THE HINDU DEMI-GODS OF THE THIRD DEGREE. | {{Page|103|THE HINDU DEMI-GODS OF THE THIRD DEGREE.}} | ||
the arcane philosophy of India there are depths which they have not sounded, and {{Style S-Italic|cannot}} sound, for they pass on without perceiving them. There is a pervading tone of conscious superiority, a ring of contempt in the treatment of Hindu metaphysics, as though the European mind is alone enlightened enough to polish the rough diamond of the old Sanscrit writers, and separate right from wrong for the benefit of their descendants. We see them disputing over the external forms of expression without a conception of the great vital truths these hide from the profane view. | {{Style P-No indent|the arcane philosophy of India there are depths which they have not sounded, and {{Style S-Italic|cannot}} sound, for they pass on without perceiving them. There is a pervading tone of conscious superiority, a ring of contempt in the treatment of Hindu metaphysics, as though the European mind is alone enlightened enough to polish the rough diamond of the old Sanscrit writers, and separate right from wrong for the benefit of their descendants. We see them disputing over the external forms of expression without a conception of the great vital truths these hide from the profane view.}} | ||
“As a rule, the Brahmans,” says Jacolliot, “rarely go beyond the class of {{Style S-Italic|grihesta}} [priests of the vulgar castes] and {{Style S-Italic|purahita}} [exorcisers, divines, prophets, and evocators of spirits]. And yet, we shall see . . . once that we have touched upon the question and study of manifestations and phenomena, that these initiates of the {{Style S-Italic|first}} degree (the lowest) attribute to themselves, and in appearance possess faculties developed to a degree which has never been equalled in Europe. As to the initiates of the second and especially of the third category, they pretend to be enabled to ignore time, space, and to command life and death.” | “As a rule, the Brahmans,” says Jacolliot, “rarely go beyond the class of {{Style S-Italic|grihesta}} [priests of the vulgar castes] and {{Style S-Italic|purahita}} [exorcisers, divines, prophets, and evocators of spirits]. And yet, we shall see . . . once that we have touched upon the question and study of manifestations and phenomena, that these initiates of the {{Style S-Italic|first}} degree (the lowest) attribute to themselves, and in appearance possess faculties developed to a degree which has never been equalled in Europe. As to the initiates of the second and especially of the third category, they pretend to be enabled to ignore time, space, and to command life and death.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1077}} | ||
Such initiates as these M. Jacolliot {{Style S-Italic|did not meet;}} for, as he says himself, they only appear on the most solemn occasions, and when the faith of the multitudes has to be strengthened by phenomena of a superior order. “They are never seen, either in the neighborhood of, or even inside the temples, except at the grand quinquennial festival of the fire. On that occasion, they appear about the middle of the night, on a platform erected in the centre of the sacred lake, like so many phantoms, and by their conjurations they illumine the space. A fiery column of light ascends from around them, rushing from earth to heaven. Unfamiliar sounds vibrate through the air, and five or six hundred thousand Hindus, gathered from every part of India to contemplate these demi-gods, throw themselves with their faces buried in the dust, invoking the souls of their ancestors.” | Such initiates as these M. Jacolliot {{Style S-Italic|did not meet;}} for, as he says himself, they only appear on the most solemn occasions, and when the faith of the multitudes has to be strengthened by phenomena of a superior order. “They are never seen, either in the neighborhood of, or even inside the temples, except at the grand quinquennial festival of the fire. On that occasion, they appear about the middle of the night, on a platform erected in the centre of the sacred lake, like so many phantoms, and by their conjurations they illumine the space. A fiery column of light ascends from around them, rushing from earth to heaven. Unfamiliar sounds vibrate through the air, and five or six hundred thousand Hindus, gathered from every part of India to contemplate these demi-gods, throw themselves with their faces buried in the dust, invoking the souls of their ancestors.”{{Footnote mark|†|fn1078}} | ||
Let any impartial person read the {{Style S-Italic|Spiritisme dans le Monde,}} and he cannot believe that this “implacable rationalist,” as Jacolliot takes pride in terming himself, said one word more than is warranted by what he had seen. His statements support and are corroborated by those of other skeptics. As a rule, the missionaries, even after passing half a lifetime in the country of “devil-worship,” as they call India, either disingenuously {{Style S-Italic|deny}} altogether what they cannot help knowing to be true, or ridiculously attribute phenomena to this power of the Devil, that outrival the “miracles” of the apostolic ages. And what do we see this French | Let any impartial person read the {{Style S-Italic|Spiritisme dans le Monde,}} and he cannot believe that this “implacable rationalist,” as Jacolliot takes pride in terming himself, said one word more than is warranted by what he had seen. His statements support and are corroborated by those of other skeptics. As a rule, the missionaries, even after passing half a lifetime in the country of “devil-worship,” as they call India, either disingenuously {{Style S-Italic|deny}} altogether what they cannot help knowing to be true, or ridiculously attribute phenomena to this power of the Devil, that outrival the “miracles” of the apostolic ages. And what do we see this French | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1077}} “Le Spiritisme dans le Monde,” p. 68. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1078}} Ibid., pp. 78, 79. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
104 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|104|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
author, notwithstanding his incorrigible rationalism, forced to admit, after having narrated the greatest wonders? Watch the fakirs as he would, he is compelled to bear the strongest testimony to their perfect honesty in the matter of their miraculous phenomena. “Never,” he says, “have we succeeded in detecting a single one in the act of deceit.” One fact should be noted by all who, without having been in India, still fancy they are clever enough to expose the fraud of {{Style S-Italic|pretended}} magicians. This skilled and cool observer, this redoubtable materialist, after his long sojourn in India, affirms, “We unhesitatingly avow that we have not met, either in India or in Ceylon, a single European, even among the oldest residents, who has been able to indicate the means employed by these devotees for the production of these phenomena!” | {{Style P-No indent|author, notwithstanding his incorrigible rationalism, forced to admit, after having narrated the greatest wonders? Watch the fakirs as he would, he is compelled to bear the strongest testimony to their perfect honesty in the matter of their miraculous phenomena. “Never,” he says, “have we succeeded in detecting a single one in the act of deceit.” One fact should be noted by all who, without having been in India, still fancy they are clever enough to expose the fraud of {{Style S-Italic|pretended}} magicians. This skilled and cool observer, this redoubtable materialist, after his long sojourn in India, affirms, “We unhesitatingly avow that we have not met, either in India or in Ceylon, a single European, even among the oldest residents, who has been able to indicate the means employed by these devotees for the production of these phenomena!”}} | ||
And how should they? Does not this zealous Orientalist confess to us that even he, who had every available means at hand to learn many of their rites and doctrines at first hand, failed in his attempts to make the Brahmans explain to him their secrets. “All that our most diligent inquiries of the Pourohitas could elicit from them respecting the acts of their superiors (the invisible initiates of the temples), amounts to very little.” And again, speaking of one of the books, he confesses that, while purporting to reveal all that is desirable to know, it “falls back into mysterious formulas, in combinations of magical and occult letters, the secret of which it has been impossible for us to penetrate,” etc. | And how should they? Does not this zealous Orientalist confess to us that even he, who had every available means at hand to learn many of their rites and doctrines at first hand, failed in his attempts to make the Brahmans explain to him their secrets. “All that our most diligent inquiries of the Pourohitas could elicit from them respecting the acts of their superiors (the invisible initiates of the temples), amounts to very little.” And again, speaking of one of the books, he confesses that, while purporting to reveal all that is desirable to know, it “falls back into mysterious formulas, in combinations of magical and occult letters, the secret of which it has been impossible for us to penetrate,” etc. | ||
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“He bore on his forehead the signs sacred to Vishnu, and around his | “He bore on his forehead the signs sacred to Vishnu, and around his | ||
105 THE LIVING SPECTRE OF A BRAHMAN. | {{Page|105|THE LIVING SPECTRE OF A BRAHMAN.}} | ||
body the triple cord, sign of the initiates of the priestly caste. He joined his hands above his head, as during the sacrifices, and his lips moved as if they were reciting prayers. At a given moment, he took a pinch of perfumed powder, and threw it upon the coals; it must have been a strong compound, for a thick smoke arose on the instant, and filled the two chambers. | {{Style P-No indent|body the triple cord, sign of the initiates of the priestly caste. He joined his hands above his head, as during the sacrifices, and his lips moved as if they were reciting prayers. At a given moment, he took a pinch of perfumed powder, and threw it upon the coals; it must have been a strong compound, for a thick smoke arose on the instant, and filled the two chambers.}} | ||
“When it was dissipated, I perceived the spectre, which, two steps from me, was extending to me its fleshless hand; I took it in mine, making a salutation, and I was astonished to find it, although bony and hard, warm and living. | “When it was dissipated, I perceived the spectre, which, two steps from me, was extending to me its fleshless hand; I took it in mine, making a salutation, and I was astonished to find it, although bony and hard, warm and living. | ||
| Line 922: | Line 934: | ||
“‘Will you leave me nothing in token of your visit?’ I continued. | “‘Will you leave me nothing in token of your visit?’ I continued. | ||
“The spirit broke the triple cord, composed of three strands of cotton, which begirt his loins, gave it to me, and vanished at my feet.” | “The spirit broke the triple cord, composed of three strands of cotton, which begirt his loins, gave it to me, and vanished at my feet.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1079}} | ||
“Oh Brahma! what is this mystery which takes place every night? . . . When lying on the matting, with eyes closed, the body is lost sight of, and the soul escapes to enter into conversation with the Pitris. . . . Watch over it, O Brahma, when, forsaking the resting body, it goes away to hover over the waters, to wander in the immensity of heaven, and penetrate into the dark and mysterious nooks of the valleys and grand forests of the Hymavat!” ({{Style S-Italic|Agroushada Parikshai.}}) | “Oh Brahma! what is this mystery which takes place every night? . . . When lying on the matting, with eyes closed, the body is lost sight of, and the soul escapes to enter into conversation with the Pitris. . . . Watch over it, O Brahma, when, forsaking the resting body, it goes away to hover over the waters, to wander in the immensity of heaven, and penetrate into the dark and mysterious nooks of the valleys and grand forests of the Hymavat!” ({{Style S-Italic|Agroushada Parikshai.}}) | ||
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It may be shown, on the authority of many Brahmanical and Buddhist sacred books, that there has ever existed a great difference between | It may be shown, on the authority of many Brahmanical and Buddhist sacred books, that there has ever existed a great difference between | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1079}} Louis Jacolliot: “Phénomenes et Manifestations.” | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
106 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|106|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
adepts of the higher order, and purely psychological subjects—like many of these fakirs, who are mediums in a certain qualified sense. True, the fakir is ever talking of Pitris, and this is natural; for they are his protecting deities. But are the Pitris {{Style S-Italic|disembodied human beings of our race?}} This is the question, and we will discuss it in a moment. | {{Style P-No indent|adepts of the higher order, and purely psychological subjects—like many of these fakirs, who are mediums in a certain qualified sense. True, the fakir is ever talking of Pitris, and this is natural; for they are his protecting deities. But are the Pitris {{Style S-Italic|disembodied human beings of our race?}} This is the question, and we will discuss it in a moment.}} | ||
We say that the fakir may be regarded in a degree as a medium; for he is—what is not generally known—under the direct mesmeric influence of a living adept, his sannyâsi or guru. When the latter dies, the power of the former, unless he has received the last transfer of spiritual forces, wanes and often even disappears. Why, if it were otherwise, should the fakirs have been excluded from the right of advancing to the second and third degree? The lives of many of them exemplify a degree of self-sacrifice and sanctity unknown and utterly incomprehensible to Europeans, who shudder at the bare thought of such self-inflicted tortures. But however shielded from control by vulgar and earth-bound spirits, however wide the chasm between a debasing influence and their self-controlled souls; and however well protected by the seven-knotted magical bamboo rod which he receives from the guru, still the fakir lives in the outer world of sin and matter, and it is possible that his soul may be tainted, perchance, by the magnetic emanations from profane objects and persons, and thereby open an access to strange spirits and {{Style S-Italic|gods.}} To admit one so situated, one not under any and all circumstances sure of the mastery over himself, to a knowledge of the awful mysteries and priceless secrets of initiation, would be impracticable. It would not only imperil the security of that which must, at all hazards, be guarded from profanation, but it would be consenting to admit behind the veil a fellow being, whose mediumistic irresponsibility might at any moment cause him to lose his life through an involuntary indiscretion. The same law which prevailed in the Eleusinian Mysteries before our era, holds good now in India. | We say that the fakir may be regarded in a degree as a medium; for he is—what is not generally known—under the direct mesmeric influence of a living adept, his sannyâsi or guru. When the latter dies, the power of the former, unless he has received the last transfer of spiritual forces, wanes and often even disappears. Why, if it were otherwise, should the fakirs have been excluded from the right of advancing to the second and third degree? The lives of many of them exemplify a degree of self-sacrifice and sanctity unknown and utterly incomprehensible to Europeans, who shudder at the bare thought of such self-inflicted tortures. But however shielded from control by vulgar and earth-bound spirits, however wide the chasm between a debasing influence and their self-controlled souls; and however well protected by the seven-knotted magical bamboo rod which he receives from the guru, still the fakir lives in the outer world of sin and matter, and it is possible that his soul may be tainted, perchance, by the magnetic emanations from profane objects and persons, and thereby open an access to strange spirits and {{Style S-Italic|gods.}} To admit one so situated, one not under any and all circumstances sure of the mastery over himself, to a knowledge of the awful mysteries and priceless secrets of initiation, would be impracticable. It would not only imperil the security of that which must, at all hazards, be guarded from profanation, but it would be consenting to admit behind the veil a fellow being, whose mediumistic irresponsibility might at any moment cause him to lose his life through an involuntary indiscretion. The same law which prevailed in the Eleusinian Mysteries before our era, holds good now in India. | ||
| Line 942: | Line 956: | ||
For the objector to affirm that the Brahman-adepts and the fakirs admit that of themselves they are powerless, and can only act with the help of disembodied human spirits, is to state that these Hindus are unacquainted with the laws of their sacred books and even the meaning of the word {{Style S-Italic|Pitris.}} The {{Style S-Italic|Laws of Manu,}} the {{Style S-Italic|Atharva-Veda,}} and other books, prove what we now say. “All that exists,” says the {{Style S-Italic|Atharva-Veda,}} “is in the power of the gods. The gods are under the power of magical conjurations. The magical conjurations are under the control of the Brahmans. Hence | For the objector to affirm that the Brahman-adepts and the fakirs admit that of themselves they are powerless, and can only act with the help of disembodied human spirits, is to state that these Hindus are unacquainted with the laws of their sacred books and even the meaning of the word {{Style S-Italic|Pitris.}} The {{Style S-Italic|Laws of Manu,}} the {{Style S-Italic|Atharva-Veda,}} and other books, prove what we now say. “All that exists,” says the {{Style S-Italic|Atharva-Veda,}} “is in the power of the gods. The gods are under the power of magical conjurations. The magical conjurations are under the control of the Brahmans. Hence | ||
107 WHAT THE PITRIS ARE AND ARE NOT. | {{Page|107|WHAT THE PITRIS ARE AND ARE NOT.}} | ||
the gods are in the power of the Brahmans.” This is logical, albeit seemingly paradoxical, and it is the fact. And this fact will explain to those who have not hitherto had the clew (among whom Jacolliot must be numbered, as will appear on reading his works), why the fakir should be confined to the first, or lowest degree of that course of initiation whose highest adepts, or hierophants, are the {{Style S-Italic|sannyâsis,}} or members of the ancient Supreme Council of Seventy. | {{Style P-No indent|the gods are in the power of the Brahmans.” This is logical, albeit seemingly paradoxical, and it is the fact. And this fact will explain to those who have not hitherto had the clew (among whom Jacolliot must be numbered, as will appear on reading his works), why the fakir should be confined to the first, or lowest degree of that course of initiation whose highest adepts, or hierophants, are the {{Style S-Italic|sannyâsis,}} or members of the ancient Supreme Council of Seventy.}} | ||
Moreover, in Book I., of the Hindu {{Style S-Italic|Genesis,}} or {{Style S-Italic|Book of Creation}} of {{Style S-Italic|Manu,}} the {{Style S-Italic|Pitris}} are called the {{Style S-Italic|lunar}} ancestors of the human race. They belong to a race of beings different from ourselves, and cannot properly be called “human spirits” in the sense in which the spiritualists use this term. This is what is said of them: | Moreover, in Book I., of the Hindu {{Style S-Italic|Genesis,}} or {{Style S-Italic|Book of Creation}} of {{Style S-Italic|Manu,}} the {{Style S-Italic|Pitris}} are called the {{Style S-Italic|lunar}} ancestors of the human race. They belong to a race of beings different from ourselves, and cannot properly be called “human spirits” in the sense in which the spiritualists use this term. This is what is said of them: | ||
“Then they (the gods) created the Jackshas, the Rakshasas, the Pisatshas, | “Then they (the gods) created the Jackshas, the Rakshasas, the Pisatshas,{{Footnote mark|*|fn1080}} the Gandarbas{{Footnote mark|†|fn1081}} and the Apsaras, and the Asuras, the Nagas, the Sarpas and the Suparnas,{{Footnote mark|‡|fn1082}} and the Pitris—{{Style S-Italic|lunar ancestors of the human race”}} (See {{Style S-Italic|Institutes of Manu,}} Book I., sloka 37, where the Pitris are termed “progenitors of mankind”). | ||
The Pitris are a distinct race of spirits belonging to the mythological hierarchy or rather to the kabalistical nomenclature, and must be included with the good genii, the dæmons of the Greeks, or the inferior gods of the invisible world; and when a fakir attributes his phenomena to the Pitris, he means only what the ancient philosophers and theurgists meant when they maintained that all the “miracles” were obtained through the intervention of the gods, or the good and bad dæmons, who control the powers of nature, the {{Style S-Italic|elementals,}} who are subordinate to the power of him “who knows.” A ghost or human phantom would be termed by a fakir {{Style S-Italic| | The Pitris are a distinct race of spirits belonging to the mythological hierarchy or rather to the kabalistical nomenclature, and must be included with the good genii, the dæmons of the Greeks, or the inferior gods of the invisible world; and when a fakir attributes his phenomena to the Pitris, he means only what the ancient philosophers and theurgists meant when they maintained that all the “miracles” were obtained through the intervention of the gods, or the good and bad dæmons, who control the powers of nature, the {{Style S-Italic|elementals,}} who are subordinate to the power of him “who knows.” A ghost or human phantom would be termed by a fakir {{Style S-Italic|palīt,}} or {{Style S-Italic|chutnā}} as that of a female human spirit {{Style S-Italic|pichhalpāi}}, not {{Style S-Italic|pitris.}} True {{Style S-Italic|, pitara}} means (plural) fathers, ancestors; and pitrā-i is a kinsman; but these words are used in quite a different sense from that of the Pitris invoked in the mantras. | ||
To maintain before a devout Brahman or a fakir that any one can converse with the spirits of the dead, would be to shock him with what would appear to him blasphemy. Does not the concluding verse of the {{Style S-Italic|Bagavat}} state that this supreme felicity is alone reserved to the holy sannyâsis, the gurus, and yogis? | To maintain before a devout Brahman or a fakir that any one can converse with the spirits of the dead, would be to shock him with what would appear to him blasphemy. Does not the concluding verse of the {{Style S-Italic|Bagavat}} state that this supreme felicity is alone reserved to the holy sannyâsis, the gurus, and yogis? | ||
| Line 957: | Line 970: | ||
“Long before they finally rid themselves of their mortal envelopes, the souls who have practiced only good, such as those of the sannyâsis and the vanaprasthas, acquire the faculty of conversing with the souls which preceded them to the swarga.” | “Long before they finally rid themselves of their mortal envelopes, the souls who have practiced only good, such as those of the sannyâsis and the vanaprasthas, acquire the faculty of conversing with the souls which preceded them to the swarga.” | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1080}} Pisatshas, dæmons of the race of the gnomes, the giants and the vampires. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1081}} Gandarbas, good dæmon, celestial seraphs, singers. | |||
{{Footnote return|‡|fn1082}} Asuras and Nagas are the Titanic spirits and the dragon or serpent-headed spirits. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
108 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|108|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
In this case the Pitris instead of genii are the spirits, or rather souls, of the departed ones. But they will freely communicate only with those whose atmosphere is as pure as their own, and to whose prayerful {{Style S-Italic|kalassa}} (invocation) they can respond without the risk of defiling their own celestial purity. When the soul of the invocator has reached the {{Style S-Italic|Sayadyam,}} or perfect identity of essence with the Universal Soul, when matter is utterly conquered, then the adept can freely enter into daily and hourly communion with those who, though unburdened with their corporeal forms, are still themselves progressing through the endless series of transformations included in the gradual approach to the | In this case the Pitris instead of genii are the spirits, or rather souls, of the departed ones. But they will freely communicate only with those whose atmosphere is as pure as their own, and to whose prayerful {{Style S-Italic|kalassa}} (invocation) they can respond without the risk of defiling their own celestial purity. When the soul of the invocator has reached the {{Style S-Italic|Sayadyam,}} or perfect identity of essence with the Universal Soul, when matter is utterly conquered, then the adept can freely enter into daily and hourly communion with those who, though unburdened with their corporeal forms, are still themselves progressing through the endless series of transformations included in the gradual approach to the Paramâtma, or the grand Universal Soul. | ||
Bearing in mind that the Christian fathers have always claimed for themselves and their saints the name of “friends of God,” and knowing that they borrowed this expression, with many others, from the technology of the Pagan temples, it is but natural to expect them to show an evil temper whenever alluding to these rites. Ignorant, as a rule, and having had biographers as ignorant as themselves, we could not well expect them to find in the accounts of their beatific visions a descriptive beauty such as we find in the Pagan classics. Whether the visions and objective phenomena claimed by both the fathers of the desert and the hierophants of the sanctuary are to be discredited, or accepted as facts, the splendid imagery employed by Proclus and Apuleius in narrating the small portion of the final initiation that they dared reveal, throws completely into the shade the plagiaristic tales of the Christian ascetics, faithful {{Style S-Italic|copies}} though they were intended to be. The story of the temptation of St. Anthony in the desert by the female demon, is a parody upon the preliminary trials of the neophyte during the {{Style S-Italic|Mikra,}} or minor Mysteries of Agræ—those rites at the thought of which Clemens railed so bitterly, and which represented the bereaved Demeter in search of her child, and her good-natured hostess Baubo. | Bearing in mind that the Christian fathers have always claimed for themselves and their saints the name of “friends of God,” and knowing that they borrowed this expression, with many others, from the technology of the Pagan temples, it is but natural to expect them to show an evil temper whenever alluding to these rites. Ignorant, as a rule, and having had biographers as ignorant as themselves, we could not well expect them to find in the accounts of their beatific visions a descriptive beauty such as we find in the Pagan classics. Whether the visions and objective phenomena claimed by both the fathers of the desert and the hierophants of the sanctuary are to be discredited, or accepted as facts, the splendid imagery employed by Proclus and Apuleius in narrating the small portion of the final initiation that they dared reveal, throws completely into the shade the plagiaristic tales of the Christian ascetics, faithful {{Style S-Italic|copies}} though they were intended to be. The story of the temptation of St. Anthony in the desert by the female demon, is a parody upon the preliminary trials of the neophyte during the {{Style S-Italic|Mikra,}} or minor Mysteries of Agræ—those rites at the thought of which Clemens railed so bitterly, and which represented the bereaved Demeter in search of her child, and her good-natured hostess Baubo.{{Footnote mark|*|fn1083}} | ||
Without entering again into a demonstration that in Christian, and especially Irish Roman Catholic, churches | Without entering again into a demonstration that in Christian, and especially Irish Roman Catholic, churches{{Footnote mark|†|fn1084}} the same apparently indecent customs as the above prevailed until the end of the last century, we will recur to the untiring labors of that honest and brave defender of the ancient faith, Thomas Taylor, and his works. However much dogmatic Greek scholarship may have found to say against his “mistranslations,” his memory must be dear to every true Platonist, who seeks rather to learn the inner thought of the great philosopher than enjoy the mere external mechanism of his writings. Better classical translators may have | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1083}} See Arnolius: “Op. Cit.,” pp. 249, 250. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1084}} See Inman’s “Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism.” | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
109 DESERVED PRAISE OF THOMAS TAYLOR. | {{Page|109|DESERVED PRAISE OF THOMAS TAYLOR.}} | ||
rendered us, in more correct phraseology, Plato’s {{Style S-Italic|words,}} but Taylor shows us Plato’s {{Style S-Italic|meaning,}} and this is more than can be said of Zeller, Jowett, and their predecessors. Yet, as writes Professor A. Wilder, “Taylor’s works have met with favor at the hands of men capable of profound and recondite thinking; and it must be conceded that he was endowed with a superior qualification—that of an intuitive perception of the interior meaning of the subjects which he considered. Others may have known more Greek, but he knew more Plato.” | rendered us, in more correct phraseology, Plato’s {{Style S-Italic|words,}} but Taylor shows us Plato’s {{Style S-Italic|meaning,}} and this is more than can be said of Zeller, Jowett, and their predecessors. Yet, as writes Professor A. Wilder, “Taylor’s works have met with favor at the hands of men capable of profound and recondite thinking; and it must be conceded that he was endowed with a superior qualification—that of an intuitive perception of the interior meaning of the subjects which he considered. Others may have known more Greek, but he knew more Plato.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1085}} | ||
Taylor devoted his whole useful life to the search after such old manuscripts as would enable him to have his own speculations concerning several obscure rites in the Mysteries corroborated by writers who had been initiated themselves. It is with full confidence in the assertions of various classical writers that we say that ridiculous, perhaps licentious in some cases, as may appear ancient worship to the modern critic, it ought not to have so appeared to the Christians. During the mediæval ages, and even later, they accepted pretty nearly the same without understanding the secret import of its rites, and quite satisfied with the obscure and rather fantastic interpretations of their clergy, who accepted the exterior form and distorted the inner meaning. We are ready to concede, in full justice, that centuries have passed since the great majority of the Christian clergy, who {{Style S-Italic|are not allowed to pry into God’s mysteries nor seek to explain}} that which the Church has once accepted and established, have had the remotest idea of their symbolism, whether in its exoteric or esoteric meaning. Not so with the head of the Church and its highest dignitaries. And if we fully agree with Inman that it is “difficult to believe that the ecclesiastics who sanctioned the publication of such prints | Taylor devoted his whole useful life to the search after such old manuscripts as would enable him to have his own speculations concerning several obscure rites in the Mysteries corroborated by writers who had been initiated themselves. It is with full confidence in the assertions of various classical writers that we say that ridiculous, perhaps licentious in some cases, as may appear ancient worship to the modern critic, it ought not to have so appeared to the Christians. During the mediæval ages, and even later, they accepted pretty nearly the same without understanding the secret import of its rites, and quite satisfied with the obscure and rather fantastic interpretations of their clergy, who accepted the exterior form and distorted the inner meaning. We are ready to concede, in full justice, that centuries have passed since the great majority of the Christian clergy, who {{Style S-Italic|are not allowed to pry into God’s mysteries nor seek to explain}} that which the Church has once accepted and established, have had the remotest idea of their symbolism, whether in its exoteric or esoteric meaning. Not so with the head of the Church and its highest dignitaries. And if we fully agree with Inman that it is “difficult to believe that the ecclesiastics who sanctioned the publication of such prints{{Footnote mark|†|fn1086}} could have been as ignorant as modern ritualists,” we are not at all prepared to believe with the same author “that the latter, if they knew the real meaning of the symbols commonly used by the Roman Church, would {{Style S-Italic|not}} have adopted them.” | ||
To eliminate what is plainly derived from the sex and nature wor- | To eliminate what is plainly derived from the sex and nature wor- | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1085}} Introduction to Taylor’s “Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries,” published by J. W. Bouton. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1086}} Illustrated figures “from an ancient Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, printed at Venice, 1524, with a license from the Inquisition.” In the illustrations given by Dr. Inman the Virgin is represented in an Assyrian “grove,” the {{Style S-Italic|abomination in the eyes of the Lord,}} according to the Bible prophets. “The book in question,” says the author, “contains numerous figures, all resembling closely the Mesopotamian emblem of {{Style S-Italic|Ishtar.}} The presence of the woman {{Style S-Italic|therein}} identifies the two as symbolic of Isis, or {{Style S-Italic|la nature;}} and a man bowing down in adoration thereof shows the same idea as is depicted in Assyrian sculptures, where males offer to the goddess {{Style S-Italic|symbols}} of {{Style S-Italic|themselves”}} (See “Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism,” p. 91. Second edition. J. W. Bouton, publisher, New York). | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
110 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|110|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
ship of the ancient heathens, would be equivalent to pulling down the whole Roman Catholic image-worship—the {{Style S-Italic|Madonna}} element—and reforming the faith to Protestantism. The enforcement of the late dogma of the Immaculation was prompted by this very secret reason. The science of symbology was making too rapid progress. Blind faith in the Pope’s infallibility and in the immaculate nature of the Virgin and {{Style S-Italic|of her ancestral female lineage to a certain remove}} could alone save the Church from the indiscreet revelations of science. It was a clever stroke of policy on the part of the vicegerent of God. What matters it if, by “conferring upon her such an honor,” as Don Pascale de Franciscis naively expresses it, he has made a goddess of the Virgin Mary, an Olympian Deity, who, having been by her very nature placed in the impossibility of sinning, can claim no virtue, no personal merit for her purity, precisely for which, as we were taught to believe in our younger days, she was chosen among all other women. If his Holiness has deprived her of this, perhaps, on the other hand, he thinks that he has endowed her with at least one physical attribute not shared by the other virgin-goddesses. But even this new dogma, which, in company with the new claim to {{Style S-Italic|infallibility,}} has quasi-revolutionized the Christian world, is not original with the Church of Rome. It is but a return to a hardly-remembered {{Style S-Italic|heresy}} of the early Christian ages, that of the Collyridians, so called from their {{Style S-Italic|sacrificing cakes}} to the Virgin, whom they claimed to {{Style S-Italic|be Virgin-born. | {{Style P-No indent|ship of the ancient heathens, would be equivalent to pulling down the whole Roman Catholic image-worship—the {{Style S-Italic|Madonna}} element—and reforming the faith to Protestantism. The enforcement of the late dogma of the Immaculation was prompted by this very secret reason. The science of symbology was making too rapid progress. Blind faith in the Pope’s infallibility and in the immaculate nature of the Virgin and {{Style S-Italic|of her ancestral female lineage to a certain remove}} could alone save the Church from the indiscreet revelations of science. It was a clever stroke of policy on the part of the vicegerent of God. What matters it if, by “conferring upon her such an honor,” as Don Pascale de Franciscis naively expresses it, he has made a goddess of the Virgin Mary, an Olympian Deity, who, having been by her very nature placed in the impossibility of sinning, can claim no virtue, no personal merit for her purity, precisely for which, as we were taught to believe in our younger days, she was chosen among all other women. If his Holiness has deprived her of this, perhaps, on the other hand, he thinks that he has endowed her with at least one physical attribute not shared by the other virgin-goddesses. But even this new dogma, which, in company with the new claim to {{Style S-Italic|infallibility,}} has quasi-revolutionized the Christian world, is not original with the Church of Rome. It is but a return to a hardly-remembered {{Style S-Italic|heresy}} of the early Christian ages, that of the Collyridians, so called from their {{Style S-Italic|sacrificing cakes}} to the Virgin, whom they claimed to {{Style S-Italic|be Virgin-born.{{Footnote mark|*|fn1087}}}} The new sentence, “O, Virgin Mary, {{Style S-Italic|conceived without sin,”}} is simply a tardy acceptance of that which was at first deemed a “{{Style S-Italic|blasphemous heresie”}} by the orthodox fathers.}} | ||
To think for one moment that any of the popes, cardinals, or other high dignitaries “were not aware” from the first to the last of the external meanings of their symbols, is to do injustice to their great learning and their spirit of Machiavellism. It is to forget that the emissaries of Rome will never be stopped by any difficulty which can be skirted by the employment of Jesuitical artifice. The policy of complaisant conformity was never carried to greater lengths than by the missionaries in Ceylon, who, according to the Abbé Dubois—certainly a learned and competent authority—“conducted the images of the Virgin and Saviour on triumphal cars, imitated from the orgies of Juggernauth, and introduced the dancers from the Brahminical rites into the ceremonial of the church.” | To think for one moment that any of the popes, cardinals, or other high dignitaries “were not aware” from the first to the last of the external meanings of their symbols, is to do injustice to their great learning and their spirit of Machiavellism. It is to forget that the emissaries of Rome will never be stopped by any difficulty which can be skirted by the employment of Jesuitical artifice. The policy of complaisant conformity was never carried to greater lengths than by the missionaries in Ceylon, who, according to the Abbé Dubois—certainly a learned and competent authority—“conducted the images of the Virgin and Saviour on triumphal cars, imitated from the orgies of Juggernauth, and introduced the dancers from the Brahminical rites into the ceremonial of the church.”{{Footnote mark|†|fn1088}} Let us at least thank these black-frocked politicians for their consistency in employing the car of Juggernauth, upon which the “wicked heathen” | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1087}} See King’s “Gnostics,” pp. 91, 92; “The Genealogy of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” by Faustus, Bishop of Riez. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1088}} Prinseps quotes Dubois, “Edinburgh Review,” April, 1851, p. 411. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
111 THE VIRGIN MARY ON THE CAR OF JUGGERNAUTH. | {{Page|111|THE VIRGIN MARY ON THE CAR OF JUGGERNAUTH.}} | ||
convey the {{Style S-Italic|lingham}} of Siva. To have used {{Style S-Italic|this}} car to carry in its turn the Romish representative of the female principle in nature, is to show discrimination and a thorough knowledge of the oldest mythological conceptions. They have blended the two deities, and thus represented, in a Christian procession, the “heathen” Brahma, or Nara (the father), Nari (the mother), and Viradj (the son). | {{Style P-No indent|convey the {{Style S-Italic|lingham}} of Siva. To have used {{Style S-Italic|this}} car to carry in its turn the Romish representative of the female principle in nature, is to show discrimination and a thorough knowledge of the oldest mythological conceptions. They have blended the two deities, and thus represented, in a Christian procession, the “heathen” Brahma, or Nara (the father), Nari (the mother), and Viradj (the son).}} | ||
Says Manu: “The Sovereign Master who exists through himself, divides his body into two halves, male and female, and from the union of these two principles is born Viradj, the Son.” | Says Manu: “The Sovereign Master who exists through himself, divides his body into two halves, male and female, and from the union of these two principles is born Viradj, the Son.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1089}} | ||
There was not a Christian Father who could have been ignorant of these symbols in their physical meaning; for it is in this latter aspect that they were abandoned to the ignorant rabble. Moreover, they all had as good reasons to suspect the occult symbolism contained in these images; although as none of them—Paul excepted, perhaps—had been initiated they could know nothing whatever about the nature of the final rites. Any person revealing these mysteries was put to death, regardless of sex, nationality, or creed. A Christian father would no more be proof against {{Style S-Italic|an accident}} than a Pagan {{Style S-Italic|Mysta}} or the Μύστης. | There was not a Christian Father who could have been ignorant of these symbols in their physical meaning; for it is in this latter aspect that they were abandoned to the ignorant rabble. Moreover, they all had as good reasons to suspect the occult symbolism contained in these images; although as none of them—Paul excepted, perhaps—had been initiated they could know nothing whatever about the nature of the final rites. Any person revealing these mysteries was put to death, regardless of sex, nationality, or creed. A Christian father would no more be proof against {{Style S-Italic|an accident}} than a Pagan {{Style S-Italic|Mysta}} or the Μύστης. | ||
| Line 1,007: | Line 1,028: | ||
If during the {{Style S-Italic|Aporreta}} or preliminary arcanes, there were some practices which might have shocked the pudicity of a Christian convert—though we doubt the sincerity of such statements—their mystical symbolism was all sufficient to relieve the performance of any charge of licentiousness. Even the episode of the Matron Baubo—whose rather eccentric method of consolation was immortalized in the minor Mysteries—is explained by impartial mystagogues quite naturally. Ceres-Demeter and her earthly wanderings in search of her daughter are the euhemerized descriptions of one of the most metaphysico-psychological subjects ever treated of by human mind. It is a mask for the transcendent narrative of the initiated seers; the celestial vision of the freed soul of the initiate of the last hour describing the process by which the soul that has not yet been incarnated descends for the first time into matter, “Blessed is he who hath seen those {{Style S-Italic|common concerns}} of the underworld; he knows both the end of life and its divine origin from Jupiter,” says Pindar. Taylor shows, on the authority of more than one initiate, that the “dramatic performances of the Lesser Mysteries were designed by their founders, to signify {{Style S-Italic|occultly}} the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthly body, and enveloped in a material and physical | If during the {{Style S-Italic|Aporreta}} or preliminary arcanes, there were some practices which might have shocked the pudicity of a Christian convert—though we doubt the sincerity of such statements—their mystical symbolism was all sufficient to relieve the performance of any charge of licentiousness. Even the episode of the Matron Baubo—whose rather eccentric method of consolation was immortalized in the minor Mysteries—is explained by impartial mystagogues quite naturally. Ceres-Demeter and her earthly wanderings in search of her daughter are the euhemerized descriptions of one of the most metaphysico-psychological subjects ever treated of by human mind. It is a mask for the transcendent narrative of the initiated seers; the celestial vision of the freed soul of the initiate of the last hour describing the process by which the soul that has not yet been incarnated descends for the first time into matter, “Blessed is he who hath seen those {{Style S-Italic|common concerns}} of the underworld; he knows both the end of life and its divine origin from Jupiter,” says Pindar. Taylor shows, on the authority of more than one initiate, that the “dramatic performances of the Lesser Mysteries were designed by their founders, to signify {{Style S-Italic|occultly}} the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthly body, and enveloped in a material and physical | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1089}} “Manu,” book I., sloka 32: Sir W. Jones, translating from the Northern “Manu,” renders this {{Style S-Italic|sloka}} as follows: “Having divided his own substance, the mighty Power became half male, half female, or {{Style S-Italic|nature active and passive;}} and from that female he produced Viraj.” | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
112 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|112|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
nature . . . that the soul, indeed, till purified by philosophy, suffers death through its union with the body.” | {{Style P-No indent|nature . . . that the soul, indeed, till purified by philosophy, suffers death through its union with the body.”}} | ||
The body is the sepulchre, the prison of the soul, and many Christian Fathers held with Plato that the soul is {{Style S-Italic|punished}} through its union with the body. Such is the fundamental doctrine of the Buddhists and of many Brahmanists too. When Plotinus remarks that “when the soul has descended into generation (from its {{Style S-Italic|half}}-divine condition) she partakes of evil, and is carried a great way into a state the opposite of her first purity and integrity, to be entirely merged in which is nothing more than to fall into dark mire;” | The body is the sepulchre, the prison of the soul, and many Christian Fathers held with Plato that the soul is {{Style S-Italic|punished}} through its union with the body. Such is the fundamental doctrine of the Buddhists and of many Brahmanists too. When Plotinus remarks that “when the soul has descended into generation (from its {{Style S-Italic|half}}-divine condition) she partakes of evil, and is carried a great way into a state the opposite of her first purity and integrity, to be entirely merged in which is nothing more than to fall into dark mire;”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1090}} he only repeats the teachings of Gautama-Buddha. If we have to believe the ancient initiates at all, we must accept their interpretation of the symbols. And if, moreover, we find them perfectly coinciding with the teachings of the greatest philosophers and that which we know symbolizes the same meaning in the modern Mysteries in the East, we must believe them to be right. | ||
If Demeter was considered the intellectual soul, or rather the {{Style S-Italic|Astral}} soul, half emanation from the spirit and half tainted with matter through a succession of spiritual evolutions—we may readily understand what is meant by the Matron Baubo, the Enchantress, who before she succeeds in reconciling the soul—Demeter, to its new position, finds herself obliged to assume the sexual forms of an infant. Baubo is {{Style S-Italic|matter,}} the physical body; and the intellectual, as yet pure astral soul can be ensnared into its new terrestrial prison but by the display of innocent babyhood. Until then, doomed to her fate, Demeter, or {{Style S-Italic|Magna-mater,}} the Soul, wonders and hesitates and suffers; but once having partaken of the magic potion prepared by Baubo, she forgets her sorrows; for a certain time she parts with that consciousness of higher intellect that she was possessed of before entering the body of a child. Thenceforth she must seek to rejoin it again; and when the age of reason arrives for the child, the struggle—forgotten for a few years of infancy—begins again. The astral soul is placed between matter (body) and the highest intellect (its immortal spirit or {{Style S-Italic|nous).}} Which of those two will conquer? The result of the battle of life lies between the triad. It is a question of a few years of physical enjoyment on earth and—if it has begotten abuse—of the dissolution of the earthly body being followed by death of the astral body, which thus is prevented from being united with the highest spirit of the triad, which alone confers on us individual immortality; or, on the other hand, of becoming immortal mystæ; initiated before death of the body into the divine truths of the after life. Demi-gods below, and gods above. | If Demeter was considered the intellectual soul, or rather the {{Style S-Italic|Astral}} soul, half emanation from the spirit and half tainted with matter through a succession of spiritual evolutions—we may readily understand what is meant by the Matron Baubo, the Enchantress, who before she succeeds in reconciling the soul—Demeter, to its new position, finds herself obliged to assume the sexual forms of an infant. Baubo is {{Style S-Italic|matter,}} the physical body; and the intellectual, as yet pure astral soul can be ensnared into its new terrestrial prison but by the display of innocent babyhood. Until then, doomed to her fate, Demeter, or {{Style S-Italic|Magna-mater,}} the Soul, wonders and hesitates and suffers; but once having partaken of the magic potion prepared by Baubo, she forgets her sorrows; for a certain time she parts with that consciousness of higher intellect that she was possessed of before entering the body of a child. Thenceforth she must seek to rejoin it again; and when the age of reason arrives for the child, the struggle—forgotten for a few years of infancy—begins again. The astral soul is placed between matter (body) and the highest intellect (its immortal spirit or {{Style S-Italic|nous).}} Which of those two will conquer? The result of the battle of life lies between the triad. It is a question of a few years of physical enjoyment on earth and—if it has begotten abuse—of the dissolution of the earthly body being followed by death of the astral body, which thus is prevented from being united with the highest spirit of the triad, which alone confers on us individual immortality; or, on the other hand, of becoming immortal mystæ; initiated before death of the body into the divine truths of the after life. Demi-gods below, and gods above. | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1090}} “Enead,” i., book viii. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
113 THE SUBLIMEST PART OF THE EPOPTEIA. | {{Page|113|THE SUBLIMEST PART OF THE EPOPTEIA.}} | ||
Such was the chief object of the Mysteries represented as diabolical by theology, and ridiculed by modern symbologists. To disbelieve that there exist in man certain arcane powers, which, by psychological study he can develop in himself to the highest degree, become an hierophant and then impart to others under the same conditions of earthly discipline, is to cast an imputation of falsehood and lunacy upon a number of the best, purest, and most learned men of antiquity and of the middle ages. What the hierophant was allowed to see at the last hour is hardly hinted at by them. And yet Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, and many others knew and affirmed their reality. | Such was the chief object of the Mysteries represented as diabolical by theology, and ridiculed by modern symbologists. To disbelieve that there exist in man certain arcane powers, which, by psychological study he can develop in himself to the highest degree, become an hierophant and then impart to others under the same conditions of earthly discipline, is to cast an imputation of falsehood and lunacy upon a number of the best, purest, and most learned men of antiquity and of the middle ages. What the hierophant was allowed to see at the last hour is hardly hinted at by them. And yet Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, and many others knew and affirmed their reality. | ||
Whether in the “inner temple,” or through the study of theurgy carried on privately, or by the sole exertion of a whole life of spiritual labor, they all obtained the practical proof of such divine possibilities for man fighting his battle with life on earth to win a life in the eternity. What the last {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} was is alluded to by Plato in {{Style S-Italic|Phædrus}} (64); “. . . being initiated in those {{Style S-Italic|Mysteries,}} which it is lawful to call the most blessed of all mysteries . . . we were freed from the molestations of evils which otherwise await us in a future period of time. Likewise, in consequence of this divine {{Style S-Italic|initiation,}} we became {{Style S-Italic|spectators}} of entire, simple, immovable, and {{Style S-Italic|blessed visions,}} resident in a pure light.” This sentence shows that they saw {{Style S-Italic|visions,}} gods, spirits. As Taylor correctly observes, from all such passages in the works of the initiates it may be inferred, “that the most sublime part of the {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} . . . consisted in beholding the gods themselves invested with a resplendent light,” or highest planetary spirits. The statement of Proclus upon this subject is unequivocal: “In all the initiations and mysteries, the gods exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in {{Style S-Italic|a variety of shapes,}} and sometimes, indeed, a formless light of themselves is held forth to the view; sometimes this light is according {{Style S-Italic|to a human form,}} and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape.” | Whether in the “inner temple,” or through the study of theurgy carried on privately, or by the sole exertion of a whole life of spiritual labor, they all obtained the practical proof of such divine possibilities for man fighting his battle with life on earth to win a life in the eternity. What the last {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} was is alluded to by Plato in {{Style S-Italic|Phædrus}} (64); “. . . being initiated in those {{Style S-Italic|Mysteries,}} which it is lawful to call the most blessed of all mysteries . . . we were freed from the molestations of evils which otherwise await us in a future period of time. Likewise, in consequence of this divine {{Style S-Italic|initiation,}} we became {{Style S-Italic|spectators}} of entire, simple, immovable, and {{Style S-Italic|blessed visions,}} resident in a pure light.” This sentence shows that they saw {{Style S-Italic|visions,}} gods, spirits. As Taylor correctly observes, from all such passages in the works of the initiates it may be inferred, “that the most sublime part of the {{Style S-Italic|epopteia}} . . . consisted in beholding the gods themselves invested with a resplendent light,” or highest planetary spirits. The statement of Proclus upon this subject is unequivocal: “In all the initiations and mysteries, the gods exhibit many forms of themselves, and appear in {{Style S-Italic|a variety of shapes,}} and sometimes, indeed, a formless light of themselves is held forth to the view; sometimes this light is according {{Style S-Italic|to a human form,}} and sometimes it proceeds into a different shape.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1091}} | ||
“Whatever is {{Style S-Italic|on earth is the resemblance and}} shadow {{Style S-Italic|of something that is in the sphere,}} while that resplendent thing (the prototype of the soul-spirit) remaineth in {{Style S-Italic|unchangeable}} condition, it is well also with its shadow. But when the {{Style S-Italic|resplendent one}} removeth far from its shadow life removeth from the latter to a distance. And yet, that very light is the shadow of something still more resplendent than itself.” Thus speaks {{Style S-Italic|Desatir,}} the Persian | “Whatever is {{Style S-Italic|on earth is the resemblance and}} shadow {{Style S-Italic|of something that is in the sphere,}} while that resplendent thing (the prototype of the soul-spirit) remaineth in {{Style S-Italic|unchangeable}} condition, it is well also with its shadow. But when the {{Style S-Italic|resplendent one}} removeth far from its shadow life removeth from the latter to a distance. And yet, that very light is the shadow of something still more resplendent than itself.” Thus speaks {{Style S-Italic|Desatir,}} the Persian ''Book of Shet'',{{Footnote mark|†|fn1092}} thereby showing its identity of esoteric doctrines with those of the Greek philosophers. | ||
The second statement of Plato confirms our belief that the Mysteries of the ancients were identical with the Initiations, as practiced now | The second statement of Plato confirms our belief that the Mysteries of the ancients were identical with the Initiations, as practiced now | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1091}} “Commentary upon the Republic of Plato,” p, 380. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1092}} Verses 33-41. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
114 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|114|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
among the Buddhists and the Hindu adepts. The highest visions, the {{Style S-Italic|most truthful,}} are produced, not through {{Style S-Italic|natural}} ecstatics or “mediums,” as it is sometimes erroneously asserted, but through a regular discipline of gradual initiations and development of psychical powers. The Mystæ were brought into close union with those whom Proclus calls “mystical natures,” “resplendent gods,” because, as Plato says, “we were ourselves pure and immaculate, being liberated from this {{Style S-Italic|surrounding vestment,}} which we denominate body, and to which we are now bound like an oyster to its shell.” | {{Style P-No indent|among the Buddhists and the Hindu adepts. The highest visions, the {{Style S-Italic|most truthful,}} are produced, not through {{Style S-Italic|natural}} ecstatics or “mediums,” as it is sometimes erroneously asserted, but through a regular discipline of gradual initiations and development of psychical powers. The Mystæ were brought into close union with those whom Proclus calls “mystical natures,” “resplendent gods,” because, as Plato says, “we were ourselves pure and immaculate, being liberated from this {{Style S-Italic|surrounding vestment,}} which we denominate body, and to which we are now bound like an oyster to its shell.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1093}}}} | ||
So the doctrine of planetary and terrestrial Pitris was revealed {{Style S-Italic|entirely}} in ancient India, as well as now, only at the last moment of initiation, and to the adepts of superior degrees. Many are the fakirs, who, though pure, and honest, and self-devoted, have yet never seen the astral form of a purely {{Style S-Italic|human pitar}} (an ancestor or father), otherwise than at the solemn moment of their first and last initiation. It is in the presence of his instructor, the guru, and just before the {{Style S-Italic|vatou}}-fakir is dispatched into the world of the living, with his seven-knotted bamboo wand for all protection, that he is suddenly placed face to face with the unknown presence. He sees it, and falls prostrate at the feet of the evanescent form, but is not entrusted with the great secret of its evocation; for it is the supreme mystery of the holy syllable. The Aum contains the evocation of the Vedic triad, the {{Style S-Italic|Trimurti}} Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, say the Orientalists; | So the doctrine of planetary and terrestrial Pitris was revealed {{Style S-Italic|entirely}} in ancient India, as well as now, only at the last moment of initiation, and to the adepts of superior degrees. Many are the fakirs, who, though pure, and honest, and self-devoted, have yet never seen the astral form of a purely {{Style S-Italic|human pitar}} (an ancestor or father), otherwise than at the solemn moment of their first and last initiation. It is in the presence of his instructor, the guru, and just before the {{Style S-Italic|vatou}}-fakir is dispatched into the world of the living, with his seven-knotted bamboo wand for all protection, that he is suddenly placed face to face with the unknown presence. He sees it, and falls prostrate at the feet of the evanescent form, but is not entrusted with the great secret of its evocation; for it is the supreme mystery of the holy syllable. The Aum contains the evocation of the Vedic triad, the {{Style S-Italic|Trimurti}} Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, say the Orientalists;{{Footnote mark|†|fn1094}} it contains the evocation of {{Style S-Italic|something more real and objective than this triune abstraction—}}we say, respectfully contradicting the eminent scientists. It is the trinity of man himself, on his way to become immortal through the solemn union of his inner triune self—the exterior, gross body, the husk not even being taken in consideration in this human trinity.{{Footnote mark|‡|fn1095}} It is, when this trinity, in anticipation of the final | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1093}} “Phædrus,” p. 64. | |||
{{Footnote return|†|fn1094}} The Supreme Buddha is invoked with two of his acolytes of the theistic triad, Dharma and Sanga. This triad is addressed in Sanscrit in the following terms: | |||
{{Style P- | {{Style P-Poem|poem=''Namo Buddhâya,'' | ||
Namo Dharmâya, | ''Namo Dharmâya,'' | ||
Namo Sangâya, | ''Namo Sangâya,'' | ||
Aum! | ::: ''Aum!'' }} | ||
while the Thibetan Buddhists pronounce their invocations as follows: | while the Thibetan Buddhists pronounce their invocations as follows: | ||
{{Style P- | {{Style P-Poem|poem=''Nan-won Fho-tho-ye,'' | ||
Nan-won Tha-ma-ye, | ''Nan-won Tha-ma-ye,'' | ||
Nan-won Seng-kia-ye, | ''Nan-won Seng-kia-ye,'' | ||
Aan! | :::''Aan!''}} | ||
See also “Journal Asiatique,” tome vii., p. 286. | See also “Journal Asiatique,” tome vii., p. 286. | ||
{{Footnote return|‡|fn1095}} The body of man—his coat of skin—is an inert mass of matter, {{Style S-Italic|per se;}} it is but the {{Style S-Italic|sentient}} living body within the man that is considered as the man’s body proper, and it is that which, together with the fontal soul or purely astral body, directly connected with the immortal spirit, constitutes the trinity of man. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
115 HOW HUMAN SPIRITS CAN BE CONFERRED WITH. | {{Page|115|HOW HUMAN SPIRITS CAN BE CONFERRED WITH.}} | ||
triumphant reunion beyond the gates of corporeal death became for a few seconds a unity, that the candidate is allowed, at the moment of the initiation, to behold his future self. Thus we read in the Persian {{Style S-Italic|Desatir,}} of the “Resplendent one;” in the Greek philosopher-initiates, of the Augoeides—the self-shining “blessed vision resident in the pure light;” in Porphyry, that Plotinus was united to his “god” six times during his lifetime; and so on. | {{Style P-No indent|triumphant reunion beyond the gates of corporeal death became for a few seconds a unity, that the candidate is allowed, at the moment of the initiation, to behold his future self. Thus we read in the Persian {{Style S-Italic|Desatir,}} of the “Resplendent one;” in the Greek philosopher-initiates, of the Augoeides—the self-shining “blessed vision resident in the pure light;” in Porphyry, that Plotinus was united to his “god” six times during his lifetime; and so on.}} | ||
“In ancient India, the mystery of the triad, known but to the initiates, could not, under the penalty of death, be revealed to the vulgar,” says Vrihaspati. | “In ancient India, the mystery of the triad, known but to the initiates, could not, under the penalty of death, be revealed to the vulgar,” says Vrihaspati. | ||
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The {{Style S-Italic|third}} degree is that when the fakir or any other candidate both feels, hears, and sees; and when he can at will produce the {{Style S-Italic|reflections}} of the Pitris on the mirror of astral light. All depends upon his psychological and mesmeric powers, which are always proportionate to the intensity of his {{Style S-Italic|will}}. But the fakir will never control the Akasa, the spiritual life-principle, the omnipotent agent of every phenomenon, in the same degree as an adept of the third and highest initiation. And the | The {{Style S-Italic|third}} degree is that when the fakir or any other candidate both feels, hears, and sees; and when he can at will produce the {{Style S-Italic|reflections}} of the Pitris on the mirror of astral light. All depends upon his psychological and mesmeric powers, which are always proportionate to the intensity of his {{Style S-Italic|will}}. But the fakir will never control the Akasa, the spiritual life-principle, the omnipotent agent of every phenomenon, in the same degree as an adept of the third and highest initiation. And the | ||
116 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|116|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
phenomena produced by the will of the latter do not generally run the market-places for the satisfaction of open-mouthed investigators. | {{Style P-No indent|phenomena produced by the will of the latter do not generally run the market-places for the satisfaction of open-mouthed investigators.}} | ||
The unity of God, the immortality of the spirit, belief in salvation only through our works, merit and demerit; such are the principal articles of faith of the Wisdom-religion, and the ground-work of Vedaism, Buddhism, Parsism, and such we find to have been even that of the ancient Osirism, when we, after abandoning the popular sun-god to the materialism of the rabble, confine our attention to the {{Style S-Italic|Books of Hermes,}} the thrice-great. | The unity of God, the immortality of the spirit, belief in salvation only through our works, merit and demerit; such are the principal articles of faith of the Wisdom-religion, and the ground-work of Vedaism, Buddhism, Parsism, and such we find to have been even that of the ancient Osirism, when we, after abandoning the popular sun-god to the materialism of the rabble, confine our attention to the {{Style S-Italic|Books of Hermes,}} the thrice-great. | ||
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The doctrine of the Moksha and the Nirvana, as understood by the school of Max Müller, can never bear confronting with numerous texts that can be found, if required, as a final refutation. There are sculptures in many pagodas which contradict, point-blank, the imputation. Ask a Brahman to explain Moksha, address yourself to an educated Buddhist and pray him to define for you the meaning of Nirvana. Both will answer you that in every one of these religions Nirvana represents the dogma of the spirit’s immortality. That, to reach the Nirvana means absorption into the great universal soul, the latter representing a {{Style S-Italic|state,}} not an individual being or an anthropomorphic god, as some understand the great existence. That a spirit reaching such a state becomes a {{Style S-Italic|part}} of the integral {{Style S-Italic|whole}}, but never loses its individuality for all that. Henceforth, the spirit lives spiritually, without any fear of further modi- | The doctrine of the Moksha and the Nirvana, as understood by the school of Max Müller, can never bear confronting with numerous texts that can be found, if required, as a final refutation. There are sculptures in many pagodas which contradict, point-blank, the imputation. Ask a Brahman to explain Moksha, address yourself to an educated Buddhist and pray him to define for you the meaning of Nirvana. Both will answer you that in every one of these religions Nirvana represents the dogma of the spirit’s immortality. That, to reach the Nirvana means absorption into the great universal soul, the latter representing a {{Style S-Italic|state,}} not an individual being or an anthropomorphic god, as some understand the great existence. That a spirit reaching such a state becomes a {{Style S-Italic|part}} of the integral {{Style S-Italic|whole}}, but never loses its individuality for all that. Henceforth, the spirit lives spiritually, without any fear of further modi- | ||
117 THE VISIONS OF SEERS NOT PROVOKED BY DRUGS. | {{Page|117|THE VISIONS OF SEERS NOT PROVOKED BY DRUGS.}} | ||
fications of form; for form pertains to matter, and the state of {{Style S-Italic|Nirvana}} implies a complete purification or a final riddance from even the most sublimated particle of matter. | {{Style P-No indent|fications of form; for form pertains to matter, and the state of {{Style S-Italic|Nirvana}} implies a complete purification or a final riddance from even the most sublimated particle of matter.}} | ||
This word, {{Style S-Italic|absorbed,}} when it is proved that the Hindus and Buddhists believe in the {{Style S-Italic|immortality}} of the spirit, must necessarily mean intimate union, not annihilation. Let Christians call them idolaters, if they still dare do so, in the face of science and the latest translations of the sacred Sanscrit books; they have no right to present the speculative philosophy of ancient sages as an inconsistency and the philosophers themselves as illogical fools. With far better reason we can accuse the ancient Jews of utter {{Style S-Italic|nihilism.}} There is not a word contained in the Books of Moses—or the prophets either—which, taken literally, implies the spirit’s immortality. Yet every devout Jew hopes as well to be “gathered into the bosom of A-Braham.” | This word, {{Style S-Italic|absorbed,}} when it is proved that the Hindus and Buddhists believe in the {{Style S-Italic|immortality}} of the spirit, must necessarily mean intimate union, not annihilation. Let Christians call them idolaters, if they still dare do so, in the face of science and the latest translations of the sacred Sanscrit books; they have no right to present the speculative philosophy of ancient sages as an inconsistency and the philosophers themselves as illogical fools. With far better reason we can accuse the ancient Jews of utter {{Style S-Italic|nihilism.}} There is not a word contained in the Books of Moses—or the prophets either—which, taken literally, implies the spirit’s immortality. Yet every devout Jew hopes as well to be “gathered into the bosom of A-Braham.” | ||
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The hierophants and some Brahmans are accused of having administered to their epoptai strong drinks or anæsthetics to produce visions which shall be taken by the latter as realities. They did and do use sacred beverages which, like the Soma-drink, possess the faculty of freeing the astral form from the bonds of matter; but in those visions there is as little to be attributed to hallucination as in the glimpses which the scientist, by the help of his optical instrument, gets into the microscopic world. A man cannot perceive, touch, and converse with pure spirit through any of his bodily senses. Only spirit alone can talk to and see spirit; and even our astral soul, the {{Style S-Italic|Doppelganger,}} is too gross, too much tainted yet with earthly matter to trust entirely to its perceptions and insinuations. | The hierophants and some Brahmans are accused of having administered to their epoptai strong drinks or anæsthetics to produce visions which shall be taken by the latter as realities. They did and do use sacred beverages which, like the Soma-drink, possess the faculty of freeing the astral form from the bonds of matter; but in those visions there is as little to be attributed to hallucination as in the glimpses which the scientist, by the help of his optical instrument, gets into the microscopic world. A man cannot perceive, touch, and converse with pure spirit through any of his bodily senses. Only spirit alone can talk to and see spirit; and even our astral soul, the {{Style S-Italic|Doppelganger,}} is too gross, too much tainted yet with earthly matter to trust entirely to its perceptions and insinuations. | ||
How dangerous may often become {{Style S-Italic|untrained}} mediumship, and how thoroughly it was understood and provided against by the ancient sages, is perfectly exemplified in the case of Socrates. The old Grecian philosopher was a “medium;” hence, he had never been initiated into the Mysteries; for such was the rigorous law. But he had his “familiar spirit” as they call it, his {{Style S-Italic|daimonion;}} and this invisible counsellor became the cause of his death. It is generally believed that if he was not initiated into the Mysteries it was because he himself neglected to become so. But the {{Style S-Italic|Secret Records}} teach us that it was because he could not be admitted to participate in the sacred rites, and precisely, as we state, on account of his mediumship. There was a law against the admission not only of such as were convicted of deliberate {{ | How dangerous may often become {{Style S-Italic|untrained}} mediumship, and how thoroughly it was understood and provided against by the ancient sages, is perfectly exemplified in the case of Socrates. The old Grecian philosopher was a “medium;” hence, he had never been initiated into the Mysteries; for such was the rigorous law. But he had his “familiar spirit” as they call it, his {{Style S-Italic|daimonion;}} and this invisible counsellor became the cause of his death. It is generally believed that if he was not initiated into the Mysteries it was because he himself neglected to become so. But the {{Style S-Italic|Secret Records}} teach us that it was because he could not be admitted to participate in the sacred rites, and precisely, as we state, on account of his mediumship. There was a law against the admission not only of such as were convicted of deliberate ''witchcraft''{{Footnote mark|*|fn1096}} | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1096}} We really think that the word “witchcraft” ought, once for all, to be understood in the sense which properly belongs to it. Witchcraft may be either conscious or unconscious. Certain wicked and dangerous results may be obtained through the mesmeric powers of a so-called sorcerer, who misuses his potential fluid; or again they may be achieved through an easy access of malicious tricky “spirits” (so much the worse if human) to the atmosphere surrounding a medium. How many thousands of such irresponsible innocent victims have met infamous deaths through the tricks of those Elementaries! | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||
118 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|118|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
but even of those who were known to have “a familiar spirit.” The law was just and logical, because a genuine medium is more or less irresponsible; and the eccentricities of Socrates are thus accounted for in some degree. A medium must be {{Style S-Italic|passive;}} and if a firm believer in his “spirit-guide” he will allow himself to be ruled by the latter, not by the rules of the sanctuary. A {{Style S-Italic|medium}} of olden times, like the modern “medium” was subject to be {{Style S-Italic|entranced}} at the will and pleasure of the “power” which {{Style S-Italic|controlled}} him; therefore, he could not well have been entrusted with the awful secrets of the final initiation, “never to be revealed under the penalty of death.” The old sage, in unguarded moments of “spiritual inspiration,” revealed that which he had never learned; and was therefore put to death as an atheist. | {{Style P-No indent|but even of those who were known to have “a familiar spirit.” The law was just and logical, because a genuine medium is more or less irresponsible; and the eccentricities of Socrates are thus accounted for in some degree. A medium must be {{Style S-Italic|passive;}} and if a firm believer in his “spirit-guide” he will allow himself to be ruled by the latter, not by the rules of the sanctuary. A {{Style S-Italic|medium}} of olden times, like the modern “medium” was subject to be {{Style S-Italic|entranced}} at the will and pleasure of the “power” which {{Style S-Italic|controlled}} him; therefore, he could not well have been entrusted with the awful secrets of the final initiation, “never to be revealed under the penalty of death.” The old sage, in unguarded moments of “spiritual inspiration,” revealed that which he had never learned; and was therefore put to death as an atheist.}} | ||
How then, with such an instance as that of Socrates, in relation to the visions and spiritual wonders at the epoptai, of the Inner Temple, can any one assert that these seers, theurgists, and thaumaturgists were all “spirit-mediums”? Neither Pythagoras, Plato, nor any of the later more important Neo-platonists; neither Iamblichus, Longinus, Proclus, nor Apollonius of Tyana, were ever mediums; for in such case they would not have been admitted to the Mysteries at all. As Taylor proves—“This assertion of divine visions in the Mysteries is clearly confirmed by Plotinus. And in short, that magical evocation formed a part of the sacerdotal office in them, and that this was universally believed by all antiquity long before the era of the later Platonists,” shows that apart from natural “mediumship,” there has existed, from the beginning of time, a mysterious science, discussed by many, but known only to a few. | How then, with such an instance as that of Socrates, in relation to the visions and spiritual wonders at the epoptai, of the Inner Temple, can any one assert that these seers, theurgists, and thaumaturgists were all “spirit-mediums”? Neither Pythagoras, Plato, nor any of the later more important Neo-platonists; neither Iamblichus, Longinus, Proclus, nor Apollonius of Tyana, were ever mediums; for in such case they would not have been admitted to the Mysteries at all. As Taylor proves—“This assertion of divine visions in the Mysteries is clearly confirmed by Plotinus. And in short, that magical evocation formed a part of the sacerdotal office in them, and that this was universally believed by all antiquity long before the era of the later Platonists,” shows that apart from natural “mediumship,” there has existed, from the beginning of time, a mysterious science, discussed by many, but known only to a few. | ||
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The reason why in every age so little has been generally known of the mysteries of initiation, is twofold. The first has already been explained by more than one author, and lies in the terrible penalty following the least indiscretion. The second, is the superhuman difficulties and even dangers which the daring candidate of old had to encounter, and either conquer, or die in the attempt, when, what is still worse, he did not lose his | The reason why in every age so little has been generally known of the mysteries of initiation, is twofold. The first has already been explained by more than one author, and lies in the terrible penalty following the least indiscretion. The second, is the superhuman difficulties and even dangers which the daring candidate of old had to encounter, and either conquer, or die in the attempt, when, what is still worse, he did not lose his | ||
119 THE FOUR TANAIM OF THE TALMUD. | {{Page|119|THE FOUR TANAIM OF THE TALMUD.}} | ||
reason. There was no real danger to him whose mind had become thoroughly spiritualized, and so prepared for every terrific sight. He who fully recognized the power of his immortal spirit, and never doubted for one moment its omnipotent protection, had naught to fear. But woe to the candidate in whom the slightest physical fear—sickly child of matter—made him lose sight and faith in his own invulnerability. He who was not wholly confident of his moral fitness to accept the burden of these tremendous secrets was doomed. | {{Style P-No indent|reason. There was no real danger to him whose mind had become thoroughly spiritualized, and so prepared for every terrific sight. He who fully recognized the power of his immortal spirit, and never doubted for one moment its omnipotent protection, had naught to fear. But woe to the candidate in whom the slightest physical fear—sickly child of matter—made him lose sight and faith in his own invulnerability. He who was not wholly confident of his moral fitness to accept the burden of these tremendous secrets was doomed.}} | ||
The {{Style S-Italic|Talmud}} gives the story of the four Tanaim, who are made, in allegorical terms, to enter into {{Style S-Italic|the garden of delights; i.e}}., to be initiated into the occult and final science. | The {{Style S-Italic|Talmud}} gives the story of the four Tanaim, who are made, in allegorical terms, to enter into {{Style S-Italic|the garden of delights; i.e}}., to be initiated into the occult and final science. | ||
| Line 1,133: | Line 1,164: | ||
The licentious performances of the thousand and one early Christian sects, may be criticised by partial commentators as well as the ancient Eleusinian and other rites. But why should they incur the blame of the theologians, the Christians, when their own “Mysteries” of “the divine incarnation with Joseph, Mary, and the angel” in a sacred {{Style S-Italic|trilogue}} used to be enacted in more than one country, and were famous at one time in Spain and Southern France? Later, they fell like many other once secret rites into the hands of the populace. It is but a few years since, during every Christmas week, Punch-and-Judy-boxes, containing the above named personages, an additional display of the infant Jesus in his manger, were carried about the country in Poland and Southern Russia. They were called {{Style S-Italic|Kaliadovki,}} a word the correct etymology of which we are | The licentious performances of the thousand and one early Christian sects, may be criticised by partial commentators as well as the ancient Eleusinian and other rites. But why should they incur the blame of the theologians, the Christians, when their own “Mysteries” of “the divine incarnation with Joseph, Mary, and the angel” in a sacred {{Style S-Italic|trilogue}} used to be enacted in more than one country, and were famous at one time in Spain and Southern France? Later, they fell like many other once secret rites into the hands of the populace. It is but a few years since, during every Christmas week, Punch-and-Judy-boxes, containing the above named personages, an additional display of the infant Jesus in his manger, were carried about the country in Poland and Southern Russia. They were called {{Style S-Italic|Kaliadovki,}} a word the correct etymology of which we are | ||
120 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|120|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
unable to give unless it is from the verb {{Style S-Italic|Kaliadovât,}} a word that we as willingly abandon to learned philologists. We have seen this show in our days of childhood. We remember the three king-Magi represented by three dolls in powdered wigs and colored tights; and it is from recollecting the simple, profound veneration depicted on the faces of the pious audience, that we can the more readily appreciate the honest and just remark by the editor, in the introduction to the {{Style S-Italic|Eleusinian Mysteries,}} who says: “It is ignorance which leads to profanation. Men ridicule what they do not properly understand. . . . The undercurrent of this world is set toward one goal; and inside of human credulity—call it human weakness, if you please—is a power almost infinite, a holy faith capable of apprehending the supremest truths of all existence.” | {{Style P-No indent|unable to give unless it is from the verb {{Style S-Italic|Kaliadovât,}} a word that we as willingly abandon to learned philologists. We have seen this show in our days of childhood. We remember the three king-Magi represented by three dolls in powdered wigs and colored tights; and it is from recollecting the simple, profound veneration depicted on the faces of the pious audience, that we can the more readily appreciate the honest and just remark by the editor, in the introduction to the {{Style S-Italic|Eleusinian Mysteries,}} who says: “It is ignorance which leads to profanation. Men ridicule what they do not properly understand. . . . The undercurrent of this world is set toward one goal; and inside of human credulity—call it human weakness, if you please—is a power almost infinite, a holy faith capable of apprehending the supremest truths of all existence.”}} | ||
If that abstract sentiment called {{Style S-Italic|Christian charity}} prevailed in the Church, we would be well content to leave all this unsaid. We have no quarrel with Christians whose faith is sincere and whose practice coincides with their profession. But with an arrogant, dogmatic, and dishonest clergy, we have nothing to do except to see the ancient philosophy—antagonized by modern theology in its puny offspring—Spiritualism—defended and righted so far as we are able, so that its grandeur and sufficiency may be thoroughly displayed. It is not alone for the esoteric philosophy that we fight; nor for any modern system of moral philosophy, but for the inalienable right of private judgment, and especially for the ennobling idea of a future life of activity and accountability. | If that abstract sentiment called {{Style S-Italic|Christian charity}} prevailed in the Church, we would be well content to leave all this unsaid. We have no quarrel with Christians whose faith is sincere and whose practice coincides with their profession. But with an arrogant, dogmatic, and dishonest clergy, we have nothing to do except to see the ancient philosophy—antagonized by modern theology in its puny offspring—Spiritualism—defended and righted so far as we are able, so that its grandeur and sufficiency may be thoroughly displayed. It is not alone for the esoteric philosophy that we fight; nor for any modern system of moral philosophy, but for the inalienable right of private judgment, and especially for the ennobling idea of a future life of activity and accountability. | ||
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If the study of Hermetic philosophy held out no other hope of reward, it would be more than enough to know that by it we may learn with what perfection of justice the world is governed. A sermon upon this text is preached by every page of history. Among all there is not one that conveys a deeper moral than the case of the Roman Church. The divine law of compensation was never more strikingly exemplified than in the | If the study of Hermetic philosophy held out no other hope of reward, it would be more than enough to know that by it we may learn with what perfection of justice the world is governed. A sermon upon this text is preached by every page of history. Among all there is not one that conveys a deeper moral than the case of the Roman Church. The divine law of compensation was never more strikingly exemplified than in the | ||
121 THE ROMISH CHURCH SELF-DOOMED. | {{Page|121|THE ROMISH CHURCH SELF-DOOMED.}} | ||
fact that by her own act she has deprived herself of the only possible key to her own religious mysteries. The assumption of Godfrey Higgins that there are two doctrines maintained in the Roman Church, one for the masses and the other—the esoteric—for the “perfect,” or the initiates, as in the ancient Mysteries, appears to us unwarranted and rather fantastic. They have lost the key, we repeat; otherwise no terrestrial power could have prostrated her, and except a superficial knowledge of the means of producing “miracles,” her clergy can in no way be compared in their wisdom with the hierophants of old. | {{Style P-No indent|fact that by her own act she has deprived herself of the only possible key to her own religious mysteries. The assumption of Godfrey Higgins that there are two doctrines maintained in the Roman Church, one for the masses and the other—the esoteric—for the “perfect,” or the initiates, as in the ancient Mysteries, appears to us unwarranted and rather fantastic. They have lost the key, we repeat; otherwise no terrestrial power could have prostrated her, and except a superficial knowledge of the means of producing “miracles,” her clergy can in no way be compared in their wisdom with the hierophants of old.}} | ||
In burning the works of the theurgists; in proscribing those who affect their study; in affixing the stigma of demonolatry to magic in general, Rome has left her exoteric worship and {{Style S-Italic|Bible}} to be helplessly riddled by every free-thinker, her sexual emblems to be identified with coarseness, and her priests to unwittingly turn magicians and even sorcerers in their exorcisms, which are but necromantic evocations. Thus retribution, by the exquisite adjustment of divine law, is made to overtake this scheme of cruelty, injustice, and bigotry, through her own suicidal acts. | In burning the works of the theurgists; in proscribing those who affect their study; in affixing the stigma of demonolatry to magic in general, Rome has left her exoteric worship and {{Style S-Italic|Bible}} to be helplessly riddled by every free-thinker, her sexual emblems to be identified with coarseness, and her priests to unwittingly turn magicians and even sorcerers in their exorcisms, which are but necromantic evocations. Thus retribution, by the exquisite adjustment of divine law, is made to overtake this scheme of cruelty, injustice, and bigotry, through her own suicidal acts. | ||
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“The greatest curse to a nation,” remarks Dr. Inman, “is not {{Style S-Italic|a bad religion,}} but a form of faith which prevents manly inquiry. I know of no nation of old that was priest-ridden which did not fall under the swords | “The greatest curse to a nation,” remarks Dr. Inman, “is not {{Style S-Italic|a bad religion,}} but a form of faith which prevents manly inquiry. I know of no nation of old that was priest-ridden which did not fall under the swords | ||
122 ISIS UNVEILED. | {{Page|122|ISIS UNVEILED.}} | ||
of those who did not care for hierarchs. . . . The greatest danger is to be feared from those ecclesiastics who wink at vice, and encourage it as a means whereby they can gain power over their votaries. So long as every man does to other men as he would that they should do to him, and {{Style S-Italic|allows no one to interfere between him and his Maker,}} all will go well with the world.” | {{Style P-No indent|of those who did not care for hierarchs. . . . The greatest danger is to be feared from those ecclesiastics who wink at vice, and encourage it as a means whereby they can gain power over their votaries. So long as every man does to other men as he would that they should do to him, and {{Style S-Italic|allows no one to interfere between him and his Maker,}} all will go well with the world.”{{Footnote mark|*|fn1097}}}} | ||
{{Footnotes start}} | |||
{{Footnote return|*|fn1097}} “Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism,” preface, p. 34. | |||
{{Footnotes end}} | |||