^■n 
 
 ■s^ 
 
f^i^l^. fi/.T- ^^M^r^^r^^: %< 
 
 THE 
 
 SERMON ON THE MOUNT 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 Extracts from the new Testament 
 
 A Verbatim Translation from the Greek, with Notes on 
 THE Mystical or Arcane Sense 
 
 JAMES M. PRYSE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 theosophical society 
 
 PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT 
 
 244 LENOX AVENUE 
 
 1904 
 
^ 
 
 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, in the 
 
 office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 
 
 D. C, by Elliott B. Page i& Co. 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 Theosophical Society Publishing Department. 
 
 The DeVinne f-Ktsw 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Foreword 
 
 Prefatory Note 
 
 The Sermon on the Mount 
 
 The Coming of the Christos 
 
 The True Path of Power 
 
 A Letter of Iakobos . 
 
 A Letter of Ioudas 
 
 The Service of Right-conduct 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 32 
 45 
 53 
 71 
 78 
 
 I ^ ' " -^ f 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 The cordial reception accorded the first 
 edition of this little volume has led the 
 translator to insert considerable additional 
 matter and to amplify the notes, making the 
 present edition practically a new work. The 
 translation has been carefully revised, and 
 the nomenclature slightly changed, without 
 in any way altering the sense, to make it 
 uniform with a new translation, from the 
 same hand, of The Evangel according to 
 ISannSs, now in the press. 
 
 That the* books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments had an esoteric sense was agreed to by 
 all the exegetists of the first three centuries. 
 And not only Philo Judseus but even Augus- 
 tine held that this inner meaning was the 
 same as that of the Mystery- teachings hand- 
 ed down from time immemorial among the 
 pagans. A large volume could be filled with 
 citations from the patristic and so-called 
 heretical writings to substantiate these state- 
 
2 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 ments ; but a single quotation from Dr. 
 Mosheim's Commentaries is quite conclusive. 
 Speaking of Origen, who ^'pronoimced a 
 great part of the sacred books to be void of 
 meaning if taken literally," he says: **He 
 would have had no enemies if he had merely 
 affirmed, what no one then called in ques- 
 tion, that in addition to the sense which the 
 words of Scripture convey, another sense la- 
 tent in the things described is to be diligently 
 sought for. This will be manifest, if we con- 
 sider who were the men that inveighed so 
 bitterly against Origen's allegories after he 
 was dead : I refer to Eustatius^ Epiphanius, 
 Jerome, Augustine, and many others. All 
 these were themselves Allegorists, if I may 
 use that term; and would undoubtedly have 
 condemned any man, as a great errorist/ who 
 should have dared to impugn the arcane sense 
 of Scripture." Yet in the received English 
 version, biassed by the dead-letter Theology 
 of the translators, this arcane sense is so 
 obscured, the psychology so misconstrued, 
 and such a materialistic colormg given to it 
 all, that no apology is needed for even the 
 unpretentious little work here submitted. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE: 
 
 The following translation of a few pass- 
 ages from the New Testament writings is 
 not a paraphrase but an attempt at a more 
 literal rendering than the received version 
 done from the Latin Vulgate and * ^ diligently- 
 compared with the original Greek." Waiv- 
 ing the fact that the oldest Greek manuscripts 
 of the New Testament can not be assigned 
 to an earlier date than the third and fourth 
 centuries, the originals having been lost, the 
 diligence of the learned translators and re- 
 visers failed to compensate for their absolute 
 ignorance of all psychic things, not to speak 
 of things spiritual and magical. They have 
 made woeful havoc of the mystical terms 
 employed; all their work is vitiated, even to 
 the extent of suppressio veri, by their pious 
 desire to dissociate what they believed to be 
 the unique literary productions of Deity from 
 all pagan sources. As said with unconscious 
 honesty by the lexicographer Parkhurst, when 
 
4 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 apologizing for the very unclassical Greek 
 of the New Testament : * ' Let us suppose that 
 a person whose native language was Greek, 
 and who had read some of the best Greek 
 authors, but was entirely ignorant of the 
 eastern tongues, had met with some or all 
 of the sacred books of the New Testament 
 soon after their publication; the principal 
 difficulty, I apprehend, which one thus qual- 
 ified would have found in understanding 
 their style, would have arisen not from the 
 oriental idioms occurring therein, . . . 
 but from the peculiar senses in which they 
 apply single words; as for instance, pistis for 
 faith, or believing in God; dikaiosune for im- 
 puted righteousness ; ktisis for creation, or 
 production front nothing; and it will be nec- 
 essary to observe, that in delivering this 
 precious doctrine which was to the Greeks 
 foolishness, it was absolutely impossible for 
 the sacred writers to express themselves at 
 all, concerning the most essential points, un- 
 less they had either coined new words, or 
 used such old ones as they already found in 
 a new sense. . . . The writers, there- 
 fore, of the New Testament, or rather (with 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 5 
 
 reverence be it spoken!) the Holy Spirit 
 whose penmen they were," etc. Thanking 
 quaint old Parkhurst for the candor of his 
 admissions and the delicacy of his humor in 
 reducing the Deity, fresh from his successful 
 feat of ** production from nothing," to the 
 necessity of using old words in a new sense 
 in the very book where he advises against 
 putting new wine into old bottles., we still 
 prefer to ignore these *' peculiar new senses" 
 and return as nearly as possible to the old 
 ones. Yet Parkhurst was wiser in his day 
 than later lexicographers whose works, while 
 more accurate in point of scholarship, are 
 more often theological treatises than real lex- 
 icons, and persistently ignore the fact that 
 the New Testament abounds in words and 
 phrases taken from the ancient Mysteries, 
 used in their pagan sense, and not with the 
 wooden meanings invented for them by igno- 
 rant monks and ecclesiastics. For, purified 
 from the theological atmosphere which now 
 envelopes them, an aura of untold musti- 
 ness and of stuffiness unutterable, and with 
 the technical meanings restored to the mys- 
 tical terminology, pagan in origin, which is 
 
6 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 consistently employed in them, the books of 
 the New Testament, and preeminently the 
 four Evangels^ stand unrivalled in religious 
 literature, only a few other scriptures being 
 comparable to them for depth of occult 
 meaning, breadth of moral teaching, height 
 of spiritual exaltation, or pleroma of tender- 
 ness and compassion. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.* 
 
 [Matthew iv. 23 — vi. 27.] 
 
 And lesous went about all Galilaia, teach- 
 ing in their assemblies, and proclaiming the 
 magical Message" of the Realm, and 
 
 * According to Luke, vi. 1 7, the sermon was de- 
 livered on a plain, after ISsous had come down from 
 the mountain (or hill). ** Mountains" are the usual 
 glyphs for force-centres in the aura of man, and the 
 psychic and spiritual states of exaltation to which 
 these correspond. (The more important technical 
 terms are indicated by spacing in this work.) 
 
 * Gr. evangelzotiy of which **good tidings" is an 
 inadequate rendering; it is a magical Message, 
 precisely as the angeloi are magical Messengers — 
 ethereal beings of every degree, from the high Gods 
 down to mere magnetic breaths. The ''Evangel of 
 the Realm" (basileia) is the instruction concerning 
 the "open eye" and its awakening through the action 
 of the Breath (pneuma) or electric Fire — the 
 ••Fiery Power" and ••World-Mother" of The Voice 
 of the Silence. The Breath becomes the "Advo- ' 
 cate with the Father" {paraklHos, mistranslated 
 ••Comforter" in the authorized version). The 
 Breath {pneuma^ wind, air, spirit) is, mystically, 
 the Ether of Space; in man, the vital principle, or 
 
8 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 healing every disease and weakness among 
 the people. And the rumor of him went 
 abroad into all Syria ; and they brought to 
 him all who were ill, being afflicted with 
 various diseases and torments, and obsessed 
 by evil spirits, and moon-stricken, and para- 
 lyzed, and he healed them. And large 
 crowds followed him from Galilaia, and Dek- 
 
 electric Fire. It is sevenfold, as given in Rev. v. 
 6-14: "And I saw in the midst of the Throne [chair 
 of Initiation] and of the Four Beings, and in the 
 midst of the Ancients, a Lamb [Neophyte] standing, 
 as though it had been sacrificed [initiated], having 
 seven horns [or, "wing-like appearances" — auric 
 radiations] and seven eyes [the seven centres of the 
 Breath], which are the Seven Breaths of The 
 God sent forth into all the Earth [psychic world]. 
 . . . And I heard a Voice of many Messen- 
 gers \angeloi\ . . . thousands of thousands, 
 saying with a mighty Voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was sacrificed, to receive the Force and wealth 
 and knowledge and power and majesty and Radi- 
 ance and good-will.' And every embodied thing 
 which is in the sky and on the earth, and under the 
 earth, and on the sea, and all [things] in them, heard 
 I saying: *To him who sits upon the Throne, and 
 to the Lamb, the good-will and the majesty and the 
 Radiance and the strength throughout the On- 
 goings of the On-goings !' And the Four Beings 
 

 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 9 
 
 apolis, and Hierousalem, and loudaia, and the 
 Other side of the lordanos. But when he 
 saw the crowds, he went up into the moun- 
 tain; and when he was seated his pupils 
 came to him, and he opened his mouth and 
 taught them, saying: 
 
 Immortal ' [are] the supplicants in the 
 
 said * Am^n. ' " (The O n - g o i n g s are the Life-cycles ; 
 the Greek awn being from the same root as the 
 Sanskrit /, "to g©.") The above initiation scene 
 from the Apocalypse may be paralleled with the 
 one which concludes The Voice of the Silence : * ' In 
 songs of praise both heaven and earth unite. And 
 from the fourfold manifested Powers a chant of love 
 ariseth. . . . From the deep, unfathomable vortex 
 of that golden light in which the Victor bathes, all 
 Nature's wordless voice in thousand tones ariseth." 
 * Gr. makarios, free from fate or death, emanci- 
 pated, immortal. The word is descriptive' Vf the 
 ^Tate of the Gods, and connotes both bliss and 
 deathlessness. The makardn nesoi, "Ist^of the 
 IiHinOftals" — the Gods and deified dead — were 
 golden islands floating in the blue ocean at the 
 extreme West; and there the blest dwelt in "a tear- 
 less eternity." The pagans apotheosized their heroes, 
 the R. C. Church canonizes its saints ; and the first 
 step towards canonization is the beatification, or pub- 
 lic declaration that the individual is received into 
 heaven ( whether the western heaven of sunset skies 
 
lO THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Breath: because theirs is the Realm of 
 the Skies. ' 
 
 Immortal [are] those who mourn : because 
 they shall be interceded for. "^ 
 
 Immortal [are] the tranquil ones:' because 
 they shall inherit the Earth. 
 
 or not, Jehovah alone knows) and should be rever- 
 enced as one of the Blest. The makarioi are the 
 souls freed from the bondage of re-birth. 
 
 ^ Gr. ouranoi, skies, considered to be the abode 
 of ethereal beings and Gods. Symbolically, the 
 different states or strata of the earth's aura. In the 
 singular, ouranos, visible space, the vault of the sky ; 
 the conception appears to be that of a hollow globe 
 ensphering the earth and constituting a world for the 
 Gods, who move upon its surface as men do upon 
 earth. Asa God, Ouranos is the husband of Gaia, 
 Earth; the two symbolizing respectively the spirit- 
 ual (sidereal) and psychic aspects of the earth's aura 
 — the sphere of star-stuff surrounding it, the astral 
 (starry) light. They who, by the evocation of the 
 Breath, or Fiery Power, awaken the "single eye" 
 attain to this sidereal world. 
 
 ^ When the soul, after ages of immersion in matter, 
 out of world-weariness longs for its primal home, 
 then the Breath becomes its Advocate (para- 
 kletos) with its Father, or Real Self, who "has 
 naught to do with the purgations of matter." 
 
 ^ Or, "dispassionate ones." Inner tranquility or 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. II 
 
 Immortal [are] they who hunger and thirst 
 after right-conduct : ' because they shall be 
 provided for. * 
 
 Immortal [are] they who show compassion : 
 because they shall have compassion shown 
 them. ' 
 
 Immortal [are] the pure in heart : * because 
 they shall see The God. ' 
 
 Immortal [are] the peace-makers :° because 
 they shall be called Sons of a God. 
 
 quiet gives vision of the higher psychic regions, 
 {gam. Earth as a subtile element). 
 
 * Gr. dzkazosune, the practice of rectitude ; the 
 perfect performance of duty which leads to illumin- 
 ation. To aspiration for guidance in life, the soul 
 itself gives answer. 
 
 "Literally, "be feasted." 
 
 ^ Compassion being the purest manifestation of 
 the World- Soul. 
 
 * By all ancient peoples the heart was regarded as 
 the seat of the soul. Purity of soul brings the vision 
 of the Master or real Self. 
 
 * The definite article is retained in translating, as 
 theos, without the article, does not always mean the 
 Supreme Deity in the New Testament. 
 
 "Those who attain to "that sacred peace which 
 nothing can disturb, and in which the soul grows as 
 does the holy flower upon the still lagoons." 
 
12 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Immortal [are] those who have been ex- 
 iled ^ on account of right-conduct ; because 
 theirs is the Realm of the Skies.'' 
 
 Immortal are you when they shall upbraid 
 you, and exile you/ and say every useless 
 word* concerning- you falsely, on my ac- 1 
 count. Rejoice and become ecstatic;* be- 
 cause your recompense is great in the Skies; 
 for in this way they exiled the Seers ° who 
 were before you. You are the salt of the 
 
 * Literally, "hunted," "driven away," "banished." 
 » Referring to the highest of the men-immortals, 
 
 those souls who, though having reached emancipa- 
 tion from the bondage of re-birth, voluntarily incar- 
 nate as teachers. This properly ends the series of 
 nine classes of Immortals, the last possessing, like 
 the first, "the Realm of the Skies," or divine 
 Seership. 
 
 * This paragraph is simply in antithesis to the last, 
 as the self-exiles are usually slandered and exiled by 
 the mob of profane mankind whom they are trying 
 to aid. 
 
 * Or, "Idle gossip." 
 
 ^ Gr. agalliathenai, to be frenzied with exulta- 
 tion, to be mad with delight. Here referring to the 
 mantic frenzy of the Seer. 
 
 * Gr. prophetis, one who interpretes, or declares, 
 the will of the Gods. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 13 
 
 Earth.* But if the salt becomes tasteless, 
 with what shall it be salted ? It is good for 
 nothing any more but to be thrown outside 
 and be trampled on by men. You are the 
 light of the world.'' A town lying on the 
 hills can not be concealed. ' Neither do they 
 bum a lamp and put it under the measure/ 
 but in the lampstand, and it gives light for 
 all who are in the house. In the same way 
 let ^our light shine in front of men, that 
 they may see your good [magical] works/ 
 and add Radiance* to your Father who is 
 in the Skies. 
 
 ^ The stable and pure soiils of the psychic world. 
 
 ' Embodied souls. 
 
 'A sacred city among the ancients was usually 
 built upon a mountain or hill, natural or artificial, a 
 crypt or underground chamber beneath the temple 
 being used for the sacred rites. 
 
 ^ Luke^ xi. 33, reads "in a crjrpt," or cellar. 
 
 * Gr. ergon, a work or operation ; a word tectmi- 
 cally applied to the dramatic performance of the 
 ritual, by the leitourgos or priest, or the display of 
 phenomena by the theourgoSy magician, or thauma- 
 tourgos, marvel-maker. 
 
 " Gr. doxa, opinion, praise, glory ; fancy, dream, 
 vision ; splendor, brightness, brilliant luminosity — the 
 aura or spiritual radiance. 
 
14 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Do not suppose that I am come to abolish 
 the Law or the Seers. I am not come to 
 abolish but to make full. Amen/ for I say- 
 to you, Till the Sky and the Earth pass 
 away, not one letter i or one accent shall 
 pass away from the Law, until all things 
 come into being. Whosoever, therefore, shall 
 relax one of these very little commands, and 
 teach men so, shall receive a very little name 
 in the Realm of the Skies; but whosoever 
 shall make full, and so teach, that [man] 
 shall receive a great name in the Realm of 
 the Skies. For I say to you, Unless your 
 right-conduct much excels that of the Re- 
 corders ^ and the Pharisaians, you surely shall 
 not enter into the Realm of the Skies. 
 
 You have heard that it was said to the 
 people of old : 
 
 * The Greek Amen is an exact equivalent for the 
 Aum or Om, and has no such meaning as "verily" or 
 "so be it." It is the mystic Name of the Christos, 
 the word used in evoking the Breath. "These 
 [things] saith the Amen, the Witness trustworthy 
 and true, the First of the Foundation {ktzszs) of 
 The God" {Rev, iii. 14). 
 
 ^ Gr. grammateus, a scribe, secretary; one learned 
 in the Law. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 1 5 
 
 **You* should do no murder; 
 
 **And whosoever shall do murder shall 
 be liable to the judgment."^ 
 But / say to you. Every man who rashly 
 becomes angry with his brother shall be 
 liable to the judgment;' and whosoever shall 
 say to his brother, ''Dolt,"* shall be liable 
 to the High Council ; " and whosoever shall 
 say, **You soulless being,"' shall be liable 
 to the Burning Valley^ of the Fire. If, 
 
 * The singular pronoun is here distinguished from 
 the plural by being spaced. 
 
 ^ Ex. XX. 13; Deut, xvi. 18. 
 
 ' Meaning an inferior court of judicature, consist- 
 ing of seven judges, according to Josephus, though 
 the Rabbins say of twenty-three. 
 
 * Raka, a contemptuous expression ; its precise 
 meaning is unknown or from what language it is 
 derived. 
 
 ' Gr. sunedrzon, a sitting together ; a council. 
 
 * Gr. nioros, tasteless, insipid, mad ; an evident 
 reference to the preceding passage, "if the salt be- 
 comes tasteless," where the verb is a derivative of 
 moros, 
 
 'Gr. gehenna, after Heb. ge hinnom. Valley of 
 Hinnom, which was devoted to crematorial purposes. 
 It is the opposite of Paradise, and symbolizes the 
 animal passions in man. 
 
l6 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 therefore, you are bringing your votive- 
 gift towards the place for offerings, and 
 there remember that your brother has any- 
 thing against you, leave there your votive- 
 gift in front of the place for offerings, and 
 withdraw ; first be reconciled with your 
 brother, and then come and bring your 
 votive-gift.* Be of kindly disposition towards 
 your opponent promptly until you are on 
 the Path with him, lest perhaps the oppon- 
 ent deliver you up to the judge, and the 
 judge deliver you up to the officer, and 
 you be cast into prison.^ Amen, I say to 
 you. You shall not come out thence until 
 you have paid the very last farthing. 
 You have heard that it was said: 
 
 * Freedom from all uncharitable and impure 
 thoughts is imperative before beginning the mystic 
 meditation, else will the Fire, instead of rising to 
 Paradise (the occult brain centres), strike downward 
 into the centres of animal passions — an actual ''hell" 
 a trifle worse than the fanciful one of the orthodox. 
 Similarly, a group of students who are not in perfect 
 harmony while studying will only arouse the impure 
 and malignant forces of the animal soul. 
 
 'The prison is simply the physical body, which 
 the offending soul will be compelled to inform. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 17 
 
 **You should not commit adultery."* 
 But / say to you^ Every one who looks at 
 a woman to lust after her has already com- 
 mitted adultery with her in his heart. Now, 
 if your right eye ensnare you/ pluck it 
 out and cast it from you : for it is an advan- 
 tage to you that one of your members per- 
 ish, and not your whole body be cast into 
 the Burning Valley. And if your right 
 hand ensnare you, cut it off and cast it from 
 you: for it is an advantage to you that 
 one of your members perish, and not your 
 whole body be cast into the Burning Valley.' 
 But it was said: 
 
 ** Whosoever puts away his wife, 
 **Let him give her a divorce."* 
 But / say to you^ Every one who puts away 
 his wife, except for the cause of harlotry, 
 makes her become an adulteress ; and he who 
 
 * Ex, XX. 14. 
 
 'More literally, "trip you up." 
 
 • Referring to a dangerous reflex action between 
 the higher and lower centres of the Breath; the 
 terms "right eye" and "right hand" having each a 
 special mystic sense. 
 
 ^ Deut, xxiv. 1-3. 
 
i8 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 marries her who is put away commits adul- 
 tery. 
 
 Again, you have heard that it was said to 
 the people of old: 
 
 ^ * Y o u should not foreswear yourself, ' 
 **But should pay unto the Master your 
 oaths." ^ 
 
 But / say to you^ Do not confirm by an 
 oath at all ; neither by the Sky, for it is the 
 throne of The God;' nor by the Earth, 
 for it is the footstool of his feet;* nor by 
 Hierousalem, for it is the city of the great 
 Ruler ;^ ^ neither swear you by your head, 
 for you can not make one hair white or 
 black. But let your saying be Yes, yes; 
 No, no; for that which is more than these 
 is of the useless [person].^ 
 
 * Gr. epiorkein, to violate one's oath ; to swear 
 falsely. Here both meanings are intended. 
 
 ^ Ex. XX. 7; Lev, xix. 12. 
 ^ Is a. Ixvi. I. 
 
 * Is a. Ixvi. I. 
 ^ Ps. xlviii. 2. 
 
 ^ Gr. basileus, king ; the hierophant of the nation- 
 al Mysteries. 
 
 ' Or, "of no use." Gr. poneros, useless, depraved; 
 a term applied to the profane and to those who 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. I9 
 
 You have heard that it was said: 
 **An eye for an eye, 
 
 "And a tooth for a tooth,"* \ 
 
 But / say to j^w, Resist not the useless 1 
 
 [person]; but whosoever shall slap you on \ 
 
 your right cheek, turn to him the other also; 1 
 
 and him who would sue y o u at law and take i 
 
 your frock," let him have your mantle 
 also; and whosoever shall press you into , 
 
 service' for one mile, go with him two. To « 
 
 him who begs of you, give; and from him 
 who would borrow of you, turn not away. 
 You have heard that it was said : 
 '*You should love your neighbor, 
 "And hate your enemy."* 
 But / say to j/ou^ Love your enemies, and 
 speak well of those who call down curses 
 upon you; do rightly by those who hate 
 
 practise the magic arts, or sorcerers; as opposed to 
 chrSstoSy noble, worthy, bestowed upon the neophyte. 
 
 ' Ex. xxi. 24. 
 
 'Gr. chiton, a woolen undergarment, or shirt, 
 reaching to the knees. 
 
 * Referring to the authority held by the king's 
 courier to press people into service for the post or 
 public service generally. 
 
 * Lev. xix. 17, 18. 
 
20 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 you; offer prayers for those who abusively 
 threaten and pursue you ; that you may be- 
 come sons of your Father in the Skies, for 
 he causes his sun to rise on the useless and 
 the good, and sends rain upon the just and 
 the unjust. For if you shall love those who 
 love you, what recompense have you? Do 
 not even the tax-collectors do that? And if 
 you shall welcome your brothers only, what 
 do you more [than others] ? Do not even 
 the masses* do the same? You, therefore, 
 shall be Perfect,' even as your Father, 
 who is in the Skies, is Perfect. 
 
 * Gr. ethnikoi, people forming a nation ; the profane. 
 
 * That is, universal, accepting all men, rejecting 
 none. The Perfect (teleioi) are the Initiates, 
 those who have reached the Perf ecting-period 
 (telos) or unity with the Father. Thus Paulos says: 
 "We talk wisdom among the Perfect, yet not a 
 wisdom of this On-going, nor of the Archons 
 [occult teachers] of this On -going, who are be- 
 coming of no account; but we talk divine Wisdom, 
 in a Mystery, arcane" (I. Cor. ii. 6, 7). Or as said 
 by the Christos in an invocation to the Father: *'The 
 Radiance which thou hast given to me, / have 
 given to them, that they may be one, even as we 
 are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may 
 be made Perfect in one" {John xvii. 23). 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 21 
 
 Take heed that you perform not your char- 
 ities * before men, so as to be seen by them, 
 else you have no recompense in presence of 
 your Father who is in the Skies. When, 
 therefore, you perform charities, do not 
 sound the trumpet before you, as the inter- 
 preters' do in the assemblies and in the 
 streets, that they may be glorified by men. 
 Amen, I say to you. They fully have their 
 recompense. But when you perform char- 
 ities, let not your left hand know what 
 your right hand is doing, that your char- 
 ities may be in the occult; and your Father 
 who sees in the occult shall repay you in 
 the manifested. ~~^ 
 
 And when you offer prayers, you shall not 
 be as the interpreters; for they are very 
 fond of standing in the assemblies and in 
 the corners of the streets to pray, that they 
 may be seen by men. Amen, I say to you. 
 They fully have their recompense. But 
 when you offer prayers, enter into your 
 
 * A reading of equal authority is "right-conduct." 
 ' Gr. hupokritai, "those who explain," as actors; 
 
 diviners, who professed to interpret dreams and 
 
 omens; pretenders, hypocrites. 
 
22 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 treasure-vault/ and when you have closed 
 the door, pray to your Father who is in the 
 occult, and your Father who is in the occult 
 shall repay you in the manifested. 
 
 But when offering prayers do not jabber, 
 like the foreigners ; for they think that they 
 will be understood because of their voluble- 
 ness. Do not be likened to them : for your 
 Father understands your need before you 
 ask him. Thus, then, you should pray: 
 
 Our Father who art in the Skies ^ thy 
 Name be intoned^ ^ thy Realm^ return^ thy 
 Will* come into being, 
 
 ^ Gr. tamteton, treasure-house, store-room, cellar, 
 or subterranean vault for concealing valuables ; here 
 used symbolically for the auric sphere, or treasury 
 of all the soul's experiences, into which the aspirant 
 should withdraw and "close the door" — that is, 
 insulate himself magnetically — before evoking the 
 Breath, or Fiery Power. 
 
 ^ Gr. hagiazesthai, to be consecrated [ to the 
 Gods], made sacred; to be purified. The Name is 
 the Am^n, or word used in evoking the Breath. 
 The whole prayer, in the Greek, is a magical chant. 
 
 ^ Divine seer ship. 
 
 * The self-creativ& power of the monogenis, the 
 one "born from one [parent]," that is, born from 
 himself as his own Father. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 23 
 
 As in the Sky, so on th£EA'^th,^ 
 That Bread of'T^he coming day^ give us 
 to-day ; and free us from our obligations, as 
 WE also have freed those under obligation to 
 us; and bring us not to the test,^ but deliver 
 us from uselessness.^ 
 
 * The psychic nature has become pure like the * 
 spiritual. 
 
 ^ Gr. epiousiofi, a coined word found nowhere ex- 
 cept in this prayer; it clearly does not mean '* daily," 
 but evidently "which is coming" or **of the future." 
 The Bread is the "Bread of Life," of which the 
 Christos says: "/ am that Living Bread that came 
 down out of the Sky. If any one eats of this bread 
 he shall live throughout the On-going" (fohn 
 vi. 51). 
 
 ' Gr. pezrasmos, a proving, trial, experiment. 
 When the Fire of the Parakletos is aroused it is 
 liable to strike downward into the generative cen- 
 tres, if the man is not sufficiently purified, instead of 
 going upward to the brain centres (the "Realm of 
 the Skies"). This is the terrible test of his purity; 
 and he who fails finds himself in the "Burning 
 Valley of the Fire," and in danger of death or in- 
 sanity. But if perfectly pure he is not brought to 
 this test. 
 
 ■• All the conditions and incidents of earth-life, for 
 each incarnate man, being regulated for him by his 
 own soul or mystic "Father" as a training through 
 
24 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 For thine is the Realm, the Force and 
 the Radiance,^ throughout the On-goings. 
 Amin! 
 
 For if you forgive men their mistakes, 
 your Father, he of the Sky, will also forgive 
 you; but if you do not forgive men, neither 
 will your Father forgive your mistakes. 
 
 But when you fast, do not become, like the 
 interpreters, of sullen face: for they cloud 
 over their faces, that they may be seen '' by 
 men to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, 
 They fully have their recompense. But 
 when you fast, annoint your head and wash 
 your face, that you may not be seen by 
 men to be fasting, but by your Father who 
 is in the occult; and your Father who sees 
 in the occult will repay you in the mani- 
 fested. 
 
 Do not treasure up for yourselves treasures 
 
 which he may rise from the uselessness of a mere 
 "image" (eiddlon) to be a Master-builder in spatial 
 life. 
 
 * Gr. doxa^ shining ; the auric body of the Self- 
 bom. 
 
 '•There is an untranslatable play on the words 
 here used: "they make their faces unseen in such 
 wise that they may be seen.'' 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 25 
 
 Upon the Earth,' where moth" and rust' 
 cloud over, and where thieves dig through 
 and steal; but treasure up for yourselves 
 treasures in a Sky where neither moth nor 
 rust clouds over, and where thieves do not 
 dig through and steal: for where your treas- 
 ure is, there also will be your heart.* The 
 lamp of the body is the Eye. If, therefore, 
 your Eye be open,^ your whole body will 
 be luminous; but if your Eye be useless,' 
 your .whole body will be dark. If, there- 
 fore, the Light which is in you is darkness, 
 how great is the darkness! 
 
 No one can serve two Masters: for either 
 
 * "Earth" is the psychic world, the bride of the 
 ••Sky," the sidereal or spiritual. Knowledge stored 
 up in the psychic nature is impermanent, nor can it 
 be guarded against the followers of the ••left-hand 
 path," who dig through and steal. 
 
 * Gr. sis, any small insect, as a clothes-moth or a 
 bookworm. 
 
 ' Gr. broszs, eating, gnawing ; its use in this pass- 
 age is peculiar, and some good authorities translate 
 it as •' corn-worm" instead of "corrosion," or ••rust." 
 
 * The mystic ••heart," whose throbbing opens that 
 inner ••eye" which is the •'lamp of the body." 
 
 'Gr. haplous, unfolded, clear, open. 
 
 •Gr. ponSros, here equivalent to ••atrophied." 
 
26 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 he will hate the one and love the other, or 
 
 ; he will hold to the one and disregard the 
 
 other. You can not be devoted to a God 
 
 J and to a Mamonas.^ Because of this I say 
 
 iito you, Do not be concerned about your 
 
 ^"^ psychic body,^ what you shall eat and what 
 
 you shall drink ; neither for your body, what 
 
 you shall wear. Is not the psychic body 
 
 more than the food, and the body than the 
 
 garment? Look at the birds of the Sky, 
 
 that they do not sow, nor do they reap, nor 
 
 gather into granaries, yet your Father, he of 
 
 the Sky, feeds them. Are not you of much 
 
 more value than they? Now, what one among 
 
 you by being concerned can add one single 
 
 arm-length '^ to his height? And why then 
 
 * The precise meaning of this word is unknown. 
 It is supposed to signify "gain;" and some have 
 supposed Mam6nas to be a God worshipped in 
 Syria, and equivalent to PloutSn, as god of wealth 
 and of the Under-world. 
 
 * Gr. psucM, the semi-material body, or psuchikon 
 sdma. When it is clouded by food-fumes, psychic 
 vision is obscured — a matter of consequence to psy- 
 chics, but not to those who see with the "open eye." 
 
 ^ Gr. pechus, elbow ; the measure of the arm from 
 the elbow to the finger-tips. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 27 
 
 are you concerned about a garment? Medi- 
 tate on the lilies of the field, how they grow : 
 they do not weary themselves with toil, nor 
 do they spin; yet I say to you, Even Sol- 
 omon in all his Radiance* was not arrayed 
 like one of these. ^ Now, if The God so 
 robes the plant of the field, which to-day 
 lives and to-morrow is cast into the oven, 
 [shall he] not much more [robe] you^ O you 
 of little intuition? Do not be concerned, 
 therefore, saying, ** What shall we eat?" or, 
 **What' shall we drink?" or, *^With what 
 shall we be arrayed?" For after all these 
 things the outsiders ^ seek. For your Father, 
 he of the Sky, knows that you need all these 
 things. But seek first the Realm of The 
 God, and his right-conduct; and all these 
 things shall be added to you. Therefore do 
 not be concerned about the morrow ; for the 
 morrow will be concerned about itself: suf- 
 ficient for the day is its own vexation. 
 
 * Gr. doxuy shining, the aura. 
 "^ Kings X. 1-29. 
 
 • Gr. ethnos, people living together, family, band, 
 tribe, race; particular class of men; here denoting 
 special castes of pseudo-occultists. 
 
28 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Judge not, that you may not be judged: 
 for with what judgment you judge you 
 shall be judged, and with what measure you 
 measure it shall be measured back to you. 
 And why do you look at that shaving* in 
 your brother's eye, but do not perceive the 
 beam which is in your own eye? Or how 
 shall you say to your brother, *'Let me 
 pull the shaving out of your eye," and, 
 look, there is the' beam in your own eye? 
 Interpreter, first pull the beam out of your 
 own eye, and then you will see clearly to 
 pull the shaving out of your brother's eye. 
 
 Give not the sanctuary to the dogs ; neither 
 throw your pearls in front of the pigs, lest 
 perchance they trample on them with their 
 feet, and turn again and rend you. ^ 
 
 Ask, and it shall be given to you ; seek, 
 and you shall find ; knock, and it shall be 
 
 *Gr. karphos, a straw, a small chip or shaving; 
 here contrasted with dokos^ a beam or joist. As 
 lesous was a carpenter's son, the simile is an artistic 
 touch of local color. 
 
 ^ The inner life and psychic experiences should be 
 spoken of only to those who will understand what is 
 said, and not to the ignorant and the incredulous. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 29 
 
 opened to you ; for every one who asks re- 
 ceives ; and who seeks, finds ; and [to him] 
 who knocks, it shall be opened. Or what 
 man among you, if his son shall ask him for 
 a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he ask 
 for a fish, also, will give him a snake? If 
 you^ therefore, who are useless ones, know 
 how to give good gifts to your children, how 
 much more shall your Father who is in the 
 Skies give good things* to those who ask 
 him? All things, therefore, that you wish 
 men should do to you, even so do you also 
 to them : for such is the Law and the 
 Seers. ^ 
 
 Enter in by the narrow gate : for wide [is] 
 the gate and spacious the path which leads 
 to the Loss,' and many are they who enter 
 in through it ; for narrow is the gate and 
 
 ^ Luke xi. 13, reads, "give the Purifying 
 Breath." 
 
 'The outer form and the inner meaning. 
 
 'Gr. apoleia, a destroying; ruin; losing (espe- 
 cially losing life). Here, the word is used in opposi- 
 tion to Life, and the passage refers to the down- 
 ward path of the Breath, leading to generation in 
 the physical world, or world of Death. 
 
30 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 hemmed-in the path which leads to the 
 Life,' and few are they who find it. Now, 
 beware of the false Seers who come to you 
 in sheep's clothing,'* but within are plunder- 
 ing wolves. By their fruits you shall recog- 
 nize them. Do they gather a cluster of 
 grapes from thorns, or figs from prickly 
 plants? Even so every good tree produces 
 useful fruits, but the rotten tree produces 
 useless fruits. A good tree can not produce 
 useless fruits, nor a rotten tree produce use- 
 ful fruits. Every tree which does not pro- 
 duce useful fruit is cut down and thrown 
 into [the] fire. Hence, surely, by their 
 fruits you will recognize them. 
 
 Not every one who says to me, ^* Master, 
 Master," shall enter into the Realm of the 
 Skies; but he who does the Will of my 
 Father who is in the Skies. Many will 
 say to me on that day: ''Master, Master, 
 in your Name have we not interpreted? 
 And in your Name cast out spirits? And 
 in your Name performed many magical 
 
 ^ The upward path of the Breath, leading to the 
 mystic birth "from above." 
 
 ^ Sorcerers simulating the auras of neophytes. 
 
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 3 1 
 
 feats? "^ And then I shall say plainly to 
 them, **I never knew you; ^ depart from me, 
 you who who would make a practice of sor- 
 cery."' Every one, therefore, who hears 
 these sayings* of mine and does them, I 
 will liken to a sensible man who built his 
 house upon the rock; and the rain descended, 
 and the streams came, and the winds blew, 
 and assailed that house; and it did not fall, 
 for its foundation was laid upon the rock. 
 And every one who hears these sayings 
 of mine and does not do them, shall be lik- 
 ened to a stupid man who built his house 
 upon the sand; and the rains descended, and 
 the streams came, and the winds blew, and 
 assailed that house; and it fell, and great 
 was its fall. 
 
 * Or, "aroused many Forces." 
 'Or, "approved of you." 
 
 ' Gr. anomia, lawlessness, as opposed to dikaias- 
 uni, right-conduct; violation of the Law {nomas) 
 of the right-hand path. 
 
 * Gr. logos, the inner thought and its outer expres- 
 sion; statement, story, myth; maxim, precept, pro- 
 verb; declaration of an oracle. 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS." 
 
 [I. Corinthians, xv. 35-57.] 
 
 But some one will say, **How are the 
 dead ones'* raised up, and with what sort 
 of body do they come?" 
 
 Thoughtless one, that which you sow is 
 not made living unless it dies, and that 
 which you sow, you do not sow the body 
 which will come into being, but a naked 
 grain, it may chance of wheat or of some 
 other [kinds]; but The God gives it a body 
 just as he has determined, and to each of 
 the things sown its own proper body. All 
 flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one 
 [flesh] of men, another of animals, another 
 of fishes, and another of birds. And [there 
 
 ^ Gr. christoSy washed, anointed with oil ( after 
 bathing). The Christos is the one Anointed by 
 the Breath or universal Spirit. 
 
 *The question is put literally, referring to those 
 who are dead in the ordinary sense ; but the answer 
 is a play upon the word, applying it in a mystical 
 sense to those who are prisoned in the physical body. 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 33 
 
 are] bodies of Sky-substance and bodies of 
 Earth-substance;' but [there is] a certain 
 Radiance* of those of Sky-substance, 
 and a different [Radiance] of those of 
 Earth-substance; one Radiance of the 
 Sun, and another Radiance of the Moon, 
 and another Radiance of the Stars — for 
 Star differs from Star in Radiance. Thus, 
 also, is the Resuscitation of the dead 
 ones. It is sown in a destroying, raised 
 in indestructibility; sown in a disesteeming, 
 raised in Radiance; sown in a weakening, 
 raised in force; sown as a psychic body, 
 raised as a Breath body.' There is a psychic 
 body, and there is a Breath body; hence it 
 
 * Referring to states of matter in the psychic and 
 sidereal worids. 
 
 ^ Gr. doxa, shining, the aura. The **sun" and 
 "moon" are the positive and negative aspects of the 
 Parakletos ; and the "stars" are the force-centres, 
 each of which manifests a different color. 
 
 * Before man, the "dead one," can regain his di- 
 vine state, and be "born from above" in the self- 
 shining spiritual body, he must destroy his passional 
 nature and rise to the permanent part of his being ; 
 discarding material desires, he rises to the psychic 
 life, in the aura or "radiance"; then through a 
 
34 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 is written, **The first man, Adam, came into 
 being in a psychic form," ^ the last Adam in 
 a life-producing Breath. Yet the Breath 
 [body] was not first, but the psychic; after- 
 wards the Breath [body]. The first man 
 
 '•weakening," a renunciation of psychic powers, he 
 rises in the magical *' force" (dunamis) of the Para- 
 kletos, or the Holy Breath acting as the mediator 
 (mesites) between individual man and the One 
 Self. The man whose only conscious life is in his 
 physical body is "dead"; his resuscitation begins in 
 the psychic and is perfected in the spiritual, in the 
 "Breath body" (or, pneumatic body, Gr. pneumati- 
 kos, from pneuma, breath). Compare John iii. 5-8: 
 "If any one be not born of Water and of Breath 
 he can not enter into the Realm of The God. 
 That which has been born from the flesh is flesh, 
 and that which has been born from the Breath is 
 Breath. Do not wonder because I said to you, 
 'You have to be born from above.* The Breath 
 breathes where it wills, and you hear its Voice, 
 but you know not whence it comes nor where it 
 goes. So is every one who has been born from the 
 Breath." In New Testament nomenclature the 
 bodies in the three manifested worlds are termed 
 respectively "carnal" (sarkikos), "psychic" (psu- 
 chikos), and "pneumatic" (pneumatikos). 
 
 ^ Gr. psuche, astral body ; psychic nature. The 
 quotation, if taken from Gen. ii. 7, is not literal. 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 35 
 
 is of the Earth, of dust ; * the second man, 
 the Master, is from the Sky. As dnst, so 
 also are they who are of dust; and as that 
 which is of Sky -substance, so are they 
 who are of the Sky-substance; and even 
 as we have worn the likeness of that which 
 is of dust, we shall also wear the likeness 
 of that which is of Sky-substance. Now, 
 I say this, brothers. Flesh and blood can not 
 inherit the Realm of a God, nor does the 
 destructible inherit the indestructible. Be- 
 hold, I tell you a Mystery:^ though indeed 
 we shall not all sleep, yet we all shall be 
 transformed, in the Atom, in an out-flashing 
 of an Eye, in the last trumpet-call.' For a 
 trumpet shall sound, and the dead ones 
 
 * Gr. choikos, loose earth or dust heaped up ; here 
 used metaphorically for cosmic dust, or astral sub- 
 stance. 
 
 • Gr. tnusteriotty a revealed secret, any secret or 
 occult teaching; plural, ta musterm, ceremonies of 
 initiation; the celebration of the arcane rites. 
 
 ^ By rendering atomos * 'moment," and ripe "twink- 
 ling," the translators of the authorized version have 
 added to the obscurity of the "mystery" told in this 
 passage. For atomos, "uncut," "that which is indi- 
 visible," never means "moment" — as an "atom [of 
 
36 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 shall be raised indestructible, and we shall 
 be transformed. For this destroyed must 
 be clothed with indestructibility, and this 
 mortal ^ must be clothed with immortality. 
 Now, when this destroyed shall have been 
 clothed with indestructibility, and this mor- 
 
 time] " ; and though the lexicons give it this meaning 
 for the New Testament only^ the word does not 
 appear in the New Testament anywhere save in the 
 above passage, where it refers to the atomic (non- 
 molecular) nature of the pneumatic body. Nor is 
 ripe found in the New Testament elsewhere than in 
 this passage, where a peculiar meaning has been 
 attributed to it. The word signifies primarily the 
 impetus or force with which anything is thrown or 
 hurled. The whole passage relates to the mystery 
 of the projection of the pneumatic body from the 
 "open eye" at the "last trumpet-call," that is, the 
 last of the seven spiritual sounds heard in the mystic 
 trance. Thus in the Apocalypse, after the opening 
 of the last of the "seven seals," "the seven Mes- 
 sengers who had the seven trumpets prepared 
 themselves to sound"; and when the seventh Mes- 
 senger sounded his trumpet there were "Voices 
 in the Sky, saying: 'The Realm of our Master, 
 and of his Anointed, has come into being; and 
 he shall reign throughout the On-goings of the 
 On-goings.' " 
 
 *Or, more literally, "this which is dead." 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 37 
 
 tal shall have been clothed with immortal- 
 ity, then shall come to pass that saying 
 which is written, * * Death is swallowed up in 
 victory." * Where, O Death, is your goad? 
 Where, O Under-world, is your victory? 
 The goad of Death is error, and the force 
 of error is the Law.' 
 
 [Matthew xxiv. 1-31.] 
 And lesous went out, and was going from 
 the temple-courts,' and his pupils came to 
 him to point out to him the buildings of the 
 
 * Is a. XXV. 8. 
 
 ' That is, through failure to attain to the Christos, 
 man remains under the sway of Death, ( who reigns 
 over the material world), and the psychic world — 
 the Under- World (hades J; and illusions of ritualis- 
 tic and- conventional religion are the magical force 
 fdunamzsj of Death, the distortions of the True 
 due to man's atrophied moral and psychic natures. 
 
 ' The temple-enclosure (hierosj, as distinguished 
 from the temple proper (naos). Thus in I. Cor, iii. 
 16, 17: **Do you not know that you are a temple 
 (naos) of a God, and the Breath of The God 
 dwells in you? If one destroys the temple of The 
 God, him The God will destroy; for sacred is The 
 God's temple which you are." 
 
38 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 temple-courts. But lesous said to them: 
 *^Do you not s^e all these [things]? Amen, 
 I say to you, There shall not be left here 
 one stone Mpon [another] stone that shall 
 not be thrown down."* 
 
 Now, as he sat upon the Olive-tree Hill, 
 the pupils came to him privately, saying: 
 **Tell us: when shall these [things] be? 
 And what [shall be] the Sign of your 
 presence,^ and of the Assembly of the Per- 
 fect^ of the On-going?"* 
 
 And lesous, answering, said to them: 
 ** Beware lest any one lead you in wan- 
 dering ways: for many shall come in my 
 
 ^ The outer temple being a symbol of the Mys- 
 teries established among the people, the prediction 
 has been fulfilled literally during the Christian cycle. 
 
 ^Gr. parousia, the "being present"; but it may 
 equally well mean the "coming" or "arrival." It is 
 also used for the final •* unveiling" (apokalupsis) of 
 the Inner God to the Initiate. (See note 2, p. 50.) 
 
 ^ Gr. suntelezuy the company of the Perfect 
 (teleioi), the Initiates. 
 
 * Gr. aion, any definite cycle in life and time ; in 
 this passage referring to the 2,155 years' cycle which 
 comes to an end within a few years of the present 
 time. 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 39 
 
 Name, saying, */ am the Anointed,' and 
 shall lead many in wandering ways. And 
 you shall be about to hear of wars and rumors 
 of wars: see that you are not alarmed, for 
 all [things] must come into being; but the 
 Perfecting-period^ is not yet. For class 
 shall rise up against class, and realm against 
 realm ; and there shall be privations of food, * 
 and epidemics, and earthquakes, according 
 to places.' Now, all these [things are] the 
 first of birth-pangs.* Then they shall deliver 
 you up to a hemming-in,^ and make you 
 
 * Gr. telos^ completion, making perfect, initiation 
 in sacred Mysteries ; a term applied by classical writ- 
 ers to the Eleusinian Mysteries. Here it denotes 
 the period for the initiation of those who, during the 
 Life-cycle, have, through purification of the lower 
 nature, risen above the physical and psychic worlds 
 and attained conscious spiritual individuality. 
 
 * Not famines only, but also a scarcity of food 
 among the poorer classes. 
 
 ' Epidemics and seismic phenomena being due to 
 changes taking place in the earth's aura. 
 
 * Gr. 8dis, pain of child-birth. Here referring to 
 the birth of the new cycle. 
 
 •The intensification of forces increasing the bit- 
 terness of the psychically unpurified portion of hu- 
 manity against the few purified ones. 
 
40 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 wretched ; ^ and you shall be hated by all 
 classes because of my Name. And then 
 many shall be tripped up, and shall deliver 
 up one another, and shall hate one another. 
 And many false seers shall rise up, and shall 
 lead many in wandering ways. And because 
 sorcery shall be prevalent, the love of the 
 masses'* shall become cold; but he who 
 stands firm until the Perfecting-period, 
 that [man] shall be saved. And this magical 
 Message of the Realm shall be proclaimed 
 in the whole inhabited world for a witness ' 
 to all classes. And then shall come the 
 Perfecting-period. When, therefore, you 
 shall see the foul thing which depopulates* 
 (which was spoken of through Daniel the 
 
 > Or, * ' kill you " ; but the sense here appears to 
 be metaphorical, "weary to death." 
 
 ^ Gr. hot polloz\ the many, the majority (of the 
 people); the profane. 
 
 * To "bear witness" is to remind men in the ma- 
 terial world of that which they already know in the 
 world of souls, even though they are unable to corre- 
 late the two worlds. 
 
 * Impurity, such as Neo-Malthusianism and kin- 
 dred forms of sorcery, which destroy the "holy 
 place," the "open eye," and cause spiritual death. 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 4I 
 
 Seer) standing in the holy place (he who 
 reads let him understand!)^ then let those 
 who are in loudaia flee to the hills ; let him 
 who is on the house-top not go down to take 
 the [things] out of his house; and let him 
 who is in the field not turn back to take his 
 mantle. And alas for those who are with 
 child and for those who give suck in those 
 days! And pray that your flight may not 
 be in winter, nor on a Sabbath. For then 
 shall be a great hemming-in, such as there 
 has not been from the first of the world 
 until now; no, nor ever shall be. And 
 unless those days were shortened, all flesh 
 would not be saved ; but through the chosen 
 ones those days shall be shortened. Then 
 if any one shall say to you, * Behold, here 
 is the Anointed one,' or, *there,' do not 
 accept it as true. For false Anointed ones 
 and false seers shall rise up, and shall give 
 great Signs and prodigies,* so as to lead 
 into wandering ways, if possible, even the 
 
 * In English idiom, ••Reader, consider this." 
 ■ Gr. teras, omen, portent ; any marvellous appear- 
 ance or incident due to hidden causes and presaging 
 coming events ; any occult phenomenon. 
 
42 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 chosen ones. Behold, I have forewarned 
 you. If, therefore, they shall say to you, 
 'Behold, he is in the desert,' do not go 
 forth; * Behold, he is in the treasure-vaults,* 
 do not accept [it] as true. For as the gleam 
 comes from the sunrise and shines until the 
 sunset, even so shall be the presence of the 
 Son of the Man/ 
 
 '* Wheresoever the fallen body is, there 
 shall the eagles be joined in combat. Now, 
 
 * Man (anthrdpos) is a technical term for the 
 manifestation of the Logos during a particular Life- 
 cycle. Thus Valentinus says : ' ' When God uttered a 
 revelation of himself, this was called a Man." Each 
 of these "Men," or Life-cycles, lasts approximately 
 2,155 years, or the twelfth of a sidereal year, and 
 each has its Spiritual Ruler or * ' Man sent forth from 
 God." Thus, the measurements of the New Hierou- 
 salem are given according to ''a measure of a Man, 
 that is, of a Messenger" (Rev. xxL 17). The 
 ^onology is concisely given in John i. 1-7: "In a 
 First-principle was [existed] the Logos, and the Lo- 
 gos was in relation to The God, and the Logos 
 was a God. This [God] it was who in a First- 
 principle was in relation to The God. All things 
 came into being through him, and apart from him 
 not one single thing came into being. That which 
 has come into being was Life in him, and the Life 
 
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTOS. 43 
 
 immediately after the hemming-in of those 
 days, the sun shall be darkened, and the 
 moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
 shall fall from the Sky and the Forces of 
 the Skies shall be vibrated/ And then 
 shall be manifested in the Sky the Sign of 
 the Son of the Man ; and then shall all the 
 tribes of the Earth'* lament, and they shall 
 see the Son of the Man coming in the clouds 
 of the Sky with great Force and Radi- 
 ance; and he shall send his Messengers 
 with the loud sound of a trumpet-call,' and 
 
 was the Light of the Men. . . . There came 
 into being a Man sent forth from a God ; his name 
 [was] loannes. This [forerunner] came for wit- 
 ness that he might bear witness about the Light." 
 
 * The eagles are the usual glyphic for the positive 
 and negative forces (whether of man or of the 
 Earth); and through their being brought into equi- 
 librium the centres from which they emanate will be 
 darkened, the forces then rising to the next higher 
 world. 
 
 ^ The souls who are still unable to rise above the 
 psychic world, having failed to attain emancipation 
 during the Life-cycle. 
 
 • The Earth is considered to be a living being, hav- 
 ing a psychic and a spiritual nature; and it is to 
 these higher planes that the above passage relates. 
 
44 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 they shall gather together his chosen ones 
 from the four Winds/ from the one end 
 of the Skies to the other." 
 
 * Those souls of the four manifested hierarchies 
 who have earned their emancipation and are entitled 
 to become of the number of the Perfect. Here 
 the discourse ends, so far as it relates to the cycle 
 or racial period ; that which follows is purely psycho- 
 physiological, applying to the mikrokosm, or man. Of 
 the three parables, or allegories, that of the fig-tree 
 relates to the generative centres, the fig being a sym- 
 bol of generation, both from the shape of its leaves 
 and from its peculiar way of bearing fruit ; the five 
 sensible and five stupid virgins with their "torches" 
 or "lights" ("lamps" is a mistranslation) represent 
 the psychic or heart-centres; and the three servants 
 (or, properly, "slaves") with their talents (five, two, 
 and one, the one being buried) stand for the three 
 Fires and the seven brain-centres, the unprofitable 
 slave, who is cast into "the outer darkness," repre- 
 senting the lunar Fire, as does the unrepentant 
 thief in the allegory of the Crucifixion. 
 
THE TRUE PATH OF POWER. 
 
 [I. Corinthians xii. 1-13, 31; xiii; xiv. 1-6, 15-19.] 
 
 Now, concerning- the Breath-beings,^ 
 brothers, I do not wish you to be ignorant. 
 You know that you were once of the out- 
 siders, deceived by means of those voiceless 
 Shells,'' even as you were allured. For that 
 reason I make known to you that no one 
 speaking by Breath of a God calls lesous 
 a temple-offering ; ^ and no one can speak of 
 lesous as Master save by the Purifying^ 
 Breath. 
 
 » Ethereal beings, Gods, ♦♦spirits," or disembod- 
 ied souls, phantoms, etc. 
 
 * Gr. eidola, soulless astral forms, apparitions 
 evoked by the thaumaturgists. Origenes also applies 
 the term eidola to them. lamblichos execrates these 
 ♦'empty phantoms" in his treatise On the Mysteries 
 (xxviii-xxx). 
 
 ' That is, a mere superstition of exoteric worship. 
 
 * Gr. hagioSy pure, devoted to the Gods. The 
 Breath is the agent in the telestic or purificatory 
 rites, and the Fire of spiritual inspiration. 
 
46 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Now, there are diversities of magical pow- 
 ers, but the same Breath. And there are 
 diversities of services, and the same Master. 
 And there are diversities of energizings, but 
 the same God, he who energizes all [things] 
 in all. Now, to each one is given the shin- 
 ing-forth of the Breath for the general 
 good. For to one is given through the 
 Breath a saying^ of [arcane] Knowledge,'' 
 and to another a saying of Secret Lore,^ 
 according to the same Breath, and to an- 
 other intuition in the same Breath ; and to 
 another, magical powers of healing, in the 
 same Breath; and to another, energizings 
 of Forces; and to another, Seership ; * and 
 to another, discernings of Breath-beings; 
 
 ^ Gr. logos, a discourse ; reason ; a maxim contain- 
 ing an inner or esoteric meaning. (See note 4, p. 31.) 
 
 * Gr. sophia, learning ; philosophical teaching ; eso- 
 teric knowledge. 
 
 ^ Gr. gndsis, wisdom ; the sacred science of the 
 Initiates. 
 
 * Gr. propMteia, the faculty of a Seer (prophetes); 
 speaking from direct cognition. A prophetes is one 
 who "speaks for another," for a God, or under 
 divine inspiration; hence, a Seer — not merely one 
 who foretells future events. 
 
THE TRUE PATH OF POWER. 47 
 
 and to another, various mystery-jargons; * and 
 to another, the interpretation of mystery- 
 jargons. '^ Now, one and the same Breath 
 energizes all these, distributing to each one 
 respectively even as he determines. For 
 just as the body is one, and has many mem- 
 bers, so also is the Anointed. For in one 
 Breath we were all lustrated into one body, 
 whether loudaians or Hellenes, whether 
 slaves or freemen, and were all saturated in 
 one Breath. . . . Desire ardently the 
 better- magical powers — and yet I point out 
 to you a more excellent Path. 
 
 Though I speak in the mystery -jargons of 
 the Men and of the Messengers, but have 
 not Love, I am become [but] sounding brass 
 or a cymbal clanging. And though I have 
 
 * Gr. glossa, the tongue ; word of mouth, lan- 
 guage. Here used for magical formulas for arous- 
 ing forces, and for oracular utterances spoken in the 
 mantic frenzy or state of inspiration. The verb used 
 for "speaking" {lalein, to babble, chatter, prattle) 
 is a peculiar one, and is generally applied in the 
 New Testament to speakmg under inspiration, and 
 to disclosing secrets. 
 
 'It is noticeable that mne powers are here enu- 
 merated. 
 
48 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Seership, and know the Mysteries all, and 
 all the Secret Lore; and though I have all 
 Wisdom, * so that I could remove mountains, 
 but have not Love, I am nothing. And 
 though I give away all my possessions, and 
 allow my body to become parched up,' but 
 have not Love, it profits me nothing. 
 
 Love is patient, is kind; Love does not 
 envy, does not vaunt itself, is not inflated, 
 does not appear fantastic, seeks not the 
 things of self, is not irritated, does not im- 
 pute evil ; rejoices not in injustice, but takes 
 glad share in The Truth;^ shelters all 
 
 * Gr. pistiSy confidence, trust ; inner certainty ; in- 
 tuition, insight. It is the illuminating power of the 
 Parakletos, ranging from mere psychic intuition to 
 full spiritual illumination, in which sense Paulos here 
 uses it. Technically, pistis is the power to penetrate 
 into the inner planes of being, gnosis is the interior 
 knowledge, and sophia is the knowledge retained on 
 returning to the outer plane of consciousness. 
 
 ^Alluding to the mistaken monkish notion that 
 spiritual knowledge can be gained by the mere re- 
 nunciation of worldly affairs and the practice of 
 asceticism. 
 
 ^ Gr. alitheia, the One Reality ; true Being as 
 opposed to the transitory illusions of phenomenal ex- 
 istence; the Secret Doctrine of the Mysteries. 
 
THE TRUE PATH OF POWER. 49 
 
 things, has intuition into all things, hopes 
 for all things, bears patiently with all things. 
 Love perishes never — whether Seer-vis- 
 ions shall be done away with, or mystery-jar- 
 gons be made an end of, or the Secret Lore 
 be done away with. For our Secret Lore is 
 from a fragment, and our Seership is from a 
 fragment;' but when the Perfecting-pe- 
 riod shall have come, that which is from a 
 fragment shall be done away with. When I 
 was a child' I talked as a child, thought as 
 a child, reasoned as a child ; but since I have 
 become a man I have put away the [things] 
 of a child. For now we see as by means of 
 puzzling images in a mirror; but then^ face 
 towards face. Now I know only from a frag- 
 ment; but then I shall have full conscious- 
 ness even as I have had full consciousness. 
 And now abide Wisdom, Hope, Love,^ these 
 
 * Or, ' ' we know [only] from a fragment, and we 
 have Seership [only] from a fragment." 
 
 * Literally, •• an infant," ''a baby." 
 
 * Gr. pistis, faith (see note i, p. 48); elpis^ hope, 
 hoping, the object hoped for; agape^ lovingness, 
 affection, love. The word agape is purely Biblical 
 and ecclesiastical, and was evidently coined as a 
 substitute for the pagan Eros (love). In the older 
 
50 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 Three; but the greatest of these [is] Love. 
 Be followers of Love, and strive after the 
 things of the Breath; but more that you 
 should speak as Seers. For he who speaks in 
 a mystery -jargon speaks not to Men, but to 
 The God: no one hears, but by a Breath 
 he speaks Mysteries.* But he who speaks 
 as a Seer speaks to M e n for an upbuilding, 
 and an evocation, and an exhortation. He 
 who speaks in a mystery- jargon upbuilds 
 himself, but he who speaks as a Seer up- 
 builds a Society. Now, I desire that you all 
 should speak in mystery- jargons, but more 
 that you should speak as Seers; for he who 
 speaks as a Seer is greater than he who 
 
 Greek mythology Eros was the highest of the Gods, 
 and is the same as the Logos; thus, "Eros, the 
 most ancient, generated all things" (Argonautics). 
 Hesiodos also assigns the first and highest place to 
 Eros, *'the most beautiful among immortal Gods" 
 {Theogony, 120). Faith and Hope were also prom- 
 inent in the old mythology: "Hope alone remains, a 
 kind Goddess among mortals, the rest have aban- 
 doned us and gone to Olympos; gone is Faith, a 
 mighty Goddess" {TheogniSy 1131-1133). 
 
 * The arcane teachings or doctrines, which are to 
 be expressed only in a secret language. 
 
THE TRUE PATH OF POWER. 5 1 
 
 Speaks in mystery-jargons, unless he inter- 
 prets, so that the Society may receive an 
 upbuilding. And just now, brothers, if I 
 come to you speaking in mystery- jargons, of 
 what assistance would I be to you, unless I 
 shall speak to you either in an Unveiling, or 
 in a Secret Lore, or in a Vision-seeing, or 
 in a Teaching.' ... I shall invoke in 
 the Breath, and I shall invoke also in the 
 Soul;'' I shall hymn in the Breath, and I 
 shall hymn also in the Soul. For if you 
 bless' -in the Breath, how will he who occu- 
 
 * Here are given, in inverted order, the four de- 
 grees of initiation, the lowest being that in which 
 oral teaching was imparted to the "veiled ones" 
 (mustai), and the highest being that of the "Divine 
 Presence" ( parousia ), the "Unveiling" (apoka- 
 lupsis) of the Inner Self of the Seer. Paulos here 
 speaks of himself as an hierephant. The four degrees 
 correspond to the three worlds and the Pleroma. 
 
 • Gr. nous fnoosj, pure reason ; the interior mind ; 
 the rational Soul or Inner Man. Unless a man 
 speaks from direct knowledge of spiritual things, his 
 words have no force and do not appeal to the inner 
 nature of his hearers. 
 
 ■ The word here used is a purely technical one, 
 meaning to employ sound in arousing the forces of 
 the Breath. 
 
52 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 pies the station of the common person * say 
 the ** Amen" at your giving of thanks,* see- 
 ing that he does not know what you. are 
 saying? For you^ indeed, give thanks beau- 
 tifully, but the other [man] is not upbuilt! 
 I give thanks to The God that I speak 
 mystery- jargons more than you all; yet in 
 the Society I would rather speak five say- 
 ings through my own soul, that I may teach 
 others also by word of mouth, than count- 
 less sayings in a mystery- jargon. 
 
 * Gr. ididteSy a private person, one of the common 
 people; ill-informed, unpracticed, illiterate. Here, 
 one of the profane or uninitiated. 
 
 ^ At the conclusion of the ceremony admitting the 
 "common person" into the Society. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS.' 
 
 Iakobos, a slave of God and Master 
 Anointed lesous, sends good- will to the 
 twelve tribes that are among those scattered 
 abroad. 
 
 My brothers, esteem it nothing but a fa- 
 vor when you fall into various trials, being 
 aware that the proving of your faith works 
 out patient-waiting." Now, let the patient- 
 waiting have a perfect work, so that you 
 may be perfect and all-round, lacking in 
 nothing. Now, if any one of you is lack- 
 ing in knowledge,' let him ask of The God 
 
 * Commonly called The General Epistle of James y 
 and supposed to have been written either by "James 
 the Just" or by "James the Less." 
 
 ^ Gr. huponioniy remaining behind ; steadfast wait- 
 ing. Technically, the patient waiting for the Per- 
 fecting-period (telos) or Initiation, when through 
 the action of the Advocate (parakletos) the puri- 
 fied psychic becomes one of the spiritually Illumined 
 (pneutnatikoi). 
 
 ' Gr. Sophia, learning, philosophy ; arcane knowl- 
 edge. (See note i, p. 4Pa) 
 
54 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 who gives to all openly, and does not chide, 
 and it shall be given him. But let him ask 
 trustingly, not at all irresolute; for he who 
 is irresolute is like the surge of the sea, 
 storm-driven and tossed to and fro. Cer- 
 tainly let not that man think that he will get 
 anything from the Master — a bi-psychic* 
 man unsettled in all his ways. 
 
 But let the lowly ^ brother vaunt himself in 
 his loftiness, and the rich in his lowliness ; be- 
 cause as a flower of grass he shall pass away. 
 For the sun rose with burning heat, and 
 withered the grass, and its flower fell off, and 
 the beauty of its appearance was ruined. So 
 also will the rich [ man ] decay in his goings. 
 
 Immortal ' [is] the man who remains firm 
 
 * Gr. dip sue ho s. The psychic nature of man, be- 
 ing intermediate between the spiritual and the phys- 
 ical, partakes of both; until it is purified from the 
 material element the unwavering concentration of 
 mind required for spiritual insight is impossible, for 
 through the conflict of spiritual aspirations and ma- 
 terial desires a man is kept at variance with himself. 
 
 "^ Gr. tapeinoSy of low rank, poor, humble. 
 
 ^ Gr. makarios (makar), an epithet of the Gods 
 (makares theoi) descriptive of their state of death- 
 lessness and everlasting bliss ; the highest happiness. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 55 
 
 under trial; because, having become ac- 
 cepted, he will get the crown of the Life 
 which the Master promised to those who love 
 him. Let no one who is being tried say, 
 *'l am tried by The God"; for The God 
 is untried in evil [things] , and /le tries no 
 one ; but each one is tried by his own Desire, 
 being lured forth and enticed. Then De- 
 sire, ' having conceived, brings forth Sin ; and 
 Sin,' being fully perfected, gives birth to 
 Death. My beloved brothers, be not led 
 into wandering ways. Every good bequest 
 and every perfect gift is from above, com- 
 ing down from the Father of the Lights, 
 with whom there can be no alternation, or 
 
 * Gr. epithumia, eager longing, lust; the "vital 
 impulse which leads from one sensation to another," 
 the principle of desire which leads the soul to rein- 
 carnate — here personified as a wanton woman who 
 allures and entices. 
 
 ^Gr. hamartia, literally, "missing the mark"; 
 failure; a bad action, a violation of divine law. In 
 New Testament terminology it refers especially to 
 the fall into generation ; and generation, or "sin," 
 brings the soul into the material world, which is 
 mystically termed "Death," its dwellers, "the mor- 
 tals," being regarded as "the dead" (hoi nekroi) 
 who have to be revivified spiritually. 
 
56 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 shadow of turning.* Having willed^ he gave 
 birth to us by a Mind^ of Truth,' for us 
 to be a kind of firstlings* of his embodied 
 beings. And so, my beloved brothers, let 
 every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, 
 slow to wrath; for man's wrath does not 
 work out The God's right-conduct. There- 
 fore, laying aside all filth and residue of 
 vice, * with mildness accept graciously the in- 
 
 *Tlie figure of speech refers to the alternating 
 seasons and the shadow on the sun-dial, thus con- 
 trasting the Timeless Father of the Lights with 
 manifested Time as measured by the luminous bodies 
 in space. 
 
 * Gr. logos, the external expression of the interior 
 thought, the formative power of the mind; a word 
 or saying as expressing a thought. 
 
 3 Gr. alHheia, the Real, as opposed to the appa- 
 rent or illusory ; the changeless spiritual basis of life, 
 which forever is ; while manifested life is forever 
 becoming. 
 
 * Gr. aparcM, the preliminary rite i^^ sacrificing; 
 the firstlings offered in a sacrifice. Here the mean- 
 ing apparently is that the first Men (the Mind-born 
 Sons, the "Builders") were the archetypes of all 
 beings in the inferior worlds. 
 
 ^The evil impulses that continue automatically, 
 in the lower nature, even after the mind is fixed upon 
 virtue, and every effort is toward right-conduct. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 57 
 
 bom Mind, which is able to save your psy- 
 chic natures. But become doers of Mind/ 
 and not hearers only, not deluding yourselves 
 with false reasonings. For if any one is a 
 hearer of Mind, and not a doer, this one is 
 like a man observing the face of his birth 
 in a mirror. For he observed himself, and 
 went away, and immediately forgot of what 
 sort he was. But he who peers into the 
 perfect Law, that of freedom, and stands 
 fast, becoming, not a forgetful hearer, but 
 a doer of work, this [man] shall be immor- 
 tal in his doing. 
 
 If any one seems to be religious, who 
 does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his 
 heart, this [man's] religion is foolish. Clean 
 and undefiled religion, with The God and 
 Father, is this: to look after orphans and 
 widows in their distress, [and] to keep him- 
 self unspotted from the world. 
 
 My brothers, do you, in paying regard to 
 outward appearances, keep the faith of our 
 Master, Anointed lesous, [Master] of the 
 Radiance? For if there enter into your 
 
 ' That is, following the inner promptings of the 
 Soul, or Logos. 
 
58 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 assembly a man with gold rings on his fin- 
 gers, in splendid clothes, and there enter 
 in also a beggar* in dirty clcrthes, and you 
 look up to the one wearing the splendid 
 clothes, and say, **Sit thou here in a place of 
 honor;" and to the beggar you say, *^ Stand 
 thou^ or sit near my footstool," do you not 
 make distinctions among yourselves, and be- 
 come judges with sorry notions? Consider, 
 my beloved brothers; did not The God 
 choose the beggars of the world, rich in faith 
 and heirs of the Realm which he promised 
 to those who love him ? But you dishonored 
 the beggar. Do not the rich domineer over 
 you, and do not they drag you into courts 
 of justice? Do they not defame the noble 
 Name which has been nicknamed upon 
 you?'' If, however, you carry out perfectly 
 a royal Law, according to the Writing," 
 
 ^ Gr. ptochos, one who begs from door to door; a 
 mendicant. 
 
 ^The term *' Christians" seems to have been at 
 first a derisive one and a misnomer ; for while lesous 
 was the Anointed (christos), or King-Messias of 
 the cycle, his followers could hardly claim that title. 
 
 ^ Gr. graphe, anything drawn, painted or written; 
 a letter; a passage from the sacred books. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 59 
 
 **Love your neighbor as yourself," you do 
 nobly. But if you pay regard to outward ap- 
 pearances, you commit sin, being convicted 
 under the Law as offenders. For whoso- 
 ever shall keep the whole Law, but shall 
 make one false step, has become liable for 
 all. For the one who said, * ^ Do not commit 
 adultery," said also, **Do not commit mur- 
 der." Now, if you do not commit adultery, 
 but do commit murder, you have become 
 an offender against Law. So speak, and so 
 act, as those about to be judged by a Law 
 of freedom. For judgment [is] pitiless to 
 him who has not shown compassion. Com- 
 passion vaunts itself over judgment. 
 
 What use [is it] , my brothers, in case any 
 one says he has faith, but does not have 
 works — can his faith save him? Now, in 
 case a brother or a sister should be thinly 
 clad, and in want of daily food, and one of 
 you should say to them, **Go your way in 
 peace, be warmed and fed," but you do not 
 give them the things necessary for the body, 
 what use [is it]? Thus also faith, unless it 
 has works, is in itself dead. But some one 
 will say, ^'Vou have faith, and / have works; 
 
6o THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 show me your faith separate from works, 
 and / will show you my faith by works." 
 You believe that The God is One; you do 
 nobly — the Genii* believe [it] too, and shud- 
 der! Now, do you wish to know, O friv- 
 olous man, that faith separate from works is 
 dead? Was not Abraham, our Father, vindi- 
 cated by works, having brought his son Isaac 
 to the place of sacrifice?'' Do you see that 
 faith participated in his works, and that faith 
 was made perfect by works? And the Writ- 
 ing was fulfilled which says, **Now, Abra- 
 ham believed The God, and it was passed 
 to his account as right-conduct";^ and he 
 was nicknamed ''God's friend."* Do you 
 see that a man is vindicated by works, and 
 
 ^ Gr. daimon, god, goddess ; tutelary spirit. Prop- 
 erly, the daimones were the deified souls of the great 
 heroes who are intermediate between ordinary men 
 and the perfected men or Gods ; but in later Greek 
 the term is applied to the spirits of the dead gener- 
 ally, and in the New Testament it is used in a bad 
 sense to designate ghosts, spooks and mischievous 
 sprites. 
 
 " Gen. xxii. 1-18. 
 
 * The words quoted are not in the Old Testament. 
 
 * II. Chron. xx. 7 ; Isa. xli. 8. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 6l 
 
 not by faith alone? And in the same way was 
 not also Rahab, the strumpet, vindicated by 
 works, having entertained the messengers,* 
 and sent them out by another road?* For as 
 the body separate from [the] Breath is dead, 
 so also faith separate from works is dead. 
 
 Let not many [of you] become Teachers, 
 my brothers, knowing that we shall meet 
 with a more severe judgment. For in many 
 things we all trip up. If any one does not 
 trip up in conversation, he is a perfect man, 
 able to guide as with a bridle the whole body 
 also. See, we put the horses* bridle-bits 
 into their mouths in order that they may 
 
 *Gr. angelosy courier, messenger, envoy; guar- 
 dian genius ; elemental spirit. In the above passage 
 the word is used in its primitive meaning, being 
 applied to the two spies sent out by "Joshua the son 
 of Nun " ; but usually in the New Testament it has a 
 technical sense. In the Apocalypse particular angeloi 
 (angels) have charge of separate elements, as fire 
 (xiv. i8), water (xvi. 5), the four winds of the four 
 Quarters (vii. i); and lesous is shown in the guise 
 of an angel (xxii. 8-16). The word angelos is used 
 by the New Testament writers in the good sense of 
 the word daimon^ and they apply the latter only to 
 the lower orders of spirits. 
 
 ^Josh. iL 1-23; vi. 17. 
 
62 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 be brought to obey us, and we direct their 
 whole body. See, also, the ships, though of 
 so great size, and driven by violent winds, 
 yet they are directed by a very small rudder 
 wherever the impulse of the helmsman wills. 
 Thus, also, the tongue is a small member, 
 and it talks big! See, how great a mass of 
 stuff ' a little fire sets aflame ; and the tongue 
 [is] a fire: the tongue is ordinarily, among 
 our members, the sum-total* of injustice, 
 that which vitiates the whole body, and in- 
 flames the wheel of birth,' and is [itself] 
 inflamed by the Burning Valley/ For every 
 
 * Gr. huli, forest, underbrush ; firewood ; unwrought 
 material; the chaotic elements in space from which 
 the material universe (kosmos) was formed. There 
 is a play upon the meaning of the word, in the above 
 passage (which is profoundly occult), referring to the 
 power of sound to arouse the latent evil forces in the 
 psychic nature. 
 
 ^Gr. kosmos^ the (material) world, shaped out of 
 the huli by the formative power of the Logos ; the all. 
 
 ^ Or, *' generation"; descent into the material 
 world. The soul is considered as being bound to 
 the "wheel of birth" because of its repeated incar- 
 nations. 
 
 *Gr. gehenna (see note 7, p. 15). From the evil 
 Fire of Had§s (the psychic world) come the vile 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 63 
 
 creature, both of wild animals and birds, 
 both of reptiles and of sea-animals, is sub- 
 dued and has been subdued by the human 
 creature ; but of human beings not one is able 
 to subdue the tongue ; [it is] an irrepres- 
 sible mischief, full of death- dealing poison. 
 With it we bless The God and Father, and 
 with it we call down curses on men, who 
 have come into being according to a God*s 
 likeness: out of the same mouth go forth a 
 blessing and a curse. My brothers, these 
 things should not come about in this way. 
 Does the spring cause to bubble over, from 
 the same opening, sweet [water] and bitter? 
 My brothers, can a fig-tree produce olives, 
 or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt water pro- 
 duce sweet. 
 
 [Is there] any learned and able man among 
 you? Let him show by noble conduct his 
 works by tranquillity of knowledge. But if 
 you have bitter rivalry and intriguing in 
 your hearts, do not vaunt yourselves and 
 speak falsely concerning the Truth? This 
 
 influences that inflame the passions of men, causing 
 wrong speech and evil actions, which keep the soul 
 within the cycle of reincarnations. 
 
64 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 knowledge^ is not [the knowledge] which 
 comes down from above, but [it is] earthy, 
 psychic, mediumistic.^ For where rivalry and 
 intriguing are, there is anarchy and every 
 mean act. But the knowledge from above 
 is first pure, then peaceable, equitable, defer- 
 ential, full of compassion and of good fruits, 
 resolute, without hypocrisy. Now the fruit 
 of right-conduct is sown by Peace for those 
 making peace. 
 
 From what source [are] quarrels and 
 wranglings among you? [Are they] not in 
 consequence of your voluptuous cravings 
 making war among your members? You 
 desire, and do not have; you commit mur- 
 der,^ and are envious, and you cannot attain 
 [your ends]; you wrangle and quarrel. You 
 do not have, because of your not asking; 
 you ask, and you do not get, because you 
 ask wrongly, that you may squander [it] in 
 your voluptuous cravings. Adulterers and 
 
 * Referring to false pretenses to occult knowledge. 
 
 ^Literally, "ghost-like" {daimoniddis^ a coined 
 word); the writer is speaking of pseudo-occultism 
 of the seance-room sort. 
 
 'That is, "you entertain murderous thoughts." 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 65 
 
 adulteresses, do you not know that the 
 friendship of the world is enemity to The 
 God? Therefore, whoever wills to be a 
 friend of the world renders himself an 
 enemy of The God. Or do you fancy that 
 it is in a literal sense* the Writing says, 
 **Even to enviousness yearns the Breath 
 which dwells in us."^ But it gives a very 
 great favor; therefore [the Writing] says, 
 **The God opposes the arrogant, but gives 
 favor to the lowly."' Therefore, obey The 
 God. Oppose the Adversary, and he 
 will flee from you. Come near to The 
 God, and he will come near to you. Cleanse 
 your hands, sinful [men], and purify your 
 hearts, bi- psychic [men]. Endure hard 
 labor, and mourn and lament; let your 
 
 * Gr. kenos, emptily, inanely ; superficially, in ap- 
 pearance only. 
 
 ' This quotation, like a number of others in the 
 New Testament, is not to be found in the Old Tes- 
 tament books. The theologians — failing to see that 
 it is a poetical hyperbole, which Iak6bos quotes iron- 
 ically — have argued much over its meaning. The 
 revised version gives three distinct translations of 
 it, each of which misses the point of the joke. 
 
 • Prov. iii, 34. 
 
66 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 laughter be changed into mourning, and 
 your gladness into shame. Become lowly 
 in front of the Master, and he will lift 
 you up. 
 
 Brothers do not tattle ^ about one another. 
 He who tattles about a brother, or judges his 
 brother, tattles about the Law, and judges 
 the Law. Now, if you judge the Law, 
 you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge. 
 One there is who is Lawgiver and Judge — 
 he who is able to save and to destroy. But 
 who are you who judge your fellow? 
 
 Come now! you who say, *^ To-day and to- 
 morrow we will go into this or that city, and 
 spend a year there, and carry on business, 
 and gain profit" — you who have no certain 
 knowledge about the morrow. For what is 
 your life? Why, 'tis a vapor, for a little 
 while appearing, and then disappearing. 
 Instead, you should say,'' ''If the Master 
 wills, we shall not only be alive but also we 
 shall do this or that." But now you are 
 
 * Gr. katalalem, to babble, blab ; to talk down, 
 slander. 
 
 ^ Or, "instead of your saying [as you should]," the 
 two preceding sentences being parenthetical. 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 67 
 
 over-confident in your empty boasting. All 
 such over-confidence is useless. Now, when 
 one knows [what is] right, and does not do 
 [it], to him it is sin. 
 
 Come now! you rich [men]; lament and 
 wail loudly for your hardships which are 
 at hand. Your riches* have rotted, and 
 your garments have become moth-eaten. 
 Your gold and your silver have grown rusty, 
 and their rust shall be for a witness against 
 you, and shall devour your bodies "* like fire. 
 You have hoarded treasures on the last 
 days. See, the pay of the workmen who 
 mowed your fields, which is withheld' by 
 you, is crying out, and the supplicating cries 
 of the reapers have come to the ears of the 
 Master of Hosts. You have lived luxuri- 
 ously on the earth, and have been sensual; 
 you have nourished your hearts on a day of 
 
 * That is, stores of grain, which, with webs of fine 
 cloth, and gold and silver ingots and coin, consti- 
 tuted their hoarded wealth. 
 
 "Literally, "fleshes," the term "flesh" ^^^r^r^ be- 
 ing a common one in the New Testament for the 
 physical body. 
 
 •Or, ''left unpaid," implying injustice and fraud. 
 
68 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 slaughter/ You have condemned, you have 
 murdered the just [man];^ he does not re- 
 sist you. 
 
 Be far-purposed, then, brothers, until the 
 presence' of the Master. See, the tiller of 
 the soil waits for the precious fruit of the 
 earth, being far-purposed over it until he 
 gets the early and the late fruitage.* Do 
 you be far-purposed also ; render constant 
 your hearts, because the presence of the 
 Master is near. Brothers, do not utter com- 
 plaints against one another, that you may 
 not be judged. See, the Judge is standing 
 before the doors! My brothers, take as an 
 example of suffering* and far-purpose the 
 
 ^ Jer, xii. 3. The sensualist is represented as 
 pampering his lower nature and having no more 
 forethought than has a stall-fed animal. 
 
 ^Evidently a generic term, as "just men in gen- 
 eral" — the oppressed poor. 
 
 ^ Gr. parousia. (See note 2, p. 38.) 
 
 *Some manuscripts read, "until it receives the 
 vernal and the autumnal rains" — which does not 
 make good sense. The reading "harvest" or "fruit- 
 age" is preferable. 
 
 ** Literally, "suffering ill," "distressed"; but here 
 more probably for "patient endurance of suffering." 
 
A LETTER OF lAKOBOS. 69 
 
 Seers who spoke in the Name of the Mas- 
 ter. See, we immortalize the patient-waiting 
 ones; you have heard of Job's patient- wait- 
 ing, and you saw the Master's Perfecting- 
 period, * because very deeply pitying is the 
 Master, and merciful. 
 
 Now, above all things, my brothers, do 
 not confirm by an oath, neither by the Sky, 
 nor by the Earth, nor by any other oath; 
 but let yours be the **Yes, yes," and the 
 *^No, no"; so that you may not fall under 
 judgment. 
 
 Is any one among you suffering? Let 
 him offer prayers. Is any one happy? Let 
 him break into song. Is any one among 
 you sick? Let him call to his aid the older 
 [members] of the Society, and let them offer 
 prayers over him, having oiled him with 
 treeroil'' in the Name of the Master; and 
 the entreaty of faith will save the worn-out 
 
 * Gr. telos, the consummating period, the end ; in- 
 itiation in the Mysteries. The story of Job is an 
 allegory of the trials of a neophyte (Gr. neophutos, 
 *• newly planted") or candidate for initiation. 
 
 ' Olive oil, palm oil, etc. , used after bathing, and 
 in magnetic (mesmeric) operations. 
 
yO THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 [man], and the Master will raise him up; 
 and if he has committed sins, it will be 
 forgiven him. Confess to one another your 
 sins, and offer prayers over one another, so 
 that you may be healed. The beseeching 
 of a just [man] has much power when it 
 energizes.* Helias^was a man having the 
 same feelings as ourselves, and he, in a 
 prayer, prayed for it not to rain; and it did 
 not rain on the earth for three years and 
 six months. And he prayed again, and the 
 sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth 
 her fruit.' 
 
 My brothers, if any one among you wan- 
 ders from the Truth, and any one guides 
 him back, let him know that he who guides 
 back a sinner out of his wandering path 
 will save a psychic-nature* from death and 
 will cover a multitude of sins. 
 
 * A technical word for arousing occult forces. 
 ''The Greek form for "Elijah." 
 
 'I. Kings xvii. 1-7; xviii. 41-45. 
 
 * Gr. psuchi, the animal soul ; the astral man. 
 
A LETTER OF lOUDAS/ 
 
 louDAS, a slave of Anointed lesous, and 
 brother of lakobos,* to the probationers* be- 
 loved by [The] God [and] Father and 
 kept by Anointed lesous. May compas- 
 sion and peace and love be fulfilled to you. 
 
 Loved ones, making all haste to write 
 to you concerning the common salvation, I 
 
 * Supposed to have been written by loudas the 
 brother of Iak6bos * • the Just " ; he was also called 
 Thaddaios or Lebbaios. Six or seven "Judases" are 
 mentioned in the New Testament besides • 'Judas the 
 accuser," who betrayed his Master. The latter, in 
 the mystical Evangel according to loanniSy repre- 
 sents the evil (sexual) aspect of the Fire ; while the 
 good loudas is the pupil whose questioning brings 
 out the Master's teaching concerning the Parakl§tos. 
 
 ' Luke vi. 1 6. 
 
 'Literally, "called," '"invited." The probation- 
 ers, after being accepted, were termed "chosen" or 
 "culled out"; and having been tested, they were 
 recognized as trustworthy. Thus in the Apocalypse 
 (xvii. 14) are mentioned the "called (klitoi), and 
 chosen (eklektoi)^ and trustworthy (ptstotj" 
 
72 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 feel it an urgent duty' that I should write 
 you calling on you to contend strenuously 
 for the Faith which was once for all handed 
 down to the Purified ones. For there 
 have slipped in stealthily into this judgment'' 
 certain [men], the proscribed of old times/ 
 sacrilegious, changing T h e G o d ' s favor into 
 wantonness, and disowning the only Over- 
 lord* and our Master Anointed lesous. 
 Now, I wish to remind you — [though] you 
 know this^ once for all — that the Master, 
 having saved a people out of the land of 
 E^pt> next" destroyed those who did not 
 
 * Literally, "I had necessity." 
 
 * Gr. krt'ma, that which requires discrimination, or 
 calls for consideration; a decision, distinction; sen- 
 tence, condemnation ; accusation, charge. Here it 
 refers to the separating of the unworthy probationers 
 from the worthy ones. 
 
 ^ That is, those who had been expelled from the 
 Society in past incarnations. The writer uses a legal 
 term : the Roman practice was to post up in public a 
 list of the names of persons sentenced, who were 
 therefore called "the proscribed." 
 
 * Gr. des^otes, a slave-master; despot, absolute 
 ruler; owner, lord. 
 
 ^A variant reading is "all things." 
 •In the Greek idiom, "secondly." 
 
A LETTER OF lOUDAS. 73 
 
 put faith in [him];' and the Messengers 
 who did not keep their First-principle/ 
 but abandoned their own dwelling, he has 
 kept in perpetual fetters, under nether-world 
 gloom,' till [the] judgment of a great day;* 
 even as [the inhabitants of] Sodom and 
 Gomorra, ' and the cities near them, having, 
 in the same way as these [men], become 
 utterly lascivious and having gone away after 
 strange flesh, are held out as an example, 
 undergoing a penalty of On-going Fire. 
 Still, similarly these [men], also, in their 
 dreamings* contaminate the flesh, and disre- 
 gard Masterships, and revile Radiances. 
 But Michael the Arch-messenger, when 
 disputing with the Accuser he argued 
 
 * Num, xiv. 29-31 ; Psa. cvi. 25, 26. 
 
 "^ The purely spiritual or androgynous condition. 
 
 ■ Gr. zophos, thick darkness ; the night side of the 
 world, the land of gloom, the nether-world. The 
 souls that fell into generation are in the bondage of 
 matter, being as it were, imprisoned psychically. 
 
 * At the close of each "g^reat day," or cycle, those 
 souls that have become pure are liberated. 
 
 ^ Gen. xix. 24, 25; Deut. xxix. 23. 
 " That is, having empty dreams, as opposed to 
 true visions. 
 
74 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 about the body of Moses, did not venture 
 to assail him with a reviling"-judgment, but 
 said, ** May the Master rebuke you." ^ Now, 
 these [men] revile all things^ that they do 
 not understand, and all things that they do 
 perceive psychically — as [do also] the irra- 
 tional animals'* — in these things they are 
 corrupted. Alas for them! for they trav- 
 elled the path of Kain, * and rushed headlong 
 in the wandering way of Balaam after pay, * 
 and were ruined in the rebellion of Kore.^ 
 
 * This story is supposed to be taken from a book 
 — now lost — called The Ascension (anabasis) of 
 Mdsis. The words quoted are also found in Zeck. 
 iii. 2. 
 
 2 Literally, '*as many things as." 
 
 ^ The psychic faculties pertain to the animal-soul, 
 and are possessed by the animals as well as by man. 
 Psychic perception, unless devoted solely to spiritual 
 purposes, degrades the inner nature and brings into 
 play the base passions. 
 
 * That is, "the proscribed" had in a past incarna- 
 tion violated the vow of celibacy — Kain being a type 
 of the fall into physical generation. 
 
 ^ Balaam, the enchanter, was tempted to do magic 
 for a reward in gold and silver. 
 
 ® Num. xvi. 1-33. The sin of Kore was ambition, 
 and he promoted a faction. 
 
A LETTER OF lOUDAS. 75 
 
 These [men] are blemishes* in your love- 
 feasts/ when feasting with you, fearlessly 
 shepherding themselves;^ rainless* clouds, 
 borne along by winds; unfruitful autumnal 
 trees, twice dead,^ uprooted; wild waves of 
 the sea, foaming out their own disgraces; 
 wandering stars, for whom the nether- 
 world gloom has been kept throughout the 
 On-going. Now, to these [men] also 
 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, spoke as 
 a Seer, saying: 
 
 *' Behold, [the] Master came with his 
 countless Purified ones, to execute judg- 
 
 * Literally, "rocks," or *' reefs"; but probably 
 *' stains" or "spots" was intended. Apparently the 
 original read, "a stain" fspilosj, which the copyist 
 changed to the plural, and, mistaking the word for 
 spilas (a rock), -wcoie spzlades instead of spiloi. 
 
 ' Before or after the rite of the "Master's supper" 
 was celebrated that of the "feast of love," and on 
 the breaking up of the assembly the "brothers and 
 sisters" expressed their good-will by exchanging the 
 "kiss of peace." 
 
 'Having rejected lesous, the "good Shepherd"; 
 or possibly, "shepherding themselves [and not the 
 flock]." 
 
 * Literally, "waterless." 
 
 * That is, not having borne fruit for two seasons. 
 
76 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 ment upon all, and to convict all the sac- 
 rilegious ones of their works of sacrilege 
 which they sacrilegiously did, and of all the 
 hard words which sacrilegious sinners have 
 spoken about him."' 
 
 These [men] are murmurers, fault-finders, 
 walking according to their own desires — and 
 their mouth speaks turgid [phrases] — prais- 
 ing people for the sake of advantage. 
 
 But do you^ loved ones, remember the 
 words which were proclaimed by the dele- 
 gates '^ of our Master Anointed lesous, that 
 they said to you: 
 
 *^In [the] last time there will be scoffers, 
 walking according to their own sacrilegious 
 desires."^ 
 
 These [men] are the separatists, psychics, 
 not having [the] Breath. But you^ loved 
 
 * The Book of Enoch, from which the above quo- 
 tation is taken, was lost for many centuries, but a 
 copy of it was discovered in Abyssinia ; yet although 
 it is thus endorsed by loudas, it has never been re- 
 ceived as canonical. 
 
 ^ Gr. apostolos, one sent forth with orders ; envoy, 
 messenger. The word is applied to I^sous, to the 
 twelve pupils, and to others. 
 
 * From what writing this is quoted is not known. 
 
A LETTER OF lOUDAS. ^^ 
 
 ones, rebuilding yourselves on your most 
 consecrated Faith, offering prayers in [the] 
 Purifying Breath, keep yourselves in the 
 love of [The] God, expecting the compassion 
 of our Master Anointed lesous throughout 
 On-going Life. And treat some [of the 
 scoffers] with contempt' when they argue 
 with you ; but others save with fear, "" snatch- 
 ing them out of the Fire, hating even the 
 garment' spotted by the flesh. 
 
 Now, to him who is able to guard you 
 from stumbling and by ecstacy* to place 
 you blameless in front of his Radiance, 
 to [the] only God, our Saviour through 
 Anointed lesous, [be] Radiance and 
 greatness, strength and liberty,* both now 
 and throughout all the On-goings. Amen! 
 
 ^ Some manuscripts read, • • and show compassion 
 to some." 
 
 "* That is, being careful not to become contami- 
 nated by their evil magnetism. 
 
 ' Gr. chitdn, a woolen frock. 
 
 * Gr. agalliasis, exultation; man tic frenzy — the 
 highest trance, in which the soul is for the time 
 liberated from the body. 
 
 •Gr. exousia, permission (to do a thing), license; 
 jurisdiction, authority. 
 
THE SERVICE OF RIGHT-CONDUCT.' 
 [Luke X. 25-37.] 
 
 And behold, a certain Lawyer'' rose up, 
 trying him, and saying: 
 
 ** Teacher, what shall I do that I may 
 inherit On-going Life?" 
 
 And he said to him: 
 
 **What is written in the Law? How do 
 you read [it]?'* 
 
 And he, answering, said: 
 
 ** *You should love The God, your 
 Master, from your whole heart, and from 
 your whole psychic-nature, and from your 
 
 * The Old Testament {pa I am diathike, "old com- 
 pact"), or Mosaic Law, which imposed ritualistic ob- 
 servances relating to psychic forces that affect the 
 material life, was called by Paulos "the service of 
 Death" and "the service of over-distinction " (kata- 
 krisis): but the New Testament ("compact"), or 
 code of lesous, which enforces practical ethics based 
 upon the great spiritual law of Compassion, he calls 
 "the service of right-conduct." (II. Cor. iii. 6-9.) 
 
 * An interpreter and teacher of the Mosaic Law. 
 
THE SERVICE OF RIGHT-CONDUCT. 79 
 
 whole strength, and from your whole 
 mind;* and [you should love] your neigh- 
 bor as yourself.'"* 
 
 And he said to him: 
 
 '*You have answered aright. Do this, 
 and you shall have Life." 
 
 Now, wishing to justify himself, he said 
 to lesous: 
 
 '*And who is my * neighbor'?" 
 
 Now, lesous, replying, said: 
 
 **A certain man was going down from 
 Hierousalem to Hiericho, and he fell among 
 bandits,' who not only stripped him but also 
 inflicted blows on [him], and went away, 
 leaving [him] half- dead. Now, according 
 to chance, a certain priest was going down 
 by that path, and seeing him, he went along 
 on the opposite side [of the path]. And 
 in like manner also a Levite * coming to be 
 near the place, went and saw [him], and 
 
 » Gr. dianoia, reasoning faculty ; understanding. 
 ^ Deut. vi. 5; Lev, xix. 18. 
 
 • Gr. lestis, plunderer, despoiler ; pirate ; brigand, 
 robber. 
 
 * The Levites were assistants of the priests and 
 care-takers of the temple. 
 
8o THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 
 
 went along on the opposite side. Now, a 
 certain Samareitan/ as he was traveling, 
 went near him, and seeing him he was 
 stirred to pity; and approaching, he bound 
 up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and 
 having put him on his own beast, brought 
 him to an inn, and took care of him. And 
 on the morrow, taking out two denarii'^ he 
 gave [them] to the inn-keeper, and said, 
 *Take care of him, and whatever you may 
 spend in addition, / — on my return — will 
 pay you.' Which of these three, think you, 
 became a * neighbor' of the one who fell 
 among the bandits?" 
 
 And he said: 
 
 **The one who showed compassion towards 
 him." 
 
 And lesous said to him: 
 
 **Go your way, and do you show [it] in 
 like manner." 
 
 * The people of Samareia, being a mixed race and 
 not of pure loudaian descent, were held in contempt 
 by the loudaians, who had "no friendly dealings" 
 with them. {John iv. 9.) 
 
 '^ The Roman denarius was a silver coin of the value 
 of fifteen to seventeen cents, according to coinage. 
 
CAXALOGUE OK 
 
 ClKO$opbicdl, Occult 
 m metaphysical BooRs. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CbeosopDical Society Publisbing Department, 
 
 244 Lenox Avenue, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Books «©nt postpaid cvn receipt of price, 
 
 PUIiL CATAIiOOUE ON APPLICATION. 
 
 VOICE OF THE SILENCE. Bv H. P Blavat- 
 
 SKY. Cloth, 50 cents ; leather, 75 cents. 
 
 The *' Voice of the Silence " is derived from the " Book of 
 the Golden Precepts," one of the works put into the hands of 
 mystic students in the East. 
 
 To the diligent searcher this book opens up a view of the 
 future awaiting the soul, and shows the successive stages 
 which the soul must pass through on its way to enlightenment 
 and final perfection. 
 
 THE BHAGAVAD-GITA. By William Q. Judge. 
 
 Pocket size, flexible leather, side stamps, gilt edges, 75 cts. 
 
 In the " Bhagavad-Gita'* or ''The Book of Devotion" is 
 represented the conversation between the Personal Self and 
 the Divine Consciousness in Man. In it is set forth the Path 
 of Duty, the right performance of Action, and final Union with 
 the Divine. The " Bhagavad-Gita " has been studied by the 
 philosophers of all ages. 
 
 OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY. By William Q. 
 Judge. With portrait of the author. 154 pages, paper, 35 
 cents ; cloth, side stamp, gilt top, 50 cents. 
 Written in an easy and popular style, this book gives a clear 
 and systematic exposition of Theosophy, unequalled by any 
 other introductory work. In a small compass it conveys a 
 surprising amount of curious and valuable information. 
 It is well suited for propaganda work. 
 
2 Thcosophical Society^ PubL Dcpt. 
 
 CULTURE OF CONCENTRATION, OF 
 
 Occult Powers and their Acquirement. By William 
 Q. Judge, io cents. 
 A valuable treatise. 
 
 LIGHT ON THE PATH. ByM.C. Cloth, 50 cents; 
 
 flexible leather, gilt side stamp, round corners, red edges, 
 
 75 cents. 
 
 This beautiful classic contains the original notes of the 
 author as well as the comments from "Lucifer,'' and the 
 instructive essay on " Karma " that appeared in the original 
 edition but which has been omitted from some of the later 
 ones. 
 
 THE IDYLL OF THE WHITE LOTUS, by 
 
 Mabel Collins. Cloth, |i.oo. 
 
 A truly inspiring book, containing a story which has been 
 told in all ages and among every people. It is the tragedy of 
 the Soul. Attracted by Desire, it stoops to sin ; brought to it- 
 self by suffering, it turns for help to the redeeming Spirit within, 
 and in the final sacrifice achieves its apotheosis and sheds a 
 blessing on mankind. 
 
 LETTERS THAT HAVE HELPED ME. By 
 
 Jasper Niemand. Light cloth, with side stamp, 50 cents. 
 
 * * Every statement in them is a statement of law. They point 
 to causes of which life is an effect ; that life arising from the 
 Spirit in Nature, and which we must understand as it is mani- 
 fested within us before we can advance on the Path." A book 
 of great value to the disciple. 
 
 MAGIC, WHITE AND BLACK, by Franz 
 Hartmann, M. D. Cloth, gilt top, gold side stamp, $2.00. 
 A very popular book on this profoundly interesting subject. 
 The well-known writer has treated it in a remarkably clear 
 style, which accounts for the numerous editions which have 
 been brought out, all of which have been quickly disposed of. 
 
 PARACELSUS, by Franz Hartmann, M. D. I2.00. 
 
 An extract and translation from his rare and extensive works 
 and from some unpublished manuscripts. This great Occultist 
 was one of the advanced thinkers of his age, whom Virchow 
 admitted to be the father of modern medicine. A fine edition. 
 
 244 Lenox Avenue^ New Yorfc# 
 
Theosophical Society^ PabL Dept. 3 
 
 REINCARNATION, (unabridged edition.) By E. D. 
 
 Walker. 350 pages. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 A lucid explanation of the subject, as well as the consci- 
 entious mention of Western objections, with numerous 
 quotations from Western poems and prose writings upon the 
 teaching. 
 
 Much interesting and valuable information is given regarding 
 Reincarnation among the Ancients, in the Bible, in early and 
 present day Christianity, etc. Everybody interested in Reli- 
 gion should possess this book. 
 
 REINCARNATION IN THE NEW TESTA- 
 
 MENT. By James M. Pryse, paper, 35 cents ; cloth, 60 cents. 
 This work presents the doctrine of Reincarnation as it was 
 taught by Jesus and his disciples. In the light of this book, 
 many of the '* dark sayings " throughout the New Testament 
 become lucid and full of meaning ; one cannot fully understand 
 the wonderful significance of many of these passages without 
 a knowledge of Reincarnation as applied thereto. 
 
 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT and other 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE NeW TESTAMENT. By JaMES M. 
 
 Pryse. 86 pages, wide margins, illustrated cover, paper, 
 35 cents ; cloth, 60 cents. 
 
 A verbatim translation from the Greek, with notes on the 
 Mystical or Arcane Sense. 
 
 Contains "The Sermon on the Mount," "The Coming of 
 the Christos," "The True Path of Power," "A Letter of 
 lakobas," '* A Letter of loudas," ''The Service of Right Con- 
 duct." 
 
 This book is of special interest to students of Christian 
 Mysticism and the Occultism of the Bible. 
 
 BROTHERHOOD, NATURE'S LAW. ByBuR- 
 
 CHAM Harding. Cloth, 40 cents. 
 This is one of the best books on elementary Theosophy ; it 
 is written in a clear, and comprehensive style, and just the 
 book for the beginner. Every one can find in it the basis for 
 right conduct, which is convincing to the mind. At the end of 
 each chapter is a series of questions, the answers to which are 
 to be found in that chapter. 
 
 244 Lenox Avenue^ New York. 
 
4 Thcosophical Society, Pobl. Dept« 
 
 COMMENTARY ON ST. MATTHEW. By 
 
 Sri Par an and a. |2.oo. 
 
 AN EASTERN EXPOSITION OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 By Sri Parananda. |2,oo. 
 
 These are two most remarkable books, being an interpreta- 
 tion of two of the Christian Gospels by the light of the spiritual 
 experience of those who are known in India as Jivan-muktas, 
 showing that these Gospels, when rightly understood, are in 
 perfect harmony with the teachings of the Vedanta philosophy 
 of India. 
 
 The author is a Tamil of high attainments and sound culture 
 in the learning of both the East and West ; for many years 
 the representative of his race in the Legislative Council of 
 Ceylon and now the Solicitor General of the Crown in that 
 island. 
 
 OCCULT SCIENCE IN INDIA and among the 
 Ancients, with an account of their Mystic Initia- 
 tions AND THE History of Spiritism, By Louis 
 Jacolliot. Cloth, I2.50. 
 
 An unbiassed account of the result of researches, pursued 
 for many years, into the subject of occult science and the 
 practices of the initiated. Being neither an advocate of these 
 beliefs, nor the opposite, the author sets forth things as he saw 
 them with his own eyes and records faithfully such explana- 
 tions as were received by him. A valuable addition to every 
 library. 
 
 YOGA, or Transformation, by William j. Flagg. 
 
 fo.oo. 
 
 A faithful representation of the various religious dogmas 
 concerning the soul and its destiny, and embracing the Akka- 
 dian, Hindu, Taoist, Egyptian, Hebrew, Christian, Greek, 
 Mohammedan, Japanese and other systems of MAGIC. 
 
 This book is an evidence of the great research and study of 
 the author, setting forth as it does the methods adopted by the 
 different religious systems in the attainment of "Yoga" or 
 Union with the Divine. Transformation from the animal-man 
 to the God-man. 
 
 244 Lenox Avenue, New York. 
 
Theosophical Society, Publ. Dept4 5 
 
 THE MEMORY OF PAST BIRTHS. bvCHARLEs 
 
 Johnston, M. R. A. S. Paper, 25 cents, Cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 In' this charming work is explained the theory of rebirth and 
 the operations of the mind in the act of memory, according to 
 Eastern doctrines, with rules for exercising the same so as to 
 recollect what lies back of the present consciousness. 
 
 This book enjoys a wide circulation. 
 
 KARMA: WISDOM AND WORKS, by Charles 
 Johnston, M. R. A. S. Paper, 35 cents. 
 
 A lucid and comprehensive exposition of one of the funda- 
 mental teachings of Theosophy, based upon the author's trans- 
 lation from the original Sanskrit. 
 
 The writings of this author are well known for the brilliant 
 and scholarly manner in which they are treated. 
 
 THE ALTAR IN THE W5LDERNESS, by 
 
 Ethelbert Johnson. Cloth, 50 cents. 
 This is an attempt to interpret man's seven spiritual ages, or 
 seven well defined spiritual experiences, which every soul is 
 obliged to undergo in the course of its higher evolution. The 
 book is remarkable for the beautiful and easy manner in which 
 this most difficult subject is treated. It is a most valuable little 
 book and will be an ornament to every theosophical library. 
 
 THE MIND AND THE BRAIN. By Prof. Elmer 
 Gates, Smithsonian Institute. Paper, 25 cents ; cloth, 50 cts. 
 Presents in an easy style his investigations in the art of Mind 
 building, (psychurgy). He demonstrates the arts of systematic, 
 originative conscious mentation, and systematic subconscious 
 mentation, and systematic, originative, cooperative mentation, 
 which three processes constitute the art of using the mind 
 
 systematically in original thinking ** Your mind is 
 
 to you the most momentous and important fact in the universe ; 
 for without your mind, what would be the universe and its pos. 
 sibiUties to you ? If you can get more mind or a better 
 regulated mind, you will fundamentally and directly promote 
 all your undertakings/* 
 
 244 Lenox Avenue^ New York* 
 
6 Theosophical Society^ P«bl* Dcpt* 
 
 NATURE'S ALLEGORIES. By Maude Dunkley. 
 Gilt top. Cloth, 75 cents. 
 A beautiful book, especially for young people, expressive of 
 the idea of intelligence in plant life. It is filled with quaint 
 conceits, beautiful conceptions, through which is breathed the 
 spirit of love and peace. 
 
 THE PANORAMA OF SLEEP: Soul and 
 
 Symbol. By Nina Picton. Illustrated Cloth, j5i.oo. 
 Sixteen symbolic dreams, experienced by the writer are re- 
 counted in beautiful language. The teaching is uplifting and 
 inspiring and easily understood. Artistic illustrations add to 
 the value of the book. 
 
 THE PANCH ADASL An encyclopedia of spiritual 
 training. From the Sanskrit, with annotations by N. 
 Dhole, L.M.S. Two vols, in one. Cloth, I2.50. Printed 
 in Calcutta. 
 
 A complete key to the science of man, his relation to the 
 universe, and his ultimate destiny. Panchadasi is the greatest 
 and most complete work on the Vedanta Philosophy. 
 
 VEDANTASARA. The essence of the Vedanta Phi- 
 losophy, From the Sanskrit, with introduction and anno- 
 tations by N. Dhole. Cloth, j5i 25. Printed in Calcutta 
 
 SELECTIONS FROM BUDDHA. By Max 
 
 MiJLLER. Cloth, gilt top, 75 cents. 
 
 Extracts from one of the Books of the East, known as the 
 "Life of Buddha." These selections are passages of an 
 ethical and philosophical character, and are the flower of the 
 divine and ennobling teachings of the light of Asia. 
 
 244 Lenox Avcntic, New York* 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL PINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 JUL 31 194! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■• ^ 
 
 
 ^;^I3^ 
 
 
 __ZI 
 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
 
 iin\i V63-8P^ 
 
 
 HUw »*'»'«-» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LD 21-100m-7,'40(6936s) 
 

 U. b. DC 
 
 CQ5H^2325S 
 
 AAfKriL—