IBRARY 
 
 IIVERSITYOF 
 
 ;ALIFORNIA 
 
 AN c;eco 
 
 . MO.
 
 S3
 
 THE TRUE MYSTIC 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. HOLDEN E. SAMPSON 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 " PROGRESSIVE CREATION," " PROGRESSIVE REDEMPTION " 
 
 " THE MESSAGE OF THE SUN " 
 
 ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LIMITED 
 1914
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 ASA MAHAN, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 ONE-TIME PRESIDENT OF OBERLIN UNIVERSITY 
 
 U.S.A. 
 
 MY SPIRITUAL FATHER, FRIEND AND 
 TEACHER, IN THE BEGINNING 
 
 OF MY 
 
 SPIRITUAL LIFE 
 I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE Lectures contained in this volume were 
 delivered in December last at Folkestone, 
 England, and also in London. In these 
 Lectures I have put together the salient and 
 fundamental principles belonging to the 
 great subject of Mysticism, which will be 
 found more exhaustively treated in my 
 books " Progressive Creation " and " Pro- 
 gressive Redemption." 1 The Lectures con- 
 tain necessarily a very brief and inadequate 
 outline and sketch of the great subject. 
 I have therefore to make apologies to my 
 readers for the sketchiness of this effort to 
 elucidate so wide and profound a theme. 
 Considering the immense area of the ground 
 covered primordial, primeval, prehistoric, 
 primitive, medieval, and modern eras of 
 time the reader will forgive me if he finds 
 cause to complain of inconvenient but 
 
 1 Obtainable from Glaishers, Ltd., Holborn, London, 
 W.C.
 
 vi Preface 
 
 necessary omissions, and general cursoriness. 
 I may also venture to express the hope that 
 these Lectures may whet the appetite of 
 many who read them, and induce them to 
 study the above-mentioned larger works, to 
 which this small volume may rightly be 
 described as an introduction. 
 
 In sending this volume forth, I must not 
 be found wanting in acknowledging my 
 indebtedness to those many writers of 
 distinction whose contributions to Mystical 
 knowledge have proved of the greatest value 
 to myself. By way of personal testimony, 
 of interest to Mystical students, I feel it 
 incumbent upon me to say that the substance 
 of these books came to me from intuitive 
 and mystical sources, the result of ten years' 
 practice of the methods herein specified as 
 the " Four Tokens of the Mystic." It was 
 literally " in the wilderness " that these 
 things came to me, and I wrote them down 
 at "first hand." Reading and study of the 
 large body of literature, of antiquity and of 
 modern times, have confirmed every line of 
 the teaching I received. Memory declines 
 to recall every writer's name whose works 
 I have read, to confirm the original funda-
 
 Preface vii 
 
 menta of my books. But some notable 
 works stand out strongly in my recollection, 
 and for the benefit of my readers I here 
 name them, and commend them to their 
 notice : 
 
 " The Perfect Way, or the Finding of Christ," 
 by Anna Kingsford and Edward Mait- 
 land. 
 
 " Fragments of a Faith Forgotten," by 
 G. R. S. Mead. 
 
 " Mysticism " and " The Mystic Way," by 
 Evelyn Underbill. 
 
 " The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail," by 
 Edward A. Waite. 
 
 " On a Gold Basis" by Isabelle de Steiger. 
 
 " Superhumanity ," by the same author, 
 published serially in " The Path," 1913. 
 
 " The Idea of Reincarnation," by Kehler. 
 
 " The Philosophy of Natural and Revealed 
 Religion," by Chevalier Ramsay, Arch- 
 bishop of Cambray, published in the 
 early i8th century. 
 
 " I sis Unveiled" and " The Secret Doctrine," 
 by H. P. Blavatsky. 
 
 Articles by various writers in " The Occult 
 Review."
 
 viii Preface 
 
 " The Interior, or Hidden Life of the Soul," 
 
 by Dr. Upham. 
 " The Life of Madame de la Mothe Guy on," 
 
 by Dr. Upham. 
 
 " Hebrew Mysticism," by Prof. Abelson. 
 " Esoteric Christianity," by Annie Besant. 
 Works of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Lodge, 
 
 and other scientists. 
 Emerson's Essays, Maeterlinck's " Treasure 
 
 of the Humble," etc. 
 
 If in any statements made in this volume 
 I have criticized movements and propa- 
 ganda in language calculated to hurt the 
 feelings of others, I take this opportunity 
 of expressing my sorrow. Religious views 
 always tend to unfortunate divisions among 
 those who ardently and sincerely follow 
 them, and too often the personal feelings 
 are aroused when religious views come into 
 contact with other variants of thought. 
 True Mysticism has no variance of thought, 
 and the firm belief of the writer is that the 
 dispersal of religious " sectarianism " and 
 mutual intolerance will be in proportion to 
 the general acceptance of the tenets of True 
 Mysticism. All that is True, in all sects and
 
 Preface ix 
 
 divisions of the religious unit, finds its 
 perfect expression in Mysticism. 
 
 If, again, I have been so unfortunate as 
 to have unfairly represented any teaching 
 I have ventured to criticize, mine be the 
 fault, and no one will be more ready to 
 acknowledge the error, and more pleased to 
 learn that he is mistaken, than myself. 
 
 It may be, also, that some critical readers 
 may complain of dogmatism in this book, 
 when I have spoken with emphasis on the 
 special features of experience in Mysticism. 
 It is not, however, in the spirit of dogmati- 
 zation that I have spoken, nor as " laying 
 down the law." I would not be thought to 
 assert that there is absolute uniformity of 
 experience in attaining the Mystic State. 
 Human character and disposition vary in 
 each person. Pre-natal differences are as 
 numerous as human characters. The passage 
 of the Soul through the " Wilderness- 
 journey " for some may be like Abraham's 
 journey to Canaan, without tribulation, and 
 with a " retinue " of pleasant circumstances. 
 For others, it may be like that of the 
 Children of Israel under Moses, full of 
 wanderings and affliction. Some may have
 
 x Preface 
 
 the experience of a Paul, and be able to 
 record their " rapture " to the " third 
 heaven." Others may have these passages 
 in states of unconsciousness. All who reach 
 the Mystic State, nevertheless, have certain 
 Knowledge of the Way they journeyed, and 
 absolute assurance of the results of the 
 journey in their Soul's experience. //, then, 
 the end is gained the Mystic State that is 
 the main point ; and I earnestly hope that 
 this book may help many to " know them- 
 selves " and to pursue the Path. 
 
 H. E. S. 
 
 January, 1914. 
 
 FOLKESTONE, ENGLAND.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 FIRST LECTURE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MYSTICISM OF THE PAST . i 
 
 SECOND LECTURE 
 MYSTICISM OF THE PRESENT . 66 
 
 THIRD LECTURE 
 MYSTICISM OF THE FUTURE . . .117
 
 The True Mystic 
 
 FIRST LECTURE 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Mysticism " in the air." It is not needful 
 to remind you that, at the present time, the 
 subject of Mysticism is much to the front in 
 people's minds. 
 
 Mysticism is "in the air " to-day as it 
 never has been for many ages past. It is 
 an historical fact connected with all new 
 developments of thought, that what at one 
 time floats mistily " in the air," becomes a 
 concrete and accepted belief at a later time. 
 That it will prove the same in regard to 
 Mysticism, I have not the least doubt. 
 
 Many of us probably have spent the 
 greater part of our lives groping, more or 
 less blindly, after the things unseen. We 
 know they are realities, but no light appears
 
 2 The True Mystic 
 
 to be shed upon them, to enable us to trace 
 and grasp them. 
 
 Some of us have suffered constantly, both 
 in material and spiritual circumstances, in 
 the conscious and unconscious struggle our 
 souls have made to reach and grasp spiritual 
 realities, which to all the world around us 
 both religious and secular seem so unreal, 
 so unimportant. We cannot make light of 
 them as all the world seems to do. We have 
 to brave much comment and criticism in this 
 struggle for the light. The way leads to so 
 many deviations from beaten tracks. 
 
 Our souls have had that much of experi- 
 ence, at certain sacred and memorable times 
 in our lives, to certify to these realities. We 
 cannot doubt them, nor quench the hunger 
 and thirst for their fulness. Yet at the 
 same time they are for the most part still 
 ungrasped, and we are incapable of express- 
 ing or demonstrating them. 
 
 How near to us these mysteries have been, 
 and yet how far they are ! Sometimes we 
 thought we had grasped them, but they 
 receded from us when our hands stretched 
 out to seize them. 
 
 We have had so-called " occult " experi-
 
 Introductory 3 
 
 ence of them, we have had inexpressible 
 dreams of them, we have had feelings of 
 them, baffling our intelligence and our 
 descriptive powers. They remain " mys- 
 teries " to us to-day, as they were from the 
 beginning. 
 
 Mysticism is the quest of the mystic life. 
 Now this kind of experience of quest and 
 seeking is what is broadly termed " Mysti- 
 cism." Yet not one of us, who has come 
 so far on the path, can be denominated a 
 " Mystic." 
 
 A " Mystic " is one who has attained the 
 " Gnosis," the " Sophia," the Wisdom of the 
 Divine Mysteries, the " Theo-Sophia." He 
 is an Initiate, a " Gnostic." 
 
 But Mysticism is the search for and 
 science of the Theo-Sophia. It is the spirit 
 of enquiry, and the process of attainment, 
 which, if persevered in, ends in attain- 
 ment, and the " Mystic" Life. 
 
 Tokens of experience. There are certain 
 cognizable tokens of experience which in 
 varying degrees mark the " Mystic," and 
 distinguish him from other persons (how- 
 ever much pursuing Mysticism) who have 
 not attained to the Mystic.
 
 4 The True Mystic 
 
 A state of being. For it is a state of being 
 that constitutes the Mystic, and places him 
 apart from other men. 
 
 Yet the Mystic may seem not in the least 
 unlike other men who are not Mystics, and 
 the latter may seem more like Mystics than 
 the Mystic himself. 
 
 This is so because the " state of being " 
 constituting the Mystic is not outwardly 
 demonstrable, nor dependent on " pheno- 
 mena," or peculiar attributes. 
 
 Attributes and phenomena of the Mystic 
 not exhibited. The Mystic has peculiar 
 attributes, and he is a phenomenal person. 
 But he does not exhibit his phenomena, nor 
 announce his peculiar attributes. If they 
 are drawn from him by the force of outward 
 appeal, or prayer, or faith, or by the 
 attraction of those whose sympathies 
 and needs call them forth, he responds 
 freely. 
 
 Spiritualist " mediumship." The Spirit- 
 ualist deals in objective phenomena. It is 
 his metier to do so. Spiritualism is based 
 entirely on phenomena ; they are necessary 
 to justify its claims. The Mystic makes no 
 claims, has no need of phenomena to adver-
 
 tise a propaganda, or to make good his 
 pretensions. 
 
 The Mystic makes no pretensions. It 
 does not concern him whether or not people 
 know him to be a Mystic. 
 
 Discernibility of the Mystic not easy. 
 Therefore it is not an easy thing to discern 
 a Mystic. Mystics discern themselves 
 clearly, intuitively ; but they do not go 
 about saying, " I am a Mystic." Nor do 
 they presume to declare that other people, 
 who say they are Mystics, are not Mystics, 
 even when their intuition informs them that 
 they are not. 
 
 There are many people who, because they 
 have had some experiences of an " occult " 
 nature, say they are Mystics ; but the 
 Mystic knows that they are not. He would 
 not, however, say they are not. A single 
 rose does not make a summer. 
 
 " Occultism " has so many illusions. 
 Touch its fringe, and experience is so strik- 
 ing, so wonderful, that many go no further 
 than the " fringe," the borderland of 
 Mysticism, and fancy themselves Mystics. 
 They dwell on that wonderful " fringe " 
 experience, and dream not of anything
 
 6 The True Mystic 
 
 beyond it. Whereas they have not the 
 smallest inkling of the journey they must 
 take before the Mystic state is reached. 
 
 It is this which creates trouble for 
 Mysticism, and prejudices it in the eyes of 
 religious and orthodox people. 
 
 Disasters of misguided Mysticism. For 
 nearly always pseudo-Mysticism ends in 
 disaster and grief, injuring the sacred cause 
 of Mysticism. Premature Mysticism pre- 
 cipitates disaster. And the disasters from 
 misguided Mysticism are very serious. 
 
 One is reminded of the little girl, who, 
 running too hastily into the drawing-room, 
 fell over the door-mat. Asked by her 
 mother how she came to meet with the 
 mishap, she answered in tears, " / c-comed 
 in afore I c-comed ! " There are many too- 
 eager Mystics who " come in before they 
 come." 
 
 Reticence of the Mystic. I have said that 
 there are certain cognizable and general 
 tokens of a Mystic. But do not expect that 
 a Mystic will readily talk to you about these 
 tokens in himself. You will always find the 
 Mystic to be a very meek and humble 
 person, and most reticent about himself.
 
 Introductory 7 
 
 Ask a Mystic if he is a Mystic, and he will 
 be silent. Ask him if any other persons, of 
 the past or the present, are or were Mystics, 
 and he will be silent. But ask him what are 
 the Tokens of the Mystic, and you will find 
 him eager and eloquent. He is always eager 
 to propagate Mysticism, to induce people to 
 pursue the Mystic Path. It is his " mission " 
 to do so. Only he is cautious for fear that 
 he may be " casting his pearls before swine." 
 
 His life proclaims the Mystic, his character 
 reflects the Mystic, his teaching, and the 
 power behind his words, prove the Mystic. 
 
 But do not look for " miracles," or wonder- 
 ful sensations of " occult " phenomena, 
 from him. They may occur, they sometimes 
 do occur ; but never in response to curious- 
 minded expectancy, nor to sensation-loving 
 phenomena-hunters. 
 
 There are plenty of people who deal in 
 the wares of phenomena, miracles, and 
 psychical wonders psychometry, clairvoy- 
 ance, trance-mediumship, astrology, palmis- 
 try, psycho-therapeutics, and such like. 
 They are not Mystics by such tokens. 
 
 The Mystic hides himself when people 
 buzz around him, asking curious questions,
 
 8 The True Mystic 
 
 and saying, " Show us a sign," " Prove to us 
 that you are a Mystic." He does not traffic 
 in " signs" ; he is not a phenomenalist. 
 
 I. THE FOUR TOKENS OF A MYSTIC 
 
 The indefinable Tokens of a Mystic. You 
 ask, What are the Tokens of a Mystic ? 
 I will endeavour to give an answer to that 
 question. It can only be done partially, 
 for there are certain tokens and criteria of 
 the Mystic impossible to define in words, 
 and other tokens impermissible to speak of. 
 
 The following Tokens, I would ask you to 
 bear in mind, are not uniform experiences 
 in all Mystics, nor are they always necessarily 
 experiences of an objective kind. Many 
 Mystics have attained the Mystic state 
 without the ability of defining these tokens 
 as definitely conscious experiences. Asceti- 
 cism, for instance, is a relative term, defining 
 the perfect Renunciation of the Senses for 
 the attainment of the Christ in them. 
 
 There is a " Holy Ground " in the Mystic's 
 experience which the Mystic alone can and 
 dare tread. The tokens within this " Holy 
 Ground " are the surest and most defined
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 9 
 
 tokens of all. Every person who is a Mystic 
 knows them, and by them he is certain of 
 his Mystic state. 
 
 If you have reached this " Holy Ground " 
 you will never have a doubt, though all the 
 world turns against you, and shouts denial. 
 
 On this " Holy Ground " you are brought 
 face to face with " the Christ " in the " Burn- 
 ing Bush." The " Real Presence " is more 
 clearly manifest to you than by the naked eye. 
 
 The definable Tokens of the Mystic are as 
 follows : 
 
 (1) Asceticism. 
 
 (2) Ekstasis, or Rapture. 
 
 (3) Initiation. 
 
 (4) Intuition, or Vision. 
 
 (i) Asceticism and RENUNCIATION 
 
 Asceticism and Renunciation are ideas 
 deeply embedded in the Religion and 
 Philosophy of the ancient Theo-Sophia, or 
 Wisdom of God. It is inseparable from 
 Mysticism. To become a Mystic, a person 
 must always become an Ascetic, always an 
 Ascetic in spirit and intention, often an 
 Ascetic in act and fact. 
 
 (i) Asceticism. There are also times, in
 
 io The True Mystic 
 
 the Path of the Mystic, when he must in 
 spirit become a Hermit. Some Mystics have 
 been Ascetics and Hermits all their days, in 
 the most literal sense, not from personal 
 necessity, but for reasons of special vocation 
 and choice. 
 
 During certain specific periods in his life, a 
 Mystic becomes both an Ascetic and Hermit. 
 
 Asceticism being an attitude of mind and 
 will, it is a matter purely of outward cir- 
 cumstances if the rigid course of experience 
 is compelled. Many Mystics have, by 
 circumstances, been " driven into the wilder- 
 ness " in the most physical and literal sense. 
 Many others have maintained the attitude 
 of Asceticism, in mind and will, and have 
 not been compelled by circumstances to 
 adopt the literal Ascetic and Hermit life. 
 
 In spirit and will, all Mystics are Ascetics 
 and Hermits. The Mystic is indifferent to the 
 pleasures of the senses. He is free from the 
 behests of the body and mind which he has 
 renounced. When occasions drive him into 
 the wilderness, to fast and pray, or to 
 undergo his " Temptations," he is as happy 
 and contented as if called to feastings and 
 pleasures.
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic n 
 
 His body is recognized and gratified only 
 for the sake of the soul. It is a necessary 
 instrument of the soul, and must be nourished 
 or deprived as the soul requires. 
 
 Sometimes the soul requires an attenuated 
 and etherealized body ; sometimes, to func- 
 tion in the body, the soul requires it well 
 nourished ; and sometimes, for the cause of 
 the Faith, the soul requires the body to feast 
 and banquet. 
 
 Necessity for Asceticism. Asceticism 
 operates usually, in Mysticism, for certain 
 specific purposes, to fit the body for corre- 
 spondence with the soul in certain conditions 
 in the pursuit of the Mystic Path. Among 
 these are the following instances : Tempta- 
 tions, Ekstasis, Initiation, Contemplation, 
 Special " Missions," Penance, and Sacra- 
 ments. 
 
 TEMPTATIONS 
 
 The purposes of Temptations. Asceticism 
 is generally practised in times of Temptation. 
 " Temptations " are experiences preceding 
 the passage of the soul into " Ekstasis " for 
 " Initiation." They follow after a course of 
 Instruction and Training in the special
 
 12 The True Mystic 
 
 Teaching connected with the degree of 
 Initiation at the time contemplated. 
 
 Solitude. Temptations are undergone in 
 Solitude, after a period of rigorous abstinence 
 from food, and of intense mental concentra- 
 tion. The disciple departs into some desert 
 place, unfrequented by mankind, or, like 
 the monks of old, interns himself in his cell. 
 
 By fasting, prayer, and mental concen- 
 tration, he gradually attunes himself, his 
 physical nature to his spiritual nature. 
 
 Then he begins to find himself consciously 
 functioning in his spiritual nature. He 
 becomes clairvoyant and clairaudient, and 
 sees and hears his Spiritual Teachers in the 
 physically unseen. 
 
 He follows their guidance and instructions, 
 and is passed through severe Tests, or 
 Temptations, directed to prove his cour- 
 age, obedience, faith, and love. Evil 
 attacks him in alluring forms, appealing 
 to his senses, his passions, and his appetites. 
 Forms of seductive temptations are pre- 
 sented before him, or suggested to him. 
 Evil spirits whisper in his ear, and seek to 
 seduce him to commit acts of sin, dis- 
 obedience, or to distrust his Masters.
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 13 
 
 If he fail under these ordeals, and yield 
 in any way to the wiles of evil, he is put 
 back and forbidden farther progress for the 
 time, until, by continued Prayer and Fasting, 
 if he remains steadfast and penitent, he is 
 again tested, and again, until he is fit to 
 proceed to his Initiations, or to carry out 
 the special duties for which these Tempta- 
 tions were to fit him. 
 
 You will see, therefore, that Temptations 
 are in many cases an important factor in 
 Mysticism, and a part of the Ascetism which 
 is a Token of the Mystic. 
 
 (2) Ekstasis 
 
 Nothing in connection with Mysticism 
 has suffered more from misconstruction and 
 misrepresentation than the mystical state 
 which is called Ekstasis. A term that more 
 clearly defines this experience is Rapture, for 
 reasons which shall be shown. 
 
 Experience only can define Ekstasis. It is 
 difficult to name any spiritual experience 
 that so defies the art of language to describe 
 or define it. Being an experience, it can 
 only be comprehended by experience. As 
 well try to define in words the taste of a
 
 14 The True Mystic 
 
 strawberry, or the bouquet of a special 
 vintage of wine, as try to define this experi- 
 ence, its meaning and its phenomena. 
 
 Warnings about Ekstasis. Concerning 
 Ekstasis warning is needed of many kinds 
 of pseudo-experiences often mistaken for 
 Ekstasis. They are known in the common 
 experiences of spiritualism, or psychic 
 phenomena. Indeed, in each of the four 
 natures of man's constitution, a form of 
 experience may be developed, open to 
 confusion with what the Mystic means by 
 Ekstasis. In Psychics the strange pheno- 
 menon of Katalepsis experienced by de- 
 veloped " trance-mediumship " bears so 
 close a resemblance, physically, to Ekstasis, 
 that the two are often taken for one and the 
 same thing. Any person who has experi- 
 enced Ekstasis knows what a gulf lies 
 between them. The Mystic never con- 
 fuses them ; they are entirely dissimilar. 
 Ekstasis is the harmonious correlation of 
 the whole being, of all the four Natures, in 
 perfect equilibrium and union. Body, 
 Mind, Soul, and Spirit are awake and alert, 
 in the conscious activity of their faculties. 
 The " sleep " of the physical body is no
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 15 
 
 indication of its actual unconsciousness. In 
 the sleep of Ekstasis the body is sub- 
 consciously functioning all the time that 
 the cognate natures are also functioning on 
 their several planes. 
 
 Paul describes Ekstasis, or Rapture, in the 
 following words : 
 
 Paul's Ekstasis. 
 
 " I will come to visions and revela- 
 tions of the Lord. I know a man in 
 Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in 
 the body, I know not ; or out of the 
 body, I know not] ; such a one caught 
 up into the third heaven and I know 
 such a man (whether in the body, or 
 apart from the body, I know not ; 
 God knoweth) ; how that he was 
 caught up into Paradise, and heard 
 unspeakable words, which it is not 
 lawful for man to utter." 
 
 The purpose of Fasting. In the state of 
 Ekstasis the body is first freed, by Fasting, 
 from all material obstructions, and the mind 
 is clarified from all clouds, by Prayer and 
 mental concentration. The Soul then be- 
 comes en rapport with the Body. The mind
 
 16 The True Mystic 
 
 and body become as " sounding-boards," 
 the body responsive to the vibrations of the 
 mind, and the mind to the vibrations of the 
 soul. 
 
 The physical organism is freed from the 
 clogging of matter caused by food-digestion. 
 The nerve-forces for the time being are 
 centred on the promotion of the state of 
 Ekstasis, and the psychic and mental organs 
 are reinforced and sensitized. 
 
 Psychic Communion. Temptation and 
 Asceticism having performed their part, the 
 Initiate is drawn into psychic and mental 
 communion with the Spirit-Being who is 
 his Celestial Teacher and Guide. The 
 Initiate places himself unreservedly in his 
 hands, and obeys his instructions. The fact 
 that every Soul has a Celestial Master and 
 Guide is taught and acknowledged by all 
 Mystics. That all Mystics consciously 
 visualize or know their Masters is not 
 always the case. But no man is a Mystic 
 who is not consciously following a definite 
 system in conscious obedience to his Master, 
 whether or not the Master has revealed 
 himself to him. Then comes the time in his 
 Initiations when he cannot help visualizing
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 17 
 
 and knowing his Master, and not him only, 
 but all the Celestial Beings. 
 
 Safety of True Ekstasis. At this stage, 
 of spiritual and psychic communion, after 
 Asceticism and Temptation have done their 
 work, the neophyte, or disciple is qualified 
 to pass into Ekstasis. Under such ineffable 
 conditions he is safe, as under no other 
 conditions is it safe to venture into any 
 occult state whatsoever. Promiscuous and 
 misguided " occultism " is extremely risky 
 and dangerous, and utterly unbeneficial, 
 when it is realized how great and power- 
 ful is the environment of evil that besets 
 us in this fallen world and its astral environ- 
 ment. 
 
 The Process of Ekstasis. Ekstasis begins 
 by the Initiate falling into a gentle sleep, 
 which gradually passes into torpor. The 
 body becomes rigid. The mind is preter- 
 naturally active and acute. He sees, hears, 
 and knows every detail that is happening. 
 He never loses mental or psychic conscious- 
 ness, and physically he is in a subconscious 
 state of sensibility, though wrapt in the 
 torpor of sleep. 
 
 The " cord " of life. Gently he emerges 
 c
 
 i8 The True Mystic 
 
 from his torpid and recumbent body, 
 stands over it, and surveys it, as an object 
 outside of himself. A fine ray of light 
 attaches himself to his body all the while, 
 accompanying him wherever he goes a 
 psychical " umbilical cord," which, so long 
 as it is not broken, maintains the life of the 
 body. The " cord " broken means instant 
 death to the body, and its speedy dissolution. 
 
 The Spiritual Plane. He finds the 
 material plane recede from him into mist- 
 like shadow, and the spiritual plane assumes 
 a quasi-physical and objective aspect. He 
 functions organically on the spiritual plane, 
 and corresponds to spiritual environment, 
 with the same objectivity in which, in the 
 flesh, he functioned on the material plane. 
 
 Spiritual Company. He discovers him- 
 self to be not alone. In the darkness of the 
 astral plane he has entered he is surrounded 
 by a company of the Heavenly host, who 
 panoply him, and protect him from the 
 astral dangers. For, in the astral plane (the 
 Scripture " Hades "), besides its being the 
 vestibule, as it were, to the planetary circles 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven, are the abodes 
 of spirits of darkness, departed this life in
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 19 
 
 rebellion against God, and in various condi- 
 tions of degeneracy, and of hatred towards 
 God, malignant and pernicious beings who 
 prey upon mortals, and make victims of 
 passing spirits. Therefore the Company of 
 Heaven surround and protect the souls of the 
 good passing through Hades, and never 
 leave them to be the prey of evil spirits, 
 conveying them in due time to their 
 planetary Paradises. 
 
 Familiarity with the Planetary regions and 
 people. Under this sublime escort he is 
 wafted upward to the planetary circles, 
 through the crowded regions of Hades. In 
 Hades he stays and converses with souls 
 discarnate, and by sympathy and counsel 
 he aids some to rise with him to Paradise. 
 For many souls remain in the purgatorial 
 state of Hades, unable to reach the pure 
 state that loosens the earth-grip and liberates 
 them for translation to Paradise. 
 
 In the Paradisaical regions he finds 
 everything is familiar to him, that he is 
 returning on a visit to places of a former 
 residence. People and surroundings are 
 familiar to him. Paradise is his real home, 
 his true fatherland. His companions are
 
 2o The True Mystic 
 
 his real friends and brethren. Earthly 
 friendships are as nothing to these eternal 
 cosmic friendships. 
 
 He also perceives that many of his earthly 
 friends and loved ones, those still in the 
 incarnate life, and many in Hades and 
 Paradise, belong also to his heavenly 
 friendships. 
 
 Thus he is " caught up into Paradise." He 
 hears and sees things that are " unspeak- 
 able," which " it is not lawful for a man to 
 utter." 
 
 This is " Ekstasis," the Second Token of 
 a Mystic. He cannot demonstrate it, and 
 rarely will he be drawn out to speak of it. 
 Ekstasis is in the power of all to attain, and 
 one of the peculiar experiences appertaining 
 to the Mystic state. 
 
 (3) Initiation 
 
 Initiations heavenly ceremonies, not earthly. 
 Concerning the subject of Initiation much 
 has been surmised and written that is 
 misleading. 
 
 The general supposition seems to be that 
 the ceremonies of Initiation are performed 
 upon the earth, in certain " Lodges," or
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 21 
 
 " Temples," of material construction, by 
 men who are called " Masters." 
 
 Hence the numbers of people who have 
 passed these material " initiations " think 
 that it is the real thing, and that, by virtue 
 of them, they are real initiates. They 
 suppose that they know the " Mysteries " 
 by virtue of these material ceremonies. 
 This assumption is not to be denied to 
 some, given that the True and Real Initia- 
 tions in the Heavenly places have truly 
 preceded them. 
 
 Earthly Counterpart-Initiations. It is also 
 the truth, in every " Ekklesia," or " Lodge," 
 where the Mysteries are known and taught 
 by Initiate-Masters, there are earthly cere- 
 monies of Initiation, counterparts of the 
 Initiations that already have taken place 
 in the planetary spheres. Unless these 
 Spiritual Initiations have taken place, the 
 earthly counterpart-ceremonies of Initiation 
 are empty performances, even though, by 
 their solemnity, their sublime ritual, and 
 their content of profound mystical teach- 
 ing, they are most illuminating and in- 
 spiring. 
 
 Modern survivals of Counterpart-Initia-
 
 22 The True Mystic 
 
 tions. The Seven Sacraments of the Church, 
 the Initiation-Rites of Free-Masonry, and of 
 Rosicrucianism, and similar institutions, are 
 survivals of these counterpart-Initiations 
 which follow the Heavenly Ceremonies of 
 Initiation. The performance of initiation, 
 or the solemnization of the Sacraments, in 
 earthly Lodges, Temples, or Churches, do 
 not, in these days, signify any sequence of 
 the Heavenly Rites they were originally 
 instituted to follow and certify. 
 
 The Heavenly rites are not performed, 
 after a spiritual and unconscious manner, 
 simultaneously accompanying the earthly 
 rites, and as a matter of course. They are 
 the most clear and conscious Ceremonies, 
 remembered for ever in the minds of 
 Initiates, and followed afterwards by 
 material forms in earthly Rites, attesting and 
 certifying the Heavenly Ceremonials they 
 counterpart. 
 
 Counterpart-Initiations are certifications of 
 Heavenly Initiations. In fact, earthly 
 counterpartal Initiations are really certifica- 
 tions and attestations in the earthly Ekklesia 
 of the Real and True Initiations ; and only 
 are they so if they have followed the clearly
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 23 
 
 remembered and conscious initiations pre- 
 viously performed in the heavens. 
 
 Planetary Spheres the scenes of Initiation. 
 Let it therefore be understood that the 
 earth is not the scene of these sublime Rites. 
 Actual Initiation can only take place in the 
 planetary spheres, in a Divine Temple of 
 the Holy Mysteries. 
 
 The Supreme Master of Initiation. The 
 Only Initiator is the Supreme Master of the 
 Mysteries, the Great High-Priest of Heaven 
 and Earth, the Only-Begotten Son of God. 
 No intermediary or deputy can perform 
 these Sacred Rites. Masters of earthly 
 " Ekklesiae," or Lodges, can only perform 
 the earthly Rites of counterpartal Initiation. 
 
 Seven Planetary Temples of Initiation. 
 There are Seven Temples in the Heavenly 
 Spheres in which the Rites of Initiation are 
 performed, One Temple in each of the Seven 
 Planetary Circles, each answering to one of 
 the Seven Mysteries, representing one of the 
 Seven Gates in the Path of the Mystic. 
 
 Into each one of these Temples, to the 
 Supreme Temple of the Seventh Gate, the 
 Candidate-Initiate is brought, in the several 
 times of his Ekstasis, and there he is
 
 24 The True Mystic 
 
 Initiated in the Mystery of the Planetary 
 Circle in which the Temple is constituted. 
 
 These Seven Mysteries anciently were 
 called the " Seven Gates of the Mystic Path 
 of the Kingdom of Heaven." 
 
 The Seven Mysteries, or Gates. The Seven 
 Gates, or Mysteries, of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven were defined and designated by the 
 Seven Acts of the Incarnate Life of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ : 
 
 (1) BIRTH. (4) DEATH. 
 
 (2) BAPTISM. (5) BURIAL. 
 
 (3) PASSION. (6) RESURRECTION. 
 
 (7) ASCENSION. 
 
 Ekstasis, the mode of entrance to the 
 Planetary Circles. These Seven Initiations 
 take place at the time when the Initiate is 
 in the state of Ekstasis, and is " Rapt," or 
 " Caught up " to the " Heaven " of the 
 Mystery in which he has qualified to be 
 Initiated. By means of Ekstasis, following 
 Asceticism, he enters the Kingdom of 
 Heaven. 
 
 (4) Intuition 
 
 Intuition is the faculty of Thought, and 
 interior Sight, by development. Each
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 25 
 
 nature has its own organic system of 
 Thought and Sight, which a person may 
 develop to perfect harmony and union with 
 the whole constitution, so that all the nature- 
 systems of Thought and Sight are One 
 System, operating from the interior to the 
 exterior, and vice versa, as the solar systems 
 of the cosmos operate from the Sun to its 
 outermost circles of sidereal systems. The 
 work of Mysticism is to create harmony and 
 union in the human constitution, broken 
 and destroyed by the sin of man. 
 
 Intuition reaches the perfect state by 
 Initiation. In this state a man becomes a 
 " Prophet " and a " Seer." 
 
 Intuition springs from Spirit. Intuition 
 springs from the Spirit of God in the human 
 soul. It is proportionately perfect as the 
 Soul is purified and freed from the dominance 
 and material bands of the body. The Spirit 
 is the " sun " of the human constitution, as 
 the sun is the centre of the cosmic constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 The Spirit of God in man permeates and 
 governs the Soul, Mind, and Body, in greater 
 or lesser degree as the Soul, Mind, and Body 
 are purified from matter, and equilibrated
 
 26 The True Mystic 
 
 and harmonized. Mysticism is the process 
 of equilibration and harmonization. Intui- 
 tion is the state of equilibration and har- 
 monization. 
 
 Spirit, the link between God and man. 
 The Spirit is the Divine link between man 
 and God, through which man, in body, 
 mind, and soul, functions in perfect relation 
 to God, when the state of Intuition is 
 perfectly attained ; and relatively, according 
 to the degree attained by the processes of 
 Mysticism. 
 
 God is the Fount and Centre of All-Truth 
 and All- Knowledge. A Mystic is one who 
 has travelled the whole of the Mystic Path 
 to the Centre of All-Truth and All-Know- 
 ledge. He has At-Oned with God. 
 
 Consciously and actively the Mystic func- 
 tions in Spirit, in God. He is One with the 
 Infinite Divine Being. 
 
 At-Onement. This One-ness, or At-One- 
 ment, is the meaning of the Mystical term 
 " Unio Mystica," or Divine Union, the Goal 
 of Mysticism. This Goal is reached when 
 the Initiate completes all his Initiations. 
 All the Mysteries are in him, and he is in all 
 the Mysteries.
 
 The Four Tokens of a Mystic 27 
 
 Sabbatic Rest. Arrived at the Centre, 
 the End of his Initiations, he Rests in God. 
 He Rests from all his Labours, and keeps 
 his Eternal " Sabbath," He " Sits with 
 Christ in the Heavenly Places." God is in 
 Him, he in God. He speaks in God, and 
 God speaks in Him. He walks in God, 
 and God walks in him. He thinks in 
 God, and God thinks in him. 
 
 He needs no human " teacher," he is 
 " taught of the Lord." Mentally he functions 
 for the Spirit in spiritual things, register- 
 ing the Thought of God in his mind, and 
 expressing It in speech, writing, power, and 
 action. 
 
 Perfect Intuition in the " Gnostic." This 
 is Intuition. He speaks from the Fulness 
 of Interior All-Knowledge. He " knoweth 
 all things." He is a " Gnostic." He possesses 
 the " Gnosis." 
 
 Development of Intuition. Intuition is 
 developed and perfected by the same 
 methods as Ekstasis and Initiation, by 
 Prayer and Fasting, by Temptation, Re- 
 nunciation, and Asceticism. 
 
 Many persons have glimpses of this faculty, 
 and are conscious of possessing it latently.
 
 28 The True Mystic 
 
 In some sensitive spiritual minds Intuition 
 is comparatively a joyous and blessed 
 possession. This knowledge of the latent 
 possession of Intuition should encourage 
 them to seek its Fulness of development. 
 
 II. THE HISTORY OF MYSTICISM 
 
 The Science of Mysticism. Mysticism is 
 the science of the Mysteries, and the uni- 
 versal method of approaching the Mysteries. 
 
 It has descended from the ages, and has 
 often suffered from the decay of the Know- 
 ledge of the Mysteries. In the present day 
 the idea of the Mysteries has become 
 generally a thing apart from the Mysteries. 
 
 We rarely find, in writings upon Mysti- 
 cism, much direct reference or appeal to the 
 Mysteries, and allusions to the Four Tokens 
 of Mysticism are generally made without 
 knowledge of their meaning and purpose. 
 Asceticism, for instance, is deprecated and 
 avoided, as a necessity of Mysticism. It is 
 not a subject of pleasantness, and many 
 people seem to teach a mysticism that knows 
 no need for it, and views the practice of it 
 among reputed Mystics of the past as in no
 
 The History of Mysticism 29 
 
 way an indication of the rule of Mysticism 
 generally, and as a mere question of taste 
 or expediency. No person likes Asceticism, 
 but those who love and desire the Mystic 
 state will welcome Asceticism with un- 
 reserved joyfulness. Ekstasis also is an 
 experience rather deprecated, as a more 
 or less useless and unusual indulgence in 
 dangerous forms of spiritual emotionalism ; 
 whereas in fact it is a necessary factor of 
 Mysticism. For so long a period have 
 experiences of the Spiritual plane been 
 unknown or unheard of, except in forms 
 of psychic phenomena, that good and right- 
 thinking people are afraid to countenance 
 any kind of experience beyond those per- 
 taining to the five physical senses. Yet they 
 are obliged to admit that these experiences 
 are frequently recorded in Holy Scripture, 
 and form some of the principal evidences 
 on which the Christian Faith is established. 
 But according to these the days are over 
 for the occurrence of Spiritual experiences. 
 They may occasionally take place, but then 
 they are described as " supernormal " ; 
 whereas the truly normal is the super- 
 normal, and what is " normal " now is in
 
 3o The True Mystic 
 
 truth " abnormal." Mysticism restores the 
 right order, and makes that which now is 
 put aside as " supernormal," the " normal " 
 order of life. 
 
 Essentials of bona fide Mysticism. Let it 
 be understood that there is no bona fide 
 Mysticism that does not acknowledge belief 
 in the Mysteries, and in the legitimacy and 
 regularity of the Four Tokens of the Mystic. 
 The Mystic state cannot be attained without 
 the experience of the Four Tokens. Mysti- 
 cism has no other purpose but to lead up to 
 the Mysteries, and the Mysteries cannot be 
 attained except by the Initiations, and the 
 Initiations are made possible only by the 
 processes of Mysticism through the Four 
 Tokens of the Mystic. 
 
 Nevertheless, even interest in Mysticism, 
 the thought and study of it, enquiry into 
 the lives and experiences of the Saints who 
 have generally been included among the 
 Mystics, and all approximate attainments of 
 the Mystic state, however far short of the 
 perfect attainment of True Mysticism, is 
 an advance, and a hopeful sign that the 
 human mind is concerned in the idea of the 
 Mystic, for which we may be most thank-
 
 The History of Mysticism 31 
 
 ful, and encourage ourselves in the promo- 
 tion of a Mystical Mission. 
 
 Catholicity of Mysticism. Mysticism is in 
 the roots of all humanity the most catholic 
 of all human ideas. It is found in the 
 negroes of Africa, the aborigines of the 
 Americas, Mexico, and Australasia. The 
 Orient is its most ancient and cherished 
 " home." From the East the great Masters 
 sent their Royal Embassy to be the first to 
 acknowledge their Great Master, Jesus 
 Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, at His 
 Birth. 
 
 Early Europe and Druidism. From time 
 immemorial the Mystic Religion of Druidism 
 was the cult of the people who were our own 
 ancestors. Druidism was the religion of 
 Britons, Danes, Norse, Normans, and 
 Romans, all of whom intermixed in those 
 early times and created the British, or 
 Anglo-Saxon race. 
 
 When the whole of Europe, in those early 
 days of Druidic Mysticism, was rising from 
 barbarism, and evolving in its earliest 
 stages, to become the centre of Western 
 culture and civilization, the Orient was 
 shining with the effulgence of an old-
 
 32 The True Mystic 
 
 established Faith of Mysticism of the purest 
 forms. 
 
 Oriental Mysticism. In the Oriental 
 Schools of Mysticism the Mysteries have 
 been taught and attained from the earliest 
 known times, by the same methods as have 
 been described, with precisely the same 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic. The Orient was 
 closely associated with the Egyptian and 
 Chaldaic Schools, many of whose greatest 
 historical teachers journeyed to the East, 
 and learned there the great principles of 
 Mysticism which made early Egypt so 
 famous, and raised so many great philo- 
 sophers. 
 
 Beneath the outer crust of Oriental life, 
 the cult of the Mysteries, and the seeking 
 of the Mystic state, are as strongly and 
 austerely followed by more thousands than 
 the Western missionaries and residents in 
 India have any idea of. To judge of Oriental 
 mysticism from the outside in India is as 
 unfair as to judge of Christianity from the 
 outside in Europe. 
 
 Mysticism in the foundations of all religions. 
 The Tokens of the Mystic, and the Princi- 
 ples of the Ancient Mysteries, are the same
 
 The History of Mysticism 33 
 
 always, and in every place. Time alters 
 them not, racial differences, language, en- 
 vironment, have never changed nor destroyed 
 one detail of the universal synthesis of the 
 Mystical philosophy underlying every re- 
 ligion of the world, and all their varying 
 symbolisms and creeds. 
 
 The Theo-Sophia of Antiquity. The Theo- 
 Sophia of the Mysteries flourished in the 
 Orient no less in ancient days than now. 
 It was contemporary with, and, in fact, the 
 source of, the Schools of Mystic Philosophy 
 in Chaldaea, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. 
 
 It has recently been proved that, in the 
 world's most primitive times, of prehistoric 
 date, there were important centres of the 
 culture of the Mysteries in Mexico, in North 
 and South America, in Africa, and in the 
 submerged lands now buried beneath the 
 waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
 
 Monuments of ancient Mysticism. The 
 ruins of ancient temples, time-preserved 
 monuments and inscriptions, unearthed from 
 the sand, soil, and waters of waste places, 
 testify to the primitive existence of ancient 
 hierarchies and systems of the universal 
 Wisdom-Religion. Even the wonderful
 
 34 The True Mystic 
 
 mystical " lore " of the South African 
 natives bears strong surviving reminiscences 
 of the once flourishing and highly cultured 
 Wisdom-Religion of their ancient, highly 
 developed ancestors. 
 
 Aborigines are the descendants of highly 
 evolved extinct people. It is a mistake to 
 think that the aborigines of so-called 
 " barbarian " countries are unevolved, or 
 partially evolved, peoples, centuries behind- 
 hand in evolution ; or that the so-called 
 " New Continents," and their indigenous 
 inhabitants, are races not far removed in 
 evolution from the " ape." They are, in 
 fact, the real " aristocrats " of the world, 
 being the decadent descendants of more 
 highly evolved and cultured races than exist 
 to-day in the most civilized countries. 
 Apart from the knowledge which Mysticism 
 enables us to ascertain to this effect, the 
 above-mentioned archaeological discoveries, 
 and the testimony of anthropological and 
 morphological scientists, confirms this state- 
 ment. They tell us that the cranium and 
 brain of the South African negro are those of 
 a people of a high degree of evolution, and 
 quite equal to the civilized white races.
 
 The History of Mysticism 35 
 
 The Cataclysms, Atlantis and Lemuria. 
 Previous to the great cataclysms ushering 
 in the " Glacial Period," great continents, 
 where now the waters of the Atlantic and 
 Pacific oceans cover their ancient cities and 
 temples, united the Western and Eastern 
 world. The whole earth was then one 
 homogeneous whole, until the cataclysms 
 broke up the earth-crust, and the oceanic 
 deluges divided the remainder of the world. 
 
 Centuries of coral formation, silting of 
 sand, soil, and marine garbage, have buried 
 these monuments of the past beneath miles 
 of oceanic waters. Under the depths of 
 desert sands also, in the African deserts, are 
 buried great cities, like the Greek Pompeii, 
 full of antiquarian interest of like signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 The pre-oceanic earth, At that pre-oceanic 
 period there was no separation of land- 
 areas. The present oceans and seas and 
 deserts are entirely of post-cataclysmic 
 origin, after the earth became " tohu bohu" 
 (" without form and void ") ; and before the 
 forming of the earth as it now exists. The 
 world was then intercommunicable in ways 
 unknown to to-day's science. We are now
 
 36 The True Mystic 
 
 on the material ascent towards scientific 
 knowledge of the ancient ways of communi- 
 cation, and this century will not conclude 
 without scientific discovery of a great many 
 truths which will transcend all that has 
 been unearthed in the centuries that have 
 passed since the Renaissance and the re- 
 vival of Science. 
 
 Separation of the human family. The 
 cataclysms broke up the earth and separated 
 the human family. Each portion of the 
 Wisdom- Religion segregated in these human 
 branches became a distinct cult and com- 
 munity, and, as time went on, they varied 
 in their exoteric uses, forms, rites, and 
 verba sapientis. 
 
 Esoterically the same catholic cult of the 
 Mysteries has survived the wrack of time, 
 and remains comparatively intact, and 
 uncorrupted, at the bottom of all the world's 
 exoteric varieties. 
 
 Modern Oriental Mysticism. In modern 
 times the Oriental Schools have kept them- 
 selves very exclusive. Only in the most recent 
 times have the facilities of travel and 
 transportation brought the West and the 
 East together, while the decadence of the
 
 The History of Mysticism 37 
 
 Mysteries in the West made any special 
 rapprochement between East and West, 
 in mystical things, extremely difficult and 
 the work of considerable time. The oppo- 
 sition of Western Christianity to Oriental 
 mysticism rendered any fraternization 
 practically impossible, until the rise of 
 Theosophy, and its Western developments, 
 largely opened the way to a closer fellowship 
 between the East and West. 
 
 The Eastern School is the oldest in 
 existence, and in it the Ancient Mysteries 
 are preserved with careful secrecy by their 
 Masters and Mystics. Only in our own life- 
 time have we come to the discovery of this 
 ancient Worship, and the treasures of the 
 " Gnosis " for so long a time kept guarded and 
 close-sealed in the Orient. Whilst cautious 
 and severely reticent to all Western people 
 who show curiosity concerning their occult 
 and mystical teachings, and wisely tolerant of 
 the " missionaries " who, in their ignorance, 
 preach the " heathenism " of India ; to 
 sincere seekers after Mystical Truth, the 
 Mystics and Teachers of Oriental Mysticism 
 are always frankly open to the enquiry and 
 quest of the Wisdom-Religion.
 
 38 The True Mystic 
 
 Modern Theosophy. Whatever be our 
 personal opinions concerning much that 
 goes by the name of " Theosophy," we 
 must all acknowledge that the work of the 
 late esteemed teacher, H. P. Blavatsky, 
 and the labours of many of her successors, 
 have been in the main a dispensation of 
 light. 
 
 Oriental exclusiveness. The exclusiveness 
 of the Orient was not so great in pre- 
 Christian times. When, from the third 
 century, the Christian Church, under the 
 Papacy, rejected the Mysteries and dis- 
 honoured and persecuted the Mystics, the 
 cleavage between the East and West be- 
 came irreconcilable. Mysticism, which 
 never ceased to be cultivated in the East, 
 became a practically forbidden pursuit in 
 the West. 
 
 Hermes. The first historical character of 
 ancient ages, who shone as a Great Master 
 of the Mysteries, was Hermes, the " Thrice- 
 Greatest," by whom the Sacred Mysteries, 
 and their occult teaching, were established 
 in Egypt. From this great Philosopher, not 
 only the ancient Egyptian Mystery-Religion 
 derived its establishment and general belief,
 
 The History of Mysticism 39 
 
 but also all the forms of the Mystery- Religion 
 in the Western world emanated. 
 
 Much that is counted in these days as 
 legendary and mythical surrounds the name 
 of Hermes, the " Divine Pymander." Many 
 learned people deny that he ever existed, 
 and others hold that he was only a name 
 applied to the Egyptian Osiris. There can 
 be not the slightest doubt that Hermes was 
 a human and historical personality. The 
 evidence on record is as strong in favour of 
 this assumption as of the historical existence 
 of Abraham or Moses. Some authorities 
 have given the weight of their opinion to 
 the identity of Hermes with Enoch, men- 
 tioned in the " Book of Genesis," also in 
 the " Epistle of Jude." Historians have 
 also associated his name with that of 
 Thothmes, the great King-Hierophant of 
 Egypt of a period of famous memory in 
 Egypt's greatness. Like others of the 
 world's Great Masters, Hermes has been 
 placed among the legendary " Gods." 
 
 There are evidences that Hermes so- 
 journed in the Orient, and that the Ancient 
 Mystery-Religion which he inculcated was 
 of Oriental origin, receiving its stimulus from
 
 4o The True Mystic 
 
 the Orient. No Great Master that has 
 appeared to illumine the world with Divine 
 Teaching but has, directly or indirectly, 
 received the teaching of the Mysteries from 
 the Eastern Sages, or received their im- 
 primatur. Our Lord Jesus Christ received 
 the homage of the King-Priests of the East, 
 an event of remarkable significance, which 
 Christian theologians have never properly 
 grasped. History shows, and will continue 
 to show, that the East has been, and will be, 
 bound up with the religious destinies of the 
 world. 
 
 Hermes is the great personage at the 
 beginning of the world's history and tradi- 
 tion, who laid the foundations of the 
 Mystery-Religion in the Western world. 
 The Hermetic philosophy embraces the 
 Wisdom of the Mysteries, and their attain- 
 ment by Initiation as the goal of life, the 
 end of human destiny. And it taught the 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic as the system of 
 practical attainment. 
 
 Pythagoras. Following later in the teach- 
 ing of Hermes, the next prominent school 
 and cult of the Mysteries is centred in the 
 personality of the great scientist and
 
 The History of Mysticism 41 
 
 philosopher, Pythagoras. Nothing in writing 
 is supposed to exist directly from his pen 
 or dictation. This is due to the fact prob- 
 ably that his method of teaching followed 
 that of most Masters of esoteric teaching, 
 and was entirely oral. What has survived 
 of his teaching is to be found in the writings 
 of his pupils. Pythagoras stands forward 
 among Mystical philosophers as the greatest 
 of all scientists. To this day and particu- 
 larly at the present conjuncture of scientific 
 thought Pythagorean scientific philosophy 
 is becoming more and more the philosophy 
 of the modern researcher. And Pythagoras, 
 be it remembered, was a Mystic Philosopher, 
 whose teaching of natural and cosmical 
 science he himself derived by mystical 
 processes of intuitive intelligence. This 
 Great Master likewise inculcated in his 
 students the method of Mysticism and the 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic. 
 
 We need to lay these things to heart, for 
 we shall see, in due course, that ancient 
 science and philosophy were the output of 
 Mysticism. All True Science and Philosophy 
 that the world has ever known are the 
 synthetic knowledge which every Mystic
 
 42 The True Mystic 
 
 knows by Intuition. Mystical science of 
 nature can never be contradicted by the 
 science of the world, and Mystical Science, 
 as it was originally the foundation of all 
 science, will yet come to its own as the 
 determining and originating factor of modern 
 scientific discovery and attainment. 
 
 Greek Mysticism. At the same time that 
 Pythagoras stands in history as the leader of 
 Mystical Science, the ancient Greek philos- 
 ophy of Orpheus and the Eleusinian Mysteries 
 was strongly in the ascendant, and closely 
 associated with Egypt and Italy. This is the 
 wonderful romantic and poetic period of 
 Greek and Italian ancient philosophy and 
 mysticism. It was the age of the classical 
 romantic poet Homer, whose poems convey, 
 in the guise of exquisite myth, the Secret 
 Doctrine of the Wisdom - Religion. The 
 Odyssey and Iliad may well be described as 
 the " Kabbala " of the Greeks. Also at this 
 period Herodotus wrote his great historical 
 works ; and Virgil and other great mystical 
 writers, gave to the world, for all time, their 
 classics, which to this day entomb the doc- 
 trines of the Wisdom. As " Classics " they 
 are with us, but as " Mystical literature "
 
 The History of Mysticism 43 
 
 no one to-day gives them even passing 
 heed. 
 
 Greek Romanticists. These romanticists 
 handed down in cryptic legendary language, 
 in poesy and history, the Ancient Mysteries, 
 under the veil of parable, myth, legend, and 
 allegory. The Mystic only can interpret 
 their hidden meaning. Beneath their beauty 
 of diction, their often wild imaginativeness, 
 their heroic grandeur, are the same truths and 
 principles, the same science and philosophy, 
 of the Ancient Mysteries, which Hermes and 
 Pythagoras taught, and have been the 
 foundation of all that mankind has known 
 and practised from the beginning to the end 
 of time. And in these classical works the 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic are denned and 
 inculcated. 
 
 Socrates and Plato. Following the Pytha- 
 gorean period, and the age of the Orphic 
 and Eleusinian Mysteries, came the philo- 
 sophical era of Socrates and Plato, pupils of 
 Pythagoras, and exponents of the Hermetic 
 philosophy. The teaching of these Mystical 
 philosophers, and those contemporary with 
 them, embraced a general system of in- 
 struction on the many questions of science
 
 44 The True Mystic 
 
 and philosophy, and the higher teaching of 
 Mystical science and philosophy among the 
 more advanced pupils. Many who crowded 
 to their Schools were merely devoted to the 
 solution of curious questions, but many more 
 were those who resorted to the Schools for 
 knowledge to make them " wise unto 
 salvation," to whom the teachers imparted 
 the esoteric knowledge of the Gnosis, and 
 taught them the Secret Doctrine of the 
 Mysteries. The Four Tokens of the Mystic 
 were not wanting in the Socratic and 
 Platonic philosophy. 
 
 The Eremitic movement. During this 
 period, and onward for centuries after 
 Christ, a great Eremitic movement swept 
 over the world. The fruits of Mysticism 
 were manifesting in a devout and longing 
 desire to practise the Four Tokens of the 
 Mystic, and to free the life from the ob- 
 structing, hampering, and distracting in- 
 fluences of the world and its environment 
 and influence. Many thousands of persons 
 sought Initiation, and to further their desire 
 resorted to the caves of Northern Egypt and 
 Palestine, and desert places, where the life 
 of the world could not intrude upon their
 
 The History of Mysticism 45 
 
 meditations and prayers. There they prac- 
 tised the purpose of their espousal, and sought 
 the attainment of the Mystic state, by the 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic. 
 
 Ascetics and Hermits. This was a remark- 
 able movement of that age. Large com- 
 munities of ascetics and hermits formed 
 themselves, each choosing one of their 
 number, of holy and noble repute, as their 
 head, or Abbot. They practised the social 
 communistic principles always associated 
 with Mysticism, and tending towards that 
 ultimate Age of Happiness which Mysticism 
 counts as one of its " missions " to promote, 
 the adjustment of social and economic 
 conditions without which Mysticism must 
 end in failure as a generally accepted system. 
 
 They lived the common life, disowned 
 the possession of property, placed their 
 possessions, and those who were wage- 
 earners, their wages, in the common treasury, 
 labouring each for the needs of all, that 
 none of the community might not be equally 
 as happy and well-provided as themselves, 
 so far as simplicity of life demanded fit 
 provision. They practised purity, poverty, 
 chastity, and benevolence. They likewise
 
 46 The True Mystic 
 
 exercised the Gift of Spiritual Healing. 
 Moreover they were" diligent in propagating 
 the Mystic Faith, sending forth their 
 Initiates, in the Spirit of Prophecy and of 
 the power to heal the sick and succour 
 the afflicted, into the world outside, to 
 teach and benefit mankind. Many of these 
 strenuous souls attained such high gifts and 
 qualities of Spirit, that thousands journeyed 
 to their caves and cells and desert hiding- 
 places, to receive Wisdom and Counsel, 
 Healing and Grace. 
 
 The Therapeutce and Essenes. On account 
 of their healing work these communities 
 received the popular name of " Thera- 
 peutce " in Egypt, and " Essenes " in 
 Palestine, both terms being the vernacular 
 for " Healers." From the earliest times 
 these communities abounded in Egypt and 
 Palestine. The river Jordan was a favourite 
 place for centres of such communities. 
 Most of them consisted of Hebrews, 
 drawn out of the official Hebrew Church 
 through the decay of the Mosaic Faith 
 so far back as the reign of Solomon, and 
 more especially after the Babylonian exile. 
 These large assemblages of Mystical Jews
 
 The History of Mysticism 47 
 
 held firmly to the Esoteric Mysticism 
 of Abraham and Moses, which the latter 
 imparted to his followers in the wilderness 
 in the Inner Circle of Israel. After the 
 beginning of the Kingdom of Israel under 
 human kingship, the Esoteric Faith ceased 
 to be taught and practised by the official 
 priesthood, and it sank out of memory, to 
 be revived for a brief time by one or another 
 devoted king, such as Josiah and Hezekiah. 
 During this time of darkness and degeneracy 
 from the Covenant of God, the Light of the 
 Mysteries was kept alive in the " Schools of 
 the Prophets," communities of Mystics who 
 practised the principles of Mysticism, and 
 preserved the Esoteric Faith. These were 
 the earlier pioneers of the later communities 
 of the Therapeutae and Essenes. To them 
 belonged the line of the Prophets, among 
 whom were Samuel, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. 
 
 The Essenes in Palestine. At the time of 
 the Birth of Jesus Christ the Essenes were 
 established in several large communities in 
 the country of Palestine. Noted centres 
 were at Carmel, Nazareth, Samaria, and 
 En-geddi on the Jordan. They differed
 
 48 The True Mystic 
 
 little from the Egyptian Therapeutae, and 
 both were in communion with the Persian 
 " Magi " and the Oriental Mystics. The 
 disciples of our Lord were of the Essenes, 
 and Jesus Himself, His father and mother, 
 also were Essenes. The membership of the 
 Essene Brotherhood was so secretly kept 
 that many of the priests and Pharisees were 
 Essenes. At the time Jesus was born the 
 whole Mystic Fraternity from Egypt and 
 Greece, to the farthest East, were expecting 
 the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Great Master, 
 and " waiting for the consolation of Israel." 
 John Baptist. Every characteristic of 
 John the Baptist, his life and personality, 
 his asceticism, his desert-abode, and his 
 practice of the Mystic Rite of Baptism, 
 proclaimed him an Essene and an Initiate 
 of the Mysteries. From the Essenes he 
 took his commission as the pre-Messianic 
 Prophet and Witness of the coming Great 
 Master. Joseph and Mary were likewise 
 Mystics of the Essene Fraternity, both 
 being " virgins," the Mystical term denoting 
 an Initiate, or one who has purified himself, 
 and become the Temple of God by Initiation 
 and the Four Tokens of the Mystic. Jesus
 
 The History of Mysticism 49 
 
 taught nothing " new " in His Message and 
 Ministry. He taught that which was known 
 by all Essenes, practised by them, and 
 propagated by them. This accounts for the 
 general rallying of the people to Him when 
 He commenced His Ministry, and for the 
 remarkable success of His Apostles after 
 His Ascension and the descent of the Holy 
 Spirit upon them at Pentecost. The Essenes 
 knew well, and had taught well, the Mystical 
 significance of the Passion, Death, Burial, 
 Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ. 
 Therefore the people flocked into His Church 
 after the day of Pentecost. 
 
 The " Diaspora." Mention must be made 
 of one remarkable fact of these ages, viz. 
 that the Hebrews, especially those of the 
 " Diaspora," or Dispersion, mainly were the 
 peoplewhoformedthecommunitiesof Ascetics 
 and Hermits, the Therapeutae and Essenes. 
 
 The decay of Hebrew Mysticism. After 
 the decay of the Esoteric Faith of Abraham 
 and Moses, in the Hebrew nation, caused by 
 the insistence of the people in having a 
 temporal king, like other nations, thereby 
 renouncing the faith and obedience of God, 
 through His priests and prophets in the
 
 50 The True Mystic 
 
 Divine Hierarchy ; the oral teaching of the 
 Mysteries carried out by Moses to the Inner 
 Circle of the Congregation ceased to be 
 employed. The nation became more tem- 
 poral, worldly, and imspiritual. They failed 
 even under Joshua to purify the country 
 which God had chosen for them, and led 
 them into. By this failure, and their 
 emulation of the conditions of the nations 
 around, they opened the door to the intru- 
 sion of false, superstitious, and depraved 
 paganism which had corrupted the once pure 
 Faiths of the Canaanites and Phoenicians. 
 
 The faithful Hebrews then retired into 
 secret communities, conserving the Holy 
 Mysteries, and practising the Faith, under 
 their Masters and Initiates, from which the 
 Prophets came forth at various periods to 
 warn the people and their rulers, and to 
 teach and comfort the faithful. 
 
 Oral teaching of the Hebrew Mysteries. 
 The oral teaching of Moses and the " Teach- 
 ing Priesthood " of the Temple was the same 
 Mystery-Religion of Hermes, taught in the 
 Schools of Egypt. In these Schools Moses 
 was trained and instructed, and became 
 " learned in all the Wisdom of Egypt."
 
 The History of Mysticism 51 
 
 Abraham, the founder of Israel, was himself 
 a Priest of the Mysteries in the Chaldaean 
 School, from whence he was drawn forth to 
 carry out his mission as the " father " of the 
 Chosen People, from whom the Great Master, 
 Jesus Christ, eventually was to be born. 
 
 Abraham and Moses. Abraham handed 
 down the oral teaching of the Esoteric 
 Mysteries to his descendants, and Moses 
 continued the same teaching. The wilder- 
 ness-journey was symbolical of the Mystic 
 Way, as the life of Jesus Christ at a later 
 period gave the same symbolization. 
 
 The " Law " exoteric. In the Pentateuch 
 is embodied the " Law of Moses," which 
 consists of a compendium of " exoteric " 
 teaching and legislation, connected both 
 with the Mysteries, their earthly mediaries 
 in the sacrificial and sacerdotal system, and 
 with the social and domestic order and 
 regulation of community life. 
 
 The " Prophets " esoteric. The " esoteric " 
 teaching of the Mysteries is contained in the 
 " Prophets," and was given to the Congre- 
 gation of Initiates and disciples orally and 
 in secret. These teachings were handed down 
 and transmitted in the Order of the Priest-
 
 52 The True Mystic 
 
 hood and Prophets, from generation to 
 generation. The Holy Scriptures do not 
 contain this oral teaching. It was not 
 committed to writing till a later date in 
 Hebrew history than the books of the Pen- 
 tateuch and most of the Prophetic writings. 
 
 The " Kaballa." Not until some centuries 
 after Christ was this oral teaching com- 
 mitted to writing in the ancient Hebrew 
 uncials. So carefully was this transcription 
 effected by the employment of glyphs and 
 symbols, numerical and geometrical signs, 
 that practically the whole of the Secret 
 Doctrine was preserved to the Initiates, 
 who alone were competent to decipher and 
 interpret them. 
 
 These ancient Hebraic writings were called 
 the " Kaballa." Until quite recently they 
 have been almost inaccessible to European 
 students. It is interesting to note that in 
 the year 1912 the " Kaballa " was translated 
 verbatim in the French language. A most 
 useful and informing book by Professor 
 Abelson, published by the " Quest Society," 
 entitled " Hebrew Mysticism," throws new 
 and important light on the Mysticism of the 
 " Kaballa."
 
 The History of Mysticism 53 
 
 The " Talmud." Following the compila- 
 tion of the secret doctrine of the Mysteries 
 in the Kaballa, a series of " Commentaries " 
 on the Kaballic doctrine was compiled, 
 forming a " text-book " on the Hebrew 
 Mystic Teaching, and treated with great 
 reverence amongst the Jews to this day. 
 This compilation is called the " Talmud." 
 In the Talmud the teaching is fully Mystical. 
 In both the Kaballa and the Talmud 
 containing the Esoteric Faith of Abraham 
 and Moses the doctrines of Pre-existence 
 and Reincarnation are prominently set forth. 
 In fact, the whole content of cosmogony of 
 the Kaballa presupposes these doctrines. 
 Professor Abelson, the most able and learned 
 of Hebrew exponents of the Kaballa and 
 Talmud, mentions this fact, which is the 
 more interesting when we remember that 
 Jesus and the Apostles were taught in the 
 doctrines of the Kaballa and Talmud, there- 
 by indicating the fact that they believed 
 and taught the doctrines of Pre-existence 
 and Reincarnation. Paul's doctrine of 
 Predestination has only one possible inter- 
 pretation, in the idea of Pre-existence and 
 Reincarnation, as taught in the authorita-
 
 54 The True Mystic 
 
 tive doctrines of the Hebrew Faith, of which 
 Paul was a profound exponent. 
 
 Both these ancient works show clearly 
 that the Hebrew Faith, the Faith of Abra- 
 ham and Moses, embodied in them, is the 
 same Mystery-Religion of the ancient world, 
 of the Orient, of Chaldaea, Egypt, Greece, 
 and Italy, and of the prehistoric peoples 
 and hierarchies now for ages extinct, except 
 in their late survivors among the " abori- 
 gines " of the old continents of the pre- 
 Glacial period. 
 
 Only One Catholic Religion. There is, and 
 eternally has been, Only One True Religion 
 under the sim the Religion, the One 
 Theo-Sophia, which Mysticism represents 
 and inculcates that Religion which one day. 
 God willing, will be restored to our present- 
 day denuded and depleted Christianity. 
 
 III. THE MYSTICISM OF JESUS CHRIST AND 
 HIS APOSTLES 
 
 I will in this lecture touch very briefly 
 on the Mysticism of Jesus Christ and the 
 Apostles, as in my next lecture I shall speak 
 more fully of the Historical and the Mystical 
 Christ.
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 55 
 
 What I desire now to show to you is that 
 Jesus was a Teacher of the Ancient Mystery- 
 Religion which I have traced down the ages 
 from the beginning of time ; that He Him- 
 self in the flesh attained the Mysteries, and 
 practised and taught the Four Tokens of 
 the Mystic. 
 
 The Birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ 
 was born of Joseph and Mary, both of whom 
 were " Virgins," or pure Initiates of the 
 Mystery-Religion, under the Essene rule. 
 Both came to birth from a long line of 
 hereditary " Virginity," and therefore were 
 fit mediaries of the "Seed" of the Son of 
 God Most High for natural generation. 
 
 " Virgin-Birth." In our present state of 
 Christian ignorance and superstitious be- 
 liefs concerning the Mystical idea of " Vir- 
 ginity " of birth, we have become accustomed 
 for centuries to think that the " Virginity " 
 of Mary was a physical and sexual virginity, 
 and that Joseph had no procreative share 
 in the birth of Jesus. " Virginity " of birth 
 is purely a Mystical term denoting nothing 
 of a unique or " miraculous " nature of 
 conception. Virginity is the state of con- 
 ceptual and procreative conditions that all
 
 56 The True Mystic 
 
 mankind normally should enjoy, and which 
 Mysticism will restore, so that " immaculate 
 conceptions," through pure Virginity of men 
 and women in Marriage, shall become general. 
 The Mystery-Life of Jesus Christ. The 
 Life of Jesus Christ was a life of Mystery ; 
 i.e., His Life-Epochs are symbolical of the 
 Life-Epochs, or Initiations, of the Mystic. 
 The Life-Epochs of Jesus Christ were the 
 same Seven Mystery-experiences of the 
 Mystic's Initiations : 
 
 (1) BIRTH. (4) DEATH. 
 
 (2) BAPTISM. (5) BURIAL. 
 
 (3) PASSION. (6) RESURRECTION. 
 
 (7) ASCENSION. 
 
 The early Fathers, to the time of Augus- 
 tine, spoke of Initiation in the Mysteries of 
 Christ as definite experiences, associated 
 with the Seven Sacraments. Every Mystic 
 will tell you that the Seven Epochs of the 
 Life of Jesus Christ are the Seven Steps, or 
 Gates, of the Mystic Way, severally passed in 
 Initiations, to reach the " Sabbath " state of 
 Rest, the " Session at the Right Hand of God," 
 or the " Unio Mystica," sometimes termed 
 the " Divine Marriage."
 
 1. BIRTH. 
 
 IV. 
 V. 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 PASSION. 
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 57 
 
 The Seven Golden Keys of the Seven Gates 
 of the Mystic Path. The Mystic Path has 
 been shown to have Seven Gates of Initia- 
 tion, marked by the Seven Life-Epochs of 
 the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each 
 Gate has a Golden Key, the attainment of 
 which opens the Gate to the faithful Disciple. 
 The Golden Keys are these : 
 
 The Golden Key SELF-ABNE- 
 GATION. 
 ,, EQUILIBRIUM. 
 
 INSENSI- 
 BILITY, or In- 
 difference to 
 pleasure or 
 pain. 
 
 ,, DETACHMENT. 
 DETERMINA- 
 TION, or Per- 
 severance. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE I 
 
 GNOSIS. 
 SABBATH : 
 
 REST, or Ses- 
 sion at the 
 Right Hand 
 of God. 
 
 DEATH. 
 BURIAL. 
 
 VI. RESURRECTION. 
 
 Vll. ASCENSION.
 
 58 The True Myshc 
 
 Jesus Christ, for His own body's sake, and 
 for the Redemption of the bodies of all 
 humanity, entered into these Gates of 
 Initiation, and qualified to enter by the 
 attainment of the Seven Golden Keys. As 
 " Captain of our Salvation " He passed the 
 " Ordeals," endured the " Temptations," 
 and was Crowned the Conqueror of 
 Death. " Christ died for us, leaving us 
 an Example, that we should FOLLOW 
 HIS STEPS." 
 
 Apostolical Mysticism. The Apostolical 
 teaching unfolds the Mystical purpose of the 
 Master, Jesus Christ. John, Peter, and 
 Paul speak as with one voice of the Mysteries 
 of the Kingdom, and the Way of their 
 attainment. In his Epistles Paul makes 
 frequent use of the term " Mystery." Such 
 an expression, among numerous other 
 Mystical terms found so repeatedly in the 
 Apostolical writings, is of the greatest 
 significance. In the days they were written 
 these terms belonged only to the tech- 
 nology of Mysticism, and gave the Mystic 
 sign to their writers, as Masonic terms and 
 expressions found in certain literary works 
 to-day point to their Masonic authorship.
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 59 
 
 Paul speaks technically of Mysticism as 
 follows : 
 
 " Unto me was this Grace given, to 
 preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ, and to make all men see 
 what is the dispensation of the Mystery 
 which from all ages hath been hid in God 
 Who created all things." 
 
 Pauline doctrine of Mysticism. Already 
 I have shown that this Mystery of Mysteries 
 is the same that has been the search and 
 quest of Mystics and Saints, in all ages, and 
 in all parts of the world. It is no monopoly 
 of any one religion. No religion claims or 
 holds exclusive copyright and entail of the 
 Sacred Mysteries. 
 
 The " Mystery " which the Apostle de- 
 clared he was called to make known, of 
 which the Master gave command to all His 
 Apostles to " make disciples " in " all the 
 world," " of every creature," is the Mystery 
 of Christ which embraces the Seven Gates 
 of the Mystic Way. 
 
 These Seven Gates are Seven graduated 
 Steps of Initiation and attainment, won by 
 the Four Tokens of the Mystic Asceticism,
 
 60 The True Mystic 
 
 Ekstasis, Initiation, and Intuition. The 
 most elementary knowledge of Mysticism 
 will enable us to detect Paul's Mystic 
 meaning. He speaks of being : 
 
 (a) "Baptized into Christ'' BAPTISM. 
 
 (b) " Suffering with Christ" PASSION. 
 
 (c) " Crucified with Christ " DEATH. 
 
 (d) " Buried with Christ " BURIAL. 
 
 (e) " Raised with Christ " RESURRECTION. 
 
 (f) " Ascended with Christ " ( ASCENSION \ R 
 
 (g) "Seated with Christ " I SESSION / 
 
 These applications of the Life-Epochs of 
 Christ to the Disciples of Christ are referred 
 to as definite and distinct experiences of 
 the body and soul in this life. No sanction 
 is found in any part of the Scriptures for a 
 " vicarious " or " substitutionary " experi- 
 ence of the same by Christ only, and imputed 
 to the believer. 
 
 The purpose of the Incarnation of Jesus 
 Christ. We thus may comprehend that the 
 Supreme Divine Mediator incarnated in our 
 fallen and corruptible flesh, the common 
 flesh of fallen humanity ; that He partook 
 of the abnormal, mortal, and suffering 
 nature of " His Brethren," was Tempted,
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 61 
 
 Suffered, Died, was Buried, Descended into 
 Hades, was Raised from the dead, Ascended 
 into Heaven, and Sat down on the Right 
 Hand of God, "from henceforth waiting 
 until His enemies be made His footstool." 
 
 The Via Dolor osa. Traversing the " Via 
 Dolor osa " alone, on His Own account as one 
 of fallen mankind, and on behalf of man- 
 kind, He opened and entered each Gate of 
 the Path. 
 
 Through each of the Seven Gates His 
 Disciples individually must pass, that their 
 personal At-Onement may be sealed in each 
 Degree of the Mysteries, by Initiation. 
 
 In passing each of the Seven Gates the 
 " Twelve Labours of Heracles " must be per- 
 formed, the " Sisyphean Task " fulfilled, 
 not once only, but Four Times, for the 
 Purifying and Liberating of the Four 
 Natures Body, Mind, Soul, and Spirit. 
 
 We see the real purpose of the Incarnation 
 of the Son of God, to restore this fallen 
 earth to union with God, and with the 
 Cosmos ; to " make Propitiation," or "At- 
 Onement." 
 
 The Redeeming of the body. The In- 
 carnation of Jesus Christ had special refer-
 
 62 The True Mystic 
 
 ence to the " body," in which the souls of 
 all creatures are imprisoned in corrupt 
 matter. The body is the " dead-weight " of 
 all creatures, from man downwards in the 
 scale of creation. Animals of all species 
 suffer this soul-imprisonment, even more 
 materially than do human beings. The sin 
 of man, and its consequences, have fallen 
 more acutely on these innocent creatures 
 than on ourselves, who, in the beginning, 
 were personally partakers in, and responsible 
 for, the Fall, and all the Evil it has brought 
 upon creation. 
 
 Immortality. This " dead- weight " of Sin 
 and Corruption drags us down, and sinks 
 us earthward, when we naturally should rise 
 heavenward. We have lost our "Immor- 
 tality," and become the creatures of 
 "Mortality," from the time that "Sin 
 entered into the world," and " Death by Sin." 
 Our bodies have become " bodies of death." 
 The Christ incarnated that He might " bring 
 Life and Immortality to light." 
 
 Mortality. The body is an intrinsic part 
 of the creature-organism. It is not the 
 mere earthly " shell " that is cast off at 
 death, like the shell of a mollusc, or that of
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 63 
 
 a nut. A being, in all states of existence, 
 is an incomplete organism if he is soul 
 without body. " Mortality " has seized 
 upon his being at his reincarnation, and he 
 can only be made immortal by Redemption 
 and Regeneration. Until the body is 
 Regenerated, as well as the soul, and thereby 
 Redeemed, it remains mortal, and cannot 
 have Eternal Life, nor abide in the spheres 
 of Immortality. To attain Eternal Life and 
 Immortality, a being must " Follow in the 
 Steps of Christ " to the Mystical Gate of 
 Resurrection, and Regenerate his body, as 
 Christ Redeemed and Regenerated His body, 
 by the Christ in Him. For all men have 
 the Christ in them, needing to be " quick- 
 ened " and "formed" in them. It is the 
 Christ in them that is the Regenerating 
 Power. 
 
 Until the " body " has been Redeemed 
 from " mortality," man and beast are 
 doomed to reincarnate continually, the 
 being alternating between the life here and 
 the life beyond, fluctuating and restless 
 souls, longing for Paradise and Rest, but 
 perpetually frustrated by the mortal ele- 
 ments persisting in the flesh, chaining them
 
 64 The True Mystic 
 
 to the earth. By Mysticism, therefore, a 
 man not only frees himself from " mortality," 
 but from reincarnation. Once Mystically 
 " Dead," he " dieth no more," " death hath 
 no more dominion over him," for he re- 
 incarnates no more. 
 
 The Mystery of Christ in the flesh. For 
 the sake of Redeeming man's body, and so 
 saving his soul, the Christ Himself incarnated 
 in mortal flesh, and, by the Christ in His 
 mortal flesh, He Redeemed it. He destroyed 
 death in His flesh, by the Christ in His 
 mortal flesh, suffering, dying, buried, raised, 
 and glorified in the flesh. It is the same 
 Christ in the flesh, the same " Mystery, of 
 Christ in you, the Hope of Glory," that will 
 Redeem you and me in the flesh, by the same 
 Sevenfold Mystery of Mysteries. 
 
 No more death. The reward of the 
 Mystic is, that, dying, he dies no more. 
 He returns no more to the earth, or re- 
 incarnates, for the sake of his own Redemp- 
 tion. He has fulfilled all that his reincarna- 
 tions required of him. He has Redeemed 
 his body from mortality, and broken away 
 from the " dead- weight " of matter which 
 held him bound to the earth.
 
 The Mysticism of Jesus Christ 65 
 
 The Restitution of all things. In his long 
 home in Paradise he is waiting, with all the 
 " Blessed dead," who have Redeemed 
 themselves from mortality, for the " Re- 
 stitution of all things," the Redemption of 
 " the whole creation which groaneth and 
 travaileth together with humanity, waiting for 
 the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of the 
 body." 
 
 END OF FIRST LECTURE
 
 SECOND LECTURE 
 MYSTICISM OF THE PRESENT 
 
 I. ALEXANDRIAN MYSTICISM AND GNOSTICISM 
 
 IN the preceding lecture the fact was pointed 
 out that the early Mysticism of Egypt, 
 which became an established Cult through 
 the propagation of the Hermetic and Pytha- 
 gorean Philosophy, was largely a Hebrew 
 development, after the decay of the Esoteric 
 "Law of Moses " and the " Faith of Abra- 
 ham." The Hebrews who remained faithful 
 to the "Law and the Prophets," maintained 
 the Faith in exile in Egypt, and in the wil- 
 derness security of the Essene communities 
 of Palestine. 
 
 Through the combined influences of Greek 
 and Italian philosophy, the teachings of 
 Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other great 
 philosophical Mystics, and of the Hebrew 
 Mysticism, later embodied in the " Kaballa," 
 a powerful and influential eclectic School, or 
 University, of Mystical Philosophy grew up 
 66
 
 Alexandrian Mysticism and Gnosticism 67 
 
 in the great City of learning, built by Alex- 
 ander the Great as a Centre of Learning in 
 his world-empire, Alexandria. 
 
 Alexander the Great. Alexander, whose 
 conquest of Egypt raised him to the supreme 
 monarchy of the Western world, himself 
 became an Initiate. The dream of his life 
 was the notable one of uniting corporately 
 the Mystical Schools of the East and the West. 
 He saw, as many in this day are seeing, that 
 the Faith of the Mysteries was the same in 
 the Orient as in the Occident, and that this 
 Faith was the Divine and natural focal centre 
 of unity in the world. To create a world- 
 hierarchy was his dream. In order to ac- 
 complish it, the world must be conquered 
 by force of arms, the antagonism of ignorant 
 and superstitious people, forming the thick 
 outer crust of society everywhere, must be 
 subjugated. The kernel of society, the 
 people who were awakened to the Mysteries, 
 the pure and holy Mystics and Saints, whom 
 he recognized as the " salt of the earth," must 
 gain the ascendancy in the world-polity, 
 and be drawn from obscurity and seclusion, 
 and united in fellowship, for the Regenera- 
 tion of the world. Therefore he set forth to
 
 68 The True Mystic 
 
 conquer the East. To unite Alexandria with 
 the central seat of Oriental learning, so to 
 girdle the world with the One Faith of the 
 Mysteries, this was his dream, his great 
 enterprise. How nearly he succeeded ! 
 But on his great expedition to the conquest 
 of India he died ; and so his great dream was 
 unfulfilled. Yet it was a true dream, only 
 the time of its fulfilment was not yet. It 
 still awaits it, and the present day, the 
 British occupation of India, the open water- 
 way and land-way, and the free inter- 
 course between Orient and Occident, have 
 prepared the way for this dream of Mys- 
 tical unity between the Mystery-Religion of 
 the East and the Mystery-Religion of the 
 West. 
 
 Alexandrian Gnosticism. The Alexan- 
 drian development of Mystical philosophy 
 led to the amalgamation of Oriental, Egyp- 
 tian, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew Mysticism. 
 Alexandria became the greatest metro- 
 politan Seat of Learning in the world, of 
 an international Cult of Divine Wisdom and 
 Philosophy, under the name of " GNOS- 
 TICISM." Initiates, Masters, and philoso- 
 phers of this world-embracing School of
 
 Alexandrian Mysticism and Gnosticism 69 
 
 the Mysteries were denominated " Gnostics," 
 or, people who know. They taught with the 
 " authority " of Intuitive Knowledge, " and 
 not as the Scribes," whose knowledge was 
 " book-learning " and merely intellectualism, 
 In the early days of Gnosticism the Mysteries 
 and the Gnosis were purely and powerfully 
 taught, orally, in the many Schools of 
 Masters and Philosophers at Alexandria. 
 The city grew to be a great University of 
 Mysticism, and students flocked to it from 
 all parts of the world, 
 
 Degenerate and Pseudo-Gnosticism. As 
 almost invariably happens in connection 
 with highly spiritual and occult movements, 
 discredit is brought upon them by the influx 
 of false professors of the pure teaching and 
 practice, and their exploitation of the powers 
 of occultism to ulterior and often evil ends. 
 So, in the case of Alexandrian Gnosticism, 
 many spurious, injudicious, distorted, or false 
 doctrines and practices came into vogue. 
 Strange and sensational perversions of the 
 Gnosis, wild and pernicious heresies and 
 occult practices, perverted the Secret Doc- 
 trine. Many were deceived and corrupted 
 by the occult manifestations of " Black
 
 7O The True Mystic 
 
 Magic," simulating the psychic and spiritual 
 phenomena of the Pure " White Magic " of 
 the true Gnostic Mystics. They departed 
 from the Faith of Mysticism, led away to 
 gross thaumaturgical rites and doctrines, 
 and magical arts, and fell into the snare of 
 astral necromancy and demoniacal divina- 
 tion, forming many " sects " of spurious 
 philosophy, which they scrupled not to 
 label with the same term, " Gnosticism." 
 This evil encroachment of the " Black 
 Magic," astral Gnosticism, ultimately caused 
 the philosophers of the true Gnosticism to 
 teach and practise the Faith in secrecy. 
 Finally, after continuing for a time in the 
 Alexandrian Schools, the false Gnosticism 
 having gained greater ascendancy, the true 
 Gnosticism, after a period of grievous perse- 
 cution and trouble, ended in almost total 
 extinction in Alexandria, when most of their 
 Initiates and Masters were put to death, and 
 the rest disappeared, with their valuable 
 literary treasures and archives. 
 
 Alexandria, the Seat of Mysticism. Try 
 to picture in your minds this wonderful city 
 and country of the prehistoric Faith of the 
 Christ-Logos, whose primeval Mystery-
 
 Alexandrian Mysticism and Gnosticism 71 
 
 Wisdom was memorialized and taught in 
 the greatest monument of Mystical Masonry 
 the world still has kept preserved for our 
 wonder and perplexity the PYRAMID 
 and SPHINX. To-day the scientist and 
 archeologist are only beginning to pierce the 
 great Mystery veiled in these marvellous 
 structures. The Mysticism of the Gnostics 
 was the identical knowledge and practice of 
 the Mysteries secreted in the dimensions and 
 interior construction of these venerable 
 piles of prehistoric origin. 
 
 Picture this great cosmopolitan Univer- 
 sity, containing most of the virile intellect 
 and spirituality of the noblest age of in- 
 tellectuality and spirituality, of Jews and 
 Greeks and Egyptians, Persians, Orientals, 
 Italians, and people from the scattered races 
 of Africa and the Far West ; the crowds of 
 men and women, and boys and girls, drawn 
 to Mysticism, flocking to Alexandria, and 
 filling the auditoria of the Schools, drinking 
 the Gnosis hungrily a cosmopolitan multi- 
 tude of earnest thinking souls, eager to tread 
 the Path of the Cross, the Mystic Way of the 
 Christ, hailing from the four quarters of the 
 world ; all this wonderful Mystical activity
 
 72 The True Mystic 
 
 before the birth of Christ, and the era of 
 Christianity ! 
 
 The Roman Empire. We now come to the 
 period of the Roman conquest, the age of the 
 Caesars. The Golden Day of Greece, its 
 Mysticism and culture, has waned, and the 
 grey dawn of the Iron Day of Rome swallows 
 up the horizon in gloomy clouds of dark 
 portent. Egypt and Greece, after Alex- 
 ander's death, were breaking up. The 
 ancient regime that fostered the noble 
 traditions and philosophy of Hermes, 
 Pythagoras, and Moses was rapidly in 
 decline. Terrible events were looming, 
 already foreseen by the Alexandrian Mystics. 
 
 The crisis of Gnosticism. In this transi- 
 tional hour, behind the imminent tragedy, 
 the Mystics remained calm and unperturbed, 
 as Mystics always are, whatever befalls in 
 the circumstances of life. They knew that 
 the very events that were to bring disaster 
 to their temporal destinies were that series 
 of occurrences which Mystical foreknowledge 
 and prophecy foresaw, but did not seek to 
 avert. They recognized in them the signal 
 of a New Age, a " Dispensation " of time, 
 when the Gnosis was to take a new departure
 
 Alexandrian Mysticism and Gnosticism 73 
 
 of a world-wide significance, which was to be 
 sealed by their own blood. 
 
 A crisis and turning-point in the history 
 of the Mystery-Religion was approaching, 
 for which the past had been preparatory, 
 and the coming series of tragic events was to 
 render this crisis possible. 
 
 I ask you kindly to keep in your minds 
 this narrative sketch, for it is necessary now 
 to digress from the narrative in order to 
 review certain points that must be gathered 
 up before proceeding with the historical side 
 of our subject. These points relate especially 
 to the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the dual concept of His Historical and 
 Mystical Personality. 
 
 May I also say why I regard these con- 
 siderations of such paramount importance ? 
 
 It is because I think I see in a great deal 
 of theology of the present time, and in much 
 of the mysticism, occultism, and theosophy 
 that is being taught, a missing quantity 
 the comparative absence of consciousness 
 concerning the great Personage Whose Nativity 
 Christendom is celebrating, at the season 
 which for centuries has been called the 
 " CHRIST'S MASS."
 
 74 The True Mystic 
 
 II. THE HISTORICAL AND THE MYSTICAL 
 CHRIST 
 
 The Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 stands out, in the devout estimation of 
 Christendom, as the most momentous event 
 in the world's history. And surely, whatever 
 be our individual religion or philosophy, 
 there is something in this event so remark- 
 able that, if only in the light of its historical 
 consequences, it is next to impossible to over- 
 state its importance. 
 
 The overshadowing of the Mystical Christ 
 concept by the concept of the Historical Christ. 
 Yet it is possible to err in disproportion 
 of emphasis on one special aspect of Jesus 
 Christ in His relation to mankind. The 
 consequence of this error is to place Him in 
 an ill-balanced representation, a distorted 
 perspective, and the perfect view of this 
 transcendent Figure is blurred, and put out 
 of proportion. The misfortune of this failure 
 will be apparent, and to it is due the very 
 widespread depreciation and neglect of Jesus 
 Christ. There are many who practically
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 75 
 
 deny the Incarnation of the Son of God ; 
 there are many who exaggerate it, and reject 
 any other idea of the Christ but that of His 
 Divine Humanity. These errors are open 
 ways to " materialism" on the one hand, or 
 to " superstition " on the other. 
 
 The tendency referred to is strongly 
 marked in Christian theology in the present 
 day. The beautiful personality of the 
 Incarnate Son of God has captured the 
 thought and adoration of Christendom, 
 almost to the total exclusion of the equally 
 beautiful concept and personality of the 
 Mystical Christ, Whom the flesh of Jesus 
 enclothed and en veiled for a short season 
 in His Divine existence. The eternal lustre 
 and glory of the Mystical Christ have been 
 overshadowed, if not utterly eclipsed, by 
 the concept of the Historical and Incarnate 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet it is the Mystical Christ, and not the 
 Incarnate Christ, Who essentially is the 
 Great World-Saviour, the " Redeemer," the 
 " Logos made flesh." 
 
 The ages of Redemption. The Redemption 
 of the earth did not begin at the Incarnation, 
 and end at the Ascension. Redemption had
 
 76 The True Mystic 
 
 not to be waited for until it pleased God to 
 send His Son into the world. The Christ has 
 been perpetually fulfilling His Redemptive 
 work throughout the past ages, from the 
 moment that man, in a long-past reincarnate 
 state, brought the world to the condition 
 necessitating Redemption. 
 
 The drama of Redemption. The Incarna- 
 tion of the " Logos," or the Mystical Christ, 
 has always formed a specific and essential 
 part of the Redemptive Plan, an " Act " of 
 the ages-long " Drama," to which many 
 preceding "Acts" and "Scenes" have been 
 leading. In all these prior " Acts " and 
 " Scenes " the Mystical Christ has been the 
 principal Figure, not more so in the Incarna- 
 tion than in previous ages. 
 
 True Christ-Worship. The Mystical 
 Christ in the Historical Christ is the 
 " Persona " of the Godhead Whom men 
 should worship. To worship the Incarnate 
 Christ without intelligent reference to the 
 Mystical Christ is superstition and practically 
 heathenism. In many ways in Christian 
 worship Christ is made an object of 
 " idolatry." 
 
 The Saints and the Mystical Christ. The
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 77 
 
 study of the lives of the Saints of Western 
 Christianity shows that Saintship always has 
 been attained through the interior discovery 
 of the Mystical Christ. The Saints passed 
 from objective and exoteric devotion to the 
 Christ of the Manger and Calvary, to 
 the quest and search for the subjective 
 Christ secreted in their own souls and 
 bodies. 
 
 The exoteric worship of Christ, imaged in 
 the Crucifix, worshipped at the Altar, sup- 
 plicated in the Prayers, opened the door of 
 their minds to the esoteric worship of the 
 Eternal " Logos," implanted, incarnated, 
 and in-formating within their own incarnate 
 beings. It led them on to the struggle and 
 Path-climbing which ends in attainment of 
 every degree, " to the measure of the stature 
 of the Fulness of the Christ." 
 
 Painfully and perseveringly they learned 
 how to attain the Mystical Christ, practising 
 the Four Tokens of the Mystic, often 
 blindly and unconsciously, scarce perceiving 
 the drift of their progress, but attaining 
 approximate standards and degrees in the 
 Mystic Ascent. With many nothing short 
 of the " Unio Mystica," the " Divine
 
 78 The True Mystic 
 
 Marriage," was the Goal of their quest and 
 striving. 
 
 Many of the Saints travelled as far as it 
 was possible to go on the line of Saintship. 
 Wonderful was it, without organized Mys- 
 tical instruction, that they so succeeded in 
 perseverance ! Some went beyond the 
 point where the line of Saintship merges 
 into the line of Mysticism. Some few 
 journeyed a further distance on the " line 
 of Mysticism," and learned somewhat of 
 the great secrets and experiences of the 
 Mystic Path leading through the wilderness 
 to the Mystery-Land. 
 
 The Saints' Progress. To these " excur- 
 sions " into Mysticism, beyond the " line of 
 Saintship," is due the lustre and glory 
 attached to the names and posthumous 
 fame of the many " Saints " who live 
 immortal in religious memory. They are 
 the " Joshuas " and " Calebs," who have 
 penetrated the coast-lands of the " Promised 
 Land" They have brought " Grapes of 
 Eshcol" testifying to the beauty and plenty 
 of the rich country, the " land flowing with 
 milk and honey." But, like the Israelite 
 explorers, they went no further, afraid of
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 79 
 
 the " giants " to be fought and overcome, 
 and the " walled cities " menacing the Path 
 of Conquest. 
 
 Saintship and Mysticism, the Two Lines 
 of Mystical Progress. The " Saint " and the 
 " Mystic " need to be differentiated in the 
 reader's mind. The two may be said to 
 journey together on two parallel lines the 
 Line of Saintship and the Line of Mysticism. 
 The distinction between these two lines is 
 due, not to Divine intention, nor of intrinsic 
 necessity, but solely to human defect in the 
 matter of teaching and understanding. The 
 line of Mysticism is not at present open to 
 more than a few souls who force their way 
 into it by strenuous labour. The lines run 
 so contiguously that practically for a long 
 distance they are indistinguishable. 
 
 The Solitary Path of the Mystic. From a 
 certain point, however, the line of Mysticism 
 is a Solitary Path, and that point is " Initia- 
 tion," and all that Initiation requires and 
 implies. It is at this point that the Mystic 
 knows he is a Mystic, and all Mystics enter 
 the " Charmed Circle " of Fellowship that 
 none else know, and none but they can 
 define and mutually reciprocate.
 
 So 
 
 Gladly indeed the Saint would follow that 
 Path to its farther direction, if he knew how, 
 and if the Church, which honours the Saint, 
 and denies the Mystic, provided the means 
 and facilities for the cultivation of Mysticism, 
 and encouraged the method and practice of 
 the Four Tokens of the Mystic. 
 
 Closing of the Line of Mysticism. Since 
 Apostolical and early Gnostic times, the line 
 of Mysticism has practically been closed to 
 Western Christianity, beyond the individual 
 " excursions " of some of the Catholic 
 Saints, frowned at by the official Church, 
 and enterprised at great self-sacrifice, per- 
 secution, and life-risk. 
 
 The dividing-point of Initiation. The 
 quest of the " Mystical Christ " led many of 
 the Saints " beyond Jordan," but none were 
 able to continue to the conquest of the 
 " Promised Land." There is no uncharity 
 in saying this, and it would be confusing the 
 point that needs the clearest emphasis if this 
 were not stated quite frankly. Indeed, it is 
 a most notable and wonderful thing that 
 Saintship was attained, even to far lengths 
 of Mystical experience, by so many heroic 
 souls, in days when the Church had lapsed
 
 The Historical and tlw Mystical Christ 81 
 
 into almost " Egyptian darkness," during 
 the Middle Ages. To such high degrees of 
 the " measure of the stature of the Fulness 
 of Christ " some Saints reached, that the 
 uninitiated might well believe and call them 
 Mystics, and the Church's Calendar is 
 replete with the adornment of the names of 
 the Saints. But none of them, strictly 
 speaking, according to the present definition 
 of the term, were Mystics. The "Hall- 
 Mark," and " Sign-Manual," of a Mystic 
 is INITIATION. " Initiation," and the 
 " Mysteries," were, in those days of medieval 
 Saintship, unknown and forgotten. The 
 Saints lacked the light of Mysticism to lead 
 them on that Solitary Path to the confines 
 of the Mystic Way. Glimpses and visions 
 of the Way they assuredly had, and the feet 
 of many of the Saints trod the Way for 
 great distances but none reached the end 
 of the Way. There is not the least evidence 
 in their illuminating writings to show that 
 any of the Saints made such an assumption, 
 or possessed the knowledge of Initiation. 
 
 Official Church intervention and obscuran- 
 tism. The earnest reader, weighing very 
 seriously this statement, will at once ask,
 
 82 The True Mystic 
 
 " Why was this so ? " It is probable that 
 many will disagree with me, especially those 
 who have benefited from the study of the 
 lives of the Saints, of Santa Theresa, and 
 so many whose experiences transcend the 
 common experience of the religious life. 
 They cannot concede that there is any 
 experience and attainment beyond such 
 lofty Saintship. Likewise, the only true 
 answer that can be given to this question 
 is a sad one indeed, and likely to give pain 
 to many who read it. 
 
 The true reason is that the official Church 
 always proceeded on a systematic and stern 
 policy of intervention and obscurantism, 
 and prohibited the Saints with severe penal- 
 ties from progressing permanently beyond 
 the coast-line of Mysticism. Beyond that 
 coast-line were the heights of the Gnosis, and 
 the beauteous Path to those heights was 
 INITIATION, leading to INTUITION, and 
 Intuition demanded an unfettered mind, a 
 liberated speech, and a Free Spirit. These 
 demands the Church for centuries had 
 determinedly silenced by its exactions of 
 obedience and subjection, of mind, speech, 
 and faith, to the stereotyped and authority-
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 83 
 
 bound dogmatism of Scholasticism. The 
 Mystic must be a free and independent 
 Spirit, or he must die under the " ban " of 
 Ecclesiasticism. 
 
 Madame de la Mothe Guy on. Notably 
 may be mentioned, as a single instance, the 
 case of the devoted lady of France, Madame 
 de la Mothe Guyon, Saint and Martyr. Her 
 sorrowful life of joyous sanctity and patient 
 suffering, under the harsh inquisition of 
 ecclesiastical persecutors, you probably have 
 all read, in her life and writings, so admirably 
 recorded by her biographer, Dr. Upham, 
 himself a mystical writer of great insight. 
 This lady passed a lifetime of suffering, of 
 intense intellectual and spiritual strain 
 under the harrying cross-examinations of 
 her harsh and unfeeling confessor, Bishop 
 Bossuet. Her controversy with this stern 
 ecclesiastic was maintained with unfailing 
 patience, modesty, and lofty intellectual 
 understanding, which baffled her persecutors 
 in their persistent efforts to overtake her, 
 at a weak moment, in the committing of a 
 dialectical error, or a failure of her super- 
 human patience. Madame Guyon had gone 
 too far in independent expression of her
 
 84 The True Mystic 
 
 Intuitive Gift of Knowledge. She was in 
 danger of becoming a Mystic, and her 
 popularity extended over the whole Church. 
 Therefore she must be suppressed. As a 
 Saint she was honoured, as a Mystic she was 
 extinguished. 
 
 When the Church has not persecuted the 
 seeker of the Mystic Path, it has never failed 
 to hamper and discourage the quest. Dally 
 on the coast-line we may, but conquer the 
 land, no, we may not. If all good Christians 
 to-day became Mystics (" So mote it be ! "), 
 it would imperil too many ecclesiastical and 
 temporal " vested interests," to be safe for the 
 body-politic of Church and State. 
 
 The line of Saintship now obscurated. For 
 a long period in the Christian Church, 
 practically since the Reformation, the " line 
 of Saintship " has also been in a great 
 measure obscurated. The Protestant Church, 
 since the time of Luther, has never regarded 
 the Christian Faith as a process of attain- 
 ment of Saintship. Protestant " Evan- 
 gelicalism " treats Saintship as something 
 imputed to the believer by faith in the 
 Incarnate Christ. His Saintship and 
 Righteousness are believed to answer before
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 85 
 
 God for the believer's Saintship and 
 Righteousness. Wherefore all desire and 
 seeking after individual perfection of Holi- 
 ness and Righteousness were nullified by 
 this doctrine of " imputed righteousness." 
 The Historical Christ was the " Persona " 
 of the believer's Faith, His Incarnate Life 
 was substituted for the believer's life, His 
 Incarnate obedience for the believer's obedi- 
 ence. The Mystical Christ had no place in 
 their thought or faith. Mysticism was dead. 
 The Narrow Way was hidden from view. 
 Only believe in the Divine-Human " Substi- 
 tute " and Salvation was secure for ever. 
 This was and still is in " Evangelical " 
 circles the popular " Simple Gospel " 
 preached from Evangelical pulpits. An 
 imputed Saintship, a substituted righteousness, 
 a Divine victim of Divine wrath, substituted 
 for human sinners, saving them from ever- 
 lasting hell-fire provided by the Divine 
 Judge, Himself the Punisher and the 
 Saviour. Under such teaching it is not 
 astonishing that Saintship is not sought 
 after, nor thought of, as a matter of personal 
 attainment. Those who instinctively seek 
 after Saintship in the Christian Church are
 
 86 The True Mystic 
 
 scarce and few. The mothers' breasts are 
 dried up, the children are no longer suckled 
 as in former days. 
 
 How much less is the Mystic known, or 
 the Mystic Way heard of ! How much less 
 is there the knowledge of the Gnosis, and the 
 Mystical Christ ! How rarely is the pheno- 
 menon of the Mystic Path set forth in the 
 Christian pulpit as the Christian aim and 
 quest ! 
 
 The Mystic is a " voice crying in the 
 wilderness." Present-day energies, devo- 
 tions, and propaganda are centred in the 
 objective and exoteric \vorship of the Sacred 
 Person of the Historical Christ now in 
 Heaven. The form of the dying man of the 
 Crucifix the Church venerates and worships, 
 not the " Lamb of God," " in the midst of 
 the Throne, standing as it had been slain 
 before the foundation of the world." 
 
 The idolatry of the Historical Christ. 
 The Man Christ Jesus, incarnate in our flesh, 
 never was posited before mankind as an 
 object of worship. The idea that Jesus in 
 Heaven now is a humanly constituted being, 
 different from the nature He eternally 
 was before His Incarnation, is an utterly
 
 The Historical and the Mystical Christ 87 
 
 erroneous one. That it is a metamorphosed 
 Son of God, Who, in response to man's 
 prayers and intercessions, presents His 
 glorified human body before the Father, 
 mediating for man's forgiveness and exemp- 
 tion from punishment, by virtue of His 
 substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross of 
 Calvary, is a false " Gospel." It is not " the 
 Christ according to the flesh " that is our 
 Salvation. His personal physical wounds, 
 blood-shedding and death never were sub- 
 stituted for man's suffering and death, as an 
 expiation of man's sin. Paul teaches us this 
 in his striking words (which have no meaning 
 to most Christians) " Henceforth know we 
 no more the Christ according to the flesh." 
 
 The Incarnation of Jesus Christ was a 
 temporary incident of His Redemptive 
 work in the sequence of its ages of operation. 
 His spiritual body temporarily materialized 
 in the carnate state, by natural birth, in 
 the same manner as all our spiritual bodies 
 materialize in mortal flesh when we re- 
 incarnate in the flesh of our earthly parent- 
 age. To worship His carnate body, to 
 imagine we eat His carnate flesh, or drink His 
 carnate blood, in the Holy Sacrament is
 
 88 The True Mystic 
 
 Idolatry and a gross Superstition. It is the 
 worship of " mortality," the material and 
 corruptible ; a sacrament of the " mortal," 
 and not of the " immortal." 
 
 III. THE MYSTICAL CHRIST THE LOGOS 
 THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD 
 
 The Power of the Mystical Christ. What 
 then conquered the " mortality " and cor- 
 ruptibility of our Lord's human body ? 
 What caused it to triumph over death, and 
 the grave, and Hades ? \Vhat made it free 
 of the astral plane, and enabled it finally to 
 soar above the clouds and find its rest in the 
 Throne of God ? W r hat enabled it to live 
 the sinless life, inheriting as it did, with all 
 human flesh, propensities of sin inherent in 
 all fallen human flesh, and susceptibility to 
 temptation to sin, in the world-environ- 
 ment ? 
 
 It was the Power of the Mystical Christ, 
 the Eternal " Logos," veiled and enshrined 
 in His human flesh the same Mystical 
 Christ veiled and enshrined in all human 
 flesh. 
 
 Transfiguration. The Transfiguration of
 
 The Mystical Christ 89 
 
 His body was the work of the Mystical 
 Christ in the Incarnate Christ. It was the 
 result of the practice to the finish of the 
 Four Tokens of the Mystic. By these means 
 He transmuted the " base metal " of the 
 carnate flesh to the Gold of the Spiritual 
 Body. The Spiritual Body of the Mj^stical 
 Christ absorbed the material body of the 
 Incarnate Christ. 
 
 This Transmutation was finished before 
 His Crucifixion, as evidenced by the record 
 of the manifestation of His Transfigured 
 state before His Apostles. Yet, by reason 
 of the fact that the transmuted body was 
 not free from the earth-matter assimilated 
 and contracted in the earth-environment, 
 He must needs suffer death, as all must surfer 
 death, to be free from the earth-matter 
 Death set free the body and soul from the 
 accretions of the dust and clay of the earth, 
 and the transmutation was complete. The 
 grave and Hades had no more hold of Him. 
 
 Translation. Hence followed the Resur- 
 rection and Ascension, or Translation, to the 
 Heavens. His Transfiguration attested His 
 arrival at the state of freedom from the 
 " dead-weight " of terrestrial matter, of
 
 go The True Mystic 
 
 which His death gave Him the final and 
 complete release. After His death He was 
 able to resume the Divine state of His normal 
 and Eternal soul and body, freed now from 
 the coils and elements of mortality con- 
 tracted in His Incarnation and earth-life. 
 
 His post-resurrection appearances were 
 in His Spiritual and glorified Body i.e. the 
 same body that materialized in the flesh of 
 His Incarnation, that suffered, died, and 
 was buried, and thereby was divested of 
 the mortal elements incident to the un- 
 redeemed matter of the human body. 
 
 That which made His body mortal, Jesus 
 Christ removed, and so made His body 
 immortal. He made His fallen body un- 
 f alien, redeeming it from corruptibility and 
 death. 
 
 The difference between the Incarnate Christ 
 and mankind, one of personality , not of body. 
 There certainly was a difference between 
 the Incarnate Christ and other mortal men. 
 This was a difference of personality, not of 
 nature. The same kind of difference exists 
 in all persons in the reincarnate state. All 
 men inherit the same fallen human nature. 
 But all persons' " Spiritual Bodies," and
 
 The Mystical Christ 91 
 
 cosmical personalities, are not alike. Their 
 varieties are unnumbered. 
 
 The difference between the Incarnate 
 Christ and other mortal men, Christ was 
 incarnate in order to remove, to a certain 
 extent. That is to say, that all " Egos " are 
 Mystical Christs in embryo, or in various 
 degrees of development. The Mystical 
 Christ of a " God " or an " Angel " is 
 inferior in personality, but not in nature or 
 degree, to the Christ of God. There is but 
 One Christ, the Son of God. All Souls are 
 Christs, Sons of God, through Him, by 
 union with, and derivation from, Him. 
 
 But there is another difference between 
 the Incarnate Son of God and other mortal 
 men, a difference which He incarnated to 
 remove entirely. This difference is, that He 
 was the Mystical Christ, in perfection of 
 Divinity, incarnate in fallen humanity. 
 The finite, fallen, and peccable body which 
 His Spiritual Body became from His birth 
 was perfectly led, controlled, and con- 
 strained to captivity to the obedience of the 
 Mystical Christ, eternally the same unfallen, 
 impeccable, and untemptible Son of Most 
 High God.
 
 g2 The True Mystic 
 
 I have said that the Incarnation of the 
 Mystical Christ removes the difference be- 
 tween the Incarnate Christ and other fallen 
 and mortal men. 
 
 By the several Life-Epochs of Jesus, He 
 voluntarily undertook to purchase, and 
 provide the means of attaining the Mystical 
 Christ in our own souls and bodies, in the 
 same efficient power to effect the same 
 complete conquests that He achieved, 
 the same all-conquering, death-destroying 
 Christ of God in man in you and me, and 
 every man and woman on the earth. 
 
 This is the Message of the Gospel ; this 
 is " the Mystery, . . . which is Christ in you, 
 the hope of glory, Whom we preach, ad- 
 monishing every man in all the Wisdom, that 
 we may present every man Perfect in the 
 Christ." 
 
 Only in the " measure " that every man 
 attains to the " stature of the Fulness of the 
 Christ " is he endowed with the interior 
 Power of the Mystical Christ, to be all that 
 the Incarnate Christ was, to do all that He 
 did, conquering, mastering, and ruling the 
 body, transmuting, and absorbing it in the 
 Mystical Christ in Him.
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 93 
 
 This is the work of Mysticism, the End of 
 the Mystic Path leading through the Seven 
 Gates of the Mysteries, the purpose of the 
 " Four Tokens of the Mystic." 
 
 IV. CHRIST THE RANSOM 
 
 You see then in what way Christ offered 
 Himself as the " Ransom " or " Propitiatory 
 Sacrifice " for mankind ; how, by His 
 voluntary Incarnation and Suffering in 
 mortal flesh, for the redeeming of His own 
 soul and body, He purchased and provided 
 for us the means and knowledge by which 
 we may ourselves redeem our souls and 
 bodies, and attain the Mystical Christ and 
 Immortality. 
 
 Do not let it be supposed that the 
 concept of the Incarnate Christ I have 
 laid before you in the least derogates from 
 the dignity and glory of the Man Christ 
 Jesus. Inherently both the Historical and 
 the Mystical Christ, the Eternal and the 
 Temporal, are one and the same. 
 
 The Cosmical " Lamb of God." When 
 John Baptist pointed to the young man 
 Jesus, and said, " Behold the Lamb of God,
 
 94 The True Mystic 
 
 which taketh away the sin of the world," he 
 was alluding to the Mystical Christ incarnate 
 in Jesus, apocalyptically figured in the vision 
 of St. John, as " the Lamb in the midst of the 
 Throne, standing as it had been slain before 
 the foundation of the world." John saw no 
 necessity for Jesus to undergo the primary 
 Initiation Rite of Baptism, knowing Him to 
 be Himself the Supreme Hierophant, the 
 Only Initiator of Initiates, the Great Master, 
 the God of the Gods. How could John, an 
 earthly Initiator, Baptize Him Who had 
 Initiated him in the Heavenly Mysteries ? 
 How could the Christ need Himself to be 
 Baptized ? 
 
 The reason was not one of expediency ; it 
 was a reason of necessity ; that obliged 
 Jesus to "fulfil all righteousness." It was 
 on His own account, as well as for the sake 
 of every man, that He sought the earthly 
 Initiation Rite of Baptism. John over- 
 looked that it was for His own body's sake 
 that Jesus needed Initiation. His body had 
 not yet been Transmuted, and this was the 
 First Step in the Path that ends in Trans- 
 figuration and Immortality. 
 
 Redemptory development. The concept of
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 95 
 
 the " Ransom " takes us back to primeval 
 times, and the event of the Fall of man. All 
 the pages of history, all the ages of pre- 
 historic times, all the eras of terrestrial 
 formation laid bare in geological research, 
 all the mutations of races and nations, 
 combine to reveal the gradual stages of 
 redemptory development, necessary before 
 the "fulness of time " for the Incarnation of 
 the Christ of God, the Eternal " Lamb " 
 giving Life to the whole creation. 
 
 World-preparation for the Incarnation. 
 The world had to be prepared for the Incar- 
 nation of the " Logos." The pre-Roman 
 ages led up gradually to this crucial event 
 in history. The human race, for ages 
 separated into vast groups of people alien 
 and inaccessible to one another, for the most 
 part sunken from the primordial heights of 
 evolution and culture, to the lowest depths 
 of degradation and barbarism had to be 
 brought approximately to a level of in- 
 tellectual and moral receptivity, through 
 the influences of " Civilization." Until the 
 development of racial levelling up, and 
 opening out, the Incarnation would have 
 been premature. Physical and intellectual
 
 96 The True Mystic 
 
 avenues to the whole world must first be 
 opened out, before the Message of the 
 " Mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory " 
 could be " proclaimed to every man," i.e. to 
 the world universally. 
 
 When the Orient was civilized and illu- 
 mined with the Divine Wisdom ; when 
 Egypt and parts of Southern Europe, and 
 countries in the nearer East, had lapsed, or 
 were lapsing, into decay, from past highly 
 enlightened conditions ; the Western Conti- 
 nents were sunken in ignorance and bar- 
 barism, from the primeval conditions of 
 highly evolved states, and were closed to 
 the influences of the Divine Wisdom. From 
 these " Gentile " races, as Paul says, the 
 " Mystery " was " hidden." 
 
 The Roman Conquest. Following upon 
 the great kingdoms of Egypt, Chaldaea, 
 Babylonia, Persia, and Greece, there arose 
 a strong and forceful nation, to subjugate 
 with iron hand the nations and peoples of 
 the world. It was given to this nation, by 
 force of conquest, to create great trade- 
 routes, by sea and land, girdling the earth 
 with civilization, and opening out the fenced 
 places of distant inhabited continents, to
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 97 
 
 the messengers of the Light of the East. 
 This nation was Rome, under the Caesars. 
 Then was the time fulfilled for the Advent 
 of the Christ, the Eternal Son of God. 
 
 The prehistoric story of the Fall. I now 
 come to the crucial point of the whole philos- 
 ophy of Mysticism. The prehistoric ages 
 tell the story of the introduction and 
 devastation of disease, decay, and death, 
 and of the metamorphosis and corruption of 
 matter. They tell the tale of the descent 
 of man and beast, from the Parnassus of 
 greatness and divinity, to the Inferno of 
 barbarism. 
 
 Science has been misled, by the physical 
 records, into the supposition that man has 
 ascended from the present orders of species, 
 and that the ape is the nearest ancestor of 
 man in evolution. Science is right in the 
 idea of evolution, but wrong in its hypothesis 
 of its method. 
 
 Mysticism is the guide to interpret the 
 records of nature, and to teach the Science 
 of Evolution. Science investigates physical 
 phenomena, and experiments for the solution 
 of nature-problems. Mysticism furnishes 
 the " Gnosis," the Science of Certitude. 
 H
 
 98 The True Mystic 
 
 The Mystical Science of Evolution. The 
 Mystic reads the whole tragic tale of the 
 descent of man and beast from primordial 
 perfection and divinity of structure, to its 
 present abnormal corruption and materiality. 
 He reads the true story of the geological 
 ages, of the Earth's cataclysmic fall into the 
 abyss of " Evil." He translates the hiero- 
 glyphics of the " stone age," the " iron age," 
 and the " cave men," of the day of the 
 "giants" and "monsters." He knows the 
 whole long story of the Living Church of God, 
 of the ages past, of its beneficent rule in the 
 great nations of civilization remaining after, 
 and reigning before, the Glacial Period of 
 terrestrial cataclysm. He traces its history, 
 its progress, its vicissitudes and constant 
 decays, its Divine government, its Hier- 
 archical ministrations, its Mystery-Religion, 
 and its occult power exercised over man- 
 kind, gradually raising peoples after peoples, 
 to preserve the Faith, themselves destined 
 to uprise in the scale of development to the 
 stages of civilization. 
 
 The " Chosen People." He knows also the 
 profound significance of the dispensational 
 " Chosen People," fore-ordained to a peculiar
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 99 
 
 purpose in the world, creating a line of 
 heredity, from Abraham the Chaldsean 
 prince-priest, Joseph the Egyptian Magician, 
 Moses the Divine Law-giver and Master of 
 the Hebrew Mysteries, David the King, 
 Solomon, the Prophets; leading ultimately 
 to the fulfilment of the ancient Adamic 
 promise, " the seed of the woman shall bruise 
 the serpent's head," repeated to Abraham and 
 the patriarchal ancestors of " Israel," " in 
 thy Seed shall all the families of the Earth be 
 Blessed "; that same promise the fulfilment 
 of which the Oriental Masters were the first 
 recorded to have recognized, and to have 
 journeyed from the far East to pay their 
 homage to their Great Master, the " new- 
 born King." 
 
 Thus, not a day too soon, nor a day 
 too late, the Son of God was born, prov- 
 ing the veracity of cosmical, apocalyptic, 
 and astrological prophecy ; the Supreme 
 Hierophant of the universe, the Great 
 Master and Initiator, incarnated, and was 
 born of a woman, herself hereditarily 
 prepared, an Initiated " Virgin," to con- 
 ceive Him. 
 
 What, then, does Mysticism teach us con-
 
 ioo The True Mystic 
 
 cerning the purpose of this unique event ? 
 What is it that we are, in these days, in 
 danger of losing sight of ? 
 
 Mysticism, the Divine Science. Mysticism 
 teaches us the Knowledge of the Divine 
 economy, the whole system of creative and 
 sustentative energy in the cosmos. It 
 teaches us the functions of the eternal 
 " Lamb of God " in the heavens, that " in 
 Him dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily," that, as the " Logos," " all things 
 were made by Him, and without Him was not 
 anything made that was made," and that 
 " in Him all things consist " ; that down 
 the " ladder " of existences and creative 
 agents descend the graduated orders of 
 heavenly beings (created by primordial 
 Evolution), the "Gods" (Elohim), and the 
 " Angels " (" Cherubim " and " Seraphim "), 
 performing mediatorial functions as the 
 media of the Christ-Logos in the Divine 
 Essence of Life and Substance the basis of 
 being and form, in existence ; that these 
 " orders " continue in the earth-sphere of 
 the Divine Economy, in the human media- 
 torial agency, the Church of the Living God, 
 the corporate and Mystical " Body of the
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 101 
 
 Christ " ; that the Christ-Logos is the 
 " One Mediator between God " and the whole 
 cosmical creation. 
 
 The " One Mediator," or Channel of the 
 Divine Essence of Life. In apocalyptic 
 figure He, the Christ-Logos, is shown as the 
 "Lamb of God," "standing as it had been 
 slain" from Whose open side eternally have 
 flowed the Streams of Life to feed and sustain 
 the cosmical and creative channels, or 
 media, for creative, sustentative, and (in 
 regard to the fallen earth) also the redemp- 
 tive, functions, from the highest heavenly 
 " orders " to the lowest earthly mediatorial 
 " orders." 
 
 CHRIST, THE DIVINE MAGNET 
 
 By Christ, therefore, the cohesion and 
 One-ness of cosmical creation consists, and 
 is maintained and supported. He is the 
 Divine Magnet, drawing to Himself, and 
 projecting from Himself, the units of the 
 Cosmos. Of the innumerable systems of 
 " magnets " in the cosmos, He is the dynamic 
 and magnetic Centre, and none can cohere 
 or exist, independently of Him. 
 
 The Cosmical Chain of Life. This being
 
 IO2 The True Mystic 
 
 the case, all existing creatures and organisms 
 constitute an infinite Chain of Life, con- 
 sisting of an infinitude of " links," each link 
 a unit in itself, an infinite gradation of 
 created beings, in evolution. All the links 
 of the Chain are One Chain, by virtue of the 
 magnetic current flowing unceasingly from 
 the Divine Magnet, Christ, the " Logos." 
 
 The broken link. But if one link breaks 
 away from the Chain, it is disconnected 
 from the Divine Magnet. That link, or part 
 of the Chain, falls away, and sinks into the 
 abyss. It enters the state of " death," and 
 ultimately will disintegrate, and dissolve, 
 unless it is Redeemed. 
 
 THE " FALL " 
 
 This precisely is what happened to this 
 planet at the Fall. The Highest Deific Order 
 of organic and human beings in the Chain of 
 Life, in the final karmic life on the earth 
 the " Sons of the Gods " transgressed 
 cosmic Law, and the Divine Magnetic Chain 
 of Life was broken asunder at the " Adamic " 
 link. The whole of the chain of creature- 
 life below this link fell with it, every creature 
 of all the creative orders on the earth.
 
 Christ the " Ransom " 103 
 
 The Fall of the " Sons of the Gods." 
 Whither the sundered organic links fell, 
 no created beings could descend to their 
 deliverance from the abyss, without them- 
 selves breaking from the Divine Magnetic 
 Chain. The fallen links are sunk beyond 
 the reach of any of their fellow-links of 
 creation to rescue them, even of the Highest 
 Heavenly orders of the " Gods " and the 
 " Angels." 
 
 The only means of deliverance. Only one 
 means of deliverance was possible in the 
 Cosmos, to pick up the fallen links, and 
 restore them to the Cosmic Chain. The 
 Christ-Logos, the Divine Magnet, alone 
 Creator, and not creature, could perform this 
 task, by a supreme, almost inconceivable, 
 sacrifice, in coming to His fallen family of 
 man, as one of them, and lifting up the race 
 by His Own Self-conquest and Self-purifica- 
 tion. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, 
 shall draw all men up unto Me." 
 
 When His soul and body were redeemed 
 from " mortality," He was " lifted up from 
 the earth," and consequently He has raised 
 one end of the Chain as the " Second Adam" 
 the restored " link," by which He will " draw
 
 104 The True Mystic 
 
 all men unto Him," the rest of the fallen 
 "links," by "following His Steps" in the 
 Mystic Path which leads to union with the 
 Mystical Christ. 
 
 By His Incarnation, therefore, having 
 restored the broken Chain, He sends forth 
 the Divine Magnetism to the earth. In His 
 Own redeemed body and soul, His self- 
 assumed human " link," He has raised one 
 end of the fallen Chain, and brought it back 
 to its place in the Divine Magnetic Chain. 
 By each " link " on earth redeeming itself, 
 and rising with Him, He forms His " body " 
 still upon the earth, in each body uniting 
 with Him through the Mystery of the 
 Christ, the corporate body of the Mystical 
 Christ on the earth. This is the " Church of 
 the Christ " ; and the duty of the Church is 
 to " proclaim to every man the Mystery, 
 which is, Christ in you, the hope of 
 glory." 
 
 V. GNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Now let us return to the narrative-sketch 
 from which I was bound to break off in order 
 to review the academic points connected
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity 105 
 
 with the subject of the Christ, historical and 
 mystical. 
 
 Alexandrian pseudo-Gnosticism. Already, 
 as I have pointed out, a pseudo-Gnosticism 
 was gaining ground in Alexandria, con- 
 flicting with the True Gnosticism which had 
 its foundations in the teaching of Hermes, 
 Pythagoras, Plato, Moses, and the Eastern 
 Masters. It arose out of the gross paganiza- 
 tion of the Faiths of Phoenicia, Chaldaea, 
 Canaan, later Egypt, and the degenerated 
 Hebrew nation. The blood-orgies of Bel and 
 Ashtaroth, and the demon-cults of these 
 occult extravagances under the name of 
 religion, corrupted many who began in the 
 True Faith. 
 
 The captivation of the physical, mental, 
 and psychic senses, the subtle impostures of 
 demon-oracles, the " black " occult pheno- 
 mena accompanying the practice of divina- 
 tion, sorcery, necromancy, and thaumatur- 
 gical arts ; created many corrupt sects and 
 societies of false Gnosticism, and brought 
 into the cult of Mysticism perilous inroads of 
 astral forces. The glamour and deceptive- 
 ness of these innovations drew multitudes 
 into the seduction of these evil forces of
 
 io6 The True Mystic 
 
 delusion. New theories and doctrines sprang 
 up, and Alexandrian thought became a 
 congeries of divided sects and schools 
 teaching divers vain doctrines. False initia- 
 tion rites were practised, and false occultism 
 prevailed, in many schools professing the 
 Gnosis. 
 
 From this time the true Initiates of the 
 pure Gnosis were driven to secrecy and 
 exclusiveness. This nevertheless did not 
 prevent them from suffering the stigma of 
 identification with these pseudo-Gnostic 
 sects. 
 
 Neo-Platonism. The Gnosticism of Alex- 
 andria received a great impetus and revival 
 when Apostolical Christianity spread to 
 Egypt. " Ekklesiae " of disciples were 
 established in Alexandria, and joined with 
 the Gnostics. The inclusion of Christian 
 Mysticism led to a new movement of 
 Gnosticism, known as " Neo-Platonism" It 
 was a still more eclectic movement than 
 early Gnosticism, and a fuller interpretation 
 of Mysticism. Though containing so strong 
 an infusion of Christian Mysticism, Neo- 
 Platonism remained Non-Christian, an 
 Eclectic School. Among many of the
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity 107 
 
 principal exponents of this School, whose 
 writings we possess, were Plotinus, Proclus, 
 Porphyry, and lamblichus. To these Schools 
 of Mysticism we thankfully owe the writings 
 and testimony of two of their pupils revered 
 by the Church to this day, Origen and 
 Clement. 
 
 Church persecution of the Gnostics. It is 
 pathetically strange that the Church which 
 succeeded to the Apostles were the perse- 
 cutors of those who followed the Faith of 
 Christ and the Apostles. In my last lecture 
 I showed how the Hebrew Church departed 
 from the Faith of Moses, when they de- 
 manded a king to rule over them, like other 
 nations, and a temporal nationality. History 
 repeated itself in the post-Apostolical 
 Christian Church. 
 
 Papal and Imperial federation. In the 
 reign of Constantine the decay of the Faith 
 began in Christianity. This wicked and 
 hypocritical monarch, reigning at the period 
 of the decline of the Empire, seeing the peril 
 to the State of the growth of the Christian 
 Faith, that it was likely materially to under- 
 mine and injure imperial interests and the 
 " status quo," seduced the Bishop of Rome
 
 io8 The True Mystic 
 
 by making him Supreme Pontiff, thereby 
 amalgamating under the Papal Head the 
 pantheistic pagan systems, which, out of 
 national policy, the Caesars had encouraged ; 
 and thereby saved the State, by giving them 
 individual respect and acknowledgment. To 
 this " Pantheon " of religions that of Jesus 
 had been added. Constantine yielded to 
 Jesus by appointing His Chief Minister in 
 Rome the Supreme Head, not of the 
 Christian Church only, but of the pagan 
 communities domiciled in the Roman 
 dominions. 
 
 Sylvester was the first Pope, reigning as 
 Sovereign Potentate over the Christian and 
 Pagan subjects of Constantine. He was 
 invested with quasi-imperial powers, pomp, 
 and national and temporal prerogatives. 
 His successors increased the Papal status, 
 and ultimately the Imperial State was 
 absorbed in the Papal. The Christian 
 Church became a Papal Empire. 
 
 So diametrically contrary to the principles 
 of the Faith of Christ and the Apostles was 
 this development of the ecclesiastical system, 
 that the faithful Gnostics (after the example 
 of the esoteric Hebrews before them) hid
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity 109 
 
 themselves, and held aloof from this new 
 departure. 
 
 Retirement of the faithful Gnostics. They 
 continued to practise the Mystic Faith, in 
 secrecy, and held together in the way of life 
 inaugurated by the Apostles. They gathered 
 many adherents in all parts of the Papal 
 Empire. For this reason the Church opposed 
 and hampered the Gnostics. Mysticism 
 became the greatest foe to ecclesiasticism 
 Mysticism menaced the ecclesiastical body- 
 politic (as it had done the Imperial State), 
 the authority of the Church, its vested 
 interests, and its dominion over men's 
 liberties of thought and action. 
 
 Exoteric remains of Mysticism in the 
 Catholic Church. One, or the other, must 
 be wiped out. Mysticism and Ecclesias- 
 ticism could not walk together, one must 
 eventually devour the other. Ecclesias- 
 ticism proved the strongest, and Mysticism 
 was driven out of the Church. The esoteric 
 side of the Christian Rites was eliminated 
 from the Church's teaching, and soon was 
 forgotten. The exoteric rites still remained, 
 shorn of their Mysticism, and received a 
 magnified importance, making up, in some
 
 no The True Mystic 
 
 small measure, for the disappearance of the 
 Divine Mysteries they formerly represented. 
 
 Ecclesiastical stamping out of Mysticism. 
 The Gnostics were not suffered to live in 
 peace, they were hunted and persecuted and 
 harassed. The taint of heresy, by being 
 identified wrongly with the false Gnostics, 
 was attached to them. Many of their 
 distinctive and Divine Truths such as 
 " pre-existence," " metempsychosis," and 
 the doctrine of " Initiation " were pro- 
 claimed " heresy " and anathematized. 
 Mysticism was denounced and prohibited. 
 Councils of Bishops, (Ecumenical and other- 
 wise, met, and banned as " heresy " the 
 True Gnosticism with its many false ver- 
 sions. The Church set out to destroy 
 Gnosticism, and all that savoured of Mysti- 
 cism. Mysticism had to be destroyed, for 
 its first principles are in deadly opposition 
 to the Ecclesiastical doctrine of " authority " 
 of the Church in all matters of faith and 
 practice. The authority of " Initiation " 
 and " Intuition " could not be allowed, in a 
 Church that set itself up as the first and last 
 arbiter of faith and doctrine. 
 
 Gnostic martyrs. Many of the noblest and
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity in 
 
 wisest men of the age, Mystics, Initiates, 
 Masters, and Philosophers, were put to 
 death. The Schools of the Mysteries were 
 closed, and the teachers who survived were 
 scattered. The great Library of Alexandria 
 was destroyed by fire. The Initiates dis- 
 appeared from the Papal dominions, and the 
 Therapeutse and Essenes were no more to 
 be found. The survivors took refuge in the 
 far East, carrying many of their vast 
 literary treasures with them, and have 
 never been heard of by Christendom since. 
 
 MEDIEVAL SAINTSHIP 
 
 The curtain has been drawn for centuries 
 over the history of Mysticism. Yet Mysti- 
 cism is not dead. It has had many revivals 
 and partial returns to Christendom. The 
 decline of the Papacy, the loosening of the 
 bands of " Authority," outside the now 
 wide area of Christendom that has rejected 
 the Papal sway and pretensions, have 
 opened the way to the restoration of the 
 Mysteries. 
 
 Nineteenth -century Revivals of Mystical- 
 Thought. In the nineteenth century the 
 Mystical idea faintly returned to the Chris-
 
 112 The True Mystic 
 
 tian consciousness. But in medieval times, 
 in the Church's darkest days, before the 
 Reformation struck the blow that loosened 
 the bands of Papal domination, the cult of 
 Saintship, as we have seen, was a remarkable 
 movement in the Church that had extin- 
 guished Mysticism. But when Mysticism 
 raised itself above Saintship it was studi- 
 ously nipped in the bud. The lives and cult 
 of the Saints in the Roman Church, and in 
 Anglican Catholicism, are cherished to-day 
 as much as ever by devout Catholics. For 
 this we have to be devoutly thankful. But 
 the present pursuit of Saintship has almost 
 ceased to be more than a pious remem- 
 brance. Nowhere is it set forth as a science 
 of religion, nor encouraged as an individual 
 pursuit. Saintship has an unfortunate 
 tendency to cause its votaries to incline to 
 " kick over the traces " of Ecclesiastical 
 and Scholastic " authority." No person is 
 allowed to think for himself, except as his 
 thoughts are directed and inspired by the 
 dicta of Church " authority." 
 
 Modern Christianity. Modern Christianity 
 is split up into countless groups of conten- 
 tious people, all calling themselves Chris-
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity 113 
 
 tians. The Holy Rites, originally the 
 concomitants and vehicles of the Mysteries, 
 and confined to Initiates only, no longer are 
 parts of Initiation ceremonies, nor connected 
 with any semblance of the ancient Mystery- 
 Religion of the Christ. No " tests " are 
 applied upon their participators, nor are 
 Initiations taught as represented by them. 
 
 The lost Mysteries. When the Mysteries 
 were eliminated from the Church, the 
 Church lost its cohesion, and disintegrated 
 and divided into ever-multiplying sects. In 
 all these divisions and sub-divisions, and 
 outside of them, thousands of souls are 
 hungering and thirsting, for they know not 
 what ! It is the lost Mysteries really they are 
 seeking. But there is no one to tell them so. 
 
 The legend of the " Quest of the Holy 
 Grail," the search for the " lost secrets " of 
 Freemasonry, the quest after the " Philoso- 
 pher's Stone," the " Magnum Opus," and the 
 " Elixir Vita " of Alchemy, the philosophy 
 of Rosicrucianism, and all like movements 
 they are, one and all, the same seeking after 
 the Mysteries, the clue to which lies deep in 
 every man's soul ! 
 
 The whole of Christendom, rocking on its
 
 ii4 The True Mystic 
 
 foundations, is seething with unrest. The 
 nineteenth century saw, as I have said, the 
 first awakening movements towards the 
 return of Mysticism. Revivals followed one 
 another with remarkable swiftness. The 
 real motive of John Wesley, which brought 
 him into conflict with the Ecclesiastical 
 " authority," was not his evangelical preach- 
 ing. It was his newly discovered idea of 
 " Christian Perfection," which he learned 
 from the Moravian Saints, the idea of 
 attaining the perfect and sinless life. We 
 have to-day printed records of his contro- 
 versies with the Church on this doctrine. 
 
 Following the " Wesley an Revival " came 
 the " Evangelical Revival," under the preach- 
 ing of Charles Simeon, and others. Quickly 
 on the heels of this movement was the 
 " Catholic Revival " in the great " Trac- 
 tarian " movement under Pusey, Keble, 
 Newman, and others. This awakened in the 
 Church the consciousness of Mystery con- 
 nected with the Sacraments, and the sense 
 of the need of personal Holiness. 
 
 Europe was stirred by reports of the 
 wonderful " American Revival " under the 
 powerful preaching of the saintly and fiery
 
 Gnosticism and Christianity 115 
 
 Dr. Finney, of Oberlin, and the impetus 
 given to the cause of Holiness, or " Entire 
 Sanctification," by the revered President of 
 Oberlin University, Dr. Asa Mahan. After 
 this came the evangelistic invasion of 
 England and the Continent by the American 
 revivalists, Moody and Sankey. Simultane- 
 ously the remarkable " Holiness " movement 
 was started by Pearsall Smith, Dr. Mahan, 
 and other powerful exponents of the old 
 Wesleyan doctrine of " Entire Sanctifica- 
 tion." Whilst the " High Church " clergy 
 were being stirred and enthused by the 
 Tractarian teachers from Oxford, the 
 " Evangelical " school was being similarly 
 moved by these wonderful revivals. Con- 
 ventions were held at Brighton, Oxford, 
 Mildmay, Keswick, and all round England, 
 and on the Continent, for the " Deepening 
 of the Spiritual Life." 
 
 The Mystic Path still hidden. All these 
 movements were symptomatic of the 
 awakening of Christendom from its long 
 sleep of ignorance concerning the Mysteries. 
 Men's hearts were then beginning to hunger 
 after the Blessedness of the Mystic Life. 
 But the Mystic Path, and its " Seven
 
 n6 The True Mystic 
 
 Gates," still remain hidden, plainly though 
 it is set forth in Holy Scripture, and writ 
 large on the sands of time-history. Partial 
 glimpses have penetrated the understanding 
 of some here and there. But the Mystery 
 of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, the Gnosis 
 of the Christ and the Apostles, are still 
 Mysteries unknown. 
 
 END OF SECOND LECTURE
 
 THIRD LECTURE 
 MYSTICISM OF THE FUTURE 
 
 I. MODERN MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS 
 
 THE many movements of the present day 
 give promise of revival of the knowledge of 
 the lost Mysteries. The observer of these 
 modern developments of spiritual thought 
 cannot help noticing the rapid strides of 
 " occult " study in the direct line of ap- 
 proach to the true principles of Mysticism. 
 Much advance has yet to be made before the 
 true knowledge of the Mystic Path has been 
 cleared of the overgrowths of ignorance, and 
 errors, and dangerous tendencies, which the 
 unsophisticatedness of the seekers has 
 prevented them from discerning, and from 
 learning to distinguish them from the Truth 
 of the Mystic Philosophy. 
 
 It is an interesting and noticeable fact, 
 that the first indications of the return to 
 European thought of Mystical philosophy, 
 117
 
 n8 The True Mystic 
 
 come from the East, the ages-long Home of 
 Mysticism. 
 
 The Theosophical Movement. The rapid 
 rise and growth of the movement known as 
 " Theosophy," and " Esoteric Buddhism," 
 bear remarkable significance as a great 
 factor in the development of the Mysticism 
 of the future. Theosophy has aroused the 
 people of Europe and America with the 
 tocsin of appeal to the memories and lost 
 truths of antiquity. The scholasticism and 
 ecclesiasticism of the Catholic Church, and 
 the secularization of the nonconformist 
 bodies, side by side with the secularist and 
 atheistic movement through the growth of 
 modern science, were creating world-wide 
 discontent and religious unrest. The con- 
 science of mankind refused the stones of 
 negation, on the one hand, and the dry bones 
 of dogma, on the other. The soul has facul- 
 ties crying out for recognition : the mind is 
 torn between the evidences of both religion 
 and science ; and the spirit comes between 
 the two, and asserts an invincible faith in 
 God and the Divine Verities. 
 
 At this juncture " Theosophy " has 
 stepped before the " footlights," and ex-
 
 Modern Mystical Movements ng 
 
 posed a wholly new aspect of science and 
 religion new, that is to say, to the modern 
 world-mind, but old as the hills. The par- 
 ticular feature of the Theosophical move- 
 ment is that it has always professed, col- 
 lectively, to be an eclectic society of thinking 
 and aspiring souls, holding no dogmas, no 
 creeds, and no definite religious foundations. 
 The Theosophical Society consists, or pro- 
 fesses to consist, of disinterested and earnest 
 thinking people, whose personal religious 
 persuasions are neither a barrier to member- 
 ship, nor an obstacle to remaining in the 
 religion to which they are attached. The 
 objects of the Society profess to be the 
 search for the Synthesis of basic Truth 
 which makes all religions at their founda- 
 tions One Religion. 
 
 There is a danger in this method, and one 
 that Theosophy has at times, and in certain 
 places, fallen into : namely, of the identifi- 
 cation of Theosophy with errors and super- 
 stitions associated with some particular 
 lines of thought. The difficulty of maintain- 
 ing an undogmatic and open mind has 
 sometimes proved too great for Theosophy 
 to surmount. Consequently the name of
 
 120 The True Mystic 
 
 Theosophy now and then, here and there, 
 becomes a term of reproach and obloquy, 
 because it has had too forcibly associated 
 with it some stray ideas of individual 
 Theosophical leaders, ideas of an extrava- 
 gant, and sometimes of a pernicious character. 
 
 This being said, it still remains a fact that 
 Theosophy, as an upward movement, has 
 revived many truths of cosmical significance, 
 and has rescued many souls from the down- 
 ward drift into infidelity and irreligion. It 
 has helped thousands to form definite 
 beliefs, and standards of religious attitude, 
 when the pulpits and platforms of religion, 
 and religionaires, have failed to do so. 
 
 It is to Theosophy that we owe our 
 gratitude for much noble literature ; notably, 
 Anna Kingsford's and Edward Maitland's 
 :< The Perfect Way : or, The Finding of 
 Christ " ; H. P. Blavatsky's great works, 
 " I sis Unveiled" and " The Secret Doctrine" ; 
 and the massive contributions to revived 
 Gnosticism by G. R. S. Mead, in his " Frag- 
 ments of a Faith Forgotten," " Pistis Sophia," 
 and many other learned works. 
 
 Theosophy teaches Mysticism from 
 Oriental sources, and therefore is strongly
 
 Modern Mystical Movements 121 
 
 tinged with Oriental colour and terminology. 
 This has been a decided benefit, in removing 
 the " blinkers " from our eyes, and enabling 
 us to see that the Orient is something more, 
 something better, than a land seething with 
 gross heathenism, which the Christian 
 " missionary " is accustomed to describe it 
 as. But Orientalism has its drawbacks 
 when imported to Occidental countries. 
 Theosophists need to " take a leaf out of the 
 book " of antiquity, and remember that the 
 Orient never forced its system and method, 
 its forms and local colour, upon the Occi- 
 dental Mystic Schools of Egypt, Greece, and 
 Italy. All worked harmoniously, and the 
 Orient largely governed the development of 
 Mysticism and Gnosticism, but never by 
 importing its own local dress and exoteric 
 system. The union between the Orient and 
 Occident can never be other than the Union 
 of the Spirit of Mysticism, and not that of 
 the letter. 
 
 The same axiom may be taken to heart by 
 Theosophists in the Occident, at the present 
 time, when there appear to be so many 
 points of cleavage, due to the error of 
 dogmatism, leading to the intrusion of the
 
 122 The True Mystic 
 
 very evil that the fundamental objects of 
 the Society were intended to avoid : namely, 
 " Sectarianism." A gifted writer in the 
 December " Vahan " truly says : " Let us 
 not forget that liberty of thought is the very 
 basis of Theosophy. Let us respect the ideas 
 of others, as we wish them to respect ours ; 
 and, finally, let us remember that diversity is 
 necessary on the plane of intellect, and that 
 this diversity is as nothing compared with the 
 idea of Unity on the Spiritual plane." 
 
 " SPIRITUALISM " 
 
 Another movement arose in the last 
 century, which helped to arouse and stimu- 
 late interest in Mysticism Spiritualism. 
 It is noteworthy concerning Spiritualism that 
 it has attracted scientific attention, and not 
 a few scientists of world-wide repute have 
 given testimony to the reality of psychic 
 phenomena. 
 
 It is also an instructive fact that it has 
 fallen to the lot of secular and scientific 
 circles, outside of conventional religion, to 
 begin the work of restoring the lost truth of 
 the immanence of spiritual agencies and 
 forces, beings and entities, investing the
 
 Modern Mystical Movements 123 
 
 world with their presence, and functioning 
 with the minds and bodies of mankind. 
 Until this movement, the idea that " spirits " 
 communicate intelligently with men, energize 
 and actuate their motives, prompt their 
 thoughts and volitions, and perform acts of 
 their own volition in the bodies and minds of 
 men had almost ceased to exist in the world. 
 The Evidential value of Spiritualism. 
 The objective results of Spiritualism, in 
 mediumship and psychic phenomena, have 
 established the fact beyond dispute, that 
 spiritual powers and personalities, of im- 
 mense functional and intellectual potencies, 
 are in our immediate environment, unseen, 
 and mostly unknown. The residuum of 
 absolute testimony, when we have sifted the 
 true from the untrue, the genuine from the 
 fraudulent, the certain from the doubtful, 
 furnishes evidence for spiritualistic pheno- 
 mena so colossal and so incontrovertible 
 that the cult of spiritualism may well be 
 certified to be established as a factor of 
 religion, which the great historical religious 
 institutions, and the learned scientific 
 societies, will have to reckon with in the not 
 distant future.
 
 124 The True Mystic 
 
 The Church's indifference to Spiritualistic 
 evidence. The most remarkable thing is 
 that the Church takes no interest in the 
 Spiritualistic movement. No notice is taken 
 of the significance of the researches made 
 into supra-mundane influences around us, 
 exposed to light by spiritualism and psy- 
 chism. The ordinary thoughtful person, 
 aware of these things, would suppose that 
 the Church would welcome so powerful a 
 witness to Biblical truth, considering that 
 the tendency of modern thought and criti- 
 cism is all in the line of negation of the 
 supernatural. Strange to say, the Church 
 goes on its way unheeding, whilst half the 
 world ignores Christianity, because it gives 
 no rational explanation of its own beliefs, 
 and fails to exhibit the least element of the 
 supernatural. 
 
 Spiritualistic indifference to the doctrine 
 and fact of " Evil." On the other hand, 
 it is equally astonishing that spiritualism 
 generally stops short at belief in " Evil," in 
 demoniacal possession, or in the existence of 
 " wicked " and " unclean " spirits, of which 
 the Bible is so full, and which are attested 
 by the history of the world of past ages.
 
 Modern Mystical Movements 125 
 
 The methods of " Spirit-control." This 
 must be borne in mind, that in the most 
 advanced mediumship " trance "-medium- 
 ship, materialization, etc. the medium is an 
 unconscious agent, an inanimate tool, the 
 slave, mentally, psychically, and physically, 
 of the " spirit-controls," the "familiar spirits " 
 who move them to action and speech. I have 
 personally spent many years in study and 
 investigation of all kinds of spiritualistic and 
 psychic phenomena. I say solemnly, that 
 however valuable the testimony of pheno- 
 mena is to the veracity of Holy Scripture, 
 and to the religious claim of supernaturalism, 
 the cultivation of spiritualism and psychism 
 is attended with perils and consequences too 
 terrible to speak of. My message is that 
 men and women, and alas ! children, are 
 placing themselves in the greatest danger of 
 rushing blindly into the most subtle of all 
 kinds of evil, by any kind of dealings with 
 " spirits " from the astral plane. Is it 
 possible even now to convince spiritualists 
 that in no single instance is it right and 
 normal to invoke an astral spirit, to invite 
 an astral entity to occupy their unconscious 
 bodies, to operate their yielded minds and
 
 126 The True Mystic 
 
 wills ? Will they not believe those who try 
 to persuade them that no spirit from the 
 astral plane ought to " return," and that 
 many who purport to " return " are frauds 
 of demoniacal causation ? 
 
 Guilelessness of Spiritualists their chief 
 danger. Spiritualistic practices are, as a 
 general rule, conducted with so much 
 ignorance, such guileless enthusiasm, such 
 childlike confidence in their innocuousness, 
 and such assurance of their divine and 
 heavenly authorship, that it is almost 
 hopeless to convince them that underneath 
 are concealed the " evil ones," the implacable, 
 malevolent spirit foes of mankind, the 
 myriads of malefic beings, many of most 
 supernatural and semi-deific potentiality, 
 who prey unmercifully upon man and beast 
 vampires of the abyss. 
 
 Delusive security in goodness. I am aware 
 that good spiritualists say that a good soul 
 repels bad spirits ; that " like attracts like." 
 But this is a delusion. The best motives, 
 the loftiest and noblest characters, of men 
 and mediums, are not the slightest security 
 against " evil spirits." You would not 
 dream of lying down to sleep on the " hole
 
 Modern Mystical Movements 127 
 
 of an asp," or a nest of snakes, however 
 good and noble-minded you are. Goodness 
 never repelled a snake. And goodness has 
 no power to repel a demon or a wicked 
 spirit. 
 
 As long as man is in his present constitu- 
 tion, no matter how high-principled and virtu- 
 ous, or pure in mind ; if he permits his body 
 and mind to become unconscious, and opens 
 the threshold of his soul for the entrance of 
 astral denizens, deluding himself in his 
 waking hours that the entities who con- 
 trol him in his state of " Katalepsis " are 
 good and holy spirits ; if he once gives 
 them access to his soul and mind, he is 
 giving himself up to forces of the subtlest, 
 most diabolically crafty and deceitful male- 
 volence. 
 
 Let all who are attracted to the cultivation 
 of psychic functions, and are allured to 
 " spirit-communion," through the spiritual- 
 istic method of " Katalepsis " (falsely called 
 " trance "), suspect the most ennobling, 
 elevating, and heavenly-seeming communi- 
 cations, " trance-addresses," the most 
 honeyed language, the sagest counsels, of 
 these " controls." They are all, without
 
 128 The True Mystic 
 
 exception, under these conditions, decep- 
 tions and frauds, perpetrated by beings who 
 for ages have been " arch-deceivers," capable 
 of disguising themselves as " angels of 
 light," and as the actual personalities of the 
 " departed." 
 
 II. MYSTICISM AND HEALING 
 
 The Healing Gift. Already I have spoken 
 of the great communities before the Christian 
 Era, the Therapeutae and the Essenes. 
 These Mystics practised the culture of the 
 Mysteries by the " Four Tokens of the 
 Mystic." By these practices they acquired 
 the Spiritual Gifts which always accompany 
 this cultivation of Prophecy, and Intui- 
 tion, or Seership, and the Gift of Healing. 
 By this last Gift, which naturally appealed 
 most strongly to the popular imagination, 
 they received the name of " Healers." The 
 Healing Gift, however, was not the only 
 spiritual endowment developed by these 
 recluses. It came as a natural result of the 
 Mystical processes setting free the spiritual 
 functions to operate in the souls, minds, and
 
 Mysticism and Healing 129 
 
 bodies of Initiates. The power to heal is 
 in all bodies alike, latently, and awaiting 
 the development of the spiritual faculties. 
 
 Healing and Mysticism have in all ages 
 been inseparable. Wherever Mysticism is 
 pursued, Healing always follows. There has 
 never been an instance of Mysticism un- 
 accompanied by the manifestation of the 
 Healing Gift, the revival of interest in 
 Divine Healing, and its attainment on the 
 part of those drawn to the study and pursuit 
 of Mysticism. 
 
 Disease accidental, not incidental to exist- 
 ence. Let me remind you that disease, and 
 all kinds of suffering of mind and body, are 
 accidental, and not incidental to cosmical 
 existence. They are effects and accompani- 
 ments, or consequences, of that sad element 
 of terrestrial life and experience which we 
 call " evil." 
 
 Evil was not created by God, it never has 
 been a part of the Divine economy of cos- 
 mical evolution. Strange ideas are in vogue 
 in these days, concerning this subject of 
 evil, which postulate that evil, suffering, 
 disease, and death are strictly normal 
 features of cosmology. Such ideas are
 
 130 The True Mystic 
 
 wholly erroneous, and misinterpretative of 
 the Divine Wisdom. 
 
 The Theosophical idea of the Fall. It 
 seems to me that in many modern organiza- 
 tions of philosophical and spiritual thought, 
 the " Fall " is treated in a wholly mistaken 
 and confused aspect. It is regarded, not as 
 a calamity, a casualty of human nature, but 
 as a necessary part of the normal process 
 of cosmical evolution the descent of spirit 
 into matter. In Theosophy, the account 
 or the only account treated in its literature 
 of the " Fall " is so defined, namely, as a 
 part of the complex evolutionary system, 
 by which every new advance in development, 
 in Spirit, is converted from the " volatile " 
 to the "fixed" state, by descending into 
 the moulds of terrestrial matter, by re- 
 incarnation, and the life of suffering and 
 temptation in the evil conditions of the 
 earth. The idea is that, by descent into evil, 
 every increment of cumulative experience 
 and knowledge gathered in Karma and 
 Devachan, in, and following after, each 
 reincarnation, is, in the earth-life, assimilated 
 and interwoven in the warp and woof of the 
 cosmical ego, to form the ultimate perfect
 
 Mysticism and Healing 131 
 
 and Divine personality it hereafter is 
 destined to become. 
 
 The descent of spirit into matter. To the 
 cosmological view of the descent of spirit 
 into matter, for karmic and evolutionary 
 purposes, no exception can be taken. It is 
 a perfectly true and sound concept. It is 
 a first-principle of the Mystery-Faith of the 
 Christ. 
 
 Two fundamental ideas confused. But in 
 one particular this presentment is sometimes 
 erroneously represented. The teaching I 
 am venturing to criticize arises from the 
 confusion of two most distinct fundamental 
 ideas : (i) The descent of spirit into matter, 
 for the development of ego and form in 
 cosmical evolution, and (2) the Fall of man, 
 and of terrestrial matter, into the state of evil 
 sin and depravity with the physical 
 consequences of disease, decay, and death ; 
 and, in consequence of man's Fall, the Fall 
 of the whole organum of terrestrial nature. 
 
 Of this latter " Fall," I frankly say that 
 I find no clear and definite statement in the 
 literature of these schools of philosophy and 
 occultism. Individuals there may be who 
 have not gone so far as to abandon the
 
 132 The True Mystic 
 
 ancient truth of human depravity. Tacitly 
 it may be understood as an unexpressed 
 belief, generally. But it has no place in the 
 publications of these societies, from which 
 source alone the outside student can diagnose 
 their tenets. 
 
 The fatal omission, in Theosophy, of the 
 Fall into Evil. Of the truth of the terres- 
 trial Fall into evil, and of human depravity, 
 such an omission of teaching, or clear 
 expression, and, sometimes, even direct 
 denial, renders the teachings both impracti- 
 cable and irrational. In the case of some I 
 am sure it is solely due to the above-men- 
 tioned confusion of the two ideas I have 
 stated. In other cases it can only be attri- 
 buted to misunderstanding of the facts of 
 life and experience, and of the spiritual 
 truths they attempt to interpret. Perhaps, 
 too, the personal equation may have stepped 
 in, and then the idea of human depravity 
 and guilt becomes distasteful to the pride 
 of man. 
 
 Evil is destructive, not constructive. Any 
 philosophy, or religious system, which blinds 
 people to the fact of evil, and its cause, or 
 attempts to explain it as normal, and inci-
 
 Mysticism and Healing 133 
 
 dental to evolution ; obscuring the fact 
 that evil is abnormal, transient, and cos- 
 mically unnecessary a blot on the fair 
 features of cosmical creation, and a grief to 
 God and the heavenly beings ; that asserts 
 evil to be, not destructive, but constructive ; 
 is an anomaly, obscurating Truth, and 
 stultifying any good that otherwise exists 
 in such philosophy, or religious system. 
 
 In this world, where abounds so much 
 occult deception, we who seek the Highest 
 must beware of the subtle powers which 
 would divert our search, and lead us blindly 
 to the lowest. There are astral enmities to 
 Truth, and the Truth-seeker, bent implac- 
 ably on keeping us out of the Truth the 
 knowledge of which would set free the whole 
 world from evil. 
 
 The mistaken view of the purpose of 
 reincarnation. The purpose of reincarna- 
 tion, and terrestrial existence, contains no 
 such idea as that good has to be developed 
 by passing through evil. It forms no part 
 of cosmical evolution, that evolving crea- 
 tures, in order to evolve, must wallow and 
 struggle in the morasses of terrestrial and 
 karmic evil suffering, disease, decay and
 
 134 The True Mystic 
 
 death nor that they must labour and groan 
 under the burden and pains of the present- 
 constituted body and mind. 
 
 Conquest of Evil proves, and improves, the 
 Ego. I do not here suggest that conflict of 
 life, and conquest of evil, have no value in 
 the Redemptive system. I refer only to the 
 Creative system. The conquest of evil in 
 Redemptive Karma constitutes one of the 
 most important factors in the proving and 
 improving of the ego. This is the result of 
 life in countless heroic and noble instances, 
 far more frequently than religion accounts 
 for. 
 
 Evolution is not operative in tins planet ; 
 it is effected in the planetary spheres. There 
 is another reason, of cosmical purpose, why 
 evil does not, cannot, and never will, serve 
 creation as a factor of evolution. Since the 
 era of Redemption, commencing at the Fall, 
 in consequence of evil, and its disorganiza- 
 tion of the cosmical system of evolution, 
 no evolution has been in progress in the cosmos. 
 
 The cessation of Evolution. When sin and 
 evil entered the terrestrial organization, 
 evolution at once ceased to proceed in the 
 cosmos. The procession of evolutionary
 
 Mysticism and Healing 135 
 
 creatures from the cosmical creative spheres 
 was suspended ; the machinery of cosmical 
 evolution was reversed for the Redemption 
 of the earth and its fallen creatures. Not 
 one single creature, or organism, has evolved 
 from one type or species to another, since 
 the Fall. The whole cosmos evolutionally 
 has been in suspense, marking time, each 
 grade of evolutionary creatures, not involved 
 in the Fall, remaining stationary in their 
 several planetary circles and spheres, during 
 all the long period of sin and Redemption, 
 waiting for the time of the " Restitution of 
 all things," the " Redemption of the body." 
 
 The present era of Redemption. We are 
 living to-day ; we have for ages been living ; 
 not in the era of creation, but in a temporary 
 and transient era of Redemption. The 
 machinery of creation has been reversed, to 
 restore to the system of creation the lost and 
 shattered parts, broken and disorganized by 
 the disobedience of man. This restoration 
 of the creative machinery to working order 
 is what the Apostle Paul referred to when 
 he said : " The whole creation groaneth and 
 travaileth together with us (the human family), 
 waiting for the Redemption of the body."
 
 136 The True Mystic 
 
 This is the coming time of " the Restitution 
 of all things." 
 
 The creatures reincarnating to-day, the 
 same who originally lived during the Fall. 
 Not a single fresh creature has entered the 
 earth-planet, nor evolved from species to 
 species, since the Fall. Modifications of 
 types of species varieties occur frequently, 
 but no passage from one species to another. 
 All creatures now living the reincarnate life, 
 or who have lived the reincarnate life, or 
 who will live the reincarnate life, are the 
 same creatures, who either were the guilty 
 ones, or the helpless victims, of the original 
 sin which brought upon the earth the con- 
 sequences of the Fall disease, decay, death 
 and upon the " whole creation " of the 
 cosmos the disorganization of the evolu- 
 tionary labours of the heavenly hierarchies, 
 on which account St. Paul tell us that " the 
 whole creation groaneth and travaileth together 
 with us, waiting for the Redemption of the 
 body." 
 
 The fallen creatures " working out their own 
 salvation " by reincarnation and the Mysteries. 
 In all the past ages we have been, and we 
 still are, " working out our own salvation,"
 
 Mysticism and Healing 137 
 
 redeeming our souls and bodies from the 
 wreck of the Fall, our past reincarnations 
 fitting us to respond, in the fulness of time, 
 to the Messages of the Mystery of the Christ. 
 The time now has come that, if he will, " every 
 man " may complete his Redemption in this 
 lifetime, by the " Seven Gates of the Mystic 
 Path," and the Four Tokens of the Mystic. 
 In this Catholic Message, catholically obeyed, 
 we see the " hope of glory," of the earth's 
 Redemption, and the " Joy of the Angels of 
 God," and of the " whole creation," con- 
 summated in the long-looked-for " Restitu- 
 tion of all things " through the " redemption 
 of the body." 
 
 Wrong conclusions of the permanency of 
 evil. For so many years we have been born 
 into evil ; in the environment of evil we 
 have lived so many times ; evil compasses 
 us about in our lifetimes with its innumerable 
 and unmitigable forms ; that it is not un- 
 natural, it is almost inevitable (without the 
 revelation which Mysticism furnishes), that 
 mankind jumps to the wrong conclusion, 
 that evil is the normal condition of this 
 planet, and that there never could have 
 been a time when there was no evil.
 
 138 The True Mystic 
 
 Incompatibility of evil with the concept of 
 Divine Personality and Creation. Yet the 
 revelation of Mysticism shows us that this 
 is not the case ; and surely a little reflection 
 will convince us of the utter incompatibility 
 of any rational concept of Divine Personality 
 and Creation, with the idea of cosmical 
 economy which postulates evil as a necessary 
 part of a Divinely created and organized 
 system of evolution to deity the creatures' 
 highest destiny. The idea is too monstrous 
 logically to be considered, that, in the mak- 
 ing of the Gods, the process of making 
 should include the fearful repetitions of 
 terrestrial karrna which the original sin of 
 man has caused to be the lot of man and 
 beast reincarnating in the earth's present 
 evil conditions. 
 
 Amelioration and evasion of evil the 
 universal striving of life. What then was it 
 that brought about the calamity of the Fall, 
 and introduced into the world the universal 
 decay of nature, the ghastly spectacle of 
 mortality, disease, suffering, and the cruelty 
 of life, as we see and experience it in all 
 departments of existence ? In order to 
 treat the subject of Remedy, we have first
 
 Mysticism and Healing 139 
 
 to consider the subject of the Origin of the 
 evils to be remedied. 
 
 Nine-tenths of the world's activities, most 
 of the learned professions and vocations of 
 mankind, the researches of science, and the 
 great learned Societies, the cultivation of 
 the Arts and Crafts, the great mechanical 
 and scientific inventions, and all the altruism 
 and philanthropies of humanity ; have their 
 raisons d'etre in the doing and discovering 
 all that man can do and discover, to lessen, 
 to ameliorate, or to escape, the effects of 
 evil, to erect buffers and cushions to counter- 
 vail the force of evil which menaces the life 
 and happiness of all creatures inhabiting this 
 planet. 
 
 Yet there are those who would have us 
 believe that evil is a divine and beneficent 
 invention, or instrument, of evolution to 
 the Divine. Some years ago I was lecturing 
 to a large audience of thoughtful and cul- 
 tured people in a Midland city, and was 
 dealing with this subject of evil, treating it 
 just as I am doing now. The chairman 
 suddenly stood up, and abruptly stopped 
 my lecture, saying, " / will listen to no more 
 of this ! There is no evil ! What is called
 
 140 The True Mystic 
 
 evil is undeveloped good ! " This good man 
 lived to see and acknowledge his error. Not 
 a great while ago, years after the event, he 
 wrote to me and asked my forgiveness for 
 his conduct on that occasion, saying he had 
 since learned that evil is a very real and 
 terrible thing, and that he was now devoting 
 his life to combating it by Spiritual Healing. 
 Of course, I know that those who hold that 
 evil has no existence are themselves the 
 finest examples of doing all they can to 
 mitigate evil. 
 
 Evil not a Divine beneficence. Let us 
 therefore understand that evil is not " un- 
 developed good," but perverted good, corrupted 
 good, fallen and diseased good ; that evil is 
 not a " blessing in disguise," nor Provi- 
 dence's sweet messenger to raise us higher. 
 Evil is nature cursed, by no Divine fiat, but 
 the fate of every terrestrial creature, to which 
 mankind doomed himself and his fellow- 
 creatures, when, in the beginning, he broke 
 the Laws of God which govern cosmical 
 nature. We all of us are reaping what we 
 have sown, when, in that distant age, in the 
 glorious state of our Divine forms and 
 perfect structures, we deliberately fell into
 
 Mysticism and Healing 141 
 
 sensualism, and dragged down with us into 
 abysmal darkness and suffering the whole 
 of terrestrial nature. 
 
 Original sin and guilt of the human race. 
 You ask, Can this be true ? Are we guilty, 
 not only of our own sufferings, but of the 
 sufferings of all creatures under the Sun, or 
 in the astral abyss, the Hell of lost souls ? 
 Is the present state of matter on this planet 
 due to our own personal transgression and 
 crime ? I answer, for myself, as for all our- 
 selves, " Yes, indeed it is true." How many 
 of us have revolted against the old " evan- 
 gelical " doctrine of the sin and guilt of 
 Adam being " imputed " to his offspring 
 who were wholly innocent of the sin of 
 Adam ! How we gave up belief in Chris- 
 tianity because of this revolting injustice 
 to God's character, and to mankind ! Yet, 
 now you see that the old doctrine of "original 
 sin " and " original guilt " is a true doctrine, 
 when we see that we ourselves were living 
 that perfect primordial life; that we our- 
 selves were represented in the figurative 
 " Adam and Eve," and we ourselves were 
 participators in the sin ; that we ourselves 
 brought upon ourselves the consequences
 
 142 The True Mystic 
 
 of our own sin, when evil entered the 
 world. 
 
 " Yes, indeed it is true." We are guilty, 
 we have been guilty all along the past lives 
 we have lived, when we were " working out 
 our own salvation." We are still guilty, now 
 that the Gates of the Mysteries are opened 
 to us, and the " Second Adam " has bridged 
 the abyss, and given us the Way to 
 ascend into the heavenly places with 
 Him. 
 
 You again ask, " How did this dreadful 
 thing happen ?" To this my answer must be 
 brief, with a brevity unbefitting the im- 
 portance of the theme: But I will make it 
 as clear as possible. 
 
 III. THE PRIMORDIAL STATE OF THE EARTH, 
 AND ITS DEPARTURE 
 
 Ether-radiant substance. In the beginning, 
 this earth of ours was beautiful with a beauty 
 in contrast with which the present beauty of 
 nature is as a bad dream. It was a vastly 
 more expansive sphere, composed of a 
 wondrous ether-radiant substance, the nature 
 of which has completely passed away, and
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 143 
 
 its translucence nowhere has left a reminis- 
 cence behind. 
 
 A self-luminous globe of glory. Initiates, 
 who have seen the constitution of the 
 earth's daughter-Planets, alone are compe- 
 tent to describe the Terrestrial Mother- 
 Planet of Planets in its primordial glory. 
 It was a self-luminous globe of effulgent 
 splendour. It exhaled, or radiated, from its 
 interior an active radiation, pervading its 
 surface and substance to the centre. The 
 nature of this primordial radiation we are 
 beginning to discover from its material 
 remains now being extracted from the 
 mineral deposits of the earth, in " radium," 
 and other radio-active minerals. 
 
 All-pervading Ether-mists. The opal-hued 
 Ether vibrated through the body of terres- 
 trial substance (now the degenerate sub- 
 stance of terrestrial " matter "), giving to 
 the whole planet, from pole to pole, the 
 same equable temperature and verdant 
 fruitfulness. Water, as we know that 
 element now, then had no existence. The 
 material element of " water " is a resultant 
 of the earth's materialization after the Fall. 
 The primordial element consisted of soft and
 
 144 The True Mystic 
 
 gentle ether-mists arising from the ground, 
 fertilizing the earth, the sweet-scented and 
 luminous " elixir vita." 
 
 Primordial flora, verdure and vegetation. 
 The earth brought forth trees, and verdure, 
 and vegetation, of transcendent glory. They 
 were of inconceivable magnificence of form 
 and fruitfulness. None dropped their leaves, 
 none died or decayed ; all were immortal, 
 ever-green, and brought forth fruits peren- 
 nially. Their fruits were the food of all the 
 creatures, food of a character that nourished 
 them mentally, psychically, spiritually, as 
 well as physically. The trees and vegetation 
 of the world as we know it, beautiful as 
 nature still is, are the grossest, dwarfed, and 
 distorted reflections of their pristine grandeur 
 and beauty. 
 
 Primordial fauna, genera and species. 
 The orders of genera and species of the 
 creatures, in their several ranks of cosmical 
 evolution, in those pristine days of in- 
 corruption, were creatures of perfect form. 
 All creatures, from the highest species of 
 the human genus, down to the lowest orders 
 of created species, communicated mutually 
 with one another, not by " language," but
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 145 
 
 by the hidden powers of communion the 
 nature of which is shadowed in the latest 
 scientific discoveries of telegraphy and tele- 
 pathy. The creatures were all intelligent 
 beings, with their minds and souls open to 
 all beings to read and to understand. It is 
 only since the Fall that the " lower orders " 
 of creation and mankind have ceased to 
 communicate. The structures and forms of 
 the creatures corresponded to the primordial 
 earth's structure and form. 
 
 The real ancestors of man in cosmic 
 evolution. These are the creatures whom 
 scientifically we can point to as the real 
 ancestors of our human race. From these 
 majestic families of beings all evolutionary 
 ranks have ascended. We may take the 
 utmost pride in considering the doctrine of 
 evolution, when we know the types and 
 kinds of specific creatures the noble forms 
 of original and unfallen mankind have 
 ascended from. On the other hand, with 
 what shame and debasement do we contem- 
 plate the gross forms and structures of the 
 present fallen genera and species, so utterly 
 undescriptive of their original state! Yet, 
 even now, the lover of animals can elicit
 
 146 The True Mystic 
 
 many indications of atrophied intelligence, 
 understanding, mind and soul, in the poor 
 creatures whom we of the human race have 
 brought down to their present evil state. 
 
 The human genus, and " rudimentary " 
 species. Man was a genus alone, divided 
 into numerous graduated species-ranks of 
 " rudimentary " types. The human species 
 ranged from the lowest type of " anthropo- 
 morphic " animal, through the many rudi- 
 mentary types of species, to the " Adamic " 
 (roseate radiant) Species, " deo-morphic " 
 men, or the " Sons of the Gods." 
 
 The " Adamic " Species of deo-morphic 
 men, or " Sons of the Gods." These 
 " Adamic " men were the highest evolu- 
 tionary types of terrestrial creation brought 
 forth by the cosmical Mother Earth and the 
 Divine Father. They were only one degree 
 lower than the Gods, and the angels, who 
 had passed that last terrestrial degree, and 
 attained to Deity. They were in their final 
 metempsychosis, and nigh to the state of 
 Unity with the Deity the Oriental " Nir- 
 vana." 
 
 The rudimentary human species. Beneath 
 these arch-human beings, descending down
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 147 
 
 the scale of cosmic evolution, were the 
 various species of the human genera. These 
 species of men corresponded to the various 
 planetary creative homes of evolution, who 
 were passing through their paradisaical and 
 blissful " karmas " on the Mother- Planet, 
 Earth, to which all evolutionary creatures 
 successively transmigrate, from one 
 planetary circle and another, in the aeonial 
 course of their evolution. 
 
 The Adamic Mediators of the Divine 
 Magnetism. The Adamic Species were the 
 Divine-Human Rulers and Guardians of the 
 Earth, the Mediators of the Highest to the 
 lowest orders of the human genus, and, 
 through them, down the scale of mediatorial 
 rank, to the lowest orders of genera and spe- 
 cies of creation. The Adamic Species was the 
 Highest Link of the Divine Magnetic Chain, 
 connecting the heavenly Chain to the 
 terrestrial ; and all were connected with the 
 Central Divine Magnet, the Christ of God. 
 
 Such is a poor and rough attempt to 
 describe and visualize to you something of 
 the kind of sphere this earth was pri- 
 mordially. I may leave it to your own 
 imagination to picture the sublimity of life
 
 148 The True Mystic 
 
 that we enjoyed on this pure translucent 
 earth, where no sin, no disease, no decay, 
 no suffering, no sorrow, no death, were 
 known or thought of. May I too leave it to 
 your conscience to decide what you may now 
 do to restore this primordial state ? 
 
 THE PRIMEVAL TRAGEDY 
 
 What, then, happened to change the face 
 of creation, to drag the earth to the present 
 state, in which its translucence is gone, its 
 verdure and vegetation and fruit trees are 
 degraded to their present state, and the 
 earth brings forth thorns, and thistles, and 
 weeds, wherever man's labour and sweat 
 avail not to preserve it ; where it is not 
 buried in oceanic submergence, sterile sands, 
 and wastes of barrenness ? What occurred 
 to make creature-life a ceaseless and futile 
 struggle, against disease, decay, and death ? 
 What tremendous upheaval has changed the 
 world to a scene of universal " struggle for 
 existence, and the survival of the fittest," the 
 " Law " which Science has invented as an 
 apology for the wastage and leakage of 
 creature-life, through disease, and decay, 
 fear and servitude ?
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 149 
 
 That great fierce contest for ever 
 waging between man and beast, between 
 man and man, to stave off poverty, starva- 
 tion, and death ? 
 
 That insensate strife to gain possession 
 individually of the contracted and limited 
 portions of the earth, that mankind has 
 wrested from waste, and uses to preserve 
 his life and happiness, and to retain them 
 against the rivalries of mankind ? 
 
 Which first brought in the God-dishonour- 
 ing laws of property, vested interests, and 
 private-ownership in the earth the "Earth," 
 which " is the Lord's, and the Fulness 
 thereof," the " Earth," its land and its 
 fruits, and the labour, skill, and craftsman- 
 ship of mankind, belonging to no one man, 
 nor to one class of men, whether by merit, 
 or by hire, or by inheritance, or by pur- 
 chase or gift ; any more than belonging to 
 all humanity and all creation, by common 
 right in all creatures of the inheritance of 
 the earth, by Divine Gift in eternity ? 
 
 The cosmical species of the human genus. 
 I have said that the human genus consisted 
 primordially of a number of species, in 
 ordered evolutionary ranks, from the
 
 150 The True Mystic 
 
 " anthropo-morphic " animal to the " deo- 
 morphic " man. The Fall came through the 
 breach of Law, in the first instance incited 
 by the sin of the " deo-morphic " men, the 
 " Sons of the Gods " our first ancestors. 
 The Highest Link of the Divine Magnetic 
 Chain in its terrestrial part broke away 
 from the Higher Celestial Links, and dragged 
 into the abyss all the links below it, be- 
 longing to the terrestrial Chain. 
 
 The Broken Law. You ask, What was 
 this Law which the Sons of the Gods broke ? 
 
 Do you remember the story you were told 
 in the nursery, of " Adam and Eve " and the 
 " Garden of Eden " and the " Tree of Know- 
 ledge of Good and Evil " ? That exquisitely 
 painted little allegory depicts the story of 
 the Fall. Warnings were given to man- 
 kind, the Cosmical Law was inculcated ; 
 and the Sons of the Gods disobeyed the Law, 
 reduced by the temptation to sensualism 
 and unlawful sexualism. For the Sons of 
 the Gods had reached the Highest organic 
 state, the " Androgyne." Like the " angels 
 of God," they " neither marry nor are given 
 in marriage." Generation came through 
 them androgynously, and not by the sexual
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 151 
 
 organs. This is a Mystery of Nature only 
 revealed, in its fulness, in the Initiation of 
 the Mystery which the " Sacrament of 
 Marriage " represented in the days of 
 Mysticism. I can only mention it here to 
 show how great a trespass of Cosmical Law 
 this Sin of Adam was. 
 
 The warning of Death. To the Adamic 
 Species, the Sons of the Gods, it was said 
 " the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
 die." 
 
 Death, we know, is the result of disease 
 and decay. If there were no disease or 
 decay in the " matter " of our organism, 
 there would be no death. It was then by no 
 judicial sentence of death on the Creator's 
 part, no threat of omnipotent vengeance, 
 nor of punishment by statute. Naturally 
 death followed as the certain sequence of 
 transgression of Law, the first consequences 
 of which are disease and decay, the precursors 
 of death. By no other way could death 
 enter this planet, or any other part of the 
 created universe, than by an act of trans- 
 gression of the creatures. Only by man's 
 act could disease intervene in the creation. 
 Man transgressed the Cosmical Law, and
 
 152 The Tnie Mystic 
 
 brought in Evil disease, decay, and death 
 not upon the individual transgressors only, 
 but spreading from the Highest Link to the 
 lowest. 
 
 The broken Law recorded in the Book of 
 Genesis. You will find a brief and clear 
 record of this act of transgression told 
 as an historical fact in the sixth chapter 
 of the Book of Genesis, in the following 
 words : 
 
 "And it came to pass, when men 1 began 
 to multiply on the face of the Earth, 
 and daughters were born unto them, 
 that the Sons of God saw the daughters 
 of men that they were very fair ; and 
 took them wives of all that they chose." 
 
 The planetary spheres creative : the earth 
 karmic and generative. That was the Fall. 
 The Sons of the Gods broke the Cosmical 
 Law, first, by violating their cosmical 
 natures by " sexual intercourse," and, 
 secondly, by the licentious act of cohabiting 
 with other species. Intermarriage of the 
 
 1 These " men " refer to the " rudimentary " species of the 
 human genus.
 
 The Primordial State of the Earth 153 
 
 species is a breach of Cosmical Law. It is 
 a mistake to suppose that marriage is an 
 evolutionary instrument, and that species 
 advance by consanguinity. 
 
 Evolution achieves no specific advances 
 in progressive creation on the Terrestrial 
 sphere, but only in the Planetary spheres. 
 The Earth is the karmic and generative 
 sphere only, and not a creative sphere. On 
 the earth the creative work done on other 
 planets is completed, by generation, and- 
 probation, and thereby the " fixation " of 
 the " volatile " evolutionary states into 
 cosmic and eternal " form " and " struc- 
 ture is accomplished." 
 
 Each species was a distinct evolutionary 
 stage and type of itself. By mingling the 
 specific types and stages of evolution in 
 terrestrial existence, a disaster occurred in 
 evolution which the Law of the Sexual 
 Segregation of Species was provided and 
 inculcated in order to avert. The breach 
 of this Law at once brought confusion and 
 chaos in the evolutionary species on the 
 terrestrial planet, and disorganized the whole 
 system of evolution. Thereby the cessation 
 and suspension of the creative system was
 
 1 54 The True Mystic 
 
 necessary, until the damage done to the 
 machinery of the system has been remedied 
 and overcome through the processes of 
 Redemption at once set on foot in Cosmical 
 Law. 
 
 The origin of the " human race." By this 
 breach of the Law of Species Segregation, 
 all the species of the human genus became 
 intermingled, creating a new and abnormal 
 order of humanity, of mixed specific char- 
 acter, an abnormal single type, which we 
 to-day call the " human race." The purpose 
 of Redemption, which Mysticism reveals, is 
 the restoration of order and organization 
 out of this chaos of disorganization ; to 
 bring back the species of the human genus 
 to their normal specific ranks. This is the 
 ultimate and rationale of Redemption, the 
 secret of which, and its processes, are 
 revealed in Mysticism. 
 
 The physical, moral and spiritual con- 
 sequences of the Fall enter in as inci- 
 dental, but extremely baffling, purposes of 
 Redemption which need to be accomplished 
 in order to bring about the " ultimate " 
 the " manifestation of the Sons of God," as 
 St. Paul tells us " For the earnest expecta-
 
 Primitive Humanity 155 
 
 tion of the creation waiteth for the revealing 
 of the Sons of God." 
 
 IV. PRIMITIVE HUMANITY 
 
 Terrible occurrences ensued upon the 
 transgression of the Sons of the Gods. 
 Rapidly one evil followed another, and the 
 power to avert these evils was practically 
 lost when the highest order of terrestrial 
 beings severed the connection of the earth 
 Life-Chain from the dynamic Centre, the 
 Divine Magnet, the Christ of God, and from 
 the intermediary chains of Hierarchical 
 Mediators in the Celestial and Planetary 
 Spheres. 
 
 The Earth denuded. The earth was de- 
 nuded of its principal source of Divine 
 Wisdom, Life and Health. The streams of 
 the Divine Essence henceforth only could 
 trickle through the media of the few faithful 
 Mediators still abiding on the earth, true 
 to the Holy Mysteries, which eternally had 
 upheld the earth in its past sublime state of 
 glory. 
 
 The Church of the Living God. These 
 faithful Mediators formed the Small Centre
 
 156 The True Mystic 
 
 of Divine Mediation, and constituted the 
 primeval " Church of the Living God." The 
 history of the Church can be traced up the 
 line of prehistoric and historical times, to the 
 present day. Already I have sketched this 
 history. But let me now relate briefly the 
 primeval story of this Church, its fearful 
 vicissitudes and sufferings, its one-time 
 almost total extinction, and its later restora- 
 tion, as it is told us in the allegorical story 
 of the Book of Genesis. In that story is 
 recorded man's history subsequent to the 
 Fall, in the allegories of " Cain and Abel," of 
 " Seth " and " Enosh," of the two posterities 
 of Enosh and Cain, of the great city and 
 federation of " Babel," of the final dispersion, 
 of the origin of races and nations, and of the 
 great human quarrel, in the " struggle for 
 existence and the survival of the fittest/' 
 which caused the " dispersion " of the 
 human race, and added a thousandfold to 
 the curse of the Fall on man and beast. 
 
 Recent archceological discoveries in evidence 
 of the truth of Genesis. Information has 
 recently been published of remarkable dis- 
 coveries on some ridges of land, which have 
 been examined by submarine exploration, in
 
 Primitive Humanity 157 
 
 the bed of the Atlantic ocean. On these 
 ridges of primeval rock have been found 
 skeletons of human remains of gigantic 
 proportions. They measure in stature 
 fifteen feet and upwards. By the side of 
 some of these skeletons were found lying 
 heavy wooden clubs measuring fifteen feet 
 in length, evidently weapons used for 
 defence against marauding monsters then 
 existing, and against human attack. In this 
 period of prehistoric existence, before the 
 waters rose and swept away the land, the 
 struggle for existence had been very acute, 
 between man and man, and between man 
 and beast. The great saurians of primeval 
 life were the earlier metamorphosed and 
 degenerate descendants of the primordial 
 animal kingdom. They mostly were a 
 carnivorous and destructive menace to 
 mankind, and only the strongest and best- 
 equipped could succeed in surviving the 
 ravages of these monsters. As great a peril 
 to life was also the fierce struggle for exist- 
 ence waging between man and man, when 
 the sparse land became the serious object 
 of individual and tribal possession, and of 
 the competitive struggle to wrest from
 
 158 The True Mystic 
 
 one another such valuable assets of 
 existence. 
 
 Such facts as these coming to light are 
 particularly interesting and valuable, con- 
 firming the truth of the Genesis story, and 
 helping to corroborate the views I am 
 endeavouring to enunciate. 
 
 The " Genesis " account of primeval 
 humanity. In the same passage of the 
 Book of Genesis I have already quoted from 
 (Chapter VI) the following words follow : 
 
 "And Jehovah said, My Spirit in 
 man shall not always be at strife on 
 account of his having become flesh. 
 Therefore his days shall be limited to an 
 hundred and twenty years. 
 
 " The Nephilim came to be in the 
 earth in those days; after that the Sons 
 of God came in unto the daughters of 
 men, and they bare children unto them. 
 The same were the mighty men of old, 
 the men of renown. 
 
 "And Jehovah saw that the wicked- 
 ness of man was great in the earth, and 
 that every imagination of his heart was 
 only evil continually."
 
 Primitive Humanity 159 
 
 The " Nephilim " and " Saurian " mon- 
 sters. These " Nephilim," or gigantic 
 people, were the offspring of the " human 
 race " which was immediately propagated 
 after the fusion of the Sons of the Gods 
 with the rudimentary human species. These 
 human colossi, and the Saurian " monsters," 
 of many breeds and types, were the anthro- 
 pological and zoological resultants of the 
 Fall, in a few generations after. Gradually, 
 as the earth contracted, and failed to 
 produce the food and living-conditions for 
 their continuity, their gigantic proportions 
 decreased, and men and beasts diminished 
 in size as the earth's dimensions were 
 reduced by disease and contraction. The 
 earth was gradually metamorphosing, and 
 portions were continually upheaving and 
 falling in, as death, corruption, and disease 
 of creation increasingly infected the ground. 
 
 The "Cain and Abel" allegory of the 
 " World" and the "Church." The Genesis 
 allegory, after the " Eden " story, goes on 
 to describe the story of " Cain and Abel," 
 representing the great division of the human 
 race into the " World " and the " Church." 
 " Cain " is a word meaning " Getting," or
 
 160 The True Mystic 
 
 seizing possession. "Abel" was a Pastor, 
 or Shepherd. 
 
 "And the man knew Eve his wife ; 
 and she conceived, and bare Cain, and 
 said, I have gotten a man with the help 
 of the Lord. And she again bare his 
 brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper 
 of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the 
 ground. 
 
 ''And in process of time it came to 
 pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of 
 the ground an offering unto the Lord. 
 And Abel, he also brought of the 
 firstlings of his flock and of the fat 
 thereof. 
 
 "And the Lord had respect unto 
 Abel and to his offering: but unto 
 Cain and to his offering He had not 
 respect. And Cain was very wroth, 
 and his countenance fell. 
 
 " And Jehovah said unto Cain, 
 Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy 
 countenance fallen ? If thou doest 
 well, shall thou not be accepted ? and 
 if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at 
 the door. And unto thee shall be his
 
 Primitive Humanity 161 
 
 desire, and thou shall ride over 
 him. 
 
 "And Cain told Abel his brother: 
 and it came to pass, when they were 
 in the field, thai Cain rose up against 
 Abel his brother, and slew him. And 
 Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is A bel 
 thy brother ? And he said, I know not : 
 am I my brother's keeper? And He 
 said, What hast thou done ? the voice 
 of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me 
 from the ground. And now cursed art 
 thou from the ground, which hath 
 opened her mouth to receive thy 
 brother's blood from thy hand; when 
 thou tillest the ground, it shall no more 
 yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive 
 and a wanderer shalt thou be in the 
 earth" Genesis iv. 
 
 " Cain," the Getter, represents the " world "- 
 system of life. The character of Cain's 
 offering indicates his relations to God. He 
 was outside of the Divine Society of the 
 Mysteries. His offering showed that he 
 knew not, or despised, the sacred Mystery 
 and Symbol of the " Lamb of God." His 
 
 M
 
 162 The True Mystic 
 
 offering was alien to the Mysteries, " of the 
 fruit of the ground." Why had not God 
 respect unto Cain's offering ? Was it not 
 as good an offering as Abel's ? What about 
 the toil of hands it represented, the sweat of 
 brow, the skill and patience ? the devo- 
 tion, the adoration, the faith, the worship, 
 it implied, in presenting the "fruit of the 
 ground " unto the Lord ? 
 
 Cain represents, in this allegory, the 
 " world," and his offering the religion and 
 votive offering of the " world." What more 
 meritorious, more self-congratulatory, more 
 suggestive, than the offering of the fruits of 
 toil, skill, and diligence ? Yet God had not 
 respect unto the offering of Cain. There 
 were causes which made Cain's offering 
 nugatory. It represented the predominant 
 prideful idea in Cain's mind, the motive of 
 his offering the declaration of possession, 
 of merit, of achievement, and of the pious 
 thought of " the help of the Lord." It was 
 a present to God out of his own possessions, 
 the confession that " by the help of the Lord 
 I have gotten possession." He had " gotten 
 possession," and neither God nor man had 
 any claim on it. It was his this ground he
 
 Primitive Humanity 163 
 
 tilled by right of conquest over unwill- 
 ing and depraved nature, over the com- 
 petitive contests of rivals among men and 
 beasts, and by his own prowess, skill, and 
 labour. The "fruits of the ground" were 
 his, because he had made them his own. 
 Out of his own he spared a little as an 
 offering to God, as a testimony of his worth 
 and his merits, in making a good thing of 
 this life and of his strength. He denied the 
 common possession of himself and the earth 
 to every man. The earth is God's Freehold, 
 including, not the ground only, and the 
 beasts of the earth, but man also, and all 
 that constitutes his endowments, of mind, 
 soul, and body. All are God's possession, 
 and no man's " property " ; leased out for 
 no man's individual pleasure or possession, 
 except in the common right of all mankind 
 to enjoy their fruits and benefits. Cain 
 came before God as an individualist, a 
 " land-lord," a capitalist. His offering was 
 an ostentation of individual pride of posses- 
 sion and achievement, as a " self-made 
 man." 
 
 " Abel," the Shepherd, represents the 
 " Church of the Living God." Abel's offering
 
 164 The True Mystic 
 
 was a " Mystery," a Sacramentum. In that 
 prostrate Lamb on the Altar, was represented 
 Abel's Faith in the Divine Mystery of the 
 " Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world," the Mystical " Lamb, standing as 
 it had been slain before the foundation of the 
 world " ; the Source of Life and Immor- 
 tality, on which Abel, in his offering, 
 confessed his sole dependence, and which, 
 by the same token, he was striving to 
 attain. 
 
 The " enmity " between the " world " and 
 the " Church of the Living God." The alle- 
 gory then proceeds to its denouement. A 
 tragic scene follows these offerings. Cain 
 and Abel enter into a state of " enmity." 
 Cain finds his offering futile. His preten- 
 sions to the sacred privileges of the Divine 
 Mysteries the sole reason for offering, 
 worship, and religion are exposed in their 
 naked emptiness and vanity. His pride is 
 wounded, his self-sufficiency rejected, his 
 presumption laid bare. 
 
 So the " enmity " first appeared between 
 the "world" and the "Church." The 
 " world " knows nothing, cares nothing, for 
 the Mystical " Lamb of God." It coquettes
 
 Primitive Humanity 165 
 
 with religion by profuse devotion to material 
 objects in worship and offering. It elevates 
 the " alms-dish " before the Holy Table, but 
 not the sacred " Host " of the " Lamb of 
 God." It imitates the Mystery of the " slain 
 Lamb," in carnal sacrifices, in blood- 
 shedding, and in its Christian representation 
 and belief in the human material sacrifice of 
 the incarnate " Lamb of God," and the 
 superstition of the carnal blood-shedding of 
 Calvary having efficacy to take away sin 
 once and for all, an efficacy belonging only 
 to the Mystical and Eternal " Lamb of God, 
 slain before the foundation of the world." 
 The symbol of the Cross of Calvary has been 
 substituted for the reality it symbolizes. 
 The blood of the crucified human body of 
 Jesus has been substituted for the Eternal 
 Life-Blood of the Mystical Christ. 
 
 The world-religion and the Mystery-Re- 
 ligion. Cain is the stronger. He has taken 
 every advantage of the earth, and possessed 
 it. The earth is his right, his home, his 
 creation. His energies are concentrated on 
 winning in the struggle for life and posses- 
 sion. It is his life-pursuit. He becomes 
 skilled in the arts and handicrafts, and
 
 1 66 The True Mystic 
 
 resourceful and inventive in the newly 
 discovered uses of the minerals that are 
 forming beneath his feet, and the many 
 natural treasures which the earth's de- 
 generation has created. 
 
 Abel is the weaker. He is detached from 
 the things of the world. He seeks its res- 
 toration to the Divine state. To make the 
 best of it in its corrupted state is dis- 
 tasteful to him. It is so much wasted 
 time, when there is all that is to be 
 done to make the earth right and pure 
 again. He " seeks a city yet to come, 
 whose Builder and Founder is God." He 
 ignores and despises the efforts of his brother 
 Cain, who spends his days in making 
 the earth yield, out of its curse, the things 
 that make existence, under the curse, 
 endurable, even pleasurable. Cain is on the 
 earth to stay, a settler, building his cities, 
 and decorating his life. Abel is a " pilgrim," 
 a dweller in tents, a stranger in the world. 
 His actions, his life, his speech, his religion, 
 his relations to mankind, all speak of a 
 " better country." 
 
 The murder of Abel The unchangeable 
 hereditary spirit of enmity between the
 
 Primitive Humanity 167 
 
 " world " and the " Church " of the Mys- 
 teries is set forth in the allegory of Cain 
 and Abel. The spirit of murder, hate, 
 jealousy, treachery, and competitiveness, 
 is the spirit of Cain. The spirit of meekness, 
 dependence upon, and submission to, God, 
 of separateness from the world, of prayer, 
 faith, love, self-sacrifice, and altruism, is the 
 spirit of Abel. The story of the murder of 
 Abel, like most allegories, was based on an 
 historical fact, which the allegory records. 
 Cain rose up and slew his brother Abel. So, 
 in that early primeval period we may learn 
 that the first persecution and martyr- 
 dom of the Church occurred. The " world " 
 rose up, in those black days of wicked- 
 ness and rebellion against God, and de- 
 stroyed the faithful followers of the Christ- 
 Mysteries. They slew the Initiates and their 
 followers. 
 
 The extinction of the Church, and the 
 world's plunge into wickedness. For a period 
 we may gather that the Church of the Living 
 God was practically extinguished. Then 
 followed a period of the most unlicensed 
 wickedness and corruption. The tide of 
 moral depravity and gross orgies of sen-
 
 1 68 The True Mystic 
 
 suality was unloosed, and overswept 
 humanity. Bereft of the " Salt of the 
 earth " in the Church, which only could 
 preserve the earth from decay, the ravages 
 of disease and corruption filled the ground 
 with pollution of disease, decay, and death, 
 corrupting, corroding, and shattering the 
 structure of the earth, and its primordial 
 substance. 
 
 The earth's deprivation of the Divine 
 Essence of Life. The destruction of the 
 ;4fo/-Hierarchy of the Divine Mysteries, 
 deprived the earth of its Divine medium of 
 the Essence of Life. The Church had stood, 
 as it must always stand, as the apex of the 
 triangle of Life, the earth being the base. 
 The Divine Essence descended upon the 
 Church, and was mediated to the earth and 
 the creatures, purifying and nourishing 
 them. The Church, crushed and extin- 
 guished, left the earth robbed of the sus- 
 tentative and preservative medium of the 
 Divine Life-forces. The " Salt " removed, 
 the earth decayed. Thus we understand 
 the meaning of the Divine curse upon Cain, 
 " when thou tillest the ground, it shall no 
 longer yield her fruit."
 
 Primitive Humanity 169 
 
 The posterity of Cain. You see, then, what 
 is the great apocalyptic significance of the 
 Cain and Abel allegory. Cain the "getter," 
 slew Abel the "pastor." Cain depicts the 
 " world-spirit " of acquisition, of possession, 
 of making the best of a fallen estate. He 
 tilled the ground to gain its products. His 
 posterity advanced further, and extracted 
 the metals of the newly formed rock, making 
 iron and brass implements of industry, and 
 warfare, and utility. They developed the 
 arts, and made instruments of music. So 
 they advanced in " Civilization " out of the 
 total barbarism into which their ancestors 
 had fallen. 
 
 Placing and piecing together these ancient 
 fragments of primeval history, it is not 
 difficult to trace the story through to 
 historical and known times. We see the 
 gradual degradation of the offspring of 
 Adam the " human race " to the lowest 
 depths of barbarism and cruel animalism, 
 struggling for the sparse food the earth then 
 produced. We see the jealousy and hatred 
 of these barbaric people against the Church 
 of the Living God, and the extinction of the 
 latter by the brute force of these tribal
 
 170 The True Mystic 
 
 creatures, more like ferocious animals than 
 mankind. We see the gradual rising of 
 intellect and intelligence from the wreck of 
 mind and soul, and the cultivation of the 
 arts and crafts. We see humanity slowly 
 raising itself from the " Stone Age" and the 
 state of the "Cave men" to the culture of 
 mentality, artistry, and industry. Thus we 
 see the working of the Redemptive system, 
 gradually making for the time when the 
 consciousness of humanity would rise to 
 correspondence with the Highest, to the 
 heavenly stimuli, and ultimately to the 
 Mysteries. 
 
 As is the case with all great world- 
 movements, it was begun and inspired by 
 sensualism, and for purely selfish ends. 
 For sensual ends every kind of social progress 
 has originated in the world's history. Every 
 advance of civilization, opening out means 
 and possibilities for disseminating the 
 Mysteries and the Wisdom of God, had, 
 for its inception and end, in the first in- 
 stance, the human pursuit of material or 
 sensual things. In this way God uses man's 
 sensualism to His own Spiritual ends. 
 
 The " Enosk " era of the Church. WTien
 
 Primitive Humanity 171 
 
 the Church was destroyed in the Cainite 
 uprising, its extinction was only for a brief 
 period, howsoever disastrous. The Spirit of 
 God is ever in all men, and in the lowest ebb 
 of degeneration, the Spirit will cause a turn 
 in the tide. The Church had its rebirth in 
 the generations that succeeded Abel. 
 
 " And Adam knew Eve his wife 
 again ; and she bare a son, and called 
 his name Seth : for, she said, God hath 
 appointed me another seed instead of 
 Abel; for Cain slew him. And to 
 Seth, to him also was born a son ; and 
 he called his name Enosh : then began 
 men to call upon the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Thus is recorded the revival of the 
 Church in the Enosh era, when once again 
 " men began to call upon the Name of Jehovah." 
 
 The Noachian era of Cataclysm. Genera- 
 tions of the Enosh era followed, when, in due 
 time, we reach the record of Enoch, who 
 " walked with God," marking a period of 
 great development of Mysticism, which 
 some suppose to be the " Hermetic period."
 
 172 The True Mystic 
 
 Generations after Enock we come to the 
 story of Noah, allegorizing the cataclysmic 
 catastrophe which resulted in the " Glacial 
 Period " ; extending now to the part of the 
 world covered by the great oceans, and the 
 countries west of the Orient. 
 
 The Cataclysms. The cataclysmic period 
 followed the decay of the earth due to the 
 inroad of corruption, disease, and death in 
 all the kingdoms of nature, which ensued 
 upon the rush of humanity into sensualism 
 and unlicensed wickedness. Death became 
 universal, disease rampant, ravaging nature 
 to the earth's centre. The earth hardened 
 and contracted. The primordial terrestrial 
 elements composing the earth's substance 
 solidified and materialized, forming the 
 four elements of nature as we know them 
 now, namely, earth, air, fire, and water. In 
 these four elements the primordial elements 
 were secreted, and converted into the 
 material forms in which they are now 
 constituted. These elements gradually be- 
 came fast bound by materialization. The 
 volatile elements, air, fire, and water, con- 
 stantly broke the earth barriers, and burst 
 forth with titanic violence. These upheavals
 
 Primitive Humanity 173 
 
 set free the imprisoned elements, which 
 came into elemental contact, creating the 
 conversion of the elements into the dynamic 
 forces of electricity, steam, the gases, fire, 
 and many sub-products of chemical pro- 
 cesses thrown together. The earth melted 
 by the force of the newly generated heat, 
 and, as it cooled, was deposited in various 
 beds of rocky strata, burying the calcined 
 and carbonized wealth of vegetation, the 
 compression of which, under such mighty 
 pressures, caused the creation of the many 
 mineral formations deposited in the various 
 strata. 
 
 The atmosphere. From the earth issued 
 dense clouds and volumes of gaseous vapours, 
 steam, smoke, and atoms of matter in com- 
 bustion. The atmospheric zone of the 
 earth, from being pure ether-mist, clear and 
 translucent, became densified with these dark 
 material elements of earth, air, fire, and 
 water. By reason of this densifkation the 
 atmosphere ever since has acted as a merciful 
 providence of nature, forming a stupendous 
 magnifying medium of the Ether-Light 
 transfusing space from the Sun. The Sun 
 is a beauteous and inconceivably large
 
 174 The True Mystic 
 
 Globe, the habitation of the Highest Beings 
 of Divine Creation, from Whom are spread 
 in the Cosmos the Light-Streams of Life- 
 Essence from God. When the earth lost its 
 translucence and luminosity, the atmosphere 
 it created became like a colossal " magnify- 
 ing-glass" refracting the Light-Rays of the 
 Ether to fiery heat, which, falling upon the 
 earth in this form, has ministered to the 
 earth's reproductiveness, and its preserva- 
 tion from total death. 
 
 The Sea. In consequence of the earth's 
 contraction, and the eruptions caused there- 
 by, vast fissures and areas of depressed land 
 occurred below, the great mountain-heights 
 forced upward. The waters, into which the 
 "mist"- moisture was converted, which 
 burst forth in mighty deluges from beneath, 
 filled these deep spaces, and so the great 
 oceans and seas and lakes made their 
 appearance, and the " dry land " rose above 
 the waters. Thereafter the waters, refreshed 
 by evaporation into the air, fell upon the 
 land in rain and dew. 
 
 Seasons and temperature. The declination 
 of the earth's axis, and the regular rotations 
 of the earth, and its elliptical revolutions
 
 Primitive Humanity 175 
 
 round the Sun, owing to these changes in the 
 earth, caused the variations of the seasons, 
 and the changes of the temperature in the 
 various latitudes of the earth. 
 
 Terrestrial sterility and disease. In many 
 parts the ground became sand-covered and 
 sterile, except in those places where nature 
 mercifully provided more favourable condi- 
 tions for the stunted vegetation, which man 
 cultivated, and saved from general sterility. 
 Disease decimated all living creatures, and 
 in consequence impelled the human race to 
 the study of the question of treating disease 
 and staving off death. Hence arose the 
 sciences of medicine and surgery, of herbal- 
 ism and hygiene. 
 
 Noah's Ark. The struggle for existence 
 became more and more acute. Noah, the 
 patriarchal figure personalizing this terrific 
 period of cataclysm, allegorizes the Church 
 preserved from being overwhelmed by the 
 material elements. He taught the people to 
 save themselves by building ships, and intro- 
 duced the science of navigation, now that 
 the oceans had come to divide the world. 
 The " Ark " in the allegory is used to 
 represent the Mysteries of Christ, by which
 
 176 The True Mystic 
 
 the earth will be saved from destruction, as 
 the Noachian families, who obeyed Noah, 
 saved themselves and the living creatures 
 from a watery grave, when the cataclysm 
 threatened their destruction. 
 
 Under the guidance and teaching of the 
 Noachian Initiates the people fled eastward, 
 some settled in India, some in China. The 
 word " Noah " is immortalized in Chinese 
 traditions under the name of " Fohi," the 
 Chinese equivalent for " Noah," who, they 
 say, brought their ancestors to the coast of 
 China, and founded the city of Pekin. 
 
 The " Babel " federacy. Subsequent to 
 the Noachian era, or during its later period, 
 a large portion of the human race, following 
 the Cainite system, formed a combination 
 for mutual protection from the growing 
 social complications of the struggle for 
 existence, as the population increased, and 
 the area of land-possession became more 
 in demand. So they built the city of Babel, 
 and inaugurated the world-system of citizen- 
 ship, of legislation, of mutual protection of 
 property, of defence against invasion, and 
 of appeal to Heaven for aid and pros- 
 perity,
 
 Primitive Humanity 177 
 
 "And the whole earth was of one 
 language, and of one speech. And it 
 came to pass, as they joiirneyed east, 
 that they found a plain in the land of 
 Shinar ; and they dwelt there. And 
 they said to one another, ' Go to, let us 
 make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' 
 And they made bricks for stone, and 
 slime had they for morter. And they 
 said, ' Go to, let us build us a city and 
 a tower, whose top may reach unto 
 heaven ; and let us make us a name, 
 lest we be scattered abroad upon the 
 face of the whole earth.' And the Lord 
 came down to see the city and the tower, 
 which the children of men builded. A nd 
 the Lord said, ' Behold, they are one 
 people, and they have all one language ; 
 and this is what they begin to do : and 
 now nothing will be withholden from 
 them, which they purpose to do. Go to, 
 let us go down, and there confound 
 their language, that they may not 
 understand one another's speech.' So 
 the Lord scattered them abroad from 
 thence upon the face of the earth : and 
 they left off to build the city. Therefore
 
 178 The True Mystic 
 
 was the name of it called Babel ; 
 because the Lord did there confound 
 the language of all the earth : and 
 from thence did the Lord scatter them 
 abroad ^ipon the face of the earth." 
 
 As in the Noachian flight, the people of 
 the Mystery-Religion, or the Church, scat- 
 tered after the cataclysms, and planted 
 families and branches of the Church in 
 Eastern parts ; so in the Babel " disper- 
 sion," the rest of mankind were driven 
 forth from their attempted city of Babel, 
 and scattered over the face of the earth. 
 This is the brief account of the origin of the 
 races of mankind, most of whom are the 
 " aborigines " of recently opened continents, 
 fallen from the state of primeval civilization. 
 This is the origin of the nationalities of 
 primeval history, and of the nationalistic 
 system of to-day. It also accounts for the 
 existence of a debased religion in all coun- 
 tries, where there also exists the surviving 
 Mystery-Religion of the ancient Church of 
 the Living God. 
 
 You now will see what I meant by saying, 
 that " evil " is an accidental feature of our
 
 Mysticism and Evil 179 
 
 present state of existence, and not incidental 
 to cosmical existence. From this view of evil 
 disease, decay, and death you will see 
 that evil, in all its forms, as it came through 
 man, by man can be removed ; that the 
 " Church," through the Christ, is the Pivot of 
 Redemption. 
 
 V. MYSTICISM AND EVIL 
 
 Now for the short space still at my 
 disposal, let me show you what is the 
 Divine aspect of the great questions which 
 are moving humanity to-day for the removal 
 of Evil. 
 
 Disease and the Mysteries. St. Paul re- 
 minds us that the " last enemy that shall be 
 destroyed is death." Now I have shown that 
 death is the natural consequence of disease 
 and decay. As long as disease and decay 
 last, death will continue inevitable. As we 
 have seen that the cause of disease, decay, 
 and death is due to the breaking away of 
 the earth from the Divine Magnet, the 
 Mystical Christ, Who, by His Incarnation, 
 has brought up from the abyss one end of 
 the Chain ; therefore the only way to
 
 180 The True Mystic 
 
 remove evil disease, decay, death, the 
 struggle for existence, and all evil things 
 is for mankind to co-operate with the 
 Christ, and " the whole company of heaven," 
 in the work of restoring union and com- 
 munion of all the broken links on the earth, 
 in every generation, with the Mystical 
 Christ. This can only be brought about by 
 every enlightened person himself seeking 
 the Mystic Path, and practising the Mys- 
 teries ; and also striving personally and 
 collectively to propagate the Mysteries, and 
 win to the Christ those who are still apart 
 from Him, or ignorant of Him in His 
 Mystical nature. 
 
 Mystical Healing. I have pointed out 
 that one of the signs symptomatic of the 
 return of Mysticism is Spiritual, or Divine 
 Healing. It is one of the first spiritual 
 powers developing through the pursuit of 
 the Mystic Path. Mysticism liberates the 
 spiritual powers in the interior man which 
 the fallen flesh and mind imprison. 
 
 The Human Constitution. In the human 
 constitution man consists of seven distinct 
 organizations, or natures. Each replicates 
 the others in organic functions. The central
 
 Mysticism and Evil 181 
 
 nature of man is the Spirit of God in man, 
 his Eternal Ego. Ego, or Spirit, is the 
 potential Christ in him, which Mysticism 
 enables him to quicken, raise, form, and 
 perfect. This is the purpose of the "Mystery 
 of Christ in you, the hope of Glory." Mysticism 
 teaches us how to seek and find the " Christ 
 in us." Normally, the Christ-Spirit in man 
 is the Master-Spirit, governing the whole 
 sevenfold organization. But each one of 
 these natures is capable of self-assertion, and 
 of self-energy. Thus the " body " may 
 become the man's master, the " mind " may 
 become the master, the " soul " may become 
 the master, or the " spirit " may be the 
 master. When either, or all, of the three 
 natures below the Spirit, become master, the 
 Christ is shut up and imprisoned, and only 
 fitfully and weakly can make any assertion 
 of itself. The " Unio Mystica," or the 
 Finding of the Christ, takes place when the 
 man, in all his seven natures, is made One, 
 which makes him One with the Christ-Logos. 
 Spirit-pervasion. Then the Spirit per- 
 vades the whole being, and is the " genius " 
 and power energizing the whole organization. 
 Mind, Soul, and Body, function, then, from
 
 1 82 The True Mystic 
 
 the motive-centre of the Spirit, the Christ- 
 Force. So, when the Spirit is set free, it 
 is free to exercise Spirit-directed and em- 
 powered functions in all the natures and 
 their combined functions a perfect spiritual 
 and Divine Magnetic Dynamo. 
 
 THE FOUR CENTRES OF FUNCTION 
 
 There are four main centres of functioning 
 energy in man, yielding forces of active 
 beneficence, or maleficence, in their respec- 
 tive planes. These are : (i) Body, (2) Mind, 
 (3) Soul, (4) Spirit. 
 
 From these four centres proceed every 
 kind of energy, producing phenomena 
 according to its kind. The original fountain 
 of the energy which moves all these centres 
 is the Spirit. Imprisoned as Spirit is, in 
 the matter of the flesh and mind, yet it is 
 Spirit alone from which life and energy are 
 derived. But this energy, in fallen and 
 unredeemed man, becomes perverted to 
 evil, or ill-motived uses, or corrupted by 
 exterior malefic forces, astral, carnal, or 
 mundane, when it has passed from the 
 Spirit-centre. 
 
 Thus each nature becomes abnormally a
 
 Mysticism and Evil 183 
 
 kingdom in itself, working and energizing 
 with an independent will of its own. The 
 energy of Healing is one of these interior 
 forces, originating from Spirit, but often 
 held up in one or another, or in all of the 
 three natures, mind, soul and body, and 
 work more or less, or sometimes completely, 
 independently of, or in opposition to, the 
 will of Spirit ; and sometimes in obedience 
 to an " astral " will. 
 
 Equilibration, or Harmony, of the Four 
 functioning natures, the Purpose of Mysticism. 
 The purpose of Mysticism is to teach man 
 the great Mystery of Equilibration, or 
 Harmonization, of the Four functioning 
 natures of man, and to bring them into 
 Union with the Christ-Logos, in the Spirit. 
 The Healing Power of the Mystical Christ, 
 the " Lamb in the midst of the Throne of God," 
 then comes into full force and sway in the 
 four natures, energizing the functioning 
 power of each nature in unison. Thus we 
 understand why our Lord said, " Greater 
 things than these shall ye do because I go unto 
 the Father." 
 
 When this Equilibration has been accom- 
 plished, there will be no more talk of different
 
 184 The. True Mystic 
 
 planes of healing. The student of spiritual 
 therapeutics will be confused no more by the 
 variety of differentiations of healing, of 
 which we hear so much nowadays, in the 
 great movement of mystical healing in the 
 world, physical healing (or animal mag- 
 netism), mental healing, psychic healing, 
 hypnotic healing, healing by faith, healing by 
 denying disease, etc. 
 
 (l) BODY, PHYSICAL HEALING, OR PERSONAL 
 MAGNETISM 
 
 Physico-Magnetic Therapeutics 
 
 Physical healing power, or personal mag- 
 netism, is not dependent upon special 
 development. It is a power that exhales 
 from the surface nature, and depends 
 entirely on healthiness and positiveness of 
 temperament. 
 
 Every healthy person, with healthy tem- 
 perament, strong out -going sympathies, and 
 what Paul calls " cnr\a,yva, bowels of 
 compassion," or love for mankind, sanguine- 
 natured, optimistic and cheerful, whether 
 consciously or unconsciously, exercises this 
 beneficent gift. 
 
 Such a person, by merely living with a
 
 Mysticism and Evil 185 
 
 sick person, whether diseased in mind, body, 
 or soul, arouses in them the desire to be well, 
 encourages the will to be well, and awakens 
 the consciousness of being well ; and he 
 most often is well. 
 
 The healer instinctively takes a negative 
 attitude to the disease, and a positive 
 attitude towards the patient. He breathes 
 health from his own superabundance of 
 vitality. He exhales health from the pores 
 of his skin. He projects health from his 
 brain, his thought, the light of his eyes, the 
 touch of his hands, and the vibrations of his 
 nerve-system. 
 
 The body is an atomic organism, and 
 disease is not a really physical, or material, 
 thing ; i.e., it is not a distinct thing from 
 the person diseased. " Disease-microbes " 
 are not " entities," or organisms, of them- 
 selves. They are simply the " cells " of the 
 diseased in a state of dis-order, or the cells 
 of another diseased person in-drawn, or 
 " contracted," by him through a weakened 
 and non-resistive nervous-system, predis- 
 posed to attract the floating diseased cells 
 exhaled by the other diseased person, causing 
 irritation in the cell-system, and disease.
 
 1 86 TJie True Mystic 
 
 By the expulsive force of the person dis- 
 eased, stirred and stimulated by the impul- 
 sive force of the healer, the diseased cells 
 recover normal conditions, and return to 
 molecular order ; and the foreign disease- 
 cells, or bacterial matter, pass from the body 
 in the natural out-draught, and flux of 
 nature. 
 
 These beneficent healing people we all of 
 us have frequently met, but they are not 
 now so numerous as they should be. The 
 times do not conduce to the multiplication 
 of physical healer s. So few are brave, san- 
 guine, light-hearted people, in a world in 
 which so much environs us to induce worry, 
 depression, suspicion, self-centredness, and 
 despondency. 
 
 The physical healer lives above the 
 tendency of yielding to the world-pressure 
 around him. Religion and light-heartedness, 
 reinforcing a calm, firm character, deter- 
 mined to face life seriously, but not sadly 
 are the sine qua non of a physical healer. 
 
 All of us may so easily fulfil these condi- 
 tions, and become live batteries of the vital 
 force in the body of us all, absolutely 
 curative of others, and immunitive for our-
 
 Mysticism and Evil 187 
 
 selves. Adjust the focus of sight, and all 
 the senses, above the rank world, to the 
 higher perspectives of life's potentialities, 
 and the state is reached. 
 
 (2) THE MIND, MENTAL HEALING 
 
 A nimo-Magnetic Therapeutics 
 
 There are many who, temperamentally, 
 are not physical healers. But they are 
 powerful mental healers. When both are 
 combined they are very powerful to heal. 
 
 The power of willing health in a diseased 
 person, by deliberate thought-transference, 
 or mental suggestion, even in the absence 
 of physical magnetism, is a great force in 
 ejecting foreign disease-matter, and restoring 
 order to the disordered molecules of a 
 diseased body. 
 
 Some mental healers are the contrary of 
 the physical healer, being rather forbidding 
 and repellent characters, and very depres- 
 sing. Yet, by mental concentration upon the 
 diseased person, they are capable of forcing 
 the denial of disease, the antithesis of 
 disease, which results in the total removal of 
 the symptoms.
 
 i88 The True Mystic 
 
 A person trained in the science and prac- 
 tice of mental therapeutics, and an adept at 
 the not quite easy art of mental concentra- 
 tion, can successfully heal any kind of 
 disease, provided the assent of the patient is 
 gained, and his subjection of mind and will 
 to the mind and will of the healer ; other- 
 wise, the establishment of mutual confidence 
 and co-operation. 
 
 In mental healing, the will of the healer is 
 the active healing factor, and not, as in the 
 case of physical healing, the will of the 
 diseased person. The patient submits his 
 will, and blends it with the will of the 
 healer, and he is not aroused to exert a will 
 to be healed entirely his own. It is the 
 combined deliberate and concentrated pur- 
 pose of the two wills, in conscious deter- 
 mination, which creates the current of 
 healing, and directs it to the disease cura- 
 tively. 
 
 (3) THE SOUL, PSYCHIC HEALING 
 
 Psycho-Magnetic Therapeutics 
 
 The psychic method of healing also is 
 acquired by special treatment for develop- 
 ment. A person may develop the psychic
 
 Mysticism and Evil 189 
 
 faculties and become a " medium " in all 
 kinds of psychic functioning. 
 
 By the occult power of psychic develop- 
 ment he may become a " hypnotist." Some 
 persons become hypnotists without any very 
 conscious effort at development, being 
 natural mediums. 
 
 By inducing the hypnotic sleep, or 
 " katalepsis," the hypnotist seizes the 
 patient's mentality, his will, and his soul, 
 exactly as I have before shown that " astral 
 spirits " do, by the same method, and with 
 the same results, precisely. 
 
 He then commands the molecular disorder 
 to return to order. He commands the mind 
 and the will to obey him and assume 
 health. He pronounces the person well, and 
 tells him he is free from disease. He wakes 
 him, and the person knows he is well, and 
 acts instinctively as a healthy person. 
 
 Included in this, and mental healing, are 
 such methods as, healing by " charms," 
 relics, spells, and the methods of " voodoo " 
 and " obeah " healing (of which I have 
 witnessed some most remarkable instances, 
 performed by " wizard-doctors " and " voo- 
 doo-witches "). Also in these categories I
 
 The True Mystic 
 
 place the methods of Catholic " miracle "- 
 healing, Lourdes and Knock, and other 
 healing-places resorted to by Catholic pil- 
 grims ; also the method adopted by the 
 " Emmanuel " healing movement. 
 
 Who shall say also how much of the happy 
 results of the medical pharmacopoeia and 
 practice are not due more to the influences 
 of " occult " and personal magnetism, than 
 by specific curative properties of medicinal 
 treatment ? 
 
 (4) THE SPIRIT, SPIRITUAL, OR MYSTICAL 
 HEALING 
 
 Pneumatico-Magnetic Therapeutics 
 
 I have said that the Healing powers, in 
 whatever method, or functioning plane, they 
 operate, always emanate from one source in 
 man, the Spirit in man. 
 
 In the most undeveloped, as in the most 
 developed ; in the Mystic, as in the states 
 least approximating the Mystic state ; the 
 Spirit of God is a living existence in him. 
 
 In Spiritual Healing each of the six 
 natures below the Spirit are six avenues, 
 each having its own functioning powers, by 
 which the Spirit exerts its Divine Power to
 
 Mysticism and Evil 191 
 
 heal. Thus all healing is Spiritual, in the 
 fact that its power to heal is originally 
 derived from the Spirit. 
 
 The Healing Power is the vital magnetic 
 force of the Mystical Christ, in every man, 
 and waiting development to perfect function- 
 ing faculty, in every man. 
 
 The Mystic is one who has attained the 
 Mystical Christ, and in him the Mystical 
 Christ is in fully developed capacity to 
 function. 
 
 The Mystic has equilibrated his six 
 natures to perfect harmony with his Spirit. 
 His Spirit is the Master, and the Spirit is 
 " the Christ in him." The mind, soul, and 
 body are pure and free from all deterring 
 or hindering elements. They are perfect 
 operative instruments of the Christ within 
 him. 
 
 No evil can resist him, the will of the 
 Christ is the One Will in his being. When 
 the Christ wills him to heal, or to do the 
 things of the Christ, he does them, unfail- 
 ingly, as Christ did everything unfailingly 
 He set His will to do. 
 
 He heals not by mental healing, not by 
 physical healing, nor by psychic healing.
 
 1 92 The True Mystic 
 
 But by Spiritual Healing he interpenetrates 
 the body, mind, and soul, gathers up each 
 their specific functional powers, harnessing 
 them to the " chariot of fire " which per- 
 forms the " mighty works," the Spirit of 
 God in man. 
 
 The Mystic, however, does not make a 
 profession of Healing, nor does he cultivate 
 Healing for Healing's sake. There are 
 reasons and causes, which the Mystic knows, 
 why the work of the Spiritual Healer is not 
 specialized. No Initiate sets out in the 
 ministry of healing, as ministers of healing. 
 When brought face to face with the sick or 
 diseased, the Power to Heal is drawn from 
 him, or it is not, as the will of the Christ is in 
 each case. 
 
 The whole subject of Divine Healing 
 is veiled in Mystery. Its attractiveness in 
 the minds of compassionate and tender- 
 hearted people leads them to the cultivation 
 and study of the various planes and methods 
 of healing. They imagine great potentiali- 
 ties of blessing and good to the sick world, 
 if healing could only become a Force to 
 eradicate disease and to cure all the sick 
 people in the world.
 
 Mysticism and Evil 193 
 
 Yet, when we reflect, was it not strange 
 that Christ and the Apostles, and the 
 Therapeutae and Essenes, did not practise 
 as Healers in this general and promiscuous 
 way, but only healed one here, one there, 
 and very occasionally, as we might say, 
 " let themselves go " in a more collective 
 fashion ? The " schools " of these com- 
 munities, and the " ekklesice " of the primi- 
 tive Church, were not " healing development 
 schools." Healing came as a direct power 
 of Mystical development. It was a side- 
 issue of the main and principal purpose of 
 Mysticism. 
 
 The Mystic never denies Healing to any 
 sick person coming to him or who is brought 
 to him. But he does not make Healing his 
 profession or vocation. And he does not 
 guarantee universal cures. 
 
 In this era of Redemption, as I have 
 already pointed out, " Evil " forms an 
 important part of redemptive karma. Con- 
 flict with evil, patience in suffering, peni- 
 tence for sin (of the past lives, as well as of 
 the present), and the docile mind to learn 
 the lessons of suffering and evil ; these, and 
 many more, " uses of adversity " and evil
 
 194 The True Mystic 
 
 are the Divine means of " proving and 
 improving the Ego." 
 
 Therefore the Initiate knows who they are 
 who suffer karmically, why they suffer, and 
 when they are in the state when the evil 
 may be removed with safety to the Ego. 
 Thus it is not according to the Divine 
 Rule that the Gift of Healing be acquired 
 for general practice. Mysticism does not 
 encourage healing " missions," or specialism, 
 in mental or psychic therapeutics. 
 
 Mental, psychic, and physical healing are 
 capable of successful practice in all cases of 
 their application, given the necessary condi- 
 tions, on all the planes. In thousands of 
 cases persons have not the least right or 
 need to be sick or diseased. They bring it 
 upon themselves by their own volition, or 
 they are eager for it, and assume a sickness 
 which becomes real by self-suggestion. 
 Many persons, lying " under treatment " in 
 " Nursing Homes," or in their own dwellings, 
 take delight in undergoing a " cure," 
 wasting time and money in the utterly 
 stupid self-satisfaction of the hypochondriac 
 or valetudinarian. Your own doctor will 
 tell you, if you ask him plainly, that many
 
 Mysticism and Evil 195 
 
 of his patients are not ill in reality, but fancy 
 and suggest themselves into their pet com- 
 plaints. The doctors would starve but for 
 this foolish craze of illness, which they 
 consider themselves bound to humour. 
 
 Yes, these psychic and mental healing 
 methods will at once cure these " sick " 
 people, who defy the whole pharmacopoeia of 
 medicine. They likewise can cure legitimate 
 diseases. Under proper conditions there is 
 no disease which the hypnotist, or the 
 thought-transference healer, cannot cure. 
 
 But the question remains whether they 
 have the Divine right to practise the healing 
 gift, generally and promiscuously. In many 
 such cases, and in many more, if these 
 methods become generalized, this healing 
 practice defeats Divine purposes, and en- 
 dangers the karma of those who benefit by it. 
 
 Indeed, except by Mystical Healing, when 
 the Healer is an Initiate, and operates solely 
 and exclusively by the Will of the Christ, 
 the Initiator, all kinds of " occult " thera- 
 peutics are unsafe, and liable to lead to 
 presumptuous interference with the Divine 
 working of mankind's karmic destiny. 
 
 I have only space to throw out these brief
 
 196 The True Mystic 
 
 reflections now. They are of more solemn 
 import than can be so briefly treated. 
 Another time opportunity may be given me 
 to go more fully into this momentous matter. 
 
 MYSTICISM, AND THE COMPLETE WORK OF 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 In the mind of the Mystic one thing only 
 is paramount. The practice of Healing, and 
 all spiritual manifestations of the Divine 
 Power in Mysticism are subordinated to this 
 one thing. 
 
 A Divine Nucleus. This one thing is, the 
 complete work of Redemption. Throughout 
 the whole history of Mysticism may be seen 
 the working out of one simple plan, the 
 principal feature of which is the formation, 
 or congregation, of a Nucleus of people, and 
 through them the generation of a Divine 
 Family, reproducing the Divine Seed for the 
 development of the Church, as a segregated 
 " Fold," fenced and protected from the 
 world and the Astral enemies. 
 
 The " Ekklesia " is a Calling Out of men 
 and women from the world-life, and drawing 
 them together, apart from the world, to cultivate 
 the Mysteries, and to create a concentration of
 
 Mysticism and Evil 197 
 
 initiated people to serve Heaven as the Divine 
 Magnetic Centre for the Christ, through which 
 He may perform Divine functions in the 
 earth's Redemption. 
 
 This Plan of a Divine Family, a New Race, 
 a Holy People, is precisely what Peter 
 announces in the following plain language : 
 
 " Ye are an Elect Race, a Royal 
 Priesthood, a Holy Nation, a People 
 for God's Possession, that ye may 
 show forth the Excellencies of Him 
 Who Called you out of darkness into 
 His marvellous Light." I Peter ii. 9. 
 
 It was designed from the beginning, in the 
 " Seth " Family, the " Enosh " Family, 
 and so on, down the long genealogy to 
 " Abraham." Each of the names recorded 
 is the patriarchal name of the successive 
 " founders " of the " Elect Race " in its 
 continuity through the primeval ages. 
 
 Abraham was " Called Out " of Chaldaea, 
 and founded the Family of " Israel." 
 Moses was " Called Out " of Egypt, leading 
 Israel into the wilderness. The Apostles 
 were " Called Out " by Jesus, and estab- 
 02
 
 198 The True Mystic 
 
 lished the " Ekklesiae " of Disciples, who 
 separated themselves from the world, lived 
 the " common life," and practised the 
 Mysteries from the Apostolical Teaching : 
 
 " And they that received his word 
 were Baptized ; and there were added 
 unto them in that day about three 
 thousand Souls. And they continued 
 stedfastly in the Apostles' Teaching 
 and Fellowship, in the Breaking of 
 Bread, and the Prayers. And fear 
 came upon every soul : and many 
 mighty works were done by the Apostles. 
 And all that Believed were together, ind 
 had all things common ; and they sold 
 their possessions and their goods, and 
 parted them to all, according as any 
 man had need. . . . And the multi- 
 tude of them that Believed were of One 
 heart and soul : and not one of them 
 said that aught of the things that he 
 possessed was his own ; but they had 
 all things common. And with great 
 Power gave the Apostles witness of the 
 Resurrection of the Lord Jesus : and 
 great Grace was upon them all. For
 
 Mysticism and Evil 199 
 
 neither was there among them any that 
 lacked : for as many as were possessors 
 of lands or houses, sold them, and 
 brought the prices of the things that 
 were sold, and laid them at the Apostles' 
 feet ; and distribution was made unto 
 each, according as any one had need." 
 Acts ii. 41-45 ; iv. 32-35- 
 
 One can understand what effects this 
 Apostolical movement must have had in 
 the Roman Empire, when the Ekklesia of 
 Jerusalem repeated itself in the flourishing 
 Ekklesiae founded by St. Paul throughout 
 Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. These 
 " Gentile " Ekklesiae were founded on the 
 same Apostolical lines, and when they 
 penetrated into Rome itself, there is little 
 surprise that the body-politic, under Caesar, 
 looked with fear upon these growing com- 
 munities of Mystics. So we can understand 
 the violence of the Roman persecutions, 
 visited upon them not for the sake of their 
 religion, but on account of the social and 
 political complications their communistic 
 system was causing. 
 
 T have already pointed out the cunning
 
 2oo The True Mystic 
 
 device by which the Roman Emperor sought 
 to suppress the Ekklesia of Christ ; and how 
 it succeeded by the founding of the Papal 
 Empire, and the complete suppression of 
 Mysticism. 
 
 Only in this twentieth century is man's 
 consciousness awaking from the torpor of 
 the ages which succeeded the investment of 
 Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, with the Papal 
 Tiara. Mysticism, as I have said, is " in the 
 air." Socialism, Syndicalism, Liberalism 
 are political movements in the world, 
 pointing to the ultimate institution of 
 Communism. But, side by side with these 
 political and democratic movements, there 
 is the Spiritual and Mystical movement, 
 which will permeate mankind, and lead to 
 the beginning again of Apostolical Chris- 
 tianity, on the foundations which the 
 Apostles laid, and which their faithless 
 successors removed and destroyed. 
 
 Mysticism never dies, never can be 
 destroyed. It revives after every departure 
 and lapse of the Church of all the ages. It 
 is reviving again in our own age, and for the 
 last time. A new and great movement is 
 on foot beneath the surface of the present
 
 Mysticism and Evil 20 1 
 
 universal unrest. The ancient Ekklesia will 
 be restored. Many of us are looking and 
 waiting for a Coming Teacher and Prophet, 
 to head us all up, and lead us to the 
 " Promised Land" once more. The Call is 
 to us to harmonise ourselves, in body, mind, 
 and soul, with the great future that is immi- 
 nent, to fit ourselves to take our part in the 
 Mystical Body of the Christ. The Mystic 
 Path is not " hidden " from us ; it is open 
 to our sight and knowledge. We may, one 
 and all, take the First Step even now. That 
 Step is Renunciation. 1 
 
 1 The Social and Economic aspect of Mystical develop- 
 ment the Author has worked out in another treatise, shortly 
 to be published : " The New Ekklesia, or, The Happiest 
 People in the World. A Treatise on Social Revolution based 
 on the teaching of Jesus Christ. In Eight Beatitudes.'" 
 Notice of publication of this book will be duly announced. 
 
 THE END
 
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