THE HIDDEN SIDE OF CHRISTIANITY(_concluded_).
(_(b)_) THE TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH.
While it may be that some would be willing to admit the possession by
the Apostles and their immediate successors of a deeper knowledge of
spiritual things than was current among the masses of the believers
around them, few will probably be willing to take the next step, and,
leaving that charmed circle, accept as the depository of their sacred
learning the Mysteries of the Early Church. Yet we have S. Paul
providing for the transmission of the unwritten teaching, himself
initiating S. Timothy, and instructing S. Timothy to initiate others in
his turn, who should again hand it on to yet others. We thus see the
provision of four successive generations of teachers, spoken of in the
Scriptures themselves, and these would far more than overlap the writers
of the Early Church, who bear witness to the existence of the Mysteries.
For among these are pupils of the Apostles themselves, though the most
definite statements belong to those removed from the Apostles by one
intermediate teacher. Now, as soon as we begin to study the writings of
the Early Church, we are met by the facts that there are allusions which
are only intelligible by the existence of the Mysteries, and then
statements that the Mysteries are existing. This might, of course, have
been expected, seeing the point at which the New Testament leaves the
matter, but it is satisfactory to find the facts answer to the
expectation.
The first witnesses are those called the Apostolic Fathers, the
disciples of the Apostles; but very little of their writings, and that
disputed, remains. Not being written controversially, the statements are
not as categorical as those of the later writers. Their letters are for
the encouragement of the believers. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and
fellow-disciple with Ignatius of S. John,[93] expresses a hope that his
correspondents are "well versed in the sacred Scriptures and that
nothing is hid from you; but to me this privilege is not yet
granted"[94]--writing, apparently, before reaching full Initiation.
Barnabas speaks of communicating "some portion of what I have myself
received,"[95] and after expounding the Law mystically, declares that
"we then, rightly understanding His commandments, explain them as the
Lord intended."[96] Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, a disciple of S.
John,[97] speaks of himself as "not yet perfect in Jesus Christ. For I
now begin to be a disciple, and I speak to you as my
fellow-disciples,"[98] and he speaks of them as "initiated into the
mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred."[99] Again
he says: "Might I not write to you things more full of mystery? But I
fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who are but babes.
Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not being able to receive their
weighty import, ye should be strangled by them. For even I, though I am
bound [for Christ] and am able to understand heavenly things, the
angelic orders, and the different sorts of angels and hosts, the
distinction between powers and dominions, and the diversities between
thrones and authorities, the mightiness of the aeons, and the
pre-eminence of the cherubim and seraphim, the sublimity of the Spirit,
the kingdom of the Lord, and above all the incomparable majesty of
Almighty God--though I am acquainted with these things, yet am I not
therefore by any means perfect, nor am I such a disciple as Paul or
Peter."[100] This passage is interesting, as indicating that the
organisation of the celestial hierarchies was one of the subjects in
which instruction was given in the Mysteries. Again he speaks of the
High Priest, the Hierophant, "to whom the holy of holies has been
committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of
God."[101]
We come next to S. Clement of Alexandria and his pupil Origen, the two
writers of the second and third centuries who tell us most about the
Mysteries in the Early Church; though the general atmosphere is full of
mystic allusions, these two are clear and categorical in their
statements that the Mysteries were a recognised institution.
Now S. Clement was a disciple of Pantaenus, and he speaks of him and of
two others, said to be probably Tatian and Theodotus, as "preserving the
tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy
Apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul,"[102] his link with the Apostles
themselves consisting thus of only one intermediary. He was the head of
the Catechetical School of Alexandria in A.D. 189, and died about A.D.
220. Origen, born about A.D. 185, was his pupil, and he is, perhaps,
the most learned of the Fathers, and a man of the rarest moral beauty.
These are the witnesses from whom we receive the most important
testimony as to the existence of definite Mysteries in the Early Church.
The _Stromata_, or Miscellanies, of S. Clement are our source of
information about the Mysteries in his time. He himself speaks of these
writings as a "miscellany of Gnostic notes, according to the true
philosophy,"[103] and also describes them as memoranda of the teachings
he had himself received from Pantaenus. The passage is instructive: "The
Lord ... allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of
that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not
certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to
the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of
receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are
entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if
one say[104] that it is written, 'There is nothing secret which shall
not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,' let him also
hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall
be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who
is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is
veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall
appear manifest to the few.... The Mysteries are delivered mystically,
that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in
his voice, but in his understanding.... The writing of these memoranda
of mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of
grace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall
the archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus." The Thyrsus, we
may here interject, was the wand borne by Initiates, and candidates were
touched with it during the ceremony of Initiation. It had a mystic
significance, symbolising the spinal cord and the pineal gland in the
Lesser Mysteries, and a Rod, known to Occultists, in the Greater. To
say, therefore, "to him who was struck with the Thyrsus" was exactly the
same as to say, "to him who was initiated in the Mysteries." Clement
proceeds: "We profess not to explain secret things sufficiently--far
from it--but only to recall them to memory, whether we have forgot
aught, or whether for the purpose of not forgetting. Many things, I well
know, have escaped us, through length of time, that have dropped away
unwritten.... There are then some things of which we have no
recollection; for the power that was in the blessed men was great." A
frequent experience of those taught by the Great Ones, for Their
presence stimulates and renders active powers which are normally latent,
and which the pupil, unassisted, cannot evoke. "There are also some
things which remained unnoted long, which have now escaped; and others
which are effaced, having faded away in the mind itself, since such a
task is not easy to those not experienced; these I revive in my
commentaries. Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a wise
selection, afraid to write what I guarded against speaking; not
grudging--for that were wrong--but fearing for my readers, lest they
should stumble by taking them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb
says, we should be found 'reaching a sword to a child.' For it is
impossible that what has been written should not escape [become known],
although remaining unpublished by me. But being always revolved, using
the one only voice, that of writing, they answer nothing to him that
makes enquiries beyond what is written; for they require of necessity
the aid of some one, either of him who wrote, or of some one else who
has walked in his footsteps. Some things my treatise will hint; on some
it will linger; some it will merely mention. It will try to speak
imperceptibly, to exhibit secretly, and to demonstrate silently."[105]
This passage, if it stood alone, would suffice to establish the
existence of a secret teaching in the Early Church. But it stands by no
means alone. In Chapter xii. of this same Book I., headed, "The
Mysteries of the Faith not to be divulged to all," Clement declares
that, since others than the wise may see his work, "it is requisite,
therefore, to hide in a Mystery the wisdom spoken, which the Son of God
taught." Purified tongue of the speaker, purified ears of the hearer,
these were necessary. "Such were the impediments in the way of my
writing. And even now I fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls before
swine, lest they tread them under foot and turn and rend us.' For it is
difficult to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting
the true light, to swinish and untrained hearers. For scarcely could
anything which they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the
multitude; nor any subjects on the other hand more admirable or more
inspiring to those of noble nature. But the wise do not utter with their
mouth what they reason in council. 'But what ye hear in the ear,' said
the Lord, 'proclaim upon the houses'; bidding them receive the secret
traditions of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and
conspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to
whom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without
distinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a
delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sown sparse and
broadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like
jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will
germinate and will produce corn."
Clement might have added that to "proclaim upon the houses" was to
proclaim or expound in the assembly of the Perfect, the Initiated, and
by no means to shout aloud to the man in the street.
Again he says that those who are "still blind and dumb, not having
understanding, or the undazzled and keen vision of the contemplative
soul ... must stand outside of the divine choir.... Wherefore, in
accordance with the method of concealment, the truly sacred Word, truly
divine and most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth, was
by the Egyptians indicated by what were called among them _adyta_, and
by the Hebrews by the veil. Only the consecrated ... were allowed access
to them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for 'the impure to touch
the pure.' Thence the prophecies and oracles are spoken in enigmas, and
the Mysteries are not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but
only after certain purifications and previous instructions."[106] He
then descants at great length on Symbols, expounding Pythagorean,
Hebrew, Egyptian,[107] and then remarks that the ignorant and unlearned
man fails in understanding them. "But the Gnostic apprehends. Now then
it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to
all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have
not even in a dream been purified in soul (for it is not allowed to hand
to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious
efforts); nor are the Mysteries of the Word to be expounded to the
profane." The Pythagoreans and Plato, Zeno, and Aristotle had exoteric
and esoteric teachings. The philosophers established the Mysteries, for
"was it not more beneficial for the holy and blessed contemplation of
realities to be concealed?"[108] The Apostles also approved of "veiling
the Mysteries of the Faith," "for there is an instruction to the
perfect," alluded to in Colossians i. 9-11 and 25-27. "So that, on the
one hand, then, there are the Mysteries which were hid till the time of
the Apostles, and were delivered by them as they received from the Lord,
and, concealed in the Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And,
on the other hand, there is 'the riches of the glory of the mystery in
the Gentiles,' which is faith and hope in Christ; which in another place
he has called the 'foundation.'" He quotes S. Paul to show that this
"knowledge belongs not to all," and says, referring to Heb. v. and vi.,
that "there were certainly among the Hebrews, some things delivered
unwritten;" and then refers to S. Barnabas, who speaks of God, "who has
put into our hearts wisdom and the understanding of His secrets," and
says that "it is but for few to comprehend these things," as showing a
"trace of Gnostic tradition." "Wherefore instruction, which reveals
hidden things, is called illumination, as it is the teacher only who
uncovers the lid of the ark."[109] Further referring to S. Paul, he
comments on his remark to the Romans that he will "come in the fulness
of the blessing of Christ,"[110] and says that he thus designates "the
spiritual gift and the Gnostic interpretation, while being present he
desires to impart to them present as 'the fulness of Christ, according
to the revelation of the Mystery sealed in the ages of eternity, but now
manifested by the prophetic Scriptures'[111].... But only to a few of
them is shown what those things are which are contained in the Mystery.
Rightly, then, Plato, in the epistles, treating of God, says: 'We must
speak in enigmas; that should the tablet come by any mischance on its
leaves either by sea or land, he who reads may remain ignorant.'"[112]
After much examination of Greek writers, and an investigation into
philosophy, S. Clement declares that the Gnosis "imparted and revealed
by the Son of God, is wisdom.... And the Gnosis itself is that which has
descended by transmission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by
the Apostles."[113] A very long exposition of the life of the Gnostic,
the Initiate, is given, and S. Clement concludes it by saying: "Let the
specimen suffice to those who have ears. For it is not required to
unfold the mystery, but only to indicate what is sufficient for those
who are partakers in knowledge to bring it to mind."[114]
Regarding Scripture as consisting of allegories and symbols, and as
hiding the sense in order to stimulate enquiry and to preserve the
ignorant from danger.[115] S. Clement naturally confined the higher
instruction to the learned. "Our Gnostic will be deeply learned,"[116]
he says. "Now the Gnostic must be erudite."[117] Those who had acquired
readiness by previous training could master the deeper knowledge, for
though "a man can be a believer without learning, so also we assert that
it is impossible for a man without learning to comprehend the things
which are declared in the faith."[118] "Some who think themselves
naturally gifted, do not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; nay
more, they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand bare faith
alone.... So also I call him truly learned who brings everything to bear
on the truth--so that, from geometry, and music, and grammar, and
philosophy itself, culling what is useful, he guards the faith against
assault.... How necessary is it for him who desires to be partaker of
the power of God, to treat of intellectual subjects by
philosophising."[119] "The Gnostic avails himself of branches of
learning as auxiliary preparatory exercises."[120] So far was S.
Clement from thinking that the teaching of Christianity should be
measured by the ignorance of the unlearned. "He who is conversant with
all kinds of wisdom will be pre-eminently a Gnostic."[121] Thus while he
welcomed the ignorant and the sinner, and found in the Gospel what was
suited to their needs, he considered that only the learned and the pure
were fit candidates for the Mysteries. "The Apostle, in
contradistinction to Gnostic perfection, calls the common faith _the
foundation_, and sometimes _milk_,"[122] but on that foundation the
edifice of the Gnosis was to be raised, and the food of men was to
succeed that of babes. There is nothing of harshness nor of contempt in
the distinction he draws, but only a calm and wise recognition of the
facts.
Even the well-prepared candidate, the learned and trained pupil, could
only hope to advance step by step in the profound truths unveiled in the
Mysteries. This appears clearly in his comments on the vision of
Hermas, in which he also throws out some hints on methods of reading
occult works. "Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas in the
Vision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription the book which
she wished to be made known to the elect? And this, he says, he
transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the
syllables. And this signified that the Scripture is clear to all, when
taken according to base reading; and that this is the faith which
occupies the place of the rudiments. Wherefore also the figurative
expression is employed, 'reading according to the letter,' while we
understand that the gnostic unfolding of Scriptures, when faith has
already reached an advanced state, is likened to reading according to
the syllables.... Now that the Saviour has taught the Apostles the
unwritten rendering of the written (scriptures) has been handed down
also to us, inscribed by the power of God on hearts new, according to
the renovation of the book. Thus those of highest repute among the
Greeks dedicate the fruit of the pomegranate to Hermes, who they say is
speech, on account of its interpretation. For speech conceals much....
That it is therefore not only to those who read simply that the
acquisition of the truth is so difficult, but that not even to those
whose prerogative the knowledge of the truth is, is the contemplation of
it vouchsafed all at once, the history of Moses teaches; until
accustomed to gaze, as the Hebrews on the glory of Moses, and the
prophets of Israel on the visions of angels, so we also become able to
look the splendours of truth in the face."[123]
Yet more references might be given, but these should suffice to
establish the fact that S. Clement knew of, had been initiated into, and
wrote for the benefit of those who had also been initiated into, the
Mysteries in the Church.
The next witness is his pupil Origen, that most shining light of
learning, courage, sanctity, devotion, meekness, and zeal, whose works
remain as mines of gold wherein the student may dig for the treasures of
wisdom.
In his famous controversy with Celsus attacks were made on Christianity
which drew out a defence of the Christian position in which frequent
references were made to the secret teachings.[124]
Celsus had alleged, as a matter of attack, that Christianity was a
secret system, and Origen traverses this by saying that while certain
doctrines were secret, many others were public, and that this system of
exoteric and esoteric teachings, adopted in Christianity, was also in
general use among philosophers. The reader should note, in the following
passage, the distinction drawn between the resurrection of Jesus,
regarded in a historical light, and the "mystery of the resurrection."
"Moreover, since he [Celsus] frequently calls the Christian doctrine a
secret system [of belief], we must confute him on this point also, since
almost the entire world is better acquainted with what Christians preach
than with the favourite opinions of philosophers. For who is ignorant
of the statement that Jesus was born of a virgin, and that He was
crucified, and that His resurrection is an article of faith among many,
and that a general judgment is announced to come, in which the wicked
are to be punished according to their deserts, and the righteous to be
duly rewarded? And yet the Mystery of the resurrection, not being
understood, is made a subject of ridicule among unbelievers. In these
circumstances, to speak of the Christian doctrine as a _secret_ system,
is altogether absurd. But that there should be certain doctrines, not
made known to the multitude, which are [revealed] after the exoteric
ones have been taught, is not a peculiarity of Christianity alone, but
also of philosophic systems, in which certain truths are exoteric and
others esoteric. Some of the hearers of Pythagoras were content with his
_ipse dixit_; while others were taught in secret those doctrines which
were not deemed fit to be communicated to profane and insufficiently
prepared ears. Moreover, all the Mysteries that are celebrated
everywhere throughout Greece and barbarous countries, although held in
secret, have no discredit thrown upon them, so that it is in vain he
endeavours to calumniate the secret doctrines of Christianity, seeing
that he does not correctly understand its nature."[125]
It is impossible to deny that, in this important passage, Origen
distinctly places the Christian Mysteries in the same category as those
of the Pagan world, and claims that what is not regarded as a discredit
to other religions should not form a subject of attack when found in
Christianity.
Still writing against Celsus, he declares that the secret teachings of
Jesus were preserved in the Church, and refers specifically to the
explanations that He gave to His disciples of His parables, in answering
Celsus' comparison of "the inner Mysteries of the Church of God" with
the Egyptian worship of animals. "I have not yet spoken of the
observance of all that is written in the Gospels, each one of which
contains much doctrine difficult to be understood, not merely by the
multitude, but even by certain of the more intelligent, including a
very profound explanation of the parables which Jesus delivered to
'those without,' while reserving the exhibition of their full meaning
for those who had passed beyond the stage of exoteric teaching, and who
came to Him privately in the house. And when he comes to understand it,
he will admire the reason why some are said to be 'without,' and others
'in the house.'"[126]
And he refers guardedly to the "mountain" which Jesus ascended, from
which he came down again to help "those who were unable to follow Him
whither His disciples went." The allusion is to "the Mountain of
Initiation," a well-known mystical phrase, as Moses also made the
Tabernacle after the pattern "showed thee in the mount."[127] Origen
refers to it again later, saying that Jesus showed himself to be very
different in his real appearance when on the "Mountain," from what those
saw who could not "follow Him on high."[128]
So also, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Chap, xv., dealing
with the episode of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Origen remarks: "And
perhaps, also, of the words of Jesus there are some loaves which it is
possible to give to the more rational, as to children, only; and others
as it were crumbs from the great house and table of the well-born, which
may be used by some souls like dogs."
Celsus complaining that sinners were brought into the Church, Origen
answers that the Church had medicine for those that were sick, but also
the study and the knowledge of divine things for those who were in
health. Sinners were taught not to sin, and only when it was seen that
progress had been made, and men were "purified by the Word," "then and
not before do we invite them to participation in our Mysteries. For we
speak wisdom among them that are perfect."[129] Sinners came to be
healed: "For there are in the divinity of the Word some helps towards
the cure of those who are sick.... Others, again, which to the pure in
soul and body exhibit the 'revelation of the Mystery, which was kept
secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures
of the prophets,' and 'by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,' which
'appearing' is manifested to each one of those who are perfect, and
which enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things."[130] Such
appearances of divine Beings took place, we have seen, in the Pagan
Mysteries, and those of the Church had equally glorious visitants. "God
the Word," he says, "was sent as a physician to sinners, but as a
Teacher of Divine Mysteries to those who are already pure, and who sin
no more."[131] "Wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor
dwell in a body that is involved in sin;" hence these higher teachings
are given only to those who are "athletes in piety and in every virtue."
Christians did not admit the impure to this knowledge, but said:
"Whoever has clean hands, and, therefore, lifts up holy hands to God ...
let him come to us ... whoever is pure not only from all defilement,
but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly
initiated in the Mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only
to the holy and the pure." Hence also, ere the ceremony of Initiation
began, he who acts as Initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, the
Hierophant, made the significant proclamation "to those who have been
purified in heart: He, whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious
of no evil, especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the
Word, let such a one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by
Jesus to His genuine disciples." This was the opening of the "initiating
those who were already purified into the sacred Mysteries."[132] Such
only might learn the realities of the unseen worlds, and might enter
into the sacred precincts where, as of old, angels were the teachers,
and where knowledge was given by sight and not only by words. It is
impossible not to be struck with the different tone of these Christians
from that of their modern successors. With them perfect purity of life,
the practice of virtue, the fulfilling of the divine Law in every detail
of outer conduct, the perfection of righteousness, were--as with the
Pagans--only the beginning of the way instead of the end. Nowadays
religion is considered to have gloriously accomplished its object when
it has made the Saint; then, it was to the Saints that it devoted its
highest energies, and, taking the pure in heart, it led them to the
Beatific Vision.
The same fact of secret teaching comes out again, when Origen is
discussing the arguments of Celsus as to the wisdom of retaining
ancestral customs, based on the belief that "the various quarters of the
earth were from the beginning allotted to different superintending
Spirits, and were thus distributed among certain governing Powers, and
in this way the administration of the world is carried on."[133]
Origen having animadverted on the deductions of Celsus, proceeds: "But
as we think it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper
investigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay
down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and
secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters
of the earth among different superintending Spirits."[134] He says that
Celsus has misunderstood the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement
of terrestrial affairs, some of which are even touched upon in Grecian
history. Then he quotes Deut. xxxii. 8-9: "When the Most High divided
the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of
the people according to the number of the Angels of God; and the Lord's
portion was his people Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance."
This is the wording of the Septuagint, not that of the English
authorised version, but it is very suggestive of the title the "Lord"
being regarded as that of the Ruling Angel of the Jews only, and not of
the "Most High," _i.e._ God. This view has disappeared, from ignorance,
and hence the impropriety of many of the statements referring to the
"Lord," when they are transferred to the "Most High," _e.g._ Judges i.
19.
Origen then relates the history of the Tower of Babel, and continues:
"But on these subjects much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said;
in keeping with which is the following: 'It is good to keep close the
secret of a king,' Tobit xii. 7, in order that the doctrine of the
entrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration
from one body into another) may not be thrown before the common
understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast
before swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to
a betrayal of the mysterious declarations of God's wisdom.... It is
sufficient, however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative
what is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that
those who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates
to the subject."[135] He then expounds more fully the Tower of Babel
story, and writes: "Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity
let him understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which
contains some things that are literally true, while yet it conveys a
deeper meaning...."[136]
After endeavouring to show that the "Lord" was more powerful than the
other superintending Spirits of the different quarters of the earth, and
that he sent his people forth to be punished by living under the
dominion of the other powers, and afterwards reclaimed them with all of
the less favoured nations who could be drawn in, Origen concludes by
saying: "As we have previously observed, these remarks are to be
understood as being made by us with a concealed meaning, by way of
pointing out the mistakes of those who assert ..."[137] as did Celsus.
After remarking that "the object of Christianity is that we should
become wise,"[138] Origen proceeds: "If you come to the books written
after the time of Jesus, you will find that those multitudes of
believers who hear the parables are, as it were, 'without,' and worthy
only of exoteric doctrines, while the disciples learn in private the
explanation of the parables. For, privately, to His own disciples did
Jesus open up all things, esteeming above the multitudes those who
desired to know His wisdom. And He promises to those who believe on Him
to send them wise men and scribes.... And Paul also in the catalogue of
'Charismata' bestowed by God, placed first 'the Word of wisdom,' and
second, as being inferior to it, 'the word of knowledge,' but third, and
lower down, 'faith.' And because he regarded 'the Word' as higher than
miraculous powers, he for that reason places 'workings of miracles' and
'gifts of healings' in a lower place than gifts of the Word."[139]
The Gospel truly helped the ignorant, "but it is no hindrance to the
knowledge of God, but an assistance, to have been educated, and to have
studied the best opinions, and to be wise."[140] As for the
unintelligent, "I endeavour to improve such also to the best of my
ability, although I would not desire to build up the Christian community
out of such materials. For I seek in preference those who are more
clever and acute, because they are able to comprehend the meaning of the
hard sayings."[141] Here we have plainly stated the ancient Christian
idea, entirely at one with the considerations submitted in Chapter I. of
this book. There is room for the ignorant in Christianity, but it is not
intended _only_ for them, and has deep teachings for the "clever and
acute."
It is for these that he takes much pains to show that the Jewish and
Christian Scriptures have hidden meanings, veiled under stories the
outer meaning of which repels them as absurd, alluding to the serpent
and the tree of life, and "the other statements which follow, which
might of themselves lead a candid reader to see that all these things
had, not inappropriately, an allegorical meaning."[142] Many chapters
are devoted to these allegorical and mystical meanings, hidden beneath
the words of the Old and New Testaments, and he alleges that Moses, like
the Egyptians, gave histories with concealed meanings.[143] "He who
deals candidly with histories"--this is Origen's general canon of
interpretation--"and would wish to keep himself also from being imposed
on by them, will exercise his judgment as to what statements he will
give his assent to, and what he will accept figuratively, seeking to
discover the meaning of the authors of such inventions, and from what
statements he will withhold his beliefs, as having been written for the
gratification of certain individuals. And we have said this by way of
anticipation respecting the whole history related in the Gospels
concerning Jesus."[144] A great part of his Fourth Book is taken up with
illustrations of the mystical explanations of the Scripture stories, and
anyone who wishes to pursue the subject can read through it.
In the _De Principiis_, Origen gives it as the received teaching of the
Church "that the Scriptures were written by the Spirit of God, and have
a meaning, not only such as is apparent at first sight, but also
another, which escapes the notice of most. For those [words] which are
written are the forms of certain Mysteries, and the images of divine
things. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole
Church, that the whole law is indeed spiritual; but that the spiritual
meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on
whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and
knowledge."[145] Those who remember what has already been quoted will
see in the "Word of wisdom" and "the word of knowledge" the two typical
mystical instructions, the spiritual and the intellectual.
In the Fourth Book of _De Principiis_, Origen explains at length his
views on the interpretation of Scripture. It has a "body," which is the
"common and historical sense"; a "soul," a figurative meaning to be
discovered by the exercise of the intellect; and a "spirit," an inner
and divine sense, to be known only by those who have "the mind of
Christ." He considers that incongruous and impossible things are
introduced into the history to arouse an intelligent reader, and compel
him to search for a deeper explanation, while simple people would read
on without appreciating the difficulties.[146]
Cardinal Newman, in his _Arians of the Fourth Century_, has some
interesting remarks on the _Disciplina Arcani_, but, with the
deeply-rooted ingrained scepticism of the nineteenth century, he cannot
believe to the full in the "riches of the glory of the Mystery," or
probably never for a moment conceived the possibility of the existence
of such splendid realities. Yet he was a believer in Jesus, and the
words of the promise of Jesus were clear and definite: "I will not leave
you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world
seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you."[147] The promise was amply redeemed, for He came to them and
taught them in His Mysteries; therein they saw Him, though the world saw
Him no more, and they knew the Christ as in them, and their life as
Christ's.
Cardinal Newman recognises a secret tradition, handed down from the
Apostles, but he considers that it consisted of Christian doctrines,
later divulged, forgetting that those who were told that they were not
yet fit to receive it were not heathen, nor even catechumens under
instruction, but full communicating members of the Christian Church.
Thus he states that this secret tradition was later "authoritatively
divulged and perpetuated in the form of symbols," and was embodied "in
the creeds of the early Councils."[148] But as the doctrines in the
creeds are to be found clearly stated in the Gospels and Epistles, this
position is wholly untenable, all these having been already divulged to
the world at large; and in all of them the members of the Church were
certainly thoroughly instructed. The repeated statements as to secrecy
become meaningless if thus explained. The Cardinal, however, says that
whatever "has not been thus authenticated, whether it was prophetical
information or comment on the past dispensations, is, from the
circumstances of the case, lost to the Church."[149] That is very
probably, in fact certainly, true, so far as the Church is concerned,
but it is none the less recoverable.
Commenting on Irenaeus, who in his work _Against Heresies_ lays much
stress on the existence of an Apostolic Tradition in the Church, the
Cardinal writes: "He then proceeds to speak of the clearness and cogency
of the traditions preserved in the Church, as containing that true
wisdom of the perfect, of which S. Paul speaks, and to which the
Gnostics pretended. And, indeed, without formal proofs of the existence
and the authority in primitive times of an Apostolic Tradition, it is
plain that there must have been such a tradition, granting that the
Apostles conversed, and their friends had memories, like other men. It
is quite inconceivable that they should not have been led to arrange
the series of revealed doctrines more systematically than they record
them in Scripture, as soon as their converts became exposed to the
attacks and misrepresentations of heretics; unless they were forbidden
to do so, a supposition which cannot be maintained. Their statements
thus occasioned would be preserved as a matter of course; together with
those other secret but less important truths, to which S. Paul seems to
allude, and which the early writers more or less acknowledge, whether
concerning the types of the Jewish Church, or the prospective fortunes
of the Christian. And such recollections of apostolical teaching would
evidently be binding on the faith of those who were instructed in them;
unless it can be supposed that, though coming from inspired teachers,
they were not of divine origin."[150] In a part of the section dealing
with the allegorising method, he writes in reference to the sacrifice of
Isaac, &c., as "typical of the New Testament revelation": "In
corroboration of this remark, let it be observed, that there seems to
have been[151] in the Church a traditionary explanation of these
historical types, derived from the Apostles, but kept among the secret
doctrines, as being dangerous to the majority of hearers; and certainly
S. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, affords us an instance of such a
tradition, both as existing and as secret (even though it be shown to be
of Jewish origin), when, first checking himself and questioning his
brethren's faith, he communicates, not without hesitation, the
evangelical scope of the account of Melchisedec, as introduced into the
book of Genesis."[152]
The social and political convulsions that accompanied its dying now
began to torture the vast frame of the Roman Empire, and even the
Christians were caught up in the whirlpool of selfish warring interests.
We still find scattered references to special knowledge imparted to the
leaders and teachers of the Church, knowledge of the heavenly
hierarchies, instructions given by angels, and so on. But the lack of
suitable pupils caused the Mysteries to be withdrawn as an institution
publicly known to exist, and teaching was given more and more secretly
to those rarer and rarer souls, who by learning, purity, and devotion
showed themselves capable of receiving it. No longer were schools to be
found wherein the preliminary teachings were given, and with the
disappearance of these the "door was shut."
Two streams may nevertheless be tracked through Christendom, streams
which had as their source the vanished Mysteries. One was the stream of
mystic learning, flowing from the Wisdom, the Gnosis, imparted in the
Mysteries; the other was the stream of mystic contemplation, equally
part of the Gnosis, leading to the exstasy, to spiritual vision. This
latter, however, divorced from knowledge, rarely attained the true
exstasis, and tended either to run riot in the lower regions of the
invisible worlds, or to lose itself amid a variegated crowd of subtle
superphysical forms, visible as objective appearances to the inner
vision--prematurely forced by fastings, vigils, and strained
attention--but mostly born of the thoughts and emotions of the seer.
Even when the forms observed were not externalised thoughts, they were
seen through a distorting atmosphere of preconceived ideas and beliefs,
and were thus rendered largely unreliable. None the less, some of the
visions were verily of heavenly things, and Jesus truly appeared from
time to time to His devoted lovers, and angels would sometimes brighten
with their presence the cell of monk and nun, the solitude of rapt
devotee and patient seeker after God. To deny the possibility of such
experiences would be to strike at the very root of that "which has been
most surely believed" in all religions, and is known to all
Occultists--the intercommunication between Spirits veiled in flesh and
those clad in subtler vestures, the touching of mind with mind across
the barriers of matter, the unfolding of the Divinity in man, the sure
knowledge of a life beyond the gates of death.
Glancing down the centuries we find no time in which Christendom was
left wholly devoid of mysteries. "It was probably about the end of the
5th century, just as ancient philosophy was dying out in the Schools of
Athens, that the speculative philosophy of neo-Platonism made a definite
lodgment in Christian thought through the literary forgeries of the
Pseudo-Dionysius. The doctrines of Christianity were by that time so
firmly established that the Church could look upon a symbolical or
mystical interpretation of them without anxiety. The author of the
_Theologica Mystica_ and the other works ascribed to the Areopagite
proceeds, therefore, to develop the doctrines of Proclus with very
little modification into a system of esoteric Christianity. God is the
nameless and supra-essential One, elevated above goodness itself. Hence
'negative theology,' which ascends from the creature to God by dropping
one after another every determinate predicate, leads us nearest to the
truth. The return to God is the consummation of all things and the goal
indicated by Christian teaching. The same doctrines were preached with
more of churchly fervour by Maximus the Confessor (580-622). Maximus
represents almost the last speculative activity of the Greek Church, but
the influence of the Pseudo-Dionysian writing was transmitted to the
West in the ninth century by Erigena, in whose speculative spirit both
the scholasticism and the mysticism of the Middle Ages have their rise.
Erigena translated Dionysius into Latin along with the commentaries of
Maximus, and his system is essentially based upon theirs. The negative
theology is adopted, and God is stated to be predicateless Being, above
all categories, and therefore not improperly called Nothing [_query_,
No-Thing]. Out of this Nothing or incomprehensible essence the world of
ideas or primordial causes is eternally created. This is the Word or Son
of God, in whom all things exist, so far as they have substantial
existence. All existence is a theophany, and as God is the beginning of
all things, so also is He the end. Erigena teaches the restitution of
all things under the form of the Dionysian _adunatio_ or _deificatio_.
These are the permanent outlines of what may be called the philosophy
of mysticism in Christian times, and it is remarkable with how little
variation they are repeated from age to age."[153]
In the eleventh century Bernard of Clairvaux (A.D. 1091-1153) and Hugo
of S. Victor carry on the mystic tradition, with Richard of S. Victor in
the following century, and S. Bonaventura the Seraphic Doctor, and the
great S. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1227-1274) in the thirteenth. Thomas
Aquinas dominates the Europe of the Middle Ages, by his force of
character no less than by his learning and piety. He asserts
"Revelation" as one source of knowledge, Scripture and tradition being
the two channels in which it runs, and the influence, seen in his
writings, of the Pseudo-Dionysius links him to the Neo-Platonists. The
second source is Reason, and here the channels are the Platonic
philosophy and the methods of Aristotle--the latter an alliance that did
Christianity no good, for Aristotle became an obstacle to the advance of
the higher thought, as was made manifest in the struggles of Giordano
Bruno, the Pythagorean. Thomas Aquinas was canonised in A.D. 1323, and
the great Dominican remains as a type of the union of theology and
philosophy--the aim of his life. These belong to the great Church of
western Europe, vindicating her claim to be regarded as the transmitter
of the holy torch of mystic learning. Around her there also sprang up
many sects, deemed heretical, yet containing true traditions of the
sacred secret learning, the Cathari and many others, persecuted by a
Church jealous of her authority, and fearing lest the holy pearls should
pass into profane custody. In this century also S. Elizabeth of Hungary
shines out with sweetness and purity, while Eckhart (A.D. 1260-1329)
proves himself a worthy inheritor of the Alexandrian Schools. Eckhart
taught that "The Godhead is the absolute Essence (Wesen), unknowable not
only by man but also by Itself; It is darkness and absolute
indeterminateness, _Nicht_ in contrast to _Icht_, or definite and
knowable existence. Yet It is the potentiality of all things, and Its
nature is, in a triadic process, to come to consciousness of Itself as
the triune God. Creation is not a temporal act, but an eternal
necessity, of the divine nature. I am as necessary to God, Eckhart is
fond of saying, as God is necessary to me. In my knowledge and love God
knows and loves Himself."[154]
Eckhart is followed, in the fourteenth century, by John Tauler, and
Nicolas of Basel, "the Friend of God in the Oberland." From these sprang
up the Society of the Friends of God, true mystics and followers of the
old tradition. Mead remarks that Thomas Aquinas, Tauler, and Eckhart
followed the Pseudo-Dionysius, who followed Plotinus, Iamblichus, and
Proclus, who in turn followed Plato and Pythagoras.[155] So linked
together are the followers of the Wisdom in all ages. It was probably a
"Friend" who was the author of _Die Deutsche Theologie_, a book of
mystical devotion, which had the curious fortune of being approved by
Staupitz, the Vicar-General of the Augustinian Order, who recommended it
to Luther, and by Luther himself, who published it A.D. 1516, as a book
which should rank immediately after the _Bible_ and the writings of S.
Augustine of Hippo. Another "Friend" was Ruysbroeck, to whose influence
with Groot was due the founding of the Brethren of the Common Lot or
Common Life--a Society that must remain ever memorable, as it numbered
among its members that prince of mystics, Thomas a Kempis (A.D.
1380-1471), the author of the immortal _Imitation of Christ_.
In the fifteenth century the more purely intellectual side of mysticism
comes out more strongly than the exstatic--so dominant in these
societies of the fourteenth--and we have Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa, with
Giordano Bruno, the martyred knight-errant of philosophy, and
Paracelsus, the much slandered scientist, who drew his knowledge
directly from the original eastern fountain, instead of through Greek
channels.
The sixteenth century saw the birth of Jacob Boehme (A.D. 1575-1624), the
"inspired cobbler," an Initiate in obscuration truly, sorely persecuted
by unenlightened men; and then too came S. Teresa, the much-oppressed
and suffering Spanish mystic; and S. John of the Cross, a burning flame
of intense devotion; and S. Francois de Sales. Wise was Rome in
canonising these, wiser than the Reformation that persecuted Boehme, but
the spirit of the Reformation was ever intensely anti-mystical, and
wherever its breath hath passed the fair flowers of mysticism have
withered as under the sirocco.
Rome, however, who, though she canonised Teresa dead, had sorely harried
her while living--did ill with Mme. de Guyon (A.D. 1648-1717), a true
mystic, and with Miguel de Molinos (1627-1696), worthy to sit near S.
John of the Cross, who carried on in the seventeenth century the high
devotion of the mystic, turned into a peculiarly passive form--the
Quietist.
In this same century arose the school of Platonists in Cambridge, of
whom Henry More (A.D. 1614-1687) may serve as salient example; also
Thomas Vaughan, and Robert Fludd the Rosicrucian; and there is formed
also the Philadelphian Society, and we see William Law (A.D. 1686-1761)
active in the eighteenth century, and overlapping S. Martin (A.D.
1743-1803), whose writings have fascinated so many nineteenth century
students.[156]
Nor should we omit Christian Rosenkreutz (d. A.D. 1484), whose mystic
Society of the Rosy Cross, appearing in 1614, held true knowledge, and
whose spirit was reborn in the "Comte de S. Germain," the mysterious
figure that appears and disappears through the gloom, lit by lurid
flashes, of the closing eighteenth century. Mystics too were some of the
Quakers, the much-persecuted sect of Friends, seeking the illumination
of the Inner Light, and listening ever for the Inner Voice. And many
another mystic was there, "of whom the world was not worthy," like the
wholly delightful and wise Mother Juliana of Norwich, of the fourteenth
century, jewels of Christendom, too little known, but justifying
Christianity to the world.
Yet, as we salute reverently these Children of the Light, scattered over
the centuries, we are forced to recognise in them the absence of that
union of acute intellect and high devotion which were welded together by
the training of the Mysteries, and while we marvel that they soared so
high, we cannot but wish that their rare gifts had been developed under
that magnificent _disciplina arcani_.
Alphonse Louis Constant, better known under his pseudonym, Eliphas Levi,
has put rather well the loss of the Mysteries, and the need for their
re-institution. "A great misfortune befell Christianity. The betrayal of
the Mysteries by the false Gnostics--for the Gnostics, that is, _those
who know_, were the Initiates of primitive Christianity--caused the
Gnosis to be rejected, and alienated the Church from the supreme truths
of the Kabbala, which contain all the secrets of transcendental
theology.... Let the most absolute science, let the highest reason,
become once more the patrimony of the leaders of the people; let the
sacerdotal art and the royal art take the double sceptre of antique
initiations, and the social world will once more issue from its chaos.
Burn the holy images no longer; demolish the temples no more; temples
and images are necessary for men; but drive the hirelings from the house
of prayer; let the blind be no longer leaders of the blind, reconstruct
the hierarchy of intelligence and holiness, and recognise only those who
know as the teachers of those who believe."[157]
Will the Churches of to-day again take up the mystic teaching, the
Lesser Mysteries, and so prepare their children for the re-establishment
of the Greater Mysteries, again drawing down the Angels as Teachers, and
having as Hierophant the Divine Master, Jesus? On the answer to that
question depends the future of Christianity.