THE LAST GREAT INITIATE

EDO U A RD S CHU REA

TRANSLATED BY

F . RO T HWELL,B .A .

“P THI

L ONDON

PHILIP WELLBY

6 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN

Mncccc xu

N EW YO RK .

THEOSOPHICAL PU B LISHING C o.

244 m ax AVENUE.

THE M ISS ION OF THE CHR IST

I came not to destroy Me Lawand Me Propfiets, out

tofulfilMem .

” —MATTHEW v. 1 7.

Tllo Lzlglzt was in Me world, and Me world wasmade by i t, out Me world knew i t not.” -! OHN i . 10.

As Me lightning comet/z out of Me east, and slzz'

neM

even unto Me west; so slza ll also Me coming of Me S on

of ma n oe.

”—MATTHEW x x iv. 2 7 .

PR E F A C E

CRITICISM on the l i fe of J esus during the past

century has been great ly to the fore . A complete

account of th is criticism wil l be found in the lumi

nous sketch made by M . Sabatier,1 i n which the

entire h istory and present state of this i nvestigation

are given . Sufficient for the moment to refer to

the two principal phases suppl ied by Strauss and

Renan,with the obj ect of determining the new

point of view I now wish to offer .

Departing from the phi losophica l school of

Hegel to al ly h imself with the crit ical and his

torica l one of Bauer,Strauss

,withou t denying the

existence of jesus, endeavoured to prove that h is

l i fe,as re lated in the Gospels

,i s a myth

,a legend

created by popu lar imagination,to meet the noces

sities of a rising Christianity,and in accordance

with Old Testament prophecy. His posit ion,a

purely negat ive one,but which he defended with

great ski l l and erudit ion,has been found true in

certain details,but quite untenable in its entirety

1 Dz'

etz'

onna z'

re des Sciences Re’

lzlgz'

enses, p a r Lichtenberger, tome 7 ,a rt icle “ Jesus.

”

Vll

PREFACE

and essentia l e lements . I t has,in addition

,the

grave defect of exp laining neither the character of

Jesus nor the origin of Christian ity. The l i fe of

J esus , according to Strauss , i s a p lanetary system

without a sun . One merit,however

,must be

granted th is work,that of having transferred the

problem from the ground of dogmatic theology to

that of textual and historical criticism .

M . Renan ’s We do j esns owes its bri l l iant suc

cess to i ts lofty,aesthetic

,and l iterary qual ities

,

a s wel l as to the boldness of the writer,the firs t

who dared make the l ife of the Christ a problem of

human psychology . Has he solved the problem ?

After the dazzl ing success of the book,the general

opinion of al l ser ious crit ics has been in the nega

t ive . The J esus of M . Renan begins h is career as a

gentle dreamer,an enthusiast i c but simple-minded

moralist ; he ends it as a violent thaumaturgist,devoid of a l l idea of real ity.

“ I n sp ite of a l l the

precautions of the h istorian,says M . Sabatier,

it i s the march of a healthy mind in the direction

of madness . The Christ of M . Renan hovers be

tween the calculat ions of ambit ion and the dreams

of a seer . The fact is that he becomes the Messiah

without wish ing—almost without knowing—it. Hepermits himse lf to be given this name mere ly to

please the apostles and to fulfi l th e popular wish .

I t i s not with so feeble a faith that a true prophet

creates a new re l igion and changes the sou l of the

PREFACE

earth . The life of J esus, according to M . Renan ,i s a planetary system il lumined by a pal l id sun

devo id of vivifying magnet ism or creative heat .

How did J esus become the Mess iah ? That is

the primordia l question,the solution of which is

essentia l to the r ight understanding of the Christ ;i t i s a lso that before which M . Renan hesitated and

turned aside . M . Theodore Keim saw that th is

question must be boldly faced (Da s Leoen j esn,Zurich

,1 875 , 3rd edition). H is l i fe of J esus i s

the most remarkable that has appeared since

M . Renan’s . I t throws on the question al l the

l ight given by texts and h istory esoterical ly inter

preted. But the problem is not one capab le of

being solved without the aid of intuit ion and

esoteric tradition .

I t i s by means of this esoteric l ight,the inner

flame of al l rel igions,the centra l truth of al l fru itfu l

phi losophy,th at I have attempted to reconstruct

along its main l ines,the l ife of J esus

,taking into

account whatever previous h istorical cr it icism has

hitherto c leared and prepared the ground . No

need to define what I mean by the esoter ic point

of View, the synthesis of Rel igion and Science .

Concern ing the h istorical and relat ive value of the

Gospels,I have taken the three synoptical Gospels

(those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) as a basis,and that of J ohn as the arcanum of the esoteric

teaching of the Christ,at the same t ime acknow

PREFACE

l edging the subsequent language and form,and the

symbolical tendency of th is Gospel .

Al l four Gospels,which s hould be mutual ly

examined and verified,are equal ly authentic ,

though from different claims . Those of Matthew

and Mark are precious gospels of letter and fact ;therein are to be found the publ ic deeds and

words of the Christ . The gentle Luke affords a

glimpse of the mystery-meaning beneath the poeti

cal legend-veil it is the Gospel of the Sou l, of

Woman,and of Love . Saint J ohn unfolds these

mysteries ; in h is Gospel are to be found the inner

depths of the doctrine,the secret teaching, the

meaning of the promise,the esoteric reserve .

Clement of Alexandria,one of the few Christian

bishops who held the key to universal esoteri sm ,

r ightly named it the Gospel of the Spiri t . John

has a profound insight of the transcendent truths

revealed by the Master,and a great faci l ity in

presenting them . Accordingly, h is symbol i s the

Eagle, whose wing cleaves the firm ament, and

whose flaming eye encompasses the depths of

spa ce .

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER I

PAGE

CONDITION OF THE WORLD AT THE B IRTH OF

JESUS

CHAPTER II

MARY—F IRST DEVELOPMENT OF J ESUS

CHAPTER I I I

THE ESSENES—JOHN THE BAPTIST—THE TEMPTATION

CHAPTER IV

PUBL IC LIFE OF JESUS—POPULAR AND Eso

TERIC INSTRUCTION—M IRACLES—APOSTLESWOMEN

CHAPTER V

STRUGGLE WITH THE PHARISEES FL IGHT To

CIESAREA—THE TRANSFIGU RATION

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIPAGE

F INAL JOURNEY To JERUSALEM—THE PROM ISETHE SUPPER—TRIAL OF J ESUS—DEATH AND

RESURRECTION

CHAPTER VII

THE PROM ISE AND ITS FULF ILMENT—THE TEMPLE 142

JE S U S , THE LA ST G R EAT

INITIAT E

CHAPTER I

CONDITION OF THE WORLD AT THE

B IRTH OF JESUS

A SOLEMN per iod of the wor ld’s dest iny was

approaching ; the sky was overshadowed with

darkness and fi l led with sinister omens .

I n spite of the eflorts of the initiates,poly

theism,throughout Asia

,Africa

,and Europe

,had

terminated only in the downfal l o f c ivi l isation .

The sublime cosmogony of Orpheus,so glorious ly

chanted by Homer,had not been attained

,and the

on ly explanation possible is that human nature

found great difficulty in maintain ing a certain in

tellectual alt itude . For the great spirits of a n

tiquity, the gods were never anyth ing more than

a poetical expression of the subordinated forcesA

2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

Of Nature,a speaking image of its inner organism

it is as symbols of cosmic and a n im ic forces that

these gods live indestructib le in the consciousness

of humanity . This diversi ty of gods and forces ,the in it iates thought

,was dominated and pene

tra ted by the supreme God or pure Spirit . The

principal aim of the sanctuaries of Memphis,

Delphi,and Eleus i s had been precise ly the teach

ing of this unity of God with the theosoph ical ideas

and moral discipl ine resulting therefrom .

But the disciples of Orpheus,Pythagoras

,and

Plato fai led before the egoism of the pol iticians,

the sordidness of th e soph ists,and the passions of

the mob . The social and pol it ical decomposition

of Greece wa s the consequence of its rel igious,

moral,and intel lectual decomposition . Apol lo

,the

Solar Word , the manifestat ion of the supreme God

and the supra- terrestrial world,i s si lent . No more

oracles,no more insp ired poets are to be heard '

Minerva,Wisdom, and Foresight, veils her coun

tena nce in presence of her people converted into

Satyrs,profan ing the mysteries

,and insu lting the

gods in Aristophanic farces on the stage of Bacchus.

The very mysteries themselves are corrupted,for

sycophants and courtesans are admitted to the

E leusinian rites . When soul becomes b lunted,

religion fal ls into idolatry ; when thought becomes

THE WORLD AT BIRTH OF JESUS 3

mater ial ised,philosophy degenerates into scepti

c ism . Thus we see Lucian,poor microbe born

from the corpse of paganism,turn the myths into

ridicule,when once Carneades had den ied their

scientific origin .

Sup erstitions in re l igion , agnostic in phi losophy,egoistical and divided in pol it ics

,reel ing under a n

archy and fata l ly abandoned to despotism,Greece

had become sadly changed from the t ime when she

transmitted the sc ience of Egypt and the mysteries

of Asia in immortal forms of beauty .

I f there was one who understood what the world

needed,and who endeavoured to restore th is need

by an effor t of heroic genius, that one was Alex

ander the Great . This legendary conqueror,imit i

ated,as was also h is father , Phi l ip , i nto the mysterie s

of Samothrace,proved h imself even more of an

intel lectual son of Orpheus than a disc ip le of

Aristotle . Doubtless , the Ach il les of Macedonia ,who

,accompan ied by a mere handfu l o f Greeks

,

crossed Asia a s far as I ndia,dreamed of un iversal

empire,but not after the fashion of the Caesars

,by

oppression of the people,and the destruct ion of

rel igion and unfettered science . H is grand idea

was to reconci le Asia and Europe by a‘

synthesis

of re ligions , supported by scientific authority .

I mpelled by this thought,he paid homage to the

4 J ESUS , THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

science of Aristotle,a s he did to the Minerva of

Athens, the J ehovah of J erusalem,the Egyptian

Osiri s,and the H indu Brahma

,recognising

,as

would a veritable in itiate,an identical divinity and

wisdom beneath these differing symbols . This new

Dionysus possessed a broad sympathy and mighty

prOphetic insight . Alexander’s sword typified the

last flash of the Greece of Orpheus, il lumining

both East and West . The son of Phi l ip died in

the intoxication of victory and the glorious a ccom

plishment of h is dream,leaving the shreds of his

empire to selfish and rapacious generals . But h i s

thought d id not die with him ; he had founded

Alexandria, where Oriental Phi losophy, J udaism ,

and Hellenism were to be fused in the crucible

of Egyptian esoterism, unti l the time might be ripe

for the resurrect ion word of the Christ .

I n proportion as Apol lo and Minerva,the twin

constel lations of Greece , paled away on the horizon ,the people sawa menac ing sign , the Roman SheWolf

,rise in the troub led sky .

What is the origin of Rome ? The conspiracy

of a greedy oligarchy,in the name of brute force ;

the oppression of the hum an intel lect,of rel igion

,

science,and art

,by deified pol itical power ! in

other words,the contrary of truth

,by which a

government receives its j ustification,according to

THE WORLD AT B IRTH OF J ESUS 5

thi am g gg pg jgg ifl ss.

of sc ience s justicer a gd

economy,_1

The whole o f Roman h istory is merely the con

sequence of the in iquitous pact by which the

Conscript Fathers declared war,first

,against I taly

,

and afterwards against the whole Roman race .

They chose a fi tt ing symbol ; for the brazen She

Wolf, with tawny hair erect, and hyena’s head

turned in the direction of the Capito l,i s th e image

of this government,the demon which wil l take

possession of the Roman soul to the very end .

In Greece,at least

,the sanctuaries of De lphi and

Eleusis were long respected ; at Rome, from the

very outset,science and art were rej ected . The

attempt of the sage Numa,the Etruscan in itiate

,

fai led before the suspic ious ambition of the Con

script Fathers . He brought with h im the Sibyl l ine

books,which contained part of the science of

Hermes,appo inted magistrates elected by the

people,distributed terr itory

,and submitted the

right of declaring war to the Fecial priests .

Accordingly,King Numa

,long cherished in the

memory of the peop le,who regarded h im as in

1 This point of view , in diametrical op posi tion“ to the_ empiric school_Montesquieu, wa s tha t o _f thg g rea t ini__tia tes, the

Egypt i an.

pr i ests, a s of Moses a nd Pytha gora s. I t had been previouslyamplified In the M zsszon desj n zf s of M . S a int Yves. See his rema rka ble cha pter on the founda t ion of Rome.

6 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

spired by divine genius,seems to be a historical

intervention of sacred science in the government .

He does not represent the gen ius of Rome,but

rather that of the Etruscan in itiation,which fol

lowed the same princip les a s the school of Memphis

and Delphi .

After Numa, the Roman Senate burnt the Sibyl

l ine Books,ru ined the authority of the flame

-

us,

destroyed arbitral in stitu tions,and returned to its

old systems in which rel igion was nothing more

than an instrument of publ ic domination . Rome

became the hydra which engulfed the peop les and

their gods with them . The nations of the earth

were gradual ly reduced to subj ection and pil lage .

The Mamertine prison became fi l led with kings

from North and South . Rome,bent on

_ _hay ingno other kings fltha n S laves a nd charla ta ii s, _de_stroys

the final possessors of esoteric tradit ion in,Gaul ,

Egypt,J udea

,and Pers ia . She pretends to worship

the gods,but the on ly

-

Obj ect of h er adoration is

the She-Wolf. And now,away on the blood -stained

dawn,there appears the final offspring of this

ravenous creature,the embodiment of the geniu s

of Rome—Caesar ! Rome has conquered al l thenations of the earth

,Caesar

,her incarnation

,arro

gates to h imse lf un iversa l power . H e aspires notmerely to become the ruler of mankind

,for

,uniting

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8 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

the mysteries,and are destined to close in the

Roman Circus,where nude virgins

,martyrs to

their faith,are torn to pieces and devoured by

savage beasts,amid the plaudits of thousands of

spectators .

And yet,among the nations conquered by Rome

,

there was one wh ich cal led itself the people of

God,whose genius was the very opposite to that

of Rome . How comes it that I srael,worn out

by intestine str ife,crushed by three centurie s of

s lavery,had preservedwitsm iggggwm ita ble faith Why

did this conquered people ri se,prophet-l ike , to

oppose Greek decadence and Roman orgies ?

Whence did they derive the courage to predict

the fal l of the masters who had their feet on the

throat of the nat ion,and speak of some vague

final triumph , when they themselves were drawing to an irremediable ruin ? The reason wa s,that a great idea , in spired by Moses , l ived in

the nation . Under J oshua,the twelve tribes had

erected a commemorative p i l lar with the inscription

,

“ This is a test imony between us that

J ehovah is God alone .”

of I srael had made monotheism

the corner-stone of IN S as

wel l as of a universa l rel igious idea . He had had

the genius to understand that on the triumph of

THE WORLD AT BI RTH OF JESUS 9

th is idea the future of mankind would depend .

To preserve it,he had written a hieroglyphic book

,

constructed a golden ark,and raised up a people

from the nomad dust of the wilderness . On these

witnesses of the Spiritualistic idea'

Moses brought

down the lightn ing flash and the thunderbolt from

heaven . Against them conspired not only the

Moabites,the Phili stines

,the Amalekites, and al l

the tribes of Palestine,but even the frailties and

pass ions of the J ewish people itsel f . The Book

ceased to be understood by the pr iesthood ; the

ark was captured by enemies,numerous were the

times when the peop le almost forgot their mission .

Why then,in sp ite of a ll

,did they remain faithful

to th is mission ? Why had the idea of Moses

remained graven on the brow and heart o f

I srael i n letters o f fire ? To whom is due th is

exclusive perseverance , th is magnificent fidelity

amid the vicissitudes of a troubled h istory,such

a fidelity as gave I srael a unique character among

the nations ? I t may boldly be attributed to the

prophets and the institution of prophecy ; by oral

tradition it may be traced back to Moses . The

Hebrew p ’eoplev ha s had N aoz

'

at a l l periods of

its h istory, r ight to i ts dispers ion . But the Insti

tution of prophecy appears fi rst under an organic

form a t the time of Samuel . He it was who

Io J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

founded the confraternities of N eoz'

z

'

m,those schools

of prophets,in the face of a ris ing royalty and

an already degenerate priesthood . H e made themaustere guardians of the esoter ic tradition and

the universal re ligious thought of Moses against

the kings,i n whom the pol itical idea and national

aim was to predominate . I n these confratern it ies

were preserved the rel ics of the science of Moses,

the sacred music,the occult ar t of heal ing

,and

finally,the art of divination

,exercised by the great

prophets with masterly force and abnegation .

Divination h a s existed under the most diverse

forms among all the peoples of the ancient cycle ;

but prophecy in I srael possesses an ampl itude,a

loft iness and authority,belonging to the inte l lectual

and spiritual nature in which monothe ism keeps the

human soul . The prophecy offered by the theo‘Iogia ns, l iterally, as the d irect communication of apersonal God

,denied by natural istic philosophy

as pure superstition , i s in reality noth ing but the‘superior manifestation of the universal laws of th e2Spirit . “The general truths which govern the

world,says Ewald

,in hi s fine work on the pro

phetS ,“ in other terms

,Me Mongnts of God

,are

immutable and incapable of attack,quite indep en

dent Of the fluctuations of things,or of the wil l and

action of men . Man is original ly intended to

THE WORLD AT BI RTH OF JESUS I I

participate in them,and translate them freely into

acts . But for the Word of the Spir it to enter into

carnal man,he must be fundamental ly influenced

by the great commotion of h istory . Then the

Eternal Truth springs forth l ike a flash of light .

This is why we so often read in the Old Testament

that J ehovah i s a l iving God . When man l istens to

the d ivine call,a new l ife is created in him ; now

he no longer feels h imse lf alone,but in communion

with God and al l truth,ready to proceed eternal ly

from one verity to another . I n th is new li fe, his !

thought becomes one with the universal wil l . He z.

possesses a clear grasp of the present,and entire !

faith in the final success of the divine idea . The"

man who exper iences th i s is a prophet,i .e. he feels

h imself irres istib ly impel led to manifest h imself

before others as a representat ive of God . His

thought becomes vision,and this superior might

which forces the truth from h is soul,at t imes with

heart-breaking anguish,constitutes the prophetic

element . The p rophetic ma nifesta tions, throughout

history , ha ve been the thunderbolts a nd lightning

fla shes of truth .

” 1

From th is spr ing,those giants

,Elij ah

,I saiah

,

Ezekie l,and J eremiah , drew their might . Deep in

the ir caves or in the palaces of the kings,they

1 Ewa ld , Die Propheten ! Introduct ion.

1 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

were indeed sentine ls of J ehovah,and , as El isha

said to his master Elij ah,

“ the chariots of I srael ,

and the horsemen thereof . Often do they fore

tel l with prophet ic vis ion the death of kings , the

fall of kingdoms,and the punishments to be visited

on I srael . At times they are mistaken . The pro

phetic torch , though l it by the sun of divine truth ,

wil l vacil late and darken in their hands under the

influence of national passion . But never do they

waver concern ing moral truths,the real mission of

I srael,the final triumph of j ustice to mankind . As

true initiates,they preach thei r scorn of outer

worsh ip,the abol ition of sacrifices of blood, the

purificat ion of the soul,and the practice of love .

I t i s with regard to the final triumph of monotheism ,

its l iberating and peace-bringing rOle to a llnations ,

that their vision is tru ly remarkable . The most

frightful misfortunes that can strike a nation , foreign

invasion,captivity in Babylon

,cannot shake their

faith . Listen to what I saiah said during the invasion

of Sennacherib

Rej oice ye with J erusalem,and be glad with

her,al l ye that love her ! rej o ice for j oy with her ,

al l ye that mourn for her .“That ye may suck and be satisfied with the

breasts of her consolations ; that ye may milk out

and be del ighted with the abundance of her glory .

THE WORLD AT BI RTH OF JESUS I3

“ For thu s saith the Lord,Behold I wil l extend

peace to her l ike a river,and the glory of the

Genti les l ike a flowing stream then shall ye suck,

ye Shal l be borne upon her sides,and be dandled

upon her knees .“AS one Whom his mother comforteth

,so will

I comfort you ; and ye shall be comforted in

J erusalem .

“ And when ye see th is,your heart Shall rej o ice

,

and your bones shal l flourish l ike an herb ! and

the hand of the Lord shal l be known towards h is

servants,and h is indignat ion toward h is enemies .

“ For behold,the Lord wil l come with fire and

with his chariot s l ike a wh irlwind,to render h is

anger with fury,and his rebuke with flames of fire .

“ For by fire and by h is sword wil l the Lord

plead with al l flesh ! and the slain of the Lord

shal l be many .

“They that sanctify themse lves,and purify them

selves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst,

eating swine’s flesh,and the abomination and the

mouse shal l be consumed together,saith the

Lord .

For I know their works and their thoughts it

shal l come that I wil l gather al l nat ions and

tongues and they shall come and see my glory .

” 1

1 Isa ia h lxvi . 10- 18.

I4 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

I t is on ly before the tomb of the Christ that th is

vision begins to find real isation,but who could

deny its prophetic truth when thinking of the part

I srael played in the history of mankind

NO less firm than this faith in the future of

J erusalem,in its moral grandeur and rel igious

universal ity,i s the faith of the prophets in a

Saviour or a Messiah . They al l speak of h im the

incomparab le I saiah i s st i l l the one whose vision is

c learest,and who depicts it with greatest force in

bold,lofty l anguage

“ There Shal l come forth a rod out of the stem

of J esse,and a branch Shall grow out of h i s

roots“And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him

,

the sp irit of wisdom and understanding,the Spirit

of counsel and might,the sp irit of knowledge and

of the fear of the Lord

And Shal l make him of quick understanding in

the fear of the Lord,and he shal l not j udge after

the sight of h is eyes, neither reprove after the hearing

of his ears

But with righteousness shal l he j udge the poor,

and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth

and he shall smite the earth with the rod of h is

mouth,and with the breath of h is l ips shal l he s lay

the wicked .

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1 6 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N IT IATE

opened not h is mouth ; he i s brought as a lamb

to the slaughter,and as a sheep before her shearers

i s dumb,so he openeth not h is mouth .

He was taken from prison and from judgment

and who shal l declare h is generation ? for he was

cut off out of the land of the l iving for the trans

gression of my peoplewa s he stricken .

” 1

For e ight centuries the thunder-words of the

prophets caused the idea and image of the Mes

s iah to hover above al l nat ional dissensions and

misfortunes,at times under the form of a terrib le

avenger,and again as an angel of mercy . The

Messianic idea,tenderly nurtured under Assyrian

despotism in Babylonian exile,and brought to

l ight under Persian domination,continued to grow

under the reign of the Seleuc ides and the Macca

bees . When the Roman rule and the reign of

Herod came,the Messiah was al ive in the con

sc iousness of al l . The great prophets had seen

h im as a great man,a martyr, a veritable son of

God the people,faithfu l to the Judaic idea

,

imagined h im as a David,a Solomon

,or a new

rMa ccabeus. Whatever he might be,thi s restorer

of I srael ’s greatness was bel ieved in and expected

by al l . Such is the might of prOphetic action .

Thus we see that j ust as Roman history ends in1 Isa ia h l ii i . 2 - 8.

THE WORLD AT BI RTH OF J ESUS 1 7

Caesar , along the instinctive path and infernal logic

of Dest iny,so the h istory of I srael leads free ly to

the Christ along the conscious path and divine

logic of Providence,m anifested in its vis ible repre

senta tives,the prophets . Evi l i s fatal ly condemned

to contradict and destroy itself,for i t i s the False

but Good , in spite of al l obstacles , engenders l ight

and harmony after a lapse of t ime,for it i s the fruit

of Truth . From her triumph Rome obtained

noth ing but Caesarism,from her downfal l I srael

gave b irth to the Messiah .

A vague expectancy hung over the nat ions . I n

the excess of its evi l al l humanity had a present i

ment of a saviour . For centuries mythology had

dreamt of a divine ch i ld . The temples spoke of

h im in mystery ; astrologists calcu lated his coming

frenzied sibyl s had loud ly proclaimed the downfal l

o f pagan gods . The in it i ates had announced that

some day the world would be governed by one of

their own,a Son of God .

1 The wor ld was expecting

a spiritual king,such a one as would be understood

by the poor and lowly .

The great E schylus, son of a priest of Eleus is,was almost ki l led by the Athenians for daring to

say in the crowded theatre,by the mouth of h is

1 Such is the esoteric significa t ion of the beautiful legend of the ma gicom ing from the fa r Ea st to worship the child of Bethlehem .

B

1 8 J ESUS , THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

Prometheus,that the reign of Jupiter-Dest iny would

come to an end . Four centuries later, under the

shadow of the throne of Augustus,the gentle Virgi l

announces a new age,and dreams of a marvellous

child

U lt ima Cuma e i ven i t jam ca rminis a e ta s

Ma gnus a b integ ro sa eclorum na scitur ordo.

Jam redi t et Virgo, redeunt S a turnia regnaJam nova progenies coelo dem ittitur a lto.

Tumodo na scen t i pue ro, quo fe r rea p rimumDesinet, a c toto surget gens a urea mundo,Ca sta , fa ve , Luc ina tuus jam regna t Apollo.

Asp ice convex o nuta ntem ponde re mundum,

Terra sque, tra ctusque m a ris, coelumque p rofundum ,

Asp ice ven turo la eta ntur ut omnia sa eclo.

” 1

When wil l th is chi ld be born From what

divine world wil l th is soul come I n what bri l l iant

lightn ing-fla sh of love wil l it descend to earth By

1 Virgi l , Eclogue 4The la st grea t a ge , foretold by sa cred Ihymes,

Renews i ts finished course, Sa turnia n t imesRol l round a ga in, a nd mighty yea rs begunFrom their first orb in ra dia nt c ircles runThe ba se degenera te iron offspring ends

,

A golden progeny from Hea ven descendsOh Cha ste Lucina Speed the mother’s pa ins,And ha ste the glorious birth , thy own Apollo reigns

See, la bouring Na ture ca l ls thee to susta inThe nodding fra me of Hea ven a nd Ea rth a nd ma In

See to their ba se restored , ea rth , sea s, a nd a ir ;

And joyful a ges from behind in crowding ra nks a ppea rTo sing thy pra ise .

—DRYDEN .

THE WORLD AT BI RTH OF JESUS 1 9

what wonderful purity,what superhuman energy

wi l l i t remember the abandoned heaven By what

mightier effort wil l it return from the depth of i ts

earth ly consciousness,taking with i t mankind in its

train

No one cou ld have to ld,but all were waiting and

expecting . Herod the Great,the I dumean

usurper,the protégé of Augustus Caesar

,was then

at the point of death in h is Cypr ian chateau at

J ericho,after a sumptuous and blood- stained reign

,

which had covered J udea with sp lendid palaces and

human hecatombs . Hewa s dying from a terr iblemalady

,decomposit ion o f the blood

,hated by all

,

torn with fury and remorse,haunted by the spectres

of h is i nnumerable victims,amongst whom were

numbered h is innocent wife,the nob le Mar ian

,of

Maccabee blood,and three of his own sons . The

seven women of h is harem had fled the presence

of the royal phantom . His very bodyguard had

abandoned h im . Impassive by the side of the dying

wretch sat h is sister Salome,his evi l gen ius

,the

instigator of h is foulest crimes . With diadem on

brow,and breast sparkl ing with precious stones

,she

kept watch,waiting for the king’s last breath

,when

she i n her turn would se ize the reins of sovereignty .

Thus died the last king of the J ews . At th is very

moment had j ust been born the future spiritual

2 0 JESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

king of humanity,

1 and the few initiates of I srael

were s i lent ly preparing for h is reign in profound

humil ity and silence .

1 Herod died in the fourth yea r before our era . Ca lcula tions of thecrit ics a re nowgenera l ly una nimous in giving this da te a lso a s the birthOf Jesus. Sec K eim ,

Da s Leben j esu.

CHAPTER I I

MARY—FIRST DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS

JEHOSHOU A, whom we cal l J esus, from the Greek

form of his name,was probably born in Nazareth .

1

I t was certainly in this abandoned corner of Galilee

that h is ch i ldhood was passed,and the first

,the

greatest,of the Christian mysteries accompl ished

the appearance of the Soul of the Christ . He was

the son of Miriam , or. Mary, wife of the carpenter

J oseph,a Gal i l ean woman of noble origin

,affi l iated

to the Essenes .

Legend has woven a t issue of marve ls around

the birth of J esus . I f legend gives refuge to

numerous superstit ions,i t a lso at times conceals

psych ic truths but l ittle known , for they are above

the perception of themass of mankind . One fact

may be learned from the legendary h istory of Mary,

that J esus was a ch i ld consecrated before h is birth

to a prophetic mission,by the wish of hi s mother .

1 I t is by no mea ns impossible tha t Jesus might cha nce to ha vebeen born in Be thlehem . But this tra dit ion seems to form pa rt ofthe cycle of posterior legends rela ting to the holy fam i ly a nd the

infa ncy of the Christ .

2 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

The same thing is related of several heroes and

prophets of the Old Testament . These sons thus

dedicated to God were ca l led Nazarenes . Touch

Ing th is point, i t is interest ing to refer to the

h istories of Samson and of Samuel . An angel

announces to Samson’s mother that she will soon

be with ch i ld,and wil l give birth to a son, whose

head the razor shal l not touch . I n the case

of Samuel , i t is the mother who herself requests

a chi ld from God (Conf . Judges xii i . 3—5 ; and1 Samuel i . 1 1

Now SAM-U -EL,in its original root sign ification

,

means,I nner glory of God . The mother

,feel ing

herself,as it were

,i l lumined by the one she in

carna ted,cons idered h im as the ethereal essence

of the Lord .

These passages are extremely important,as they

introduce us to the esoteric,the constant and living

tradition in I srael,and

,along th is channel

,into

the real significat ion of the Christian legend .

Elkana,the husband

,is indeed the earth ly father

of Samuel in the flesh,but the Eternal i s h is

heavenly Father in th e Sp irit . The figurative lan

guage of J udaic monotheism here masks the

doctrine of the pre-exi stence of the soul . The

woman initiate appeals to a superior sou l, de

manding to receive it in her Womb,and bring

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2 4 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

An attempt to discover the esoteric signification

of J ewish tradition and Christian legend would

lead one to sa y that the action of Providence, or

the influx of the sp ir itual world which co-operates

in the birth of any man,whoever he be

,i s more

powerfu l and evident at the b irth of al l men of

genius,whose appearance can in no way be

exp lained by the so le law of physical atavism .

This influx reaches its greatest intensity in the

case of one of those divine prophets dest ined to

change the face of the world . The sou l , chosen

for a divine miss ion,comes from a divine world ;

i t comes free ly and consciously,but that i t may

enter upon an earth ly l i fe a chosen vessel is

needed,and the appeal of a h igh ly gifted mother

,

who by the att itude of her moral being,the desire

of her sou l,and the purity of her l ife

,has a

present iment,attracts and incarnates into her very

blood and flesh the soul of the Redeemer,destined

in the eyes o f men to become a son of God. Such

is the profound truth beneath the ancient idea of

the Virgin-Mother . The H indoo genius had already

given expression to thi s idea in the legend of

Krishna . The Gospels of Matthew and of Luke

have rendered it with an even more admirable

simpl icity and poetic inst inct .“ To the soul which comes from heaven

,birth

F IRST DEVELOPMENT OF J ESUS"

2 5

i s a death , Empodocles had said 500 years B .C .

However sublime the spirit be,once imprisoned

in flesh,it temporari ly loses the remembrance of

al l its past ; Once engaged in corporal l i fe,the

development of its earth ly consciousness is sub

jected to the laws of the world in wh ich it in

ca rna tes. I t fal l s under the force of the e lements .

The higher its origin,the greater wi l l be the

effort to regain its dormant powers,its celestial

innatenesses,and to become conscious of its

mission .

Profound and tender souls need s ilence and

peace to spring into mani festation . J esus passed

h is early years amid the calm of Gal i lee . His

first impress ions were gentle,austere

,and serene .

His birthplace resembled a corner of heaven,

dropped on the s ide of a mountain . The vi l lage

of Nazareth has changed but l ittle with the fl ight

of time . 1 I ts houses ri s ing in t iers under the

rock,resembled - so travel lers sa y

—white cubessc a ttered about in a forest of pomegranate, vine ,and fig trees

,whilst myr iads of doves fi l l ed the

heavens . Around this nest of verdant freshness

floats the pure mountain air,whi lst on th e heights

1 See the ma sterly description of M . Rena n’

s Ga l i lee in h is Vie de

j e’

sns,a nd the no less rema rka ble one of M . E . Melchior de Vogue

'

in

his Voy age en Sy rie et en Pa lesti ne.

2 6 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

may be seen the Open, clear horizon of Gali lee .

Add to th is imposing background the quiet,

solemn home- l ife of a pious,patriarchal family.

lThe strength of J ewish education lay always in

the unity of law and faith,as wel l as i n the

powerful organisation of the family dominated by

the national and rel igious idea . The paternal home

was a kind of temple for the ch i ld . I nstead of

the grinning frescoes,the nymphs and fauns which

adorned the atrium of the Greek houses,such a s

could be seen at S ephoris and Tiberias, there

could be found in the J ewish houses on ly passages

from the laws and the prophets,the stern

,rigid

texts standing out in Chaldean characters above

the doors and upon the wall s . But the union of

father and mother i n mutual love of their ch ildren

il lumined and warmed the house with a dist inctly

spiritual l i fe . I t was there J esus received his early

instruct ion,and first became acquainted with the

Scriptures under the teaching of his parents .

From his earl iest ch ildhood the long strange

destiny of the peop le of God appeared before

him in the periodic feasts and holy days cele

bra ted in fami ly l i fe by reading, song , and prayer .

At the Feast of Tabernacles,a shed, made of

myrtle and ol ive branches,was erected in the

court or on the roof of the house in memory of

FI RST DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS 2 7

the nomad patriarchs of bygone ages . The seven

branched candlest ick was l i t,and there were pro

duced the rol ls of papyrus from which the secret

history was read aloud . To the chi ld’s mind , the

Eternal was present,not merely In the starry Sky ,

but even in thi s candlest ick the reflex of h is

glory,in the speech of the father and the si lent

love of the mother . Thus J esus was made

acquainted with the great days in I srael’s h istory,

days of j oy and sorrow,of triumph and exi le

,of

numberless afflict ions a nd eternal hope . The

father gave no rep ly to the chi ld’s eager and

direct questions . But the mother,rais ing those

dreamy eyes from beneath their long dark lashes,

and catching her son ’s quest ioning look,sa id to

him,

“The Word of God lives in h is prophets

alone . Some day the wise Essenes,sol itary

wanderers by Mount Carmel and the Dead Sea,

will give thee an answer . ”

We may a lso imagine the chi ld J esus amongst

h is young companions,exercis ing over them the

strange prestige given by a precocious intel l igence

j oined to act ive sympathy and the feel ing of j ustice .

We follow him to the synagogue,where he heard

the Scr ibes and Pharisees discuss together, and

where he himself was to exercise his dialectical

powers . We see him quickly repel led by the arid

2 8 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

teach ings of these doctors of the law,who tortured

the letter to such an extent as to do away with

the sp ir it . And again,we see h im brought into

contact with pagan l i fe as he vis ited the wealthy

S ephoris, capita l of Gal i lee, residence of Antipas,guarded by Herod’s mercenaries

,Gauls

,Thracian s

,

and barbarians of every kind . I n one of those

frequent j ourneys to visit J ewish families,he might

well have pushed on to a Phoenician town,one

of those veri table h ives of human beings , swarming

with l ife,by the seaside . He would see from afar

the low temples,with the ir th ick sturdy columns

,

surrounded with dark groves,whence issued th e

songs of the priestesses of Astarte , to the doleful

accompaniment of the flute ; the ir voluptuous

shrieks,piercing a s a cry of pain

,would awaken

in his heart a deep groan of anguish and pity .

Then Mary’s son returned to his beloved moun

tains with a feel ing of del iverance . He mounted

the steeps of Nazareth , gazing around on the vast

horizon towards Gal i lee and Samaria,and cast

l ingering eyes on Carmel,Gilboa

,Tabor

,and

Sichem,old-standing witnesses of the patriarchs

and prophets .

However powerful might have been the impres

sions of the outer world on the sou l of J esus,they

al l grew pale before the sovere ign and inex pres

FI RST DEVELOPMENT OF JESU S 2 9

sibl e truth in his i nner world . This truth was l

expanding in the depths of h is nature, l ike some

love ly flower emerging from a dark p .ool I t re

sembled a growing light which appeared to h im

when alone in si lent meditation . At such times

men and th ings,whether near or far away, a p

p ea red as though transparent in their essence .

He read thoughts and sawsou ls then,in memory

,

he caught glimpses,as though through a th in vei l

,

of divinely beautifu l and sh in ing beings bending

over h im,or assembled in adoration o f a dazzl ing

l ight . Wonderful vi sions came in his s leep,or

interposed themselves between h imself and real ity

by a veritable dup l icat ion of h is consc iousness .

I n these transports of rapture which carried him

from zone to zone as though towards other skies,

he at t imes felt h imse l f attracted by a mighty

dazzling l ight,and then p lunged into an incan

descent sun . These ravish ing experiences left

behind in h im a spring of ineffab le tenderness,a

source of wonderfu l strength . How perfect was

the reconci l iat ion he felt with al l beings,i n what

sub lime harmony was he with the un iverse I But

what was th is mysterious light—though even morefamil iar and living than the other—which sprang

forth from the depths of his nature,carrying him

away to the most distant tracts of space,and yet

30 JESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

unit ing him by secret vibrations with al l sou ls ?

Was it not the source of sou ls and worlds ?

He named it H is Father in Heaven .

1

This primitive feeling of un ity with God in the

light of Love,i s the first

,the great revelation of

J esus . An inner voice told him to hide it deep in

h is heart ; al l the same , it was to give l ight to

hi s whole l ife . I t gave him an invincible feeling

of certainty,made him at once gentle and in

domitable ; converted h is thought into a diamond

shield,and his speech into a sword of flame .

Besides,th is profoundly secret

,mystica l l ife was

un ited with a perfect c learness on matters of every

day li fe . Luke shows him at the age of twelve

years as “ increasing in strength,grace

,and

wisdom .

” The religious consciousness was,in

J esus,innate

,absolute ly independent of the outer

world . H is prophetic and Messianic conscious

1 Mystica l a nna ls of a ll t imes Show tha t mora l or spiri tua l truths ofa superior order ha ve been perceived by certa in highly endowed souls,Wi thout rea soning, simply by inner contempla t ion a nd under the formof a v ision . This is a psychica l phenomenon imperfect ly known to

modern science, but st i l l a n incontesta ble fa ct . Ca therine de S ienne,daughter of a poor dyer , a t the a ge of four yea rs, sawvisions of a n

extremely rema rka ble na ture. Swedenborg, ma n of science , ca lmObserver and rea soner , bega n a t the a ge of forty yea rs, and in perfecthea l th , to ha ve visions which ha d no rela tion with his previous l ife .

I do not pretend to pla ce these phenomena on exa ctly the same planea s those which took pla ce in the consciousness of Jesus, but simply toestabl ish the universa l ity of a n inner perception, independent of thebodily senses.

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3 2 JESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITI ATE

ing nor destruction with in thy borders ; but thou

shalt cal l thy walls Salvat ion and thy gates

Praise .” 1 To see J erusalem and the Temple of

J ehovah was the dream of al l J ews,especial ly since

J udaea had become a Roman province . They

j ourneyed h ither from Perea, Gali lee , Alexandria ,and Babylon . On the way

,whether in the wilder

ness under the waving palms,or near the wel ls

,

they cast longing eyes,as they sang their psalms

,

in the d irection of the h i l l of Z ion . A strange

feel ing of oppression must have come over the

soul of J esus,when

,on his first p ilgrimage

,he saw

the city girt around with lofty wal ls,standing there

on the mountain,l ike a gloomy fortress

,the

Roman amphitheatre of Herod at its gates,the

Anton ia tower dominating the temple,and Roman

legions—lance in hand—keeping watch from theheights . He ascended the temple steps, and ad

mired the beauty of those marble porticoes,along

which walked the Pharisees in sumptuous flowing

garments . After crossing the Genti les’,h e pro

ceeded to the women ’s court, and, mingling with

the crowd of I srael ites,drew near the Nicanor

gate,and the three-cubit balustrade

,beh ind which

were to be seen priests in sacerdotal robes of

purp le and violet,sh ining with gold and precious

1 Isa ia h 1x . 3 , 1 8.

FI RST DEVELOPMENT OF JESUS 33

stones,officiating there in front of the sanctuary

,

sacrificing bul ls and goats, and sprinkling the b lood

Over the people as they pronounced a bless ing .

Al l th is bore no resemblance to the temp le of his

dreams,or the heaven in h is heart .

Then he descended again into the more populous

quarters of the town , where he sawbeggars pal l idwith hunger

,and whose faces were torn with

angu ish ; a veritab le reflection of the tortures and

cruc ifix ions accompanying the late wars . Leaving

the city by one of the gates, he wandered among

those stony valleys and gloomy ravines forming

the quarr ies,pools

,and tombs of the kings

,and

converting J erusalem into a veritab le sepulchre .

There he sawmaniacs issue from the caves, shr ieking out blasphemies against l iving and dead alike .

Then,descending a broad fl ight of stones to the

pool of Si loam,he saw stretched out at , the water ’s

brink lepers,paralytics

,and wretches

,covered with

ulcers and sores in the most abj ect misery . An

irresist ible impulse compel led h im to look deep

into their eyes,and drink in al l the ir grief and

pain . Some asked him for help,others were

gloomy and hopeless, others again , with senses

numbed,seemed to have done with suffering .

But then how long had they been there to have

come to such a state

34 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

Then J esus said to h imse lf ! “ Of what use are

these priests,th is temple and these sacrifices, since

they can afford no rel ief to such terr ible suffering

And,of a sudden

,l ike an overwhelming torrent

,he

felt pouring into his heart the grie f and pains of

th is town and its inhabitants—oi the whole o f

humanity . He understood now that a happiness

he could not share with others was absolutely

impossible . These looks of despair were never

more to leave his memory . Human Suffering,a

sad- faced bride , would henceforth accompany him

everywhere, whisper ing in h is ear“ I will never

leave thee more

H is sou l ful l of anguish,he left J erusalem

,and

proceeded towards the open peaks of Gali lee . A

cry‘

l eapt forth from the depths of his heart !“ Father in Hea ven Grant that I may know

,and

heal and save

CHAPTER I I I

THE ESSENES—JOHN THE BAPT IST—THETEMPTAT ION

WHAT he wished to know he cou ld learn from

none other than the Essenes .

The Gospels have maintained perfect s i lence as

to the deeds of J esus,previous to h is meeting with

John the Bapti st,through whom

,according to them

,

he in some way took possession of h is min istry .

Immediately afterwards he makes h is appearance

in Gal i lee with a clearly defined doctrine,the

assurance of a prophet,and the consciousness of

the Mess iah . But evidently this bold and pre

meditated début was preceded by the long develop

ment of a veritab le in itiat ion . No less certa in i s

it that this in itiat ion must have taken place in

the so le asso ciation in I srael,which

,at that time

,

preserved the real traditions o f the prophets and

adopted their mode of l iving . There can be no

doubt of th is among those who, r ising above the

superstit ion of l iteral interpretation , have the

courage to discover how things are l inked together3 5

36 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

by their spirit . This arises not merely from the

intimate relations seen to exist between the doc

trine of J esus and that of the Essenes, but even

from the very si lence kept by the Chr ist and H is

disciples concerning this sect . Why does he who

attacks with unparall eled courage al l the religious

sects of h is day,never mention the Essenes ?

And why do neither the apostles nor evangel i sts

speak of them ? Evidently because they con

sidered the Essenes as belonging to themselves,

as being l inked with them by the oath of the

mysteries,and l inked to the sect of the Christians .

The Order of the Essenes consti tuted in the

time of J esus the final remnant of those brother

hoods of prophets organised by Samuel . The

despotism of the rulers of Palestine,the j ealousy

of an ambitious and servi le priesthood,had forced

them to take refuge in si lence and solitude . They

no longer struggled as did their predecessors,but

contented themselves with preserving their tradi

t ions . They had two principal centres,one in

Egypt,on the banks of Lake Maori s

,the other in

Palest ine,at Engaddi, near the Dead Sea . The name

of Essenes they had adopted came from the Syrian

word “ Asaya,

” physician—in Greek,thera p eutes

for their only acknowledged ministry with regard

to the publi c was ‘that of heal ing disease both

THE ESSENES 37

physical and moral . “They studied with great

di l igence,

” says Josephus,

“ certain medical writ

ings deal ing with the occult virtues of p lants and

minerals .” 1

Some of them possessed the gift of prophecy,a s

,

e.g .,Mena him , who had prophesied to Herod that

he should reign .

“They serve God,

” said Philo,

“with great piety,not by offering vict ims but by

sanctifying the spirit ; avoiding towns , they de

vote themselves to the arts of peace ; not a single

slave is to be found among them ; th ey are al l free

and work for one another .” 2 The rules of the

Order were strict ; i n order to enter, a year’s no

vit iatewa s necessary . I f one had given sufficient

proofs of temperance, he was admitted to the

ab lutions,though Without entering into relations

with the masters of the Order . Tests , extending

over another two years,were necessary before

being received into the brotherhood . They

swore “ by terrib le oaths ” to observe the rules

of the Order and to betray none of i ts secrets .

Then only did they participate in th e common

repasts,which were celebrated with great solemnity

and constituted the inner worsh ip of the Essenes .

1 Josephus,“ Wa rs of the Jews, xxx . 2 , &c.

“ Ant iquit ies, xii i .

5—9 ; xviii . 1—5 .

2 Philo, On the Contempla t ive L ife.

38 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

The garment they had worn during these repasts

they looked upon as sacred and to be removed

before resuming work . These fraternal love

feasts,primitive form of the Supper instituted by

J esus,began and ended by prayer. The first

interpretation of the sacred books of Moses and

the prophets was here given . But the explanation

of the texts al lowed of three significa tions, j ust

as there were three degrees of initiat ion . Very

few atta ined to the highest degree . All th is

wonderfu l ly resembles the organisation of the

Pythagoreans,

1 but certainly it was a lmost the

same amongst the ancient prophets,for it i s to

be found wherever init iat ion has existed . I t must

be added that the Essenes professed the essentia l

dogma of the Orphic and Pythagorean doctrine ;that of the pre-existence of the soul

,the couse

quenco a nd reason of its immortality . The

soul,

” they said,“ descending from the most

subtle ether,and attracted into the body by a

certain natural charm (ivfy'yl m u. (fivoucfi), remains

1 Points in common be tween Essenes a nd Pytha goreans ! Pra yera t sunrise ; l inen ga rments, fra terna l love-fea sts ; one yea r

’s noviti

a te ; three degrees of ini tia t ion ; organisa t ion of the Order a nd com

munity of possessions mana ged by t rustees ; the lawof si lence ; theoa th of the mysteries ; the d ivision of instruct ion into th ree pa rts ( 1 )Science of the universa l principles of Theogony, wha t Philo ca l ls Logic(2 ) Physics or Cosmogony ; (3) Mora ls, i .e. everything dea l ing w ithma n, the conscience to which the hea lers specia lly devoted themselves.

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40 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

sl ightest re ligious precept . I ndi fferent to the

outward pomp of worsh ip at J erusalem, repel led

by the harshness of the Sadducees,and the prayers

of the Pharisees,as well as by the pedantry of the

synagogue,J esus was attracted towards the Essenes

by natural a ffinity .

1

The premature death of J oseph set entirely free

Mary’s son,now grown into a man . His brothers

could continue the father ’s trade and supply al l

family needs,so Mary gave him permiss ion to leave

secretly for Engaddi . Welcomed as a brother and

one of the elect,he rap idly acquired over h is very

masters an invincible ascendancy,by reason of h is

super ior faculti es, his ardent love, and an inde

scribable divine e lement manifested throughout

h is ent ire being . From the Essenes he received

what they alone could give h im the esoteric

tradition of the prophets,and by its means

,his

own historica l and religious tendency or trend .

He came to understand how wide a gu lf separated

the official J ewish doctr ine from the ancientwisdom of the initiates

,the veritable mother of re

ligions, though ever persecuted by Satan, i .e. by

1 Points in common between the doctrines of the Essenes a nd thoseof Jesus ! “ Love of one

’

s neighbour,empha sised a s one

’

s first dutyprohibit ion of the oa th a s w i tnesses to truth ; ha tred of lying ; meekness ; inst itution of the Supper , borrowed from the fra terna l love-fea stsof the Essenes, but w ith a newsignifica t ion , tha t of sa crifice .

THE ESSENES 4 1

th e spir it of evi l,of ego ism , hatred , and denial ,

al l ied with absolute pol it ical power and priestly

imposture . He learned that Genesis , under the

seal of its symbol ism,concealed a theogony and

cosmogony as far removed from the ir l iteral sign ifica tion as is the profoundest truth of science

from a chi ld ’s fable . He contemplated the days

of Aelohim,or the eternal creation by emanation

of the elements and the formation of the worlds ,the origin of the float ing sou ls, and their return

to God by progress ive existences or generations

of Adam . He was struck with the grandeur of

the thought of Moses,whose intent ion had been

to prepare the rel igious unity of the nations by

establ ish ing the worship of the one God,and

incarnating th is idea into a people .

Afterwards he was instructed in the doctrineof the divine Word

,already taught by Krishna

in I ndia,by the priests of Osiris

,by Orpheus

and Pythagoras in Greece, and known to the

prophets under the name of the My steries of the

S on of M a n a nd of the S on of God. According

to th is doctrine,the h ighest manifestation of God

is man,who

,in constitution

,form

,organs

,and

intel ligence is the image of the Universal Being,

whose faculties h e possesses . I n the earthly

evolution of humanity, however , God i s scattered,

42 J ESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

spl it up, and muti lated, so to speak, in the multi

plic ity of men and of human imperfecti ons . I n

i t he suffers, struggles , and tries to find him sel f,

he is the Son of Man,the perfect Man

,the Man

Type, the profoundest thought of God , remain ing

hidden in the infinite abyss of h is desire and

power . And yet at certain epochs,when hu

manity is to be saved from some terrible gulf ,

and set on a higher stand,a chosen one identi

fies h imself with divinity,attracts it to himself

by strength,wisdom

,and love

,and manifests it

anew to men . Then,divin ity

,by the virtue and

breath of the Spirit,i s completely present in him

the Son of Man becomes the Son of God,and

his l iving word . I n other ages and among other

nations,there had already appeared sons of God ,

but S ince Moses,none had arisen in I srael . All

the prophets were expecting this Messiah . The

Seers even said that this t ime he would cal l h im

self the Son of Woman , of the Heavenly I sis, of

the divine l ight which is the Bride of God,for

the l ight of Love would shine in him,above

every other l ight , with a dazzl ing sp lendour, hither

to unknown on earth .

Al l these secrets wh ich the patriarch of the

Essenes unfolded to the young Gal ilean on the

sol i tary banks of the Dead Sea,in lonely Engaddi,

THE ESSENES 43

seemed to him wonderful,but yet known . I t was

with no ordinary emotion that he heard the chief

of the Order comment on the words st i l l to be read

in the Book of Henoch “ From the beginning the

Son of Man was in the mystery. The Father kept

h im near h is mighty presence,and ma nifested him

to his elect. But the Kings shal l be afraid and

shal l prostrate themselves to the ground with terror,

when they shal l see the S on of Woma n seated on

the throne of h is glory . Then the e lect sha l l

summon al l the forces of heaven,al l the saints from

on h igh and the power of God and the Cherubim,

the Seraphim,the Opha nim ,

al l the angels of M ight,al l the angels of the Lord

,i .e. of the E lect and of

the other M ight, serving on earth and above th e

waters,shal l raise their voices .” 1

At these revelat ion s the words of the prophets,

read and meditated upon times innumerable,a p

pea red before the eyes of the Nazarene, with a

profound and terrib le l ight,l ike l ightning flashes in

the night . Who could th is Elect be, and when

would he appear before I srae l ?

1.Book of Henoch , cha ps. x lvi ii . a nd lxi . This pa ssa ge shows tha t

the doctrine of the Word , the Trinity found in the Gospel of Johnexisted in Isra el long before the t ime of Jesus, a nd came from the verydepths of esoteric prophecy. In the Book of Henoch

,the Lord of

Spiri ts represents the Fa ther , the Elect represents the Son , and the

other M ight , the Holy Ghost .

44 J ESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

Jesus passed a serie s of years among the Essenes .

He submitted to their discipline,studied with them

the secrets of nature,and the occult power of

heal ing . To develop h is sp ir it , he gained entire

mastery over his body. Not a day passed without

self-questioning and meditation on the destiny of

humanity . That was a memorable night for the

Order of the Essenes and the new adept,when he

received in profoundest secrecy the superior in it ia

t ion of the fourth degree,the one granted only in

the special case of a propheti c mission,requested

by the brother,and confirmed by the E lders . A

meeting was held in a cave cut into the mountain,

and resembling a vast hal l with an altar of stone

seats . The chief of the Order was there with a

few Elders . Sometimes two or three in itiates,

prophetesses a lso,Essenes, were admitted to

the myster ious ceremony . Bearing torches and

branches of palm trees,they greeted the new Initiate

who was clothed in a robe of white l inen,as Bride

groom and King,

” the one they had seen in vis ion ,and whom they now looked upon perhaps for the

last time ! Then , the chief of the Order, general ly

an old centenarian (J osephus states that the Essenes

l ived to an advanced age) offered him the golden

cha lice as a symbol of the final i nit iat ion,contain ing

the wine of the Lora”

s viney a rd, symbol of d iv ine

THE ESSENES 45

inspiration . Some said that Moses and the seventy

h ad drunk therefrom ; others trace i t back from

Abraham,who received from Melch isedek thi s very

initiation under the el ements of bread and wine .1

The Elders never offered the cup to any one i n

whom they had not recogn ised,with d istinct cer

tainty,the signs of a prophetic mission . But no

one could define th is miss ion, he was to find it

h imself ; such is the law of the in it iates—noth ingfrom without

,everyth ing from with in . Henceforth

he was free,master of h is own actions

,l iberated

from the Order,a very hierophant

,obedient to the

impu lses of the spir it which could fl ing him into

the depths or transport him on high,far above

scenes of torture and human passion .

When after the songs and prayers and sacra

mental words of the Elder the Nazarene took the

cup , a pale ray of the sun shooting through a

rugged mountain crag ran in and about the torches

and the flowing white garments of the Essene pro

phetesses. They too shuddered as they sawit fallon the Gal i lean ’s beautifu l countenance

,now over

shadowed with a look of infinite sorrow . Were h is

thoughts dwell ing on the poor wretches of Siloam

had he already,i n that ever-present anguish

,caught

a gl impse of the path he was to traverse1 Genesis xiv. 1 8.

46 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

About th is time,J ohn the Baptist was preach ing

on the banks of the Jordan . He was not an Essene,

but a prophet of the people, belonging to the sturdy

race of Judah . Driven into the wi lderness by a

fierce unyielding p iety,he had there

,in prayer

,

fast ing,and mortifica tion

,l ived a l ife of the strictest

asceticism . Over h is bare sun -tanned skin he wore

a camel ’s-hair cloak,symbol of the penitence he

wished to impose both on h imself and on his people .

Deeply did he fee l I srae l ’s distress,and ardently

did he await del iverance . According to the J ewish

idea,he imagined the Messiah would soon come as

an Avenger and a Judge ; that, l ike another Mac

cabaeus,he wou ld rouse the people to revo lt

,

drive out the Romans, punish the gui lty, and final ly

enter J erusalem in triumph,where

,in peace and

j ust ice,he

iwould re-establ ish the kingdom of I srae l

over al l nations . He announced to the multitudes,

who eagerly drank in his words,that the time was

nigh for the coming of this Mess iah,adding that

they might prepare for it in a sp irit of true repent

ance . Adopting the Essen ian custom of ablut ion

and transforming it,he had looked upon baptism

in the J ordan as a visib le symbol,a public aecom

plishment of the inner pur ification he insisted upon .

This new ceremony, th is earnest preaching to

immense crowds of peop le,with thewi lderness as

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48 JESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

stil l feel ing h is way,came also to the desert of

the J ordan , accompanied by a few Essenes, who

already acknowledged him as master . He wished

to see the Baptist,t o l isten to h is message , and be

baptized in public . His desire was to present h im

self in an humble and respectfu l attitude towards

the prophet who had the courage to denounce the

present ru lers,and arouse from slumber the sou l

of I srael .

He sawthe rough ascete,hairy and bearded

,

with his prophetic l ionl ike head,standing in a

wooden pulp it under a rustic tent covered with

branches and goat-Skins . All around among the

scanty desert shrubs was a mighty crowd,an entire

camp ! publ icans,so ldiers of Herod

,Samaritans

,

Levites from Jerusalem Idumeans with their flocks

of sheep,even Arabs with their camels, tents and

caravans arrested by “ the voice crying in the

wilderness,” and th is voice of thunder passed over

these multitudes . I t said ! Repent ye ; prepare

ye the way of the Lord,make H is paths straight .

He cal led the Pharisees and Scribes “ a race of

vipers .” He added that “ the axe was already laid

unto the root of the trees,and said of the Mes

s iah “ I baptize you with water only,but He shal l

baptize you with fire .” T‘hen,about sunset

,he saw

the crowds press towards a cove on the water ’s

THE ESSENES 49

bank, and Herod’s mercenaries bend their rough

backs beneath the water poured over them by the

Baptist . He drew nearer ; J ohn did not know

J esus,knew noth ing whatever concern ing him

,

but he recogn ised the Essene by his l inen gar

ment . He sawh im,a mere unit in the crowd

,

enter the water up to the girdle,and humbly

bend to rece ive the bapt ismal spr inkling . When

the neophyte arose,the savage preacher’s fiery

eyes met the Gali lean ’s calm,gentle gaze . A

quiver ran through the man of the wilderness as

he sawthe look of wondrous sweetness beamingfrom the eyes of J esus

,and involuntari ly the ques

tion escaped h is l ips “ Art thou the Messiah 1

The mysterious Essene made no reply,but with

bowed head and crossed hands,he awaited the

bless ing . J ohn knew that si lence was the law of

the Essene novices . After so lemnly extending both

hands,th e Nazarean disappeared with h is com

panions among the water reeds .

1 According to the Gospels, John imm edia tely recognised Jesus a s

the Messia h , a nd ba ptiz ed him a s such . There a re contra dictorya ccounts on this point , for, a t a la ter time , when a prisoner of Ant ipa sa t M a kerous a sks the quest ion of Jesus, “ Art thou he tha t Shouldcome, or do we look for a nother ? ” this ta rdy doubt proves tha tthough he m ight ha ve suspected Jesus to be the Messia h , hewa s notconvinced of i t . The first compilers of the Gospels, however, be ingJews, Wished to present Jesus a s ha ving received h is m ission a nd

consecra t ion from John the Ba ptist , a popul a r prophe t of Judaea .

D

5 9 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

The Baptist sawhim depart with mingled feelings of doubt

,secret j oy

,and profound sadness .

What was h is own knowledge,his own prophetic

hope compared with the l ight he had seen in the

eyes of the unknown,a l ight which seemed to

i l luminate h is whole being ? Ah I i f the handsome

young Gal i lean were the Messiah,then indeed had

the brightest day of h is l ife dawned ! But hi s own

part would now be over,his own voice si lent .

From this day forward he preached in deeper and

more emotional tones on the melanch oly theme °

“ He must increase and I must decrease . He

was beginning to fee l the gloom and weariness of

an old l ion tired of roaring,and nows i lently await

ing the end .

Could it be that he were the Messiah ? The

Baptist’s ques tion also found an echo in the sou l

of J esus . Ever since his consciousness had sprung

to l i fe,he had found God within h imself

,and the

certainty of the kingdom of Heaven in the radiant

beauty of h is visions . Then came the suffering

of humanity which had fi l led h is heart with the

awful outpour of its anguish . The wise Essenes

had taught h im the secret of re ligions and of

mysteries,they had shown him the spir itual de

cadence of humanity, and its expectation of a

saviour . But how cou ld he find the strength

THE ESSENES 5 1

needed to rescue it from the pit ? And now,the

direct cal l of J ohn the Baptist fel l on the silence

of h is meditat ions l ike a thunderbolt from Sinai .

Could he be the Messiah ?

J esus could answer this question only by inmost

meditation . Hence th is retreat,th i s forty days ’

fast,narrated by Matthew in the form of a symbol ic

legend . The Temptation in real ity represents in

the l ife of J esus th is great crisis,th i s sovereign

vis ion of truth,which a l l prophets

,al l rel igious

init iates,must infall ibly experience before beginning

their work .

Over above Enga ddi , where the Essenes cult i

va ted sesame and the vine,a steep footpath led to

a cave or grotto opening out on to the mountain

side . It was entered by way of Dor ian columns

cut out in the rough rock,s imi lar to those of the

“ Apostles ” retreat in the va lley of Jehosopha t.

There one remained suspended above the yawning

precipice as though from an eagle’

s nest . Below,

in a gorge,could be seen vineyards and human

dwell ings away in the distance,the Dead Sea

motionless and grey,and the lonely mountains of

Moab . The Essenes had appointed th is retreat for

such among them a s wished to submit to the test

of so li tude . I n th is spot were several rol ls of the

prophets,strengthening spices

,dry figs, and a small

5 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

stream of trickl ing water,sole nourishment of th e

ascete in meditation . I t was to th is cave that J esus

retired . First of al l,he mental ly reviewed the

whole of humanity’s past l i fe,and estimated the

gravity of the present t imes . Rome was in sove

reign power,and with her what the Persian magi

had cal led the reign of Ahrima nes,and the prophets

the reign of Satan,the S ign of the Beast

,the

apotheosis of Evil . Darkness covered humanity,the soul of earth .

The people of I srael had received from Moses

the royal and sacerdotal mission of representing

the male re l igion of the Father of the pure Sp irit,

of teach ing it to other nations,and effecting its

triumph . Had its kings and prophets fu lfi l led this

m iss ion ? The prophets who alone had been con

sc iou s of it,repl ied unanimously ! No ! I srael was in

her last throes,crushed beneath the might of Rome .

Ought a r i sing of the people to be hazarded once

more as the Pharisees st i l l expected ; a restoration

by force of the temporal royalty of I srael Should

he declare h imself son of David,and exclaim with

I saiah ! “ I n my wrath I wi l l trample upon the

people and overthrow their might Should

he be a second Maccabaeus,and allow himself

to be nominated pontifex-king ? J esus might have

made the attempt . He had seen the crowds ready

THE ESSENES 53

to r ise at the voice of John the Baptist,and the

strength he was h imsel f conscious of was far

greater than that of the prophet of the wi lderness

But then,would violence overcome violence ?

Would the sword put an end to government by

the sword ? Would there not be thus suppl ied

fresh recru its to the powers of darkness who were

watching their prey in secret

Ought he not rather to p lace within the reach of

a l l mankind this truth,which h itherto had remained

the privilege of a few sanctuaries and in itiates,to

Open every heart to receive it,unti l the time Should

be ripe for i t to penetrate the mind by inner reve

lation and science,i .e. to preach the kingdom of

Heaven to th e poor and lowly,substitute the reign

of Grace for that of the Law,transform humanity

from its very base by regeneration of souls

But to Whom would v ictory belong,to Satan or

to God ? To the Spir it of evi l who reigns with the

formidable powers of earth,or to the divine spiri t

who is enthroned above the invis ible regions of

heaven,and sleeps in the heart of man j ust as the

spark l ies h idden in the fl int ? What would be the

fate of the prophet who shou ld dare to tear away

the vei l from the temple and lay bare the emptiness

of the sanctuary,braving at once H erod and

Caesar

54 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

And yet it must be done ! The inner voice did

not sa y to h im as it did to I saiah !“ Take a large

volume and write therein with a man ’s pen The

voice of God cried out to h im,Rise and speak !

The word o f l ife must be found,the faith which

removes mountains,the strength which shatters the

bu lwarks of evi l .

J esus began fervently to pray . Then a feeling of

uneasiness,an increasing trouble came over h is

soul . He had a feel ing that he was losing the

marvel lous fel ic ity he had participated in,and that

hewa s s inking into a very pit of darkness . A black,

dense mist came over him , peopled with phantoms

of every kind . He recognised his brothers,his

Essene masters,his mother . One after the other

they said to him !“ I t is madness for you to wish

for what can never be ! You know not what is

before you ! Renounce it al l ! ” The invincible

inner voice rep lied ! “ I must go on !” Thus he

struggled for a series of days and nights, at times

standing, then again on his knees or prostrate on

the ground . The abyss in which he was sinking

became deeper and deeper,and thicker and thicker

the enveloping mist . He felt as though he were

approaching something inexpressibly terrib le .

Finally,he entered that state of lucid ecstasy in

which the very depth of consciousness awakens,

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50 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

able,thy name is Satan . Appear in thy earth ly

form . The figure of a crowned monarch

appeared,enthroned in the clouds . Around his

imperial head shone a faint,pale halo . The sombre

figure stood out against a blood-red n imbus,with its

pal l id,ghastly countenance

,and eyes flashing forth a

cold steely l ight . He said ! “ I am Caesar . Only

bow down before me,and I wil l give thee al l these

kingdoms .” J esus said to h im !“ Get thee beh ind

me,tempter ! I t is written ! Thou shalt worship

only the Lord thy God .

” Immediately the vis ion

faded away .

Finding himself alone in the cave of Engaddi,J esus said ! “ By what s ign shal l I overcome the

powers of the earth By the S ign of the Son

of Man,

” said a voice from above . “ Show me this

sign,

” said J esu s .

Away on the horizon appeared a sh ining con

stellat ion,four stars in the sign of a cross . The

Gal i lean recognised the S ign of ancient in itiat ions

familiar to Egypt and preserved by the Essenes .

When the world was young,the sons of Ja phet

had worshipped it as the S ign of earth ly and

heavenly fire,the sign of Life with al l its j oys

,of

Love with al l its wonders . Later the Egyptian

init iates had seen In i t the symbol of the great

mystery,Trin ity dominated by Unity

,the image of

THE ESSENES 57

the sacrifice of the ineffable Being who breaks h im

self in order to manifest himself in the un iverse .

Symbol at once of l ife,death

,and resurrect ion

,i t

covered innumerab le hypogea,temples and tombs .

The bri l l iant cross grew larger and came

nearer,as though attracted by the heart of the

Seer . The four l iving stars shone forth l ike suns

of l ight and glory .

“ Behold the magic S ign of Life

and Immortal ity ! said the heavenly voice “ I n

ancient t imes it was in the possess ion of men,now

it is l ost . Wilt thou restore it to them I wil l

said J esus . “Then look, behold thy dest iny

Sudden ly the four stars disappeared . I t was

n ight ; loud thunderclaps shook the mountains to

their foundations ; whilst from the depths of the

Dead Sea emerged a dark,sombre mountain

,sur

mounted with a black cross . On it was nai led a

man in the agony of death . The mountain was

covered with a demon - stricken mob,crying out in

hell ish j eers I f thou art the Mess iah,save thysel f

The Seer opened wide h is eyes, then fel l back, cold

drops of perspiration streaming down his face,for

this crucified man was h imself . He had under

stood . I n order to overcome,he must identify

himself with this terror-str icken image,summoned

up by himself,and placed there before h im like an

evi l-boding omen . Wavering in his uncertainty as

58 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

to the emptiness of infinite space,J esus fel t at once

the tortures of the crucified one,the insults of men

,

and the profound si lence of heaven .

“Thou

canst take i t or rej ect it,

” said the angelic voice .

The vision of the cross-phantom and the crucified

victim began to grow dim,when of a sudden J esus

sawonce more by h is s ide the sick wretches of thepool of Siloam

,and behind them myriads of de

sp a iring souls murmuring , with clasped hands“Without thee we are lost save us

,thou who

knowest how to love I” Then the Gal i lean S lowly

arose,and with outstretched arms

,in an attitude of

supreme love,exclaimed Minebe the cross Let

but the world be saved Immediately J esus felt a

mighty rending asunder throughout h is frame, and

a terrib le groan escaped his l ips . At the same

time the dark,sombre mountai n and the cross

faded away,a gentle radiant beam of divine fel icity

entered the soul of the Seer,and from the heights

of h eaven a voice descended,saying

,

“ Satan is no

longer master ! Death is overthrown ! Glory to

the Son of Man Glory to the Son of God

When J esus awoke from this vis ion noth ing

around h im had changed ; the r ising sun cast h is

golden beams on the s ides of the cave of Enga ddi

sooth ing dewdrops—veritable tears of angel ic love—bathed his bru ised feet, and l ight clouds of mist

THE ESSENES 59

were r is ing from the Red Sea . But he was no

longer the same . A definit e event had taken place

in the fathomless depths of his consciousness,he

had solved the prob lem of li fe and had won peace,

the great certainty had entered h is soul . From the

rej ect ion of h is earthly being,which he had trodden

under foot and cast into the pit,a new conscious

ness had arisen in radiant maj esty . He knew

he had become the Messiah by an irrevocable act

of h is wi ll .

Soon after,he once more descended to the vi l lage

of the Essenes, where he learned that John the

Baptist had j ust been seized by Antipas and im

prisoned in the fortress of Ma kerous. Far from

showing fear at th is omen,he sawtherein a s ign

that the time was r ipe and that he in h is turn must

act . Accordingly, he gave out to the Essenes that

he was about to preach in Gali lee,

“ the Gospel o f

the kingdom of Heaven .

” That meant,to br ing

the great mysteries within reach of the poor and

lowly,to translate for them the doctrine of the

in itiates . Like boldness had never been seen since

the days when Cakia Moun i , the last Buddha,

moved by mighty compassion , had preached on the

banks of the Ganges . The same subl ime com

passion for humanity animated J esus . To it he

j oined inner i l lumination,capacity for loving

,a

60 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

grandeur of faith and energy of action belonging

to himself alone. From the abyss of death which

he had fathomed,and whose b itterness he had

tasted beforehand,he brought both hope and l ife

for al l h is brethren .

CHAPTER IV

THE PUBL I C L I FE OF JESUS-“ POPULAR AND

ESOTERIC INSTRUCTION—M I RACLES—APOSTLESWOMEN

H ITHERTO I have endeavoured to i l luminate with

its own l ight that port ion of the l ife of J esus wh ich

the Gospe ls have left in comparat ive obscurity,or

wrapped around with the vei l of legend . I have

related by what kind of in itiation and development

of sou l and thought the great Nazarean attained to

the Messianic consciousness . I n a word,I have

endeavoured to reconstruct the inner genes is of the

Christ . The rest of my task wil l be al l the easier

if th is genes is be once acknowledged . The publ ic

l i fe of J esus has been related in the Gospels . These

narratives contain divergences and contradictions

as wel l as addit ions . The legend which over l ies or

exaggerates certain mysteries may sti l l be traced

here and there,but from the whole there is set free

such a unity o f thought and action,so powerfu l

and original a character,that we invincibly feel our

selves in the presence of real ity and of l ife . These

62 JESU S , THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

i n imitable stories cannot be reconstructed ; their

ch i ldl ike simpl ic ity and symbol ical beauty tel l u s

more than any amplificat ions can do . But what

is needed nowadays is the i llumination of the rOle

of J esus by esoter ic tradit ions and truths,showing

the s ignification and bearing of h is double teaching .

What were these good tidings of which hewa s thebearer , th is already famous Essene who had now

returned from the shores of the Dead Sea to his

native Gal i lee to preach there the Gospel o f the

Kingdom ? How was he to change the face of the

world ? The thoughts of the prOp ets had j ust

found their real isat ion in h im . Strong in the

entire gift of his very being,he now came to share

with men th is kingdom of heaven which he had

won in meditat ion and strife,in torments of pain

and boundless j oy . He came to rend asunder the

vei l wh ich the anc ient re l igion of Moses had cast

over the future beyond the tomb . He came to

sa y !“ Bel ieve

,love, act, and let hOp e be the sou l

of your deeds . Beyond th is earth there i s a wor ld

of souls,a more perfect l i fe . This I know

,for I

come therefrom ; th ither will I lead you . But

mere aspiration for that world wil l not suffice . To

attain i t you must begin by realising it here below,

first i n yourse lves,afterwards in humanity. By

what means By Love and active Charity.

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64 J ESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

burden is l ight .” 1 He divined the innate thoughts

of men,who in troub le and confusion recogn ised

the Master . At times,he recognised in unbel ief

uprightness of heart . When Nathaniel sa id,

“ Can

anything good come out of Nazareth ? J esus

rep l ied ! “ Behold an I srae l ite indeed,in whom is

no guile ! ” 2 From his adepts he required neither

oaths no r profession of faith ; simply love and

bel ief in h imself . He put into practice the com

mon possession of goods as a principle of fratern ity

among his own .

J esus thus began to real ise,with in h is smal l

group of fol lowers,the Kingdom of Heaven he

wished to estab l ish on earth . The Sermon on the

Mount offers us an image of this kingdom already

formed in germ,along with a re’sume

’ of the popular

tea ching

i

of J esus . He is seated on the top of a

h i l l ; the future ini t iates are grouped at his feet ;farther down the slope the eager crowd drinks in

the words which fal l from his mouth . What is

the doctrine of the new teacher ? Fast ing or

maceration or public penance ? No ; he says ,“ Blessed are the poor in spirit ! for theirs is the

kingdom of heaven . Blessed are they that mourn

for they shal l be comforted .

” Then he unrol l s

in ascending order the four final beatitudes,the

1 Ma tthew x i! 2 8 .

2 John i . 47 .

THE PUBLIC LI FE OF J ESUS 65

marvellous power of humil ity,of sorrow for others

,

of the inner goodness of the heart and of hunger

and th irst after righteousness . Then,in glow

ing colours he depicts the active and triumphant

virtues,compassion

,purity of heart

,militant kind

ness,and final ly martyrdom for righteousness’ sake .

“ Blessed are the pure in heart ! for they shal l see

God .

” Like the sound of a golden bel l,th is pro

mise gives h is l isteners a faint gl impse of the starry

heavens above the Master ’s head . Then they see

the humble virtues,no longer in the guise of poor

emaciated women in grey penitents’ robes,but

transformed into beatitudes,into virgins of l igh t

whose brightness effaces the sp lendour of the

li l ies and the glory of So lomon . With the gent le

breath of their palm leaves they scatter over these

thirsting sou ls the fragrant perfumes of the heaven ly

kingdom .

The wonder is that th is kingdom expands,not

in the distant heavens,but in the hearts of the

l isteners . They exchange looks of astonishment

with one another ; these poor in sp irit have, of a

sudden,become so rich . Mightier than Moses

,

the soul ’s magic ian has struck thei r hearts,from

which rushes up an immortal spring of l ife . His

teach ing to the people may be summed up in the

sentence ! The kingdom of heaven is with in you !E

66 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

Now that he lays before them the means necessary

to attain to th is unheard-of happiness,they are

no longer aston ished at the extraordinary th ings

he asks of them ! to kil l even the desire for evi l ,to forgive offences

,to love their enemies . So

powerfu l i s th e stream of love with wh ich h is

heart overflows,that he carr ies them away along

the current . I n h is presence they find everyth ing

easy . Mighty the novelty, singular the boldness

o f such teach ing . The Gali lean prophet sets the

inner l ife of the soul above al l outer practices,

the invisible above the vis ible,the Kingdom of

H eaven above the benefits of earth . He com

mands that the choice be made between God and

man . Then , summing up his doctrine , he says,“ Love your neighbour as yourself ! Be ye

perfect even as your Father wh ich is in heaven

is perfect ! ” Thus,in popu lar form

,he afforded

a glimpse of the whole profundity of science and

moral s . For the supreme commandment of the

initiation i s to reproduce divine perfection in the

perfecting of the soul,and the secret of science

l ies in the chain of analogy and correspondences,

uniting in ever-enlarging circles the particular to

the universal,the finite to the infinite .

I f such was the pub lic and purely moral teaching

of J esus,i t i s evident that in addit ion he gave

ESOTERIC INSTRUCTION 67

private instruct ion to his disciples,paral lel with

and explanatory of the former,showing its inner

mean ing and penetrating to the very depths of the

spir itual truth he held of the esoteric traditions

of the Essenes and of h is own existence . As th is

tradition was violent ly crushed by the Church

from the second century onwards,the maj ority

of theologians no longer knew the real bearing

of the Christ’s words,with their sometimes double

and tr ip le mean ings,and sawnone but the pri

mary and l itera l s ignification . For those who

deeply studied the doctrine of the mysteries in

I ndia,Egypt

,and Greece

,the esoter i c though

of the Christ an imates not merely his sl ightest

word,but every act of h is l i fe . Dimly perceptible

in the three Synoptics,i t sp rings into complete

evidence in the Gospel of J ohn . Here may be

stated an instance touching an essential point of

the doctrine

J esus happens to be passing by J erusalem . He

is not yet preaching in the temple,though he

heals the s ick and gives instruction to his friends .

The work of love must prepare the ground into

which the fruitful seed shal l fal l . Nicodemus,a

learned Phari see,had heard of the new prophet .

Fi l led with curiosity,though unwil l ing to com

promise h imself in the eyes of h is sect,he re

68 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

quests with the Gali lean a secret interview,which

i s granted . The Pharisee cal ls at h is dwel l ing hynight and says to

'

him “ Rabbi,we know that thou

art a teacher come from God ! for no man can

do these miracles that thou doest,except God be

with him . J esus rep l ied ! “ Veri ly, veri ly, I say

unto thee,except a man be born again

,he cannot

see the kingdom of God . Nicodemus asks if i t i s

possib le for a man to enter a second time into h is

mother ’s womb and be born . J esus answered“ Veri ly I say unto thee

,Except a man be born of

water and of the Spir it, he cannot enter into thekingdom of God .

” 1

Under thi s evidently symbolical form,J esus sums

up the ancient doctrine of regenerat ion already

known in the mysteries of Egypt . To be born

again of water and of the Spir it, to be baptized

by water and by fire,mark two degrees of in itiat ion

,

two stages of the inner and spir itual development

of man . Water here represents truth perceived in

tellectua lly, i .e. in an abstract and general manner .

I t purifies the sou l and develops its spiritua l germ .

A new birth by the Spirit,or baptism by (heaven ly)

fire,s ign ifies th e assimilat ion of the truth by the

wi l l i n such a way that i t may become the blood

and l i fe,the very sou l of every action . From this

1 John i i i. 5 .

ESOTERIC INSTRUCTION 69

results the complete victory of spirit over matter,

the absolute mastery of the sp iri tual ised soul over .

the body tran sformed into a doci le instrument ;a mastery wh ich awakens it s dormant facu lties

,

opens its inner sense , and gives i t an intuit ive

insight into truth,and a direct act ion of sou l on

soul . This state is equ ivalent to the heavenly one

which J esus Christ cal l ed the kingdom of God .

Baptism by water,or intel lectua l in it iation

,i s a o

cordingly the first step in rebirth ; baptism by

the sp iri t is total rebirth,a transformation of the

sou l by the fire of inte ll igence and wi ll,and

consequently,to a certain extent

,of the elements of

the body—in a word,a radical regeneration . From

th is come the exceptional powers it gives to man .

This is the earthly signification of the eminently

theosophical conversation between Nicodemus and

J esus . There is also a specia l s ignification which

might briefly be cal led the esoteric doctrine con

cerning the constitut ion of man . According to

th is doctrine,man is threefo ld ! body

,soul

,and

spir it . He has an immortal and indivis ible part ,the sp irit a perishable and divisible part

,the body.

The soul which unites the two Shares in the nature

of both . Living organ ism as it i s,i t possesses an

ethereal and fluidic body,S imilar to the material

body,which

,but for th is invis ible double

,would

70 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

have neither life,movement

,nor unity . According

as man obeys the suggestions of the spirit or the

impu lses o f the body,according as he attaches

h imself to the one or the other,the fluidic body

becomes ethereal ised or dul led unifies or becomes

disaggregated . Accordingly, it happens that, after

physica l death,the maj ority of men have to submit

to a second death of the sou l,which consists of

c leansing itself from the impure elements of their

astral body,sometimes even undergoing its s low

decompositi on ; whilst the complete ly regenerated

man,having formed on th is earth hi s sp iritual

body,possesses hi s heaven in himself and enters

the region to which h is affinity attracts h im .

Now water,i n ancient esoterism, symbolises fluidic

matter which is infinite ly transformable, as fire

symbolises the one spirit ! I n speaking of rebirth

by water and spirit,the Christ makes al lus ion to

that double transformation of his sp iritual body,

his fluidic envelope which awaits man after death ,and without which he cannot enter the kingdom

of lofty sou ls and purified spiri ts . For “ that which

i s born of the flesh i s flesh (i .e. chained down and

perishable), and that which is born of the Spirit is

sp irit (i .e. free and immortal). Marvel not that I

sa y unto thee, Ye must be born again . The wind

b loweth where it l isteth,and thou hearest the sound

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7 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

teaching . According to the material istic doctrine ,the soul is an ephemeral and accidental resu ltant o f

the forces of the body in the ordinary spir itual ist

doctrine i t is someth ing abstract,without any con

ceiva ble bond with the body ; in the esoteric doc

tr ine - the only rational one—the phm y

i s a product of the incessant work o f the soul,

which acts upon it by the s imi lar organism of the

astra l body,j ust as the visible universe is only a

dynamism of the infinite Spirit . This i s the reason

J esus gives th is doctrine to Nicodemus as explana

t ion Of the miracles he works . I t may indeed serve

as a key to the occult heal ing art,practised by h im

and by a smal l number of adepts and saints before

as wel l as after Christ . Ordinary medicine combats

the evi l s of the body by acting on the latter . The

adept or saint being a centre of sp ir itua l and fluidic

force,acts directly on the sou l of the patient, and

by his astral on h is physical body . I t is the same

in al l magnetic cures ; J esus operates by means of

forces existing In al l men,but he Operates in large

doses by powerful and concentrated proj ections .

He gives the Scribes and Phar isees his power of

heal ing bodies as a proof of h is power to pardon

and hea l the sou l,his h igher obj ect . The physical

cure thus becomes the counter proof of a moral

cure wh ich permits of h is saying to the man made

M IRACLES 73

Whole,“ Rise and walk ! ” Science of to-day tries

to explain the phenomenon which the ancients and

middle ages cal led “ possess ion ” as being a simple

nervous disorder . The exp lanation is insufficient .

Psychologists who attempt to penetrate more deeply

into the mystery of the soul see therein a duplica

tion of consciousness, an irruption of its latent

part . This question touches that o f the different

p lanes o f the human consciousness,which acts

now on the one now on the other,the changing

play being studied in different somnambulist ic

conditions . I t also touches the sensit ive world .

I n any case, i t i s certain J esus had the faculty

of restor ing equil ibrium in troub led bodies,and

restoring sou ls to their purest consciousness .“Veritab le magic

,

” said Pla tinus,

“ i s love,with

hate its contrary. I t is by love and hate that

magicians act,th rough their phi lters and enchant

ments .” Love in its highest consciousness a nd

supreme power constituted the magic of the

Christ .

Numerous discip les took part in h is inner teach

ing . Sti l l, i n order to give last ing power to the

new religion,there was needed an act ive group of

chosen ones who should become the p i llars of the

Spiritual temple he wished to erect over against the

other hence the insti tution of the apost les . These

74 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N IT IATE

he did not choose from among the Essenes,as he

needed men whose natures were vigorous and fresh

to implant h is rel igion in the very heart of the

people . Two groups of brothers,Simon Peter

and Andrew,the sons of J onas

,on the one hand

,

J ames and J ohn,the sons of Z ebedee, on the other ,

al l four fishermen by occupat ion and belonging to

respectable fami l ies,formed the first apostles . At

the beginning of h is career J esus appears to them

at Capernaum,by the lake of Gennesa reth

,where

they were engaged in their dai ly occupat ion . He

takes up his abode with them and converts the

whole family . Peter and J ohn stand out as pro

minent figures among the twelve . Peter,straight

forward and narrow-minded,easily influenced by

either hOpe or discouragement , but at the same

time a man of action,capable

,by reason of his

energeti c character and absolute faith,of leading

the others . J ohn,of a deep h idden nature

,en

thusia stic to such a degree that J esus cal led him“ the son of thunder

,h is ardent soul always

concentrated on itse l f, by disposit ion melancholy,and given to reveri e

,though subj ect to formidable

outbursts and apocalyptic vis ions . H i s tendernessof soul , sp ite of al l th is, was such as the rest never

suspected and only the Master knew . J ohn alone,S ilent and contemplative

,wil l understand the in

APOSTLES 75

most thought of the Christ. He wi l l be the Evan

gelist of love and divine inte l l igence , the esoteric

apostle p a r ex cellence.

Persuaded by his words,convinced by h is

acts , dominated by h is mighty inte l l igence, and

encirc led in h is magnet ic radiance,the apost le s

fol lowed the Master from town to town . Preach

ing to the populace alternated with secret in

struction as he gradual ly Opened out to them

his thoughts . All the same,he sti l l maintained

profound silence concern ing himse lf,his own

future . He had told them that the kingdom of

heaven was at hand,that the Messiah would

soon come . The apost les were already whisper

ing to one another,I t i s h e ! ” and repeating

it to others . But J esus, with gentle dignity, s imply

cal led h imself “The Son of Man,an expression

the esoteric sign ification of wh ich they did not

yet understand,though

,in hi s mouth

,i t seemed

to mean “ Messenger of suffer ing humanity .

” For

he added,

“ The foxes have their holes,but the

Son of Man hath not where to lay h is head .

”

I t was only in accordance with the popular J ewish

idea that the apostles had hitherto considered the

Messiah,their s imp le hopes conceived of the

kingdom of heaven as being a pol itical govern

ment,of which Jesus would be the crowned king

76 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

and they the ministers . To combat this idea and

radical ly transform it,reveal ing to the apostles

the true Messiah,the Spiritual royalty ; to com

mun ica te to them th is subl ime truth he cal led

the Father,the supreme force he called the Spir it

,

mysteriously uniting a l l souls with the invisible ;to show them by h is word

,l i fe

,and death , a

true Son of God ; to leave them the conviction

that they and al l men were h is brothers and

could rej o in h im i f they wished ; and final ly to

leave them,only after opening to their longing

eyes the whole immens ity of heaven—th is was themighty work J esus had commenced on h is apostles .“Wil l they bel ieve or not ? i s the question of

the drama being played between them and him

self . Another question far more poignant and

terrib le is being asked in the depths of his own

consciousness . To this we shal l soon give our

attention .

For at this hour a wave of j oy overwhelmed

the tragic thought in the consciousness of the

Christ . The tempest has not yet burst over the

lake of Tiber ias . I t is the Gali lean springtime

of the Gospel,the dawn of the kingdom of God

,

the mystic union of the in itiate with his sp ir itua l

fami ly,which fol lows and travel s with him as the

process ion of paranymphs fol lows the bridegroom

woMEN 77

i n the parable . The bel ieving crowd hurries along

in the footsteps of the beloved Master on the

banks of the azure lake enclosed in the glorious

hi l ls as in a golden bowl . They go from the

fragrant banks of Capernaum to B ethsa ida’

s

orange groves and the mountainous Chorazin,

where the lake of Gennesa reth i s bordered by

shady palms . I n th is procession the women have

a place apart . The Master i s everywhere sur

rounded by the mothers or si sters of h is discip les,

by timid virgins,or repentant Magdalenes . Atten

t ive and faithful,impel led by passionate love

,they

scatter along h is path eternal b lossoms of sa d

ness,and hope . They at any-rate need no proof

that he i s the Messiah ! a S ingle look into h is

face is sufficient for them . The wonderfu l fe l icity

emanating from his aura,added to the note of

divine unexpressed suffering they instinct ively feel,

persuades them that he is the Son of God . J esus

had early stifled in h imself the cry of the flesh,

during his stay among the Essenes he had tamed

the m ight of the senses . This had given h im an

empire over souls and the divine power of pardon,

a true angel ic bl iss . H e says to the s inn ingwoman now, with dishevel led hair, kneel ing at the

Master’s feet,over which she pours the preciou s

ointment ! “ Much Shal l be forgiven her, for she

78 J ESUS , THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

has loved much I” Sublime thought, contain ing

an ent ire redemption,for pardon sets free .

The Chr ist is the l iberator and restorer of

women,i n sp ite of St . Paul and the Fathers of

the Church who,by lowering woman to the rOle

of man’s servant,have wrongly interpreted the

Master’s thought . She had been glorified in Vedic

t imes ; Buddha h ad mistrusted her ; the Christ

has raised her by restoring her mission of love

and divination . The init iate Woman represents

the soul of Humanity ; Aisha , as Moses had named

it, i .e. the power of I ntu it ion ; th e loving and

seeing Faculty . The impetuous Mary Magdalene,out of whom

,according to the bibl ica l expression ,

J esus had driven seven devils,became the most

ardent of h is disciples . She it was who first,

St . J ohri te l l s us, saw the divine Master,the

Spiritual Christ risen from the tomb . Legend has

been obst inate ly bent on seeing in the passionate

bel ieving woman the greatest worshipper of J esus,

the heart- init iate, and legend has not been mis

taken,for her h istory represents the whole regene

ration of woman as desired by the Christ .

I t was in the farm of Bethany,near Martha and

Mary Magdalene,that J esus loved to rest from the

labours of his mission,and prepare h imself for

supreme tests . There he lavished h is tenderest

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80 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

burn ing wind of fever and death , passing over

their hearts as over the blighted hil ls of Judaea,

with their vio let cadaverous hues One even ing

a star o f mystery—a tear shone in J esus’ eyes .

A Shudder passed through the frames of the

women,their tears also flowed in si lence . They

were lamenting over h im ; he was lamenting over

a l l mankind

CHAPTER V

STRUGGLE WITH THE PHARISEES—FL IGHT TO

CZESAREA—THE TRANSFIGURATION

TH I S Gali lean Springtime,during wh ich the dawn

of the Kingdom of Heaven seemed to rise upon the

attent ive mult itudes,l asted two years . Now,

how

ever,the sky darkened, sin ister flashes appeared

,

forerunners of catastrophe . The storm burst upon

the smal l family at Galilee l ike one of those tem

pests which sweep the lake of Gennesareth,and in

their wi ld fury engu lf the fishermen’

s frai l barques .

J esus was in no way surprised at the consternation

and terror of his discip les,he fu l ly expected it .

I t was impossible that h i s preach ing and increa s

ing popularity should not stir the rel igious autho

rities of the J ews , and j ust as impossible that the

struggle shou ld not be a complete one between

these authorities and h imself . On the contrary,

from th is confl ict alone cou ld l ight flash forth .

At the t ime of J esus the Pharisees formed a com

pact body of six thousand men . Their name

Perishin means “ separate ” or “ distinguished .

”

8 1 F

8 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

Of a lofty and often heroIc though narrow and

haughty patriotism,they represented the party of

national restoration ; their existence dating back

from the Maccabees . They acknowledged both

an oral and a written tradition . They believed in

angels,a future l ife and resurrect ion

,but the

glimpses o f esoterism which came to them from

Persia they buried beneath the darkness of a gross

material interpretation . Strict observers of the law,

though quite opposed to the spir it of the prophets

who placed re ligion in the love of God and of men,

they made p iety consist o f r ites and ceremonies,

fasts and public penance . On great occasions they

were to be seen in the open streets,their faces

covered with soot,praying aloud with contri te mien

,

and ostentatiously distributing alms . I n contra dis

t inction to al l th i s they lived in luxury,eager ly

intriguing after authority and power . None the

less were they the chiefs of the democratic party,

holding the people under their control .

The Sadducees,on the other hand , represented

the sacerdotal and aristocratic party . They were

composed of fami l ies whose pretension it was to

have exercised priesthood by hereditary right ever

s ince the t ime of David . Extreme in their conser

va tism they rej ected oral tradit ion , accepted noth ing

but the letter of the law,and denied the existence

STRUGGLE WITH THE PHARI SEES 83

of the soul and a future l ife . They ridicu led al ike

the stormy practices of the Pharisees and their

extravagant bel iefs . For them , religion consisted

entire ly in sacerdotal ceremonies . Under the

Seleucides they had deprived the pontifica te of

power,1

a s they were in complete accord with the

pagans,and were even imbued with Greek soph istry

and refined Epicur ism . Under the Maccabees the

Pharisees had been ej ected from the pontifica te ,though

,under Herod and the Romans

,they had

apparent ly regained this posit ion . The Sadducees

were stern and hard-hearted as men,and lovers of

good cheer as priests,possessed of one faith

,that of

their own superior i ty,and of one idea

,the determ i

nation to maintain the power tradit ion had handed

down to them .

I n such a religion what could J esus find, J esus

the in it iate,inheritor of the prophets

,the Seer of

Engaddi , seeking in social order the image of the

divine,in which j ust ice reigns over l ife

,science

over j ustice,and love and wisdom over al l three ?

I n the temple,instead of supreme science and

initiation,he found material ist ic and agnostic

ignorance,play ing on religion as on a power-givi ng

instrument,in other words

,priestly imposture .

I n schools and synagogues,instead of the bread

of life,and the dew from heaven fal l ing upon men ’s

84 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

hearts,he saw an interested moral ity under the

veneer of formal worsh ip,i .e. hypocrisy . Far

above,enthroned in a n imbus of glory

,sa t almighty

Caesar,the apotheos is of evi l and the de ifica tion of

matter,the sole god of the then world

,on ly possible

master of the Sadducees and Pharisees,whether

they wished it so or not . I n adopting the idea

from Persian esoterism as did the prophets,was

J esus wrong in naming th is re ign the domin ion of

Satan or Ahrima nes,i .e. the ru le of matter over

sp irit,in place of wh ich he wished to subst itute

that of spirit over matter ? Like al l great reformers,

he attacked not men,who as exceptions

,might be

excel lent,but doctrines and inst itutions which mould

the maj ority of mankind . The chal lenge must be

del ivered,and war declared against the existing

powers .

The struggle began in the synagogues of Gal i lee

and continued beneath the porticoes of the temple

at J erusalem,to wh ich J esus made lengthened vi sits

,

preach ing and replying to his opponents . I n th is

as throughout h is who le career,he acted with that

mixture of prudence and boldness,meditative t e

serve and impetuous action,which character i sed

h is wonderfu lly wel l-balanced nature . He did not

take the offensive against h is opponents,but waited

and repl ied to their attack,which never tarried,

STRUGGLE WITH THE PHARI SEES 85

for,from the very beginning of his ministry

,the

Pharisees had been j ea lous of h im by reason of

h is popularity and h is heal ing of the S ick . They

quIckly suspected him to be their most dangerous

enemy. Accosting him with that mocking urbanity,

that cunning malevolence,vei led beneath a mask

of hypocritical gentleness,in which they were past

masters,in their rOle as learned doctors and men

of importance and authority, they asked what

reasons he had for having deal ings with publ icans

and sinners ? Why did h is discip les dare to pluck

ears of corn on the Sabbath day ? Such conduct

constituted a grave violation of their regulations .

With magnanimous gentleness , J esus repl ied in

words at once tender and courteous . He tried

on them his gospel of love,spoke of the love of

God,who rej oices more over one repentant S inner

than over many j ust persons . He related to them

the parables of the lost sheep and of the prodigal

son . I n embarrassed astonishment they held their

peace . Uniting again , they returned to the charge,reproaching him for heal ing the s ick on the Sabbath

day .

“ Hypocrites ! ” repl ied J esus, a flash of in

d ignation i l lumin ing h is eyes,“ do not you on the

Sabbath day remove th e chain from your own

oxen’s neck and lead them away to the watering

trough ? May not therefore the daughter of Abra

86 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

ham be del ivered th is same day from the chains

of Satan ? No longer knowing what to rep ly,

the Pharisees accused h im of casting out devi ls

in the name of Beelzebub . With qu ite as much

wit as logical acumen , J esus rep lied that the devi l

does not cast h imself out,adding that S in against

the Son of Man wi l l be forgiven,but not sin against

the Holy Ghost,s ignifying thereby that he attached

S l ight importance to insu lts against h imself per

sona lly , but that a denia l of the Good and the True,when once established, constitutes intel lectual per

versi ty the supreme vice and an irremediable evi l .

This was a dec larat ion of war . He was cal led

Blasphemer ! Agent of Beelzebub ! which accusa

tions he answered by the expressions Hypocrites

Generation of vipers From this t ime the struggle

continual ly increased in bitterness . J esus gave evi

dence of a close incis ive logic,his words lashed l ike

whips and pierced l ike arrows . He had changed

tactics ; instead of defending h imse lf, he attacked

and rep l ied to charges by other charges more

vigorous sti l l,showing no pi ty for hypocr isy

,the

one vice at the root of al l others . “Why trans

gress ye the law of God by reason of your tradi

t ions ? God commanded , Honour thy father and

thy mother ; you dispense with honouring parents,if,as alternative

,money flows into the temple .

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88 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

every turn . Worked upon and excited by them ,

the maj ori ty of the peop le began to turn away from

J esus when they saw that he was not restoring the

kingdom of I srae l . Everywhere,even in the smallest

of hamlets , he met suspicious and wily counten

a nces, sp ies , and treacherous em issar ies to track

and dishearten him . Some came and said to him ,

Depart from here,for Herod (Antipas) i s bent on

ki l l ing thee . He replied proudly,

“ Go tel l that

fox ; i t cannot be that a prophet die out of J eru

salem ! Nevertheless,he wa s often obliged to

cross the sea of Tiberias and take refuge on the

eastern bank in order to escape these snares .

Nowhere was he now free from danger . Meanwhile

J ohn the Bapti st wa s put to death by order ofAntipas in the fortress of Ma kerous.

.It i s said

that Hannibal,on seeing the head o f his brother

Hasdrubal,ki l led by the Romans

,exclaimed

“ Now I recogn ise the fate of Carthage.” J esus

cou ld recognise h is own fate in the death of h is

precursor . He had had no doubt of this ever

s ince h is vision at Engaddi ; had begun his work,knowing the inevitable end , and yet th is news,when brought by the sorrow-stricken disciples of

the prophet of the W i lderness,struck J esus as a

death-warning . He exclaimed ! “ They did not

recogn ise him,but have done with h im as they

FLIGHT TO CE SAREA 89

wished,thus shal l th e Son of Man suffer at their

hands .”

The twelve were troubled and anxious ; J esus

was hesitat ing on his pathway . He did not wish

to le t himself be taken,but rather

,once his work

finished,to offer h imse lf of h is own free wi l l

,and

die as a prophet at the hour he himself should

choose . Already hunted down during the whole

o f the past year,accustomed to escape from the

enemy by making marches and counter-marches,

disheartened with the people,whose apathy

,after

days of enthusiasm,he was keenly consciou s of,

J esus determined once more to escape with h is

discip les . Reaching the summit of a mountain,he

turned round to cast one final l ingering look on his

beloved lake,on whose banks he had wished the

dawn of the Kingdom of Heaven to shine. His

eyes wandered over those towns lying by the water

side,or ris ing tier upon tier along the mountain-s ide

,

half buried in their verdant oases,and now glittering

with white beneath the golden vei l of twil ight ; those

beloved towns in which he had sown the words of

l ife,and which now abandoned him . A presenti

ment of the future came over him . With prophet ic

vis ion he sawth is sp lendid country changed into awilderness beneath the vengefu l hand of I shmael

,

and those words,devo id of anger, though ful l of

90 J ESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

sorrow and bitterness,fel l from h is l ips ! “Woe

unto thee, Capernaum woe unto thee Chorazin ;woe unto thee Bethsaida Then turning towards

the heathen world,accompanied by h is disciples

,

he took the path leading along the Jordan val ley

from Gadara to Caesarea Phil ipp i .

Sad and long was the route of the fugitive band

across the mighty plain of reeds and the marshes of

the upper J ordan under the burning Syrian sun .

The nights were passed beneath the tents of shep

herds,or with such Essenes as were l iving in the

smal l hamlets of this abandoned country . The

anxious d isciples proceeded with downcast eyes ;the master, fi l led with so rrow, remained plunged

in silent meditation . He was reflecting on the im

poss ib il ity of the triumph of h is doctrine by preach

ing to the peop le,and on the unremitting plott ings

of h is enemies . The final struggle was becoming

imminent,he had reached a terrible difficulty how

was he to escape ? On the other hand , his thoughts

dwel t with anxiety on h is spir itual family now

scattered abroad,and especially on the twelve

apostles,who , in fa ith and trust, had left every

thing—family,profession

,and fortune—to fol low

him,and who

,in sp ite of al l

,would soon be heart

broken and deceived in their‘mighty hope of a

triumphant Messiah . Could he leave them to

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9 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

felt an immense j oy . So his discip les had under

stood h im ; he wou ld l ive in them,and the bond

between heaven and earth would be re-established .

J esus said to Peter,

“ Happy art thou,Simon

Barj ona,for flesh and blood hath not revealed it

unto thee,but my father which i s in heaven .

” By

this reply J esus gives Peter to understand that he

considers him as an initiate,as he h imself was

,and

also possessed of a deep insight into truth . This i s

the true,th e on ly revelat ion

,th is is the sto ne on

which the Christ wishes to bui ld h is Church,and

against which the gates of hel l shal l not prevai l .

J esus rel ies on the Apost le Peter,only in so far as

he shal l have th is intuition . A moment later,the

apostle reverting to the ordinary,fear-stri cken

Peter,the Master treats h im in quite a different

fash ion . J esus had announced to h is disciples that

he was about to be put to death at J erusalem,and

Peter protested with the words,

“ Be it far from

thee,Lord

,th is shal l not be unto thee ! ” But

Jesus,as though seeing a temptat ion of the flesh in

th is impulse of sympathy, attempting to shake h is

mighty resolution , turned sharply round to the

apost le and said ,“ Get thee beh ind me

,Sata n

,

thou ar t an offence unto me,for thou savourest

not the things that be of God , but those that be

of men (Matt . xvi . 2 1 And the master ’s im

FLI GHT TO CE SAREA 93

p erious gesture seemed to say, Forward through

the desert I ntimidated by h is solemn voice and

stern look,the apostles bowed thei r heads in s i lence

,

and resumed their j ourney over the stone h il ls of

the Gaulon itide . This fl ight, by which J esus brought

h is discip les out o f I sra el,resembled a march towards

the problem of h is Messianic destiny,the key to

which he was seeking.

They reached the gates of Caesarea . That town ,which had become pagan since the time o f Antiochus

the Great, was she ltered within a verdant oasis near

the Jordan’s source,at the foot of Hermon

’

s snowy

peaks . I t had its amphi theatre , and was resplendent

with cost ly palaces and Grecian temples . J esus

crossed it,and continued to the spot at which the

Jordan in a clear bubb ling stream issues from a

mountain cavern,l ike the stream of l ife spr inging

from the profound bosom of nature . There was

erected a small temple dedicated to Pan ; and in

the grotto,on the banks of the stream

,numerous

columns,marble nymphs

,and pagan divinities .

The J ews held in horror these tokens of idolatrous

worship,J esus contemplated them with an indulgent

smile . I n them he recogn ised the imperfect effigies

of the divine beauty , whose radiant models he bore

within his own sou l . He had not come to utter male

dictions against paganism,but to transform it ; not

94 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

to scatter anathema on earth and its mysterious

powers, but to point out to it the way to heaven .

His heart was large enough,and his doctrine suf

fic iently vast, to embrace al l people, and to say

to men of every religion ! “ Raise your heads, and

learn that you all have one same father.” And

yet,there he was at the extreme l imit of I srael

,

hunted like a wild beast,stifled between two peoples

who rej ected h im alike . I n front,the heathens

who did not yet understand h im,and on whom

his words fel l powerless ; beh ind, the J ews, a

people which stoned h is prophets,and stopped its

ea rs,

. SO as not to hear its Messiah ; whilst al l the

time the Pharisees and Sadducees were watch ing

their prey. What superhuman courage,what un

precedented power of action would be needed to

crush al l these obstacles,to penetrate beyond

heathen idolatry and J ewish harshness right to

the heart of that suffering human ity he loved with

every fibre of his being, and induce it to l isten to

his resurrection message ! Then suddenly his

mind went back to bygone times,descending once

again the stream of the J ordan,I srael’s sacre

‘d river,

passing from the temple of Pan to that of J eru

salem,measuring th e d istance which separated

ancient paganism from the universa l prOphetic

thought,and

,regaining its source

,as an eagle its

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96 JESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

diaphanous,appear in the transparent penumbra of

th e Eastern n ight . His face shone l ike the sun ,and his garments became bri ll iant as the l ight ;at his side appeared two figures

,which they took

for those of Moses and Elij ah . As,trembl ing

,

they emerged from thei r strange prostration,which

seemed to them at once a profounder sleep and a

more intense waking state,they saw the Master

alone by their s ide,restoring them to fu l l con

sc iousness by his touch . The tra nsfigured Christ

they had contemplated in th is dream was never

effaced from their memory (Matt . xvi i . 1

But what had J esus h imself seen and passed

through during that n ight which preceded the most

decis ive act of h is prophetic career ? A gradual

effacing of earthly th ings,beneath the ardour of

prayer, a rapturous ascent from sphere to sphere ,he seemed by degrees to be returning along the

depths of his consciousness into some previous

existence,an a ltogether spiritual and divine one .

Far in the distance were suns,worlgls, earths ,

vortices of suffering incarnations ; now he was

conscious of one homogeneous atmosphere,one

fluid substance,one intel ligent l ight . W i thin this

radiance legions of celestia l beings form a moving

vault,a firmament of ethereal bodies, white as

snow,whence beam forth gentle flashes of l ight .

THE TRANSFIGURATION 97

On the shining cloud where he was stand ing S ix

men in priestly robes,and mighty of stature

,raise

aloft,with j o ined hands

,a dazzling Chal ice . These

are the six Messiahs who have already appeared on

earth the seventh is h imself,and th is Cup signifies

the Sacrifice he must undergo,by incarnating him

self on earth in h is turn . Beneath the cloud is

heard the roar of thunder ; there yawns a b lack

abyss ; the circ le of generat ions , the p it of l ife and

death,the terrestrial hell . The Sons of God with

suppl iant gesture raise the Cup,the very firm ament

of heaven is s i lent,as J esus

,i n token of assent

,

extends his arms in the form of a cross as though

he wished to embrace the whole un iverse . Then

the Sons of God bow down their face s to the earth,

a band of female angels , with outspread wings and

downcast eyes,carry off the incandescent Chal ice

towards the vault of l ight . The hosa nna resounds,

with ineffably melodious strains,throughout the

heavens . But he,without even l istening to it

,

p lunges into the p it .

This 18 what had taken place long ago among

the Essenes, in the bosom of the Father, where

the mysterious rites of Eternal Love are cele

bra ted and the revo lutions of the conste llat ion s

pass,l ight a s waves . This i s what he had sworn

to accompl ish,thi s i s the reason of h is birth and

G

98 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

the purpose of his past struggles . And now,once

more th is mighty oath bound him down at the

end of h is task .

Terr ible oath,dreaded chal ice St i l l

,it must be

drained to the dregs . After al l th is rapturous bl iss

he awoke in the depths of the pit,on the brink of

martyrdom . No further doubt was poss ib le ; the

t ime was at hand . Heaven had Spoken and Earth

cried aloud for help .

Retracing h is steps,J esus once again descended

the val ley of the J ordan,and proceeded by slow

stages along the road to J erusalem .

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1 00 JESUS , THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

beneath the vau lt and pursued h im like the voice

of Destiny,se izing its prey ! Hosanna to the son

of David I”

By this solemn entrance into the city,J esus

pub licly declared to the rel igious authorities of

J erusalem,that he took upon h imsel f the r01e of

the Messiah,with al l its consequences . The fol low

ing morning he appeared in the temple,in the

Genti les’ Court,and, advancing towards the cattle

dealers and -money-changers who by usury and

the deafening click of money profaned the parvise

of the holy place,he uttered against them I saiah ’s

words ! “ I t i s written,My house Shal l be called

the house of prayer,but ye have made it a den of

thi eves .” The dealers fled , carrying off their tables

and money-bags,int imidated by the partisans of

the prophet who formed a so l id rampart around

him,and even more terrified by h is imperious

gesture and flashing look . The astonished priests

marve l led at this boldness and manifestation of

power . A deputation from th e Sanhedrim came

demanding an explanat ion,with the words ! “ By

what authority doest thou these things To th is

insidious question J esus,as was his wont

,repl ied

by a question no less embarrassing for h is enemies .

Whence was the baptism of John,from heaven

or of men ? ” Had the Pharisees repli ed ! “ From

FINAL JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM 1 0 1

heaven,J esus would have said ! “Then why did

you not bel ieve him ? ” Had they said “ From

men , they would have had to consider th e anger

of the people who looked upon J ohn the Baptist

as a prophet . Accord ingly,they repl ied ! “We

cannot tel l .” “Neither tel l I you,said J esus

,

“ by

what authority I do these th ings .” Once the blow

warded off,however

,he assumed the offens ive and

added ! “ Veri ly I sa y unto you , the pub l icans

and harlots go into the kingdom of God before

you . Then in a parable,he compared them to

the wicked husbandman , who kil ls h is master’s

son so as to inher it the vineyard ; and he cal led

himse lf ! “ the stone which had become the head

of the corner,and which should grind into powder

whomsoever it should fal l upon . These acts and

words show that in making th is final j ourney to

I srael’s cap ital , J esus wished to cut off a l l retreat .

His enemies had long been in possess ion of the

two great keys of accusation necessary for h is

ruin ! his threats against the temple, and the

affirmation that he was the Messiah . These

last attacks exasperated his enemies ; from that

moment his death,determined upon by the au

thorities, was only a matter of t ime . Since h is

entrance into J erusalem,the most influential

members of the Sanhedrim,Scribes and Pharisees

,

1 02 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

reconci led in common hatred against J esus,had

come to an understanding on the death of th is“ seducer of the people .” They hesitated on ly on

the matter of seizing him in public,for they dreaded

a ris ing of the people . On different occas ions

already,officials sent against h im had returned

,

won over by h is words,or alarmed at the mult i

tudes of people . Often had the soldiers of the

temple seen h im disappear from their midst in

mysterious fashion . So also had the Emperor

Domitian,fascinated and struck with blindness so

to speak,by the image he wished to condemn

,

seen Apollonius of Tyana disappear from before

the tribunal and from the midst of h is guards !

The struggle between J esus and the priests thus

Continued from day to day with increasing hatred

on their side,and on h is

,an enthusiastic strength

and impetuo sity,given h im by the certainty he

fel t as to the fatal i ssue . This was h is last assau lt

against the powers of the day ; in it he manifested

a mighty energy as wel l as that masculine force

which l ike a coat of mai l c lothed that subl ime

tenderness of his,which might be cal led ! The

Eternal-Feminine of h i s soul . This formidable

combat ended in terrible maledictions against these

debasers of religion “Woe unto you Scribes and

Pharisees,who Shut up the kingdom of heaven

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1 04 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

worth of those who ruled there in . He meant

that fanat ic ism,intolerance

,and hatred were not

sufficient arms against the battle-axes and battering

rams of the Roman Caesar . With the insight of

the initiate which had become more intense through

that clairvoyance given by the approach of death,

he sawthe Judaic pride,the pol icy of their king

,

the whole J ewish h istory,terminate fatal ly in th is

catastrophe . Triumph did not exist there,i t was

rather in the prophetic thought,the universal

rel igion,that invisib le temple which he alone at

that hour had ful l consciousness of . As for the

ancient citade l of Z ion and the temple of stone,he

already saw the angel of destruction standing,sword

in hand,at its doors .

J esus knew that h is hour was nigh,but he did not

wish to fal l into the hands of the Sanhedrim,so he

withdrew to Bethany . As he had a predi lection for

the Mount of Ol ives,he came there a lmost dai ly to

converse with h is discip les . From the summit the

view wa s magnificent . The range of vision em

braces th e rugged mountains of Judaea and Moab ,

with their purplish -blue t ints,whilst away in the

distance could be caught a glimpse of the Dead

Sea,l ike a leaden-hued mirror from whose surface

rise dense sulphurous mists . At the foot of the

mounta in stretched Jerusalem,the Temp l e , and the

FI NAL JOURNEY To J ERUSALEM 1 05

citadel of Z ion towering above all other edifices .

Even in these days,as twil ight descends on the dark,

mysterious gorges of H innom and J ehoshaphat,the

city of David and of the Christ,protected by the

sons of I shmae l,r i ses in imposing maj esty above

these gloomy val leys . I ts cupolas and minaret s

reflect the fading l ight of the heavens and seem to

be ever await ing the angels of j udgment . I t was

there J esus gave the disciples h is final instructions

regarding the future of the religion he had come to

found,and the dest iny of mankind

,thus bequeath ing

them his promise—a t once terrestr ial and divine

intimately wedded with h is esoteric teaching .

Evident ly the writer s of the Synoptic Gospels

have handed down to us the apocalyptic sayings

of J esus amid a confus ion which renders them

almost impenetrable . Their mean ing only begins

to become intel l igibl e in J ohn ’s Gospe l . I f J esus

had real ly bel ieved in h is return on the clouds,

some years after h is death,as is admitted according

to the natural istic interpretation ; or if he had

imagined that the end of the world,and the last

j udgment of men would take place in th is manner,

as orthodox theology bel ieves,he would have been

a very ordinary vis ionary indeed,instead of the

sage initiate,the sublime seer every word of h is

teaching and every action of h is l i fe proclaim him

1 06 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

to have been . I t i s evident that here, especial ly, his

words must be understood in their al legorica l sign ifica tion according to the transcendent symbol ism

of the prophets . J ohn ’s Gospel , the one which has

most fu l ly handed down to us the Master’s esoteric

teaching, forces this interpretat ion , so perfect ly in

accord as it i s with the parabolical gen ius of J esus,when he re lates the Master ’s words ! “ I have yet

many th ings to sa y unto you , but ye cannot bear

them now These things have I spoken unto

you in parables,but the time cometh when I shal l

no more speak unto you in parables,but I shal l

Show you plainly of the Father .”

The solemn promise of Jesus to the apostles

embraces four obj ects,four increas ing spheres of

pla neta ry s a nd cosmic l ife ! the individual psychic

l ife ; the national l i fe of I srael ; the earth ly evolution

and end of humanity as wel l as the divine . Let us

take one by one these four spheres through which

radiates the thought of the Christ before h is martyr

dom,l ike the setting sun

,fi l l ing with its glory the

whole terrestr ia l atmosphere right to the zenith,

before sh ining on other worlds .

1 . Thefirstj udgment s ignifies the ultimate destiny

of the soul after death . Th is is determined by its

own inner nature and the acts of its l ife . I have

already expounded th is doctr ine,with reference to

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1 08 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

among them, &c . , &c .

1 J esus completing this

prophecy exp lains to his discipl es what th i s s ign

shal l be ; the complete unvei l ing of the mysteries

or the coming of the Holy Ghost,whom he also

cal ls the Comforter or “ the sp iri t of Truth which

Shal l lead you into all truth .

” 2 The apostles shal l

have th is revelation beforehand,the mass of

humanity in the course of t ime . But wheneverit takes p lace in an individua l consciousness or

among a group of men,it p ierces through and

through .

“ For as the l ightning cometh out of

the east and shineth even unto the west,so shall

a lso the coming of the Son of man be.

” 3 Thus,

when the central and Spir itual truth is kindled it

i l lumines al l other truths throughout creation .

4 . The la st j udgment signifies the end of the

cosmic evo lution of human ity,or its entrance into

a definitely spir itual state . This i s what Persian

Esoter ism had called the victory of Ormuzd over

the Ahrima nes,or of Sp ir it over Matter . Hindu

Esoterism named it the complete reabsorption of

matter by Spir i t,or the end of a day of Brahma .

After thousands of centuries a period must come

when,through series of births and rebirths

,in

carnations and regenerations , the individuals com

1 Isa ia h lxvi . 1 8 , &c .

2 John x iv. 16—1 7 .

3 M a t thew xx iv. 2 7 .

THE PROM I SE 1 09

posing a humanity shal l have definitely entered

the spiri tual state,or been ann ih ilated as conscious

souls by evil, i .e. by their own passions symbolised by

the fire of Gehenna and gnashing of teeth . Then

shal l appear the S ign of the Son of man in heaven

they shal l see the Son o f man coming in the

clouds . He shal l send his angels with a great

sound of a trumpet,and they shal l gather together

h is e lect from the four Wi nds .” 1 The S on of ma n,a

generic term,here signifies humanity in its perfect

representation,i .e. the sma l l number of those who

have raised themselves to the rank of Sons of God .

h is S ign is the Lamb and the Cross , i .e. Love

and Eternal Life . The Cloud i s the image of the

Mysteries which have“

become translucid,as wel l

a s of the subtle matte r tra nsfigured by the spirit ,of the fluidic substance wh ich is no longer a dense

obscure vei l,but a l ight transparent garment of

the soul,no longer a gross obstacl e

,but an ex

pression of the truth ; no l onger a deceptive

appearance but spir itual truth itse lf,the inner

world instantaneously and directly manifested .

The Angels who gather together the Elect are

glorified spirits,who have themselves sprung from

humanity. The Trump et they sound symbol ises

the l iving word of the Spirit,which lays bare the

1 Ma t thew xxiv. 30, 3 1 .

1 1 0 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

real nature of the soul,and destroys al l lying

appearances of matter .

J esus,feel ing h is end near, thus explained to

his astonished discip les the lofty perspectives

which from bygone t imes had formed part of the

doctrine of the mysteries,but to which each rel i

gious founder has always given personal form and

colour. To engrave these truths on their minds

and facil itate their propagat ion,he summed them

up in such images as were characterised by extreme

boldness a nd inc isive energy . The revea ling image

and speaking symbol formed the un iversal language

of the ancient initiates . Such a language possesses

a communicative virtue,a power of concentration

and duration lacking in the abstract term . I n

using it,J esus merely fol lowed the examp le of

Moses and the prophets . He knew the Idea would

not immediately be understood,but he wished to

impress it in letters of flame in the S imple soul s

of his fo l lowers, leaving to succeeding ages the

task of generating the powers contained in his

word . J esus fee ls himself one with all the

prophets of the earth who had gone before,as he

had done, messengers of Life and of the eternal

Word . I n th is sent iment of un ity and solidarity

with immutable truth,he dared address to h is

affl icted disciples the proud words ! “ Heaven and

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1 1 2 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

nature . When Judas sawthat matters were notproceeding as he wished

,that Jesus and h is

disc iples were compromised,and h imself deceived

in h is hopes,his deception became converted into

a feel ing of rage . The wretch denounced the

man,who

,i n his eyes

,was on ly a false Messiah

who had deceived him . The penetrat ing insight

of J esus told him what was taking place in the

mind of the faith less apost le . He now determined

he would no longer avo id the destiny whose in

extricable fo lds were dai ly tightening around him .

I t was the eve of Easter,so he ordered h is discip les

to prepare the meal at a friend’s house in the

town . He foresaw it would be his last repast ,

and accordingly wished to give it an exceptional

solemnity .

Now we enter upon the final act of the Mes

sia nic drama . I n order to thorough ly understand

the spirit and work of J esus,i t has been necessary

to shed an inner l ight on the first two acts of h is

l ife ! h is initia tion and public career . Subsequently ,the inner drama of his consciousness has been

unfo lded . The final act of h is l ife, or the drama of

the passion,i s the logica l consequence of the two

preceding . Since i t is known to all, it explains

itsel f,for the pecul iarity of the subl ime is that it i s

at once simp le , grandiose, and clear . The drama

THE SUPPER 1 1 3

of the passion has powerful ly contributed to the

insti tution of Chri stian ity . I t has drawn tears from

every human being possessed of a heart,and con

verted mi l l ion s of souls . Throughout al l these

scenes the gospe ls are of incomparab le beauty .

Even John descends from his lofty heights,and

his circumstantiated account assumes a character of

poignant truth such as an eye-witness a lone could

give . Every one may l ive again i n h imself the

divine drama,no one could recreate it . And yet,

in ending my task,I must concentrate the rays of

esoteric tradition on the three essential events by

which the l i fe of the divine Master came to an end

the Holy Supper,the tria l o f the Messiah

,and the

Resurrection . I f l ight is thrown on these points,it wil l be reflected backwards on the whole career

of the Christ,and forwards on the succeeding

history of Christian ity .

The twelve,forming th irteen with the Master,

had met in the upper room of a house in J erusalem .

The unknown friend,J esus ’ host

,had covered the

floor with a rich carpet . I n or iental fash ion the

Master and h is disciples recl ined on four large

divans in the form of triclinia arranged around

the table . When the paschal lamb,and the golden

chalice lent by the fri end had been brought into

the room,and the vases fi l led with wine

,J esus

,

H

1 1 4 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITI ATE

seated between John and Peter,said ! “With

desire I have desired to eat this passover with

you before I suffer ! For I sa y unto you, I wil l

not any more eat thereof,unt i l i t b e fulfi l led i n

the kingdom of God .

” 1 Thereupon their counte

nances became overshadowed ; s i lence fi l l ed the

air . “ The disciple whom Jesus loved,

” who alone

d ivined everything,bowed his head on the Master’s

breast . AS was usual among the J ews at th e

Easter meal,not a word was uttered as they ate

the bitter herbs and charoset p laced before them .

Finally J e sus took bread,and after giving thanks

,

he brake it and distributed unto them,saying

This is my body wh ich i s g iven for you ! this

do in remembrance of me .” He also took the

cup,saying ! “ This cup is the new testament in

my blood, which is shed for you .

” 2

Such i s the insti tut ion of the Supper in al l its

s impl ic ity. I t has a far wider s ign ification than

i s generally granted or known,for not only is the

mystical and symbolic act the conclusion and

re’

sume’ of the entire teaching of the Christ

,i t i s

the consecration and rej uvenation of a very

ancient symbol of initiation . Among the in itiates

of Egypt and Chaldea,as among the prophets

and Essenes,the fraternal agape marked the first

1 Luke x x n. 1 5 , 16.

2 Luke x x n . 19.

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1 1 6 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

hi s wel l-beloved disciples with the ineffable

tenderness of a last farewell .

Do the apost le s see and understand this re

deeming , world-embrac ing thought ? I t sh ines in

the Master’s profound though sorrowfu l glance,

as he turns from the “ disc iple he loved to the

one about to betray h im . No,they do not yet

understand ; they seem to breathe with difficulty,as though under the power of some frightfu l

dream ; a kind of heavy, ruddy vapour floats in

the air,and they wonder as to the source of that

strange radiance about the Christ head . When,

final ly,J esus tel l s them that he is about to spend

the night in prayer on the Mount of Ol ives,and

,

as he rises,requests them to follow him

,they

no longer doubt as to what is about to happen .

The night i s past ; the anguish of Gethsemane

at an end . With terrifying clearness he has seen

the infernal circle about to destroy h im grow

less and less . I n the horror of the situation,and

the dreadfu l momentary expectation of being

seized by his enemies,a shudder passed through

his frame ; for a moment h is sou l shrank before

the tortures that awaited him ; drops of b loody

sweat stood on h is brow. Then prayer came to

his aid . Confused cries,torches flashing

TRIAL OF J ESUS 1 1 7

beneath the gloomy ol ive-trees,the clash of arms

,

were so many s igns testifying to the approach of

a band of so ldiers sen t by the Sanhedrim . J udas,

at their head,kisses his Master

, so that they may

recognise the prophet . J esus returns the ki ss with

a look of ineffab le compassion,and says to h im

“ Friend,wherefore art thou come ? ” The effect

of th is gentleness , th is brotherly k iss given in

exchange for the basest treason,will be such on

that heart—notwithstanding its hardness—that, amoment later

,J udas

,overcome with horror and

remorse,wi l l take h i s own li fe . And now,

with

rude,cruel hands

,the so ldiers have seized the

Gal i lean rabbi . After a brief resistance the terri

fied discip les have fled . Peter and John alone

remain at hand,and fo llow the Master to th e

tribunal . Their hearts are well -nigh broken as

they anxious ly await his fate . J esus has now

regained control over h imself ; from that moment

not a s ingle protest or complaint wil l break from

his l ips .

The entire Sanhedrim is hast i ly assembled,and

J esus is brought into thei r presence at midnight,

for the court i s determined to deal promptly with

the dangerous prophet . Pr iests and sa crificers,

turbans on their heads and wearing purple,yellow

and vio let tun ics,are solemnly seated in a semi

1 1 8 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

circle . I n their midst sits Caiaphas,the ch ief

priest,wearing on h is head the “m igbah at

each end of the a re , on two smal l tr ibunes s it the

clerks,one for acquittal

,the other for condemna

t ion ! a dooca tus Dei,a dvoca tus Di a holi . J esus, i n

h is white Essenian robe,stands impressive in the

centre . Officers o f j ust ice,armed with ropes and

thongs,men with bared arms and evil-looking

eyes,stand around . Witnesses for the accusation

alone are present ; there i s not one for the

defence . The high priest, the supreme magistrate,

i s the principal accuser ; the tr ial, apparently a

measure of publ ic safety against a crime or rel i

gions treason,i s in real ity the prevent ive vengeance

of an anxious priesthood wh ich fee ls i ts power in

danger .

Caiaphas rises and accuses J esus of be ing a

seducer of the peop le,a mes it .” A few witnesses

taken at hazard from the crowd give their depositions

,but on ly succeed in contradicting one

another . Final ly, one of them reports the words

of J esus,

“ I can destroy the temple,and bui ld i t

again in three days —words wh ich had been considered blasphemous

,and which the Nazarene had

more than once flung in the face of the Pharisees

under So lomon’s porch . J esus holds h is peace .“ Answerest thou nothing ? ” asks the high priest .

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1 2 0 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

individual . He knows that the Sadducee agnostic

i s incapable of understanding him,and accordingly

speaks to the sovereign priest of J ehovah , and

through h im to al l future priests and priesthoods of

earth , saying to them ! After my mission , sealed

by death,the re ign of unexplained rel igious Law is

at an end,both in princip le and in deed . The

Myster ies shal l be revealed,and man shal l see the

divine through the human . Religions and acts of

worsh ip which cannot be demonstrated and vivified

by one another shal l be void of authority. This ,according to the esoterism of the prophets and

Essenes,i s the meaning of the Son sitting on the

right hand of the Father . Thus understood, J esus’

reply to the high priest of J erusalem contains the

intel l ectual and scientific testament of the Christ to

the re l igious authorities of the earth,j ust as the

institution of the Supper contains h is testament of

love and init iation to the Apostles and to mankind

in general .

I n addressing Caiaphas J esus spoke to the whole

world . The Sadducee, however, who had obtained

what he wished,l istens to nothing more . Tearing

his vestment of fine linen,he exclaims ! “ He has

blasphemed ; what further need have we of wit

nesses Ye have heard h is b lasphemy what think

ye of it ? ” A gloomy though ominous murmur

TRIAL OF J ESUS

arose from the Sanhedrim He is gui lty of death .

I mmediately vi le insults and brutal outrage on the

part of those of lower rank gave answer to the con

demna tion uttered by the ir superiors . The guards

spit on h im and strike h im in the face,as they

exclaim !“ Prophesy unto us

,thou Chri st

,who i s

he that smote thee ? ” Beneath th is outburst of

low and savage hatred,the pale subl ime counte

nance of the great sufferer resumes its vis ionary

marble fix ity . Some one has said that there are

statues which weep there is indeed a fea rless grief,victims’ unuttered prayers

,fu l l of terror to their

assai lants whom they pursue for the remainder of

their l ives .

All was not yet over,however . The Sanhedrim

may pronounce th e death penalty,the secular

power and the consent of the Roman authorit ies

are needed to put i t into execution . The interview

with Pi late,related in detai l by John

,i s no less

remarkable than that with Caiaphas . This strange

dialogue between the Christ and the Roman gover

nor,to which the violence of the J ewish priests

,

and the cries of a fanatical popu lace,play the part

of an ancient tragedy chorus, gives the conviction

of a mighty dramatic truth,for it lays bare the

souls of the different characters,and shows the

clash of the three powers in play ! Roman Caesar

1 2 2 JESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

ism,bigoted Judaism

,and the universal rel igion of

the Spirit represented by the Christ . Pilate,total ly

indifferent to the rel igious quarre l,but great ly

troubled over the matter,for he is afraid the death

of J esus wi l l occasion a rising of the people, ques

tions h im with a certain amount of precaution,

and offers h im a means of escape,in the hope that

he wi l l take advantage of it . “ Art thou the King

of the J ews ? ” J esus answered ! “ My kingdom is

not of this world .

” Pilate asked ! “ Then thou art

a king ? J esus again repl ied ! “To th is end was

I born,and for th is cause came I into the world

that I should bear witness unto the truth .

Pilate no more understands th is affirmation of the

spiritual royalty of J esus than Caiaphas understood

hi s rel igious testament . “What is truth ? he

remarks,with a shrug of the shou lders . The seep

t ical Roman knight’s question reveals the state of

mind in which the heathen world then was,as it

does that of al l society in a state of decadence .

Al l the same,as he did not see in the accused Jesus

anything other than a harmless dreamer,he added

I find no fault in h im,

” and proposes to the J ews

that he shou ld liberate h im . The populace,how

ever,in st igated by the priests, cries aloud !

“ Re

l ease unto us Barabbas ! Then Pi late,who

detests the J ews,gives h imself the ironical p leasure

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1 2 4 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

fear increased . Fear of what ? What meaning

had this for the unbel ieving Roman,who hearti ly

despised both the J ews and their rel igion , and

bel ieved in none other than Caesar, and the poli

t ical religion of Rome ? There is a ser ious

reason for this . Although different meanings were

given to it,the expression “ Son of God wa s to le

ra bly wel l known in ancient esoterism,and Pilate

,

although sceptical,was not altogether free from

superstit ion . At Rome,in the Minor Mysteries of

Mithras,in which Roman knights became initiated ,

he had heard that a Son of God was a kind of inter

preter of d ivin ity . To whatever nat ion or rel igion

he belonged,an attemp t on his l ife was a great

crime . Pi late .had l itt le faith in these Persian

reveries,but the name troubled him nevertheless

,

and increased h i s embarrassment . Seeing th is, the

J ews fl ing at the proconsu l the final accusation“ I f thou settest free thi s man

,thou art no friend of

Caesar’s whosoever maketh h imself a king speaketh

against Caesar . We have no king but Caesar .

I rresist ib le argument ; denying God is of litt le

impor t,but conspir ing against Caesar is the crime

of cr imes . Pilate i s obl iged to give way and pro

nounce sentence of condemnation . Thus,at the

end of his publ ic career J esus finds himself face to

face with the master of the world,against whom

TRIAL OF J ESUS 1 2 5

he—a n occult opponent—has fought indirectly al lh is li fe . The shadow of Cae sar sends him to the

cross ! Profound is the logic of events ; the J ews

have del ivered him up to j udgment,but it i s the

Roman spectre wh ich stretches out its h and to ki l l .

The body indeed is destroyed,but it i s he

,the

glorified Christ,whose martyrdom wil l for ever

deprive Caesar o f the aureole he has usurped, the

divine apotheosis,the infernal blasphemy of a bso

lute power .

Pilate,after washing his hands of the b lood of

the innocent J esus, now utters the terrib le words

Condemno,ibis in crucem ; and the impatient mob

hurr ies away in the direction of Golgotha .

Fol lowing them,we find ourse lves on the barren

heights overlooking J erusalem,and bearing the

name of Gilgal,Golgotha

,or place o f skul ls ; a

sinister desert covered with human bones,for

centur ies the scene of horrible punishments . Not

a tree can be seen,the ground seems to bristle

with gibbets . I t 18 here that Alexander Ja nneus

had come with his whole harem to Witness the

execution of hundreds of pri soners ; here that

Varus had crucified two thousand rebe ls and now

the gentle Mess iah,whose coming had been fore

told by the prophets,was on th is same spot to

1 2 6 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

undergo the terrible death penalty,i nvented by the

atrocious genius o f th e Phoenicians,and adopted

by the implacable law of Rome . The cohort of

the legionar ies has formed a mighty circle on the

top of the hil l ; they drive away with their lances

the few fol lowers who remained faithfu l to the

condemned Christ . These are Gal ilean women ,mute with despai r

,who fl ing themselves on the

ground before the cross . The final hour has come ;the defender of the poor

,the feeble and the op

pressed,must finish h is task in that state of abj ect

martyrdom reserved for s laves and robbers . The

prophet,consecrated by th e Essenes

,must allow

himself to be nai led to the cross he had accepted

in the vision of Engaddi ; the Son of God must

drink of the chal ice which had appeared to him

in the Transfigurat ion,and must descend into the

depths of hel l and of al l earthly horror . He

has refused the traditional drink prepared by the

p ious women of J erusalem,and which is intended

to deaden the suffer ings of the c rucified vict ims .

In fullest consciousness wil l h e suffer the agony

of death . Bound to the cruel gibbet,a s the stern

hard-hearted soldiers with mighty hammer-blows

drive the nai ls into those feet,the obj ect of such

passionate reverence,and through those hands

never raised except in blessing,a dul l mis t of

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1 2 8 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

fanatical pr iests are to commit in his name . With

h is own s ign wil l they pronounce maledictions,

and with h is own cross wil l they crucify . I t is

not the gloomy si lence of the heavens vei led

against h im,but rather the l ight

,lost to humanity

,

which tears from him the despairing wai l ! “Father,why hast thou forsaken me ? ” Then

,in one final

burst,there spr ings forth from his sou l the cry “ I t

i s finished

Subl ime Nazarene,divine Son of Man , even now

is the victory thine . Doubtless thy sou l has once

again found,in l ight more dazzl ing than before

,

the heaven of Engaddi and Mount Tabor !

Down through the ages hast thou seen thy word

fleet ing victorious, and no other glory hast thou

desired than the uplifted hands and eyes of those

thou hast healed and comforted . Even now

a shudder of dread comes over thy torturers,as

they l i sten to thy final words so fu ll of meaning

but which they do not understand . The Roman

soldiers have turned to gaze at the strange radiance

thy spirit has left on the tranqui l countenance of

th is corpse,whilst thy S l ayers look at one another

in wonder and sa y !“ Could th is h ave been a

God

I s the drama really finished The si lent though

DEATH AND RESURRECTION 1 2 9

formidable str ife now at an end,the struggle

between divine Love and Death wh ich has united

with the reigning powers of earth to overwhelm

him,at last c losed ? Where i s the victor ? Does

triumph remain with those se lf-sa tisfied priests as

they descend from Calvary wel l p leased with their

deed,for they have seen th e prophet breathe h is

last,or with thi s pale crucified Christ

,already l ivid

in death ? For these faithfu l,weep ing women

,

whom the Roman legionaries have permitted to

approach the foot of the cross,as wel l as for the

terror- str icken disciples who have taken refuge in

the grotto of J ehoshaphat,all i s indeed at an end .

The Messiah,who was to be enthroned at J erusalem

,

has died an infamous death on the cross . The

master ha s disappeared,and with h im hope

,the

'

Gospel,the Kingdom of H eaven itse lf . A gloomy

si lence of deep despair hangs over the smal l com

munity . Even Peter and John are overwhelmed

with grief . Darkness is al l around ; not a s ingle

ra y i l lumines the ir sou ls . And yet , j ust a s, in the

Eleusin ian mysteries,profound darkness is followed

by a dazz l ing light,so

,i n the Gospels

,th is deep

despair is succeeded by a sudden miraculous j oy

wh ich bursts forth l ike a beam of l ight at sunrise,

and the j oyfu l cry resounds throughout J udaea“ He is risen agai n ! ”

Mary Magdalene,wandering near the tomb In

1 30 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT I N ITIATE

the excess of her grief,was the first to see the

master,and to recognise him by his voice as he

uttered her name,Mary ! Overcome with j oy, she

threw herself at h is feet . Again she sawJ esus lookat her

,and wave h is hand as though to prevent

her touching him ; then the apparit ion sudden ly

vanished , l eaving around the Magdalene an atmos

phere of warmth and the del ight of a real presence .

Afterwards the holy women met the Lord,who said

to them !“ Go and tel l my brethren to proceed to

Gal i lee,there they shal l see me .” That same

evening,as

‘

the eleven were met in private,they

sawJ esus enter the room . He took a seat in their

midst, and gently reproached them for their un

bel ief . Then he said ! “Go ye into al l the world

and preach the gospel to every creature . They

l istened to him as in a dream,for they seemed to

have complete ly forgotten h is death,and were per

suaded that the master would not again leave them .

However , j ust as they were about to speak, they

sawhim disappear from their midst like a vanishinglight . The echo of his vo ice sti l l vibrated in their

ears . The apostles, amazed, sought the spot where

he had been ; there sti l l l ingered a vague l ight,which quickly disappeared . According to Matthew

and Mark,J esus appeared once more on a mountain

to five hundred of the brethren assembled by the

apostles . He also showed himse lf again to the

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1 3 2 J ESUS , THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

fused the value of authentic test imony on al l points

essential . For eighteen centuries the waves of

doubt and denial have assai led the rock of th is

test imony ; for a hundred years the weapons of

critic ism have been directed against it . Breaches

have been effected in places,but its position remains

steadfast . What is there behind the vis ions of the

apostles ? Elementary theo logians,interpreters of

the letter,and agnostic savants may dispute for

ever they wil l never convert one another,and the ir

reasonings wil l be in vain,so long as Theosophy,

the science of the Spirit,has not enlarged their con

cep tions, and a superior experimental psychology,the art of laying bare the soul

,left their eyes un

Opened . But from the standpoint of the conscien

t ious historian,i .e. the authentici ty of these facts as

psychical actual it ies,there i s one point on wh ich

doubt i s impossible ! that the apost les had these

appar it ions,and that it was impossible to shake

their faith in the resurrection of the Christ . I f

J ohn’s account be rej ected on the ground of having

received its definite compi lat ion about a hundred

years after the death of J esus,and also Luke’s

account of the Christ’s appearance to the disciples

at Emmaus as a mere poetical ampl ification , there

sti l l remain the simple and positive affirmations of

Matthew and Mark,which l ie at the very root of

the Christian tradition and re ligion . And even more

DEATH AND RESURRECTION 1 33

solid and indisputable i s the test imony of Paul .

Wishing to explain to the Corinth ians the reason

of h is faith a nd the basi s of the gospel he preaches,

he enumerates in order six success ive appearances

of J esus ! those to Peter, to the eleven , to the five

hundred,

“most of whom,he says

,

“ are sti l l

l iving to J ames,to the assembled apostles , and

finally, h is own vision on the way to Damascus .

These facts were communicated to Pau l by Peter

h imself,and by James, three years after the death

of J esus,j ust after Paul ’s conversion

,at the time of

h is first j ourney to J erusalem . Accordingly he

received them from eye -witnesses . Final ly,th e

most indi sputable of a l l these visions is by no

means the least extraordinary ; I refer to that of

Pau l h imself . He continually al ludes to it in h i s

Epistles as being the source of h is faith . Given

the former psychologica l condit ion of Pau l and the

nature of h is vi sion , we see it i s from without, not

from within . Of an unexpected and terrifying

character,i t complete ly changes his whole being .

Like a baptism of fire,i t descends upon him

,clothes

h im'

in a new and impenetrable armour,and estab

l i shes him in the Isight of the whole world as the

invincible ch amp Ion of the Christ .

Paul ’s testimony accordingly possesses a double

authority,in so far as it confirms his own vision

and corroborates those of the others . Whoever

1 34 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN IT IATE

might feel incl ined to doubt the s incerity of such

affirmations would be ob l iged to rej ect en ma sse al l

h istorical testimony,and to renounce the writing of

history . Note,too

,that i f critical h istory is incom

patible with an exact weighing and well- thought- out

selection of a l l the documents,phi losophical history

would also be’

impossible , i f greatness of effects

could not be referred back to greatness of causes .

I t would be possible with Celsus,Strauss

,and

M . Renan to refuse al l obj ective value to the resur

rection,and consider it as a phenomenon result ing

from pure hallucination . I f so,one is obl iged to

found the greatest religious revolution of humanity

on an aberration of the senses and a mere de

lusion of the mind .

1 There can be no denying that

faith in the resurrection is the basis of h istor ical

Christ ianity . But for th is confirmation of J esus’

teaching by a dazzl ing fact,his rel igion would not

even have had a beginning .

This event effected a complete revolut ion in the

sou ls of the apostles . I n consequence of i t the ir

whole mental attitude,from being Judaic

,became

Christ ian . The Christ i s l iving in glory,he has

spoken to them . The heavens have opened ; the

l i fe beyond has entered into the li fe within,the

dawn of immortal ity has touched them and kindled

1 S trauss sa ys ! The fa ct of the resurrection is explica ble only a sein wel thistorischer humbug.

’

The expression is ra ther cynica l tha nw i tty, a nd does not expla in the visions of the a postles a nd of Paul .

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1 36 J ESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

over them,destroyed by fire their master’s body , to

prevent pol lut ion at the hands of enemies . I n any

case,i t i s on ly when regarded from the esoteri c

point of view that the scientific aspect and sp iritual

grandeur of the resurrection really appear .

By Egyptians as by Persians, of the rel igion of

Z oroaster,both before and after J esus

,by I srael ites

and by Christians of the first and second centur ies,the resurrection has been interpreted in two ways

,

the one materia l and absurd,the other sp iritual

and theosophical . The first is the popular idea,

final ly adopted by the Church after the repression

of gnosticism the second is the profound idea of

the in itiates . According to the first view,the re

surrect ion signifies the return to l ife of the material

body ; i n a word , the reconstitut ion of the de

composed or dispersed corpse,so i t was imagin ed

,

was destined to take p lace at the coming of the

Messiah,or at the Last J udgment . I t is useless to

ins ist on the gross material i sm and absurdity of

this conception . To the initiate the resurrection

has a far different meaning . I t refers to the

doctrine of the ternary constitution of man . I t

sign ifies the purification and regenerat ion of the

sidereal , ethereal , and fluidic body, which is the

very organism of the sou l . This purification may

take place commencing from the present l ife,

through the inner work of the soul,and a certain

DEATH AND RESURRECTION 1 37

method of existence ; although , for the general ityof mankind

,it finds accomplishment only after

death,and then for those on ly who

,in one way

or another,have asp ired towards j ustice and truth .

I n the other world hypocrisy is impossible . There

sou ls appear as they are in real ity,they fatal ly

manifest themse lves under the form a nd colour

of their essence ; dark and h ideous i f they are

evi l ; radiant and beauti fu l i f they are good . Such

is the doctr ine given by Pau l in the Epistle to the

Corinth ians,where he formal ly says “ There is an

animal body and there is a sp ir itual body.

” 1 J esus

states this symbolical ly but with greater profundity

for those who can read between the l ines in the

secret conversation with Nicodemus . Now,the

more a sou l i s sp iritual ised,the farther wi l l it be

from the earth ly atmosphere ; th e farther away

the cosmic region which attracts it by the law of

affin ity,the more difficu l t its man ifestat ion to men .

Accordingly,superior sou ls se ldom manifest

themselves to man,except in a state of ecstasy

or profound s lumber . Then,the physical eyes

being closed,the sou l

,hal f detached from the

body,i tself sees souls at times . Nevertheless, i t

sometimes happens that a mighty prophet,a ver i

tab le son of God,manifests himsel f to h is own in

the waking state of consciousness,the better to

11 Cor. xv. 39—46 .

1 38 JESUS, THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

persuade them by a str iking appeal to sense and

imagination . I n such instances the disinca rna ted

soul succeeds in momentarily giving its spiritua l

body a vis ible,sometimes even a tangible appear

ance,by means of the special dynamism exercised

by sp irit over matter,through the intermediary of

the electrical forces of the atmosphere and the

magnetic forces of l iving bodies .

Apparent ly this is what happened in the case of

J esus . The appearances related in the New Testa

ment may be placed in one or the other,alternately,

of these two categories—Spir itual vision and senseappar ition . What is certain is that they possessed

for the apostles the character of supreme real ity .

They would rather have doubted the existence of

heaven and earth than their l iving communion

with the resurrected Christ ; for these soul-stirring

appearances formed the brightest events in their

l ives,the profoundest truth of wh ich they were

conscious . There is nothing supernatural in them

though there is an unknown element in Nature ,i ts occult cont inuation into the I nfinite

,the flashes

of the invisib le on the confines of the visible . I n

our present corporeal state we can scarcely bel ieve

or even conceive of the real ity of the impalpable ;in the Spir itual state

,i t i s matter which wil l appear

to us the unreal and non-existent . I n the Spir it is

found the synthes is of sou l and matter,two phases

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1 40 J ESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

init iates of the first centurie s cal led the Mysteries

of the Father,of the Son

,and of the Holy Ghost .

A necessary crowning, as I have said , of the l ife

of the Christ,and an indispensable preface to the

h istorical evolut ion of Christ ianity . The ship,bui lt

on the beach,needed to be launched on the ocean .

The resurrection was,i n addit ion

,as a flood of

l ight thrown on the whole esoter ic l i fe of J esus .

We have no occasion for aston ishment at finding

that the early Christ ians were,so to speak , dazzled

and bl inded by the wonderfu l event,that they

often gave a l iteral interpretation to the Master’s

teach ing,and mistook the meaning of h is words .

But in these days,now that the human spir it has

traversed ages,rel igions

,and sciences

,we can

divine what a Saint Pau l,a Saint J ohn

,what J esus

h imself understood by the myster ies of the Father

and of the Spirit . We see that they contained the

very highest and truest elements of the psychical

science and theosoph ic intu it ion of the East. We

also see the power of renewed expansion given

by the Christ to the ancient eternal truth by the

grandeur of h is love and the energy of his wil l .

Final ly, we see the metaphys ica l and pract ical s ide

of Christ ianity,the cause of i ts power and vital ity.

The o ld theosoph ists of As ia were acquainted

with transcendent truths . The Brahmans even

found the key to the past and future l ife by

DEATH AND RESURRECT ION 1 4 1

formulat ing the organ ic law of reincarnat ion and

the alternat ion of l ives . I n entering the l ife

beyond,however

,and contemplating Etern ity

,

they forgot terrestrial realisation,individual and

socia l l ife . Greece,at first init iated i nto the same

truths under more vei led and anthropomorph ic

forms,became attached by its very genius to the

natural terrestrial l ife . This enabled it to reveal

the immortal laws of Beauty,and to formu late the

princip les of the sciences of observat ion . From

th is point of view,i ts conception of the li fe beyond

gradually diminished and darkened . J esus,in h is

breadth and universali ty,embraces both sides of

l ife . I n th e Lord’s Prayer,which sums up his

teaching , he says ! “ Thy kingdom come on earth

as in heaven . Now the kingdom of the divine

on earth sign ifies the fulfi lment of the moral and

social law in al l its richness,in al l the glory of

the Beautiful,the Good

,and the True . Thus the

magic of h is doctrine,h is—in a sense—unl imited

power of deve lopment,dwel l in the unity of h i s

moral and metaphysical aspects,h is ardent faith

in the li fe eternal,and the necessity he fe lt of

beginning it in the world by a l ife of action and

love . The Christ says to the sou l, cast down by

earth ly trouble ! “ Rise ; heaven is thy fatherland

sti l l,in order to be l ieve th is and to attain thereto

,

prove it here below by deeds of love .

CHAPTER VI I

THE PROM ISE AND ITS FULFILMENT—THETEMPLE

“ IN three days I wil l destroy the temple,and in

three days I wi l l bu i ld it up again .

” This was said

to h is disciples by the Son of Mary,the Essene

consecrated as Son of Man,i .e. the spiritual in

heritor of the Word of Moses,of Hermes

,and of

al l the former sons of God . Has this bo ld pro

mise,the word of the in itiator and in itiate

,been

real ised ? Yes,i f consideration be taken of the

consequences wh ich the teaching of the Christ,

confirmed by his death and sp iritual resurrect ion,

have had for humanity,and al l the consequences

his promise holds over a l imitle ss future . His

word and sacrifice have laid the foundations of an

invisible temple,but it i s on ly continued and brought

to completion in proportion as each individual,

throughout al l t ime,contributes to th e work .

What is th is temple ? I t Is of a nature at once

moral , social , and phys ical, the temple of regenerate

human ity .

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144 JESUS,THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

It i s not so with the socia l temple . This supposes

the estab l i shment of the kingdom of God or of the

providentia l law in the organic insti tut ions of

humanity ; i t remains to be constructed from the

foundation . For men sti l l l ive in a state of warfare

under the law of Force and Destiny . The law of

the Christ, “which remains in the moral conscience,

has not yet passed into human institut ions . I have

on ly incidenta l ly touched upon questions of social

and polit ical organ isat ion in this book,which is

solely intended to throw l ight on the phi losophical

and rel igious question at its base,through some of

the essential esoteric truth s . I n these few con

cluding words I wi l l not d iscuss the question any

further . I t is too vast and complex , and beyond

my power to attempt even to define it within the

compass of a few words . I wi l l merely sa y that

socia l warfare exists,as a principle

,in al l European

countries . There are no economic,religious

,or

social princ ip les admitted by all c lasses of society .

The nations of Europe,also

,have not ceased

existing in a state of open war or armed peace

with one another . They are united by no common

federative princip le . Their interests and common

aspirations appeal to no recogn ised authori ty,they

have no sanction before any supreme tribunal. I f

the law of the Christ has penetrated into individual

THE TEMPLE 1 45

consciousness and,up to a certain point

,into social

l ife,i t is st il l the pagan and barbar ian law which

governs our polit ical insti tutions . At the present

t ime,politica l power is everywhere constituted on

insufficient foundations . On the one hand it

emanates from the so-called divine right of kings,

which is none other than mil i tary force ; on the

other from universal suffrage,which i s merely the

instinct of the masses,or mere average intel l igence .

A nation is not a number of uniform values or

ciphers ; it i s a l iving being composed of organs .

So long as national representation is not the image

of this organ isation,righ t from its working to its

teach ing classes, there wi l l be no organ ic or in

telligent nationa l representation . So long as the

delegates of al l sc ientific bodies,and the whole of

the Christian churches do not s it together in one

upper counci l,our societ ies wi l l be governed by

instinct,by passion

,and by might

,and there wi l l

be no social temple.

Then how comes it that,ris ing above the Church

which is too small to contain him in his entirety,

above polit ics which deny him,and above Science

which on ly half understands him,the Chr ist i s

ful ler of l ife than ever ? I t i s because his sublime

moral ity is the corol lary of a science even more

subl ime . Beh ind him we perce ive,contemporary

K

with and beyond the t ime o f Moses,the whole

ancient theosophy of I ndian,Egyptian

,and Grecian

init iates,of whom he forms a striking confirma

t ion . We are beginning to understand that J esus,

at the very he ight of h is consciousness,the trans

figured Christ , i s opening h is loving arms to his

brothers,the other Messiah s who preceded h im

,

beams of the Living Word as he wa s,that he 15

opening them wide to Science in its entirety,Art

in its divinity , and Life in its completeness . But

his promise cannot be fu lfi l led without the help

of al l the l iving forces of humanity . Two\\

ma in

things are necessary nowadays for the continua

tion of the mighty work ! on the one hand,the

progressive unfo lding of experimental science and

intuit ive p hilosophy to facts of psychic order, in

tellectua l princip les, and spir itual proofs ; on the

other, the expansion of Christ ian dogma in the

direction of tradit ion and esoteric science,and

subsequently a reorganisat ion of the Church a c

cording to a graduated init iat ion ; th is by a free

and irresistible movement of al l Christian churches,

which are also equally daughters of the Christ .

Science must become rel igious and religion se ien

tific . This double evolut ion , already in prepara

t ion,would final ly and forcibly bring about a

reconci l iat ion of Science and Rel igion on esoteric

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1 48 J ESUS THE LAST GREAT IN ITIATE

she i s continuing the preparation for her moral

and social decomposition,her civi l isation runs the

risk of perishing, first by socia l upheaval s,and

afterwards by the invasion of younger races,which

wil l se ize the torch dropped from her hands .

Surely she has a more glorious par t to play,

the preservation of the guiding of the world,by

finishing the social work of the Christ,formulating

his complete and perfected thought, and crowning

by the help of Science,Art

,and Justice

,the sp iritual

temple of the greatest of the Sons of God .

THE END

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