SECTION I.—THE GNOSIS

Part ].—Tue Hesrew TRADITION
Study: Esoterie Christianity, Chapter I
Tue Christian Gnosis is that portion of the Divine Wisdom which, handed down from succes- sive earlier religions, has been absorbed into the newer system and preserved therein as its inner or secret doctrine. The deeper truths, the loftier precepts, reserved at all times for the few who are fitted to receive them, are transmitted from age to age, while ever readjusted to. the intellectual and spiritual need of the period. Hence the esoteric doctrine of Christianity is to be traced back to the pre-Christian Gnosis, an eclectic system containing elements drawn from the most ancient philosophies of the East combined with later Hellenistic and Hebrew thought. Such was the early theosophy of the Alexandrine schools.
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On closer examination, however, two main streams are discoverable by which the occult wisdom has been transmitted. ‘The first was received from Egypt and Assyria through Judaism. Moses, who gave the Hebrew people their religion, was an initiate of the Egyptian mystery schools. “ Learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” * he took as the distinctive note for the spiritual development of his people the lofty truth of the unity of God, which sublime mystery had until that time remained one of the most jealously guarded secrets of initiation. ‘The tabernacle which he commanded to be built, symbolic in every detail, was modelled on the Egyptian pattern, the very emblems contained within the Ark being replicas of Egyptian objects of worship.t Nevertheless, the pure teachings could not be given out indiscriminately. ‘They were “veiled” for the multitude, and remain so to this day, but tradition asserts that Moses communicated his inner doctrine to a chosen band of seventy elders,§ from whom it was transmitted orally from generation to generation. Following upon the Exile and the long sojourn of the Jews in Babylon
* Acts vii. 22. t See “‘ The Apocalypse and Initiation,” by D. E. Grove, pp. 117
et seq. t 2 Cor. iii. 13-15. § Exod. xxiv. 9-11 5 also Num. xi. 16, 17, 24, 25.
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there resulted an interfusion with the monotheistic teaching of various elements from the Chaldean solar and stellar cults, many post-exilic Hebrew writers using symbolism borrowed entirely from that system, as, for instance, in the vision of Ezekiel. Some measure of Chaldeo-Persian influence is also to be traced in the schools of the Pharisees, who possessed their own doctrine and discipline. They believed in the immortality of the soul, in the existence of angels and spirits, and held a certain doctrine of reincarnation. (The apostle Paul was trained in this tradition, as we learn in Acts xxiii. 6-9.)
The secret teaching was further preserved in the schools of the prophets. Out of it grew the Kabbala, with its deeply occult lore, and an accepted mystical method of Scriptural exegesis, first openly referred to by St. Paul,* but well known among the instructed scribes. Lastly, it was retained in certain occult fraternities, such as the Therapeute and the Essenes, sects of Egyptian origin, within which last-named the Founder of Christianity is said to have undergone the final preparation for His ministry. It was for the neglect of this once imparted wisdom that the Master denounced the
* Gal. iv. 22-31.
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literalists of His time : “‘ Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge.” * It was for their lack of understanding that He reproached them, as in the recorded words to Nico- demus,f for the knowledge of initiation and of the processes of the inner life was once the heritage of the spiritual leaders of the Hebrew people.
* Luke xi. 52. + John iii. ro.