Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser MysteriesBesant, Annie
Religion
Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries
Besant, Annie
Christianity -- Miscellanea; Mysticism; Theosophy
religion is considered to have gloriously accomplished its object when
it has made the Saint; then, it was to the Saints that it devoted its
highest energies, and, taking the pure in heart, it led them to the
Beatific Vision.
The same fact of secret teaching comes out again, when Origen is
discussing the arguments of Celsus as to the wisdom of retaining
ancestral customs, based on the belief that "the various quarters of the
earth were from the beginning allotted to different superintending
Spirits, and were thus distributed among certain governing Powers, and
in this way the administration of the world is carried on."[133]
Origen having animadverted on the deductions of Celsus, proceeds: "But
as we think it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper
investigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay
down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and
secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters
of the earth among different superintending Spirits."[134] He says that
Celsus has misunderstood the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement
of terrestrial affairs, some of which are even touched upon in Grecian
history. Then he quotes Deut. xxxii. 8-9: "When the Most High divided
the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of
the people according to the number of the Angels of God; and the Lord's
portion was his people Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance."
This is the wording of the Septuagint, not that of the English
authorised version, but it is very suggestive of the title the "Lord"
being regarded as that of the Ruling Angel of the Jews only, and not of
the "Most High," _i.e._ God. This view has disappeared, from ignorance,
and hence the impropriety of many of the statements referring to the
"Lord," when they are transferred to the "Most High," _e.g._ Judges i.
19.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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