Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries — John Shaqi
Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser MysteriesBesant, Annie
Religion
Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries
Besant, Annie
Christianity -- Miscellanea; Mysticism; Theosophy
In the Fourth Book of _De Principiis_, Origen explains at length his
views on the interpretation of Scripture. It has a "body," which is the
"common and historical sense"; a "soul," a figurative meaning to be
discovered by the exercise of the intellect; and a "spirit," an inner
and divine sense, to be known only by those who have "the mind of
Christ." He considers that incongruous and impossible things are
introduced into the history to arouse an intelligent reader, and compel
him to search for a deeper explanation, while simple people would read
on without appreciating the difficulties.[146]
Cardinal Newman, in his _Arians of the Fourth Century_, has some
interesting remarks on the _Disciplina Arcani_, but, with the
deeply-rooted ingrained scepticism of the nineteenth century, he cannot
believe to the full in the "riches of the glory of the Mystery," or
probably never for a moment conceived the possibility of the existence
of such splendid realities. Yet he was a believer in Jesus, and the
words of the promise of Jesus were clear and definite: "I will not leave
you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world
seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you."[147] The promise was amply redeemed, for He came to them and
taught them in His Mysteries; therein they saw Him, though the world saw
Him no more, and they knew the Christ as in them, and their life as
Christ's.
Cardinal Newman recognises a secret tradition, handed down from the
Apostles, but he considers that it consisted of Christian doctrines,
later divulged, forgetting that those who were told that they were not
yet fit to receive it were not heathen, nor even catechumens under
instruction, but full communicating members of the Christian Church.
Thus he states that this secret tradition was later "authoritatively
divulged and perpetuated in the form of symbols," and was embodied "in
the creeds of the early Councils."[148] But as the doctrines in the
creeds are to be found clearly stated in the Gospels and Epistles, this
position is wholly untenable, all these having been already divulged to
the world at large; and in all of them the members of the Church were
certainly thoroughly instructed. The repeated statements as to secrecy
become meaningless if thus explained. The Cardinal, however, says that
whatever "has not been thus authenticated, whether it was prophetical
information or comment on the past dispensations, is, from the
circumstances of the case, lost to the Church."[149] That is very
probably, in fact certainly, true, so far as the Church is concerned,
but it is none the less recoverable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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