ir era.
Diogenes Laertius traces Theosophy to an epoch antedating the dynasty of
the Ptolemies; and names as its founder an Egyptian Hierophant called
Pot-Amun, the name being Coptic, and signifying a priest consecrated to
Amun, the god of Wisdom. But history shows its revival by Ammonius
Saccas, the founder of the Neo-Platonic School. He and his disciples
called themselves "Philaletheians"--lovers of the truth; while others
termed them the "Analogists," on account of their method of interpreting
all sacred legends, symbolical myths, and mysteries, by a rule of
analogy or correspondence so that events which had occurred in the
external world were regarded as expressing operations and experiences of
the human soul. It was the aim and purpose of Ammonius to reconcile all
sects, peoples, and nations under one common faith--a belief in one
Supreme, Eternal, Unknown, and Unnamed Power, governing the universe by
immutable and eternal laws. His object was to prove a primitive system
of Theosophy, which, at the beginning, was essentially alike in all
countries: to induce all men to lay aside their strifes and quarrels,
and unite in purpose and thought as the children of one common mother;
to purify the ancient religions, by degrees corrupted and obscured, from
all dross of human element, by uniting and expounding them upon pure
philosophical principles. Hence, the Buddhistic, Vedantic and Magian, or
Zoroastrian systems were taught in the Eclectic Theosophical School
along with all the philosophies of Greece. Hence also, that
pre-eminently Buddhistic and Indian feature among the ancient
Theosophists of Alexandria, of due reverence for parents and aged
persons, a fraternal affection for the whole human race, and a
compassionate feeling for even the dumb animals. While seeking to
establish a system of moral discipline which enforced upon people the
duty to live according to the laws of their respective countries, to
exalt their minds by the research and contemplation of the one Absolute
Truth; his chief object, in order, as he believed, to achieve all
others, was to extract from the various religious teachings, as from a
many-chorded instrument, one full and harmonious melody, which would
find response in every truth-loving heart.

Theosophy is, then, the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine
once known in every ancient country having claims to civilization. This
"Wisdom" all the old writings show us as an eman