say. Yes, but those very
scriptures tell you often of something more, which is now
lost. What is meant by Christ's constant references to the
'Mysteries of the Kingdom of God'--by His frequent statement
to His disciples that the full and true interpretation could
be given only to them, and that to others He must speak in
parables? Why does He perpetually use the technical terms
connected with the well known mystery-teaching of antiquity?
What does St. Paul mean when he says, 'We speak wisdom among
them which are perfect'--a well known technical term for the
men at a certain stage of initiation? Again and again he
uses terms of the same sort; he speaks of 'the wisdom of God
in mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world began, and which none even of the princes of this
world know'--a statement which could not by any possibility
have been truthfully made if he had been referring merely to
ordinary Christian teaching which is openly preached before
all men. His immediate followers, the Fathers of the Church,
knew perfectly well what he meant, for they all use
precisely the same phraseology. Clement of Alexandria, one
of the earliest and greatest of all, tells us that 'It is
not lawful to reveal to the profane persons the Mysteries of
the Word.'"

"Another consideration shows us clearly how much of this
early teaching has been lost. The church now devotes herself
solely to producing good men, and points to the _saint_ as
her crowning glory and achievement. But in older days she
claimed to be able to do much more than that. When she had
made a man a saint, her work with him was only just
beginning, for then only was he fit for the training and
teaching which she _could_ give him then, but cannot now,
because she has forgotten her ancient knowledge. Then she
had three definite stages in her course of
training--Purification, Illumination and Perfection. Now she
contents herself with the preliminary Purification, and has
no Illumination to give."

"Read what Clement says: 'Purity is only a negative state,
valuable chiefly as the condition of insight. He who has
been purified in Baptism and then initiated into the Little
Mysteries (has acquired, that is to say, the habits of
self-control and reflection) beco