nger, save the
hunger of swine.[195] This stage is described in the emphatic language
of Jesus: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother,
and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple."[196] Truly a "hard saying," and yet out
of this hatred will spring a deeper, truer, love, and the stage may not
be escaped on the way to the Strait Gate. Then the aspirant must learn
_Control of thoughts_, and this will lead to _Control of actions_, the
thought being, to the inner eye, the same as the action: "Whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her, _hath committed adultery_ with her
already in his heart."[197] He must acquire _Endurance_, for they who
aspire to tread "the Way of the Cross" will have to brave long and
bitter sufferings, and they must be able to endure, "as seeing Him who
is invisible."[198] He must add to these _Tolerance_, if he would be the
child of Him who "maketh His sun to rise on the evil, and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,"[199] the disciple of
Him who bade His apostles not to forbid a man to use His name because he
did not follow with them.[200] Further, he must acquire the _Faith_ to
which nothing is impossible,[201] and the _Balance_ which is described
by the Apostle.[202] Lastly, he must seek only "those things which are
above,"[203] and long to reach the beatitude of the vision of and union
with God.[204] When a man has wrought these qualities into his character
he is regarded as fit for Initiation, and the Guardians of the Mysteries
will open for him the Strait Gate. Thus, but thus only, he becomes the
prepared candidate.

Now, the Spirit in man is the gift of the Supreme God, and contains
within itself the three aspects of the Divine Life--Intelligence, Love,
Will--being the Image of God. As it evolves, it first develops the
aspect of Intelligence, develops the intellect, and this evolution is
effected in the ordinary life in the world. To have done this to a high
point, accompanying it with moral development, brings the evolving man
to the condition of the candidate. The second aspect of the Spirit is
that of Love, and the evolution of that is the evolution of the Christ.
In the true Mysteries this evolution is undergone--the disciple's life
is the Mystery Drama, and the Great Initiations mark its stages. In the
Mysteries performed on the physical plane these used to be dramatically
represente