teachings
be regained, their influence will soon be seen in wider and deeper
views of truth; dogmas, which now seem like mere shells and fetters,
shall again be seen to be partial presentments of fundamental realities.
First, Esoteric Christianity will reappear in the "Holy Place," in the
Temple, so that all who are capable of receiving it may follow its lines
of published thought; and secondly, Occult Christianity will again
descend into the Adytum, dwelling behind the Veil which guards the "Holy
of Holies," into which only the Initiate may enter. Then again will
occult teaching be within the reach of those who qualify themselves to
receive it, according to the ancient rules, those who are willing in
modern days to meet the ancient demands, made on all those who would
fain know the reality and truth of spiritual things.

Once again we turn our eyes to history, to see whether Christianity was
unique among religions in having no inner teaching, or whether it
resembled all others in possessing this hidden treasure. Such a question
is a matter of evidence, not of theory, and must be decided by the
authority of the existing documents and not by the mere _ipse dixit_ of
modern Christians.

As a matter of fact both the "New Testament" and the writings of the
early Church make the same declarations as to the possession by the
Church of such teachings, and we learn from these the fact of the
existence of Mysteries--called the Mysteries of Jesus, or the Mystery of
the Kingdom--the conditions imposed on candidates, something of the
general nature of the teachings given, and other details. Certain
passages in the "New Testament" would remain entirely obscure, if it
were not for the light thrown on them by the definite statements of the
Fathers and Bishops of the Church, but in that light they became clear
and intelligible.

It would indeed have been strange had it been otherwise when we consider
the lines of religious thought which influenced primitive Christianity.
Allied to the Hebrews, the Persians, and the Greeks, tinged by the older
faiths of India, deeply coloured by Syrian and Egyptian thought, this
later branch of the great religious stem could not do other than again
re-affirm the ancient traditions, and place in the grasp of western
races the full treasure of the ancient teaching. "The faith once
delivered to the saints" would indeed have been shorn of its chief value
if, when delivered to the West, the pearl of esote