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162
MYTHOLOGY
bat be impressed by the fact that in each and all of theus may be found very clear intimations of a secret traditional lore, an archaic acionce, handed down from times immemorial. This secret body of kuowledge is repeated. ly alluded to in the New Testament, as algo iu the Upanishads and other ancient writings, in whose pages a few of the arcane doctrines are cautiously nuveiled ; and from the ineagre glimpses thus afforded by the system it is clearly apparent that it was essentially the same in all the old religions aud philosophies, coustitating, in fact, their commou vsoteric basis. In the primitivo Christian church, organised as a secret society, this Guosis or secret science, was guarded with jealous care. being imparted only to a comparative few who were deemed worthy of initiation, according to the maxim
many are the called bat few are the chosen'. Through corrupting political influences and the altimate domiDance by a selfish aud decadent priesthood, the Christian society in the early centaries lost this esoteric kuowledge, in place of which there grew np during the succeeding centuries 4 system of cognatio theology formulated from the literal interpretation, the dead letter, of the books of the Old and the New Testaments. On the hypothesis that the Bible, as a divino revelation, contains a record of God's dealings with maukiud throughout the ages, the historical element in it has been onduiy emphasised, while books that are purely allegorical and mystical have
been construed as history." With reference to the mysterious work entitled the Apocalypse, Mr. Pryse einphatically asserts that
it gives the key to that divine Goosis which is the same
in all ages, and superior to all faiths and philosophies--
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