Page 18 (part 4)

Hence, it is the Occultists and Kabalists who are the "true" heirs to the KNOWLEDGE, or the secret wisdom which is still found in the Bible; for they alone now understand its real meaning, whereas profane Jews and Christians cling to the husks and dead letter thereof. That it is the system of measures which led to the invention of the God-names Elohim and Jehovah, and their adaptation to phallicism, and that Jehovah is a not very flattered copy of Osiris, is now demonstrated by the author of the "Source of Measures." But the latter and Mr. Piazzi Smyth both seem to labour under the impression that ( a ) the priority of the system belongs to the Israelites, [[Vol. 1, Page]] 317 TRUTH MUST PREVAIL AT LAST. the Hebrew language being the divine language, and that ( b ) this universal language belongs to direct revelation! The latter hypothesis is correct only in the sense shown in the last paragraph of the preceding §; but we have yet to agree as to the nature and character of the divine "Revealer." With regard to priority, this, to the profane, will of course depend on ( a ) the internal and external evidence of the revelation, and ( b ) on each scholar's individual preconception. This, however, cannot prevent either the theistic Kabalist, or the Pantheistic Occultist, from believing each in his way; neither of the two convincing the other. The data furnished by history are too meagre and unsatisfactory for either of them to prove to the sceptic which of them is right. On the other hand, the proofs afforded by tradition are too constantly rejected for us to hope to settle the question in our present age. Meanwhile, materialistic science will be laughing impartially at both Kabalists and Occultists. But the said vexed question of priority once laid aside, Science, in its departments of philology and comparative religion, will find itself finally taken to task, and be compelled to admit the common claim.* Its greatest scholars, instead of pooh-poohing that supposed [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * One by one the claims become admitted, as one Scientist after another is compelled to recognize the facts given out from the Secret Doctrine -- though he rarely, if ever, recognizes that he has been anticipated in his statements. Thus, in the palmy days of Mr. Piazzi Smyth's authority on the Pyramid of Gizeh, his theory was, that the porphyry sarcophagus of the King's Chamber " is the unit of measure for the two most enlightened nations of the earth, England and America," and was no better than a "corn bin." This was vehemently denied by us in Isis Unveiled just published at that time. Then the New York press arose in arms (the " Sun " and the " World " chiefly) against our presuming to correct or find fault with such a star of learning. On p. 519, vol. I., we had said, that Herodotus when treating of that Pyramid "might have added that, externally it symbolized the creative principle of Nature , and illustrated also the principles of geometry , mathematics , astrology , and astronomy. Internally, it was a majestic fane, in whose sombre recesses were performed the mysteries, and whose walls had often witnessed the initiation-scenes of members of the royal family. The porphyry sarcophagus, which Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, degrades into a corn-bin, was the baptismal font , upon emerging from which the neophyte was "born again" and became an adept." Our statement was laughed at in those days. We were accused of having got our ideas from the "craze" of Shaw, an English writer who had maintained that the Sarcophagus had been used for the celebration of the Mysteries of Osiris; (we had never heard of that writer!). And now, six or seven years later, this is what Mr. Staniland Wake writes on p. 93 of his paper, on "The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid." "The so-called King's Chamber, of which an enthusiastic pyramidist says, 'The polished walls, fine materials, grand proportions, and exalted place, eloquently tell of glories yet to come -- if not, the chamber of perfections of Cheops' tomb, was probably the place to which the initiant was admitted after he had passed through the narrow upward passage and the grand gallery , with its lowly termination , which gradually prepared him for the [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol. 1, Page]] 318 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. "farrago of absurd fiction and superstitions," as the Brahminical literature is generally termed, will endeavour to learn the symbolical universal language with its numerical and geometrical keys. But here again they will hardly be successful if they share the belief that the Jewish Kabalistic system contains the key to the whole mystery: for , it does not. Nor does any other Scripture at present possess it in its entirety, for even the Vedas are not complete. Every old religion is but a chapter or two of the entire volume of archaic primeval mysteries -- Eastern Occultism alone being able to boast that it is in possession of the full secret, with its seven keys. Comparisons will be instituted, and as much as possible will be explained in this work -- the rest is left to the student's personal intuition. For in saying that Eastern Occultism has the secret , it is not as if a "complete" or even an approximate knowledge was claimed by the writer, which would be absurd. What I know, I give out; that which I cannot explain, the student must find out for himself. But while supposing that the whole cycle of the universal mystery language will not be mastered for whole centuries to come, even that which has been hitherto discovered in the Bible by some scholars is quite sufficient to demonstrate the claim -- mathematically. Judaism having availed itself of two keys out of the seven, and these two keys having been now rediscovered, it becomes no longer a matter of individual speculation and hypothesis, least of all of "coincidence," but one of a correct reading of the Bible texts, as anyone acquainted with arithmetic reads and verifies an addition or total.* A few years longer and this system will kill the dead letter of the Bible, as it will that of all the other exoteric faiths, by showing the dogmas in their real, naked meaning. And then this undeniable meaning, however incomplete, will unveil the mystery of Being, besides changing entirely the modern scientific systems of Anthropology, Ethnology and especially that of Chronology. The element of Phallicism, found in every God-name and narrative in the Old (and to some degree in the New) Testament, may also in time considerably change modern materialistic views in Biology and Physiology.