Page 63 (part 2)

In Genesis (vi.) the "Sons of God" -- B ' ne Aleim -- become enamoured of the daughters of men, marry, and reveal to their wives the mysteries unlawfully learnt by them in heaven, according to Enoch; and this is the "Fall of Angels."* But what is, in reality, the "Book of Enoch" itself, from which the author of Revelation and even the St. John of the Fourth Gospel have so profusely quoted? ( e.g. , verse 8, in chapter 10, about all who have come before Jesus, being "thieves and robbers.") Simply a Book of Initiation, giving out in allegory and cautious phraseology the programme of certain archaic mysteries performed in the inner temples. The author of the "Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and Quiches" very justly suggests that the so-called "Visions" of Enoch relate to his (Enoch's) experience at initiation, and what he learned in the mysteries; while he very erroneously states his opinion that Enoch had learned them before being converted [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * In general, the so-called orthodox Christian conceptions about the "fallen" angels or Satan, are as remarkable as they are absurd. About a dozen could be cited, of the most various character as to details, and all from the pen of educated lay authors, "University graduates" of the present quarter of our century. Thus, the author of "Earth's Earliest Ages," J. H. Pember, M.A ., devotes a thick volume to proving Theosophists, Spiritualists, Metaphysicians, Agnostics, Mystics, poets, and every contemporary author on oriental speculations, to be the devoted servants of the "Prince of the Air," and irretrievably damned. He describes Satan and his Antichrist in this wise: -- "Satan is the 'Anointed Cherub' of old. . . . God created Satan, the fairest and wisest of all his creatures in this part of His Universe, and made him Prince of the World, and of the Power of the Air. . . . He was placed in an Eden, which was both far anterior to the Eden of Genesis. . . . and of an altogether different and more substantial character, resembling the New Jerusalem. Thus, Satan being perfect in wisdom, and beauty, His vast empire is our earth, if not the whole solar system. . . . Certainly no other angelic power of greater or even equal dignity has been revealed to us. The Archangel Michael himself is quoted by Jude as preserving towards the Prince of Darkness the respect due to a superior, however wicked he may be, until God has formally commanded his deposition." Then we are informed that "Satan was from the moment of his creation surrounded by the insignia of royalty " (! !): that he "awoke to consciousness to find the air filled with the rejoicing music of those whom God had appointed . . . ." Then the Devil " passes from the royalty to his priestly dignity " (! ! !) "Satan was also a priest of the Most High, " etc., etc. And now -- "Antichrist will be Satan incarnate" (pp. 56-59). The Pioneers of the coming Apollyon have already appeared -- they are the Theosophists, the Occultists, the authors of the "Perfect Way," of "Isis Unveiled," of the "Mystery of the Ages," and even of the " L ight of A sia"! ! The author notes the " avowed origin " (of Theosophy) from the " descending angels, " from the "Nephilim," or the angels of the VI th ch. of Genesis, and the Giants. He ought to note his own descent from them also, as the present Secret Doctrine endeavours to show -- unless he refuses to belong to the present humanity. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 230 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. to Christianity (!!); furthermore, he believes that this book was written "at the beginning of the Christian era, when . . . the customs and religion of the Egyptians fell into decadency"! This is hardly possible, since Jude quotes in his epistle from the "Book of Enoch" (verse 14); and, therefore, as Archbishop Laurence, the translator of the Book of Enoch from the Ethiopic version, remarks, it "could not have been the production of a writer who lived after . . . or was even coeval with" the writers of the New Testament: unless, indeed, Jude and the Gospels, and all that follows, was also a production of the already established Church -- which, some critics say, is not impossible. But we are now concerned with the "fallen Angels" of Enoch, rather than with Enoch himself. In Indian exotericism, these angels ( Asuras ) are also denounced as "the enemies of the gods;" those who oppose sacrificial worship offered to the latter. In Christian theology they are broadly referred to as the "Fallen Spirits," the heroes of various conflicting and contradictory legends about them, gathered from Pagan sources. The coluber tortuosus "the tortuous snake," a qualification said to have originated with the Jews, had quite another meaning before the Roman Church distorted it: -- among others, a purely astronomical meaning. The "Serpent" fallen from on high, " deorsum fluens, " was credited with the possession of the Keys of the Empire of the Dead, [[ tou thanatus arche ]] to that day, when Jesus saw it "falling like lightning from heaven" ( Luke x. 17, 18), the Roman Catholic interpretation of cadebat ut fulgur to the contrary, notwithstanding; and it means indeed that even "the devils are subject" to the Logos -- who is W ISDOM, but who, as the opponent of ignorance, is Satan or Lucifer at the same time. This remark refers to divine Wisdom falling like lightning on, and quickening the intellects of those who fight the devils of ignorance and superstition. Up to the time when Wisdom, in the shape of the incarnating Spirits of M AHAT, descended from on high to animate and call the Third Race to real conscious life, humanity -- if it can be so called in its animal, senseless state --was of course doomed to - - moral as well as to physical death. The Angels fallen into generation are referred to metaphorically as Serpents and Dragons of Wisdom. On the other hand, regarded in the light of the L OGOS, the Christian Saviour, like Krishna, whether as man or logos, may be said to have saved those who believed in the secret teachings from "eternal death," to have conquered the Kingdom of Darkness, or Hell, as every Initiate does.