Gerald Massey's Lectures - Society in evolution - Awardspace

of the supposed history. Philo tells us--"They regard the letter of each utterance as the
symbol of that which was concealed from sight, but was revealed in the hidden
meaning"--not by its being rationalised into history. Mythology is, in its way, as real as
mathematics, but its way is not that of the literalisers, who have made the symbolism
false on the face of it to the underlying natural facts.
The fall of man, the temptation of the serpent and the coming of a Messiah were not
historic realities, which the Gnostics converted into their allegories. It is altogether
misleading to speak of the allegorizing Essenic and Docetic methods of exegesis, as if the
Gnosis consisted in whittling away and attenuating the solid facts of history! That is
merely echoing the language of those who were at war with the Gnostic interpretation, on
behalf of the supposed history by which we have been misled. The allegories were first;
and they are final; the history had no deeper foundations. The Essenes knew the hidden
nature of these representations and taught it "through symbols, with time-honoured zeal,"
being in possession of the books of wisdom and other scriptures than ours. They were the
jealous preservers of the hidden Gnosis, and qualified expounders of the ancient
mysteries by means of the secret tradition. The initiate was sworn to keep secret the
scriptures of the hidden wisdom and not to communicate the Gnosis to others, not even to
a new member except in the same way in which it had been communicated to him. But it
was especially prescribed that the "Doctrine of the Angels," i.e. of the time cycles, was
not to be revealed to any non-Essene. Unfortunately that secresy in the mode of
communication became the fatal curse of all the ancient knowledge by allowing the false
to come first in being publicly proclaimed.
De Quincy, in his essay on the Essenes, has remarked on the monstrosity of the omission
when the Christians are not even mentioned by the Jewish historian, Josephus. There is
the same portentous omission when the Essenes are never mentioned in the Christian
Gospels. They are there in fact, though not by name; nor as any new-born brotherhood.
They are only there in disguise, because historic Christianity has drawn the mask over the
features of primitive Christianity. The existence of primitive and pre-historic Christians is
acknowledged in the Gospel according to Mark when John says,--"Master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us." That, as the context shows, was
done in the name of the Christ, and, consequently, such were Christians. According to the
account in Matthew, before ever a disciple had gone forth or could have begun to preach
historic Christianity, there was a widespread secret organization ready to receive and
bound to succour those who were sent out in every city of Israel. Who, then, are these?
They are called "The Worthy." That is, as with the Essenes, those who have stood the
tests, proved faithful, and been found worthy. According to the canonical account these
were the pre-historic Christians, whether called Essenes or Nazarenes; the worthy, the
faithful, or the Brethren of the Lord. "Peace be with you!" was the greeting or pass-word
of the Essenes, and also of the Nazarenes, to judge from its appearing in the book of
Adam. And in the instructions given to the Seventy (Luke x. 5) it is said:--"Into
whatsoever house ye enter first say, 'Peace be to this house.'"
After the resurrection the mystic pass-word is employed three times over by the risen
Christ. And "He who comes with peace" is the name of the Egyptian God, Iu-em-hept,
the son of Atum, who, as the coming son, is Iu-su = Jesus. We also learn from the
Clementine Homilies (3, 19) that the "Mystery of the Scriptures" which was taught by (or
ascribed to) Christ was identical with that which from the first had been communicated to
those who were the Worthy. We may learn from the Gospel according to Luke that the
"Worthy" were those who had been initiated into the Mysteries of the Gnosis, and who
were "accounted Worthy" to attain that "resurrection from the dead" in this life, which
Paul was not altogether sure about--"those who knew that they could die no more, being
equal to the angels as sons of God and sons of the Resurrection." Such were then extant
as pre-Historic Christians (ch. xx. 35-6).