PREFACE xiii 



see. These doctrines were taught by the children of light, 

 who possessed the power to see. Such men were the 

 great religious reformers of all ages, from Confucius and 

 Zoroaster down to Jacob Boehme and Eckartshausen, 

 and their teachings have been verified by every one 

 whose purity of mind and whose power of intellect have 

 enabled him to see and to understand the things of the 

 spirit. 



Some of their doctrines refer to morals and ethics, 

 others are of a purely scientific character; but both 

 aspects of their teachings are intimately connected to- 

 gether, because beauty cannot be separated from truth. 

 They both form the two pages of a leaf in the book of 

 universal Nature, whose understanding confers upon the 

 reader not merely opinions but knowledge, and renders 

 him not only learned but illuminated with wisdom. 



Among those who have taught the moral aspect of the 

 secret doctrine, there are none greater than Buddha, 

 Plato, and Jesus of Nazareth ; of those who have taught 

 its scientific aspect, there have been none more profound 

 than Hermes Trismegistus, Sankaracharya, Pythagoras, 

 and Paracelsus. They obtained their knowledge not 

 merely from following the prescribed methods of learning, 

 or by accepting the opinions of the " recognised autho- 

 rities" of their times, but they studied Nature by her 

 own light, and becoming illuminated by the light of 

 Divine Nature, they became lights themselves, whose 

 rays illuminate the world of mind. What they taught 

 has been to a certain extent verified and amplified by 

 the teachings of Eastern Adepts, but many things about 

 which the latter have to this day kept a well-guarded 

 silence were revealed by Paracelsus three hundred years 

 ago. Paracelsus threw pearls before the swine, and was 



