"The only object of the following pages is to aid in dispelling the mists which for many centuries have been gathering around the person of the supposed founder of Christianity, and which have prevented mankind from obtaining a clear view of the true Redeemer, who is not to be found in history nor in external forms, but who can only be found within the interior temple of the soul by him in whom his presence becomes manifest. It must be left to the intelligent reader to decide whether the accounts given in this book may be accepted literally as historical facts, or whether they are intended to represent eternal and ever-occurring processes going on within the inner consciousness of man. The only key to the understanding of the truth is the power to perceive it; for the truth teaches itself, -not by the light of argumentation, -but by its own light, and it teaches nothing else but itself. All that the reading of books can possibly accomplish, is to aid us in bringing the truth which exists within ourselves to our own understanding, and to drive away the clouds of erroneous conceptions which may keep us from knowing ourselves. There is nothing to prevent man from rising into the higher regions of thought where the light of the truth exists, except his clinging to erroneous opinions; there is no way of driving away the darkness except by the diffusion of light."-Franz Hartmann

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 edition. Excerpt: ... THE WISDOM RELIGION. The inner laws of the universe can be known by studying the inner laws of that little world called "Man." It has not been ascertained how long Jehoshua BenPandira remained in Egypt, nor what degrees he attained in the Holy Brotherhood; but it is believed that he underwent many of the severe trials to which those who desired to be initiated into the mysteries were subjected. He was taught many of these sublime secrets, or, to express it more correctly: As the bud of a Lotus flower gradually opens under the influence of the sunlight, so his mind opened to the understanding of the divine mysteries of the Wisdom Religion. He perceived that GWhad a spiritual and a material aspect; that He is all things, and that for this cause "He hath many names, because he is the One Father, and that He also hath no name, for He is the Father of All";1 -- that this one and universal Father had created the world in his own Mind, endowed it with His own Life, and thrown it into objectivity by His own Will. He perceived and realized that this divine essence which caused the universe to take form and to grow, is the same that forms the corner-stone of the living tempie of God, called Man, and that the essence constituting the foundation and the innermost centre of Man is in no way different from that of the universal God, and that therefore "earthly man is a little god in a mortal body, while the God of the Universe is an immortal self-existent Man." 1 He found no death in the universe, but a continual change of form, while the Life that causes these changes of form remains always the same. That which is imperfect has to be remodelled and to become perfect; but that which is perfect and therefore eternal requires no further change. 1 Hermes...