ether a great store of
occult information and mystic lore, and condensing the same into a
plain, practical, simple system, He imparted it fully and thoroughly
to those whom He had elected to be His chief co-workers and His
successors after His death, which He knew full well was not far off.

These facts must be fully understood by the student of Mystic
Christianity who wishes to grasp the secret of the early Christian
Church after the death of Christ. The wonderful headway manifested by
the movement could not have been given by mere followers and believers
in the Master. It usually follows that when the great head of an
organization dies the movement disintegrates or loses power unless he
has been able to "communicate his spirit" to some chosen followers.
And this Jesus did. And it was only to men who thoroughly grasped the
fundamental truths and principles of His teachings that such "spirit"
could have been imparted.

There was an exoteric teaching for the multitude, and an esoteric
teaching for the Twelve. There are many Scriptural passages which go
to show this fact, which was well known to the early Fathers of the
Church. And upon the occasion which we have mentioned the last great
Basic Truths were explained to the Twelve, and from that time
henceforward they were regarded and treated as Masters by Jesus, and
not as mere students, as had been the case before that time. And
arising from that final instruction came the Sermon of the Mount.

The Sermon of the Mount, that most wonderful and complete of any of
the public utterances of Jesus, was delivered almost immediately after
the Choosing of the Twelve Apostles. And it was intended even more for
them than for the multitudes gathered around to hear His preaching. He
knew that the Twelve could interpret it by reason of the Inner
Teachings that they had received from Him. And almost forgetting the
congregation gathered around and about Him, He elucidated the Inner
teachings for the benefit of the Chosen Few.

The Sermon of the Mount can be understood only by means of the Master
Key of the Inner Teachings, which opens the door of the mind to an
understanding of the hard sayings and veiled mystic import of many of
His precepts. We shall devote considerable space in one of our later
lessons of this series to a consideration of the Inner Meaning of this
great sermon and teaching, and therefore shall not go into details
regarding it in the present lesson, deeming it bet