nding revelation, which finally culminated in the direct
unveiled vision of God and the transformation of the whole man into
spiritual being by contact with Him. The ground of the idea of Gnosis
does not seem to be very different from that of the later "Mystical
Theology," "which originally meant the direct, secret, and
incommunicable knowledge of God received in contemplation" (Dom John
Chapman). The revelation sought for was not so much a dogmatic
revelation as a revelation of the processes of "transmutation" of
Rebirth, of Apotheosis or "Deification." Its aim was dynamic rather
than static. But while the followers of the Gnosis, both Christian and
Hellenistic, would have agreed that the direct knowledge of God is
incommunicable to others, they undoubtedly seem to have held that there
were what may be described as intermediate or preparatory processes or
energisings which could be communicated: (1) by initiation into a holy
community; (2) by a duly qualified master; (3) under the veils of
symbols and sacraments.

The Gnostic movement began long before the Christian era (what its
original historical impulse was we do not know), and only one aspect of
it, and that from a strictly limited point of view, has been treated by
ecclesiastical historians. Recent investigations have challenged the
traditional outlook and the traditional conclusions and the traditional
"facts." With some to-day, and with many more to-morrow, the burning
question is, or will be--not how did a peculiarly silly and licentious
heresy rise within the Church--but how did the Church rise out of the
great Gnostic movement, and how did the dynamic ideas of the Gnosis
become crystallised into Dogmas? I do not indicate a solution; I do
not express an opinion. I call attention to a fact in the world of
scholarship that will not be without its decided reaction upon the
plain man. But the study of the ancient Gnosis, and indeed of
mysticism generally, has left another suggestion that seems laden with
limitless possibilities. Let us first go back to what I said as to the
communication of certain "processes," "leavenings," or "energisings"
under a sacramental veil. These processes were held to modify the
nature of the person who submitted to them in a peculiar manner that
was likened to the impress or "character" of a seal upon wax. These
seals or "characters" could not only be acquired through formal rites
and by the laying on of the hands of a mas