or instance, by reason of their
popularity or the special circumstances of the case, were left in
peace. In Europe the secret teaching was continued by the
Rosicrucians; the _Roman de la Rose_ is pure Hermetic esotericism. The
struggle of official Christianity--that of the letter--against those
who represented the spirit of the Scriptures, raged ever more
bitterly, and the idea of Rebirth disappeared more and more from the
Church; its sole representatives during the Middle Ages were St.
Francis of Assisi, the learned Irish monk, Johannes Scotus Erigena,
and St. Bonaventura, "the Seraphic Doctor." At the present time there
remains nothing more than a disfigured and misunderstood fragment of
this idea: the dogma of the _Resurrection of the Body_.

ISLAMISM.[217]

It has been said that the Arabs believed in Reincarnation before
Mohammed forbade it. Some, however, think that the Koran was written
only after the death of the Prophet, and that the latter committed
nothing to writing, but taught by word of mouth. Besides, it is clear
that Mohammedanism is an offshoot of Zoroastrianism and Christianity.
Like these, it teaches the Unity of the Whole, the divine Presence in
all creatures and things (_Ubiquity_), Predestination, which is only
one form of _Karma_, and Resurrection, which expresses one phase of
Palingenesis.

Mohammed, like all great mystics, had discovered or learnt many of the
truths of esotericism. The verses of the Koran that refer to the
"Companions of the Cave"[218] indicate that he knew more than he
taught in public, and that there may be some ground for certain
Asiatic nations holding the exaggerated belief that he was an
Avatar,[219] the tenth incarnation of the _Aum_--the Amed, the
Nations' Desire.[220] He was a Disciple.

Had there not been in the heart of Islamism a strong germ of esoteric
teaching, Sufism could never have sprung from it. The Sufis are the
saints of Mohammedanism, they are those who aspire after the union of
the individual "I" with the cosmic "I," of man with God; they are
frequently endowed with wonderful powers, and their chiefs have almost
always been thaumaturgists.

The _New Koran_, a modern exposition of part of the secret doctrine of
Islam, shows the correctness of this view. In it we find the following
passages on the subject of Palingenesis:

"And when his body falleth off altogether, as an old fish-shell, his
soul doeth welt by the releasing, and formeth a new one ins