Preface to the Second Edition. xxxiii slight recurrence of former trains of thought, which the Author might have been inclined to suppress, but with which I have not deemed it well to intermeddle. It will be seen that the design of the supplementary matter is, in part, as a reply to criticisms which seemed to call for some such explanation; and, in part, that points touched upon elsewhere might be given with more fulness. To see this Second Edition through the press has been the work of one whose intelligent sympathy and patient effort assisted and encouraged the Author, in many ways, in the prosecution of his studies, and who now finds the solace of her loneliness in treasuring up the products of his mind, and in cherishing the dear ones he has left to her wise love and oversight. If Mysticism be often a dream, it is commonly a dream in the right direction. Its history presents one of the most significant chapters in the story of humanity. September 7th, 1860. ROBERT VAUGHAN. VOL. I. Neo-Platonism in the Christian Church Analogies between Ancient and Modern Speculation Intuition 71 72 75 76 Theurgy CHAPTER IV. Porphyry 94 The Six Stages of Contemplation The Truth and the Error of Mystical Abstraction The Inner Light and the Outer The Faculty of Intuition. BOOK VI.-GERMAN MYSTICISM IN THE CHAPTER I. The Chronicle of Adolf Arnstein of Strasburg. Hermann of Fritzlar and his Legends The Heretics of the Rhineland The Preaching of Master Eckart 130 132 132 136 141 144 153 154 157 159 |