SPIRITISM;

THE

Origin of All Religions.

-
BY
J P . DAMERON,
"
Author of "The Dupuy Papers" Devil and Hell" and " The Evil Forces
in Nature"

SAX FRANCISCO, CAL.

Published by the Author.
1885.
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UNIVERSITY
LVERSIT-
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ClLIFC

PREFACE
In presenting this little book to the public, I must ask the kind indulgence
of the reader, for it has been the work of my leisure hours; a recreation of

the mind from the dry details of law, which teaches us to deal with facts

according to law, and to reason out its relations with the many conflicting,

interests of mankind. In trying to trace out the origin of these laws

customs and usages, it has led me far back into the night of time, when man
emerged from the obscurity of barbarism. Like the explorer of some great
river, as he ascends he beholds the stream branching off into many little

rivers, and they grow less and less, until at last he finds its source in some
far-off mountain, fed by the melting of the snows or springs that gush from
out the granite rocks.
So it is with law and religion, they both come from the invisible source
the mind of man. One teaches him his relations to his fellow-man, and the
other to his Creator ; one relates to his social nature, the other to his moral
and spiritual nature. They are closely allied and have much to do with
each other, the religious status of a people having had much to do in

shaping their government and civilization. Where a liberal religion has

prevailed the laws have partaken of its nature and the people prospered
and were happy ; when illiberal it has tyrannized over man and made him
a slave to caste and priesthood.
In all religions there are good moral precepts, and if man would live up
to them he would be wiser and better, but his animal nature is so strong
that it often tempts him to violate them ; but they act upon and tend to
restrain him. It is contended by some that man could not be governed
without a religion. It makes but little difference what a man's religion is, if

he be honest and will respect the rights of another. No one should say,
" My religion is orthodox and yours is heterodox ;" we should all be willing
to let every one worship God in accordance with the dictates of his own
conscience, for we are all in the fog and know but little of the life to come.
We now and then catch a stray bit of evidence that goes to confirm us in
the belief of the immortality of the soul. It comes like the whispering
voice of spirits and angels, to tell us that we are immortal and will live

beyond the grave. Is it our imagination ?

Whence come these thoughts ? Did we inherit them from the teaching
of our ancestors They had no better evidence of the facts than we see
?

around us every day. They tell us these things happened thousands of

years ago, in benighted Asia, among people just emerging from savagery,
who had no knowledge of the arts and sciences, geography, astronomy,
geology, chemistry, botany, biology, etc. They believed the world was flat;

that the sun, moon and moved around the earth

stars ; that the earth was
created in six days ; that man was made of dust, and that God breathed
the breath of life into him ; that he caused a deep sleep to fall upon him,
and took a rib out of his side and made it into a woman.
These infantile stories of the creation of man and the remarkable revela-
tions made by God, are conflicting and bear upon their face the evidence of
exaggeration and credulity. The evolution theory has swept from us the
myth of Adam and Eve and the eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden
of Eden, which does away with the necessity of a redeemer and the vicari-

ous atonement and original sin. It has opened our eyes to the knowledge
that there is no one standing between us and our Creator; that every one
must work out his own salvation and be his- own savior, answering for his

sins according to the law of compensation ; that the laws of nature are
unchangeable ; that the same force that shapes a dewdrop will round a
world ; that suns and stars float in space, and are held in their place by the
same law that guides the earth in its course around the sun ; that spring

comes to gladden the earth and make it green ; that winter's frost robes it

in a white winding sheet of snow ; but the vegetable world is not dead, it is

only asleep to blossom again.

Will man live after death ? This is a question that has time and again
been asked by the most learned sages and philosophers of all ages. Men
have sacrificed their lives to prove it, they have been deified and churches
and temples have been reared to honor their sainted names, and a vast mul-
titude of humanity bowed down in their praise. Still it is an open question,
and one that is hard to demonstrate. The only evidence we have is what
Spiritism has been able to give us, but it is so conflicting that men of science

differ as to the value of its evidence, and the only solution to the question

is, each one must investigate for himself, in a spirit of fairness and candor,
and he will find much that will convince him of the fact. I have examined
 >
8

the religions of all ages, and I find that it had its origin in the same intelli-

gent force one hears in the mysterious rapping, the tipping of the table, the
invisible pencil writing on a slate, the trance, the clairaudient and clairvoy-

ant mediums, which is the only solution to all the stories we have read about
gods, angels, ghosts and devils, that have ever manifested themselves to
man ; and the object of this book is to show that Spiritism is the origin of
all religions ; that all the knowledge of the life beyond has come to us

through the same channel, whether it purported to be from gods, angels,

saviors, prophets, seers, inspired men, or mediums ; it is one and the same
thing under different forms and different names, in different ages and differ-
ent countries.
The object of the author is not to attack any religion, but to give a fair

and impartial statement of facts, that will remove the veil that, for ages, has
mystified man and shut him out from the knowledge that he is a part of the
divine mind, and if he will but listen to his better nature he can hold con-
verse with those who have preceded him, which will take away all fear of
death and damnation and fill the heart with hope and joy.

J.
P. Dameron.
San Francisco, California, April, 1885.
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CONTENTS.
Page. Page.
Chapter I Spiritism 5 Chrisna 52
It is a New Religion; it is American and Gautama Buddha 53
Democratic, and in keeping with the Apollonius of Tyana 55
Progress of the Age in which we Live. Pythagoras 55
The Leading Scientists are Divided Esculapius 56
Some are Materialists, others are ^Eschylus 56
Avowed Spiritualists 7 Xenophon 56
Chapter II 10 Cicero 56
Occultism —A Hidden Force in Nature Socrates 57
called the Astral Light, the Soul of Zoroaster 57
Primum Mobile, the
the World, the Sosioch 58
Grand Arcanum of Transcendental Confucius 58
Magic, Tetragrammaton of the
the Chapter VI 60
Hebrews, the Thot of the Egyptians, Religion; its Origin, Growth and Devel-
the Azoth of the Alchemist, the Akasa opment.
of the Hindoos, the Secret lost to the
Chapter VII 69
Masonic Fraternity in the Murder of
Ancestral Worship of the Ancient
Grand Master Hiram Abiff, Theopse,
Aryans.
Destiny, Occult Fraternity.
Akasa, or Life Force 16
Chapter VIII 78
Wonder-Workers of India Religion of the Ancient Greeks; their
17
Destiny < 22
Gods and Goddesses were only Spirits

An Occult Fraternity 22
of Departed Sages and Heroes. Their
Mediums foretold the Future and the
Chapter III 24
Past.
Soul of the Universe (Anima Mundi).
Ether, Psychomancy, Plato and St. Chapter IX 85
Paul on the Triune, Body, Spirit and The Origin of the Christian Religion.
Christianity 85
Soul, Transmigration, Hindoo Idea
of a Soul, its Origin and Destiny.
Advent of Christ 85

Psychomancy 26 Chapter X 91
Soul 27 All Religions appear to have one Com-
The Soul is Eternal 30 mon Origin. The Origin of the Trin-
Chapter IV 35
ity, Cross, Sacred Rivers, Madonna,
Mediums, Ancient and Modern. Pro- Ark, Deluge, Fish Story.
phets, Seers, Magicians, Soothsayers, The Trinity 94
Astrologers, Fortune-Tellers, Materi- The Holy Communion or Lord's Supper 97
alizations, Raps, Trances. The Deluge 97
Mediumship 38 Chapter XI 100
Materialization 42 The Eight Great Religions of the World.
Chapter V 48 Brahminism, Buddhism, Zoroaster-
Inspiration and Inspired Men, Saviors, ism, Mosaicism, Christianity, Mo-
Mediators and Mediums. hammedanism, Laoteseism and Mod-
Jesus Christ 49 ern Spiritualism.
The Rise and Progress of Modern Spiritualism,

CHAPTER I.

It is a New Edition to Old Religions; it is American and Democratic, and in Keeping with the
Progress of the Age in which We Live.

"Rap, rap, rap, on the ceiling and floor, mit that there it nothing in it that is contrary
On the pictures and door;
makes such a noise ?"
to the fixed laws of evolution — but it throws
What is it that
new lighton the life-forces of the universe called
All scientific investigations point to the fact life, soul and spirit.

that the earth was created by fixed laws, and There should be no conflict between science
that it was intended for the express purpose of and religion. While science deals in facts that
developing man. For in him heaven and earth are demonstrable to the five senses, and is
have contributed all their best material, and aided by observation, comparison and deduc-
worked it over well for millions upon millions of tion from which a knowledge of phenomena and
years, raising up mountains and eroding them of the order of succession is derived. Spiritism
down into the sea. Mineral, vegetable and ani- offers to lend its aid and assist science to ex-
mal life changed often before it was fit to be plore those hidden realms of metaphysics and
worked into man, the last crowning act of crea- with the higher developed senses of clairaudi-
tion. In him enters everything, therefore he is a ence and clairvoyance which the academy of
microcosm, his physical and intellectual pow- science at Paris has called the sixth sense, so
ers are the perfection of nature and the pride with this higher development they will be able
of the all wise master. to go farther into the workings of the human
Is it reasonable, yea, is it possible that mind and bring to light that hidden force
all this shoujd be done to make a superior ani- called spirit, the life force of the universe that
mal who should eat, drink and use all the has caused matter to evolve and work out so

bountiful stores that nature had provided in many changes and forms in the physical world.
building up the globe as a fit habitation for him As each atom of matter is accompanied by cer-
that he should die and his body return to dust tain force or intelligence that cause that particle
from whence it sprang; if so creation is a grand of matter to attract or repel other particles of
failure,and should there be no soul survive matter, so that it knows its affinities and re-
death, or was it intended that out of him should pels its dislikes; it forms the minerals in crys-
spring another form that would retain the know- tals, cubes, cones and prisms, for all matter is
ledge and the individual identity in a more sub- moved and governed by certain laws that are
limated condition, capable of further progress. acting and reacting throughout the visible and
I see nothing indicating that mind —
intelligence invisible world and the invisible forms of
— can be destroyed or annihilated any more than matter are the most active and numerous; yet
that of forceand matter, which has produced because we can not reach or comprehend these
him. Then must exist in an
this intelligence operations of matter with the five senses we
individual form, and that form must begin in cannot say it does move, but reason
not exist or
another. On the investigation of the phenome- aided by observation and comparison is forced

na of modern Spiritualism I am forced to ad- to admit the fact. We cannot see, feel or hear
 6

the iron crystalize but we are satisfied that it shuts the door against any investigation of that
does under certain conditions, so there is a si- which belongs to his spiritual nature.
lent work ever going on in the secret laboratory The result is that materialism is closely en-
of nature that is beyond the keen perception or croaching upon the church and is fast under-
understanding of the man of science, but which mining and destroying the spiritual faith of the
is revealed to the higher developed senses of the inner man and reducing him down to a piece
disembodied spirits and to those mediums that of clay, destitute of any spirituality, while the
occupy a border land. churches are divided and making war on Mod-
So science should cease its hostility and cul- ern Spiritualism, and invoke the aid of science
tivate that intuitional sense of the inner man to demonstrate the fact that it is all a delusion,
(the spirit) which, if properly understood at the same time proving to the world that
and trained, would aid it in the great work of all religion is nothing but a deception; for if

arriving at the truth, which would lead to a there are no spirits for the Spiritualists there
higher civilization and amelioration of the hu-' can be none for the churches.
man race by expanding the intellect in the di- The greatest difficulty in describing that
rection of the spiritual, for the heart must be cul- which relates to man's spiritual nature is the
tivated as well as the head, for the inner man absolute ignorance of humanity concerning its

has much do with the outer man. And un-

to nature. The spiritual laws have heretofore
til science and Spiritualism, physics and meta- been ignored; the power of one mind upon an-
physics go hand in hand the highest attainments other, the influence of spirit upon spirit, have
will not be reached. As Joliet says, "while scarcely been considered, while that spiritual

the Western Nations have been following the power by which Jesus wrought miracles and
physical laws, the Hindoo fakirs have been fol- spells(and also his disciples), which he promis-
lowing the metaphysical laws of thespirit, by ed should be given to all who believed and fol-

which they can control and perform wonderful lowed in him, has been wholly blotted out and
things that startle the European with wonder tabooed by the church, and any attempt to re-
and amazement, while we can by our know- vive it is denounced as the work of the devil, so
ledge perform wonders that are as startling to that religion has come to mean a simple state-
them." ment, a form, a ceremony, a theory, without any
That mind and matter, physics and meta- intermediate links connecting it with the world of
physics are all united in man and that he should causes and human existence, whereas in the time
investigate one as well as the other, that there of Jesus it was a matter of daily life and experi-
is no dividing line; that it is the ignorance of ence and was so understood and practiced by

science of these metaphysical laws that shut him and his disciples. The spirit was the great
the door in the face of the pursuer of know- motor power by which these miracles were per-
ledge, and all that is required is to knock and formed.
it shall be opened; that man is the beginning The working of spiritual gifts has ceased be-
of our individualized intelligence that never cause they have been ignored by the church,
dies but follows the laws of progress through and the temporal power and material influence
endless realms; that there is no end or limit to of civilization, which has encouraged a growth
knowledge in this life or the higher life to come of materialism. Prosperity, the building up of
in the spirit land; that there is no secret in states, endowing institutions, the rearing of
nature's laws beyond the reach of individu- splendid structures and churches, goes far to
alized intelligence of the aspiring mind. build up the material welfare of nations and
Science, proud of her attainments and justly society; but they take away from the mind those
so, strong in her foundations of laws and un- absolute conditions that are eccential to the ex-
assailable in her primal principles, has never- istence of spiritual gifts —simplicity, natural-
theless arrogated to herself more rights than she ness, dependence upon the unseen and the rec-
actually possesses, and claims not only to dic- ognition of the higher nature of the spirits in
tate to man the essential
properties and elements all that belongs to daily life. In following the
that constitute the physical body, but here it material, man has lost much of the spiritual pow-
 /

er that the ancients had. Though he has made a common thing for the seven or eight of us in
great progress in the physical laws of nature the laboratory to see Miss Cook (the medium)
in the discovery of steam and electricity, he has and M Kate" (the spirit) at the same time un-
lost sight of the more subtle psychical force der the full blaze of the electric light." Wil-
of mind over matter, which enabled the ancients liam Crookes, after making many tests with
to divine the future and tell the past. It has such mediums as D. D. Home, Kate Fox, and

weU nigh cut humanity off from all religions others, says that "the spirits can move heavy
and made him a materialist. bodies. That they can make sounds and raps;
that they can alter the weight of bodies, and

The Leading Scientists are Divided — Some are move bodies when at a distance from the me-
Materialists, others are Avowed Spri ritualists. dium; raise tables and chairs off the ground;
of human beings; luminous ap-
the levitation
Darwin could not see anything behind blind
pearances; the appearance of hands writing;
matter, forcing up the vegetable and animal
phantom forms and faces."
life, but the " survival of the fittest." Herbert
Spencer thinks that matter is impelled by the -SPIRITISM IS AS OLD AS THE HISTORY OF MAN.
active forces in nature to evolve all forms of
life according to itsenvironments; Huxley ad-
It appeared to Adam in the Garden of Eden;
mits that there is an "unknowable " force back it directed Noah how to build the ark; Moses
atom saw it in the burning bush; the spirits (angels)
of or in the that im pells
assume cer-
it to
tain forms. Agassiz thought all matter was
Abraham, and at one time
often appeared to
ate veal cutlets with him in his* tent; Saul saw
impelled by an invisible intelligence, but would
the spirit (or ghost) of Samuel at the Witch of
not admit that it was done by the spirit forces,
still he believed in a God —
a Supreme First
Endor; the spirit closed the mouth of the lion
—
Cause that caused all matter to evolve under when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den;
certain laws. While, on the other hand, we Jesus saw Moses and Elias on the mount of
have the illustrious names of Alexander Aksa- transfiguration, and they talked with him; St.

koff, Robert Chambers.. Hiram Corson, Au- Paul heard voices and was liberated from prison
gustus de Morgan, J. W. Edmonds, Dr. Elliot- by them; St. John had trances and saw the
son, I. H. Fichte, Zollner, Prof. Ulriciof Halle, New Jerusalem. Take the Spiritualism out of
Camille Flammaron, Herman Goldschmidt, the Bible and it would be a tame, dull history
Dr. Hoffle, Robert Hare, Lord Lyndhurst, of the Jews; but read through the light of Spir-
Robert Dale Owen, Victor Hugo, W. M. itualism it is full of interest and grandeur.
Thackeray, T. A. Trollope, Alfred Russel Spiritism is the basis of all religions and the
Wallace (a naturalist and cotempo- only way man has got any knowledge of a fu-
scientist, a

rary with Darwin), Nicholas Wagner, Arch- ture existence. It manifested itself in the Del-
bishop Whately, Pasteur, the author of the phic oracles as well as to the Hebrew prophets,
germ theory, and Professor Crookes, who stand if we are to believe the Greek authors. Socra-
high in science and learning, all are firm be- tes says he received all his knowledge from his
lievers in Spiritism, and that the departed from littledemon (spirit) that whispered it into his
this life live, can and do return and hold com- ears. The Platonic philosophy was but little
munication with mortals. These men have different from that of Modern Spiritualism.
placed the mediums under the strictest test. Homer is one grand poem of the gods (spirits)
Profs. Wallace, Crookes and Zollner took the taking a deep interest in the affairs of nations
mediums to their own homes and placed them and individuals. The Greeks lived close to
under the strictest test conditions. On one oc- nature and held communion through the ora-
casion Mr. Varley, the electrician, by means cles with departed heroesand sages. The Ro-
of a galvanic battery and cable-testing appara- mans had their sybaline books and vestal vir-
tus, showed to the satisfaction of all present, gins, who held communion with the dead.
that the medium was inside Cicero was a firm believer in the spirits, and
of the cabinet,
while the supposed spirit form was visible and was a medium; his orations burn with the fire
moving outside. Prof. Crookes says: " It was of inspiration.
 8

Every age has had its spiritual manifestations; rappings of the Fox sisters and in the writings
every period has witnessed something of the of A. J. Davis, who published " Nature's Di-
kind; every fireside has its ghost story, and ev- vine Revelations; a Voice to Mankind," in
ery family has something of its wonders to re- July, 1847, in which he enunciated the doc-

late. It is nothing new. In the year 364, in trine of evolution ten years prior to that of
the reign of the Roman emperor Valen=, me- Darwin.
diums conversed by the means of rappings About the same time in the little village of
and employed the alphabet, as also the spirit Hydesville, N. Y., in a small, unpretending
pendulum. It finally passed into disrepute as dwelling lived Mr. Fox, his wife and two
a black art and was denounced by the priests daughters. Kate, the youngest, about 9 years
as the doings of the devil. Independent slate old, was the first medium to detect and recog-
writing was known to the Chinese over a thou- nize the raps, which for some time amazed the
sand years ago. Trance mediums were known family. With the assistance of her mother
to the ancient Hindoos, Persians and Greeks; she was she first to establish a system of signals
so was that of healing, clairaudience and clair- by raps, though they had been heard often by
voyance; they saw and heard spirits. different persons.
Christ was a medium of the highest order; Rev. John Wesley's daughters were similarly
he made his appearance to battle against the annoyed by a spirit who answered to the name
materialism of his day; he was invested with " Old of Jeff," but Wesley requested it to
wonderful power to convince the wicked world leave and let his children alone; at last it dis-
that he was from God to teach reforma- appeared, and he lost the golden opportunity
serlt

tion, but theywould not believe him but cruci- to make the discovery. But the manifestation
fied him. Luther had wonderful mediumistic of the spirit attended his religious revivals in
power. He saw spirits and threw an inkstand another form that of shouting. —
at the head of an evil one. The Rosicrucians It is not a religion covered with moss and
were invested with wonderful power and were rust of past ages, but one that is fresh and new
scoffed at by the materialists as fanatics. They in keeping with the progress of the age.
led a most singularly isolated, pure life. The
IT IS STRICTLY AMERICAN AND DEMOCRATIC;
Huguenots were persecuted on account of their
spiritual dissensions from the Catholic church. It has no synods, conferences or ecumenical
The Quakers, whose leaders were George Fox councils, to fix up creeds and dogmas to de-
and others, claimed a revelation from the di- clare what is the word of God. It has no
vine mind. William Penn, the founder of priests, bishops or popes, to grant absolutions
Pennsylvania, was one of its followers. The and forgive sins. It has no head or leader.
Shakers, an advanced class of Quakers, so The medium may be a child uneducated; if the
called from their shaking and nervous twitch- communications don't bear the strictest scruti-
ing. They were led to follow their peculiar ny and test they are rejected. Every one is
life of celibacy from the teachings of Ann the judge, none being required to believe un-
Lee. less they wish; all are at liberty to criticize and
In the more modern times it manifested it- comment whether it is truthful or false. The
self inCaines and Marvels in France in 1686. spirit is cross-questioned and examined, and if
Swedenborg alleges that he was in full and open it don't stand the test it is discarded. It de-
communication with the spirit world, and daily nounces all leadership, all individual man ivor-
conversed with spirits and angels. shipping, making every believer rely solely on
In 1829, the Seeress of Prevost startled the himselt and seek his own salvation through his
world with what she saw, and mysterious raps own exertions. It teaches individuality '*/ —
were often heard around her. am a man and you are another." Every indi-
In 1830 the French mesmerists Billot and vidual is his own priest; if he has sins he must
Deleuze say they saw and felt spirits, and there confess them to himself, and he must work out
was a possibility of communicating with them. his own salvation. It believes in good works;
Modern Spiritualism had its origin in the short prayers, for God is not captured by elo-
 \BRA/?V
<M? T.

UNIVERSITY ]

quent words and long prayers, but is pleased there is an invisible individual intelligence that
with a pure hearc and a forgiving disposition. sees and understands him and lets him know
Good deeds and kind words are worth a thou- that his departed friends are not dead but pres-
sand prayers. ent and holding converse with him. The se-
It is little over a quarter of a century old, verest tests are given, 'that no one can explain
but now numbers over 25,000,000 of believers, save that it is the spirit of a departedtacquaint-
making way amongst the most intelligent and ance, friend, mother, father, brother, wife or
—
wealthy classes emperors, kings and queens. child.
Though not demonstrative it is undermining all Man needs not external revelations but an
the older forms of religion that had their ori- internal illumination whereby he can under-
gin in the night of the past. It is a religion stand the relations he sustains to himself, his
j

that making rapid progress with the intelli- brother man and the physical world. Such an
is

gent and thinking masses, for it is in accord illumination is bestowed on, though not per-
'

with science and the laws of evolution. It ceived by all; that myriad hosts of the angel

carries conviction to all who will investigate it world are around us; they mingle in the affairs
with candor and honesty of purpose. To the of men; their atmosphere is an exhaustless
fair-minded man who is not steeped in preju- fountain from which we draw our thoughts and
;

dices of the old theology, there is evidence aspirations.

j

given, if he will examine, to convince him that

 —

CHAPTER II.

OCCULTISM.

A Hidden Force in Nature called the Astral Light, The Soul of the World, The Primum Mobile, the
Grand Arcanum of Transcendental Magic, The Tetragrammaton of the Hebrews, The
Thot of the Egyptians, The Azoth of the Alchemist, The Akasa of the

Hindoos, The Secret lost to the Masonic Fraternity in the

Murder of Grand Master Hiram Abiff, Theopae,
Destiny, Occult Fraternity.

"The power of thought, the magic of the mind." Byron.

Cicero was of the opinion that the Chaldeans of the Egyptians, and the Akasa of the Hindoos.
were among the oldest magicus, who placed the By this element, which abounds in the celestial
basis of all magic in the inner powers of man's bodies and descends in the rays of the stars,
soul, and by the discernment of magic proper- every occult property is conveyed into herbs,
ties in plants, minerals and animals. By their stones, metals and minerals, making them
aid they performed the most wonderful "mira- solary, lunary, jovial, ethereal, mercurial, etc.,

Magic was their religion, and synony- according to the planetary influences. * *
cles."
mous with science. In it thoughts are realized, and images of past
The influence of magic may be traced in the persons and things are preserved, so that spec-
legends of Prometheus, Sisyphus, Circle and ters may be evoked from it, and shown to the
Medea. The Greek and Roman mythologies world as real objects and things as sounds —
are full ofand they had implicit faith in and words are preserved in the audiphone.
it,

their oracles, auguries and divinations. The The adepts in magic claim that the sorcerer,
mythologies of the ancient Germans, Slavs and or practicer of the black art, differs from the
Celts were similar. The Druids also possessed true magician as the charlatan from the master
the secret art. The crusaders looked upon of the art; that the former invokes and uses the
magic as the peculiar ally of the infidels. evil force or bad spirits, while the true magician
In the fourteenth century magic arose into uses the good force or good spirits. According
repute as a lawful art, and sovereigns maintained to the teachings of Cornelius Agrippa, there are
magicians at their courts. The most prominent several kinds of magic, but they are generally
of these European magicians, adepts and writ- reduced to two: white or divine magic, or magic
ers was Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Ar- within its proper province; and black or infer-
noldus de Villanova, Daniel Defoe and Eliphas nal magic, to which belong chiromancy, the
Levi, of the present century. evil eye, the command of the elements (of evil),

The magic are founded upon the the- the power of transforming human beings into
arts of

ory that there is an occult force in nature called animals, etc. In the black, the magician sells
the astral light, the soul of the world, and the himself to the devil; in the white, the devil
primum mobile, which is the grand arcanum of is controlled and obsessed by the magfe ian.
Tetagrammaton of the
transcendental magic, the To have command of this element, to direct
Hebrews, the Azoth of the Alchemist, the Thot its currents and to discern its moving panorama,
 >
11

is the highest attainment, ^and the incompre- the Persian religion, and when the Jews returned
hensible secret of the magician. To reveal it from their Babylonian captivity, they brought
is to lose it; to impart it even to a disciple is to back with them the secrets of the magician,
I

abdicate in his favor. To command this forceand they played an important part, and out of
and its secrets requires the highest and best as them they manufactured their devil, or evil one,
well as the purest intellect, dauntless courage with whom they used to scare the ignorant into
and unbending will, discretion, devotion, and submission; for they ruled the people
; and used
habitual silence, and to be free from tempta- this art to j
make them believe it was the work
tions. He must be chaste, sober, disinterested, of Jehovah for all the miracies claimed to be
;

inaccessible, free from prejudice and passions, done by them were the same as those performed
and without physical defect. He must live a by the ancient Persian and Egyptian magi-
life of abstinence, having certain hours formed- cians.
itation. He must make physical wants yield i Simon Magus could fly off in the air before
to those of the mind; he must be able to live his disciples and the crowd of witnesses, with-
on the scantiest diet, barely enough to keep soul out going through any circle-making used by
and body together, like the Hindoo fakirs. the jugglers ; nor is this art confined to the
It is claimed by some that the key to this ancients. Mr. Turner, the author of the
magical art was lost to Solomon in the death of ;
" Embassy to Thibet," tells some strange sto-
Hiram Abiff, the widow's son, who was the ries, and he corroborates the story of the Abbe

Grand Master of the Lodge, and since the sub- Hue of the reincarnation of Buddha, and that
stitution of the other word the Masons have lost of Lahma (priests) sending their astral souls oft

the control over this occult force, by which to perform missions and carry messages, what
they were in olden times enabled to work won- we call mental telegraphy.
ders, which are recorded in the Bible and on done by the magicians The wonderful things
obelisks and pyramids of Egypt. and Great Tar-
of Kashmir, Thibet, Mongolia
It is claimed that Jesus Christ was an adept, tary are too well known to need comment.
I
If

and through his knowledge he was enabled to jugglers they be, they have defied all detection
j

perform so many miracles. To the initiated it even by the best and most expert necromancer
j

was not strange, but it accordance of Europe and America. (See Jamblicher's
was done in
with natural forces and the fixed laws of occult- Mysteries Egypt, 1. 26, Theurgy.)
ism. Epimenides, the Orphikos, was renowned for
The trident of Paracelsus was believed to his sacred and marvelous nature. He had the
have all the virtues the cabala attributes to the ; faculty of sending his soul out of his body as
words, and which the hierophantsof Alexandria long as he pleased. '

ascribed to the celebrated word Abracadabra . \ Appollonius could at any time send his soul
It gave a complete knowledge and mastery of out. He was a great magician,
nature, the secrets of the future, Empedoclesof Agrigenteum, the Pythagorean
and the com-
mand of the elementary spirits; to heal the sick, thaumaturgist, required no conditions to arrest
to move things around with an invisible hand, a waterspout which had broken over a city,
to call up the spirits of the dead, and do many Neither did he need any to recall a woman to
things that are now done by spiritual mediums, life. He used no dark rooms or cabinets, van-
The tipping of tables, raps and independent ishing suddenly in the air before the eyes of the
slate writing were all known to the ancient Emperor Domitian and a whole crowd of wit-
adepts, nesses (many thousands). He appeared an
In the books of Moses there are hour later in the grotto of Puteoli.
many instan- '
He evi-
ces of the magicians performing wonders, and dently did it by sending off his astral body,
the Egyptian magicians could do what Aaron while his own physical body he rendered invis-
and Moses did, only Aaron's rod made the big- ible by the concentration of akasa about it,
gest snake and gobbled up all the rest; so if it then quietly walked out of the crowd to some
is a snake story, Moses' was the biggest. retreat, where he remained until the return of
These magicians played an important part in his double or astral soul.
 12

The astral soul scin-lecca (double) is able to "have reached, in these two departments of
draw body while in a profound
itself out of the
" learning,
way of phenomena, results in the

sleep, and often travels around and sees places, When one sees
"that are truly stupefying.
so that when the person is awake and comes " these strange manifestations, whose power one
across these places he is sometimes impressed "cannot deny, without grasping the laws that
that he has been there before. Some persons' " the Brahmans keep so carefully concealed, the
visions are so clear that they are able to see "mind is overwhelmed with wonder and lost in
these astral bodies, and it has given rise to "amazement.
spooks and ghosts. Some mediums are able to "The only explanation we have been able to
withdraw their astral hands, and this accounts " obtain on the subject from a learned Brahman
for an extra hand often witnessed at seances. "with whom we were on terms of the closest
Little by little the whole astral body may ooze " intimacy was this You have studied phys- :
'

out like a passing cloud, until two forms appear " ical nature, and you have obtained, through
where there was only one, the one more shad- "the laws of nature, marvelous results steam, —
owy than the other. "electricity, etc. For twenty thousand years
The trinity of nature is the lock of magic, "or more we have studied the intellectual
the trinity of man the key that fits it. It is " forces; we have discovered their laws, and we

unthinkable and unpronounceable, and yet " obtain, by making them act alone or in con-
every man finds in himself his God. "Who " cert with other matter, phenomena still more
"art thou, O fair being?" inquired the disem- "astonishing than your own.
bodied soul in the Khordah Avesta, at the gates "While there are in the science which the
of Paradise. "I am, O Soul, thy good and " Brahmans call occult, phenomena so extraor-
" purest thoughts, thy works and thy good law, " dinary as to baffle all investigation, theie is
"* * thy angel ** and thy God." Then "not one which cannot be explained, and
man or soul is reunited with itself, for this "which is not subject to natural law, if prop-

"son of God" is one with him; it is his own " erly understood, which any initiated Brahman

mediator, the God of his human soul and his "could if he would explain every phenomena;
justifier. " God not revealing himself immedi- " while our ablest physicist is not able to explain
ately to man, the spirit is his interpreter," says " even the most trivial occult phenomenon
Plato in the Banquet. " produced by a fakir pupil of a pagoda, much
Paracelsus says, "The human spirit is so "less those performed by an adept."
"great a thing that no man can To comprehend the principles of the natural
express it!

" As God himselt and unchangeable, law involved in occultism, we must keep in
is eternal
"so also is the mind of man. If we rightly mind the fundamental proposition of Oriental
"understood its powers nothing would be im- philosophy, i. There is no miracle. Every-
" possible to us on earth. The imagination is thing that happens is the result of law eternal, —
"strengthened and developed through faith in immutable, ever active. (Apparent miracle is

"our will. Faith must confirm the imagina- but the operation of forces antagonistic to the
" tion, for faith establishes the will." well-ascertained laws of nature, but are un-
Jacolliot, the great writer and translator of known to science.) And what is not known or
Oriental literature, says that "it is impossible understood has always been considered by the
" for him to give an account of the marvelous ignorant as a miracle.
" facts witnessed while among the Hindoos. 2. Nature is triune. There is a visible, objec-
" The many strange and startling things done by tive nature; an invisible, indwelling, energizing
"them would, if told, tend to make the Ruro- nature, the external model of the other, and its
" peans look upon me as a Munchausen, or a vital principle; and above these two, spirit y

"greater liar than Sinbad the Sailor." But source of all forces, alone eternal and inde-
adds with entire truthfulness, " Let it suffice to* structible. The lower two, consequently,
" say, that in regard to magnetism and spiritism change; the highest, the third, does not.
" Europe has yet to stammer over the first let- 3. Man is also triune. He has his physical
" ters of the alphabet, and that the Brahmans body; his vitalizing, astral or spiritual body,
 13

man; and these two are brooded over his audience so as

the real to make them believe that
—
and illuminated by the third the sovereign, what they saw was real, when in reality it was
the immortal soul. When the real man suc- but a picture in their minds, so impressed by
ceeds in merging himself with the latter, he him; while his physical body seems to disappear
becomes an immortal entity. or assume any shape that he may choose. In
4. is a knowledge of this way he quietly slips away and leaves his
Magic, as a science,
and of the way by which the astral body, then this astral form suddenly rises
these principles,
omniscience and omnipotence of the spirit and and floats off in the air, which the spectators
its control over nature's forces may be acquired mistook* for the real body.
by the individual while still in the body. Swedenborgians believe, and arcane science
Magic, as an art, is the application of this teaches, that the soul often leaves and abandons
knowledge in practice. the body, from various causes, as that of over-
Arcane knowledge misapplied is sorcery; powering grief, fright, despair, violent attack of
5.
beneficially used, true magic or wisdom. sickness, or excessive sensuality, and leaves the
6. Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship. vacant carcass, which may be entered and in-
The medium is the passive instrument of foreign habited by the astral form of an adept sorcerer
influences; the adept actively controls himself or an elementary (an earth-bound disembodied
and all inferior potencies. human soul). In cases of insanity the patient's
7. All things that ever were, that now are or astral being is either semi-paralyzed, bewildered
shall be, having their record and subject to the influence of every passing
upon the astral

light, or tablet of the spirit of any sort, or it has departed from the
unseen universe, the ini-

tiated adept, by using the vision of his own body forever, and the body is taken possession
spirit, can know all that has known or can be of by some vampyrish entity near its own dis-

known. integration and clinging desperately to earth,

8. Races of men differ in spiritual gifts, as in whose sensual pleasures it may enjoy and pro-

color, stature, or any other external quality. long for awhile.

Among some peoples seership naturally prevails, Magic is the knowledge of magnetism and
among others, mediumship. Some are addict- electricity, their qualities, correlations and
ed to sorcery, and transmit its and their effects on the animal king-
secret rules of potencies,
practice from generation to generation, with a dom and man. It is essential wisdom, nature,

range of psychical phenomena, more or less the material ally, pupil and servant of the ma-
wide, as the result. gician. As one common vital principle per-
9. One phase of magical skill is the voluntary vades all things, and this is controllable by the

and conscious withdrawal of the inner man perfected human will, the adept by the know-
(astralform) from the outer man (physical body). ledge of its laws can stimulate the movement of
In the cases of some mediums withdrawal oc- the material forces in plants and animals in a
curs, but it is unconscious and involuntary. preternatural degree, by using and controlling
With the latter the body is more or less catalep- these hidden forces in nature to quicken the
tic at such times; but with the adept the absence conditions of its nature, and produce more
of the astral form would not be noticed, for the rapid results; thus, for example, make a plant
physical senses are alert, and the individual mature in a few miuutes which would take
appears only as though in a fit months and years by the slow natural growth.
of abstraction,
" a brown study," as some call it.Many minerals and plants have within them
The astral form can go anywhere, penetrate hidden powers, such as lodestone, opium and
any obstacle, neither time nor space are to be hasheesh. The adept can control the sensitive
considered; it moves with the rapidity of thought and alter the conditions of the physical and
and the wings of electricity. The thaumatur- astral bodies of other persons not adepts. He
gist skilled in the occult science, can make his can also govern and employ as he pleases the

astral form visible, and assume protean shapes spirits of the elements, but not that of immortal
and appear at different places, and by his wiH- spirit.

power can cast a mesmeric hallucination over There are two kinds of seership — that of the
 —

14

soul and that of the spirit. The seership of When we reach " that which is supreme, which
the ancient Pythoness, or of the modern mes- is pure and unchangeable, without form,
simple,
merized subject, vary but in the artificial modes color or human qualities the God our nous."
,

adopted to induce the state of clairvoyance. This is the state which such seers as Plotinus
But as the vision of both depends upon the and Appollonius termed M union to the Deity,"
acuteness of the senses of the astral body, they which the ancient Yogins called Isvara and the
differ very widely from the perfect, omniscient modern call Samaddi. But this state is as far
spiritual state; for at best the subject can get above modern clairvoyance as the stars above
but glimpses of truth through the veil *
which the glow-worm. Plotinus, as is well known,
physical nature interposes. was a clairvoyant-seer during his whole life, and
The astral principle or mind, called by the yet he had been united to his God but six times
Hindu Yogin Flav-atma, is the sentient soul, during his life, as he confessed to Porphyry.
inseparable from our physical brain, which it The Brahmans divide these powers into eight
holds in subjection, and is in its turn equally degrees or powers: i, Anima; 2, Mahima;
trammeled by it. This is the ego, the intellect- 3, Layhima; 4, Garima; 5, Prapi; 6, Prakamga;
ual life-principle of man, his conscious entity. 7, Vasitwa; 8, Isitwa, or divine power. The
While yet in the material body the correctness fifth predicting future events, understanding
of its spiritual vision depends on its more or unknown languages, curing diseases, divining
less intimate relation to its higher principle. unexpressed thoughts, understanding the lan-
When the relation is such as to allow the most guage of the heart. The sixth is the power of
ethereal portions of the soul-essence to act in- converting old age into youth. The seventh is
dependently of its grosser particles and of the the power of mesmerizing human beings and
brain, it can unerringly comprehend what it sees, beasts and making them obedient; it is the
then only is it the pure, rational, supersentient power of resisting passions and emotions. The
soul. That state is known in India as the eighth power is the spiritual state, and presup-
samaddi ; it is the highest spiritual condition poses the absence of the above seven powers,
known to man. as in this state the Yogi is full of God.
But when the body is in a total catalepsy of Subjective communication with the human,
the physical frame, the soul of the clairvoyant god-like spirits of those who have preceded us
may liberate itself and perceive things subject- to the silent land of bliss, is in India divided
ively; and yet, as the sentient principle of the Under the spiritual train-
into three categories.
brain is and
alive active, these pictures of the Guru or Lanrizasi the vaton (disciple
ing of a
past, present and future, will be tinctured with or neophyte) begins to feel them. Were he
the terrestrial perceptions of the objective not, under the immediate guidance of an adept,
world; the physical memory and fancy will be he would be controlled by the invisibles, and
in theway of clear vision. But the seer adept utterly at their mercy, for among these subject-
knows how to suspend the mechanical action of ive influences he is unable to discern the good
the brain, by forcing to stop thinking. His from the bad. Happy the sensitive who is sure
vision will be clear as truth itself, uncolored of the purity of his spiritual atmosphere.
and undistorted; whereas the clairvoyant, una- To this subjective consciousness, which is the
ble to control the vibrations of the astral waves, first degree is after a time added that of clairau-
will perceive, more or less, but broken images dience. This is the second degree or stage of
through the medium of the brain. The seer development. The sensitive — when not natur-
can never take fleeting shadows for realities, for ally made so by psychological training — now
his memory being as completely subjected to audibly hears but is still unable to discern, and
his will as the rest of the body, he receives im- is incapable of verifying his impressions, and

pressions directly from his spirit. Between his one who is unprotected the tricky powers of the
subjective and objective selves there are no ob- air but too often delude with semblances of
structive mediums. This is the real spiritual voices and speech. But the Guru's influence
seership in which, according to an expression of is there; it is the most powerful shield against
Plato, soul is raised above all inferior good. the intrusions of the Chritwa into the atmos-
 —

15

phere of the vaton, consecrated to the pure, is embraced in the latter, and has control of it,

human and celestial Pitris. which is immortal and becomes more active
When a Buddhist ascetic has reached the after the soul has left the body.
fourth degree, he is considered a rahat. He The inner entity of man is more or less divine
produces every kind of phenomena by the soul according to its proximity to the crown
power of his freed spirit. A rahat, says the christos. The purer and better a man is,

Buddhist, one who has acquired the power of the closer and more serene is his life and freer
is

flying in the air, becoming invisible, command- from external dangers, and the clearer and bet-
ing the elements, and working all manner of ter are his impressions and his visions into the
wonders, commonly ^ but erroneously, called future. It is this that has, in all- ages of the
(tneipo) miracles. He man, a demi- world, convinced man that an immortal spirit
is a perfect
god. A god he will become when he reaches exists within him, which under favorable cir-
Nervana, for, like the initiates of both testa- cumstances, can converse with angels, who are
ments, the worshipers of Buddha know that nothing but progressed souls that at one time
they " are gods." dwelt in a physical body. This is admitted
The astral soul has only passed from the often in the Bible, and by the greatest philoso-
visible to the invisible world, and may be per- phers of antiquity; and if it could then exist,

ceived by the inner sense of vision, which is there is no reason why it cannot now, as the
adapted to the things of that Other and more laws of nature never change. These spirits, or
real universe. The same rule applies to sound, guardian angels, have often appeared to man
as the physical ear discerns the vibrations of the and warned him of danger, and revealed the
atmosphere up to a certain point, not yet defi- future to him, by touch, glance or word, as
nitely fixed, but varying with the individual, so Ammonius tells us. Moreover, Lamprius and
the adept whose interior hearing has been de- others held that if the unembodied spirits, or
veloped, can take the sound at this vanishing souls, could descend on earth and become
point and hear its vibrations in the astral light guardians of mortal men, " we should not seek
indefinitely. He needs no wires, helices or to deprive those souls which are still in the body
sounding-boards; his will-power is all-sufficient. of that power by which the former know future
Hearing with spirit, time and distance offer no events and are able to announce them. It is

impediments, and so he may converse with an- not probable," adds Lamprius, " that the soul
other adept at the antipodes with as great ease gains a new power of prophecy after separation
as though they were in the same room. from the body which it did not possess before."
Spiritual Life is the primordial principle We may rather conclude it possessed all these
above Physical Life, it is the primordial prin- powers during its union with the body, although
ciple behind; but they are one under their dual in a lesser perfection. Like the. sun it always
aspect. " As it is above, so it is below; as in shines bright and clear, but its rays are dimmed
heaven, so on earth." One is the counterpart to us when it passes behind a cloud or is ob-
of the other; one is spiritual, and the other is scured by an eclipse; so it is with the soul when
material or terrestrial. it is confined in the flesh.

Magic, in ancient times, was considered as Yet some persons are so spiritual that they
a divine science; wisdom and knowledge of are able to hold converse with spirits and an-
God. The healing art in the temples of ^Kscu- gels, by which means they are enabled to get
lapius,and at the shrines of Egypt and the East, a glimpse of the spirit world. Those disem-
was always magical, and the secrets intrusted bodied spirits that have progressed and learned
only to the initiated. Then the priest was the the laws of the spirit land, are more able to see
medical adviser of soul and body, as the former and tell what the future results will be, as a man

has much do with the latter, as it is conceded is better able to judge the future than an inex-
to
that the mind has much influence over the body, perienced boy is; as knowledge of cause and
and health depends on that of a sound mind; effect will enable one to come at the result, as
therefore to be a successful physician he must everything is governed by certain laws, and to
understand both body and mind, and the soul understand these laws is only finding out the
 16

secrets of nature that will enable man to use But it becomes potential only under the influx
them and to advance himself in the search of of will and spirit. Left to itself this life-princi-
truth, which is the ultimate end of all research. ple will blindly follow the laws of nature, and,
according to conditions, will produce health
Akasa, or Life Force. and exuberance of life, and dis-
or cause death
It was Ammonius who first taught that every solution when withdrawn; but guided by the
religion was based on one and the same truth, will of the adept, it becomes obedient; its cur-
which is wisdom found in the books of rents restore the equilibrium in organic bodies;
the
Thoth (Hermese Trismegistus), from which they fill the waste and produce physical and
books Pythagoras and Plato had learned all psychological miracles well known to mesmer-
their philosophy, and the doctrines of the for- izers. Infused into inorganic and inert matter,
mer he affirmed to have been identical with the they create an appearance of life, hence motion.
earliest teachings of the Brahmans, now embod- If to the life an individual intelligence, a per-

ied in the old Vedas. "The name Thoth," sonality, is wanting, then the operator must
says Professor Wilder, "means a college or either send his scin-lecca, his own astral spirit,

assembly," and it is not improbable that the to animate it, or use his power over the region
books were so named as being the collected of native-spirits
to force one of them to infuse his
oracles and doctrines of the sacerdotal frater- entity into the marble, wood or metal; or again
nity of Memphis. Rabbi Wise had suggested be helped by human spirits.
a similar hypothesis in relation to the divine The good spirits will not infuse their essence
utterances recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures. into these inanimate objects. They leave it to
But the Hindoo writers assert that during the the lower kinds to produce the similitude of
reign of king Kansa Yadus the High Hiero- life, animation and materialization. They send
phant alone knew how to perform the solemn their influence through the intervening spheres
operation of infusing his own vitaland astral like a ray of divine light, when the so-called
soul into the adept chosen by him for his suc- miracle is required for a good purpose. The
cessor, who thus became —
endowed with a condition and this is a law of spiritual nature
double life. — is purity of motive, purity of the surround-
Mrs. Britten, in her " Ghost Land," gives a ing magnetic atmosphere, and personal purity
strange account how this mystical operation of of the operator. Thus it is that a pagan mir-
the adept to transfer his spiritual entity after the acle may be performad by a fakir of South In-
death of his body into the youth he loves with dia. A naked beggar crouched on the floor,
all the ardent love of a spiritual parent, and with no assistance but his magic power, will so
how he used the organism of the boy in sending command these hidden forces of nature as to
his astral soul to different places do cer- move furniture in the remotest part of the room,
and to
tain things; all of. which is startling, and to the even the chair or sofa you may be sitting on;
uninitiated it sounds like the wildest romance, the doors to open or shut, the candle to go out,
destitute of truth and in violation of our senses. birds, flames, the forms of men, women and
"In the remotest ages there has existed a animals to flit before your vision in broad day-
mysterious, awful science, under the name of light, and many other things too strange and
Theopcea. This science taught the art of en- incredible to mention.
dowing the various symbols of the gods with The power to move statues and tables is not
temporary life and intelligence. Statues and confined to the ancients, but the nineteenth
blocks of inert matter became animated un- century is full of such incidents, if we are to
der the potential will of the hierophant. The believe what man and the papers say. In the
fire stolen by Prometheus had fallen down in summer of 1876, the French papers gave an ac-
the struggle to earth; it embraced the lower count of the capers performed by the statue of
regions of the sky, and settled in the waves of the Madonna of Lourdes. This gracious lady,
the universal ether, as the Akasa of says the sexton, has run off into the woods several
potential
the Hindoo rites. We breathe and imbibe it times, and he was forced to hunt her up and
into our organic system at every inhalation. bring her home. After this began a series of
 17

miracles, healing, prophesying, letters dropping or delusion; so it is reasonable to suppose that

from on high, and many other strange manifest- if the ancient magicians of Egypt could perform
ations. These miracles are implicitly accepted these wonderful feats, they could be done now
by millions and millions of Catholics, many of under favorable circumstances, and that this

them being of the most intelligent and educated secret is claimed by the Hindoos to be the same
classes. Then why should we disbelieve the art that has been known in India for thousands
statements given by the ancient historians? of years.
Titus and Livy say that when the statue of Juno The Hindoo adepts claim to possess the power
was asked if she was willing "to abandon the of controlling the akasa (or life-principle), by
walls of Veii and change her abode to that of means of which they are able to" kill a person
Rome," consented by nodding her head and and bring him to life, by directing a current of
answering, " Yes, I will." And, says the his- this akasa upon the wound and healing it.
torian, "Furthermore, upon carrying off the The performance of the fakirs are wonderful
figure, it seemed instantly to lose its immense and defy all detection of trickery. They have
weight" and he adds, " the statue seemed rather been known to be buried alive and grain sown
to follow than otherwise." (Tite-Livy, v. dec. i,) upon the grave, and in thirty days were dug up
Des Mousseau, a devout Catholic writer, alive. They will inflict mortal wounds and
gives many instances of statues of saints and exhibit their bowels to persons present, and
madonnas walking and moving about. He then heal the wounds immediately. Some of
admits that magic can do the same, but that these fakirs exhibited their marvelous power to
Christianity can beat it; that one is the work of the Prince of Wales when in India. One of
God, while the other is the doings of the devil; the fakirs gave one of his company a vessel to
and says: "The Holy Roman Catholic and hold; it soon turned to a cobra, a most poisonous
Apostolic Church declares the miracles wrought serpent, and it was examined and found to be
by the faithful sons are produced by the will of alive and had fangs. If it had bitten any one,
God, and all others the work of the spirits of it would have been instant death. They gave
hell." some mango seed to the prince to be selected
The ancients animated statues, and the Her- by him. It was then placed in a pot of earth;
mitists called into being, out of the elements, in a few moments it came up, put forth leaves,
the shapes of salamanders, gnomes, undines buds and blossoms, and in about four minutes
and sylphs,which they did not pretend to cre- matured fruit that was pronounced by all pres-

ate, but simply to make visible by holding open ent to be a fresh mango.
the door of nature, so that under favoring con- The same thing was done in the presence ot
And if the J. M. Peebles, in the open of which he
ditions they might step into view. Dr. air;

Bible can be taken as authority, " Aaron threw gives an account, during his travels in India.
down his rod and it became a serpent. Then Almost any traveler in that country will cor-
Pharaoh also called his wise men and sorcerers; roborate this statement.
now the magicians of Egypt they did also in
like manner, * * and they became serpents, Wonder-Workers of India.

but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods," Fakirs can be buried for months, as has been
Aaron by a wave of his rod brought forth frogs, testified by English officers Lord Napier, —
and the magicians did the same; so that the Captain Osborne and Sir Claude Wade. Cap-
magicians could do almost all things that Aaron tain Osborne says he " saw one of the fakirs
did: yet Aaron could excel, and Pharaoh con- buried for six weeks beneath my floor, and to
cluded that the best thing he could do was to prevent any chance of deception a guard of four
let the children of Israel go. soldiers was detailed to watch day and night to
Now these manifestations of power do not see there was no deception." " On openin-;
exceed what the magicians and fakirs claim to it," says Sir Claude, " we saw a figure enclosed
do and have often done in the presence of the in a bag of white linen fastened by a string over
most reliable and skillful scientific Europeans, the head. * * * The servant then began
and they have been unable to detect any fraud pouring warm water over the figure. * *
 18

The legsand arms of the body were shriveled about a bow-shot apart. Then the fakir asked
and the face full, the head resting on the
stiff, the guests what kind of animals they wished to
shoulders like a corpse. I then called the med- see fight ? One said, •
Ostriches.' At a signal
ical man who was attending me to come down given out stalked a couple of those birds, one
and inspect the body, which he did but could from each tent which they had seen erected
discover no pulsation in the heart, the temples with nothing in them they fought some time,
;

or the arms. There was, however, a heat about the blood ran down their necks where they had
the region of the brain, but no other part of the bitten each other. They returned, at a given
body exhibited any. The body was then taken word, to the tents. Then another of the com-
and placed in a warm bath, friction was applied, pany called for a lion fight. Out of each tent
the removal of wax and cotton pledgets fiom walked a lion ; after rolling over and biting one
the nostrils and ears, the rubbing of the eyelids another, roaring and tearing up the ground,
with ghee and clarified honey. Then they ap- they retired at a given word. Then out came
plied a hot cohesive cake of bread to the top two wild buffaloes, and they had a pitched bat-
of his head. After three applications of the tle. All this was done in the presence of the
hot cake to his head, the body was convulsed, whole court. These Bengalese conjurers and
the nostrils inflated and respiration begun, the jugglers then took ten mulberry seeds, which
limbs assumed a natural fullness, the pulsation they planted in the earth. In a few minutes
was only perceptible. The tongue was anointed they produced ten trees. The ground parted,
with ghee, and unrolled where the end had been the sprouts came up, pushing out leaves, twigs
placed in the gullet to prevent any air entering and branches, spreading wide out in the air,

the stomach; the eyeballs became dilated and budding, blossoming and yielding fruit which
recovered their natural color, and the fakir rec- matured on the spot, which they tasted and
ognized those present and spoke." pronounced good. Figs, almond, mango and
This plugging up process was done to keep walnut were planted ; they likewise grew up
the air from entering upon the organic tissues rapidly before their eyes. The branches of
of the body and prevented decomposition, so these trees were filled with birds of the richest
that he was hermetically sealed up. Now if plumage, flitting among the leaves and singing
the fakirs can suspend life in this way and then sweet notes. The leaves then turned russet,
restore animation, why should not we give cre- fell off, branches and twigs withered, and finally

dence to the fact as stated of Jesus Christ res- the trunks sank back into the earth. It all

urrecting Lazarus and that of Appolonius who transpired in less than an hour.
?

restored to life a girl ? and that one mentioned "A large cauldron was then produced, and
by Diogenes Laertius restored to life by Em- a quantity of rice was thrown into it. Without
pedocles ? Yet these were pagans and are dis- the least sign of fire it began to boil, and out of
carded, while that of Christ is alone believed this cauldron were taken hundreds of plates of
to be true. The prodigies of Jesus and Appo- cooked rice, with a stewed fowl on the top of
lonius are so well attested that they appear au- each." This trick is performed on a smaller
thentic. Whether in either or both cases life scale by the most ordinary fakirs of the present

was simply suspended or not, the important day in India. This was equal to that of Christ
fact remains that by some power peculiar to feeding the multitude on a few loaves and fishes.
themselves, both the wonder-workers recalled In the memoirs of the emperor Jehangire
the seemingly dead to life in an instant. The (page 99), there is a strange account given by
books are full of instances where people have an eye-witness: "The performance of the
been buried or nearly committed to the tomb seven jugglers of Bengal. They took a man
who were only in a cataleptic state. and chopped each limb off and severed his head
The many strange stories told by travelers in from the body. They scattered the mutilated
the East would fill volumes. One given to a members around on the ground for some time;
delegation of the East India Company is thus they then threw a sheet over them, and one of
related :
" A lot of Englishmen who visited the the jugglers crept under it. In a few moments
Indian prince Jehangire, saw two tents erected he came out, followed by the mutilated man
 19

that a few moments before had been cut all to swords. I have also seen an East India negro,
pieces. They then took a chain," says the called the "Fire King," walk on hot bars of
writer, " some fifty cubits long, and threw one iron, take and bend them under his foot and
end up until it went out of sight, and then it up around his leg; the outer skin would smoke
remained suspended in the air. A dog was and fry a little, but it did not produce appa-
then produced, placed at the lower end of the rently any pain. He took his finger and stirred
chain, when he ran up it Next up a ladle of molten lead, then took a table-
out of sight.
was a hog, a lion and a tiger, all did the same spoonful of the melted lead and put it into his

thing." mouth, and then spat it out on the floor, which

Another account of a fakir, given in the I undertook to pick up but got my fingers
Franco-American, is ahead of this: " He took burned. He also took a dish of alcohol, put a
a peg and drove into the ground, threw up a lot of tow in it, stirred it up and set it on fire,

ball with a cord attached, which went out of took a fork and began to eat it, the blaze rising
sight ; he then sent up a boy, and as he did not up over his head.
After chewing it awhile, the
return he said he would go after him. Soon fire blazing out whenever he opened his mouth,
down came a hand of the boy, then a leg, then then spitting it out on the floor it burned the
the body all bloody, then came the head; pres- wood. He blew the flames out of his mouth
ently down came the juggler with a bloody knife on my hand, and it burned it and singed the
in his hand. He picked up the different parts hair. All of this was done in broad daylight,
of the boy and threw them into a basket, when within a few feet of myself and hundreds of
outjumped the boy and ran off." others. He would stick his hands into the fur-

They are known to plant the hilts of their nace, take up a coal of fire and light his pipe. I
sharp swords in the ground, then lay down on examined his hands and feet; there appeared to
the points, while one by one these swords were be no foreign substance on them, but the outer
removed until he lay in the air without any sup- skin appeared a little parched and discolored.
port; and an Englishman says he took a stick There was no one present who did not believe
and felt under the body and could find no sup- that what he did was genuine, as several like
port. Says Colonel Yule: " They will stick a myself got their fingers burned in testing it.
live pig to a rock so it can't get away, restore He said that he would not mind to walk into
the dead to life, catch wild beasts with their the hottest furnaces, like that spoken of in the
hands, read thoughts, make water flow back- Bible where the Hebrew children walked
ward, eat tiles, sit in the midair, etc." An old through the fiery furnace, and from appearan-
legend ascribed to Simon Magus precisely the ces he might have done it.
same power: " He made statues to walk, leaped In Siam, Japan and Great Tartary, it is the
into the fire without being burned, flew in the custom to make medallions, statuets and idols
air, made bread of stones, changed his shape, out of the ashes of cremated persons. They
assumed two faces at once, converted himself are mixed with water into a paste, and after
open at will," etc. being molded into any desired shape, are baked
into a pillar, caused doors to
Origen writes that the Brahmans always were and then gilded and kept as household gods.
famous for their wonderful cures, which they The cremation is done to facilitate the with-
performed by the utterance of certain words; drawal of the astral soul, which lingers more or
and the present travelers in India say it is still less until the bones are decomposed, and there-
practiced, and that upon pronouncing a certain fore they cremate the bodies of their departed
word or sentence they are able to perform won- friends, and fearing that the astral soul might
derful tricks. Some
will walk barefooted on remain satisfied for an indefinite period within
red, burning coals,on the points of sharp knives the ashes, they resort to the following process:
stuck in the ground, stand posed on the big toe " The sacred dust is placed in a heap upon a
on the point of one of them, and lift up another metallic plate strongly magnetized, of the size
man from off the ground. I have seen a Jap- of a man's body. The adept then slowly and
anese juggler do the same, ascend a ladder gently fans it with a peculiar fan, and at the
bare-footed the rounds of which were very sharp same time making signs and muttering a form
 20

of invocation. The ashes then begin to move spirits by placing his ear to the ground, he con-
and assume the outlines of the body before cre- sented. The gun bursted and the conjurer was
mation. Then there gradually arises a sort of unhurt. An Indian said that Washington was
whitish vapor, which after a time forms into an not to be killed by a bullet, as he had fired at
erect column, and compacting itself is finally him seventeen times within short range without
transformed into the double or ethereal astral ever touching him at Braddock's defeat; and it
'
'

counterpart of the dead, which in its turn dis- is remarkable that he never was wounded dur-
solves away and disappears from
into the air ing the whole of his life, yet he was often in

mortal sight." This accounts for the Hindoos the thickest of the fight. In fact many great
preferring cremation, as it sets the astral body generals have been believed by their soldiers to
free from the earthly remains, around which it have a "charmed life." Prince Emile von
lingers until it dissolves back into its original Sayne-Wittgenstein, of the Russian army, is

elements. said to be one possessed of a charmed life.

This wonderful power has existed in all ages There are persons who have the power to
of the world in some phase or other, to illumin- psychologize birds and kill them by will power.

ate dark and benighted man, to elevate him Jacques Pelessier, in the province of Le Var,
and cause him to look up to a higher and bet- France, in 1864, made his living by catching
ter life to come. History, sacred and profane, and killing birds by his will power, which was
is full of it. Whether it came from natural- thoroughly tested by men of science. Fourteen
born mediums, or learned by association with way in one hour; none
birds Avere taken in this
those versed in the occult sciences of the Ori- could resist his power. By stretching out his
ental world, where it has been known from time hand towards them they became powerless. It
immemorial and sacredly guarded by the Brah- at once put them into a cataleptic sleep, and
mans, Buddhists, fakirs, the ancient Egyp- the phenomena proved to be a magnetic action.
tians, heliophants, with whom Moses learned But his power was confined to sparrows, robins,

the art and introduced it among the Jews under goldfinches and meadow larks, and he could
the Order of the Kabalist, and out of which not charm other birds.
Freemasonry has sprung, as Solomon sent his There are persons in Irdia and Africa that
ships to Ophir for gold and frankincense, myrrh can charm snakes, crocodiles, and wild animals
and pea-feathers, which land was no doubt like the tiger, which have been known to go up
India. and lick the hands of a fakir when asleep in the
In India, Malabar, and some places in Cen- jungles, and not injure him.
tral Africa, the conjurers will let a person fire The Buddhists claim that the spirit of Buddha
his own musket or revolver at them without becomes reincarnated in the flesh after death,
ever touching or interfering in loading it. so that he ever lives, passing from out the old
Laing, in his travels, gives an instance of it. body at death and entering into that of a young
Salvert gives a similar instance in his Philoso- child. The scene of the reincarnation is given
phy of Occult Sciences. In 1568 the Prince of by a Florentine scientist, who visited Thibet in

Orange condemned a Spanish prisoner to be the early part of this century, having been per-
shot at Juliers. The soldier was tied to a tree mitted to penetrate in disguise to the hallowed
and shot at by a file of soldiers, but the balls precincts of a Buddhist temple, where the most
took no effect. It was supposed that he had a solemn of all ceremonies takes place, which are
coat of armor on; he was stripped; they found shut out from the gaze of the uninitiated.
he only had an amulet on, which was taken off. " An altar is ready in the temple to receive the
Then he was fired at and fell dead. Not many resuscitated Buddha found by the initiated

years ago there lived in Abyssinia a sorcerer priesthood, and recognized by certain secret

who would let the European travelers fire at signs to have reincarnated himself in a new-
him with their own guns loaded by them with born infant. The baby, but a few days old,
their own balls, for a trifle. At last they offered is brought into the presence of the people and
him five francs to let them place the muzzle of reverentially placed upon the altar. Suddenly
the gun next to the body. After consulting the rising into a sitting posture, the child begins to
 21

utter, in a manly voice, the following

loud, There are many instances of the precocity of
sentences: '
I am Buddha;
I am his spirit, and children, but I will only relate one more, that

I, Buddha, your Dolai Lama, have left my old of a child of H. D. Jencken, M. R. L, barris-

decrepid body, at the temple of * * * and ter at law, London, whose mother was the fa-
selected the body of this young babe as my next mous Kate Fox, of Rochester rapping notoriety.
earthly dwelling." He says he was permitted When the child was only three months old, it
by the priests to take the baby in his arms and showed evidence of mediumship by raps on the
carry it off some distance, so as to satisfy him- pillow and cradle, and when five months old
self that it was no trick of the ventriloquist. wrote a communication of twenty words.

The infant opened his eyes and gave him such Prophecy can only be explained by spirits
a look that it made his flesh creep, and repeated impressing the person, as spirits of higher intel-
the same words, so there could be no mistake ligence are able to combine causes and effects
about it. and can tell more readily what the result will
This account is confirmed by Abbe Hue, a be than a man; so can a man foretell events
celebrated Catholic priest who traveled through better than a child; and in this obscure way
this country, and he further states that the child certain persons in a peculiar state may have
answers questions and tells those who knew him visions and But
get a glimpse into the future.
in " most exact details of his spirits, like men, are limited in their knowledge,
his past life the
anterior earthly existence." But he was un- and some know more than others; so it depends
frocked by the church because he was sincere on the source and the knowledge of the spirit.
and stuck to the truth of the assertion. The Bible and history are full of prophecy.
But this is not the only instance of babies Much of it has been fulfilled, and much of it
speaking. Governor Talmadge gives an account
Jacques Dubois gives an account of has not.
the Camissard prophets in 1707, among whom of how
life was saved
a distinguished citizen's
was a boy fifteen months old, who spoke in good on board of the United States war ship Prince-
French "as though God were speaking through ton, by a premonition. Rev. Dr. Wilson, of
his mouth;" and there are the Cevennes babies Allegheny City, prophecied the great fire of
whose speaking and prophesying were witnessed 1845 in Pittsburg, the Mexican war and its
by the first savans of France, which has passed results, tke war between Russia and the West-
into uncontradicted.
history Lloyd's Weekly ern powers, and the speedy limitation of the
Neivspapbr for March, 1875, contains an ac- temporal power of the Pope.
count of the following phenomena: " At Saar- Napoleon, while an exile on the island of St.
Louis, France, a child was born; the mother Helena, made the following prediction about
had been delivered, and the midwife was the United States: " Ere the close of the nine-
just
holding the child in her hands, when some one teenth century, America will be convulsed with
asked what was the hour. To the
astonishment one of the greatest revolutions the world has
of all babe replied dis- ever witnessed. Should it succeed, her power
present the new-born
tinctly, 'Two o'clock.' While they all were and prestige are lost; but should the Govern-
looking at the infant in speechless wonder and ment maintain her supremacy, she will be on a
dismay, it opened its eyes and said: 'I have firmer basis than ever. The theory of a repub-
been sent into the world to tell you that 1875 lican form of government will be established,
will be a good year, but that 1876 will be a year and she will defy the world." History gives
of blood.' Having uttered this prophecy it us prophecies of Hannibal and Napoleon,
turned on its side and expired, aged half an which were fulfilled. Whether old Mother
hour." The truth of this prophecy is too late to Shipley's prophecy will come true remains to be
admit of a comment, as 1875 was a year of great seen; yet much of it has come to pass, but the
plenty, and 1876 one of bloody scenes on the world did not end in 1882.
Danube, between the Turks and Russians, un- How the spirits arrive at these facts is un-
paralleled except in the butchery of the Indians known; yet they may, like the astronomer who
in Nortn and South America, and the wading by calculation is able to tell when an eclipse of
in blood of the English to the throne of Delhi. the sun or moon will take place for hundreds
 22

of years to come. To the ignorant this appears erate means, caring little for wealth, yet always
to be impossible. The truth of science, of have enough to supply their wants. They live
all knowledge, is to afford facilities to predict pure and blameless lives, are austere in manners
the unknown, and judge the and almost ascetic in their habits.
future by the past
— the cause and effect — will There is a mystical fraternity now established
produce certain re-
sults if their relation is properly understood. in the United States, which claims an intimate

But there is much depending on the environ- relationship with one of the oldest and most
ments, and these are forever changing, so that powerful of Eastern Brotherhoods. It is known
it is impossible for even the most advanced as the Brotherhood of Luxor. It has many
minds to see all that may happen or change the faithful members widely scattered throughout
course of things and events. So long as knowl- the West. They have many important secrets
edge is limited, so long will prophecies prove of science which they guard with great jealousy,
failures. but which they are willing to impart to man
when he has advanced enough to receive them.
Destiny. No one can become a member unless he be a
" Man, therefore, to a certain extent, is a be- person endowed with certain intellectual gifts
ing of destiny, which is ever weaving thread by by birth. No position, rank or money can pro-
thread around himself, as a spider does his cob- cure a membership.
Nature places the stamp
web; and guided either by that by which they are recognized. Its officers and
this destiny is

presence termed by some the guardian angel, records are kept in the spirit world, who impart
or more intimate astral inner man, who is too to the initiate whatever knowledge they see
often the evil genius of the man of flesh. But proper to confer. They never mistake a person
these lead on the outward man, but one of them nor his fidelity to keep a secret.
must prevail, and from the very beginning of We have a very interesting account of one of
the invisible affray the stern implacable law of these adepts in the strange and interesting work
compensation steps in and takes its course, fol- of Emma Harding Britten, " The Ghost Land
lowing faithfully the fluctuations. When the last or Occultism," who, she says, wrote the " Art
strand is woven, and man is seemingly enwrap- Magi," which she had published; and if the
ped in the network of his own made be true, it is stranger
doing,' then he statement therein
finds himself completely under the empire of than fiction, and well may one exclaim in the
his self-made destiny. It then either fixes him language of Hamlet: "There are more things

like the inert shellof an oyster against the im- in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed
movable rock, or like a feather carries him of in your philosophy."
away in a whirlwind raised by his own actions." These adepts hold their conclaves in an en-
chanted cave in India, where invisible spirits
An Occult Fraternity. reveal themselves to the adept and mingle to-
"There is an occult fraternity which has ex- gether in the human form. They perform won-
isted from very ancient times, having a hierarchy ders that no mortal can understand. They
of officers, secret signs and passwords, and a introduce the adept by passing through under-
peculiar method of instruction in science, reli- ground passages, where rocks part to admit their
gion and philosophy. If we may believe those ingress and egress. The cavern is lit up by a
who at present profess to belong to it, the phi- luminous light that radiates from their heads;
losopher's stone, the elixir ot life, the art of the walls reflect this light like thousands of dia-
invisibility, and the power of communicating monds and crystals. The spirits hither and
flit

directly with the ultra-mundane life, are a part thither. The brain of the adept becomes be-
of the inheritance they possess." These adepts wildered, and in a semi-conscious state he is led
are of a limited number, seldom remain long in forth to the light of day, not knowing whence
any place, but leave without creating notice. he came.
They all appear to be men from forty to fifty Madame Blavatsky, Secretary of the Theo-
years old, possessed of vast erudition, and can sophical Society and author of " Isis Unvailed,"
speak in many tongues. They are men of mod- has made wonderful progress in the occult sci-
 23

ences, so that she has been able to send mes- sphinxes, propylons and obelisks. They have
sages to the adepts of Kashmir valley, hundreds stood there for untold ages, and neither the
of miles and receive answers without any
off, rude assault of time, nor the still ruder assault
visible means. The messages come, and are of the hands of the religious fanatic, have suc-
placed wherever she requests. At her com- ceeded in obliterating the records — all covered
mand the invisible power takes it and soon re- with the problems which were solved —who can
turns with the answer from some of the Yhebian tell ? perhaps by the archaic forefathers of their
brothers. Wherever she goes there are persons builders. The solution follows each question,
impressed to meet her with conveyance or mon- and this the Christian could not appropriate,
ey. She has traveled over India in company for except the initiates no one has understood
with Alcott, another adept. the mystic writings. The key was in the keep-
** The keys to the biblical miracles of old, ing of those who knew how to commune with
and to the phenomena of modern days; the the invisible Presence, and who had received,
problems of psychology, physiology, and the from the lips of Mother Nature herself, her
many missing links ' which have so perplexed grand truths. And
monuments,
so stands these
scientists of late, are all in the hands of secret like mute forgotten
on the threshold
sentinels
fraternities. This mystery must be unvailed of that unseen world, whose gates are thrown
some day. But till then dark skepticism will open but to a few elect. Defying the hand of
constantly interpose its threatening, ugly shad- time, the vain inquiry of profane science, the
ow between God's truths and the spiritual vision insults of rwealcd religion, they will disclose
of mankind; and many are those who, infected none but the legatees of those
their riddles to
—
by the moral epidemic of our century hope- by whom they were intrusted with the mystery.
less materialism —
will remain in doubt and mor- The cold stony lips of the once vocal Memnon,

tal agony as to whether when man dies he will and these hardy sphinxes, keep their secrets

live again, although the question has been solved well. Who will unseal them ? Who of you
by long bygone generations of sages. The an- modern materialistic dwarfs and unbelieving
swers are there. They may be found in the sadducees will dare to lift the Vail of
time-worn granite pages of caves, temples, on Isis?"
 CHAPTER III.

SOUL OF THE UNIVERSE.

(ANIMA mundi.)

Ether— Psychomacy— Plato and St. Paul on the Triune, Body, Spirit and Soul— Transmigration-
Hindoo Idea of a Soul, its Origin and Destiny.

The soul of the universe, the great magnetic strictly literal sense, can have neither distant
agent which gives life to all things, is what Sir nor proximate places, as there
is no beginning

Isaac Newton calls the Divine Sensorum. and no end, so that we only catch the reflection
It is,

he says, "a very subtle spirit which penetrates of the past and a glimpse of the future. Pro-
through all things, even the hardest bodies, and fessor Hitchcock says: "The human spirit,
is concealed in their substance. Through the being of the Divine immortal spirit, appreciates
strength and activity of this spirit bodies attract neither past nor future, but sees all things as in
each other and adhere together when brought the present."
into contact. Through it electrical bodies op- Professor J. W. Draper says: "A shadow
erate at the remotest distance as well as near at never falls upon a wall without leaving thereupon
hand, attracting and repelling. Through this a permanent trace, a trace which might be made
spirit the light also flows, and is refracted and visible by applying the proper process. * * *
reflected and warms bodies. All senses are The portraits of our friends, or landscape views,
excited by this spirit, and through it the ani- may be hidden upon the sensitive surface from
mals move their limbs. But these things can- the eye, but they are ready to make their ap-
not be explained in a few words, and we have pearance as soon as a proper developer is resort-
not yet sufficient experience to determine fully ed to. A specter is concealed on a silver or
the laws by which this universal spirit operates." glassy surface, until by our necromancy we make
It is an independent life-force that actuates it come forth into the visible world. Upon the
and moves all things. The ancient oracles as- walls of our most private apartments, where we
serted that was "ether that gave impressions think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out,
it

of thoughts, characters and divine visions to and our retirement can never be profaned,
men, by which they were able to read the past there exist the vestiges of all our acts, silhou-
and the future; that this ether abounded through- ettes of what we have done," so that every
out space in which all was regis- thought, act and deed is registered to condemn
intelligence
tered, and that the future existed in this astral or justify us when the mind is quickened in
light in embryo, as the present existed in em- death, as is illustrated in the case of a drowning

bryo in the past. While man is free to act as man, when all the long-forgotten scenes of his
he pleases, the manner in which he will act moral life flash across his memory.
was foreknown from all time; not on the ground And it is a well-known fact that we often re-
of fatalism or destiny, but simply on the prin- cognize familiar places, landscapes and faces
ciple of universal, unchangeable harmony, and that we have no recollection of ever having seen
as it may be foreknown that, when a musical before. This is accounted for on the theory that
note is struck, its vibration will not and cannot the spirit has, in its wanderings while the body
change into those of another note. Besides was wrapped in slumber, seen these faces and
that, eternity can have neither past nor future, places. This gave rise to the idea of transmi-
but only the present, as boundless space, in its gration, that the soul had previously been in the
 or TBI

25 XTNIVERSITY
"

body of some one else; and this psychological spiritual body, zm3~irhrite "the mere animal por-
phenomena is one of the strongest arguments in tions of him rest, the more spiritual ones know
favor of the immortality of the soul. As Eli- neither limits nor obstacles. * * * Some
phas Levi beautifully "Nature might object on the ground taken by theology,
expresses it,

shuts the door after everything that passes, and that dumb brutes have no immortal souls, and
pushes life onward in more perfected forms." hence can have no spirits. Theologians, as
The chrysalis becomes a butterfly; but the latter laymen, labor under the erroneous impression
never becomes a grub again. that the soul and spirit are one and the same
In the stillness of the night hours, when our thing. But if we study Plato and other philos-
bodily senses are fast locked in the fetters of ophers of old, we may readily perceive that .

sleep, and our physical body rests, the astral while the irrational soul by which Plato meant —
form becomes free. It then oozes out of its our spiritual body or more ethereal representa-

earthly prison, and, as Paracelsus has it, " con- tive of ourselves can have at best only a pro-—
fabulates with the outward world," and M travels longed continuity of existence beyond the grave,
round the visible as well as the invisible worlds." (which is only the body of the spirit.)

In sleep, he says, " the astral body (soul) is The deeper the trance, the less signs of life

in freer motion; then it roams to its parents and the body shows, the clearer become the spirit-
holds converge with the stars. * * * The ual perceptions and more powerful is the soul's
more the body is exhausted the freer is the spir- vision. The soul, disburdened of bodily senses,
itual man, and the more vivid the impressions shows activity of power in a far greater degree

of our soul's memory." Dreams, forebodings, of intensity than it can in a strong, healthy body.
prognostications and presentiments are impres- Brirre de Boismont gives repeated instances of
sions left by our astral spirit on our brain, which this fact. 'The organs of sight, smell, taste,
receives them more or less distinctly according touch and hearing, are proved to become far
to the proportion of blood with which it is sup- acuter in a mesmerized subject deprived of the
plied during the hours of sleep. possibility of exercising them bodily, than while
Heavy and robust persons, whose sleep is he uses them in his normal state." Such facts
dreamless and uninterrupted, upon awaking to- alone proved, ought to stand as invincible dem-
ward consciousness, may' sometimes remember onstrations of the continuity of individual life,
nothing; but impressions of scenes and land- at least for a certain period after the body has
scapes which the astral body saw in its pere- been left by us, either . by reason of its being
grinations are still there, though lying latent worn out or by accident. But during its brief
under the pressure of matter. They may be sojourn on earth, our soul may be assimulated
awakened at any moment, and then, during to a light hidden under a bushel; it still shines
such flashes of man's inner memory, there is an more or less bright, and attracts to itself the
instantaneous interchange of energies between influences of kindred spirits, and when a thought
and the invisible universes. Between of good or evil import is begotten in our brain,
the visible
the "micrographs" of the cerebral ganglion it draws to it impulses of like nature as irresist-
and the photo-scenographic galleries of the ibly as a magnet attracts iron filings. This at-
spirita current is established. Like the audo- traction is also proportionate to the intensity
phone of Edison, it only needs the current es- with which the thought-impulse makes itself felt
tablished, and the words come forth through it. in the ether; and so it will be understood how
They may have been spoken years before and one man may impress himself upon his own
stored up. epoch so forcibly that the influence may be
Blumenbach assures us that " in the state of carried — through the ever-interchanging cur-
sleep all intercourse betweenmind and body is two worlds, the visible and invis-
rents of the
suspended." " No man, however gross and
ible —
from one succeeding age to another,
material he may be, can avoid leading a double until it affects a large portion of mankind.
existence —
one in the visible universe and the Regard it as you please, there can be no
other in the invisible. The life-principle which doubt that the properties of the ether are of a
animates his physical frame is chiefly in the much higher order in the arena of nature than
 26

those of tangible matter, and as even the highest chometer its congregation and its officiating

priests of science still find the latter far beyond

Specimens from Nineveh, China, Je-
priests.

their comprehension, except in numerous but rusalem, Greece, Ararat, and other places all
minute and often isolated particles, it would not over the world, brought up scenes in life of va-
become us to speculate further. It is sufficient rious personages whose ashes had been scattered

for our purpose to know, from what the ether thousands of years ago. In many cases Profes-
certainly does, that it is capable of doing vastly sor Denton verified the statements by reference

more than any has yet ventured to say." to historical records. A bit of the skeleton or
It may be what the Chaldean oracles call a fragment of the tooth of some ante-diluvian

ether, for it states that from ether have come animal caused the seeress (who was blindfolded)
all things, and to it all will return; that the im- to perceive the creature as it was when alive,
ages of all things are indelibly impressed upon and even gave a brief mention of its life and
it, and that it is the storehouse of the germs or sensations. The psychometer, by applying the
of the remains of all visible forms and even fragment of a substance to his forehead, brings
ideas. his inner life into relations with the inner soul
of the object he handles."
Psychomancy.
Professor Denton says: " Not a leaf waves,
It may be to this subtile force that certain not an insect crawls, not a ripple moves, but
persons, by their sensitive touch against the each motion is recorded by a thousand faithful
forehead, are enabled to read names in a folded scribes in infallible and indelible scripture.
ballot, or the fragment of an ancient building From the dawn of light upon this infant globe,
recall its and even the scenes which when round its cradle the starry curtains hung,
history
transpired in and about it. A bit of ore will to this moment, nature has been busy photo-
carry the soul's vision back to the time when it graphing everything;" so when the psychometer
was in process of formation. This faculty is examines his specimen he is brought into con-
called by its discoverer, Professor J. R. Bu- tact with the current of astral light connected
chanan, of "Louisville, Kentucky, Psychomancy. with that specimen, and which retains pictures
He says, "The mental and physiological influ- of the event associated with with its history.

ence imparted to writing appears to be imper- These, according to Pr&fessor Denton, pass be-
ishable. The specimens I have investigated fore his vision with the swiftness of light, scene
give their impressions with a distinctness and aftei scene crowding upon each other so rapidly
force little impaired by time. Old manuscripts that it is only by the superior exercise of will

able to hold any one in the field of

1

requiring an antiquary to decipher their strange that he is

old penmanship, were easily interpreted by the vision long enough to describe it.
psychometric power. * * * The property The psychometer is clairvoyant, that is, he
of retaining the impress of mind is not limited sees with the inner eye (of the soul.) Unless
to writing, drawing, painting. Everything upon his will-power is strong enough, and he be thor-
which human contact, thought and volition oughly trained to that particular phenomena,
have been expended, may become linked with and his knowledge of the capabilities of his
that thought and life so as to recall them to the sight is profound, his perception of places, per-
mind of another when in contact." sons and events must necessarily be confused.
Many tests have been made. A fragment of But in case of mesmerization, in which this same
Cicero's house at Tusculum was given to the clairvoyant faculty is developed, the operator,
psychometer, who placed it to his forehead; he whose will holds that of the subject under con-
at once described, without the slightest knowl- trol, can force him to concentrate his attention

edge where the fragment came from, the place upon a given picture long enough to observe all
and the surrounding of the great orator's home; its minute details.

also, the previous owner of the building, Cor- There are two kinds of magnetizations. The
nelius Sulla Felix, the dictator, was described. first is purely animal; the other transcendant
M A fragment of marble from the ancient Chris- and depending on the will and knowledge of
tian church of Smyrna brought before the psy- the mesmerizer, as well as on the degree of spir-
 27

itualityof the subject and his capacity to receive to present herself here, so she receives above a
the impression of the astral light. But now it shining garment, in order to be able to look,
is next to ascertain that clairvoyance depends without injury, into the mirror, whose light pro-
a great deal more on the former than on the ceeds from the Lord of light. While imprisoned
latter. To the power of an adept, like Du in the body a man is a trinity, unless his pollu-
Potet, the most positive subject has to submit. tion is such as to have caused his divorce from
If his sight is ably directed by the mesmerizer, the soul, which may desert the spirit for the

magician or spirit, the light must yield up its

j
crimes and wickedness done when in the body.
most sacred records to our scrutiny; for it is a Woe to the spirit which prefers to her divine
i
1
'

book which is ever closed to those " who see husband (soul) the earthly wedlock with her
and do not perceive;" on the other hand, it is terrestrial body." j

ever open for one who wills to see it opened, "All souls which have alienated themselves
i

It keeps an unmutilated record of all that was, in heaven from the Holy One, have thrown

that is, or ever will be. The minutest acts of themselves into an abyss, at their very existence,

our lives are imprinted on it, and even our very and have anticipated the time when they are to

thoughts rest photographed on its eternal tablets. descend on earth. * * It carries a spark of
It is the book which we see opened by the an- the Divine Mind to guide and direct it back to
gel in the " Revelations," which is the book of God. It becomes incarnated in the flesh, and

life, out of which the dead are judged " accord- thereby it forms for itself an individual exist-

ing to their works." It is, in short, the memory ence, to reason and think for itself, which indi-

of God. viduality it ever retains, its intelligence rising

and progressing through countless aeons, periods

Soul.
and cycles, from sphere to sphere, until at last
Plato, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, and the Ele- it returns to the bosom of the Divine Mind,
atic schools of Greece, as well as the old Chal- whence it came. All the animal soul must of
dean sacerdotal colleges, all taught the doctrine course be disintegrated of its particles before it
of the dual evolution; the transmigration of is able to link its pure essence forever with the
souls referring only to the progress of man from Immortal Spirit.
world to world after death' here. Every philos- St. Paul makes man a trine — flesh, psychical

opher worthy of the name taught that the spirit existence or spirit,, and the overshadowing and
of man, if not the soul, was pre-existent. "The at the same time interior entity or soul. He
Essenes," says Jose phus, "believed that souls maintains that there is a physical body which is
were immortal, and that they descended from sown in the corruptible, and a spiritual body
ethereal space to be chained to bodies." Philo that is raised in incorruptible substance. " The
Judaeus says, "the air is full of them (of souls); first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man
those which are nearest the earth descending to from heaven." Plato, speaking of the soul
be tied to mortal bodies, and return to other (psuche), observes that " when she allies herself
bodies, being desirous to live in them." Noth- to nous (divine substance, a god, as psuche as a
ing is eternal and unchangeable save the con- goddess), she does everything aright and felicit-
cealed Deity. Everything else must either pro- ously; but the case is otherwise when she
gress or recede; it cannot remain stationary. attaches herself to annoia." What Plato calls
A spirit which thirsts after a reunion with its nous, Paul terms the spirit; and Jesus makes the
soul,which alone confers upon it immortality, heart what Paul calls the flesh. Pythagoras
must purify itself through cyclic transmigrations makes the soul a self-moving unit, with three
onward toward the land of bliss and eternal elements: the rous, the phren, and the thumos;
rest." According to the Sohar, all souls are the two latter shared with brutes, the former
dual, and while the latter is a feminine princi- only being his essential self. Whether Pythag-
ple, the spirit is masculine; that the soul could oras borrowed it from Buddha or Buddha from
not bear this light but for the luminous mantle somebody else it matters not; the esoteric doc-
which she puts on; for just as the soul, when trine is the same.
sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment " Socrates thought that he had a demon, a spir-
 1

28

itual something, which put him on the road to mains without the body. It is not drawn down
wisdom. He himself knew nothing, but this into the body, but swims above and touches
put him in the way This shows (overshadows) the extremest part of the man's
to learn all."
that he was what is now head. called a clairaudent
It is like a cord to hold up and direct

medium, speaking from knowledge from within. the subsiding part of the soul, as long as it
So was Plato when he said '
there was an Aga- proves obedient and is not overcome by the
'

thon (Supreme God), who produced in his own appetites of the flesh. The part that is plunged
mind a paradeigma of all things." He taught into the body is called soul. But the incorrup-
that in man has " the immortal principle of the tible part is called the nous and the vulgar think
soul," a mortal body, and a separate mortal within them, as they likewise imagine the
it is

kind of soul, which was placed in a separate image reflected from a glass to be in the glass.
receptacle of the body from the other! The But the more intelligent, who know it to be
immortal part was in the head (Tivueus, xix, without, call it a da>mon (a god or spirit)."
xx), the other in the trunk. " The soul, like to a dream, flies quick away,
"Plato and Pythagoras," says Plutarch, which it does not immediately as soon as it is

"distribute the soul into two parts, the rational separated from the body, but afterward when
(noetic) and the irrational (agnoia.) That part it is alone and divided from the understanding
of the soul of man which is rational is eternal; (nous) * * * The soul being molded and
for though it be not God, yet it is the product formed by the understanding (nous), and itself
of an eternal Deity; but that part of the soul molding and forming the body by embracing it
which is divested of reason (agnoia) dies." on every side, receives from it an impression
" Man," says Plutarch, "compound; and and form; so that although it be separated both
is

they are mistaken who think him to be com- from the understanding and the body, it never-
pounded of two parts only; for they imagine theless so retains still its figure and resemblance
that the understanding is a part of the soul; but for a long time that it may with good right be
they err in this no less than those who make the called its image."
soul to be a part of the body, for the under- Plato (in Laws X) defines soul as "the
standing (nous), which as far exceeds the soul motion that is able to move icself. Soul is the
as the soul and diviner than the body. most ancient of all things, and the commence-
is better
Now this composition of soul (vous) with the ment of motion. Soul was generated prior to
understanding (nous) makes reason and with the body, and body is posterior and secondary, as
;

body passion; of which one is the beginning of being according to nature, ruled over by the
the principle of pleasure and pain, and the other ruling 'soul. The soul, which administers all
of virtue and vice. Of these three parts, con- things that move in every way, administers
joined and compacted together, the earth has likewise the heavens.
given the body, the moon the soul, and the sun "Soul, then, leads everything in heaven and
the understanding of the generation of man." on earth and in the sea, by its movements, the
" The damonium of Socrates was this vous names of which are, to will, to consider, to take
mind, spirit or understanding of the divine in it. care of, to consult, to form opinions true and
This nous of Socrates," says Plutarch, " was false, to be in a state of joy, sorrow, confidence,
pure, and mixed itself with the body no more fear, hate, love, together with all such primary
than necessity required. * * * Every soul movements as are allied to these. * * Being
hath some portion of vous reason; a man cannot a goddess herself, she ever takes as an ally nous,
be a man without it; but as much all things correctly and
of each soul a god, and disciplines
as is mixed with and appetite is changed, happily. But when with annoia, not nous, it
flesh

and through pain or pleasure becomes irrational. works out everything the contrary."
Every soul doth not mix herself after one sort. Pythagoras, Plato, Timaeus of Locris, and
Some plunge themselves into the body, and so the whole Alexandrian school, derived the soul
in this life their whole frame is corrupted by from the Universal World Soul; and the latter
appetite and passion; others are mixed as to was, according to their own teachings, ether
some part. But the purer part (nous) still re- —something of such a fine nature as only to be
 29

perceived by our inner sight. Therefore it cannot doctrine of the other. The most substantial

be the essence of the monas or cause, because difference consisted in the location of the im-
the anima mundi is but the effect, the objective mortal or divine spirit of man. While the an-
emanation, of the former. But the human cient Neoplatonists held that the Angocides
spirit and soul are pre-existent; but while the never descended hypostatically into the living
former exists as a distinct entity, an individuali- man, but only shed more or less its radiance on
zation, the soul exists as pre-existing matter, the inner man, the astral soul, the Kabalists of
an unscient portion of an intelligent whole. the middle ages maintained that the spirit, de-
Both were originally formed from the Eternal taching itself from the ocean of light and spirit,
Ocean of Light; but, as the Theosophists ex- entered into man's soul, where it remained
pressed it, there is a visible as well as invisible through life, imprisoned in the astral capsules.

spirit. They made a difference between the This difference was the result of the belief of

anima bruta and the anima dtiina. Christian Kabalists, more or less, in the dead
Empedocles firmly believed all men and all letter of the allegory of the fall of man. The
animals to possess two souls; Aristotle, we soul, they said, became, through the fall of
find, calls one the reasoning soul (rois), and the Adam, contaminated with the world of matter,
other the animal soul (xvxg). According to or satan. Before it could appear with its in-
these philosophers, the reasoning soul came closed divine spirit in the presence of the Eter-
from without the Universal Soul, and the other nal, it had to purify itself of the impurities of

from within. This divine and superior region, darkness. They compared the spirit imprisoned
in which they located the supreme Deity, was within the soul to a drop of water inclosed
considered by them (by Aristotle himself) as a within a capsule of gelatine and thrown into the
fifth so long as the capsule remains whole
element, purely spiritual and divine; where- ocean;
as theanima mundi proper was considered as the drop of water remains isolated; break the
composed of a fine igneous and ethereal nature envelope and the drop becomes a part of the
—
spread throughout the universe, in short, ether. ocean its individual existence has ceased. So
The Stoics, the greatest materialists of ancient it is with the spirit. As long as it is inclosed
days, excepted the invisible God and Divine in its plastic mediator, or soul, it has an indi-
Soul (spirit) from any such a corporeal nature. vidual existence. Destroy the capsule, a result
Their modern commentators and admirers, which may occur from the agonies of withered
greedily seizing opportunity, built on this conscience, crime and moral disease, the spirit
the
ground the supposition that the Stoics believed returns back to its original abode: its individu-
in neither God nor soul. But Epicurus, whose ality is gone.
doctrine, militating directly against the agency On the other hand, the philosophers who ex-
of a Supreme Being and gods in the formation plained the " fall into generation " in their own
and government of the world, placed him far way, viewed spirit as something wholly distinct
above the Stoics in atheism and materialism, from the soul. They allowed its presence in
taught, nevertheless, that the soul is of a fine, the astral capsule only so far as the spiritual
tender essence, formed from emanation or rays of the " shining one" were
the smoothest,
roundest and finest atoms, which description concerned. Man and soul had to conquer
still brings us to the sublimated ether. Arns- their immortality by ascending toward the unity
bius, Tertullian, Irengeus and Origen, notwith- with which, if successful, they were kindly
standing their Christianity, believed, with the linked, and into which they were absorbed, so
more modern Spinoza and Hobbes, that the to say. The individualization of man after
soul was corporeal though of a very fine nature, death depended on the spirit, not on the soul
yet retained the form of the person while living, and body. Although the word " personality,"
and could be so identified in the spirit world. in the sense in which it is usually understood,

As to the human spirit, the notions of the is an absurdity if applied literally to our immor-
older philosophers and mediaeval Kabalists, tal essence; still the latter is a distirfct unity,
while differing in some particulars, agreed in the immortal and natural per se, and, as in the case
whole, so that the doctrine of the one is the of criminals beyond redemption, when the shin-
 30

ing thread which links the spirit to the soul from whether man leads an animal or pure life, if, do
the moment of the birth of a child, is violently what he may, he can never lose his individual-

snapped, and the disembodied entity is left to ity ? This doctrine is as pernicious in its con-
share the fate of the lower animals, to gradually sequences as that of vicarious atonement. Had
dissolve into ether, and have its individuality the latter dogma, in company with the false
annihilated, even then the spirit remains a dis- idea that we are all immortals, been demon-
tinct being. It becomes a planetary spirit, an strated to the world in its true light, humanity
angel ; for the gods of pagans or the archangels of would have been bettered by its propagation.
Christians, the directemanations of the First Crime and sin would be avoided, not for fear
Cause, notwithstanding the hazardous statement of earthly punishment or of a ridiculous hell,

of Swedenborg, never were or will be men on but for the sake of that which lies the most
our planet at least; while the modern Spiritual- deeply rooted in our inner nature — the desire of
ist, like A.J. Davis and others, contend that a an individual and distinct life hereafter, the
soul once born, ever following the law of pro- positive assurance that we cannot win it unless
gress, goes on ever growing wiser and better we " take the kingdom of heaven by violence,"
until it ascends to the seventh heaven, when it and the conviction that neither human prayers
has become perfectly divested of all impurity. nor the blood of another man will save us from
This leads us back to the ancient doctrine of individual destruction after death, unless we
emanation and absorption; yet even then it may firmly link ourselves during our terrestrial life

retain its individuality and a remembrance of with our own immortal spirit — our God.
the past. No astral soul (that is, the spiritual body),
This speculation has been in all ages the even that of a pure, good and virtuous man, is

stumbling block of metaphysicians. The whole immortal in the strictest sense. " From ele-

esoterism of the Buddhistical philosophy is based ments it is formed, to elements it must return."
on this mysterious teaching, understood by a Only while the soul of the wicked vanishes, and
few persons and so totally misunderstood by is absorbed beyond redemption, that of every
many of the most learned scholars. Even met- other person, even- moderately pure, simply
aphysicians are inclined to confound the ethereal particles for still more ethe-
ef- changes its

fect with the cause. A person may have won

and while there remains in it a speck
real ones;

his immortal life and remain the same inner self of the divine, the individual man, or rather his

he was on earth through eternity; but this does personal ego, must die in the endless course of
not imply necessarily that he must either remain time. " After death," says Proclus, " the soul
the Mr. Brown or Mr. Smith he was on earth or (the spirit) continueth to linger in the aerial
lose his individuality. Therefore the astial soul body (astral form) until it is entirely purified
* *
and terrestrial body of man may, in the dark from all angry and voluptuous passions;
hereafter, be absorbed into the cosmical ocean then doth it put off by a second dying the aerial
of sublimated elements and cease to feel his body as it did the earthly one." Whereupon
ego, if this ego did not deserve to soar higher, the ancients say that there is a celestial body
and the divine spirit still remain an unchanged always joined with the soul, and which is im-
entity, though this terrestrial experience of his mortal, luminous and star-like.
emanations, may be totally obliterated at the The Chaldean magi were the masters in the
instant of separation from the body. secret doctrine, and it was during the Babylon-
ian captivity that the Jews learned its metaphy-
The Soul is Eternal. sics as well as the practical tenets, and the im-

If the spirit, or the divine portion of the soul, mortality of the Before this time the
soul.

is pre-existent as a distinct being, from all eter- Jews believed that was necessary to propitiate
it

nity, as Origen, Sinesius, and other Christian God with burnt offerings, so that they might be
fathers and philosophers taught; and if it is the blessed in this life with success, they and their
same, and nothing more, than the metaphysic- offspring. The Bible nowhere teaches the im-
ally-objective soul, how can it be otherwise than mortality of the soul prior to this period. Pliny
eternal ? And what matters it, in such a case, mentions three schools of Magi, one that he
 —

31

shows to have been founded at an unknown appears to be another still older, until we are
antiquity; the other established by Osthanes lost in the gray mist of time that may have ex-
and Zoroaster. These different schools, wheth- isted twenty or fifty thousand years ago.
er Magian, Egyptian or Jewish, were derived The doctrine of the immortality of the soul
from India, or rather from both sides of the is as old as this period (Tablet Brit. Mus.362),
Himalayas. Many a lost secret lies buried un- and perhaps far older. It dates from the time
der wastes of sands in the Gobi desert of East- when the soul was an objective being, hence
ern Turkestan, and the wise men of Khotan when it could hardly be denied by itself; when
have preserved strange traditions and knowledge humanity was a spiritual race and death existed
of alchemy. not. Toward the decline of the cycle of life,
We must bear in mind the teachings of the the ethereal man spirit then fell into the sweet

old philosophers: the spirit alone is immortal slumber of temporary unconsciousness in one
the soul per se is neither eternal nor divine. sphere only to find himself awakening in the
When linked too closely with the physical brain still brighter light of a higher one. But while
of its terrestrial casket, it gradually becomes a the spiritual man is ever striving to ascend higher
finite mind, a simple animal and sentient life- and higher toward its source of being, passing
principle (the nephesh of the Hebrew Bible): through the cycles and spheres of individual life,

" And God created * * * every nephesh (life) physical man had to descend with the great cy-
that moveth " (Genesis 1:21), meaning animals, cle of universal creation until it found itself

and (Genesis 11:7) it is said: "And man be- clothed with the terrestrial garments. Thence-
came a nephesh" (living soul), which shows that forth the soul was too deeply buried in its phys-

the word nephesh was indifferently applied to ical clothing to reassert its existence, except in
immortal man and mortal beast. So it is evi- the cases of those mortal spiritual natures which,
dent that the common people among the He- with ever)' cycle, became more rare; but now
brews had not the slightest idea of soul and and then it cropped out in a bright character,
spirit, and made no difference between life, so pure, wise and good, that they have been
blood, and soul, calling the latter the " breath deified and called gods, like Jesus Christ, Zoro-
of life," using the word soul promiscuously to aster, Buddha, Confucius, etc.

express life, blood, spirit and body. The phi- The fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of
losophers and most of the modern spiritual Eden, by eating of the forbidden fruit, must
writers make the soul the divine spark, while not be looked upon it as a personal transgres-
Plato and the ancients often make it the spirit.. sion of the law of God, but simply the law of
Baron Bunsen shows that the origin of the dual evolution. Adam, or the first man, began
prayers and hymns of the Egyptian Book of the his career of existence by dwelling in the garden
Dead is anterior to Menes and belongs proba- of Eden, dressed in the celestial garment which
bly to the pro-Menite Dynasty of Abydos, be- is a " garment of heavenly light." (Sohar,
tween 3,100 and 4,600 years before Christ. II. 2Q.) But when expelled, he is "clothed"
The learned Egyptologist makes the era of by God, or the eternal law of evolution, or
Menes, or national empire, as not later than necessarianism, with coats of flesh, skin and
3,056 B. C. and demonstrates that " the system hair. It only relates to the time when the di-
of Osirian worship and mythology was already vine spark (soul, a corruscation of the spirit)
formed before the era." " We find hymns and was to become incarnated in the flesh, which
lessons of morality identical, or nearly so, in had evolved by physical laws of progression in
form and expression with those delivered by a series of imprisonments, from a stone up
Jesus in his sermon on the mount," says Bunsen. through a long line of animal developments to
Extracts from the Hermetic, books are found the body of a man; and if he will but exercise
on the monuments and in the tombs, such as his will and call upon his deity to help him, man
these, " To feed the hungry, give drink to the can transcend the powers of the angel. " Know
thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead," * * ye not that we shall judge angels?" asked St.
" formed the first duty of a pious man." Paul (1 Corinthians, 6:3). "The real man is

Back of all religions and civilizations there the soul (spirit)," teaches the Sohar. "The
 32

mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery Before undergoing its last earthly transform-
of the heavenly man. * * * The wise can monad, from
ation, the external covering of the
read the mysteries in the human face." (11:76a.) the moment of its conception as an embryo,
According to the Chaldean doctrine found in passes in turn once more through the phases of
the Kabala, the Jehovah of the Jews was one of the several kingdoms. In its fluidic prison it
the emanations of the divine essence, and was assumes a vague resemblance at various periods
androgynous, being male and female, like all of its gestation to plant, reptile, bird, and ani-
angels, double-sexed. As Brahma, the deity, mal, until it becomes a human embryo. At
manifested in the mythical Manu, or the first the birth of the future man, the monad, radiat-
man born of Sway-ambhvua, or the Self-exist- ing with all the glory of its immortal parent,
ence, is finite, so Jehovah, embodied in Adam which watches it from the seventh sphere, be-
and Eve, is but a human-god, male and female, comes senseless. (See Plato's Timceus.) " It
or the realization of humanity embodied in the loses all recollection of the past and returns to
first man. Like the androgynous man, male and consciousness but gradually, when the instinct
female, passive and active, created in the im- of childhood gives way to reason and intelli-
age of the Elohim. But these androgynes were gence. After the separation between the life-
doomed to fall and lose theirpowers as soon as principle (astral spirit) and the body takes place
the two halves of the duality separated. Hence (i. e. in death), the liberated soul, monad, ex-
we have the fall of man by eating the forbidden ulting rejoins the mother and father spirit, the
fruit of the tree of knowledge; he thus lost his glory proportioned to the spiritual purity of the
spiritual clothing and became clothed in flesh past earth-life, the Adam who has completed
and and was material, so that he could not the circle of necessity and is freed from the last
skin
rise from the earth. So out of the rib of the vestige of his physical encasement. Hence-
first man, Adam, sprang Eve, the first woman, forth, growing more and more radiant at each

by the law of materialization. step of his upward progress, he mounts the

This idea is beautifully expressed in the Ori- shining path that ends at the point from which
ental religion: "When the Central Invisible he started around the Grand Cycle.
(the Lord Ferho) saw the efforts of the divine For each human spirit is a scintilla of the one
Scintilla, unwilling to be dragged lower down all-pervading light, and this is in accordance to
into the degradation of matter, to liberate itself, Buddhist doctrine, which is that the individual
he permitted it to shoot out from itself a monad human spirits are numberless — collectively they
(an ultimate atom), over which, attached to it are one, as every drop of water drawn from out
as by the finest thread, the divine scintilla (the the ocean is a part of it, and yet, metaphorically
soul) had to watch during its ceaseless peregrin- speaking, may have an individual existence, and
ations from one to another. Thus the monad still be one with the rest of the drops going to
was shot down into the first form of matter and form that ocean, though it may take millions of
became encased in stone; then, in course of years to find its way back whence it came; yet
time, through the combined efforts of livingfire during all that time it retained its individuality,
and living water, both of which shone by their whether in vapor, in sap of plants or trees, or
reflection upon the stone, the monad crept out the blood of animals, until it mingled again

of its prison to sunlight as a lichen, one of the with the waters whence it came; that this di-
lowest forms of vegetablelife. From change to vine spirit animates the flower, the particle of
change went higher and higher; the monad, granite on the mountain side, the lion and the
it

with every new transformation borrowing more man, when it was individualized into an intelli-
of the radiance of its parent scintilla, which gent, thinking soul, that followed the law of pro-
approached it nearer at every transmigration. gress, and ascended higher and higher in wis-

For " the First Cause had willed it to proceed dom and intelligence, until it again returned to
in this order," and destined it to creep on high- the great sensorum whence it emanated.
er until its physical form became once more the In Art Magic, page 27, there is an account
Adam of dust, shaped in the image of Adam of a remarkable medium, a Hindoo child twelve
Kadmon. years of age, the daughter of a noble Hindoo of
high spiritual and to systems, and every member of a system be-
intellectual attainments.
This little medium. came a theater of subordinate states of spiritual
child was a great writing
She sits on the floor with her head resting on a or material existence.
tripod, embracing its support with her little " Thus do ideas descend into forms and forms
arms, and in this attitude she generally falls ascend into ideas. Thus is the growth, devel-
asleep for an hour, during which time sheet opment and progress of creation endless; and
after sheet is written over with characters of thus must spirit originate and ever create worlds
ancient Sanscrit. The writing is done by an of matter, for the purpose of its own unfold-
invisible hand without even the ordinary appli- ment."
ances of pens, pencil or ink. Over four vol- " Will the mighty march of creation never
umes of these writings have been thus produced, cease ? Will the cable anchored in the heart
and that in less than a period of three years. of the great mystery, Deity, stretch out for-
Questions in simple Hindostanee are laid upon ever ?"
the tripod with a lot of blank paper, and the "Forever! shout the blazing suns, leaping
questions are answered intelligibly. In answer on in the fiery orbit of their shining life, and
to several questions concerning the origin of the traveling in the glittering pathway ten thousand
soul, and the doctrine of its transmigration satellites and meteoric sparks, whirling and
through the forms of animals, she wrote in San- flashing in their jeweled crowns, all embryonic
scrit the following, which is a translation: germs of new young worlds that shall be. * *
"That the soul is an emanation from the " Earths that have attained to the capacity
Deity, and in its original essence is all purity, to support organic life, necessarily attract it;
truth and wisdom, is an axiom which the dis- earths demand it, heaven supplies it. Whence?
embodied learn, when the powers of the mem- As earths groan for the leadership of superior
ory are sufficiently awakened to perceive the beings to rule over them, the spirits in their
states of existence anterior to mortal birth. In distant Edens hear the whispers of the tempting
the paradise of purity and love souls spring up serpent, the animal principle, the urgent intel-
like blossoms in the All-Father's garden of im- lect, which, appealing to the blest souls in their
mortal beauty. It is the tendency of that di- distant paradises, fill them with indescribable
vine nature, whose chief attributes are love and longings for change, for broader vistas of know-
wisdom, heat and light, to repeat itself eternally, ledge, for mightier powers; they would be as
and mirror forth its own perfections in scintilla- the gods and know good and
evil; and in this

tions from These sparks of heavenly fire urgent appeal of the earths for man, and this
itself.

become souls, and as the effect must share in involuntary yearning of the spirit for intellectual
the nature of the cause, the fire which warms knowledge, the union is effected between the
into light also illuminates into light hence the two, and the spirit becomes precipitated into
;

soul emanations from the Divine are all love the realms of matter, to undergo a pilgrimage
and heat, while the illumination of light, which through the probationary states of the earths,
streams ever from the great central Sun of Be- and only to regain its paradise again by the
ing, irradiates all souls with corresponding fulfillment of that pilgrimage.
beams of Born of love, which corre-
light. " When spirits lived as such in paradise, em-
sponds to Divine heat and warmth, and irradi- anations from a spiritual deific source, they
ated with light, which is Divine wisdom and knew no sex nor reproduced their kind. * * *
truth, the first and most powerful soul emana- When they fell, and the earth, like magnetic
tions repeated the action of their Supreme Ori- tractors, drew them within the vortex of its
nator, gave off emanations from their own be- grosser elements, they became what the earth
ing, some higher, some lower, the highest tend- compelled them to be. In the earlier ages of
ing upward into spiritual essences, the lowest these growing worlds the conditions of life were
forming particles of matter. These denser em- rude and violent; hence the creatures on them
anations, following out the creative law, aggre- partook of their nature. Then too first obtained
gated into suns, satellites and worlds, and each the nature of sex and the law of generation.
repeating the story of creation, suns gave birth To people these earths man, like other living
 34

creatures, must reproduce his kind. All things ence which each new stage of progress and each
in matter are male and female; minerals, plants, successive journey through various lower earths
animals andmen. Spirit, the creative energy, is leave, like an unquiet, ill-remembered dream,
the masculine principle that creates; nature, the on the spirit's consciousness, the past becomes
passive recipient, is that which germinates; confused with the present, and something of
hence creation. Man must obey the law; what we have been imposes its shadow across

hence sex and generation. * * * the path of the future, as a dim possibility of
" Man on many earths before he reaches what we may be.
lives

this. Myriads of worlds swarm in space, where " After the soul's birth into humanity it ac-
the soul in rudimental states performs its pil- quires self-consciousness, knowledge of its own
grimages ere he reaches the large and shining individuality, and closing up forever its career
planet named Earth, the glorious function of of material transformations with the death of
which is to confer self-consciousness. At this the mortal body, it gravitates on to a fresh series
point only is he man; at every other stage of of existences in purely spiritual realms of being.
his vast, wild journey he is Here the further purifications of the soul com-
but an embryonic
being; a fleeting, temporary shape of matter; a mence anew, commences with that sublime at-
creature in which a part, but only a part, of the tribute of self-knowledge which enables even
high imprisoned soul shines forth; a rudimental the wickedest spirit to enjoy and profit by the
shape, with rudimental functions; ever living, change; for memory supplies him with lessons
dying —sustaining a littering spiritual existence which urge him to struggle forward into con-
as rudimental as the material shape quest over sin, and prophetic sight stimulates
whence it

emerged; a butterfly up from the him to aspire until he shall attain, by well di-
springing
chrysalitic shell, but ever, as it onward rushes, rected effort, the sublime hights of purity and
in new births, new deaths, new incarnations, goodness from which he fell to become a mor-

anon to die and live again, but still stretch up- tal pilgrim.
ward, still strive onward, still rush on the giddy, " The triumphant souls who enter heaven by
dreadful, toilsome, rugged path, until it awak- effort are God's ministering angels of power,
ens once more, once more to live and be a ma- wisdom, strength The dwellers in
and beauty.
terial shape, a thing of dust, a creature of flesh primal Eden are only spirits. The
states of
and blood, but now a man. first are God-men, heavenly men strong and —
"It is from the dim memory that the soul mighty powers — thrones, dominions, world-
retains first of its original brightness and fall, builders, glorious hierarchies of sun, bright souls,
next of its countless migrations through the who never more can fall. Spirits are but the

various undertones of beings that antedate its breath, the spark, the shadow of a god; angels
appearance on this earth as man, that the belief are gods in person. * *
in the doctrine of the metempsychosis (transmi- " During the various transitional states of the
gration of the souls through the animal king- soul in passing through the myriads of forms and
doms) has arisen. Yet it is a sin against divine myriads of earths, whereon their probations are

truth to believe that the exalted soul that has outwrought, the changes are all effected by a
once reached the dignity and upright stature of process analogous to human death. During the
manhood should or could retrograde into the period that subsists ere the soul, expelled from
bodies of creeping things or crouching animals one material shape, enters another, the drifting
—not so, not so! spirit, still enveloped by the magnetic aural
"In the fleeting images which antecedent body which binds it to the realm of matter,
states leave on the spiritual brain, in the half becomes for its short term of intermediate spir-
effaced and half-imperfect perceptions of exist- itual existence an elementary spirit."

^^*^H£^?^
 CHAPTER IV.

MEDIUMS, ANCIENT AND MODERN.

Prophets, Seers, Magicians, Soothsayers, Astrologers, Fortune-Tellers, Materializations, Raps, Trances.

From man down to the they are shortly consumed by the fire, there is
the earliest history of
present time some persons have been possessed only a small pile of ashes left; what has become
of great psychological powers, and have in all of the rest ? The smoke has disappeared in the
countries held the position of prophets, seers, skies; so, he says, must the life, the intelligence
magicians, soothsayers, astrologers, medicine- of his friends have gone the same way. There
men and fortune-tellers. Many of them have must be some place where all these things have
been exposed in their tricks, while others have gone; there must be a great reservoir for all;

stood out in bold relief as possessing a power of there must be an invisible world as well as a
divining the future and telling the past, reveal- visible world. Where it is, or how it is, we
ing facts and incidents that no one could have cannot tell; but it must exist; it cannot be lost;

known, or were only in possession of the dead. there is no annihilation of anything; it has only
There appears to be a great variety of gifts changed its condition; that is all.
and powers possessed by these persons. Some The evidence given by the mediums is over-
are developed in one specialty, and others in whelming, if we can rely on their statements as
something different; but they all point in one true, as they have in all ages been put to the
direction, and claim that man exists after death, severest test; but it is something seen, heard
that the spirit or life -principle of man lives be- and felt, that is not capable of explanation or
yond the grave, whether it be from the teach- demonstration upon any scientific basis known
ings of the Bible, Rig- Veda, Heremetic books to man; and those who have not that pecul-
of ancient Egypt, the Zend-Avesta of Persia, iar power, which compose the largest number,
the Koran or the Book of Mormon. Their are not willing that a thing can be seen, heard
priests and priestesses are millions, and their and felt by some and not by all.
churches, temples and pagodas lift their spires And here lies the great difficulty to make
in every land; and the great majority of all peo- them believe, for they are not willing to admit

ple in all nations have a religion and a belief that others have higher perception and can see,
in the immortality of the soul. Man is a reli- hear and see things that they cannot; therefore
gious animal, and it arises from a feeling within they remain incredulous and skeptical. And
that he cannot smother or keep down. It ever there are some whose moral and religious organs

rises up and reaches out and will contemplate are so low that the question might be, have

and think of the future, a life in the spirit world. they evolved to the condition of spiritual beings,
He sees the dead bodies of his friends and rela- or are they still man-like apes?
tions laid in the cold grave; but he cannot rec- There is something very remarkable about
oncile his mind, his reason, to the belief that this psychic force, or spiritual manifestations,
that is the last of him. The body will return that will not act in the presence of some per-
to the dust from whichcame, but whither has sons while it will make itself apparent with oth-
it

gone the life, the intelligence that once anim- ers. With some it derives force and power,
ated the cold remains ? He sees the birds fly- while with others it weakens and will not act.
ing through the air, and the smoke rise from There is something in their nature or aura that
the burning logs that were once living trees; repels the spirit, like that of the negative pole
 —

;<;

of the magnet; and especially where the mind is are the laws of nature, are unchangeable, and
firmly set, in opposition, of a positive nature have always existed and will forever exist. But
new revelations tend to interfere with
not that of disbelief, but a fixed purpose not to these
believe. some of the established rules and tenets of the
Persons who possess this mediumship power church and the teachings of modern Christian-
are very sensitive, and have a large amount of ity, which have widely departed from those
electricity in their bodies, which generate this taught by the founders, for her representatives
force like the electric eel; and some have it so have poisoned the waters of simple faith, and
strong that they are able to give a slight shock now humanity mirrors itself in waters made tur-

which thrills down the spine, and are able to up from the bottom
bid with all the mud stirred

light a jet of gas with the end of their fingers. of the once pure shrine. The anthropomorphic
The mind of the investigator should be kept God of our fathers is replaced by anthropomor-
untrammeled, free from the influence of men, phic monsters, whose ripples send back the dis-
authority, prejudice or passion, so that it may torted images of truth and facts, as evoked by
have free scope in the investigation of facts and its misguided imagination.
laws which exist and are established in nature, Those who are soul-blmd are constitutionally
and is the grand antecedent necessity to scien- incapable of distinguishing psychological causes
tific discovery and permanent progress. And from material effects, as the color-blind are to
until men of science can come forth and inves- select scarlet from purple. There is often want-
tigate the phenomena of spiritualism in that ing a development of that brain matter in cer-
light, like Hare, De Morgan, Brookes, Wal- tain things, as to make the person perfectly in-
lace, De Gasparin, Thury, Wagner and Butlerof,
competent to understand that subject; as with
etc. they will These men had some persons who have no taste or liking for
never succeed.
the manhood to admit the phenomena, and mathematics, and no teaching or explanation
have struggled to solve the mystery and see if it can ever make them mathematicians, and it is
has any relation to the existence of men's here- a waste of time to try and teach them, though
after; and the only solution they can find is, they may have ability in other branches of sci-

that the word comes back that " man lives and ence. So it is with many men; they have no
exists beyond the grave," and that intelligence development in those organs of the brain that
never dies, that like matter and force it is inde- tend to elevate them above the cold atheist.
structible. They are perfectly destitute of the higher facul-
In this age of cold reason and prejudice even ties that lift man above the brute creation, as
the church has to look to science for help to these organs stand higher and are nearer rela-
support her tottering creeds; when in reality ted to wisdom than reason.
these manifestations are thesame as those in the Reason being a faculty of our physical brain,

Bible, and go to explain it and establish the one which is justly defined as that of deducing
fact beyond a doubt of the immortality of the inferences from premises, and being wholly de-
soul. But the church is so blindly roped up in pendent on the evidence of other senses, cannot
her creeds and dogmas that she is not willing to be a quality pertaining directly to our divine
admit these facts, which come as further evi- spirit. Hence all reasoning which implies dis-
dence and as a new addition to the good old cussion and argument would be useless, as rea-
book, but contend that it is sealed and that the son has been substituted by man for that of in-
days of miracles and manifestation of the spirit tuition or instinct in the lower order of animals,
are gone by, and no more and has so got control of mind as to discard
that there are to be
revelations; that those given in the dim mists of anything that cannot be solved by its test.
the past are sufficient, and that it is blasphemy Therefore it is difficult to reason on religion,
to pretend to say that there can be anything but it must be looked upon with blind faith, as
more given from on high. it will not stand any of the tests known to sci-

Yet science and reason will tell us that if ence, so we are forced to accept it as it is re-

those marvelous powers ever existed, they can vealed to us by those gifted with those divine
be repeated now; that the laws of God, which powers which belong to prophets, seers and
mediums, whose minds possess that quickness tain union with the superior intelligences, to
and feeling that being transported beyond the scenes of this
of perception, sight, hearing
belong to the soul. world, and to partaking the higher life and
Logic shows us that as mind as well as matter peculiar powers of the heavenly ones." All
had a common origin it must have attributes in great mentalities possess that power. It is that
common, and and divine spark in which lifted Homer and Shakespeare above the
as the vital
man's material body is it must common herd of humanity.
the causation, so
lurk in every subordinate species. The latent To this inner sight or intuition the Jews owe
mentality which in the lower kingdoms is recog- their Bible and the Christians their New Testa-
nized as a semi-consciousness, consciousness ment. For what Moses and Jesus said and
and instinct, is largely subdued in man. Rea- wrote and gave to the world was the fruit of
son, the out-growth of the physical brain, de- their intuition or illumination, that bears the
velopes at the expense of instinct — the flicker- marks of modern Spiritualism, for Christ was
ing reminiscence of a once divine omniscience a medium of the highest order. He could
— spirit. Reason, the badge of the sovereignty see, hear and talk with spirits. All the spirit
of physical man over all other physical organ- world appeared at his command —the physical,
isms, is shape by the instinct of an intellectual and spiritual. He could multiply
often put to
animal. As ignore perfect than that the loaves and fishes, see into the hearts of men
his brain
of any other creature, its emanations most as well as into the water to tell the fishermen
naturally produce the highest results of mental where to cast their nets. He could still the
action. But reason avails only for the consid- tempest; cure the sick, lame and blind; and cast
eration of mental things. It is capable of help- out devils — evil spirits that had got possession
ing its possessor to a knowledge of spirit. of men.
In losing instinct man loses his intuitional Were it not for this intuition, undying though
powers, which are the crown and ultimatum of often wavering because it is so clogged with
instinct. Reason is the clumsy weapon of sci- matter, man's life would be a parody and human-
ence — intuition the unerring guide of the seer. ity a fraud. This ineradicable feeling of the
Instinct teaches plant and animal their season presence of something outside and inside ourselves
for the procreation of their species, and guides is one that no dogmatic contradictions nor ex-
the dumb brute to find its appropriate remedy ternal form of worship can destroy in humanity,
in the hour of sickness. Reason, the pride of let scientists and clergymen do what they may.
man, fails to check the propensities of his nat- Moved by such thoughts of the boundlessness
ure, and brooks no restraint upon the unlimited and impersonality of the Deity, Gautama-Bud-
gratification of his senses. Far from leading dha exclaimed: "As the four rivers which fall
him to be his own physician, its subtile philos- into the Ganges lose their names as soon as they
ophies lead him too often to his own destruc- mingle their waters with the holy river, so all

tion. Woman possesses less reason than man, who Buddha cease to "be Brahmans."
believe in
and relies more on her intuition. Her percep- It is same thing that forced the Psalmist
the
tion is therefore quicker than man's, and she to cry out," " I know that my Redeemer lives."
lives a purer and better life morally and physic- It has led men to the stake and supported them
ally; therefore she makes the best medium, for in the most trying hours.
she relies upon intuition rather than reason. " The gods exist," says Epicurus, " but they
Every human being is born with the rudiment are not what the rabble suppose them to be."
of the inner sense called intuition, which may " But neither the First Great Cause, nor its

be developed into what the Scotch know as emanation — human-immortal spirit — have left
" second sight." All the great philosophers, themselves without a witness." Mesmerism,
Plotinus, Porphyry and Iamblicus, employed modern Spiritualism and occultism are there to
this faculty, and taught the doctrine. "There attest the great truths of the immortality of the
is a faculty of the human mind," writes Iam- soul. * * * The Pythagorean knowledge
blichus, " which is superior to all which is born of things and the profound erudition of the
or begotten. Through it we are enabled to at- Gnostics, the world and time-honored teachings

OF THE
UNIVERSITY
 ;

38

of the great philosophers of antiquity, were all explains away the strange stories of witches,
rejected as doctrines of Antichrist. ghosts, spooks and apparitions, and the mira-
The last seven wise men of the Orient, the cles that Jesus Christ and his apostles "per-
remnant group of the Neoplatonic philosophy, formed. It is evident from the writings of the
were Hermios, Piscious, Diogenes, Eulalius, New Testament that these magicians had some-
Damoskius, Simplicius and Isidorus, who fled thing to do with the birth of Christ, for they
from the fanatical persecutions of Justinian to were the wise men from the East that followed
Persia. The reign of wisdom then closed on the star to Bethlehem.
Europe for over fifteen centuries. The books Professor Dominico Berti, in his life of Bruno,
of Thoth (or Hermes Trismagistus), which con- says: "In common with the Alexandrian Pla-
tain within their sacred pages the spiritual and tonists and the later Kabalists, held that Jesus
physical history of the creation and progress of Christ was a great magician in the sense given
our world, were left to mold in oblivion and to this appellation by Porphyry and Cicero,
contempt for ages. But by the untiring research who called it the divina sapientea (divine know-
of Champollion, Max Muller and others, the ledge); and Philo Judaeus, who described the
Oriental learning has been resurrected from a Magi as the most wonderful inquirers into the
night of oblivion. Though shrouded in mystery hidden mysteries of natuie, not in the degrad-
and cabalistic signs, that were intended ever to ing senses given now-a-days. The Magi spoken
keep the secret from the knowledge of the of in the Bible were holy men, who, setting
ignorant rabble. themselves apart from everything else on earth,
" Magic, whichis based on the existence of a contemplated the divine virtues and understood
mixed world of forces placed within not without the divine nature of the gods and spirits the
us, and with which we can enter into commu- more clearly. So they initiated others into the
nication by the use of certain arts and practices; same mysteries, which consist in one holding an
* * an element existing in nature unknown interrupted intercourse with those invisible be-
to most men; which gets hold of persons and ings during life. Magic in this sense is a higher
withers and breaks them down as the fearful order of religion, in which the adept is enabled
hurricane does a bulrush. It scatters men far to hold converse with spirits and angels, which
away; it strikes them in a thousand places at are a higher order of spirits who have progressed
the same time, without their perceiving the in- in the spirit world."
visible foe or being able to protect themselves.
* * All this is demonstrated; but that this Mediumship.
element could choose friends and select favor- There are two classes of mediums. One
ites,obey their thoughts, answer to the human class — the high, the holy, the pure, the good—
voice, and understand the meaning of traced nay be called properly mediators, for they come
signs —that is what people cannot realize and between the godlike principle and man. The
what their reason rejects; and that is what composed of those who use this
I saw. other class is

And I say it here most emphatically, that tome power for gain, who descend to the low pur-
it is a fact and a truth demonstrated forever." pose of using this gift to accomplish bad and
(Du Potet, Magie Devoilee, pp. 57, 149.) wicked deeds — revenge, malice, debauchery,
This power was well known to the ancients. lust, vice and crime. In either case it is a gift

What is now called nervous fluid or magnetism of nature, at birth or subsequently, modified so
the men of old called occult ponver, or the po- that the person's aura will attract those influ-
tency of the soul subjection to magic; which ences that so strangely manifest themselves in
power Christ possessed, as he cast out devils the different mediums.
by it. And it is evident that he must have got To be a Mediator or good medium, it is
initiated into the mysteries while in Egypt, or necessary for the persons to be pure and good
from some of the magicians of Chaldea, who men and women, or they will draw to them-
were great adepts in the art, which is now be- selves bad influences, as " like attracts like;"
ginning to be known and revered; and it throws and the good spirits gather around the good
grea^ light on the miracles of the Bible and mediums who live pure lives, while the bad
 39

mediums gather bad spirits. So that it all de- who assist him in his performances and in car-
pends on the medium as to what kind of com- rying cut his evil designs on man.
munications one gets. God-men, like Christ, There is a class of weak-minded men, women
Apollonius, Iamblichus, Plotinus and Porphyry, and children who give themselves up to be
gathered this heavenly nimbus around them controlled by bad spirits, who so get control of
that sent forth wisdom and goodness like rays the person as to make them do as they please.
of light, to teach men to be better, to overcome Ignoring their own individuality they blindly
the temptations of the flesh, and to aspire to a follow- the promptings of these evil spirits, and
purer and better life around them, evolved by often allow them to guide and so control them
the power of their own pure souls. The best that they commit crimes and do many wicked
and most exalted spirits were ever ready- things, so they have been called possessed with
to assist them in all that was good and devils, or more properly speaking, evil spirits;

noble. and in certain cases they have been obsessed,

It is asserted that Apollonius, on account of as in the case of Mary Magdalen.
his abstemious life, could see " the present and This class of mediums is always passive,
the future in a clear mirror;" while Christ could whether beneficent or maleficent; and happy
read the hearts of men and hold converse with are the pure in heart, who repel unconsciously
angels; which would be the condition of all by that very clearness of their inner nature the
men if they possessed and exalted dark, evil spirits; for verily they have no other
that high
nature. A few in all world have weapon of defense but that inborn goodness
ages of the
had that gift; but they have all been men and and purity.
women of great purity of soul and the most Mediumship, as it is often practiced now-a-
abstemious in habits. And the great seventy, days, is a more undesirable gift than the robe
like the fakirs of India, by their self-denial and of Nessus; and it is what has brought Spiritual-

torture of the body, and the mortification of ism into disrepute, and caused it to be shunned
the flesh, were enabled to perform wonders. by many; for when it descends to that of sorce-
Plotinus taught that there is in the soul a liv- ry, witchcraft, the black arts and voodooism,
ing principle which attracts it onward and up- it is to be deprecated, and should be punished
ward to its origin and center, the Eternal God, with the severity of the law. For it brings
and this accounts for the cause why all admire around bad influences that are likely to mislead
the pure and good man, for in the lowest and weak-minded persons.
most depraved there is a divine spark that is True and pure mediums must be properly
pure; yet it is so loaded down with vile and bad tested by the communications given, and all
matter that it is difficult for it to do right; and communications must be closely scrutinized by
for that reason he can comprehend the sub- the light of reason and justice. As St. John
lime truth of right and justice which he so much says (i Epistle, chap, iv): "Believe not every
admires in others, but has not the moral cour- spirit; but try the spirits, whether they are of
age to emulate, and is forced by his base pas- God; many false prophets have gone out into
sions, not willing to submit to the self-denial the world." The ancient witches and familiar
and discipline that others possess, which elevates spirits generally turned their gift to a trade; like
them. the Obeah woman of En-dor, though she may
But when a medium defiles the temple in have killed her fatted calf for Saul, accepted
which dwells the spirit of the living God, the hire from other visitors.

temple becomes polluted by the admission of In India, the jugglers, who by the way are
evil passions, thoughts and desires, the medium less avaricious than many modern mediums,
falls into the sphere of sorcery. The door
and the Essana, or sorcerer and serpent-charm-
is

opened, the pure spirits retire and the evil ones

of Asia and Africa, al! exercise their gifts
ers,
rush in. They will no more mingle in the
for money. Not so with the mediators and
spirit world than they will here. The sorcerer, hierophants. Buddha was a mendicant and
**.

like the pure magician, forms his own aura and refused his father's throne." "The Son of man
subjects to his will congenial yet inferior spirits, had not where to lay his head." The chosen
 40

apostles provided " neither gold nor silver nor spirits were driven to the tombs. It is evident
brass in their purses." Apollonius gave one- that the ancierts knew the difference between
half of his fortune to his relatives, the other half the good and bad spirits, and that the latter
to the poor. Iamblichus and Plotinus were brought ruin upon the individual and disaster
renowned for charity and self-denial; the fakirs, upon the community.
or holy mendicants of India, never take pay; Physical manifestations depend on the medi-
the Pythagoreans, Essenes and Theraputae, be- um being passive, and spirits never control per-
lieved their hands would be denied by the touch sons of a positive character, who are determined
of money. When the apostles were offered to resist all extraneous influences. When they
money to impart their spiritual powers, refused.upon the weak and feeble-minded they
seize
Peter, though a coward and three times denied often drive their victims to vice. Physical, me-
his Savior, still indignantly spurned the offer, diums are generally sickly, or inclined to some
saying, "Thy money perish with thee, because abnormal vice; and their influence generally is
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be of a low order of spirits or elements that are
purchased with money." These men were good injurious to the medium; while the higher order
mediums or mediators, guided merely by their of mediums generally enjoy good health.
own personal spirit or divine soul, and availing A medium is only the vehicle through which
themselves of the help of good spirits, so far as the spirits display their power. The aura that
they directed them in the right path, ever guided served them varies day by day, and as it would
by the prompting arising from a pure heart. appear from Prof. Crookes' experiments, even
Apollonius spurned the sorcerers and " com- hour by hour. It is an external effect resulting

mon soothsayers," and declared that it was his from interior causes. The medium's moral
peculiar abstemious mode of life which gave state determines the kind of spirits that come;
gave him such powers. Professor Wilder be- and the spirits come reciprocally, influence the
lieved with Iamblichus in the attaining of divine medium intellectually, physically and morally.
power, "which, overcoming the mundane life, The perfection of the mediumship is in ratio to
rendered the individual an organ of the Deity."his passivity, and the danger he incurs is in
Plotinus, when asked pubUc wor- equal degree. When he is fully " developed,"
to attend the
ship of the gods, said, "It is for them (the perfectly passive, his own astral spirit may be
spirits) to come to me." That the will of the benumbed and even crowded out of his body,
pure man will command the spirits as well as which is then occupied by an elemental, or,
other matter, and that our souls can attain what is worse, by a human fiend of the eighth
communion with the highest intelligences, with sphere, who proceeds to use it as his own organ-
" natures loftier than itself," and carefully ism, and often drives the medium unconsciously
drive away from his theurgical ceremonies every to commit some diabolical crime, to even sac-
inferior spirit or bad demon, which he taught rifice her own child.
his disciples to recognize. Jesus declared man The adepts in occultism claim the power to
the lord of the sabbath, and at his command bring to their aid the occult forces in nature,
the terrestrial and elementary spirits fled from which assists them, and without that power
their temporary abodes —a power which was they could do nothing; that they command
shared by Apollonius and many of the Broth- these forces to help them, and it is by learning
erhood of the Essenee ot India and Mount how to control them that they are enabled to
Carmel. perform such things; that the invisible intelli-
Theancient Jews in the time of Moses, Da- gences are at their command, and the secret is

vid and Samuel, encouraged prophecy, divina- to know how to command them; but that these
tion, astrology and soothsaying, and maintained life-forces or principles can only be used by
schools and colleges in which the natural gifts certain manipulators. It is different from Spir-
were strengthened and developed; while witches itualism, hence they control the forces, while in
and those who divined by the spirit of Ob were the latter the forces control the medium. It

put to death. Even in Christ's time the poor may be possible, in the case of occultism, that
physical mediums who were obsessed by evil the adept may be deceived and be controlled
 a

41

by a higher spirit. two and resume the suspended life. It does it in

And that there are
classes of forces, one which is under the control sleep; it does it more thoroughly in trance.
of the good, virtuous and wise, which requires Most surprisingly at the command and with the
great severity, the observance of rigid rules of assistance of the Heremetic adept, Iamblichus
sobriety, abstinence, cleanliness, purity of soul declared that a person endowed with such re-
and body, the observance of fixed times for suscitating power is 'full of God.' All the
meditation or prayer, abstraction, when the subordinate spirits of the upper spheres are at
soul can go out into the ether and associate his command, for he is no longer a mortal, but
with those who have long since passed away; himself a god. In his Epistle to the Corinth-
that a mind thus influenced can travel on the ians, Paul remarks that "the spirits of the proph-
wings of electricity, which is its vehicle, to the ets are subject to the prophets."
remotest parts of the earth in a few seconds. imbued " If the molecules of the cadaver are
The astral soul is a separate and and chemical forces of the
distinct entity with the physical
of our ego, and can roam far away from the living organism, what is to prevent them from
body without breaking the thread of life, that being again set in motion, provided we know
time and space do not enter into its wander- the nature of the vital force and how to com-
ings, that it can traverse the earth like an elec- mand it ? The materialist can certainly offer
tric spark. no objection, for with him
no question of it is

The adept knows the nature of the soul — reinfusing a soul. For him the soul has no ex-
form composed of nervous fluid and atmospheric istence, and the human body may be regarded
ether —and knows how the vital force can be simply as a vital engine, a locomotive which
made active or passive at will, so long as there will start upon the application of heat and force

is no final destruction of some necessary organ. and stop when they are withdrawn. To the
Graffarilus claims that every object in nature theologian the case offers greater difficulties,

that is not artificial, when once burned to ashes, for, in his view, death cuts asunder the tie that
still retains that form in the ashes. Kircher, binds soul and body, and the one can no more
Digby and Vallemont hold that forms of plants be returned into the other without a miracle
could be resuscitated from their ashes. At a than the born infant can be compelled to resume
meeting of naturalists in 1834, at Stuttgart, a its fcetal life."

receipt for producing such experiments was But the Heremetic philosophers stand be-
found in a work of Oetinger. Ashes of burned tween these two irreconcilable antagonists, and
plants contained in vials, when heated, exhibit- are masters of the situation. Spirit controls the
ed again their various forms. " A. small obscure body. The life that animates the body, wheth-
cloud gradually rose in the vial, took a definite er voluntarily or involuntarily, as you term it,

form and presented to the eye the flower or is in reality the result of the existing spirit.

plant." "The earthly husk," wrote Oetinger, Every molecule, every susceptible atom, each
"remains in the retort, while the volatile es- substance attracted in our bodies, is under the

ence ascends, like a spirit, perfect in form but direct control of our spiritual natures. Do not
void of substance." mistake this for will; for this is not under the
And if the astral form of a plant, when its control of our volition. Do not misiake it for
body is dead, still lingers in its ashes, as has intellect. The intellect is subtile in its opera
been shown by chemists, by the application of tions; but the spiritual nature is still more sub-
heat, will skeptics persist in saying that the soul tile, and that it is which voluntarily or invol-
of man, the inner ego, after the death of the untarily controls every atom of our physical
grosser form, is at once dissolved and
is no existence. It attracts to us each substance that

more ? "At death," says a philosopher, "the is necessary to make up our bodies, rejecting
one body exudes from the' other by osmose such as are not consistent with the form thereof,
through the brain; it is held near its old garment and determines the nature of our physical bod-
by a double attraction, physical and spiritual, ies in a great degree.
until the latter decomposes. And if the proper Every embodied mind possesses in embryo
conditions are given, the soul can reinhabit it every germ and power that is possessed by the
 —

42

disembodied mind, and the disembodied mind atmosphere around the medium, from whom it

possesses every power that is possessed by the draws the material to render its form visible to
embodied mind, with they have embodied souls or living human beings.
this difference, The
a physical organixation of theirown, like our- spirit having the form and the intelligence is
selves, and, are obliged to act upon physical soon able, under proper conditions, to make
organisms here, in order to work out the mani- itself visible. As the red and yellow rays are
festations of their presence and intelligence. strong and antagonistic they have a tendency to
They have the advantage of possessing greater scatter the atoms of matter, so materialization
elasticity of will, of acting upon more minute has to be done in the dark or in blue rays of
particles of matter- than you can govern, light where all other rays but the blue are ex-
because your actions, in connection with mat- cluded. So when spirits wish to materialize
ter,must be directed exclusively by the motions they draw from the air, which is the great res-
of your physical body. The spirit, on the ervoir of inorganic matter, such material as
other hand, has a more subtle will, and, being light will not show in a clear sun light but in
constrained by no physical body, can act upon the dark it gives off a pale light. When all the
more nearly ultimated particles of matter, and rays of light are reflected the object is white,
thereby produce effects which defy physical when all are absorbed the object is black.
science,and which scientific men fail to under- Myrids of animals exist that can not be seen
stand, for they do not understand the laws by with the naked eye because they are too small
which they exist; they cannot explain by what or have not the coloring matter to reflect the
power the muscles are contracted, by which rays of light.
the hand is moved, and as to how a table can The body generates an aura through the
be moved by an invisible force, is impossible pores of the skin by a process of endosmose ac-
yet it is the same hidden force, the same will- tion, is then thrown off by an exosmose action
power of the spirit that accomplishes both; in the form of carbonic acid gas, which is poi-
still, conveyed over sonous if again returned to the human system,
there has been a thought
the nerves that sets the muscles to work, and but under the manifestations of the spirit there
the brain is moved by the spirit that has set it is, accompanying this carbonic acid gas, a cer-
to work to send out the thought that travels tain force or power, whieh, for the lack of a

over the nerves that causes the muscles to better term, we call nerve-aura. It is a similar

move. force that vibrates along the nervous system of

The spirits see the human body, and it is upon this substance
aura around physical bod- the
ies that They see the action of that the spirit acts to produce a sound. Nitro-
you do not.
the nervous fluids, and know from its sight gen is the most subtle of all elemental proper-
that these nervous fluids are composed of in- ties of the atmosphere. Carbonic acid gas,
finitesimal globules, each one corresponding to mingled with nitrogen in atomic proportions,
its particular function, which the spirit employs becomes the material whereby spirit-lights and
when it raps on the table, or produces vibra- vibrations are produced, by the aid of electric-
tions of the atmosphere. The infinitesimal ity. These vibrations occur in direct connec-
molecules that are thus employed might be tion with certain conditions known to the spirits

called vacuums; and in these minute globules but which is unknown to science, because it has
of atmosphere or aura resides the power, not no instruments fine enough to make an analysis
only of communications, but to lift tables ard of these powers; and the best physical manifest-
project bodies through the atmosphere. And ations are when the medium is confined in a

it is owing to this atmosphere or aura that sur- room where the air is foul with carbonic acid
rounds the person or thing that enables the gas, though it may be injurious to the health of
spirit to communicate to mortal beings. those living in the body; but out of this foul air
the spirits can find the best materializing mat-
Materialization. up visible forms; and it has been
ter to build
The materialization of a spirit is only gather- discovered by photographing that blue and
ing around it the atoms that are in the aura and violet light is the best for taking pictures, as it
 —

43

is the most harmonious and slowest, as it fills and has been replaced by new matter. "We
all space and gives color to the sky and a fine live," says Herbert Spencer, " by constantly
effect on the picture, and has none of the an- dieing." These atoms given from the body,
tagonistic properties of the red and yellow rays especially from the medium's, is used by the
which impede the action of the spirits; so all se- spirits, who understand their chemical nature,
ances should be held in rooms lit up by blue and recompose them around the spirit which is

or violet rays of light. The artist requires the a perfect form to build upon. Like copper and
same kind of rays so that it will fix the picture zinc, under a strong current power or a circle
on the plate, from which he is able, by chemic- of spirits, which induces them to yield those
als, to transfer to another. And all the spirit atoms, which the spirit chemist employs to ma-
requires is the proper conditions and similar terialize forms by the use of elements in the air

lights to form a body that is visible to the which are as simple and well understood by the
natural eye. The picture is there and the spirit spirits as electrotyping is by mortals, so that the
is there; but it requires the proper materials to spirit can accomplish in a few minutes what in
bring them out, so that they become visible to the flesh requires years to build up, the differ-
the mortal eye. And in this way spiritual pict- ence being one of time and of permanency.
ures are taken, as well as those of living per- It is a process of galvanizing over the spiritual
sons. And if pictures can be taken by one body with visible matter, that enables them to
kind of light and not another, why not materi- show themselves to us in the flesh. As the
alization be effected likewise? spiritual body is invisible to the natural sight,
All light has a dematerializing effect. Spirits but can be seen only by the clairvoyant, who
find it much easier to form in the dark, as all sees with the vision of the soul, to enable the

plating and impressions of the photographer spirit to be seen by the mortal eye it must clothe
have first to be set in the dark. The picture itself in material matter that reflects light.
is given by the light shaded with blue screens The hand being full of nerves more readily
and skylight; and, as the photographer has to materializes than any other part of the body,
use his dark cabinet to set the image in the and this accounts for the many hands often
glass, so has the medium to use the dark cabi- seen at a seance, and is generally the first part

net to enable the spirit chemist to build up and of the bocby that materializes.
plate anew the spirit with visible matter before Materialization is the highest realization of

it can appear in the light. modern Spiritualism. It brings the living face
The spirit, having once lived in the flesh, to face with those who were supposed to be

has learned the laws of the flesh, and knows dead. They and tell us that they still live,

how to control even the organisms of other and have only shed off the outward husk, the mor-
living bodies. The spirit is the life principle of tal body. It is the strongest evidence of the
the body. It is what steam is to the engine immortality of the soul. The body is only one of
which dead matter; but, as soon as the steam the stages of development of the embryotic con-
is

is turned on the piston moves backward and ditions of the soul, which had passed through the
forward, giving life to the whole: so, when the lower forms of life during gestation, that, like
spirit leaves the body, it is cold, dead matter; the eagle and the butterfly, has broken through
but when the spirit enters, it at and mounts on wings into
once gives life the shell of mortality
and animation. The spirit and the body are the sky, no longer feeding on the gross things
nucleus around which all matter clings, so that of the earth, but draws its life and vitality from
when a spirit wishes to materialize it has but the ether.
little do but draw the required matter from
to The same knowledge and control of occult
others and the air, and in that way it makes forces, including the vital forces which enable
itself a visible body. a fakir temporarily to leave and then re-enter
The human body is always giving off atoms his body. Jesus, Apollonius and Elijah were
of matter through the pores of the skin so that able to recall their several subjects to life; made
every seven years, and some say, every nine it possible for the ancient hierophants to ani-
months, the whole of the body has passed away mate statues and cause them to act and speak.
 44

It is the same knowledge and power which " no," and so it differed with him on that sub-
made it possible for Paracelsus to create his hu- ject. Every now and then it would pat me on
munculi; for Aaron to change his rod into a ser- the thighs, which were under the table, approv-
pent and a budding branch; for Moses to cover ing the article. It was in broad daylight, and I

Egypt with frogs and other pests, and the same am certain it was not done by any visible per-
Egyptian theurgist of our day to vivify his pig- son, as the medium was the only person in the
my mandragora, which has physical life but no room. He then placed one hand in mine on
soul. It is no more wonderful that upon present- the table, and took a slate, wiped it clean,
ing the necessary conditions Moses should call placed a piece of pencil on it, and took another
into life large reptiles and insects than that, un- slate and laid it over it, then held the two slates
der like favoring conditions, the physical scien- up to the side of my ear. I could hear the
tists should call out the small ones which he pencil scratching like it was writing; soon it

names bacteria. gave three taps, and then he opened the slate,

Nearly all the forms of phenomena of the an- and one whole side was written over in a plain,
cients wonder-workers, recorded in sacred and legible manner. The following is a correct
profane histories, are produced now by spiritu- copy:
al mediums. . I have seen bodies moved, hang
Dear Sir: Your subject is one that is little
suspended in the mid air; instruments play by
understood. Man has an intellectual nature,
laying in the hands of the medium ; have felt
and also intuition, so have animals; but, un-
the weight of invisible hands; heard voices in
less these two are wedded, he is not a success-
the air over my head; musical instruments flying
on the aid of
ful man. Often intellect has taken
around in the room; flowers fresh with the dew
intuition; and, again, intuition has controlled
on them, handed out of a cabinet in a well lit
man with the guardiance of intellect. Some
room; have had deceased friends and relatives
men fail when animals do not, he by throwing
described to me, so perfect, and their names
his intuition aside and glories in his intellect,
given so that there could be no mistake; I have
and he often makes great mistakes in life. An-
been tilted out of a chair by the touch of the
imals have no pride in intellect, and trust more
hand of a little cousin; I have seen a dozen
to intuition and do not fail.
ghosts or spirits walk out of a room, that I had
A. VV. Slade.
sealed up; I have seen them in the broad day-
light rise up, come to me, and have felt their The signature was that of his deceased wife.
pulse —
sometimes they had pulse and at other The wonderful test given by Mr. Slade con-
times they had none; I have conversed with vinced the honest German scientist, Zollner,
them, they told me who they were and where that there were forces unknown to the scientist,
they had departed this life, but they would not which he called transcendental physics.

admit that they were dead, but said they had Mr. Zollner, professor of physical astronomy
passed to a higher life. at the University of Leipsic, one of the most
I have had communications from my dear renowned schools of learning in Europe, made
departed friends, written on a slate, held in my many tests in a scientific way in broad day-
own hand under the table, the medium only light, in the presence of other professors, with
touching it. The signature of my mother was the physical manifestations of Henry Slade,
so perfect that, had I not known she was dead, forced him to the conclusion that these wonder-
I would have been willing to swear to its genu- ful manifestations could not be explained by the
ineness in a court of justice. That the tying of
ordinary laws of physics.
once called upon Dr. Slade, the celebrated knots in a string, with both ends fastened and
I

medium, to see if I could get some new light, sealed and held in his and Slade's hands on the
and on reading an article to him on " Evolu- table, while the other part of the string hung
tion," it met the approbation of a spirit present under the table. Communications were written
expressed by rapping on the table; but, when I on a book slate which they had purchased, and
read where Darwin says, "Young birds do not had been sealed up by them. They heard the
make as good nests as old ones," it rapped slate-pencil scratching like a thing of life be-
 45

tween the slates. After giving three raps they of Leipsic were forced to the conclusion that
removed the opened the slate and both
seals, there was an intelligent power that could do
sides were written all over and signed. Fear- those things which were beyond their knowl-
ing there might be something wrong they then edge of physical forces. That there were such
prepared other slates of a similar kind, and things in existence that did not come within
when Mr. Slade put his hands on them, the pencil the known laws of length, breadth and thick-
began to scratch, and when it rapped three ness, which is all that we can possibly know of
times they took the same slates and carried them matter, and in these dimensions it includes all

home and opened them, and there were other its possibilities. But in the fourth dimension,
messages written to them. says Zollner, " we have another aspect of the
Wooden rings tied together with a string and case; one in which our system of geometry is

placed under the table were carried and placed at fault, and its axioms cease to apply there;
around the upright part of the candle-stand, matter is subjected to transcendental laws and
which no mortal could do without taking off conditions are apparently reversed."
the tops of the stand. Professor Zollner, in a letter to Mr. William
Coin was passed down through the table and Crookes, who had also investigated the phe-
fell on the slate, while the pencil passed up and nomena of Spiritualism, said: "By a strange
entered into the box in which the money had conjunction our scientific endeavors have met
been placed and sealed up. A candle-stand in the same field of light and of a new class of
rose up and disappeared, presently it descended physical phenomena, which proclaim to the
from the ceiling and rested upon the table astonished mankind, with assurance no longer
around which they weie sitting. doubtful, the existence of another material and
A bowl of flour was placed on the floor un- intelligent world. As two solitary wanderers
der the table and they felt hands touching them on high mountains joyfully greet one another at
on their legs. On inspection there were the their encounter, when passing storm and clouds
marks of hand bowl of flour and veil the summit to which they aspire, so I
prints in the

the same marks on their pants. They rejoice to have met you, undismayed cham-
finger
were certain that Mr. Slade did not do it, as pion, upon this new province of science. To
his hands rested on the table all the time, and you, also, ingratitude and scorn have been
there was no flour in them. abundantly dealt out by the blind representa-
That hand and foot prints on prepared paper tives of modern science and by the multitude
were made through the slate, though it was befooled through their erroneous teachings.
locked up in a box. That a screen that was May you be consoled by the consciousness
made ot strong wood that would require a dy- that the undying splendor with which the names
namic force of two hundred and ninety-eight of a Newton and a Faraday have illustrated the
hundred weight, or more than the combined history of English people can be obscured by-
strength of three hundred giants to rupture, was nothing; not even by the political decline of
torn apart by an invisible power. That lights this great nation; even so will your name sur-
appeared and disappeared; that it rained on vive in the history of culture, adding a new or-
them and wet their clothes in the room; and nament which the English nation
to those with
many other strange things that could not be ex- has endowed the human race." (Transcenden-
plained by any known law of physics. These tal Physics, page 27.)
tests were through and beyond any trickery. The late exhibitions of physical force by
They called in the king's juggler to assist them, Miss Lulu Hurst throughout the United States,
and he was unable to detect any fraud or trick, is enough to convince all fair-minded people
or make any explanation how it was done. that there is an invisible force, produced by the
All of which goes to prove the apparent pen- laying of her hands upon a chair that defies
etration of matter, and also of the existence of the strength of a dozen strong men. It flung
the fourth dimension, by which this invisible men around as though they were feathers. I
power can produce these strange phenomena. found it impossible to hold an umbrella over
So these learned savans of the renowned school mv head while she had but one finger touching
 4ti

the handle. Her manager announced that she Here let me state that that dear cousin has
disclaimed any knowledge of the power that long since passed to the spirit land; and she
produced the force. Her father informed me often comes to me and gives me assurance that
that the power was spiritual force, as he had what transpired while living is more than real,
been so informed by the spirits, but that it was and that spiritualism is true.
not policy to so announce it from the stage, It is evident that this is a force that has intel-

owing to the credulity of a great many people ligence; that can come when desired and depart
who are prejudiced against the spiritualistic when not wanted, and is capable of com-
theory. I wassoon as I took hold municating with man through raps, tipping
satisfied as

of the umbrella that was the same force that of tables, independent slate writing and in
it

could enable my little cousin to hurl me from other ways. It can give names and incidents,

a chair twenty-five years ago. And here let me of which no person present has any thought or
state, that not long since I saw the same cousin knowledge. While some of these com-
— now married and the mother of several child- munications may be erroneous, on the whole
ren — and she informed me that she had long they are generally truthful; but it is not safe to
since lost that power. place too much reliance in their knowledge of
I know of several other mediums who have the future, for they, like mortals, are fallible,
lost the power to produce manifestations, hav- and they make many statements that are false,

ing been pursuaded by the church that it was for they have only advanced intelligence, and
the work of the devil. My little cousin, Lillie many are not so wise as those living in the
Dobbins, was a strong physical medium, and flesh; and it is hard to say who is at the other
could make a dining-room table follow her end communicating. It may be the spirit's
around like a dog by touching it with the tip of true name or it may be some mischievous boy's
her finger, and make it stand on one leg and spirit orsome lying spirit imposing on human-
flap the folding leaves, like the wings of a ity. They are there as they were here no —
bird. I asked what spirit it was moving the wiser, no better; as they depart this life, so they

table ? It called for the alphabet, and as the wake up over there in the spirit land.
letters were repeated, the name of Samson was Saint Paul said: "We must try the spirits
rapped. I then asked it to turn the house over. before we believe them." So nothing should
It replied, in the same way, that it might kill be taken for granted, until it shall have been
us. I then said, " Throw me out of the chair." thoroughly tested; even then it must be taken
and immediately I felt myself moved by an in- with a great deal of allowance, for we little un-
visible force, that hurled me out without an ef- derstand this mode of communicating. Even
fort. the telegrapher requires us to repeat the mes-
Ihad another cousin, Carrie Dameron, who sage before he will stand responsible for the
was a rapping medium, and I tested her in every correctness of its transfer.
way I could, to solve the mystery. It invaria- This mode of communication, like telegraph-
bly rapped out the name of departed relative ing, requires time to investigate and under-
or friend, who would not admit that they were stand. We are not able to go over to the other
dead, but only passed to a higher state of ex- side to compare notes and then return. We
istence. have to take it for granted that what words they
One of the most peculiar tests I had occurred send back are correct; and, so far, these state-
one night, when the negro boy, who made fires ments have been of so confused and uncertain

in the dwelling, being anxious to see the mani- a nature that many have been led to the belief

festations, crawled under the bed, after that it must be something other than the spirit
had
making the fire, and unknown to any of us; of our departed friends; at best it is hard for us
but the fact of his presence was revealed by to understand how anything, or any intelligence
the spirit rapping out the words, can exist without a physical body, capable of
attendant
"Dick under the bed."
is The poor boy making itself manifest to our five senses; yet,
came out affrighted, saying, " That is the devil, we hear the raps and the scratching of the pen-
sure, for no one know'd I was dar." cil, but wc cannot see the power that moves it.
 47

There are so many frauds and deceptions in is understood that this planet is only a germi-
the world that it becomes all to be very careful nating world, and that our future happiness de-
that they are not imposed upon. It may be pends on how we live here, and that it has

a question whether it is best for ignorant masses much to do in fitting us for the life to come,
of humanity to investigate it, as they are liable that is eternal; that we can not escape the
to be misled and placed under the control of burden of our own sins or shift them on the
evil rather than good man- shoulders of another, it will make us more care-
influences, but as
kind grow wiser and better they will ful how we act and treat our fellow-man, for
learn to
look upon it as their future existence, and will we are all brothers on the same road to the
prepare and fit themselves for that advanced spirit land, where we will have to make repara-
stage of development. It will rob the grave tion for all the wrongs that we have done to

of its terrors and make death only the gateway each other. There the law of compensation
to a higher and better existence in the vast un- and restoration is beyond a technicality or
seen universe that encompasses us. When it doubt of court or jury.
 CHAPTER V.

INSPIRATION AND INSPIRED MEN, SAVIORS, MEDIATORS AND MEDIUMS.

Inspiration is the natural influx of the divine than any ground around Jerusalem, which may
truth into the human
and its degree is have been blessed and sanctified by the tread
soul,

determined by character and capacity, and of Christ and the prophets."

it is not confined to the teachings of any reli- Man's eternal organism is closely joined to
gious truth. Even the old Testament teaches the material world, but far more closely is his
that certain men were inspired of God to work spiritual nature joined to that principle which
in linen and brass and cedar and gold. Shake- enlivens and energizes the universal whole.
speare, Angelo, Socrates and Epicteus have There is nothing between man and the bending
just as good a claim to be inspired of God as heavens. He can bare his head beneath the
any of the Jewish prophets or writers in the old dome of the living temple, and there is no ob-
or new Testament. struction intervening which can shut him from

All light is from the sun, whether it shines a contemplation of the gorgeous creation, and
from moon or planet; whether it be reflected if he will but bare his spirit by removing
by brook or mirror; whether it be a stray, bro- his pride, selfishness, ignorance and seusuality,
ken beam to prison-cell; whether it flare in the which circumscribe and entomb its fair pro-
gaslight or glow in the coal of our grate, all portions, he will find nothing between him and
light is first or last just so much sunlight; so all the enjoyment of true inspiration.
truth, of whatsoever kind or degree, is from The flower is truly impressed by the light and
God. warmth of the sun, because it possesses within
" Pure inspiration is confined to no particu- itself the essential qualities and properties of
r
lar person, age or nation; it is as common and beauty and development, and hence incorpo-.
universal as the spirit of God.
Everything that rates the descending elements of vitality in its
possesses life, what kingdom or own minute structures. It is not merely a ves-
no matter in

stage of development, is to the same degree sel for the immediate reception and imputation
the recipient, exponent, prophet and beneficiary of light and warmth, but it receives those ele-
of the universal spirit of the Supreme Being. ments, subjects them to a chemical' analysis,

Everything that moves anywhere in the illimita- and distributes the various properties to the
ble territory of Nature sustains a relation more elaboration, development and sustenance of
or less intimate to the spirit which animates the its own particular individuality; and then in
world. Every creature enjoys a living commu- accordance with the immutable principles of
nion with the all-animating principle; and the distributive justice and harmony, the flower
relations which subsist between the little worm breathes forth its precious odors with which it
and the creation of worlds are just as intimate loads the passing breeze, and thus imparts pleas-
in principle as those enjoyed by man. Hence, ure to many loving beings, while it reflects back
all things receive the spirit of God and bathe the rays of the sun in beautiful colors that

in it, and express it in the external in exact pro- adorn Nature with their richest hues. So it is

portion to their capacity and absolute require- with man; like every flower he is a recipient of
ments. The human soul is a far richer soil for this kind of inspiration. That is to say, the
the growth and nurture of heavenly sentiments influx of thoughts, facts and principles into the
 49

soul, which that particular mind may appropri- 'mpress us with that inspiration. Sweden-
ate; first to its own welfare and enlightenment borg claimed to have seen and conversed with
and then shedding it abroad, as the sun spreads angels, as did Abraham and the patriarchs of
its rays over the earth for the benefit and in- old; and if there is any truth in the one, why
formation of those who next require the pab- not believe the other, for it is more recent and
ulum. better authenticated.
In all ages of the world revelations of various In the writings of Plato we see the spiritual
kinds, and of different degrees of importance, identity of man and a future life, and his phi-
have been given to mankind, through the in- losophy reveals some very important laws of
spiration of prophets, sages, philosophers, seersNature, and many psychological truths; but it
and mediums. comes from" the same is mixed up with a vast amount of heredi-
It all

source; it all bears the same earmarks, and it tary superstition and absurdity. In Xeno-
all tells us to be good and virtuous, if we wish phon we find a higher degree of beauty, truth

to be happy. —
The Bible is full of it begin- and profitableness, for no mind was ever more
ning with Moses and the burning bush, and deeply impressed with the truths of immor-
ending with Saint John in a trance on the Isle tality than his, because his convictions came
of Patmos. Nor was it confined to the Jews from the gushing aspirations of the living prin-
alone, but was taught to the Hindoos, Persians, ciple within; and his philosophy contains more
and Chinese, by Brahma, Zoroaster and Con- substantial reasons for the immortality of the
fucius, long before the Jews were a nation. soul than can be found in any portion of the
The writings and teachings of these men to the old or new Testament.
whole Eastern world was that sin would ulti-
mately be abolished, that everlasting right- Jesus Christ.
eousness would be brought in, and that then Of the teachings of Jesus Christ in the new-
the good Ormuzd, would
deity, rejoice with joy Testament, the sermon on the mount is the
unspeakable forever and ever, most sublime ever spoken by mortal man. His
for having tri-

umphed over his evil brother, Ahnman (the whole acts seem to flow from a pure heart and
devil). a refined and spiritual elevation that has caused
These pure men and women of all ages and the whole Christian world to deify him as a
nations seemed to breathe this inspiration from son of God, sent into the world to redeem sin-
on high. They have spent their lives, and may ners.
have died in the cause of lifting up man from In him Nature worked her best and purest
.his low animal nature and pointing him to a material, and the influx of the divine spirit was
purer and better life beyond the grave. They so great that he possessed the highest develop-
have been scoffed at and spat upon by those ment of physical and mental powers, and he
in high places, and many have been put to stood forth a model of form, purity and good-

death; yet, afterwards they have been deified, ness. But the beauty of his natural principles
and churches and temples have sent up their and the simplicity and purity of his life and its
spires to honor their sainted names. teachings have been obscured by the darkening
There are many men and women of modern influence of theological interpretations, which
times that have acted and been controlled by have engrafted on Roman paganism and
it

this divine influence, who, had they lived in shrouded and acts in a halo ot supersti-
his life
past ages, would have been deified for their tion, and invested him with power that he
works; Luther, Calvin, Joan of Arc, the Seer- never claimed to possess. Though possessed of
ess of Provost, A. J. Davis, and others, who great healing and clairvoyant powers, he only
have revealed many truths concerning the con- used them for the purpose of doing good, and
nection between the natural and spiritual world, the many useful and beautiful moral precepts
and between soul and body. And there are taught by him in the new Testament should
the names of Baron d'Holbach, Charles Fou- cause us to regard him with deep veneration, as
rier and Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish one of the greatest reformers of the world, and
philosopher and psychologist, who>e writings to ascribe any higher powers would be doing
 50

him he did not profess to be a son mortal and preferred to live.

injustice, for He died because
of God any other sense than that he was a he could not help it, and only, when betrayed,
in

branch on the great -tree of hvmanity; and he he prayed with fervor, until " his sweat was as
did not profess to be directed and impelled by it were great drops of blood," that the bitter
any other spirit than the divine love, the germ cup might he removed from him. He might
of which dwells in the heart of every being, have made himself invisible by the use of his
undeveloped. And to this divine principle ex- mesmeric power over the bystanders, as he had
isting in others, but not so fully developed, he done before when threatened with violence, as
appealed so feelingly, in order that its qualities is claimed by Eastern adepts, and made his

might advance to that degree of refinement in escape; but, seeing that his hour had come, he
love and wisdom which he possessed. For he said, " Not my will but thine be done." Luke
was a perfect type of a man, but anything more xxiv, 34.
than that tends to injure and detract from It is evident that Jesus was initiated into all

his goodness and greatness, as it is reasonable their mysteries. In King's "Gnostics," page
to suppose that if the birth and life of Christ 145, " there is an account of a sarcophagus,
had been of such a miraculous character as the panels of which were bas-reliefs represent-
some wish us to believe, other profane histori- ing the miracles of Christ; one, the resurrec-
ans than Josephus would have mentioned it, tion of Lazarus, in which Christ appears beard-
and he would have given an account of the less and possessed of a wand, in the guise of a
so-called miraculous manifestations; therefore necromancer, whilst the corpse of Lazarus is

it is evident that much that has been written on swathed in bandages exactly as an Egyptian
this subject was the work of over-zealous or mummy." And Jesus is always represented
designing priestcraft. with long, waving and curling hair parted in

But in this age of enlightenment and reason the middle, after the fashion of the Naza-
it is full time that these vile superstitious false- renes.
hoods were swept away and Christ be allowed The Talmud, speaking of the " Nazaria, or
to stand forth in the true light re- Nazarenes" (who had abandoned the world
of a great
former who has founded a church that has done like the Hindoo Yogis or hermit), " calls them

more to elevate down-trodden humanity than a sect of physicians or wandering exorcists.

any other; therefore he stands at the head of They went about the country, living on alms
all others as a great and good man, possessed and performing cures," fasting and praying
of that divine power of looking into minds and and performing miracles, like Christ and his
reading the hearts of men; and, like all great disciples.

and true men, willing to suffer crucifixion and The first Christians were, doubtless the Ebi-
death for principles that would embalm his onites, and in this we follow the authority of
memory in the hearts of millions to come after the best critics. " There can be little doubt
him, and raise mankind from an animal plane that the author (of the Clementine Manilas) was
of existence to a happier and better home be- a representative of Ebionitic Gnosticism, which
yond the grave in heaven. had once been the purest form of primitive
St. Paul says that God made Jesus "a little Christianity. * * * And who were the
lower than the angel," Hebrews, iii, 3 and 9, Ebionites? The pupils and followers of the
"and a little higher than Moses;" "For this early Nazarenes —the Kabalistic Gnostics who
man was counted worthy of more glory than derived their doctrine from the oriental philos-
Moses." evident that St. Paul never con- ophy.
It is These Nazarenes were a despised sect,
sidered Christ more than a man "full of the on account of their different religion to that of
spirit of God." Being all good-man he was the Jews (Codex JVazarojns)."
therefore a god-man, as good and god are sy- Kenan shows the Ebionites numbered among
nonyms in the old Saxon language. It is evi- their sect all the surviving relatives of Jesus,
dent that he was filled with the divine substance and some of whom denounced him. John the
that elevates man above the low, groveling ideas Baptist was his cousin and precursor, and was
of animal existence. It is evident that he was the accepted savior of the Nazarenes and their
 51

prophets. They beyond the Egypt," and that the ancient " Book of the
lived over and
Jordan. Dead," found in the tombs, dating back 4,500
There is not a word in the new Testament years B. C, had this word written in hierogly-
that goes to show that Jesus was ever actually phics, and Jesus knew the secret meaning of
regarded by his disciples as God. Neither be- the word bestowed by him on Simon, who was
fore or after his death did they pay him divine thereafter called Peter, whom he initiated into
honors. Their relation to him was that of dis- all the mysteries, who continued to perform
ciple,and " Master" was the name by which miracles and wonderful things, and this power
they addressed him, as did the followers of Py- is still claimed by the Church of Rome.
thagoras and Plato. He never claimed he was Christ said, "Why callest thou me good?
"God," but said he was the "son of man," There is none good but one; that is God."
the son of God meaning that all men were sons "And whosoever shall speak a word against the
of God and when he spoke to Mary Magdalen son of man shall be
; forgiven him; but unto
at the tomb, "Jesus saith unto her, 'Touch him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost
me am not yet ascended to my father;
not; I it shall not be forgiven." Luke xxii, 10. Is this
but go to my brethren and say unto them I the language of a God, of the second person in
ascend to my father and your Father, and to the trinity who is identical with the first ?

my God and your God,'" John xx, 17, which Say the Hermes, " No one of the gods, no
implied on his part a desire to be considered on man or lord can be good but God alone."
a perfect equality with his brethren, nothing Christ made use of the same expression. "To
more; that it was his astral soul or spiritual be a good man is impossible, God alone pos-
body that she beheld and that he did not wish John the
sesses this privilege," says Plato.
her to touch him. Baptist did not consider Christ a god, when he
They looked upon him as a great prophet, a baptized him (John i, 6 and 30), " This is he
holy, inspired man, a vehicle used by Christos of whom I said, After me cometh a man"
(messenger), through which the spirit of God Speaking of himself Jesus says, " You seek to
made himself manifest to man; and in
Luke kill me, a man that hath told you the truth
Hi, 22, "And
Holy Ghost (spirit) descended
the which I have heard of God" John viii, 40.
in a body shaped like a dove upon him, and And even the blind man when
of Jerusalem,
voices came from heaver, which said, Thou speaking of who had healed him, said, " A
art my beloved son, and in thee I am well man that is called Jesus made clay and anoint-
pleased." In another place it says, "Jesus, ed mine eyes." John ix, n.
full of sacred spirit, returned from Jordan and Christ in all his sayings is in a Pythagorian
him into the desert." These pas- spirit.
the spirit led When not verbatim repetitions, his
sages are enough of themselves to convince any code of ethics is purely Buddhistic; his mode
unprejudiced mind that he was a great medium of action and walk of life Essenian; and his
and seer, through whom the spirits manifested. mystical mode of expression, his parables and
It is evident that Christ understood the his ways those of an initiate,, whether Grecian,
magic art, when he says, "Go ye, therefore, Chaldean or Magian (for the " perfect," who
and teach all nations, *. * * and lo, lam spoke the hidden wisdom, were of the same
with you always, even to the end of the world," school of Archaic learning the world over); it

(that is, his spirit) and the apostles performed is difficult to escape from the logical conclusion
miracles in his name was crucified. that he belonged to the same body of initiates.
after he
The prison doors were opened to Peter and Secret societies and sects extended all over the
the jailor was affrighted. It is claimed that the East at that time, and there is no doubt that

keys of heaven wereleft with St. Peter. Baron Jesus Christ was an initiate.
Bronson shows that the word Patar or Peter The learned philologists have been able to
was a mystic word which " locates both master trace this coming messiah far back in the sacred
and disciple in the circle of initiations, and books of the ancient Hindoos, written in the
connects them with the secret doctrines as they Sanscrit; which is the mother language of the
were taught by the hierophants of ancient Aryan race. They had their trinity and they
 52

had and so did from Kansa, an incarnation of Vishnu, the

their savior; so did the Persians
the ancient inhabitants of Mexico. When the second person of the trinity. Chrisna was
latter country was invaded by Cortez, the priest worshiped at Mathura, on the river Jumna.
said, "The devil was ahead of us; how could (See Strabo, Arrian and Bampton.)
these people know of Christ and the Virgin Chrisna is persecuted by Kansa, tyrant of
Mary unless the devil had told them of it." Madura, but miraculously escapes. In the
The Christian Adventist undoubtedly got his hope of destroying the child, the king has thou-
idea from the Hindoo, for it says in their sa- sands of male innocents slaughtered. Chris-
cred book, *'
When Vishnu appears for the last na'smother was Devaki or Devanagui, an im-
time he will come as a savior." According to maculate virgin, who had given birth to eight
the opinion of the Brahmans he will appear sons before Chrisna. He is endowed with
in the form of a horse, Kalki. Others claim beauty, omniscience and omnipresence from
he will be mounting it. This horse is the en- the time of his birth; produces mimcles, cures
velope of the evil spirit, and Vishnu will mount the lame and the blind, casts out demons,
it, invisible to all, until he has conquered it, washed the feet of the Brahmans, and, descend-
for the last time, then he will become visible ing into the lower regions, hell, liberates the
and all mankind will become good and then dead, and returns the paradise to Vaicontha,
comes the millenium." The Bible speaks of of Vishnu. Chrisna was the god Vishnu in
Christ coming again on a white horse. human form he crushes the serpent's head. —
The Christian virtues inculcated by Jesus in Chrisna is unitarian. He charges the clergy
the sermon on the mount are nowhere exempli- with ambition and hypocrisy to their face, di-
fied in the Christian world. The Buddhist as- vulges the great secrets of the sanctuary — the
cetics and Indian seem almost the only unity of god and the immortality of the soul.
fakirs

ones that inculcate and practice them, and Tradition says he fell a victim to the vengeance
these the Christians call heathen and send mis- of the clergy. His favorite disciple, Ajuna,
sionaries to teach them morals that they have never deserts him to the last. There are cred-
derived from them, revamped, and under new ible traditions that he died on a cross (a tree)
names given to their gods, they try to teach nailed to it with arrows. The best scholars
that which they do not practice. agree that the Irish cross at Taum, erected long
In the history of man, there appears to have before the Christian era. is Asiatic. (See
been many saviors, redeem him Round Towers, p. 296.) Chrisna ascends to
who died to

from sin, to teach him higher and nobler aspi- Swarga and becomes Nirguna.
rations and fit him for the life to come. There Chrisna stands at the head of the Brahman
are three that stand out more prominent than religion. It is spread over India and has about

all the rest who have a history; they are the sixty millions of believers, who have degenera-
founders of churches that have millions of ted into caste, leaving to the Brahma 01 the
members who bow down and bless their names highest class, full control of all religious teach-

and through them seek to gain admission into ing in the vedas. And these lower caste, like
—
heaven Chrisna, Gautama Buddha and Jesus the ignorant and superstitious of all countries,
of Nazareth. have degenerated or never rose to that intelli-

gence, so they were unable to understand the

Chrisna,
symbols and sublime truths that were taught in

The savior of the Hindoos, is the oldest. His the mythical figures of the vedas, but became
ej)och, on which European science fears to worshipers of the idols that were used to rep-

commit itself, is uncertain; but the Brahmanical resent the true religion.

calculationsfix it at about 6,877 years ago. He Krishna or Chrisna was worshiped as an

descended of a royal family, but was brought avotard of Vishnu, who was one of the sun
up by shepherds. Man had, perhaps, advanced gods of the ancient Hindoos, and by his reincar-
in civilization to the stage of shepherds; he is, nation in Chrisna he became a redeemer, who
theiefore called the shepherd's god. would listen to the prayer of man; and that

His birth and divine descent are kept secret the gods, to execute anything for the benefit ol
 53

man, he had to become incarnated in some the hour of his birth there were thirty-two
animal or man. Vishnu,it is said, became in- thousand wonders performed; the clouds were
carnated ten times; the first time in a fish, the stopped in the sky, rivers ceased to flow, flow-
second time in a tortoise, the third time in a ers ceased to bear, the birds remained silent
boar, and the remaining seven times were in and full of wonder, the animals stopped eating,
human forms. the blind saw, the lame and dumb were cured,
If we will only search for the true essence of and all nature remained suspended.
the philosophy in both Manu and the Kabala, He is represented in many temples as sitting
we will find that Vishnu is the Adam Kadmon, under a cruciform tree, which is the " Tree of
the expression of the universe and that Life." In another image he is sitting on Naga,
itself;

his incarnations are the concrete and various the Raga of serpents, with a cross on his breast.
embodiments of the manifestations of the Buddha ascends to Nirvana (heaven), while
" Stupendous Whole." " I am the soul which Jesus ascends to paradise.
exists in the hearts of all things, and I am the In the two preceding characters we can see
beginning and the middle and also the end of that they are much alike to that of Jesus, and
existing things," says Vishnu to his disciple in would naturally come to the conclusion that one
Baghavad-Ghita, chapter X t page 71. was taken from the other, though the two former
" I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and were born of royal parentage, which they for-
the end. * * * I am the first and the sook to become teachers of the humble and
last," says Jesus to John, in Rev. 1-6: 17. low born. That their mothers were immacu-
And if we will closely examine the new Testa- late and had holy conceptions; that the king
ment we can see the ear-marks of the reincar- sought to slay them; that the child was en-
nation of Chrisna in Jesus Christ, who has been dowed with wonderful powers and great intelli-
made another avatar of the same reincarnation gence. They all performed miracles, cured the
of Vishnu, the redeemer of the Hindoos. lame and the blind, cast out demons, washed
It is thought by some of the Oriental writers their disciples' feet, descended into hell and

that the wise men spoken of in the new Testa- liberated the dead.
ment that came from the East, guided by the That Chrisna and Jesus both died on the
star to Bethlehem, were Brahmin one transfixed by arrows to a tree
priests. cross;
and the other was nailed to a cross; that
Gautama Buddha.
they arose and ascended to heaven. So strik-
Gautama Buddha, the savior of the Buddists, ing and alike are these three characters that one
Tartars and Chinese, according to European is forced to the conclusion that they are the
science and the Ceylonese calculations, lived same, and out of the dim rays of the past that
about 2,540 years ago. He was the son of a reflect Chrisna comes the mythical outlines of
king. His first disciples were also shepherds the mythical Jesus, from whose teachings were
and mendicants, and when he dies his spirit drawn those of the historical Christos; for we
reincarnates into that of a new-born babe. His find that under one identical garment of poetical
mother was Maya, or Maya deva (great Mary), legend lived and breathed three real human fig-
married to her husband, yet an immaculate vir- ures. The individual merit of each of them is
gin. He is endowed with the same powers and brought out in rather stronger relief than oth-
performs wonders like that of Chrisna, and he erwise by the same mythical coloring, for no
also crushes the serpent's head, /'.
e., abolishes unworthy character could have been selected
the Naga woiship as fetishism; but, like Jesus, for deification by the popular instinct, so uner-
makes the serpent the emblem of divine wis- erring and just when left untrammeled.
dom. He abolishes idolatry, divulges the mys- If they were three distinct personages the
teries of the unity of God and Nirvana, and is similarity would impress us with the truth of
persecuted and driven out of the country, gath- the Buddhist faith: the reincarnation of the
ers thousands of believers around him and dies same spirit in three distinct forms, and differ-
with his faithful and beloved disciple and ent periods of the world's history. It may be
cousin, Ananda. He escaped crucifixion. At contended that Chrisna and Buddha were char*
 54

acters taken from that of Jesus of Nazareth. truths, readily mistakes the symbols or the idols
But ample proof is at hand to show that either for the real person whom it is intended to rep-
of these religions extends far back into the night resent, falls into idolatry and superstition.
of time beyond the birth of Christ or the be- Thus the sublime teachings of these three great
ginning of the Christian era. and good men have become adulterated so that
They all is hard to recognize them as they are now
taught a spiritual religion involving
it

about the same principles, but their followers taught by their disciples and priests. But
have perverted their sublime teachings and through the skill and learning of Max Muller
turned them to suit their own interest, to en- and other philologists who have been able to
slave man and load his mind down with ignor- trace them back to their origin in the Sanscrit
ance and superstition, and teach him to worship language, we can see that they all had one com-
idols and symbols instead of the one living mon origin in the teachings of Christos, who is

God. the founder of the spiritual faith of the Aryan

The tendency in all ages has been to deify race. " Yet," says Muller, "we find the his-

their great and good men when dead, and to ry of Gautama copied word for word from the
make saints out of them, which has, no doubt, Buddhist sacred books into the golden legend,
given rise to a multiplicity of gods and demi- names of individuals are changed, the place of
gods, similar to those of the old Greek and Ro- action —
India remains the same in the Chris- —
man mythology, who at one time were men, tian as in the Buddhist legends."
and these sages, statesmen and warriors became " The sacred scriptures of Hindoo stole
the tutelar deities of their country, to whom Brahma, the sacrificer, who is at once both
the people made offering as a mark of rever- sacrificer and victim;" it is Brahma, victim in
'

ence and to get them to use their influence in his own son Chrisna, who came to die on earth
their behalf, which has tended to confuse the for our salvation, who himself accomplishes the
idea of one universal God, and to give to that solemn sacrifice (of the Sarvameda), and yet it

God a human form, as these tutelar deities and is the man Jesus as well as the man Chrisna,
guardian spirits and administering angels were for both were united to their Christos; they are

once human beings and have evolved under the theiefore the same, identical persons, or two

law of progress and development to higher reincarnations of the same spirit, which is in

spheres. And as they still retain their form accordance with the Buddhist faith. The rein-

when seen by and mediums, it

seers, prophets carnation of the Llama of Thibet, an adept of
is natural to conclude that the supreme God, the highest order, may live indefinitely. When
the first prime cause, was an anthropomorphous the mortal casket wears out he reincarnates
— —
being a man-like god and as the Bible says himself (the Ego) in the body of a new-born
God made man in his own image, therefore babe, and he begins his existence in a new
man was like unto God, when in reality the body. This may appear strange, yet Jesus
Jehovah of the Jews or old Bible was only the sj)eaks of the second birth, after the natural

tutelar deity of that race of people, and not birth — born in the spirit. This might have ref-

the supreme God, asit is time and again said in erence to the will force freeing its astral soul

the same book that no man had ever seen the so that it might communicate with spirits in the

face of God. spirit land.

The three personalities, Chrisna, Gautama Jesus Christ tries to imbue the hearts of his

and Jesus, were so far above the common herd audience with scorn for wordly wealth, fakir-

of mankind like unconcern for mammon, love of humanity,

that they appeared to be true gods,
each in his epoch, and they have left to human- poverty and chastity. He blesses the poor in
ity three religions, built upon the imperishable spirit, the meek, the hungry and the thirsting
rock of ages, that have withstood the assaults after righteousness, the merciful and peace-
of time and the attacks of skepticism, for man, makers, and, like Buddha, leaves but a poor
being a religious animal, must have some God chance for the proud caste to enter into the
to worship, some one and do hom- kingdom of heaven. Kvery word of his ser-
to pray to

age, and not having a conception of the sublime mon is an echo of the essential principles of
monotheistic Buddhism. The and performed miracles like Pythagoras, who
ten command
ments of Buddha are found in an appendix to was a bright medium and claimed to get
his

the Pratimoksha Sutra (Pali-Burman text) and wonderful powers and knowledge from on high.

are elaborated to their full extent, as in He could perform a magnetic or psychologic

Matthew. cure, and was believed to be a god or a son of

the similarity of the teachings of a god, or else a veritable Beelzebub,

the prince
So great is

these two great reformers that the Orientalist of devils.

admit that they are different persons, When Apollonius desired to hear the " small
will not

but say that they are the teachings of Buddha. voice " (the spirits), he would wrap himself up

And so much alike are some of the religious in a fine woollen mantle, on \yhich he stood
feet, after making certain magnetic
services that a Portuguese Catholic missionary, upon both
who was sent to Cochin China in the sixteenth passes and offering an invocation well known to

century, wrote back home saying that the devil the adept. Then he drew the mantle over his

had been ahead of him and introduced the head and face and his
translucid or astral spirit

among them. was free, which was similar to the account the
Catholic service
Bible gives of Elijah: " When Elijah heard it
Apollonius of Tyana.
he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood in
Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of the entering of the cave, and behold there came
Jesus of Nazareth, was, like him, a religious the voice."
enthusiast and founder of a new spiritual school. Apollonius went to Hindostan in search of
He was less metaphysical and more practical, the wisdom of the Brahmins. He was brought
yet less tender and perfect in his nature, and he into the presence of the chief sage of the East,
inculcated the same quintessence of spiritual- who addressed him in the following language:
ity and the same high moral truths. He con- "It is the custom of others to inquire of those
fined himself to the society of the rich while who visit them who they are and for what pur-
Christ confined himself to that of the poor. pose they come; but with us the first evidence
He was the friend of kings and moved among of wisdom is that we are not ignorant of those
the aristocracy, and he was born rich. Never- who come to us." Thereupon this clairvoyant
theless they were both miracle-workers, healing recounted to Apollonius the most notable events
the sick, raising the dead, etc., yet his miracles of his life, also his father and mother, and the
are more wonderful and varied and better at- incidents of his journey and who were his com-
tested. Materialism denies the fact in both panions and all about him. He was awed by
cases, but history affirms it. who
knowledge they possessed and earnestly
Apollonius, the
is represented as one to be admitted
of the sixteen saviors that into their secrets.
sought
mankind has had, is claimed by some to have After the usual length of waiting he became
been like Christ, crucified and rose from the duly illuminated and returned and astonished
dead, and appeared to his disciples, but history Europe with his piercing clairvoyance and won-
does not bear out the assertion. derful powers in healing and knowledge of the
He performed supernatural cures and, like occult force.
the Spiritualist of the present day, proclaimed His power of divining the future was won-
to the people that he was heaven-ordained. He derful. While lecturing at Ephesus he sudden-
confounded the most learned scholars of Rome ly stopped and exclaimed, " Strike! stiike the
and Greece. He ate no animal food, discarded tyrant! Domitian is no more; the world is de-
woollen clothes, wore his hair long and well livered of its bitterest oppressor!" At that day
combed, washed his face, kept his body sweet and hour Emperor Domitian was assassinated
and clean, refused to associate with women, at Rome, and he saw it though hundreds of
lived single like Jesus, the Shakers and Catho- miles distant.
lic piiests; was opposed to offering up sacrifi-
Pythagoras.
ces, did not think much of oral prayer, believed
in free speech, taught a new religion, honor, " Pythais, the mother of Pythagoras, was
equity, personal purity and universal education, overshadowed by the specter or ghost of the
 56

god Apollo, who afterwards appeared to the Thy daring acts shall animate the dead,
husband and informed him of the divine origin And rouse the thunder on thy guilty head;
of the child about to be born." Then shalt thou die, but from the dark abode
'* Hercules, or Alcide* as he was called by Shall rise victorious and be twice a god.' "
the Greeks, was always claimed to be the son " Strabo informs us that the temples of Es-
of the god Jupiter by a human mother Alemena, culapius were constantly filled with the sick,
the wife of a Theban king." and that tablets were hung all over the walls,
" Apollo, Mercury and Adonis were all
describing the cures effected by The Savior"
claimed to be incarnations, each being '
sons
There is still a remarkable fragment of one of
of God ' born of mortal woman; each being
these tablets extant, and exhibited by Greuter
for a time incarnateon earth for the benefit of in
his collection. It was found in the ruins of
mankind; each destroyed and received up into
a temple of Esculapius, which gives an account
heaven again, as mediators between the Most
of two blind men restored to sight by Escula-
High Zeus, the Great Unknown and Unknow- pius in the open view, and with
the loud accla-
able, and sinful men."
mations of the people acknowledging the power
Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon, says: " It
of the god."
is well known that by Hercules was meant the
Aischylus.
sun or solar light, and his twelve famous labors
referred to his passage through the zodiacal Of /Eschylus, under the name of Prome-
signs." And that the Garden of the Hesperi- theus, "Seneca and Hesiod say that he was

des was the Garden of Eden, and the serpent's nailed to an upright beam of timber, to which
head was crushed beneath the heel of Her- were affixed extended arms of wood, and this
cules; all of which goes to show that the an- cross was situated near the Caspian Straits."
cient theology taught by Moses was the same " At the final exit of this god the whole frame
as that which existed in India, Egypt, China, of nature became convulsed; the earth shook,
Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Arabia, Asia Minor the rocks were rent, the graves were opened,
and Palestine; with the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and in a storm which seemed to threaten the
Gauls, modern Europeans, Australians, ancient dissolution of the universe, the solemn scene
Mexicans and Peruvians, which had its origin closed, and the savior gavcup the ghost."
with the pre-historic man long before the conti- Xenophon.
nents took their present shape. The legends
There can be no doubt that Xenophon was
among the savage as well as the civilized man,
a man of noble aspirations and a believer in the
point to the antique garb, with its shreds and
immortality of the soul. Speaking of sleep,
patches of ever increasing theological compli-
he says: "Nothing so nearly resembles death
cations, for the benefit of modern fanaticism,
as sleep, and nothing so strongly intimates the
and the edification of those who are content to
divinity of the soul as what passes in the mind
take the word of priestcraft, instead of think-
on that occasion, for the intellectual principle
ing and investigating for themselves.
in man, during this state of relaxation and free-
Esculapius. dom from external impressions, frequently looks
There is a splendid description given of the forward into futurity and discerns events before

great savior, Esculapius, in Ovid's Metamor- time has yet brought them forth, a plain indica-
phoses: tion of what the power of the soul will here-
after be, when the soul shall be delivered from
" Once as the sacred infant she surveyed,
the restraints of its present bondage."
The god was kindled in the raving maid,*
Cicero.
And thus she uttered her prophetic tale:
'
Hail, great physician of the world, all hail! Cicero, the great orator and statesman, was
Shall heal the nations and defraud the tomb; also a defender of those unvarying principles
Swift be thy growth, thy triumph's unconfined; that govern the universe and was endowed with
Make kingdoms thicker and increase mankind; a consciousness of the truth,which caused him
* Pythoness or sybil. to discard superficial theories that then shroud-
 57

ed the public mind in the form of heathen my- In Socrates we find those sublime truths that
thology. He was a great lover of nature, and removed the fear of death, and in his conversa-
his mind was lifted far above the herd of ignor- tions we have the best reasons ever given by

ant, superstitious humanity, which in all ages man of the immortality of the soul. The man-
of the world is ready to put to death those no- ner of his death and the composure with which
ble defenders of truth and justice who teach a he swallowed the poison is only equaled by the
doctrine in opposition to that which they pro- tragic end of Jesus of Nazareth.
fess.
Zoroaster.
Cicero says: " For my own part, I feel my-
self transported with the most ardent impa- Zoroaster, the founder of the fire-worshipers

tience to join the departed of Persia, was born under somewhat similar
society of my
friends. I ardently wish, also, to visit those circumstances to those of Christ, though his

celestial worthies of whose honorable conduct parents descended from kings. "His mother,
I have heard and read much, or whose virtues when pregnant, saw in a vision a being glorious

I have myself commemorated in some of my as Djemschid, who assailed the Deves (the

writings. To this glorious assembly I am speed- Persian evil spirits) with a sacred writing, before

ily I would not turn back in which they fled in terror.

advancing, and The interpretation
my on assured condition that given by the magician was that she should be
journey, even
youth like that of Pelius should again be re- favored among women by bearing a son to
stored. * * * And after all, should this, whom Ormuzd (good god) would make known —
my persuasion of the soul's immortality prove and who should spread them through
his laws

to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing all the East. Against this son every power of
delusion, and I will cherish it to my last evil would be in arms." That after many trials
breath. I am well convinced, then, that my and much persecution he should triumph, and
dear departed friends are so far from having at last should ascend to the side Of Ormuzd in

ceased to live, that the state they now enjoy the highest heaven, and his foe sink into Ahri-
can alone with propriety be called life." mana and hell.

King Darius sought like Herod to kill him,

Socrates.
and on lifting up his sword to hew the child in
Socrates is as much, if not more, of an au- pieces, his arm was grasped by some unseen
thority in the scientific and literary world than power and was withered to the shoulder, which
many of the Christian and so-called sacred so frightened the king that he dropped the
writers. He testified in the midst of all his sword and fled in terror. They then stole the
wisdom and learning to the continued presence child from his mother and cast him into the
of his daemon or guardian angel, who warns flames; there he lay peacefully on his fiery
him of danger, predicts to him events that are couch as if in his cradle; where he was found by
coming, reveals to him the state of the future his mother (Dogdo), who carried him home un-
life and makes the gateway of death one of harmed. Many efforts were made to kill him
glory and grandeur. but he always escaped unharmed. # He was
Some of the ancient writers of the church placed in the way of wild bulls and wolves and
claim that Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, fed on poisoned food, yet he escaped without
was a good man. As Christ was a teacher to injury.
the Jews, so Socrates was a teacher of the true At thirty years of age his mission began. He
philosophy to the Gentiles. **
And those who left his native home and visited the court of
lived according to the Logos," says Clemens Iran. Being warned in a vision he turned aside
Alexandrinus, " were really Christians, though into the mountains of Albordi, where he re-
they have been thought to be Atheists, as Soc- ceived many revelations and was lifted up into
ratesand Heraclitus were among the Greeks, the highest heaven, where he beheld Ormuzd in
and such as resembled them;" " for God," says all his glory encircled by a host of angels. He
Origen, "revealed these things to them and was there fed on food as sweet as honey, which
whatever things have been well spoken." opened his eyes so he saw all that was passing
in the heavens and on the earth. The dark- in his tenth avatar, for he will throw the wick-
ness of the future was made to him as day, and ed into the inferrud abodes, in which, after

he learned the inmost secrets of nature — the purifying themselves, they will be pardoned,
revolution of worlds, the influence of stars, the even those devils which rebelled.
greatness of the six chief angels of "This Sosioch, or mediator, is much like
God, the
and the terrible condi- the Messiah of the Jews, and here was the deep
felicity of the beatified,

tion of the sinful. He descended into hell, and real point of unison between the two reli-
and there looked on the evil one face to face. gions, and this explains the meaning of the star

Finally he received from God the divine gospel which was seen in the East and which guided
(Zend-Avesta) and by repeating a few verses of the magi of Zoroaster to the cradle of Christ."
it he would put his enemies to flight. (See "Ten Great Religions," page 209.)
Celestial was also given him to be kept
fire
Confucius.
continually burning, and he at last overcame
hisenemies, and the king became a convert to Six hundred years before the birth of Christ
his doctrines. Their moral teachings are pure the Chinese philosopher Confucius, in his book
and beautiful, and his ideal of the Divine One " Lun-Yu," chapter V, 15, enunciated the
high and just; but in the course of centuries Golden Rule: " Master consists in having an
his followers became idolatrous and the sacred invariable correctness of heart; and in doing
firebecame more and more an object of vener- towards others as we would that they should do
ation,and the sun, the loving emblem of their to us."
sacred fire, was their object of worship. They And in this noble character we find the same
finally degenerated into what is known as fire- lofty spirit that rose above the groveling herd
worshipers; licentiousness desecrated the tem- of humanity, whose time is absorbed in getting

ples and human sacrifices were at last offered. food to support a starving body. Though he
This religion lasted for over twelve centuries, has not been deified he has left a deep impres-
when it by
was displaced that of the Koran, sion on the morals of his people, so that he
with the exception of some Porsees or sun-wor- is as much an object of veneration as a savior

shipers in India. who might have died upon a cross for a reli-

He says, speaking of overcoming evil, " But gious idea. He has received the title of phi-
though he has been brave in battle, killed wild losopher, a term far more appropriate than that

beasts and fought with manner of external of savior.

all

evils, if he neglect to combat evil within him-

self, he has reason to fear that Ahriman and Mr. Kersey Graves, in his work entitled
his deves will seize him." "Sixteen Crucified Saviors," says there have
Sosioch. been at least thirty-four avatars or god-men.
The following is a list:
Sosioch, the Persian savior, is also born of a
come 1. Krishna or Chrisna, of Hindostan.
virgin, and at the end of time he will as
2. Buddha Sakia, of India.
a redeemer to regenerate the world, but he will
Salivahana, of Bermuda.
3.
be preceded by two prophets, who will come to 4. Zulis, also Osiris and Horus, of Egypt.
announce him (see King's translation of the 5. Odin, of the Scandinavians.
"Zend-Avesta" in his " Gnostics," page 9). 6. Crita, of Chaldea.
7. Zoroaster and Mithra, of IVrsi.i.
Then comes the general resurrection, when the Baal and Taut, of Phoenicia.
8.
good will immediately enter into this happy 9. India, of Thibet.
—
abode the regenerated earth and Ahriman — 10. Bali, of Afghanistan.
and his angels (the devils) and the wicked will 1 1. Iao, of Nepaul.
12. Wittoba, of Billongonese.
be purified by immersion in a lake of molten
* * * 13. Thammuz, of Syria.
metal. Henceforward all will enjoy
14. Atys, of Phrygia.
unchangeable happiness and, headed by Sosi- 15. Xamotis, of Thrace.
och, ever sing the praises of the Eternal One." 16. Zoar, of the Bowzes.
The above is a perfect repetition of Vishnu 17. Adad, of Assyria.
 59

i8. Deva, Tat, and others, of Siam. be the color of the race to which they be-
19. Alcides, of Thebes. long.
20. Mikado, of the Sintoos.
"Many of the ancient statues of the god
21. Beddru, of Japan.
22. Hesus, or Esos and Bremilla, of the Buddha in India, have crisp, curly hair, with
Druids. flat noses and thick
lips; nor can it be reasona-

23. Thor, son of Odin, of the Gauls. bly doubted that a race of negroes formerly
24. Cadmus, of Greece. had pre-eminence in India." It was the opin-
25. Hil and Teta, of Mandaites.
ion of Sir William Jones that a great nation of
26. Gentaut and Quaxalcote, of Mexico.
27. Universal Monarch, of the Sibyls. blacks (not certainly, though possibly, negroes)
28. Tschy, of Formosa. formerly possessed the dominion of Asia, and
29. The Logos, of Plato (The Word). held the seat of empire at Sidon (more proba-
30. Holy One, of Xaca. bly Babylon). These must have been the peo-
31. To and Tien, of China.
ple called by Mr. Maurice, Cushites or Cuthites,
32. Adonis, of Greece.
33. Ixion and Quirinius, of Rome. described in Genesis, and the opinion that they
34. Prometheus, of Caucasus. were blacks is corroborated by the translators
of the Pentateuch, who constantly render the
" Each of these saviors was born at mid- word Cush by Ethiopia. The figures of the
winter and their births have excited the jeal- aneient Hindoo gods found in cave temples is
ousy of some kingly tyrant, and, though them- very different from the present .race. This
selves of royal descent, were born in caves or points back to the remote age when all man-
mangers, forced to pass their infancy in obscur- kind were black, as is claimed by some ethnol-
ity and not unfrequently cause the '
massacre of ogists. The color of the first human beings
all the innocents' in the district in which they was black.
are born. They and To comprehend these saviors we must look
are all miracle- workers,
are generally connected with some snake story, upon them as great and good men who breathed
in which is represented the evil power which is the divine breath of inspiration, who by their

adverse to them. They generally perform pure lives lived in harmony with the spirit world
about the same class of miracles, preach the and drew their wisdom from the soul of the
highest morals of the age in which they appear, universe, which is overflowing with truth and
and are benevolent and act the part of great goodness. These saviors were sensitives and
reformers, and oppose the abuses of the times. were able to connect themselves with it, and to
They feed multitudes, cast out devils, heal the draw from it some of its secrets and divine
sick; finally they succumb to the powers of truths.
evil that oppose them; die a violent death, very Each wave of thought, whether of good or
often by crucifixion, descend to the lower re- evil, that vibrates from the heart or mind goes
gions to rescue lost souls, reascend to heaven out by the silent system of spiritual laws, and
and thenceforth become judges of the dead, inflluences all minds within the radius of its
mediators and redeemers of men, who offer up control. The spiritual beings around us are
vicarious sacrifices to God for the sins of the moved and affected. It reaches out wave after

people." wave, and is met by a response from the spirit-

"These good-men or god-men," says Mr. ual agencies that come down from the great
Graves, " all appear to point to one origin in central mind (God). There is no limit to the
India." " How the ancient Mexican could light and knowledge that is locked up in the
have conceived the idea of a savior," says the spirit world, if man would place himself en
priest who accompanied Cortez in his conquest rapport with it. It only requires that he should
of the country, " I cannot imagine unless the seek it earnestly; it only requires that he should
devil gave them the information." trust it; it only requires that he should submit
So all nations have had their saviors; they and have faith and live in harmony with nature,
make him comply with their ideal and color and do right and good will follow his earnest
them black, red or white, as may chance to wishes and prayers.
 CHAPTER VI.

RELIGION; ITS ORIGIN, GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

As the savage slowly evolved from the ape- lays up its store of nuts for the long winter,
like man, his brain becameand more
larger and many birds migrate south every fall. All
developed in the region of the moral and animated nature is governed by instinct, while

reflective organs. His forehead assumed a man is governed by reason and intuition the —
higher and broader proportion, the crown rose latter in animals is called instinct. In man it
in the region of the organs of benevolence and is elevated and guided by reason. What we
veneration. Man alone has this prominence on call our first impression is this feeling of intui-
the crown of the head; all other animals are tion that makes us religious, because it is the
deficient. While many animals possess a back inner whispering of our nature that admonishes
skull largely developed, man alone has a fore- and forces us to admit that there is a future
head and a highly curved crown, and in the state, that the life principle never dies. Ani-
lowest there is but a slight elevation. The mals may have it, but they have not developed
prominence in this region of the head is the a reason or an intelligence so that they can ex-
most marked feature between the benevolent, press it, or perhaps feel it; yet they all cling to
pious and good man and the low and bad man. life and dread to die, they know this life but
Therefore religion is dependent on the brain not the life to come.
development in the region of the crown of the All strange phenomena that man cannot un-
skull. derstand, he is ready to believe is produced by
The moral and intellectual brain was the last some supernatural power; it is a mystery and
to evolve; as man was forced to think and rea- he is ready to ascribe it to some marvelous
son these organs expanded and by slow degrees cause. The mind that is ignorant of these
man became a reasoning, thinking animal. causes has a vague and indefinite idea of it;

Man's religion is high or low as he recedes or therefore he is ready to believe it is produced

approaches the lower animals; low and de- by some unseen being, and as he has learned
graded races have a low and degraded religion, from experience there are good and bad results,

and as man ascends in the scale of intelligence so is he ready to ascribe it to good or bad
his religion becomes broader and more liberal. sprits.
It is the ignorant and narrow-minded that con- So by degrees he became a superstitious ani-
stitute the over-devout fanatic and the religions mal and was ready lo conclude that all phe-

tyrant and bigot who is always a great stickler nomena that he could not understand was the
for creeds and dogmas. God, creation and work of some good or evil spirit, according to
religion are things too broad, too high and too themanner of its visit and its interest for good
noble to quarrel about or to burn men, women or evil. This idea gave rise to good and evil

and children because they entertain other ideas spirits, gods and demons; all of which tended
than those entertained by the orthodox believ- to create a religious feeling within his nature.
ers of the time. As he receded from the beast this feeling was
The most of the animals know
the difference increased by the development of those organs
between day and night. Some know the sea- that tended to make him a social, moral being,
sons of the year; the squirrel, for instance, grateful for the blessings conferred upon him by

6P
 61

the bountiful hand of nature, which is ever law of progress, and as spirits progress so will
ready to assist him to rise. man, for they are only higher beings of intelli-
No other animal has a religion. It may be |
gence, and are only freed from the body, while
said to be one of the marked distinctions that man is the undeveloped spirit, chained to the
place man above the brute creation. No mon- body, only to be freed at death; therefore they
keys or apes have any reverence for a supreme act and react upon each other, and spirits attract

being. " Man is the first animal," says Pro- like spirits, whether in or out of the body,
fessor Fowler, " that has the organ of venera- so that spirits are attracted to earth and spirits

tion," which he places at the crown of the of mortals ascend to the spirit spheres, when in
skull. Some men have little or no reverence, proper condition, and this interchange is ever
and the want of this development makes them going on between them, ascending and de-
atheists and disbelievers in a supreme being scending. The spirit of the savage descends
and a future existence. to the savage on the earth and the spirit of the
The moral and Religious organs are the last savage on earth ascends to their spiritual sphere.
that develop in the child, and over them the So they learn of a spirit land, and this is their
skull is last to harden. Man alone possesses religion. So it is with the Hindoo or with the
this craniological development, and the lower Christian, and whatsoever the condition of man
the man or the lower the race the less the brain is on earth, he has his spiritual sphere and the

is and the harder is the infant's

developed, spirits from that sphere communicate with him,

on the crown of the head, as in the case

skiill for spirits that are not in harmony cannot min-
of the negro child and the inferior races and gle. " Like attracts like, whether on earth or
apes. The and ethnologist can in the spiritual world."
phrenologist
almost tell and intelligent status of
the moral In this way all nations have their religion,
the man by the shape of his skull and to what and they get it through kindred spirits, so that
race of people he belongs. All prehistoric Spiritualism is the origin of all religions, as it

skulls of man and the lower order of animals is the only way man can get a knowledge of the
possess less brain capacity than those ot more spirit world, for all religions are full of spirit-
recent periods. The mammoth elephantus pri- ism, and when carefully compared we are forced
mogenitus of the tertiary period, though twice to the same
admit that it has all come through
as large as that of the modern elephant, pos- channel, and its standard depends on the me-
sessed a less brain capacity. As the world has diums and the spirits that communicate and the
grown older animals have grown less and their race to which they belonged. Some men are
brain larger. more progressed on earth than some spirits who
So religion is a matter of growth and devel- have been in the spirit land thousands of years.
opment as well as of muscle and brain, and Religion, therefore, should be progressive; as
is dependent on the brain for its existence, men, spirits and angels progress, their knowledge
so this will account for the universal idea that of nature and God becomes enlarged and their
man has of a future state of spirits, angels and intelligence becomes expanded, and so should
gods. As his brain increases he has a higher religion become more liberal. While science
standard for his god. He first makes himself has found out many of the secrets of the phys-
an image out of stone, mud or wood; then he ical laws and benefited mankind, it has refused
gives it the form of a man, which is the highest to look into the metaphysical laws that relate to
conception of a form that he can conceive, and mind, soul or spirit, and still allows man to
here he generally stops and becomes a man- bow down and worship the religions of Moses
worshiper. and Christ, who had no idea of steam or elec-
It is this indwelling principle that forces up tricity, but who traveled about in dugouts or

the savage to that of the civilized, monal, social on a camel's back. \Yhat we want is a religion
and intellectual man, and as these faculties are in keeping with the age, ancl the spirits demand
developed man ascends and progresses, and the it, for they have progressed.
higher the condition on earth the higher will be Religion has its origin in the mind, like that of
his condition in spirit life, for it follows the thought and perception. As soon as man had
 62

evolved to such a condition of intel'igence that elevate mankind and better the condition of all;
he could connect a train of thought and had it stands out prominently in the patriot and the
language to express his ideas, he became a reli- philanthropist, they who in all ages of the world
gious animal, and had higher aspirations than have struggled to overcome ignorance and prej-
his animal desires. He They have been defeated time and
looks forth into the fu- udice.
ture and believes that there something within time again, but their influence is felt for ages.
is

him that will exist forever; that he will live in It will take many generations to remove the
the spirit long after the body has decayed and patriotic of a Washington from the
feeling
returned to the dust. This thought is peculiar hearts of the American people, for all love a
to man and has tended to elevate him and force pure, good and patriotic man, though they may
him to overcome his animal nature and aspire not have manhood to imitate his virtues. Still

to reach a higher moral condition. Ason society and slowly pushes

his it all has its effect
moral and intellectual organs push up the front up the masses from their low, animal natures
and crown of the head he becomes more hu- and selfish desires.
mane and intelligent, he has more respect for When we examine the reHgion of the savage
the rights of others, and he tries to subdue his and that of civilized man, we see much simi-
animal passions, which in time he is able to larity and traces of one mingled in the other.
place under the control of the moral, reasoning When the Zulu sacrifices a bullock and offers
faculties of the mind; but to arrive at that con- up his prayer he says: " There is your bullock,
dition it costs every one a struggle. Some in- ye spirit of my ancestors; I pray for healthy
herit more of the vicious animal nature than body that I may live comfortably, and thou
others, while it is natural for some to be good, treat me with mercy," (mentioning the name of
for they are born so; but the great mass of man- his dead ancestor).

kind inherits so much of the animal nature that A Khond, when offering a sacrifice to the
it takes a lifetime to get it under control, and earth goddess, says: " By our castle, our flocks,
it may never be done. our pigs and our grain, we procured a victim
A Hindoo maxim says: " Brahma inscribes and offered a sacrifice; do you enrich us; let
the destiny of every mortal on his skull, and the our herds be so numerous that they cannot be
gods themselves cannot avert it." That is, housed; let children so abound that the care of
everybody has their destiny in their skulls and them shall be too much for their parents.
if he has not the moral and intellectual nature * * * We are ignorant of what is good for
given to him by birth, he cannot make a wise us; give it to us, what is best."
and moral man out of himself; but that he can The Zulu says the spirit of a dead man de
improve himself and his condition, and his parts from his body and becomes an ancestral
brain will develop in that direction by use; ghost. The widow will tell how the spirit of
that brain grows and expands like the muscles her husband came back in her sleep and up-
of the legs and arms by use; that there was braided her for not taking care of the children.
never a mind, however great or small, but by The son will describe how his father's ghost
proper study and training might have learned stood before him in his dreams.
more. It is a bottomless well that can never The Mandan Indian woman will talk for
be pumped dry. The mind is a battery con- hours to her dead husband or child.
nected with infinity; the more perfect the bat- A Chinaman is bound to announce any fam-
tery the greater is its capacity to draw from ily event, such as a wedding, to the spirits of
anima mundi (the mind or soul of the universe), his ancestors. They not only talk to the ghost
which is inexhaustible, it is a part of the deity, of their dead kinsfolk, but offer them food.
a spark, a divine scintilla that has gone out A Russian peasant will often put crumbs of
from the universal mind, which is called God. cake behind the pictures of the saints, belic\ -nig
Therefore all minds have a high that the souls of their forefathers are creeping
well balanced
regard for truth, justice, love and virtue, and around behind it.
hate vice. The feeding of the dead is still kept up in
This love of virtue and truth struggles to Brittany; on All Souls' Day they will put cake
 63

and sweetmeats on the graves, and will leave the head of a slave when he wishes to send a-
fragments on the supper table all night for the message to some departed friend, and a heca-
souls of the dead of the family, who will come tomb of wives and women are slaughtered on
to visit them. Flowers are now left on the his grave when he dies, to accompany him to
graves as a substitute. the spirit land.
John Chinaman believes, when he offers Religion has its origin in the heart; it is a
a sacrifice to his dead ancestors, of roast pig part of man's intuitional nature; it comes from!
and rice, that the flavor or essence of the viands the spiritual rather than the rational, yet it
ascends and the spirit of his departed father must have reason as well as faith to give it sup-
sniffs up the odors as they rise, which pleases port; it must have works as well as belief, and

him and he will shower blessings down on belief cannot stand long with reason and facts*
his dutiful son, while he is at liberty to take The want of positive facts, such as can be de^
home the cold food, the gross and material that monstrated by a scientific test, is one cause of
cannot be eaten by the immortal spirit, but the growth of materialism. To some the test
which is good for himself and his family to of Spiritualism is sufficient, but to others it is
make a feast upon. not. The positive materialist rejects that evi-
Classic literature abounds where dence and disturbs the subtle currents that
in instances

the horse and clothing were burned with the bring those facts, which are given by a class of
owner. The burning of Patroklas with the sensitives. Scientific minds, such as Profes-
Trojan captives and their horses and hounds, Crookes and Zollner, are able
is sors Wallace,
an instance; and when he came back to the to appreciate them; but the cold materialist,
sleeping Achilles, he tried to grasp him with like Tyndal and Spencer, reject all spiritual
loving hands; but the soul, like smoke, flits manifestations.
away below the earth. There are two classes of religious persons:
Hermotinos, the seer, used to go out of his one moved by love may be called amo, the
body, until coming back from a spirit other the credo. The latter are interested only
at last
journey, found that his wife had burned his in creeds and forms and outward show, who
corpse on a funeral pile, and that he had to are narrow-minded and fanatical and have in
become a bodyless ghost. all ages filled the world with strife, war and dis-
Herodotus tells us about Scythian funerals, sensions. They are prompt to go to church on
and how Melissa's ghost came back shivering Sunday, when they appear very devout. They
because her clothes had not been burned with may be called Sunday Christians. The atnos,
her. on the other hand, make religion consist of
To the present day the good wife of the Hin- doing good; they care little about creeds and
doo mounts the funeral pile, believing that her dogmas, and they try to promote peace and
spirit will accompany her husband to the other happiness. They use their belief as a means,
world. while the credos stand firm on it as a finality
Among the ancient Peruvians the wife of the that is to take them to heaven.
dead prince would hang herself in order that Of the credo Morris says: "It is possible to
•

she might continue in his service. be delighted with a doctrine and yet have no
The leading of the dead general's horse in just conception of its practical bearings; to
the funeral procession had its origin in the an- revel in the thought of a blessing, and yet not
cient custom of killing the horse at his grave discern its force as a moral motive; to have an
and burying it with him, so that its spirit would intense admiration of the principles of equity
accompany him to the spirit world and there be and love, and yet be a stranger to both the
his war horse. As late as in 1 781, at Treves, theory and practice of them in varied relations
when General Friedrich Kasimir was buried of life and the world."
according to the rites of the Teutonic order, The highest idea of a religious man is to do
his war horse was killed at his grave and buried good and to have a regard for what is right and
with him. This custom is still kept up by the just between himself and his fellow man. The
savages, and the King of Dahomey decapitates observance of the Golden Rule is bis standard;
 64

a just appreciation of the bountiful gifts of na- of every country, and all religions may be said
ture which are given to him to use and enjoy. to be the groundwork of every government ex-
Pleasure in every form is good in itself; it is cept that of the United States, in which a new
the great allurement that God has given to his departure was taken and God and religion were
children to enjoy and not to abuse. for the first time left out.
All wisdom and philosophy are resolved into There are two modes by which man gets his
one simple principle: that happiness and intel- religious knowledge: natural and revealed.
ligence depend upon the moral development of The natural is the knowledge man gets by the
our religious nature; without it man is but a light of nature and reason; the revealed religion
little above a brute. An immoral genius is no is that which comes by revelations from God,
genius, simply a man of talent, such as Lord angels and spirits, and the inspiration of pro-
Byron; but in Shakespeare and Milton we have phets, seers and mediums. It manifested itself
the highest moral purity, one capable of giving to Moses in the burning bush, and he heard it
a full expression of the soul. on Mount Sinai. Therefore all religious knowl-
Two men may stand on the same spot, to edge we have on this subject is through revela-
one everything is beautiful and lovely, while to tion, and this revelation has been made to man
the other it may all appear a barren waste. through the mediumship of some person who
One looks on the bright side of the picture, has been inspired or who has held converse
while the other looks on the dark side of it. with angels or spirits. The record of these
One has hope, the other despair; one is an op- facts are called a Bible in the Christian reli-
timist, the other a pessimist, who sees evil in gion; with the Hindoos it is called the Vedas;
everything, " that this is a vile world of sin with the sun-worshippers the Zend-Avesta; with
and sorrow." the Mohammedans the Koran.
Light and heat come together in the sun- " True religion is that which embraces the
beam, and so does law with virtue of desire universe, reveals perfect justice to all, breathes
and deed. In becoming religious one loses boundless goodness, fills the reason with lights
nothing but often gains when least it is expect- the affection with love, the sorrowing with co?i-

ed. No onecan perceive its beauties unless his sola/ion, the down-trodden with courage, and
heart is morally good. " To know nature then, the despairing with the golden beams of eternal
one must be true to nature. To be true to na- hope and happiness. It is responsive to every
ture then, one must live looking forever to the real human need, the infinite sources of love
mighty spirit who presides. Nature has been and wisdom perpetually flow into and flood the
said to have an exhaustless meaning, but it is a individual receptive spirit; and the innumera-
meaning to be rightly seen and heard only by ble host of the heavenly spheres freely shower
him who strives ceaselessly and prayerfully to their fondest affections and their most resplend-
become all that the divine image and likeness ent thoughts into the common life of the terres-
is capable of becoming, which is in fact to be- trial millions of human beings. There is no
come humane and religious, and as we become one utterly forsaken, all are a part of the whole
more humane the world becomes to us more di- in the great plan of creation; no bleeding heart
vine and man a better Christian." that either lives or dies wholly alone and un-
Religion may be divided into two parts; that known; there are ministering spirits and guar-
which relates to its historical forms is called dian angels watching over every human being;
comparative theology; the other is that which no unrequited life in this universe of love; no
explains the conditions under which, in the possible estrangement from the redemptive
highest or lowest form it is possible, is called power of the universal presence."
theoretic theology. All humanity moves within the orbit of the
Comparative theology is like that and fixed
of compar- spiritual Sun according to certain
ative philology and can be traced back to the laws of the spirit world. There is no gravita-
early races of mankind in Asia. It shows that tion equal or superior to the attraction of heav-

it has taken many forms and has much to do in en, while our feet and our animal nature (lint;
shaping the public mind, laws and institutions to the earth, yet our heads point towards the
 —

(JD

heavens. That our bodies will return to the least, a yearning after a higher and better life
earth from whence they came and the self, the a life in the light of God.
ego, the soul, will ascend to the mansion in the Religion is that which distinguishes man
skies, where it will follow the laws of progress from the animals. We do not mean the Chris-
and grow and better until it reaches tian or Jewish religions only, but all religions
wiser, purer
the divine sensorium whence it came. a faculty which, in spite of sense or reason, en-
ables man to apprehend the Infinite, under any
The supreme Power whom we reverence is
For all religions have in
the boundless and endless one the grand —
varying disguises.
them a spark of good. Without this faculty,
"Central Spiritual Sun" by whose attributes — there could be no controlling of governing
and the visible effects of whose inaudible will
man; for all religions are nothing but the groan-
—
we are surrounded the God of the ancients
ing of the spirit, struggling and longing after the
and the God of modern seers. His nature can
Infinite.
be studied only in the worlds called forth by
This yearning after immortality has, in all
his mighty fiat. His revelation is traced with
ages of the world, made him a slave to priests
His own finger in the rocks, in imperishable fig-
and fanatics, to be humbugged and imposed
ures upon the face of the cosmos, and the same
upon, instead of being his own priest and con-
forces are at work and the same laws that gov-
sulting the inner prompting of his better nature.
ern matter are now in operation as were in the
days of Moses, David and Jesus Christ and
He has suffered others to think for him and
intercede in his behalf.
the apostles. It is the only infallible gospel
All men are mediumistic, if they would only
we can recognize. The earth is God's Bible,
consult and listen to their better promptings,
for it His is work, and He has written on the
which are ever whispering in their ears what is
rocks characters that the geologist can read.
and what is wrong. But, blinded by prej-
right
"Therefore," says Agassiz, "to understand
udice and superstition, they shut their ears to
God we must study His works in nature, and
those inward whisperings, and follows the
the more we learn of it the more we will know
teachings of some selfish, scheming man, who,
of Him."
to furthei his ends and ambition, has, in all
The materialist says there is no God except ages of the world, seized upon this religious
the gray matter in our brain, yet there is an sentiment in man to rule, control and govern
inward whispering that says " No." The ego, him.
which lives and thinks and feels independently "The king is at the head of state and
of us in our mortal casket, does more than be- church. The king never dies and the church
lieve; it knoivs that there exists a God in nature, never does wrong." This idea has kept the
for the sole and invincible Artificer of all lives masses in slavery and ignorance. They have
in us, as we live in Him. No dogmatic faith been taught to obey and pay the
pray priest to
or exact science able to uproot that intui- for them.
is
The king and the priest have preyed
tional feeling inherent in man, when he has upon their earnings, and it was
to their interest
once fully realized it in himself. Human na- to keep them in ignorance, so they could con-
ture is like universal nature in its abhorrence of tinue to prey upon them. "This unnatural
a vacuum. It feels an immortal yearning for a and unjust religion," says Draper, " has retard-
supreme power; without a God the cosmos ed civilization a thousand years." They have
would seem like a soulless corpse. Being for- used it to control man and govern him to suit
bidden to search for Him where alone His their interest and not his. The moment a man
traces would be found, man has filled the ach- begins to investigate he becomes skeptical, and
ing void with a personal God, whom his spirit- then he is in a fair way to learn the truth and
ual teachers have created for him to worship think for himself, and worship God in accord-
out of the heathen myths. ance to the dictates of his conscience.
Religion places the human soul in the pres- wars that have
Religion has led to endless
ence of its highest ideal; it lifts it above the devastated whole countries, and reduced the
level of ordinary goodness and produces, at inhabitants to the condition of slaves, and
 r><;

forced them to accept the religion of some am- the archaeologist. It is found to be, on the
bitious general, or fanatical priest, who had no whole, subversive, rather than progressive, of
Other idea of God than that which his narrow,
spirituality and good morals. Instead of ex-
bigoted brain would allow him to create. So panding the rule of divine law and justice, it
they have made gods and religions to suit their leaves us in doubt and dread of damnation. It
fancy, and not in accordance with the grand fills the mind with doubt as to what course to
idea and plan of nature and creation. Said a pursue. It makes cowards of all; every one

native to a missionary: dreads death, instead of looking on it as a

" Your soldiers seduce our women. * * * transition into a higher sphere and a better ex-
You come to rob us of our land, pillage the istence.

country and make war upon us, and you wish The Jewish religion teaches us of an an-
to force your God upon us, saying that He for- gry and revengeful God (which is an absurdity),
bids robbery, pillage and war. You are white who will condemn the spirits of the wicked to
on one side, and black on the other, and if we hell-fire and the devil, there to be roasted for-
were to cross the river, it That part of the Lord's Prayer, that
would not be us that ever.
the devil would take." " Dead us not into temptation," is an in-
says,

Among Christians there is nothing but dis- sult to God and common sense. The absurd-
—
sensions a contest about creeds and ceremo- ity of the thought that God, the embodiment of
nies; they are intolerant and tyrannical if left goodness and purity, would or could, for a mo-
to them to govern man and control his con- ment, entertain the idea of leading any mortal
science. Each claims to be right and all oth- into temptation of any kind No, this part of !

ers wrong. Its dogmas are orthodox, but all the Lord's Prayer is directed to Satan, the tute-
other churches are heterodox, and are ready to lar genius who hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
go to war and cut each other's throats about put an evil spirit in Saul, sent lying messengers
something in which all may be wrong or know to the prophets and tempted David to sin; such
nothing about. is theGod of Israel, as described in the Bible.
There is nothing more incomprehensible to The various religions are like the pure while
the heathen than the trinity — Father, Son and ray, broken up and scattered by the prism.
Holy Ghost, and these three in one; all equal in Red, which represents blood, is the stronger;
the —
God-head and the divinity of Christ; that it has been the most prominent in all the West-
he was born of a woman and still he was God. ern religions; it has caused more wars and
There is but one God and yet there are three; bloodshed than any other, while that taught by
how can this be ? Some worship the Father, the Brahmins and the Buddhist has been like
some the Son, and others the virgin Mary, who that of the blue rays; it is the slowest and it
was the mother. lingers 'longest in the atmosphere, which gives
The abstract fictions of antiquity, which for it the cerulean hue. So each ray of the spec-
ages had filled the popular fancy with but flick- trum, by imperceptible shadings, merges into
ering shadows and uncertain images, have in each other, and so all the great theologies that
Christianity assumed the shapes of real person- have appeared at different times, have diverged
ages and become accomplished facts. Alle- from each other until they form thousands of
gory, metamorphosed, becomes sacred history, religious creeds and sects, when all combined
and pagan myth is taught to the people as a represent only one Eternal Truth.
revealed narrative of God's intercourse with his " Truly," says Bishop Kidder, " were a wise
chosen people, while thousands of books, con- man to choose his religion from those who pro-
taining as much sacred history and as strong fess it, perhaps Christianity would be the last

evidence that they were written by divine hands, religion he would choose, for they preach one
have been committed to the flames and their thing and practice another." Their ministers
believers have been put to the torture. claim to be followers of the disciples, but in no
The theology of Christendom has been instance do they do as the disciples did, "Care
rubbed threadbare by the investigations of not for food or raiment or gold or wealth; heal
science and the research of the philologist and the sick or console the distressed;" but always
 —

67

keep an eye to the good things of this earth into the heart of his idol and out gushes a stream
and a fat parsonage. They tell the people the of blood, and he can change water into blood.
days of miracles are closed, and that the door Indeed, there is no difference. Both have the
to heaven is same power; both do or practice deception on
shut, to be entered only through
and by the church; that man must look to Jesus the people; one is no better than the other;
and the cross and the virgin Mary, and not to both are idol-worshipers, and of those mystic
God himself. It is evident that they have be- systems which precede by far the Brahmanism
come degenerate and do not understand the and even the primitive monotheism of ancient
true workings of the spirit through the occult Chaldea.
powers that are ever ready to be invoked to The difference between ancient and modern
assist and instruct man how to become wiser religion is only the difference in their civiliza-
and better. In their ignorance they have dei- tion. The Christian religion is but a similar
fied a great medium, who understood these force like all others, and equal in its line of
forces and used them to reform man and
purify development. Civilization is not dependent on
the church. But instead of following out his any form of religion, but is traceable to a great
directions they have used his name to mislead variety of influences; among which that of the
mankind, and they have so clouded man's in- mingling of races is most prominent, which
tellect with dogmas that it has caused him to infuses more energy and expands the races,

lose sight of his individual relation and account- while freedom and science are the motive pow-
ability to God. ers which -the church has often crushed or re-
The Christian religion is repulsive to the tarded. The leaf needs no miracle to produce
Chinese, because Jesus had so little respect for a flower, nor does the child become a man
his father and mother, and his disrespect for through the agency of any miraculous power;
the dead, when he said to the young man, "Let it is but the result of natural growth and devel-
the dead bury the dead." opment.
As a Khan said to Marco Polo: " You see Meanwhile, we must remember the direct ef-

the Christians are ignorant. They can't get fects of the revealed mystery. The only way
their gods to do anything; while these idolaters the priest of old could impress the masses with
can get their gods to do anything that is wanted the belief in the divine power was by the per-
of them, insomuch, that when I sit at table the forming of " miracles," by the animation of
cups from the middle of the hall come to me matter, by their will-power, which convinced
filled with wine or other liquor, without being the skeptical mind that there was an invisible
touched by anybody, and I drink from them. power that was capable of moving matter.
They control storms, causing them to pass in And to teach them that there was an omnipo-
whatever direction is indicated they should tent and omnipresent power, a great first cause
take, and do many other marvels; while, as that governed all things for a fixed purpose,
you know, their idols speak, and give them with which they had an influence.
predictions on whatever subjects are chosen, The world needs no sectarian church, whether
which you Christians cannot do. Why should of Buddha, Jesus, Mahomet, Sweden borg, Cal-
we change our religion for one that is infe- vin or any other. There being but one truth,
rior?
"
man requires but one church knoivledge — the
Why should the Christian sneer at the mirac- temple of God within, walled in by matter, but
ulous power of fakir adepts and
mediums, penetrable by any who wish to find the way.
when they only do what prophets and Christ " The pure in heart see God" Nature is God's
and his apostles did — unbolt prison doors, and temple, and aspiration is his worship; and to
strike sinners blind ? Why should the devout understand these laws, is to make gods of our-
Catholic turn from the performances of medi- selves, for each and every man has, within him,
ums and adepts, when their priest claims to do a spark, which, if cultivated by living a pure,
the same thing, by making the coagulated blood good life, will always keep him in the right
of a martyred saint boil and fume in a crystal path, and, finally, make him a demi-god, for all

bottle. A Hindoo priest can plunge an arm angels and arch-angels have followed the law of
 68

evolution and progress, and once were dwell- sorbing calculus, and all-analyzing prism of our
ers in the flesh. spiritual astronomy — the preserver, the divine
Man needs no savior or priest to direct him interpreter of law. The stoic, Aurelius, said:

to heaven, if he will follow the inner prompt- " Whatever happens to us is from nature,
ings of his better nature. He will find his way, because that only can happen by nature which
for death is as much a fixed law as that of is suitable, and it is enough to remember that
birth,and is in harmony with the laws of na- law rules all."
ture; and the same intelligence and force that The world of religion is broader than Chris-
brought him into existence, will carry him tendom has apprehended, and it is destined to
through the ordeal of death, and if he has lived widen in the sight of man as he progresses in
n harmony with these laws, he has nothing to of China to the
knowledge. The opening
fear, whether he be pagan or Christian. and their immigration and
Western nations,
All progress is natural, and is divine. It labor, are events as momentous to the religious

proceeds by laws inherent and immanent in as to the commercial and political world. India
humanity. Laws whose absoluteness affirm and China are full of "lights," of which the
infinite mind, as implicated in this finite ad- Christian has never dreamed, that have been

vance up to mind. The laws that govern this kept in the dark and denounced as the work of
onward movement are —
inspiration drawn sorcery and jugglery.
from the infinite mind, whether it be pagan or Let us rest assured that liberty, democracy,
Christian, whether it believes in Christ or labor, reform, popular progress, are not empty
Buddha. words; they will reach beyond the assertion of
The religion of the savage is not the religion exclusive rights or selfish claims into full recog-
of the civilized man. One is that of fear, super- nition of universal duties : that liberty is not to
stition and ignorance, a fetishism; while stop in license, nor democracy in greed
the other should be that of science, of truth and aggression, nor progress to be earned
and knowledge, of reason and love. For the through bloody retribution alone; civilization
growing belief that the stability of law is the will not be retarded in its onward march by the

guarantee of universal good; or, to translate it exposure of the falsehood of any creed or
into the language of the spirit, that law means church, for there is nothing can stay the hand
love, is the sign of love in its practical and of the Infinite.
universal sense, is itself becoming the all-ab-
 CHAPTER VII.

ANCESTRAL WORSHIP OF THE ANCIENT ARYANS.

The science of religion is to sift and classify stantial. And he concluded that, in like man-
it, and thus try to discover the necessary ante- ner, there were souls in all things. He saw
cedents of and the laws which govern that there were forces in nature more powerful
all faith

the growth and decay of human religion, and than he and which he could not control, and
the goal to which all religion tends. Whether were capable of doing him good or evil; there-
there ever can be one perfect universal religion fore they appeared to him fit objects of suppli-
is a question as difficult to answer as whether cation —
beings whose favor he might procure
there ever can be one perfect universal lan- or whose wrath he might avert by offerings,
guage. prayer and supplication. Hence arose the
A perfect religion, like a perfect language, is whole system of manes-worship, and all the
something beyond all conception. All reli- myths of the sun and of the moon; of the
gions, like languages, must have passed through dawn, the twilight and the night; of the wind
many changes. Religion is a thing of growth and the storm; of the earth and sea and sky.
and development; it has its roots deep down " The uncultivated man, indeed, worshiped
in our spiritual nature, which are ever urging us every force" (see "Village Communities")
on to a higher state, to reach out and grasp the " that assists or obstructs him in his daily work.
infinite and to comprehend our creator. That worship is his recognition of the existence
The lime for a belief in the supernatural in of such a force and of its connection, or, at
religion is past; that faith is a hallucination least, its possible connection, with his own wel-
or an infantile disease; that all the stories told fare. Itwas by this method he accounts for
about the gods and saviors have at last been all phenomena which have attracted his atten-
found out and exploded; that there no possi- tion, which his unlettered brain could not ex-
is

ble knowledge except that which comes to us plain. In other words, mythology was the
through our senses; that we must be satisfied natural ph'ilosophy of the early world, and out
with facts and finite things that are made mani- of which has evolved the multiplicity of heathen
fest to us. gods and goddesses, who were special divini-
It is our ignorance of these laws that makes ties to assist and direct nature, which presided
us superstitious and creates a belief in the su- over birth, life, death, dreams, trances and
pernatural. As we advance in the light of visions."
knowledge the mysterious recedes in the dark- From these facts it was almost inevitable
ness of ignorance. that the untrained intellect should come to the
The Archaic man supposed that every force conclusion that the disembodied spirits bore an
to which his attention was directed was similar important part in the economy of nature. The
to that which he recognized in himself, and forces that assistedhim were good, those that
either was, or implied, a like being. He was obstructed him were bad. He was forced to
conscious, or thought he was conscious, that he acknowledge the -presence of these forces, and
(himself) consisted of a soul and a body —of they produced all the changes and phenomena
something substantial and of something insub- that came under his observation, and the only

69
 70

way he could explain them was them childhood he looked up to him for protection
to ascribe
to some supernatural power. and support, and when he had grown into man-
Manes-worship, therefore, stands at the base hood these ideas still lingered in his memory,
of mythology. Man sought to conciliate the and the love and affection he had for him while
spirits of their distinguished heroes and states- living ripened at his death into a feeling of

men. Thus the Thebans and Athenians dis- reverence that is closely allied to that of ven-
puted over the body of (Edipus, and the Ar- eration, so to propitiate his spirit he is led to
gives and Trojans fought for the bones of Ores- do homage to his grave and confer on him
tes. The Acanthians offered sacrifice to the divine rights;indeed, the ancient Aryan be-
gigantic Persian engineer who died in their lieved that itwas necessary to make sacrifices
midst, and the people of Amphipolis to the on his father's tomb, and the Chinese still fol-
gallant Brasidas. The Hindoo of the present low this kind of worship.
day adores the manes of the prominent English Periodically they have a feast of the dead.
officials who happen to be buried in their vil- While the odor rises to satisfy the hunger of the

lages. departed spirits of the dead, they are practical

So the Archaic mind was governed by a vast enough to think that it does not injure the ma-
variety of gods, acting each on his own princi- terial carcass of the hog to take it home in the
ples, and each seeking the exclusive interest of evening and make a feast for the mortal man.
his worshipers. Every assembly of men had While the more cultivated Aryan does not offer
their own god and regarded that god as their the viands to his dead, there still lingers the
exclusive Each nation had its pe-
property. idea of strewing flowers over the graves of their
culiar tutelar deity and pantheon of gods. departed loved ones.
When primitive man had arrived at a stage of The Chinese bride at the present day wor-
intellectual development so that he had a con- ships in company with husband his an-
her
ception of a divine being one greater and — cestors; so the Aryan bride thousands of years
—
higher than himself he had accomblished ago did homage to the gods of the house to
much. How he arrived at that conclusion the which she was introduced, and entered into
most learned differ. formal communion with them. She was pre-
One of the first impulses to religion proceed- sented upon her entrance into the house with
ed from an incipient perception of the infinite the holy fire and lustral water, and partook
pressing upon man through the great phenom- along with her husband in the presence of the
ena of nature, and not from sentiments of sur- lares of the symbolic meal. She was robed in
prise or fear, called forth by such finite things white, the emblem of purity and the robe of a
as shells, stones, bones, trees or animals; that priestess. She ceased to be a member of her
is to say, by fetishes. father's house and to worship her father's gods,
Though the prehistoric and quaternary man but became the priestess to her adopted house
may and did use such things, they were but spirit. Hence comes the modern custom of
rude emblems and symbols to give ah expres- robing the bride in white, and the eating of the
sion to the belief that wedding cake and the drinking of the wine,
therewas an invisible
power which controlled and could render them that the ancient Aryan and his bride of-
assistance if it saw proper to so act; while fered up to the house spirit of his departed
others claim that it came from ancestral wor- ancestors.
ship of the images of the departed dead that The ancient Aryans worshiped dead ances-
they saw in their dreams, whom they worked tors long before they emigrated from the plains
up into ghosts and spirits, who still lived in the of Bokhara, in Central Asia, into Europe, be-
airand could render them assistance, and that fore they had a Zeus, Jupiter or Indra. The
itwas the natural affection of the parent that common progenitors of our race did homage to
drew him near to his children, and who was the dwellers in the spirit world, and above all,
ever ready to assist them in their troubles. So offered their daily orisons to their own fathers
the son looked upon dead father as a kind upon the holy hearth and at the commence-
his

of god to whom he owed his existence. In ment of every meal, which was, in effect, a
 71

sacrifice. Libations and offerings were made ancestors. " The worship of the house-spirits,"
as tokens and pledges of honor and affection to says Hearn in his work on "Aryan House-
their departed ancestors, which custom still holds," " was a reverential religion, * * *

lingers in the form of saying grace before the and every meal was in effect a sacrifice, and
commencement of the evening meal, while the Aryan housefather, when he reverentially
some families still set the empty chair of the asked a blessing upon his humble abode, felt
deceased up to the table. The spirits were not that he was not only seeking a continuance of
supposed to come unbidden, the offering must the diviue protection, but that he was securing
be made to them, their presence invited, and the happiness of the spirits of his fathers and
their share set apart. The common meal was his gods."
closely connected with their family worship. Each household had a house-spirit which
Meals are an essential part of all religious wor- was the spirit of the deceased ancestor that
ship. "The earliest religious acts seem to still dwelt at and protected the holy hearth on
have been the eating of a meal prepared on an which the ever-burning fire was the emblem of
altar." (See M. De Coulange's " Ancient the comfortable element, and the origin of
Cities," page 182.) communication between the spirit of the de-
They thought every object consisted of two parted and those living in the flesh; and it was
parts: of a substance and of a shadow; of a in the olden days of our Aryan ancestors their
soul and of a body: of something immaterial mode of worship. The husband and wife
as well as of something material; that articles made their own offerings; he was the priest and
of food and of drink possessed this nature. It she was the priestess, and it was the center of

was upon the immaterial part of the offerings the spiritual life. •

that the spirits fed, while the earthly parts were The Aryan language contains an abundance
left for man. That which supported and of terms expressive of a religious sentiment of
strengthened after its kind the human body adoration, of piety, of faith, of prayer, and of
supported and strengthened by its spiritual sacrifice; but there is not any word suggestive
force the spirit to whom it was presented; nor of public worship — priests, idols or of temples
did the worshipers doubt that at every such or of altars, or that they had any middle-men
meal their divine head sat present, though un- who could act as go-between from God to man
seen, among them. to forgive his sins and give him a free pass to
All religious festivals with the native of Aus- heaven.
tralia, Africa, America, Europe and A.sia, The house-spirits were directly charged with
whether he be Pagan, Mohammedan, Bud- the preservation of the properly of the house-
dhist, Brahmin, Jew or Christian, are of a hold, as Horace tells us, "The guardians
spiritual nature and owe their origin to a belief against thieves." "They repelled the thief,"
of a future existence after death. The Irish Ovid assures us in "Fasti," v. 141.
wake is only the lingering custom of the an- He is known to the Greeks by the name of
cient Celt feast to the dead. the "Hero of the House," "Man of the
Early philosophy, then, and religion were at Household;' by the Romans, "The Husting
first one, and such a union in later times tended of the Teutons;" and "The Damovoy, or
to produce, in the words of Lord Bacon, "a Angel in the House," of the Russian peasant
heretical religion and a fantastic philosophy." of the present day. The hearth was the altar;
But in an early stage of mental development, there the holy fire ever burned, and there the
the combination is one which we might expect. gross corporeal substance of the food was
In their philosophical aspect these forms repre- purged away and its spiritual essence rendered
sented two theories: the one the natural phi- fit for the acceptance of the spirit. On this
losophy, the other the biology of our fore- hearth where in his lifetime he had so often
fathers. In their religious aspect the one was sacrificed, the departed house-father received
the mythical, or heroic, or Olympian religion; at the hands of his successor his share of every
the other was the domestic religion, the reli- meal and heard from his lips in his own honor
gion of the hearth, the worship of deceased those words of prayer and praise.
 — —

72

The first step in the formation of a house- legitimate children and to be faithful house-
hold was marriage. Then he was a finished keepers." Isais said, " No man who knows he
man, according to the Greeks, and what we must die can have so little regard for himself
calla family man. "Then only," says Menu, as to leave his family without descendants, for
" is a man perfect when he consists of three then there would be no one to render him the
persons, united: his wife, himself and his son." worship due to the dead." When Leonidas
Our remote ancestors sought marriage for the selected the three hundred braves to defend
purpose of raising a son, for it was to the son Thermopylae, he took only fathers that had
that the father could look to perpetuate the sons living at home.
household. It was by the son, according to Cato the elder tells us that it was the first

the teachings of Menu, that the father dis- duty of the house-father on his return home,
charges his duty to his progenitors and by to pay devotions at the altar of the lares. See
whom he attains immortality. It is the son Mommsen's History of Rome, volume I, page
who, in the words of /Kschylus, is the savior of 173-
the hearth of his fathers. The son must be Plato, speaking of the worship of the gods,
born in lawful wedlock; an illegitimate son was who were only the spirits of good and great
not only not acknowledged, but was excluded men who had progressed high in the spirit
from the household. world, says, " After these gods a prudent per-
It was of little importance what befel a man son will celebrate the holy rites of daemons
after he had raised a son. —
The ancient Hin- spirits and after them of heroes, and after
doo had raised his family, left them follow the statues of the household gods,
father, after he
home and lived in the forest, where he might held holy according to law, and after them are
be free from care and to study and philoso- the honors paid to living parents; since it is
phize. Solon prohibited celibacy; criminal just for a person to pay to living parents; since
proceedings might be taken at Athens and it is just for a person who owes the first and
Sparta against one who did not marry at all. the greatest of debts to pay those that are of
Cicero says it is a part of the duty of the cen- the longest standing, and to think that all the
sors to impose a tax upon unmarried men. It and holds he owes to
things he has acquired
was considered a crime not to get married and those who begot him and brought him up, for
have no son to offer sacrifice upon his father's supplying what is required for their service to
grave, and to inherit and keep up the house- the utmost of his power, bringing from his sub-
hold, which could not be mortgaged and sold stance first, and in the second place from his
the land was not regarded as an asset in the body, and third from his soul, by paying off the
way of payment of debts. The son, therefore, debts for their care of him, and in the favor of
was the person who continued upon earth his those who gave the pangs of labor as a loan to
father's existence after that father had joined the young, and by returning what has been due
the house-spirits, so when a father had begotten a long time to those who in old age are greatly
a son he had discharged his duty to his progen- in want. It is requisite, likewise, to hold pre-
itors. eminently a kind language towards his parents,
"Those animals," says Menu, " begotten by because there is for light and wicked words of
adulterers destroy, both in this world and the punishment most heavy, for Nemesis, the mes-
next, the food presented to them by such as senger of justice, has been appointed an in-
make oblations to the gods and to the manes." spector over all persons in matters of this
The rule of the Attic law was that a bastard kind."
had no place in the worship, nor in the house- " For as something is always flowing away
hold, nor in the property of the parent, and it from us, it is necessary for something, on the
was the same in Roman, German and Norse contrary, to be flowing to us. Now recollec-
law. A man married for duty and not for tion is the influx of thoughts which had left us.
pleasure. " Mistresses," says Demosthenes, * * * Each person while his daemon (spirit)
"we keep for pleasure; concubines for daily is standing steadily, going on successfully or
attendance upon our persons; wives to bear us unsuccessfully to places as high and steep,
while daemons (spirits) are opposing with cer- back to China to be interred. Such worship
tain disturbances; and that it is meet ever to was natural, according to the Archaic ideas;
hope that the deity will, when troubled, fall but far more natural, by the same standard,
upon the good state which he has given, makes was the belief that the spirits of those whom
them less instead of greater and causes a change men loved and honored in their life, continued
from the present state to a better one with after death their vigilance and their aid. The
respect to the good things, the contraries of interests of men in the flesh were also their
these, that they will always be present to them interests in the spirit, and the lives and the
with good fortune." Plato, volume V, page hates of this world followed the deceased to
161. that world which lay beyond the grave.
The respect for another's property was due Manes-worship, therefore, stands on the same
to the respect or fear for the spirits that guarded base as the more picturesque worship of Olym-
that property. It is still a custom among the pus. Thus primitive worship and that great
nomads of Central Asia if a horse is stolen for train of consequences that has been transmitted
the owner to go to the grave of the father of to us, depends, like primitive mythology, upon
the suspected horse thief and stick a spear into the state of our intelligence. It is, after all,

the grave. This proceeding is understood by the intellect that ultimately directs and deter-
the thief to be a complaint made to his de- mines the main current of the varying and tor-
ceased house-father's spirit, and if the suspi- tuous stream of the world's history.
cion be well founded the horse is found the "The Locan gods," says Mr. Taylor in his
next morning tied to the spear. "Primitive Culture," volume II, page no,
Word, in his book, " Journey to the Source "the patron gods of particular ranks and crafts,
of Oxus," gives an instance where the grain the gods from whom men sought special help
was piled up around a graveyard. He inquired in special needs, were too near and dear to the
of a chief, Agha Maheide, the cause. "The inmost heart of pre-Christian Europe to be
old man put the forefinger of his right hand to done away without substitutes, so they substi-
his lips and looking at me said, '
God forbid; tuted saints who could answer their prayers.
bad as men are they will not pilfer in the pres- Some have St. Cecilia, the patroness of music;
ence of the dead.' " The natives prefer to St. Luke, patron of painters; St. Peter, of fish-
trust their valuables to the sacred guardianship mongers; St. Valentine, of lovers; St. Sebas-
of such a place rather than to a weak and fail- tian, of archers; St. Crispin, of cobblers; St.
ing brother. Hubert, who cures the bite of mad dogs; St.
There are many people who will not dese- Vitus, of vitus dance; and St. Fiacre, of the
crate a graveyard, and who believe that the hackney coaches.
spirit will avenge the wrongs done to it when in As a rule every trade, every profession, every
the flesh. Mr. Taylor, in his book, M Primi- guild, every tribe, every clan is also a caste,
tive Culture," gives an instance of where a and the members of a caste not only have their
Brahmin cut off the head of his mother, with own special objects of worship, but the princi-
her consent and request, so that her spirit pal deities likewise. So in the nineteenth cen-
might punish a neighbor who had repudiated tury we still have St. Valentine's day on the
some small debt which he owed to the house- fourteenth day of February for making merry.
hold. The remarkable custom of setting On this day it was supposed by the ancients the
dharna, which once existed in Ireland, and of birds of the air made choice of their mates,
late years been prohibited by the penal and that it was a favorite day with this merry
has
code in India, traces of which, perhaps, may goddess to be around and aid the boys and girls
be found in the Twelve Tables. The religious in their courtships.
sentiment of the Archaic society of the Aryan There is no evidence that the Aryans were a
race was a force which recognized property in polytheistic people. Pictet is of the opinion
the household which was guarded by the house that their original belief was one true God,
spirits. while Hearn in his work, "Aryan Households,"
The Chinese still carry the bones of the dead •hinks that the polytheistic pantheon was not
 .

74

of a religious origin, but only scientific, and exalted monotheism as a part of these instinct-

was designed merely to explain in the rude ive convictions, it is held that there is a being
fashion of an early time the ordinary phenom- (or beings) who rules man's destiny, and that it
ena of nature. They had a word which cor- may be propitiated, to which all turn their eyes
responded with that of Vesta, which goes to and lift up their prayers when in distress and
prove that the Aryans recognized the hearth. danger, that cannot be averted by the power of
It does not indicate how far in their eyes the man.
hearth was holy. The word mythology is derived from mythos,
The Hindoo, Greek and Roman pantheons fable, and logos, speech. It relates to the
had their origin not so much as distinctive reli- genesis of gods and their nature. It is a mass
gions, as they were a professional class or a lit- of fragmentary truth mixed up with fiction,
erary clan. built up of dead facts cemented with wild fan-
The magi of the ancient Persians, the Brah- cies. It is the effort of the untutored man to

mins, the Hierophants of ancient Egypt, and explain the origin of things. In the black
the Levites of the Jews, were all a privileged clouds he sees evil, in the flowing brook, in the
caste, and used their knowledge to control their rustling branches he feels the breathing of gods,

ignorant masses through their religious feelings goblins dance in the twilight and demons howl
and dread of a future punishment or in hope of in the darkness of night. When evil comes

a reward for doing good. So they manufact- God is angry, when fortune smiles God is
ured gods to and these gods pleased
suit their wants,

made such revelations as suited the interest and "Myths," says Bancroft in his "Native
wishes of this favored class. Races," volume III, page i6, " were the ora-
Gladstone said, " that the pagan deities cles of our savage ancestors; their creeds, the
represented deified men. Honest gods were rule of their life, prized by them as men now
heroes deified a above mortal man, in- prize their faith; and by whatever savage phi-
little

vested with passions of love and hate, courage losophy these strange conceits were eliminated,
and cowardice, united with noble sentiments, their effect upon the popular mind was vital.
base and vulgar thoughts, with lofty and sub- Anaxagoras, Socrates, Protagoras and Epicurus
lime ideas, all wrought up by fancy so as to well knew and boldly proclaimed that the gods
work upon the minds of the people." of Grecians were disreputable characters, not

It is the opinion of Herbert Spencer that the kind of deities to make and govern
"the rudimentary form of all religion is the worlds."
propitiation of dead ancestors, who are sup- " Everywhere," says Herbert Spencer, "we
posed to be still existing and to be capable of find expressed or implied the belief that each
working good or evil to their descendants." person is double; that when he dies his other
In order to better propitiate the favor of his self, whether remaining near at hand or gone
dead ancestor he sometimes carves his image in far away, may return and continue capable of
wood or stone, which sentiment in time lapses injuring his enemies and aiding his friends."
into idolatry. Every object which strikes the This idea of duality, he is of the opinion,
rude fancy as analagous to the character of an had its origin with the savage, whose image is
individual may become an object of worship. reflected in the brook, or his shadow which fol-
The savage molds his deity according to the lows him everywhere, moving as he moves. In

caliber of his mind, out of mud or carved from the dream the images are as perfect as in life,

wood or stone. and this has led man to believe in the existence

Deep down in the human breast is implanted of a spiritual body.

a religious belief that l>ehind all visible appear- All religion believes in prayers and sacrifices,

ances an invisible power; underlying all con- and there has never been found a race of
is

ception is an instinct or intuition from which human beings but they had some kind of reli-
there is no escape; that beyond material actual- gion. Says Max Muller, in his lectures on
ities potential agencies are at work, and through "The Growth of Religion," " it is an inherent
all belief, from the stupid fetishism to the most characteristic of man." The Fiji believes the
 75

shooting stars are gods and the small ones the own churches we would see many fetish objects
departing souls of men. The Benin negroes or idols. The Portuguese sailor saw the poor
regard shadows as their souls. The Maori negro fetish and made fun of it, yet he wore
word nwta, a soul, meant a shadow, while the around his neck a like fetish in the form of a
idea of God being everywhere sprang from a cross. So there is no religion entirely free
spirit, and the idea of a spirit from that of a from fetishism; nor is there any religion which
shadow. consists entirely of fetishism, for back of all
Tacitus informs us that the ancient Germans religion there is a spirit in some form which
count those only as gods whom they can per- relates to the great creative cause.
ceive, and by whose gifts they are clearly bene- When religions were founded nothing was
fited, such as the moon, sun and fire. The known of science, of astronomy, of geology, or
savage has no fixed ideas about religion; he has of the universe. The earth was the great cen-
,

no bible or catecb'sm, only some sacred songs ter around which the sun, moon and stars rose
and customs taught to him by his mother. and set, like little lamps hung up in the heav-
!

His religion floats in the air, and each man enly vaults to light up the firmament. The
takes as much or as little of it as he likes. invention of the telescope by Galileo in 1610,
A negro was worshiping a tree, supposed to startled the religious world. The Roman
be his an offering of food, when an Church saw that it would lead to new discov-
fetish, with \

European asked him whether he thought that ieries in astronomy which would shake the foun-
the tree could eat. The negro replied, " Oh, dation and then throw down the edifices of
;

the tree is not the fetish; the fetish is a spirit their religion, which was based upon the bible
and is invisible, but he has descended into the land the stability of the earth, the littleness of
tree. Certainly he cannot devour our bodily the sun, moon and stars. The church burned
food, but he enjoys its spiritual part and leaves ! d'Albano, the author of a work
in effigy Pierre
behind the bodily part, which we see." on astronomy, in 1327, and in the same year
The stone on which England burned Cecco d'Astoli, of Florence, for pro-
all the kings of
have been crowned is and the claiming that the earth moved. In 1600 the
an old fetish,
coronation of Queen Victoria is only a survival church burned Brieno at Rome, tor professing
of an old Anglo-Saxon fetishism. So is the the same belief, and imprisoned Campanella
counting of the beads in the rosary, or kissing for twenty-five years because he assented to the
the cross, an act of fetishism. Portuguese philosophy of Galileo. They made Galileo
sailors fasten the image of St. Anthony to the retract in 1630. It put a close guard on the
bowsprit of the ship, and words of Ciampoli in 161 5, and in 1625 it
kneeling, address
it

in the following words:Anthony, be burned Antonio de Domines, and no one dared

"St.
pleased to stay there till thou hast given us a to express the idea that the earth was round or
fair wind for our voyage." A Spanish captain that it revolved around the sun. Copernicus
tied a small Mary to the dared not publish his work until his death.
image of the Virgin
mast of and declared that it shall hang Kepler, the legi lator of the skies, a Protestant,
his ship
there until a favorable wind is granted him. dared not quit England and was persecuted by
This is his fetish. the church and accused of heresy. His aunt
Every religion is a compromise between the was burned for sorcery at Weil. His mother
wise and the foolish, the old and the new, and was accused of sorcery and imprisoned at Stutt-
the higher the human mind soars in its search gardt in 1615. Roger Bacon, a learned friar
after divine ideals, the more it becomes neces- of Oxford, was thrown into prison because he
sary to have symbols to convey to the untutored studied physics and astronomy and taught
mind of the childlike majority of people who magic.
are not capable of realizing sublime and subtle In France the illustrious Descartes was a
abstractions. Therefore they worship the thing wanderer and an exile through life. He was
rather than what it was intended to represent. pursued everywhere by the hate of bigots. He
While we laugh at the fetish worship of the was a scientist and an astronomer, and for that
negro, if we would only look around in our reason was deemed an enemy to the church
i
 76

and to God. A learned Jesuit, Fabri, was im- Quatrefages, "religion is a belief in beings
prisoned in Rome for saying, in a sermon, that superior to man, and capable of exercising
" the motion ot the earth once demonstrated, good or evil influence upon his destiny; and
the church must interpret in a figurative sense the conviction that the existence of man is not
those passages of the scripture that are opposed limited to the present life, but that there
to that principle." For they inserted Joshua remains for him a future beyond the grave."
commanding the sun to stand still, a* it was so True reason and religion have an eye for
written in the word of God, the bible. earth as well as heaven. Like the tall sequoia
To-day mankind is governed by reason, and of California, their branches are in the sky,
the ancient religions must be ignored, for they but their roots are deeply imbedded in the
are founded on blind faith in what they are earth.
told. The idea of this earth being the center So it is necessary to look to the physical
of all objective nature, when in reality it is wants of man as well as his spiritual nature; a
only one of the particles; a grain of sand in the man can be a better Christian on a full stom-
vast oceans of worlds that are spread out ach than on an empty one. It is just as nec-
through theFar from affirming that essary to send to the heathen the plow and
skies.
everything was made for man, it should be pro- the schoolmaster as it is to send the bible and
claimed that the universe is a continuous whole, the minister.
an unbroken chain, of which mankind is but a All religions aie good and worthy of respect,
link; and that he, like all other things, must because they enable us to render to God the
move on to a higher state of existence; that homage of grateful and submissive hearts. It

there is no retrogression; that on and upward brings man

communion with the divine
into
is the watchword of all nature, which is moved mind, and by prayer we link ourselves with
by the laws of evolution and progress, which is Him; it elevates us and lifts us up to the im-
now an admitted fact by the more intelligent mortal; it makes us better, whether God hears
thinkers. our prayer or not, and we know and feel that it

The religion of the twentieth century must makes us better.

be a religion of science and not repulsive to But the doctrine of a religion is another
reason. While old religions have grown great thing, one that cannot bear or endure the scru-
in blood and tears, by persecutions and tor- tiny of reason. The doctrine of the Buddhist,
ments, amid the suffering of martyrs and cruel which restricts human life to the earthly exist-
expressions of the adherents to old doctrines, ence, which denies personal immortality to

the religion of the future must be prepared by man, absorbing the individual at his death into
the unanimous consent, by universal conver- the bosom of the Great All, in Nirvana, is
sion, which will rise without the cost of a tear or revolting pantheism. The doctrine of Mo-
a drop of blood. It will be founded on rea- hammedanism, which has no basis but the
son and justice, and will spread over the whole words of its founder, gathered under the title
earth as fast as science can beat back ignor- of Koran, and regarded as a divine revelation,
ance and superstition. Steam, and
electricity is not taken in earnest by the Mussulmen them-
the printing press are now doing the work and selves, but held as a kind of political power
which they enforce with the sword and torch.
laying the foundation of the future religion.
" Religion may transcend phenomena and The doctrine of Judaism, which rests on the
rise to a region which mortal science may not advent, always vainly expecting a savior, a
enter; indeed, it must do so; the more it messiah, who never comes, the need of whom
ascends to the height of its great argument, the is in no wise apparent, is almost ridiculous and
more it expands and draws nearer to the infin- absurd.
ite; but if it have no basis than emotions, and The doctrine of original sin, which lies at

reject all that intuition, science and reason the foundation of Christianity, is illogical and
may offer for its justification, it may not soar unjust. To hold all mankind — the past, pres-

to that '
purer ether, that diviner air,' where ent and future —responsible for the indiscretion

faith is merged in knowledge." According to of Eve for eating an apple that was placed on
 77

a tree to tempt her, an event supposed to have the knowledge of things. The religion of the
occurred some six thousand years ago in an ancient Hindoo, Egyptian, Greek, Roman or
obscure corner of Asia, and that, to atone for Hebrew is not suited to our present state of
this original sin, besides being driven out of the civilization and enlightenment. A religion that
Garden of Eden, which science has shown to is not able to grow and live with us as' we grow
be a myth, God had to send His only son and live, is dead and will not admit of pro-
Jesus to be crucified between two thieves, to gress. A religion that is definite and unvary-
ransom all men, condemned and lost in conse- ing in its uniformity, so far from being a sign of
quence of the indiscretion of Adam and Eve, honesty and life is always a sign of dishonesty
who did a good thing by eating the apple that and death. Every religion that is to be a
opened their eyes to their ignorance and na- bond of union between the wise and foolish,
kedness, is contrary to all reason and common the old and the young, must be pliant, must be
sense. high and deep and broad, bearing all things,
No one can be honest with himself and say believing all things, possessing all things, and
that his religious views have never changed enduring all things. The more it is so, the
from childhood to old age. The older we greater its vitality, the greater its strength and
grow the more we learn to understand the wis- the warmer its embrace.
dom of a childlike faith, when we are ready to If religion refuses to accompany science it
believe anything our parents teach us, until we will be left alone: scientific truths are only de-
have advanced and learned to think and act structive to that which opposes them. A reli-
for ourselves. So the idea of God in childhood gion which is not contradictory to the laws of
is different from that of manhood, and that nature has nothing to fear from science, and
idea of religion changes with our intellectual will progress hand in hand with it. While
development. No two persons have and en- science is limited in research by laws which
tertain the exact ideas of a religious belief. So govern rhatter, that of the spiritual relates
all religion should be progressive and in full to the intelligence that directs to the fountain

accord with the prevailing ideas of science and from which all knowledge flows.
 CHAPTER VIII.

RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS; THEIR GODS AND GODDESSES WERE ONLY
SPIRITS OF DEPARTED SAGES AND HEROES. THEIR MEDIUMS
FORETOLD THE FUTURE AND THE PAST.

The Greeks were truly a medium istic race of They are not trying to save souls by any
people; they were great lovers of the beautiful ascetic means; no intention or bother about
and lived and followed her making progress through the universe by obey-
close to nature,
laws and took their models from her, and in ing the laws of nature; but were bent on pleas-
so following her they succeeded in rising to an ure, on having a good time. Fighting, feast-
e'egance of refinement and a perfection of ing and making love were their usual occupa-
beauty that has never been excelled. Her tions. If it can be said they cared for govern-
poets, orators, statesmen, warriors, philoso- ing the world, it was in a loose sort of a way,
phers, painters and sculptors are the masters with no regular system or laws. They inter-
of all ages, whom all try to emulate but none fered with human affairs only from time to time
claim to excel. as it suited their whim or passion. They an-
Her religion was and her gods and nounced no moral law, and they gave no pre-
natural,
goddesses were only progressed human beings cept or example to guide men's consciences.
who had cast off the outer coil, and had be- According to the Jewish religion man was
come more perfect, wiser and better, but who made in the image of God, but according to
still retained mortal feelings and passions, that the Greek religion the gods were made in the
made them still linger and take a deep interest image of man. Heraclitus says, " Men are
in the affairs of mortal man. mortal gods and the gods immortal men."
The Greek religion differs from all the other The Greeks, like the modern 'Spiritualist, be-
religions in this: the human character of its lieved that the gods were close to him and in
gods. The gods of Greece are men and wo- his midst; on the summit of the mountain,
men idolized and on a large scale, but still among the clouds, often mingling in disguise,
they are intensely human and but little above and they made themselves visible or invisible
mortals. The gods of India were vast ab- at their option. They were only advanced
stractions and, as they appear in sculpture, are Greeks, a little higher, but not very much
hideous and grotesque idols. The gods They beheld themselves re-
of wiser or better.
Egypt seem to pass away into mere symbols flected in their deities, and they conjectured
and intellectual generalizations; but the gods themselves up in the heavens, and saw with
of Greece are persons, warm with life, radiant pleasure a race of divine Greeks in the skies
with love and beauty, having their human adven- above, corresponding with the race of Greeks
tures, wars and love scrapes. The symbolical below.
meaning of each god disappears in his personal The Greek religion, like that of modern
character. They were not confined to any Spiritualism, was delicious and calculated to
particular sphere, but like mortals mingled to- make men happy and take away the fear of
gether, having different interests and occupa- death. It was without austerity, asceticism or

tions, like a number of human beings, young, terror; a religion filled with forms of beauty

healthy, wise and beautiful and endowed with and nobleness, kindred to their own, with gods
immortality. who were capricious, indeed, but never stern,

78
 79

and seldom jealous or cruel. It was a heaven the skies, a divine creature of more than mor-
peopled with such a variety of noble forms tal beauty, but thrilling with human life and
that they could choose from among them as human sympathies.
their protector theone whom they liked best, They had gods and
goddesses, muses, fates
and possibly themselves be selected as favorites. and furies without number. Every woodland,
Each person had his guardian deity or spirit; lake and stream had its nymphs. Mount
the hunter, on a moonlight night, might chance Olympus swarmed with them; here they assem-
to behold the graceful figure of Diana gliding bled and discussed the affairs of nations and
through the woods in pursuit of game, while men. They h.nd Jupiter or Jove, the supreme
the happy inhabitants of Cyprus might come god, and Juno, his wife, who sometimes took
suddenly on the fair form of Venus resting in offense at her husband, for his flirtations with

a laurel grove. The Dryads could be seen the other goddesses and sometimes with a beau-
glancing among the trees, and the Oriads heard tiful mortal maid. His attendants were the
shouting in the mountains, and the Naiads beautiful Hebe and Ganymede. They had a
found asleep by the side of their streams. If brave Mars, the god of war; the wise Minerva,
the Greek chose to do so he might take his who sprang from the brain of Jove, and who
gods as the subject for a poem, the model for a espoused the cause of Troy; the beautiful
statue or a picture. Venus, that came from the sea-foam, typical of
The Greek religion did not guide or restrain, the fact that life first had its origin in the sea.
it only stimulated man. Nowhere on earth, She warmed the hearts of men with love, and
before or since, has the human being been her mischievous boy, Cupid, was always shoot-
educated into such a wonderful state of perfec- ing arrows into the hearts of the unsuspecting
tion or such an entire and perfect unfoldment youths, and for a joke he would let a stray
of itself as in ancient Greece. There every arrow fly at the heart of some old bachelor or
human tendency and faculty of soul and body widower that would send him around among
opened into symmetrical proportions. That the fair maids in search of a wife. And there
small country, not larger than the State of was Diana, the goddess of hunting, with her
Maine, carried to perfection in a few centuries fleet greyhounds, to whom all the sporting fra-
every human art. ternity paid reverence; and the wing-heeled
Everything in Greece was artistic, because Mercury, who flew through the air to carry
everything was finished, was done perfectly. messages from one god to the other.
On that little peninsula ripened They were all live gods and goddesses and
the master-
pieces of epic, tragic, comic, lyric and didac- endowed with passions like mortals. They
tic poetry; the perfection in every school of were only a little above man and were invested

philosophy, history, oratory, mathematics, with the power of going where they wished un-
sculpture and painting. She developed every seen and under no restraint to mortal man; in-
form of government and gave us our model for deed, they were only the spirits of mortals, for
a republic, and she fought and won the great they claimed that they all had been men and
battle of the world. Before her time every- women once, but had cast off the mortal coil
thing in human literature and art were rude and assumed the robes of immortal gods.
and imperfect attempts; since then everything Even when great men died they were often
has been a rude and imperfect imitation, and it deified and called gods or demi-gods.
was all owing, in a great measure, to her liberal Such a religion was calculated to make a
spiritual religion. people brave and polite and to inspire them
The gods of the Greeks were men and wo- with a love for the beautiful and grand. With
men; they were not abstract ideas, concealing the belief that these were gods and goddesses,
natural powers and laws. They were open as ever ready to commend them in that which
sunshine, bright as the moon, and a fair com- was good, noble and brave, and condemn them
panion of men and women, idolized and gra- in cowardice and infidelity to state, and who
cious; just a little way off, just a little way up took an interest in their welfare and rejoiced in
in the air. It was humanity projected up into their valor and success at arms. " To-night,"
 80

said Leonidas to the three hundred brave Spar- Awless of heaven's revenge, stand naked to
tans at Thermopylse, " we shall sup with the their sight,
immortal gods!" "On! sons of the Greeks!" For thrice ten thousand holy demons rove
was the battle-cry of Marathon; "above you This breathing world, the delegates of Jove;
the spirits of your fathers watch the blows Guardians of men, their glance alike surveys
which, to preserve their tombs from desecra- The upright judgments and the unrighteous
tion, you strike to-day." ways."
It was this belief in immortality that inspired
Homer to write the great heroic
The Greeks saw gods everywhere; the eternal
poem that in
snows of Parnassus, the marble temples of
time became the bible of the Greeks. The
Athens glistening in the sun, the thousand isles
gods and goddesses therein pictured are noth-
nestling in the ^Egean sea, the fragrant groves
ing but tutelary deities that had espoused the
cause of certain men and nations. They were where the philosophers disputed, the fountains
nothing but patron saints that had ascended to
shadowed by plane trees, the solemn fields of

the spirit land, yet they still lingered around Platrea and Marathon; each and all of these

their favorite abodes and took an interest in

had their attendant spirits. A thousand deities

mortals.
received homage in a thousand temples, and
" The gods," says Homer in XVII Odyssey, for fear they might have offended some one of

page 475, "like strangers from some foreign

many gods, they erected one to the '• Un-
the

land, assuming different forms, wander through

known God." "That one," St. Paul said,
"that he worshiped." The Greeks believed
cities, watching the justice and injustice of
that the spirits controlled the destinies of men
man. There were avenging demons and furies
and nations, and took part in their affairs;
who haunt the ill-disposed, as there are gods
were ever present, though everywhere unseen;
who are the protectors of the poor."
knowing all things yet known to none; eternal,
In the twentieth book, Homer puts into the
invisible and incomprehensible. Gods who
mouth of Achilles, after the death of his be-
mingled visibly in the actions of men, who
loyed Patrocles, these words:
clothed themselves with material forms and
" 'Tis true, 'tis certain, man, though dead, re- lead them on to victory; who shared the pas-
tains sions of humanity and sympathized with their

Part of himself; the immortal mind remains; infirmities, who controlled the present and gave

The form subsists without a body's aid, omens of the future, were the beings that the
Aerial semblance and empty shade. Greeks loved or feared, and bowed down to
to do homage and erect temples.
"This night my friend, so late in battle lost,
Their poetry is full of sublimity, represent-
Stood at my side, a pensive, plaintive ghost;
ing one god as appearing in the clouds and
Even now familiar, as in life he came,
hurling down thunderbolts into the midst of the
Alas! how different! yet how like the same."
contending armies of earth. At times the
gods get angry and take sides in the affairs of
The fiery imagination and the and subtle
men, as in the case of the siege of Troy. A
vigorous intellect of the Greeks peculiarly fit-
god is often represented as wandering through
ted them for the reception of the impressions
the country in the form of a beardless youth,
from the spiritual, invisible world, as we see
in the writings of Homer, /Kschylus, Sophocles,
challenging men to play with him on the lyre.

Xenophon and others. The following is an A goddess snatches from out the midst of bat-
tle an endangered warrior, whose noble form
extract from Hesiod:
she has become enamored of, and thus saves
" Invisible the gods are ever nigh, his life by enveloping him in a mist and remov-
Pass through the mist and bend the all-seeing ing him from sight. Another goddess, mounted
eye; on her celestial steed, rushing through the air

The men who grind the poor, who wrest the from capital to capital, arousing surrounding

right, nations to take up arms in the defense of some

 —

81

common cause that she has espoused. They This was given in response to a question of
filled the earth and skies with beings of inter- Crcesus, of Lydia, who had sent an embassa-
est, and made life a romance, and it was a dor to Delphi to test its truthfulness. He had
pleasure to die in the defense of country and at that hour gone into the kitchen of his palace

the right. It infused into the heart a love of and cut in lamb and a tortoise, and
pieces a
country, bravery and devotion that has never placed it and covered it with
in a brass vessel

been equaled, a refinement and a culture that a brass cover and commenced to cook it. This
has never been excelled, and a faultless phy- was a satisfactory test, so he sent back his em-
sique and loveliness and beauty that has in all bassador with three thousand oxen, numerous
ages of the world been the model of every gold and silver vessels, a gold lion, one hundred
artist and the pride of every master to imi- and seventy ingots of the same metal, with a
tate. girdle and a necklace of incredible value. De-
They worshiped the beautiful, and her artists positing them before the shrine of the goddess,

and painters strove to make their pictures and the embassador of Crcesus demanded whether
statues perfect. Through this beautiful my- he should go to war against the Persians. The
thology constantly breaks the radiance of the oracle replied, "When a mule becomes the
spiritual world, which informs us that these ruler of the Persian people, then, O tender-
myths are only the representatives of beings in footed Lydian, flee to the rocky banks of Her-
the spirit land that take an interest in the affairs mos, make no halt, and care not to blush for
oi man, but were so clouded in mystic lore thy cowardice." This Crcesus misunderstood,
that they were taken for heathen rites —
an not aware that Cyprus was the son of a Median
abominable absurdity— until meaning princess and a Persian of humble condition,
its true
was interpreted in the light of modern Spirit- and was the ruler prefigured under the type of
ualism, and proven that these gods and god- the mule king. He made war upon the Per-
desses were merely progressed human beings in sians and soon he was forced to flee, as the
a higher state of development. oracle had predicted.
The Greeks had their mediums through whom These oracles became the recipient of vast
they communicated with the different tutelary gifts from kings and rich people that consulted
gods and goddesses, patron saints and spirits. them, and they were consulted by a far greater
They never went to war or did any important number of people than now-a-days consult our
act without consulting their oracles, and their mediums; while then, as now, they made many
wonderful predictions, according to the histo- mistakes, and there were impostors then as
rians have been fulfilled. The most renowned now, who humbugged and imposed upon the
of the oracles was at Delphi, where the Pytho- credulous. The belief in their predictions was
ness, a priestess or medium, sat upon a tripod then universal, and no general would go to war
over a fissure in the rocks, from which arose a without consulting them. Even Alexander the
vapor that had an inspiring effect on the me- Great consulted the oracle at Delphi, but the
dium. Soon she would go into a trance, like medium said that she was not ready; the spirit
some of our modern mediums, and then, gen- did not move her. Alexander took her by the
erally in poetry or doggerel verse, she would arm and said she must give him a sitting.
utter some statement of a prophetic nature, While leading her to the tripod, she said, " Al-
which would run about as follows: exander, thou art irresistible." He at once let
" See I number the sands; I fathom the depths her go and started off. She called him back,
of the oceans and said that she did not mean that, but to
Hear even the dumb; comprehend, too, the had something more to say. " No,"
wait, she
thoughts of the silent; said Alexander, "that is enough." He imme-
Now, perceive I am an odor, an odor it seem- diately returned to his army and told them
eth of lambs' flesh; what the oracle had said, *' that he was irre-
As boiling it seemeth, commixed with the flesh sistible," and it was the battle-cry of the army
of a tortoise; which ever lead his cohorts to victory. He
Brass is beneath and with brass is it covered." was warned by the magi not to enter Babylon,
 82

"that once within her walls he must assuredly and fled in dismay." And this story is as well
die." For a while he encamped outside of its authenticated as many which are related in the
walls, but being over-persuaded by the doubt- bible of the invisible arm aiding the children of
ing philosophers of Anaxagoras, he entered the Israel in battle.
city, and in a few months he died in a de- Socrates was a clairvoyant medium from his
bauch. It is evident that Alexander had much youth. He had unearthly monitions, a "di-
faith in the oracles, as he visited Jupiter Am- vine voice," as he termed it, attended him; not
nion in the Libyan desert, and left many valua- to urge him to do good, but to restrain from
ble presents. evil. It was equally busy in the most momen-
Plutarch, in writing about the oracles, says: tous and the most trifling actions of life — at

"It would be impossible to enumerate all the Athens and at Corinth, when he lifted his

instances in which the Pythia proved her power spear against the enemies of his country; when
of foretelling events, and the facts of them- he bore with meekness the revilings of the

selves are so welland generally known that it shrewish Xantippe; when, in the height of
would be useless to bring forth new evidence. his success, he stood surrounded by Plato,
Her answers, though submitted to the severest Alcibiades and others of the most noble youths
scrutiny, have never proved false or incorrect." of Greece; and, finally, when he became old
And then he cites many instances, among them and feeble and was persecuted, and he calmly
the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which over- prepared himself to die, this "divine voice"
whelmed the cities of Pompeii and Herculane- whispered to him sweet words of hope and
um; the defeat of Xerxes' army at Marathon consolation.
and his navy at Salamis, etc. Xenophon said of him, "The little voice"
Lycurgus, the great Spartan law-giver, con- imparted to Socrates a knowledge of the perils
sulted the oracle of Delphi. Being satisfied that awaited him and of the life to come,
of the correctness of the answer he received, which so inspired him that he calmly awaited
he left his native land never to return. death as a pleasure that would free him from
The most renowned of these oracles were the mortal body and enable him to assume one
those of Phocis, at Claros in Ionia, at Delos, of eternal glory.
at Delphi, at Didyma on Mount Ismenus in Plato relates many instances where Socrates
Boetia, at Larissa among the Argives, and at gave warnings to his friends of danger, and
Heliopolis in Egypt. The pythonesses or me- thereby saved their lives. One he gives of a
diums were selected for their great mediumistic noble Athenian, Timarchus, "for," said Soc-
power. They were females, virgins of great rates, " the spirit has just given me the accus-

purity, and they were never allowed to marry. tomed sign that some danger menaces you."
Then, as now, it was a gift confined to the And no one can read of this great philosopher
few, and they divined the future and told the and not be impressed with the idea that he
past, in many instances, with great accuracy, was not in communion with spirits who placed
according to the writings of the ancient his'o- so much wisdom in his mouth.
rians. Gibbon, speaking of Julian, says: " We
Herodotus and Plutarch give many instances may learn from his faithful friend, the orator
of the truthfulness of these oracles, and relate Libanus, that he lived in a perpetual inter-
how the spirits defended the temple at Delphi course with the gods and goddesses (the spirits),
from the Persians, who went there to pillage it that they descended upon earth to enjoy the
of its vast wealth. " At first the temple was conversation of their favorite hero, that they
as silent as^the grave, then all at once a deaf- gently interrupted his slumbers by touching
ening roar of thunder and flashes of lightning his hands or his hair, that they warned him of
burst forth, and superhuman voices were heard every impending danger, and conducted him
to come forth from the shrine; huge rocks by their infallible wisdom in every action of

were loosened upon the summit of Parnassus his life."

and rolled down amongst the invaders and lev- The present forms of communication with
eled them like grass. The rest were affrighted the spirits by table-tipping and slate-writing
 83

were also well known to the ancients. Am- Heliopolis. It returned a blank sealed paper.
mianus Marcellinus says that in the reign of At he laughed and said that as he did not
this

the Emperor Valens, A. D., 371, some Greeks, believe in the oracle that they had sent him a
skilled in theurgy, were brought to trial for proper answer. He sent again, this time the
attempting to ascertain, by magic arts, who oracle returned a vine cut in pieces and wrapped
would succeed to the throne [see page 83]. in a linen cloth, as a symbol that he in like
This mode was similar to that now adopted manner should be, should he return. He died
by many investigators of modern Spiritualism. in the East and his body was returned, cut up
And Tertullian says, in reproaching some of and wrapped in cloth.
the Christian fathers: " Do not you, magicians, Strabo and Pliny assure us that in the reign
call ghosts and departed souls from the shades of Augustus, the priests of a temple at the foot
below, and by their infernal charms represent of Mount Loracti, dedicated to the goddess
an infinite number of delusions. And how do Feronia, had been known to walk barefooted
they perform all this but by the assistance of over great quantities of glowing embers; and
evil angels and spirits, by which they are able Strabo says, "The same ordeal was practiced

to make stools and tables prophecy." Conse- by the priestesses of the goddess Astabores in
quently it is self-evident, whether we take inco Cappadocia."
consideration that evil or good spirits were In speaking of mediums among the ancients,
concerned, that this fact goes to show that a writer in the London Examiner says:
seances were held and tables tipped over fifteen " How many persons who practice, or who
centuries ago. discredit the fashionable exercise of table-turn-
Ancient history is full of instances that go ing and spirit -invoking are aware that, ages ago,
to establish the fact that man had communica- before our ancestors had tables to turn, the
tions with spirits of the departed. The omens process was a well recognized one in Imperial
that attended the assassination of Caesar, the Rome and Constantinople? Of abnormal
apparition of Brutus, at Philippi, and Sylea, the manifestations of disturbance in the ordinary
night before he died, saw in a vision the manner range of nobility among human beings, we hear
of his end. Pliny, the younger, gives an ac- nothing in ancient history, but we hear enough
count of a remarkably haunted house that was of the manner in which the Greeks and Romans
purchased by the philosopher Athenodorus, on in early Christian ages endeavored by assumed
his arrival at Athens. He was struck with its spiritual agency, to influence the movements of
remarkable cheapness, and was informed that the legs of tables, to make us sensible that
no one would live in it. " He said he had modern processes for effecting the same end
nothing to fear." At midnight a noise was are inferior in point of elegance and awe-in-
heard and the ghastly figure of a skeleton passed spiring effect. This, we think, will scarcely be
through the apartments, dragging a rusty chain, denied by those best acquainted with the
and motioned him to follow. He arose from present method of conducting a seance when
his table, where he sat writing and followed. they learn the Roman method of operation,
The spirit preceded him to an inner court of which was as follows: When a family or an
the mansion and then vanished. He marked individual desired to obtain information in re-
the spot by laying some leaves where the appa- gard to some friend beyond the pale of human
rition designated, and returned to his study. knowledge, recourse was had to a priest, that is,

The next morning he sought the magistrates of a professor practiced in the arts of superhuman
the city. A search was made and a skeleton intelligence. Accordingly, when the appointed
loaded with a rusty chain was dug up at the day came, the officiating medium appeared in
spot that he had marked. He had the skeleton white, and bearing in his hands a small table
removed and properly interred, and it never standing on a tripod base. Pausing at the
appeared again; so it proved a lucky invest- entrance door he waited till the threshold and
ment. the atrium -had been sprinkled with aromatic
Macrobius says that Trajan, previous to his and symbolic fluids before he passed on into
invasion of Parthia, consulted the oracle of the principal apartment of the house, and de-
 84

posited his tripod over the center of the floor. perial officers appointed to enforce the penal-
This table, which, as we are informed, must be ties incurred by dealers in magic. Fate, how-
made of laurel-wood, cut under awe-inspiring ever, was too strong for them, for Theodorus
auspices, had attached to its base a metallic was seized and put to death, as history can
hoop encircjing it, on which the letters of the testify, while Theodpsius succeeded to Valens,
Greek alphabet were graven, while its upper and thus relieved the oracle from the charge ol
rim bore a number of catgut strings, to which mendacity."
a silvered leaden ball was suspended. When, But we need not marvel at these strange
after due course of prayers, incantations and stories of profane history, for the Holy Bible is

various gentle aids to motion, the table filled with it, from Genesis to Revelations.
began to rotate, the priest and his attendants, Aaron's rod was turned into a serpent and
who sat on the floor, forming a circle round swallowed up the rods transformed into ser-
it, noted down each letter that was in turn pents by the Egyptian magicians. The He-
touched by the extending strings of the rotating brew children walked through the fiery furnace;
tripod. These letters were put together, and Jacob wrestled with an angel; the walls of Jer-
the words they formed accepted as the answer icho were overthrown at the sound of a ram's
of the oracle. In the case of table-turning in horn; Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of
the latter days of the Empire, which has been salt; the witch of Endor raised the spirit of
trasmitted to us, we find that a body of con- Samuel; Abraham conversed with angels and
spirators, being desirous of ascertaining if the ate veal cutlets with them in his tent; and a
pretender Theodorus, whose cause they ad- voice cried out to Abraham and told him of a
vocated, would be the successor of the Emperor ram entangled in the vines, which he could
Valens, tested the question by this interdicted offer on his altar as a sacrifice, instead of his
mode of divination; and conceiving that the son Isaac; Elijah was fed by the ravens; the
Th
letters E D
O had been struck, there could children of Israel were fed with manna; Christ
be no doubt of the fulfillment of their wishes, on the mount of Transfiguration saw and talked
they hastily overthrew the table, hurried the with Moses and Elias; Peter was let out of
priests out of the house, and dispersed, lest prison; and Christ rose from the dead.
their evil deeds might be detected by the Im-
 CHAPTER IX.

THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Christianity. It allows a large range of belief and worship.

One may be a
Christian and believe that Christ
Christianity comes ^omjthe Greek word
was only a good man; another may believe
Christos which signifies 7emJu&over or anointed,
Christ a god equal to the father in heaven, and
and is the same as the translation of the Hebrew-
he can be a Christian; another can worship the
word Messiah, Messias, or Mashiach. These
Virgin Mary, his mother, and be a Christian.
words alike mean the anointed one. Kings and
Anyone may be a Christian if he goes to church
high-priests were consecrated to their office by
and contributes to the support of the gospel;
being anointed. The anointed one, therefore,
in a word all who belong to the Christian
means the chosen, ordained, crowned or conse-
nations, whether he be a Jew or Gentile,
crated to a high office; christuomai signifies to
Atheist or Infidel, is according to the definition
be good, kind and merciful; christotheia signifies
of the term, a Christian. It represents and
goodness of heart, chresteriso signifies to proph-
expresses a civilization.
esy, chresies means a prophet, chresmos is the
oracle or the divine response and chrisma is the Advent of Christ.

anointing oil which was anciently freely used on The time was propitious for the introduction
Christian converts and still continues in the unc- of a new religion. Paganism was in its last
tion of the Catholic church . chris throes; Jupiter's, Manu's and Moses' altars had
Thus chres or
is the Greek expression for that good
which no longer believers, and the intelligent people
is

and beautiful, or which comes from heaven. had discarded the myth, and the masses were
The word christos was so closely associated ready to swallow any new religion offered.
with divinity that it was often applied by the Pythagoras, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and
Greeks to Apollo and other gods. The world Cicero had evicted the myth of the Olympian
has had many christos or saviors, and all gods from the minds of the intelligent thinking
nations have had their christos or christs. people. Their writings, like that of modern
Therefore Jesus Christ is the name applied to science, had undermined the dogmas of the
the Hebrew christos, the anointed prophet. fabulous mythology. Cicero wondered that
Mary used oil to anoint Christ, and wiped his two priests could look into each other's faces

feet with her hair to show her profound vener- and not laugh at the trick. For two ages past,
ation for him. Pyrrha, Cimon, Sextus, Empiricus and Enesidius
Christianity is a name full of power and no longer believed in anything and Lucretius
eloquent meaning, a divine and inspired had just written his book on nature.
religion, full ol love and heroism. It cannot be On the other side, those old and decaying
monopolized by the believers in Jesus Christ, theologies of Moses left in the spirit of the
but includes all who embrace and follow the multitude the idea of a Redeemer, which
instructions of Jesus Christ and imitate his ancient India had bequeathed to all the
purity of life, and who attempt to live in nations; and the wearied people waited for
perfect accord with the divine law, so as to something new to replace their extinct beliefs,
embody in themselves the highest inspiration of to nourish their energy, paralyzed by doubt,
which he is capable. and in great need of hope.
85
 86

It was then that a poor Jew, born of the Divine mind, which revealed to them these
lower class, appeared, possessed of remarkable facts, through some of the modes of spiritual
mediumistic power, and started on the mission manifestation. They were not Jews, they were
of reforming man and checking the growth of heathen who had come from the East, and
materialism. He
soon gathered around him were skilled in the arts of nature and knew by
many and persecution did its work certain signs they were to know him, and so
followers,
"and the blood of martyrs became the seed informed Herod of his whereabouts.
of the church." Christ said, " God is a spirit and they who
Primitive Christianity had its origin in small worship him worship in spirit and truth." Those
scattered groups, organized into secret soci- who follow Christ's teachings embrace the doc-
eties with passwords, grips and signs, which trines of Spiritualism, and consequently there
enabled the initiated to recognize each other. should be no antagonism between Spiritualism
To avoid the unrelenting persecutions of their and the other Christian religions, as they are
enemies they were obliged to meet in the night all derived from the same source. Christ said,
in secret places; in caves, deserted catacombs, "I will be with you even to the end of the
woods and mountain fastnesses. From the first world." He evidently meant that his spirit
appearance of Jesus and his twelve disciples, would be with them. And the idea that Christ
they sought refuge in quiet places, in the would come again and reign on earth was taken
wilderness and among their friends in Bethany. from the mistaken idea that he should be rein-
It is evident that they were rather quiet and carnated in the flesh again, which is the belief
did not attract much attention among the of the Buddhists that Buddha is ever reincar-
profane writers. Renan shows that Philo, nating in the person of a child.
who lived in Palestine while the "glad tidings" Christ and his apostles were possessed of
were being preached, never heard of him. wonderful mediumistic powers, but in time this

Josephus, the Hebrew historian, who was born mediumistic power was lost in the cold em-
three years after the crucifixion of Christ, only brace of the Christian churches, who did not
makes a short mention of him, and even that follow his sublime teachings and preach his
bears the marks of interpolation. gospel to the whole world. In losing this me-

Suetonius, the secretary of Adrian, who diumistic power the churches have become ma-
wrote the history of the Emperor Claudius in terialistic, and for that reason they oppose the
the second century, says that he (Claudius) doctrine of modern Spiritualism, which is in-
banished all the Jews, who were continually tended to take man back to the pure stream of
making disturbances at the instigation of one religion that he taught in his sermon on the
Crestus, evidently meaning Christ. mount. Christ received his messages direct
The Emperor Adrian, in a letter to Servia- from the Divine mind, and there is no reason
nus, says, "That he believes the new sect why it cannot be done by others as well as by
(Christians) were worshipers of Serapis, an him.
Egyptian deity; and Christ is represented as The laws of the natural and spirit world are
Serapis, wearing long hair, turned back, falling always the same. Philo and other contempo-
down on his back and shoulders like a woman, rary historians say the Essenes were a sect of

his whole person enveloped in drapery, reach- pure and holy men, which arose about one
ing his feet." [See "Gnostics and their Re- hundred years before the advent of Jesus of
mains," page 68.] " There can be no doubt," Nazareth; and it is supposed by some that, he
remarks the same author, " that the head of belonged to that order. The doctrines, man-
Serapis, marked, as the face is, by a grave and ners and customs of this sect resembled that ot
pensive majesty, supplied the first idea for the Jesus and his disciples, and his sermon on the
conventional portraits of the Savior." mount is full of their aphorisms. This pure
The Gnosis, or Gnosticism, comprehended and simple spiritual religion taught by the early
the doctrine of the magi — the wise men of the Christians perished about the time that Con-
East who followed the star to Bethlehem —and stantine the Great usurped its name and fame
they were in direct communication with the in order to justify his own iniquitous and atro-
 87

cious murders, and to give him strength by Plato, and in conformity to that of the script-
enlisting the Christians under his banner; and ures. They held that all religions had their
it then became engrafted on Roman paganism. origin in secret societies.

The shaved headed augurs were changed into The innumerable gems and amulets are a
monks and priests, and the vestal virgins into proof of
this. They had their symbols, signs
nuns and sisters of charity; and the burning and secret workings that the outside world
of incense, is a vestige of knew nothing of, by which means they were
the fire-worship-
ers, who always kept a fire burning in a lamp able to know each other. The Kabalists were
suspended near or on the altar. After it be- the first to embellish the universal Logos with
came the state religion, with the Emperor Con- such terms as " Light of Light,'' the messenger
stantine at its head, it assumed a power that of life and light (see John i), and we find these
enforced its creeds upon the unbelievers, that expressions adopted in toto by the Christians,
made the name of Jesus known to the whole with the addition of nearly all the Gnostic
Roman empire, which at that time governed terms, such as Pleroma (fullness), Archons,
the civilized world. .Eons, etc., as to the ''first born," the first

Ammonius Sacchas, the great Alexandrian and the " only begotten." These terms are as
teacher and philosopher, the theodiaoktis , in his old as the world. Origen shows the word
numerous works a century and a half before "Logos," as existing among the Brahmins.
St. Augustine, acknowledged Jesus as "an The Brahmins say that the God is light, not

excellent man, and the friend of God." He such as one sees, nor such as sun and fire; but
always maintained that the ultimate design of they have the God Logos, not articulate, the
Jesus was not to abolish the intercourse with Logos of the Gnosis, through whom the high-
gods and demons (spirits), but simply to purify est mysteries of the Gnosis are seen by the
the ancient religion; that —
" the religion of the wise those of clairvoyant sight. The Acts
multitude went hand in hand with philosophy, and the fourth Gospel are full of Gnostic ex-
and with her had shared the fate of being by pressions. The Kabalistic terms " God's first-
degrees corrupted and obscured with mere hu- born emanated from the Most High," together
man conceits, superstitions and lies; that it with that which is the u spirit of the anointed;"
ought, therefore, to be brought back to its and again, " they called Him the anointed of
original purity, by purging it of this dross and the highest," are reproduced in spirit and sub-
expounding upon philosophical principles; stance by the author of the Gospel of St. John.
it

and that Christ

all had in view was to " That was the true light, and the light shineth
reinstate and restore to its primitive integrity in darkness." "And the word was made
and purity the wisdom of the ancients." flesh."
All great religious reformers were pure at the The " Christ " and the " Logos" are terms
beginning. The first followers of Buddha as which existed ages before Christianity. The
well as the disciples of Jesus were men of great Oriental Gnosis was studied long before the
austerity and the highest morality, as in the days of Moses, and we have to seek for the
case of Sakya-Muni, Pythagoras, Plato, Jesus, origin of all these words in the Archaic periods
St. Paul, Ammonius and Sakkas. The
great of the primeval Asiatic philosophy. Peter's
Gnostic leaders, if less were not second epistle and Jude's fragment, preserved
successful,
less virtuous in practice nor less morally pure. in the new Testament, show by their phraseol-

Marcion, Basilidesand Valentinus were renown- ogy that they belonged to the Kabalistic Orien-
ed for their ascetic lives. The Nicolaitanes, tal order, for they use the same expressions as
if they did not belong to the great body of the did the Christian Gnostics, who built or took
Ophites, were numbered among the small sects a part of their system from the Oriental Kab-
which were absorbed in it at the beginning of ala, and that it was grafted on it. " Presump-
the second century. The Gnostics were a sect tuous are they [the Ophites], self-willed, they
of philosophers that arose in the first century are not afraid to speak evil of dignities," says

of Christianity, and they formed a system of Peter in Second Epistle, ii: 10. The original
theology agreeable to that of Pythagoras and model for the latter is the abusive Tertullian

OF THK
MIVERSITY
and Irenseus. " Likewise (even as Sodom and In the Talmud Michael is prince of water,
Gomorrah) also, these filthy dreamers defile who has seven inferior spirits subordinate to
the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil him. He is the patron, the guardian angel of
of dignities" says Jude, repeating the very the Jews, as Daniel informs us. And the
words of Peter and thereby using expressions Greek Ophites, who identified him with their
consecrated in the Kabala. Dominion is the Ophimorphous, the personified creation of en-
"empire," the tenth of the Kabalistic sephiron. vy and malice, of Ilda-Baoth, thet Demiurgus
They held that the types of the creation, or (creator of the material world), and undertook
the attributes of the Supreme Being, are to prove that he, Samuel, the Hebrew prince
through the emanations of Adam Kadmon. of the evil spirits or Persian deos, were natur-
Thus, when the Nazarenes and other Gnostics ally regarded by the Jews as blasphemers.
of the more Platonic tendency twitted the In all ages and among all nations there is a
Jews as " abortions who worship their god tendency of the ignorant and designing to
Qurbo, Adonai," we need not wonder at the create gods out of ministering spirits and angels
wrath of those who had accepted the old Mo- that come in contact with mediums, seers and
saic system, but at that of Peter and Jude, who prophets, which soon corrupts the pure and
claimed to be followers of Jesus, and dissent monotheistic belief in one God, out of whose
from the views of him who also was a Nazarene. divine will and power all things have evolved.
The dispersed Nazarenes were a secret sect that It is evident that Jesus was a pure and good

had no affiliation with the Jews, and they were man, endowed with a great love of the pure
a remnant of the ancient Phoenicians, that still and simple religion, and it is clearly apparent
lived on the other side of the Jordan and ex- that he struggled hard to reform the Jews; but
tended far into the interior. they did not understand and appreciate him,
According to the Kabala, the empire of and they therefore crucified him; and after the
dominion is "the consuming fire and his wife elapse of three hundred years he was deified as
is the temple or church, and powers and digni- one of the godhead, and from his teachings

ties (spirits) are subordinate genii of the arch- and those of his disciples, has arisen the
angels and angels of the Sohar." These ema- Christian church, and over the question of his
nations are the very life and soul of the Kab- divinity rivers of blood have been shed to
ala and Zoroasterism. And the Talmud, the make him a god, and to enforce the creeds and
sacred book of the Jews, is borrowed from the dogmas of the church.
Zend-Avesta, the sacred book or bible of the St. Paul was the true founder of Christian

Persians and fire-worshipers; therefore, by theology. This indomitable disciple was a man
adopting the views of Peter, Jude and other of learning, well versed in the mysterious doc-
apostles, the Christians have become but a dis- trines of the Gnostics, and wrote in the true
senting sect of the Persians, for they do not Kabalistic spirit of the masters of the Lord
even interpret the meaning of all such powers Jesus Christ; and the manner of his conversion
as the true Kabalists do. is one of the best physical manifestations of
St. Paul, warning his converts against the the spirits on record. It is evident that St.

worshiping of angels, showed how well he ap- Paul, believing in occult powers in the world,
preciated, even so early as his period, the dan- " unseen," but ever " present," says, " Ye
gers of borrowing from a mythical doctrine, the walked according to the <con of this world, ac-
philosophy of which could be rightly interpre- cording to Archon (//da Jiaot/i, the Jh-minr^),
ted but by its well-learned adherents, the Magi that has the domination of the air" and " we
and the Jewish Tanaim. In Colossians ii: 18, wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
he says, " Let no man beguile you of your the dominations, the powers, the lords of dark-
reward in a voluntary humanity and worshiping ness, the mischievousness of spirits in the upper
of angels, intruding into those things which he regions." This sentence " ye were dead in sin
hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly and error," for "ye walked according to the
mind," is a sentence laid right at the door of Archon," or (Ilda-Baoth,) the god and creator
Peter and his companions. and master of the Ophites, shows unequivo-
 89

cally that, ist, Paul, notwithstanding some garded as an angel several degrees removed
dissensions with the more important doctrines from the godhead. The
were unedu- disciples

of the Gnostics, shared more or less their cos- cated, except St. Paul, and they drew their
mogonical views on the emanations; 2d, that knowledge from the unseen world like many of
he was fully aware that this Demiurg, whose the mediums of modern Spiritualism, who often
Jewish name was Jehovah, was not the God confound the most learned doctors and men of
preached by Jesus; and now, if we compare science.
the doctrine of St. Paul with the religious The Chaldean version of the Pentateuch,
views of Peter and Jude, we find that not only made by the well-known Babylonian divine
did they worship Michael, the archangel, but Onkelos, was regarded as the most authoritive
that they also reverenced Satan, because the of all; and it is according to this learned rabbi
latter was also an angel before his fall. This that Hillel, and and other tanaim after him,
they do quite openly, and abuse the Gnostics held that the being who appeared to Moses in
for speaking "evil " of him. (See Peter's Sec- the burning bush, on Mount Sinai, and who

ond Epistle). finally buried him, was the angel of the Lord,

No one can deny the following: Peter, when Memro, and not the Lord himself, and that he
denouncing those who are not afraid to speak whom the Hebrews of the old Testament mis-
evil " where- took for Iahoh, was his messenger, one of his
of "dignities," adds immediately,
as angels which are greater power and might sons or emanations. All this goes to establish
in

bring not railing accusations against them (the but one logical conclusion, merely that the
dignities) before the Lord." Who are the Gnostics were far superior to the disciples in
"dignities" referred to? Jude, in his general knowledge, learning and the religious doctrines
epistle, makes the meaning of the word as clear of the Jews.
as day. The "dignities" There have existed in all ages men who be-
are the devils, and
the devils are Jude when com- longed to secret societies under different names
evil spirits.

plaining of the disrespect shown by the Gnos- —

Esoteric, Brahminical, Buddhistical, Chal-
tics to paivers and dominions, uses the very dean, Hermetic, Ophite, Gymnosophites and

words of Peter: " And yet Michael, the arch- Magi philosophers. The Sufis and Rashees, of
angel, when contending with the devil (evil Kashmere, instituted a kind of international
spirit) he disputed about the body of Moses, and universal Freemasonry among the Esoteric
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, societies; and says Higgins, "These Rashees
but said, ' the Lord rebuke thee.' " Is this are the Essenians, Carmelites or Nazarites of the
not plain enough to show that they did? if not Temple, and it was from the latter Christ de-
then we have the Kabala to prove who were rived his knowledge, as he was a Nazarene, and
the dignities. the priest or masters understood the occult sci-
In Deuteronomy xxxiv: 6, we find that the ence, under the name of Regenerating Fire.
" Lord Himself buried Moses in a valley of This science for more than three thousand
Moab, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre years was the peculiar possession of the Indian
unto this day." This biblical lapsus lingua of and Egyptian priesthood, into the knowledge
Jude gives a strong coloring to the assertions of of which Moses was initiated at Heliopolis,
some of the Gnostics. They claimed only where he was educated; and Jesus was educated
what was secretly taught by the Jewish Kaba- among the Essenian priests of Egypt or Judea,
lists themselves, to-wit: that the highest su- and by the knowledge thus gained these two
preme God was unknown and invisible, " the great reformers, particularly the latter, wrought
king of light is a closed eye;" that Ilda-Baoth, many of the miracles mentioned in the script-
the Jewish second Adam, was the real Demi- ures."
urg; and that Iao, Adonai, Saboth and Eloi "The Christian Gnostics sprang into exist-
were the quaternary emanations which formed ence towards the beginning of the second cen-
the unity of the God of the —
Hebrews Je- tury, and just at the time when the Essenes
hovah. Moreover, the was also called most mysteriously faded away, which indicates
latter
Michael, the archangel, by Samuel, and re- that they were the identical Essenes, and, more-
 90

over, pure Christists, viz: they believed, and ed and used by the Christians. Without going
were those who best understood what one of so far as India, did they not have a ready
their own brethren had preached. In insisting model for the miraculous conception '
in the
that the letter Iota,mentioned by Jesus, (Mat. legend about Periktione, Plato's mother? In
v:i8,) indicated a secret doctrine in relation to her case it was also maintained by popular tra-
the ten aeons, to demonstrate to dition that she had immaculately conceived
is sufficient

a Kabalist belonged to the Free- him, and that the god Apollo was his father.
that Jesus
masonry of those days; for I, which is iota in Even the annunciation by an angel to Joseph,
Greek, has no other name in other languages, in a dream, the Christians copied from the
and is, as it was among the Gnostics of those message of Apollo to Aristow, Periktione's
days, a pass-word, meaning the Scripture of husband, that the child to be born from her
'

the Father,' in was the offspring of that god. So, too, Romu-
Eastern brotherhoods which
exist to this day." lus, one of the founders of Rome, was said to
" It comes to this," writes Irenaeus, com- be the son of Mars by the virgin Rhea Sylvia,
plaining of the Gnostics, "they neither con- and he was suckled and nurtured by a wolf and
sent to the scriptures nor tradition;" and why was afterwards deified."
should we wonder at that, when even the com- The birth and the wonderful manifestations
mentators of the nineteenth century, with noth- that are related of Christ, was one of the leg-
ing but fragments of Gnostic manuscripts to ends peculiar to that age. To enshroud it in
compare with the voluminous writings of their mystery and to make it miraculous was to give
calumniators, have been enabled
to detect to him the prestige of a god, when in reality he
fraud on every page ? How much
more must only claimed to be the son of man; and
the polished and learned Gnostics, with all when we make due allowance for it we are
their advantages of personal observation and left to wonder how it was ever possible that
knowledge of the facts, have realized the stu- any one should look upon him otherwise than
pendous scheme of fraud that was being con- as a good man, who was conceived, born, lived
summated before their very eyes ? Why should and died as other men. How he could be
they accuse Celsus of maintaining that their re- held as other than a man surpasses my compre-
ligion was all based on the speculations of hension, and how the intelligent, thinking peo-
Plato, with the difference that his doctrines ple of the nineteenth century can think he was
were more pure and rational than theirs, a god is evidence of
far credulity, stupidity and
when we find Sprengell, seventeen centuries ignorance.
later, writing the following: "Not only did It is evident that the Gnostics had a better
they (the Christians) think to discover the dog- and more correct knowledge of the teachings
mas of Plato in the books of Moses, but, more- of Christ and his disciples than those who
over, they fancied that by introducing Platon- claim to be founders of the modern Christian-
ism into Christianity they would elevate the ity, which did not have its rise until in the
dignify of this religion and make it more popu- third century; and we should be willing to give
lar among the nations." to them the credit of being as honest as any
"They introduced it so well that not only other sect. And if we can believe Nicholas of
was the Platonic philosophy selected as a basis Antioch, a repute, full of the man of honest
for the trinity, but even the legends and my- holy ghost and wisdom, we must come to the
thical stories which had been current among conclusion that Christ was simply a good man
the admirers of the great philosopher, as a with lofty thoughts, a great love of humanity,
time-honored custom required in the eyes of and clear perception of right, added to his
his posterity an allegorical homage to great mediumistic powers.
such
every hero worthy of deification, were revamp-
 CHAPTER X.

ALL RELIGIONS APPEAR TO HAVE ONE COMMON ORIGIN. THE ORIGIN OF THE
TRINITY, CROSS, SACRED RIVERS, MADONNA, ARK, DELUGE, FISH STORY.

The Olympus of the Greeks is but a repro- and Tacitus are our models as historians, and
duction of the Hindoo Olympus. The legend they only copied from others still older, dating
of Jason and the Golden Fleece is still in the farther back in time. The Justinian code has
mouth of every one in India, and the Iliad of been taken from the Hindoo code of Manu,
Homer is nothing but an echo and enfabled as it bears the ear-marks of legislation, mar-
souvenir of the Ramayana, a Hindoo poem, in riage, filiation, parental authority, tutelage,
which Rama goes at the head of his allies to adoption, property, the laws of contract, de-
recover his wife, Sita, who had been carried posit, loan, sale, partnership, donations and
off by the King of Ceylon; while the Greeks testaments.
immortalized it in Homer, where Paris carried Manu, Manes, Minos and Moses were all
off the fair Helen to Troy. great law-givers and legislators. These four
yEsop and Babrias copied Hindoo fables names overshadow the entire ancient world.
that reached them through Russia, Syria and They appear at the beginning of the four dif-
Egypt. Babrias, though a Greek, says at the ferent nations, and they play the same role,
commencement of his second proem that it surrounded by the same mysterious halo. All
came from the East; and Jacolliot says that no of the four were legislators and high-priests,
one can read the fables of the Hindoo Pilpay, and all four founded theocratic and sacerdotal
or the Brahmin Ramdamyayer, without being societies. That they stand in relation to each
impressed with the idea that they are the orig- other as predecessor and successor, however
inal, and that ^Esop, Babrias and La Fontaine distant, seems proven by the similitude of name

are plagiarists, and that the Greek and modern and identity of the institutions they created.
fabulists have not taken the trouble to change " In Sanscrit Manu signifies the man par excel-
the action of these little dramas. lence, the legislator. Manes, Minos and Moses,

One nation copies from another like individ- do they not betray an incontestible unity of
uals, and the succeeding generations retain the derivation from the Sanscrit with the slight va-

history and traditions of their ancestors. The riations of different periods, and the different
Greek language and religion has been taken languages in which they are written, Egyptian,
from the Hindoo. As the Sanscrit is the mother Greek and Hebrew?"
of the Greek language, so the Brahmin religion Manu, the philosopher and law-giver of In-
and laws are more or less copied into the dia, and Manes, the Egyptian legislator, are ex-
Greek and Roman religion and laws. Homer tensively copied. A Cretan visits Egypt to
and Virgil, Sophocles and Euripides, Plautus study her institutions, which he introduces into
and Terence, copied, altered and modified the his own country, and history preserves his
poetry of the Brahmins; while Socrates, Py- memory under the name of Minos. Moses is
thagoras, Plato and Aristotle have drawn their the liberator of the servile caste of Hebrews
inspiration from an older and a more ancient from out of bondage in Egypt. These laws
philosophy of the Brahmins, Egyptians and are all claimed to have been given to them by
Persians. Titus, Livius, Sallust, Herodotus God, out of which they have created caste,
 —

92

which in India has crushed the masses down the amazed people, abundant offering of fruit
in ignorance and superstition, and it made all rice, cattle and money; others sung sacred
subservient to the Brahmins, who really were hymns at the sacrifices and festivals and at fun-
the governing class. Moses created the order erals, religion requiring each son to make offer-
of Levi, the priests who claimed that God ings on the recurring anniversary of his father's
governed them; but they ate the offerings, col- and mother's deaths, and, as no man could be
lected the tithes and ruled the people. The admitted into heaven who had not a son to
Roman people were divided up into castes make this offering, so this accounts for the
priests, senators, patricians and plebeians great desire of men of the Aryan race to have a
which was a feebler imitation of the Hindoo son to inherit his name. The consecrated vir-
society. Such has ever been the laws and reli- gins of Egypt danced before the statues of the
gions, "Divide, corrumpe ei imperal" divide, gods; the pythonesses of Delphi, the priestesses
demoralize and govern. of Ceres, who delivered oracles, the vestal vir-
The Vedic civilization, under the Hindoo gins of Rome who tended the sacred fire, and
priests (the Brahmins), like that of Egypt un- the sisters of charity, were but heirs to the
der Manes, crushed the masses into a nation of devadassa of India. This tradition of the
slaves, which deprived them of and woman, virgin and priestess is so much of an
all social
political rights, making them mere machines to oriental inspiration that we see all the nations

produce, that the privileged classes may live of antiquity reject it as they gradually emanci-
in luxury and splendor. The Roman hierarchy pated themselves from superstition and mystery.
for ages has kept the masses in ignorance, that If, then, it appears but a legacy from the prim-
they might govern them, and at one time their nothing is more natural than to
itive cradle,

power was so great that they even scourged trace it to the country whence departed the
kings and forced them to do penance. colonizing tribes.
"Excommunication was nothing else than a Jesus is a Sancrit word signifying pure es-
weapon of despotism, picked up in the pagodas sence, which is the root, the radical origin
of Brahma, for the subjugation of people and of a large number of ancient names used
for the triumph of the priests. We have seen alike for gods and distinguished men, such as
Savonarola die at the stake for having exposed Isis, the mother of Horus, the female principle
the disorders of Alexander VI; and the pious in nature, the Earth, the Egyptian goddess;
Robert of France, abandoned by his friends Josue, in Hebrew; Joshua the successor of
and his faithful servants, obliged to bend the Moses; Josias, king of the Hebrews; and Jeseus
knee under the hand of a religious fanatic. or Jesus, in Hebrew. Jeosuah, which name
Human hecatombs have been burning on the is very common with the Hebrews, was in
piles of faithand the altar reddened with blood. ancient India the tiller, the consecrated epithet
Ages have passed away; we are but wakening assigned to all incarnations. " The officiating
to progress and freethought. But let us expect Bohemians in temples and pagodas now accord
struggles without end until the day shall come this title of Jeseus, or pure essence, or divine
when we shall have courage to arraign all sa- emanation, only to Chrisna, who is alone recog-
cerdotalism at the bar of liberty." nized as the word, the true incarnation by the
The Hindoos, in their primitive times, had Vishnuites and freethinkers of Brahminism."
their virgins attached to the service of the pa-
(See "India Bible," by Jacolliot, page 108.)
godas; some tended the sacred fire, which Hence comes the word Jesus Christ, from
burned day and night before the holy trinity, Jezeus Chrisna of the Sanscrit.— —
and never was allowed to go out; others, on Chrisna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Mo-
days of procession, danced before the car or hammed have all played a human role, and
ark as it was carried through the villages; oth- God has judged them as he has all the rest of
ers,under the delirium produced by an excit- mankind, according to the good they have
ing beverage which is known to the Brahmins, accomplished. These great and good men
uttered oracles in the sanctuaries to fakirs and started out for a high and noble purpose, but
sunniassys (holy mendicants), or to extort from their successors, more cunning than their mas-
 93

ters, having made them gods to smooth their drink; boy, bring me the goblet, for I would
own way, present themselves to the people as rather dead drunk than dead."
lie

celestial messengers, and thus sanctify their In the ancient Orphic verses, sung in the
ambitious purposes, and rule and govern man. orgies of Bacchus, as celebrated throughout
On a careful and critical examination they all Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, Arabia, Asia Minor,
teach the same thing; all tell about the same Greece, and ultimately in Italy, it is related
story. It is the same, revamped to suit the how that god, who had been born in Arabia,
age and the nation in which they lived. was picked up in a box that floated on the
water, and took his name Mises, in signification
The Egyptian god Bacchus was brought up at
ot his having been saved from the water, and
Mysa, and famous as having been the con-
is
Bimater from his having had two mothers; that
queror of India. In Egypt he was called Osi-
is, one by nature and another who had adopted
ris; in India Dionysius, and not improbably
him. He had a rod with which he performed
Krishna or Chrisna, which means a savior, as
miracles, and which he could change into a
he was called Adoneus, which signifies the Lord
serpent at pleasure. He passed the Red Sea
of heaven, or the Lord and giver of light in
dry-shod at the head of his army; he divided
Arabia, and liber throughout the Roman do-
the waters of the rivers Orontes and Hydraspus
minions, from whence is derived our term lib-
by the touch of his rod and passed through
eral for everything that is generous, frank and
them dry-shod. By the same mighty rod he
amiable. He manifested his glory in the
drew water from the rock, and wherever he
wine, therefore he issometimes called the god
marched the land flowed with milk and honey.
of wine. It is evident that he was one of the
And the similarity of these verses shows that
sun-gods of some of the ancients, as we find
Moses copied them or that they were taken
expressions like these used in his worship: Io
from him.
Terombe, let us cry unto the Lord; Io or la
The Egyptian tau or cross (T) was in use
Baccoth, God sees our Jehovah Evan!
tears;
many centuries earlier than the period assigned
Hevoe! and Eloah, the author of our existence,
to Abraham, the alleged forefather of the
the mighty God; Hu Esh, thou art the fire;
Israelites, for Moses directed the children of
Elta Esh, thou art the life; and Io Nissi, O
Israel to mark their door-posts and lintels with
Lord, direct us; which last is the literal English
blood, lest the " Lord God " might make a
of the Latin motto in the arms of the city of
mistake and kill them instead of the Egyptians,
London, retained to this day, " Domine dirige
and this mark is a tau, the identical Egyp-
nos." The Romans, out of all these terms,
tian handle-cross, with the half of which tal-
preferred the name of Baccoth, out of which
isman Horus raised the dead, as is shown on a
they composed Bacchus. The more delicate
sculptured ruin at Philae. And it is asserted
ear of the Greeks was better pleased with the
that the rod of Moses, which he used to per-
words Io Nissi, out of which they formed Dio-
form his miracles before Pharaoh, was no doubt
nysius.
a crux ansata, or something like it, as used by
The three letters I H
surrounded with the Egyptian priests.
S, In the ancient Hebrew
rays of glory, that are so often seen hanging in the sign of the cross was formed thus X, but
the Catholic churches and burying grounds, in the original Egyptian hieroglyphics it is the
which are supposed to stand for Jesus Homine- the same as a perfect Christian cross -j-.

um Salvator, is According to King and other numismatists

none other than the identical
name of Bacchus, Yes, exhibited Greek and archaeologists, the cross was a symbol of
in
letters, H
V E, (see Hesychius on the word eternal life. A tau or Egyptian cross was used
H
V E, i.e., Yes, Bacchus, Sol, the Sun). in the mysteries of Bacchus and Eleusinia. It
And the feast of Bacchus was always celebrated was laid on the breast of the initiate, as a sym-
by drinking wine and eating bread, from which bol of the "new birth;" that his spiritual birth
the Christians derived the idea of the sacra- had regenerated and united his astral soul with
ment. One of the odes of Anacreon, trans- his divine spirit, and that he was ready to as-
lated, reads thus: "To arms! But I shall cend in spirit to the blessed abodes of light and
 94

gory. The tau is a magic talisman and

property, just as in a Church of England mar-
at the

same time is a religious emblem.

was riage service the bridegroom does the same
It

adopted by the Christians, through the Gnos- thing, saying, " with all my worldly goods I
tics and Kabalists, who used it largely, as their thee endow." The feast of candles at Isis is
numerous gems testify. They took the tau, or still marked in the Christian calendar as Can-
handle-cross, from the Egyptians, and the dlemas-day. The Catholic priests shave their
Latin cross from the Buddhist museums, who heads as the ancient Egyptian priests did sev-
brought it it can be found
from India, where eral thousand years ago. The surplice of the
to have been two or three centuries Episcopal minister, which he wears when read-
in use for

before Christ. The cross was known to the ing the liturgy is the same as that worn by the
ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, Armenians, Hin- ancient Egyptian priest. The Pope assuming to
doos and Romans, long before the crucifixion hold the keys, was taken from an Egyptian
of Christ. Thebes whose " title was keeper of the
priest at

The Brah-matma, the chief of the Hindoo two doors of heaven," (see Sharpe's " Egyp-
initiates, had on his head-gear two keys, which tian Mythology.") All the forms and ceremo-
were symbols of the revealed mystery of life Jews bear ear-marks of having been
nies of the
and death, and were placed cross-wise; and in borrowed by Moses from the Egyptians; " the
some of the Buddhist pagodas of Tartary and ark," "the holy of holies," the scapegoat, the
Mongolia, the entrance to a chamber within cherubim, were derived from the sphynx. Also
the temple is generally ornamented with a the rite of circumcision was practiced in Egypt
cross, formed of two fishes, and so are the as early as the fourth dynasty, says Wilkinson,
zodiacs of the ancient Chaldeans and Buddhists long before the time of Abraham.
represented with crossed fishes. And even
The Trinity.
Solomon's temple was built on these founda-
tions, forming the "triple tau" or three In the Book of Hermes, the origin of which

crosses, according to one of the traditions of is lost in the colonization of Egypt, there is a

ancient Masonry. reference made Hindoo Chrisna, accord-

to the

In its mystical sense the Egyptian cross de- ing to the Brahmins, and it enunciates in dis-
rives its origin former use as an em- tinct terms the trinitarian dogma.
from its
"The light
blem of the realization by the earliest philoso- is me," says Pimander; "the Divine thought; I

phers of an androgynous dualism in every man- am the nous, or intelligence, and I am thy God
ifestation of nature, which proceeds from the and am far older than the human principle,
abstract idea of androgynous or which escapes from the shadow. I am the
a likewise
Ihe germ of thought; the resplendent word; the
r
double-sexed (male and female) deity.
tau or Egyptian cross, in its mystical sense as Son of God. Think that what thou seest and
well as the crux ansatcc, represents the "
of hearest is the verbum of the master; it is the
tree

life" while the Roman cross, on which Christ thought which is God, the Father.
The celes-
was crucified, was called the "tree of infamy." tial ocean, the ether, which flows from east to

The crucifix was an instrument of torture, and west, is the breath of the Father, the life-giving

was common among the Romans, for it was principle, the Holy Ghost, for they are not

unknown among Semitic nations until con- separated and their union is life."

quered by the Romans, and during the first The trinity of the Egyptians was a triangle.
two decades after the crucifixion of Christ, the Plutarch says that the Egyptians worshiped

a|K>stles looked upon it with horror. It is cer- Osiris, Isis and Horus, under the form of a
tainly not the Christian cross that John had in triangle. He adds that they considered every-
mind, when speaking of the signet of the thing perfect to have three parts, and therefore
" living God," but the mystic tau. their good god made himself three-fold, while

Many customs found in Christendom may their god of evil remained single.
be traced back to Egypt. The Egyptian at The ancient Hindoos had a Christ, a virgin
his marriage put a gold ring on his wife's finger
" mother of God," queen of heaven, though
as a token that he entrusted her with all his Isis is also by right the queen of heaven, and
 —

95

is generally represented carrying in her hand world, a bust expanding in breadth nearly twen-
the crux ansata (-f ) or cross. In one of the ty feet, and no less than eighteen feet in alti-

ancient tombs of the Pharaohs there is a figure tude —a bust composed of three heads united
of the birth of the sun in the form of a little to one body, adorned with the oldest symbols
child issuing from the bosom of its divine of Indian theology, and thus expressly fabricat-
mother, the resplendent golden rays darting ed to indicate the one God in his triune char-
forth from its head, which was intended to rep- acter of the Creator, Preserver and Regener-
resent the rays of the sun-god. The mono- tor of mankind.
gram or symbol of the god Saturn was the sign The Zoroastrians or sun-worshipers had a
of the cross with a ram's horn in indication of trinity in the sun, light, fire, flame, three mani-
the lamb of God. Jupiter also bore a cross festations of the sun, which gave rise to the all-
with a horn, and Venus a cross with a circle. seeing eye, which is synonymous to that of
Among the Semitic nations we can trace the sun-worship, which Solomon introduced into
trinity to the prehistoric days of the fabled Se- the order of Freemasonry, which he took from
sostris, who is identified by more than one critic the Egyptians and Assyrians.
with Nimrod the "mighty hunter." "Tell me, The Persian triplicate deity was also composed
O, thou strong in fire, who, before me, could of three persons — Ormuzd, Mithra and Ahri-
subjugate all things? and who shall after me?" man.
And the oracle saith thus: "First, God, then The Hindoos had three in their trinity, Brah-
the Word and then the Spirit." (See " Ap ma, Vishnu and Siva, corresponding to power,
Malal," liber i, cap. iv.) wisdom and justice, or creator, preserver and
Then God, earth, at- destroyer of life, which in their turn answered to
there was the trinity of
mosphere; earth, fire and water; and this three- spirit, force and matter, and the past, present
fold function of the Divinity evidently gave rise and future.
to the Hebrew Jehovah, or Ye-ho-vah, repre- The Chinese idol Sampao, consisted of three,
senting the Future, the Present and the Past, equal in all respects.
and from this idea of the three united in one The ancient Egyptians had their triplet,
has given us the trinity —
Father, Son and Holy Emepht, Eicton and Phta; and this triple god,
—
Ghost which was taken from the three-fold seated on the lotus, one of the images, can
deity of the Hindoos, which antedates that of now be seen in the St. Petersburg museum.
the Jews, who understood the powers of the The Peruvians supposed their god, Tanga-
prism and the breaking of the rays of light into Tanga, to be one in three and three in one.
red, yellow and blue, by the means of which The ancient Mexicans had also a trinity
they were able to calculate and make astronom- Yzona (Father), Bacah (Son) and Echvah (Ho-
ical calculations, and with the aid of the trian- ly Ghost) and they said they received the doc-

gle, with its three sides in one, they described trine from their ancestors. (See Lord Kings-
a part of a circle which represents the infinite borough's "Anct. Mex.," page 165.) And
and is an important figure in geometry, next these ancient Mexicans or Aztecs had a Christ
in importance to the circle that encloses a and a virgin mother; and one of the priests

globe, which is the most perfect form ot all that were with Cortez said that the devil had
bodies and figures, and represents the whole. evidently informed them of these facts, for who
There is no doubt of the great antiquity of else could have given them that information.
the trinity in India, as it is written in books, in All these facts carry us back long anterior to
a language that has ceased to be spoken for the time mentioned in the old Bible, which was
thousands of years, long before the birth of taken by the Egyptians from India, and by the
Christ, while in their templesand ruins, in the Israelites carried from Egypt to Palestine.
old cavern of Elephanta, hewn into the solid Moses and Aaron learned it in the temples from
rock at a time so remote that it is not known the hierophants or priests, who were learned
in history. Here the traveler beholds with awe in all the religious matters, and who guarded
and astonishment, in the most conspicuous part their secrets with most sacred vigilance. For
of the most ancient and venerable temple of the centuries the Egyptians were a secluded people
 96

like the Chinese, says Herodotus, and the the lamas by extending the right hand over the
Greeks by stealth drew all their information heads of the faithful; the chaplet, ecclesiastical

from them; that the Egyptians were, at an early celibacy, religions retirement, the worship of
date, undoubtedly a colony from India, as their saints, the fasts, the processions, the litanies,
religion and civilization bear its ear-marks. the holy water, are all striking analogies that
Modern Christanity is nothing but the pure are difficult to explain.
and spiritual doctrines taught by Christ, defiled Father Bury, a Portuguese missionary, when
by paganism and superstition which have been he beheld the Chinese bonzes (priests) using
engrafted on it. All the forms and ceremo- rosaries, praying in an unknown tongue and
nies that were condemned by Christ had their kneeling before images, exclaimed in astonish-
origin in the old pagan worship of idolatry. ment, "There is not a piece of dress, not a
The burning of the on the altar and the sacerdotal function, not a ceremony of the
fire

burning of the incense had their origin in the courts of Rome which the devil has not copied
heathen temples thousands of years before the in this country." (See Kesson, "The Cross
birth of Christ. The nuns of the Roman and Dragon," also Father Hue's " Recollections
Catholic church are taken from the vestal of a Journey in Tartary, Thibet and China.")
virgins, and the monks took the place of the The question at once rises, which was the
Roman augurs. The forms and original? Did the Christian Catholics copy the
of churches
cathredals were taken from those of the ancient Buddhists, or did the Buddhists borrow from
temples of the heathen gods. These temples them? The rock-cut monasteries and temples
were first constructed for tombs, hence the idea in India, the records of China and .Ceylon, all
is still prevalent of burying the dead in the agree in placing it in favor of the Buddhists,
churchyard or under the church floor or altar. who existed not less than five hundred years
The Papal tiara, which is the crown worn by Says Mr. Hardwicke, " It may
before Christ.
the Popes of Rome, the so-called successors of have been possible to have two spontaneous
St. Peter, is the same as that worn by the gods growths, but more probable that the one is
of ancient Assyria; so also are the tonsure and copied from the other."
surplice of the priests copied from the same The Hindoos had their sacred river in the
source, and the tinkling bells were used before Ganges, where they bathed and purified them-
the altar of Jupiter Ammon, around the hem of selves; so the Jews had theirs in the river

the robe of the high-priest of the Mosaic Jews; Jordan. The Jews plagiarized their religion

and bells were also suspended in the pagodas, from the Hindoos, as the Greeks did from the
and on the sacred table of the Buddhist. The Egyptians, and the Romans from the Greeks,
beads and rosaries were used by the Buddhist so that upon a careful scrutiny of all the ancient
monks for over five hundred years before the religions, they bear the ear-marks of one origin in

birth of Christ, and the cross was in use for India. And the similiarity of these religions

many centuries before it was adopted as a is so great that the modern Hindoos found
symbol of the Christian church, as a secret fault with the British government for allowing a

sign of recognition among neophytes and adepts temple of Vishnu to fall to ruins, as they claim

of occultism. It is a Kabalistic sign, and that Chrisna and Christ are one and the same
represents the oppositions and quaternary equi- person.
librium of the elements. It is also found in Religions, like thoughts, have one common
the caves and ruins of the prehistoric man of origin in the brain, and in both cases the ideas
Europe, Asia and America. are more borrowed than original. Symbolism
The cross, the miter, the dalmatica, the cope is often used to convey to the untutored mind
which the grand lamas (priests) wear while the idea of some great truth; but frequently the
performing certain ceremonies out of the mind cannot yet entirely comprehend it, so
temple, the service with double choirs, the that the common mind falls down and worships
psalmody, the exorcism, the censer suspended the image instead of the true being which it is
from five chains and which can be opened or intended to represent. As the mind becomes
closed at pleasure, the benedictions given by more enlightened it sees and comprehends
 97

these truths and then discards the idols and crystal which were filled with white wine, and
images and looks up to and feels the great while the ceremony was going on, in the pres-
own mind.
truths in his ence of all, it changed to a blood-red, then a
The Madonna is only the reproduction of purple, and finally into an azure-blue color.
Isis under a new name, standing on the crescent Then the magus handed the vases of wine to a
of the moon, holding her infant Horus in her woman of the congregation, asking her to bless
arms, which represented to the ancient Egyp- it. Then it was poured into a larger vase, and
tians that the moon followed the sun, and that after much prayer and devotion it began to boil
Iris, the Earth, with her child Horus, who was and rise in the vase until it ran over.
the son of Osiris, the sun-god, the ruler of the During the mysteries wine which represented
day, and the son followed the father; that night Bacchus was used, he being of Indian origin.
preceded the day. Juvenal says, "That the Cicero mentioned him as a son of Thyone and
painters of Egypt made
their living by paint- Nisus, and consequently Bacchus crowned with
ing the goddess Isis and her son Horus, and ivy or kissos, is Chrisna, one of whose names
exporting them to Italy, which was a very pop- was Kissen, or Christ. The ancient Greeks
ular picture at the time of the introduction of and Romans in the mysteries used wine to rep-
Christianity into Rome, and was by the priests resent Bacchus and bread for Ceres.
substituted for and called the Madonna, the
The Deluge.
virgin Mary and child." (See "Ten Great
Religions," page 254 ) The ancient Chaldeans and Hindoos had
In the explorations of the ancient ruins at their Adam and Eve, their Noah and the flood,
Philae, Upper Egypt, which antedated the birth
while the Bible would lead us to believe that

of Christ, there has been found what was sup- the Garden of Eden was located on the

posed to be the holy family, when in reality it Euphrates, and that the ark rested on Mount

proved to be Osiris, Isis and Horus, instead of Ararat, while the Hindoo tradition places it on
It cannot be denied that man
the Himalayas.
being Joseph, Mary and Jesus; and what is

still more remarkable, that in the old temples

must have had a beginning, and that there has
of India they are represented as black, while been a deluge in Central Asia there can be no

many of the ancient statues of Buddha are doubt, the tradition of which can be traced to

represented with crisp, curly hair, with flat

every country, and which, according to Bunsen,

noses and thick lips; nor can it be reasonably happened about the year 10,000
B. C, and had

doubted that a negro race once held pre-emi- nought to do with the mythical Noah or Nuah.
nence in India. " There is A partial cataclysm occurs at the close of every
Higgins writes,
scarcely an old church in Italy where some geological "age" of the world, which does not
remains of the worship of the black virgin and destroy it, but only changes its general appear-
child are not to be met with." This is strong ance. While some portions are submerged,
evidence that they were taken either from India others are elevated. And the fossils found

or Egypt. lead us to believe that new races of men, new

animals and a new flora evolve from the disso-
The Holy Communion or Lord's Supper. lution of the preceding ones.

The Holy Communion or Lord's Supper had The Hindoo tradition says that Vaivasvata,
its commencement in the Bacchic mysteries, who in the Bible becomes Noah, was saved by
where a communion cup was handed around a little fish, which turned out to be an avater
after supper, out of which all took a sip of of Vishnu. The fish warns that just man that
wine. It is about to be submerged, that all the
was called the cup of Agathoda^mon. the globe
The Orphite were similar, where the com- inhabitants must perish, and orders him to con-
rites

munion consisted of bread and wine in the struct a vessel in which he shall embark with
worship of nearly every deity of any import- all his family. When the ship is finished he
ance. Epiphanius tells a strange story about a goes on board with his entire family, taking

Gnostic sect that celebrated their eucharist, with him the seeds of all plants and a pair of

having three vases of the finest and clearest every kind of animal; then the heavens open
 98

and the rains fall and the entire surface of the years of existence, as proved by the most serious
earth is covered with water. A gigantic fish, as well as the most authentic documents. Few
armed with a horn, places itself at the head of people, says the learned Halhed, have their
the ark, and the holy man, following its orders, annals more authentic or more serious than the
attaches a cable to its horn, and the fish guides Hindoos.
the ship for forty days and nights through the The Jonah and the whale had its
big story of
raging elements, and finally landed the ark on origin in the same idea, that man sprang from
the summit of the Himalayas; yet among all out of the fish. Vishnu is evidently the Adam
the ancient Egyptian writings there is no men- Kadmon of the Kabalists, for Adam is the Lo-
tion of a deluge, therefore it is evident that it gos, or the first anointed, as Adam second is
was confined to Central Asia, if it ever oc- the King Messiah; Adam Kadmon was an ema-
curred at all; and as the writings of the ancient nation of Jehovah; and Adam the first man was
Hindoos are much older than those of the the first materialized spirit of man clothed in

Bible, it most probably was taken from the flesh; having lost the power to dematerialize
Hindoo by the Chaldeans, and from them by was forced to live in the flesh on the earth. Be-
the Jews. But it is, in all probability, an alle- ing androgynous, as all angels are, and falling into
gory representing the incarnation of the spirit deep sleep or trance, the female principle was
in the flesh. separated by drawing her life principle out of
Noah is the Nuah, who is the his side and materialized in the material form
Chaldean for
king of the humid principle, the spirit moving of a woman, called Eve in the Bible.
or floating on the waters in his ark, the latter Lakmy, or Lakshmi, the passive or female
being the emblem of the argha or moon, the counterpart of Vishnu, the creator and pre-
feminine principle. Noah is the "spirit " fall- server, is also called Ada Maya. She is the
ing into matter, so we find him as soon as he "mother of the world," Damatri, the Venus
descended to the earth, planting a vineyard, aphrodite of the Greeks; she is also called Isis
drinking wine and getting drunk on it; e., the and Eve. While Venus was born from the sea-
/'.

pure spirit becoming intoxicated as soon as it is foam, Lakmy springs out from the water at the
finally imprisoned in matter. churning of the sea. When born she is so
The dagon or fish-man, found engraven in beautiful that all the gods fall in love with her.
stone and metal of the ancients, had its The Jews, borrowing their types wherever they
origin
in the idea that man sprang from fish. The could get them, made their first woman after
Japanese have a singular idol formed out of the the pattern of Lakmy. It is a curious coinci-
body and tail of a fish, fastened upon the head dence that Viracocha, the Supreme Being of
and shoulders of a monkey, which gave rise to ancient Peru, means, when literally translated,
the idea of mermaids. "The Hindoo god, " foam of the sea."
Vishnu, assumed the form of a fish with a hu- In the oldest Hindoo book, Manu, there is

man head, in order to reclaim the Vedas, lost a passage that says, "That this world issued
during the deluge. Having enabled Visvami- out of darkness; the subtle elementary princi-
tra to escape with his tribe in the ark, but, ples produced the vegetable seed, which ani-
all

pitying weak and erring humanity, he remained mated first the plants. From plants, life passed
with them for some time, taught them how to into fantastical bodies, which were born in the
build houses and cultivate the land. He re- waters; then, through a series of forms of
mained on land in the day-time and went to plants, worms, insects, fish, serpents, tortoises,
the ocean to pass his nights. "One day he cattle and wild animals, until finally man was
plunged into the water and returned no more, evolved. This is in accordauce with the laws
for the earth had covered itself with vegetation, of evolution, as laid down by Darwin and
fruit and cattle." Huxley.
This fable of Vishnu disguised as a fish gives "The object of all religions," says the Per-
weight to the sacred books of the Hindoos, es- sian Hafiz, "is alike." All men seek their
pecially in view of the fact that the Vedas and beloved, and is not all the world love's dwell-
Manu reckon more than twenty-five thousand ing ? Why talk of a mosque or a church ?
 ;

99

Hindoo teachers say, " The creed of the lover from the poor." "The common standpoint
differs from other creeds. God is the creed of of the three religions," says the Chinese, "is
those who love Him, and to do good is best that they insist on the banishment of evil de-
with the followers of every faith." He alone sire and do good."
is a true Hindoo whose heart is just, and he So we see in all religious beliefs a commin-
only is a good Mussulman whose life is pure.
'

gling of their forms and ceremonies, which

"Remember Him who has seen numberless goes far to establish the fact that all religions
Mahomets, Vishnus, Vivas, come and go, and must have had their origin from a belief in a
who is not found by one who forgets or turns state of future existence.
 CHAPTER XI.

THE EIGHT GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. BRAHMINISM, BUDDHISM, ZORO-

ASTERISM, MOSAICISM, CHRISTIANITY. MOHAMMEDANISM,
LAOTESEISM AND MODERM SPIRITUALISM.

Comparative Theology, like comparative religious animal, as no other animal offers up

anatomy, comparative geography, and compar- prayers or supplications to the Great Spirit of
ative philology, is yet in its infancy. It is a the unseen universe.
science which consists in the study of the facts All the principal religions, like the human
of human history and their relation to each race, appear to have had their origin in Asia,
other. It does not dogmatize; and have spread thence over the whole civilized
it observes,
and it deals only with phenomena and facts world. Each race has adopted a certain relig-
that relate to the spiritual nature in man. ion that has had much to do in shaping its civ-
By comparing the various religions of man- ilization. Research has shown that India is the
kind we see wherein they differ, wherein they mother of civilization and religion; that, far
agree, and what appears true and what false. back in the night of time, the songs of the Reg-
It shows both sides of religion and that as it Veda were written in Sanscrit. It is the oldest
has advanced with civilization, it has lost much written language, and is the mother of the
of its severity, and that a higher religion and Greek language, which, from its perfection, was
better morals must find root in the decaying claimed by the Greeks as the language of the
soils of past religious beliefs and traditions of gods —
while the modern Christians, adhering to
God, duty and immortality of the soul. the idea of Moses and creation, make the He-
The duty of comparative theology is to do brew the language of God as given to Adam
justice to all the religions of mankind, to strike and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
out all debasing superstitions and arrive at the There appears to be a material connection
truth. All religions teach the immortality of between language and religion. As language is
the soul, future rewards and punishments, a the medium through which the soul communi-
hell and a heaven. The basis of all religions cates its thoughts and feelings to its fellow-
is spiritism; that the spirit of the departed lives man, so, in the growth and development of
and has its existence in the atmosphere sur- language, we are enabled to trace the early
rounding us. ideas and views of primitive man far back in
The ablest writers on comparative theology the past, long before there was ever a written
are Max Muller, Bunsen, Burnouf, Dollinger, language, for words were used long before they
Hardwicke, St. Hilaire, Duncker, Baur, Renan, were reduced to writing, so that the philologist
Cox, and J. F. Clarke, author of the "Ten is enabled to trace back the Aryan religion to a
Great Religions." These writers show great period long before it separated into different
learning and have stripped mythology and the- races. So that by the use of words, generic in
ology of its outward forms and sacred robes, their nature, that are to be found in common
showing, beyond a doubt, that religions, like use, by different races speaking different lan-
civilizations, are the outgrowth of older reli- guages — the same or similar words are used to
gions and civilizations; that it comes from express the same thing or ideas — it is evident
within; that it is a part of man's nature to be that far back in the past these different races
religious, so that he has often been called a spoke a common language; and when the gen-
 101

eric words relate to God or religion, then it fs By the aid of comparative philology man
evidence that their religion was about the same. has been enabled to trace the leading races and
So in this way the human family has been
religions back to three centers in Asia the —
traced back to the different origins and centers Aryan, the Semitic and the Turanic. The
from which it diverged. Each of these diverg- Aryan includes the Hindoo and the European
ing races carries with them these generic words, races, for that reason they are called Indo-
with their meaning about the same, though European, and some call them the Indo-Ger-
they may and often do change the nomencla- manic. I am inclined to believe Indo-Euro-

ture of these generic words, as the dialects and pean is, perhaps, the best term, as it leads to
provincialisms tend to give the phonetic sounds less confusion. This race at a very early date
to them. The Indians or Hin-
broke up into four parts.
"If," says Max Muller, " we would learn to doos went southeast into India by the way of
be charitable in the interpretation of the lan- the Punjaub, while the Iranians settled in Per-
guage of other religions, we shall more easily sia, and reach through Hindoo Koos mountains
learn to be charitable in the interpretation of east to the country now known as Afghanistan,
our own language. We no longer try to and to the Himalaya mountains, and west into
shall
force a literal interpretation on words and sen- the Caucasus mountains, which was at one
tences in our sacred books, which, if interpre- time supposed to be the home of the white
ted literally, must lose their original purport race, who are often called the Caucausian race.
and their spiritual we can make The Greeks and Romans entered Europe by
truth." If
allowance for mouth and and breath, we crossing the Hellespont.
lips ./Eneas fled from
can surely make the same allowance for words Troy and settled in Italy. The Celts, Teutons
and their utterance, for all languages have their and Sclavs entered Europe from the north side
dialects. There is a high and there is a low of the Black Sea.
dialect; there is a broad and there is a narrow The Hindoo branch of the Aryan family still
dialect; there are dialects for men and for wo- adheres to its old religion, and in the belief of
men and for children; for clergy and for laity; spirits and of the spirituality of God in the
for the noisy streets and for the still and quiet shape of a Divine mind or Sensorium, from
life of the closets of students; and as the child whence all divine intelligence is drawn. And
advances to manhood it has to learn its lan- their religion is that of Brahminism and Bud-
guage and its religion. dhism. Their sacred books or bible is the
The religion of the nursery, with baby talk, Vedas, written in the Sanscrit, and from this
ghost and witch stories, implants a supersti- language the philologist is enabled to trace the
tious religion which requires a severe mental origin of the Greek, Latin, and the German
struggle to outgrow, and some are so effemin- and Anglo-Saxon and Engiish languages.
ate that they never are able to throw it off. It is evident that the Semitic religion of
Therefore the mass of mankind speak the lan- Abraham dates far back into the past, long
guage of their fathers and adopt their ideas of before the flood, which was the submerging of
politics and business, and cling to the religion some portion of the Eastern hemisphere, per-
of their mother; therefore the masses move haps a submerged continent which is now called
slowly in politics and stillLemuria. It lies to the south of India, and is
slower in religion.
The no doubt where some writers locate the origin of man on
early expressions of religion were
frequently childish and mythical, which has earth.
tended to confuse the scholar in arriving at The Bible says, "And Joshua said unto
what was the real religious sentiment. It is all the people; thus saith the Lord God of
impossible to express abstract ideas except by Israel : your fathers dwelt on the other side of
metaphor, and it is not too much to say that the flood in old times, even Terah, the father
the whole dictionary of ancient Abraham and the
religion is of father of Nachor, and
made up of metaphors, and consequently there they served other gods. * * * Now, there-
is a constant struggle in the mind to free the fore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity
material from the spiritual. and truth; and put away the gods which your
 102

fathers served on the other side of the flood claim that the Semitic language had its origin
and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord/' in a different root. That it sprang from some
And it is evident from this declaration of wild, ape-like man family or group, far differ-
Joshua that before the flood they had other ent from that of the Aryan.
gods, and it might have been that they belong- Elyon. which in Greek means the highest, is
ed to the same stock or root as the Aryan used in the old Testament as a predicate of
races, who had many gods. The Brahmins God. It occurs also by itself as a name of
claim that they got their knowledge of God Jehovah. Melchizedek is called emphatically
from the who lived before the flood. the priest of El-Elyon the priest of the Most
Pitri, —
They were spirits who returned to earth to teach High God. It is evidently derived from a
man after the flood. Here we get a glimpse of Phoenician word, Elium, the High God, the
the remoteness of man "and his religion, and Father of Heaven, who was the father of El.
here was the beginning of the Hebrew race and The word Jehovah or Jahveh is supposed to be
religion; the idea of a Jehovah and a jealous, derived from a Chaldean word, Ido, God. It
revengeful God, a monotheisthic God without is claimed by Sir Henry Rawlinson to be found
wife or children, to whom in the ruins of Babylon.
Christianity has given Yet it
on inscriptions
a son equal to the father, and Mohammedan- may be of Hebrew origin after their separation —
ism has given Him a prophet who has charge from the main branch of the Semitic race and, —
of His earthly affairs and of the admission into therefore was a local word, which the Jews used,
Paradise. in the sense of the one true God. Abraham
The Semitic nations have, on the contrary, a worshiped God as Jehovah, a«d philologists
different word for their deity, El, which means differ as to whether it is of Hebrew origin.
strong, and throughout all the Semitic races it The Semitic nations, Assyrians, Babylonians,
is a term applied to their deity. In the He- Phoenicians, Carthagenians, the Moabites, Phil-
brew we have the word Beth-El, the house of istians, and, sometimes, the Jews, called their
God; ha-El, the strong one. great or supreme God, Bel, or Baal. Before
" El was the name for God in Babylon, and the flood, he was called Bel. Though origin-
was worshiped at Byblis by the Phoenicians, ally one Baal, he became divided into many
and he was called the sun of heaven and earth. divine personalities through the influence of
His father was the son of Elium, the most high local worship. So we hear of a Baal-tsur,
God, who had been killed by wild animals. Baal-tsidon, Baal-tare, originally the Baal of
The son of Elium, who succeeded him, was Tyre, of Sidon, and of Tarsus. At Shechem.
dethroned and at last slain by his own son El, Baal was worshiped as Baal barith, supposed to
whom Philo identified with the Greek Kronos, mean the God of treaties. At Ekron, the Phil-
and is represented as the presiding deity of the istians worshiped him as Baal-zebub, the lord
planet Saturn, with the name of El. Philo of flies (hence comes our Beelzebub); while the
connected the name with Elohim, the plural of Moabites, and the Jews, too, knew him also
Eloah. In the battle between El and his by the name of Baal-peor. On the Phoenician
father, the aliens of El, he says, '
were called coins, Baalis called Baal-shamayim, the Baal
Elohim, as those who were with Kronos were of heaven, which is the Beelsamen of Philo,
"
called Kronivi.' identified by him with the sun, and makes him
Eloah is used in the Bible synonymous with a sun-god.
El. It means gods in general or false gods, When the ancient Babylonians spoke of
while in Arabic ilah without the article means Belus, the Supreme God, cutting off his own
a god in general, with the article Al-ilah or head, that the blood flowing from it might be
Allah becomes the name of the God of Moham- mixed with the dust out of which men were
med. Hence we find through all the Semitic formed, sounds and absurd; but, by
horrible
races different terms for God, which have bfcen this myth, they only convey the idea that there
changed but little from El, the ibylonian is in man an element of divine life — that we
name for God. are also his offspring. The ancient Egyptians
The majority of the writers 01 philology convey about the same idea in the seventeenth
 103

chapter of thier "ritual," that the sun mutilated Germany. * * * We have in the Yedas
himself, and that from the stream of his blood the invocation Dyans-pitar, the Greek,
he created beings. And Moses conveys the which means in all
i iarep, the Latin Jupiter,

same idea in Genesis when he says that, "God meant before these
three languages what it

formed man from the dust of the ground, and languages were torn asunder it means Heav- —
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." enly Father. It did not mean idolatry, or
The Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, ;
nature-worship, but the Great Spirit that dwelt
Hebrews, Syrian tribes, Arabs and Carthage- in the sky, the source all life and light, from
of
nians all belonged to the Semitic race. It is which all and good has emana-
intelligence
the only race that was ever a rival of the Aryan ted." (See Max Muller's " Science of Reli-
race. The Semitic race has been great on land gion.")
and sea. From the valley of the Euphrates The ancient Greek and Roman religion is

and that of the Tigris, its sons carried their evidently of Aryan origin, as it is illustrated in
peculiar civilization west to the Mediterranean Homer, Hesiod and Virgil. They believed in
sea, whose commerce at and ancestral spirits, though their
one time was under tutelary
the control of the Phoenicians, whose ships ex- religion had become much mixed with that of
plored the coast and made settlements at Car- Egypt and with the Semitic religion, which
thage and Cadiz, and sailed as far north as they introduced into their mythology.
Great Britain, and circumnavigated Africa two There have been two streams of religion
thousand years before Vasco de Gama. flowing through two channels; one the Aryan
The languages of the Semitic nations is very and the other the Semitic; one from the plains
closely related, being almost the dialects of a of the Euphrates to the Jordan and to the
single tongue, the difference between them be- Mediterranean, while the other has flown from
ing hardly greater than between the different the Indus to the Thames, through the middle
dialects of the German race. of Europe, among the blonde race, while the
The almost identical former has been engrafted in the dark races in
Phoenician language is

with that of the Hebrew, and the Phoenicians the south of Europe, in a modified form of the
had the Jewish love of commerce, trade, and monotheistic Semitic religion — the Roman
making money. By some historians they have Catholic religion.
been called the ancient Jews of the Mediterra- While, in a still more modified form, it has
nean. This race has given to man the alpha- spread over the whole of middle and northern
bet, the Bible, the Koran, commerce, and the Europe, where it is known as Protestantism,
greatest military genius of the past, Hannibal. which is more liberal in its views and loses
The have been in much of its monotheistic nature and becomes
peculiarities of these races
the structure of their language and the forms of more spiritual. The anthropomorphic idea of
their religion, which consisted mainly of mono- an individual God meets with but little favor
—
theism a belief in the existence of one per- from the Indo-Germanic races, who are fast
sonal God only —
while the belief of the Aryan falling into the spiritual belief, which was the
races was that of polytheism —
a belief in the original religion of the Aryan race, before it
plurality of the gods or invisible beings supe- became engrafted on Christianity, which was a
rior to man, and having an agency in the gov- departure from the monotheistic belief of the

ernment of the world, and who could assist Semitic races. As the Christian religion is
mortals, a kind of ancestral worship of the more Brahminical than Mosaical, it is a rein-
spirits of ancestors, friends, heroes and states- carnation of Chrisna or Buddha, and it is more

men, who became gods. humane and not tyrannical, like that of the
•
' The highest God [of the Aryans] received Mosaic.
the same name in the ancient mythology of India, The Hindoo branch of the Aryan family,
Greece, Italy and Germany, and they retained Hebrew branch
like the of the Semitic family,
thatname, whether worshiped on the Hima- has produced two religious books, or two reli-
layan mountains (Olympus) or among the oaks gions, one being the outgrowth of the other.
of Dodona, on the Capitol, or in the forest of The Hindoos have given rise to Brahminism,
 104

and Buddhism is its outgrowth. The He- emanating from this Supreme Being, who were
brew religion had its origin in Mosaicism, and his manifestations to the world, and who were
its outgrowth is Christianity. The Ira- the rulers of the planets. Like other panthe-
nians —the ancient Persians —a branch of the istic religions, the custom prevailed among the
Aryan had another religion known as Zo-
race, Semitic nations of promoting first one and then
roasterism, which is found in the Zend-Avesta, the other deity to be the supreme object of
and draws much from the old Vedas, the sacred worship. Among the Assyrians, as among the
books of the Brahmins. There is still another Egyptians, the gods were often arranged in

branch of the Semitic race, the Arabs, which triads, as that of Anu, Bel and Ao. Anu or
has given to the world another religion known Aannes wore the head of a fish, Bel wore the
as Mohammedanism, the outgrowth of the horns of a bull, and Ao was represented by a
old Bible, or rather the old Testament, which serpent. Moses is frequently represented as
has respect for Christ as a prophet, but differs having a ram's horn on the side of his head.
with Christianity as to his divine origin. Brahminism, like the Church of Rome, es-
The old monotheisthic doctrine of Moses, tablished a system of sacramental salvation in
taught in the old Testament, that there is but the hands of a sacred order. Buddhism, like Pro-
one God and Moses is his prophet, is now em- testantism, revolted and established a doctrine
braced by the entire Semitic race, so that prac- of individual salvation, based on personal char-
tically this race has again returned to its orig- acter. Brahminism, like the Church of Rome,
inal belief in one God — a man-like God, as teaches an exclusive Spiritualism, glorifying pe-
Moses says, "God created man in his own nances and martyrdom, and considers the body
image," and it can therefore be claimed that the enemy of the But Buddhism and
soul.

he is in the shape and form of a man, and this Protestantism accept nature and its laws, and
man-like God punishes as well as offers rewards make it a religion of humanity as well as of
and grants forgiveness of sin through the influ- devotion. There may be some exceptions, but
ence of the Prophet. So thousands flock to the rule generally applies.
Mecca, as Christians do to Jerusalem, to do The Roman Catholic Church and Brahmin-
homage to these sacred places. ism place the essence of religion in sacrifices.

Christianity was an improvement on Mosaic- The daily sacrifice of mass is the central fea-
ism; so was Buddhism an improvement on ture of the former, while Protestantism and
Brahminism; and both tended to purify and Buddhism save the soul by teaching. In the
better the condition of the religious sentiment Roman Church the sermon is subordinate to
of the people.though a Jew, was mass, while in Protestantism and Buddhism
Christ,
rejected by the Jews, but his religious senti- sermons are the main instruments by which
ment found lodgment among the gentiles the souls are saved. —
—
Indo-European races but never was very pala- Brahminism is a system of inflexible castes;
table to the Semitic races, which clung to the the priestly order is made distinct and supreme.
monotheistic idea of a man-like God. The So in Romanism the priesthood alone consti-
doctrine of the trinity was something they tute the church, while in Buddhism and Pro-
could never comprehend, and so they readily testantism the laity regain their rights. Bud-
fell into the Mohammedan religion, as enun- dhism in Asia, like Protestantism in Europe
ciated by its great prophet, who said, "There and America, is a revolt of nature against spirit,
is but one God and Mohammed is his prophet," of humanity against caste, of individual free-
while the Jews claim there is but one God and dom against the despotism of an order, of sal-
Moses is his prophet. vation by faith against salvation by sacrament.
The Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians and While Buddhism is often called the Protest-
Carthagenians had a similar religion. They antism of the East, it has many of the forms
believed in a SupremeGod, called by different and ceremonies of Romanism. The chanting
—
names Ira, Bel, Set, Hadad, Moloch, Che- of prayers, counting of beads, burning of in-
mosh, Jaoh El, Adon and Asshur. All be- cense and candles before the image of the vir-
lieved in subordinate and secondary beings gin Mary, called the queen of heaven, having
 105

an infant in her arms and holding a cross. organization than we are yet familiar with.
While Buddhism makes God or the good and The wave of existence makes seven rounds
heaven to be equivalent to nothing or repose, through the planetary chain, each sphere being
it intensifies and exaggerates evil. Though fitted for a different phase of progress, regarding
heaven is a blank, hell is a very solid reality. both animate and inanimate nature. Darwin's
It is and future too; everything
present in the
c
Missing Link ' is picked up here. Man,
thousand hells of Buddhism is painted as viv- whose destiny is the principal object of inquiry,
idly as in the hell of Dantes. God has disap- on each round develops in each sphere seven
peared from the universe and in his place is' great root races, each producing seven sub-
only the inexorable law, which grinds on for- races, again divided into seven branches, and it

ever. It punishes and rewards, but has no is well enough to know that we are of the
love in it. It is only dead, cold, hard, cruel, fourth round, fifth race and seventh sub-race;
unrelenting law. Yet Buddhists are not athe- or, in other words, just beyond the middle
ists any more than a child who has never heard point of our cyclic career. Considering that
of God. A child cannot be either deist or the individual nomad makes its progress by
atheist, because it has no theology. successive incarnations of not less than two to
The platonic philosophy was able to grasp each branch race, and that the evolution of our
and hold the idea of God and man, the infinite present root-race began about one million years
and finite, the eternal and ago, the magnitude and duration of the scheme
the temporal.
Christianity recognizes God and begins to dawn upon the mind, and on learning
as the infinite
eternal, but recognizes also the world of time that beyond the seven rounds of each planetary
and space as real. Man exists as well as God; chain lies the solar, and beyond that universal
we love God, we must love man too. Brahmin- cycle, imagination retires baffled from the at-
ism loves God, but not man; it has piety, but tempt to realize the plan.
no humanity. Buddhism loves man, but not "Seven distinct principles enter into the
God; it has humanity, no piety; if it has piety constitution of man; the body, vitality, the
it is by a beautiful want of logic, its heart being astral body, the animal soul, the human soul,

wiser than its head. the spiritual soul, and spirit. The first needs
Christianity takes all the good there is in the no explanation. The second is matter in its
Buddhist doctrine and gives man a live God, aspect as force. Though immaterial, its affinity
a soul, a heaven, and a hereafter. Buddhism for gross matter prevents its separation from it
makes man struggle up to God, while Christian- except by instant translation to some other
ity makes God come down to man, and unites particle or mass. We get the idea in the
all in one vast brotherhood. modern theory of the Persistence of Force.' '

For further information I refer you to the The astral body is the eternal duplicate of the
"Esoteric Buddhism," by Sinnett: physical body its original design. It guides —
"The one universal spirit comprehending vitality in its work on the physical particles,
eternal matter, motion, space and duration, and causes it to build up the shape which these
evolves the boundless cosmos, comprising assume. Query: Has this any bearing on
countless solar systems, each consisting of seven that stumbling block of modern biology, the
planetary chains of seven planets each. subsequent determination of apparently identi-
"Evolution takes a like course through each cal embryos? These three lower principles are
planetary chain, the members of which are of the earth earthy, perishable in their nature
intimately bound together by subtile currents as a single entity, and done with by man at his

and forces. The passage of individual spiritual death. The animal soul is the first of the
entities round this chain constitutes the evolu- principles which attaches to man's higher
tion of man, which is still in progress. There nature. It is the seat of the desires and the
are seven kingdoms of nature. Of the three vehicle of will, influencing, and influenced by
lowest Western science knows nothing. The the fifth principle, the human soul. This is
mineral, vegetable, animal and man complete the seat of reason and memory, and in the
the list, the latter including beings of higher majority of mankind is not yet fully developed.

o» -nre
UNIVERSITY
 106

It follows as a matter of course that the sixth does not embrace all that is known of nature
principle, the spiritual soul, is yet in embyro. and man ? That along other lines of inquiry,
Yet the sixth and also the seventh principle, or and following methods strange and unsatisfactory
pure spirit, inheres in man's nature, and the to us, other men have through centuries pushed
human soul is capable of assimilating them in their investigations and stored up the results in

its progress to perfection. This seven-fold the archives of secret associations; and that
nature of man is the key to his destiny. At now, when modern thought, released from •

death the three lower principles are finally mediaeval fetters, is preparing the way for the
abandoned by that which is really man himself, ^recognition of truths in nature, hitherto un-
the Ego, and the remaining principles escape known or denounced, these stores are to be
to Devachan, the world of spirits. A contest opened to our view to prove the coherence of
ensues, the fourth principle drawing the fifth all truth?"
earthward, while the sixth and seventh attract The religions of Persia, Egypt, Greece and
it upward. The lower instincts, impulses and Rome have come to an end, having shared the
recollections of the fifth of their civilization, and while Brahma,
adhere to the fourth, fate

while its most elevated and Buddha, India and Islam have been arrested,
spiritual portions
cling to the sixth and seventh. Devachan is a Christianity has taken a milder form, and a
state, not a locality, in which the soul experi- new religion called modern Spiritualism has
ences a subjective existence. The karma of sprung up, which in the last quarter of a century
physical existence, that is, the affinities for good has spread over the whole civilized world, mak-
and evil, generated by man during objective ing inroads upon all other religions. It now
life,determine the duration and character of the numbers not less than twenty-five millions, of
subjective life. Like earthly existence it has the most intelligent advanced thinkers of the
its season of infancy, prime and exhaustion, age, while the Christian religions vary from one
passing through oblivion, not into death, but hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy
birth, and the resumption of millions, the Buddhist from two hundred and
reincarnation
action which begets a new karma, to be worked twenty-two to three hundred and twenty mill-
out in another term of devachan. So the ions, the Mohammedans from one hundred and
process goes on from race to race, from sphere ten to one hundred and sixty millions, the
to sphere, from round to round, until perfected Brahmins from one hundred and eleven to one
humanity attains its destiny in the repose of hundred and thirty millions, the Jews from
Nirvana; not the Nirvana of popular miscon- four to six millions. That of the Chinese re-
—
ception annihilation —
but the sublime state of ligions we have no figures to go by.
conscious rest in Omniscience. 'The dew- M. Hubner gives the following religious sta-
drop slips into the shining sea.' tistics, comprising the leading religions of the
"Fantastic and absurd as much of this world:
'
Theory of Nature' may appear, it cannot fail christians, 400,000,000.
in some respects to arouse earnest attention.
Is it nothing that ancient religion and modern
Roman Catholics 200,000,000
Protestants 1 10,000,000
science clasp hands across the interval of thirty
Greeks 80,000,000
centuries ?
Various other sects 10,000,000
"The most prominent and yet unsettled
theories of modern thought, the nebular NON-CHRISTIANS, 992,500,000.
man, du- Buddhists
hypothesis, evolution, the descent of
500,000,000
bious problems in biology, ethnology and kin- 150,000,000
Brahmins
dred sciences are incorporated with and made
Mohammedans 80,000,000
a part of an ancient religo-philosophic system, 6,500,000
Israelites
and besides the grand sweep of these Oriental Unknown different religions.... 240,000,000
generalizations, the speculations of modern
Unknown religions 16,000,000
science seems timid, tentative and feeble.
"Is it possible that our Western civilization Total 1,392,500,000
 CALlf

107

It is generally conceded that the teachings as kings, generals and founders of cities. To
of Confucius, which are rather a philosophy these some added the splendid and useful ob-
than a religion, are among the oldest we have jects in the natural world, as the sun, moon
record of, while that of Lao-tse and Tao-ism, and stars, and some were not ashamed to pay
its contemporary, was founded on that of spir- divine honors to mountains, rivers, trees, etc.
itism. Herodotus, who traveled in Egypt 450 The worship of these deities consisted in cere-
B. C, gives us an account of the monuments monies, sacrifices and prayers. The ceremo-
in that country, in which were found China nies were for the most part absurd and ridicu-
ware, with Chinese mottos, which Rosellini lous, and thoroughly debasing, obscene and
believes to have been imported from China by cruel. The prayers were truly insipid and void
kings contemporary with or before the time of of piety, both in form and matter. The priests
Moses. There have been similar vases found who presided over this worship basely abused
in the ruins of Troy, that go to prove that their authority to impose on the people. The
China was a highly civilized nation long before whole pagan system had not the least efficacy
the siege of Troy, and if Chinese history is to to produce and cherish virtuous emotions in the
be relied on, it will take us back into the gray soul, because the gods and goddesses were pat-
mist of the past some twenty-five thousand terns of vice, and the priests bad men, and the
years, and it is now generally admitted that doctrines false." (See Mosheim's "Church
Confucius lived at least five hundred and fifty History.")
hears before the Christian era. The narrow creeds excluding God, the Fath-
Chronologists differ as to which is the oldest er, from any communication with the great
civilization, Egypt or India. The. Greeks and majority of human beings, is revolting to com-
Romans trace back to mon sense and humanity. Selecting a few of his
Egypt, and for a long
period of time it was thought that Egypt was chosen children to be saved and leaving the
the cradle of civilization. But learned philol- rest to perish in their ignorance, is an extremely
ogists and ethnologists contend that India is selfish view of an intelligent God. He caused
the oldest in the arts and has the oldest reli- some to be born in India, some in China, and
gions. Others again claim that they are differ- others in Europe, Africa, America, and in the
ent and, perhaps, spontaneous developments. far-distant islands of the sea; they are all

Plato gives us an intimation that the Egyptians His children and they are all as dear to him as
had knowledge of the submerged continent of are the Jews. He speaks to each of them
Atlantis. And from the similarity of the tem- through the same channel, whether he be a
ples and pyramids in Central America it might Brahmin, Buddhist, Chinese, Mohammedan,
have been possible, at a very remote period, Christian, pagan or heathen; " In Him we live
that these countries had intercourse with each and move and have our being." He is above
other. all, and through all, and in all.
Every religion has been an outgrowth of pre- "Abraham," says Max Muller, "was the
ceding religious faiths. Back of all religions firstwe have any record of who could raise his
and an older religion and
civilizations there is soul to the contemplation of a Perfect Being
civilization. had been colonized by
Palestine above all, and the source of all. With pas-
Arab tribes from Idumea and Phoenicia long Most High God,
sionate love he adored this
before it was invaded by the children of Israel maker of heaven and earth." The mind of
under the leadership of Joshua and Moses. Abraham rose to a clear conception of the
Eventually they became more or less consoli- unity of God as excluding all other divine be-
dated as the kingdoms of Samaria and Judea. ings; yet if we will examine the expressions of
Their fables, legends, and family this great Arab chief, as described in the book
traditions
religions were more or amalgamated and of Genesis, we can see at once that he was a
less
nationalized under the name of Judea. great medium and a theosophist, who held con-
" The greater part of the gods of all nations verse with the spirits, the same as our modern
were ancient heroes, famous for their achieve- mediums. When they told him to sacrifice
ments and their worthy deeds, and were such his^on Isaac he was ready to do it under the
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firm belief that it was the voice of God, when more flexible and is more capable of becoming
he heard another voice that told him not to able to supply the religious wants of all races
kill Isaac, that there was a ram tangled in the of men, therefore it is fitted to become the
vines near by. This was a clear case of clair- universal religion of man, it being a composite
audience. made up of all the previous religions; and con-
Mr. Renan says the Indo-European race, sequently it is an improvement on all the other
distracted by the variety of the universe, never religions.

by arrived at monotheism.
itself The Semitic Jesus Christ was a man born a seer, a pro-
race, on the other hand, guided by its firm phet and endowed with remarkable mediumis-
and sure sight, instantly unmasked divinity, tic gifts, which were improved by development
and without reflection or reasoning attained the by the assistance of the spirits. He was mis-
purest form of religion that humanity has ever understood by his immediate followers, and
known. The Hebrews, like the Assyrians and was imputed to be something superior to man,
Babylonians, were divided between monothe- and his deeds were exaggerated by their unrea-
ism and sabacism or star-worship. The Se- soning credulity. Elevated above the multi-
mitic, like the Aryan races, had a confused tude by his superior spirituality, he was quali-
idea of one Supreme God behind all the sec- fied to be a teacher of the sublime inspirations
ondary deities. which flowed into his receptive mind from wise
Pure monotheism appears to be a direct reve- and pure spirits, who made him their mouth-
lation to Moses; and even in Jehovah we are piece to the masses. Pure and spiritual in his
led to believe that Moses gave him more of the life, he was prepared for rapid progress as a
attributes of a big Moses or man than that of spirit; and now, with other ancient prophets
an All Wise and Supreme God. and exalted men, he holds a place among celes-
Christianity, as soon as it became the reli- tial spirits, having experienced his second spir-
gion of a no-Semitic race, lost much of itsmo- itual birth and become a dweller in the third

notheism and tended to pantheism. They sphere.

added to God "all above," and the God Peter, in Acts ii: 22, says: "I see in Jesus
"with all," the God "in us all." The new of Nazareth a man approved of by God among
Testament is full of this kind of pantheism, you by miracles, wonders and signs that God
God in man as well as God with man. Jesus did in him." " I and my father are one;" one
made the step forward from God with man to in purpose, one in spirit. He worshiped in
God in man; " I am in them, thou in me." spirit, and he never lost sight of the spiritual
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is this idea of world. God did not speak to him from with-
God, who is not only will and power, not only out. He feels that God is in him. He needed
wisdom and law, but love of God, who desires no sound of thunder, like Moses; no revealing
communion and intercourse with his children, tempest, like Job; no familiar oracle, like the
and who, therefore, comes and dwells with Grecian sage; but he consciously lived in and
them. Mohammed teaches a God above us; with the Father in the spiritual, as he was en
Moses teaches a God above us and yet with us; rapport with the Divine mind, which permeated
Jesus teaches God above us, God with us and all the whole universe. If man would live as

God in us. Christ directed, and in harmony with natural

Christianity teaches of a Supreme Being who laws, he could converse with angels (spirits) as
is a pure spirit. It is a more spiritual religion they did in the days of Abraham, Christ and
than Brahminism, for the latter has passed on the apostles.
into polytheism and idolatry. Christianity is
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