AUM

TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

"'Tis time, through deeds, this word of truth to thunder,

That with the height of Gods Man's dignity may vie!"
- Faust, Goethe

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
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Vol. XIV October, 1899 No. 7
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PROMETHEUS
by Byron

(Selected)

Titan! to whose immortal eyes

The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise;
What was thy pity's recompense?
A silent suffering, and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
The agony they do not show,
The suffocating sense of woe,
Which speaks but in its loneliness,
And then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
Until its voice is echoless.

Titan! to thee the strife was given

Between the suffering and the will,
Which torture where they cannot kill;
And the inexorable Heaven,
And the deaf tyranny of Fate,
The ruling principle of Hate,
Which for its pleasure doth create
The things it may annihilate,
Refused thee even the boon to die;
The wretched gift eternity
Was thine - and thou haft borne it well.
All that the Thunderer wrung from thee
Was but the menace which flung back
 On him the torments of thy rack;
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
But would not, to appease him, tell;
And in thy Silence was his Sentence,
And in his Soul a vain repentance,
And evil dread so ill dissembled,
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.

Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,

To render with thy precept less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen Man with his own mind;
But, baffled as thou went from high,
Still in thy patient energy.
In the endurance, and repulse
Of thine impenetrable Spirit,
Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
This own funereal destiny;
His wretchedness, and his resistance,
And his sad, unallied existence;
To which his Spirit may oppose
Itself - and equal to all woes,
And a firm will, and a deep sense,
Which even in torture can descry
Its own concenter'd recompense,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
And making Death a Victory.

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EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES.

by Alexander Wilder, M.D.

VII - Brief Summary - Feeble Dynasties - The Eleventh - The Twelfth, with its Mighty Kings.

Two royal lines, those of Mena and Pepi, had completed their career in Egypt. The
seat of dominion, which had been at Abydos, had been transferred to the new city of
Memphis, which had risen from the bed of the Nile. Monarchs great and powerful had
succeeded to the quieter rule of the Hor-shesu, and there had been established other forms
of government, culture and social life. Conjecture has been busy in efforts to determine
whence these master-spirits came that created these new conditions, from what region
they derived their skill, and the periods of time when all this was begun and brought to
pass.
The reply so far has been little more than the echo of the questions.
The discoveries of Professors Flinders-Petrie, of M. Jacques de Morgan, the
Director-General of French Exploration, of M. Amelineau and their fellow-laborers, are the
latest contributions at hand. They are very interesting as tending to modify some of the
opinions which had been entertained. They seem to demonstrate the African origin of the
early Egyptian population, but likewise a probable racial affiliation of the ruling classes of
Kushites of Ethiopians of Southern and Middle Asia.
Perhaps the disclosure least expected was the practice of cremation. At the death
of any of the earlier kings, the body, together with his personal property, was placed on the
pyre for incineration; and when this had been accomplished the bones and remains of the
various articles were preserved in the vases in the tombs. This was a structure of sun-
dried bricks.
Inside of these tombs were found implements of flint, vases of stone, both of
alabaster and obsidian, figures of animals carved from ivory and rock crystal, together with
ornaments, glass beads and bracelets, and pieces of burned cloth. Many of the vases
were of material which was not to be obtained in Egypt, but had been brought from Asia.
The style of art was primitive.
The tombs near Nagada, in the Thebaid, resembled those of Chalda. There were
no metallic implements or ornaments to be found. At Abydos the case was different. M.
Amelineau describes a tomb at that capital very similar in style to those of the older
necropolis, with the remains of a terrace-like roof supported by wooden beams. The body
of the king was in a central room of the structure, but the cremation had been so complete
that only a few bones were left. He also found both implements made of stone, vases, and
figures of animals cut from rock-crystal, together with large quantities of ornaments of
bronze. The style of manufacture is like that employed in ancient Assyria.
It seems that in Egypt as in other Oriental countries the bodies of royal personages
only were cremated. For others the common practice was interment. The king, being
venerated as a divine being, the offspring and representative, or even the incarnation of the
god Ra or Horos, he was supposed to rise

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from his ashes to a new life, like the Phoenix of Egyptian tradition.
The name was preserved by hieroglyphic engraving in a tablet of stone of square
or circular form. M. Arnelineau discovered also the tombs of the kings Den and Dja, and
others belonging to the First Dynasty. He also found vases of offerings, and not only the
"banner-names" inscribed on the cylinders, but the titles of "King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, Lord of the Vulture mid Sacred Serpent."
A more significant discovery, however, was made by M. de Morgan at Nagada in
1897. He found in the royal tomb the name of the king, "Aha," carved in hieroglyphic
character. This is a demonstration of the proficiency of the Egyptian learning at that period
and that they then employed that mode of writing. The cutting, however, exhibited
indecision, as though the knowledge of it was but newly acquired. M. Amelineau
supplemented this discovery by the finding among the seals on the vases of the tombs at
Abydos, one that was marked by the cylinder of that monarch. The scarabaeus had not
been adopted at that period as a device for seals.
The calcined fragments of the body were removed from Nagara to the Museum at
Gizeh, together with other relics, including vases and the figure of a dog artistically carved
in ivory. Besides these, there were also broken pieces of an ivory plaque, which when
joined together, disclosed the "Ka-name," or mystic appellation of the astral or divine
counterpart of the royal personage; and attached to it was likewise the name borne by
King Aha during his lifetime: MENA!
Fixing the capital of a united Egypt at the new site of Memphis, he and his
successors directed their efforts persistently to the consolidating of their dominions, the
promoting of sacred learning and the development of useful industries. Important features
were incorporated into the laws, religious rites and administration. King Bai-neter enacted
that women likewise should inherit royal power; and Seneferu, who extended his dominion
beyond Goshen and the Sethroite nome to the peninsula of Sinai, made other changes of
an important character. About this time the embalming of the dead and the erecting of
pyramids for the reception of the royal coffins, appear to have come into practice. Khufu
was distinguished beyond his predecessors or the kings that succeeded. He enlarged the
scope of royal power, added to the rites of worship, and increased the territory of the
country. The Great Pyramid was a temple as well as a Holy Sepulchre, and throughout the
succeeding dynasties was provided with a college of priests and prophets for the
celebration of religious offices and initiations. The divinities revered in Upper Egypt, Num,
Isis and Osiris, were now recognized at the royal court, and the king prepared a sacred
ritual for their worship. This was the Augustan age of archaic Egypt.
The Fifth Dynasty followed clearly in the path marked out by its predecessors, in the
cultivating of knowledge, and the diligent observing of religious worship. But the
ascendency of Memphis was now waning, and the influence of other regions was
perceptibly increasing.
The Sixth Dynasty, as we have seen, was in important respects a new departure.
The sovereigns of this line appear to have displayed a stronger disposition for foreign
conquest. Pepi, the principal king, had numerous wars with the Semitic populations at the
east of Egypt, and he is supposed to have carried his arms into Arabia and Nubia. Like
Khufu, who was in a great degree his prototype, he was a builder. He founded a city in
middle Egypt which was known by his own name, and he also rebuilt and

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enlarged the principal sanctuaries. Carrying out the plan of his famous predecessor, he
erected a new temple at Dendera or Tentyris (Ten-to-Ra) to the great Goddess, Hathor, in
which were halls for occult and initiatory rites, a planisphere, and typical representations
of the birth of the Universe.
The three children of Pepi succeeded to the throne. With the last of these, the
beautiful Queen Neitokris, the dynasty came to an end.
Egypt was now rent by internal dissensions. No one was able, for centuries, to wear
the double crown and to wield the lotus as well as the papyrus scepter. The local
sovereigns in the several districts were engaged increasingly in conflict. "All this," says
Brugsch-Bey, "suggests the picture of a state split up into petty kingdoms, afflicted with civil
wars and royal murders; and among its princes or rulers of homes there arose no
delivererable with a bold arm to strike down the rebels and seize and hold with firm hand
the fallen reins of the reunited monarchy."
Manetho has no record of names from the Seventh to the Eleventh Dynasty. He or
some one in his name has left the following meagre record:
"Seventh Dynasty. - Seventy Memphite Kings who reigned seventy days (or, as has
been corrected, five Kings who reigned twenty years and seventy days).
"Eighth Dynasty. - Twenty-seven Meniphite Kings who reigned one hundred and
twenty-six years.
"Ninth Dynasty. - Nineteen Herakleotic Kings who reigned four hundred years.
"Tenth Dynasty. - Nineteen Herakleotic Kings who reigned one hundred and eighty
years.
"Eleventh Dynasty. - Sixteen Diaspolitic Kings who reigned forty-two years. After
them Amenemes reigned sixteen years."
This enumeration is little less than a jumble. There is every likelihood that Memphis
was the arena of bloody conflict and ceased to be a capital. The two Dynasties of Khien-su
or Herakleopolis, it has been insisted, held only a local dominion, while other parts of the
country had also kings of their own.
The Tablet of Abydos, which was compiled by Seti and his famous son, gives the
official names of nineteen Kings who reigned over southern Egypt, during six hundred
years of misrule. Eratosthenes names eight, and the Turin Papyrus, six.
Thebes or No-Amun now became the mistress of Egypt. Only there the semblance
of order seems to have been steadily maintained. The first kings of the Eleventh Dynasty
were monarchs of moderate pretensions, who left few memorials except tombs that were
simple pyramids built of unburnt brick. Mr. Birch describes their names as being alternately
Antef and Mentu-hetep, and considers it probable that they continued in a direct unbroken
succession. The coffins of two of them have been found. They were made of single trees,
and their mummies were enclosed in pasteboard envelopes.
The first of these was Antef or Anentef, "the greet Father." He was descended from
the southern line of Theban princes. His tomb was rifled by the Arabs in 1827, and
contained the royal mummy, adorned with a golden diadem which bore the usual figure of
the royal serpent. The simulacra of the wasp and branch attested the rank of the illustrious
dead, and the escutcheon bore the name of "Antef."
This monarch had been embalmed and inhumed by his brother Anentef-ao, who also
succeeded to the throne. The tomb of this king was found by Mariette-Bey. It was a brick
pyramid with a single chamber, and contained a memorial stone bearing the date of the
fiftieth year of his reign. He was addicted to

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hunting and was warmly attached to pet animals. His image was found in a standing
posture, and at the feet were the figures of four dogs, each of a different breed, and
wearing a collar on which his name was inscribed. The animals were called Beheka Mahet,
Ab-akar, Pehet-Kamu and Tekal Uhat-Khempet.
 The third sovereign bearing the name of Antef, Nantef or Anentef was designated
Tosi-Meres by Eratosthenes, with the additional sentence: "who is the sun," or incarnation
of Ra. After him was another called by way of distinction, Anentif-na, "The Greater Antef,"
and likewise Sethi-Neilos. He was renowned for having raised his country to a rank
superior to the others. The Tablet of Karnak significantly points out as a change that after
the Antef hyks or local rulers were four kings. In plainer words, Egypt had once more a
united government - the Eleventh Dynasty.
The scepters which had departed from Memphis were now in the hands of the Kings
of Thebes, the city of Noph-Amun.
The most imposing figure of the new line was Mentu-hetep, who bore also the official
name of Neb-kha-Ra or Ta-neb-Ra. He not only established a dynasty, but the rulers of
the vivified Egypt of later centuries were his descendants and based their divine authority
as kings on the fact. A record on a rock in the island of Konossa, not far from Pi-lakh or
Philae, commemorates this king as the conqueror of thirteen nations. He made his
residence at the town of Kebta or Koptos in "The beautiful valley of Hammantat," and his
name together with that of his mother, Ama, is found in an inscription there.
The god Khem, "The Lord of the inhabitants of the desert," was the tutelary of
Koptos, and Mentu-hetep was diligent in his worship. At the same time he was by no
means derelict in devotion to other divinities. It ought to be borne in mind, however, that
the names and personifications of the gods had reference to prominent divine qualities
rather than to distinct individuality. Khem personated Amun, "the unknown god," of
Thebes, and Ra or Horos of Abydos. An Egyptian was nothing if not religious.
After the practice of former kings, Mentu-hetep, in the second year of his reign, set
about the construction of his pyramid. It bore the name of Khu-setu, "the place of
illumination." A memorial stone at Abydos commemorates the priest who officiated at the
sacrifices for the dead which were offered to the deceased monarch at this shrine. This
king is recorded as having reigned over fifty years.
Mr. Birch credits to "Mentu-hetep III" the inscription in relation to the transporting of
stones for the royal sarcophagus from the mountain to the banks of the Nile. It bears date
on the 15th day of the month Paophi,* in the second year of his reign. Three thousand men
were required for the work, masons, sculptors and workmen of all classes. Amun-em-hat,
the royal commissioner of public works, superintended the whole undertaking. "He sent
me," the inscrip-

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* August-September.
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tion reads, "because I am of his sacred family, to set up the monuments of this country.
He selected me from his capital city, and chose me out of the number of his counselors.
His Holiness ordered me to go to the beautiful mountain with the soldiers and principal men
of the whole country."
The way from Koptos to the mountains lay through the valley of Hammamat, and
another inscription records that the king caused a deep well ten cubits in diameter to be
sunk in the desert for the use of the workmen, and for the refreshment of pilgrims.
 The origin of obelisks is now set to the credit of the Eleventh Dynasty. Near the
grave of Queen Aah-hetep, the illustrious descendant of Mentu-hetep, in the necropolis of
Thebes, two obelisks were dug up in broken pieces. They were put together by Mr. Villiers-
Stuart, and each was found to bear the name of an Antef. One of them also bore the
inscription: "Neb-kheper-Ra, perfect of God, made for himself splendid temples."
The artist of this monarch, Mer-ti-sen, achieved a reputation almost surpassing that
of his royal master. He was the beginner of a line of architects who flourished till the latest
times, and their works of skill made Egyptian art celebrated over the world. The Doric
order, the canon of proportion, and imperishable coloring are among the achievements of
this period.
The last king of this series, Sankh-ka-Ra, is enumerated in the Tablet of Abydos as
the fifty-eighth. His reign is memorable for the voyage of Hannu to the "divine country of
Punt." This region was regarded as the cradle of archaic Egypt. It is described as washed
by the great sea, full of valleys and hills, abounding in ebony and other choice woods, in
frankincense, balsam, precious metals and costly stones; and also in animals, such as
giraffes, hunting leopards, panthers, dog-headed apes, and ring-tailed monkeys, and
likewise birds of strange plumage.
Tradition depicted Punt as the original land of the gods. Amun was considered as
the hyk or king, Hathor as the Queen, and Horos as the "holy morning star." Bes, the
Egyptian Pan or Dionysos, was regarded as the oldest form of Deity and was described as
going forth thence all over the world. The divinities, it was believed, had migrated from that
region to the valley of the Nile, and hence the country on the Red Sea was named Ta-
neter, "the land of the gods."
Hannu set out from Koptos for the sea with a force of three thousand men, and
before taking ship offered a great sacrifice of oxen, cows and goats. His voyage was very
prosperous. "I brought back," says he, "all kinds of products which I had not met with in the
parts of the Holy Land. And I came back by the road of Vak and Bohan, and brought with
me precious stones for the statues of the temples. But such a thing had never taken place
before, since there had been kings [in Egypt]: nor was the like ever done by any blood-
relations who had been sent to those places since the time of the Sun-god Ra."

TWELFTH DYNASTY.
"After these kings," says Manetho, "Amenemes (Amun-em-ha) reigned sixteen
years. The name of this king has a suggestive likeness to that of the famous minister of
Mentu-hetep, and both Manetho and the Turin Papyrus include him in the same dynasty.
His claim was evidently based upon marriage to a princess of that dynasty, and certainly
he held the throne by a precarious tenure. He was twice dethroned, and his whole reign
was disturbed by conspiracies. His instructions to his son and successor declare this. He
was, nevertheless, an able sovereign and ruled the two realms of Egypt, from Elephantina
to the lowlands of the North, with

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a justice and wisdom that were generally acknowledged. Having succeeded in establishing
his power, he proceeded to deliver his subjects from the inroads of the negro tribes of
Nubia. A rock by the road from Korusko to the seacoast commemorates this expedition by
this inscription:
"In the twenty-ninth year [ninth?] of king Amunemha he came hither to smite the
inhabitants of the land of Wawa-t."
The Twelfth Dynasty has recorded in its monumental records an extraordinary zeal
for religion and public improvement. Amunemha founded the temple of Amun at Thebes,
which became afterward eminent as the royal sanctuary of Egypt. He also built temples
at Memphis and other capital cities, and placed in them images exquisitely carved in stone.
Each royal dynasty had its own precinct for the dead. Amunemha followed the
customs of the Memphite kings and set up his pyramid. It bore the name of Ka-nefer, "the
beautiful high place." He commissioned Anentef, the high priest of Khem at Koptos, the
royal residence, to superintend the work of preparing the sarcophagus. It was cut from the
mountain of Rohanna, in the valley of Hammamat, and removed to the plain. It was the
largest receptacle of the kind, and the usual assurance is given: "Never had the like been
provided since the time of the god Ra."
During the last two years of his reign the king made his son, Osirtasen I,* his partner
on the throne. This policy avoided a disputed succession, and as the

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* This country was in the gold-producing region now known as Ollaqui.
** Later Egyptologists spell this name with the initial letter U. The Egyptian priests
also pronounced the name Osiris, with the upsilon. The hieroglyphic symbol is rendered
indifferently a, e, or u. As the divinity Asari, Usari, or Hesiri, is best known by its Greek
form, we have, though with misgiving, conformed to that orthography.
-----------

prince had inherited the regal divine quality from his mother, it obviated any dispute in
regard to his father's authority. Indeed, he was set apart to this kingly office from before
his birth.
The record of Manetho, is involved in some confusion; as we find this statement
equivocally made that this king was murdered by his eunuchs.

[[illustration: Columns at Beni Hasan]]

Osirtasen addressed his first efforts to the securing of the support of the priests. He
proceeded to complete the public buildings at Thebes and other places which Amunemha
had founded, and also built over the shrines at Heliopolis,* then the most revered of the
holy places of Egypt. All through the coming centuries, the kings resorted to it year by year
on pilgrimages. The two obelisks before its temple which commemorate this work were
long regarded as the oldest of any in the country.
Under this king and his successors the arts and scientific knowledge acquired a
perfectness which was not attained in former or later centuries. The grotto-tombs of this
dynasty at Beni-Hassan are models of artistic skill, and their inscriptions and carvings
glorify death itself, as a very conquest which life had

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* Heliopolis was called Annu or An, as being "the city of obelisks."
------------
--- 328

made. Their limed columns indicate to us the origin of the Doric order of architecture for
which later Greece is famous, while the paintings and sculptures are a revelation of
Egyptian life and history in an age of glory almost forgotten.*

[[illustration: Lotus Column]]

At Tanis there were also buildings and works of art of superior beauty and
excellence. The picture of Osirtasen was often among them, and so it was elsewhere in
upper and lower Egypt.
The king was also diligent in the details of administration. The tomb of Ameni at
Beni-Hassan gives an elegant description of his government. This

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* Ewald has translated the passage in the Book of Job (III, 14) very ingeniously as
follows:
"Then should I have sunk in repose;
I should have found rest then in sleep;
With the kings and counselors of the earth,
Who built themselves pyramids."
-----------

man was a Khar-tut* or warrior priest, and was hereditary prince of the nome of Mah or
Antinoc, and child of the seers and prophets of the temple. He accompanied the king on
military expeditions into Nubia, took charge of the booty and conveyed it to his royal master
at Reptos. He "conquered" in the forty-third year of the king's reign, and the epitaph
describes the character of his administration.
"I was a kind master," he declares of himself, "a ruler who loved his city. All the
works of the palace of the king were placed in my hands.... No child of the poor did I afflict;
no widow did I oppress; no land-owner did I displace; from no five-hand master [small
farmer] did I take away his men for my works. No one was unhappy in my time, no one
was hungry in my time, not even in the years of famine. For I caused all the fields of the
nome of Malt to be tilled. Thus I prolonged the life of its inhabitants and preserved the food
that was produced. There was not a hungry man in the province. I distributed equally to
the widow and to the unmarried woman; I gave no advantage to the great over the humble
in all that I gave away."
Another official, Mentu-hetep, was the Ab, or confidential advisor to the king. His
tombstone is now at the museum at Bulak, and his inscription describes him as "a man
learned in the law, a legislator, one who apportioned the services, who regulated the works
of the nome, who carried out the behests of the king, and who as judge gave decisions and
restored to the owner his property. As the king's chief architect, he promoted the worship
of the gods, and he instructed the inhabitants of the country according

------------
 * The "magicians" of the Pharaoh, mentioned in the book of the Exodus, are styled
Khartummin in the Hebrew text. They were of sacerdotal rank, and often held official
positions of a confidential character and important military commands.
------------
--- 329

to the best of his knowledge, even as God [the King] commanded to be done. He protected
the unfortunate and freed him who was in want of freedom.
"The great personages bowed down before him when he arrived at the outer door
of the palace."
He superintended the building of the temple at Abydos and constructed a well,
"according to the order of his Holiness, the Royal Lord." This well is described by Strabo,
but has not been found.
Another minister of great distinction was Nef-hetef, who also held office in the reign
of his successor, Osirtasen II. He was of royal blood, and accordingly was made ruler in
the city of Menat-Knufu, in the nineteenth year of the king's

[[illustration: Papyrus column]]

reign, his functions were largely religious. He provided for an abundant production of the
necessaries of life, attended to the funeral services of the dead, sculptured descriptions of
them for the "holy dwelling," and established there an officiating priest. He also ordered
funeral offerings at all the feasts of the world below, - likewise offerings at the festivals of
the new year, at the beginning of the great year, at the beginning of the year, at the end of
the year, at the great feast of joy, at the feast of the summer solstice, at the feast of the
winter solstice, at the festival of the five intercalary days, at the festival of She-tat, at the
festival of the sand, at the twelve monthly feasts, and at the feasts on the plain and on the
mountain.
Thus we observe that the king fixed the boundaries of the names or districts,
confirmed the appointments of their hereditary princes as viceroys and directed the proper
distribution of water for irrigation. The list of festivals further shows that the savants of the
Nile were diligent in their studies and observations, knowing the stars and their positions
in the sky, and the exact length to minutes of the year.
Manetho names this king Sesostris, and describes him as reigning forty-eight years,
conquering all Asia Minor in nine years, and Europe as far as Thrace. He also represents
him as setting up pillars in the different countries. Strabo also affirms that he conquered
Ethiopia [Nubia] and the country of the Troglodytes and then crossed over into Arabia and
overran all Asia. Apollonios the Rhodian also mentions these conquests. Aristotle and
Dikearkhos also entertained the same opinion. Baron Bunsen also sustained this view, but
considers Osirtasen III. as the actual Sesostris. "The Egyptians considered him to be first
after Osiris." It is true that Thethmes III. and other kings of later periods honored Osirtasen
as a god. But the more

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general belief, supported by evidence, indicates that Rameses II was the king to whom this
designation belongs.
The reign of Osirtasen II is characterised in the painting at Beni-Hassan by the
representation of a Semitic group of thirty-seven persons of the race called Mes-stem.
They were from the "land of Abesha," and were received by the son of the prince, Nef-
hetep. Their great eyes and aquiline noses indicated their origin.* Their wives and children
had come with them. They were dressed in robes of many colors, and had brought as
propitiary gifts a young gazelle and a quantity of al kohol suitable for painting the face.
They were seeking a home in Egypt to escape famine. This was probably the beginning
of the migrations which resulted finally in the subjugation of Egypt.
Osirtasen III was superior to former kings in power and wisdom. He extended his
conquests from Syene to the country beyond the second cataract and protected them from
the incursions of the negro hordes by strong fortifications. He set up two pillars of stone
with an image of himself at the landing, and inscribed on them a threat to disown the
genuine descent of every son of his who did not maintain it. Egyptian temples were erected
in the territory, and in later centuries Osirtasen was revered in Nubia as the guardian
divinity along with god Neph or Totun.
Nevertheless Amunemha III was more estimable for his achievements. He was
distinguished by no extensive foreign conquests with their attendant massacres and
atrocious cruelties, always characteristic of ancient and savage warfare, but by the nobler
acts of benefaction to his people. He appears to have surpassed those who preceded him,
in the extent of his scientific and geometric

-----------
* They were not Hebrews. The Jewish nose is "Roman" and not aquiline.
-----------

[[Illustration]]

knowledge. Egypt is known to depend upon the annual inundations of the Nile for its very
existence. These also took place in Nubia till the giving way of the chain of rocks at Silsilis
about this time consigned that region to hopeless sterility. The famines which had
prevailed in the previous reign and probably were now repeated turned the attention of the
monarch from building to providing for the exigency. There was a natural basin in the
Fayum, bounded on the two sides by the mountain. In the archaic period before Mena,
artificial changes had been made in the channel of the river by princes of Abydos, that
transformed the basin into a lake. The accumulation of mud brought thither by the river
made the lake into a marsh. After a careful investigation of the topography of the country
a canal was opened from the river to this marsh.* The gorges around were closed by
dams, which thus converted it into an artificial reservoir,

-------------
*Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson conjectures that the canal at this time extended from the
higher land above Silsilis, in Nubia, conducting the water to Lake Moeris and also to the
general tank system of Egypt, as the river offered a greater fall of water before the rocks
gave way.
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which received the water from the river at the inundations and retained it till the dry
seasons, when it was let out to irrigate the fields.
Much curious speculation took place in regard to the personality of the monarch who
accomplished this work. The lake was known by the Egyptian name of Mera, as was also
the Labyrinth which stood a little distance away. Tradition becoming fixed in the form of
history, designated a king Moeris as the founder. There were several kings in whose
names the word "Mer" formed a part. Besides, there were many reasons for supposing
Mena himself to have been the author. He had changed the course of the Nile to provide
a site for his new metropolis. But the official designation of Amunemha III, Ra-en-ma, or
Ma-en-Ra, was fixed upon as the origin of the name Moeris.
This was confirmed by the fact that he had constructed his sepulchre at the corner
of the lake. The period of pyramid-building was passing away, and he ventured upon a
wide innovation. Instead of placing the structure in the desert, he selected its site in the
fertile home of Arsinoe, where he had transformed a pestilential swamp into a salubrious
garden. It was a truncated pyramid-shaped pediment, which served as a base for both the
colossal statue of the king and also of the queen, his consort or successor. Their names
have been found on blocks of stone, resolving all doubts in the matter.
The Labyrinth has been justly termed one of the seven wonders of the world.
Amunemha began the work of building when he began his reign, and in his ninth year he
set about the procuring of material for this undertaking. Thousands of workmen were
employed at the mines and quarries of the peninsula of Sinai and in the valley of
Hammamat, and the king went personally in the ninth year of his reign to the valley of
Rohan to give direction in regard to stones for statues.

[[illustration]]

The Labyrinth is described by Herodotos as having three thousand chambers, half

of them above and half of them below ground. The priests would not permit him to see the
underground apartments, affirming that the kings and the sacred crocodiles were buried
there. The upper rooms filled him with admiration. The paths across the courts, winding
in every direction, the numerous structures, the walls covered with sculptures and
paintings, the courts surrounded with colonnades built of white stone, exquisitely fitted
together, excelled even imagination itself. At the corner stood a pyramid forty fathoms
high, with figures engraved on it.
The monuments are significantly silent about this work. It is not very difficult now
to guess the reason. The Arsenoite nome was hateful to the Egyptians of Abydos,
Tentyris, and the country of Amun. Sebek, the Siva of Egypt, was the tutelary there, and
the crocodile was his symbolic animal. Pi-Sebek, or Krokodilopolis, was the capitol of the
nome, and abounded with temples founded by the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, and
obelisks of stone were erected to Sebek and his associate divin-

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ities. There was always a tame crocodile kept in the lake that visitors fed as a pet animal.
 There were indications of a politic toleration on the part of the king. The title of the
queen whose statue was placed on the pyramid with Amunemha was Sebek-nefru, and we
find the same name borne by other ladies at this period. Amunemha IV succeeded to the
throne, but little of importance is known of his career. He simply followed the course of his
distinguished father. He was succeeded by his sister, Sebek-nefer-ra, and with her the
Twelfth Dynasty came to an end. The royal inheritance passed to a new family.
During the period of this dynasty the centre of gravity of the Egyptian state was
situated in Middle Egypt. M. de Rouge remarks the progress made in art: "That long
succession of generations which we are not able to determine precisely witnessed various
and changing phases in the development of Egyptian art." He adds: "The origin of this Art
is unknown to us; it begins with the remnants of the Fourth Dynasty. Architecture certainly
shows an inconceivable perfection in regard to the working and building of blocks of great
dimensions. The passages in the interior of the Great Pyramid remain a model that has
never been surpassed." He remarks one form of ornament in the temples and tombs, two
lotus-leaves placed opposite to each other. The human form is distinguished by some
broad and thick-set proportions; but near the end of the Twelfth Dynasty the human figures
became more slender and tall. The sculptures in relief are often of incredible delicacy.
They were always painted over with colors. The engraving of the inscriptions on the
monuments leaves nothing to be desired. The artist was the most honored man in the
kingdom, standing near the monarch, who poured his favor in a full stream on the man of
"enlightened spirit and a skillfully working hand."

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AMERICA AND THE GOLDEN AGE

by Amos J. Johnson

The legend runs that America was the mother of civilized arts; that here was the
centre of the mighty forces which swept out in all directions and gave knowledge and
culture to the successive races of the earth. As the tide of the ocean flows out and back,
so all currents of force react to the starting point.
Not only has the memory of the first humanity passed out of the mind, but of the
succeeding civilizations only fragments are found, hardly sufficient for the archeologist to
trace the connecting links. Yet between the archaeologist, the philologist and the botanist
the rough outlines of evolution are discernible, and by filling in these outlines with the
traditions of mythology a fairly interesting view may be obtained by the student. But it is
not now purposed to trace these stages of growth more than to suggest the relation
America bears to the education of man.
It is admitted that the names "Atlantis" and "America" were not limited to the
continental area which is now assigned to the latter, but rather that they included all the
land on the globe during their respective periods. Hence they are the names of epochs
rather than of continents, but the continental areas known by those names were the centres
of the civilizations of those epochs. Lemuria is said to have covered what is now the Pacific
Ocean, and when Atlantis sank, the Atlantic Ocean replaced it. So our continent was the
pivotal point between them, and unquestionably, according to researches made, portions
of America were parts of both the other "continents." This fact is also traditionary.
Previous to Lemuria was the Hyperborean Region, which some identify with Siberia of
today, and which is also contiguous to America; and preceding that was the Sacred
Imperishable Land, the location of which has been the subject of much speculation. It has
been said to lie at the North Pole, but as the equator and the poles have changed their
locations several times, owing to the shifting of the axis of the earth, it seems evident the
present North Pole was not meant. From the relation and contiguity of America to the other
"continents," and the tradition that America was the cradling place of humanity, it is not
unreasonable to presume that here was and is the Sacred Imperishable Land. Further
support for this belief lies in the fact that there are portions of the American continent which
have never been submerged beneath the ocean.
This view is also supported by the law of cycles. The wave of material life is sent
out in all directions. Its crest proceeds everywhere, and on the reflux it returns to its
source. It is logical to suppose that the centre of evolution is the same, and that successive
waves flow from it. So, if we assume that material civilization, and humanity itself, had its
starting point in this Land, then it follows that the spiritual evolution of the future must also
start from here. The nature of the wave varies according to the cycle, at one time material,
at another spiritual, but all degrees of growth are but steps in the great evolution, and all
must proceed from the same centre. The principle holds good whether we

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consider the finality or only relative events; whether we study life as a totality, or only in its
relation to this globe.
When humanity began its journey on the Earth, the Golden Age of innocence held
sway over all. We are now entering what will prove to be the Golden Age of perfected
virtue. More than this, the figures on the screen of time show that henceforth the progress
must be continuously upward. This is determined by a study of the "ages." These are four
in number - Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron - but they manifest as seven. The cycle is
opened and closed in the same age, half of the age manifesting itself on the outgoing wave
and half as the wave returns. As the two halves of the fourth age join each other, it is not
counted as being divided, but is considered as one of the seven divisions. Normally the
order of the ages is Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Bronze, Silver and Gold, this arrangement
being repeated in each succeeding era. These ages manifest in every cycle, whether it be
long or short, whether it be the lifetime of a world, a nation, or a man.
In the descent into matter, in the revolution of the great cycle, the order of
appearance of the ages was transposed, and at some point in past time the Golden Age
was deposed as the usherer-in of cycles, and was replaced by the Iron Age, and because
of this change every succeeding cycle became darker than the one preceding it. For many
thousand years the order has been Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron. So
far as known history extends, the beginning and end of each nation has been desolate and
forlorn. Only in the middle of its career did it reach the height of its possibilities. This
descent into matter has continued until the bottom of the circle of Earth life has been
reached and passed. The involution into matter has been completed. The great cycle has
been half traversed. The world has entered upon the upward arc of the circle of time, and
now is ready to begin its true spiritual growth.
 America has changed the order of the ages, has transposed them back to their
original order of appearance, and has insured the overwhelming preponderance of good
throughout the future. This is mathematically demonstrable to the student. The normal life
of a nation is placed at 3,000 years. Half of this, 1,500 years, is the "involutionary" period,
which is divided among the respective ages as follows: Iron, 150 years; Bronze, 300
years; Silver, 450 years; Gold, 600 years. Sometimes the ages overlap each other;
sometimes they are concurrent. Now, America was "discovered" 400 years ago, and while
the country has borne the name "United States of America" for only about 100 years, it has
been practically the same nation since the first immigrant landed on its shores. The first
three ages have run concurrently, Bronze overlapping Iron, and Silver overlapping these
two. In the successive developments of the country, in its husbandry and commerce, and
even its monetary affairs, the successive ages may be readily traced. And while the Silver
Age has not completed its normal term, we already see the overlapping of Gold, in a
monetary sense and otherwise. It has often been a matter of wonderment how the rapid
progress of America could be explained in the light of the different ages, the fact of these
appearing concurrently being overlooked. But more than this, they have been merely
preliminary, in order that the succession of events might be revolutionized and the dominion
of spiritual forces be re-established throughout the world.
America, "the land of destiny," is just beginning its real life, and is beginning it in the
Golden Age, in which it will also close when its cycle has run its full course. By this it is to
be understood that when its natural term of life elapses, instead

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of dying out in desolation it will merge into a still higher civilization, and that the civilizations
to follow will each, in their turn, give place to a grander and higher life.
While the Earth is in its great Iron Age, this does not portend violence and passion,
for iron is a symbol of strength, and it is only when strength is misdirected that vice and
pain appear. The minor Golden Age will change the sentiments in men's hearts, and then,
with virtue and duty as the controlling impulses, they will use the force of the iron of the
greater cycle, and will weld virtue to wisdom by the strongest of bonds. By the power of
right thought and right action the Earth will be relieved of the obstacles to spiritual growth,
and the great forces of Nature will yield themselves to the thought of the pure in heart.
The winnowing of passions from the hearts of men has not been quite completed,
the Golden Age of the nation has not yet assumed full sway, but the season of joy is not
far away. It will appear first in America, and then extend to other lands.
The fact that the order of the ages has been reversed back to their original position,
at the very beginning of the ascent of the upward arc of the Earth's career, means much
for humanity, and the fact that this has taken place in the original home of the children of
the Earth should be the cause of great joy, for it means that the Watchers are again offering
spiritual life to the returning pilgrims, and it means that Unity and Brotherhood will soon
become the governing factors in the life of the world.

-------------
THE BETTER PART

(Selected)

Long fed on boundless hopes,

O race of man,
How angrily thou spurn'st all simpler fare!
"Christ," some one says, "was human as we are;
No judge eyes us from Heaven, our sin to scan;
We live no more when we have done our span."
"Well, then, for Christ," thou answerest, "who can care?
From sin, which Heaven records not, why forbear?
Live we like brutes, our life without a plan!"
So answerest thou; but why not rather say,
Hath man no second life?
Pitch this one high!
Sits there no judge in Heaven our sins to see?
More strictly then the inward judge obey!
Was Christ a man like us? - Ah! let us try
If we then, too, can be such men as he!"

- Mathew Arnold

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WHAT IS GENIUS?
by a Student

If it be thought that the genius is always a man to be differentiated by a sharp line,

easily seen, from the rest of humanity, then there will be no understanding of the matter.
For there is no such line. The Light (of genius, it is always this) lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. But some have a spark, some a flame, some a conflagration.
Genius is the manifestation in consciousness of a Light, occurring at the "critical
states," critical periods, nodal points, "laya" states, between the movements or activities of
thought, and then furnishing subject matter for thought to occupy itself with, furnishing a
soul of which thought must then become the active body, and stimulating its body of
thought to the very utmost.
Its emergence into thought is known to its victim in various peculiar subjective ways;
to others it is known by the definitely effective quality of the thought-work thereupon done.
This work is usually thus straightly effective in respect only of that form of activity wherein
the man is a genius. It appears to me that that in woman corresponding to genius in man
is of another nature, and hence genius in its ordinary sense has been so seldom found in
women.
Talent is acquired aptitude, and thus not at all necessarily related to genius.
Chatterton had not time in his short incarnation to acquire much versificatory talent, and
hence his poetic genius could not greatly manifest. On the other side, the talent of Liszt
was considerably in excess of his genius. To say that "genius is the capacity for taking
trouble" is absurd. The definition is solely true of perseverance, and it is only legitimate to
continue to say that talent results from perseverance, a truth not requiring the insight of the
Sage of Chelsea to perceive. I once knew the secretary of a noted philosopher, whose
duty it was to employ his talents in collecting data which should demonstrate the truths that
the genius of his master had divined; but the secretory had at that time yet to learn the
relation of importance.
Whatever degree of Light of genius a man may have is always ready to shine into
his mind, but it is only at certain moments, called moments of inspiration, that the mind is
ready to receive. The arrival of these moments is determined in various ways. Mind is
closely related to body and is therefore greatly dominated by physiological cycles and
conditions, and these again by meteorological and seasonal conditions. Genius, therefore,
can usually only manifest at certain favorable epochs and conditions which are generally
entirely unstudied by the man who experiences them; and in the same way there are
certain seasons of the year when genius manifests most readily. But all obstacles of time,
body and season can be surmounted by a strong enough will.
During the manifestations of genius the mind more or less perfectly, for a longer or
shorter time, disconnects itself from the senses and sensations, turns itself tremblingly, as
it were, like a mirror, inwards or upwards, square (if it can) to the Light. Then it gets
illumination upon whatever matters with which it has heretofore strongly occupied itself.
This is a meditation, sometimes a prayer. If it have been done

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often, in this or former lives, some or all of the effort will have disappeared; it will occur of
itself rhythmically or at any favoring moment, and is called then inspiration, the divine
afflatus. Carried to its utmost it is the ecstasy, the gnosis, the illumination, the trance, of
the mystics; for it is at that degree incompatible with consciousness of the body. If the
perceptions in this state have to be recorded, as in the case of the poet or artist, then
enough hold upon the body must be kept to use the pen or brush. The illumination is of
necessity but partial, for it is relative to the receiving mind, and may intensify the
erroneousness and the mischievousness, whilst also the energy and brilliance, of the ideas
therein contained. But these it will also clarify, correct, and rearrange, if truth be the utterly
sincere wish of the man. For the Light can awaken the higher senses, those which deal
with the ideal, paradigmic world, the interpenetrating prototype, that from whence life
emerges in harmony and beauty upon this one, the conscious soul hidden in appearances.
The perception of beauty in anything, gleaming amidst the dull clouds of sensation, is an
elementary manifestation of the Light of genius; so is real love; so also the discernment
of harmony, of relation. The universe is a harmony, and in time a stream of dissolving and
resolving harmonies; the perception of this is the feeling of beauty, the perception of
oneness, that of love. Thus, for example, arose the dream of Napoleon (darkened with
ambition), a united mankind; thus the Pythagorean "harmony of the spheres." These
dreams or visions once attained, impel the seer to carry them out; hence the impulse to
teach, to help, to make harmony and melody in words, sounds, forms, colors; even to fight,
that an ultimate harmony may arise out of dissonance. Hence the real impulse to geometry
and mathematics in their pure forms.
So at times and in gleams we are all geniuses, and a Master is such because he is
a genius at all times and with a steady flame. Of the new humanity the keynote will be
genius, not thought, just as of the present humanity the keynote is thought, not instinct or
animalism. We have instinct, and to it have super-added thought, thus rising from animal
to man. To thought whilst retaining it, we shall superadd Light (genius), thus passing from
the old to the new humanity. Our organization will undoubtedly produce many geniuses
(besides attracting many), since so many intelligently and consciously seek the Light; and
also because of the stimulation of inner contact with those who have completely attained
the Light.
It is easy to see, after this preliminary examination, that the Light of genius is no
other than the force that inspires or compels evolution. It is life itself. It woke the plant into
the animal. Gathering sensations together under the wings of thought, it made man from
the animal. Still acting, we can say either that it is a new activity of consciousness or that
it causes one to appear, which is as much higher than thought as thought is higher than
elemental sensation. The senses induce feelings which are perceptions of the aspects of
the phenomenal world; the intense feelings that arise in the man of genius are perceptions
of a more real universe now manifesting or to manifest hereafter. The actions of the man
of genius which arise out of his inspiration tend to induce this manifestation or do actually
induce it. The poem or the symphony are actual manifestations; our nascent nucleus of
a "brotherhood of humanity" is a manifestescence of it.
It is also clear that no man is wholly devoid of genius, and that the next step in
evolution is the production of a super-intellectual humanity.
As not being thought, genius is an in-

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trusion into thought, when thought has been recently or is at the time carried to its furthest.
Thought-consciousness flows, so to speak, not as a continuous stream, but in globules.
It seems probable that the speed of thought depends on the duration of the interval
between two units rather than on the duration in time of the unit, just as the density of
matter depends on the spaces between the unvarying molecules.
But the unsealing of the eye of genius is only the taking by man of his proper place
in nature. His containing casket is burst open; a little of his force is set free in him. A
curious point comes up here. In ancient times they reverenced the victim of epilepsy. In
modern times the worshipers of genius (and who is not?) have been scandalized by the
scientific suggestion that genius is a form of epilepsy! Well, let us examine the point and
see whether there is really any reason for horror. Many men of genius have been subject
to epilepsy; epilepsy has sometimes replaced and annulled their genius; sometimes
alternated, so to speak, with their attacks of inspiration. Furthermore, great rage
sometimes ends in an epileptic seizure; or victim of epilepsy has a convulsive fit replaced
by an outburst of rage. Where are the links between rage, genius mid epilepsy?
In epilepsy there is a sudden and enormous accession of life force to the motor cells
of the cerebral cortex. The premonitory "aura," as it is called, is often felt by the victim to
take origin from some point about or within the body and mount to the brain. This
accession, leaving the motor cells and flowing down the motor nerves to the muscles,
entails the muscular convulsions and spasms of the attack. But the cells must have a
subjective or ideational side concerned with thought-pictures (stored sense impressions)
as well as a motor side. It is almost certain that an epileptic fit is accompanied by a vast
torrent of dream-pictures, usually totally forgotten as are other dreams. In various
epilepsies there must be every degree of the two factors, the motor and the pictorial,
varying inversely as each other. In rage the pictorial predominate, the motor remaining
under control. The pictorial, judgment not being wholly suspended, and the ego remaining
as directing witness except in extreme cases, concern themselves with the objects of the
rage which become intensely vivid. The motor may be excessive, but are directed in ways
calculated to attain the desired end. In the inspirations of genius the motor side is not
touched at all and the rising torrent of force is consciously or unconsciously guided by the
judgment of the fully-present soul, whose property it is and was from the first, however
much he may have permitted its misuse. He brought it to the body and with him it goes.
The soul of the genius resumes for a while the control of his own, resuming thereby his
divine status. It seems possible that the initiate priests of the temples took care of the
victims of epilepsy, shifting, so to speak, the incidence of the malady, helping it from the
convulsive to the ideational side, causing it to take on some of the characteristics of genius,
e.g., prophecy.
Gradual resumption of empire is the work of the soul. Its forces are desecrated in
the chambers of the body, and it has to take them once more into its own hands.

GENIUS AND INSANITY.

Several writers have attempted to show that these are isomers or allotropic
modifications of each other; others, not going so far, have simply maintained that the
genius has a special liability to insanity. An analysis of the evidence does not appear to
me to support that view. The evidence itself is simply that of the frequent association of
genius with insanity, and the deduction is that genius

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is not a healthy manifestation, but a form of unbalance.

Let it be first noted as Lombroso points out, the life of the man of genius tends to be
prolonged considerably beyond the average period and a large number have lived to a
great age. With only the ordinary tendency to insanity, there would, therefore, occur
amongst them a number of cases of insanity as much greater than among an equal group
of other men as their lives are longer.
Owing to the fact that they are subjects or public interest, peculiarities exhibited by
them are remarked and held as insane stigmata which in others would go unnoticed.
Moreover, the tension of consciousness peculiar to genius makes flaws manifest that in
others would remain latent, but it does not follow that the flaws are more numerous.
Genius in some form is sometimes manifested dining the course of an attack of
insanity, but to infer a connection on this ground is as absurd as to argue that because
during an attack of typhoid fever a hitherto unsuspected constitutional vigor and tenacity
of life manifests itself, there is therefore a connection between the fever and the vigor, or
that they are obverse and reverse of one thing.
There are some forms of decadent genius, like that of Verlaine, of which the moral
is obvious. Associated with tendencies to the grossest sensuality, they seem to present
the remains of crumbling genius. Such men bear evidences of power or height won in the
past, perhaps many lives ago, and since then slowly frittered away in debauchery. It is
exactly parallel to the waste of a fine constitution by the same methods, and has no other
import.
Nevertheless we have to remember that a sort of fortuitous connection between
genius and mental perversion may really exist. For the genius is always either hated or
flattered, or both. He is likely to be either in great want, fighting a lonely battle, embittered
by injustice and persecution; or, flattered and wealthy, with every temptation to excesses
and indolence. And these conditions are apt to follow him through many lives, tending to
the production of much perversity and torsion of character.
Lastly it is also true that the genius, having to inhabit a body and nervous system
which are the product of today and the heritage of yesterday, is the man of a far tomorrow;
he is new wine in an old bottle.
For all these reasons it is clear that in the face of any hereafter-coming statistics we
need not consent to regard genius as a morbid though beautiful product. It is not a spiritual
"hectic flush," but the highest manifestation of human life, the harbinger and annunciator
of a greater era. With our growing understanding of the nature of genius, we shall learn
how to produce it and to favor its production among children. Genius is the very nature and
essence and Light of the soul, a few of whose rays succeed in getting access to the
intellectual web and illuminating a little of it here and there. If the children were begotten,
fashioned and thereafter trained in accord with the laws of the soul, with wisdom, genius
would no longer be an isolated phenomenon,
But the old order is slowly changing; ideals and hopes arise where the path of
possibility is seen. "As the whole life of humanity rises upward by slow and imperceptible
progress, its teachers drink their life from purer founts. Life has in it more than the
imagination of man can conceive." Mounting more and more rapidly the ever unfolding
heights, man will everywhere learn "to enter into the life of his highest self, to hold within
him the glory of that highest self, and yet to retain life upon this planet so

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long as it shall last, if need be; to retain life the vigor of manhood till his entire work is
completed." We shall progress fast or slowly only as we recognize that intellectuality is but
a negative and phenomenally dependent activity of consciousness; it is comparing and
recombining the data of the senses. Not affecting the flow of phenomena, it is but their
reduction to order in the mind of the perceiver, and the order is determined among the
phenomena. But in the consciousness of the genius, though the external order is perceived
with infinite speed and clearness, another possible but not yet existing order is divined, and
with that perception arises the will and the strength to bring it about. Metaphysical
perception and formative will are the two aspects of genius.
It stands creatively between latency and actuality, the power that reigns along the
path between the concealed and the revealed, the power in manifesting, emerging, or
evolving nature. Genius can arise and can have arisen in no other way than by the use of
will, its active aspect having before us the ideal of a perfect man, and knowing that that
ideal exists within us, the prototypal spirit, the divine germ, meditation thereon will bring to
it the golden Light of life, so that it will grow, unfold in this place and time, destroy like Horus
the Typhon of passions, purify and illuminate its darkened tabernacle, and, merging into
the man and the man into it, the prophecy is fulfilled, the ideal is made flesh, the shadowy
dream has awaked into the triumph and glory of the open day.

--------------

THE TRUE CRITIC

"The true critic strives for a clear vision of things as they are - for justice and
fairness; his effort is to get free from himself, so that he may in no way disfigure that which
he wishes to understand or reproduce. His superiority to the common herd lies in this
effort, even when its success is only partial.
"He distrusts his own senses, he sifts his own impressions, by returning upon them
from different sides and at different times, by comparing, moderating, shading,
distinguishing, and so endeavoring to approach more and more nearly to the formula which
represents the maximum of truth."
- Henri Frederick Amiel

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RICHARD WAGNER'S PROSE WORKS *

by Basil Crump

VOL. I., A COMMUNICATION TO MY FRIENDS.

"All my books are a confession." - Goethe.

"The architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones."
- The Golden Legend

"If this Communication to my Friends had been penned as a fiction it would probably
have long ago been greeted as one of the most notable psychological studies ever
written.... The most remarkable of the features of this work is the boldness that prompted
an artist to stop short in the middle of his career and tell the world that was scoffing at him
what he felt and how he worked.... From such a work the word 'self' is inseparable; but the
extraordinary thing about it is that the author has had the daring to write of himself from an
'objective' standpoint, to record his weaknesses, and his faculties, too, as though he were
another man. No other eyes have ever seen Wagner, the man and artist, so clearly as he
has seen himself in this Communication."
In these few words from the translator's preface we are at once given the right
keynote necessary for a true appreciation of this remarkable human document, a document
which more than any other has earned for its writer the epithet of "Egotist."
At the outset Wagner defines his Friends as who do not seek to separate the Artist
from the Man, which he calls "as brainless an attempt as the divorce of soul from body."
This is a common device of crafty enemies, who are forced to acknowledge genius and
there-

------------
* Translated by W. Ashton Ellis. London: Kegan, Paul.
------------

fore separate off the personality and tear it to pieces. Where we cannot understand the
actions of a greater than ourselves we had better not try to explain the problem on this
basis. A true understanding must, as Wagner says, "be grounded upon sympathy, i.e.,
upon, a fellow-pain and fellow-feeling with the veriest human aspect of his life."
In these days when education means cramming the brain with a mass of facts, it is
interesting to find that such a process is not necessary to high mental and artistic
development - nay, may even be a hindrance to it.
In giving some details of his early life Wagner tells a pretty story of the birth of Smith
Wieland's sire. The three Norns (Goddesses of Fate) attended to bestow their gifts. One
gave Strength, another Wisdom, but the third bestowed upon the child "the ne'er contented
mind that ever broods the New." The parents foolishly rejected this third gift, and so
Wieland's father went through life so fatally content that he never made an effort to do
anything. But now we see the meaning of the gift:
"That one rejected gift, 'the ne'er contented mind, that ever broods the New,' the
youngest Norn holds out to all of us when we are born, and through it alone might we each
one day become a 'Genius'; but now, in our craze for education 'tis Chance alone that
brings this gift within our grasp - the accident of not becoming educated. Secure against
the refusal of a father, who died beside my cradle, perchance the Norn, so often chased
away, stole gently to it and there bestowed on me her gift, which never left

--- 342

poor, untrained me, and made Life and Art and mine own self my only quite anarchic
educators."
Passing over some details which appear in the "Autobiographic Sketch," * we arrive
at the period when Wagner was in Paris and in the direst poverty, after failing to get a
hearing for Rienzi. In the psychological experience he here lays bare to us we can see how
by force of outward circumstances the man of ambition was crushed, and the real artist and
servant of humanity came to the front. He tells us that he was now starting on a new path
of "Revolution against our modern Public Art," and that "it was the feeling of the necessity
of my revolt, that turned the first into a writer!" It was at this time that he contributed the
brilliant series of articles to the Gazette Musicale, which proved that he was easily
foremost, among his literary contemporaries there. But with the exercise of one small
section of his protean genius he could not feel content. He needed Poetry and Music. Out
of his sorrowful plight arose the simple, but deeply moving, drama, of The Flying Dutchman,
the first of his tragedies of the Soul, based upon the Mythos of the Folk. He speaks of
music at this time as "the good angel which preserved me as an artist.... I cannot conceive
the spirit of Music as aught but Love. Filled with its hallowed might, and with waxing power
of insight into human life, I saw set before me no mere formalism to criticize, but clean
through the formal semblance the force of sympathy displayed to me its background, the
Need-of-Love, downtrodden by that loveless formalism..... Thus I revolted out of sheer love,
not out of spite or envy; and thus did I become an artist and not a carping Man of letters."
We now pass on to same most interesting and valuable hints as to the real

-----------
* See Universal Brotherhood, February, 1899
-----------

meaning of his earlier dramas. In studying these we shall see at once how much they were
a part of his very life. Just as Faust was the distillation of Goethe's life-experience, so it is
with the great cycle of Wagner's dramas.
It will be useful here to quote a passage from his correspondence with August
Roeckel regarding these earlier works.* "The period since which I have wrought from my
inner intuition [Italics mine. BC] began with the Flying Dutchman; Tannhauser and
Lohengrin followed, and if any poetic principle is expressed in them it is the high tragedy
of Renunciation, of well-motivated and at last imperative and alone-redeeming Denial of
the Will, [i.e., the personal desires]. It is this deep trait that gave my poetry, my music, the
consecration without which they could never have possessed any truly stirring power they
now may exercise."
Now let us learn at his hands tile inner meaning of the Flying Dutchman.
"The figure of the Flying Dutchman is a mythical creation of the Folk; a primal trait
of human nature speaks out from it with heart-enthralling force. This trait, in its most
universal meaning, is the longing after rest from amid the storms of life." The same
meaning is shown in the Legends of Ulysses and the Wandering Jew, both being blended
in the figure of the Dutch mariner after "the sea became the soil of life." Condemned to
battle forever with the waves (of life) Vanderdecken longs, like Ahasuerus, for Death. And
here we light upon a very important element in Wagner's symbology - the figure of the
"Eternal Womanly." The Dutchman may gain his redemption at the hands of - "a Woman
who, of very love, shall sacrifice herself for him. The yearning for death thus spurs him on
to seek this Woman; but she is no longer the home-

-----------
* Also quoted in Theosophy, September, 1897.
-----------
--- 343

tending Penelope of Ulysses, as courted in the days of old, but the quintessence of
womankind: and yet the still unmanifest, the longed-for, the dreamt-of, the infinitely
womanly Woman - let me out with it in one word: the Woman of the Future."
How broad and universal this conception of womanhood was in Wagner's mind we
can see still more clearly a little further on, where he speaks of his yearning at that time for
his German homeland:
"It was the longing of my Flying Dutchman for das Weib - not, as I have said before,
for the wife who waited for Ulysses, but for the redeeming Woman, whose features had
never presented themselves to me in any clear-marked outline, but who hovered before my
vision as the element of Womanhood in its widest sense."
Why have all poets and thinkers, who worked from their "inner intuition," given this
lofty place of redeemer to the truly womanly? What of Dante's Beatrice? Why is
Tennyson's Sir Galahad led to the Holy Grail by the "wan sweet maiden" who had seen it
first? Why do the Maoris in their secret religious teachings call the Intuition the "inner or
concealed woman," and so on, in a thousand cases more?
Surely these things are intended to teach us that in Woman there is that divine
quality which can make her the inspirer of Man if both will only recognize it, rising above
the faults and limitations and petty desires of the lower nature. Therefore it has been truly
said that a man has never achieved anything great without the influence of Woman to back
him (as Rudyard Kipling says in "Under the Deodars"), and he who ventures to underrate
her, whether as friend or foe, has yet to learn one of the most important lessons of life.
One of the greatest women and mystic philosophers of modern times has expressed
herself as follows in an article addressed to a body of French mystics: "We have permitted
ourselves to say that many French Kabbalists have often expressed the opinion that the
Eastern school could never be worth much, no matter how it may pride itself on possessing
secrets unknown to Europeans. Because it admits women into its ranks.
"To this we might answer by repeating the fable told by Bro. Jos. N. Nutt, Grand
Master of the Masonic Lodges of the T. S. for women, to show what women would do if
they were not shackled by males - whether as men or as god.
"A lion passing close by a monument representing an athletic and powerful figure
of a man tearing the jaws of a lion, said: 'If the scene which this represents had been
executed by a lion, the two figures would have changed places.' The same remark holds
good for Woman. If only she were allowed to represent the phases of human life she would
distribute the parts in reverse order. She it was who first took Man to the Tree of
Knowledge, and made him know Good and Evil; and if she had been let alone and allowed
to do that which she wished, she would have led him to the Tree of Life and thus rendered
him immortal." Richard Le Gallienne, the eminent poet and writer, takes the same view of
the third chapter of Genesis in "A Vindication of Eve," a poem which appeared in the
Cosmopolitan Magazine for June last.
From his earliest years Wagner looked instinctively to women for that intuitional help
which they alone can give. Appealed to in their higher nature, they responded, as they
nearly always will, and so it was that many noble women were among the first to recognize
his great mission and to uphold his hands

-----------
* Alchemy in the Nineteenth Century." Translated from the French of H. P.
Blavatsky in Theosophical Siftings, Vol. II, 1891.
-----------
--- 344

from first to last. Speaking of one of his earliest attempts at an opera, he says in the
"Autobiographic Sketch": "The text book found no favor with my sister; I destroyed its
every trace." Brother reader, would you or I destroy a pet poem on the opinion of a sister,
a wife, or even a sweetheart? I fear our natural egotism would be too much for us!
 Again in the Communication he records the ennobling influence exercised upon his
artistic faculties by the great operatic artiste, Madame Schroder-Devrient: "The remotest
contact with this extraordinary woman electrified me; for many a long year, down even to
the present day, I saw, I heard, I felt her near me, whenever the impulse to artistic
production seized me." And further on he speaks of "the extraordinary and lasting
impression which the artistic genius of this in every respect exceptional woman had made
upon me in my youth. Now, after an interval of eight years, I came into personal contact
with her, a contact prompted and governed by the deep significance of her art to me.... She
was dramatic through and through in the fullest sense of the word. She was born for
intercourse, for blending with the Whole.... It is only at the present that I have learnt to
value her instinctive judgment."
Here, again, are a few sentences from his letters to his beloved friend and helper,
Franz Liszt:
"The contact with a sympathetic, noble female nature is to me an infinitely joyful
feeling, and that feeling I should like to gain as a blessing for my impending work."
Writing of the success of the Flying Dutchman, he said: "With the women I have
made a great hit," and again, about Lohengrin: "All the women are in my favor."
Again, at a time of great difficulty, he said: "My dearest Franz, give me the heart,
the spirit, the mind of a woman in which I could wholly sink myself, which could quite
comprehend me. "How little should I then ask of this world."*
The so-called "man of the world" will smile at what he will call an amiable weakness
in Wagner. He belongs to the class so well described by Leo Tolstoi: "The lord of creation
- man; who, in the name of his love, kills one-half of the human race! Of woman, who
ought to be his helpmate in the movement of Humanity towards freedom, he makes, for the
sake of his pleasures, not a helpmate but an enemy."
His boasted knowledge of Woman is in reality limited to those types who ignorantly
or deliberately cater to his vanity and sensuality, so that it has passed into a proverb among
women that a man can always be swayed through either his vanity or his appetites. Thus,
to take one of the greatest specimens of this type - Goethe - we find it said of him: "His
women are the worshiping, loving type. He has never drawn the highest type of
womanhood. His nature and system of morals placed her beyond his knowledge. If he
came in contact with such women they were not the ones who fell down and worshiped
him; and so in his richly stored workshop there are no materials out of which he can create
her."** Yet almost at the gate of death he would seem to have learnt his lesson, for Faust
closes with the lines:

"The Indescribable
Here it is done;
The Woman-Soul leadeth us
Upward and on!"

Let the "man of the world" pause a moment and reflect that Wagner was not only a
mighty genius, but that he fought single-handed for half a century against terrific odds in
carrying out his reforms. No evidence of weakness there! Rather,

-----------
 * Wagner-Liszt Correspondence, New York: Scribner.
** New York Times, Aug. 26, 1895.
-----------
--- 345

was he not wise enough to recognize that divine Womanly to which the majority are blind,
and great enough to place it upon its throne?
In giving so much space to a consideration of this subject, my object is to try and
give a clear idea of the position of a great soul on a question which I hold to be of vital
importance. And let us always bear in mind that Wagner, as a philosopher and mystic, did
not muddle himself up in a merely personal view. The Womanly was to him a great
principle or element in Nature, present to some extent in man's consciousness, but
specialized in women as such, just as the Manly (Will, Intellect, etc.) is specialized in Men.
But he speaks of Beethoven and others being both man and woman in their creative art.
Wagner was conspicuously so himself, but as "man" he needed woman's help; and this
is a fact in all human activity, although it acts unconsciously in the great majority of crises.
Cherchez la femme! Oh, how universally true! And yet only partially in the satirical or
reproachful sense.
A few more words about the Flying Dutchman must close this article. We have seen
that it began a new era in the Poet-Composer's life. He forsook History for Myth; he
ceased to concoct opera-texts and string together arias, duets, ballads and choruses. He
became a Tone-Poet whose Music and Poetry were absolutely dictated by the nature of
the dramatic material. And behind all were the magnificent motives we have outlined
above. Hence it is that his creations have that peculiar power which is the hallmark of
Aeschylus and Shakespeare.

------------

AN ANALOGY
by Meave

We are taught that man's physical body is an organism composed of countless lives
- called cells.
These cell-lives are incomparable one with the other, as all are equally perfect and
important in nature's economy.
A perfect organism was formed when the various cells of the body acted together
in harmony, each fulfilling its own part in nature's economy.
When the physical form was prepared its Lord - the Soul - entered therein, in order
to raise to its own divine consciousness these lower lives.
A mighty impetus on the upward path of evolution was the result.
Analogy leads us one step further.
As is the individual body - so is the body corporate. Each unit in the mighty
organism of humanity is different, and in no wise comparable to any other, the musician
and the farmer being of equal importance to humanity's well-being.
When each individual finds and does his own work for the benefit of the whole then
a fitting organism will be formed for the indwelling of the world-soul, who, entering in, will
raise mankind to their true estate, from which they, for experience sake, fell.
This incarnation of the Oversoul is alone made possible by a Universal Brotherhood
- by an implicit trust and loyalty in our Leader, and in the ideals which the old Wisdom
Religion has unfurled in our midst.

-------------
--- 346

CIVILIZATION
by T. W. Willans

An observance of the growth of civilization will show that in no instance have we on

record facts supporting the supposition that there is a slow process of growth from inherent
barbarism to civilization. On the other hand, evidence is bountiful to prove that each nation
or race owes its civilization primarily as an offspring of a prior civilization's applying the
intelligence transmitted to awaken the innate possibilities of the race and so unfold its
dominant characteristic.
Viewing our present civilization as the outcome of the European, we find that it owes
its birth to Greek, Roman and Druidic intelligence, modified by Alexandrian-Egyptian,
Moorish and Saracen influence, etc. Without this transmitted stimulus there is no reason
to suppose that we could have created any European civilization at all. In no instance do
we find a civilization existing in itself except as the degenerate remains of a once higher
type, such as in China and India of the present day.
In following the European civilization back to its teachers or transmitters, we find that
they in their turn were built upon still older civilizations, till we get back to the traditions of
a Golden Age, when, as Confucius put it, "the Prince was Prince, the Minister was Minister,
the father was father, and the son was son," giving a perfect government, high refinement,
and the blessings of an ideal life. Families are only smaller groups of the same order as
nations or races.
A family without a teacher will gradually degenerate and become barbarous. The
decay of civilizing influence can be readily observed in instances where families have been
isolated, though the parents have originally possessed refinement and culture.
In countries newly settled and sparsely populated, where communication is rare and
difficult with civilized centres, a family so placed will gradually lose all refinement and
progressive intelligence, and if isolated long enough will decay with savagery and
barbarism. This has often been observed, and follows apparently the natural law of decay
by exhaustion of nutriment. The energy exhibiting itself in youth can evidently be turned
to aid progressive intelligence by wise teaching, or left to extend itself in purely animal
desires. On the one hand we have a growth in civilization, and on the other a growth of,
or decay into, barbarism. We see here the weakness and inaccuracy of the supposition
that acquired intelligence is transmitted by physical heredity, and how impossible it is to
cover the facts of broad observation. This process of transmission of knowledge from
nation to nation shows also the liability of error and gradual loss of the true meaning of
terms by recording the symbol without the vitality of individual demonstration. So, carrying
the letter, but not the spirit, of the teaching, knowledge at length becomes a mere husk fit
for swine, but not for true men. In this we get the difference between true and false
civilization, the latter often being but a thin veneer over an appalling rottenness and
savagery, far more degrading than the barbarism of the lowest aboriginal races.
Again, we are faced with the dual nature of man, God-like and devilish, the double
line of heredity and the irresistible fact of immortality which explains the origin and
transmission of civilization and the possibility of its restoration on true lines for yet higher
development.

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--- 347

SOME NEEDS OF TODAY

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS

Point Loma, Cal.

THE NEED IN LITERATURE TODAY.

That the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD MAGAZINE is a publication well fitted to
interest seeker, after truth is an established fact, and it is only a question of a short time
before it will contain more interesting matter on many vital topics which could not be
introduced heretofore on account of the changes which the magazine had to pass through.
The public mind needs an all around education. The head doctrine is valueless apart from
the heart doctrine; intellectualism has no lasting influence without the practice of the
highest morality - the heart-touch must be behind the letter in the writings of all those who
expect to permanently affect the life of humanity. There must be something behind the
words - in the spirit of the writings - for a connection is formed, whether consciously or
unconsciously, between the motive of the writer and the mind of the reader, and this is
where the danger lies and also the opportunity to help. However well expressed, whether
in the most beautiful phrases and presenting the grandest metaphysical aspect, unless the
motive of the writer is lofty and unselfish, the real vibration is lost - that which evokes the
best in man.
Have we not found in our experience with human nature many willing, earliest souls
who demand the Light, but it must be presented in their hard and fast lines according to
what they think it should be and not according to their real needs? To cater to the mental
demands of humanity is to forge another link on the lines of retrogression. It is not what
humanity wants, it is that which will best serve them, that we must give. Our writers should
be moved by the highest motive and the broadest conception of truth. They should
fearlessly step into the arena of literary effort and speak from their hearts, irrespective of
popular approval. Place your subject before the people in such a way that they can draw
their own conclusions, thus avoiding the dogmatic "this is so," and "that is so, because I say
it." In the ages past we have had enough of this, and humanity is suffering today because
the letter of the Law is separated and the spirit is lost.
There is another class of writers, well meaning no doubt, who in their careless
enthusiasm get off the track of the best work through their love of high sounding words and
"the best literary style." From an such may the good Law deliver us!
The writers we need today are those who have the courage of their convictions, like
H. P. Blavatsky, W. Q. Judge, Walt Whitman, Emerson, Ruskin, who dare to place their
high ideals clear cut, diamond-like, before the world. Oh for a whirlwind, a cyclone, to
sweep away the debris of literature which has accumulated for ages! Fewer books and
better ones do we want, writers who regard duty as a sacred obligation, who feel that they
are their brothers' keepers in the highest sense of the word, who place the love of gain and
fame under foot, and who as souls use their pen only as a sword of truth in helping other
souls along the path of light. The trend of things is all in this direction when this sublime
plan shall be fulfilled.
-------

Contributors on these lines are few. Our magazine is conducted on unique lines.
It is devoted to the promulgation

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of the principles of the Brotherhood of Humanity in the widest sense, and all profits arising
from the publication are devoted to the cause of Brotherhood. Hence the plan has been
to induce contributors to write for the love of the work, but although there are many willing
to serve in this way, some cannot do so because of the bread and butter question and
these must receive remuneration for their articles or starve. Hence many of the best writers
who have a deep conception of the needs of humanity and the hour have not their places
in this magazine.
We shall in the next issue present some new departments which will greatly add to
the value and interest. For several months we have had in mind a plan to introduce the
following new features:
Current News and Sketches, by F. M. Pierce.
Ancient Wisdom as told in Legend and Fable, by D. N. Dunlop.
Woman's Column, by Beatrice Barr. The Young Folks' Department has been placed
in charge of Annie H. McDermid, who writes from the heart with such a delightful Scotch
touch. In this Department both children and grown-ups will find much to please them.
------

THE CHILDREN
The chiIdren! the children! what mighty powers do they evoke in the hearts of men!
Truly they are the torch-bearers, the sunbeams, the blessings! Our duty to them is plain.
We must give them "the light of our countenances" in helpful, loving deeds - we must take
them in our hearts as tender, budding souls to be nurtured with the sweet breath of truth -
with the protection of rare discrimination for their soul's unfoldment. We must stand firmly
in our mental and moral attitude toward the right and the true, and thus command their love
and trust. Then the victory is gained, we have reached a point where we can become the
good shepherds to these little lambs.
Work carried out on this basis by all mothers and teachers would result in a new
civilization. How the heart of humanity thrills at the thought of such a blessing!

OUR BOYS
The small boys and the large boys who so quickly step into the ranks of human life
as law-makers and teachers of the human race. How their souls plead with us through
their young eyes and their youthful voices for the best that there is in us!
Too often do we ignore that which lies behind the young form - the soul seeking,
reaching out, to gain a place in the common life of humanity to fulfill its mission in serving
all that lives.
Discipline the body, the temple of the living god, make it a sweet, pure, strong
vehicle for its lifework. Make it acquainted with its divine nature - point out its companion
in arms, the little evil-doer, the undeveloped lower nature, who walks ever by its side
seeking entrance and to blind it and draw it away from its good, true, happy, joyous place
in life. Parents and teachers, study the way more thoughtfully, more trustingly, more
hopefully, more soulfully; bind yourselves to the treasures of your hearts with a new bond -
to those who are now your children, these precious souls entrusted by the great Law to
your protection and guidance and, who perhaps have been or may be your comrades, or
even your teachers.

OUR GIRLS
The tender, sensitive souls need all we have said in our words about "Our Boys."
They need even more watchful care of a peculiar kind, for they are to be the guardians of
the unborn in the future time. The dignity of childhood which expresses itself in pure
thought and uprightness of action cannot be man-

--- 349

ifested where the atmosphere, the surroundings, are of a character that is teeming with
disharmony and worldliness. Make them little mothers in the truest sense, and watch over
them as the tenderest of all.
How often do we see mothers who devote their lives in studying their pretty ways,
their smart sayings, admiring and encouraging them in seemingly innocent deceptions -
comforting themselves with the thought: they will soon outgrow these darling little
weaknesses. Poor mothers! you may be fostering a vice which, hidden now, may in time
wreck the happiness of your children's lives and your own.
When these weaknesses are seen it is the mother's and the teacher's duty to point
out the opposite - the right action. It is her duty to make the child feel that at that very
moment the evil-doer must be thrown out as a little somebody who has no right to be there.
Then picture to the mind of the child that it is something more than the body, and that it
must always keep the door of its little house closed that "the naughty thing" cannot get in.
Cultivate a sense of spiritual honor in the child. Keep its little mind filled with little duties,
for idleness destroys soul life. Watch it in its sleeping hours as well as in its waking hours,
for the brooding loving thought will discover dangers and thus be able to protect. For it is
true and was known to the ancients that in sleeping hours the body, unless guarded, often
becomes the prey to psychological forces of a pernicious nature. The wrecks we see in our
prisons and insane asylums, of men and women, were once children with possibilities of
good, who have been stranded on these very danger points alluded to - the result of
devoted mothers' lack of discrimination and neglect of keeping their children guarded at all
times. Alas! often too late do they discover their mistakes.
- Katherine Tingley
------------

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

KEYNOTES.
Perhaps the greater difficulty of spiritual advancement consists, not so much in the
learning of the new as in the unlearning of the old; not so much in the taking hold of that
just beyond, which we have not, as in the letting go of that which we have. This resistant
struggle of the old against the new is characteristic of every upward step. Perhaps it is but
an intense form of that human tendency which we politely term "conservatism."
In all domains of nature - and they are wise who heed her ways - there is nothing
suggestive of such a tendency. There one finds no hesitation, no lingering by the way;
nothing resembling a shirking of responsibility; no fear of the unknown. Always is there
due preparation and prompt readiness to press on.
A plant imprisoned in an enclosure into which the sunlight can penetrate but through
a single aperture instinctively turns with every leaf in the direction whence comes the light,
and with all its limited force it reaches out in its growth toward that single ray. And the tree,
when its leaves have had their day, does

--- 350

not tighten, but loosens its hold upon them, as of a part which, having served its purpose
and accomplished, as it were, its destiny, is thereby of no further use.
But man, perchance by reason of the very powers that make him superior to the
plant and tree, is less wise; and wisdom comes not without effort. Although endowed with
powers of discernment, will and choice, he is prone to cling to old beliefs, even deeming
it a virtue to do so, and to selfish and familiar hopes and joys. Lacking faith in the
orderliness and wisdom of progression, he fears to let go.
Thus the soul becomes clogged and cluttered with the "dead leaves" of life, from
which it needs must shake itself free that it may be receptive to the light of truth, which only
awaits fitting lodgment. Then, and only then, will be perceived the promise of a larger,
higher life; a newer and a purer joy.
This is the lesson of Nature: Make room for the new.
- Louise H. Armstrong
---------

Anything that brings us nearer humanity, that leads us to realize more deeply our
close relationship with our fellowmen, is a real gain for the soul. E'en though the guiding
hand be the blot of a sin, or the burn of a shame - if, through that, the heart has learned to
feel another's woe; if, through that, the heart expands with a tender pity and sympathy for
others, weak and burdened, regret it not. It is the birth of compassion and the soul has
need to rejoice. It has come; question not the manner of its coming. - Louise H. Armstrong
-------
 The human heart wells up with feeling for another soul and conscientiously exclaims:
"I love." The mother even strips herself of all she has for one whom she has borne and
every feature of her face proclaims her weight of love. And yet each act, each thought, like
coral beads upon a thread, is strung upon one central hope, one fierce demand, that one
who makes such sacrifice lose not the object of the love.
A good book says: No man hath greater lore than this, that for a friend he offer up
his life. Such love is truly great, but greater far is that which urges one to live, perchance
forgotten and unknown, and still perform the deeds of love, but asking no return.
And yet one cannot criticize a love that erases the very thing which in due time the
Law will bring to it. If it deserve the name of even human love, there must interblended in
its warp and woof that persevering something which insists on further sacrifice, e'en though
the object of the toil pays no regard or even frowns upon the proffered gift.
Such love, though justly ranked human sort, is still potentially divine. 'Tis true, it
seek its own at first, yet never does it fail, although denied its right return. And thus it is,
by laboring on, the heart grows broader in its scope, until at length it learns that love may
ask recompense, but patiently and bravely must continue on with fullest trust and
confidence.
Whatever fate may then betide.
"All's well!" - the faithful watchman cries;
"All's well!" - the patient heart responds;
"All's well!" - the universe proclaims;
"All's well!" - rings through eternity.
- Lucien B. Copeland
-------

"As the great majority of human beings have in every age been poor and
unfortunate, does it not follow as a necessary corollary that they must have been reborn
into something like their previous conditions? Where, then, is the justice of Karma and
where is the new experience the soul is supposed to reap in each new earth-life?"

In the first place, the assertion that the "great majority of human beings have in

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every age been poor and unfortunate" is a pure assumption and certainly shows the need
of following the advice of the Leader of the Universal Brotherhood to study ancient Egypt
and America and the prehistoric myths and legends of all races. This is the iron age, an
age of darkness, unbrotherliness, suffering and poverty. Perhaps today the majority of
people do think themselves poor and unfortunate, but it was not always so. There was
once a golden age, when there was no suffering or poverty, but all was joy and innocent
happiness. Then came the silver age, when men and women were still happy, though
perhaps they began to know something of the pain that comes through the loss of
innocence. The bronze age followed, and then the present dark age of iron, in which
selfishness rules.
So, according to that truer history of tradition and myth, men have not always been
unfortunate and poor. And the questioner seems to forget the bright days that come like
gleams of sunshine into the lives of every one and the happy childhood days of even the
children of the poorest.
But let us for a moment grant the really untenable position of the questioner, and let
us accept for the moment his unwarranted statement that the great majority have always
been poor and unfortunate; is his inference, then, correct that there is no justice and no
progress? Not at all; all our observations of nature go to prove the contrary. We find
nothing in nature standing still, but everywhere growth and development. Taking the
analogy of nature, then, we must conclude that our observations of the conditions of
humanity have not extended far enough - that we have neither gone far enough back into
the past nor have we been able to see into the future. According to the scientific
researches of the student of nature, it took ages upon ages for the development of new
species from old, yet the same act repeated an untold number of times by successive
generations, the same unsatisfied longing seeking satisfaction, yet never finding it, through
immeasurable periods of time, have at last produced new powers, created (by an infinitely
slow process) new organs, so that finally the mineral passed into the plant, the plant
became animal, the animal became man.
A person who knew nothing about birds, nor the relation between the egg and the
bird, might be very surprised at seeing a bird sitting upon her eggs in the nest, and might
reason long and philosophically there of and argue that the egg forever remained an egg
and that the bird forever sat thereon. Day after day to his sight the egg would present no
change, yet we know that after fourteen or twenty-one days, or thereabouts, the shell
breaks and the chick is born.
And may it not be that the suffering and pain endured life after life (and let us not
forget the joys) at last cause that stirring of the divine life within the heart that at the
appointed time man breaks his fetters and rises glorious on his soul-wings in the free air
and the sunlight. He is no more tied down to earth nor a slave to its suffering and
wretchedness, because these have been dispelled by the soul's own radiance and joy. -
Orion

--------------
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YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE PRINCESS AND THE SHINING ONE

A FAIRY STORY
by R. W. Machell *

[[illustrations]]

One day when the Princess Psyche was going to bathe in a quiet pool amongst the
rocks, where the trees hung over the bed of the river, she looked down into the smooth,
dark water to see her own pretty face reflected there. But that day a strange thing
happened.
As the princess looked at her own reflection in the water of the pool she saw it
gradually fade away and slowly change into the form of a wonderful fairy, shining with light
and with such a wonderful look in the eyes that the princess hardly could see anything else
but just those

------------
* Illustrations by R. W. Machell.
------------

lovely eyes, and the shining light, which seemed to come from the fairy. Was it a man or
woman? She hardly knew, for it was like no one she had ever seen, and yet she seemed
to know him quite well, as if she had known him all her life, and in many other lives.
She thought it must be a fairy prince, and she loved him with all her heart and called
him "The Shining One," and longed for him to come to her and speak. Then she thought,
"Well, if the reflection is in the water the reality must be above; how silly of me not to look
up and see the real prince instead of only his reflection."
So she quickly raised her eyes and looked up, but there were only the leaves and
the trees and the birds above. She quickly looked down again into the pool, and he was
gone; she only saw her own face, and she thought it very plain and ugly now, after seeing
the face of the Shining One. So she sat down and cried. She thought, "I will never marry
any one but my own fairy prince, my 'Shining One,' and I will wait till he comes, if I wait till
I die and live here again; I will always wait for him."
Then she looked up and saw a white dove flying toward her, and the dove flew down
to her shoulder and rested there, and she felt so happy, though she did not know why, and
the dove went with her and flew round her as she walked, or settled on her shoulder and
took grains of corn from her hand or even picked

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them gently from between her lips when she put them there for fun. And people began to
say that the dove was a fairy that had come to take care of the princess, and they all
thought it was a very good thing that the dove had come to the princess.
A little way from the garden of the palace, just in the beginning of the forest, there
was a kind of summer house, where the Princess Psyche used to go in the hot weather to
get away from the people and to dream of her fairy prince, whom she had not seen since
that first day.
One day while she was there she was surprised to see a very handsome youth
coming toward her. Two big deerhounds were with him, and he had a leopard skin on his
shoulders, a hunting spear in his hand, and was carrying a lovely, little tiger puppy. He held
up the little tiger, and when it saw Psyche it scrambled down and toddled up to her and
began playing with her dress. Psyche was so amused that she asked if the young hunter
would let her keep the tiger pup.
Then he handsomely laughed and said: "You shall keep him as long as you please,
and perhaps longer," and then he went away, laughing gaily; but the dove was very
frightened and flapped its wings to warn Psyche, for it knew that there was danger in that
tiger pup. But Psyche only laughed and kept on playing with the tiger till the boy was gone;
then she went home and took her new pet with her, and soon began to forget the dove and
to neglect it, because there was more fun in playing with the tiger puppy.
 But the puppy grew big very fast and became more and more mischievous, biting
and scratching the people. And then a curious thing happened, for when people were
bitten or even scratched by the tiger they became very disagreeable to their friends, very
quarrelsome and jealous, and they were always angry and cross. Then people began to
say that the tiger was an evil fairy and they were all afraid of it except Psyche, who

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thought she could always make it do what she wished.

One day, when Psyche was asleep and the dove was picking up crumbs on the
floor, the tiger came in very quietly and sprang upon the dove and nearly caught it, but the
dove flew out of the window and away, while Princess Psyche slept on. When she awoke
she only found the tiger crouched at her feet, purring.
Then the dove flew home, up into the where the "Shining One" lived, and she told
him all about the tiger and the Princess Psyche. So the "Shining One" said: "I must go
down to earth again and free her from that tiger, or she will soon be killed by him, for he will
now be fiercer than ever, and no one else can kill him: therefore I must go myself."
The tiger had bitten and scratched so many people that they were all very unhappy,
and they would have killed it if they had not been so much afraid of it; but the princess
used to like to go and walk by the riverside and play with the tiger, and now she began to
think unkindly of her fairy prince, and to say that she was tired of waiting for him.
Sometimes she almost wished the handsome youth who gave her the tiger would come
back again. But that was only because she felt cross at not seeing her "Shining One," for
she really loved him all the time better than any one else in the world.
So one day she was standing near a large pool where the river flowed in

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cascade over thy side of a rock, and the tiger was near her; she looked up to the setting
sun and in the blaze of light she saw once more her fairy prince. Then her heart stood still
for joy, but as he came nearer she trembled and was quite frightened, for his eyes were
cold and stern and there was no smile on his face. He looked coldly and sadly at Psyche
for a moment; then he took an arrow from his quiver, and the tiger growled fiercely and
began to move away, but before he had gone two steps the arrow flew from the bow, and
down the tiger dropped with a howl and died.
When the princess saw what had happened she was very sad, and she sat there by
the side of the dead tiger, crying, and the "Shining One" mounted his horse and rode off
into the sky, to his home in the Sun. And darkness came on, but the princess sat there by
the dead tiger, and her heart was full of bitterness against the Prince of Light, who had
robbed her of her fierce pet, the tiger.
Then an evil fairy came to her in the shape of a great bat and said: "Make one of
your people pull out all the teeth and the claws of the dead tiger and then quickly take
them, and when the moon is in the sky plant them in the ground; do this, and you will soon
have an army of soldiers to defend you from that Shining Prince who killed your beautiful
tiger." And the princess did as she was told by the bat, and went by night, when the moon
was in the sky, and planted the teeth and the claw's of the tiger in the ground.
 When the next day dawned you might have seen queer vapors and mists coming
out of the ground where the teeth and claws had been sown, twisting themselves slowly
into queer shapes that swayed about like flowers on their stalks. But as the sun rose and
made all the sky red and bright, the mists quickly began to take form, and soon they were
full grown-men with swords and spears and fierce looks and angry voices, wanting to fight.
And

--- 356

soon they broke loose from their places in the ground and ran about, looking for some one
to fight. They rushed about the country and killed every man they met, and then began to
kill each other.
And the women and children came to the princess, crying for their husbands and
fathers and sons who had been killed by the fierce soldiers that had grown from the tiger's
teeth.
The princess was very sorry for those poor women and children, and she took a silk
scarf from her shoulders and dried their tears, trying to comfort them, till at last the scarf
was quite wet with the tears of the people. Then she longed to help those poor people and
to get rid of her new soldiers, and she thought that nobody but the "Shining One" could help
her, and as she thought that, she heard a flutter of wings, and, looking up, she saw again
the white dove, and it flew round her head three times. Then all at once she knew what to
do.
She went into her own room and, taking the silk scarf, she wrung out of it the
teardrops, and as they fell into a silver bowl they turned to shining jewels, and the bowl was
filled with light and color from the shining drops. Then she went out in the night again and
planted them in the ground, just as she had done with the tiger's teeth, and in the morning
the mists and vapors began to rise as before; but, when the sun shone upon them, the
mists took the forms of beautiful maidens in pretty colored dresses, and they laughed and
sang so prettily that any one could tell they were glad to be alive.
Then they danced away from their places and began to wander about, singing and
laughing, when all at once they saw a party of the fierce, cruel soldiers coming that way.
These were all that remained when they stopped killing one another the night before.
When the maidens saw them they laughed and ran to meet them, and then stood
and just laughed at the funny looks

--- 357

of those wild men. They laughed so sweetly and merrily that the men began to feel foolish,
trying to smile and look pleasant, and they would have hidden their swords and spears, but
the maidens had seen them, and wanted to know what they were for.
Then one of the men said: "Oh, that is a kind of spade for digging with," and as he
said so he stuck it in the ground, and it at once turned into a spade. And another man with
a sword tried to explain that it was a sickle for reaping the corn with, and he pretended to
reap the corn, when at once his sword changed into a sickle and his armor into rough
clothes, and so each man was quickly changed into a farming man, and then they began
to smile at the maidens, and they all went together in couples down to the village.
 When the people saw them coming with spades and sickles, and their brides with
them, they were very glad and took them into their houses. Soon they all settled down in
that land and worked hard, sharing all their earnings with the people who had most need,
and they all looked on the Princess Psyche as their queen and their mother.

-------------

DAREST THOU NOW, O SOUL?

- Walt Whitman

(Selected)

Darest thou now, O soul.

Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?

No map there, nor guide,

Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not, O soul,

Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,
All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land.

Till when the ties loosen,

All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us.

Then we burst forth, we float,

In Time and Space, O soul, prepared for them,
Equal equipt at last (O joy! O fruit of all!), them to fulfill, O soul.

[[photos: Point Loma shoreline]]

------------
--- 358

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES

One Crusade ended and another almost immediately begun - or is it not the same
Crusade, and are not the Congresses to be held in Sweden and England the same
Congress as that begun at Point Loma on April 13th, continued and carried to those
countries? The Leader has said that this Congress still continues. A work was begun at
Point Loma which knows neither cessation nor pause. The enthusiasm and energy which
stirred all hearts, both of those who were present on that sacred site and those who, though
remaining at home, were yet present in thought and spirit, have been carried back to their
Lodges and into their work.
Thus it is but the one Crusade and the one Congress.
Just five short weeks intervened between the Leader's return to New York and her
sailing for Europe, yet in that five weeks it seemed as though five months' or even five
years' work was accomplished. The intensity of this age is tremendous, and the Universal
Brotherhood touches the heart and root of all due intense life manifest in every department
of life - it does more than this, it goes ahead, bearing aloft the torchlight of the promise of
a new age, thus partaking of all the intense activity, being, in fact, the very foetus of it, yet
at the same time being a haven of peace and joy.
On August 7 a flying visit was paid to the Boston Headquarters by the Leader,
accompanied by F. M. Pierce and Basil Crump, and although it was the middle of the
summer vacation, there was a great gathering of members, enthusiastic and united, and,
as B. C. writes in The New Century, "assuredly Boston will turn up smiling on the threshold
of the new century."
On August 29 the Leader and Bros. E.A. Neresheimer, H. T. Patterson, F. M. Pierce,
C. Thurston, Mrs. A. L. Cleather, B. Crump and Senorita Fabre sailed on the North German
Lloyd steamer for Europe to attend the Congresses in Sweden and England. The Leader
will also visit Norway, Germany and Holland. The Congress at Stockholm, Sweden, was
to be held on September 10 and 11, and on Saturday, September 9 about midnight, a cable
message was sent from New York on
behalf of all the American Lodges. It read as follows:

"Dr. Gustaf Zander, Stockholm, Sweden:

"Loving greetings from American Lodges to Swedish Comrades."

The Congress in England is to be held in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on October

6 and 7. Great preparations have been made by our Swedish and English Comrades for
both these important occasions.
Bro. E. A. Neresheimer writes in The New Century of the planning of the European
Crusade as follows:
"Brotherhood Power and indomitable will, which make seemingly impossible projects
an actuality in the twinkling of an eye, circumstances marshal themselves in convenient
array to take across the water to our brothers the heavenly message of love which was
liberated at the Point Loma Congress.
"This Crusade was outlined by the Leader on December 4, 1897, at a private
meeting of the Friends in Council, its importance vouchsafed, but not understood nor
dreamed possible even by those who now participate in it. Still, here we stand

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[[photo: Making clothes at headquarters for the Cubans]]

today on the eve of departure. Verily, a miracle with no end of beneficent consequences.
"Here I must pause and salute my brother, F. M. Pierce, who came to us, as many
know, at a great crisis - March 21, 1896 - who goes with us now, and who has been an
example and an inspiration to us all. This elder brother, since aeons of time, is again
wedged with us in an impregnable circle, surrounding and protecting. Humanity's Helper -
a warrior and a pillar of strength, a real comrade to us all. Our foreign brothers will rejoice
to meet him as the living symbol of their own ideal, and love him well.
"The message of a brighter side of life: joy, happiness, glory, beauty and radiance,
is now being carried abroad by the Leader. It will overtake the world with irresistible force."
- E. A. Neresheimer
-----------

CUBAN RELIEF WORK

Just before leaving for Europe the Leader made arrangements for a large quantity
of supplies, food, clothing and medicine to go down to Porto Rico to help relieve the
suffering caused by the recent terrible hurricane, and on her return the Leader is going
again to Cuba, as urgent appeals for help still come from there. All the supplies on hand
having been sent to Porto Rico, a special meeting of members of the Universal
Brotherhood in New York was held immediately after the regular Aryan

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Lodge meeting, on Tuesday evening, August 29, the day the Leader and party sailed. This
was entirely an impromptu Meeting, and not large, as many of the New York members
were away and no notice had been sent out, but a more enthusiastic meeting has never
been held. The object of the meeting was stated by the chairman, and it was immediately
agreed that the men would be willing to furnish all the funds necessary to purchase the
material which the ladies would require for making into garments. Needless to say the
ladies also contributed toward the funds. Clothing for woman and children is especially
needed, also shoes, for the soil is of such a nature that the people cannot go barefoot. The
women in Cuba are mostly small, so that any garments made or sent should be of small
size. Although there were many members not present at the meeting, the sum of $53 was
immediately subscribed as a starter, and at the time of writing this amount has been nearly
doubled. On the next day appeared four sewing machines, which the Messrs. Wheeler &
Wilson have very kindly lent for this work through our devoted comrade, Mrs. I. H. Butler.
of Bridgeport, who very fortunately happened to be in New York just at that time and
present at the meeting. Messrs. Wheeler & Wilson also sent a young lady to teach any of
the workers how to use the machines. The next day, and every day since, the Aryan Hall
has presented a lousy scene, a picture of which was taken for The New Century and is
here reproduced, and a result over 500 yards of material have been made up and the
second 500 yards is in process of being made up.
Besides the garments, supplies of food and medicine are also being obtained, so
that, as one of the members expressed it, we hope to have such a large quantity of
supplies ready for our Leader on her return that she will have to climb over the boxes and
cases in order to get into Headquarters.
Brother Crosbie, of Boston, writes: "Boston will add something - not small, I hope -
to the general doorway obstructions at 144." We know that nothing small has ever issued
from Boston, and that our comrades there can always be relied on.
Two days after the work was started in New York a letter came front Chicago saying
that one of the largest biscuit manufacturers would donate half a carload of biscuits. Other
Lodges have also written to say supplies are being obtained and work being done.
Comrades, would it not make the Leader's heart glad to find on her return from Europe
every Lodge represented by a case of supplies! What an accumulated power of love and
sympathy would thus be ours to share in and to add to, sending it out, guided and directed
by the wise, loving hand of our Leader, "for the healing of the nations!"
If every Lodge would mark plainly on every case sent the number of the Lodge, and
also send a separate list of contents, it would greatly facilitate handling the supplies at New
York.
----------

THE BOYS' BROTHERHOOD.

The B. B. C. and the N. C. G. are now established facts in New York; institutions
not only of the future, but in the present, and destined to play an important part in the next
century. The B. B. C. stands for Boys' Brotherhood Club, of which No. 1 has its
Headquarters at 144 Madison Avenue, and No. 2 at Greenwich Hall, Hudson Street, each
being regularly organized with President, Vice-President and Secretary. The N. C. G. is
the New Century Guard, a name specially chosen by the Leader for the drill corps of the
B. B. C.
Preliminary to forming the Clubs, cards of invitation were sent out. The first

--- 362

[[photo: Boys Brotherhood Club, No. 2]]

--- 363

preliminary meeting was that held at Hudson Street July. 26. In response to the invitation,
sixty-three fine boys attended. A few short talks on the objects of the Club were given,
interspersed with music, and then Bro. C.L. Carpenter, whom the Leader has appointed
Superintendent of the Boys' Brotherhood Clubs in New York State, asked the boys who
were ready to join to come to the platform and enroll themselves as members. Every boy
responded, not singly, but collectively - so much so that they had to be ordered back to
their seats and then come up row by row, in single file.
On the following evening the Boys' Brotherhood Club No. 1 was regularly organized
at 144 Madison Avenue. The organization of the Hudson Street Club did not take place
until a week later, although the first preliminary meeting was held there. The constitution,
which is to be the same for the B.B.C.s throughout the country, and which had been
approved by the Leader, was read and accepted by the boys present, who then signed
their names to the roll. The officers were then elected and duly installed. Short addresses
were given and also music, and the B.B.C. is well launched.
Bro. Carpenter, speaking of this first meeting, says, in The New Century:
"The meeting, being thus in the hands of its own officers, was carried on by them,
and I know that down in the hearts of the men present a certain spot, which maybe had
become very slightly ossified, began to soften and to grow warm and warmer. There
seemed to hover in the room the thoughts - nay, almost the presence - of the Leader, which
gave a glow and purpose to the whole proceeding.
"So now the thing is started. The grand idea is being evoked into reality, and to my
mind come the following words: 'We are coming, Brothers, in one vast, loving throng. The
whole Earth shakes and trembles as we proudly march along. Listen, Comrades, and you
may hear the tread of feet. The banners of the hosts tinge the sky with the colors of the
morning, and the great heart of all heats in unison with our own.'"
The following card of invitation to a meeting of the Club was given to the boys for
their friends:

BOYS' CLUB.
A Club for Boys, called the "Boys" Brotherhood," has been formed under the
auspices of the International Brotherhood League, Katherine A. Tingley, President;
Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue, New York.
The objects of the Club are: To give larger opportunities to boys and better ideas
of TRUE COMRADESHIP and HIGHER PATRIOTISM, and to surround them with such
beneficent and moral influences as will tend to prepare them for the battle of life. They
shall be taught true NOBILITY of CHARACTER and the DIGNITY of a PURE LIFE. The
objects shall further be: (a) The training in DEBATE and PARLIAMENTARY LAW; (b)
Physical "Development by GYMNASTIC EXERCISES; ©) MILITARY DRILL.
The Club will be conducted (under supervision) by the Boys themselves, who will
elect their own officers. Parents will be invited to attend the meetings as visitors from time
to time, and especially the Entertainments which will be given periodically. It is hoped that
parents will co-operate with the Club in carrying out its objects. The Club is strictly
UNSECTARIAN and NON-POLITICAL.
The officers of the Club are: President, Joseph Walker; Vice President, William
Campbell; Secretary, Benjamin Hoffman.
Correspondence is invited with the officers of the Club. Address, Secretary

--- 364

Boys' Club, 144 Madison Avenue, New York. The Club meets every Thursday evening at
8 P.M. at 144 Madison Avenue.
Admit........
Boys holding these cards are invited to at tend the next meeting.
Authorized by I. B. L. Committee.
----------

AN IMPORTANT MEETING OF BOYS' BROTHERHOOD CLUB NO. 1.

Thursday, Sept. 7th, the B.B.C. No. 1 gave their first public reception to their friends.
The Aryan Hall was beautifully decorated, having undergone in a few hours a complete
transformation from the busy sewing room where the ladies were making garments for the
destitute Cubans. Back of the platform were two beautiful flags, the Stars and Strips and
the purple and gold S.R.L.M.A. Flag, and between them just below, a large facsimile of the
Boys' Brotherhood Badge. [[illustration]] Several other flags and great bunches of golden
rod and flowers made a very pretty setting to the proceedings. The hall was crowded and
there was a feeling of expectancy when the young President and the Secretary took their
places on the platform. The gavel fell and the voice of the President rang out clear: "The
meeting will please come to order." Then came the roll-call, every member being
addressed as "Brother" and responded to by each Brother rising in his place and giving a
military salute as well as answering. The next business was the report of a Committee for
selecting a subject for the next debate. The subject selected was "Which is the most
destructive, Fire or Water?" but it was not accepted by the meeting, two other alternative
subjects being proposed. The discussion on these brought up some interesting points in
parliamentary law and showed how well the boys had grasped its principles. There were
points of order raised and once the ruling of the Chair was objected to, so that hit had to
appeal to the meeting, who by vote supported his ruling. The subject finally selected was:
"Is War inconsistent with Brotherhood?"
The most important event of the evening under the head of Miscellaneous Business
was the presentation of the Boys' Brotherhood Flag to the Club by Brother C. L. Carpenter,
Superintendent of the Brotherhood Clubs in N. Y. State, on behalf of Katherine Tingley,
President of the INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE, who at the request of the
Boys had specially designed the flag for them. In speaking of the flag and the meaning of
its colors, Brother Carpenter said that the solid field of blue stood for the broad principles
of Brotherhood we teach, and the gold letters, for the Golden Rule, which all men should
practice in their lives. Bro. Rieger, one of the boys, received the flag on behalf of the Club
and made the speech of the evening. His speech was entirely impromptu, but it contained
thoughts that any of the grown members among us would have been proud to give
utterance to. Here is his idea, in his own words, of what the Club stands for: "Unity, not
separation; Peace, not antagonism; and Love, which we learn by living it." Bro. Rieger
then delivered the flag into the custody of the Color Sergeant of the New Century Guard,
who carried it down the hall and back again, all the boys rising and saluting it.
Bro. J. H. Fussell gave a short address to the boys and spoke of the significance of
the founding of the New Century Guard. He gave the Boys a message that Katherine
Tingley had sent to them about the meaning of the New Century Guard, that it did not mean
they were to be trained to kill their brother-men, but to stand guard against all that is wrong
and unbrotherly in their own lives and in the world and to be on guard for all that is noble
and pure and brotherly.

--- 365

Then came some musical selections by the members of the Club and the Club-
songs, after which the meeting closed in due form.
At both the Clubs part of the time is spent in drilling and in the other part a regular
order of business is carried out. The order of business is: (1) Calling to Order, by the
President; (2) Calling the Roll, by the Secretary; (3) Reading the Minutes, by the
Secretary; (4) Reports of Officers; (5) Reports of Committees; (6) Election of Officers;
(7) Election of Members; (8) Miscellaneous Business; (9) Adjournment.
Under the head of Miscellaneous Business come addresses and debates, and many
of the boys show very promising signs of becoming good speakers. Especially interesting
was one debate at Club No. 1, on the subject, "Upon What Does the Future of America
Depend?" and the little speeches of the boys showed that some very good, original thinking
was done by them.
 The accompanying picture was taken by flashlight at the close of one of the
meetings of Club No. 2. Both the Clubs are now in good working order. Club No. 1 has
adopted a "Club yell" - "Rah, rah, rah - Rah. rah, ree - We are Brothers, can't you see -
Brotherhood, Brotherhood, N. C. G." Bro. Carpenter has also written some excellent Club
songs and adapted them to well-known college tunes, which have taken immensely; these
have been printed in The New Century.
And so the work goes forward: the new century is close at hand, and old and young,
as Comrade's and Brothers, we stand united, faithful to the great cause of Humanity, loyal
to our Leader, and thus we march forward into the new age with a great song of "Truth,
Light and Liberation."
- J. H. Fussell
------------

THE EUROPEAN CRUSADE.

Extracts from a Letter from E.A. Neresheimer

On Board S.S. Saale, Nearing Southampton, Sept. 5, 1899
All is well with the party. We have had a pleasant voyage, only one day stormy. We
are nearing the English coast, expect to arrive at Bremen on the 7th, and at Stockholm on
the night of the 9th, or early on the 10th.
There has been no time lost while on board. On the contrary, being favored with fine
weather, we have been able to dispose of considerable literary matter that had to be gotten
ready in connection with the S. R. L. M. A. Community and Colony.
The Leader has been able to give us attention almost during the entire trip, and you
know by experience that under such conditions the work proceeds most rapidly.
We are looking forward to a demand of great activity upon us in the near future, and
having had such a delightful rest during the voyage we are prepared for it. The Leader and
all send regards and love to all members. Ever yours,
- E.A. Neresheimer
---------

THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS IN SWEDEN

The First News By Cable

Stockholm, Sept., 1899.
Four days Congress, enormous success. All Swedish Lodges represented.
Greetings from the Swedes and Crusaders. - Zander Hedlund and Cabinet

-----------
--- 366

PACIFIC COAST ACTIVITIES.

The Pacific Coast Committee reports good work being done all over the coast. We
have not space for all the report, but give the following:
PASADENA, CAL., U.B.L. No. 76 - Owing to the fact that so many people go to the
seaside in August we closed our public meetings for the month, though we kept up our
Wednesday evening study class for members. September 1st all work will be resumed.
The ladies have been busy making clothing for the Cuban children and have a box ready
for shipment. A Boy's Brotherhood Club has been organized by the members of the Lodge.
On receipt of suggestions for U.B. work from the Leader they called a meeting to
immediately carry these out. A few boys were invited in, who proved to be of great
assistance to their seniors. The membership consists of a dozen strong, manly boys, and
only five meetings have been held. Good music is supplied by one of the boys - a violinist.
- Miss Edith White, Secretary
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., U.B.L. No. 7 - Music has been introduced into the closed
Lodge meetings, as well as in the public meetings. The headquarters are brightened with
potted plants and flowers, and bouquets adorn the hall at all public meetings. At the close
of the meetings these flowers are presented to the audience for distribution among the sick,
and the aroma of Brotherhood has thus cheered many invalids. A new department is a
Choral Society, under the direction of H.B. Monges. The Spanish class is now conducted
by Senor Juan T. Marin, who recently arrived from Cuba, where he met Katherine A.
Tingley, and became deeply interested in Brotherhood work. Mr. W.N. Dingle is conducting
a sewing class at the Bryant street rooms. Sunday lectures: "Beyond the Grave," Mrs.
H.H. Somers; "Man and His Bodies," Julius Oettle; "Rebirth of the Soul," Dr. J.A.
Anderson; "Memories of Past Lives," H.H. Somers. I.B.L. subjects: "Capital Punishment,"
Miss Alma Day and Dr. Allen Griffiths; "Savagery and Civilization," Mrs. Mercie M. Thirds
and Dr. J.A. Anderson; "Human War," H. Buntrock and Alfred Robinson; "Cursed be the
Earth for Thy Sake," Miss E.J. Whittier and Dr. J.A. Anderson; "Ideals of Youth," Mrs. E.M.
Poole and H.B. Monges. - A.J. Johnson, Secretary.
SAN JOSE, CAL., U.B.L. No. 4 - We resumed the Sunday meeting August 27th after
the usual summer vacation with the hour changed from 3 p.m. to 10.30 a.m. We are all
filled with a renewed energy and determination to work. THE UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD MAGAZINE has been placed on sale at four of the leading newsdealers
with very encouraging results in the way of sales. The Magazine and New Century have
been put in the public library, and from their well-thumbed appearance would indicate that
they are found interesting reading. - Nellie Keaton, Secretary
SAN QUENTIN, CAL. - On August 27th the Pacific Coast Committee for Universal
Brotherhood held their usual monthly meeting at San Quentin Prison, Dr. Allen Griffiths
lecturing on "Patriotism." The usual large audience was present, and the growing interest
manifested by the best element among the 1,400 inmates is evidenced by the many
statements received of the general discussion among them carried on for days after each
meeting. The questions asked following each lecture bring out many telling answers
embodying the necessity of discipline of the "wayward boy," full of force, who does not use
it for the benefit of his fellows, and finally winds up in prison. Heads young and old and
gray nod many assents as the passing thoughts seem to apply to their experiences.
SANTA CRUZ, CAL., U.B.L. No. 19 - During the month Lodge meetings

--- 367

kept up their interest. Among the events may be mentioned the sending of a box of useful
articles to the I.B.L. Cuban Colony, Point Loma. A promising feature of the Lotus Group
is that the attendance at the meetings continues to be as good as at any other part of the
year. All the children have been given seeds and will soon have "thought flowers" growing.
The Lotus Mother may expect some. Every Sunday they send "golden boats" filled with
loving thoughts to the Superintendent who is absent. As improvement is the order of the
age, we hope to keep step. - Francis M. Hazleton, Secretary
SEATTLE, WASH., U.B.L. No. 100 - Two meetings a week have been held during
the summer with increasing attendance. Plans are being made for a monthly social
gathering to which friends of the members and also strangers will be invited. Our soldier
boys who sailed for Manila via Seattle have been supplied with a large quantity of reading
matter in the form of U.B. Magazines and New Century, The Ocean of Theosophy, and a
quantity of leaflets, as well as a large number of Pacific Coast Theosophists. They were
distributed among the boys in camp and two large bundles were carried on board and also
distributed. - A.W. Schroeder, Secretary
VICTORIA, B.C., U.B.L. No. 57, 28 Broad St. - The following is a list of addresses
for the month of July: "Life and Death," W.H. Berridge; "Humanity's Opportunity," W.
Stewart; "The Finest Thing on Earth," G.F. Jeanneret; "The Religion of the Future," F.C.
Berridge. We have now introduced a system of sending out thirty or forty programes every
week, detailing what is to take place at our Sunday evening meetings, and the results have
been very satisfactory, as the attendance and general interest is steadily increasing. We
always have music at our meetings, and on the second Sunday in each month we aim to
make this an especial feature. There is a splendid feeling of harmony in our Lodge. All the
members are pulling together, each doing his work and doing it better every time, with a
greater love, a greater earnestness and a greater joy. The Lotus Group is increasing, and
there is a boy's club in the air and things are generally bright all round. - W. Harold
Berridge, Secretary
----------

U.B. LODGE NO. 87, VICTORIA, B.C.

A letter has been received by the Leader, signed by the members of Lodge 87,
expressing gratitude and heartfelt thanks for the noble work accomplished during the recent
visit of the Leader and Cabinet to Victoria and throughout the Continent. "There is not one
among us who has not become a better man or a better woman" for this visit. "You have
given a new Light and new Life to out Lodge, inspired us with a still greater joy in the work,
and it is with our hearts full of love that we again pledge our undying devotion to the Great
Cause, and our unswerving loyalty to yourself."
---------

THE ISIS CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

Of the Art Department of the Universal Brotherhood
While in vacation mood, we can note with virtuous approval the labor of other
people! In a gently swing hammock, we can admire the energy of the projects of the
summer schools for the promotion of this, that, and the other art, science and religion. In
a reverie which concerns itself chiefly with what can be done to obviate the necessity of
doing anything whatever, we can be sweetly glad that the world's

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activities still go on. Therefore, the circular of the Isis Conservatory of Music, Point Loma,
San Diego, while telling of school for all-the-year-round, seems of special value for
consideration just now in the holiday time. This Conservatory is department of the
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD. From an accompanying private letter sent by a musician
friend, who is particularly in touch with this Organization, we learn many things of concern
to all musicians on this coast.
The Isis Conservatory is beautifully situated as to climate and accessibility, and is
under what one is assured is unusually competent superintendence. Mrs. Elizabeth
Churchill Mayer, of New York, supervises the classes in singing and harmony; Miss Julia
Freda, an accomplished pupil of Carl Wolfsohn, has charge of the piano pupils, and a
teacher of languages from Paris has been added to the staff. The terms, considering the
advantages, are not high - in fact, compare favorably in that respect with any of the well-
equipped institutions of a similar class; and private lessons, as well as those in classes,
are provided.
The assurance is given in the letter referred to that a financial success is not the only
one expected, nor does the continuance of the Conservatory depend on its financial
success. It is an American institution on somewhat different lines from those in Europe.
Quoting from his letter:
"The Isis League of Music and Drama has the following objects, viz.:
"1. To accentuate the importance of Music and the Drama as vital educative factors.
"2. To educate the people to a knowledge of the true philosophy of life by means of
dramatic presentations of a high standard and the influence of the grander harmonies of
music."
It will thus be seen that the aim is for more than mere technical acquirement.
Interpretation in its highest and deepest sense, as taught - and more subtly suggested - by
the most devoted of the teachers everywhere, will be made a special feature.
A short time ago the Isis League gave the play Eumenides, with orchestra, scenery,
and the dances appropriate to the festival. This is said to have been a remarkable
production, and full of information as well as charm.
Those interested in the Conservatory noted above may write to Mrs. Mayer, P. O.
Box 367, San Diego, for further information. - Alameda Journal.
------------

THE PROGRESS OF ART IN INDIA.

An Interesting Letter to the Leader

Katherine A. Tingley, Leader, Universal Brotherhood:

My Dear Sister and Madam - Thanking you very much for the deep interest you take
in the welfare of my poor country, as is clearly evinced in the thoughtful, sympathetic and
remarkable articles that your beautiful journal, The New Century, is often studded with. I
have a great pleasure in forwarding to you the accompanying Application of the Secretary,
Council of Management of the Jubilee Art Academy for your kind consideration.
The application I am sure is quite capable of pleading its own cause.
Thanking you once more for your deep concern for the well-being of poor India, I
remain, Yours fraternally,
Rakhal Chundra Sen, M.C.P.S. & L.M.S., President, Indo-
American Theosophical Society, Calcutta.

--- 369

Extracts from the Prospectus.

THE JUBILEE ART ACADEMY.

76, Harrison Road, Calcutta.

The object of the above Institution is to diffuse a taste for Arts in our country. In
Ancient India, the Arts attained great excellence, such as Portrait-painting, Sculpture and
Wood-engraving; even now in every native Indian Court, there is a painter on its
establishment. The art of sculpture appears to have made special progress in Rajpootana
and other places, but it never reached the highest pitch of excellence of the Greeks and the
Romans. Since the establishment of the British rule in India, a taste for fine arts has been
revived in this country. And this revival we undoubtedly owe to the generosity of the British
nation.
In Bengal, the establishment of a School of Arts by Government in Calcutta first
paved the way for acquiring a knowledge of Arts. The paucity of such institutions is greatly
felt nowadays. To remove this long-felt want, some distinguished students of the Calcutta
Government School of Arts have joined together, and have established this Instruction at
No. 76, Harrison Road, and have named it the Jubilee Art Academy, as it has been founded
in the year of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty. They have formed an Art Gallery, in
which a good collection of the best specimens of fine arts have been made. The Institution
has been also provided with a good Library, containing art magazines and rare books of
art. A photographic studio has also been attached to the Institution. They have organized
the system of its work in such a way as to insure success.
The Institution was opened in April 1897, and during this short time, students, about
fifty in number, have been regularly given lessons on Painting, Modeling, Lithography,
Engraving, Photography, etc. We have been obliged to refuse many applications from
candidates for admission on account of the insufficient accommodation in the Institution.
The primary object which the founders of the institution have in view is not to teach
the students merely to become mercenary sculptors and painters, but to awaken in them
a keen spirit of love of the aesthetic art in all its branches. They have established the
Gallery, etc., at great cost, without any help from the outside public, but the means at their
command are insufficient to enable them to carry out fully the programme of the Institution
without public support and help.
The Institution has been visited by some illustrious men and connoisseurs of arts,
and they have expressed their sympathy with the object of the Institution, and their
satisfaction with the works turned out by the students of the Institution.....
Ranada Prasad Gupta,
Secretary
By order of the Members of the School Committee.
---------

It is a matter of deep interest to all lovers of Art and of the well-wishers of the people
of India, to hear of this Art Revival in that ancient land. For a true love of Art means also
an awakening to the real needs of the soul in life. Art is one of the handmaidens of
Brotherhood, as is being so clearly shown by our Leader in the work of the Art Department
of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD and the Isis League of Music and Drama, and so we
welcome the efforts of our Brothers in India as forging another link in the great chain of
Universal Brotherhood that encircles the world, and greet them with words of
encouragement and love.
----------
--- 370

THE S.R.L.M.A. MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.

Several valuable contributions have been received both for the Museum and Library
of the S.R.L.M.A. Mr. E. A. Neresheimer has donated his valuable collection of German
Songs, probably one of the most complete collections in the world, and Rev. S. J. Neill has
donated his library of several hundred volumes. Other donations of books for the Library
and articles of interest and antiquity for the Museum have been received.
----------

SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF ANTIQUITY

For information relating to the School for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of
Antiquity, excepting financial matters, address Frank M. Pierce, Representative of the
S.R.L.M.A. Donations to the Museum and of books to the School Library should be
carefully packed and addressed to Rev. S. J. Neill, Assistant Librarian, Point Loma, San
Diego, Cal. - Frank M. Pierce,
Representative of S. R. L. M. A.,
144 Madison Avenue, New York.
---------

DO NOT FORGET THIS

The Secretaries of the U. B. and the E. S. are pleased to acknowledge the influx of
stamps in response to the following notice. We are glad to see even this sign of
helpfulness:
If every letter sent by members to Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue, New York,
contained one stamp or more, many hundred dollars would be saved to use in other
needed work. Do not stick the stamps to letters, SEND THEM LOOSE.
Comrades! do not forget this. - Editors

-----------------

AUM
TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

"He only earns his freedom and existence

Who daily conquers them anew."
 - Goethe, in Faust

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIV November, 1899 No. 8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES

by Alexander Wilder, M.D.

VII - The Brilliant Twelfth Dynasty - Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth - The Menti or Hyksos -
The New Empire - The Queens.

AMUNEARIA III had supplemented the achievements of his predecessors by the

provision which he had made for stable government by his magnificent system of canals
and other public works. He had consolidated his dominion from the Sudan to the
Mediterranean and had transformed the Fayum, which had been little more than a desert
and field of marshes, into a region of fertility and abundance, making it the seat of power
and influence in Egypt. The Labyrinth, with its numerous structures, pathways and
thousands of apartments, was, doubtless, a place of assembly, where the representative
priests, lesser kings and others who were of note amongst the people met in council to
propose and discuss measures which were for the welfare of the Empire. Everything had
been conducted upon a scale of grandeur and with reference to the general welfare.
The Twelfth Dynasty, like others, "came in with a lass and went out with a lass." And
after its departure dense clouds began to obscure the glory of Egypt. With the exaltation
of the Fayum and Middle Egypt and the introduction of a heterogeneous population, it is
likely that the rulers of the other districts were excited by jealousy. There was probably,
likewise, an increase of the public burdens. An analogous condition of affairs is described
as recurring in Hebrew Palestine at a later period. King Solomon had also filled his
dominion with costly buildings and "made silver as stones,"* so that it was of no account
for coinage or ornament. His people being overburdened beyond patient endurance, their
representatives appealed to his successor for relief. Upon his refusal they promptly set the
Dynasty of David aside.
Religion, even more than jealousy and political ambition, was likely to have a greater
influence. The exaltation of the Fayum and increase of its influence naturally tended to
bring the tutelary divinity of the Arsinoite district into greater distinction. The divinity, Sebek,
the patron god of the inundation, had

-----------
* Chronicles, II, ix., 20-27.
-----------
--- 372

the crocodile for representative symbol, and homage was paid to it similar to that bestowed
elsewhere upon the sacred ram at Mendes, the black Apis at Memphis and the white Mena
at Heliopolis. Amunemha erected temples and obelisks to this divinity, and the name
Sebek became a frequent constituent of the names of individuals belonging to the royal
family and court. The King's own daughter, the last of his line, was Queen Sebek-neferu,
and she was succeeded by Sebek-hetep I of the Thirteenth Dynasty.
The history of this dynasty is involved in much obscurity. The Tablet of Abydos
omits all mention of it, passing from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth as though continuous.
The Chronicle of Manetho barely states that it consists of sixty Theban or Diospolite Kings,
whose names are lost, and that of the Fourteenth nothing is known. The Turin Papyrus is
badly tattered at this point. It enumerates eighty-seven kings, while, owing to its mutilated
condition, there are about sixty more names that cannot be transcribed. Seven of these
kings are recognized as bearing the name of Sebekhetep, and Brugsch-Bey declares his
conviction that the greater number of the kings of this family had the same designation.
This name, implying homage and veneration for the Crocodile-God, appears continually till
the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Then, as will be seen, there occurred other
changes of vast importance.
The Kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, the first of them at least, were duly invested
with full royal authority in both the Egypts and in the subject-provinces, and their
inscriptions have been found in Nubia, the Peninsula of Sinai and in several of the cities.
Two statues of King Mermesha were found by Mariette-Bey at Tanis (Zoan), on which his
name was distinctly inscribed. They had been set up in the great Temple of Ptah, and the
names of Apapi of the Fifteenth Dynasty and Rameses II had also been cut in them. The
statues of Sebek-hetep IV were so set up at Tanis, and those of Sebek-hetep V were found
at Bubastis, in Lower Egypt, and on the Island of Argo, in the Upper Nile. This shows that
their power was recognized in Lower Egypt and undisputed in the South. Brugsch-Bey was
of the opinion that the monarchs, beginning with Sebek-hetep III and ending with Sebek-
hetep VII, were connected with the most powerful families of the country and formed a
separate series. They were inscribed under Thothmes III. in the Royal Tablets of the
Chamber of Karnak.
The tombs at Siut or Lycopolis belong to this period and may yet disclose more.
Eratosthenes has recorded but three names as ruling in Thebes, namely: Siphoas or Si-
Ptah, Phuron or Phi-iaro (Neilos), and Amuthantaeos or Amun- Tima-o. This last name is
memorable as belonging to a prince in whose reign took place an event that was destined
to change the fortunes of Egypt.
"There was a King Hemin-timaos (or Amuntimao)," says Manetho. "Under this
monarch God became angry, I know not why, and there came unexpectedly out of the
regions of the East men of an insignificant race, who marched boldly over the country and
easily took possession of it by force without resistance. And having overpowered those
who ruled in it, they not only savagely burned the cities, but they likewise overthrew the
sanctuaries of the Gods. They also in various ways ill-treated the inhabitants, putting some
to death and leading others into bondage with their wives and children."
In fact the lowland regions of Northern Egypt had already for many centuries
attracted colonies from Asia. The country east of San or Tanis and the Tanitic Branch of
the Nile had already been peopled by inhabitants of Phoe-

--- 373
nician descent and was named in their dialect Zar and Ma-zor (Zoan*), "the region of
fortresses."
In the Hebrew writings the southern realm was called Pa-to-ris or Pathros, "the
southern country," and Northern Egypt was also presently termed Keft-or or Kaptor, the
country of Kefts or Kephenians, which was a designation of the Phoenicians and
Palestinians. The plural term, Mizraim, became a name for Upper and Lower Egypt. This
was probably after the foreign Prince or Salit had fortified his dominion.
The newcomers, whom Manetho has described so unfavorably, were denominated
in the monumental records "Men-ti," or Easterners. The country from which they came was
known in subsequent periods as Asher, and Rutennu, or Lutennu, and to us as Syria and
Palestine. They were the same peoples evidently as are designated in the Hebrew books
as Anakim, Amorites and Philistines. They were afterward styled Sos or Shasu, the
appellations also of the Amalekites, Idumeans and the Bedouins of Arabia. Hence the
Menti Kings are now known in history as Hyk-Sos or Arabian Princes.
An ancient tradition informs us that Shedad, the son of Ad, conquered Egypt and the
whole of Northern Africa, and founded a dynasty with its capital at Avaris, or Pelusium,
which continued more than two hundred years.
Whether the invaders whom Manetho described were Arabians or emigrants from
Palestine is a debatable question; but as they found the region in the Eastern Lowlands
already occupied by Phoenicians and perhaps other people of the Semitic family, it is
probable that the

-----------
* Tyre was named in Hebrew Sur or Zur, and is so called by the Arabs at the present
time. The initial letter, ts, is the same as that of Sidon, but was changed to T by the Greeks
from their hatred of sibilants, yet the region of Aram was named Syria, or the country of
Tyre.
-----------

latter gave the newcomers a fraternal welcome.

It seems evident, however, that their emigration was prompted by apprehension of
an invasion of their own country by hostile hordes from Middle Asia. They came to Egypt
originally as colonists, but the country afforded an opportunity of which they took
advantage. Brugsch-Bey declares that "the history of Egypt at this period consisted chiefly
of revolts and insurrections, of murders and assassinations of various princes, in
consequence of which their lives and reigns were not governed by the ordinary conditions
of the duration of human existence."
In such a state of affairs the Kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty found it difficult to
maintain their regal authority. This made it easy for the new lords of the alien peoples in
the Egyptian Lowlands to supersede them in one tract of territory after another and to hold
possession by the right of conquest.
The history of the Fourteenth Dynasty is yet to he brought to light. The Chronicle
represents it as consisting of seventy-six Kings belonging to Xois or Sakha, a city in the
Delta of the Nile, and as having continued four hundred and eighty-four years. Manetho
seems in this statement to recognize actual kings, with no question of their legal title. The
Tablet of Abydos, more tenacious of technical rights, ignored their existence altogether.
Owing to the mutilated condition of the Turin Papyrus, their names are not yet ascertained,
but it is certain that few of them reigned for any considerable length of time. Whether this
Dynasty succeeded to the Thirteenth or was only contemporary with it, and whether it held
dominion over any considerable part of Egypt are questions which are still debated. It will
suffice, however, to say: "It once existed; it was!"
It is hardly probable, however, that the

--- 374

Menti seized on the sovereign power in the way of conquest. They may have been invited
by some of the under-Kings of Egypt who had become disgusted with the prevalent misrule
and feeble administration to accept the suzerainty. Perhaps their princes had intermarried
with the families of some of the native rulers and so obtained a claim to supreme power
that was not without valid foundation.
They were not fairly described by Manetho. It is not probable that they governed the
country with any uncommon harshness. They may have treated the worship of Egypt with
little respect and suffered the temples to go to decay without attempt to repair them. The
same thing had taken place in former periods, and more religious monarchs of later
Dynasties had devoted themselves to rebuilding them, as Herod rebuilt the Temple at
Jerusalem. Ancient religion, however, was more domestic and less a public matter. In
archaic times every household, clan and tribe had an eponymous divinity, an altar or
hearth, and a religious rite that were all its own; and for a stranger to take part or even be
present at the worship was considered a profanation. Likewise, under the different
dynasties, the various divinities, Ptah, Khem, Menthu and Sebek, had in turn received the
principal worship. The Menti Kings had their own tutelary, Baal, called also Sutekh or
Sedek, "the Just One." It is probable that they considered him as clearly allied to Ptah, the
Demiurgos, and that they also identified him with Seth or Typhon, who was worshiped by
the Egyptians in the same region. Indeed, the distinct individuality of several gods is not
to be too much counted upon. There was a concept of their actual oneness behind them
all, but there is no trustworthy evidence that the newcomers when in supreme power
interfered with the local worship or destroyed any edifice that was regarded as sacred.
The obelisks and monuments of the earlier kings, the tombs and other structures
were not meddled with. Little innovation was made upon existing customs. The new rulers
actually adopted the manners of the Egyptians and made use of the Egyptian manners and
writing. The order end etiquette of the Royal Court were arranged as they had been
before. Even their first monarch, as he was named by Manetho, was designated simply
by an official title - the Salit,* or Sultan.
He is said to have made his official residence at Memphis, to have filled the region
with garrisons and to have collected taxes and tribute from both Lower and Upper Egypt.
As he apprehended a possible attack from Assyria, then in full career of conquest, he
fortified the eastern frontier against invasion. At the east of the river, in the Saitic or
Sethroite nome, or district, was the old town of Havar, or Avaris, which had its name from
a theologic tradition.** The Salit perceived that it was a point of superior strategic
importance and rebuilt it with strong fortifications. He placed a strong garrison in it and
spared no effort to place his dominion in complete defense. It may be that this was the
occasion of giving it the name "Mizraim," or fortified regions.
------------
* In the story of Joseph, as given in the Book of Genesis, he is denominated the
salit, or governor. (Chap. xlii. 6.) He is also designated the Zaphnath-paaneah, or, as the
hieroglyphic inscriptions render it, Za-p-u-nt p-aa-ankh, "Governor of the Region of Life'';
i.e., the Sethroite district, which was occupied by a Semitic population. Others have
translated the title "Governor of the Phoenician district."
** This term is defined as meaning the "place of the Leg." The Eastern branch of
the Nile was designated the Var, or leg of Osiris. In the legend of Isis and Osiris, which
constituted the basis of the Sacred Drama of the Lesser Rite, it is set forth that after Isis
had recovered the body of Osiris from Pi-Balis or Byblos, it was again found by Seth or
Typhon, cut into 14 pieces, and scattered over Egypt. She searched again, and buried
each part where it was found. The right leg was in this way assigned to Avaris, and the
others, the Havar Amenti, to Edfu, on the Westernmost branch of the Nile.
-----------
--- 375

There were six kings enumerated by Manetho under the title of "Phoenician
Foreigners" in the Fifteenth Dynasty. Their names are given as follows: Saites or the Salit,
Benon, Apakhnan, Staan or Apapi, Anan or Arkhles and Azeth. Manetho adds that "they
carried on war constantly, as though they were desirous to root out the whole population
of Egypt."
The Sixteenth Dynasty is described as consisting of thirty-two Hellenic Kings,
shepherds or Shasus, who reigned five hundred and eighteen years. There is no good
reason for describing them as Greeks. They were patrons of art, and under their direction
the artists of Egypt erected statues and monuments, procuring the stone from the quarries
of the South. In these statues they reproduced the foreign characteristics, the
physiognomy, the peculiar arrangement of the beard, head-dress and other variations. The
number of these monuments, however, is limited, and the inscriptions have been
obliterated by the chisels of their adversaries of later time.
The foreigners brought to Egypt many arts and much new knowledge. The winged
Sphinx or Cherub, characteristic of Assyrian sculpture, was introduced by them and
became a feature in their temples. Egypt from this time on was famous for horses and the
chariot, or war-car. Before this the steeds of Libya had not been common, but afterward
the horses of Egypt were equal to those of Africa and Arabia, and became famous in
commerce and warlike expeditions.* In no way did these Menti Kings actually impoverish
Egypt. They added to

---------
* Kings I, x, 28, 29. "And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt; ... a horse for
150 shekels, and so for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria did they bring
them out by their [the merchants] means."
Isaiah, xxxi, 1. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses
and trust in its chariots, because they are very strong."
----------

the resources and the military power of the country.

 One of the kings, probably of the Sixteenth Dynasty, but this is not certain,
introduced a new era into Egyptian calculations, which was employed in the later centuries.
An inscription found on a memorial stone of Rameses II., at Tanis, bears the date of the
fourth day of the month Mesori, "in the year 400 of King Set Apehuti-Nub, the friend of the
god Hormakhu." This fact is significant of the influence which the alien monarchs exerted
on the future of Egypt.
Another result of the presence of foreigners was the adopting of Semitic terms in
place of Egyptian. We have experienced in our own English speech the discarding of good
homespun words, indigenous to our language, for others of Latin and French origin almost
to the alienizing of our entire literature. The educated Egyptians, the priests and temple-
scribes contracted the similar habit of interlarding their compositions with Semitic terms,
like ras for head, sar for neter, or king, beth for house, bab for door or gate, keten for nub
or gold, ram for high, barakh for bless, salam for greet, etc. The introduction of the Semitic
designations of sus for hall, kamal for camel, abri for a particular race of oxen, show
whence these animals came. Indeed, in the eastern Lowlands, which the foreign rulers and
colonists occupied, there was an interblending of the two peoples, till Northern Egypt had
a large composite population. Even the towns had Semitic names, like Azala, Pi-Bailos or
Byblos, Koheni or Priest-town, Adirama, Namurad, Pet-baal.
The Seventeenth Dynasty, Manetho represents as consisting of forty-three alien
kings, the Shepherds, and forty-three Thebans, or Diospolitans, who reigned at the same
time for one hundred and fifty-one years. The names of the Easterners are not given, but
as the family name of Apapi was also frequently

--- 376

adopted by native Egyptians, we may presume that it was also borne by some of these
kings; one, at least, having the official designation of Ra-a-kenen, also the name Apapi.
Time gradually weakened the energy of their dominion. They ruled for five centuries,
and perhaps longer, in Northern Egypt and held the whole country tributary. Now, a
dynasty came into existence at Thebes, which, though subordinate for a long period, was
becoming able to dispute the title to supreme power. It was a bitter struggle and for many
years the issue was uncertain.

THE SALLIER PAPYRUS

A brief account of the beginning of the contest is given in the Sallier Papyrus; but
owing to the mutilated condition of the document, an imperfect version only can be made.
"It came to pass that the land of Khemi fell into the hands of the lepers.* There was
no one king over the whole country. There was, indeed, a king, Se-kenen-Ra, but he was
only a hyk or prince in the Southern region. The lepers occupied the region of Amu (or the
Semitic tribes), and Apapi was supreme king (uar) at the city of Avaris. The whole country
brought him its productions; the Northern region also brought him the valuable product of
Ta-mera.** "And the King Apapi chose the God Sutekh as his god and neglected to serve
any other god in the whole land that was worshiped.
"And he built him a temple of goodly workmanship that should last for ages. And
Apapi observed festivals, days for making offerings to Sutekh, with all the
------------
* It was the practice to distinguish adversaries by opprobrious epithets. The social
and often hypocritical amenities of our modern civilization were not in fashion in former
times.
** Lower Egypt.
------------

rites that are performed in the Temple of Ra-Hormakhu.

"Many days after this Apapi [sent a message] to King Sekenen-Ra [requiring that he
should also establish the worship of Sutekh in Upper Egypt.*]
["To this Sekenen-Ra made answer that] he would not assent [to worship] any other
of the gods that were worshiped in the whole land except Amun-Ra, King of the gods alone.
"Many days after these events King Apapi sent to the ruler of the Southern country
this message, which his scribes had drawn up for him. [It related to the stopping of a well.]
"And the messenger of King Apapi came to the ruler of the South. And he was
brought before the ruler of the South.
"And he said to the messenger of King Apapi: 'Who sent thee hither to the City of
the South? Why hast thou come to spy out our domain?'**
"And the messenger said to him: 'King Apapi sent me to give this message
concerning the well for cattle which is near the city. Verily, no sleep came to me day or
night while on this journey.'
"And the ruler of the Southern country was for a long time troubled in mind, and he
knew not what to answer the messenger of King Apapi. [The Papyrus is here mutilated.
It is a demand for supplies for some purpose.]
"And the messenger of King Apapi

------------
* This is an attempt to supply a lacuna with a statement which is the substance of
the omitted matter. This arbitrary attempt to enforce uniformity of worship and its results
are very similar to the decree of Antiokhos Epiphanes that all his subjects should discard
their local religions and adopt that of the royal court. Resistance was made in Judea, and
after long combat, national independence was secured.
** Compare Genesis xlii, 9: "And Joseph remembered .... and said unto them: 'Ye
are spies; to see the nakedness of the land are ye come.'"
------------
--- 377

arose and went back to the place where his royal master was abiding.
"Then the Prince of the Southern Country called to him his great men and chief
officials, and likewise his captains and higher military officers, and he repeated to them all
the messages that King Apapi had sent to him.
"But they were full of dismay and were silent, all of them, with one mouth, for they
knew not what to say to him, either good or bad."

[[illustration]]
 Dr. Samuel Birch construes this somewhat differently. "It is stated," he says, "that
the Shepherd King sent a herald or ambassador to demand workmen and materials of the
Egyptian Prince to build the Temple of Sutekh or Set. The King assembled his Council and
refused."
Such is the account given by the monuments of the immediate cause of the uprising
of the Egyptians against the dominion of their foreign over-lords. It seems, however, hardly
credible that an authority which had been in power for centuries would be the occasion of
so much animosity. Yet the attempt to foist a strange worship on an individual or people
has generally been resented far more than actual oppression.* It was considered
equivalent to a requirement to commit suicide or become outlawed.
The Theban Kings of the Seventeenth Dynasty had been, like the other under-kings
of Egypt, vassals or tributaries of the foreign monarchs in the North. The last of the line
consisted of three monarchs by the name of Taa. The first of them, bearing the official
name of Sekenen-Ra, was succeeded by Sekenen-Ra II., or Taa the Great. The third of
the name was Taa Ken, or Taa the Bold. He was the king who ventured to brave the
Overlord when those around him were quailing in terror. He possessed the zeal and
fortitude of a Maccabee and now prepared for the conflict. A flotilla of vessels was built and
placed on the Nile. The command was given to Baba, a relative of the King and an officer
of superior ability. He had often held important commissions and performed them with
perfect acceptance.
The inscription on his tomb at El-Kab, or Eileithy-opolis, sets forth his rank, character
and services, and likewise contains a very significant statement. It describes him first as
"Baba, who has risen again, the chief of the table of the sovereign."
"I loved my father, I honoured my mother," he declares. "My brothers and my sisters
loved me.
"I went out of my house with a benevolent heart; I stood there with a refreshing
hand; splendid were my preparations of what I had collected for the Festal Day....
"My words may seem absurd to the gainsayer; but I called the God Menthi to
witness that what I say is true.
"I had all this prepared in my house.

------------
* An example is afforded in the execration of King David, when himself leading the
life of a freebooter. Sam, I., xxvi., 19: "Cursed be they before Yava; for they have driven
me out from abiding in the inheritance of Yava, saying: 'Go serve other [i.e., foreign]
Gods.'"
------------
--- 378

In addition, I put cream in the storeroom and beer in the cellar in a more-than-sufficient
number of hin-measures.
"I collected corn as a friend of the harvest-god: I was watchful at the time of sowing.
"And when a famine arose, lasting many years, I provided corn for each hungry
person in the country during each year of the famine."
It does not appear that any important conflicts took place or advantages were
obtained during the time of Taa the Great. The famine, lasting for years, was the principal
event.
The Eighteenth Dynasty began with a prince bearing the official name of Aahmes.*
It would seem, however, that he was not of the recognized royal blood. The divinity
that hedged about kings appears to have been wanting. His name was accordingly omitted
from the number inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Thebes. His successor, Amun-
hetep, or Amun-oph, heads the list.*
Aahmes prosecuted the war of liberation with energy. Making the son of Baba, who
was also his own namesake, his commander-in-chief, he led an expedition down the Nile
and besieged the enemy in his own capital. Avaris fell after a long siege. Hostilities were
continued without intermission till the Menti had abandoned Egypt for Palestine.** The City
of Sheruhan*** was cap-

------------
* It will be observed that many of the kings after this period had for names the title
of a god with the suffix, which is variously rendered, according to taste - mes, meses,
mases or muses. It is equivalent to ides in Greek nouns, and signifies a child. Aahmes or
Amasis is the child of the moon-god, Thothmes or Thathmoses, the child of Thoth;
Ramases, the child of Ra, etc.
** The suffix signifies beloved, joined, affiliated. It is written Hotep, Hetep, Opht,
Epht. Thus the name of the Egyptian Aesculapius. lmhetep, is also written Imopht,
Emeph, etc.
*** Jer., xlvii, 4: "The day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre
and Zidon every helper that remaineth; for the Lord will spoil the Philistines - the remnant
of the country of Caphtor."
------------

tured in the sixth year of the reign of Aahmes, and the land of Khemi was restored
evermore to the possession of its natural rulers.
The conquerors followed up their victories by acts similar to those which Manetho
imputed to their adversaries. The cities Avaris and Tanis suffered severely from their
revengeful fury. The monuments of the alien kings were defaced, their inscriptions were
obliterated and those of the victors engraved in their place. The vandalism and
destructiveness appear to have exceeded the worst which the enemies had inflicted.
Owing to this fact it had been thus far impossible to ascertain the history of the three Menti
Dynasties.
Aahmes had a task before him similar to that afterward encountered by Dareios
Hystaspis after the overthrow of the Magian King in Persia. He found many of the princes
of the homes disaffected and unwilling to submit to his authority. It took him many years
to bring them into subjection mid settle the affairs of Egypt.
The subject-tribes of Nubia had taken advantage of the state of affairs to throw off
the Egyptian yoke. Accompanied by his faithful general, Aahmes, the new king marched
thither and succeeded in reducing the insurgents to submission, with an immense
slaughter. A large number of prisoners were taken and given to his followers for slaves.*
The record of this expedition is the first account that we have of the employing of horses
and war-cars by the Egyptians.
Having finally established his authority in Egypt and its dependencies, Aahmes
found opportunity to set about the restoring of "the temples that had fallen into decay since
the times of the ancestors." In the twenty-second year of his

-------------
* Nubia was called Khen-Nefer, the "good servant." The best servants in Egypt at
this time were Nubians.
** [sic] In the book of Joshua, xix.. 6, Sheruhan is named as a city in the territory of
the tribe of Simeon.
-------------
--- 379

reign, as the inscriptions declared in the caves of Toura and Messarra, near Memphis, "His
Holiness gave the order to open the rock-chambers anew and to cut out thence the best
white stone of the hill-country of An for the houses of the gods - for the divine Ptah in
Memphis, for Amun, the gracious god, in Thebes, and for other buildings and monuments."

[[illustration]]

The stone was drawn from the quarries by oxen, six to a sledge, and "delivered over to the
foreign people of the Fenekh"* to be wrought. These works were begun on a scale so
extensive as not to be completed till many centuries had passed.
Manetho has named Hebron as the successor of Aahmes, but neither the Tablet of
Abydos nor the other monumental records recognize a monarch of that name. As
Amunoph I. was at tender age at the death of his father, it may be that such a person was
regent, but Brugsch-Bey suggests that Nefert, the Queen-mother, exercised that office. He
confined his military operations to the African Continent. He retained Aahmes as his
general, and an expedition against the Nubians was crowned with success. For his valor
on this occasion Aahmes was exalted to the dignity of Khartot, or "warrior of the king."**
He also served under Thothmes I. both in Nubia and likewise in Palestine, Syria and
Mesopotamia. Doubtless the love of conquest was stimulated by the purpose to continue
the war which had been waged so long in Egypt.
Amunoph was content to secure his dominions in Africa without going beyond the
Sea of Suph and papyrus-reeds. He devoted his energies more directly to the building of
temples. As he was the son of a royal mother, he was acceptable to the nobility and priest-
caste and needed no military achievements to give strength to the throne.
Famous as was the Eighteenth Dynasty for the achievements of its kings, its history
derives much of its distinction from its queens. Aah-hetep, the consort of Kames, was of
royal descent. Her tomb was opened many years ago by

-------------
* Phoenicians. They were the skilled mechanics and artisans of former time, and
are accredited with building the temple of Solomon.
** The "magician" of the Book of the Exodus,
-------------
--- 380
 [[illustration: Queen Nefert-ari-Aahmes]]

some peasants and the coffin, with its contents, was deposited in the museum at Bulakh.
On its cover was depicted a likeness at full length of the Queen, with the royal asp on her
brow, and the white and red crowns, the symbols of sovereignty of the Upper and Lower
Egypt. In the coffin were both weapons and ornaments, daggers, a golden axe, a chain
with three large golden beads, bangles and a breastplate.* There were also bronze axes
and little ships. On these were tablets with the official name of King Kames, her husband;
but the richest of the ornaments displayed the shield of Aahmes, the first King of the
Eighteenth Dynasty. She may have been a regent after the death of her husband, and
hence an important agent in bringing about the accession of Aahmes to the throne. He
gave her in his turn a magnificent burial and the significant title of "Royal Consort."
A higher distinction, however, be-

------------
* Dr, Schliemann found ornaments in the royal tomb at Mykenae in Argolis, which
closely resembled those of the Egyptian Queen. There were daggers, a golden axe,
bracelets, and a golden chain with three grasshoppers attached.
------------

longed to the illustrious Queen Nefert. Although the walls of the Theban sanctuaries have
no record or mention of Aahmes, the caves in the rocks near Memphis, where his greater
achievements were performed have perpetuated the memories of the deeds which the
tablets of the later metropolis had ignored. They have not only preserved his memorial to
the present time, but they have joined with his in honorable mention the name of Nefert-ari-
Aahmes, "the beautiful spouse of Aahmes." Not only the grottoes near Memphis, but the
public monuments and the tombs in the Necropolis of Thebes had inscriptions recording
her name and praising her virtues. She was lineally descended from Mentu-hetep of the
Eleventh Dynasty, and thus added a certain warrant of validity to the pretensions of
Aahmes, and likewise the "divine right" to their successors. She was accordingly venerated
as herself a divine personage, and her image was placed with the statues of the deified
kings of the "New Empire." Hers is the oldest portrait extant

[[illustration: Bronze cylinder with the name and titles of King Pepi. The
hieroglyphics describe him as "the Horus, loving the World; the King beloved of the Sun;
Moeris, the gracious god, the lord of the two worlds." This cylinder is especially interesting
as one of the few memorials of one of the most celebrated kings before the Hyksos
invasion.
(See Universal Brotherhood for September)]]

----------
--- 381

of an Egyptian queen. She sits enthroned at the head of them all, as their parent and the
foundress of the dynasty, and she was acknowledged as "daughter, sister, wife and mother
of a king." She also had her place in the sacerdotal order as "wife," or Chief Priestess of
Amun, the tutelary God of the Thebaid.
Of Aahetep, the consort of Amunoph I., and Aahmes, the Queen of Thothmes I.,
there is little to record. But the famous daughter of the latter, Queen Hashep or Hatasu,
the kingly one, made history for herself and for Egypt that outshines the annals of whole
dynasties. The envious chisel obliterated her name from the monuments, but the
memories of her rule have been preserved. She reigned with an iron will and governed
with a strong hand.

------------

SYMPATHY
by H. T. Edge

"If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying,

namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." - Romans, xiii., 9.

READ the teachings of any great world-teacher - Jesus, Buddha, Plato, whom we
will - and we shall find a great central Truth around which their teachings are built. This
Truth is that all pain comes from the clashing of personal interests, and peace can only
come through the reconciling of these personal interests under the law of Love. When men
run after selfish desires they thwart and injure one another, but when they subject their
selfish desires to the general interest they live in mutual harmony and peace. In no corner
of the earth, in no epoch of time, shall we find the world without knowledge of this great
Truth; it has been the guiding star of the human race from time immemorial; it sums up
the whole program of humanity on its pilgrimage to salvation.
Furthermore, if we look a little deeper into the teaching of the great Teachers, we
find that they base their doctrine of Love on another Truth - the Truth that man's nature is
two-fold. Man's mind and heart are ever hovering between two influences, one urging him
to act selfishly, the other unselfishly. The better influence comes from the Higher Self, the
divine part of man, and the worse influences come from the animal instincts belonging to
the carnal part of man. These two are waging a constant war for the mastery of man's
mind. The animal and selfish propensities strive to gain possession of the intellect and will
of man, that thereby they may become powerful and obtain their own gratification. The
Higher Self strives to win over our mind to the law of Love, to conquer the animal
propensities, and so render them obedient servants to that law. The Great Law which
governs the universe has entrusted to man the task of conquering the forces of nature and
taming them into subjection to the Law. So man is a great Soul engaged in a battle with
the forces of nature, deluded

--- 382

by them at first, but destined one day to triumph and make a heaven upon earth.
Whenever the Higher Nature of man is forgotten, humanity sinks into a state of
discord and darkness. This was the case at the fall of the Roman Empire, and it is the case
now. Man has largely forgotten that his nature is dual. The truths concerning the Soul and
the Great Law have been relegated to a dim and misty region of theology and dogma and
have lost their grip on the daily life of the people. The concerns of the higher life are put
apart in a place to themselves, with a special day and special buildings, and the work-a-day
world is regarded as a separate thing, governed by other laws and duties. Many of us have
given up the struggle between our higher and lower natures, and are content to think that
we are wholly evil, and can only he saved by the mediation of a church or priesthood. We
regard this present life as hopelessly evil and beyond redemption, and place all our hopes
on some vague future life which we do not really believe in.
But the earth is the home of the human race, and our task is to stay here until we
have made this earth a heaven. Our earthly life is the one that we have to make good and
happy. The Soul is always present, striving to make itself a temple in our hearts; it is not
merely waiting for us to die so that it can escape. The Soul is our real Self, and is trying
to destroy the false selves that we wear like masks. The teachings in our Bibles are not
vague echoes under cathedral roofs, dim and cobwebby, belonging to an artificial incense-
laden Sunday-clothes life; they are commonsense rules for the daily life of humanity.
As man has a Higher nature and a lower nature, so there are two lives which we can
live - the great, thrilling life of humanity, and the little, sordid life of self. A soul that shuts
itself up in a personality and lives a little life of personal pleasures and personal cares is
a bird in a cage. It knows nothing of the joys of free air and untrammeled flight. It will pine
and grow faint and joyless. Yet, this is what a selfish life means; it is a self-inflicted torture.
We all know how dull and even wretched is the life of the selfish man, and we are told by
our Teachers that we need not live that life. We hear cries like: "Is life worth living?" The
selfish life is not worth living.
But we have heard sermons enough, and sermons are of little use to people who
have formed the habit of pigeon-holing them away in a dusty corner of the memory only
opened on Sundays. We have come to regard brotherly love as a kind of painful necessity
of the religious life, involving much gloom and sacrifice; not adopted by ordinary people,
but practiced by austere and "godly" folk, who have no share in the homely life of the world.
Brotherly love as a deep and full joy is a conception we have ceased to entertain; but it is
the conception put before us by our Teachers. Surely it is time we left off associating all
the great Truths with a dim religious light, and identifying joy with sin. Surely joy and
brightness belong to the light-side, and gloom and sadness to the evil and night-side of
nature. Brotherly love is not a mere theoretical maxim; it is a deep joy - a sentiment. The
selfish propensities do not sway us by appeals to our reason; on the contrary, they
overmaster our reason by their emotional and passional force. Hence there is a sentiment
of brotherly love which must be felt and experienced before men can be made to obey the
law of love. Brotherhood must be felt as a dominating enthusiasm in the heart. We do not
picture Christ as a cold philosopher with a theoretical belief in brotherhood, but as a man
whose heart glowed and shone with the divine warmth of love. The

--- 383

various forms of human love are open doors through which we may enter to an
understanding of the divine love; they are only partial and limited, but they are foretastes
of the supreme bliss. True marital love is characterized by a desire to share our whole
conscious life with another, to lose our personality and extend the range of our feelings so
as to include two people. Personal interest melts away before the superior delights of
blended interest. A devoted mother is so identified with her children that she feels that their
destruction would be to her a greater death than the destruction of her own body. Hence
she sacrifices her personal life for the life that lives in them.
These familiar human experiences show us that love is a liberating force, which
looses our soul from our personality like a bird from a cage and admits it to a sunnier and
larger life. All great Teachers who have felt this larger life speak of a boundless Joy and
lightness of spirit; and they become illuminated, the scales fall from their eyes. The feeling
of brotherly love is, in fact, the awakening to a fuller life, which we must all experience
some day, when we have sounded the depths of selfish engrossment and found what a
barren desert lies there. And this grand truth must be rescued from that dim and misty
religious region of thought where it has so long been kept, and made a part of our work-a-
day life, and the object of intelligent study.
The last years of this century have witnessed a wonderful tide of human thought and
feeling in the direction of Brotherhood. The exclusive ideas of our ancestors, which we
gather from old novels, the records of their ideals and lives, are melting away. We do not
now find the classes and masses regarded as two entirely distinct races, separated like oil
and water. The old-fashioned rigid "patriotism" and contemptuous insularity are going.
Dark-skinned races are looked upon with interest, and their religions and philosophies
sympathetically studied. The tendency in religion is to practical humanity as against barren
dogmatizing. To the midst of a universal tide like this it is only needful that we all keep our
eyes turned in the right direction, and use every little endeavor we can in favor of the
Brotherhood idea that is dawning. By doing so we shall be preparing the way for the
manifesting of the new spirit of the times. This new spirit does not come with a flourish of
trumpets, nor is it to be looked for in the places of the mighty. It comes "like a thief in the
night," as a stirring among the hearts of the people, a new and fresher air, a tide of energy
and hope coming from no visible source.
The key-note for each one of us to strike is that of Sympathy. This word has been
less abused than the word "love," and therefore gives a less confusing idea of our duty.
We might say: "Thou shalt be in sympathy with thy neighbor; the whole Mosaic law is built
on sympathy." To take a simple instance of the working of sympathy, compare two
households, one with it, the other without. In the latter the husband and wife are absolute
strangers, and the character of each is a mystery to the other, though they have been
married thirty years. Their union was not based on sympathy. Each has tried to impress
his own character on the other, instead of trying to enter into the other's mind and feelings.
They have long ago given each other up as a bad job. The thing works down to the
children, whose natures are starved for want of sympathy. The family dwells together on
the basis of a sort of modus vivendi, the men in the smoking-room, the women in the
drawing-room. But rich food, leisure and soft beds cannot feed a hungry heart, and the
men will each make a

--- 384

little circle of friends of his own outside the family, while the daughters will seize the very
first chance, good or bad, to escape by the gate of marriage from a life from which any
change must be for the better. The servants that minister and faithfully serve have no
encouragement of love and regard to inspire their work. They are hirelings, and the parlor
does not care a rap for their affairs. In such a household starvation of the soul must ensue,
and the only happy ones are the dogs and cats and fowls upon whom affection can safely
be lavished without violating the rules of propriety. But we all know too well this kind of
family, and, as the family is the State in miniature, we have the key to the condition of the
State and the disease that causes it. It is lack of sympathy, caused by the predominance
of selfishness. The new luxuries introduced by modern scientific progress have ministered
first to individual greed. That game is played out; it will not work. Unless sympathy is
cultivated the race will fall to pieces. Love is the life-force of the universe, and nothing can
live - not even the lowest passions themselves - without a little life and warmth borrowed
from that.
Let us all then, whatever our walk of life, practice sympathetic relations with those
we are brought in contact with; tactfully, of course, lest we make matters worse by
overdoing our efforts. Let us not do it as a painful religious obligation, but because we want
to escape from ourselves and liberate others from themselves; because we believe that
sympathy is the key to joy, peace and wisdom. Let us remember that sympathy is the
Love-force that beats in the Heart of humanity, while selfish desire is the consuming fire
that gnaws our vitals. Let us open our minds to this radiant warmth from the Higher
Powers, and by its aid break off the fetters of delusion, vanity and greed that imprison us.
That will be our little contribution to the coming liberation of humanity.

----------------

VICTOR HUGO ON IMMORTALITY

"I feel in myself the future life. I am rising, I know, toward the sky. The sunshine is
over my head. Heaven lights me with the reflection of unknown worlds.
"You say the soul is nothing but the result of bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul
the more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head and eternal
spring is in my heart.
"The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I hear around me the immortal
symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and
it is a history. For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose, verse, history,
philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, song - I have tried all. But I feel that I
have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say,
like so many others: 'I have finished my day's work,' but I cannot say 'I have finished my
life.' My day's work will begin the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley, it is a
thoroughfare. It closes in the twilight to open with the dawn. I improve every hour because
I love this world as my fatherland. My work is only a beginning. My work is hardly above
its foundation. I would be glad to see it mounting and mounting forever. The thirst for the
infinite proves infinity."

------------
--- 385

ANCIENT WISDOM IN LEGEND AND FABLE

by D. N. Dunlop
 EVERY country has its Folk-lore, every nation its Myths and Legends - an evidence
of that old wisdom religion once universal. The ancient legends and fables are allegories
of the soul, and conceal much valuable instruction for the discerning student. Through
these "sacred relics" come gentle whispers of a mighty past, and the living breath of
happier times. Out of the universal Over-Soul the true wisdom was at all times begotten,
and its mystic symbolism has been the same the world over.
Many dreary pages have been written about ancient legends, for it would seem that
only as we nourish the "mystic fire" within ourselves do these myths and symbols of the
early world grow full of "magnificent suggestion." Our poets have made folk-lore the theme
of their loftiest strains; our painters and sculptors have portrayed many ancient legends,
and placed wonderful pictures of far-off years before us in a form beautiful and enduring.
Viewed from the standpoint of our every-day life and feeling these old legends and fables,
whether complete or coming to us in broken and fragmentary form, are filled with wonderful
interest. The study of a universal folk-lore enlarges the view of human life, and teaches the
Universal Brotherhood of Man. The literature and art of all peoples is interwoven with folk-
lore, and an acquaintance with the mythology of a people is necessary to an understanding
of its higher expression of thought and feeling.
Before written history Folk-lore existed, and in Mythology we have a lasting memorial
of humanity's childhood. The legends of supernatural beings, huge giants, little fairies,
prodigious heroes, genii, demigods and gods, and the wonderful lands they inhabited, have
afforded much scope for variety of opinion. According to some authorities, the gods were
originally men, and the elysian abodes real countries. Others hold that they are corruptions
of true religion originally revealed to man; others regard them as symbols of abstract
virtues and vices, mental and moral powers.
Folk-lore is more comprehensive than mythology. It comes to the child in its cradle,
in its simplest lullaby. It brings to the young a world of happy thought in nursery tales and
childish rhymes. Our modern speech is full of direct reference to the old tales, and the
experience of the race is synthesized in many pithy sayings. The remorse of Queen
Guinevere, the moral self-destruction of Tristram and Iseult, the indomitable quest of Childe
Roland, the grand warfare of opposing forces in Ragnarok, the tremendous tragedies of the
Nibelungenlied, the fall of Faust, the spiriting away of the children of Hamelin - all are
typical of the folk-lore from which they are taken, and are representative of the peoples with
whom they originated.
Each nation has had its own individuality; its own dominant quality clothes its
conceptions of life with a form different from others, but in essentials they are ever at one.
The same underlying ideas are to be found in the myths and legends of every land. In the
light of these old legends and fables the barriers which separate race from race are broken
down. The confusion of tongues no longer divides the human family, for their life, their
heart, their truest and best desires are eternally the same.

--- 386

It is fitting that we should first turn our attention to the American myth system. And
here we are all indebted to Curtin for his invaluable contributions on Folk-lore and Myths.
The primitive men of ancient America developed a single system of thought which has no
parallel in fullness and wealth of illustration, and the special value of it lies in the fact that
it is the thought of ages long anterior to those which we find recorded on the Eastern
Hemisphere, "either in sacred books, histories or literature, whether preserved on baked
brick, burnt cylinders or papyrus." In the American account of the beginning of things man
and every sentient thing is given a common origin. We find that these "primitive" people
were under the immediate care and supervision of their gods, and preserved continual
converse with them. They received from their gods all that they promised, all that they
practiced, all that they knew.
The treasure saved to science by the primitive race of America is unique in value
and high significance. The first result from it is to carry us back through untold centuries
"to that epoch when man made the earliest collective and consistent explanation of this
universe and its origin."
The Myths of primitive America begin with an indefinite number of divinities, existing
unchanged through untold periods, living side by side in perfect harmony in the repose "of
a primeval chaos." Differences arise in time, conflicts and collisions begin, leading to the
evolution of character. The first world in this way gave place to the world now existing.
Creation myths describe in an admirable way the lives of the "first people." The
primitive American patterned all his institutions upon those of the "first people;" the
sanction of the divinities was obtained to every act. Religious direction was behind every
act of life.
The revelations of the divinities came through the wise men among the people. The
physical universe of these early myth-makers was the outer expression of unseen powers
and qualities. The myths answered the eternal riddle to the early mind. Have we improved
on the theories put forward by them to account for the world's appearance and the general
scheme of life?
Out of the quiescent harmony of a remote past these ancient myth-makers evolved
the present world, the play of passion and desire in multitudinous form and endless variety
of method. They give evidence of having had keen observation and remarkable
constructive power.
Communication with divinity was an important question with the Indians, but they
recognized that certain conditions were necessary on their part in order to accomplish this.
The gods only revealed themselves to the "fit and elect." A large number might go to the
sacred place, but only one be favored with the vision divine. They recognized that
greatness has its price, and that "power must be paid for in every place."
The myths of primitive America tell us of a time, "so long ago that none can say how
long," when a race of god-like men lived in peace and harmony upon the earth. They were
called the "first people." For countless ages they dwelt in bliss and concord free from sin
and disease, for but one spirit dwelt in their midst. We are not told exactly what brought
about the change which ultimately led to strife and dissension. The rise of conflict was
followed by a period of struggle which did not end until the majority of the "first people"
were changed into the likeness of that which they most resembled in their inner natures,
be it beast, bird, reptile, fish or insect. Some of them, it seems, took the form of mountains
and rocks, whilst others passed into the vegetable kingdoms and flourished as plants, trees
and flow-

--- 387
ers. A small number of the "first people" remained free from the conflict and left the earth
together, sailing westwards, beyond the sea, beyond the sky into the "central blue," where
dwelt Olelbis, the greatest of their gods. The abode of this god is described as being
formed of living oak trees which bore acorns all the year round. Surrounding this home of
the gods bloomed forever innumerable flowers, with never-dying roots.
From a study of American mythology and folk-lore we are able to get an insight into
the great antiquity of ancient American civilization, and support the contention that the
advanced human development, whose crumbling monuments are studied at Copan, Mitla
and Palenque, antedates everything else in the human period of our globe; that its history
goes back through all the misty ages of prehistoric time to an unknown date, previous to
the beginning of such civilization in any part of the old world. If we are incarnations of the
ancients who formulated the old philosophy, we must surely have much to gain by a study
of Legend and Fable and be affected to a considerable extent by their presentation. In the
next article it will be our purpose to consider more fully the Myths of primitive America.

------------

THE GOLDEN RULE

Manu (?) - By forgiveness of injuries the learned are purified.

Kwan-Yin (?) - Never will I seek nor receive private individual salvation; never enter
into final peace alone; but forever and everywhere will I live and strive for the universal
redemption of every creature throughout the world.
Lao-Tse, Sixth Century B. C. - The good I would meet with goodness. The not good
I would meet with goodness also. The faithful I would meet with faith. The not faithful I
would meet with faith also. Virtue is faithful. Recompense injuries with kindness.
Buddha (circa) 600 B. C. - A man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him
the protection of my ungrudging love; the more evil comes from him, the more good shall
go from me. Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love; this is
the old rule.
Confucius, 500 B. C. - Do unto another what you would have him do unto you. Thou
needest this law alone. It is the foundation for all the rest.
Socrates, 469 B. C. - It is not permitted to return evil for evil.
Thales, 464 B. C. - Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.
Sextus, 406 B. C. - What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be to them.
Aristotle, 385 B. C. - We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have
them act towards us.
Isocrates, 338 B. C. - Act toward others as you would desire them to act toward you.
Hillel, 50 B. C. - Do not to others what you would not like others to do to you.
Jesus the Christ. - All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, that
do ye also unto them. (Matt. 7, 12.)

-----------
--- 388

RICHARD WAGNER'S PROSE WORKS *

 by Basil Crump

VOL. I. A COMMUNICATION TO MY FRIENDS.

(Continued)

I stood
Among them, but not of them, in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.
- Byron

Power is the moral law of men who are distinguished above others, and it is mine. -
Beethoven

PARIS was still Wagner's unwelcome home when, at twenty-nine, a change in his
fortunes beckoned him back to Germany. Dresden was preparing Rienzi; Berlin had
accepted The Flying Dutchman. It was at this time that studies for Tannhauser and
Lohengrin began. For these subjects Wagner went direct, as was his wont, to the original
sources - the genuine Folk-poems. He studied the Tannhauserlied and the Sangerkrieg.
"Thus," he says, "with one blow a whole new world of poetic stuff was opened out to me;
a world of which in my previous search, mostly for ready-made material adapted to the
genre of Opera, I had not had the slightest conception." He then describes a historical plot,
the Sarazenin, based upon the last events of the Hohenstaufian era, which he had
sketched after completing The Flying Dutchman, but which quickly gave way before the
mythical subject of Tannhauser.
Let us remember here what was said about History and Myth in The Artwork of the
Future. The still active struggle between the Intellect and the Intuition going on in Wagner
he here again refers to: "In the choice of the Tannhauser stuff, also, I acted entirely without
reflection... following absolutely the

------------
* Translated by W. Ashton Ellis. London: Kegan Paul.
------------

dictates of instinctive feeling.... With the Sarazenin I was on the point of harking back, more
or less, to the road of my Rienzi, and again writing a 'historical Grand Opera in five acts;'
only the overpowering subject of Tannhauser, grappling my individual nature with far more
energetic hold, kept my footsteps firm upon the path which Necessity had bid me strike."
It is now that we light upon a still more remarkable evidence of the strength of
Wagner's inner nature. The success of Rienzi brought him the appointment of Conductor
of the Court Orchestra at Dresden. He records with unerring self-analysis how the desire
for physical comfort, public fame and admiration battled in him with the selfless trend of the
true artist. The latter won again, for it saw that its course was incompatible with fame and
gain. Thus Wagner leads us up to the point where Tannhauser, as the fruitage of an inner
conquest, sprang to life:
"If at last I turned impatiently away, and owed the strength of my repugnance to the
independence already developed in my nature, both as artist and as man, so did that
double revolt, of man and artist, inevitably take on the form of a yearning for appeasement
in a higher, nobler element; an element which, in its contrast to the only pleasures that the
material Present spreads in Modern Life and Modern Art, could but appear to me in the
guise of a pure, chaste, virginal, unseizable and unapproachable ideal of Love. What, in
fine, could this lore-

--- 389

yearning, the noblest thing my heart could feel - what other could it be than a longing for
release from the Present, for absorption into an element of endless Love, a love denied to
earth and reachable through the gates of Death alone?*.... The above is an exact account
of the mood in which I was when the unlaid ghost of Tannhauser returned again, and urged
me to complete his poem.... With this work I penned my death-warrant; before the world
of Modern Art I now could hope no more for life.... My whole being had been so consumed
with ardor for my task that, as I cannot but call to mind, the nearer I approached its
completion the more was I haunted by the fancy that a sudden death would stay my hand
from finishing it; so that, when at last I wrote its closing chord, I felt as joyful as though I
had escaped some mortal danger."
It was during a health trip after these heavy labors that Wagner gave expression to
his inherent mirthfulness (Heiterkeit) in the sketch of The Mastering of Nurember. It is
fortunate for the world that this masterpiece of satirical comedy was not worked out until
a much later period of the tone-poet's career, when his marvelous musical style was fully
developed and he had leisure and congenial surroundings for its full elaboration.
At this earlier time, however, Wagner

----------
* This mood found complete expression some fifteen years later in "Tristan and
lsolde," as can be seen in the following lines from Act II.:

He who, loving, beholds Death's Night,

To whom she trusts her secret deep
For him Day's falsehoods, fame and honor,
Power and gain, so radiantly fair,
Are woven in vain like the sunbeam's dust.
Amid the Day's vain dreams
Only one longing remains.
The yearning for silent Night.

* So long as some seventeen years later "Tannhauser" was hooted off the stage at
the Paris Opera House, and the song of the evening star was described as "a cat-
serenade!"
-----------

describes how the primal force of Mirth itself drove him back into the earnest yearning
mood which urged him to the shaping of Lohengrin. For he found the public could not
understand real Mirth (Heiterkeit: an untranslatable word meaning the opposite to the
French Ennui), but only Irony. Hence he felt he could only express himself "in tones of
yearning, and finally of revolt, and therefore in a tragic mood." This may be noted by those
critics who think that the tragic view of life has "overpowered the genius of Wagner." May
not the same thing be said of Christianity?
Lohengrin, by the way, we here find to be "no mere outcome of Christian meditation,
but one of man's earliest poeic ideals." Wagner here points out, as he does also in the
preface to his Tannhauser poem, that "not one of the most affecting, not one of the most
distinctive Christian myths belongs by right of generation to the Christian spirit, such as we
commonly understand it; it has inherited them all from the purely human intuitions of earlier
times, and merely molded them to fit its own peculiar tenets." He traces Lohengrin to the
Grecian myth of Zeus and Semele, though rightly saying that even this is not its oldest
form: "The God loves a mortal woman, and for sake of this love approaches her in human
shape; but the mortal learns that she does not know her lover in his true estate, and, urged
by Love's own ardor, demands that her spouse shall show himself to physical sense in the
full substance of his being. Zeus knows that she can never grasp him, that the unveiling
of his god-head must destroy her; himself, he suffers by this knowledge beneath the stern
compulsion to fulfill his loved one's dreaded wish; he signs his own death warrant when
the fatal splendor of his godlike presence strikes Semele dead."
Wagner doubtless also had in mind the myth of Eros and Psyche, in which

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the resemblance to Lohengrin is still closer. Certain it is that he grasped the great fact of
human evolution embodied in these myths, and so well expressed by Eliphas Levi in these
few words: "The angels aspire to become men; for the perfect man, the Man-God, is
above even angels." Heaven and earth must kiss each other; Spirit and Matter must
blend; and the struggle to attain this union constitutes the Tragedy of the Soul.
It was the feeling of utter loneliness in the face of the modern art-world which caused
the story of Lohengrin to appeal so powerfully to Wagner at this time. He tells us that in the
performances of the "Dutchman" and "Tannhauser" he found he was speaking in a tongue
the public did not understand. They were used to ordinary opera, where it was a case of
"singer" first and "actor" nowhere. "I required the Actor in the forefront, and the Singer only
as the Actor's aid; lastly, therefore, a public who should join me in this claim. For I was
forced to see that not until such claim were met could there be the remotest question of an
impression by the story told.... Thus I could only look upon myself as a madman who
speaks to the wind and expects it to understand him."
Alas! Alas! That was half a century ago, and can we say that the claim has yet been
met? Partly in Germany, perhaps; but go to the Opera-house in London or New York, and
what does one hear? Appreciation of the story told and the moral lesson conveyed? Not
at all! The air resounds after each act with ecstatic praise of this or that star singer, and
the "cakewalk" before the curtain becomes the most significant dramatic event of the
evening.
As an illustration of this, the following comments were made in the New York Times
last winter: "Here all is hysterical adulation of operatic artists.... No one thinks seriously
about the creative worker. The composer is relegated to a secondary position. He is
merely a provider for the singers."
 The description of how Wagner, through stress of these outward circumstances,
reached the state of consciousness in which the Knight of the Grail became a living reality
to him is described in these remarkable words:
"By the strength of my longing I had mounted to the realms where purity and chastity
abide: I felt myself outside the modern world, and mid a sacred, limpid ether which, in the
transport of my solitude, filled me with that delicious awe we drink-in upon the summit of
the Alps, when, circled with a sea of azure air, we look down upon the lower hills and
valleys. Such mountain-peaks the Thinker climbs, and on this height imagines he is
'cleansed' from all that's 'earthly,' the topmost branch upon the tree of man's omnipotence;
here at last may he feed full upon himself, and, may, midst this self-repast, freeze finally
beneath the Alpine chill into a monument of ice." Thus Wagner gauged the nature of the
purely spiritual and found that even it was only half a state which yearned for its redemption
into, or union with, the purely earthly; the "angel" yearning to become the human being.
"From these heights," he continues, "my longing glance beheld at last - das Weib: the
woman for whom the 'Flying Dutchman' yearned from out the ocean of his misery; the
woman who, star-like, showed to 'Tannhauser' the way that led from the hot passion of the
Venusberg to Heaven; the woman who now drew Lohengrin from sunny heights to the
depths of Earth's warm breast.
"Lohengrin sought the woman who should trust in him.... who would not call for
explanations or defense.... Thus yearned he for Woman - for the Human Heart. And thus
did he step down from out his loneliness of ster-

--- 391

ile bliss, when he heard this woman's cry for succor, this heart-cry from Humanity below.
But there clings to him the tell-tale halo of his 'heightened' nature.... doubt and jealousy
convince him that he has not been understood, but only worshiped, and force from him the
avowal of his divinity, wherewith, undone, he returns into his loneliness....
"The character and situation of this Lohengrin I now recognize, with clearest
sureness, as the type of the only absolute Tragedy, in fine, of the tragic element of modern
life.... From out this sternest tragic moment of the Present one path alone can lead: the full
reunion of sense and soul...."
It may seem at first sight that here we have a complete reversal of the "Manly" and
the "Womanly" as previously pictured by Wagner. But, looking a little deeper, we see it is
not so. The Woman is still here the redeemer, for she redeems Lohengrin from the egoism
of his absolute spirituality. The natural egoism of the Manly element is equally a one-sided
or unbalanced state, whether it be egoism of spirituality, intellectuality or sensuality. As W.
Q. Judge so well expresses it: "A balance is needed, and that balance is found in women,
or the Woman element." It is through the proper adjustment of this balance that the Human
Being is evolved. Thus Wagner describes Elsa as "my desired anti-
thesis to Lohengrin.... the other half of his being..... Elsa is the Unconscious, the
Undeliberate, into which Lohengrin's conscious, deliberate being yearns to be redeemed."
This view of the Lohengrin drama is of special interest as showing how a myth is capable
of more than one interpretation. It also illustrates how far the Tone-Poet's intuition led him
in the analysis and portrayal of the most complex phases of human nature.
Wagner composed Lohengrin at a time when every kind of distraction - political
troubles, debts, fights with the theatres, opposition of every kind - oppressed him. When
it was finished he locked it away in a drawer, and no one knew of its existence until it was
unearthed years later by Liszt, who performed it at Weimar. Its creator did not hear it for
fourteen years. Yet he went straight ahead with The Ring of the Nibelung and Tristan and
Isolde, regardless alike of failure or success, defeat or victory. For him it was no question
of writing to earn money or to please the public; he had a certain work to do, and he did
it. Such is the true artist.

--------------
--- 392

REFLECTIONS OF A LAWYER
by X.

THE sphere of influence of the legal profession in the world has been deep and
extensive. This force, united with that of the clergy, has exerted, perhaps, greater power
than any other in molding the society and institutions of the world. Men of other
professions have, for a long time, discovered facts and invented ingenious contrivances for
the benefit of mankind. Lawyers have retarded or facilitated the advancement of methods
to apply facts discovered, and the principles of science made known, to building up
institutions and to advance civilization.
Modern thought demands that all useful discoveries and inventions should be
applied to improve, or supplant, methods employed in human society for its growth and
improvement. It may be stated as a general proposition that men desire that every useful
thing should be applied to advance the material interests of society. However, when it is
imagined by some that the application of a new principle will interfere with their material
interests, objection is made that it will unsettle existing conditions and disturb the forms and
methods to which men are accustomed and result in more harm than good. This has
always been the attitude of the excessively conservative. They look upon everything new
with suspicion. Their watchword is, Beware of innovation. This has been the rule in
Church and State. Hence the scientist has had a hard road to travel. The moral reformer's
road has been no less difficult. But to the honor of the race brave souls have from time to
time appeared that were willing to incur the risk of danger to themselves and sacrifice their
dearest personal interests for the sake of the truth.
The lawyer by education and training is conservative and cautious. He builds on
authority and is guided by artificial rules, and does not look beyond. If it were not for the
fact that he is a man of the world, that he has to do with all classes of people and is
therefore influenced by the general thought of the people, he would be almost as narrow
as are the orthodox clergy. When a decision is made by the Church it is binding on all its
members until the power that rendered it chooses to overrule it. And until set aside, no
member dare, with safety, directly oppose it or question its wisdom.
Because the assumption is that it is the result of divine guidance. The lawyer is not
so hampered. He knows that the decision of the highest judicial tribunal of his country
simply settles the law forever of the cause in which it is made; but that at some other term
of the tribunal the same questions may arise that were involved in the cause decided; and
that from fuller argument and more deliberate consideration a different result may be
reached, and the prior decision may be modified, distinguished, or wholly set aside as
unsound law. This is the difference between a tribunal assumed to be divinely guided and
one making no such pretensions.
The lawyers, in all constitutional governments have practically made the laws,
interpreted them, and stood by their execution. So we may comprehend what a mighty
influence they have exerted in the government of the civilized world. Their responsibility
is fully as great as that of the clergy for the

--- 393

conditions that exist in all civilized countries. Here and there you may find a lawyer who
has risen above the hard and fast rules of his profession or who has expanded such rules
and given them a wider, more liberal and comprehensive range so as to reach beyond their
words and literal interpretation. Such minds have hearkened to the voice of equity, the soul
of the law, prompting and admonishing the blind goddess to sweep away the cobwebs and
technicalities that have clung to her garments for centuries and permit compassion, the law
of laws, to preside with her in the determination of every question. Such lawyers have
taken up the cause of the oppressed and the forsaken; manfully stood by the cause of
innocence and virtue, have become shining lights to their brethren. They have withstood
the frowns of kings and potentates and won triumphs in the cause of civil and religious
liberty.
Space will not permit to refer to instances. The world knows them. The lawyers
know the illustrious names of their profession associated with great actions for the benefit
of the human race and in defense of those unjustly accused, and are proud of them.
Many without reflection condemn the profession as a whole, and have no
extenuation to offer in behalf of the lawyer who happens to be, as they conceive, on the
wrong side of a case. They do not think of the hopeless task a court would have before it
if but the right side of a case were presented by counsel and the wrong side had none. It
would be well-nigh impossible to arrive at a just conclusion unless both sides were
represented by lawyers. When the lawyer is retained he supposes that his client has a
good cause of action; or, if he be employed by the defendant, he supposes that he has a
good defense. If the competent, upright lawyer has serious doubts either as to the cause
of action or the defense, he advises compromise or settlement of the matter in controversy.
Every lawyer of extensive practice knows how difficult it is, frequently, to bring about an
adjustment of disputes without going into court. Clients generally go to the lawyer's office
with "war paint on." They want to overcome their antagonist in a legal battle. They imagine
there is a principle involved that will not allow them consistently to settle out of court. And
unless they have great confidence in their lawyer, they sometimes imagine he is in the
interest of their opponent; then they refuse to settle, refuse to follow the counsel of their
chosen lawyer, and go to another, who will advise them to go into court and fight it out.
And when the end is reached they are wiser if not better men.
Many of the scenes in court, the result of the litigious dispositions of the parties to
the controversy, belong to the human comedy we see daily enacted on the world's stage.
Such litigants are not satisfied unless their lawyer roundly abuses their opponent in his
address to the jury. And sometimes the lawyer yields to the importunities of his client and
pours out the vials of his client's wrath on the head of the opposite party to the action.
Such philippics of the lawyer are frequently purely impersonal on his part. He is simply a
reflector of his client's mind. In all this, for the time being, the client is greatly comforted.
Even when he has lost his case, if such should be the result, he feels some recompense
in the reflection that his opponent has been soundly abused. The serious time comes when
he has cooled off and his lawyer makes him pay handsomely for the philippic delivered
against his opponent. If he be a man of good sense, but was carried away by passion and
the excitement incident to the controversy, he may realize what time and energy he has
wasted to no good purpose.

--- 394

In behalf of the legal profession it may be observed that the world does not know to
what extent lawyers act as peace-makers and the success they accomplish in bringing
parties to be reconciled, and in keeping from the public gaze many distressing occurrences
in the lives of men and women. For this the profession is entitled to great credit. In this
day men in every walk of life understand how to carry on the business of their vocation
better than was known at any prior time. A better system is observed and therefore fewer
serious disputes arise. And those that do occur can be readily adjusted by the lawyers
when the parties are well disposed and not anxious for a contest in court.
In all ages of the civilized world the lawyer has been as necessary to the people's
welfare as the physician. If people observed the laws of health, few physicians would be
necessary to attend the sick. In like manner, if people exercised common honesty there
would be fewer lawyers needed to aid in the affairs of men and to bring offenders to justice.
But the conditions of men, their disregard of law and order, require many lawyers.
The knowledge and experience of the lawyer is absolutely necessary to give form
and expression to the people's will. Without them the people's aspirations would simply
amount to unmeaning clamor and fruitless protest. The lawyer is not an iconoclast. If he
would tear down, the material for reconstruction should be on the ground ready for
rebuilding. In the civil order he may be likened to the builders and destroyers in the natural
world. He performs the double function of builder and destroyer, conserver and
regenerator. The canonist in the ecclesiastical system of the Church prepares the chart
and adjusts the compass for the captain who designs to guide his bark over many stormy
seas. And if the counsel of many a canonist had been heeded, the captain would not have
attempted to steer his bark between Scylla and Charybdis, and would not today be on the
"silly side" of the great deep.
The lawyer is nearer to nature. He learns how to judge of all men. All consult him.
His experience reveals the frailties and infirmities of the high and low, educated and
illiterate. He finds out how worldly and selfish they all are. And although his knowledge of
men might lead him to form at very low estimate of them, still there appear in his
experience so many striking examples of virtue and nobility of character that he is
convinced of the presence in them of a principle superior to the physical and beyond the
human. He may with confidence say with Cicero, "Whatever that be which thinks, which
understands, which wills, which acts, is something celestial and divine, and upon that
account must necessarily be eternal."
The legal profession is not afraid of criticism. The lawyer knows that whatever there
is deserving of censure in his work can cast no shadow on his art. He has done well what
he was employed to do. If there be odium attaching to the accomplished fact, that belongs
to the projectors of the work, and not to the artificer that enabled them to realize material
profits from the perfection of his art. This is the attitude of the profession. And the world
at its present state of growth admits, by its acquiescence, that the lawyer's attitude is
tenable and just. There are many lawyers who refuse to counsel or advise certain projects
that they deem injurious to the people and the best interests of their country, and therefore
such projects never see the light. In some instances such schemers and conspirators
against the public weal will reject the counsel of their regular lawyer and seek another, who
will aid them in their nefarious projects of plunder. This practice accounts for the many

--- 395

questionable enterprises that are set afloat in the different countries, and especially in the
United States. Large profits are anticipated; enormous fees are paid, and some of the
worst phases of the business world are revealed; and the schemes bring ruin and misery
to the unwary and unsuspecting.
It may be said that there is no class of professional men that gives more time and
money to those who need assistance and counsel than the legal profession. No one is
turned away because he is without means to prosecute his cause or make proper defense
to an action. And frequently a lawyer advances money to his client to enable him to protect
his rights or to repel an unjust accusation. The lawyer comes from the people and has the
sympathies and compassion for the oppressed and unfortunate that well up in the popular
heart. And frequently he feels compelled, by reason of his environment, to do things
professionally which are distasteful, and which he would gladly avoid. Hence he is
frequently embarrassed and misunderstood by people and accused unjustly of trying to
uphold a wrong or defeat a righteous cause.
It should be borne in mind that in the great majority of causes tried in the courts the
lawyers do not know which side has the better reason to support it. And even if in the
progress of the trial doubts arise in the mind of a lawyer as to the justice of his client's
contention, mere doubt would not justify him in withdrawing from the engagement he has
entered into with his client. If his doubts be very strong, the best he can do may be to
propose settlement, and make the best terms possible for his client. And frequently
developments are made at the trial which could not have been anticipated by client or
lawyer; and not infrequently there is no other alternative left but to proceed and allow a
verdict to be returned. And as to the law, no lawyer can tell with absolute certainty what
view the highest tribunal may take. The best and ablest lawyers advise their clients to keep
out of court whenever it is possible. Absolute or mathematical certainty is not required and
seldom attainable in judicial proceedings. Even when the most thorough examination is
made and the most painstaking care is exercised, there may be a doubt. Technical rules
are necessary to prevent a wrong from being done, but should never prevail against a right,
when equitable rules can be applied to do equity and justice.
Space will not allow to look into the criminal courts, to present a picture of the varied
scenes that are there enacted, although the materials are abundant to furnish food for
serious thought and sadness; or to excite minds given to mirth, who are especially
interested in the humorous, ridiculous and grotesque. The humorous phase of the picture
relieves it materially. It counteracts the tedium and depression which its severer and
harsher lines would produce. We may judge by its composite characteristics how men can
daily pass through such scenes and preserve their equipoise and sweet temper.
The lawyer is hopeful and of strong faith. Indeed, at times he is optimistic. He
prefers the sunny side of life. There are few, if any, atheists in his profession. And
notwithstanding all the incongruous phases of life he encounters, he has faith in humanity.
This faith is creditable to the lawyer and speaks volumes in favor of human nature; for if
there be one thing he knows better than another, better than he knows what his law books
contain, it is human nature.
A good lawyer must be an all-round man; he must be up with the times. He should
know something about every subject of general interest. He is ready to investigate any
subject that may throw light on his work. He is not controlled

--- 396

by preconceived notions. He has no theory to maintain and no fetish to worship. Let him
look into Theosophy and Brotherhood and study this philosophy, and many of the riddles
he has met in his life-work will be solved. He may add to his store of information as to
human life and gain a more complete knowledge as to the springs of human conduct; why
men are as he finds them to be; why the diversity on every hand; why some are rich and
many are poor; why some are born criminals and some approaching the highest and best
type. Let him study Reincarnation and Karma, and he will have new elements in his own
life that will teach him to know himself; that may reveal the hidden mysteries of his own
heart and enable him to become a perfect reader of the hearts of others..

--------------

THE MOTIONLESS HEART

by Zoryan

THE Divine Mother spoke, and the child understood. The child understood her silent
speech. In its own heart of hearts it heard the silent speech. The velvet iridescent curtain
of the world - the ever-waving, brilliant, dark-fringed curtain of the world - transmitted signs
and tokens. It responded to the recurring, running, cycling messages of the Mother, but
their MEANING came only from the interior silent chamber of the soul.
And then the human child knew itself a child divine. Because it answered to the
eternal love, it knew itself. Because it knew its Self, which is one always with the Divine
Mother, it became a MAN. Now he lives, he loves, he understands. The Universe will
vanish, but he will not.
This is a silent life. For the world below, for his earthly companion, the personality
of flesh, it is a dark and silent life. And yet in that darkness is its only hope and peace.
Both are now Thinkers, one from within, from the inner life; the other from without,
from the outer life. But the second clings to the first, because the first has the never-
changing, motionless and golden Heart, beating only with the Mother's ever-silent
undertide.
And the companions now part, now meet. When they part, all is dark and gloomy
for the second, the waves of life seem more insecure. Threatening is the world for him and
mocking are its joys. And the whole visible universe an empty show, which wearies him
and drives him to despair. For then the memory of the former brightness puts its dark
fringe upon the scene.
But when they meet, O joy! desireless they float. From their secure retreat they
send their love and blessing to North and South and East and West. The personality is
then only as a memory and a dream. It is dead, and yet it lives.
And both are glad with the happiness of the whole world, that happiness which is not
of a moment or a place, and which, though everywhere, cannot he grasped by hand, that
happiness which is at one with spirit, and yet recedes when it is being chased, for it is not
ours, but is divine and universal; for it has grown from an eternal germ, which was hid in,
and sprouted from, the vale of tears.
Joy of azure celestial space, in which

--- 397

every sunny creature bathes, they draw in and out with every breath of thought; they
themselves are zephyrs of that angelic air. They themselves are golden mist enlightening
the blue.
Thus wrapped about with Self-produced and life-instilling joy, at what altar of desire
can they worship, to which idol will they bow? The sun has never bowed to the stray
cosmic dust, nor to its shadowy creatures, the Motionless, the Golden Heart.
Thus blazing like high noon, in which all forms of truth find their interior living sound,
to which all trains of thought appeal for a bright ray of love as for a sunny path to travel on -
before what doubt will they succumb, before what mirror ask the way to Light? The moon
has never trembled at its own reflection on the wave, nor doubted yet the Inner Power of
the Motionless, the Golden Heart.
Thus penetrating with their Silent Self all melody of life; the same yet changeless
as the meaning of a song, from which that song is born, to which that song returns to sleep
in its undying bosom - before what dreadful actor of the drama will they recede in fear, and
at what losses will they cloud themselves in the dark cloak of sorrow? The sky has never
fled away in fear before the sword of a bright flashing cornet; the starry vault shone clearer
still because of darkest night, and in its loneliness, whether in light or shadow, was nearest
to the Mother, the Motionless, the Golden Heart.
And when they part again, the child divine stands afar off and sends a ray of its dark
light to see its friend, to visit even from a distance its earthly friend, its lower self. What
sees it then? It sees a form, whose fire of passion dies in embers, whose ashy pale
ambitions are scattered to the winds, whose tide of life illusive is ebbing off. That form,
though seeming living, yet is dead. Yes, it is dead, that it might live. That form is as a
mummy embalmed and still, careless of aught around, shining with the hieroglyphic script.
Its earthly heart is taken out, and now a stone, a flinty scarab, motionless and lifeless, fills
its breast. Ah, as a stone it does not now feel its own pain and anguish. Lo, a stone it is
enduring in its strong resolve.
Who would expect such stone to live and fly? And yet now even does the soul
discern the nascent humming sound of its unfolding golden wings, or ken the enwrapping
angel star of light, spreading for life eternal its fiery, golden pinions, and feel the warmth of
love irradiated by the indwelling spirit of this flinty, this motionless, this crystal heart.

-----------

"He who would lead, must first himself be led;

Who would be loved, be capable of love
Beyond the utmost he receives; who claims
The rod of power, must first have bowed his head,
And, being honored, honor what's above:
This know the men who leave the world their names."
- Bayard Taylor

------------
--- 398

WALT WHITMAN
by Edward C. Farnsworth

ON the 26th of March, 1892, in the City of Camden, New Jersey, there passed from
this earthly condition one whose peculiar personality and unique literary work are, in many
respects, among the most remarkable that our time or any time has produced. A man of
lofty ideals, himself little understood by the vast majority of his countrymen, Whitman,
without a feeling of condescension, mingled on terms of perfect equality with the unlettered
masses. A man self-centered, he felt that he had a mission to his time and especially to
the common folk, whom he loved and whose joys and sorrows he made his own. A man
whose splendid optimism rendered him impregnable to every assault of adversity, he
calmly and serenely fixed his mind on the Eternal Verities and strove to impart to a
materialistic age some measure of his own unbounded faith.
While the name of Whitman, among his admirers, is a word to conjure with, his
"Leaves of Grass" has been from the first a stumbling block to many a critic, to say nothing
of the general reader. In fact, it is still a moot question in many circles whether he has
written, or was really capable of producing, true poetry. Notwithstanding all diversities of
opinion, it is undeniable that his following has increased rapidly during the last decade, and
it numbered from the first no less a keen-minded critic than John Borroughs. John
Addington Symonds and some others have more recently written eloquently in his praise.
For reasons easily apparent, Whitman's great literary contemporaries soon found
their proper places in the world's esteem. For example, Hawthorne, gifted with imagination,
delicate and subtle fancy and refined humor, is always master of a poetical and highly
finished yet limpid style. These various excellencies won for him the admiration of the
educated reader, while his skill as a diagnoser of the many conditions of that wonderful
organ, the human heart, has placed him securely in the front rank of our modern
psychological novelists. Whitman, with very great powers of introspection, and with a
weighty and comprehensive message, often utterly disregards style, that, to many a writer,
most necessary adjunct to his work; hence he offends the artistic ear, notably so in the
case of Mr. Swinburne, that virtuoso in the art of elaboration and ornamentation.
Whitman, beginning his career as bard and teacher at the age of thirty-seven,
devoted his days chiefly to the not large volume, "Leaves of Grass," which grew, during its
several publications, from the thin and scarce book of the 1855 edition to its present
proportions. Although by no means a voluminous writer - his thirty-six years as poet taken
into account - he nevertheless has used an immense amount of material. For instance, in
the "Song of Myself" he ranges with startling and unprecedented discursiveness over the
entire earth; his eye darting from point to point, seizes the central idea and in a few
concise words we have a pen picture, a marvel of brevity and comprehensiveness. On the
other hand, it cannot be denied by his warmest admirers that he is sometimes turgid and
prolix, and like the great philosophical poet, Wordsworth, generally deficient in the quality
of humor.

--- 399

At his first perusal of these poems the reader is often repelled by their apparent total
lack of form and artistic finish, but let him persevere, keeping his mind in a condition of
receptivity, let him strive for the author's point of view, and gradually he discerns a method
in all this madness, this elemental and chaotic strife of words. From the right elevation the
globe-encircling oceans could be seen traversed by a vast system of currents, great tidal
waves move across the deeps, they dash against the headlands and promontories, they
fill the bays and inlets; the victorious waters push far inland the flow of the great estuaries,
and the stately ships of the maritime cities are tossed on the swelling flood.
It is not my purpose to enter into an extended dissertation on the literary merits or
demerits of Walt Whitman, neither could I hope to add any word of real value to what has
been written from that standpoint, so, with the foregoing as preliminary, I will now proceed
to the real purpose of this article, to wit, an inquiry into the nature of the Whitmanic
message, and its adaptation to the present needs of our race.
Pope said that he lisped in numbers for the numbers came. Chatterton, a mere boy
of eighteen, was at the time of his tragic death already prepared for a period of virile
productiveness. Keats, in his early twenties, vainly longed for ten years in which to
complete some extended masterpiece. Shelley, unequaled in his special though somewhat
narrow field, was a mature artist at thirty. Byron, departing in early middle life, left behind
a body of work perhaps unsurpassed in quality and bulk by any man at thirty-six. At an age
when Burns had succumbed to the cumulative results of an irregular life, Whitman serenely
chanted: "I, now thirty-seven years old, in perfect health, begin, hoping to cease not till
death."
It is evident that the philosophy which underlies and permeates "Leaves of Grass"
underwent a long period of gestation. Before putting pen to paper Whitman had broadened
his conception of Eternal Truth, not in the seclusion of the scholar nor in the cave of the
anchorite, but by direct personal contact with every form of life, both in nature's solitudes
and in the busy haunts of men. Ever the sympathetic friend of the downtrodden, ever the
unselfish lover of his kind, he grew from the centre outward, he unfolded in accord with the
divine plan. Recognizing all nations and tribes of men to be his brothers, he at the same
time was filled with the purest spirit of American patriotism. He fully believed in a great
future for our land, as the home of the new race now being amalgamated here.
He would know that land for himself from the Atlantic's bold, indented coast of wave-
worn rock to where the far western shore slopes to the unruffled sea, to where the tangled
tropic woods are shadowed in the genial waters of the Gulf. He would stand on the
summits of lofty peaks and tread the dark and tortuous ravines, would leap the noisy
mountain stream and watch the falling cataract while seated 'neath the overhanging cliff;
look with his own eyes upon the great chain of lakes, and linger long "by blue Ontario's
shore." Steer his flat boat with the current of the winding Mississippi and seek the sources
of its tributary rivers; he would tread the streets of our populous cities, would gaze on miles
of crowing crops, the broad and unobstructed green of fertile farms; with reverent mien
would meditate beneath the silent stars when the lone prairie sleeps in soft and tranquil
night; surrounded by the native voices of the trackless wilds, find mid the primal forests'
growth a temporary home. In all his wanderings Whitman kept his heart in rapport with
nature, and she, the enigmatic and uncommunicative,

--- 400

whispered to him, her trusty friend and lover, the deep secrets of being.
That is a shallow criticism which would denounce Whitman as an egotist. He clearly
perceived the identity of all souls with the great Oversoul; therefore the boundless
possibilities striving for expression within him he held to be the common heritage of all.
Endeavoring by every means to arouse men to a realization of their birthright, he showed
them the terraqueous globe and all that it contained. Knowing man to be the microcosm
of the macrocosm, he identified himself with every part thereof, the good and the bad alike,
nor was his equanimity ever disturbed by certain grossly false charges of personal
immorality and the mistaken accusations of those who deemed his purpose an immoral
one.
Whitman clearly perceived the universal operation of the law of continuity, the law
which causes all things to reappear in their proper season and appropriate form. He says:

"Long I was hugg'd close - long and long.

Immense have been the preparations for me,
Faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me.
Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen,
For room to me, stars kept aside in their own rings,
They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.
Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,
My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it.
For it the nebula cohered to an orb,
The long slow strata piled to rest it on,
Vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care.
All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me,
Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul."

The reappearance of all things in their appointed time would be for humanity what
is known as reincarnation. Therefore we find in Whitman many lines similar in significance
to the following:
 "Births have brought us richness and variety,
And other births will bring us richness and variety."
"And as for you Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."

Whitman cannot be numbered among those sentimentalists who delude themselves

with the comforting notion that the reactions of violated law, of disturbed Cosmic harmony,
are to be escaped in some way by the transgressor. Here his attitude is firm and
uncompromising, as witness the following:

"No one can acquire for another - not one,

No one can grow for another - not one.
The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,
The teaching is to the teacher and comes back most to him,
The murder is to the murderer and comes back most to him,
The theft is to the thief and comes back most to him."

In this and many other passages of like import he clearly states the Karmic law of
ancient philosophy.
But the great, central idea of the message of Whitman and the keynote of many of
his chants, is practical universal brotherhood. It is here that he nobly meets the
requirements of our age. He vouchsafes no mere lip-offering of altruistic sentiments, but
speaks as one who has felt deeply the crying needs of humanity, and has gone forth to
alleviate. His comprehensive mind and sympathetic nature would not permit him to draw
the line, so we find him looking benignly on all forms of life; they expressed, though in
lower degree, the idea incarnate in man. However, the broadening of his attachments did
not cause him to view with easy-going nature evil and corruption. Simple and honest him-

--- 401

self, he abhorred every sham, every form of injustice and deceit and raised his voice in
their vehement denunciation.
He chanted from the first the dignity of all kinds of honest toil, and sought to awake
in the humblest laborer true self-respect and a realization of the nobility of a useful life.
The "Song of the Exposition" opens with these lines:

"Ah little recks the laborer

How near his work is holding him to God,
The loving laborer in space and time."

No poet has written with more delicate and tender feeling, with clearer, philosophical
insight and joyous, unshaken faith than has Whitman when he deals with that mystery
which we call death.
Knowing well that all things were indestructible in their essence, he considered the
dissolution of the outward shell to be no calamity. He did not lament when he saw the
imprisoned bird burst the bars and spread once more its long-folded wings. He grieved not
because the priceless gem must be stripped of its rough and dull outer particles, for so
alone could its real beauty be revealed. During his faithful and arduous work of ministration
to the sick and dying in the camps of Virginia and in the hospitals around Washington in
1862-5 - a work for which he was eminently fitted by nature - Whitman had often made it
his duty "to sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead." Yet his
feelings never became callous, to him death lost none of its sacredness.
In his noble threnody, "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed" - a poem deeply
elegic and replete with exquisite pathos - Whitman pays a heart-stirring tribute to the
memory of him who was his ideal of true manhood, from the time that President Lincoln's
character, brought out by the exigency of his position as the nation's head in our Civil War,
was first manifesting itself to the world. In the opening lines the ever returning Spring, the
Lilac blooming perennial, and the drooping Star in the West bring back to the author the
thought of him he loves, but unmitigated sadness is the swift-flown night, we feel that the
sun will yet appear and now the East is clothed in purple and gold and a single beam darts
upward and now another and another - but let us listen to him:

"Come, lovely and soothing death,

Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving,
In the day, in the night, to all, to each,
Sooner or later delicate death.
Dark mother always gliding near with soft feet,
Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome?
Then I chant it for thee, I glorify thee above all,
I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly.
Approach, strong deliverers,
When it is so, when thou hast taken them
I joyously sing the dead,
Lost in the loving, floating ocean of thee,
Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O death.
From me to thee glad serenades,
Dances for thee, I propose saluting thee, adornments and feastings for thee.
And the sights of the open landscapes and the high-spread sky are fitting,
And life and the fields, and the huge and thoughtful night."

Whitman's pronounced individuality, his democratic spirit and unconventional

manner bring him into rapport with those who are weary of the artificialities of life. His
unfettered dithyrambics breathing the spirit of the broad open, the untrodden wilds, the
interminable waterways, the inland seas
and the boundless oceanic dominion, all overhung with restless clouds - an infinite diversity
of moving shapes - are therefore a tonic to the jaded mind worn by the monotonous daily
rounds, or too often focused on the trivial, the superfluous, the evanescent. By his pow-

--- 402

er to suggest he gives a new bent to our thoughts, imparting his splendid vitality, he
stimulates the mind to an activity that shall enlarge its horizon, and he also shows us vistas
of things yet to be attained by on-marching humanity.
Whitman, singing the praises of the modern man and his achievements, was a
distinctive product of our age, a poet incomprehensible in any other. Though in every way
abreast of the time, he, like his great contemporary, Richard Wagner - a modern of the
moderns - drank copiously from those deep and inexhaustible wells which were known to
the old Vedantins, whose philosophy Schopenhauer said had been the inspiration of his
life, and would be the solace of his death. Whitman found in those pure, and life-giving
waters, whose quality time could not impair, that which cleansed his mentality from all
bilious humors and cleared his spiritual eyes. Then he knew that the heart of things is
sweet, the soul of man is uncreate, imperishable. He saw that the smallest atom, the
meanest object is not to be separated un the Eternal. The humblest duty is performed for
the Eternal, the greatest and most beneficent act for that Eternal, man rests in the Eternal,
and the Eternal is One and indivisible.

---------------

AN UNCROWNED KING
by Carolyn F. Ober

MAKE room for the sovereign! Behold, he approaches!

Make way there! Stand not in light! Let us watch him!
Not him? Not this one who is nearing?
Him surely you call not a king?
We do, a king regnant; by natural law legitimate heir.
What are his patents? Where is his glory? No one attends. I see naught of the
kingly about. Where reigns he? What his possessions?
His possessions outnumber the power of my reckoning.
Is it so? Where then is his home?
Everywhere. In the cots of the lowly; the homes of the mighty; out of doors; in the
house; on the sea; on the land; with the great; with the little; anywhere; always; he is
at home.
What mean you? Who is he?
You know him. Walt Whitman, the poet.
What! that arrogant man?
Even so. Yet he inherits the earth, and that is the patent for meekness.
How know you that he inherits the earth? Your claim is most monstrous. I see
naught which exhibits the fact.
Because he inherits himself.
Because, in his prescience, he divines a great truth.
He beholds in himself the potential investment of earth's every element; - concrete,
epitomized, capable, perfect.
Because he has given himself. Such gift lays a tax upon all there is; and insures
the return of endowments from all that there is.
The flowers in his path strew their incense; brighten their colors; hold out their
arms, and ask him to take them.
 He sees and hears, and the flowers and the man become one.
The winds and the seas lose their fierceness, and lull him with sounds, and caress
him with kisses.
And Nature unravels her secrets; disarms the harmful, and opens the doors to her
treasures.
And as to the heart of the human, that too shall be his in good time.
Ah, now you mistake. He often has been despised and rejected of men.

--- 403

What of that? He has never rejected another. He has never despised nor rejected
himself.
I believe in another ennobles that other, and aids him to rise to new heights.
To believe in one's self will ennoble that self, and make of the person a magnet of
irresistible power.
You spoke of a natural law. What law works such marvelous wonders?

It is dynamic; the law of creation, sex, correspondence, contact and life.

We come to our own, and our own comes to us, when love draws us together.
Love inspires, trust.
Trust inspires peace.
Those two inspire the giving and taking which tells the whole story.

Pervading, animating, producing all that is produced; -

Sustaining, elevating, building always for more perfect forms;
This law includes all others.

The lover of all is the reconciled man.

The true lover of self is the lover of others.
The ruler of self is the ruler of others; he has claimed and come into his kingdom.

Have I made out the title? Is the poet a king by natural law?

Well, for argument's sake, I'll allow it. I even will call him a "natural king." But kings
should be statesmen; and what for a statesman is this - your poet fanatic, who rants of the
states in such meaningless fashion, and makes of American customs a fetich to worship?
Other states have done well. Are we then sit much better off?
Discord and corruption abound. Money is paid for high places; and places are filled
with incompetents, forgers and thieves.
To these high places elections occur, that are mild revolutions; suspending
commercial transactions; reaching their height at the President's term.
Your poet not only applauds this arrangement, but exults in the further disturbance
of labor's uprising; then, will you make him a statesman?
He "rants of the states," as you call it, because, in their union compact, they stand
for the meaning supreme.
Yes, they stand.
 In spite of the discord.
ln spite of the elements ever at work to undo them.
They stand and announce to the world the advantage of union.

Innumerable acres of land, -

On which dwell many millions of people, -
Going and coming at will; in comparative peace with each other.
A sovereign who serves at the top:
Other sovereigns who serve at the top of a part;
Still other sovereigns who serve at the top of a part of the parts;
All serving sovereigns at bottom, who also themselves are rapidly learning to serve
and to rule.

Place airy one of our free-born, - heir to such power and such vastness, - in a great
state of Europe;
Surround him however with comfort, the sense of oppression will stifle.
Though he revels in art and in song, and in all that the old world can give of its
stores.
In the heart of America's son America's value increases.

Here each state is not like a garden protected by fences bristling with bayonets. -
for fear that some other may take what we have, - or that we may take of another.
Here there is room.
Here more persons think less of who shall approach them, and more are concerned
to learn of the way in which they shall receive whoever approaches.
More states hold together;
More people have interests in common;
More represent the national honor, the great Constitution, and the personal power
of our country.
More deem it incumbent upon them to sustain, by force of example, their country as
foremost of countries.
The one step in advance in thee march of the progress of states.

Why are we foremost?

Because we alone are most solid.
Because those at the head must measure their pace with those at the foot, or those
at the foot will call "Halt!" and halt they'll be forced to.

--- 404

Because out of the masses have come more aristocrats, and more are to follow.
These many demand for themselves, and seek for themselves, and their coming -
Enlarges our markets;
Makes our laws more elastic;
Disarms old traditions, leaving room for the spread of new powers.
 When the voice of many is heard public opinion becomes a mighty and competent
factor.
It bids dainty dames leave their couches of ease to attend to the poor and afflicted.
It holds in its check those who tend to excess; to be "drunk as a lord" is no longer
regarded an honor.
It opens the purse of the millionaire prince and bids him: - Endow institutions, and
great halls of learning, - that prepare for the coming of more, and yet more, of the
commons.
Such chance of tuition develops more critics; sets standards of action a few inches
higher; increases the number of judges, - till the one who solicits must furnish good work,
or submit to a merciless railing.

From out of the ranks come recruits who not only produce, but consume: therefore -
More happy faces; more well-dressed persons; more clean-faced children; more
public parks, and more homes; more schools; more diversions; more public
improvements; more artists; more students; more sweet singing voices; more hearers
to hear them; more refinement; more culture; variety, pleasure; more speakers; more
listeners; more men and more women; more masters; less slaves; more all things in
common; more wealth and less hardship; more work, but less joyless, for more hands are
working.
Better living for all. The most carefully nurtured need not their high walls, - from
whence they emerge not, - to protect them from sights and from sounds that are mournful.
Since labor has risen, prosperity smiles and is general.
Therefore, wherever we go, it is gracious and pleasant to be there.
All this, and much more, is the out-growth of labor uprising; and elections and
"grabs" and "mild revolutions" are a part of what gives it its impulse.

This is the trend of it all: - that man shall be greater and government less.
And this is the trend of it all: - that men shall be greater and man shall be less.

Because of his knowledge of this, I acknowledge the poet a statesman.

Why, stranger, you'll call him a saint next!

Aye, perhaps, but not after old patterns. I grant you, the narrow, the stunted, the
sickly ascetic has no part in my hero.
The old saints, in rapt visions, gazed off into nowhere, and peopled all space with
impossible forms.
This one does not so.
His eyelids are level, and nothing escapes him.
In man and in woman; in good and in evil; in life and in death; in the least as the
greatest; in the past, the present, the future; in whatever has been, is, and shall be, he
fails not to see the glory transcendent of gods and of angels immortal.
His pulse beats at once with the pulse of creation.
He loves and embraces the whole,
The whole shall return to embrace its fond lover and claim him.
 Yes, a saint. A saint of our order. New as the first-born of earth; old as time;
eternal in all things; - this order is yours and mine.

See you not here is one who has caught the Christ spirit?
Hear you not he interprets the words of our Lord with new meaning?
The Alpha and Omega, - the beginning and the end, - he finds in himself and all
others;
As also did Christ, who saw this and said it before him.

For his knowledge of this, I call my great brother a saint.

----------------
--- 405

THE COMING GOD

A Briefly Presented Speculation and Deduction
by Taurus

MAN is a thinking Ego-Soul, incarnate in an animal body. This body consists of an

enormous number of cohering cells, highly specialized or differentiated in structure and
function, having their separate life-interests harmoniously subordinate to the mass interest
of the whole organism of which they are a part.
2. Evolution, from the single-celled forms of life onward to the more perfect forms,
consisted, after a phase of mere agglutination of similar units, in two simultaneous
processes: (a) The subordination, on the part of the individual cell, of its interests and
freedom as a unit, to the interests of the mass; which by this "sacrifice" of the individual,
became a unified organism. (b) The subordination, in each cell, of all its forms of life-
activity, save one, to that one.
3. These two "sacrifices" or subordinations have each their reward, besides the
great reward to be referred to later. The renunciation of the major part of each of its life-
activities, save one, enabled it to bring that one to relative perfection. For example, the
contraction of muscle cells, the conduction of nerve cells, the reaction to light of retinal
cells, is infinitely better done than are contraction, conduction and light-response in one-
celled organisms where that one cell discharges all functions. The willingness, also, to
sacrifice separate interests enabled the coming about of a body infinitely higher in the
scale, vaster in every department of life, than could ever have been reached by a single
cell, or by any agglutinated number of cells that were not capable of these renunciations.
4. By reason of the perfection of the animal body brought about as above, it became
a possible home or "Temple" for a "Living God," the thinking and essentially divine human
soul. And such a soul accordingly incarnates in every such body, the interaction of the two
constituting man as we know him.
5. This interaction subserves many purposes. Among others:
The body, or rather its nerves, becomes the sounding-board, responding to the
feelings of the soul (which are its powers), and thus carry them outward to nature on this
plane, in the soul's work of helping and raising nature.
The body also registers these feelings and reproduces them by reflex, cyclically, in
the soul, so that the soul learns to consider them, which to enhance, which diminish. In the
matter of the body, the soul obtains touch with living matter from the highest to the lowest
forms, on the subjective side. It thus studies, from the subjective side, all the forces of
matter with which science occupies itself on the objective. It learns gradually to dominate
these, at last completely swaying, instead of being swayed by, them.
The little "lives," or monads, of which each cell is the physical body of one, are
enormously raised in the evolution of their elemental consciousness by so close an
association and intimacy with a being so infinitely higher than themselves as is the soul.
In this respect the soul is said to incarnate for the redemption of matter.
--------

Taking all the foregoing as a key by

--- 406

analogy, let us see what conclusions we reach.

1. Of the body of humanity each man is a cell.
2. It will be perfected in harmonious integration when each individual (a) performs
faithfully the duties of the particular day, subordinating his other modes of possible activity
to that. It was in performing the corresponding "duties" of their lives that the primordial cells
at the bottom of the animal tree evolved the capacity to integrate and specialize. Duties
are set by the "Master of Life," known to us as Karma, and have always the same purpose,
whether for a man, a fish or a cell, namely to evolve and perfect the powers of the
individual. "In the performance of duty comes Wisdom." (b) subordinates his own
pleasures, impulses, activities and wishes, to the good of the whole mass (humanity) of
which he forms a part; that is, keeps the general good constantly in view, works even
through his duties, constantly for this; that, is, practices and thinks and preaches
Brotherhood.
3. When this perfect integration has been attained, -humanity will he a perfect
organism or orchestra.
4. It will then (if analogy is worth anything) become the home, Temple, or body, of
an indwelling thinking and feeling Ego-Soul, as much higher than any member of humanity
as the human thinking soul is higher than a single cell of the body, the veritable God of
Humanity, the Avatar, Vishnu.
5. Its or His coming will bring a great Light into the midst of mankind, and raise all
men in the glory of life beyond all power of imagination to picture.
6. He differs in many ways from the God of the pulpits.
(a) He is as much under the Law as we.
(b) He has to learn and grow from association with mankind.
-c- He created mankind as much as, and no more than, man created the "lives" that
inhabit the cells of his body.
7. It would appear to be our duty, if we accept this idea, to hold it up in the eyes of
men, to make it an incentive to the practice of Brotherhood and to the performance of duty,
and to develop it in our own minds till it becomes a glowing and exalting ideal. It is possible
that this Being is even now to be touched by the highest aspiration of the highest men, is
even now, through those highest men, in touch with our human life, and stands, waiting his
hour, in readiness for the time when the condition of humanity will permit of his advent.
May that come soon!

-----------

REVIEW *

This is a very timely and valuable little book. Dr. Anderson always brings to bear
upon his subject considerable ability and the force of long experience in the study of
theosophical philosophy. His enthusiasm, as a rule, is admirable

----------
* "Evidence of Immortality," by Dr. Jerome A. Anderson, New York: Theosophical
Publishing Co, Paper, 50c, Cloth, $1.
----------

and his style attractive. The conclusions are always well drawn, and we enjoy his
revelations. He gives evidence of being an indefatigable student of the Secret Doctrine,
and this work on "Immortality" is another tribute to his intellectual industry. The conception
of life and its great mystery which he presents cannot fail to awaken interest in the public

--- 407

mind. Only the other day the editor of a leading daily newspaper pointed out that every day
men and women were showing more and more interest in the great questions of the
immortality of the soul and the existence of God. "Letters on such matters," he wrote,
"have been received by the thousand. Every day the mail brings new and intelligent
contributions to the questions that have kept men praying, thinking, fighting and hoping
through the centuries." We can recommend with confidence this latest work from the pen
of Dr. Anderson to all seekers after truth concerning the immortality of the soul. The
author's sincerity speaks in every line, commanding respect for his utterances. His
propositions are very completely supported by arguments both from authority and
experience. In subjects where so much confusion of thought prevails it is refreshing to read
a treatise so clear and strong as this, and it will take its place as a substantial contribution
to the settlement of the question with which it deals.
It is not a simple task to compass the breadth of the book in a few sentences, but
we must indicate the point of view. There can be nothing in death to warrant the
apprehension that the "I-am-myself consciousness" will not survive the process. We are
told:
"If it be, as it unquestionably is, independent of all change in the body; if it is
unaltered by growth or age; if it remain the same when paralysis removes all knowledge
or sensation of almost the whole of its habitation; if it survive the interregnums of sleep,
delirium, trance or madness, during which the body is for it, at least temporarily,
annihilated, then there can be no reason for alleging that death destroys or even changes
this primal, individualizing and permanent consciousness of I AM MYSELF!"
The soul is the transient tenant of the body; death only deprives it of the
impressions derived through the senses. During the subjective rest after "death" it can
exhibit its divine qualities in a body more plastic, until, awakening again to resume its old
search for wisdom, it builds for itself a new body to gain further necessary experience
through sense-impressions. Death cannot annihilate consciousness, and what is the
human soul but a "self-recognizing" centre of consciousness? Sleep is the most helpful
analogy with death, and a study of dream-life illuminates wonderfully the condition of the
soul after death. We have constructed the mortal portion of ourselves to relate us to this
earth, so that we can profit by the lessons of life here. The body changes constantly, but
the soul is the spectator and remains unaffected. It belongs not to time, but to eternity. We
make our own heaven and hell, and "to each soul must come differing experiences after
death, because each one will create differing surroundings out of the resources of his own
imagination." The mysteries of death and birth are but "the objective aid subjective arcs
of the one life."
The argument throughout is charmingly developed, and is convincing to the reader
who really wants to know about a future life with ethical relations to this life. It will supplant
some of the more familiar but unsatisfactory arguments of the orthodox religionists. It is
a magnificent answer to the materialist, on the one hand, and to the theologian who denies
evolution on the other.
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is that devoted to the re-
embodiment of the soul. Two Appendices - one, "In Deeper Dreamland;" the other, "The
World's Crucified Saviors" - add greatly to the value of the work.
- D. N. D.
------------
--- 408

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"How may an ordinary man or woman be of benefit to humanity at large?"

1. By doing faithfully every duty in relation to his occupation, his family, and his
neighbors.
2. By purifying himself from the dross of selfishness and gaining all the knowledge
for the attainment of which his duties leave him time and opportunity.
3. By modestly encouraging others in unselfishness, faithfulness, and wisdom.
- G.A. Marshall
-------

I should say in at least two ways. The first, by ceasing to be ordinary. One of the
great faults of men and women is a willingness to be like every one else. In that we are far
off from being like children. We grown-ups all follow a style in dress - like sheep, we all
follow a bell, whether it be public opinion or fashion or the trend of common thought. So
few of us try to be ourselves, and of those who try, so few succeed. At the first breath of
criticism our "selfness" fades away and back we go to the crowd.
 Of course if we do become real, we are liable to be called odd or queer, but it seems
to me that the sight of these so-called queer people must be a delight in the eyes of the
gods. Besides, we gain a real courage by being ourselves, so that we do not fear to go out
of "the" way in order to help a needy brother or sister. It is ennobling to withstand the
sneers of the world when we try to help a drunkard or a sister sinned against. So we form
this habit of courage and forget to regard much the opinions of others or the results to
ourselves.
Then the second way is to get ingrained into our minds the simple fact that we are
each, as it were, a centre and surrounded by all the countless other centres, and that we
can make no move and think no thought which does not have its effect on all the others.
As an example - make a little pile of sand and then try to pick our one of the little grains
from the centre of the pile. We are just as interdependent as those grains of sand in the
pile, and just as close, each to the other, as they are. A still better way to express it is to
say that we are all children of the one soul of all, and are thus truly brothers and sisters and
should live with such thoughts always with us.
When these ideas are firmly established in our minds the question will not arise as
to how we may help mankind: we will help, every day and hour, in all we do. A power will
come to us to see the needs of others and then to give out of our store so freely that it will
amount to a thing done without thought preconceived - not what shall I do, not how shall
I do it? - but a thing "done."
- C.L. Carpenter
----------

"What is the difference between Genius and Talent? Is either a spiritual growth?"

Lowell says: "Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose
power a man is." Genius is a Latin word, and in the Latin it denotes a tutelary spirit or a
guardian angel. The daemon by which Socrates claimed to be guided is an example of
this. In this sense genius is a spiritual faculty - I would not call it a growth. The untaught,
intuitive knowledge and skill usually attributed by other writers to

--- 409

genius, theosophists attribute to the Higher Self or to the Higher Ego. (The difference
between the Self and the Ego is like that between Mars and the North Star: both are too
far above us to allow our untrained and unaided faculties to tell which is farthest away.)
Talent is a Greek word, and in that language meant money or wealth. Figuratively,
and in English, it means intellectual wealth - not the power to dispense with training, like
genius, but the native ability which makes effectual training possible. Talent is the fine
gold; Genius is the goldsmith; when both unite in one person, the highest type of humanity
is realized.
- G.A. Marshall
-------

"What is the difference between will and desire? Are they not identical?"
 Will is the conscious exertion of power working from within outward. Desire is the
unconscious (or involuntary) yielding to the attractions of external objects working from
without inward. They become so intermingled in consciousness that it is difficult for the
mind to distinguish them and examine them separately, hence the words are often used
as synonyms; although the logical distinction is clear.
- G.A. Marshall
-------

Will is the fuse which, once lit, inevitably fires the bomb. Desire is the uncertain
match which lights the fuse. It may go out ere it has done so; and, once the fuse has been
lit, the going out or continuance of the match does not affect the now inevitable result.
It is doubtless true that Will and Desire are of the same essence - Power - just as
violet and red are of the same essence - ether. Both will and Desire are accompanied by
a subjective picture of the thing willed or desired; but when the Power has entered the
picture so inextricably and enduringly as to make it a living reality it is acting as Will. The
coming about, in fact, of that picture has been WILLED, and though its manifestation in
concrete circumstances may come later on in the regular order of temporal events, the
coming is inevitable, for the picture IS, in the womb of nature. The Life-Power is in its
veins.
In past lives we have willed many things by reason of the continuance of desire for
them to such an extent as to call them into living being in the nursery of circumstance. In
most cases the desire then departed, but that does not deliver us from the inevitable
coming-to-age of our progeny. The fuse was lit, the bomb must at some time explode into
our lives in the shape of a set of circumstances we are nearly sure to find uncomfortable;
for we are not now in this life the same, have not the same desires, as when we then willed.
It is a useful rule to try not to desire anything that will not be also a blessing to all
when it comes. In that way the things will be suitable and agreeable to us at whatever
stage of our development they happen. Enduring patiently whatever comes to us now, we
can will a divinely happy future for all that has life, leaving ourselves as thought-separated
selves, out of the problem, for as part of that which lives we come duly under our own
benediction. - C.O. Bert.
----------

"Faith is a miracle-worker; by it, at every moment, we work miracles for ourselves,

and very often, if only they trust us, for others also. Faith is, on this plane, manifest activity,
and in another world it is perceptive intuition; it is a real superphysical action. It is
conscious awakening into and work in another world. True faith is only related to things of
another world; faith terrestrial, applied, is will. Faith is the prophetic perception of realized
will." - Novalis

-------------
--- 410

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

Conducted by Annie McDermid
A LITTLE GIRL'S SEARCH FOR HERSELF
BERTHA BOWERS sat thinking - thinking - thinking! She had been cross all day,
and at last her mother had said to her: "Go to your room, my child, and think about it. Do
not come back until you can bring back my own sweet little girl. She's lost, and you must
find HER."
It was such a dear little room, so clean and white and dainty; so full of the loving
touches of the dear, good mother. Usually Bertha loved her room, and her heart often
throbbed in loving response to the many tokens of mother-love, which met her eyes, turn
them which way she would about the room. But today there was no thrill of joy. Indeed,
the room seemed distasteful in its glaring whiteness, and Bertha felt herself out of place
amid the pretty white curtains and draperies, the little white bed, with its snowy pillows and
coverlet, so suggestive of peace and rest and purity. She felt, rather than saw, the
gloominess of her own face in contrast. The words of her mother kept ringing in her ears:
"My own sweet Bertha - she's lost, and you must find her." She threw herself into the low
rocker near the window, and, leaning her chin upon her two hands, with her elbows on her
knees, looked out at the clear September sky - and thought and thought.
All at once she saw a little cloud coming out of the sky toward her. It floated gently
down - down - until it reached the window-sill; when out of it stepped the most beautiful
little girl, just about her own size, with the brightest eyes and the sweetest smile you ever
saw. She held out her hand to Bertha, who at first drew back, half angry and half ashamed;
yet withal such a sense of relief cane over her at the thought of companionship in her
imprisonment that all other feelings were soon swallowed up. So she ran forward eagerly
to help her down from the window, saying: "However did you do it? It looked so lovely up
among the great white cottony clouds. I was just wishing I could be up there rolling about.
The clouds do look so soft and white and creamy. How did you get up there, and where
did you come from, and who are you, and do you ever get cross and have to sit in
bedrooms and things to think about it, and, oh dear! do you ever get lost like I am now?"
While this torrent of questions was pouring at her the little visitor sat calm and
smiling. Then a look of tender pity crept into her eyes, which brought tears to Bertha's own,
as she answered, softly: "Yes, little sister, sometimes I get lost so that no one can find me.
Sometimes I have to leave my house because ugly black soot-covered people come in and
crowd me out, for I don't like to get my white clothes soiled. When they are in they nearly
ruin my house and tear it to pieces, but after awhile I come back and drive them away and
open all the windows and let the sunshine in again." "Yes," said Bertha, with breathless
interest; "but how do you do that without getting yourself all covered with soot?" "Oh, that's
easy enough," said the little girl. "You see, these black people get awfully tired of their own
company after awhile, and at the first hint that,

--- 411

they would like better company I send to them a little messenger boy that I have named
'Resolution.' He tells them that if they want me to come back I will do so if they will only
promise either to clean themselves or get out. You see, they know l will take good care of
the house, and they cannot trust themselves for that at all. So, then, some of them leave
the premises entirely and never come back any more; some of them hide away in corners
so that I cannot see them; others wash their sooty faces and hands and look so innocent
and clean that they almost fool me sometimes. Once I get back again to my house I hold
it pretty safely for days and days, and everybody knows there's been a housecleaning, for
my windows shine so and there is such a wholesome air about the place."
"Well, why don't you lock the door, or put guards out to keep them away?" "Because
it is not the ones outside, but the ones inside who make all the trouble; and there are so
many of them that it takes years to clear them all out."
"What is the name of those nasty people, and what is your name?"
"Their name is Bad-Thoughts. My name is Good-Thoughts, and when I am in the
house, then you're your mother's own sweet little girl. When I am crowded out, then you're
the little cross girl you've been today. Now, I guess you've got the secret of finding yourself
- and I must leave you."
Then the little girl laughed so loud that Bertha woke up and found herself laughing
too. She rubbed her eyes and looked all around for the little visitor, but she was nowhere
to be seen.
When a few minutes later a radiantly happy face peeped into the sitting room
Mamma did not have to be told that Bertha had found herself, nor did she laugh or make
light of the wonderful story her little girl had to tell of the cloud-fairy, for Mamma knew that
many deep truths are told in dreams, and when she saw her little girl's happy face she
knew that a fairy had been telling her something to help her to be good which is what fairies
are for!

---------

DO PLANTS THINK?
Dr. Le. Moyne, the man who invented the first crematorium, was a great lover and
student of life. All life was interesting to him, but plant life especially so. He was always
making experiments with plants to find out whether they were conscious - that, is, whether
they could think in their way. His experiment with a cornstalk is very interesting and is proof
enough that plants know very well what they are doing. It shows that they never waste
their energies, and men, with all their wisdom, can take a hint from such a simple thing as
a cornstalk.
The student-doctor had observed that the cornstalk puts out at regular places round
its base strong roots which, fastening themselves deep into the ground, act as support to
the stalk, which would otherwise be tossed from its moorings by the wind. These ropes,
like the guy-ropes of a tent (which hold the tent firm), hold the stalk steady, and are for this
reason called guy-roots. One day the doctor placed a stick at one side of the stalk just to
see what it would do. When the time came for the guy-roots to start, the good doctor was
delighted to see that the plant did not put out roots on the side supported by the stick. After
all the other roots were out and firmly fixed the stick was removed to see what the plant
would do. Immediately the guy-roots began to sprout on the side where the stick had been!
Does anybody want better proof than this that plants think?
---------
--- 412

DINNA YE HEAR THE SLOGAN?

"B.B.C." and "N.C.G." are letters of special import just now! They are in the air,
boys! We talk it - we write it - we eat it - we sleep it - we are full of it from head to foot. The
birds sing it; the winds whistle it; the brooks and rivers murmur it. Nature is everywhere
trying to prove it to us as one of her great facts. Is it not strange that we ever lost sight of
such a grand and beautiful truth? Why if we had only held on to it - for we did have a clinch
on it once in the long ago - this world would be so full and running over with joy - real, live
joy - that something would have to well-nigh burst to give it a chance to spread itself?
"What its it?" did you say?
Why, BROTHERHOOD, of course!
---------

BROTHERHOOD BABIES
Down at the Lotus Home in Buffalo, N.Y., there is a lot of baby girls and boys who
are just glad they've "been borned again." It's no small thing to be a BROTHERHOOD
BABY, and they seem to feel the importance of their position. When you look into their
great, big, soulful eyes and tell them about "Budderhood" and what we expect them to do
for it in the coming century, they smile back at you so knowingly or assume such comically
serious expressions that you have just to shout with the fun and joy of it all. Won't they
have some tales to tell to this weary old bread-and-butter world of what Brotherhood
means? Won't they tell the "people of the earth and all creatures" that Life is Joy and that
there is enough of real, true Brotherhood in the hearts of men and women, if they will only
let it have its way with them, to make Homes and Homes all over the earth to care for boys
and girls? Not machine-made "Homes," but real Homes - cozy Lotus Homes - where all
the love that is found in any home will be always flowing for "these my brethren." Oh, it's
grand to think about, isn't it?
-----------

Little George was lying in the hammock looking at the leaves with a very wise look
in his big, brown eyes. His auntie, move by the look, for she knew he was thinking great
thoughts, said: "Georgie, who made you?" Georgie turned his head slowly toward her and
said, with a half comical look, as if it was a very foolish question, "Nobody made me! I'se
allus been!" I wonder how he found it out? Can you guess, young folks?
-------
Little Reed and his brother Wesley were standing at the window one day watching
it rain. It was one of those big-drop rains that quits as suddenly as it begins, and begins
as suddenly as it quits. After some moments of silence Reed said: "I know how God
makes it rain." "How does he?" inquired Wesley. "Why, he just makes a hole in the sky
and lets the rain through!" This with an air of triumph. Wesley looked long and hard out
of the window, evidently anxious to solve the riddle some other way. Just at this moment
the rain ceased, and, looking into the flying clouds, he cried, gleefully: "Well, I know how
God makes it stop raining!" "How does he?" "Why, he just puts some more sky in the
hole!"

-----------
--- 413

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES
KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY, OSCAR FREDERICK II, ATTENDS A RECEPTION
OF UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.

[[photo]]

Stockholm, Sept. 19, 1899

The Universal Brotherhood Organization, which about three months since held large
public meetings in your city, has, during the past month, been spreading its Brotherhood
teachings in Europe.
Mrs. Katherine Tingley the Leader and official head of that organization, with the
members of her Cabinet and a number of others, has just held a Swedish Congress in this
city, and the party is now on a tour through Sweden, visiting the principal cities, on their
way to England, were also a Universal Brotherhood Congress will be held at Brighton, the
principal watering place, on October 6 and 7.
The Congress at Stockholm was largely attended and created great interest among
the most intelligent class of people. The Swedes are perhaps in advance of the other
nations of Europe in physical and mental health, which makes them receptive to the simple
but lofty basic truths taught by the Universal Brotherhood Organization.
At the closing assembly of the Swedish Congress, His Majesty, Oscar II, King of
Sweden and Norway, was present at a reception given by Katherine Tingley and her
Cabinet on the anniversary of his accession to the throne, where they were presented to
the King. A pleasant feature of the reception was the presentation to His Majesty of a
handsomely bound volume, "The Key to Theosophy," by H.P. Blavatsky, in which was
inscribed,

"TO OSCAR FREDERIK BERNADOTTE,

King of Sweden and Norway.
The Great Promoter of the Principles of Brotherhood and Justice, this volume is
presented as a token of their esteem by the members of the Universal Brotherhood in
America."

And, later, with the silk flags of Cuba and America mounted on silver-tipped staffs
of American wood, held together by an escutcheon bearing the coats of arms of these two
countries, encircled by a cabletow and similarly inscribed.

--- 414

The king was highly pleased with the gift as an appropriate expression of unity which
should exist among all nations, and the binding thought of Universal Brotherhood. His
stately figure, manly and courteous demeanor, impressed the observer with the feeling that
he is not only a ruler, but also a royal and humanitarian Brother.
Stereopticon views of Port Loma, San Diego, Cal., the site of the "School. for the
Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity," which were presented as one of the features of
the reception, greatly interested the King, especially the shores of the broad Pacific Ocean,
with its peaceful waves lapping the rock-ribbed Point.
A synopsis of the work done at the Congress will be found in the following reports
given in the Stockholm press:

[[photo: Dr. G. Zander, Pres. of U.B. in Sweden]]

(Stockholm Dagblad, Sept. 18, 1899)

The Universal Brotherhood meeting, in the Auditorium Hall of the Academy of
Science, last night, had a very large attendance. Dr. G. Zander presided, the meeting
being arranged for Questions and Answers. Mrs. Alice Cleather and Basil Crump, from
London, members of the Wagner Society, furnished music on piano and organ.
The first question on the list was: "Is there any difference between the Theosophical
doctrine and the teachings of Christ - not the church teachings - and if not, in what has
Theosophy any advantage over Christianity?" The answer was given by Dr. Zander, who
pointed out that there is no difference between "Theosophy and the true doctrine of Christ
from the standpoint of pure ethics. But that Theosophy gives also a scientific explanation
of the relation of man to ethics, and shows the philosophical necessity for being ethical.
To the question, whether it is true that Theosophy advocates the necessity of
gratifying a desire in order to conquer it, Mr. Hedlund, of Gothenburg, answered in the
negative. Theosophy teaches neither the exhaustion of desire, nor a morbid asceticism,
but declares that the only effective way

--- 416

[[photo: Senorita Antonia Fabre]]

Senorita Antonia Fabre, who came with our Leader from Cuba, went to the Point
Loma Congress and traveled through America with her, was presented to King Oscar II.
of Sweden and Norway by Katherine Tingley, Leader and Official Head of the Universal
Brotherhood, on the evening of September 18th, 1899, - the anniversary of King Oscar's
accession to the crown.
Senorita Fabre speaks always of her country with love and enthusiasm and is fitting
herself to go back to Cuba to help the people. One of her favorite books is the Voice of the
Silence and she will spend hours reading it, when not otherwise at work.

[[photos: Erik Bogren, Torsten Hedlund]]

--- 416

of eradicating vice from one's character is through a scrupulous fulfillment of one's

everyday duties.
Dr. Kjellberge gave a reason for the necessity of realizing Brotherhood, especially
at the present time, in the fact that the idea of Brotherhood constitutes an antidote for the
uneasiness, the hatred, the bitterness, and separation which prevail on the mental plane,
acting like a fever in the great organism of humanity.
The fourth question read as follows: "Is it possible that through a membership in the
Universal Brotherhood and a study of the Theosophical Teachings a clearer insight can be
obtained into the dark riddles of life?" Mayor Cederschiold answered this question in the
affirmative. But he said one must have an honorable disposition, an open mind, and
humility of spirit if any real good is to come of membership in the organization. The Major
furthermore gave an explanation of Theosophical Teachings concerning the idea of God,
Karma, Reincarnation, and human destiny.

[[photos: Osvald Siren and Walo von Greyerz, two of our young Swedish
Comrades, who at the Leader's suggestion have started a Boy's Club in Stockholm. Bro.
von Greyerz is also Treasurer of the Lotus Group.
Mrs. C. Scholander, one of the oldest members in Sweden and an old and
loyal friend of H.P. Blavatsky and W.Q. Judge, ever a devoted and a faithful worker in the
Cause of Humanity.]]

Mr. Thurston, President of the American Screw Company, member of the Cabinet
of the Organization of Universal Brotherhood, answered the fifth question, which had for
its object to find out "Whether the heart can be an agent for intelligence?" He answered
it in the affirmative; but the heart must not only be looked at from a mechanical point of
view, but as a center for the entire man.
The question of possibility of seeing and recognizing our friends after death was
answered by Mrs. Tingley, who in a short but forceful and eloquent address called the
attention of the audience to the fact that "we are souls," and that in this

--- 417

[photos: Views of Kullen Point on the North Coast of Skane, the

Southernmost County of Sweden.]]

"O Kullen! thou beautiful point with thy grottoes and peaks, equally charming in the
lights of the sun and moon!
For ages thou Last a guidance been to sailors entering the Sound that separates
Sweden and Denmark.
For ages thou hast to all thy visitors alike been an opener of their eyes to the touch
of Nature;
May'st thou still there stand on thy rocky formations, as the guiding light!"
- K. L.
--- 418

feet lie the whole answer, the whole explanation, the whole necessity for the returning of
souls to earth, to be reunited with the factors of former lives, with the souls we loved, with
whom we suffered, whom we helped or by whom we had been helped.
The difference between consciousness and self-consciousness was explained by
Mr. Patterson. The argument he used was to the following effect: In the same way as we
each one of us possess a head, yet have never been able to see it except by reflection in
a mirror, so in like manner self-consciousness is only attainable through the individuality
reflecting itself in nature and in humanity. Learning to see oneself as a part of the world
and of humanity is self-consciousness. Mr. Patterson is the chief of a large American
hardware company, and is besides deeply interested in the great practical enterprises of
the Universal Brotherhood.
Dr. Kjellberg denied that Theosophy taught a return to identically the same
conditions - at circular movement like an unbroken periphery in which conditions would
appear exactly as they had been before. The circle would not admit of any advancement,
but the spiral does, and therefore the symbol of all true development is the spiral
movement.
A few other Theosophists spoke on the pilgrimage of the soul, on Duty, and on the
destiny of the soul. The meeting concluded with music.
Besides the above-mentioned foreigners on the staff of Mrs. Tingley, there are Mr.
Neresheimer, Director in a large American Carbide Company, and Treasurer-General of
the Universal Brotherhood Organization, and Mr. Pierce, head of a large Engineering
Company in New York. Mr. Pierce is also representative of the School for the Revival of
the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity, and a very high Freemason. To judge by the lending lights
of the movement, it would seem to have a pretty good financial basis.
The meeting tomorrow will be attended by His Majesty, King Oscar.
----------

(From the Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sept. 19, 1899)

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS IN SWEDEN.

The King at a meeting of Theosophists.
The Congress of the Universal Brotherhood, held in this city during the last week
was concluded yesterday evening by a public meeting, which was honored in the presence
of the King. It was held in the great hall of the royal Academy of Music, which had been
tastefully decorated with white draperies, adorned with garlands of autumn leaves and
flowers. In the middle of the platform was placed a large white screen, surrounded by
groups of palm trees, for the projection of the lantern slide pictures.
The King was accompanied by his ordinary suite, among whom was noticed General
Count Lagerberg, Baron Ancarcrona, and other high court functionaries. The hall was well-
filled with the public. The King took his seat near the platform, and then a young lady,
arrayed in a beautiful Greek costume, came down to him from the platform and presented
to him on a tray adorned with flowers a book (H. P. Blavatsky's "Key to Theosophy")
beautifully bound in purple morocco.
After a musical selection on the piano and organ from behind the screen, was shown
a series of lantern slides from Point Loma, that wonderfully beautiful place on the coast of
California, where the U. B. Organization has established a colony for the purpose of
training, physically, mentally, and spiritually, the young generation who will be sent there
to be educated from all parts of the globe. The pictures

--- 419

aroused great interest, the King especially by his numerous remarks and questions,
showing that his interest was greatly aroused. He also held a conversation in English with
Mrs. Tingley, who, by his own invitation, was seated on his right. Mrs. Tingley is the
successor to Mme. Blavatsky, is Leader and inspirer of all Theosophical enterprises, and
is the soul of the colony at Point Loma.
 When the lantern slides had been shown, the King took his leave, shaking hands
with Mrs. Tingley and her chief coadjutors. The public remained to hear three addresses
given in English. Mrs. Tingley, in her short address, presented several truths, such as the
necessity of man to know himself, and other well-known but overlooked teachings. Mr.
Crump spoke of the dramatic art and its power of educating a man to a higher morality,
which had been the aim of the great Masters in antiquity and modern times. He described
the performance of the Eumenides of Aeschylus, given in the open air at Point Loma. Mrs.
Cleather spoke about the education of children along new lines. The addresses were of
great interest, and were listened to with much appreciative applause.
(From Svenska Dagbladet, Sept. 19, 1899.)

The meeting of the Universal Brotherhood, which took place last night in the great
hall of the Academy of Music, was attended by the King and his suite and a numerous
public that nearly filled the hall. On account of the royal visit very tasteful decorations had
been made. On the platform, on both sides of the big white screen whereon the lantern
pictures were to be projected, palms and other exotic plants had been placed, and the
screen itself was bordered by garlands of evergreen. Most strikingly pretty was the
decoration of the front of the platform and the double stair leading up to it, all being
covered, as also the floor of the platform with a beautiful velvet-like white stuff arranged on
the walls in deep, graceful folds, hung with garlands of many-colored, gorgeously-green,
red and yellow autumn leaves running in festoons at the upper side.
After the King had arrived and taken his place, at the same time inviting Mrs. Tingley
to sit at his right hand, a musical selection was rendered by players behind the screen, and
then Mr. T. Hedlund showed some of the lantern slides, which had been exhibited before
at the Academy of Sciences, with the addition of some symbolical pictures. The King
seemed to be very interested, and conversed in English with Mrs. Tingley, asking her for
explanations about the pictures, &c. At the end of this part of the programme he left. Then
an address was given by Mrs. Tingley on the Teachings of Theosophy.
She said there were no mysteries, properly speaking, but had only seemed so to the
populace of antiquity. The olden time culture, which had developed those "Mysteries," was
considerably more ancient than was commonly thought. Nowadays people were beginning
to realize that the cradle of human culture had been America; that from thence it had
passed over to Egypt, and from the latter to Greece and to us.
After this Mr. Crump and Mrs. Cleather spoke about art and that department of the
U. B. Organization which was devoted to art - the "Isis League of Music and Drama."
The meeting concluded with a musical selection, "The Death of Siegfried," from the
"Dawn of the Gods," by Wagner.
------------
--- 420

A SYMPOSIUM AT POINT LOMA.

THE ISIS CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC GIVES A UNIQUE ENTERTAINMENT.

Isis Conservatory of Music.

Greetings to Apollodorus, Friend of Socrates:
At the birth of the third hour after the setting of the Sun on Wednesday, the thirteenth
day of the ninth month of the present year, will be assembled, at the invitation of the
Directress, a Symposium for the purpose of philosophical discourse.
Place will be made for you as Apollodorus, friend of Socrates.
Greek costumes imperative.
Such was an invitation received, and the reports that have been sent show how
perfectly the spirit of the Symposiums of the old Greeks was revived. There must indeed
be something in the air and surroundings at Point Loma that invites again across the
centuries the high thoughts and noble aspirations of the ancients.
Following are extracts from a letter from one of those present, and also the report
that appeared in the San Diego Union:
At these Symposiums, as you know, were accustomed to assemble the brightest of
the Grecian orators, poets and philosophers for the purpose of philosophical discussion.
At these gatherings a light repast was usually served, the distinguishing feature of which
was its simplicity. The feast was a feast for the mind and the soul, elevating and ennobling;
not one whose main purpose was to pander to the appetites of the lower man.
Such was the case at our Point Loma Symposium, where the rich and luscious
California fruits were but the prelude to the rare intellectual repast that followed. Each in
his turn and in his own way served a goodly dish of logic spiced with wit, of eloquence
seasoned with rhetoric, or of melody and song, in exposition of his own view of the subject,
"What is the Beautiful?" each bringing forth out of that store of wisdom which resides in the
heart of each.
The number present was twenty-eight, about evenly divided as to sex; all were in
accord with the scene, their costumes and bearing replete with a dignity and grace truly
Grecian.
The prize for the most successful discourse of the evening was a volume of Plato,
awarded by Clito, the mother of Eurypides. Even was it Plato himself to whom the prize
was awarded.
Everything was in keeping with the subject and spoke it in anticipation of its
announcement by Diotema, whose words fell upon all ears as an appeal to that sense of
the inner harmony and beauty. It was as if she said: Look! What do you see around you?
Speak! What does it express? What is the Beautiful? - D. M.
---------

Affairs at Point Loma during the week appear to have been pretty much of a routine
nature. There have been no new developments in the preparations towards building,
beyond the gathering of information and data naturally required.
The musical department - the Isis Conservatory - has received some very
encouraging signs. Several applications for admission have come in during the week, and
pupils are coming from Australia and England. From this it will be clearly seen that the Isis
Conservatory is not merely a local institution, and is not to be so considered. As a matter
of fact, its founder never contemplated that its influence and

--- 421

work, even in the initial stage, would be confined to a local area and personnel. It is not the
promise of the Isis Conservatory to teach music simply as a thing of pastime, and those
who so regard it and desire a superficial proficiency in it as a petty accomplishment will
hardly become pupils.
The very genius of the Conservatory is imbued with purposes of giving to music its
rightful place and function, and to make use of it as a means for introducing into life some
of the finer and nobler qualities of human nature. To this a better understanding of it is
essential. The musical tastes are to be raised and cultivated. As an art as now known it
needs purification, a healthier and more practical basis.
The entertainment given during the week by the directress to her pupils was a most
unique and charming feature. Not only did the pupils attend, but also some of the
Brotherhood members on Point Loma. The entertainment was in the form of the Greek
Symposium, each guest personating some old Greek character. The directress, Mrs.
Elizabeth Churchill Mayer, was the wise woman Diotema, to whom Socrates owned himself
indebted. Socrates was present in the person of Mr. Stowe; Plato was there, as also were
Aspasia, Aesculapius, Sappho, Phaedrus, Pausanias, Agathon, Philemon, Euripides and
his mother, Phryne, and many others more or less well known even now, but all of whom
exerted an influence in giving to ancient Athens her power and glory and prestige to the
Greek idea. The subject of the discussion was "What is the Beautiful?" and was not known
until announced after the assembling of the guests.
The beauty of the scene eludes description. Of course one may refer to the artistic
decorations of the hall, the flowers and plants, the absence of all modern furniture and
appurtenances to the better attain the ancient style; the dainty arrangement of the banquet
table in the Greek form, its delicious foods; to the classic lines and drapings of the
costumes which were most fortunate in the selection and general combination of color
displayed; the subtle charm apparently emanating from the very costume itself in its grace
and dignity and the freedom of action afforded by it. But added to all this there is still the
potent factor of an indefinable something, a touch from the presence of cultivated,
intelligent minds and the finer emotions, all timed and directed to the contemplation and
elucidation of some subject of a lofty nature and which at the same time is instinct with a
vivid interest and a dynamic power when rightly conceived to unfold into human life those
qualities and tendencies which will relieve and fill and round out the prosaic existence in
which we are to so large a degree confined.
As was the Greek custom, each guest brought forth some idea. Every one present
realized the true value of the symposium as a social factor, and understood that even in the
day of Socrates and Plato it had descended with some to mere intellectual gymnastics,
later on to be further degraded to the drinking party as it is now generally considered.
The effort was naturally and successfully made to evolve through the subject
something of actual and practical value as to the principles and methods by which a vital
and exhilarating beauty and loveliness can be evolved and established in human life.
As a pleasant and interesting variation in the discourse, Madame Petersen, who has
charge of the teaching of languages in the conservatory, and who, it may not be indiscreet
to mention, is a titled Greek lady, made her presentation in the Greek language, giving the
translation afterward. Miss Hecht, of the piano department, beautifully rendered her ideas
in a musical selection. She is a remarkably

--- 422
gifted pianist who is bound to be widely recognized in that sphere for which by nature she
is so fittingly endowed.
Mr. Jennings, a pupil, gave a song as his discourse, which indicated quite
convincingly that words alone are not adequate to the full expression of some feelings.
Others of the guests recited some ode or passages therefrom as their contribution.
The tout ensemble of the symposium is to be better appreciated through an active
imagination, and that the directress is to be congratulated on the splendid success of her
unique departure goes without saying. She says that it is simply in line of the wider
purposes of the founder which will be more definitely brought to view later on. - San Diego
Union.
----------

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS IN ENGLAND.

We have not yet received details before going to press of the English Congress, held
at Brighton, in the Royal Pavilion, Oct. 6 and 7, but that it was a great success we know.
A cable message was sent from America:
"Universal Brotherhood Congress, Pavilion, Brighton:
"Jubilant greetings from America. Hurrah!"
---------

REDEDICATION OF H. P. B.'s OLD HEADQUARTERS, 19 AVENUE ROAD, REGENT'S

PARK, LONDON.
The news of this great event was received first by cable, followed by letters, with
instructions from the Leader to hold "JUBILEE" in all Universal Brotherhood Lodges on the
night of October 10th, to celebrate the event on the same night on which the ceremony was
to take place in London.
The letter proclaiming the Jubilee was in part as follows:

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD,
Embodying the Great Theosophical Work of the Nineteenth Century.
It is ordained that on October 10th, 1899, a JUBILEE shall be held by all Lodges of
the Universal Brotherhood throughout the world for the members to re-dedicate the
European Central Headquarters, established by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in the year
1889 at No. 19 Avenue Road, Regent's Park, London.
- Katherine Tingley
--------

The same day that the above proclamation was received in New York it was sent
to the U. B. L. Presidents all over the country.

THE JUBILEE AT 144 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK.

October 11th, 1899.
Never was there such a meeting at Headquarters as the Jubilee held last night. The
Aryan Hall was crowded; the decorations were beautiful; H. P. B.'s picture was wreathed
and occupied the prominent place on the platform. The pictures of William Q. Judge and
Katherine Tingley were also wreathed; there were also flowers and plants; the music was
exquisite. The meeting opened by the announcement by the Chairman of the purpose of
the meeting. Miss Kate Fuller played on the piano the "Russian National Anthem," closing
with the first strains of "America." Bro. D. N. Dunlop read extracts from W. Q. Judge's
tribute to the memory of H. P. B., entitled "Yours till Death and After." Bro. Emil Schenck,
the noted 'celloist, accompanied by Mr. Falkenstein, played the "Preislied," from Wagner's
"Meistersingers." Then came the chief number on the programme, an address "recounting
the work of H. P. B. from its inception up to the present

--- 423

time," by Bro. Herbert Coryn, one of H. P. B.'s faithful pupils. The address was eloquent,
magnificent, full of the spirit of the occasion, the tribute of a grateful pupil to that heroic,
lion-hearted H. P. B. who, single-handed, alone, fought and conquered the icy materialism
of this most materialistic Nineteenth Century, who gave again to the world the philosophy
of the ages and put so much of her very life-blood into her work that it lives and will live on
into the next century and throughout the ages to come. Century after century had the
Movement failed - not because of the Leaders, but because we had failed. But this
century, through the stupendous sacrifice of H. P. Blavatsky, William Q. Judge and
Katherine Tingley, and through the loyalty and devotion of the members, the work has been
carried past the "dead-point" and stands now for all time. The work of the Universal
Brotherhood that is being done today is the same work that H. P. B. began, that William Q.
Judge continued, and which now, under the guidance of Katherine Tingley, has encircled
the earth, is entering into the life of every nation, and is the very heart of the life of
humanity. After Bro. Coryn's address, which awakened the interest and aroused the
enthusiasm of all his hearers, Bro. W. H. Kenney, of Boston, sang that magnificent song,
"Arm, arm, ye brave," and then Bro. W. A. Raboch, the composer of the music to the
"Eumenides," played on his violin "Chopin's Nocturne in E flat." Then more music and
songs by Bros. Schenck, Raboch and Kenney - social conversation, coffee, etc., and the
meeting closed. A Jubilee from first to last, our hearts full, joyous, loyal, devoted,
determined, energized by the example and the memory of the lion-hearted H. P. B. - J. H.
Fussell
--------

PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT
A fund has been established for the free distribution of Brotherhood literature. The
fund to be equally divided in obtaining the following:-
1) The New Century Series: The Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings.
2) The Universal Brotherhood Magazine.
3) The New Century,
to be placed in the prisons in America, also hospitals, work-rooms, free reading rooms,
lodging houses, steamboats, and to soldiers and sailors.
This project is originated by Katherine Tingley who has given great attention to it and
she feels confident that it will be well sustained by all members of the Universal
Brotherhood and by all who are interested in Humanitarian Work.
Contributions to be sent to
J. H. Fussell,
Treasurer Propaganda Department,
144 Madison Ave., New York.
----------

ADVERTISING SECTION

[[Several illustrated commercial advertisements]]

--------------------

AUM
TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

"Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words
of him who does not act accordingly."
- Gems From the East

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIV December, 1899 No. 9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES.

by Alexander Wilder, M.D.

VIII - Egypt at her Apogee - Queen Hatasu and Thothmes III

WITH the Eighteenth Dynasty there came changes in Egypt, culminating in the
superseding of the former conditions of affairs and the introduction of another very different.
Under the alien dynasties, before the reign of Aahmes, the country had been entirely
dismembered like the body of Osiris; but now it was slowly coming back, every part to its
place. With the kings who succeeded to him there was a more general change. The
pursuits of peace by which the Egyptian population had been characterized were now cast
into the shade. There was an immediate increase of wealth. The military calling rose into
greater honor.
The Sacerdotal order, which had included the men who were renowned for important
achievements became a more distinct caste, and finally acquired immense power and
influence, rivaling the kings themselves in dignity and authority.* After a while the several
nomes, or cantons, which had always had their own

----------
* Ancient authors writing in the Greek language actually denominate the priests
"basileis" or kings.
----------
separate governments, as in the United States, and hereditary princes of their own, were
transformed into subordinate departments, with governors named by the king. There was
accordingly a vast increase in the number of officials high and low, an incident common to
a government in its decline. The king was more powerful, and public works were more
magnificent than in former periods; but he was not now, like Amunemha III., seeking to
secure and permanently benefit his people. All posts of honor and distinction were
bestowed by favor and with less regard for fitness or deserving.
The commonalty, the "plain people," suffered by the changes. They were often
obliged to furnish soldiers for the warlike expeditions. All manual industry fell into low
repute as servile and not consistent with gentle rank. The schools, however, which existed
in every temple, were open to all; and a youth of talent was able to make himself eligible
to any official position for which he was found to be capable.
Pyramids had not been built since the

--- 426

time of the Old Empire. The Temples became the principal structures, illustrating the
superior importance which the priesthood had acquired. The bodies of the kings were now
deposited in artificial caves hewn out of the rocks, and their walls were covered with
pictures of a religious character. There were also, however, grand temples built, having
a connection with the royal sepulchres, and the sculptures in them commemorated the
events of the reigns.
The tombs of the public officials and others, however, were of less note. But the
scenes depicted in them exhibit a faithful view of life in Egypt at the time. There was
abundance of luxury and festivity, but the welfare of the retainers in the abodes of the
wealthy, and indeed of the people generally, was far less regarded. In short, there was
more display of religion than in former times, and less actual freedom. The expulsion of
the foreign dynasty from Lower Egypt resulted in the transferring of the national metropolis
to Thebes, and the tutelary god Neph-Amun, or Amun-Ra, the "Mystic Sun," was distinctly
acknowledged as the Supreme Divinity.
The last monarch of the Seventeenth Dynasty, Taa the Bold, had laid down his life
in battle like a Maccabee in behalf of his country, its religion and its laws. The record of his
conflict with King Apapi has not been found, but it is known that he braved the power of the
imperious Overlord, who commanded him to forswear the worship of Amun-Ra, and pay
homage to Sutekh alone. His body was found many years ago, but its bad condition led
to a removing of the cerecloths.*

--------------
* This prince was six feet high and had a well-developed figure. M. Maspero
examined his body, finding a dagger wound across the right temple just below the eye; and
a blow, probably from a hatchet, mace, or some such blunt instrument, had split the left
cheek-bone and broken the lower jaw. Beneath the hair was a long cleft caused by a
splinter of the skull having been broken out by a downward stroke from an axe.
--------------

The Egyptians evidently were the victors, as they were able to rescue the body of
the king from desecration, but with such a loss the victory was dearly bought. The new
king and queen, Karnes and Aahhetep, were unable to follow up the advantage. Aahmes,
a nobleman of distinction, at the death of Karnes, succeeded to the throne.
The Eighteenth Dynasty, though its kings are enumerated in the Table of Abydos,
immediately after those of the Twelfth, nevertheless appears to have been virtually a revival
or continuation of the Eleventh.
Indeed, the Twelfth Dynasty was in many respects a dominion apart, a new
departure. It had not only put an end to anarchy and chaotic conditions, but it brought on
a new form of administration, in which the welfare of the people was consulted more then
the glory of the monarch.
Despite the achievements of the Osirtasens and Amunemhas, which had surpassed
those of other monarchs, both in magnitude and actual benefits, Thothmes III., in the Tablet
of Karnak, regarded more distinctly the name and times of Mentu-Hetep.
Aahmes, the founder of the Dynasty, appears, however, to have been an exception.
Though he had restored Egypt to independence, putting an end to foreign rule and
abolishing the obnoxious Phoenician worship with its human sacrifices, he was hardly
regarded by the priests at Thebes as "divine," a legitimate sovereign. His body was
entombed with those of the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty. The honors which he did not
receive were bestowed liberally upon his consort, Nefert-ari-Aahmes, who had been
associated with him in the royal authority. Probably he was only a military chief, and had
gained his title to the throne by marriage, retaining it by having his queen for colleague.
His reign lasted twenty-five years.

--- 427

Queen Nefert continued to administer the government till the prince Amunhetep or
Amunoph was of sufficient age. A tablet which was found by Mr. Harris represents this
prince as the foster-child of the queen, and he actually claimed authority as the descendant
of Taa the Great. Manetho has named Khebron or Hebron as reigning at this period, but
that name, and indeed that also of Queen Nefert, have not been given in the Tablet of
Karnak.
As was common in ancient times, the tributary peoples took advantage of the
opportunity afforded by the death of Aahmes to revolt. The Libyans at the west of the
Egyptian Lowlands also made warlike incursions. Amunoph I., upon his accession to
power, hastened to reduce them again to submission. Accompanied by his general,
Aahmes, the son of Baba, he first made war upon the Nahsi or negro tribes of the South
and brought away a great number of prisoners. Another expedition was undertaken with
Aahmes Pen Nekhet with equal success against the Marmaridae of Libya. Amunoph
devoted the few remaining years of his reign to the prosecuting of the work on the Great
Temple of Karnak at Thebes and other sanctuaries in that region. At his death, his tomb
was among the sepulchres of the Eleventh Dynasty.
His queen, Aahhetep, survived him. Their son, Thothmes I., was of a warlike
temper. The usual revolts of the conquered tribes took place, and he led an army into
Khent-hen-Nefer,* or Nubia. The King Anti, who commanded the insurgents, was made
a prisoner, and a multitude of the inhabitants were carried away captive. Thothmes pushed
his successes further into the Soudan and brought away a large booty of ivory, gold, slaves
and cattle. The conquest was this time thorough. "The country in its com-

------------
* The "country of good servants." Nubian slaves have always been considered
superior to others, even to modern times.
------------

plete extent lay at his feet," is the language of the inscription on the rock of the Third
Cataract. "Never had this been done under any other king."
Manetho, as recorded by Josephus, states that it was under this king that the
Hyksos foreigners lost Egypt.*
The expulsion, as the monuments declare, took place in the reign of Aahmes.
Doubtless, however, there were many incursions from them to enjoy the plenty there was
always in Egypt, that required to be repelled. Besides, the rule of the Asiatic foreigners had
always rankled in their remembrance, and Thothmes began with eagerness the war of
vengeance which was to be waged for centuries.
The monumental inscriptions indicate Palestine as the region to which the departed
Menti emigrated upon their overthrow in Egypt. Josephus insists that they were the
ancestors of the Hebrews. "The Egyptians took many occasions to hate and envy us," says
he, "because our ancestors had dominion over their country, and, when delivered from
them, lived in prosperity." The book of Genesis mentions "the Zuzim in Ham," or the
Hauran, and an ingenuous author, an English gentlewoman, suggests that they were the
emigrant people.** When Thothmes I. invaded Palestine, that region was designated
Ruthen or Luthen -

------------
* The account is not clearly told. Under Alisphragmuthosis or Misphragmuthosis,
it is stated that the shepherds or Shasu were subdued, and shut up at Avaris; and that
Thothmes, his son, negotiated with them to evacuate Egypt; after which, in fear of the
Assyrians, they settled in Judea and built Jerusalem. The name "Hyksos," it may be
remarked, is only used by Manetho. The monuments call them Shasu, or nomads and
Amu. Again, in the lists of Manetho, Mephramuthosis is named as a descendant of
Thothmes. Doubtless this name was Mei-Phra-Thothmosis or "Thothmes the beloved of
Ra." - Thothmes III.
** This seems to be affirmed in the book of Joshua, xxiv, 12. "And I sent the hornet
(the refugee Hyksos) before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings
of Amorites (Sihon and Og); but not with thy sword nor with thy bow."
------------
--- 428

perhaps the same time as Lydia. In several later reigns this name continues to be used.
The people of Luthen are described as wearing tight dresses and long gloves, suggestive
of a colder climate, and also as with long, red hair and blue eyes. The inhabitants of the
Sethroite nome, which was at the east of Egypt, were of this physiognomy. The region
beyond Syria was described in the monuments as the Khitaland, of which a principal city
was Karkhemosh, the Kar or city of the God Khemosh. The Assyrian Tablets, however,
denominate Syria itself the land of Khatti or Hittites.*
With the two generals, Aahmes, so famous in the inscriptions, Thothmes invaded
Palestine, ravaging as he went. He overran Syria and Phoenicia, advancing as far as
Naharaina, the river-country of Mesopotamia. He there set up a Tablet to signify that he
had established his dominion over the country. "He washed his heart," taking vengeance
upon the inhabitants for the injuries inflicted in Egypt. He brought away rich booty,
prisoners, horses, war-cars taken in battle, vessels of gold and bronze, and numerous
other precious articles of wrought work. On his return to Thebes he continued the additions
to the temple, and erected in front of the Great Temple at Karnak two obelisks to
commemorate his achievements and piety.
As the two generals outlived him and went to war under his successor, it is apparent
that his reign was not a long one. He married his sister Aahmes, such alliances being in
high favor with Caucasian peoples, always tenacious of purity of blood and race.* He left

------------
* Some writers have supposed the Khitans to have been a Mongol or Mongoloid
people. Their dress resembled that of the Mongol tribes. The name, Kathay, given to
China, is significant, as suggesting their origin. Indeed, in Russian records and literature,
China is named Kataia. Whatever they were, they greatly influenced the other population
of Western Asia. They coined money, and their priests, when entering a temple, were
careful to step or leap over the threshold. See Samuel I., v. 5.
------------

three children, a daughter, Hashep or Hatasu, and two sons, each known to us by the
name of the father. They were, however, the offspring of different mothers. Hatasu was
the favorite child, and reciprocated warmly her father's affection. He even admitted her to
some degree of participation in the royal authority, and she continued after his death to
share it with Thothmes II., her brother and husband. The events of their joint reign were
not of great significance. The Shasu tribes from the East made incursions into the Egyptian
Lowlands and were driven back. The Southern countries, however, made no attempt to
recover their independence.
Ancient Egypt was celebrated beyond all other countries for the grandeur of the royal
sepulchres. The kings of the Thinite dynasties were entombed at Abydos; and after that
the monarchs of the Memphite dynasties built pyramids for the reception of their mortal
remains. After the restoration, the Antefs and others of the Eleventh Dynasty were
inhumed in brick pyramids near the metropolis of Thebes. The grotto-tombs of the Twelfth
Dynasty at Beni Hassan were a great departure from the former simplicity. They were
temples where death was honored, "everlasting homes," each with a grand chamber alive
with pictures, and without superstition or terror. Architecture and the fine arts were now in
their glory.
Queen Hatasu resolved that the house of Thothmes should have a resting-place for
the dead surpassing the others. It should be a magnificent sepulchre hewn in the rock, with
a temple to the dead in front of it, in memory of the princes of the royal house. This plan
was carried out in the valley of Biban-el-Molokh. While the steep rock was pierced with
grottos in the shape of vast halls for the
------------
* In the book of Genesis, Abraham affirms of his wife: "She is my sister; she is the
daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."
------------
--- 429

reception of the occupants, there was in front a temple in the form of a long, extended
building, approached by broad steps, that, from stage to stage, descended to the plain. An
avenue bordered by sphinxes led to the river.
In the subterranean chambers were placed the bodies of the members of the royal
family - Thothmes I. and Queen Aahmes, their daughter, the princess Kheb-nefer-Ra,
Thothmes II. and Queen Hatasu and Thothmes III.
M. Renan graphically comments upon the sudden and complete change from the
grotto-tombs of Beni Hassan. "A Christian and pagan tomb could not be more different,"
he declares. "The dead is no longer at home; a pantheon of gods has usurped his place;
images of Osiris and chapters of the Ritual cover the walls, graved with care, as though
everybody was to read them, and yet shut up in everlasting darkness, but supernaturally
powerful. Horrible pictures, the foolishest vagaries of the human brain! The priest has got
the better of the situation; the death-trials are good, alas, for him; he can abridge the poor
soul's torments. What a nightmare is this Tomb of Sethi! How far we have got from the
primeval faith and survivance after it, when there was no ceremonial of the priest, or long
list of names divine, ending in sordid superstition. One of our Gothic tombs differs less
from one of the tombs on the Appian Way than do the old tombs of Sakkara from those
which filled the strange valley of Biban-el-Molokh."
An early death carried Thothmes II. to the realm of Osiris. We have reason to
believe it a tragic occurrence of revolting character, such as was the assassination of Peter
III. of Russia. He was inferior in every important respect to his energetic queen, and he
had become the object of her supreme hatred. Immediately upon his death she laid aside
her woman's dress, put on the robes of a king, and assumed all the dignities of masculine
royalty. She even discarded the terms and titles of her sex, and her inscriptions describe
her as lord and king. The hatred which existed between her and her two royal brothers
seems to have been bitter and intense. She caused the name of her dead husband to be
erased from every monument which they two had erected together, and replaced it with her
own or that of her father. Although she formally acknowledged her infant brother,
Thothmes III., as her colleague on the throne, he was shut out from all participation in
public affairs, and made to pass his early years at Buto, in Northern Egypt. "So long as I
was a child and a boy," he said afterward, "I remained in the temple of Amun; not even as
a seer (epoptes) of the God did I hold an office."
The lady-king was duly enrolled in the King's Book of the priests, and her name
announced as Maka-Ra-Num-Amun, Hatasu. She selected for her chief architect a skillful
man named Se-en-Mut, a person without noble parentage - "his ancestors not to be found
in writing." But his works praise him. He may be compared to Michael Angelo, who
refused to be examined as to his qualifications by a commission from the Pope, although
he was the only man fit to build St. Peter's Church.
Like her counterpart of modern times, the Empress Katharine, she was endowed
with an intense passion for glory and adventure. T he land of Pun or Punt (Somahli) was
regarded by the Egyptians as the early home of the Gods before they came to the valley
of the Nile. It was represented on the monuments as the cradle of Egypt, the country of the
God Ra and a region of perfect happiness. It abounded with balsam and all tropical
productions. The oracle of Amun gave auspicious assurances, and the Queen resolved
upon an expedition to this Land of Mystery.
The enterprise, for the time, was as

--- 430

important as the voyages of discovery in modern times. A large fleet of sea-going vessels
was fitted out and manned by able seamen and sailors. She commanded it herself and a
royal ambassador accompanied the expedition, attended by the princes and highest lords
of Egypt.
They sailed by way of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The length of the voyage is
not recorded. A landing was made at the foot of a mountain, and a new world unfolded
itself to the voyagers.

[[illustration: Ship of Queen Hatasu]]

The inhabitants of this "land of the gods" were no less astonished than their visitors. They
lived in little dome-shaped houses built on piles, under the shade of cocoa-palms and
incense-trees, beneath which their herds of cattle peacefully reposed. Overtures of
friendship were exchanged with the princes of the country. Parihu, the King, his wife Ari,
his daughter and two sons visited the ambassador at his encampment, and besought that
the Queen, the mighty ruler of Egypt, would grant them peace and freedom.* The condition
was exacted in return that the country of Punt shall be tributary to the Queen. It was
accepted, and the usual expressions of contempt were made in the inscriptions, because
of this peaceful submission.

-------------
* This would seem to imply that the expedition was warlike.
-------------

The tribute which was brought to the galleys was immense. Thirty-one incense-trees
were taken, to be planted again in Egypt. The pictorial inscription almost glows in the
describing.
"The ships were laden to the utmost with the most wonderful products of the land
of Punt, and with the different precious woods of the divine land, and with heaps of resin
and incense, with ebony, ivory figures set in pure gold from the land of Amu, with sweet
woods, Khesit-wood, with Ahem-incense, holy resin, and paint for the eyes, with dog-
headed apes, long-tailed monkeys and greyhounds, with leopard skins, and with natives
of the country, together with their children. Never was the like brought to any king (of
Egypt) since the world began."
Princes of the country accompanied the Egyptians home. Upon their arrival at
Thebes they made their submission to the Queen Hatasu, addressing her as "The Queen
of Tamera [the North], the Sun that shines like the disk in the sky," and acknowledging her
as their queen, the ruler of Punt.
Thus Queen Hatasu secured this newly-discovered region, with the wealth of its
most valuable productions. She immediately dedicated the treasures to Amun-Ra, as the
originator of the enterprise, and to the goddess Hathor, and insti-

--- 431

tuted a series of festivals in commemoration.

The work on the temple of Amun-Ra was continued, and two obelisks standing
before it bore her name in the following lines:
"The woman-king Makara, the gold among kings, has had these constructed as her
memorial for her father, Amun-Ra of Thebes, inasmuch as she erected to him two large
obelisks of hard granite of the South. Their tops were covered with copper from the best
war-tributes of all countries. They are seen an endless number of miles off; it is a flood of
shining splendor when the sun rises between the two."
The period of twenty-two years during which this queen had undivided authority was
a reign of peace. She may have thought unduly to display her own personality, but she
engaged only in undertakings that benefitted and enriched the country. The subject-kings
of Asia and the South paid the usual tributes, the productions of the soil and the mines, and
goods which had been wrought by artistic skill. This state of affairs continued till near the
close of her reign.
About this time, however, the world outside of Egypt was in commotion. The deluge
of Deukalion was said to have taken place, which overflowed and changed the
configuration of Greece. The ruling dynasty of Chaldea was overthrown by the Arabs, who
now became masters of the region of the Lower Euphrates; all the countries from Babylon
to the Mediterranean were agitated by the commotion. The kings that had been tributary
to Egypt now threw off the yoke. The numerous petty principalities of Ruthen, Khalu and
Zahi, better known to us as Palestine, Syria, Phoenicia and the country of the Philistines,
all the region which Thothmes I. had subjugated, were in open revolt.
Thothmes III., who had from his first year as king been consigned to seclusion-like
a prisoner of State, now left his retreat in the island of Buto. Queen Hatasu, who was
declining in years, was no longer able to maintain authority alone and keep him from
participation in the government. For a short period the two reigned together as colleagues.
A sculptured tablet on a rock at the Waly Magara, on the "holy mountain" of Sinai, exhibits
them making offerings together to the guardian divinities, Surpet of the East and Hathor the
Queen of Heaven.
Thothmes entertained the purpose of establishing the worship of Amun-Ra on a
basis superior to what had formerly been at Thebes, to exhibit the pantheon with that end
in view, and to rebuild the temple. He now began by an arranging of the service and the
property of the temple. He assigned to its work a retinue of servants, many of whom were
foreigners from Ruthen and Khent-hennefer. Some of these were children of kings and
hostages. He also arranged gardens for flowers and vegetables, and bestowed some
eighteen hundred acres of land in different parts of Egypt for its support. Hence it was said
of him in eulogy:
"The king did more than his predecessors before him from the beginning, and
proved himself a complete master of the Sacred Knowledge."
 Whether Queen Hatasu passed peacefully from life or was compelled by her brother
to abdicate, monuments do not tell. It is certain that he cherished for her a rancor deep and
bitter. The disrespect with which she had treated the memory of Thothmes II. was now
returned upon her. Where she had caused the name of her husband to be erased from the
monuments and her own substituted, her own was now removed and that of Thothmes III.
inscribed. This was done many years afterward, and the fact distinctly stated on a pillar.
The temple of Amun-Ra at Thebes was a structure of brick and much dilapi-

--- 432

dated; Thothmes laid the corner-stone anew, and caused it to be rebuilt. There was
nothing spared to render the work satisfactory. The sacred dwellings of the gods were
carved out of single blocks of stone, and in them their statues were placed and also the
statues of the kings, his "divine ancestors." When the Khesem or sacred inner shrine was
completed there were religious processions and general rejoicings.
The coronation of Thothmes as sole monarch of the two Egypts seems to have been
celebrated on this occasion. The priests who took part in the ceremony chanted a hymn
of thanks to Amun, who had put it into the heart of the king to build his sanctuary, and
concluded with this address:
"He gives thee his kingdom. The crown shall be placed on thy head, upon the
throne of Horus. The remembrance of thee as king of Egypt shall be lasting. To thee has
he given power over the united lands in peace. All nations bow themselves before thee.
Thy Holiness is set upon the high throne."
To this the king replied:
"This building which was executed in his temple shall be a memento of my good
deeds in his dwelling. I shall be perpetuated in the history of the latest times."
The lords of Egypt there saluted him as sole monarch. His reply was characteristic:
"The always existing - is the city of Thebes.
"The Everlasting One is Amun-Ra, of Thebes.
"Amun is more delighted with me than with all the kings that have existed in this
country since it was founded. I am his son, who loves his Holiness; for that is the same
as to love my own royal being.
"He has poured strength into me to extend the boundaries of Egypt.
"He has united (sam) the countries (taui) of all the gods in this my home, Thothmes
Samti.
"He has granted my coronation in the interior of Thebes."
After speaking further in this vein, he denounced his sister, "I know one who knows
not me and who speaks lies," he vehemently declared. "She is monstrous in the sight of
men and an enigma to the gods," he says again; "but she was not aware of it, for no one
was (friendly to her) except herself."
Undoubtedly he had just cause for this resentment, but he was not free from similar
foibles and from the personal vanity which he imputed to her. He never ceased to repeat
his utterances, and his inscriptions in the Great Temple record his animosity.
His accession to an undivided sovereignty was followed by a complete change of
affairs in Egypt, and of her relations to other countries. If Hatasu had been an Empress
Katharine, Thothmes III. was a conquering Tamerlane. His history, in many of its phases,
however, exhibits a close analogy to what is related of King David. He possessed
indefatigable energy, unlimited ambition, a restless temper, and ample abilities to give
these qualities full play. His first care was to seat himself firmly on the throne, after which
he set himself immediately to regain the ascendency which Thothmes I. had won in former
years. Collecting his army at Tanis, he set out early in March for Gaza, a city which had
not revolted from Egypt.
The countries of Western Asia were governed by petty kings, each ruling over a city
and its suburbs. They had confederated together for the common defense, and the
Amorite king of Kadesh was the chief leader. This league included all the kings from the
border of Egypt to Naharaina, or Mesopotamia, the Khananites, the Khitans, Phoenicians
and tribes of the Lebanon. Their forces were assembled near Megiddo. After

--- 433

some preliminary parleying, Thothmes marched against them. The battle took place on the
sixth of April, according to our calendar. It was a total rout. The enemy fled into Megiddo,
which was immediately besieged and soon afterward surrendered. Thirty-four hundred
prisoners were taken; and the defeated kings eagerly sought terms of peace. An immense
booty was found at Megiddo consisting of slaves, domestic animals, vessels of exquisite
Phoenician workmanship, the golden sceptre of the king, rings of gold and silver,* staffs,
chairs, tables, footstools, precious gems, garments, and the entire harvest of the fields. All
were carried away.
Megiddo was the key to Middle Asia, and Thothmes now was able to extend his
conquests northward, over Phoenicia, the country of Lebanon, Syria and Mesopotamia.
He built a strong fortress near Aradus, to maintain his authority, giving it the name of Men-
kheper-Ra Uafshena, "Menkhephera or Mephres (the official name of Thothmes), who has
subjugated the country of the foreigners." He then returned home.
His arrival at Thebes was celebrated by a grand triumphal procession. The captive
princes with their children and thousands of subjects, the immense herds of animals and
other booty were sights to exact enthusiastic admiration from the Egyptians for the brave
young king. He declared that Amun-Ra, the God of his country, had given him his victories,
and he now dedicated the richest of his spoils to that divinity. Three festivities of five days
each were instituted in his honor, and the taxes annually collected from the conquered
cities were assigned to the maintenance of the temple.
The first campaign of Thothmes against "Upper Ruthen" appears to have been the
most important of his military expeditions. It is described most ex-

------------
* Rings were anciently used for money.
------------

tensively and elaborately. The walls of the Great Temple of Amun-Ra are literally covered
with names and pictures representing the nations and towns that he had subjugated. Many
of the designations are no longer remembered, but we are familiar with such as Damascus,
Berytus, Kadesh, Hamath, Megiddo, Joppa, Sharon, Gibeah, Aphaka and Ash-taroth.
The next act of Thothmes on record was the laying of the cornerstone of the
northern wing of the Great Temple. This was a memorial building, and the site had been
occupied by the shrine of the god Num, the god of the annual inundation. This was
removed to another place, the ground cleared and all made ready for the ceremony. The
time was fixed at the new moon, the fifteenth day of January of the twenty-fourth year. The
king offered a sacrifice to Amun-Ra, and then proceeded to lay the stone. We are told that
there was laid in it a document containing "the names of the great Circle of the Gods of
Thebes, the gods and goddesses."
As Thothmes is recorded as having led fourteen expeditions into Palestine, almost
at the rate of one in a year, he can hardly have regarded his dominion as firmly established.
He pushed his conquests into the region beyond, into the country of the Hittites or Khitans,
and as far as Aleppo and into Armenia, and the Assyrian territory. He set up a tablet
beside that of his father in the land of Naharaina to commemorate his victory and to signify
that Egypt possessed the country. Among the important conquests were the cities of Kar-
khemosh and Tyre and the island of Cyprus.
When hostile places surrendered at his summons he was content to exact a light
tribute, but an obstinate resistance was punished according to the pleasure of the
conqueror by the destruction of the town, the cutting down of the trees, the confis-

--- 434

cation of all wealth, including the crops in the fields, the carrying away of hostages and
prisoners, and the exacting of heavy tributes. The kings were required to give their sons
and brothers as hostages and to send others to Egypt whenever any of these died. In case
of the death of a king one of the hostages that he had given was sent home, that he might
succeed to the vacant throne.
The captives that were carried into Egypt were so numerous that it would almost
seem that an object of the expedition had been for the procuring of them. They were
confined for a time in a fortified camp near Thebes, till they could be properly distributed
to the mines, quarries and public works. It would appear also that the inhabitants of Egypt
that were of alien races were compelled to labor in the same way. A tomb in the necropolis
of Thebes contains delineations of these workmen, makers of brick, drawers of water,
bearers of burdens, together with the overseers carrying whips to urge them to greater
activity. The countenances of the unfortunate men exhibit the characteristic features of the
Semitic race, and the story of the Book of Exodus would seem to have been fairly
represented.*
The inscriptions also record warlike expeditions into Nubia and Abyssinia. They
were probably conducted by generals, although imputed to the king himself; and they are
described, and doubtless are vastly exaggerated, in order to gratify his vanity. The
government of the country had been placed under an Adon named Nahi, who
superintended the working of the mines and the collecting of taxes. "I am a distinguished
servant of the lord," he says in a tablet; "I fill his house with gold and make his
countenance joyful by the products of the land of the South. The recompense

-------------
* See Exodus i., 8-11; ii., 11; v., 4-19.
-------------
for this is a reward for Nahi, 'the king's son,'* and the Governor of the South." These
products consisted of gold, ivory and ebony work. There was indeed an immense revenue
obtained by the tribute exacted from the conquered peoples of Africa and Asia. Commerce
was also extensive. Caravans brought to Egypt articles of use and luxury from all the East,
from Arabia, India, China and the North. The Phoenicians were the traders of the world,
both by sea and overland, and their towns and factories were everywhere.

[[illustration: Showing the method of drawing to scale and the proportions

recognized in Egyptian Art]]

Thothmes was preeminently fond of natural history. The acquisition of two geese
from Lebanon and two unknown species of birds delighted him more than all the booty that
he had obtained from the expedition. Water-lilies, trees, shrubs of various kinds and rare
animals appear in the sculptures, representing the products of foreign countries which had
been brought to Egypt. "Here," says the inscription, "here are all sorts of plants and all
sorts of flowers, from the land of

-----------
* This title of "King's son" for viceroys is analogous to that of Ab, or "father," to the
chief minister. - Exodus, xlv., 8.
-----------
--- 435

Ta-neter,* which the king discovered when he went to the land of Ruthen to conquer it as
his father Amun-Ra commanded him. "They were presented at the temple of the god," as
were also "the plants which the king found in the land of Ruthen."
Thothmes III. was likewise an ardent lover of art and architecture. The immense
booties and tributes which he collected from the countries which he subjugated were
lavishly expended for the building of temples in the principal cities of Egypt, and in the
preparing of obelisks, statues and other artistic works.
Directly after his return from his first campaign he began the erection of the famous
"Hall of Pillars" the Khu mennu, a "splendid memorial." He lived to see it finished, with its
chambers and corridors in the east and the series of gigantic gateways on the south. It
was dedicated to Amun-Ra, but with him were likewise included all the deified rulers of
Egypt whom Thothmes regarded as his legitimate predecessors on the throne, and as
ancestors of his own family. In one of the Southern chambers is the wall on which is the
celebrated inscription known as the "Tablet of the Kings of Karnak."
It will be observed that Thothmes traces his pedigree back to the illustrious monarch
Senefru, of the Third Dynasty, and includes in his catalogue Assa, Pepi, the Antefs who
preceded the Eleventh Dynasty, the glorious kings of the Twelfth, and some thirty of the
Thirteenth. These were acknowledged by priests of Thebes as legitimate sovereigns. This
accounts in a great degree for the discrepancy between the lists of Manetho and those of
Eratosthenes and the Theban record. Manetho gave the names of the kings that actually
reigned, without question as to legitimacy; while the Tablet of Karnak contained only

------------
 * The "land of God," the "Holy land;" Western Arabia, and especially the peninsula
------------

those in which they had received the priestly sanction, although some of them had only
been kings nominally rather than in fact.
The piety of Thothmes, however, was further exemplified by his activity elsewhere.
The temple of Amun in Medinet-Abu lay in ruins. He reared a new structure of hard stone,
taking care to place in the Khesem or inner shrine an inscription declaring that he had
erected it as a memorial-building to his father, the god. He rebuilt the temple at Semneh
in Nubia to the god Didun* or Totun, and his ancestor, Osirtasen III., and commanded that
funeral offerings should be made at stated periods to this famous progenitor. In this temple
were pictures, one of which represented Isis as embracing Thothmes; the other exhibited
him as a god with the goddess Safekh, the "lady of writings," and guardian of the library of
the temple. Another magnificent sanctuary was erected in the island of Elephantina to
Num, the tutelary divinity of the South. Here was recorded the rising of the star Sothis, on
the twentieth of July and first of Epiphi, the New Year's day of Egypt.
Temples were also built by Thothmes in honor of the other guardian deities, of
Sebek at Ombos, Num at Esne, of the goddess Nekheb at Eileithyia, of Menthu, the ancient
tutelary of Thebes at Hermonthis. He also erected a temple to Ptah at the northern side
of the Great Temple at Karnak.
Nor did Thothmes withhold attention from the great religious metropolis of Egypt,
Abydos. Here it was fabled that the head of the dismembered Osiris had been buried, and
the kings of Egypt, who belonged in the South, from the Eleventh Dynasty till that time,
were lavish in contributing to his temple. The priests now petitioned Thothmes to build the
structure anew, promising a rich recom-

-------------
* This name seems to resemble closely the Hebrew appellation David.
-------------
--- 436

pense from the god. He hastened to set the most skillful workmen of Egypt at the work;
"each one of his temple-artists knew the plan and was skillful in his own cunning." It was
the purpose to build an enduring structure, and to "restore in good work the Sublime
Mystery which no one can see, no one can explain, for no one knows his form." A lake was
dedicated to Osiris, the baris of kheshembark, filled with acacia-wood, was borne through
the sacred field beside the town, and launched with mystic ceremonies in the stillness of
the night.
Gifts were also bestowed on the goddess Dud (or Dido), the mother of the great
circle of the gods of Abydos. The king asked in the inscription that his memorials shall be
preserved, and he extols his own actions. He taught the priests their duty, he declares;
he had accomplished more than all the other kings of Egypt, and the gods were full of
delight. He had placed the boundaries of his dominion on the horizon; he had set Egypt
at the head of the nations, because the inhabitants were at one with him in the worship of
Amun-Ra, the Mystic Sun.
Thothmes also rebuilt the temple of Hathor, "the lady of An," at Dendera, according
to the plan originally employed by his ancestor, King Pepi. Nor was Lower Egypt omitted.
He erected a temple to Ptah at Memphis, and another to Hormakhu the Sun-god at
Heliopolis, and surrounded the temple at Heliopolis with a wall. Priests were assigned and
provision made for their support.
The reign of Thothmes, including the period of the supremacy of Queen Hatasu,
which he always reckoned with his own, was reckoned at fifty-three years and eleven
months. "Then," says the inscription of Amun-em-hib, "on the last day of the month
Phamenoth (the 14th of February), when the disk of the sun went down, he flew up to
heaven, and the successor of a god became joined to his parent."
Such was the career of the most distinguished king in the history of Egypt. Like
David of the Hebrew story, he accomplished a series of extensive conquests and employed
the spoils and tributes in providing for the building of temples and the support of offices of
religion. Nor does the comparison end with this. The psalms and sacred music for which
the Hebrew monarch was famous had been anticipated. Hymns of praise also
commemorated the achievements of Thothmes. One of these was found at Karnak,
inscribed upon a tall tablet of granite, and corresponds in style and tenor with the effusions
of the Hebrew bard of Jerusalem. Thothmes III. had been venerated as a god and the son
of god while he lived; and the prayers of worshipers continued to be addressed to him as
the guardian of deity of Egypt after he was dead. His name, inscribed on little images, and
on stone scarabaei set in rings, was believed to be an infallible safeguard against evil
magic arts.
He was personally brave; if his soldiers went into danger he was always with them.
The temples which he built contained libraries and schools for the instruction of his people.
He was religious, and established the worship of Amun-Ra as supreme above all other
gods in Egypt. He was patriotic, and his victorious arms subjected the nations from the
Upper Nile to the Euphrates. He was not a Senefru nor an Amunemha who sought chiefly
the good of their people; but rather he emulated the glory of Osirtasen the conquerer and
Kheops the Builder. If, as so many have imagined, and as many even now profess to
believe, the real life of a man is in the remembrance of him after death, then Thothmes III.
is certainly immortal. Wherever men love to know of the ancient time, and where they
honor the heroic deeds of antiquity, there he is still named with a glow of admiration and
even of enthusiasm.

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LET US BE MEN
by J. B. Johnson

"Mere puppets they, who come and go

At bidding of vast formless things."

SO sings the despairing bard, as, in a fit of more than wonted depression, he depicts
human life as a tragic farce in which the real players are behind the scenes and the human
beings are mere marionettes. And so has said many a world-wise cynic wearied with
discovering over and over again the same feeble motives, the same petty passions,
underlying human action throughout the page of history and the drama of contemporary
life. By such despairing thoughts as these is the wavering intellect sometimes tempted to
believe that humanity is a wheel in a vast machine, destined for ever to turn and turn in the
same old track, hopelessly bound by the narrow limits of its prescribed movements. By
such gloomy ponderings has the Deity been presented to our minds as a Puck that wiles
away endless time in sportive deviltry and damnable jests. Yet the voice of the mighty
World-soul, speaking in man's heart, continually unmasks this intolerable lie, and man
knows that he is not a puppet, and that the world is permeated by love, wisdom and power.
Yet we cannot say that man is wholly free. The truth lies between the two extremes.
Man is in fact entangled in a net of forces which bind him down to a narrow groove of
action, but he is in process of learning to set himself free. Perhaps the majority of men, if
we count heads, are merely floating on the waves; a minority are making some effort to
steer a course of their own; a few bold and strong ones are breasting the waves and
heading straight and true toward their goal. The important point is that all men have the
power of choice, though but a few may, at the present epoch, have learnt to exercise it.
Hence, if men are puppets, they need not continue to be so. If, after toasted cheese
and green tea, the drama of human life seems hopeless and invariable, then there is still
the hope that, after salts and senna, it may again seem full of promise and joy. The same
poets that wail on one page are found on another page to be trumpeting the might and
glory of the divine-human Soul. Man is a very complex being - an epitome of everything
in the universe, and to be a log of driftwood is only one of his phases; he can just as well
pose as the proud barque that stems the tide of circumstance.
'Tis the natural force of inertia, derived from our mother earth, that keeps us
indolently drifting about on the surface. Primitive man is very much the child of nature, and
the divine free-will is not much aroused in him. He is content to lie inert, until a natural
force called hunger goads him into momentary activity. A little higher up the scale of
humanity we find men mastering their more rudimentary instincts, but yielding to other
goads, such as love and jealousy; or, still higher up, conquering love and jealousy at the
bidding of ambition and vanity. So we can follow up the scale, and where shall we end?
What master-power can throb in our bosom with strength fit to master vanity, ambition, lust,
sloth and all the rest? Whereon shall man, the master-mechanic, set his fulcrum, that he
may lever the whole vast world of his passions and motives?

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Clearly no one can control a passion until he has disentangled his mind from it and
set his foot firm on some independent vantage ground. To master which the mind can
retire; to master vanity - that subtlest and most pervading fault, we must be able to evoke
in our breast a sincere, disillusioned spirit, by whose aid we may step outside our own
vanity and rebuke it and make it look small and unclean.
To master all the complicated delusions that go to make up our personality we shall
have to take our stand on our divine nature, the real "I," which is free from all wrong
notions, such as vanity, lust and anger. For there is in every man a power that is superior
to all his emotions and ideas, able to control them all. The deeper a man probes into his
own nature, the more powerful, independent and free he becomes. On the outside of his
nature lie the elementary instincts and functions of the animal. These are controlled by
animal lusts and propensities; these, in their turn, by more refined emotions. Finally, the
whole machinery of our character is governed by the divine Self which is the mainspring
of our being - the real Man. Nearly all men of today are, however, as yet unconscious of
their higher nature; they wrongly identify themselves with the various lower forces in their
nature, and so are drifted about in the eddies of their ever-changing moods. When the real
"I" does manifest himself to them, he is regarded as a strange being or power outside of
them, and is not recognized as the real "I." Fate, destiny, the hand of God, Providence,
chance, etc., are names that are often applied to any influence which cannot be traced to
the familiar motives and incentives of human nature.
Those who look back upon a long life can realize that the whole career has been
arranged and carried through by a master-power whose design has been all the time
concealed. Perhaps that design may be partly revealed to the clearer sight of mature age,
and the old man may realize how very little say he had in the matter, and what a puppet he
was; how his most ardent enthusiasms, which then swallowed him up, were, after all, mere
details in a plan; how, when he thought he was achieving a masterpiece of independent
action, he was really yielding to the pull of a string hitched on to one of his passions and
pulled by the unseen Self that planned the whole career.
No, man has not yet discovered the mainspring of his own mechanism. He pursues
a continual search for it, and makes one mistake after another. When he is young passion
flames up before him in all her glory, and he thinks that must be his real self. By and by
passion wears out, and then the man realizes that she was only a subsidiary force in his
nature; so he seeks for something else, and perhaps now calm, calculating ambition will
impose itself on him as his real self. But this again is in its turn seen to be a mere
temporary tide in the vast ocean of his soul, and at last he begins to wonder if he has any
real self at all, or whether he is only a bundle of fleeting forces. The real Self has not yet
awoke in him, but nevertheless it asserts itself dimly as a fact that cannot be denied, as a
logical necessity from which there is no escape.
If our personality is proved by long experience of life to be composed of nothing but
illusions, it follows that, when these illusions have been stripped off, and the real Man
stands revealed, that real Man will not be a "personality" as the word is generally
understood. He will have none of the usual self-interested motives that guide human
actions. His conscious purpose in life will be different from the purposes of the crowd. He
will know the real meaning of man's life, and the true object of human exist-

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ence, and will consciously act so as to further that object and realize that meaning. In most
men there is a constant strife between their will and their destiny, because their will is
deluded and they do not realize the justice and truth of their destiny. But in the awakened
Man will and destiny will be the same thing. He will have recognized at last that what is
called "destiny" is simply the intelligent will of his real Self, which before seemed to him as
the guiding hand of an extraneous God, but which now he recognizes as his own will and
intelligence.
The master-illusion that clouds man's eyes is the illusion that he has a separate
existence, apart from his fellows - the "illusion of separateness." This is not a fact. One
vast consciousness pervades all creation, and one life thrills through every atom. Man is
a partaker in this universal life, and the notion that he has a separate life of his own is an
error. The mistake arises from our habit of living almost exclusively in our bodily sensations
and in the emotional feelings arising in various parts of our organism. We locate our
consciousness in the body, because we feel nerves tingling and arteries pulsing there. We
become so absorbed in contemplating the life of the body that we forget who we really are,
and imagine ourselves to be that body. Other people appear to us to be separate beings -
and yet at the same time our mind shudders with horror when we try to conceive how there
can be a hundred million souls like our own, all distinct and separate.
This, then, is the great illusion that we have to overcome - the mistaking our
personality and its parts for the real Self. The real Man, the master that directs the whole
machine, stands apart from the personality and the passions and controls them all. So long
as we are deluded by this false notion we shall be more or less slaves to the lower forces
of nature, and the tides of fancy and desire that wash to and fro in the ocean of humanity.
We must step outside of ourselves - so to speak - and take up the position of power from
which we can act in freedom.
To do this we must discriminate between selfish and unselfish motives, for all selfish
motives spring from the personality which we are trying to master, while unselfish motives
come from the real Man. We must seek to identify our interests with the interests of this
real Man, who is unselfish and impersonal. We must foster every impersonal and brotherly
motive we feel, and give them the ascendancy over purely personal and self-interested
motives. By that policy we strengthen the real Man and weaken the hold which illusion has
over us.
Thus freedom comes through selflessness, and the old, old moral law, "Love thy
neighbor as thyself," is seen to be the key to human attainment and liberation from all ills.
Verily it is high time we gave up drifting and dreaming, and roused up as real Men,
responsible, calm, wise, able to act and carry out the divine law of the universe, instead of
being mere sticks and straws carried on the whirlpool of circumstance and propensity. We
do not want to be like a dog that lives in the end of its nose, and is unable to pursue a
straight course through the endless distractions offered by offal and filth (which to the dog
stand for objects of desire.) We have had enough of that; it has not paid. Let us claim our
birthright and stand erect as Men, raising our eyes from the body and its concerns and
lifting them to the throne where sits the real Self. Let us take our attention off our own
petty, trumpery personality and turn it upon that point where our life unites and blends with
the universal life, so that we may become universal beings, and, as such, rule and direct
all those forces which have so long enslaved us.

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WOMAN
by Libra

The position woman has had thrust upon her, has earned, has won for herself and
occupies in the history and life of the world is most difficult, unique, antipodal and in
harmony with her somewhat enforced false position.
Occupying the post of blessed "Mother Nature" in the divine scheme of human
reproduction, she should naturally epitomize in herself all the basic qualities of physical and
mental health, strength and purity, that the incarnating soul may find a harmonious living
temple in which to dwell and through which to express its divine self in the material world.
Representing the maternal side of nature, she is in closest contact with, best
understands, and possesses the keenest insight into, material life. It is her high duty to
cradle the budding soul and to unfold its primary life-giving pages; to ever act as the
purifying element in the material life of humanity, that it may not be held down and
destroyed in the illusive snares of Nature, while passing through the objective period of its
evolutionary education. Her privilege it is to rear, nourish and hand on for higher
development a physically strong offspring, mentally and physically clean, and with mind
well stored with the wisdom and secrets of objective Nature and life.
That this is woman's true position and function is best proved by woman herself; by
her disposition, character and knowledge, by her ready adaptation to conditions, in the care
of and devotion to her young, in her ever-changing moods, in her instinctive knowledge
relating to material things and life. She is the matrix and soil in which the fructifying sun
plants the seed of soul life for nourishment during its primary growth. She is naturally the
exact counterpart, the deified prototype of maternal nature; by the natural unselfish use
of her faculties and the proper and faithful performance of her functions she spiritualizes
material life and duties.
She, like Mother Nature, should bring forth and propagate charity, tolerance,
faithfulness, devotion, love, peace and joy.
To repeat: This is the true position, and these the true functions of woman - facts
which many noble lives emblazoned on the pages of history, and illuminating the humbler
paths of life, have exemplified.
Why, then, may we ask, is it that there are not more, nay, why are not all women
living examples of the law? Why are the same pages of history blurred with the deeds of
women who have forgotten, or never realized, their divine mission and heritage? Why are
so many lives blighted and homes made desolate, or worse, by the active exercise of
qualities the opposite of charity, tolerance, faithfulness, devotion, love, peace and joy?
Why has the saying, "Where there is trouble there is a woman in it," become an axiom?
In seeking answers, in searching for the unseen cause of these things, is it not wise
to examine their seen and perfectly reflected effects?
If we discover a teacher of ethics committing theft, we know that on that point he is
acting out his nature. If an intelligently forceful and capable person's acts and life are
largely selfish and evil, they strongly indicate a degrada-

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tion from a higher, truer plane of consciousness and action, which the actor had once
occupied. If an ordinary person is, in the main, attracted and ruled by selfish elemental
desires and passions, is it not a strong indication of an evolving elemental nature, whether
found in man or woman? Unfortunately the deeds and lives of all too many foster these
conclusions.
From these points of view most, if not all, the questions can be reasonably
answered, and, if true, successfully dealt with.
If we find a true basis on which to stand we shall not build on unsafe foundations.
 But woman is not alone responsible for these conditions; man must in part share
the responsibility.
Since the lamentably weak human act of the previously divine man (symbolized, as
many believe, in the allegory of Adam and Eve, the record of which is embodied in the
religion of every tribe and people who have lived) men have doggedly played the coward
in laying the whole crime at Eve's door and in reflecting their unmanly weakness and
shame on woman. True, for love of power, she has acted well the part of temptress, but
he, the stronger, like Adam, in yielding makes himself the sharer in and heavily responsible
for the distortion of the law.
This position is strengthened by the belief of some deep thinkers who reason that
Adam symbolizes the divine or androgynous man, being neither male - the positive, nor
female - the negative, as separate entities, but both in one; sufficient unto himself;
reproducing himself within himself by direct harmonious blending of creative and receptive
thoughts, like a god; that fallen man is but a reflection of the divine in reproducing himself
by impure, inharmonious penal indirection.
That the masculine, creative, intuitional-reasoning, paternal side of his nature stood
to the feminine, receptive, instinctive maternal side in the same relation as the fructifying
sun does to the producing earth, or, as spirit to matter; the higher and the lower as one
and equal, while in pure and harmonious union.
Did not Eve, representing the feminine or Mother Nature's instinctive, maternal
desire to bring forth, in the very offering of herself to Adam, her paternal creative side,
acknowledge that their combined higher wisdom was focalized in him, and that it was his
duty to judge of what was good and evil for both?
Did not he in yielding to what to him was a temptation, fall from his true position as
protector and guardian?
In the yielding he "sold his birthright" of intuitional or spiritual knowledge "for a mess
of pottage," and has since been considered only a reasoning being.
Thus losing conscious knowledge of his intuitional or divine self and losing touch
with his spiritual guide or soul, he relegated his divine powers and attributes to a mind-
created remote God, and made unto himself object images to worship in its stead.
Out of himself, or better, separating himself, he created Eve as a separate entity and
endowing her in his soul-reflecting creative mind, with his lost intuitional or spiritual
knowledge; making her - his now unrestrained material nature - his guide, he followed and
lost himself in material life.
In distorting the law by surrendering himself and in his mind endowing woman with
his own higher attributes, man is largely responsible for his disobeying the law of her
nature.
She, in unconscious justice, retaliates, and will until, through suffering, shame and
humiliation, she forces him to recognize his true position, make amends and take his old
place or "kingdom of heaven" in her heart and life.

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Nature's or the divine law can be warped and distorted, but never destroyed,
permanently obstructed or wholly perverted. As the male and female were created equal,
so must they again become.
 Meantime they must share responsibility, willingly or otherwise, and work on by the
light of her dimmed vision and his unconsciously reflected soul knowledge.
Self-forced out of true position, their evolution is either dwarfed, thrown back or
overgrown with rank weeds.
If these presentations appear untrue or overdrawn, honestly and with unprejudiced
mind, intelligently observe and analyze the relations and workings of your own dual nature;
your own and the world-life about you. If you fail to discover this vital fact, if it is such, it will
still exist as the one great basic evil, from which all others have and will spring and grow,
until man discovers and rectifies the "great wrong" and ceases to build, in his reproductive
life, on a "foundation of sand."
While man is equally responsible for this basic "curse of the ages" for "orphanizing
humanity," he still dreams on in righteous torment, while Nature groans in pain, and woman
suborns herself to simulate the doing of his highest functions and dwarfs or neglects her
own. She toils on with impatient energy till she shall rouse him through suffering, shame
and manhood-urgings to take his proper place - the sun to shine within her life and home.
Then, they as one harmonious life, and all entraining nature - their offspring - will
move onward in helpful peace and love, like Sun and Earth, to shine, put forth and blossom
together in the old but new-found paradise of natural life, in common brotherhood.
When man has won and holds his kingly abdicated throne, then queenly woman,
standing by his side, pure, true and strong, will summon nature's children - her very own -
to join in glad thanksgiving, while "Elder Brothers'' tune the joyous song.
Until this happy day of man's awakening women will toil on, the mass - lower
evolving entities - blindly, or in rebellion working out the perverted law; others - royal
descending brides of once diviner man - ancient, time-honored evolutions, godmothers to
humanity, who through extremes of suffering have learned, and rent the veil; who see and
know and emphasize the basic law of divinest unity and harmony. These loyal ones have
made time luminous and helped their "Royal Brothers," the world's Saviors, to stay the
wreck of human weal and save humanity from despair and spiritual death.
As pure and faithful, loving wives, mothers, daughters and sisters, they have shed
the light of purity, love and peace within their homes, among their friends and in the
humbler paths of men.
Others, though not nobler, as goddesses and oracles in olden times - Athenas,
Hypatias and Egyptian Queens - have lived and done their superb work to elevate the race.
In modern days, and chief of all, Joan of Arc, the humble maiden shepherdess, who
walked and talked on earth with holy company of "Elder Brothers," she, under their high
guidance, was used to show to sovereign man his proper place and work; to woman, that
her highest duty is in the forefront, leading and battling to establish on earth the reign of
justice, right and peace.
And, note it well, the priestly claimants to "God's Vicegerency" slew her, as they had
many teachers and saviors of humanity in the past.
What of the present? This crucial time when, by wise, courageous action on the part
of those who love the right, humanity's evolution will be carried upward forever past the
"danger point."

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 Again, wise, daring, courageous woman unfurled Truth's banner; and in such
heaven-sent keeping it is at the front today, as though the Athenas, Hypatias, Joans of Arc,
and all the true ones, high and lowly, are mustering from out the past, to rouse both male
and female and lead them side by side, in the thick of the battling Hosts of Light, to conquer
Darkness.
Under woman's leadership, the giant fight is on for all to win or lose, and in it man
must find and win his long-lost place and heritage - emerging victorious. The Hosts of Light
will carry the banner of Truth, Light and Liberation into the darkest corners of the world, to
dispel ignorance and conquer craft, bigotry, intolerance, hypocrisy, deceit and selfish lust
for power; making man's earth bright and heavenly by the light of Truth.
By its pure flame each unit in nature's vast, superb and ceaseless evolutionary
march will find its proper place and duty; man, self-redeemed - male and female - leading,
helping and teaching all the lower kingdoms; man's "wounded side" healed and made
whole by loving touch and fond solicitude of his true help-mate.
Humanity's uncompleted structure, now completed from foundation stone to golden
dome, by woman's loving sacrifice and man's creative energy, in inter-reflecting strength
and beauty, they stand united, equally complementing: white pillars supporting their
rebuilded temple of the living, indwelling Human God.

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ISABELLA OF CASTILE
by Beatrice Barr

SINCE History first started on her wonderful, spiral journey Woman has been an
important factor in the world's great crises, either as a helper to the races or a stumbling
block to the ages following after.
Each Empire and Nation, from old Egypt down to the first one of the Twentieth
Century, can point with pride to some one woman who has been the support and helper
in the dark hour of their History's being. It may be that the divine, feminine element is
always present, ever seeking to benefit and uplift. In any case, scanning History's pages,
the fact remains that woman in the majority of cases has stood for progress and
advancement along right lines and often comparatively alone and unaided in her work.
Palmyra's glorious Zenobia; the womanly Queen Vashti, who laid aside a crown
rather than step down from the throne of her womanhood; the frail, fair Hebrew, Esther,
and she whose name will always be linked with that of great America - Isabella of Castile -
these are a few in the long list of names which shows Woman's place in History.
Isabella's life is distinctly worthy of the closest study, first, because her hand enabled
Columbus to draw aside the heavy veil that covered the Western Spheres while they
reposed under the watchful eyes of the Guardians who preserved them from all profaning
touch until Columbus, the appointed one, should come; Isabella, the co-discoverer of the
New World, new in the sense of giving a home to a new race and yet of such hoary age
that the number of her years is appalling; second, because of the

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wonderful symmetry of Isabella's entire life-pattern!
Looking back upon Isabella's reign it seems as if she had one definite,
commissioned purpose to execute, and all her energies, every moment of her time, in
health and illness, she bent and moulded and forced to the accomplishment of that
purpose. Not a moment was given to frivolity or littleness of any kind, and in her age, when
idleness was a badge of the upper classes, this fact is unique. From the beginning of her
reign until its close Isabella was the busiest woman in her ever-widening realm.
Time given to the study of such a life is not spent in vain. No one can learn of
Isabella and not have greater respect for life, and especially that life through which one
high, unbroken purpose runs.
The character of any individual, whether ruler or servant, cannot properly be studied
if completely separated from the lives of those persons nearest and most intimately
connected with that character.
To understand a sovereign one must have at least a fair knowledge of the age in
which that ruler lived and all the forces of environment against which he was obliged to
contend. Elizabeth, Isabella's great namesake (1) across the seas, without the
environment of, and made by, her Statesmen and Nobles, would not be the Elizabeth
whom we know. Elizabeth alone did not make her reign! Leicester, Cecil, Essex, Raleigh
and poor, unfortunate Mary Stuart moulded it as surely as did she. Just so Ximenes and
Torquemada, two giants of Catholicism, must always be considered when Isabella's reign
is studied.
Even the Crown is not exempt from the law that binds man to his brother man;
rather how great is the responsibility that rests upon a ruler that he

----------
1. See Notes at the end.
----------

prove a welding force and not a centre of disruption unto his people!
Also, in looking back into the past all racial and religious prejudice must be looked
upon as realities of that day and not forgotten, as is so often the case in the judgment (and
usually condemnation) of historical characters. The intellectual and moral atmosphere
must also be weighed in all its differing densities before an unbiased, impartial estimation
can be made of any ruler's character.
Karma (the law of cause and effect) appears in all lives under so many different
guises that eulogy or condemnation of any individual should be given only after the deepest
thought and study. The deed meeting our eyes may be the result of some long standing
and far penetrating cause, or perhaps an incipient cause being forced into action by some
other being running the race of life at the same time.
The heart and mind of a Crown are not found without labor. As all men are sacred
beings, not to be hung in the balances and judged at first sight, it is well to remember the
motto of our great Teacher, "kindly to judge." We cannot know all the heights or depths
trodden by any Soul in its conflict with Self and the Elements.
In considering Isabella's life in particular all these points must be held in mind. The
events of her reign must be viewed as if seen through her eyes. Her personal environment
and the prevailing thought of the age must be remembered, especially the ecclesiastical
dogma of her day.
In Isabella's youth Spain as a unit did not exist. The country was divided into four
main divisions. These consisted of Navarre, Aragon, Granada, that great Western centre
of Saracenic life [namely Mohammedanism], and, fourth, Castile, Isabella's birthright.
Isabella's father, John II. of Castile,

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died when she was barely four years old, and she and her mother, the good Isabella of
Portugal, went to live in the little town of Arevalo, while Henry IV., the Infanta, Isabella's
step-brother, the son of John II., and his first wife, Mary of Aragon, took the throne of
Castile.
Isabella laid the foundation of her education in quiet Arevalo, with the beneficent
influence of the country around her and away from Henry's corrupt court. No one period
in her life can be named as the close of that education, for she continued a student until the
day of her death. Her mother had little difficulty in training the Infanta's mind, for Isabella
proved herself keen and quick in acquiring any branch of study.
All through her life Isabella showed how receptive and singularly retentive her mind
was. It seems as if she were a perfect woman, yet possessing all the quality of a
masculine mind. Even her dearest friends marveled at the manner of woman she was.
Discrimination, penetration, intuitive perception were all hers. She could read men's minds
and those found worthy were trusted; all otherwise were discarded as quickly as her
wonderful policy would allow. She was so diplomatic that she surpasses even Mazarin,
and yet so honest in her dealings that no man could complain. Common sense was one
of Isabella's chief blessings. This common sense, combined with her wonderful executive
ability, made Isabella the energetic, capable Queen she has proven herself.
In the matter of religion Isabella was trained from her earliest youth in the tenets of
the Catholic faith. The fact of her being called "the Catholic" proves how deep were her
religious convictions. She was "the good Catholic," though, as we shall find, she was
constantly in conflict with the Holy See, and ever in opposition to its abuses. Her character
stands without one blemish. She was modest and reserved in an age when the majority
of women thought reputation of greater value than character, yet a very warrior, "the shield
of the innocent and an avenging sword to the wicked."
When only sixteen Isabella showed discretion that would have done justice to an
older head. Henry wished to marry Isabella to the aged Giron, one of the Villena family,
so that his own daughter's path to the throne might be a trifle more assured than his step-
sister's. Isabella ruled aside his wishes by showing that "the Infantas of Castile could not
be disposed of in marriage without the consent of the Nobles of the Realm." This answer
argued well for the woman who was one day to have the jurisdiction of all Spain in her
hands.
A little later, when the people, thoroughly disgusted with Henry's actions, begged
Isabella to be their Queen, even the Archbishop of Toledo added his voice in urging her to
accept the throne; Isabella showed her moral discernment in her reply. "While my brother
Henry lives none other has a right to the Crown." However, she offered to aid in
ameliorating the general distress that was prevalent from Henry's misrule. Isabella's
answer restored tranquility to the turbulent kingdom, and by the unanimous voice of the
Cortes she was assured of succession to the Crown, and among other privileges she was
given the liberty to marry whom she pleased.
The name of the Duke of Guienne, brother of Louis XI. of France, appears in the list
of Isabella's suitors. However, all were refused save Ferdinand of Aragon, whom his
father, John II., had named "King of Sicily," that he might appear a more worthy suitor in
the eyes of the fair Isabella.
That Isabella was beautiful in more than an ordinary degree is proven by her
portraits and the records written of her. She was tall, dignified, stately, with chestnut hair
that carried the glints and

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gleams of the Sun in it. Her classic, oval face was a beautiful index of the living Soul within.
Her eyes were blue and wonderfully clear and steady. Beatrice de Bobadilla (2), Isabella's
most intimate, life-long friend, and of the Royal household, says of her: "She was the
handsomest lady whom I have ever beheld, and the most gracious in her manners."
Isabella, in spite of Henry's plots and plans, was determined to marry Ferdinand, her
cousin, of Aragon. However, she was wise enough to first gain the approval of two men,
the Admiral of Castile and the Archbishop of Toledo, who answered for the opinions of "all
the Grandees" of her kingdom.
The marriage was solemnized at the old city of Valladolid (3) in a simple but royal
manner. The Nobles of Castile and Aragon showed their approval of the marriage that
united them in one house by their presence at the ceremony. Isabella, by her integrity and
tact, finally won Henry IV. over to her side. History records Henry's apparent friendliness
to the royal young couple, before his death.
After Henry's death Isabella was proclaimed Queen at the ancient city of Segovia.
Immediately following the ceremony she went to the great cathedral of the city, and,
kneeling before the altar, humbly besought, as is recorded of Solomon, twenty-six centuries
earlier, "the light of heavenly wisdom for the proper discharge of her high duties." This
desire for wisdom strikes the keynote of her reign. In all she did she strove to be wise and
just. With her coronation a new day dawned for Castile and all Spain.
Isabella, at the very beginning of her reign, firmly grasped the entire control of her
kingdom (4). When Ferdinand, her brilliant young husband, became piqued because he
thought he was not enjoying enough of power and threatened to return to Aragon, Isabella
by her tact compelled him to see facts in their real light - namely, that she and he both ruled
as one being. Ferdinand heeded her wisdom and he found that Isabella not only
associated him with herself in all regal matters, but that her genius, energy and ability
fostered his plans and carried them to final victory when even he was forced to abandon
them.
Isabella was not a woman who would slight the man whom she had chosen as her
husband. On the contrary, she dignified his name in all eyes. A member of her court has
written: "I well remember seeing the Queen with her husband sitting in judgment in the
Alcazar of Madrid every Friday, as was the custom in Castile, dispensing justice to great
and small who came to ask for it."
One little incident in the early days of Isabella's reign illustrated her policy toward her
people. Trouble arose in Segovia, where she had placed Cabrera as Governor. As soon
as the Queen heard of the disturbance she mounted her horse and rode straight to
Segovia, attended by Cardinal Mendoza and a few other courtiers. She entered the citadel
of the city, where Cabrera had fled for safety, and, going alone into the courtyard (for
Isabella never knew fear), she ordered the gates to be thrown wide open, that the people
might enter. Naturally the people in their excitement rushed pell-mell into the courtyard.
Isabella asked them their grievances, in a calm, clear voice. At the same time she
promised to do all in her power to redress them. All the people wished was the removal
of Cabrera. "He is deposed already," the Queen replied to them. She also gave them
permission to remove other unworthy officials if any such still remained in the citadel.
She explained to the people that she would trust Segovia only to worthy rulers, upon
whom she could rely. The people, understanding the Queen's jus-

--- 447

tice, shouted "Long live the Queen!" and Segovia was restored to quiet, normal life.
Isabella knew that with a little prudence the lion roaring at her could be changed into a
lamb. However, she had the wisdom to live in Segovia long enough to thoroughly
investigate matters. She then found out that Cabrera's only offense was his punctilious
observance of law. Before leaving the city Isabella had restored Cabrera to his office in
peace.
No ruler was ever more at one with her people than was Isabella of Castile. When
a shaft of misfortune struck their Queen all suffered with her. Likewise when her
indignation arose her subjects stood at her back to support and, if need be, avenge her.
When the fortified town of Zahara, on the Andalusian frontier, was sacked and all
her residents were killed or forced into Moslem slavery her great heart burst into a flame
that found an answering spark in each heart in her kingdom. It was that fire of indignation
lighted in Isabella's soul that finally destroyed, "grain by grain," that marvelous
pomegranate - Granada.
Zahara was immediately avenged by the capture of Alhama, the first Moorish town
lost to the Saracens and the key to the long list over which finally floated the Cross of
Catholicism.
The Castillians who conquered Alhama feared they could not hold their prize and
thought of destroying the lovely little city. When Ferdinand and Isabella reached the
captured city the Queen exclaimed, "Let us hear no more of the destruction of Alharna, the
first fruits of our victorious arms; let its walls be sacred as a stronghold granted to us by
Heaven in the midst of a hostile land."
The three mosques of the city were at once consecrated as Christian churches by
Cardinal Mendoza. Isabella had expressed her heartfelt desire. She did not wish to
destroy, but to change. Destruction was never Isabella's policy. Conversion was her aim.
To Isabella, devout Catholic that she was, the Moriscoe element in Spain was a
leprous spot in her eyes, which, if she could cleanse and convert into Christian Catholic,
she felt would be not only to the everlasting benefit of the Moriscoes, but add glory to her
own chosen religion.
Isabella was the incarnation of the thought of her age upon this subject of
Catholicism, and she is not to be blamed for the later violence of her clergy toward the
Moriscoes. Her personal policy was always kindness, gentleness, justice!
 After the capture of Alhama the Queen's ambition was the conversion of the
Moriscoes. Friendly advances were made to every Moorish town in her kingdom. All who
acquiesced with her wishes, receiving baptism and other Catholic ordinances, like the town
of Baza, for example, were received into the Catholic Communion with rejoicing and treated
with the utmost kindness.
But the Saracenic heart burned with true love for his own great religion, and those
who assumed Catholicism only adopted the cover of the church as a shield. They were
very careful to observe their own religious rites in secret. Perhaps no race is more subtle
or snakelike in their dealings, and the amazing fact is that all the Moriscoes did not adopt
Catholicism, if only on the surface.
Finally Isabella gained control of every Moorish town in her kingdom save Granada,
the principal western home of the Koran. In 1491 Ferdinand, following his wife's direction,
built a besieging city on the Vega (5), absolutely determined not to leave his position until
Granada adopted Catholicism or surrendered. Ferdinand called this besieging city Santa
Fe (holy faith). Today the city still stands as an emblem of Ferdinand's determination to
make Cathol-

--- 448

icism the first religion of Spain. Santa Fe is the only city in Spain into which
Mohammedanism has never crept.
At last Granada, torn by internal dissension, was surrendered to the Christians by
Abu Abdallah the Unlucky. For seven hundred and forty-one years the Saracens had held
Granada. The city's greatest charm, the Palace of Alhambra, was the pride and joy of
every Moriscoe.

"Allah il Allah through its halls

Whispers the fountain as it falls."

Not excepting the Taj Mahal at Agra, India, the Alhambra is the finest example of all
the splendid specimens of Saracenic genius expressed in art and architecture.
Abu Abdallah, nicknamed Boabdil (6), would never have surrendered the city to the
Catholics only he feared his uncle and greatest rival, Ez Zaghal, "the Valiant," would
assume again his old authority in Granada. When Boabdil passed the keys to Isabella he
considered that he was only complying with the lesser of two great evils. With the
surrender of Granada, Mohammedan supremacy in Spain went down forever.
The surrender of Granada was the signal for international rejoicing. The Pope held
High Mass at Saint Peter's, in Rome, because a Pagan city had been added to the Papal
See, and for several days the general public continued their celebration. Henry VII. of
England, not to be overshadowed in his devotions by even a Pope, held service at Paul's
Church and London took up the jubilee.
Isabella's war with Granada is one of the most romantic pages in History. It has
proven the source of countless fascinating tales of valorous deeds and chivalrous love.
In 1491 Isabella gave to Columbus the commission that resulted in restoring
America to her younger sister, Europe. Christophoro Colombo, that magnificent Child of
Genoa, foster-child of Italy - for it was she who gave him his education - and courtier of
Spain [it is an established fact, even if iconoclasts wish to prove the contrary, that
Columbus always enjoyed the favor and esteem of Isabella, and previous to his Western
voyages served under the banner of Ferdinand], was the most brilliant figure of Isabella's
brilliant reign.
Columbus had two aiding factors in the astrolave and the polarity of the needle
which had been discovered in the Fifteenth Century. By their discovery a new interest had
been infused into maritime enterprise. Spain, not wishing to be behind her sister Nations,
spent much time upon the high seas. Portugal become jealous because Spain had gone
as far as the Canaries and compelled her to sail only North or West. So all forces
combined to aid Columbus in his dream of sailing to the West.
There had been others in Europe before Columbus who understood that there was
another continent in the West. Two centuries earlier Dante had caught the inspiration just
being breathed into the air (7). Another Florentine poet, Pulci, voiced the same thought in
his "Morgante Maggiore." In the poem the Devil refers to the prevalent belief regarding the
Pillars of Hercules and says to his companion, Rinaldo:

"Know that this theory is false; his bark

The daring mariner shall urge far o'er
The western wave, a smooth and level plain,
Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel,
Man was in ancient days of grosser mould.
And Hercules might blush to learn how far
Beyond the limits he had vainly set,
The dullest sea-boat soon shall wing her way,
Man shall descry another hemisphere,
Since to one common centre all things tend
So earth by curious mystery divine,
Well balanced, hangs amid the starry spheres.
At our antipodes are cities, states,
And thronged empires ne'er divined of yore.
But see, the Sun speeds on his path
To glad the nations with expected light."

--- 449

Columbus proved the truth of Pulci's thought. Fate also permitted Columbus to
show Spain the utter absurdity of her old motto, "Ne plus ultra." The popular belief in Spain
was that the Pillars of Hercules (8), Gibraltar and Cuenta, the granite monoliths, standing
on either side of Gibraltar Straits, were the very end of terra firma, with "nothing beyond"
but an endless expanse of water. Columbus found a beyond - America.
Isabella understood the man Columbus. His universal plans and high ideals
appealed to her. She grasped his meaning in his quest for the home for the new race (9),
hence her willingness to aid him. As long as Isabella breathed she was faithful to her
promises concerning Columbus. When unworthy officials, jealous of his unparalleled
success, cheated and maligned him, she was always his friend and redresser of wrong
done him.
 Columbus, with his own hand, has written a letter that speaks the truth concerning
Isabella's interest in his plans. "In the midst of the general incredulity the Almighty has
infused into the Queen, my Lady, the spirit of intelligence and energy, and whilst every one
else in his ignorance was expatiating only upon the cost, Her Majesty approved it, on the
contrary, and gave to it all the support in her power" (10).
Isabella, by her aid to Columbus, has given to the world a Continent rich in every
resource that tends to man's happiness.
The accusation that Isabella was unmerciful to the Jews can be instantly brushed
aside by the fact that Pulgar, Alvares and Avila, three prominent Jews, were the Queen's
trusted private secretaries. Isabella's aim was to make her country one great unit, with one
leader and one religion. Her wisdom is truly commendable and all foreigners who did not
wish to be an integral part in her plans had the option of leaving the country.
Isabella had great odds against which to work in her plans for unity, and perhaps no
other Queen could have handled them as successfully as she did.
Upon the shoulders of Torquemada must forever rest the blame and shame of the
Inquisition. He was its founder and most zealous Torturer.
The world at large holds the opinion that Isabella was completely under the control
of the Catholic Church. The exact opposite is the truth of the matter. No Catholic
sovereign has ever been in more constant controversy with the Church than was Isabella.
When Isabella took the throne she found the great majority of the Catholic clergy of
her country whited sepulchres, and to their vileness they added the lack of knowledge.
With the heart of a lion Isabella worked incessantly, and before her death she had cleansed
the Church of much of its rottenness.
Isabella, in spite of all the ingenuity, skill and subtlety of the Jesuits against her,
invariably came out victorious in her plans. On every side she removed unworthy Church
dignitaries from important offices and refilled them with men of learning and integrity. Her
object was to have the Church a bulwark to the kingdom and not a prop of straw. She
knew no institution could ever become a great moving factor that did not have men of some
knowledge at least, and, most essential of all, men with singleness of purpose and HONOR
as the foundation of their lives at its head.
Three words describe Isabella's reign. It was brilliant, beneficent and progressive.
Spain under Isabella reached its climax in letters. Under Cardinal Ximenes the famous
polyglot version of the Bible was made. This alone was a great literary achievement. The
impetus that Isabella gave to learning was simply marvelous. When she came to the
throne there were very few schools in her kingdom. Before she left, in 1504, Spain was

--- 450

covered with them, and in these schools and colleges women (11) took part in the lectures
and public gymnastics, a custom practiced in Europe nowhere else save among the
Spanish Arabs.
Isabella recognized that upon the children rested the promise of the future glory of
the kingdom. To the work of their education she therefore consecrated the best energies
of her mind, surrounding herself constantly with large numbers of the children of her nobles
and even herself sharing the work of their training. Such men as Boscan, Garcilassa and
the younger Mendoza prove the wisdom of her methods.
 The beneficence of her reign can never be forgotten. America, the home of the new
race, is Isabella's gift to the ages.
The progress along general lines made in this reign has never been surpassed
under the rule of any other Spanish monarch.
Isabella found her kingdom utterly lacking in the knowledge of proper warfare. Every
improvement in military science invented by the mind of man Isabella bought and brought
into Spain. She even hired Swiss mercenaries to train the Spaniards in obedience and
endurance, qualities naturally alien to the Spaniards, but the two cardinal requisites for a
successful soldier.
There was no standing army, and yet the men of her kingdom always answered her
call "to arms." In war she was the heart and head of her army. By her own enthusiasm she
kept her soldiers inspired under even the most adverse circumstances. The Queen was
always one of her army, and anything causing the soldiers suffering was genuine grief to
the royal heart.
In the war against Mohammedanism in Spain Isabella, at her own expense, provided
tents supplied with every necessity and comfort for the sick and wounded. These tents
were called "the Queen's Hospitals." In this century the hand on History's dial points once
again to a Woman who raised hospital tents for the care of the suffering soldiers of the
Spanish-American war.
During the last years of Isabella's life sorrow after sorrow followed each other in
quick succession. Tennyson, in referring to Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women," says the

"tales
Charged both my eyes with tears, In every land
I saw, wherever light illumineth,
Beauty and anguish walking hand in hand
The downward slope to death."

History seems to show the same sad truth in regard to Isabella. Beautiful and good,
she finally sank under the grief of another's woe. The mental ill-health of her daughter and
the death of her dearest child, the Queen of Portugal, were the blows from which she never
rallied.
But to the very last Isabella, though upon the couch of death, brave as the Romans
of old, gave her last orders to her faithful friends.
Her last testament remains an abiding proof of her great mental strength, even to
the very verge of the grave. In it she named Ferdinand as her successor to the throne. In
the codicil (12) executed three days before her death Isabella urged her successors to
hasten in their work of civilizing the poor Indians, "also to treat them with the greatest
gentleness and to redress any wrongs they may have suffered in their persons or property"
(13).
At the time of Isabella's death Peter Martyr wrote: "My hands fall powerless by my
side for very sorrow. The world has lost its noblest ornament, a loss not only to be
deplored by all Spain, which she has so long carried forward in the career of glory, but by
every nation in Christendom; for she was the mirror of every virtue, the shield of the
innocent and an avenging sword to the wicked. I
--- 451

know none of her sex, in ancient or modern times, who in my judgment is at all worthy to
be named with this incomparable woman."
Isabella was a perfect wife, a perfect mother. She was pure, sincere and good. The
note of her life rings upon the anvil of time in deepest harmony.

NOTES.
1. Isabella and Elizabeth are one and the same name. It appears that the name
sprang from the Hebrew Eli scheba, "God hath sworn." The Greeks took it from the Semitic
root and made Elisabet, and in Latin the name became Elizabeth. Yonge says constantly
that Elizabeth and Isabella have been so constantly counterchanged that they cannot be
considered separately.
2. Beatriz de Bobadilla, was the Marchioness of Moya. She was with Isabella
through all the events of her life and present at her death. She is also mentioned in the
Queen's last testament.
3. In Valladolid Columbus died in 1506. He was first buried in that city, but as his
remains have been moved so many times his real resting place is not generally known.
4. For thirty years Isabella held this control.
5. The Vega surrounds Granada, and upon it could be raised enough grain to supply
all Europe. The Spaniards, after gaining control of it, never cultivated it as the thrifty
Moriscoes had done.
6. The sword of Boabdil is in the Villaseca Collection in the Museum at Madrid;
Ferdinand's armor is also hung in the same Museum.
7. See Canto, XXVI., of the Inferno. Mrs. Ramsay's translation is good, especially
from line 102-120.
Dante's four lines are:
"De vostri, ch'e del rimanente
Non vogliote negar l'esperienza
Diietro al Sol, del Mondo senza gente."
8. The symbol of Spain's motto still survives in our dollar sign. The two upright lines
II represent the pillars of Hercules, Gibraltar and Cuenta. The scroll line S signifies the ne
plus ultra.
9. The plan Columbus cherished of recovering the Holy Sepulchre will have peculiar
significance to members of the Universal Brotherhood. Also the name Columbus signifies,
"dove,"
10. See Carta al Ama de Principe D. Juan, apud Navarrette, Colecion de Viages,
tomo 1, page 266.
11. Beatriz de Galinda was called La Latina, because of her great proficiency of
Latina, because of her great proficiency in for her learning, in Isabella's reign.
12. The Queen's signature to the codicil of her will is among the manuscripts of the
Royal Library at Madrid.
13. Isabella was never permitted to know the perfidy of her nobles toward the
Indians, and yet she seemed to divine it, as the codicil of her will plainly shows.
------------

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise
and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law - judgment, mercy and faith;
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
"Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of
the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones
and of all uncleanness.
"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity."
- New Testament, Matthew xxiii., 23-28.

---------------
--- 452

H. P. BLAVATSKY - HER POSITION AND WORK

by F.M. Pierce

WITH the work of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD now finally established by the

Great Law in H. P. B.'s old headquarters, as she originally intended, the time is opportune
for a concise review of her work and of the position she occupied in the movement.
In face of the apparently impossible, that Great Soul known to the world as H. P.
Blavatsky projected herself, alone and unaided, into the sleep-bound intellectually
egotistical life of humanity as a great disturbing, awakening force.
The "Educated Unintelligence" of the near-by ancient and modern times had
gradually led men to think the mind supreme and its cultivation the great desideratum of
human life. As a result this intellectual egotism had closed the mind to a knowledge of the
soul - its master, and man, thus losing conscious connection with his Divine Self, had
separated the material and spiritual life, and relegated his godlike nature and powers to a
remote, unreasonable and intelligently impossible personal God, made in man's own
material image. Indeed, he had so far removed this mind-made God from his conscious
material life that through sub-conscious fear of altogether losing the connection he evolved
an intermediary Christ to serve as a connecting link with his first mind-made soul image,
and as a sacred symbol of his almost lost and forgotten Divine Self - the Master - supposed
to have been slain by the three ruffians, the animal, the material and mental man.
While this was a perfectly logical result of the mental separation of the soul from the
physical man, it left the mind free to consider itself in practical command of the field of
material life and to look upon his mind-made God - or forgotten soul - as the ruler of the
spiritual world, and as such to be met and dealt with mainly after death.
Blavatsky's work was to break up this ignorantly egotistical intellectual materialism,
which in self-sufficient blindness limited its vision to the "letter which killeth" and saw not
the "spirit which maketh alive."
That she performed her herculean task is proven by the calumny and abuse which
was heaped upon her from every direction and source, but this served only to increase her
power and expand her work.
In passing it is well to remind those who surrounded her (her so-called friends and
helpers) that they stand fairly charged with quickly wearing out and destroying the physical
instrument of this great, lion-hearted soul by their petty jealousies, selfishness and
ambition.
In the magnitude of her entire work, the "Secret Doctrine" stands out as the luminous
point or apex. Before it no greater work was ever written, and it will shine out as the "Great
Light" until a brighter Sun shall arise to illuminate the world.
It gives an intelligent student not alone the key to an understanding of the world's
scriptures, but also of the laws of nature and life. When taken as a key it becomes of
priceless value as the greatest "revealer of Truth" extant.
Unfortunately this greatest of her works has fallen into the hands of a few

--- 453

of the "unintelligently educated" class referred to, who, aroused by it to the consciousness
of the fact that this book reveals great truths, have ravenously read and recorded the
written words on the tablets of their minds for ready reference in quoting and debate. But
they forgot - or rather they failed to realize - that the words are but hints written on the
forward-pointing signboards, bidding the seeker for truth push on and search for himself
into the beyond, taking her suggestions, not as finalities - which would lead to mental
apathy and spiritual death, but as keys, as exciters of broader, deeper, truer thought,
grander conceptions and discoveries.
Pre-eminent among the teachers, Blavatsky, by precept and example, demanded
of men, "Seek and ye shall find - knock and it shall be opened unto you;" in fact, her life
and work were a living example, an emphasized command that men - and especially
students - should do just this thing.
The time has passed for narrow and limited interpretations of the work and writings
of any of the world's great teachers. All taught Truth as being limitless, universal and in its
quest bade all to strike out fearlessly into the unknown.
Let us complement and rival them in these noble qualities; those who garner much
by gladly and wisely giving to those who gather less; those of limited vision by bidding the
broader, more fearless seeker godspeed and welcome return, rich laden for the common
good.
While we commemorate the life and work of H. P. B. by purifying and rededicating
her old Headquarters to their original purpose of "establishing the basic principles of
Brotherhood as a living power in the life of humanity," let us, with her honesty of character
and purpose, define the position she fairly won in the Theosophical Movement.
This is proposed as a preventive against any possible future disturbance of the great
work she inaugurated, by students who, forgetting that we are all disciples of the one
master "Truth," become partisans of its successive agents or teachers. The history of the
past shows this to be a wise precaution, for do we not today see the partisans of Buddha,
Mahomet, Confucius and Jesus, all of whom taught the one law of Brotherhod, "Love ye
one another," antagonistic and at war?
With the knowledge gained in the past live truly in the present. Evolve with the
Movement, otherwise, with the irresistible impetus it has acquired, you will find yourself left
behind, stranded in the drift and fringe of the flood.
H. P. Blavatsky cut a road through the forest, the stony field, and a bit of meadow,
and scattered seed along its sides. In "Isis Unveiled" and the "Secret Doctrine" she gave
hints of other roads and broader seeding-grounds which she did not explore. Beyond these
lay many more unknown to her, for those who should follow and develop, else her
knowledge was infinite and she a finality in evolution.
Owing to disloyalty to the cause on the part of some who were doubly pledged to it
through advantageous association with H. P. B., the hands of W. Q. Judge - whom she
called her only friend - were fettered; but through his magnificent staying qualities he was
able to hold the footing gained for the Movement by Blavatsky, and to solidify the
membership. Our present Leader, falling heir to an unenviable heritage, has in two years
so far freed the Movement from the ambitious and noxious element which threatened its
life, as to finally place it permanently on safe and stable grounds, from which to carry on
the numerous and far-reaching plans which she alone has originated and put into
successful operation.
She has not only discovered, explored and to an extent developed the hinted roads
and fields, but is already well out

--- 454

into the previously unknown, and she has scarcely begun her real work.
Laboring as these Teachers of Humanity have for the one great purpose, let us for
the best interests of the Movement and in justice to these three "Great Helpers," recognize,
salute and hold them each in the proper place and station in the sacred cause to which we
have pledged our lives.

------------

THEOSOPHY, 1875-1899
by Scrutator

IT is interesting to watch a great reform on its way to legislative enactment. On its

first introduction to the Senate, with difficulty can it find a seconder, and almost without
debate it is rapidly laughed out of court. But it is introduced year after year, and with each
presentation finds stronger and stronger backing. It reaches at last the limits of the party
by whose most advanced members - few but active - it was at first alone supported and
originated. And at that moment it is likely enough to be seized by the leaders of its bitterest
opponents, claimed by them as their own, and unanimously coded into law. This slow
growth from an insignificant beginning is the fate of all great reforms that are founded on
truth and enlifed by the force of evolution. They arise in the minds of those who in some
ways stand nearest to the soul and heart of things and spread out gradually to the minds
of those who stand farthest.
An English Radical member of Parliament once said that the duty of the Radical
party was not so much the introducing of concrete measures to the attention of the House
as the permeation of the slower Liberal party with a certain atmosphere. As this
permeating or vivifying process went on the desired reforms would of themselves, so to
speak, come about.
Other things being equal, a man will propagate his ideas slowly or quickly in
proportion to his concentration of attention upon them. If he is desirous to introduce reform
in the tariff and spends nearly half of his mental power on chess and nearly half on music,
his ideas are likely to remain his exclusive property. But if he is spending most of his
mental day in the atmosphere of tariff considerations, he is sending out into the air a steady
stream of thoughts on that subject, and will hit the minds of a large number of people. If
his ideas seem to him a matter of the utmost importance, and his feelings are roused in the
strongest degree, his outgoing thoughts will be proportionately vivid and precise in the work
they do in moulding public thought. And if conceivably he should undergo martyrdom for
his opinion, be stoned to death by a mob, then it could be said that the whole of his life
energy had gone into his idea, and his whole post-mortem consciousness would be injected
into it. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," is as much as to say that the
fighting strength of an idea is measured by the sacrifice of his life made to it by its parent
and emitter, so that by that much is he the poorer for his other personal use. Perhaps it
comes to about the same thing whether a man live for a Cause or die for it. But it makes
every difference to the Cause whether the man really live for it or whether, thinking he does
so, he is really living, through it, for himself.

--- 455

A moral is pointed to the above by the history of nearly, or quite, all religious bodies.
Their founders and the primary few lived for the Cause they had espoused, and it
prospered. But religions point out a means of obtaining something, and the Church was
strong or weak in proportion as its adherents really lived for their Cause or for the benefits
its teachings promised to themselves if they did so. A Church may, however, prosper a
long time on that latter basis. It will have lost its spiritual soul, but if a large number of its
adherents find through it a satisfactory worldly position, and the remainder think that
through it alone can they find salvation for their souls, then the weakening will be of its hold
on spiritual life, and it may for a long time grow in material opulence and temporal power.
If its teachings are contrary to the truth, or contain but a little proportion of truth, or are to
the effect that through that Church only is salvation to be obtained, then with the certain
rise of truth in another quarter its adherents must in time loosen and dissolve their
adherence; its material prosperity must depart; it will cease to attract even the selfish, and
in no long time its concerns will belong to the historian only.
I think that in the twenty-four years of the history of the Theosophical Movement we
can discern the advance of a tendency which is the opposite of that above sketched. At
no time was there a livelihood to be obtained within it, and at no time was a membership
in its ranks of the smallest worldly advantage; but in its early days I think there was a
tendency to the study of its philosophy, with a view to the ascertainment of what measure
of advancement, according to its teachings, was to come hereafter to the man who lived
a particular kind of life, and what measure to him who studied its philosophy and worked
for its promulgation. This was, of course, from the first contrary to the keynote set by the
Foundress. The tendency has greatly changed, and the inquiry is, In what way can we
apply Theosophy to the elevation of every department of worthy human activity? Each is,
not neglecting or sentimentally crucifying, but healthily absorbing and forgetting himself.
In a broad way it seems to me that the first Leader, H. P. Blavatsky, taught the
strange old truths, so lost from modern thought; the second, W. Q. Judge, simplified them
for us; and the third, Katherine Tingley, taught us to practice them. The gold was first flung
out of the quarry; then coined; then put to use. The first period was thought; the second
life; the third work. The first dealt with metaphysics; the second with mysticism; the third
with practicality. For the first, look at the "Secret Doctrine," the editorial parts of the
magazine "Lucifer," and the private "Instruction;" for the second, at the spiritual and
mystical aspect the teaching took in "The Path;" for the third at "The New Century." All this
is, of course, open to much criticism, and is at best but a partial view. But I think that it is
broadly correct. And it must be also remembered that each of the Teachers has been
miserably fettered by surroundings and unreliable instruments. You cannot do good work
with a knife that bends when you put any pressure upon it; which is rusty from jealousy of
the hammer and saw; which has its own ideas of the way in which the work should be
done; which prefers to be always exhibiting its polished surface idly on the table and
grumbles at having to practically and common-placely cut mere bread, or which proposes
to be a great something on its own account and "boss" all the other and more submissive
knives who don't stay scheming out anything so long as there is good work waiting the
doing.
First we had teaching - as old as time

--- 456

- of the nature, possibilities and destiny of man; then the way to develop that nature so as
to bring out the possibilities and realize the destiny. It is a natural evolution. It is the proof
of the life of the Movement, and he who sighs for the return of methods that belong only to
the past is really on the way to a kind of mental death and has actually attained a
stagnation. That is his affair, but he should not long that the same fate might overtake the
Movement! He should seek the kinship of the fox who tried to induce others to court a
mutilation that had befallen himself. In our Movement there has always been a little
company of these foxes. They can, however, at any moment regain their tails, and some
of them do. The Movement is rapidly realizing its programme - that is, it is rapidly
overtaking all the departments of life that are worthy of the thought and strength of man.
It does not at any time remain still. Constantly are new branches being pushed out from
the parent stem.
At first it only waged war against current foolishness, materialism and "spiritualism."
Then, under H. P. Blavatsky, it developed its philosophy, mainly on the intellectual side.
Then it developed what had heretofore been hidden in the first, the purely esoteric side,
embodied in the Esoteric School. With this developed, in "The Path," under W. Q. Judge,
the more individually mystic side, that is the cultivation of the states of feeling that should
come from the realization of what we really are. The movement to practicality went on
steadily and is now an intensely conscious effort. Practicality is of thought as much as of
act. Once we thought about what "the Ego" is; now we try to realize what I am. Once
"man is a God;" now "I am a God." Having talked about will, try now to do it. Having talked
of the soul, try to feel that you are it. Having talked of the unity of men and of love of
humanity, now feel the unity at all moments, and love humanity. Having read and learned
of your muscles, now use them. Theosophy, once reserved for the hours of thought, now
comes out further and occupies all the moments of thought, of feeling, and of action.
In view of this tendency, what is the future going to bring us? The lodges will
become homes where alone in the world can the whole of human nature find from birth to
death its complete expansion. The members will come to believe in, to know of, and to
practice all the powers of the soul as nowhere else in the world. For in time Lodge-life will
come to afford field for, or epitomize, the whole manifested life of the soul. Toward the
Movement will therefore be drawn all souls who in incarnation are seeking their expansion
in any direction. They will come where their aspirations will find easiest outlet, the worthiest
field, the most sympathetic environment. It is as inevitable as the attraction of iron filings
by a great magnet, the sweeping of leaves into the path of a whirlwind.
Look at the present scope of Lodge-life, and remember that every little while a new
activity is added, or rather, develops in normal vital outgrowth.
There are the ordinary Lodge meetings, which, besides their primary purpose of
unfolding Theosophy in its simplest terms for the public comprehension, afford the
members a needed training in public speaking and exposition, and in the ready and
sympathetic answering of questions.
There are semi-private and private meetings for members only, for the prosecution
of study, meditation and the collocation of experience.
Children are trained - gathered from the streets - by members from the Lodge, who
believe them to be souls, and who try to call out every beautiful and worthy activity of the
soul, believing

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that education is a drawing out. and not a pulling in.

ln connection with the International Brotherhood League are meetings for the poor,
for men only and for women only, and for both, "teaching them the true dignity of their
position in life." There are sewing circles for women and meetings in connection with the
furnishing of supplies for the relief expeditions.
There are the Boys' Clubs, for the awakening in the boys of such qualities as will fit
them for their duties in the future as men and workers for humanity.
Of the almost infinite promise of this department of activity there is no need to speak.
There are the activities of the "Isis League of Music and Drama," for the elevation
of those two arts to their high place as teachers of men and awakeners of the soul.
Nothing has been said of the Publishing activities, of the Homes for foundlings,
where these little waifs will be trained from the first to be all that it is possible in their
natures, that they may in the end become wise and cultured and rounded-out workers for
humanity; of the women's art-work department, just started; of the work among
enebriates; of the continual Crusades for the relief of distress, and for the carrying of the
message of Brotherhood to all peoples; of the "Sisters of Compassion;" of the "New
Century Guard" for boys; of the literary work on the Magazines; nor of the School for the
Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity.
And when all has been said and all the things now in working order are enumerated,
we are only considering the beginning of what will be; for, as has been pointed out, no
sooner is any branch of work in running order than it unfolds and gives rise to something
else, its legitimate outgrowth. There is no limit to the possibilities - nay, the certainties. At
back of it all are the truths that men are brothers, sons of one mother-life; that they are
souls of infinitely varied and as yet unexpanded powers, and that real life, when we can
unfold it out of our being, is a vast joy. To call forth these powers and attain, one and all,
that joy - such is the purpose of our Movement. It is as easy to stay it as to stay the
upcoming of the sun.

------------

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"How is the Theosophist to carry children through the Christmas Festival? Shall we
tell the story of the Christ as one of the great Teachers of the world - or what?"

Christmas in its true significance is one of the most beautiful festivals of the year and
can be made full of the deepest interest for children. The ancients held a festival just about
this time, of the birth of the Sun, who brings joyous spring and bright summer, awakens
again the birds and flowers and gives renewed life to all. Just about Christmas time the
Sun begins again his northern course, the shortest day has passed, he has reached his
lowest point in the heavens, and so is re-born.
All the great teachers are like the Sun, and, just as he, bring life and joy and
happiness, and, like the Sun, they are reborn at the darkest time of Humanity's year. So
think the story of the birth of the Christ and of Buddha and Krish-

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na and the other great Teachers should be told at Christmas.

And, too, we should speak of the childhood of our own great Teachers who have
come to us in this dark Century. We know something of what their childhood must have
been, and we know how much they loved and do love children, and we know that our
Leader has touched our hearts and awakened there again the child-life and so given us the
key to the hearts of the little ones. - Orion
-------

"How can the Buddhist Nirvana - which is annihilation - be a motive for right
conduct?"

First, I do not believe that the true Buddhist conception of Nirvana is annihilation,
and I do not believe that any mortal who ever lived, Buddhist or not, did or could aspire to
annihilation. The Nirvana-seekers, as do all suicides, aspire toward other conditions than
those in which they find themselves, merely; and in no wise to become nothing. No one
really longs for death; what is really longed for is peace, or release from various kinds of
discomfort, mental or physical. You cannot aspire to, or wish for, that of which you can
form no conception. The nearest conception of annihilation at which we can arrive is a
state in which all gross shocks and changes have given way to the deepest feeling of
peaceful changelessness. No one can conceive of, and therefore no one who can think
rightly supposes that he can aim at, the extinction of his own subjectivity. Subjectivity
unmodified by a discordant and disturbing objective is what the real, quietest or exoteric
Nirvana-hunter aims at.
The old philosopher perceived that beyond the changeful lights of life must be the
source of all light and all life and all change, incomparable with these. Sometimes, aiming
at this and trying to speak of it, he therefore called it darkness, extinction, non-being, the
changeless. These are merely names for referring to something absolutely other than
anything objective. And as the objective was thought to imply the painful, what is
absolutely other than objective was considered absolutely other than painful, supremely
blissful.
The ordinary suicide is merely one who foolishly seeks his own mental bedroom
thinking that thither the noises of downstairs cannot penetrate.
That toward which aspiration may be directed must be rather absolute positivity than
negativity; more luminous than light, rather than darkness; the container of change and
its essence, rather than the changeless; beyond ego-consciousness (because its
producer), rather than the unconscious; the cause of action, the essence of action, the root
of action, rather than stagnation; it would be absolute beyondness, surpassingness,
greaterness; unthinkable, because inexpressible - and thought moves amongst
expressables. It is feeling raised to the nth power, where n is infinity. But every phrase
could be criticized interminably: paradoxes become a necessity. - N. N. N.

------------
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YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

Conducted by Annie H. McDermid

A SUNBEAM'S CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL

"Even little sunbeams have a work to do," sang a childish voice. Donald MacDonald
dropped his paper for a moment to listen, a tender, half-pathetic smile softening the rugged
outlines of his face.

"We with radiance clad

Help to make the rainbow,
Make the whole world g-l-a-d,"

sang the voice. Her father leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, while at the corners
there seemed to be two glistening drops.
"My bonnie, little lass, ye do make the whole world glad for me," he murmured.
Donald MacDonald had always called his little daughter "Sunbeam." She deserved
the name, too, for she was a veritable "happy little Sunbeam," and her auntie said, from the
moment she opened her big, blue eyes upon this great, old world, which was on a June day
ten years ago, that she "had a work to do." Auntie knew what she was talking about, too;
she belonged to a society which teaches Brotherhood, and she knew that no one comes
into this world to live for himself, but that every one has a work to do.
Little Sunbeam had done her work well thus far, down the long list of uncles, aunties
and cousins. Through the whole line, from old Scotch Jamie down to Harry, the chore boy,
she had kindled love fires that made them all happy to see her and seemed to give them
new life and joy, just as the sunbeams make everybody feel happy to be in the sunshine.
"We with radiance clad, make the whole world glad."
"Papa, I want to be that song, and I've thought how to do it if you will help me. I
cannot do it alone, so you will help me, won't you?"
Sunbeam had climbed up onto his knee and, winding her arms about his neck, was
pressing her cheek against his in an irresistible way.
"What is it, little lass? Ye ken I'll gie ye onything ye ask. What is it? Is it money ye
want" and Father Mac, as the children often called him, reached into his side-pocket for the
purse that never seemed to get empty.
"Yes, papa, it will take money to make the whole world glad, but it takes something
else, too. I want you to give me yourself, and then we can make such a lot of people glad
this Christmas."
"Tut, tut! lassie, how can I gie ye mysel' ony mair than ye've got me the now? Dinna
ye own me body and soul, little one?" and he gave her such a big hug that left them both
red in the face.
"But, papa, I don't wont you just for myself; I want to share you with Minkie and -
and - all the poor little children down in the Hollow [which was one of the poorest parts of
the big city]. There are ever so many of them, and they look so pale and sad and tired, and
I don't believe they have any papas to love them and give them nice things like you always
give me. I've been thinking and thinking all about Christmas, and then I thought how nice
it would be if we

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could make a happy Christmas for all the poor little children. Do, do help me, papa, dear,
and I want you to love them as well as give them some nice presents. Maybe you can't
love them so very much at first, but you soon will, just the same as everybody does, and
just as I did when auntie took me down to see them. And then you will be so glad, because
it makes you feel so happy when you love everybody. Just giving people things without
loving them doesn't do any good, nor make anybody very glad."
"Hoot, child! where did ye get that preachin'?" Papa Mac held his little daughter at
arm's length and gazed curiously into her face.
"Oh, I just thought about it, and then the White Mother told me I had thought it out
just right. What she tells me is always true."
"And who's the White Mother, my bairnie?"
"Oh, she's just the White Mother who comes to me in the night and tells me things.
She told me about Minkie and the others, and then I went down there with auntie, and, sure
enough, it was just like what she said."
 "And who is Minkie?"
Why, Minkie is the palest, thinnest, saddest one of them all. She looks so hungry
all the time. Not always for things to eat, papa, but for kind words and love, and a papa
and a mamma and aunties, and - oh, just for everything like I've got, I guess. She makes
you want to cry when you look at her, and I want to make her feel glad, so she'll stay glad.
The White Mother says the way to do that is to do everything you do for her with love, and
then she'll begin to do things, too, for love, and then she'll begin to be glad always. That's
why I want you to help me to get her started."
Father Mac looked so strangely for a few moments at his little girl, then, pushing her
from his knee, he said:
"Well, run away now, little birdie; run away now, and in the mornin' come with your
plans all ready, and I'll gie ye a hearin'. Ye better ask the White Mother just what part I'm
to hae," he said, and she started gleefully toward the door.
"Oh, I always ask her everything; she'll tell me just what to do," said the child.
Donald MacDonald wondered sometimes during those busy days of whisperings and
conferences over the Christmases plans at his own credulity. He entered into the spirit of
the thing at first because he wanted to please his little Sunbeam, but as the plans
developed he found himself relying solely upon the suggestions which his little girl said
came from the White Mother and which were always right. To him the White Mother began
to take form as somebody very real. Often in his quiet moments he found himself almost
talking to her and often he wished he could know her as well as little Sunbeam did. Yet he
was a plain, sensible, braw Scotsman. "This commandment give I unto you, that ye love
one another." These words kept ringing in Father Mac's ears all day and far into the night
as he thought over the plans of his little daughter and the words of the White Mother. The
spirit of compassion was taking possession of him and a new light was shining from his
eyes such as had never been seen there before.
On the day before Christmas the "Children's Hall" in the Hollow was a scene of
activity such as had never been before. Early in the morning a big wagon drove up to the
door with the biggest Christmas-tree you ever set eyes on, and it was soon placed in all its
glory at the farther end of the room, in a big tub filled with earth. The very look of it and the
smell that it brought with it from its mountain home filled the big

--- 461

room with Christmas cheer. Little Sunbeam and Father Mac, and all her friends, aunties
and uncles, as well as several friends, young and old, of Donald MacDonald's, who had
been enlisted in this happy cause, were soon on hand. Then there was such hammering
and pounding that you never heard the like before, as the mistletoe and holly and flags
were put all around the room to make it bright and Chistmas-like.
All day long packages and boxes arrived with all kinds of pretty and useful things in
them. Warm hoods and mittens and dresses and the dearest little white muff for Minkie;
candies and dollies and skates and games - everything you can think of that boys and girls
like to have something for everybody, for the big folks and for the little tots, and all the boys
and girls. When the room was all decorated and the Christmases-tree just loaded down
with presents, a big curtain was drawn across the end of the hall to hide it until the time
came. Then the hairs were placed in rows and everything was ready for the happy time
when the children should come.
At last the hour arrived and they came streaming into the Hall - such bright eyes and
expectant faces, it seemed as though they had really caught before-hand some of the
sunshine out of little Sunbeam's heart. There never was such a Santa Claus as Father
Mac, or such a Christmas-tree as greeted the eager eyes of the children when the curtains
were withdrawn. All at once, at a given signal every part of the tree was lighted up, for
instead of candles they had put all over the tree tiny electric lights of all the colors of the
rainbow, so that there should be no chance of anything catching fire. You never heard
such shouts, as from those happy children.
Such Ohs! and Ahs! and Minkie's little, piping voice capped the climax and made
them all laugh when she said, "Oh-ee-ee! look at that doll wif de booful blue dress!"
There was music, and then came recitations and songs, and some of the older boys
and girls gave the Rainbow play, with such pretty dresses and Lotus leaves around their
necks, and they all looked like beautiful Lotus blossoms straight from fairyland.
Then Santa Claus gave the presents, and indeed it was a labor of love, for his little
Sunbeam's "White Mother" had seemed very near to him in all this work and he had
learned a lot about "helping and sharing." Everybody was happy that night. No one was
forgotten, and when little Minkies white muff and boa were tossed into her lap by Santa
Claus the look on her face and the way she hugged them made the shining crystal drops
come into his eyes again. Oh! it was a happy time! Then, when it was time to go home,
Santa Claus said: "Now. children, this is only the beginning; you must all come tomorrow
to have Christmas dinner with little Sunbeam and Santa Claus at one o'clock sharp. Don't
be late." Then they all joined hands and went around the room singing the "Circle Song"
about "loving and serving, each in his turn."
All the children were early at the doors on Christmas day, and little Minkie was the
first one that came into the hall and headed the procession. Such a pretty picture she was
in her white hood and muff, and the nice, warm dress, with the dolly with the blue dress in
her arms. Everybody wore their new things.
"Oh, see! Look there! Cranberry sass at every plate!" It was Minkie who said it,
and it made everybody laugh. There is no use trying to describe that dinner. It was simply
beautiful! and the hungry children were as happy as could be, and you may be sure they
were not hungry long. Then there was some more music and songs and recitations, and

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Father Mac was called on for a speech. He told the whole story, how this happy Christmas
time had come about. With a merry twinkle in his eyes he said it was all the work of a little
Sunbeam, and he hoped it would go on and on and on, for little sunbeams always have a
work to do. And then he took little Minkie in his arms and said: "I am going to take this
little, tiny bud home with me, to live always in the warmth of a sunbeam that will bring the
roses to her wee facie, and when the summer comes she'll be a sunbeam herself, helping
to make the whole world glad, for that's what the sunbeams do."
When everybody had stopped shouting and clapping their hands, one of the bigger
boys jumped up and made a little speech, and said they all wanted to thank Santa Claus
and Sunbeam for the happy Christmas they had given them. After that everybody joined
in singing "Happy Little Sunbeams," and I think everybody in the whole world must have
heard it in their hearts. So this is the way that one little girl tried to make the whole world
glad.

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[[photo: Brotherhood Babies: The Summer Shelter on the grounds of Lotus

Home, Buffalo, N.Y. A view of the Home and an account of the Babies will be given in next
issue.]]

-----------
--- 463

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES

[[photo: J. Karling]]

THREE OF OUR SWEDISH FRIENDS.

The three portraits on this and the following page are or Miss E. Bergman, Mrs. A.
Cederschiold and Bro. J. Kayling, three of our Swedish comrades. Miss Bergman and Mrs
Cedersehiold were the pioneer workers in the Theosophical Society in Sweden, and later,
with Dr. G. Zander and others, formed the first Society there. Mrs. Cederschiold is the wife
of Major H. Cederschiold, President of Lodge No. 1, of Universal Brotherhood in Stockholm.
Bro. J. Karling, a professor in the college, is one of the recent and enthusiastic workers in
Jonkoping, and is President of Lodge No. 9.

ANOTHER CRUSADE.
After the constant strain of years of work, the Leader, on her return from Europe,
was urged to take a rest. In the case of natures like hers, rest consists of change of
activity; but in the Present state of our work, little even of this kind of rest is possible to the
Leader. She did, however, reluctantly go east for that purpose.
The next news received by the staff at headquarters was that she was in Boston
holding meetings, starting new lines of work, forms of activity new not only among
comrades in Boston, but everywhere else also. She remained there some days, sowing
many seeds whose fruit we shall see hereafter.
It was a jubilee week, not to be forgotten by the many friends who were present.
Besides the regular Headquarters staff of 24 Mount Vernon street, there were present Miss
Bergman, known and loved for years in Sweden as one of its oldest workers; Brother
Mather, our genial comrade of Maine; Brother Stearns, of the same state, younger, but full
of promise; Brother Percy Leonard, a recent and welcome new-comer from England; Mrs.
H. K. Richmond-Green, an ever charming and inspiring personality, radiant with loyalty,
enthusiasm, and energy of work. In a letter since received from Brother Robert Crosbie,
he says that in all his ex-

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perience in connection with the work at the Boston Headquarters, he has never seen such
loyalty, unity, enthusiasm, and desire to work.
Every member is standing steady at his post, working hard, and determined to carry
the cause with flags flying into the next century.
From Boston the Leader went to Easthampton and became the guest of Mrs. Green,
at her charming home, so full of the aroma of art subdued and interblended with that of
home. We all know what is true New England hospitality, but that which Mrs. Green knows
how to throw around her guests has something beyond this, and is of the essence of true
comradeship.
The little party which met the Easthampton Lodge, consisted of the Leader, Brothers
Pierce, Patterson, Coryn and Stearns. Two of Mrs. Green's sons were present. All her
family are now in the organization, save one. The last to be admitted resides in Salt Lake
City. He will be of great value in the future of the work, and seemed to achieve a most
natural relation to the Leader, as if he had been one of the "boys" for any length of time.
The cordial and genial host, Mr. Green, now for long a comrade in our ranks, helped much
by his music, in the evening, accompanying the party to the Masonic Lodge, of which he
was organist.
The most remarkable feature of this crusade was the fact of the speech of the
Leader at the Masonic meeting on the evening of Monday, Nov. 20. The lodge had invited
Mrs. Tingley to be present and address it at its public installation ceremony of that evening.
Accompanied by Messrs. Pierce, Patterson, and Coryn, and her host, Mr. and Mrs. Green,
she went accordingly, and addressed the Lodge with immense fire and energy. The large
hall at Easthampton was packed to suffocation with Masons and their friends, and if the
large body of guests were all as delighted with their experience as the Universal
Brotherhood officers, who had been invited with the Leader, a strong impression must have
been left upon their minds.

[[photos: Mrs. A. Cederschiold, Miss E. Bergman]]

--- 465

The objects of Masonry and the Theosophical Society (now Universal Brotherhood)
are essentially the same, the restoration of the Brotherhood of Mankind, and an occasional
reunion in this visible must greatly assist to strengthen the inner bond of community of aim.
At the close of the meeting the officials of the Lodge were presented to Mrs. Tingley, and
one of the highest of them expressed his great appreciation of the way in which she had
unfolded the Masonic ideal. Whatever opposes the freedom of the minds of men is the
enemy alike of Masonry and Theosophy, and these two movements concur in their fight for
the destruction of the fetters with which the human mind, in its search for truth, is
threatened and - as regards a part of humanity - bound. - Observer

----------

FROM A COMRADE'S LETTER

"I am so absorbed and so enthusiastic about our magnificent chance in the glorious
evolving future of our work for humanity, thanks to the wonderful plans of our Leader, which
exceed anything else I ever heard of, and thanks to her ensouling power which helps us
to live a greater life, that I feel myself awakening from the sleep of ages into the
comradeship of my proper home. This is as near as I can express it. It is a matter to be
felt, not to be theorized about. It is something suggesting daylight, so warm, so golden, so
immensely great. So you could see how the theoretical will-o'-the-wisps in the background
of receding night must dwindle.
"The work of the great Helpers of humanity is to gather as many as will listen from
the wide, wide world, and to uplift the whole planet to a higher level. Actually uplift it and
not merely spread some theoretical tenets, instructions, and what not, as many do, in order
to blacken them afterward and profane them and then cry for more. Seeing such great
difference between these great Helpers and small will-o'-the-wisp theorizers propounding
their theories, certainly we are happy to know the truth.
"Apropos of that propounding, they want even to explode the whole earth, if their
teaching be not accepted, and to shower the fragments upon other planets. They do not
even wish to give a chance to sixth and seventh races. Now is that tolerance? That is
propounding a little overdone. - "Zoryan"

----------

GREETING FROM THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY TO THE EUROPEAN

LODGES

144 Madison Avenue, New York, November 21st. 1899.

Comrades:
At this, the regular annual meeting of the Aryan Theosophical Society, the parent
Branch in America, there is present so much energy, so much of the spirit of comradeship,
and so much fellow-feeling for you in Europe that we feel unanimously impelled to send you
greetings.
The work grows from hour to hour; its strength is as never before and that spirit
which was such a revelation to the members at the Congress in Sweden and England is
with us now in even greater force than with you then. Among us, as among you, there are
from time to time a few for whom the stress of noble work grows too great. But as the
ranks close instantly, the onward sweep is more resistless than before.
One with you in loyalty to our work, and to our selfless and all-compassionate
Leader,
We are eternally Yours,
The Aryan Theosophical Society,
E. A. Neresheimer, President.

----------
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THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS

AT BRIGHTON, ENGLAND, OCTOBER 6 & 7, 1899.

AN IDEAL CONGRESS.
 (By an On-Looker.)
I said I didn't intend to describe the proceedings of the second day at Brighton,
leaving that subject to the reporters. But I have changed my mind. Much remains to be
said beyond a record of words spoken, however accurate. It may be worth while to dwell
on the fact that a debate between the Rev. T. Duncan and Mr. S. G. P. Coryn on "The
Letter and the Spirit of the Bible," which was conducted respectfully both in the afternoon
and evening, in which not the slightest trace of personal attack was evident on either side -
was preceded on each occasion by most refined and elevating instrumental music! One
cannot help feeling that the personal harmony of the discussion was in no small degree the
result of the musical atmosphere in which it took place. Would it be disrespectful to the
United Stares Congress and to the British House of Commons to suggest that these
influential bodies might conveniently open debates in like manner? If the object of these
assemblies be the discovery of political truth rather than the triumph of party - and who can
doubt it? - then surely they might make trial of a musical atmosphere such as was provided
at the Universal Brotherhood Congress. It certainly could do them no harm. It might,
however, knock the arrangements of political caucuses into the proverbial cocked hat.
But to return to Brighton. The debate itself was, as the press has noted, a
somewhat one-sided affair. It struck me that Mr. Duncan was holding a brief for average
Christian opinion rather than expressing his own convictions. I think he could have made
more of his brief. He might have shown that there are vast numbers of Christian people
whose deeds were ever better than their creeds, and thence have drawn the legitimate
conclusion that the spirit of the Bible was really better understood within the churches than
his opponent inferred. Moreover, he might have pointed out that the centre of gravity in
Christian thought has been slowly changing throughout the latter half of the century; that
the combined pressure of scientific ideas, and of what is called "the higher criticism," has
effected a vast change in Biblical interpretation. Spurgeon belongs to the theology of the
past. Men like the late Professor Drummond are its present interpreters to a larger degree,
perhaps, than Theosophists imagine. And often but a very thin veil separates such thinkers
from the Wisdom Religion. No, I fancy that Christian opinion about the Bible was rapidly
outgrown the Christian organization. Mr. Coryn hit the nail on the head when he remarked
that preachers dare not express in their pulpits the thoughts they have in their studies. And
this must be so, while the churches are served by paid officials. The spirit of the Bible will
never be popularly understood until its interpreters undertake their sacred work "all for love
and nothing for reward." In other words, strictly follow their Master's example.
Of Mr. Coryn's masterly orations - for they were much more than replies to Mr.
Duncan - it is not easy to speak. In learning, in brilliancy, in logical skill, I hold them to be
monumental. Without a single note, all manner of references,

--- 467

ancient and modern, were woven symmetrically into the thread of his discourse. And
power no less than aptness was evident in all he said.
Yet, from the standpoint of the ordinary listener, the man who somehow had
"happened in" at the Congress and this is the position I am seeking to occupy - neither
Sydney Coryn nor any other of the many able speakers in the ranks of the U. B. who
addressed the Brighton Congress, came within measurable distance of our Leader,
Katherine Tingley. I have heard Gladstone and Bright, and quite a host of famous orators
in my time. She excels them all. This is my sober judgment. I believe this to be also the
judgment of the majority of those who listened to her at Brighton.
The Leader wound up the debate on the "Spirit and the Letter of the Bible;" and, if
I recollect aright, she spoke at all the public meetings of the Congress. On every occasion
she rose above the mental plane, while apparently addressing it. Thankfulness rather than
admiration was called forth by her speech . A true poet reading or reciting one of his own
poems will evoke a similar feeling.
Her gestures, animated, varied, original, were yet absolutely natural. I don't know
any other public speaker of whom this could be said. The greatest have their mannerisms -
graceful it may be - by which partly we remember them. Her voice: it is that which I chiefly
remember. Other women speakers whom I have heard have lost the evenness, the
flexibility, of their notes, either on the lower or upper range. Katherine Tingley's speech-
voice has the quality, the ease of a rich contralto - if I may so express myself. The manlike
notes and the womanlike notes are both there; yet so easy is the passage from one to the
other that no sense of surprise or incongruity is aroused. Perhaps there is no other such
voice in the world.
Of the language she used I venture to say, as a critic of written speech, that it was
absolutely appropriate language. I don't think any one would want to edit Katherine
Tingley's speeches. To slightly alter a famous aphorism, she said the right thing in the right
way at the right moment.
And still I have not come to those dear children. Bless them! they are worth another
article, and they shall have it.
---------

EXTRACTS FROM THE SHORTHAND REPORT OF CONGRESS.

MESSAGES OF GREETING - WELCOMING THE DELEGATES.

The Chairman, Bro. Sidney G. P. Coryn, President of the Universal Brotherhood in
England, after opening the meeting, said:
The first duty I have to perform is to read to you various messages of greeting that
have reached us from various parts of the world. The first is brought to us direct from
America by the Leader and Official head. It is from the Staff at the Headquarters, 144
Madison avenue, New York, and reads: "On behalf of the Lodges, we send a greeting to
the European Congress." (Applause.)
A cable message has also come from New York: "Jubilant greetings from America.
Hurrah!" Next comes a cable message of equal interest. It is sent by the Point Loma
comrades, and reads: "Joyful greetings to the Leader, Congress and faithful comrades."
(Applause.) The next is from Ireland, through Bro. Dick, and reads: "The Irish Lodges
send heartiest fraternal greetings to their brothers in Congress." (Applause.) Next and
lastly, there is a telegram sent by Bro. Hedlund from Sweden: "Hail, Leader! Greetings all
comrades! Sun shines,

--- 468

Sky is clear, Hearts ore opened." (Loud applause.) My next duty is to formally welcome in
our midst those delegates who have come to us from other countries - come to us in
numbers greater than at any other previous gathering here in England. I have to do a
strange thing in announcing our Leader as a delegate, but in this character she wishes to
appear at the moment. I will ask Mrs. Katherine Tingley to come on the platform.
The Leader ascended the platform amid the heartiest greetings from the audience,
all standing. She smilingly bowed in acknowledgment of the warm reception accorded to
her.
The rest of the delegates from America, Holland, Sweden, Germany and Ireland,
were then called to the platform.
Madame de Neufville, from Holland, presented the Leader with some beautiful
flowers, from which streamed three ribbons of purple silk, bearing the words in gold
lettering: "Truth, Light and Liberation."
The Leader accepted them not only for the flowers, which were very beautiful, but
for the sentiments expressed in the lettering, which she so much loved. She trusted the
delegates from Holland would carry back her good wishes and her heartfelt thanks.
(Applause.)
The President said that on the platform they had an epitome of the Theosophical
Movement and the Universal Brotherhood Organization. The delegates assembled were
peculiarly fitted to represent the work there that day, and peculiarly fitted to uphold the
banner that had been raised in the countries from which they came. (Applause) In the face
of immense difficulties Dr. Zander had upheld the work in Sweden, and it was owing to his
initiative, his courage and his unwearying effort that the work had reached the point it had
in Sweden. (Applause) Probably Sweden would never know what it owed to Dr. Zander,
and he did not think Dr. Zander would wish it to be known. Year after year he had worked
and written for Brotherhood and Theosophy, and those of them who knew what he had
written knew that it was written with a literary ability and skill they might all with advantage
emulate, but perhaps very few of them hope to attain. He must also mention Madame
Scholander, who had done valuable work for the cause with her translations. It would
probably be many years before they got her work in its true perspective so that they would
be fully able to comprehend it. Not long ago he visited Madame de Neufville and her
comrades in Amsterdam and saw the work they were doing there, like a perfect triangle of
light, sending out the force and illumination of their teachings throughout the country. Miss
Bergmann was a friend of their once Leader and friend, H.P.B., and Miss Bergmann first
introduced Theosophy into Sweden.
The President lastly referred to their comrade from Germany, Bro. Conrad J.
Gluckselig, who had not been long in their ranks externally, but whose great energy,
wisdom and determination shown in the work had caused them to regard him one of the
old and tried workers.
-----------

"THE LETTER AND SPIRIT OF THE BIBLE"

Debate Between an English Clergyman and a Theosophist.

After a musical selection, the President vacated the chair to Bro. Cranstone
Woodhead, for the debate on "The Letter and Spirit of the Bible," between the President
and the Rev. T. A. Duncan.

--- 469

The debate was opened by the Rev. T.A. Duncan, who said that through the
courtesy of the Leader of the Theosophical Movement throughout the world he had been
asked to enter into a friendly debate on a subject of general interest. They ought, he
thought, to approach the subject with considerable caution. Naturally they would expect
a clergy man of the church of England to take a conservative position in those matters
involved in the subject for debate. They should remember that that which was new was
generally not true, while that which was true was almost always not new.
Mr. Coryn expressed their obligation to Mr. Duncan for coming and favoring them
with his views. Mr. Duncan had placed him in a peculiar position. Instead of attacking any
Theosophical position, he had begged them to be cautious. "Those things which were new
are very rarely true." With the statement he could only express his absolute concurrence,
because Theosophy, the philosophy which went under that name, which had been
reintroduced into the West was not a new thing - it was as old as the world, and there never
had been a time or people when Theosophy was not taught in some one or other of its
innumerable aspects.
If they went back to ancient Egypt - which was as far back, perhaps, as they could
hope to go with historical accuracy, in the literature, engraved on the stones of the
pyramids, they found Theosophy in very much the same garb as they found it here in the
West. And coming down the centuries, everywhere they found some aspect of that hidden
Wisdom, and those many aspects, put one against another, made the shining stone of
Divine Truth they called Theosophy. It was impossible that afternoon to treat fully of the
greatest and only philosophy worthy of the name. He would select one or two points only,
where it appeared to be in antagonism to some of the central tenets of orthodox
Christianity.
Theosophy spoke of a universal current of life, and not as though life were divided
and not one; it spoke of one universal ocean of life, seeking ever to manifest itself,
continually seeking its illustration on the physical plane, continually molding form after form
for itself, each more perfect, intricate, more worthy of its Divine tenant than the one before.
They found the universal life at the beginning if they liked to call it so, in the mineral
kingdom; and, after aeons, it evolves for itself a covering in the vegetable kingdom; after
aeons passing into the animal, until eventually the flower bloomed in the brain of man.
Theosophy did not say "Be brothers," but in ever louder tones, ever more insistently,
"Ye are brothers, whether ye will it or not. If ye kill each other, that shall not break down
the law, the truth that BROTHERHOOD IS A LAW IN NATURE," because it was one
Universal Life that was sweeping through them all. Was there one person who had not felt
sympathy with another? But what was it, and why did the sight of sorrow make them
sorrowful? Was it not because the man feeling sympathy was learning from the great voice
of Nature that it is indeed one Life only that sweeps through all men and all worlds, and all
men were traveling to the same eternal goal. And the life wave did not stop when it had
reached man. It went on as before, through successive re-embodiments, and so that
aspect of the Universal Life we call ourselves was still advancing.
Theosophy, as well as every great Religion, taught the great law or Reincarnation -
that this life, with all its joys and sorrows, is not the beginning, and is not the end; that it
is one in a long chain of earth existences; that each life we are living now is the logical,
necessary result of the lives preceding it, and that we

--- 470

are now sowing in the unseen fields of the future that seed which we shall one day surely
reap in joy or tears. That appeared to be a point of divergence between Theosophy and
Christianity, as taught in the churches today. (Applause.)
Mr. Duncan, in reply, said that Mr. Coryn seemed to think that in bringing forward
the idea of the one Life he was mentioning a conception unfamiliar to the ordinary Christian
mind. He could not see that there was any ground for the supposition. The conception of
the one Life at the root of all things was thoroughly Christian, and had never, so far as he
been questioned in any branch of the Christian Church. It was recognized that it lay at the
root of all life as the Divine Spirit-God was in all things as Creator, Sustainer, and Governor.
Then, when they came to Brotherhood they reached familiar Christian ground. If the
mission of Jesus Christ were not to recall to men's minds the fact that they were brothers,
the ground upon which that fact was based being their common divine nature within them,
he knew not what his mission was. Did He not say: "One is your Father in Heaven and all
ye are brethren"? Why, then, should a new organization be started to carry out that which
had always lain at the root of Christianity and been put forward in its propaganda? It might
be said, Christianity had failed to realize that brotherhood. He granted that was true but
they must remember that all things in the world proceeded very slowly; no great change
could take place all at once, and Christianity, with the grand principles of brotherhood and
love, was a leaven working in the hearts of men; they could not expect it to change things
all at once from the state they were in Christ's day to the millennial state to which his
friends were looking forward perhaps in the near future. (Applause.)
The only new point the Society brought forward which Christianity bad not been
applying for the last 1800 years seemed to be that of Reincarnation, which was certainly
unfamiliar to Western minds. He supposed the Society did not mean that view commonly
held in the East of metempsychosis, but rather that man, in the course of his existence and
for the purpose of gaining experience, passes through a large number of lives, and no
human consciousness could ever sink to the level of the beast. And that was well, for he
did not suppose his opponent would induce any Western mind to accept such a doctrine
as the former.
Reincarnation was to him interesting as a theory, but seemed to be little more than
a theory, as they had not had many convincing proofs put before them. He should think
a speaker arguing for it would show it had some foundation in the Scriptures, to which they
looked for light on the deep problems of life, and from the facts of experience. (Applause.)
Mr. Coryn had hoped Mr. Duncan would have defined "soul." In the Christian
Church that word was used more than any other, except, perhaps, "heaven;" but he had
always failed to get a definition of either from the orthodox Christian. He once heard Dr.
George Macdonald say: "For goodness sake, don't teach your children that they have
souls; tell them that they are souls." (Applause.) It seemed to him to be a great failing of
the Christian Church when dealing with the essentials of religion that they had no
metaphysics behind their philosophy and no philosophy behind their metaphysics.
(Laughter.) They spoke of the soul as some vague shadow, something belonging to a man
of which he could know nothing so long as he is alive.
Now, the doctrine of Universal Brotherhood had been put forward. Why, then, did
they not see the results of it where Christianity had had sway? He would like.

--- 471

to make a distinction. In speaking of Christianity he was speaking of orthodox nineteenth

century Christianity. It was not in his mind, or in the heart of any Theosophist, to speak
disrespectfully, slightingly, of the teachings and doctrines put forth by Jesus of Nazareth.
(Applause.) But probably those teachings and writings could all be placed on half a sheet
of notepaper. If they wanted to know to what point orthodoxy had come, let them search
out those things they believed Jesus to have said and taught. For instance: "Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Let them compare the teachings of Christ with
those of the Christian Church today, compare them with that edifice which had lain so
heavily on the hearts of men - its cathedrals, bishops, establishments - and then ask
themselves if all that was compatible with the teachings of Him who said, "Blessed are the
pure in heart."
Mr. Duncan had asked for proofs of Reincarnation. Such a subject by its very nature
was incapable of proof, and therefore proof in the ordinary sense of the word must be
wanting except to the individual, and proof to the individual was neither proof nor evidence
to any other individual in the world. He thought, however, they were justified in accepting
the axiom in science that when they had an intricate problem, if they were able to find a
theory which would solve it from every point of view they were warranted and justified in
accepting it, and were required to accept it as a working hypothesis. And so Theosophists
advanced the theory of Reincarnation, with the statement that, it solved every problem
which had ever presented itself to the philanthropist, statesman or humanitarian - that it
solved every social question which troubled the minds of statesmen and philanthropists
today. Theosophists did not stand on the defensive in this matter, but on the offensive, for
they asserted it was not they who did endeavor to graft any new thing on the teaching of
Jesus, that they had not brought any philosophy or doctrine that was a stranger, but that
it was Christianity which had proved unfaithful to the trust given it; that it was Christianity
that had defiled the waters that once ran pure from the fount of Eternal Truth.
How many were aware that Reincarnation in the days of the Early Church was an
integral part of Christianity, held by a majority of the Early Church: St. Jerome spoke of it
as an esoteric or secret truth; Augustine speculated upon it, and Origen spoke of it even
after his conversion as a fact well known to philosophy. Coming to the teachings of Jesus
and the disciples, he said it was amazing that the doctrine had not made greater progress,
because the teaching was to be found there right on the surface. Solomon, they were told,
was the wisest man that ever lived, and he said: "Having been of a right understanding,
I came into a body undefiled." Theosophy taught Reincarnation and that great law which
stretches from life to life, compelling us to come back and reap what we have sown, not in
some fanciful heaven, but here where we sowed the seed. The man born blind was
brought to Jesus, and the question asked, "Is it this man's fault or his parents' that he was
born blind?" They must remember that the disciples had been especially taught by Jesus,
and yet that they believed in Reincarnation was shown by the question, or when did the
man commit the sin for which the punishment was to be born blind?
The had consulted many learned in theology, and asked for an explanation. Their
answer was one he once found in a Bible commentary - that the Lord. looking upon that
poor man before he was born, perceived that, having been born, he would

--- 472

be guilty of a certain offense, and therefore He punished him for the sins which later on he
was going to commit. (Laughter) That explanation was given to him by the editor of The
King's Messenger - that it was a "prophetical" punishment. Then there was another bible
incident he might mention. The disciples came and asked Jesus who was John the baptist.
Jesus said (not as esoteric truth, but as something known to him as a fact): "If ye will
receive it, this is Elias, who was for to come." He had asked many ministers and consulted
commentators as to what that saying meant, and it was astonishing and gratifying to find
what able commentators they had as to what Jesus meant, and what he ought to have
said, and what they would have said. He found that what was really meant was that this
was a man who in many respects was similar to Elias. Now, Jesus was speaking to men
who by reason of their faith believed in Reincarnation, believing that their greatest and best
would one day come back again, reincarnated, to lead them to the Promised Land, so that
in saying, "This is Elias who was for to come," he thought the Lord of Christianity only
spoke a plain truth to be plainly understood by those who listened to Him.
It would have been astonishing if so great a Teacher had come and simply refrained
from denouncing Reincarnation, because every educated Jew believed in it, but He not only
refrained from condemning the idea which was so prevalent, but substantiated it by
sentence after sentence. He thought he had shown it was not a new thing. But the Church
arrogated to itself the possession of the keys of Heaven and Hell, and how could a church
with such pretensions exist in face of Reincarnation, which made a man independent of
prayer and mass and confession? - a belief which placed every man upon his own solid
basis to take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence or to do it not at all. And so at the great
"Council of Trent" that menacing truth was removed, and the believer in Reincarnation was
denouced anathema by the Church. But even that did not destroy it. He would venture to
say that in the Christian world the belief in Reincarnation had never disappeared. They
would find artist and poet and writer, men with great prophetic souls, able to look a little way
from the sordid life of the world - they would find they possessed that truth, but because we
had hypnotized ourselves into unbelief we could not see it. "Our birth is but a sleep and
a forgetting; the soul that rises with us, our Life's Star, hath had elsewhere its setting, and
cometh from afar." What was the meaning of that, if the poet had not looked into the
mysterious heart of Nature, seen the great chain of life sweeping within and upward, taking
possession and passing on from garment to garment, vesture to vesture? And so as
Theosophists, they believed it was only necessary to present that truth of Reincarnation
where men were accustomed to think and that truth would receive acceptance.
Where was there a social problem it would not explain? In their great towns they
found a man born in luxury, who had never known an ungratified wish, while side by side
was a man born in the gutter, who had never known anything but sin and the horror of
shame, who died as he had lived, neglected and forgotten. Why? Were they not entitled
to put that resounding Why? Were they to suppose there was a hideous demon of chance
who took delight in whirling the great vessel in which the lives are mixed? No law, balance,
equilibrium - not great Fiat of justice ringing through the world? But when they understood
Reincarnation, then they knew and could help. They saw that each one was reaping that
which he had sown. However wretched his life, it was but one in a succession, and as

--- 473

one of the Eastern poets had said: "Thou shalt not draw away thy robe from the beggar in
the street, for how knowest thou, as the wheel of life and death goes round, he shall not sit
where thou art and thou shalt be then as he?" (Applause.)
Then Reincarnation explained character. What was character? They tried to explain
it by saying it was due to heredity; but asked to explain heredity, they found an equally
great problem. Where did character come from? He ventured to suggest it was the
spiritual harvest. Every trial and lesson we had learned had added a little bit to character -
here a prejudice, there an antipathy - all the marvelous complexity they called character.
Every man's character was the sum total of the lessons he had learned. They did not
remember them, because they were not now thinking with the same brains with which they
thought then, but those experiences had made an alteration in our lives which persisted
throughout the ages - and they called it character.
Reincarnation explained genius. Would heredity explain the genius of Bonaparte?
Where, then, was the greater Bonaparte from which he came? Hofmann was a musical
genius, but his father was only a fourth-rate performer. He urged the Christian Church to
put its faith on a basis of logic and philosophy, to return once more to the place which could
alone put it among the great philosophies of the world, to see in that great truth something
not hostile to it, but one of the greatest weapons it could wield. Christianity had forgotten
its defense. It had not taught human brotherhood or advanced it. James Russell Lowell
had written a poem in which he imagined Christ coming back to the world to look upon His
Church, and as He wandered through the cathedrals and palaces He felt the ground
moving beneath His feet with the struggles of those whom that Church had enslaved. And
He took "a low-browed, stunted, haggard man, And a motherless girl whose fingers, thin,
Pushed from her faintly want and sin. And as they drew back their garment-hem, For fear
of defilement, 'Lo, here,' said He, 'The images ye have made of Me!'" (Loud applause.)
-------------

ADDRESS BY THE LEADER.

Katherine Tingley then rose to greet the members, all the audience at once rising.
The Leader said:
MR. CHAIRMAN AND FRIENDS - The Universal Brotherhood Organization has
come to the nineteenth century as a Divine message of light. It embodies some of the
grandest ideals of the ages; it is declaring to the world that all men are divine - that they
are souls; and I wish that it could be the mission of every human being who has the voice
to speak to send this glorious message down the ages and ring out the anthem of
Immortality - Eternal Truth, Light and Liberation to the world. If men could rise to the
consciousness of their divine heritage; if they could realize every moment, every hour and
every day of their lives that they are souls, facing great responsibilities, do you believe for
a moment that we should have the fear round about us, the despair, the pessimism and the
awful suffering that exist today?
It is a fact that humanity has lost sight of its heritage; that it is asleep - has been
hypnotized for ages and ages by the brain-mind conceptions of truth. It has been
hypnotized by a foul fear. It has been taught that in its birth and growth it is evil in its
nature. It has been forced into the minds of men, and even of little children, that they were
born sinners, and that cruel hypnotic influence has been an opposing force in the growth
and development of our fellow creatures. It is that fact that stands as an appalling monster
today, holding and fettering humanity. There are organizations - there is one organization
that has a mighty sweep of power throughout the world, and uses it in all its most pleasing
aspects to feed the imagination of men in a certain degree. It holds out to the world that
a few only are to be saved. It preaches eternal suffering for man, and it is that organization
above all organizations in the world that should be feared.
I hope that my utterances here will not be in vain; I hope that England, with all its
power and majesty, will stand as a bulwark against the invading power of such a system.
I declare it is the duty of men to not only awaken to the con-

--- 474

sciousness of their heritage and responsibility, but to realize the dangers that beset the
human race. In the secret organizations gaining foothold in the nations is this that I refer
to, this hypnotic power, that clothes itself with sophistry and praise-worthiness and
expressions of brotherhood. If we could unmask humanity and tear away the veil that hides
the vice and weakness of some of human kind we should see that the shadows of trouble
and despair that we find existing in different countries are largely due to the influence of this
system of which I speak. You who think - and there are many outside the Universal
Brotherhood who think, and think very deeply, and, I do believe, very often realize that they
are souls, and do feel these mighty responsibilities - are questioning how to change these
conditions It is their minds and yours, the earnest aspirations of all good people that hold
humanity today from the retrogression which I have referred to, which must follow upon that
subtle influence of evil overshadowing the world.
We are standing face to face with the battle of good and evil, light and darkness, in
this nineteenth century, and when humanity can awaken to its mighty duty, true Christians
and true members of the Universal Brotherhood standing together, then that mighty power
of thought and strong endeavor for right will sweep the land, and those who seek to fetter
the minds of men and impede their progress must in their evil doing go down with the tide.
(Applause.)
----------

MESSAGES OF GREETING - SPEECH BY THE CHAIRMAN.

The President proceeded to read the messages of greeting from comrades in other
countries, with the addition of an enthusiastic greeting to the Leader and Congress from
Holland. A message from Bro. Winans, which represented Australia and New Zealand, ran:
"Success to your Congress and joy to all." They would certainly have been aware,
continued the President, of the fraternal thoughts of their Australian colleagues even
without the written message, but it was especially pleasing to be able to include that
message among the rest. (Applause.)
 The Leader and delegates and representatives from foreign countries were then
publicly invited to the platform and warmly welcomed. Senorita Fabra, from Cuba, was
heartily welcomed. On behalf of the Bow Lodge, Mrs. Radnall handed to the Leader a
beautiful bouquet of chrysanthemums. Col. Barclay Cleather was also invited to the
platform, the President speaking in high terms of appreciation of his services to the cause,
both in the home circle and in his recent visit to the United States. Col. Cleather had been
given a pleasure many of them would welcome gladly, and that was his presence at the
great Congress at Point Loma. (Applause.) Mr. Coryn went on to give a history of the
Movement, and referring to H. P. B., said he thought they were only just beginning to
perceive that the aid they received from such as she was limited not by their desire to help,
but by our ability to receive. He thought that among those who knew her, who remained
faithful to the divine trust she put into their hands, there could be no more terrible thought
than that even in the smallest detail they were found wanting in the utter trust, the utter
loyalty, the utter faith they should have reposed in her. The crown of suffering which rested
on her brow was transferred to that of W. Q. Judge, and he also without murmur or flinching
faced the persecution, the like of which had rarely been found in history. After W. Q. Judge
passed away their present Leader took the place of H. P. B., and now they had the
Universal Brotherhood of which the old Theosophical Society was an integral part. He
need not tell any one that a change in organization was a change in purpose; he need not
tell them the work begun by H. P. B. was carried on now unbroken, carried on more
victoriously than the world had ever seen before. She came with one object, one purpose
only, and that was to teach brotherhood, prove it was a fact in Nature and force even into
the most stubborn heart the great eternal truth of brotherhood. (Applause.) From that
programme there had been no deviation, no change. The eternal object of the
Organization went on unchanged, and the purpose of the Leaders was ever the

--- 475

determination that while life remained in them they would not quit their hold of the banner
they had raised, but press ever onward toward victory. (Applause.)
In the work they needed unflinching loyalty toward their profession, to the flag under
which they had enlisted. Never from the members had been asked a display of intellectual
strength, never had wisdom been required or learning been an object. Those things had
often been forced upon them - offered and thankfully accepted; but the wisdom, the
learning, that took the place of loyalty to principle was of no value to that work whatever.
Against one earnest heart full of loyalty to the promise made to the Leader they had
accepted all the intellect and learning of the world melted away into nothing. As long as
they preserved that loyalty unbroken in their hearts, so long as they remembered the great
needs of the world, were ready to face all things, to lose all things, to dare all things for the
love of what they knew was truth, so long would success attend their work and go on
increasing, until from end to end of the world the great heart throbs of fraternity flow
unbroken and unbreaking. (Loud applause.)
(The conclusion of the debate will be given in the next issue.)
-----------

NEW LODGES IN AMERICA

 New lodges have been chartered during the last month in Chilton, Wis.,
Ogdensburg, Wis., and Santa Ana, Cal. The lodges in Madison, Wis., and Cleveland have
been reorganized and have entered upon a new era of active work.
Bros. Denicke and Cannon, of Milwaukee, and Bro. Acheson, of Youngstown, are
doing splendid work in arousing public interest in the Universal Brotherhood in all the cities
and towns near their respective homes, having been appointed for this special home
crusade work by the Leader.

A CHARTER REVOKED.
Charter of Universal Brotherhood Lodge 111, Lewiston, Maine, has been revoked.
---------

PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT.
A fund has been established for the free distribution of Brotherhood literature. The
fund to be equally divided in obtaining the following: -
1) The New Century Series: The Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings
2) The Universal Brotherhood Magazine
3) The New Century,
to be placed in the prisons in America, also hospitals, work-rooms, free reading rooms,
lodging houses, steamboats, and to soldiers and sailors.
This project is originated by Katherine Tingley, who has given great attention to it,
and she feels confident that it will be well sustained by all members of the Universal
Brotherhood and by all who are interested in Humanitarian Work.
Contributions to be sent to
J. H. Fussell,
Treasurer Propaganda Department,
144 Madison Ave., New York.
------------

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED.
Anon ........ $1.00
Miss J. L. Y. ......... 5.00
Dr. C. L. H. ......... 10.00
B. L. .......... 2.50
-----------
--- 476

THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD

HOW TO JOIN.
The Universal Brotherhood welcomes to membership all who truly love their fellow
men and desire the eradication of the evils caused by the barriers of race, creed, caste or
color, - which have so long impeded human progress; to all sincere lovers of truth and to
all who aspire to higher and better things than the mere pleasures and interests of a worldly
life, and are prepared to do all in their power to make Brotherhood a living power in the life
of humanity, its various departments offer unlimited opportunities.
The Organization is composed of Lodges, and is divided into various National
Centers to facilitate local work. The whole work of the Organization is under the direction
of the Leader and Official Head, Katherine A. Tingley, as outlined in the Constitution.
Any person endorsing the principal purpose of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
may apply to Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue, New York, for membership in the
Universal Brotherhood Organization or any of its departments.
Three or more persons may apply for a Charter to form a subordinate Lodge. For
all information as to fees, dues, etc. (which differ in each country), address,
F. M. Pierce,
Secretary-General, Universal Brotherhood,
144 Madison Avenue, New York, City.

--------

FORM OF BEQUEST TO SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF

ANTIQUITY
I give and bequeath to the School for the Revival of the lost Mysteries of Antiquity,
a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the Laws of West Virginia,
and incorporated thereunder on the 28th day of May, 1897, the sum of Dollars, to be
paid by my executor hereinafter named, exclusively out of such part of my personal estate
not herein otherwise specifically disposed of, as I may by law bequeath to educational
institutions, and I hereby charge such of my estate with the aforesaid sum, and I direct that
the receipt of the President and Secretary of said corporation holding such office at the time
of the payment of this legacy, shall be sufficient discharge of the legacy."

Note: - The above should be inserted as one of the clauses of the Last Will and
testament of the person desiring to make a bequest to the Corporation. The validity of the
bequest will depend upon the strict compliance by the deviser in drawing and executing his
Will and fixing the amount of his bequest in accordance with the Statutes of the State in
which he resides and his estate is located. The amount bequeathed by any person should
not exceed the proportionate amount of his estate which the laws of his State allow him to
give to an educational institution, and the formal execution of the Will containing this
bequest should comply strictly with the Statutes of the State of his residence.
Any one wishing further information regarding the School for the Revival of the Lost
Mysteries of Antiquity may apply to F. M. Pierce, Special Representative, or H. T.
Patterson, Sec'y, 144 Madison Avenue, New York.

-------------------

AUM
TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

Humanity is the child of cyclic destiny and not one of its units can escape its
unconscious mission, or get rid of the burden of its cooperative work with Nature.
- The Secret Doctrine, II, 446, H.P. Blavatsky
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIV January, 1900 No. 10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PATIENCE
From Ibrahim, son of Kunaif of Nabhan.
Translation of C. J. Lyall.

BE PATIENT: for free-born men to bear is the fairest thing,

And refuge against Time's wrong or help from his hurt is none;
And if it availed man aught to bow him to fluttering Fear,
Or if he could ward off hurt by humbling himself to Ill,
To bear with a valiant front the full brunt of every stroke
And onset of Fate were still the fairest and best of things.
But how much the more, when none outruns by a span his Doom,
And refuge from God's decree nor was nor will ever be,
And sooth, if the changing Days have wrought us - their wonted way -
A lot mixed of weal and woe, yet one thing they could not do:
They have not made soft or weak the stock of our sturdy spear;
They have not abased our hearts to doing of deeds of shame.
We offer to bear their weight, a handful of noble souls:
Though laden beyond all weight of man, they uplift the load.
So shield we with Patience fair our souls from the stroke of Shame;
Our honors are whole and sound, though others be lean enow.

-------------
--- 478

LET US AWAKE
By H. T. Edge

"Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep." - Romans xiii, 11.

"SLEEP" is a very good word to describe the general mental condition of civilized
society at this century's end, though perhaps "uneasy slumber" would be a more accurate
description. For, from a spiritual point of view, the world has been sleeping. The concerns
of our inner life, the interests of our higher and real nature have been avoided and shelved.
There has been a "conspiracy of silence" about them. Religious topics have been tacitly
avoided in our daily life and conversation; they would interfere too much with the
comfortable, drowsed state which best suits our ordinary occupations, and arouse
uncomfortable qualms; or else they would bring on unseemly quarrels. Religion is
therefore carefully pigeon-holed in that division of our time known as Sunday, when we go
to a meeting from which unpleasant topics are too often discreetly banished, and the
parson aids and abets in the slumbrous soothing of our consciences. Whenever, in our
daily life, an unwelcome truth pops out its head, does not everyone at once combine to put
on the "blinkers," to explain it away, or to change the subject? We cannot always keep
hidden these inconsistencies, especially when the enfant terrible (which means a child only
partially perverted) is around. Religion, in short, is apt to be found leagued with the
sleepers, on the side of vested interests and old abuses, an anodyne and narcotic rather
than a stimulant; and the impatient aspirant usually finds himself at arms with it.
Nor is it of any use, failing religion, to throw ourselves into the arms of modern
science for help against the tide of materialism that invests us; for modern science does
not even profess to throw light on the problems of man's spiritual nature. It lends itself, like
religion, to the abuses of civilization, fortifying the rich, the idle, or the selfish in their castles
and pleasure-gardens, and strengthening the bonds of the feeble. Its philosophy, when it
has one, is one of despair and doubt, denying the warm impulses of the soul and reducing
life to a cold calculation.
The present time is like the time when our door is rapped in the morning; we must
either shake off sleep and rise to begin a new day, or else we must sink again into a new
but heavier slumber. We cannot stay as we are. Hence we have now in the civilized world
two classes; those who are so comfortable that they will try all they can to slumber further,
and those who are tired of sleep and are rubbing their eyes and straining to arouse
themselves. Things today are not as they were yesterday. The sun has risen higher; the
world's inquietude is becoming more urgent. The strain of humanity's present conditions
grows day by day more intolerable. It is harder for the sleepers to keep their eyes shut and
sleep on. The position of an awakened man planted in a society built on

--- 479

self-seeking is very painful. There are very many such people. Soon there will be so many
that the strain will become too great and they will burst their bonds and seek for the light
and the salvation of humanity. Isolated from one another they can do but little; and most
of them must needs take refuge in the best kind of compromise they can effect. But set
them free, unite them in a Universal Brotherhood, and give them a nucleus around which
they can gather, and the wasted energy will be utilized, the smoking flax blown into flame.
Another characteristic of these times that has often been remarked is the absence
of leaders of men among us. There are none who can stir the people and gather them
round their banners, no great religious and moral teachers, no poets, statesmen, scientific
luminaries, nor geniuses of any kind. We are restless, unsettled, and without definite aim
or tendency. There are no great tides of enthusiasm, but only a choppy sea, washing
hither and thither on the surface. Men are asleep; the energies of civilization have run
down. Humanity has steered so long on the one tack that its course is in danger of being
lost.
This is, in short, just the kind of time when students of history should expect a great
leader to appear and collect into one focus the scattered rays of hope and energy which
are otherwise in danger of fading out because of their isolation. A Leader with a strong new
message for poor leaderless, despairing humanity; such a Leader as Joan of Arc or
Mahomet or Buddha or Jesus, who would reawaken the spirit of dash and enthusiasm that
has so died down. And we members of the Universal Brotherhood know that there is such
a Leader in the world who has already proclaimed the Brotherhood of humanity and pointed
out the path to follow. Those who are wise will prepare themselves silently for such a
change in men's affairs. They will not strive to involve themselves still deeper with the
things that are passing away, but will "sell out," so to say, and invest in the rising securities
of the new life of Brotherliness. Those who cannot change with the times must fall behind;
for, when compromise is no longer possible, "all or nothing" is the only cry.
When narrow, hard and fast lines of long standing are broken up, men are thrown
back on their own character and on the original and eternal principles of human nature.
They are in fact stripped of their clothes and disguises and become once more the plain
"forked radish" of which Carlyle speaks. Hence, to "awaken out of sleep" means that we
must leave off adorning those vestments and masks of society and begin strenuously to
cultivate and foster those real qualities which alone will serve us in the crisis. Thus money,
ambition, love of rule, mental dogmatism, graceful accomplishments, social position, and
such like, are not the things to be invested in now. They are the mere external
paraphernalia and trappings of a man. Character is the great asset of the coming time;
and the main-spring of character is selflessness. Self-seeking is the motive which will
suffer most in the crisis, for it is the basis of the old order that is crumbling. But the selfless
man will be in his own element. He cannot be harmed; he has no stock in the old order,
and nothing to lose. He is at home anywhere; humanity is his world. His personal
belongings are his character, which cannot be taken away. Let us therefore awaken out
of sleep and cultivate that which endureth.

------------
--- 480

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOUND

By Charlotte E. Woods

THE universal power of music over mental states gives rise to much fascinating
speculation among musicians who are philosophically inclined concerning the rationale of
sound, and its correspondence with other vibrational phenomena in nature. It is not enough
for some minds to experience the elevating effects of certain combinations of sounds upon
themselves and others; they must further inquire why sound affects, and seek to
investigate the subtle connection between waves or vibrations of ether, and waves or
vibrations of the inner psychic nature of man. And such inquirers, though they often lose
in art what they gain from scientific criticism directed toward it, do much to uphold the
dignity of music as an actual factor in the evolution of the human soul.
"Music," it has been intuitively said, "is not only one of the refinements of life, but life
itself." If this be true, our poets may speak more literally than we wot of, when they figure
the life of man and the Universe in terms of sound.

"And I know not if, save in this, such gift be allowed to man,
That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth sound, but a star.
Consider it well; each tone of our scale in itself is naught;
It is everywhere in the world - loud and soft, and all is said."

The science of vibrations, then, imperfectly though it is yet understood, appears to

open to us at least one portal of the mystery of life. Penetrate far enough - "and all is said."
Since all vibration produces sound, and since all matter is in motion or vibration, it follows
that whenever there is matter or substance there must also be sound, though inaudible.
Hence every object and part of the universe will be continually producing a certain definite
sound, though our ears may not be sufficiently sensitive to receive it. Truly and literally the
world is a vast orchestra of pulsing vibration, and the "music of the spheres" exist equally
for the scientist, as for the man of imagination.
Professor Huxley's oft-quoted statement in his essay on the "Physical Basis of Life"
will come readily to the mind of many:
"The wonderful noonday silence of a tropical forest, is, after all, due only to the
dullness of our hearing; and could our ears catch the murmur of these tiny maelstrom, as
they whirl in the innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we should
be stunned, as with the roar of a great city."
A musician's pursuit leads him sometimes away from the practical side of his art, to
the speculative. He has to become, for the time, a philosopher, seeking to know how
sound is made, and its relation to the ultimates of things. And Science gives us such big
hints - sets us so tall a ladder to climb, that climb we

--- 481

will, to find, when we have got high enough, that the Easterns have been before us, and
have relegated Sound - primordial matter in vibration - to the very forefront of the divine
program of the Universe.
According to the Puranas, the world, with its countless forms, conditions, and
aspects, is built out of a single Substance, to whose earliest manifestations belongs the
only conceivable attribute of Sound. The Vedas set forth the cause of Sound, and the
"Voice of Nature" under the allegory of the Gandharvas, the 6,333 heavenly Singers and
Musicians of Indra's Realm, who personify, even in numbers, the manifold sounds in
nature, spiritual and physical. The Hindus interpret them to mean the forces of solar fire,
and their association with both heat and sound is an interesting forestallment of the
hypothesis of modern Science that heat is a specific form of vibratory motion, all vibration
producing sound, audible and inaudible.
Of course Science laughs at the Vedas, and their fairytale methods of dealing with
hard facts. It knows nothing of a hypothetical Akasa-Ether as the origin of sound. "Sound
is the result of the vibrations of the air," say our wiser men. For all that, we will just glance
at a little more archaic nonsense on the subject.
The three most dissimilar religious philosophies of the ancient world agree in the
idea of creation, or transmutation, by Word or Sound. The Hindu Brahma through Vach
(divine Speech) created the Primordial Waters. Light, Sound, Number, the Ten Words, or
Sephiroth, are the three factors in creation, according to the Chaldean-Hebrew Kabbalah.
The Pythagoreans held that the Logos called forth the world out of Chaos by Sound or
Harmony, and constructed it according to the principles of musical proportion. For this
reason, Pythagoras made a knowledge of music and mathematics necessary to admission
into his schools.
Let us grant, for the sake of argument, that these ancients knew something, that
their Akasa - Vach - Logos - Verbum contained high suggestions of a condition of (if I may
so speak) spiritualized Sound, the result of vibrations so rapid in a medium so attenuated
as to defy investigation by physical means, and to be reached in thought only by induction
from the law of analogy on all the planes of Nature. This will give us some conception of
Sound as a (possibly) creative potency, and a factor in the early evolution of Form. Is not
this hypothesis borne out by the celebrated Watts-Hughes experiments in which sand on
stretched vellum is thrown into geometrical shapes by the vibrations of a violin-string?
Science, indeed, seems to be awakening, in many directions, to the great possibilities
connected with the right use and understanding of sound, and its sister, color.
Every atom of matter in the Universe, of every grade of density, has probably a fixed
rate of vibration. One may produce, by sound, the key-note of the atoms composing a
structure or organism, and may harmonise or disturb them according to the particular ratio
of vibration employed. In cases where illness is due to a disturbance of the right balance
of molecular motion - either of the

--- 482

physical or psychic man - the proper use of sound as a restorer of equability is scientifically
conceivable. We have lately heard of the Guild of St. Cecilia whose object is to allay
certain forms of suffering by music performed in the sick-room by competent musicians
who have devoted themselves to this experiment. In Paris, too, the different colors of the
spectrum have lately been made to play a part in the treatment of disease.
Sound is the first link in a (possibly) infinite chain of phenomena resulting from
vibratory motion of matter in different degrees of modification. From 32 to 32,000 vibrations
per second lies the range of sound audible to the human ear, conveyed by the air. From
32,000, to a third of a billion vibrations is the region of the electric rays, the medium being
ether. These rays Lord Armstrong has shown to be productive of form in geometrical
proportion. From 35 to 1875 billions per second, we have the range of the heat and light
rays - a narrow margin comprising red at 450, and violet at 750 billions. Some steps
upward may be found the vibrations of the Roentgen rays, from a fourth of a trillion, to ten
times that number per second. Then a vast, almost unexplored region in which the rays
cease to be refracted, reflected, or polarized, and traverse dense bodies as though they
were transparent.
Professor Crookes is our authority for this vibrational ladder, and he sets no limit to
its ascent in ever-increasing rates of velocity. An observation of the exceedingly narrow
limits of our perceptions and knowledge gives rise to the speculation as to whether sound
might not exist at stages of inconceivable height, as well as at the comparatively low point
in the ascent at which we find it. Whether on the principle that extremes meet, the Hindu
Akasa - spiritualized sound - may not be so very unscientific, after all.
But to return to terra-firma. Sound, form, color, heat are a series of apparently
interdependent effects arising from the one cause of matter in motion. Arrange now the
vibrations of sound in certain definite combinations, as in music, and we get a distinct
impression on the mind and emotions, and are confronted again with the time-honoured
problem of associating changes in matter with changes in mind and feeling. A new, and
totally dissimilar phenomenon has been added to our list of correspondences - one that has
ever constituted the "Thus far" of the scientist.
One clue only can be offered here, and that an insufficient one. Huxley, as we have
seen, regards every atom in nature as pulsing with inaudible sound. If his statement be
true, it follows that not only the physical body of man, but the ether interpenetrating it, and
even the substance or inner vehicle of man's mind must each have its own dominant note,
which can be altered and modified by the power of sound in different combinations. If this
were not so, if sound did not exist within man in some form or another, by reason of the
regularly toned molecules of his sensitive inner nature, there could be no connection
between himself and the sounds reaching him from without. Hence it is easy to understand
why every organism, with its own peculiar key-note, or rate of vibration, will be differently
affected by different classes of music, certain com-

--- 483

binations of sounds influencing some natures strongly in a particular direction, and leaving
others untouched through lack of the appropriate key-note.
From the Eastern custom of mantram chanting, or the deliberate employment of
certain sound-vibrations for the production of certain states of consciousness, to the leit-
motif of our modern orchestral writers, is probably a far cry; yet both have a common
principle. In Wagner's Dramas, for instance, the hearer associates in consciousness
certain personages and dramatic points with an appropriate combination of notes. Every
part of the work stands to each, and to the hearer, in a definite vibrational ratio. So that by
constant repetition of the individual motifs, or logoi (the latter a significant term) the
consciousness of the audience becomes attuned to a sympathetic relation with the
characters and episodes as presented, of which the motifs are the attempted sound-
equivalents. This mantramic power of music to arouse corresponding states of
consciousness is within the experience of all.
Of modern composers, possibly Wagner and Schumann had the deepest insight into
the influence of sound upon the inner, psychic organism. To these men, the composer's
power lay in the expression and interpretation, in terms of sound, of certain stages of soul-
experience. Without a perfect attunement of the inner vibrations that make up individuality,
with their outer correspondences, without the true inspiration founded on nature and soul-
life, music may pass into the realm of intellectual sound-gymnastics, but it can never
become true art.
According to what a man has done, suffered, thought, and experienced, will be the
harmony or discord of the psychic note he utters. In each man this note is dominant,
sounding through his entire individuality, jarring or harmonizing according to the mind-pitch
of those with whom he comes in contact. To this fact may, perhaps, be attributed the
superior affecting power of the human voice over other forms of musical expression. This
instrument may accurately disclose the interior state of a speaker or singer. If a man has
had a wide experience of suffering, it is stored up within him, and his voice will carry with
it the synthetic expression of his entire being. A superficial or unformed character is
unmistakably revealed in this way.*
To a certain extent, the audience and the music-maker are one, in that what the
latter conveys in terms of outer vibrations, the former answers in terms of emotion and
thought. Some music, it is true, touches deeper places; awakens experiences that are not
to be expressed by phenomena so shallow as feeling. It creates, or re-creates within a
state all too high and fleeting for the scalpels of the musical psychologist, in which the
hearers regain, for a flash, the Beatific Vision, and being led to the "edge of the Infinite,
gaze for one moment into That."
After which Science may say its little say to deaf ears.

------------
* See E. A. Neresheimer's remarks on "Music" in "Theosophy" for August, 1897.
------------
--- 484

THE PITH AND MARROW OF THE CLOSING AND COMING CENTURY

AND RELATED POSITION OF
FREE MASONRY AND JESUITRY

ACCUSTOMED to measuring eternity by the tick of the watch, the fact escapes
notice that the time period measurements of weeks, months, years and centuries, are not
accidents, not senseless arbitrary divisions of time, but that they are the results of, and in
harmony with Universal Law, which fact becomes more and more one-pointed as our range
of consciousness expends.
It is evident, even to a careless observer, that all persons, things and events are
related and interdependent; those who carefully follow and correlate series of events
covering long periods find remarkable relationships and results.
The merchant, as the year draws near its close, interrupts or disturbs the ordinary
progress of his business, to settle old matters and to close his books, preparatory to
entering the new year, and its unknown, broadening possibilities, with a clear
understanding of his resources and abilities.
Likewise, on the broader fields of community, national, race and world life, are found
corresponding and related cyclic disturbances, adjustments, progression or retrogression,
depending upon the balance showing on the credit side of Right Action, or on the debit side
of Wrong Doing. Truth expressed in commercial terms is best understood today.
Glance over the world's history by centuries, and near the close of each will be found
the culmination of a more or less widespread and important series of events, all related, in
that they have a common trend and purpose.
Leaving the proving of this statement to those who care to investigate, we turn our
attention to the present, to find the world facing - that, in fact, it is now in the midst of events
and culminations, the importance of which have not been equaled in many centuries,
probably not within the period of recorded history.
If this statement appears extreme, a comparative examination of present signs and
ruling conditions point to its early demonstration.
Individual life and conditions constitute the basis and ruling factor in community,
national and world life; if the individual units are contented and happy, the world is at
peace; if unsettled and disturbed, then commerce is in a chaotic state, nations are
suspicious and stand prepared to fly at each other's throats.

--- 485

Looking backward, we find periods of disturbance, frequently involving nations, even

changing the political conditions and map of a continent, as in Napoleon's time; but today
the whole world is in a condition of unrest and uncertainty, which, perceptibly affecting
every human condition and mind, focalizes and emphasizes itself in every organized body;
in nations, religious organizations, industrial, commercial and financial trusts and labor
unions; - none are exempt; all stand, the world over, as classified, separate, more or less
compact and antagonistic units, anxiously expectant of the impending unknown, ready to
act, or already engaged, offensively or defensively, in what they in the main consider self-
preservation.
But is this general mustering of forces in reality for the purpose of emphasizing and
perpetuating the reign of selfishness, separateness, intolerance and craft? Underneath the
seeming, is there not a deeper, truer, more intelligent force at work, molding and shaping
conditions and events for the common good, stirring into action, and bringing into open
battle array the good and evil qualities, the life and death forces embodied in man's higher
and lower natures, preparatory to their locking horns in the death struggle for the final
mastery, with the fate of humanity as the stake?
Let us seek answers in the signs of the times: First, as indicating in the individual,
then in powerful organized bodies - the larger personalities.
Every man who will honestly examine himself, will find both the good and the evil
qualities in his own nature emphasized, awake and arrayed against each other, contending
for the mastery. He finds himself unusually interested in, and taking sides for or against
wrong and injustice in matters foreign to his personal interests and customary observation.
His power to discern the right is unusually clear and forceful.
Again, as though to give all opportunity, matters of frequent occurrence, and, as the
world goes, of seeming unimportance, suddenly spring into universal prominence; are
discussed throughout the civilized world in private and public, in the press and pulpit; in
fact, the whole world discusses and intelligently takes sides for or against the principles
involved, and in so doing each person enlists and throws his influence on the side of Right
or Wrong.
The world has so divided and arrayed itself over the case of Captain Dreyfus, that
brave man, who, in his apparently hopeless but superb battle for the principles of Justice
and Liberty, fought against a corrupt combination a senseless and corrupt court, an
apathetic people, and in so doing suffered many martyrdoms.
But this was not the complete, nor the main result following this case. Such an
exhibition of brutal inhumanity, palpable and hideous injustice, based on and sustained by
the grossest falsehood, perjury, vile calumny and attempted murder, - all in the name of
Justice, - has irretrievably disgraced a great country, appalled all honest men, and notified
the world that Justice was foully murdered and can no longer be found in her courts. It did
more than this! It brought into the blazing light and scrutiny of an aroused world-wide
public,

--- 486

the hidden, subtle and evil organized force, which stands charged with and is responsible
for that crime, and it will never again be able to conceal its intolerance, bigotry, and
persecution, - its work of mental thralldom and spiritual death, under cover of piety and care
for the spiritual welfare of humanity as God's viceregent.
 The time has come when, courts of Justice failing, circumstances and conditions,
as relentless witnesses for the Higher Law, will compel justice, and irretrievably expose and
ruin the hiding culprits, be they individuals, secular or religious organizations.
At last the spiritual eye of humanity is open, - the eye which sees the Truth standing
emphasized and more clearly revealed by calumny, denial, or apparently friendly criticism
and commendation with a But, insinuating impartiality, or claimed disinterestedness in
matters which are known to, and deeply interest every intelligent human being.
So the Great Law, Intelligence, or God - name it as you like, has taken the
martyrdom of this brave but obscure man, one of a persecuted people, who, in just return,
control the world's idol - and elevated him as a symbol of a great Principle, which this world
of men have championed or antagonized by the mental attitude they have taken towards
the Dreyfus case.
The same principle was the basis, thinly veiled, behind our conflict with Spain. In
that war identically the same forces of light and darkness were contending for mastery.
The American people in entering upon the war - purely for the cause of humanity, the first
instance in recorded history - were impelled by the same law which used Dreyfus. Largely
unconscious of their high guidance and mission, they none the less promptly and effectively
arrayed themselves - leading the nations - as the exponents and champions of right,
enlightenment, progress, and physical, mental and spiritual freedom, as opposed to this
subtle, organized force, which, from love of power, has always prostituted its immense
strength by standing as the main block in the way of mental and spiritual health, freedom
and progress in the Western World.
We were not combating Spain as a nation or people, but as the ancient champion
of this most intelligent, but selfishly directed force, which was harbored as the dominating
power in her individual, national, material and spiritual life. Spain finally obtained the
natural and legitimate fruitage of her work of oppression, tyranny, and destruction, in
national decay, humiliation, and defeat.
Like Dreyfus, this naturally noble people suffered, when as an outer covering, they
were rent asunder, that the real destroying force should be exposed, as a warning to other
men and nations.
Here it is pertinent to inquire if we as a people, or as a government, have learned,
or even discovered, this vital lesson of our unfinished war. When we find this same ill-
guiding force, virtually and practically in control of our affairs and army in the Philippines -
else our returning warriors, and all other than official reports are unintelligent and wholly
false - then the reason becomes apparent for the constant contact with our Government,
and the seemingly dis-

--- 487

interested counsels of eminent exponents of the power which persecuted Dreyfus,

destroyed Spain, and is now seeking to perpetuate itself in control of the Philippines.
Would not this be a convenient and undisturbing method for this force to ingratiate
and make itself useful to our good, but - let us hope - innocent-minded official heads, in
order that its advocates may the more easily and unobserved tighten their already powerful
but concealed grasp on our political life and government?
If any intelligent, non-partisan person does not agree with these suggestive
statements and questions, he is challenged, for the sake of our beloved country and
freedom, to make a quiet and thorough investigation, and conviction will result.
It will be found that the original insurrection of the Filippinos was not against Spanish
rule, as such, but against the force in question acting through the Spanish rule, which made
the life of a naturally free and not unintelligent people unbearable, although both were one
in religious faith.
As the United States was led into assuming Spain's position, we are defending, and
the Filippinos are through us, combating the same enemy, force and rule against which
they first rebelled.
Our position in this respect is at least anomalous and difficult to understand, except
from one point of view.
Eastern Asia is uneasily turning in its long repose, disturbed at the loud knocking of
selfish nations and rapacious commerce.
The lovers of freedom in the great slave continent are, as they view the question,
planting and defending the flag of liberty against foreign aggression and domination.
With the past history and relations of the nations in Europe, divided as they are into
numerous fortified and fully armed hostile camps, all alert and disturbed by expectant fear
of the pregnant unknown, this African camp-fire can easily ignite the ready fires of all
Europe, and through them, the whole world, completing the change of its map, already
begun by the United States battling in the main for Right and Progress.
The insular "Monroe Doctrine" is already swallowed up in the broader world interests
in which we have suddenly and unexpectedly taken a unique and leading part.
A gigantic figure has loomed above the horizon of the nineteenth century, one
humane foot placed on the Antilles, guarding the waters which command the approaches
to the great American Continental Canal which he must build; the other, unconsciously
held impending in the world's atmosphere while harking to humanity's cry, unexpectedly
planted on the threshold of Asia's unexplored storehouse of material, mental and spiritual
wealth. Incidentally he shelters and protects the Americas - the great impassable
Continental Divide separating Europe from the teeming East. He stands expectant and
superb in his undeveloped strength - this young giant Colossus of modern times - calmly

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facing the ancients and the pregnant future with sublime trust in himself and in the Cause
of Right and Humanity which he has championed before the whole world. He is the symbol
of the higher part or soul of humanity in action; the torch-bearer of Truth, Light and
Liberation to the discouraged and down-trodden.
When the surprise and compounded admiration-fear commendation of the older
nations settles into conviction that their selfish, dominating influence and commercial
supremacy is in jeopardy, we shall require that divinely inspired wisdom and courage which
go hand in hand with intelligent right action.
With pure motive and high principle as our main-spring and guide, our passage
through the Red Sea of selfishness into the Promised Land of Universal Brotherhood will
be safe and glorious; but destruction is certain if we, off guard, permit the subtle wrecking
intelligence of the past and present centuries to creep in, and whisper evil counsel into the
ears of our helmsman.
 While this feeling of unrest and uncertainty regarding the impending future
consciously affects all individual and national life and conditions, we find money - the life
blood of present material life - gathering in a few vast aggregations or trusts, so organized
and efficiently commanded as to be more powerful than the government itself in controlling
the products, industries and transportation of the entire country; in fact, some of these
stand today as a block to the legislation absolutely required for the building and peaceable
government control of an Isthmus Canal; and this, in face of the perfectly apparent fact,
that the early completion of such a water-way is a vital necessity to our national well-being
and safety, if not to our very life.
We stand responsible for the defence of our long double coast lines, our new island
possessions commanding the Caribbean Sea, and stretched across the Pacific Ocean
dominating its northern waters, and the South American coasts, which are virtually under
our protection as against foreign aggression.
With a completed canal all our water responsibilities would be safeguarded and met
with practically one-half the naval armament and its incident expense, as compared with
what will be imperative, lacking a canal. Quick concentration in either ocean would forestall
and defeat slow and difficult combinations enforced by passage by the Cape.
In face of these patent facts, and the disturbed, jealous and prepared condition of
the nations, can we longer safely or economically indulge in the egotistical dream of our
fancied ability to instantly do what at best requires years to accomplish? Shall we as a
people permit any power among ourselves or on earth, to even delay this work?
The danger from trusts is more important, imminent and threatening, in the direction
of their unlimited legislative purchasing power, than from any material increase in cost of
living, or lack of profit, or loss by investors in their multi-watered stocks.
At this crucial period, when the retarded evolutionary progress of humanity can
spring forward, carrying it into its long-lost heritage of spiritual con-

--- 489

sciousness and divine knowledge, every intelligently honest man must satisfy himself
regarding his own standing ground. In that safe position, he will use his God-given
perceiving and thinking faculties, to himself analyze, judge and accept or reject old and new
beliefs, ideas, presentations and men, as he deems best. Thus growing mentally and
spiritually strong he will discover error and falsehood, discern and follow Truth and become
its efficient and courageous agent in dispelling ignorance and opposing intolerance, bigotry
and selfishness.
Men once aroused to a realization of this divine common-sense will comprehend and
enforce the self-evident truth that Intelligence must and will rule - by devious methods if
forced by ignorance to indirection, but honestly and for the good of all, when direct and
responsible. This is in the nature of things. It cannot be overcome nor long subverted,
except at the expense of true progress and civilization. These will be quickly swallowed up
and lost in a maelstrom of anarchy and barbarism, into which a society, nation or world,
ruled by its ignorant element, will inevitably lapse; and the intelligent are responsible if this
element gains control. They have permitted, or perhaps temporizingly encouraged, the cry
of ignorance - "Equality" - when all nature, especially man, proves it utterly false and
impossible. Are there two blades of grass or two men in the world just alike and equal in
every respect?
Equality is a fatal fallacy, instituted and sustained by ignorance, charlatanism,
political irresponsibility and corruption.
Intelligence declares and maintains Fraternity and Community of Interests in Degree;
that all would find comfort and happiness in working for the common good; in fact, that
these proper desires and ambitions can be realized in no other way; that a paternal form
of government has in the past, and must again, satisfy these good citizenship desires and
ambitions; that if America and the balance of the world intends to save itself, we must
arouse and stimulate individual thinking and intelligence, to guide and control material and
spiritual life, else it will be dominated by antagonistic and destructive forces and men.
Then if we find ourselves, our commerce and industries in the control of
combinations or trusts which dominate the government, or our political and religious
interests threatened, we shall be sufficiently intelligent and common-sensed as a people,
to examine and understand the reverse side of our national seal, and possibly recognize
that the ancient God-sent Constitution of a rapidly evolving nation must be correspondingly
developed, or it will for a time hamper national growth, and then become inoperative and
a menace to public safety, even in its inability to protect its worshipers, or permit their
government to protect itself against secular or religious combinations. Then we shall be
sufficiently awake, and wise enough to evolve our Constitution abreast of conditions, reform
our Government onto a non-partisan, unselfish basis, and absorb any or all selfish
combinations or trusts into one vast trust, owned and operated for the common good, by
a Government made directly responsible to the people.
These conclusions are especially true and applicable to a nation, whose ability,
strength and resources are to itself as yet unknown quantities.

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An intelligent people, to permanently remain free and self-governing, must itself and
through its Government, stand ready and sufficiently courageous to change old things and
methods to meet advanced conditions; to observe, analyze, wisely direct and lead all
natural, and to control and neutralize all illegitimate developments.
Today whoever or whatever is consciously or unconsciously working for self, is
working against the broad principle of Brotherhood, or the Common Good, as emphasized
in the teachings of Christ, Buddha and all humanity's saviours; such are, consciously or
otherwise, under the influence of that most secret body which absolutely controls and works
through a vast, materially-spiritual, homogeneous and one-purposed organization, millions
of whose members, unconscious of its inner dominating force, are perfectly honest,
capable and patriotic citizens, who, in all conflicts save one, would make their public duties
paramount.
But in the event of active opposition to the inner controlling body's plans of religious
conquest and aggrandizement; to again combine Church and State under priest rule,
inciting this mass to religious zeal, and with the additional powerful incentive of gaining both
spiritual and political dominion, following a successful issue from the contest; - what in such
event would be the natural, logical and inevitable action of many millions of otherwise good
and public spirited citizens? Even the Sovereign Pontiff himself is already subject to the
will of the Jesuits, as his recent unwilling submission to their demands proves. The danger
is not so much from the exoteric organization, as such, but is it not imminent on the lines
indicated? Have these persistent, crafty men ceased to live and work? Have they at this
crucial time abandoned their long-cherished purpose to rule the western hemisphere?
Looking about the world, do we find evidences of the workings of this inner
controlling body - the working out of a plan of the nature indicated? The innocently blind,
careless and unobserving may see no danger; but those who have eyes to see, who
analyze, look behind and underneath, discover the selfish plans and subtle workings of this
evil-directed, highly intelligent, crafty, hidden body, which has ever sought power, wealth
and aggrandizement for itself, at the expense and ultimate ruin of the people or nation it
permanently controlled.
If this statement requires proof the following examples will serve the unprejudiced
seeker:
Spain, once proud, haughty, powerful - the dominating power in Europe -
championed and accepted priest-craft rule. As the direct result, this noble people stand as
a nation humiliated, bankrupt, powerless and disgraced.
The other European nations who are largely or entirely dominated by the same priest
power, are rapidly approaching the same fate.
The horrible crime against Dreyfus, plainly revealed this hidden power in control of
the French army through its General Staff; these officers, directing the most powerful arm
of the Government, false to every thing and condition, utterly demoralized, unpatriotic and
venal, and this in the face of the fact

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that the safety and very life of the nation were thereby placed in extremest jeopardy. What
must be the character of the influence which could so change Frenchmen and cause them
to forget their country and their honor?
Note who are now making protest against officials of France, for looking to Masonry
for counsel and aid in their endeavor to remedy this lamentable condition and safeguard
the nation! Why do experienced, honest, efficient men turn from one, and to the other
when in dire trouble?
Cuba rose in insurrection, preferring to destroy itself in manly battle, rather than
longer submit to the slower but more certain process of material, mental and spiritual
degradation, ruin and death, which she saw was inevitable under the priest rule from which
she had suffered for centuries. Behind the Cubans' heaven-inspired effort stood Cuban
Masons, holding to the common religion, but above it, planning, laboring and fighting for
material and spiritual liberty, as did Masons in our own American Revolution.
The Philippine insurrection was not against Spanish rule, as such, but against open,
flagrant and corrupt priest rule. In their trouble, native Masons of the same religious belief,
performed the same high service as did the Cubans.
Until the Central and South American States threw off direct and dominating priest
rule in secular and state affairs, the trend of their fate was the same as that of Cuba.
Ireland, with its depleted, poverty-stricken and ignorant, though naturally intelligent,
peasantry, is an example of the degrading effect of the same controlling influence.
All these examples are self-evident illustrations of the universally fatal results
following Jesuitical rule.
 Holding these illuminated examples in mind, they may incite well-meaning, humane
and patriotic humanity to search among northern nations for projections and ramifications
of the same general plan which has ensnared their southern neighbors.
On the American Continents today, every large centre of population is wholly or in
the main absolutely dominated by a political master, whose mainspring of action is largely
regulated by direct or indirect Jesuitical manipulation, and the same is true of labor
organizations, if the names of their officers are correctly given. This Master, especially in
the United States, is already sufficiently aggressive and powerful to menacingly suggest,
and frequently to dictate to States, and to strongly influence the National Government.
What force is behind the persistent endeavor to destroy our public school system -
the cradle and foundation of mental and spiritual intelligence and freedom? Is it the same
force which, working to destroy our public schools, labors incessantly to establish parochial
schools in their place, supported at public expense? The relationship is too close to admit
of separate parentage and cradling.
The same force is active in Germany, and is tentatively but secretly invading
Sweden.

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Old, tried and experienced generals in the regular service, - men in whom our army
and the whole country have absolute confidence, - have either been held inactive, or
recalled after short and successful command, while obscure corners have been explored
in search of more obscure men to command our foreign armies. Our army in the
Philippines is under the command of such a discovery - the owner of a Catholic newspaper
which but recently persistently and maliciously attacked prominent Masons as members
of a broadly Masonic humanitarian organization, until the threatening law silenced its
libelous utterances. He owes allegiance to, and has hamperingly surrounded himself with,
priest craft, against which the Filippinos originally rebelled. Reports of responsible soldiers,
officers, business and professional men, and even trustworthy government officials, furnish
the perfectly reliable basis for this statement.
We are now delegating a Bishop to assist our beleaguered General in unraveling our
tangled skein of Filippino yarn.
What influence is being exerted upon our Government? Is it blind, or is it looking
ahead with self-interested vision? Are we as a people blind, or only careless and criminally
innocent and trusting?
But why question and seek proof when the object and purpose is openly avowed and
enforced wherever and whenever possible, as the following examples show?
One of our eminent and able American bishops, in recent speeches delivered in
Europe, plainly stated that "the day is not far distant when England and the United States
will be under Catholic control."
During our Spanish and Philippine wars the same prelate, ably assisted by another,
has been busily engaged at Washington.
Spanish clerics recently petitioned the Queen for a restoration of the Inquisition.
Another prelate is publicly emphasizing the patriotism of Catholic Americans
displayed in our Revolutionary struggle, in the Secession war and in our present conflict.
Why this emphasizing of Catholic over Protestant patriots, who at least fought and
suffered equally? What is the underneath force which is already separating and classifying
American citizenship through religious preferment? Have we as a people already been
separated on this powerful and subtle line by those whose personal and church ambitions
would be thus served?
These are facts and presentations which deeply interest and involve every true
American - in fact, every human being, whether Protestant, Catholic or non-Conformant to
any creed, for "a house - or the temple of humanity - divided against itself cannot stand."
Their common blood, gladly poured on our towering altar of Liberty, has sanctified
our sacred common soil and country; together they must protect and preserve it intact,
against physical or religious dismemberment, to go down into the ages as the world's
Refuge from tyranny and intolerance; as Humanity's Beacon Light of Enlightenment,
Tolerance and Mental and Spiritual Liberty, Freedom and Brotherhood.

--- 493

Thus it came to us from the Fathers, and so must and will our sacred heritage be
passed on inviolate, so long as stern, true men tread American soil.
The completed examples of priest rule, and its pregnant endeavors as cited, reveal
a widespread plan and purpose to gain control in the Western Hemisphere, and merge
Church and State under the dominion of this Jesuitical oligarchy.
These are vital facts and presentations which cannot be set aside, nor explained
away. They in themselves constitute a Supreme Court of Divine Judgment.
In view of what its past accomplishments have been, and its present herculean
preparatory efforts, these examples should serve as God's warning and command to all
intelligent lovers of progress, liberty and humanity, regardless of differences in creeds or
races, to rally in defense of the highest interests of our common humanity, against the
insidious, hidden and open aggressions of this focalized force of evil in the Western World,
now mustered on the visible and invisible planes of action, to perpetuate and expand its
mental and spiritual thraldom of man.
The Jesuit order is the wedge point of bigotry and intolerance, as main factors in
gaining temporal and spiritual dominion, and as such it must be recognized, met and
subdued, if humanity is to progress.
With this Jesuitical force already arrayed and attacking Right, Justice and Progress
along the whole front of human affairs, what is to oppose it? What universal, compact,
organized force is to be found, based on the broad foundation of a Common Brotherhood,
ruled by Love, Charity and Justice; its members sworn to propagate Right, Truth and
Enlightenment; a force which can stay this actively offensive power of evil, and ultimately
defeat, lead and force its disintegrated component parts into lines of unselfish action?
To do this saving work for humanity requires earnest, substantial men and women,
who have evolved from the separate, and therefore weak, secular and religious bodies
sufficient intelligence, to draw them together on occasions, into one separate and more
highly evolved body, to act for the common good and safety.
Looking into the dim past, we find in ancient Egypt - the historic cradle of wisdom,
the beneficent rule of "Divine Kings" - men inspired by unselfish love and guardianship for
all that lived. Their "rule and guide" was the basic, fundamental and eternal law, embodied
in their inherited "Wisdom-Religion," or Free Masonry.
 Carried from Egypt into India, it overran into Greece, and formed the basic pillars
upon which the superb material and spiritual civilizations of these countries were reared;
forming the basis of the Old and New Testaments, its spiritual light became to the world
obscured, and the material or operative side emphasized in sublime architecture, as the
various religious orders claiming foundation on these "inspired books" lost sight of the
spiritual, in their antagonisms, persecutions and devastating contests for secular power.

--- 494

The "Dark Age" results of these fanatical wars had plunged the civilized world in
nether darkness, where it would have sunk and disappeared, save for Masonry.
Its pure light, kept burning in the hearts of the faithful through the darkening
centuries, was flashed upon the night of Europe by Masonry's chivalric Knights, who saved
the fanatical, murderous followers of their Christ from self-destruction, by uniting them in
the Crusade "to rescue the Holy Sepulchre" from the Moslems.
In doing this Master's work they consciously and intelligently utilized this destructive
force, to serve the double purpose of saving Christian Europe from self-destruction, and
from being overrun and destroyed by Moslem hordes.
Thus Masonry saved the world from a fatal return plunge into barbarism in the Dark
Material Ages, when the evil forces now focalized in Jesuitry dominated.
The Crusades having demonstrated the controlling power of Masonry, the "holders
of the key to Heaven" turned upon the Saviors of Humanity and by orders of the "Holy
Church" persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and foully murdered thousands of these noble,
chivalrous knights; confiscated their property, destroyed their strongholds and priceless
libraries and scattered their followers in a futile attempt to destroy the Order.
The Jesuitical element, which incarnated in Masonry to control, after failing to
destroy it, did to an extent change the ritualism in 1707; but failing in its second purpose,
it was forced out, and a remnant is now found in secret control of certain small and
powerless occult (so-called) semi-masonic bodies, which teach and practice the black arts
in this nineteenth century.
But for what purpose do a few sentinel-spies of this old enemy of Masonry conceal
themselves in its inner body and heart today? Are Masons also blind and asleep?
The vital light of Truth has always flamed too strongly in Masonry for adverse winds
to extinguish; its own inherent purity and strength, when stirred into action, purges and
throws off from the body the festering impurities, which gather in separate dark pools of
claimed Masonic origin, to be reabsorbed into the mass and disappear through nature's
divine alchemic process of purification.
Masons planned, precipitated and successfully prosecuted our American Revolution
against tyranny and oppression; our beloved, God-inspiring, symbolic flag, and our publicly
undeciphered seal, are of Masonic origin, design and tracing.
In the present century Masonry is again, unconsciously, at the front, as yet in
disconnected detachments, defending humanity against tyranny, bigotry and intolerance.
For years previous to the breaking out of war between Greece and Turkey, Greek
Masonry had gradually aroused a strong and healthy feeling of Restored Nationality in the
Greek people, after centuries of depression and hope-
--- 495

lessness under Turkish domination. In order to still further arouse and incite this growing
feeling for a strong Greek national life, the Masons put arms in the hands of the people and
precipitated the war, believing that even under defeat, their country would be benefitted by
sooner realizing her ambition to regain her ancient position as a power among the nations.
Centuries of priest rule in Cuba had held that beautiful and fertile island practically
undeveloped, and its naturally bright and intelligent population, rendered hopeless of
material comfort and progress, was rapidly sinking into mental and spiritual apathy and
death.
Under these formidable and almost hopeless conditions, working in secret under
bane of the church - which ever seeks to destroy whatever fails to minister to its material
advancement - were patriotic Masons, who, true to their Masonic heritage, held its dimmed
light in this dark place, planning and arousing a hopeless people to battle for their spiritual
liberty. To Cuban Masons Cuba owes her freedom.
The inner history of the insurrection against priest rule in the Philippines is practically
the same as that of Cuba. This statement may surprise many Masons, who do not know
that the inner ruling factor among all Nature-people has been Masonry during all the ages,
and is today. If this suggests to the shallow mind the idea that Savagery is Masonry,
deeper thinkers may quite pertinently ask, which in fact is savage and which civilized, the
so-called savage fighting defensively to save his lands and very life, or his attacking,
ruthless, so-called civilized, murderous robber? The few white Masons who, as men and
Masons, have proved themselves worthy of admission into the inner savage Masonic tribe-
governing-councils, have found ample reason for praying God to speedily inject the there
discovered "rule and guide" of the savage governing class, into the private and public life
of all civilized people and Masons.
When white men prove themselves trustworthy, they will find a mine of mental and
spiritual knowledge and wisdom preserved for them by their darker-skinned brothers, if they
do not sooner succeed in utterly destroying these scattered remnants of the most ancient
and once mighty civilized races, who have ever held the purest Masonry as their inner
guiding light, even against the white man's polluting touch.
As warriors, strategists and orators, they today instruct the white man, while they do
sincere and intelligent reverence to the "Great Spirit," who, ever present, speaks to them
in His and their common Nature language; in the song of birds, the flowers and forest
giant, the laughing brook, the sweeping river and mighty deep, the vitalizing breeze and
raging tempest, the vibrant heaven-resounding thunder, the lightning flash of His quick
glance, the heavenward pointing mountain peaks, the moon and sparkling jeweled dome,
in the mighty, blazing, fructifying sun, as symbol of His all-observing, loving eye, and
glowing heart.
In presence of such a reality, and such a language, these wise and noble-minded,
broadly spiritual brothers, hold themselves above the white man's belief in a personally
owned, silent and remote God.

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French Masons, aroused by the Jesuitically incited crime against Dreyfus, are
responding to the call, and are aiding France to safeguard herself, and right the fatal
wrongs committed by her Jesuitical army staff.
In Sweden, Masonry stands, and to an extent in Germany, as a block to Jesuit
aggression.
The same will prove true in England, if Masonry's Royal Grand Master there will
arouse himself, and follow in the footsteps of Sweden's King, and Mexico's warrior-
statesman President.
Since the killing blow to Jesuit rule in Spain, her long-waiting, patient, but powerful
Masons, are infusing a new life into her awaking northern provinces, in an effort to arouse
and rescue the Spanish people.
Many of the South American States have Masons at the helm, and they should have
grown too wise from past experience, to ever again trust their old false pilots on the
commander's bridge.
In Canada, the apparent controlling force is on the side of retrogression, and her
Masons should change the current in her naturally strong and liberal atmosphere.
The United States is the "Arch Stone" the Coveted Prize, possession of which, at
this time, largely decides the destiny of humanity for centuries. Proof of this is at hand on
every side; in the advanced leading and unique position we have taken among the nations
within the past eighteen months in defense of "needy brothers;" in our evident destiny if
we do right; but stronger proof than any other one thing, is the thoroughly awake condition
and extreme effort now being put forth to secure Catholic control.
Under these vital conditions, how do we find American Masons, placed by the law
of succession as joint heirs to Masonry's past noble deeds and glory in the service of
humanity? They should be and are, numerically and otherwise - if they will awake - the
controlling factor in the executive and legislative departments of our government; but,
apparently unconscious of the mighty meaning of this time and its events; unobservant of
the advanced positions already taken and held against the Jesuits by detached and
unsupported bodies of Masons, preparatory to the coming universal conflict; unconscious
of the vital position they themselves occupy in relation to the times, conditions and events;
ignorant, forgetful or careless of the divine mission of Masonry, the leading part it has well
acted in the past spiritual-material history of the world; of the commanding position it holds
today along the whole front; the half-unconscious, impatient waiting of the better element
in humanity for right and trusty leadership, that it may spring to the defense of Right and
Truth; failing to recognize or even observe these plainly presented things, conditions,
compelling opportunities and sacred duties, our official Masons act as ordinary men,
without concentrated purpose, and even allow themselves to be influenced and guided by
the Generals of Masonry's fully aroused, alert, concentrated and ready foe.
The same is true of the Masonic order as a whole, notwithstanding the

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forceful thought-suggesting fact, that everywhere throughout the whole world, among all
nations, races and people, civilized or so-called savage, formal Masonry is active beyond
precedent - even rampant - among the best and most intelligent classes.
"O GOD, MY GOD! AROUSE THE WIDOW'S SONS" to intelligent, concentrated
action against the forces of evil now epitomized in Jesuitry, the ancient foe of Masonry, and
the common enemy of the best in humanity.
By such concentration of Masonic "Thought" constantly directed against "Jesuitry"
expressed in private and public life a Bloodless Revolution of the World will be
accomplished, and Humanity, with a higher, grander conception of life, its possibilities and
purposes, will be lifted onto the higher plane of conscious, self-responsible action, to move
on to its higher evolution in peace, harmony and love, a true and Universal Masonic
Brotherhood.
Without such concentrated thought and action, the world - Masonry still dominating
and responsible - must wade through a sea of blood, but to finally emerge depleted,
exhausted, thrown far backward in its evolution, the remnant purified and made wiser, to
again climb back over the long and more slippery, blood-washed slope.
Such is Masonry's Inevitable Choice and Work, else its past record and present
position are meaningless and absurd.
Masons who fail to recognize our present position and consequent responsibilities,
are not keen observers of the great law of Cause and Effect which governs even their
individual lives, and has brought Masonry into controlling position at this vital epoch.
The cyclic operation of this great Universal Law has again brought the cumulative
results and forces of Fifty Centuries - good and evil - face to face for final combat, under
the white flag of Masonry, and the black flag of Jesuitry.
The lost and tangled threads of past individual, national and race life and epochs are
bound up in the present, presenting themselves to be untangled and staged for the final
drama of the world's evolution.
This gigantic nature-combination of time, humanity, conditions and events, is by no
possibility simply a senseless happening or accident. Even vast, man-directed
combinations are forerunners of vast and far-reaching results; but when nature combines
or focalizes the active visible and invisible forces of the centuries and their pregnant results,
the physical, mental and spiritual map of the world will be changed, either for the weal or
woe of humanity.
It is these stupendous facts which constitute this a vital epoch.
As the moving panorama of events shows, the old Director of the dark forces is
already alert and consciously on the field, directing the strategy, and placing the forces as
they consciously or unconsciously, in evil thought or action, report for assignment.
At this vital moment, opposed to its old enemy, Masonry stands inertly in place, all
unconscious of the Impending Crisis, and the commanding and victorious part it must
assume in this final conflict, else the "Light of the

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World," which has ever been its sacred charge, will be quenched in the darkness of
returned barbarism and spiritual death.
Do Masons doubt these presentations and deductions? Do they doubt the divine
origin, mission and past accomplishments of Masonry? If so, they are making a fatal error.
Let them follow and analyze the statements and claims herein made, and they will surely
bring themselves face to face with their duty as the present Saviors of Humanity; then they
can perform or shirk it intelligently and with the full sense of their responsibility .
Is Masonry sufficiently homogeneous, powerful, divinely human and courageous,
to manfully assume the high duty to which it is now called by the voice of Humanity and of
God, speaking through His law-conditioned events; upon what foundation does it rest;
what is its origin and antecedents; what does it teach and hold as right practice?
This thoroughly organized, universal, homogeneous body is composed, as it has
ever been, of the most enlightened, broad-minded, progressive, tolerant, broadly patriotic,
brotherly men of all nations, races and creeds, who, rising above these minor geographical,
climatic and selfish differences, meet each other on the "level" of a common origin, life and
destiny, and the "square" of right action as embodied in the "Golden Rule;" meeting, living
and parting as brothers, holding the common purpose to Uplift Humanity; a body inherently
governed by Charity, Equity and Love, held as ever conscious, active principles in the daily
life of man; reverence for the great "Universal Architect" expressed through constant, glad
and intelligent conformity to His law, the key to which is concealed in their divine
Symbology, to be found and used for the common good by those who prove themselves
"Worthy and Well Qualified."
From the earliest history of pre-historic man, Masons have stood bound to practice,
teach and disseminate knowledge of universal law, enlightenment and truth among all that
live; to carry humanity's path-illuminating light; to work for man's liberation from his own
lower nature or devil, from ignorance, bigotry and mental and spiritual thralldom; to work
as conscious, eternally living divine souls, from time to time occupying and using physical
bodies as instruments, through which to effect their divine purpose of mutual evolution and
final redemption from selfishness, through conscious unity in a common evolving
brotherhood of all that lives and is.
Upon its broad, basic and eternally enduring foundation principles, all religions and
philosophies which have ever engaged the thought of man, have walled in a portion, and
reared thereon their isolated creed and thought-limiting structures, forgetting that truth is
limitless and universal.
While to an extent the members of this all-compassing body, like the comparatively
weak, because creed-separated and antagonistic religious organizations, have lost sight
of their great mission, its broad and all-embracing fundamental principles remain as a living
spiritual force, which consciously elevates and ennobles the thought and action of every
member.
In peculiar and significant relationship to the evident developing plan, is

--- 499

observed the fact that at this crucial time men of all creeds, peoples, nations and races,
civilized and uncivilized, imbued with the divine principles of Brotherhood or Masonry, stand
at the helm of the world's affairs, sustained and reinforced in right action by the honest
intelligence and substantial worth resident in all nations.
With such a divinely reared and all-embracing organization, success is assured, if
the members but awake and perform their sacred duty in combating, while holding
themselves free from the subtle influences of the old Enemy of Masonry, an enemy which
has made the selfish thralldom of men's minds its main object, and the control or
destruction of Freemasonry (its principal opponent) the main, secret, and at times open,
purpose of its effort for centuries.
Scores and thousands of Freemasonry's staunchest advocates, men whose voices
were ever heard promulgating its all-embracing, divine principles, who could not be
silenced by fear, calumny, persecution or imprisonment, have found silence and death at
the hands of its relentless foe, in hideous tortures, secret graves and horrible dungeons.
Summing up the situation, we find as a result of the general unrest and disturbance,
that the world has been sufficiently aroused by emphasized wrong and injustice, to cause
humanity to array itself for or against Principle; that right and justice have prevailed in the
preliminary skirmishes and tentative battles; that the results have been to uncover
hypocrisy and deception, and force into the open the now concentrated evil forces which
have heretofore worked in the shadows, through sophistry, intrigue, calumny, persecution,
instigated devastation and death.
It is evident that Jesuitry and Masonry, leading the opposing forces of evil and good,
are again in battle array; that the Irrepressible Conflict is on, and that all these things and
conditions exist and must be met. How can this be done in a way, not only to prevent
disaster, but to bring about harmony, true success for all, and utilize the measureless
forces now in evidence, for the general progress and a mighty universal uplifting of
humanity, such as the centuries have not witnessed?
With strong, alert minds, and unselfish, wise and broadly courageous concerted
action for the common good, on the part of Masons, and the few conscientious leaders of
men and nations, this now focalized Endeavor and Purpose of the Ages can easily become
a fact, and the reign of selfishness and error be swallowed up in the rule of Equity,
Brotherliness and Peace.
Intelligent consideration of developing conditions and events reveal them as
advanced maneuvers in a gigantic contest now on between these universal forces of Good
and Evil, the former unwittingly holding many, and dangerously threatening the disputed
strategic points.
Faith in the already apparent Divine Guidance and results evolves into conviction,
on discovering that thus far, Right and Justice have prevailed over Inhumanity, Tyranny,
Craft and Injustice.

--- 500

The Signs of the Times clearly indicate the dominant control of a high-purposed
intelligence, force or law, which in recent turnings of the serpent's sting upon itself, has
demonstrated its intent and ability to control and turn to good every situation, condition and
thing having its basis in selfishness, ignorance and intolerance.
To enable this spiritual force to become fully operative requires only that true-
hearted men and women everywhere stand alert and at their posts, ready for the impelling
of the higher law.
The individual and collective duty and opportunity of Masons, and all right-minded
men and women, is clear and unmistakable.
At all previous, and by comparison, minor epochs in the world's history, Masonry has
sprung to the succor of jeopardized humanity and become its savior.
Now, at this Supreme Crisis in the world's history - unless the general disturbance
and conflict are meaningless - the universal, all-embracing forces of Good and Evil are
aroused, and have already locked horns in the final gigantic life and death struggle; the
evolution of the entire human race is at stake, either upward into a higher, truer, nobler
condition of an unselfish common brotherhood, governed by equity and love, or its present
barbarously civilized, degrading selfishness and lust, bearing their legitimate fruit of speedy
degeneracy, and humanity lapsing into the second stage of a universal uncivilized
barbarism; at this momentous crisis, Masonry must and will arouse its hoary slumbering
spiritual giant strength, and go forth as the Great Master's chosen primeval agent, to do
victorious battle against embodied evil, now focalized in its old, persistent and relentless
Jesuitical enemy.
Then will our Divinely Instituted Primeval Order regain its forgotten glory of the
"Golden Age," and under restored Masonry's benign rule, the effulgence of that dimly
remembered Age will again warm the heart, and illuminate the mind of humanity, to bring
in the reign of "Peace and Good Will among Men."
My Brothers, this is not a Utopian dream, but a Living Fact, the materialization of
which is easily within our power, if we arouse ourselves and act as true men and Masons.
I appeal, not to the Unintelligently Educated and the Ignorant - the unsafe extremities
of humanity - but to the GREAT COMMON PEOPLE of all nations and races, with whom
intelligence, tolerance, discernment, stern kindness, robust energy, mutual helpfulness and
common sense find welcome and congenial bivouac, and through whom these manly, God-
like attributes find freest and most helpful expression.
I beg of you! I plead with you! Brothers of the great Universal "Masonic"
Brotherhood, awake, examine and analyze our vitalized God-given symbology; the present
pregnant conditions and events, and you will become convinced, and be moved to act for
the sake of the Humanity which our negligence of Masonic Duty has orphanized.
Find God in Duty, and Heaven in its faithful, fearless performance.

- Rameses
--------------
--- 501

THE PURPLE AND GOLD OF LIFE

By A. I. M.

OUR great teacher, Nature, exhibits to us in her most glorious works two
pronounced, distinct and harmonious colors - Purple and Gold. Opening and closing each
day with those gorgeous displays of sunrise and sunset, with a rich and rare combination
of these two colors, is produced a grand and ever recurring object lesson that cannot fail
to forcibly impress the contemplative mind with the example it embodies. It does not seem
that this ever present panorama of the shifting lights, the brilliant display and intermingling
of the two most harmonizing colors of the spectrum, were for mere passing show. There
is a deep meaning, a great occult truth, that is continually before us in this particular from
of Nature's varying beauty.
The peculiar charm of a sunrise, or a sunset, appeals to the most benighted of
mankind. In the early stages of the world we find innately planted in the human heart a
deep veneration and adoration of the orb of day, typifying the two great opposites, life and
death; and "Sun Worship" (as it has been wrongly termed), became the all prevailing
method by which man sought to come into full accord with these divine sentiments
appealing to the Purple and Gold within himself, presented daily before him, unchanged
and unchanging for all time. For the morn was ushered in -
 "Bathed in the tenderest purple of distance,
Tinted and shadowed by pencils of air."

Filled with the grand thoughts actuated by the dawn, the sunset must have
intensified and deepened them when -

"The dying light,

Ere it departed, swathed each mountain height
In robes of purple; and adown the West,
Where sea and sky seemed mingling - breast to breast
Drew the dense barks of ponderous clouds, and spread
A mantle o'er them of a royal red,
Belted with purple - lined with amber - tinged
With fiery gold - and blushing purple fringed."

Thus, ages ago was implanted in us this truth which makes us unconscious "sun
worshipers," whether we bow down in adoration like our ancient brethren, or whether the
Purple and Gold within ourselves thrill responsively with Nature's showing.
Nature, too, ever embodies the purple in the outlines of the distant hills and
mountains. Standing as specimens of her handiwork, lasting through the centuries,
outliving the ordinary earth-life of man, there they remain uplifting their purple-crowned
heads - a symbolic example and lesson for mankind. Intensi-

--- 502

fied with the rays of the golden luminary, they are constantly before us, an incentive to
imitate Nature, to study the divine plan, and embody the same in our lives.
To those who go "down to the sea in ships," the purple and gold of Nature are
unstinted, and amid the waste of waters are lavishingly exhibited these same great touches
of color.
Purple is the true Fire Color. It was esteemed by the ancients more highly than any
color, and was the distinctive badge of royalty. Purple and gold were used extensively for
the decorations of temples and for the habiliments of priests. Nature again incorporates in
the flowers these sympathetic hues. I care not how low in the scale of humanity the
working of the Law may have placed one; how degraded and obtuse man may have
become, the sight of a mass of flowers, or even a tiny bloom of either of these colors will
arouse something in the heart corresponding to the divine, for the touch of the divine is in
them, soul appeals to soul, and it knows -

"The meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."

I once sent a little bunch of purple and golden blossoms to a convict serving out a
life sentence for murder. It was "Flower Day," of a women's mission society, and each
prisoner was to have a bouquet in his cell. We had contributed a quantity of flowers for this
purpose, and as I handed this little bouquet to the lady in charge, I said: "I picked these
flowers especially for some one who is serving a life time. They have a story of their own;
they will tell it to him." As those little blossoms shed their influence about that lonely cell
there did come to that prisoner the divine truth, the appealing of something interiorly that
had been buried for many years, and the Purple and Gold within that man recognized the
heart touch, his better nature responded, and an effulgence of soul divinity emanating from
him and the humble flowers, filled that cell with a peace - with a heaven, indeed.
Now, as man is a miniature copy of the universe, and has within him the essence
of all there is in Nature, why should we not follow her teachings and cultivate in our lives
the Purple and Gold lying latent within us? The prismatic colors of the universe have their
counterpart in man, and these colors evolve and develop according to his life and thought.
Every thought, every word, every act forms a color of its own, affecting our surroundings,
influencing those with whom we come in contact, and is recorded indelibly in the great
"Cosmic Picture Gallery," where it adds its force and influence to that which has been
stored there since the birth of time, and which is for the weal or woe of unborn millions.
Once we grasp the full meaning of the Purple and Gold of life, and that we can make our
lives radiant with these hues, we have made a long stride in the right direction. This can
be done in the little acts of our daily lives. Make them full of Purple and Gold, let our
aspirations be richly colored with these hues, and by our example we shall radiate joy and
peace from these harmonious reflections of Nature's prism. Let us attend more to the
cultivation and care

--- 503

of flowers - especially those producing the soulful bloom of purple and gold. Do we think
that these tiny things have no souls? Have we ever studied closely these seemingly
inanimate symbols of Nature's chosen colors? There is much to be gleaned from these
humble productions which lie free to all.
The Purple and Gold of life can be awakened, and the divine responds in
harmonious measures, reviving old ties and associations, the eternal oneness of us all. I
know of scores of instances that have come under my own observation, of the great
uplifting of the inner consciousness; the strengthening of the soul; the presence of a great
peace, all made possible by a few clusters of purple and gold blossoms, reared and
nurtured with an idea of their symbolic significance. There is potency in them. There is
divinity. Sweet, fragrant emblems of Nature's best and most beneficent colors, they do
influence, sanctify and strengthen.
If such results can be obtained from flowers, how much more can we accomplish by
patterning after them; by engrafting into ourselves the purple and gold which is our
heritage; by living the simple life of the flower, enriching and beautifying all; conveying the
heart touch to our brother man; shedding the aroma of good deeds broadcast; and when,
like the flower, we, too, fade and wither, we may have shed into some darkened soul the
Purple and Gold of Eternal Life.

------------

A PICTURE
 I SAW a picture once. It was not made on canvas, bounded by edges, but seemed
fashioned from some lasting substance, making almost a reality that stretched away into
space.
The scene was of a darkened plain, on which a shadow rested. It was not the dusk
that follows day, but seemed a shadow of all time. From me in darker line, across the
already darkened plain, extended a row of crouching figures. The heavy robe of each
covered the lowered head. Motionless, they sat in silence as if their time had passed.
As I gazed wondering at the meaning, this was born in upon my consciousness:
"Each is thyself in the successive moments of thy life."
When the picture had passed I knew I had seen a vision of selfishness. And
thereupon, I tried to form its opposite - a picture radiant with light, whose name should be
"Love of Brother," but I could not.
I marveled, and to my questioning mind this answer came: "The picture is not, nor
will it be until you have wrought for others as you have wrought for self." - Uaema

------------
--- 504

OBSERVATIONS OF A LAWYER
By X

WHEN we speak of the world, its shortcomings, infirmities and virtues, we refer to
the world evolved from the hearts of men.
The conditions around us, the scenes we witness, are the blossoms and the fruit of
the human tree of many branches. Every human being, because of the illusions in material
existence, lives in a world of his own. The social divisions that move in their respective
orbits, considered separately, seem to be on distinct globes of their own. There is the
clergyman's world, the physician's world, and the lawyer's world. And so of all other
spheres of activity on the earth we may take note of. And as the adept in true science
returns again and again to nature to observe her behavior and study her processes, and
to verify the tests he has made, so we may, with profit, direct our attention to the whirl of
the lawyer's globe, from the actual experiences in his profession.
"Truth is stranger than fiction." The greatest creations in the world of letters are
those founded on facts, with here and there a touch of fine sentiment. People really delight
in the actual occurrences of human life, rather than in the mere fanciful delineations of
character. In the painting of actual life the reader or observer feels charmed and flattered
when the artist leaves scope for the imagination. In the writings called realistic in our times,
it is the grossness that gives offense. Many think that even crime loses much of its
enormity by losing all of its grossness.
The things that strike the lawyer more forcibly than anything else in dealing with his
clients and in observing the conduct of the clients of opposing counsel, are the lack of
honesty and truthfulness that so largely prevails. If the lawyer says to his client: "In order
to win your case, or to make sure of your defense, you must have witnesses or evidence
to establish certain facts," in nine cases in ten, complete or partial evidence will be
furnished by the client.
Sometimes it occurs that a client is charged, unjustly, with having purchased goods
without paying for them. If the charge is made good by testimony, though as false as that
of the one who makes the charge, the claim may be established, unless the one charged
as purchaser can overcome the evidence of his antagonist by proving by another false
witness who claims he was present at a time subsequent to the alleged sale and saw the
one charged as purchaser, pay for the identical goods charged. Falsehood meets
falsehood. Fortunately, such cases are rare. But it is not rare to find parties coming into
court and swearing diametrically opposite to each other as to a plain, simple transaction.
Frequently there is in the trial of causes, the greatest conflict in the testimony, where it
requires the closest scrutiny of witnesses, as to their manner, their

--- 505

interest, bias, prejudice, or otherwise, in order to determine where the truth is. In a case
of such conflict an appeal must be made to experience and the common sense of men,
applying the rules laid down by the masters of the law in order to reach a just result.
Experience in the practice of the law demonstrates that our system of trial by jury
in "civil causes" is most essential to a satisfactory determination. In a government like ours,
it is necessary to the maintenance of free institutions, that the direct influence of the people
in the administration of the law which now prevails should not be impaired or curtailed in
the slightest degree. The jury is the right hand of the Court for the determination of
questions of fact or the assessment of damages. Questions of purely equitable jurisdiction,
beyond the power of a jury of laymen to hear and decide, are reserved for the Judge or
Chancellor, alone. In criminal causes the accused is always entitled to demand a jury.
In trials before a jury, some peculiar episodes occur. When a jury is sworn to try a
cause, it is the rule that the jurors should form no opinion about the issues involved, nor
speak to anyone about the cause, nor determine what the verdict should be, until all the
evidence is heard and the instructions of the court are given to them.
In an important criminal trial the accused was charged with the commission of a
heinous crime, the clear proof of which would have had the effect to not only degrade the
one charged, but to reflect upon human nature and to cause the community of the venue
to deeply regret that such a thing were possible. After the close of the evidence, it was
manifest that a very strong case was established against the accused. The argument
opened by the prosecuting officer; it was strong, and should have been convincing to the
minds of the jurors. The counsel for the accused opened his argument, dwelling especially
upon the enormity of the crime - that such an offense had never been charged against any
one in the community - that to find the accused guilty would degrade him and seriously
affect the standing of the people of the county. And finally, after enthusing the jury to the
highest pitch of excitement he suddenly, addressing one of the jurors by name, asked him
if he, by his verdict, was going to tarnish the fair name and fame of his county. The juror.
quickly arose in his place and said "not much." The result of the trial showed that the juror
voiced the sentiments of the panel.

"If self the wavering balance shake,

It's rarely right adjusted."

Occasionally we find a citizen who does not comprehend the duties and
responsibilities of a juror. The aim of the law is to fit all citizens, naturally intelligent, to
become competent jurors. The service in court in such capacity, from the knowledge
gained by such experience, necessarily fits men, of common understanding, for the
discharge of the duties of jurymen. Here is a citizen who was not quite up to the standard;
yet he did not know it, and in the best of good faith he solicited the proper officer to place
him in the jury box; and as an

--- 506

apology to the officer for making such a request, he stated that he had been, and was then,
in poor health, and that his physician prescribed rest, that he should not ''do any thinking,"
and that he had come to the conclusion that by serving as a juror he might be able, more
completely, to follow the advice of his physician. The officer remarked that he regretted
exceedingly that he was unable to comply with his request, as the panel was complete. So
the court and litigants were deprived of his valuable services.
Some years ago a trial took place in one of our courts in which, among other
witnesses who testified, was a bright, innocent young girl. She impressed the jurors most
favorably; but when the jury retired to deliberate as to their verdict, there was some
division among them, and they got into controversy. One of the jurors was aiming to do
what was right, yet by mistake was voting to sustain the cause of the complainant, when,
really, he intended to support that of the defendant; and when asked by some of his
brother jurors if he did not believe what the young girl testified to, he said, "Yes, of course
I do;" they replying that she supported the claim of the defendant. He exclaimed, "Is that
so?" They convinced him of the fact. Then he declared, "I will vote for the little girl every
time."
In a commonwealth where the State, in criminal cases, is not liable to jurors or
witnesses for costs, and where the costs and fees are payable only in the event that the
accused is found guilty, a criminal case before one of the inferior courts came on for trial
by jury, and after the evidence was heard and argument of counsel the court proceeded
to charge the jury. After making many sage observations as to the duty of jurors, stating,
among other wise suggestions, that "the jury system is the palladium of litigants and of our
liberties," he summed up his instructions by stating to the jury: "Gentlemen of the jury, self
preservation is the first law of nature; if you don't find the defendant guilty, you will get no
fees." The verdict returned enabled the officers and jurors to get their fees.
A lawyer should be a good judge of human nature. More cases are won by counsel
on account of their intuition, tact and management than by appeals to the facts and the
strict letter of the law. The lawyer should know the temper, type of mind and general
tendencies of the life of the judge. Few people know how to commend, or praise others,
and fewer still know how to be praised. The lawyer should, if possible, be personally
acquainted with the judge and know the antecedents of the jurors, the sort of men they are.
The standing of witnesses should be known. Hence in the trial of causes by jury, where
there are large interests involved, great expense must be incurred to pay detectives and
others to "hunt down" witnesses and "probable jurors."
The behavior of the parties to the controversy is of great moment. The lawyer
should see to it that his client, especially while in court, conduct himself with the greatest
propriety. His style of dress and bearing are of the greatest importance. If his client be a
woman, he dare not, with safety, permit her, whatever her tastes may be, to "dress loud."
The expansive hat in a court room

--- 507

is as injurious to her as it is offensive to others in a theatre. The general sentiment

expressed and unexpressed is: "Shoot that hat."
The great lawyer is a diplomat. He should be in the best sense "all things to all
men," that blessings to his clients may abound. As Col. Ingersoll said, in his lecture on
Lincoln, he was such a discerning, politic and sagacious man, so patient in the midst of
difficulties, so penetrating in seeking for the motives of men, so wary and prudent in dealing
with them, that there was but a thin veil between his honesty and dishonesty. But the veil
existed, palpable and well defined. His disposal of men and measures raised his prudence
to the height of wisdom, as subsequent events have demonstrated.
I spoke to an eminent lawyer once, who was noted for his power of "wringing
verdicts from juries," as to his style and methods when dealing with them, delicately
suggesting that the style and manner of lawyers could be greatly improved. He told me
that he realized that very sensibly, but that it was a matter of slow growth, and that so long
as jurors remain in their present state, the style of address to them indulged in would
continue. When the whole community is raised up, when men become more intelligent and
humane, the method will change. Men should receive the mental pabulum that they are
capable of digesting.
The short and pathetic address of Senator Vest, who is a great man in our part of
the country, to a jury in a "dog case," illustrates the matter under consideration. The
plaintiff sued the defendant for killing his dog - valued at one hundred dollars. The trial
came on, and as the Senator happened to be in town, he was employed by the plaintiff to
assist in the prosecution. The Senator hesitated to take the employment, because of the
nature of the case and the small amount involved, but the plaintiff urged him, and to make
his urgency more pronounced, handed him fifty dollars. The evidence was introduced, the
senior counsel presented the case to the jury for the plaintiff, and the counsel for the
defendant made a vigorous argument. The Senator closed the argument, not referring
once to the evidence, but confined his remarks to the canine genus; alluding to the fidelity
of the dog of ancient and modern times; that he was the first to welcome his master's
return home, and that starvation could not force him to desert his dead body. The jury were
completely overcome with emotion. They retired to deliberate and soon returned a verdict
for the plaintiff for two hundred dollars - one hundred more than the plaintiff demanded in
his complaint.
In an early day in the southwest, when law books were rare, except in the larger
towns, the country lawyers had to appeal to what they conceived to be right and justice -
tact and eloquence carried off the palm of victory. The lawyer who could make his
contention the more plausible by his art and positive assertions, would win court or jury to
his views.
In one of the inferior courts a cause was tried, there being no law books at hand
except the statutes and a copy of Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws of England. The
lawyer on one side of the case found some proposition in Blackstone which was the law
in this country as well as in England, sustaining
--- 508

his contention. It proved to be unavailing, owing to the poverty of the judicial equipment
and the appeal of the lawyer on the opposite side of the case, to our Declaration of
Independence, the success of our arms against "Old England" which made us a free and
independent nation. He further stated that "while it would not be courtesy, nor in conformity
to the well established rules to impute any improper motive on the part of the counsel in
producing Blackstone as authority, it would seem that the learned counsel must know
better." Blackstone was held by the "learned court" not to be good law here after the
success of our arms in the war of the Revolution.
The lawyer who produced Blackstone then stated that he had an authority directly
in point - indeed, "a hog case" - in the form of a decision of the Supreme Court of the State.
The report containing it had been brought into the court room, but it had mysteriously
disappeared. This left the counsel in a very uncomfortable condition, as it was the only
copy in town, and because he stood discredited before the court by reason of his attempt
and failure to convince the "learned Judge" that the proposition in Blackstone alluded to
was sound law in this country; the opposing counsel contending that there was no such
decision, so far as he knew, and that he was perfectly familiar with what the Supreme Court
had decided.
The truth about the matter was that the counsel that contended that there was no
such decision, had induced one of his friends to get the report containing the decision
referred to and hide it until after the trial was over and the victory won. The case not having
been one of great importance, so far as the amount involved was concerned, it was in after
years treated as a very amusing occurrence - a travesty on court trials.
As the country improves, as distance is annihilated by a network of railroads and
telegraphs spreading all over the country, and as knowledge is disseminated throughout
the nation by means of the Press and other instrumentalities, a change is perceptible in
every walk of life and nowhere is a more marked improvement observable than in the
courts of the country and in the legal profession. A reference to such scenes and
occurrences as are alluded to, which belong to the history of the legal profession and the
courts of the country, is of interest to those who are seeking for a painting of the grotesque
and humorous side of life as exhibited in the courts and in the actual experiences of men
of the profession of the law.
And it may have a higher value, even, than that. A history of the evolution of any
profession, and especially of one which has exerted, and still exerts, such an influence in
our society - making its mark in every stage of our progress, must be of great concern to
all who are alive to whatever tends to show that a period of stagnation has not set in among
us, and that we have arisen, by our own native strength and energy, from a lower condition
to a higher. A less ambitious attempt may not be wholly without merit and may serve as
a guide-board to the place where the treasure may be found.

-----------
--- 509

THE CROWN OF LIFE

By H. R. Y. N.
 THE ever-mounting tide of life which softened and quickened the still stone into the
plant, which from the plant slowly worked out the animal, whose ceaseless pulsing through
the ages wove at last the mind of man, now in its divine work begins to awaken in mankind
a higher consciousness. Beyond man it cannot go; it can only fashion a diviner and diviner
man. Men are arising of greater soul than once, compassionate instead of self-seeking.
Especially in these later days is the spirit of self-seeking beginning to find of a higher
ideal, taking the positive form of prompting to other than selfish thoughts and acts, to self-
sacrifice, in the interests of a wider and wider circle of life. [[missing text]] ....its evil reign
troubled. Men are beginning to feel the presence within themselves. They instinctively
know its compelling force, and that that force will increase; they know that in no long time
it will declare war upon, crucify, and finally kill their selfish and pleasure-seeking sensual
personalities. As they hardly or rarely recognize that this force is a part of their own nature
and pregnant with promise of great joy for them in the future when it shall be their only
guiding power, that it is as it were a dawn gloriously lying athwart the purple hill-tops
portending a new and spacious day, they are disposed to revolt as a man naturally
prepares to revolt when he hears of the coming of something which he instinctively feels
to have the power or intention to control what he has hitherto regarded as a right.
But this gloriously ominous disturbing element keeps up its knocking at every heart.
Made into words the unwelcomed voice says: "Thou shalt not sacrifice thy higher life to thy
lower; thou shalt not sacrifice the welfare of any other thing which hath life to thine own
pleasure."
It is a trying utterance, a notice to quit, served on all the baser elements in humanity.
It is served into unwilling hands; therefore the star of great hope that is arising does so to
the accompaniment of the roar of cannon, the muttered omens of coming disaster, and on
every hand the cries of misery and starvation as a result of the last ferocious grabs of self-
seeking, lust, and plunder. The collective demon of humanity like the demon of the
individual man is roused to its utmost by the very thought, even unconscious, that it may
have to loose its hold.
What is this new ideal as a last and highest point of the ever upcoming tide of life?
It is the true instinct of Brotherhood, to be carefully distinguished from that which
prompts the mere grouping of selfish units with a common scheme

--- 510

of plunder or imposition. Now that Nature has evolved man, all her further work lies in
ennobling his consciousness.
As an embodiment of that impulse, here stands the Universal Brotherhood
Organization, the Crown of highest human endeavor, the outer symbol of the Spiritual
Temple to which through the painful ages of human struggles and persecutions and tears
and blood has been added, here and there, a brick. No other Body known among men has
so pure a platform, has an ideal so high and so catholic. It is the Crown of life because it
expresses and embodies the last and noblest product of the evolutionary life-wave, the
pure compassionate and joyful instinct of Brotherhood. Before that, Nature tended to make
her units self-seeking; in man she now pushes on to a nobler step. The fruit, the divine
fruit, of countless aeons of evolutionary growth is in the breast of the man who loves his
fellow-man. His life is a more rarified essence and distillation of the common life of lesser
men.
It is to conserve and give an instrument for work to this essence that the Universal
Brotherhood Organization exists. It exists for no other purpose. It tries to exclude those
who have other aims. In no long time it will contain the full number of those who are great
enough to be animated with this one purpose; and as the individuals among men come few
by few to their true dignity as holders of that purpose they will join that Organization in order
to have the use of its many and increasingly many implements of husbandry for labor in the
field of life, human and sub-human. The Organization is the Temple in whose courtyard
is the well-guarded spring of the waters of life, the water of compassion.
Membership in the Organization is therefore a sacred matter. It is the highest self-
conscious expression of life. The highest fire of life, its last essence, should be in the
breast of, and in the care of, every member. He drinks his life at a higher source than any
who have not the instinct of Brotherhood. Members sometimes leave, and may then
become its hitter enemies. There are two or three causes for this. They may have entered
from a lower motive than that of Brotherhood. Unless they gain the higher (and to try
sincerely and continually to do so is to insure ultimate success), they presently feel
themselves out of place, and, often with reviling, depart. Some waste in sensual
indulgence, either of thought or deed, that essence of life which they possess, and thus,
lowering the whole level, lower it from the highest first. And that highest is Brotherhood,
so that their whole impulsion to membership has departed. From this cause, and from the
intrusion of ambition, which, as a self-centration, is the opposite of the principle of
Brotherhood, many desert their posts.
It is easy to see that the Organization is the highest on earth. A man who can drop
his own personal aims and comfort and think only of the comfort and welfare of his wife and
children, is counted a good husband and father; he who does likewise by his town is
counted a good citizen; he who will do that for his country is praised as a patriot. And all
these are the highest types in their several capacities. So therefore he who can take into
his heart the

--- 511

vast needs of humanity, making an ideal humanity his ideal, is the flower of evolving nature,
the greatest and noblest type of man; those who try to make themselves such are
approaching the ideal; having comprehended the mind and purpose of nature; they have
resolved to be at one with her, to work with her on themselves and others. For life is one;
its purpose is one; its children are one, and the greatest are they who know it, who act on
their knowledge that it may become deeper, and who ever seek the highest. For these
there can be no failures; in them life pulsates at its richest, and therefore also joy, for joy
is in the proportion of life. All these must ultimately find themselves within the Organization;
for there they will find their natural comrades and their natural tools and channels of work.
The Organization perceived that it contained within itself one who was of this noble
type in a unique degree, one who has succeeded in forswearing personal interests, and
who, for this reason and because wisdom comes pari passu with selflessness, was thus
fitted to lead the highest expression of the current tide of life, the Universal Brotherhood
Organization and Movement. By this one, the engines and methods of work are directed.
To recapitulate. This Movement has organized itself that it may work for the
elevation of every department of human life that is worthy and in which elevation is
possible. It is a Brotherhood because Brotherhood is life. It is universal because of the
community of life. We make a large claim, but we maintain that whoever joins the
Organization with the one noble feeling and motive will presently feel an accession of life
spiritually, mentally, and even physically; that he will reach a point of growing peace and
joy; that he will learn of his own nature and of life in general in a way and to a degree
nowhere else possible; and that he will find himself in possession of channels of work in
which his every bent and aspiration will find their utmost outlet.
He will have entered on a new life; if he is faithful to his spiritual obligation, without
books there will arise in his soul that memory and hope and wisdom which are the
privileges of the awakened man. A divine legacy will come to him, the religion which is
wisdom concerning nature, Theosophy, the peace-bringer, the key to hope, that Temple
of hope which will one day be the abiding-place of all souls and where alone can storm-
worn humanity come to rest. With this wisdom in his heart he will go out among men to
comfort, to teach, to arouse, to labor, in joy.

----------

"He who neglects his duty to his conscience, will neglect to pay his debt to his
neighbor."
"A student without inclination for work is like a squirrel on its wheel; he makes no
progress."
"The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind by passion. Blessed are the patient,
and the passionless."
- Gems From the East
-------------

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES

by Alexander Wilder, M.D.

IX. - The Amunophs - The Vocal Memnon - Queen Taia - King Khuen-Aten and His
Monotheistic Religion - Its Suppression.

IN the first day of the month of Pharmuthi, immediately after the death of his
illustrious father, "as the earth became light and the morning broke, the disk of the sun rose
above the horizon and the sky became clear, then was the anointed king of Upper and
Lower Egypt, the son of Ra, Amunoph II., placed on the seat of Thothmes III., and he took
possession of the throne." Like the stars of the firmament that are obscured by the
radiance of the sun, his glory was diminished by that of his great predecessor; and his
history seems almost devoid of interest. Yet he had already distinguished himself as a
brave commander in a campaign to repel incursions of the Badawen tribes of the "red land
at the East" of Egypt, and he had been associated for some time with his father in the
administration of the government.
He was early brought face to face with trial and conflict. The confederated kings of
Palestine, Syria and Naharaina, again revolted. Amunoph immediately marched his forces
against them. He met them at the town of Thakhisa and put them to flight. Seven of the
kings were captured; "he with his own hand struck down seven kings with his battle-axe."
They were "bound on the forepart of the royal ship" and carried to Egypt for summary
punishment.
It was a war of vengeance, and Amunoph continued his march northward, pillaging
the inhabitants as he went. He penetrated into Assyria and the fortified town of Nin or
Nineveh, which Thothmes had captured before, surrendered to him with little resistance.
He succeeded in restoring his authority over all the tributary peoples.
Upon his return to Thebes, six of the captive kings were hanged outside the walls
of the metropolis. The seventh was carried up to Nubia and was hanged on the wall of the
city of Napata in order to strike terror among the negro tribes.
Amunoph, after the manner of his predecessors, visited the temple of Amada in
Nubia, where the account of the campaign was recorded. He also placed inscriptions on
one of the entrances to the great temple of Karnak. The few subsequent years of his reign
were devoted to making additions to the temples, but the workmanship exhibits a great
deterioration. It was far inferior to that of former kings. He was liberal in gifts to worthy
officials, and

--- 513

the records in their tombs contain grateful mention of his appreciativeness and munificence.
The likenesses of Amunoph II. and of Queen Hashep-Merira-Ra, the wife of
Thothmes III., were found in a tomb at Thebes. They exhibit an obliquity of the eye
somewhat like that which is peculiar to the Mongolian features.
In another tomb is a genealogy, the names in which indicate that the monarchs who
were classed as truly legitimate were members of the sacerdotal order. The priests were
unwilling to name any other. An individual named Amunhetep or Amunoph is described as
the son of the Chief Priest Khamu (the "king's son"*) who was the son of the Chief Priest
Amunhetep or Amunoph, the son of the Chief Priest Thothmes.
The inscriptions ascribe to Amunoph II. a reign of seven years. He was succeeded
by Thothmes IV., whose accession to the throne was attended by some irregularity. His
physiognomy differs from that of preceding kings. He signalized the event by rearing a
memorial stone directly before the breast of the statue of the Sphinx at Gizeh, on which,
besides other sculptures, there is an account of the matter.
The space about the Pyramids had been abandoned after the period of the
Memphite dynasties. It bore the significant name of Ro-set, "the door to the under-world,"
and only pilgrims resorted to it to worship Osiris. From this hill the Sacred Path extended
to the "city of obelisks," Heliopolis.
Thothmes had come to Memphis in his horse-chariot, he says, for the purpose of
hunting lions. He had paid homage to the gods at Sakkara, making an offering of seeds
to Horemkhu and to Rannu the goddess of horticulture, and praying to Isis, Sekhet and to
the god Seth. "For," says he, "a great enchantment has rested on this place from the
beginning of time," as far as the districts of the lords of Babylon, the Sacred Path of the
gods to the western horizon of the city of Heliopolis. The form of the Sphinx is the
simulacrum of Khepra (the sun at midnight), the very great god who abides in this place,
the greatest, the most venerable of all spiritual beings."
 Here when the sun was at the zenith, the prince fell asleep, and in a dream the god
appeared to him. "My son Thothmes," said the apparition, "I am thy father Horemkhu,
Khepra, Ra, Tum. The kingdom shall be given to thee, and thou shalt wear the white crown
and the red crown of the earth-god Seb. . . . The sand of this district in which I have my
existence has covered me up. Promise that thou wilt do what I wish in my heart."
In spite of opposition, Thothmes IV. conquered. He at once caused the sand to be
cleared away which had hidden the body of the Sphinx, and brought the gigantic shape to
view. It lay there with the face toward the East and a temple between the outstretched
fore-feet. Precautions were now employed to prevent another accumulation of sand; and
in later years, under the Ptolemies, and afterward, the inhabitants of the village of Busiris
earned money by acting

------------
* The practice of the kings in appointing their sons as high priests, as well as
viceroys, was common in Egypt. The converse of this was likewise true that favorite priests
and viceroys were styled by way of compliment ''King's sons."
------------
--- 514

as guides for those who wished to visit the wonderful structure. In the inscription Thothmes
ascribes the rearing of the image to king Khafra of the Fourth Dynasty, although even at
that remote time it had been considered as a relic of a previous antiquity.
Thothmes made expeditions into the land of the Khitans and afterward into Nubia
and Ethiopia to suppress insurrections. His reign was too short, however, to give
opportunities for distinction.
In the person of Amunoph III., his great predecessor Thothmes III. seemed to live
again. He was brave and passionately fond of the chase. Memorial scarabi contain
accounts of his hunting expeditions to the country of Naharaina, and that he speared one
hundred and ten lions. His first military campaign was against the tribes of the Sudan in
"the miserable land of Kush." It took place in the fifth year of his reign, and is described as
victorious. "He placed his boundary wherever it pleased him."
These campaigns were repeated, and the inscriptions include the names of many
conquered towns and tribes that cannot now be ascertained by any that now exist. The
region abounded with gold mines, and the cupidity inspired by this wealth was the chief
incentive to these expeditions.
A distinguished officer of the king was his famous kinsman and namesake
Amunhetep or Amunoph, the son of Kapu and grandson of Khamu, who has been already
named. The account of his qualifications is very interesting to all who take interest in such
matters. "I was introduced to the knowledge of the Holy Book* and beheld the glories of
the god Thoth. I was enlightened concerning their mysteries, and all parts of these were
laid open before me. I was made master of the art of speaking in all its bearings."
Amunhetep had been first appointed a royal under-secretary. His proficiency having
been demonstrated, he was made Secretary, with the duties of arranging the families, of
reporting on the taxes, and of watching over the defenses of the country. Here his
administrative ability was fully tested, and he had a wide distinction. The Egyptians, like
all ancient peoples, were hostile to those of another race and country, refusing intimate
relations with them, and even their ingress into Egypt, except under rigid conditions. They
were branded in the inscriptions on the monuments by such odious terms as "miserable,
impure, and leprous." The administration of Amunhetep was wise and practical. "I gave
satisfaction to the people in their place of taxing," he declares; "I levied the taxes on the
household according to their number. I separated the warriors and their household. I
increased the subjects by the best of the prisoners whom the king had made on the theatre
of war. I was Rohir, the director at the head of the bravest of the warriors to smite the
nations of Nubia and Asia. The thoughts of my lord were continually my care. I penetrated
what his mouth concealed and comprehended his thoughts toward all natives and
foreigners that were about him. It was I who brought away the

-----------
* This would appear to have been the book which was prepared by Kheops; but it
reminds us more particularly of the "petroma" or tablet of stone from which the hierophant
at the Eleusinia instructed the candidates.
-----------
--- 515

prisoners. I was their overseer. I did according to what he spoke, and took my measures
according to that which he prescribed to me. I found that this proved best in later times."
His next appointment was that of Chief Architect. This was one of the most
honorable and responsible, demanding the highest qualifications in a court and country like
those of Egypt. Wisdom, discretion and intelligence of the highest order were absolutely
necessary. These Amunhetep possessed, beyond other men at his time. He was
overjoyed at the honour which he received. Even the sculptured hieroglyphic in "hard
stone" was aglow with the ardor of his gratitude to the king. "He is Ra himself," he exclaims
in his enthusiasm; "may there be accorded to him numerous returns of the Thirty Years'
Feast without end!"
The popularity of Amunoph III. with his subjects exceeded that of former kings. In
the holy Thirtieth Year,* the jubilee of his reign, he received tribute and taxes from the
Rohirs, and collected the revenue. In acknowledgment, each of the faithful subjects was
presented from the king with a necklace. "These," says the inscription - "these are the
records which are granted to the overseers of the houses of Pharaoh and the taxpayers of
Upper and Lower Egypt, because when the overseer of the granaries had spoken a word
to them, they gave more than the amount of their taxes for the thirtieth year."
Their reply was terse and to the point. "The king has shown himself upon his throne.
The taxpayer of the South and North of Egypt has been rewarded."
The coronation-day of Amunoph had been characterized by a general pilfering about
the court, a stealing of food, a sucking of beer from the skins, a tearing of the lead from the
mouth of the fountains and a carrying away of ornaments. Either the servants did not share
in the general enthusiasm, or with a reign of thirty years, Amunhetep had not won the
respect and affection of the people.
Amunoph III., like his great predecessor, Thothmes, was profoundly religious and
particularly fond of building. He caused new quarries to be opened in the hills of Toura,
near Memphis, and the "hard stone" carefully hewn and then transported to all parts of
Egypt, for the repairing of temples and the building of new ones. "He gave instructions and
directions," says the inscription, "for he understood how to direct and guide architects."
The arrangement of the Great Temple at Thebes underwent significant
modifications. An immense propylon or gate-tower was erected at the western extremity,
a new temple to Amun-Ra at the north, and another to the lion-headed goddess Sekhet or
Mut, the "Great Mother," at the south. All the buildings were united to the new temple by
an avenue of criosphinxes, figures having the bodies of rams, with the disks of the sun at
their heads. The ram

-----------
* The "festival of Hib," as it was called, was a significant occurrence in Egypt. It
commemorated the end of a cycle of thirty years and the beginning of a new one. It served
to regulate according to a fixed rule of numbers the coincident points of the solar and lunar
years. It is first mentioned in the monuments in the reign of Pepi Meri-Ka of the Sixth
Dynasty.
-----------
--- 516

being the symbol of Amun, and the disk representing the sun-god, the combination implied
that Amun-Ra, the "Mystic Sun," was the Supreme Deity of the realm of Egypt.

[[Illustration: The famous circular Zodia or Planisphere at Dendera. H. P. Blavatsky

declares the knowledge of the Zodiac to be an heirloom from the Atlanteans [America].
The Egyptian Zodiacs show that the ancient Egyptians had records extending back 78,000
years. See "The Secret Doctrine," II, 432.]]

Another important structure was the new temple at Medinet-Abu, on the further bank
of the river. This building was placed by the Chief Architect, and its site was indicated from
a great distance by two colossal sitting statues of the king, the fame of which went over the
whole ancient world. The architect had devised them in the exuberance of his gratitude
without the knowledge of the king. They were of "hard stone," about fifty feet in height.
After

--- 517

having been completed, they were transported to the river, where eight boats or floats had
been built for the purpose of carrying them to their place of destination. "They will last as
long as the sky," was the architect's exultant boast.
The northern statue was the "vocal statue of Memnon," which has afforded so much
wonder and has been celebrated by innumerable writers in poetry and prose. It gave forth
musical notes at sunrise.* The two statues were in a sitting posture, and at their feet were
smaller sitting figures of the queen Taia, and the king's mother, Mut-em-va.
The king regarded the building of this temple as the most glorious achievement of
his reign. The memorial tablet contains an inscription, an address to the god and his reply.
"Come, Amun-Ra, lord of Thebes in Ape," the king invokes, "behold thy abode which is
prepared for thee on the great place of Us. . . . As thou risest on the horizon, then is it
enlightened by the golden beams of thy countenance. Thy glory dwells on it. I have not
let it want for works of beautiful white stone; I have filled it with monuments from the
mountain of admirable stone; and those who behold them are full of great joy on account
of their size. . . . Statues of the gods are to be seen everywhere, carved in all their parts.
I gave directions to execute what pleased thee well, to delight thee with beautiful dwelling-
places."
The god replies, assuring him that that which he has prepared is excellent. "Never,"
says he, "has the like been done for me."
Amunoph was not remiss in his kindness to the architect, Amunhetep. A temple had
been founded by the latter, behind the Sanctuary of the King, near the tombs of the king's
daughters and other royal princesses, in the eleventh year of the reign of Amunoph. The
king gave orders for its perpetual maintenance, and "the high priests, the holy fathers and
the priests of Amun-Ra" were appointed to protect the shrine. Severe penalties were
decreed in case of neglect; for, with all his bounties, Amunoph was not on the best of
terms with the leading members of the Sacerdotal Order. He promised rewards for fidelity,
adding the assurance so delightful to an Egyptian, "your body shall rest in the Underworld,
Amenti, after a career of one hundred and ten years."
The son of Hapu was famous for his wisdom and superior excellencies for many
centuries, till Egypt ceased to be a land of the gods. What Imopht or Emeph was for
Memphis, Amunhetep became for Thebes. The temple of Kak, as it was called, became
a place of pilgrimage for visitors to the Southern Metropolis; and when it was rebuilt under
the Ptolemies it was again dedicated to Amun and Hathor, and the wise Amunhetep was
honoured with the deities.

------------
* Humboldt ascribes such sounds to the different conditions of temperature of the
atmosphere and the air confined in the crevices of the stone. He observed similar sounds
from the rocks on the banks of the Orinoco River in Venezuela. Others attribute the notes
to the artifices of the priests; and Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson found a stone in the lap of the
statue which gave forth a musical sound on being struck. Kambyses broke the statue in
order to ascertain the cause, but to no purpose. The hypothesis of Humboldt and Sir David
Brewster is doubtless the correct one.
------------
--- 518

[[illustrations: Zodiacs at Dendera and Esne.]]

--- 519

THE UNHONORED "STRANGER KINGS"

The reign of Amunoph III. lasted for about forty years; his dominion extended from
the Sudan to Assyria. There is no record of his death. He had been in many respects
diverse from the members of the family of Thothmes and his tomb was in a place apart.
There is a significance in this that seems to foreshadow remarkable changes. If he did not
attempt to make innovations in the religion and customs of Egypt, he opened the way for
such endeavors. While Thothmes III. may be compared very justly with David, the Hebrew
monarch, as he is described, Amunoph was more like Solomon. He exhibited a similar
liking for art and literature, and his reign was generally peaceful and conducive of prosperity
to his people. Like that king, he has been represented as susceptible to the attractions of
foreign women, and he was liberal to their religion. "Some historians have reproached him
with being too much under female influence," says Professor Rawlinson; "and certainly in
the earlier portion of his reign he deferred greatly to his mother, Mutemva, and in the latter
portion to his wife, Tii or Taia; but there is no evidence that any evil result followed, or that
these princesses did not influence him for good. It is too much taken for granted by many
writers that female influence is corrupting. No doubt it is so in some cases; but it should
not be forgotten that there are women whom to have known is 'a liberal education.'
Mutemva and Tii may have been of the number."
Queen Taia, whose influence with her husband and son was productive of important
results, had been chosen by Amunoph from affection, without regard to political policy. An
inscription at Thebes describes her as "with complexion fair, her eyes blue, her hair flaxen,
her cheeks rosy." A scarabaeus at the Gizeh Palace declares her parents to have been
not of the royal blood of Egypt, but foreign.
A scarabaeus contains the records that in the year after his marriage, the eleventh,
he caused to be constructed for his young bride, Taia, a lake a mile in length in the city of
Zar or Zoan (San or Tanis), and celebrated the festival of the Inundation, launching upon
it a boat named Aten-nefer, "the Beautiful Sun." The employing of this term "Aten"* on this
occasion indicates the early inception of the attempt to change the national worship. But
Amunoph, however favorable to the new ideas, would not venture upon rash innovations.
The son, however, who was for a time the colleague of his parents in the government, was
less politic and cautious.
"Queen Taia was not accepted by the priests of Egypt as quite a legitimate consort
to the king. He had wedded her from affection, disregardful of the requirement that the
queen must be of the Egyptian royal family.** The

------------
* This term is usually understood to mean the disk of the sun. It probably denotes
the spiritual principle which the disk prefigured.
** Archaic usage regarded the maternal parent as more essential to legitimacy than
the father. Many peoples considered only the mother as determining the tribe or people
with which the child was to be included.
------------
--- 520

priests were accordingly enabled to dispute the title of their children as heirs to the throne.
They did not succeed in excluding them from actually reigning, but they omitted their names
from the Tables in which were inscribed the names of the Kings of Egypt.
In the ensuing reign, when the new religion had been established, Queen Taia and
the mother of Amunoph III. were associated with him in the public ceremonials, as entitled
to the highest veneration. It is conjectured that the two women largely influenced his
action. While he did not formally depart from the established worship, yet in his utterances,
as recorded in the monumental inscriptions, he addressed Amun-Ra, but significantly
indicated him as the divinity of the Sun.
There is much uncertainty in relation to the accession of Amunoph IV. to the throne
of Egypt, and even in regard to his personality. His very features add to the difficulty. As
they are depicted, they exhibit mongrel characteristics, unlike those of Amunoph III. or
Queen Taia, as though there had been a reverting to some former ancestral type; if indeed
he was not some changeling or actually of another family.
Mr. Villiers-Stuart has found two tombs in which the sculptures indicate something
of this character. One is the tomb of Queen Taia herself, which was prepared under her
own directions, probably during the life of her husband. She is depicted in the act of
worshiping the gods of Egypt; and her son, who is making the usual offerings to her as a
being in the Underworld, exhibits no resemblance to the pictures of the monarch afterward
known as Khu-en-Aten. In the other tomb which Mr. Stuart found at Thebes, there were
two bas-reliefs, one on each side of the entrance. The figure at the right was a likeness of
Khuenaten, and Mr. Stuart declares the other to be that of the genuine Amunoph IV.,
whose features are more clearly like those of the family of Thothmes.*
This monarch and his immediate successors are known in Egyptian history as the
"Stranger-Kings," an epithet which in ancient times way a very opprobrious one. He was
not long in becoming obnoxious to the priests and nobility. He openly manifested his
aversion to the worship of the many gods in the temples. He recognized a single Divine
Being only, the God of Light, of whom the orb of the sun was the symbol. In his tablet he
styled himself Mi-Aten, "the Intimate Friend of the Sun," and also "priest of Horemakhu."
He afterward laid aside the name of Amunoph for that of Khu-en-Aten, "the Radiant Sun,"
and Mi-Horemakhu, and issued an order to obliterate the names of the god Amun and the
goddess Mut from the monuments of his ancestors.

-----------
* See Nile Gleanings, pages 73-81, 244-250, 299-301. Mr. Stuart thought that
Amunoph IV. was succeeded by Khuenaten, who had married his daughter; and that he
for a time adopted the oval of his father-in-law together with his name. The queen of Khu-
en-Aten was pictured with a double crown, which verifies her hereditary right. She
transmitted this right to her daughters, and so their husbands became kings. This is set
forth in the inscriptions over their heads: "Royal Daughters of her very body - Meri-Aten,
sprung from the Queen Nefer-nefru-ti-tai-Aten." The fact that the father is not mentioned
indicates he was not considered to belong to the sacred race.
-----------
--- 521

A command was also promulgated with the evident purpose of prescribing the
worship of the One God. The Chief Minister was commanded to assemble all workers in
stone in Egypt, from the Island of Elephantina to Migdol, and to open a quarry at Silsilis for
the erection of a gigantic building, "the Great Obelisk of Horemakhu, by his name as God
of Light, who is worshiped as Aten-Ra in Thebes." The great lords and chiefs of the Fan-
bearers were appointed to oversee the cutting and shipping of the stone.
This building was demolished in a subsequent reign, and a gateway erected upon
its site.
These measures led to rebellion, and the king, in the sixth year of his reign,
abandoned Thebes to found a new metropolis at a distance from the Nile in Middle Egypt.
The place selected for the site was at Alabastron, now known as the Tel-el-Amarna, "the
Mound of Amarna." Here the work was inaugurated by the erection of a temple to the god
Aten. The style of this structure was a complete departure from the standard Egyptian
models. It consisted of many buildings with open courts, in which were altar-hearths for the
Sacred Fire.* Flowers were the principal offerings, and the whole temple was decorated
with them. But no animals were sacrificed.
A palace was built near the temple for the king and the queen, and residences
likewise for their daughters, and for Netem-Mut or Benat-Mut, the daughter of Amunoph III.
Houses were also erected near these for the Court and the servants of the king. The
architects and builders were kept busy; the new city was soon filled with inhabitants and
adorned with monuments.
The court and government were of a kind that was entirely unknown to the
Egyptians. The very pictures of the king, his family and attendants, were unlike the others
that appear in the sculptures and paintings. Instead of burly figures and comely features
that were depicted in the tombs, they were represented as emaciated and distended in their
forms, and of surpassing ugliness. The king maintained the style of an Asiatic monarch.
Those who came into his presence prostrated themselves after a servile manner like
conquered foemen. The army was largely constituted of negroes and Asiatics, yet there
were few warlike expeditions; for the feeling of Khu-en-Aten was eminently peaceful.
Every one seemed to be employed with the new religion. Flowers adorned the temple
throughout, and hymns chanted to the music of harps constituted the chief form of worship.
Mr. R. Stuart-Poole pertinently asks "was this a foreign, or an Egyptian restoration
of primitive belief? If it were Egyptian, why was the Sun called

-----------
* "Curious parallels might be drawn," says a historian of Egypt, ''between the
external forms of worship of the Israelites in the desert and those set up by the disk-
worshipers at Tel-el-Amarna; portions of the sacred furniture, as the 'table of show-bread,'
described in the Book of Exodus as placed within the tabernacle, are repeated among the
objects belonging to the worship of Aten and do not occur among the representations of
any other epoch."
-----------
--- 522

Aten and not Ra? The king was the son of a foreigner, and his type and that which marks
his Court - probably because somewhere of his mother's race, an art assured the
fashionable type for the rest - is not recognizable in any of the characteristic
representations of foreign races. It is neither Ethiopian, nor Semitic, nor Libyan. The
names of his mother (Taia) and of her reputed parents (Iuao and Thuao), the name of the
Sun-God, which is Egyptian, and the character of the worship, do not, as far as we know,
point to any of these races. Certainly they are not Semitic."*

[[illustration: Kuenaten]]

It will not be very difficult to find a similarity to the religions of the Sacred Verse, the
Gayatri: "Adore we the Sun, God over all, from whom all proceed and to whom all must
return; may He guide our thought."
 The government of Khuenaten, and the worship which he established, show much
resemblance to what is described of the rule of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, in Mexico. He
diffused learning and knowledge of the arts, was just and liberal of gifts, conquering by the
arts of peace rather than by war, averse to bloody sacrifices, but delighting in music,
flowers and brilliant colors.
Whatever was the history of the worship, whether it was of original development
from human intuitions divinely prompted, or a revival of the religion of native and prehistoric
Egypt, or an importation from some foreign region, king Khuenaten devoted himself
zealously to its dissemination.** He appointed his favorite official, Meri-Ra, to be Chief
Seer of Aten, because of his devotion and obedience to the royal teaching. He also made
Aahmes, an-

-----------
* It may be hazardous to express an opinion about these names, but they seem to
be not unlike others in ancient literature. Taia has some resemblance to the Hebrew term
for existence, and the names Iuao and Thuao appear not to be very different from the deity-
name Iao and Heva.
** He did not, however, attempt to enforce it upon his subjects by decrees and
penalties, so usual in later times, but relied upon moral influence. The persecutions came
from the priests of the other religion he aimed to reform.
-----------
--- 523

other of his faithful followers, Steward of the Royal Household and Superintendent of the
Storehouses.
A prayer by this official was found in a tomb at Tel-el-Amarna. It invokes the divinity
of the Sun as lord of lords and king of worlds, and is an eloquent effusion.
"Thou - oh, God - " he says, "thou who art in truth the Loving One, thou standest
before the Two Eyes. Thou art he that created that which had never existed, that formed
everything in the Universe. We, likewise, came into existence through the word of thy
mouth."
No receiver of the new faith was more sincere and devoted than the queen, Nefert-i-
Taia. Her invocation contains praise and petition, almost plaintive in their earnestness and
affection:
"Thou disk of the Sun, thou living God," she exclaims, "there is none other beside
thee! Thou givest health to the eyes through thy beams, thou Creator of all beings!"
"Grant to thy son, who loves thee, the lord of the land, Khuenaten, that he may live
united with thee to all eternity. As for her, his wife, the queen Nefert-i-Taia, may she live
evermore and eternally by his side, well pleasing to thee. She admires day by day what
thou hast created."
The queen-mother, Taia, came to the new metropolis attended by a great retinue.
She was received with joyful attentions. The king and queen conducted her to the temple
of Aten to "behold her sun-shadow."
King Khuenaten was domestic in his tastes and habits. A sculpture in one of the
tombs exhibits him as standing on a high balcony surrounded by his wife and seven
daughters, one of them an infant and future queen, in the lap of her mother. They are
throwing gifts to the people below.
The queen-mother, Taia, lived with them, and Khuenaten found in his home a
recompense for the estrangement of the "holy fathers" of the temples and those whom they
influenced.
Of accounts of the immediate successors of Khuenaten, history is very meagre. Sa-
a-Nekhet, who was the husband of his daughter, the princess Meri-Aten, reigned, only a
short period. The next monarch was Tut-ankh-Amun. He lived at Thebes, and had married
the third daughter, Ankh-nes-Aten, whose name was now changed to Ankh-nes-Amun. He
was evidently hoping to gain the sanction of the priests, but his name was not placed in
their list of kings.
His successor was Aai, the husband of Titi or Taia, the foster-mother of Khuenaten.
He was a member of the Sacerdotal Order, a "holy father" of the highest rank, and had held
places of distinction, such as royal Fan-bearer and "Scribe of Justice," which attests his
superior ability and the confidence which the king reposed in him. He seized the
opportunity to grasp the supreme power, but did not venture to assume the royal dignity.
He was only known as "prince of Thebes." He returned to the old worship, but did not
obtain a place on the catalogue of kings. He was able, however, to have

--- 524

a sepulchre among the royal tombs, but for some reason it was not completed. His
sarcophagus was found there by Mr. Stuart, bearing marks of violence. The inscriptions
had been defaced, as though he was considered a usurper, but the name that he assumed
as ruler was left: "Kafer-kaferu-Ra-Arna-Neter-Aai-Neter-hic-vas."

[[illustration: Horos, "the Son of Ra, Miamun Horenhibi."]]

The record of his reign extends to four years and more, but we have no mention of
its ending.

THE LEGITIMATE DYNASTY RESTORED.

In a grotto on the western side of the Jebel Silsileh is a sculpture representing a
young boy wearing the royal circlet, with the Sacred Asp of Egypt,

--- 525

and nursed by a queen. This was Hor-en-hibi or Horos, the "son" or priest of the god. The
inscription describes him as the "beloved of his mother, the divine lady-chief." When he
had grown up he was admitted to "behold the holiness of the god Horos" of Alabastropolis,
and afterward was presented to the royal Court. The king appointed him a Rohir or
Superintendent, and perceiving his rare excellencies, afterward made him Adon or
governor of Egypt. He was now supreme, like the king himself, in all the realm; only on
the throne was the king greater than he. In a short time afterward he was recognized as
crown-prince. "Amun gave order to bring the god Horos, the lad of Alabastron, and his son,
to Thebes that he might induct him into his office and his throne.
In ancient writings the priests of a worship assumed to speak as being the actual
divinities. The god Amun may therefore be understood here as the chief priest of Thebes,
and Horos as the priest of Alabastron.
The nuptials of Hor-em-hebi with the princess royal of Egypt constituted a part of the
proceedings. This alliance assured the validity of his title. His various official and other
names were then announced, and then "the Holiness of the glorious god Amun-Ra," the
high priest, came forth with him from the palace, "in order to deliver to him the golden
protecting image of the Disk of the Sun."
"The Son of Ra, Miamun Horenhibi," was now king of Upper and Lower Egypt and
lord of the "Nine Nations." He proceeded at once to obliterate the records and destroy the
monuments of the Stranger-Kings. The gigantic structure of Khuenaten, the obelisk
crowned with the Aten-disk, was torn down and the stones taken away to build a gate-tower
for the temple of Amun-Ra. A second gate-tower was also erected, and the entrances
adorned with statues of the king. An avenue of sphinxes was likewise set up in honor of
the tutelary divinity of Thebes. The images were restored to the temples and new ones
added; the festivals and daily worship of the gods were again established.
The names of the other divinities were erased from the monuments, and the
hieroglyphic or phonetic symbol of Amun-Ra substituted in their place. The hierarchy of
Thebes had indeed full control in the court of Horenhibi.
The new city, the metropolis of Khuenaten, perished under the reaction; and the
mound of Amarna covers its ruins. His name and the names of all the "Stranger-Kings"
were removed from the monuments, and their statues were destroyed.
A campaign was also led against the tribes of the Sudan. An inscription at Silsilis
depicts the result. The king is represented with a battle-axe on his shoulder, receiving the
cross and power from Amun-Ra, with the suppliant prisoners at his feet.
The booty obtained by war replenished the treasury of the king and enabled him to
complete his work of restoration. On the walls of the temple at

--- 526

Thebes was made a series of sculptures representing the princes of the country of Punt,
presenting their tribute, in heavy sacks filled with gold. They address the monarch, asking
for freedom and acknowledging him as Overlord.
The length of his reign is differently stated. An inscription records acts were
performed in the twenty-first year, and Manetho records it as lasting thirty-seven years,
probably adding to it the terms of the several Stranger-Kings.
Then followed a period of disorder and disintegration. The ambition of the
conquering kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty operated eventually to weaken the power of
Egypt. Having subjugated the Asiatics, Libyans and Ethiopians, chieftains from those
countries were destined to subjugate their rulers in their turn. Thus, when the Dynasties
of Thothmes and the Amunophs had finished their careers, there was a new empire and
confederacy forming in Asia to check further aggression, and Egypt itself had divided into
two realms, with the Phoenician prince, Ra-en-tui, exercising supremacy over the North.

-----------
"I AM TIME MATURED"

Arjuna: - "Our principal warriors seem to be impetuously precipitating themselves

into thy mouths terrible with tusks; some are seen caught between thy teeth, their heads
ground down. As the rapid streams of full-flowing rivers roll on to meet the ocean, even so
these heroes of the human race rush into thy flaming mouths. As troops of insects carried
away by strong impulse find death in the fire, even so do these beings with swelling force
pour into thy mouths for their own destruction. Thou involvest and swallowest all these
creatures from every side, licking them in thy flaming lips; filling the universe with thy
splendor, thy sharp beams burn, O Vishnu. Reverence be unto thee, O best of Gods! Be
favorable! I seek to know thee, the Primeval One, for I know not thy work."
Krishna: - "I am Time matured, come hither for the destruction of these creatures;
except thyself, not one of all these warriors here drawn up in serried ranks shall live.
Wherefore, arise! seize fame! Defeat the foe and enjoy the full-grown kingdom! They have
been already slain by me; be thou only the immediate agent."
- Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XI

------------
--- 527

THE HYMN OF PHILOSOPHY

From the "Consolation of Philosophy."
By Anicius Severinus Boethius

(Selected)

UNDYING Soul of this material ball,

Heaven-and-Earth-Maker! Thou who first didst call
Time into being, and by thy behest
Movest all things, thyself alone at rest,
No outward power impelled thee thus to mold
In shape the fluid atoms manifold,
Only the immortal image, born within
Of perfect beauty! Wherefore thou hast been
Thine own fair model, and the things of sense
The image bear of thy magnificence!
Parts perfect in themselves, by Thy control,
Are newly wrought into a perfect whole;
The yoked elements obey thy hand;
Frost works with fire, water with barren sand,
So the dense continents are fast maintained,
And heaven's ethereal fire to earth restrained.
Thou dost the life of threefold nature tame,
To serve the parts of one harmonious frame, -
That soul of things constrained eternally
 To trace Thy image on the starry sky,
The greater and the lesser deeps to round,
And on thyself return. Thou, too, hast found
For us, - thy lesser creatures of a day,
Wherewith thou sowest earth, - forms of a clay
So kindly-fragile naught can stay our flight
Backward, unto the source of all our light!
Grant, Father, yet, the undethroned mind!
A way unto the fount of truth to find,
And, sought so long, the Vision of thy Face!
Lighten our flesh! Terrestrial vapors chase,
And reign in all thy splendor! For thou art
The final Rest of every faithful heart,
The First, the Last! of the expatriate soul
Lord, Leader, Pathway, and Eternal Goal!

- Translation of H. W. P.

------------
--- 528

THE DRAMA AND HUMAN LIFE

By Jessie E. Southwick

IN the history of the world, the drama and dramatic art have been most potent
factors in the education of mankind. From the miracle play on to Richard Wagner's musical
epics and Shakespeare's mirror of a thousand lives, and even to the modern drama with
all its powers and trivialities, the people's heart has throbbed responsive to the mimic
tragedy and laughter, - aye, and mystic symbolism of the soul's transition through this world
of cares and sorrows, joys and conquests and defeats; and sometimes, too, of purest
happiness and peace serene. Through all its tawdry trappings, tinsel shows and crude
pretense, the power of thought and fancy glints and gleams and sparkles, sometimes
blazing forth in shining revelations of life and destiny and human weal, and the resistless
operations of the Law Divine.
Abstract philosophy is vague to many minds; preaching too often clashes with our
self-esteem; the lessons of common experience are wrapped in mists of fearful doubt and
clouds of pain and passion; but the contemplation of the woes of others, and the pictured
joys we are not jealous of, awakens the vibrations of that chord of sympathy which makes
the whole world kin; the Brotherhood of the common heart that beats as one beneath the
ebb and flow of changing circumstance. Carried out of self, we achieve with the hero; die
bravely with the martyr; are jubilant with the delight of pure innocence, and watch with
breathless strain the issue of the conflict between light and darkness in the soul of man!
Thus! stolen unawares from our petty selves and limited concerns, we become one
with the life of all, and know through the imagination - that magic servant of the mind and
will - the cause, the meaning and the wherefore of pains and struggles, failure and success.
This is the ideal mission of dramatic art; and, of its influence, one with its spirit and
intent, are all the literature and art creations which figure forth the gamut of the human
soul's experience. The interpreter - one who embodies in his living presence and action
the light of meaning buried in the silent tomes of past soul-messages, is the high-priest of
life's mysteries, the revelator of mankind to man, the radiant witness of the reality of
meaning within the inner chamber of the consciousness of all.
The drama is a mighty force! What is its origin, and what its message to the human
race in every age?
First of all - the drama of existence is the progressive revelation of the soul's nature
and destiny. This record is preserved in the consciousness of great souls; and these,
contemplating the surging life about them, perceive by the sure light of intuition, the secret
springs of action, and the undercurrents of cause

--- 529

and influence which are hidden from common observation. The genius of a Shakespeare,
which correlates the powers of all dramatic writers, reflects the real life of every age and
every class he contemplates. Had he a motive in writing any play? If not - the motive had
him. Every great work of art is the expression of a necessity moving from within.
I wish to emphasize the belief that nothing truly great and lasting is constructed by
the intellectual powers alone; a greater power lies behind - understood or not by him
through whom it speaks - and this power is universal! The character and purity of the
creation given to the world depends upon how much of the universal the individual can
express, and the grade, or spiritual plane to which he rises. The ascending spiral of man's
development towards divinity has a sure compass in the heart of every being, that secret
aspiration, the guardian of which is conscience. The right intent will to great degree remedy
the worst mistakes, and win forgiveness of God and of all his children. The spectator sitting
at a play, will often understand what all his experience cannot teach him, and feel a charity
of which he seems incapable in common life.
The great drama pictures the operations of the Law and the causes and motives at
work in life. Thus we often perceive moral values more clearly than in the midst of the
struggles and emotions of our personal experience. In the drama is seen the proportion
of cause and effect, which is not so evident to the casual observer in the lives of the
individuals whom he contacts. Upon the stage we see, epitomized, results of causes;
these results, by a careful study of life's tendencies, are seen to be inevitable, and we are
led to perceive that the occurrences of life are not brought about by mere chance, but are
the results of causes implanted deep within ourselves. The great drama reveals all this.
Why are these things so little impressive in our common playhouses? Do we not
find the works of real genius too often passed by for the sensational excitements of
meretricious trumpery? - the drama of a day written for money merely, or for superficial
popularity? The crowd are easily diverted by that which is of small significance and great
sensation; but they know, notwithstanding, that there is a deeper note. Another reason for
the limited realization of the divine in art is that too many of those who claim the attention
of the public, cater but to vanity; they are not possessed by consecration to ideals. It is not
my purpose to condemn, however. It is hard to stem the tide of worldly frivolity and
selfishness - but we need faith to believe that "what is true of us in our private hearts is true
of all" - that far beneath the seeming is the real, - that after all, the world is made of souls,
and howsoe'er bewildered by the shows of things, the soul awakes and rises up in
response to the soul-call of heroism, of real, unselfish service, and the magic touch of God-
inspired genius.
Is it not true that the real power of art at last is in its authoritative vindication of
ideals? "People do not care for good music," says one. True, the taste of the people
needs cultivation. It is not the performance of the messages of the great masters that the
people need, however; but the awakening to life of the original meaning buried there. We
cannot all be Wagners or Shake-

--- 530

speares, you will say; true, but let the interpreter be silent until the same necessity
compels him, too, to lift his voice, and the same message cries within to be let forth. The
true interpreter is he who relates the soul of the listener to the soul of the master sleeping
within the framework of his phrase.
That which is true of the drama is true of poetry as well. The soul of the prophet lies
waiting to be voiced, and tells its message only through the one who is responsive to its
secret meaning, and cares more to speak his message than to win applause!
Let it be understood that the significance I point to is not an attempt to define the
sole interpretation of any play or subject; but is a line of thought revealed in one of a
thousand lights that might be flashed upon it from the heaven of intelligence. Emerson has
said: "Every eye was placed where a certain ray should fall, that it might testify of that
particular ray."
The light of truth was conveyed to the people of old time by the dignity and grandeur
of the true mystery-play. A noble example of this is seen in the "Eumenides" of Aeschylus,
which is the history of a soul's emancipation from sin and turbulent passion through the
intervention of divine justice in the person of Pallas Athena - the goddess of Wisdom and
Love.
Now turn to Shakespeare, the thousand-souled, in whom we see the combined
beauties of the drama of more recent times. The same grand music of the soul breathes
through his voice, revealing the secret springs of human action, and showing in jeweled
fragments the magic potency of divine law.
There is, in all the messages of this great master of life's mysteries, the
unmistakable ring of healthy moral conclusions, and over all the halo of harmonious
probability, the strands of life weaving the web of the "Beautiful Necessity."
From the contemplation of the lyric drama, we turn to some dramatic lyrics:

"To him who, in the love of nature

Holds communion with her visible forms,
She speaks a various language."

If the drama pictures to us the moods and deeper impulses of human life, - the
moods of nature and her secret impulses lie all accessible to the poet's soul. The birds'
ecstasy; the whispering or boisterous winds; the deep-toned and mysterious sea, and all
the sounds and odors and flashing beauties of the world, are voicing the message of the
Infinite, and deeply teaching lessons high and pure.
 The great poet is a savior of the heart of man, and, when "songs gush from his
heart," even the sordid millions pause in their mad rush after wealth and worldly fame, and
listen for a moment to his singing. In that moment, the man of the world, who ordinarily
argues against all "visionary things," dares to admire, and wonder at the sublime
imagination, of the poet, and yields unconsciously to the compelling music of his thought.

--- 531

The Poet - child of Nature - is in sympathy with the beatings of her heart; and "sings
his hymns unbidden," for

"Till the world is wrought

To sympathize with hopes and fears
It heedeth not."

The poet, yearning to express his meaning, gives tongue to the winds of heaven,
and language to the song of birds. The spirit of nature has its dramatic action also. Nature
has a supreme language - it is the finger of God writing His symbols on the walls of time.
There is an attunement of inspiration in the poet's soul as he apostrophizes and personifies
the spirits of the woods, the air, the waters.
Shelly's Skylark is an embodiment of the poet's aspiration - saluted by the human
self which has to strive with the cares and burdens of life and which cries:

"Hail to thee! blythe spirit!"

A companion piece to this is his "Ode to the West Wind," which has in it the
impassioned cry of the imprisoned soul to be free; to compel the recognition of the hearts
of men,.

"Be thou - spirit fierce - my spirit!

Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
Be, through my words, the trumpet of a prophesy!"

To my mind, these lyrics are dramatic as voicing the soul's experience and
struggles. How sweetly the "Chambered Nautilus" of Holmes breathes of the soul's
ascending cycles, and the final liberation awaiting the triumphant conqueror of life's
limitations!

"Thanks for the heavenly message sent by thee!

Child of the wandering sea, cast from her lap forlorn!"
-----

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul -

As the swift seasons roll
 Leave thy low-vaulted past.
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou, at length, art free;
Leaving thy outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

In the light of this revelation we look no longer backward with regret or longing, but
look upward from the "eternal now," and the soul knows!
In the language of Emerson, our poet-seer: "As great an utterance awaits you, as
that which fell from the pen of Dante or of Moses." Ah, the genius is not a spectacle for
vain display, but is the prophet's voice speaking for all mankind. It is only in great moments
that we realize what life might be.

--- 532

"Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time; -

Footprints that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

What a picture of life's changes and contrasts is in some passages of Whittier's

"Snowbound," crowned with the faith that illumines the mysterious beyond!

"Alas! for him who never sees

The stars shine through his cypress trees.
----

Who hath not learned in hours of faith

The truth to flesh and sense unknown,
That Life is ever lord of Death,
And love can never lose its own!"

More strictly dramatic is that gem of love's prophetic vision - "Evelyn Hope," by
Browning; the inspired contemplation of the future fulfillment of all life's broken meanings.
The lover places a leaf in the "sweet, cold hand" of Evelyn, and says:
 "There - that is our secret - go to sleep,
You will wake, and remember - and understand!"

Aye! we feel that we, too, shall one day wake, and remember and understand!
Wake from this blighting dream of the commonplace; remember whence we came;
understand our mission, and whither all is tending!
Thus art - dramatic, lyric, musical and pictured - is, after all, the handmaid of religion.
If we have in part forgotten this, let us arise, and by consecration restore in full the divine
birthright of the past! Will not this be the motive of the artwork of the future, - heralding
religion, not of creed and dogma, but the universal spirit of Divinity?"
---------------

"A learned man without pupils, is a tree which bears no fruit; a devotee without good
works, is a dwelling without a door."
"Fallen flowers do not return to their stems, nor departed friends to their houses"
"Excuse is better than disputation; delay is better than rashness; unwillingness of
strife is better than eagerness in seeking it."
"The fool who is angered, and who thinks to triumph by using abusive language, is
always vanquished by him whose words are patient."
- Gems From the East

-------------
--- 533

SIGN POSTS ALONG THE PATH *

OUR position, clearly stated by H. P. B. long ago, is that the present day has no
philosophy and can have none that will not be a copy or a distortion of some truth or long-
discarded notion once held by our superiors the Ancients, and that modern philosophers
are only engaged in reproducing out of the astral light and out of their own past lives'
recollections that which was known, published, declared, and accepted or rejected by the
men of old time, some of whom are now here in the garb or philosophers turning over and
over again the squirrels' wheels they invented many lives ago. For 'there is nothing new
under the sun.'" - William Brehon, p. 284.
--------

"There is a great likelihood that members of the Society will insist on a certain
orthodoxy in our ranks. They are already doing it here and there, and this is a note of
warning to draw their attention to the danger. There is no orthodoxy in our Society. Even
though nine-tenths of the members believe in Reincarnation, Karma, the sevenfold
constitution, and all the rest, and even though its prominent ones are engaged in
promulgating these doctrines as well as others, the ranks of the Society must always be
kept open, and no one should be told that he is not orthodox or not a good Theosophist
because he does not believe in these doctrines. All that any one is asked to subscribe to
is Universal Brotherhood, and its practice in the search for truth. For the efforts of those
who are thus promulgating specific ideas are made under the sanction of the second object
of the Society, which any one is free to follow or to refuse to follow as he sees fit. One may
deny - undogmatically - reincarnation and other doctrines, or may assert belief in a personal
or impersonal God, and still be a good member of the Society, provided Universal
Brotherhood is subscribed to and put into practice." - Editorial, p. 298.
---------

"And as for the marvelous and the doing of magical things, that was not what she
was here to do, and that she kept to herself, for, as she wrote to me, she knew well that her
real life was never known to those who were about her, and they also came to know the
same and to admit that they could never hope to understand her.
"But one thing is certain, and that is that she herself made up her mind some months
before her death that she was soon to go, and she began to quietly prepare the workers
for that and to make sure that the centre she established in England would last for many
years. That it will last as such a centre is evident to any one who will come and look at it
and note the aspiration and the motive she created in the minds and hearts of those who
were of late so constantly about her,

-----------
* Extracts from "The Path", -Vol. VI. The Italics are mine, Editor.
-----------
--- 534

"In accordance with H. P. B.'s wish her rooms will be kept intact just as she left
them, and there is no doubt but that in the course of time they will be a place of pilgrimage
for those who were able to appreciate her work. The Secret Doctrine was finished on the
desk in the room, and that alone will be one great object of interest. Her pens and ink are
there, and the scissors hanging by a tape. These were used every day in cutting out the
paragraphs from different publications which she explained or replied to." - W. Q. J., pp.
133-4.
------

"It seems to be time, then, that no theosophist shall ever be guilty of making
pretension to any one that he or she has attained to the high place which now and then
some assume to have reached. Much better is it to be conscious of our defects and
weaknesses, always ready to acknowledge the truth that, being human, we are not able
to always or quickly reach the goal of effort." - Eusebio Urban, p. 270.
--------

"Strength comes only through trial and exercise." - Wiilliam Brehon, p. 102.
--------

"I once met a pronounced Theosophist of this order, who would not kill a mosquito
because he did not believe it right to take life. Yet he did not hesitate to take credit which
belonged to others, in a petty spirit of wanting all the glory in his vicinity. Such a man, and
the woman who disseminates scandal, are mere pretenders in the Courts of Theosophy;
however much they may have developed their occult or intellectual powers, they should not
be allowed to represent the religion." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox, p. 310.
---------

"The line of demarcation between black and white magic is very thin." - W. Q. Judge,
p. 307.
--------

"If the life experience of the individual is a progression in selfishness, rapacity, and
cruelty, that person is engulfed in a maelstrom of destruction. He cannot possibly injure
any one so much as he is injuring himself. He may, indeed, cause pain and suffering
beyond all expression, but even this is of brief duration and may in the end serve a
beneficent purpose to his victim. Furthermore his evil deeds may become an embodied evil
before the final separation occurs. He may give form and impulse to certain elements, they
furnishing the substance, and he thus invokes a demon indeed; and yet one largely
attached to himself, its creator. This is the 'Dweller of the threshold,' the antithesis of his
Augoeides, the reflection and embodiment of his own evil deeds in the mirror of Isis, the
astral light.
"How strange that these plain truths could ever have been so obscured, and the
soul-paralyzing dogma of vicarious atonement and the forgiveness of sin put in their place."
- (From one of the old workers, who at the time of writing was very much in the Light, p.
181.)
------------
--- 535

THE FUTURE AND THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

"In 1888 H. P. Blavatsky wrote:
"'Night before last I was shown a bird's eye view of the theosophical societies. I saw
a few earnest, reliable Theosophists in a death struggle with the world in general and with
other - nominal and ambitious - Theosophists. The former are greater in number than you
may think, and they prevailed - as you in America will prevail, if you only remain stanch to
the Master's programme and true to yourselves. And last night I saw . . . The defending
forces have to be judiciously - so scanty are they - distributed over the globe wherever
Theosophy is struggling with the powers of darkness.'
------
"Every member of the Society should be, and many are, deeply interested in the
above words. The outlook, the difficulties, the dangers, the necessities are the same now
as then, and as they were in the beginning of this attempt in 1875. For, as she has often
said, this is not the first nor will it be the last effort to spread the truths and to undertake the
same mission as that taken up by Ammonius Saccas some centuries ago - to lead men to
look for the one truth that underlies all religions and which alone can guide science in the
direction of ideal progress. In every century such attempts are made, and many of them
have been actually named "theosophical." Each time they have to he adapted to the era
in which they appear. And this is the era - marked by the appearance and the success of
the great American republic - of freedom for thought and for investigation.
"In the first quotation there is a prophecy that those few reliable Theosophists who
are engaged in a struggle with the opposition of the world and that coming from weak or
ambitious members will prevail, but it has annexed to it a condition that is of importance.
There must be an adherence to the programme of the Masters. That can only be
ascertained by consulting her and the letters given out by her as from those to whom she
refers. There is not much doubt about that programme. It excludes the idea that the
Society was founded or is intended as "a School for Occultism," for that has been said in
so many words long ago in some letters published by Mr. Sinnett and in those not
published."
"A subsidiary condition, but quite as important as the other, is laid down by H. P. B.
in her words that we must "remain true to ourselves." This means true to our better selves
and the dictates of conscience. We cannot promulgate the doctrines and the rules of life
found in Theosophy and at the same time ourselves not live up to them as far as possible.
We must practice what we preach, and make as far as we can a small brotherhood within
the Theosophical Society. Not only should we do this because the world is looking on, but
also from a knowledge of the fact that by our unity the smallest effort made by us will have
tenfold the power of any obstacle before us or any opposition offered by the world."

--- 536

"Our destiny is to continue the wide work of the past in affecting literature and
thought throughout the world, while our ranks see many changing quantities but always
holding those who remain true to the programme and refuse to become dogmatic or to give
up common sense in Theosophy. Thus will we wait for the new messenger, striving to keep
the organization alive that we may use it and have the great opportunity H. P. B. outlines
when she says: 'Think how much one to whom such an opportunity is given could
accomplish.'" - William Brehon, Vol. VI., pp. 394-6.

--------------

H. P. BLAVATSKY AND W. Q. JUDGE

IT was in 1887 that I first heard of H. P. B. and Theosophy, and soon after I went in
trepidation to London to call upon the great teacher.
I did not then realize fully how great she was, but accepted her confidently as a great
Helper of Humanity, and had been prepared by the published accounts of her then in vogue
to find a most forcible and eccentric personage gifted with supernatural powers. In that and
other visits, too shy and retiring to talk, I sat and listened while she received her guests.
I found, as in the case of our present Leader, a person of enormous energy and
extraordinary versatility, able to adapt herself instantly to any exigency and to pass from
mood to mood according as she might be required to teach or to entertain, to denounce or
to encourage.
Looking back upon those scenes I see a great fiery sun shining in a city black as
night, bursting the inky clouds and confounding the elements with its resistless power. She
sat like a beleaguered general with an untrustworthy garrison, holding up her battered body
as a target for all assaults from enemy and friend. Hundred-handed, she fought and
worked on all planes at once: teaching disciples, writing thunderous articles, controlling the
invisible thought-currents, defeating enemies in all parts of the world. Her master had given
her a few seeds to sow, and verily she sowed them, as a lone warrior might rush in and
sow them in an enemy's camp. She planted them in our hearts, there to germinate and
bring forth fruit in later days; she planted them in our literature; she planted them in the
invisible moral atmosphere of the world. No one can fully realize the colossal courage
needed by one who should undertake such a work - the courage of many heroes rolled into
one. Driven like a wedge into the leaden mass of nineteenth century thought, she was
found enduring enough to stand the strain. Our movement owes all to that mighty
inexorable soul. Oh, shame that we did not fully appreciate her at the time; joy that we
cherished the light she gave us and appreciate her more fully now; consolation to realize
that now she has her reward, knowing that her unswerving devotion has not been in vain!
- Henry T. Edge

--- 537

MY memory of H. P. B. and W. Q. J. is very dear and filled with the profoundest

reverence and love. I knew them as great impersonal centres of spiritual force and
intelligence, and yet, at the same time, felt a close personal intimacy, though I never met
them face to face.
The first time I read the literature that came from their pen, and emanated from the
same source, I was roused into activity to follow the sublime ideals and take part in the
same great work they lived and died for. I recognized the principles and plans at once. It
completely changed my life from one of selfish retirement to active public life in the
Theosophical Society. I thoroughly enjoyed and entered into with delight H. P. B.'s articles
in the Theosophical magazines of that time, which were masterly productions, conveying
universal truth with the keenest mental power, and generous wit of a great soul. The way
H. P. B. brought the great principles of truth and fact to bear upon the mindless theories on
life in vogue in the decade of 1880 was absolutely annihilating. My isolated geographical
position made my pupil connection with H. P. B. and W. Q. J. one of peculiar interest to me
as a demonstration in the most exacting way of the truth of our principles. To be a pupil
of these great souls meant that, without personal correspondence or contact, the same
work had to be taken up, the same principles and ideals recognized upon which to guide
action, to follow the same plans, and the usual difficulties to be encountered. I found that
honest action or principle, and honorable endeavor to fulfill obligations taken, always
enabled me to do the right thing, and always found me with H. P. B. and W. Q. J. Knowing
by ten years' constant experience in a vital way of the mental and moral degradation of the
latter part of the nineteenth century, I believe that the task of the Saviours of old was
infants' work compared with what H. P. B. and W. Q. J. accomplished and suffered for
Humanity.
- T. W. Willans, Sydney, Australia, Nov. 7, 1899.

------------

"The wheel of sacrifice has Love for its nave, Action for its tire, and Brotherhood for
its spokes."
 "The calumniator is like one who flings dirt at another when the wind is contrary, the
dirt does but return on him who threw it."
"The virtuous man cannot be hurt, the misery that his enemy would inflict comes
back on himself."
"He who wrongs another unjustly will regret it, though men may applaud him; but
he who is wronged is safe from regret, though the world may blame him."
"Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained treasure in their
youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish."
- Gems From the East
----------------
--- 538

THE OLD AND THE NEW

By E. Aug. Neresheimer

FAREWELL TO THE CENTURY PAST

A CYCLE has ended!
Great as have been the achievements of the sweeping rush of material development
throughout the period of our modern civilization, now at its height, it has not brought the
happiness that was hoped from it, and that its most active participants have expected. But
the great Helpers of Humanity knew otherwise, and that mere material prosperity is but as
the dead sea fruit, pleasant to the eyes, sweet at the first taste, but which turns to ashes
in the mouth. Modern civilization has had as its end to gratify the senses and the intellect,
but the hearts of men have been starved; as a goal it is, therefore, a failure, and must give
place to a new era.
Yet the past century has been a century of preparation; it has witnessed the revolt
from agnostic materialism on the one hand, and from extreme religious dogmatism on the
other - the former bred from but the deadly foe of the latter; and out of the clash between
the parent and child has arisen a cry for help from the Heart of Humanity - an appeal that
through the cycles has never been in vain, though the help given and so near at hand has
been so oft rejected. Yet not rejected in the nineteenth century. For there have been
those, devoted, loyal, true, to the messengers of Light, and who, recognizing them, have
made possible the success of their work, have responded to their message and proclaimed
the dawn of the new Age of Peace and Brotherhood.
One of the distinguishing features of the past century, marking it as preparatory to
the new time, has been the enormous material progress along industrial lines, and the
development of commercial relations between all nations and all parts of the globe by
means of steamships, railways, telegraphs, cables and all the developments of electricity
and other natural forces, so that the barriers of isolation of all peoples have been broken
down and their interdependence on the outer physical plane made manifest.
As one result of the intermingling of races, the West has given to the East its
impulse to material civilization (a questionable gift if standing alone, and if viewed in its
most marked results on savage and so-called uncivilized peoples), and in return gaining
in even greater measure an insight into, and an impulse towards, the contemplative
mystical side of human experience and a hitherto unknown literature on the deepest
problems of life. Yet this, too, standing alone would avail little to the Western world, and
be of questionable benefit, as is the intense material activity of the West to the East. One
thing was needed, the link between the self-seeking material activity on the one hand, and
the also self-seeking, contemplative, apathetic, pseudo-spirituality on the other - a link

--- 539

that, in uniting these, should also revivify and place in due relation both natures in man, of
which these were but the outer expression - revealing the true object of man's activities on
the material plane and his power of attaining conscious life on the spiritual plane; making
the former subservient to the latter, awakening the higher impulses of his heart, and so
bringing the intellect and all the intense activities of passion and desire and the sensuous
material nature into subjection.
That link was found primarily in one person - H. P. Blavatsky - through whose
instrumentality the Theosophical Movement received life and energy in the last quarter of
this century. Following her and continuing the link were her associate Helper, William Quan
Judge, and their successor, the third Helper of the century, Katherine Tingley, through
whose sacrifice and guidance the Theosophical Movement has resulted in the
establishment of the Universal Brotherhood Organization, and who, with those who have
proved their loyalty and devotion to the cause of Humanity, has kept "the link unbroken" -
that link which now is outwardly the Theosophical Movement and Universal Brotherhood,
but inwardly is the power of devotion and unselfish service of humanity - a living power in
the hearts and lives of men.
Let us for a moment look more in detail at the lines of development during the past
century.
Surveying the ground retrospectively, we see that human nature has gained chiefly
in the quality of intense activity. The pressure which this material civilization has exercised
on the race has compelled exertion on the part of every individual who would keep his
place in the ranks - an intense exertion of the natural instinctive faculties, the senses and
intellectual powers of the material man.
The progress in chemistry, physics and all the sciences, in mechanics and all
branches of industry, has increased the demand for physical comfort and made luxuries
a necessity; it has accentuated concrete sensuous existence in every form.
But the enrichment of knowledge of the laws of the Universe in their bearing on
material existence, though incapable of satisfying the higher nature and filling the mind with
contentment, and failing as an ultimate of progress, yet from another standpoint must be
acknowledged as an agent in the evolution of the human race. The great faithfulness,
intense application, and often self-forgetfulness, in the search for truth, although employed
in the wrong direction - lacking the true compass of the spiritual life - in the ever-changing
and delusive realm of material phenomena, must still be acknowledged from another
standpoint as agents of progress. And that the result of any individual's efforts has not
been greater and in exact proportion to the energy expended, and, in the case of the
spiritually minded, commensurate with his aspirations, cannot be altogether laid at the door
of the individual's perverseness, nor can the imputation of lack of desire be laid to his
charge; but the trend of the times must be taken into account, and the dark cycle through
which collective humanity has
--- 540

been passing, and which the human race, as a whole, is largely responsible for. To these,
and to the false teachings of those claiming to hold the keys of life and death, are mainly
due the blindness and ignorance of the mass of humanity in regard to their higher nature
and destiny. Against these the average man has been all but powerless; only the
heroically strong awakening to their divine possibilities could make headway and breast the
tide of the combined powers of selfishness, bigotry and materialism.
Yet the picture of the past is not wholly dark or without hope, for, though failing in
its search for happiness, the intensity of the search, the enormously accelerated energy
which humanity has acquired in all departments of activity, is an earnest of rapid progress
in higher development once the path of Truth, Light and Liberation is seem - the path of
Universal Brotherhood - already proclaimed by H. P. Blavatsky, William Quan Judge and
Katherine Tingley.
Out of the fierce struggle for a mere bodily existence, demanding all the energies
of mind and body and making utterly futile any hope of the ideal, the soul may yet arise
purified, purged of the dross, ennobled by the discipline, strong to scale the heights of
wisdom and tread the path of unselfish devotion for humanity. For a new gospel has been
proclaimed by our teachers - the gospel of Hope, even to the despairing. The tidings have
gone out to all the earth that within the heart of each is the divine spark; that the soul of
man is immortal, and his life here but a day out of many days; that though ''sorrow endure
for the night, joy cometh in the morning." Even today it is difficult to fully estimate how
great the change that has been wrought in the life of the Western world by the reviving of
the ancient teachings of Reincarnation and Karma, but modern literature, the press, even
the pulpits, stand witness to the fact. Instead of an unknown future beyond the gates of
death - a return to nothingness of the materialist, or the fanciful heaven or burning hell of
the orthodox religionist - is the soul-perceived knowledge that another day of life awaits us
beyond the night of death; that we shall again take up the scattered threads of experience;
meet again those whom we have both loved and hated, and reap what we have sown.
Slowly, yet surely, men are awakening to the fact that they themselves are the weavers of
the web of their destiny, and that the pattern of their lives now, and in the future, as in the
past, is of their own design.
What greater hope can be given to the despairing, the drunkard, the fallen, yes, and
to the criminal, than this message; that, however hidden from view, lost in degradation,
covered up by moral deformity and vice, there is still in their heart of hearts a divine spark,
which they may fan into a flame, and that not even the faintest desire or the feeblest effort
after a better life can fail of its reward. And the present life-cycle of a man may close
apparently without a shadow of hope, and yet the trials, the many seeming failures and
hopeless struggles may have been the balancing of the accounts of many lives of
selfishness and wasted effort, and out of the purifying fire the soul may arise, fresh and
clean, to enter upon a new life and new opportunities in the coming cycle.
But it is not only in recalling to men the great truths of life that the

--- 541

Theosophical Movement or Universal Brotherhood stands in the forefront of the world's

progress, but in every department of human endeavor, touching with a magic wand Art,
Literature, Music, the Drama, and even entering the world of Industry. It is the "little leaven
that leaveneth the whole lump"; it has set the pace, marked out the path, and is leading
the whole world into a new life.
The Leader's New Year's greeting in symbolism appears now on the cover of this
magazine. Many of our readers will recall her vision of the great future, which she related
to them at the Congress last Spring at Point Loma, in which she saw all humanity turning
to enter the portals of Universal Brotherhood. We are indebted to Brother Betts, of
Chicago, for having so clearly grasped the conception and brought it out so beautifully and
with such breadth in his drawing.
Mark the standard given to the world in the practical Humanitarian Work of the
International Brotherhood League, founded by Katherine Tingley, nonpolitical and
unsectarian, not one of its officers receiving salaries or other remuneration for their work,
which they do, and to which they contribute in time and money because of the love that is
in their hearts. Study the objects of the Universal Brotherhood, the international
Brotherhood League, the Isis League of Music and Drama, and all the other departments
of activity. A new touch has been given to life. It can never be quite the same, even to the
man who has only casually heard of this work; and it revolutionizes, vivifies, heightens the
life and consciousness of all who enter upon it to aid it for the sake of suffering and
discouraged humanity.
During the past century Music and the Fine Arts have been taking greater and
greater part in the life of humanity, and their refining influence must also be counted as
factors in the fight against materialism. Many a soul has for a time been awakened from
heavy slumber and aroused from what might have proved the sleep of death by the lofty
strains and harmonies of the great masterpieces of Music and the Drama. But the
crowning touch was needed, their true place in life was not understood. It is "as vital
educative factors in the life of humanity" that once more as in the far, far distant days of the
past they will awaken the deeper, truer nature of man and lead him to new heights. In the
revival of the ancient mystery plays, e.g., the "Eumenides" of Aeschylus, as well as in other
departments - especially in, the education of children in the "Lotus Groups," a keynote has
been struck that will ring a note of joy throughout the coming Century.

---------------

HAIL! HAIL TO THE NEW CENTURY!

A new cycle has begun!

It is the cycle of the children, in them is the promise of the future, and one has only
to look into the faces of the little ones, to watch the new traits, the new powers that are
unfolding in their lives and especially in this youngest, and yet the seat of the oldest
civilization on earth, to know that if we but do our part

--- 542

the record of the twentieth century shall be one of Brotherhood, Peace and Joy.
 It is impossible to gauge the significance of this Birthday of the New Century and to
realize what is in store for humanity during the next hundred years, merely from our own
experience and from recorded history. For this is no ordinary time; it is not simply the
culminating point of the past hundred years, but of thousands of years; the night of
centuries has past, and with the new dawn comes the return of memories and powers and
possibilities of an age long past.
The soul of man still cries out, the darkness is still so close about him that he knows
not the dawn is so near, but those who have climbed to the hill-tops have seen the glow in
the Eastern sky and the rays of golden light shooting up into the heavens; and with the
suddenness of the break of day in the tropics, in the twinkling of an eye, the Light will come,
the scales fall from our eyes and we shall see - not in the uncertain gloom of night, but in
the glorious sunlight.
As the light of day scatters the shadows and the powers of darkness, so will the
effulgence of the new cycle break through the dark places of ignorance, prejudice and
unbrotherliness of the age now so swiftly passing. The great heroes of old will once more
return to earth, the great musicians, painters, poets, wise statesmen, lovers of the race, will
again take up their loving task and the earth shall blossom as a garden. The ancient
wisdom taught in the sacred mysteries will again be revived; the earth, the air, the ether,
all Nature, will reveal their secrets to those who have prepared themselves through
purification and by the service of humanity.
Such is the outlook into the Future. To measure it, go back to the glory of ancient
Egypt and to the yet older civilization and vaster achievements of ancient America. Such
a future awaits us and our children, and if we are faithful shall be ours in the new time
when, after a brief night of death, we return to take up our work again upon earth.
Yet, as in every advance that Nature makes, as the cycles in their wheeling course
come round, there are some who lag behind, and lose sight of their heritage, blinded by the
desire of personal gain, by ambition and love of power; so today are some who refuse this
opportunity that for ages their souls have waited for. The cycles have brought both them
and us to the point of former achievement and former failure. Those who have turned our
enemies today seeking to hinder Humanity's cause, may have been our enemies in the
past, some, perhaps, our friends. We and they have met in the past as in this life and shall
meet again in the future, and by our action today are we forging the links that shall help or
mar their progress as well as our own and that of all humanity, in that future.
But the crucial point of the cycle is past, the fiercest ordeal is over, no powers in
heaven or hell can longer stay the onward progress of Humanity. The Hosts of Light are
already victorious. The anthem of Truth, Light and Liberation, Brotherhood, Peace, and
Joy, is echoing in the hearts of men.
Comrades! Arise! Greet the Morn! Salute with us the rising Sun!

----------------
--- 543

A VISION IN PURPLE

"It is in and through symbols that man consciously lives, moves, and has his being.
Those ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can best recognize symbolic worth
and prize it at the highest." - Carlyle

In the year one thousand eight hundred ninety-seven, I, the Friend of the "Chief" had
a dream and the visions of my head troubled me. I was weary and sick unto death, for that
I did uphold the law by day and by night, and some of the people hearkened not unto me.
I was weary and sick at heart, yet was the fire unquenched within me. They who saw only
darkness went astray after strange gods, for the prophets of Mammon were strong in the
land; and their followers hearkened not unto my words, for the false prophets did blind their
eyes, that they saw not.
I saw in my vision by night, and behold a mighty temple. The height thereof was as
the mountains, and it was girt about with mighty pillars. On the pillars were fine paintings
of holy symbols; and great beasts of hewn stone crouched before the doors. And the
beasts had the heads of men and the wings of eagles, and the claws of lions; and their
body was the body of a bull.
And behold the whole was overshadowed with a glowing radiance of purple, and I
went into the temple, and lo! a tomb of graven stone, set round with the figures of strange
beasts, and men having the heads of birds. And I went unto the tomb and looked in; and
I was astonished. For, as I gazed, behold! there I saw mine own image in the tomb, and
I looked in the face of the image, and it was the face of one dead, even myself. And round
about stood the false prophet and his disciples, exultant, awaiting the closing of the tomb
that they might go out and preach their false doctrines to the people. And my heart grieved
for these that were blinded and for those that should follow them.
And I looked again into the tomb and behold, I was alive, and the face was radiant.
It was the face of a warrior, young and strong, and yet it was mine own image in the tomb,
and the face was the face of one that conquereth in battle. And my heart was filled with joy
unspeakable, and I said: Surely right shall conquer and the work of the Master shall
prosper.
And feeling the glow of a great compassion in my heart, and my being full of strength
to battle, I arose and with the power that was in the middle region between mine eyes, I
looked afar out over all lands and I saw the whole world and all the peoples therein; and
all nations and kingdoms of the earth were unfolded before mine eyes. And mine ears
were unsealed, that I did hear strange and fearful music, like unto the wailing of troubled
spirits in hell. And the strange and terrible music was swallowed up in the sound of many
trumpets and the music of a glorious harmony. And again my heart was filled with
gladness, for the sounds were as the trumpeting of an army that conquereth in battle of
Light.

--- 544

And I looked again, and lo! the tomb was no more seen. But there was a great light,
and in the light there stood a shining one, and his face was as the face of a god. And the
shining one gave me a scroll and spake unto me, saying Take the scroll and read what is
written therein, and give it to thy people. And I took the scroll and did read. And my heart
was filled with joy for that I did read therein. "Verily, thy work shall be done." And then
came the Peace of Silence - Silence - Silence.
And I opened my eyes and looked again, and lo! a mighty concourse of people
approaching the temple! And the light shone out from within the temple upon the people.
And the people were glad because of the light. The people were filled with joy, because
of the light; for the false prophets had sought to blind their eyes, and had told them falsely,
saying: There is no light for you. The false prophets had told them falsely, saying: Thou
shalt worship these fires, for there is none other light. And the people came up to the
temple singing.
The truth shall live among the people; they that speak falsely shall be utterly
confounded.
The light shall shine forth in the dark places of the earth; darkness shall cease.
All the nations of the earth shall be free; the yoke of bondage shall be cast off.
Let us therefore minister unto all that lives; for the Law hath triumphed. The Law
of Truth had triumphed; the deceitful shall perish. The Law of Light hath triumphed;
darkness is swallowed up.
The Law of Freedom hath triumphed; bondage shall be no more.
And I looked again, and I heard a voice saying: That thou seest is that which shall
come to pass near to the middle years of the coming century. And I saw the shining one
standing at the head of the people. And the shining one led the people on to the temple.
And the people said, Who is he? Surely we know this Master? And the people came on
into the light from the temple; and the light shone on every man and on all and divers races
of men, and on the lowly and the proud, and on the learned and the unlearned; and all
manner of men and all creatures were in that light.
And I awoke; and I was no more sick and weary. For I saw that the people were
tired of the false prophets, and the light shone on them though they knew it not yet. And
I said, of a surety I did err in that I was sick and weary. For the Law worketh in silence.
The great day of Light cometh suddenly, when no man knoweth. Verily, the night is far
spent, and the blackness that cometh before the dawn is well-nigh ended. And I said, I will
write my vision that the people may be comforted.

-----------

"Whoever, not being a sanctified person, pretends to be a Saint, he is indeed the

lowest of all men, the thief in all worlds, including that of Brahma."
"He who smites will be smitten; he who shows rancor, will find rancor; so, from
reviling cometh reviling, and to him who is angered comes anger."
- Gems From the East
--------------
--- 545

REVIEW

"THE ANATOMY OF NEGATION" by Edgar Saltus.

We do not propose to offer any apology for calling attention to a book ten years after
its appearance. We are rather of opinion that in the case of good books which for some
reason tend to pass into neglect, a review once each decade for a few times would be an
admirable proceeding. In the case of this particular book, we should like - had we but
space - to make a copiously extractive review, since it is out of print and not easy to obtain.
 Mr. Saltus has a strong sense of humor, none the worse, considering parts of the
field he traverses, for being of a somewhat sardonic character. His intellectual sympathies
are with the schools of negation; and his own thoroughly, and, on the whole,
pessimistically agnostic attitude, as expressed in the final paragraph of this brilliant book,
must make life seem to him a probably unimportant and rather uninteresting set of
phenomena. The book is clean and sane, and the author knows a man when he sees one.
Though his mental stand-ground entirely prevents himself from thinking himself into the
teaching and attitude of many of the men about whom he writes (noticeably, e.g., Hegel,
whom he calls a charlatan), and though certain regions of philosophy and the whole field
of mysticism are entirely closed to him ("In seeking the reason of things, men look first
above, then within, and finally confess themselves vanquished," p. 193); yet the merits of
the book in certain respects are so great and its shortcomings so obvious and so easily
allowed for, that we should expect nothing but good from placing it in the hands of the
youngest student of the vicissitudes of the world's thought.
It is, however, rather to one chapter of the book than to the whole that we call
special attention; to that one, namely, which might rather have been called The Anatomy
of Assertion, than of Negation. We refer to the third, the chapter on the Christian Church
from its earliest times, headed "The Convulsions of the Church." This is really a brilliant
little sketch of the rise of Romanism, and of its subsequent history on to the
commencement of the eighteenth century. This chapter might have been designed
expressly in order to make it clear how natural, how inevitable, was the reaction from
ecclesiastical dogmas - baseless and shifty to an incredible degree, yet always claiming
divine authority; incomprehensible because meaningless, yet claiming to offer the final
answer to all moral and intellectual inquiries - to the, at least, firm, if unsatisfactory, ground
of materialistic speculation.

------------
* Out of print, but the Theosophical Publishing Company has a few copies for sale
at the reduced price of 75 cents.
One of the accidents which serve as wheels for our Movement threw this book in my
way; I was much struck with it, believing there is no one in our Organization who would not
be benefitted by its perusal, and, accordingly, asked Dr. Coryn to review it in these
columns. The world should not be permitted to lose sight of either the book or its writer. -
Editor.
-----------
--- 546

It was the inevitable swing of the pendulum. To the door of the Catholic Church
must be laid, the one hand, whatever there is and was of intellectual poverty and stagnation
among the multitudes whom she had successfully trained not to dare to think; and, on the
other, the revolt towards materialism - from which Europe has only lately recovered - of
those who, in resisting an iron dogmatism on things spiritual, went in the other extreme so
far as to deny the existence of realms spiritual altogether and to attempt to treat the
phenomena of consciousness by the principles employed in the study of matter. For the
only salvation of a dogma is to be obtained by the enforcement of an edict against
intellectual inquiry into its basis. And when the Catholic hierarchy emanates a beautifully
complete set of dogmas covering the whole field of speculative human thought it follows
that men must renounce their intellectual freedom - or revolt. On the whole, they have
chosen the latter course in sufficient numbers to "draw the fangs of Romanism," as Mr.
Saltus puts it. It will be the fault of thinking mankind if "Romanism" is permitted to grow a
new set. This we believe to be an exceedingly improbable calamity, though we understand
that the politicians of the Vatican and those associated with them are of a different opinion.
We think this book has achieved a measurable somewhat in decreasing the chances of the
said calamity.

- Herbert Coryn

-------------

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J. H. Fussell

It has been continually stated that in previous centuries the Theosophical Movement
has failed. Has it succeeded in this? What is the relation of the Universal Brotherhood
Organization to the other so-called Theosophical Societies?
------

THE original name of the Society founded by H. P. Blavatsky in New York City in
1875 was "The Theosophical Society or Universal Brotherhood." Gradually the words,
"Universal Brotherhood" dropped out of the title, so that before the public the Society
became to be known only as the Theosophical Society. Its main purpose, Universal
Brotherhood, although expressed in its objects, was obscured, and the little-understood
word Theosophy gave rise to innumerable misconceptions and fantastic notions. Even
among some of the members, the main idea seemed to be to study metaphysics and occult
problems, seeking personal development and knowledge. But both H. P. Blavatsky and
William Q. Judge again and again expressed most forcibly that the Theosophical Society
had for its all-embracing purpose the formation of a nucleus of universal brotherhood.
Even for those who desired occult knowledge, H. P. B. wrote: "To live to benefit mankind
is the first step, to practice the six glorious virtues is the second." And of occultism she
said: "The first step is sacrifice, the second renunciation."

--- 547

The growth of the Society has been like the growth of anything else in nature, by
assimilation, accretion and also by a sifting process, continually throwing off old effete
matter; as a tree drawing from the sunshine, the air, the earth, and the moisture of the rain
and dew, putting forth new branches and leaves, and throwing off the old withered leaves
and twigs. So complete was the work of H. P. B. and W. Q. J. and their sacrifice, which
was that of all their powers, energies and life itself, not in vain, that under their successor,
our third Teacher, it was possible to take the great and all-embracing object of the Society
and again proclaim it before the world as the name of the organization.
Today the Society founded by H. P. B. and W. Q. J. stands before the world as the
"Universal Brotherhood."
This took place on January the 13th, 1898, and on February 18th of the same year
the Theosophical Society in America accepted the Universal Brotherhood constitution and
became thereby a department of the organization. Similar action was also taken by the
Theosophical societies who believed in keeping the link unbroken following H. P. B., W. Q.
J. and our present Leader, in Europe, Australia and other parts of the world.
The roots and trunk of this great Movement which has been active in all ages remain
ever the same, but century after century has passed, the great tree putting forth new shoots
and leaves, but ere the blossom and the fruit could appear the tender buds have been
nipped by the biting frosts of ambition and self-seeking and the chilling blasts of
selfishness. Not so in this century; the great tree put forth its shoots, its buds, the
blossoms appeared, and now the fruit "Universal Brotherhood" crowns its branches, and
the present attempt "in the form of our Society" has succeeded and has entered upon the
new century as "an organized, living and healthy body," and "the effort for the XXth century
has already begun. The cycle of despair and failure has been broken and a new age has
already dawned, though as yet unperceived by the mass of humanity. The words of H. P.
B. in the Key to Theosophy have a new meaning. That there will be a "numerous and
united body to welcome the new Torchbearer when he shall come in the latter part of this
XXth Century is already assured, and the Heaven which she asserts will be on earth in the
XXIst Century has already begun as a seed in the hearts of men.
Read these words of H. P. Blavatsky in the Key to Theosophy:
"If the present attempt in the form of our Society succeeds better than its
predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized, living, and healthy
body when the time comes for the effort of the XXth Century. The general condition of
men's minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the spread of its
teachings, and, as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illusions will have been, to
some extent at least, removed. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature
ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people
ready to welcome the new Torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared
for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an
organization awaiting his arrival which will remove the merely me-

--- 548

chanical material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how much one to whom
such an opportunity is given could accomplish. Measure it by comparison with what the
Theosophical Society actually has achieved in the last fourteen years without any of these
advantages and surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not hamper the new
Leader. Consider all this and then tell me whether I am too sanguine when I say that, if the
Theosophical Society survives and lives true to its mission, to its original impulse, through
the next hundred years - tell me, I say, if I go too far in asserting that this earth will be a
heaven in the XXIst Century in comparison with what it is now!"
Many questions are asked by people unacquainted with our work as to the existence
of other societies using the word "Theosophical" in their names, and we are asked why it
is we hold to the Universal Brotherhood Organization and do not unite with those other
societies. But these questions come only from those who have not looked into the matter,
not from those who watch what is going on in the world. One of the great Teachers of old
said: "By their fruits ye shall know them," and XIXth Century people decry professions
which have no fruit in work. What have the other so-called Theosophical societies to
show? The world's needs demand workers and not idle dreamers. Men's hearts cry out
for brotherhood, sympathy and help; words cannot satisfy their souls' longings. Ask the
children all over the world, ask the thousands of soldiers who were in camp at Montauk and
are now to be found all over the United States and in the Philippines, ask the thousands
of Cubans, ask the prisoners in many of the great prisons of this country, and the students
of this Organization all over the world, who stand true to the principles of H. P. B. and W.
Q. J.; ask these whence has come the hope in their hearts and the light shining in their
eyes, the lifting of the shadows and the imparting of a new courage. The Universal
Brotherhood does not fear to be judged by the world. It leads the world. It is the
embodiment of the world's deepest desires.
The whole of nature is the embodiment of great nature's divine soul, the Over-soul.
The soul needs a body to work with, it forms the tree, the animal, man; and the soul of
Brotherhood needs a body through which it shall work. No effort of man can avail unless
there is a body through which it can come forth into act, and there can be no perfect
embodied life unless there be a living, controlling and guiding heart. The Universal
Brotherhood Organization is the body through which the soul of Brotherhood is seeking and
finding expression. It is built on Nature's plan; it has its heart, and that heart we recognize
and to it we respond.
Were there not this living body and heart, it would be the last thing in the world that
we members of the Universal Brotherhood, or any who love humanity, would do, to join the
empty, lifeless societies, who, under cover of the sacred name Theosophy, offer husks in
place of the bread of life, and speak soft words, holding out the "broad teachings" as a
cover, - so broad that thoughts, impure, selfish, ambitious, find a hiding place beneath.
What would we think of a physician who did not recognize disease and point it out that
others may be warned and take due precaution against being infected. And have not all
the great

--- 549

Teachers of humanity, like wise physicians, done the same? Read the stern denunciations
of the "gentle"(!) Jesus - "Woe unto you! scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!" One of the
divinest faculties given to man is discrimination, and every true man, every lover of
humanity, would be failing in his duty if he did not exercise this faculty. We are our
brothers' keepers. It is our duty to proclaim the "Light" which we have found and warn
against all luring pretense and sham.
Those who love H. P. B., who love William Q. Judge, will look to see where are to
be found the fruits of their noble lives; where are those same things being taught and lived
which they taught and lived; who have kept the sacred trust which they left; who have
preserved the sacred memory of their names and work; where is to be found the
demonstration of Theosophy as a living power in the life of humanity. Theosophy
demonstrated is Brotherhood. Brotherhood is the first and last word of Theosophy. That
demonstration is to be found in the Universal Brotherhood Organization, and there also are
to be found the living teachings of H. P. B. and William Q. Judge in its literature, and those
other deeper teachings, which never can be put into words or books, but expressed only
in the lives of men.
- J. H. Fussell
------------

THE FIRST MESSAGE OF "THE VOICE OF SILENCE"

The Voice of the Silence was written for the few. Its first message is to this effect: -

"These instructions are for those ignorant of the dangers of the lower Iddhi." "The
lower Iddhi" refers to the lower psychic powers pertaining to man. There are spiritual
Siddhis to be attained by man only by knowledge of these powers and the conquering of
the lower.
The mind is the channel through which the forces of Nature work. And when it is
conquered, that is when the human has so far gained knowledge and put it in practice in
the daily life, - the power to control the mind is gained and the student then has learned and
may avoid "the dangers of the lower Iddhi." Many are the dangers on the Path. Among
them stands the "Hall of Ignorance" and "The Hall of Learning." "A little knowledge is a
dangerous thing - Drink deep or taste not the Pierian Spring.
Is the student attaining? Is the will fixed to advance his evolution as far as he may?
Has he based his efforts on the knowledge that he has grasped by this time of his
responsibility to man and the Universe? Has he learned his lesson well, - that thought is
a creative dynamic force and that with constant vigilance, unfaltering effort, he must govern
his thought realm?
"O, disciple! hast thou mastered all the mental changes in the self, and slain the
army of the thought sensations, that subtle and insidious, creep unasked within the soul's
bright shrine?"
"If thou wouldst not be slain by them, then must thou harmless make thy own
creations, the children of thy thoughts, unseen, impalpable, that swarm round human kind,
the progeny and heirs to man and his terrestrial spoils. Thou hast to study the voidness
of the seeming full - the fullness of the seeming void. O fearless aspirant! look deep within
the well of thine own heart and answer! Knowest thou of self the powers? O thou
perceiver of external shadows?"
- H. R. R. G.

------------
--- 550

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE KING WITH THE SILVER HAND

by Ceinydd Morus

I. THE END OF THE CORANIAID

 ONCE upon a time, before there were any English in Britain, and before Julius
Caesar and his Romans ever came here, there was a great king in this island who saved
the people from three great troubles. His name was really and truly Lludd Llaw Ereint; that
is, Leeth with the Silver Hand. Nowadays people generally call him King Lud, and whether
they do that because Lud is much uglier than his real name, or for some other reason, they
know best.
Now in the time of King Leeth there were very wonderful things happening, and if
you can't understand how such things could be, all I can say is that I read them in a book,
and that proves they are true. And perhaps, too, if you could remember what used to
happen in the old times, you would not be surprised at them at all, but they would seem
quite natural to you. So the best way is to just wonder and wonder about them, and then
I think some day you will come to know all about it. At least, you ought to, because even
grown-ups do sometimes, and this is one of a whole lot of things that children know more
about than grown-ups do. The children haven't had half as much time to forget things in,
as the grown-ups have, you see, and that's why it is.
Well then, in those days there were three great sorrows in Britain, and those sorrows
were very nearly driving half the people mad, and killing the other half with fright. And
although there had been many sorrows in Britain before then, yet those three things
seemed to be worse than anything that had ever happened, and though there are greater
troubles with us now, the people then felt them more than we feel our troubles, and so, in
a sense, they were worse. No one knew how to cure them, and two of them no one knew
the causes of, and so every one was very sad, and King Leeth was very sad, too; you
never heard people laughing, children forgot how to play their games, and there was no
singing anywhere. Think how sad we should be before we stopped singing! And by and
bye the sky came to be always cloudy, because the people were so sad, for it is our joy that
makes the sun shine. Of course it is! Didn't I tell you that children know more about some
things than grown-ups do? Well, that's just one of the things that the poor grown-ups have
forgotten, and when they tell you it's all nonsense, you stand up with your hands behind
your back and say very politely how sorry you are that they should have forgotten such a
nice thing, but hadn't they better wait till they are children again themselves before they
make too sure about it?

--- 551

Well, now, one of these sorrows was that there were a lot of people in Britain called
the Coraniaid. Very curious and very nasty people they were, too. There are plenty of
them about now, only now we can't see them, but they get into our minds, if we will let
them, and make us lazy and angry, and upset us in a lot of ways. Some people call them
bad thoughts these days, but at that time they were all called the Coraniaid, and people
could see them, and many and many a hero went out to fight them, and that's a lot better
than going out to fight human people in other countries, isn't it?
Well, these Coraniaid were terribly clever, and they knew everything the moment it
was said, and at least half of what no one said at all, but only thought. And as they hated
the human people, and were all the time trying to make them mean, you see what a terrible
time it must have been for the old Britons; having to guard against them and to keep their
own minds high and grand and noble in spite of all the Coraniaid could do. For if a great
hero went out and conquered these Coraniaid, all that happened was that they didn't
trouble him any more; if he was very great they might keep out of the way of his friends as
well as of himself. But it needed a very great man indeed to free the whole island from
them, and even he had to get help before it could be done. That great man was the King
Leeth of the Silver Hand.
But if Leeth was such a great man, you may wonder who on earth was great enough
to be able to show him what to do. For Leeth had often tried to save his people from the
Coraniaid, but every time they had been too clever for him, and as soon as he had said a
word about his plans, the Coraniaid knew just as much of them as he did himself, and so
they were always quite ready for him. So at last Leeth had it in his mind that he would go
and find out a certain very wise man, and ask him about it.
This wise man was called Llewelys, and the reason why he was so wise was that
he had spent all his time helping other people; and if you try that you will become some
day just as wise as he was. Llewelys was not living in Britain, and no one knew where he
was, but Leeth thought he could find him. So as soon as he had told his people that he
was going away, and that it did not matter where he was going, the King went down to the
river in London, and in the river was his boat, and into the boat he stepped, and in it he sat
down. A wonderful boat it was, for as soon as Leeth was sitting in it, and looking down
towards the sea, his chin resting on his two hands and his elbows on his knees, it moved
away from the bank and went swiftly down the river, although the tide was coming in, and
there was no one rowing, and no sail on the boat, and no wind to fill it if there had been.
I think that what made it go so quickly on the clear, beautiful water was that Leeth, as he
sat there, was thinking and thinking ever so hard where he wanted it to go, and why he
wanted to go there.
So the boat carried him out of London, and on down the river, and where there were
great flat marshes stretching away ever so far on each side, with long reeds waving beside
broad pools that looked like blue and white, reflecting the blue sky and the clouds; and on
the pools and among the reeds there were

--- 552

hundreds of birds, wild ducks and geese, and moor hens, and lapwings that flew round and
round in the air and called out when they saw him coming, "Pwee-a-weet? pwee-a-weet?
pwee-weet-tee-ee-ee," and that in the old British language means, "Who art thou?" That
is what the lapwings always say when they see any one, for they don't learn English when
they are little birds, and go to school. And then they saw who he was, and told him how
glad they were to see him, and then all the birds looked up, and wished him good luck, and
just went about their business. For in those days the birds were very friendly with the
human people, and did not fly away when they saw them, as they do now. At least, I
suppose they were, or else how would they have been talking like that to the King?
And so Lludd went on down to the sea, and over the green, long waves, and they
did not break under his boat, but just gave it a help along when they could. And at last,
what with his thinking, and the magic which was in the boat, he came to the country where
the great wise man, Llewelys, lived. When Leeth came to him the wise man did not say
anything, but he just looked clear into his eyes, and saw the real Leeth that was looking out
of them (just as the real you are always looking out of your eyes, except when you go away
to your own country, which is called Dreamland). And there Llewelys saw a lot of things;
he saw what the King wanted, and that he was not wishing to kill the Coraniaid in order that
he might be praised and called a great King, but that he was simply longing to help his
people because he loved them and was dreadfully sorry for them; and for that reason
Llewelys knew that he would be giving Leeth the power he wanted. So he just took some
powder, and said, "Take this, and go and do thy duty."
And now there was a wonderful thing happened! For instead of asking what
Llewelys meant, or gaping and wondering about it, Leeth knew just what his duty was, and
that without saying a word. So he just came home, and put the powder in some water, and
called all the people together, Britons and Coraniaid, and sprinkled them all with the water.
Because of the magic in that powder, as soon as the water touched them, the Coraniaid
all disappeared, and didn't worry the people any more for a long time. You see, children,
these Coraniaid were so clever that you could not tell they were not ordinary people at
once. No, and even now we can't see them, and they come to our minds, we can't always
tell in a minute that they want to ruin us, and make us think we are mean and wretched,
until mean and wretched we do become. They just come into our minds, and there they
get busying around, and we very often like them at first. But that wonderful powder that
Leeth got from the wise Llewelys knew all about it, and so, although the Britons rather liked
it, the wicked Coraniaid were all killed right down dead before they knew where they were,
and there were the Britons standing round and saying to each other when they saw what
had happened, "And a good thing, too!" And that was how King Leeth made Britain free
from the first of the three great sorrows.

--- 553

II. THE SCREAM OF TERROR.

But if the first sorrow was a dreadful thing for the Britons, at any rate they knew the
cause of it, but there was no one dreaming what caused the second one, and so it seemed
to be worse than even the Coraniaid. For in the middle of the night of May eve in every
year a great and fearful scream went out over the whole island, and so dreadful it was that
half of the people went mad with terror when they heard it. Brave, strong men would be
weak and helpless for days, and women and little children would die of fright, and the quiet
cows would come tearing out of the fields, and charging through the streets of the towns,
tossing people right and left, and going on and on as fast as they could until they could go
no further, but just dropped down dead. It was so loud that if you had been standing on a
mountain in Wales you would have heard it, and if you had been in London you would have
heard it, and right up in Scotland they could hear it, too. When they heard that scream all
the winds were filled with the terror of it, and all the waves of the sea around the Island of
Britain went mad and wild for fear, so that no boat could go on them for weeks, because
they were leaping up as high as mountains nearly, and shaking themselves into foam and
trying and trying harder than ever to drown the whole land, and so prevent the scream
coming to frighten them again. Even the young leaves that were budding out of the trees
turned yellow with fear at that scream, and the pink and white blooms on the apple trees,
when the sound of it came on them, would tremble and fall down on the ground like soft
slow flakes of snow; and the flowers that were beginning to think how warm and blue-skied
the Summer would be, and how beautiful they would make the green land with their
blossoms, were filled with terror by it, and were afraid to put out their leaves and their buds,
and began thinking that after all it was nicer in the Winter down underground; and so they
withered, and the souls of them went down to their roots and slept there for another year.
And the beautiful fairies that used to dance and ride over the mountains and through the
great lone green places, where the winds go to sleep and where the long-tufted rushes
wave and dream about the sky they were always looking at, even the fairies, who are so
full of joy, used to hide themselves deep away in the mountain hearts, and put their fingers
to their ears when they heard it, and for days after they would go alone and cry and cry for
the sorrow that scream filled their hearts with. And so the whole land came to look the
same in the Spring, when it should have been full of greenness and beauty, as it did in
November when the trees were bare, and the flowers dead, and gray, sad mists over it all.
And Leeth, wise as he was, could not find out the cause of the scream of terror, so
at last he said to himself that he would go again to Llewelys, for surely Llewelys would
know, and would help him to make Britain a land of joy and beauty once more.
So he went again in his boat down the river, and between the wide marshes where
the reeds and the pools and the birds were, and over the sea, till he came to Llewelys' land;
and there he went ashore on a long sandy beach, but the boat

--- 554

he left on the sea, for he knew it would come when he called it. "So he went up over the
sand until he came to a forest of tall pine trees, and in that forest was Llewelys.
That time the wise man gave him a very large cauldron, and looked at him again till
he knew just what to do. When the King was home again in Britain he did it, and a very
curious thing it was. For, just as if Llewelys had told him in so many words, Leeth called
a lot of clever people together, and made them measure the whole island carefully and find
out the exact middle of it. When they had found the spot which was the very middle, the
King went there, and told some one to dig a big hole in the ground there - or maybe he
digged it himself, for he could dig well - and in that hole he put the cauldron, and filled it
with a drink called mead, and when it was full he covered it over with satin. Then he sent
everybody away, and began walking up and down near the cauldron and waiting. And
presently he heard strange noises over his head, and looking up he saw two great dragons
swaying about in the midst of the air and fighting, with their four long wings beating against
each other, and their two tails wound around each other, and the sky all red for miles round
with the fire they were breathing, and never a star to be seen for the smoke of them.
Where those two dragons came from he could not tell. So there he was, waiting and
watching them, for he knew quite well that if they should chance to fly over the middle of
the cauldron a strange thing would happen. And strange, indeed, it was, too; for when one
moment they happened to push each other about till they were over the cauldron, they
began to fall down and down and down, and as they fell they became smaller and smaller
and smaller, until they both fell plump into the middle of the cauldron. There they were so
hot and thirsty that they drank the mead as quickly as ever they could, and it made them
sleepy, and as soon as they were fast asleep Lludd called his men, and got a great strong
stone chest, and locked these two little dragons up in the chest, and put it away in the
middle of a mountain in the strongest place he had. And if some silly person had not dug
the chest up and let them out, there would have been no more fighting and quarreling and
hating in all the Island of Britain to this day. But you see, children dear, when people are
unbrotherly, what can one expect? So they both got out, and they are both fighting still;
and although we cannot see them, nor hear their fearful scream, we are waiting for some
one to come who will find out where Llewelys lives, and get the great magic cauldron from
him, and catch the two dragons in it once more. And, for all you or I know, children, it may
be one of you that will do it. Yes, indeed, and I think that you will all have to do it in your
time, and not an easy thing will it be for you, if you try to do it for your own sake, or for any
other reason than that everybody may be happier, and that the trees and the flowers
themselves may be merrier and more beautiful, and the sky bluer, and the sun shining
more often. For remember how it was that Leeth, the great old hero King, managed to do
all these wonderful things - by just keeping his own sorrow till the last, and doing what he
could with all his might and main to destroy the sorrows of everybody else.

--- 555

III. - THE VANISHING OF THE FOOD

For you will remember that in the days of the King who was called Leeth of the Silver
Land, there were three sorrows in the Island of Britain, and that though Leeth had freed the
land, with the help of the wise man Llewelys, from the wicked race of the Coraniaid, and
had imprisoned the two dragons that made the scream of terror in a strong stone chest in
the mountain called Eryri Wen. There was still a work for him to do before he and his
people could be quite happy. For although the third great sorrow of Britain at that time was
one that hurt the King most of all, it did hurt other people, too, as you will hear. For one
thing, whatever hurts anybody, hurts everybody; as every child knows quite well, even if
they try hard to forget it, and do forget it later on. And this third sorrow was that, however
much food there might he in the King's palace over night, there would be none left in the
morning. No man or woman had eaten that food, and yet no one knew what had become
of it. And as Leeth used to give this food the next day to every one who needed it, and as
food that had been on the King's table became very wonderful, and made people better and
happier and wiser when they ate it, you see this was really a sad thing for a lot of people.
But as it was, after all, mostly hurting himself, as I told you, Leeth resolved that he would
not leave his kingdom and ask Llewelys how to conquer this, but would wait, and comfort
the people as best he could. But Llewelys knew very well all about it, and when Leeth
came to him the second time, and he gave him that wonderful cauldron, Llewelys said to
himself that as soon as the people were freed from the scream of terror, the King should
know also how to free himself from the vanishing of the food. And a bird has told me that
Llewelys could never have made the king know that if Leeth had been thinking how he
could free himself, or had wanted to free himself before he had freed the people. And,
indeed, I believe that little bird was quite right, too.
So, after he had seen the stone chest with the two dragons in it laid safe away in the
heart of Ervri Wen mountain, Leeth had the cauldron brought to London, and one evening
he put it in the hall, where he used to feast with his great lords and all the great queens and
ladies of the Island of Britain, and had it filled with cold water, and cold enough it was, for
it was the middle of Winter, and no one could see the ground anywhere for the white of the
snow that was on it. That night they feasted in the hall, and many were the noble old tales
that were told, and many were the songs that were sung. When the feast was over and all
the great lords and warriors and ladies had gone to their rest, Leeth, the King, put his
golden breast-plate over his breast, and his shield on his arm, and he took his long shining
sword in his hand, and waited. Then, as the night wore on, he began to feel fearfully
sleepy, and it came into his mind that of all the great battles he had ever fought, the battle
with sleep that night was the greatest and hardest and most terrible. For all the time sleep
was coming over him, and round him there was the sweetest and most delicate music
sounding in the hall, and every note of that music had such power that it would lull

--- 556

ten strong men to sleep, if they heard it now. Now it seemed to him as if there were white
birds singing in the hall, and such a song they sung as one might listen to for a thousand
years, and think that it was only a minute or two he was listening. Then it seemed to be
harps, which were being played by the most wonderful harpers in the whole world; and
then it was the sound of a stream dashing and tumbling over the stones high up on the side
of a mountain, and as he listened he seemed to come down with the foam on the stream,
and down and down from the mountain into a green, quiet valley, fully of wonderfully bright
and sweet-smelling flowers, and there were bees humming and buzzing among the flowers,
and then he lost the sound of the stream, and could only hear the buzzing of those bees,
and it seemed to him that he would like to lie and listen to those bees till the world came
to an end, such an exquisite music it was; and the scent of the flowers came over his
whole soul, and - Splash! Just as he was beginning to forget everything but the valley of
the bees, the memory of the magic cauldron came to him, and he jumped right into it, just
in time to save himself from going fast off to sleep. So there he sat in the water, shivering
and aching, but wide awake. For the coldness of that water was not like the coldness of
anything else. First it was only just fearfully cold, but when he had been in it two minutes
the coldness of it got inside him, and made him ache all over his body, and then it got into
his mind, and never so sad had he been in all his life as he was then. After that the
coldness of the water became to him like a burning heat, and it burnt into him till the fire of
it came into his heart, and in his heart there were many things that it burnt away. But for
all the pain, that would have killed a less noble man than he was, he sat still in the
cauldron, and the music that had before sounded so sweet to him, gave him no more
pleasure while he was there, but rather sounded to him like the knocking together of two
old tin pans. So there he was, miserable and freezing, and burning and aching, but wide
awake, and watching carefully all the time.
And then a strange thing happened, for there came into the hall a great black man,
the blackest and ugliest in the whole wide world. So tall he was that the top of the King's
head, when he was standing up, did not reach higher than his waist. Black armor was on
him, and a long, black, crooked sword at his side. On his back was a black basket. He set
the basket down on the floor, and into it he put all the food in the whole hall; though it was
a small basket, and though he put heaps of food into it, it did not seem to be a bit fuller.
Very quiet in the water was Leeth while he watched all this, and it was not until the great
black man had taken all the food there, and put it in his basket, that the King moved. Then
he jumped up, and ran after the black man, and bade him give back the food and fight for
his life, for the King of the Isles of the Mighty was not to be oppressed by such a man as
that black wizard was. So those two fought, and it is said that flames, and not mere sparks,
flashed from the clashing together of their two swords, and those flames leaped up so high
that the black marks of them were to be seen on the rafters of the roof of the

--- 557

King's great hall, and that although the strongest man in the island could not shoot an arrow
from the floor high enough for it to stick in the roof at that time. But at last Leeth
conquered, and I think that it was by the magic strength he gained while he was shivering
and burning in the cauldron that he did it. For wonderful are the powers of that cauldron,
children dear, as you will know when, like Leeth, you have been in it. If a dead man is put
in it, he comes to life again, if he is brave and noble enough; if not, he disappears, and no
one knows what has become of him. Indeed it is a wonderful cauldron.
Then, King Leeth, having conquered the black man, made him his own servant. The
color of his skin, that had been black, became white, and none of the servants Leeth had
served their lord better than he did.
And after that the King was always as wise and strong as the great Llewelys himself.
No enemy could hurt his people while he lived, and there was no other sorrow for him, and
none for them until he died.
And that is the story of Leeth with the Silver Hand, and a true story it is, and what
he was, may you be, and what he did, may you also do.

--------------------
--- 558

A FAIRY STORY
by Pixy
Two little fairies slid into my room on a moonbeam bright, a couple of nights ago.
Their gowns were white and their eyes were blue, and their faces were sweet and bright
and demure and pure. They stood before me with arms outstretched and sang of joy and
told of peace. Then they stepped a little nearer and whispered in my ear, and told me they
were carrying a casket of joyous thoughts from the Fairy Mother to the babies of the Earth,
and said I could tell you about them.
We opened the box and peeped within, and, oh, what a beautiful sight we saw!
Each thought was enwrapped in a handsome precious stone, each emitted a wonderful
shining light, and each was trilling a song. And the marvelous blending of many-hued light,
as each pretty thought was adding its mite to the chorus of joy and the praise of right, was
an astonishing thing to hear and see. Luminous diamonds were flashing fire of crystal and
yellow and blue. And there were purple amethysts, which tell of the empire of the soul, and
which bar out all the rude, unpleasant visionings of the wandering rogues of the starry light,
shedding a glorious, refreshing halo over all the rest. There were blue asterias, with their
star-rayed mount, which give the graces of the stars. There were green emeralds and
chrysophase and chrysolite, and garnets red and green, and rubies red, and beryls green,
light blue, white and yellow, and shining pearls and bloodstones and turquoises, and so
many others I cannot tell them all.

--- 558
 [[illustration: drawing of children's group]]

--- 559

The fairies were instructed to scatter these gems of thought in the hearts of the
Lotus Buds and Lotus Blossoms of the Earth, to show them how the Fairy Mother loves
them and thinks of them. When the fairies left me they said they would finish their task that
night. But they are so noiseless in their actions, so gentle in their touch, that I wonder if
you felt them when they came.
The precious, singing jewels are in the cavern of your hearts, and if you search there
carefully you will surely find them, and as you unwrap them your minds will fill with joy and
bliss, and you will be happy as the day is long and the night is deep. And remember that
when you want more jewels like them, all you have to do is to think of the Fairy Mother and
she will send you all you want.

-------------

THE LOTUS HOME BABIES

"A LETTER TO THE YOUNG FOLKS"

My Dear Little Ones:

After reading the report of Lotus Home for the grown-ups I wondered if you little
ones would like to hear about the babies as I saw them the first time I visited them after
coming back from the Congress at Point Loma. The drive through the park was very lovely,
the fields and trees looked so fresh in their new suits of green, trimmed here and there with
buds and blossoms. But when we reached the Home it was all forgotten in the greater
loveliness of the baby "lotus buds."
The first ones I saw were Katherine and Edith sitting together in their carriage,
having a fine visit. How I wished I could understand what they were saying. I know it was
something very nice, there was such a shine in their eyes and they looked so happy.
But we couldn't stay with them very long, for little Grace sat on the floor and her
laughing blue eyes and outstretched hands begged us to come and play with her and see
her two new teeth, of which she was very proud. And before we had seen half her cunning
ways, little Paul was brought in. Paul looks so wise, with his delicate, pale face, and big,
serious, black eyes. He has a very sweet smile, which he keeps for special friends, and
then his eyes grow soft and merry.
Next came Frances, tiny and light as a fairy, but strong and bright as any of them,
with a head as round as an apple, clear olive complexion and bewitchingly dark eyes. And
with her came blue-eyed George, youngest of them all, and still in his long dresses, but
serious as a judge.
While we were sitting on the floor playing with the babies, down came three-year-old
Elizabeth and her new sister Dorothy, fresh from their afternoon naps. Elizabeth
remembered me and was glad to see me again, but Dorothy had only been there a few
days and was rather shy at first.
--- 560

The babies, even the tiniest ones, have learned to know and love them, and laugh
their biggest laugh when they come to play with them.
Soon Julia came in with their bottles of nice warm milk, and then such a squirming
and teasing as there was till each got its own, and then to see them snuggle down so
happy and contented and then go off to sleep was very funny.
Then we had some music and Elizabeth sang "Tiny Buds" and "Happy Little
Sunbeams." She will soon teach these songs to Dorothy, and they will -
"Make the whole house glad"
with their sweet music and bright faces.
But it was getting late, and we had to say "Good-by," as I must to you now, and I
suppose when I see them again they will be such big boys and girls I shall hardly know
them. But I hear from them sometimes. With love to you every one, from - One of Your
Big Sisters.
----------

EXTRACTS FROM SOME OF THE DECEMBER LETTERS TO THE TREASURER

New Whatcom, Wash.

The Century Cycle is fast drawing to a close, but the Brotherhood has received such
an impetus from the great Helpers, and the time will dawn when Spirit will rule over matter
in the kingdom of the earth. The Movement has grown and the fields become vast in
extent. How much good could be done had we only more money, but we give what we can
and all the good besides. Our present Leader has opened up new fields, so that no one
need be a barnacle. There is something for all to do for humanity. New shoots are being
put out, like the branches of a great tree and all are of use to the Brotherhood Tree.
Greetings to the Leader and her cabinet. - J. P. F.

Victoria. B.C., Dec. 13th, 1899

We are feeling very good these days, and notice how the forces are accentuated,
but we will keep the fort, no matter how they come. We are in this business now like men,
who can rise above their little personalities and fight on to the end. My love to you all and
unbounded love and devotion to Mother till death and after.
Ever your most, loving and heartfelt companion, - W. S.

Stockton, Cal., Dec. 14th, 1899.

I enclose a small contribution for the various funds. With it goes my hearty greetings
to you and to all the other faithful workers at the central office. This is the last 13th of the
closing cycle. On this date seven months ago Stockton Lodge was reorganized by the
Leader and intrusted to the care of the present members. Tonight we meet together and
renew our pledges of loyalty, faithfulness and vigilance. - J. W R.

Whitier, Cal., Dec. 13th, 1899.

It is simply wonderful the boom of power and force that has come to the Los Angeles
Lodge since the "Jubilee Meeting." - A. W.

Los Angeles, Dec. 13th, 1899.

Courage and Trust is the message and enthusiasm is the spirit here in Los Angeles.
- E. E. O.

-------------
--- 561

[[photos: of "lotus buds" and Lotus Trust Home, Buffalo, N.Y.]]

--------------
--- 562

THE MIRROR OF THE MOVEMENT

NEW LITERATURE
On every hand the literature of the world is showing the result of the Theosophical
study and activities. The influence of the Universal Brotherhood Magazine and the New
Century cannot be estimated and each of these is now on a splendid footing, growing
steadily and continually reaching more and more people. Look for a moment at the work
done by the New Century which has only been in existence two years, and at its continually
repeated Message of hope. The Universal Brotherhood Magazine winch henceforth will
be known as the "Universal Brotherhood Path," and is the continuation of the magazine
"The Path," started by W. Q. Judge, has in spite of all obstacles, fulfilled its mission
founded upon its splendid basis of service to the cause. We here repeat, for the benefit of
new readers, that it is published solely for humanitarian work, and that the editors receive
no benefit therefrom. As part of the work of the Theosophical Publishing Co. during the
past year we record the following, and especially recommend them to all our readers:
"Evidences of Immortality" - by Dr. Jerome A. Anderson.
"The Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings." - (The New Century Series) -
Outlined by Katherine Tingley and contributed to by the best students in the Universal
Brotherhood.
The first number of the series is already in the hands of most of our readers and they
will see that a new keynote has been struck towards an understanding of the Sacred
Scriptures known as the Bible. The first paper in the number issued is by Dr. Anderson,
who very clearly shows the agreement of all the great religions on the vital questions of life
and conduct and brings forward the fact of this agreement as the strongest evidence of the
divine inspiration of all religions.
The strong article appearing in this issue entitled, "The Pith and Marrow of the
Closing and Coming Century and the Related Position of Free-Masonry and Jesuitry" has
been issued separately in pamphlet form.
Two books dealing with the vital questions of today have been outlined by the
Leader and are being written by students under her supervision. These will be ready for
the press within a few months.
In speaking of the literary work of the past year we must mention the articles of Dr.
Alexander Wilder on "Egypt and the Egyptian Dynasties," which, as was expected, have
proved to be a valuable addition to the literature on the ancient history of Egypt. The series
will be completed in eighteen articles, and later the Leader proposes to publish these in
book form. The fine articles of Charlotte Woods, of H. Coryn, H. T. Edge and others, and
the poetical writings of Zoryan, have also aided much the work of the Universal
Brotherhood Magazine.
It is not necessary to call special attention to the new dress of the magazine or its
enlarged form. This month's issue is a special number commemorative of the new century.

"Truth is brighter than the sun; truth is the sunny day of Reason, and falsehood the
mind's dark night."
------------
--- 563

THE CRUSADES
The last year of the old century has been marked by a greater activity than any year
in the history of the movement. Three great crusades have been undertaken and
successfully accomplished, the results of which are more significant than even now we can
fully realize. In every department the work has taken on a worldwide aspect. The first
crusade of 1899 was to Cuba in February, and a lasting link of brotherhood between
America and the people of that oppressed island and through them stretching out to Spain
has been made, of which only the future can reveal the importance. The few weeks' work
of our Leader while at Santiago has not ceased from that day to this, and the mayor, Sr.
Emilio Bacardi and all his people are awaiting anxiously her promised return. The Cuban
mother and her large family of children and the gifted Signorita Antonia Fabre, whom the
Leader brought with her from Cuba to America, show how gratefully these people respond
to loving care and wise direction. Signorita Fabre accompanied the Leader to Point Loma
and in her journey across the country, and then to Sweden and England. She is preparing
herself to go back and help her people in true brotherhood work.
The second crusade was that undertaken in this country after the congress at Point
Loma, when the Leader and several members of her cabinet visited the lodges on the
Pacific Coast. and in the Northwest and then en route across the continent.
The third crusade was to Sweden and England. Besides the work done in these
countries, the importance of the crusade work on the ocean, both in going and returning,
can hardly be over-estimated, and great and lasting interest was aroused among many
people who will carry the message of brotherhood and of our great work to all parts of
Europe and Central and South America, as well as this country.
--------

"The Eternal Spirit is everywhere. It stands encompassing the whole world."

------------

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESSES.

There have been three Congresses held in the past year, or rather, the one
Congress begun at Point Loma, and whose meetings were continued throughout the
crusade across the country, was also continued in the great gatherings at the Swedish
Congress at Stockholm and the English Congress at Brighton. One of the, most important
features of these congresses, next to the presentation of our work and philosophy before
the public, was the binding together more closely the different nations and parts of the
world, through our members. At Point, Loma were comrades from England, Ireland,
Sweden and Australia, and at the Congress at Brighton were Swedish, German, Dutch and
American members. Dr. Erik Bogren attended the Congress at Chicago in 1898, and T.
Hedlund, Miss Sonesson, Dr. Kellberg, from Sweden; Miss Atkinson and Miss Townsend,
from England; F. J. Dick, from old Ireland, and T. W. Wilans from Australia, were present
at the Point Loma Congress. Dr. Zander, Mrs. Scholander, Miss Bergman, Dr. Bogren
attended the Brighton Congress in England, and also Brothers Goud and Cliquart and
others from Holland, and Brother C. J. Gluckselig from Germany. All these, indeed, have
made the links of comradeship very close between these different parts of the world. A
new feature of the Brighton Congress, outlined by the Leader, was a debate between Rev.
T. A. Duncan, a clergyman of the Church of England, and Brother Sidney Coryn, President
of the Universal Brotherhood in England.

--- 564

Then, too, we must speak of those who have come to make a longer stay, and
perhaps remain permanently with us. Rev. and Mrs. Neill, from New Zealand, are now at
Point Loma, and have charge of the S. R. L. M. A. grounds. Dr. Herbert Coryn, one of
H.P.B.'s old pupils, has now been in America for over a year. Almost immediately after his
arrival, Brother Lundberg came from Sweden, and Mrs. Lundberg from Scotland. Miss
Townsend, who attended the Point Loma Congress, has remained at the I. B. L. Colony.
More recent arrivals in America are Miss Bergman, who came over with our Leader after
the Swedish Congress, and has since been staying in New York, paying a short visit to
Boston; Percy Leonard, who made a brief stay in New York, visited Boston, and has now
gone to make his home in California, and our last arrival, Brother H. T. Edge, one of the old
workers at the London Headquarters, and who is so well known through his articles in the
magazine.
---------

"The wise guard the home of nature's order; they assume excellent forms in secret."
----------

POINT LOMA
On every hand are evidences of the rapid, but steady growth of the work in all
departments, any one of these alone standing as a monument of successful effort for
humanity. Two and a half years ago the grounds of the S. R. L. M. A. at Point Loma were
little more than a stretch of waste land. Today they are a busy center of active work
preparing for a vast and stupendous work in the future. Already a large nucleus of the I.
B. L. colony has been formed, where workers are being trained for future activities. Among
the workers there are Rev. and Mrs. Neill; Brothers Hanson and Norris and their families,
and Brother Stowe, from Macon, Ga.; Mrs. E. C. Mayer, one of the former New York
Headquarters' staff and faithful worker under W. Q. Judge; Brother Pettigrew, from Sioux
Falls, Brother Scott, from Toronto, A. D. Hunt, and Dr. Rose Winkler, from New York; Miss
Paterson and Mme. O. Petersen, from Boston; Brother Scott, from Toronto, and other
faithful and true-hearted workers. Besides the colony activities at Point Loma, is the Isis
Conservatory of Music and Drama, founded by Katherine Tingley and carried on under Mrs.
E. C. Mayer as directress.
A new impetus has been given to music by our Leader and many of the Lodges have
realized its importance in their meetings. At the Conservatory of Music, under the new
methods there introduced, the true place of music as a vital educative factor will be taught.
The Conservatory has opened most successfully and has before it a wide field of useful
work.
A new lodge of 26 members has been organized among the workers at the Point,
with representatives from North, South, East and West and from Europe.
After her next visit to Cuba, the Leader intends to bring back to America a number
of Cuban children to educate at the Cuban colony and later to found colonies for children
and workers of other nationalities.
Both the library and the museum at Point Loma are increasing, and several
hundreds of valuable books and objects of antiquity have been received.
Another feature on the Point is the Point Loma Hotel, carried on by Dr. L. F. Wood,
who, under the greatest difficulties, not having the facilities to provide for so large a
number, yet found shelter and entertainment for the members attending the Congress. The
house is now in good running order and provides a delightful resort

--- 565

for and those in search of rest, as well as for students of the Isis Conservatory of Music.
---------

WORK AMONG THE CHILDREN.

How greatly this has increased and what a promise it is for the opening century.
Only a few years ago there were less than a hundred children in our Lotus Groups. Now
nearly every lodge in America has its Lotus Group, and the children are counted by many
hundreds. In England, Sweden, Holland, Australia are many hundreds more. As our
Leader says, the world must surely realize that in the children we must find the bone and
sinew of spiritual enlightenment of the coming century. The report of the Children's Festival
at Brighton, which we give in this issue, and also the beautiful drawing of the ceremony by
Brother R.W. Machell, of London, tell their own story.
--------
"He who lives in one color of the rainbow is blind to the rest. Live in the light diffused
through the entire arc, and you will know it all."
--------

OTHER UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES.

IT is impossible to cover the whole round of activities, but mention must be made
of the special activity of the Lotus Home in Buffalo. This is the outgrowth of the work begun
among the children by our Leader. The first temporary Lotus Home was near Fort Lee, N.
J., close to New York City, where, in 1896, a number of children from the East Side in New
York were cared for during the summer. While there, the Leader planned the permanent
work in Buffalo. The thoughts that were there sent out have taken root and the noble
workers who have devoted their energies and their lives, have made it possible to be
carried out. Last month was given a picture of the babies of the Home, and in this issue
we give a view of the large and beautiful building where this work is carried on. The great
care and efficient work of the Superintendent, Dr. Louise J. Kean, and Miss Morris and the
other assistants, may be best realized from the happy faces of the little ones. And though
all of them are of a very tender age, not one of them has been lost and all are healthy and
happy.
Another special activity is the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Home at Toledo, under
the International Brotherhood League. This Newsboys' Home is mainly supported
financially by the League, and is on a splendid footing through the wonderful devotion of
Miss Elizabeth Whitney, and having been greatly aided by the work which Mrs. Fichtenkam
did.
Another activity of the International Brotherhood League, designed especially to help
women to help themselves and bringing a common interest to women of all nations, is the
"Woman's Exchange and Mart," with its many departments. This has been most
successfully started in New York and also in Boston.
Continually new evidences are met with of the great work done at Montauk in the
fall of 1898, among the soldiers and the results of that work are shown in the memories
which those, who came in contact with the International Brotherhood League, have kept
and who felt its help and strength.
------------
--- 566

WORK IN EUROPE.
This has already been touched upon to some extent in speaking of the Congresses
at Stockholm and Brighton, but particular mention must be made of the work of the
International Brotherhood League in Sweden, carried on especially by Mr. and Mrs.
Nystrom, the meetings of which are very largely attended. As a result of the Congresses,
many of the newspapers, according to the report of Brother Hedlund, have taken up and
discussed the ideas there brought forward, and a great effect has been made on the public
mind by the meetings, and especially by the speeches of the Leader. The newspapers are
following up the suggestions and warnings she gave against the dangers menacing their
country, and in this way are doing great propaganda work for some of the principles which
we uphold. A new Headquarters has been taken in Stockholm and the work is enlarging
on every hand. Two Swedish Theosophical papers are published, "Theosophia," a monthly
published by Dr. Zander in Stockholm, and "Nya Seklet," published by Dr. Erik Bogren, in
Helsingborg.
In Germany, Brother Conrad Gluckselig, who attended the Congress at Brighton, is
doing splendid work and has a fine lodge at Nurnberg. He has also just started a monthly
magazine. The prospects for work in Germany are better than ever before, for Brother
Gluckselig is that quality of man who will profit by the lessons of the obstacles which the
Society has had to overcome in the past.
With the acquisition to the Universal Brotherhood of H. P. B.'s old Headquarters at
19 Avenue Road, there are now two Headquarters centers in London; the one just
mentioned, and one at: 3 Vernon Place, Bloomsbury Square. The work is increasing
rapidly and just when there was need for the right man to fit in to the right place, Brother
Sidney Coryn was at hand. In connection with the work in England, and also acting as a
binding force and link between England and America, must be mentioned Brother Clark
Thurston, of Providence, R. I., who, on account of his many journeys across the Atlantic,
has greatly aided the work and endeared himself to all our English comrades. A new
feature, showing the impetus given by the Leader to music, has been the formation of a
choir at the London Headquarters, under Brother Dunn, and it is hoped that one will soon
be established at the Headquarters in New York. While speaking of music, Brother W. A.
Raboch, the composer of the music to "The Eumenides," must not be forgotten; both his
name and his music are now well known throughout the organization.
In Ireland, the faithful work of Brother Dick and his comrades is bearing good fruit
and the philosophy is blossoming out in practical work among the children. The faithful
members have shown that they have made Theosophy a living power in their lives and
have learned to apply it. With Brother Dick we must mention Brother Arthur Dwyer, and in
the children's work, Mrs. Dick.
The work in Greece has suffered from the late war, but correspondence is still kept
up with the members there and they are doing the best they can. They all declare how
great a blessing the crusade was to their country. Russia has never had any Theosophical
activities. There is only one member there, and we regret to say that by the last account
she was quite ill.
---------

"Every man contains within himself the potentiality of immortality, equilibrated by the
power of choice."

--- 567

WORK IN OTHER COUNTRIES

The good seed sown in Australia and in New Zealand is growing up and blossoming,
and many faithful hearts are proclaiming the message of brotherhood. Brother Willans, of
Sidney, Australia, attended the Congress at Point Loma and carried back with him its
influence arid its great promises for the future. Brother St. Clair and the other comrades
in New Zealand keep the fire burning and they must feel that the day will come when the
southern hemisphere shall respond to the light which they are holding out.
India cannot be as active as the Leader would wish until she visits that ancient land
again, but she says she will not go until she is prepared to do work that will be permanent.
There are many faithful hearts praying for her return there, and the letters received from
them show how faithfully they are guarding the seed which she sowed when on the great
crusade.

WORK IN THE LODGES.

During the year several new lodges have been started and in all the lodges new
lines of activities have been entered upon, - new members bringing in new life and energy
and the old members finding ever a new interest in the work as it grows year by year. All
the new lodges are adapted to the present time, and many of the new members coming
into the work bring with them an energy and devotion that is equal to that of old and tried
members, for they have all had a preparatory education in the reports which have been
given of our work in the press. They have seen the papers and know the attacks made
upon the work and through this their interest has been awakened and they have learned
to love the cause and the Society which sails ever forward "like a holy ship of the new
kingdom." In many of the lodges the Presidents are comparatively young in years and
impart to the work the vigor and elasticity of youth. The old lodges, almost without
exception, show the signs of healthy growth, and in one or two (there are two especially)
where a dead weight of personality and disharmony has been carried, these have been
removed by the natural process of growth. With wonderful patience the loyal members
bore with their difficulties, and as these always have an end, their true devotion triumphed
at last.
The H. P. B. Lodge in New York, which for a time discontinued its activities, has
resumed active work under the Presidency of Mrs. Vespera Freeman, one of the most
devoted workers in the city. She was invited to become its President, and we feel sure that
the Lodge will enter again upon a career of new usefulness and prosperity.
The work in the extreme East is going forward with a new impetus under the efforts
of Brothers Mather and Stearns and other faithful hearts. Application for a charter for a
new lodge in Maine has just been received.
In New York the work on the East Side is continued and is steadily growing under
the devoted care of Brother J. D. Leonard.
During the year the Headquarters at 144 Madison avenue have taken on an entirely
new aspect.
Many new faces are seen at the meetings. The activities of the Theosophical
Publishing Co. are greatly on the increase, and a class of people come to buy our books
that a few years ago used to hurry past the building. Besides the improvements in the
building itself, there is now the delightful home feeling at Headquarters

--- 568

which is very largely due to the mother of the household, Mrs. L. E. Kramer, and her
husband and son, J. O. Kramer and E. O. Kramer.
A new Headquarters has been opened in Brooklyn. A large house has been taken
by Mr. and Mrs. Tyberg in a fine neighborhood and central location at 962 Bedford avenue.
The main floor forms a beautiful lecture hall, and the Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 1
has entered upon a new career of increased activity.
The Lodge at Toledo has been resuscitated, and through the energy of Mrs. Kapp,
the new President, has entered upon a new sphere of usefulness.
We regret to say that there is one lodge in Toronto which has lost its way. The
charter of this lodge has been revoked by the Leader. It affords a lesson that where
members allow themselves to be swayed by others of their number, who may have had
some prominence, but who have become disappointed through not having their personal
vanity catered to, they lack the elements of true progress and are bound to find their work
go down.
Sometimes lodges have had to carry a dead weight of those members who have
sought to use the organization for their own ends, and it has appeared to some that
oftentimes a member may be of no use but only a hindrance. Yet everyone is given his
chance and the opportunity to show how far he has really desired to work for humanity or
whether he has entered the organization for other ends. But wherever the other members
have kept strong, the work has gone on and those whose hearts were not in it have sooner
or later seen the working of the great law.
--------

"Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words
of him who does not act accordingly."
----------

HOME CRUSADERS AND NEW WORKERS.

Special crusade work started at the instance of the Leader has been done by Miss
Bandusia Wakefield in Iowa and Nebraska; by Brothers Denieke, Cannon and Dr. Hill, of
Milwaukee, in Wisconsin; and by Dr. N. B. Acheson, of Youngstown, Ohio, and through
their efforts new lodges have been started and new life put into some of those already
established.
Sometimes in a lodge, or isolated from other members, one person may be a center
of radiating light and influence in this great work. Others may not hear of him or know him,
yet by his life and work, by writing or simply in his ordinary relation with others, he may be
a helper in the cause of brotherhood. One of these is known under the nom de plume
"Zoryan." There are many others helping in these and similar ways. Our Theosophical
work and H. P. B.'s teaching's have been brought out in such a way through our literature
and lectures, so simple and clear, that as well as attracting the cultured they have touched
the hearts of many in the humbler walks of life. There is one person whom I have in mind
who cannot read nor write, but who listens and listens and thinks and acts, making the
philosophy a living power in her daily life.
Through the simplification of this wisdom of the ages the lives of men and women
in the prisons are being lifted and ennobled and a great sphere of work has thus been
opened. Already many of the large State prisons are open to our workers and many
shadows have been lifted from the hopeless and despairing and many an answering gleam
awakened in the hearts of our poor shut-in brothers and sisters.

--- 569

Wherever new work has to be begun new workers always come to the front, and
among such should be mentioned Brother Cranston Woodhead and his son, in London and
Miss Atkinson, who is now in charge of the Headquarters, at 19 Avenue Road. Here in
America we must mention Brother C. E. Carpenter, the Superintendent in New York State
of the I. B. L. Boys' Brotherhood Clubs, whose whole heart is in this work. Then in Toledo,
when a new worker was needed in the lodge, Mrs. Kapp stepped in, and is now President.
Mrs. Lundberg, whose education in the sturdy life of Scotland has fitted her to rise above
difficulties that naturally assail new members at active centers, is now helping at
Headquarters. Mrs. Butler, from Bridgeport, is rendering good service as manager of the
Woman's Exchange and Mart, which, as said, is a glorious work for women. It would be
impossible to give all the instances of this character, but it is one of the signs.
 Space does not permit us to give the description of the many new activities every
one of which has the signs of great and lasting success. Is not this one of the most
encouraging features of the work, that sure and quick success follows upon every
undertaking begun by our Leader, and each of these leads to larger fields of work, and
brings us close in touch with thousands throughout the world who have been overlooked.
In reviewing these activities those who work at the center and are familiar with its history
and growth state that the work is one hundred times greater than three years ago, and the
prospects simply illimitable. So after all, in spite of the shadows and trials and the
knowledge that a few who pledged themselves to the work are unable to go on, we have
made a good record for the last quarter of the XIXth Century, and we feel sure that the
coming years will record greater success still and the greatest of all - the acknowledged
Universal Brother-
hood of Humanity. - Observer
--------

"Good people shine from afar like the snowy mountains; bad people are not seen,
like arrows shot at night."
----------

A SIGNIFICANT EVENT AT SAN DIEGO

On Tuesday, Dec. 12th, the steamer Tanis - the name of an ancient Egyptian king -
of the Kosmos Steamship Co., of Hamburg, (Kosmos meaning "Universal," and hence "all
the world over") cast anchor, in San Diego Harbor, Cal., on its first regular trip between
Hamburg mid San Francisco.
This is the second line from foreign ports which has within the year made San Diego
its first and last port in the United States.
While these events in the business world are a recognition or the importance of San
Diego as one of the strategic and communal centres on the world's coming direct line of
travel, those who look for cause in effect, trace a relationship between these old and
universal names, and present and future developments, see a significance and venture a
prophecy of great natural wealth and splendor for San Diego, with her Titanic architectural
topography, rivaling ancient Athens a thousand times in its possibilities, and that ancient
Inspiration, Point Loma, will in the near future attract from "all over the world" mariners on
the watery oceans, and on the ocean of life, to there cast anchor and depart rich laden with
evolved stores of ancient and modern material, mental and spiritual wealth to make the life
and heart of humanity glad.
- Elias

----------
--- 570

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS, BRIGHTON, ENG.

AN IDEAL CONGRESS.
(By Another Onlooker.)
THE OPENING.
A Congress, as popularly understood, is an injudicious mixture of Dullness and
Discord. Therefore, people who wish to live pleasant lives, religiously avoid any such
gathering. Earnest folk who are panting to contradict each other - for the sake of principle -
are those who usually organize Congresses. Their respective friends attend, just to see
how they get on. Beyond these are even to be found among the general public persons
with a sporting bias who have developed a morbid taste for the Congress per se. Such
complete the assemblage. They slip away, however, when Dullness becomes paramount.
Rarely is the last day of a Congress well attended.
None of these characteristics was to be observed at the Congress of the Universal
Brotherhood Organization recently held at Brighton. It began in a marked sense
harmoniously; interest grew as it progressed; and the chief event of its last day's work -
a "Children's Festival," will live in the memories of those who witnessed it as a profoundly
touching symbol of peace and concord.
This Congress was opened under the Dome of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, on
Thursday evening, Oct. 5th, with a selection front Lohengrin, played by Professor E. H.
Lemare, on the grand organ. Later, this eminent musician rendered the overture to
Beethoven's Prometheus. The other items in this musical introduction to Practical
Brotherhood were Wagnerian selections, played by an unseen orchestra, a violin solo by
Miss Evans, several pieces sung by the famous Minster Quartette, and "O, Star of Eve!"
sung by a member of the "Isis League of Music and Drama," which, by the way, is one of
the seven departments of fraternal activity into which the Universal Brotherhood
Organization has been segregated by its Founder and Leader, Katherine Tingley.
An evident motif in this drama of Harmonies was to unfold it impersonally. A
tastefully arranged curtain of blue and yellow aided this effect. The impression upon the
audience was striking. An inexpressible feeling of reposeful delight spread among the
listeners, so that the applause they were impelled by custom to bestow upon that band of
gifted musicians seemed as it were an interruption. Perchance the day will come when
none approve by outward sign, either the dramatic or musical displays. Then will those
Arts, of Music and the Drama, so long devoted to the fostering of human self-esteem, be
restored to their early purity and become "vital educative factors" - as in the older days!
When that significant musical opening of the Universal Brotherhood Congress was
completed, there appeared before the curtain the figure of a man attired in the garb of
ancient Greece. For a moment those assembled seemed disposed to smile when this
chapleted orator, who looked so unfamiliar, addressed them. The speaker quickly gathered
himself together and dispelled by the force of growing eloquence that feeling of incongruity
which had arisen. Tersely and luminously he declared that the "Eumenides" of Aeschylus,
a selection from which was about to be pre-

--- 571

sented, was written, "not to amuse, but because it contained within itself many of the
sublimest truths of Nature; because it taught men to look within themselves, and look even
upward and onward toward the star that was in them, the star that was their goal
throughout the ages."
The orator retired and then the curtain was drawn aside, revealing the concluding
scene from this famous tragedy. The Goddess Athena, followed by the twelve Areopagites
slowly moved up the stage to the sound of stately, choice music. This music has been
especially composed by Wenzel A. Raboch for Katherine Tingley's interpretation of the
Eumenides. It was most impressive. Its note was distinctly that of ancient Greece. When
Athena and her train were ranged before the entrance to the temple of Apollo, the music
ceased. Suddenly, wild, unearthly shrieks were heard, and the hooded Furies, wrapped
in earth-colored garments, crawled into sight. There was something terrific in the intensity
of the dramatic situation. There stood the Virgin Goddess calm, benignly compassionate,
while those horrid forms rose and fell, shrieked and clamored; clamored against the
release of Orestes. Then Athena pleads with them:

"Not slighted are ye powers August! through rage

Curse not with hopeless blight the abode of man.
I, too, on Zeus rely; why speak of that?
And sole among the gods I know the key
That opes the halls where sealed thunder sleeps.
But such we need not. Be appeased by me,
Nor scatter o'er the land, from froward tongue
The harmful seed that turneth all to bane.
Of bitter rage lull ye the murky wave;
Be venerated here and dwell with me,
Sharing the first fruits of this ample realm,
For children offered, and for nuptial rite,
This word of mine thou wilt forever praise!

Still the Furies rage and threaten. Then comes the crowning effort of this tragic
scene. Slowly they yield to the entreaty of the Goddess, and flinging off their dusky robes,
show themselves transformed into beautiful maidens, clad all in white. Singing glad hymns
they adore beneficent Athena and join her train as she leaves the stage.
This is but an elementary sketch of a presentation full of subtle power. In truth, by
means of writing alone, justice can never be done to such a combination of color, of form,
of sound, as Katherine Tingley has effected.
And, dominating all this, was the combination of the human, the art-brotherhood.
The players evidently were devoted to their common task. No slightest suggestion of
rivalry, of stage vanity, of nervousness (which is but a form of self esteem) was evident at
any point in this performance. If this was the Greek attitude towards the Drama, we cease
to wonder at the rumors of its marvelous influence upon Greek thought and conduct that
have filtered through the ages.
I fancy that the bulk of the audience realized the vital truth of the statement so
frequently made in Theosophical literature, viz., that this play of Eumenides is a "mystery
play," written and presented not for entertainment, but for the instruction of men as to the
facts of their spiritual nature. I wonder how many of those present realized that none but
a Mystic of vast power and knowledge could have made those facts evident by means of
actors and stage effects gathered together at scarcely a fortnight's notice?
The second day's work of this remarkable Congress is amply dealt with else-
--- 572

where. It consisted mainly of public expositions of Theosophical principles. Incidental

references were made to Katherine Tingley's humanitarian work at Montauk and Cuba.
But the third and concluding day contained the event of events in the Congress.
This was the "Children's Festival." However, due treatment of such a subject must be
reserved for another article.
----------

THE CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL

For many, many years the "Problem of London" has profoundly interested me. Think
of it! Nearly one-sixth part of the entire population of the British Islands is closely packed
within the 400 odd square miles on which Greater London stands! One may travel from
north to south or from east to west for almost twenty miles without coming into touch with
any considerable space of green fields. Houses, houses, houses! everywhere houses!
And people still flock into this city of Pain, not merely from all parts of Great Britain,
but from all parts of Europe. Apparently, it is upon this new blood that London depends for
its life. One authority declares that "London is literally nourished by bone and sinew from
the country." Another authority (medical), states that it is impossible to find a fourth
generation of pure Londoner.
So, London would appear to be, in the long run, a city of Death, as well as a city of
Pain. One-sixth of Britain's population is slowly becoming devitalized in London. Yet such
is the mysterious magnetism of this wonderful spot that no sustained effort to escape from
conditions so fateful seems to be possible for Londoners themselves. Politicians and
Economists have for years past been saying the things I am saying now. The average
dweller in London heeds them not. Poor, weary, neighborless soul! For him there is no
future, either personal or national. 'Tis a sorry outlook - that of the luckless Cockney!
Or rather, it WAS a sorry outlook; until Saturday, the seventh of October last.
Oh, think! Brothers across the seas - who sprang from the loins of this old England!
Think of the sacred bond of two hundred and fifty "Lotus Buds" who looked into the eyes
of the Lotus Mother at Brighton on that memorable day! From the east, from the south,
from the west of the vast city were gathered these Pioneers of the New Century's
Childhood. Right down in London's mud had those beautiful flowers of Hope been rooted!
Fair were they to see - gentle children, all of them - as they spread themselves out in the
Sunlight whose power flooded the Congress.
And they have gone back to their London homes carrying with them the force they
then drank in! Do you think that this fact means nothing for the future of London? I declare
my belief that, unconscious though these little ones may be of their mission, they are and
will remain a living cord of Brotherhood winding through the mazes of the huge city. The
cord will lengthen and strengthen as the Lotus movement develops, until one day we find
that a new type of manhood and womanhood is emerging out of the midst of that very poor
stuff - the devitalized Cockney. Yea, the comrades of the golden cord have grown up into
citizenship, and are quietly, gently working out the social salvation of London! So it looks
to me, as I, a Londoner born and bred, peer into the next century. Is it then too bold a thing
if, looking at the Children's Festival with a Londoner's eyes, I venture to call the seventh of
October, 1899, "New Citizen Day"?
--- 573

Already the scene in the Music Room of the Pavilion has been picturesquely
described. I scarcely can add to the description. We all remember the beauty, the
orderliness, the spirituality of those boys and girls, clad in their white robes of Grecian
pattern. And the naturalness, the unconsciousness with which they behaved impressed
every one. Theirs was no play-acting. They sang their dainty songs, they went through
their evolutions with just that calm simplicity which an un-spoilt child will show when playing
in the presence of its Mother. They did all this in a public hall crowded to its utmost limits
with onlookers! And yet these children, who showed such a marvelous spirit of unity were
strangers to each other - so far as the various "groups" of them were concerned - until that
very morning! There had been no previous rehearsal in London; but merely some
preliminary drilling, and the learning of the songs they sang. I have not discovered anybody
who knew exactly what was going to happen when those youngsters started for Brighton.
No one, however, who had been engaged in Lotus work, felt the least anxiety about the
success of the Children's Festival. We did what we were told, and the children did what
they were told, and everybody was happy afterwards - such was the result of the general
confidence in the Lotus Mother. In sober truth, the whole business of that Children's
Festival was just run on the lines of a fairy story. A veritable transformation took place in
obedience to the wand of the Fairy Queen!
Let me give a practical illustration of the transformation. Among the steadiest and
calmest of those youngsters who marched into her presence was one princely little chap,
with dark hair. There was a tiny bald patch on the top of his head. I believe I have
guessed the history of that bald patch. I met my young prince - "an incorrigible little wretch"
- as the saying goes, at a school room in Bow, about a week before the Brighton Congress.
He, and some seventy others, were being drilled by Mrs. General C--- (she is a very sweet
spoken young lady in private life; but what soldiers would call a "living terror on parade.")
Well, the said prince, who was then bare-footed (and suitably attired) was docile enough,
until the drilling was over. Then he relieved his pent-up feelings by executing a series of
what London boys call "Catherine wheels" - all round the room, to the great admiration of
his comrades. He went through this performance with professional skill, and thus gave me
a clue to that bald patch of his. Many a time have I seen ragged, shoeless lads do the very
same thing along the roads leading to Epping forest or to similar places of summer resort.
Coppers are thrown to them by the people in drags or vans, for whose entertainment these
youngsters cater. And I have seen such boys stand on their heads in the dusty road, and
kick up their heels for a moment or two, in token of thanks. Then they resume their
"Catherine wheeling." I should say that this line of business is rather wearing - to the hair.
Now, I have merely put two and two together. May I be forgiven if I have wronged my
young Prince Lotus.
And of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!
---------

A GREETING TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED IN BRIGHTON,

ENGLAND

16 Carrington St., Wynyard Square,

Sydney, Australia, Sept. 3, 1899.

Comrades: - We have this hour a Presence and a Power in our midst that no thing
or being can withstand and that will bring Liberation to all, either in smiles or tears.
Now is the eleventh hour of our opportunity consecrated with the sacred blood

--- 574

of martyrs. Rise in God-gained privilege and wield the lightning blade in noble service to
all that lives.
Here in heavy gloom lies the sensuous pall of prostituted Divinity, and out of the
funeral fires of its black smoke, the lightning blade will rive asunder the foul spell and
liberate the soul.
Think of the glorious strife for many a hundred years, how inch by inch the battle has
been won, for it is upon these lives we charge at last to Victory and so redeem the slain.
Our hearts speak true and tell us how the noble fight for Truth has waxed hot at
times in every corner of the field of Europe. In every spot has blood been spilled to cry out
from the ground. Our nations have built themselves upon the Hearts of Heroes who now
are joined together in one band to make this last grand charge. On! on! the Power of the
Living God is here. Truth leads the van.
Swing free the blade once more, beloved ones, and then - Praise God from whom
all Blessings flow. - T. W. Willans
---------

EXTRACTS FROM THE SHORTHAND REPORT OF THE

CONGRESS.

THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT OF THE BIBLE,

Debate Between an English Clergyman and a Theosophist
(Concluded from December, 1899)

CONTINUATION OF THE DEBATE.

Bro. Cranstone Woodhead then took charge of the proceedings and the debate was
resumed, after a selection of music and the reading of a message of greeting from Lodge
No. 1, Sweden.
The Rev. Mr. Duncan said his opponent had twitted the Christian Church with having
no philosophy of life, no metaphysics, but apparently he had taken the poorest class of
Christians as representing Christian thought. Christian thought was not so excessively
crude. There had been in the history of the Christian Church schools of philosophy, and
there was a system of metaphysics, and the more thinking portion had some notion of what
they were talking about when speaking of the soul. Paul spoke of a threefold man - body,
soul and spirit - and in many places he referred to that tripartite division of the human
being. The Rev. J. B. Hurd, too, had written a work on the tripartite nature of man, and
many Theosophists might be surprised by it.
As to the quotations from Scripture in support of Reincarnation, he did not think the
quotation from Solomon had been quite correctly given, but that was a point of not much
importance. He did not dispute that the writer had an idea of what the Theosophists
understood by Reincarnation, but it was not a strong argument for Westerners to accept
the idea, in view of the fact that Western churches, with the exception of the Roman
Catholics, refused to accept the apocryphal writings for doctrine, not considering they had
the same degree of inspiration

--- 575

as the canonical books. The instance mentioned of the man being born blind seemed to
point to a belief in Reincarnation among those who asked the question, and the Master did
not in so many words point out they were in error; but He was not concerned with the
matter from that point of view at all at the time; He was only concerned in that the disciples
should not judge their brother, and therefore He brushed away the question altogether. It
hardly seemed fair, therefore, to infer that the Master was also a believer in Reincarnation.
Doubtless His disciples were, as most of the Jews did believe in it. As to the necessity for
Reincarnation, he granted a single life gave no scope for the building up of character, and
yet he denied it gave a strong argument in favor of Reincarnation. It was held by many
Christian people that life was intended to be educative and progressive; that it was not, as
used to be held, a mere probation, and that at the end man must reach a certain standard
or else have his fate absolutely fixed. That doctrine was not in the Articles of the Church
of England. And yet, looking at life as educative and progressive, few Western people
would feel any necessity for repeated incarnations, but rather that in those "many
mansions" place and opportunity would be found for progressive education of the individual
and the race.
A frequent argument against Reincarnation, which seemed to have a great deal of
cogency, was that no one seemed to remember their past lives. There was an explanation
of the fact that many thought they remembered things in past lives, and it was that they
remembered incidents in their dream lives. Another argument was, if the Theosophical
position were true, how was it, if there were only a limited number of souls frequently
coming into earth life, the population of the earth seemed to go on increasing from age to
age instead of only keeping at a certain point?
Mr. Coryn again expressed his appreciation of the courtesy with which his opponent
had put forward his views. Mr. Duncan complained that he had selected those points which
appeared weakest in the philosophy and scheme of Christianity, but a scheme of
philosophy was like a steel chain - unless of equal strength at all points it was valueless.
He had explained that their quarrel was not with the teachings of Jesus - for them they had
the most profound admiration and veneration, yielding to no man or church in their
veneration of the character and teachings of Jesus. (Applause.) But where was he to get
that fair and able conception of modern Christianity? Where was he to go? In the list of
Christian churches they found 300 or 400, at the least, distinct and separate renderings of
the message of the same teacher. Voltaire said that if God had made man in his own
image, man had certainly returned the compliment. Man had created God in his image.
Everywhere they saw man imagining that which could not be imagined, which transcended
the sublimest thought of the sublimest sage. (Applause.) They had figured unto
themselves a glorified picture of themselves, and endowed that image with their own
frailties, and cruelties, and so in their own minds they had sanctified their own wrongdoing.
Samuel Clemens engaged a Hindu servant with 700 gods. He exclaimed: "Now, I am a
Christian and have only one God; so now I have 701." (Laughter.)
As to Paul's division of man's nature, he had not challenged the wisdom of Paul; he
had challenged the wisdom of those who sought to interpret the Apostle and his great
Master. Paul did speak of body, soul and spirit, but of what value was it to Christians of
today to use those words if they were not able to attach

--- 576

any meaning to them, or if the meanings they attached to them were widely different? In
the Church of England, and in many others, they would find clear-thinking and liberal-
minded men, and their contention was not with them, except so far as they dare not say to
their churches the things they thought in their studies. Was it not true that here in
Christendom they had no conception of the soul? To the average Christian the word called
forth no idea; it meant for them absolutely nothing. It was a common thing to hear the
words "my soul," and where they used the possessive pronoun they implied a possessor
and a thing possessed. How did they differentiate between the owner and the thing. Who
am I? What is this I possess - the soul?
In the Christian philosophy that question could not be answered. In their studies
some might have partially solved it, but they did not come to the poor man and say it was
himself, that the man himself was a soul, that on his efforts depended his future, that there
is nothing to save and nothing to condemn except his own force of will, his own
determination to walk on the path which in his heart of hearts he had set out for himself.
Theosophy claimed that the soul was not merely a matter of speculation, or a matter of
theory, but that every man possessed within himself a faculty which would enable him to
know, to defy the secrets of Nature, to unlock every hidden door of his nature, and to know
himself in spirit and in truth.
Turning to ethics, he claimed that while modern Christianity taught morality and
insisted upon it, Christians had not a science of morality and could not say why this was
right and that was wrong. They could not act as guides. When a chemist would learn
anything in the world of physics he had his appliances, and could, on the physical plane,
know something of the object in hand; but Theosophists contended that knowledge was
not confined to the physical plane, but that there was a process, that there had ever been
a process, by means of which man could know of the soul, could know of the laws which
governed his being, could know of the source from whence he came, could know of the
goal toward which he was going.
Knowledge was not confined to physical science, but the spiritual science had been
neglected, because the light that the old Mystics once illuminated Christianity with had been
- not withdrawn, but rejected by the Church, and what the Church possessed today was but
the skeleton of the divine mysticism and philosophy which Jesus Christ came into the world
to teach. Mr. Duncan spoke of the apocalyptic books not being accepted by the Church.
He did not give the quotation as a proof of Reincarnation, but he thought it was not denied
that the "Book of the Wisdom of Solomon" was by the man whom the Christians claimed
to be the wisest who ever lived. Moreover, that forced him to inquire what was meant by
the word apocryphal? The history of the books of the Bible would form a strange study for
many of the most earnest exponents of Christianity, learning from whom they had come,
what those men had said about them, through whose hands they had passed. Did they
remember the confession of Eusebius: "I have not scrupled to take from or add to the
sacred manuscripts whenever it has appeared to my mind to be for the glory of Holy
Church." Many Christians labored under the impression that the Bible was directly written
by the Almighty and placed in our hands as a bound and completed volume. They did not
recognize that it was a collection of writings, very small, from a very great mass of writings.
He did not think they

--- 577

had taken the trouble to ascertain who made the selection, and how it came to be made.
In the Early Church they held a council, because, he supposed, they thought it would be
for the glory of God to make a selection from His books, and they decided that certain
books were sanctified by the Creator of the Universe, and that other books were not. That
seemed, in common parlance, rather a large order. (Laughter.) Being unable to agree
among themselves - could one expect so many theologians to agree? - as to which were
inspired and which were not, they resorted to an ingenious device. They placed the whole
collection under a table and prayed to God that during the night he would select from them
the inspired books and put them on the table. And He did. That was the story. One could
imagine a theologian making his way to the room in the night time in order that his own
theory might be established on the authority of Holy Writ.
In the verbal texts they must use common sense - the rarest of all the senses. They
need not be afraid that Divine Truth would suffer from intelligence. Divine Truth was strong
enough and great enough to welcome criticism, not to fear it; to welcome knowledge, and
not to prosper by ignorance. They would lose nothing by endeavoring to ascertain the
source of their great writings, and he believed Theosophists placed greater value on some
of the ancient writings than did the Christians themselves, because they saw they
embodied many a precious truth of which the Church had not dreamed, and because they
contained the life of one of those Great Masters sent from the centre of eternal love, sent
from time to time into the world to set a-thrill the wires of spiritual life, to tell to men that the
path of self was the road to death, and that the path to life was to "love thy neighbor as
thyself." (Applause.) The reference to the man born blind proved that the disciples believed
in re-birth. They were told, too, in a good many places, that Jesus had especially taught
those men the mysteries of life and death, and yet having so taught them they still believed
in Reincarnation.
As to progress after death in other spheres, Hume, one of the greatest philosophers
we had ever had, once said that that which would be incorruptible must have been
immortal, and therefore, he said, that of all the systems which were before the world that
one of Reincarnation was the only one to which philosophy could in any way at all hearken.
Now, they could not have immortality one way only - an immortality in the future which had
not also an immortality in the past. If we were to live in the ages to come we must have
lived also in the ages past. And what was the lesson man had to learn? He was forced to
one answer - that he was here to learn how to comport himself toward himself and toward
his fellow men. He thought that answer must commend itself to every one. And there was
no man among them who had learnt that lesson; and where could we learn to comport
ourselves toward our fellow men except with them? Where could we learn the lesson of
this earth except on this earth? He thought he was justified in extending the law of cause
and effect out of the physical into the moral, mental and spiritual planes. For every thought
and deed there must be a result somewhere, somehow, sometime. We were sowing seed,
and if a man sowed seed in a field he did not go to another field expecting there to reap the
harvest he had sown, but to the field where he had placed his seed. And that crop should
be fair or foul as the seed so placed in the ground. If there were any lesson to be learned
here, that lesson must be learned here.
It was argued against Reincarnation that we do not remember our past lives.

--- 578

Very many did remember them. Many children did, and spoke of them, until with our rough,
brutal mental hands we kill out that ray from the spirit; until we tell them those things,
which, to their little minds so fresh from the Glory Infinite - those things they know are true
are lies; until they fear to tell of the heavenly visions they remember, the recollections of
the lives of the past; until we murdered their memories with our infamous "education" and
scepticism. (Applause.)
Then the population argument was used against them. They were told the
population was steadily increasing. He denied it; there was not an iota of proof that the
population was permanently or really increasing. Mr. Judge used as an illustration in that
regard a swarm of birds flying into a room and out at a window. The number of birds was
strictly limited, but there might be more birds in the room at one time than another. If they
looked at the relics of civilizations they would find support for the theory that the population
knew no regular increase. Where now there were continents of desert land they found
traces of civilizations, compared with which our own sank into insignificance, so that it might
be that those parts now so densely peopled were then only inhabited by a few scattered
naked savages, and those now occupied by savages were centres of teeming swarms of
life. The tide ebbed and flowed.
Mr. Duncan referred his opponent to a book, "Studies of the Soul," as a proof that
soul science was not entirely unknown to the Christian Church. And there were many
thinkers who had gone deeper than Mr. Coryn would perhaps give them credit for. As to
Eusebius, he was not in any sense a revisor of the books as Ezra was said to be with
regard to the Old Testament. He was obliged to discount the story of how the books came
to be selected, because Mr. Coryn had spoken so highly of the Bible as it stood. There
must have been some higher power directing the choice of the books. As to the sowing of
the seed and reaping in the same place, it all depended where they considered the seed
to be sown. He maintained it was sown in the human soul, and it was there the results
were reaped. And if that were so, it might equally be sown and reaped in some other
sphere than the earth.
The argument drawn from the inequalities of life was considered one of the strongest
arguments in favor of Reincarnation, but he had only to say the same sort of thing holds
in every kingdom of Nature. All through Nature there was a tremendous waste in bringing
anything to perfection, and there were unfavorable conditions for the majority and only a
few come through and the higher types are produced. And why should they not look for
the same in the human kingdom? Adversity might be a very excellent field for the
education of the human soul. On the whole, he would be inclined to think they should, on
the question of Reincarnation, bring in the Scotch verdict of "not proven."
Karma, in a sense, was a Christian doctrine, and Paul's words were frequently
quoted by Theosophical writers - "As a man sows, so shall he reap;" and that doctrine
appealed to any intelligent mind. As put forward, however, it seemed a hard,
unsympathetic, unbending creed. They had an implacable law, which seemed to admit of
no exceptions. It was hardly what might be called a "gospel." It seemed to substitute law
for love, and - was not that going back a little? In the Christian teachings it seemed to him
they had the divinest expression in words of the heart of God, and undoubtedly the whole
essence of Christian teaching lay in the thought that "God is love." And just in so far as
man approached the nature of God he would be love, too. Because there was forgiveness
with God for even

--- 579

the blackest sin, so there must be forgiveness in every human heart. "Forgive us our
trespasses;" Christ's prayer on the cross, "Father, forgive them," and the command to
forgive "even seventy times seven" seemed all inconsistent with that law of Karma. The
attraction of the love of Christ as the lifting power in the world seemed to him to be missed.
It would seem Theosophy was a religion for philosophers rather than for sinners, who
wanted something to lift them out of themselves. What was Theosophy going to substitute
for the personal Christ? the Christ who was felt to be the guide and leader of humanity?
Was the experience of the centuries to go for nothing? Had the saints lived under a
delusion?
Mr. Coryn, in replying, was quite willing to admit that there were many of the Church
Fathers who followed worthily in the steps of Eusebius; he had no wish to credit him with
all the interference with the manuscripts. It was true that unequal conditions were
productive of advantage to character, but why were there those divergencies? Was there
or was there not an eternal law of Justice running through the Universe, or a hideous chaos
of chance? Where was the philosophic reason for this man's life being full of misery and
that man's of joy? If he were in search of a philosophy he would seek for one in which
there was a great law of unswerving justice, that should penetrate down to the smallest
acts and thoughts of life, a justice which left nothing out and forgot nothing.
Reincarnation was a doctrine of absolute justice, which neglects and forgets nothing,
and was absolutely true in its application even to the smallest of events and details. Mr.
Duncan appeared to be afraid of justice; he would substitute something else for law. He
asked why should they not resort to love and put law on one side? He (Mr. Coryn) would
suggest that law and love are one. (Loud applause.) It was not he who would divorce the
two. He could not conceive of law without love, or love without law; the two were blended
together, were identical one with the other. It was because there was a great love running
through the Universe that they called the force of that love law.
Forgiveness was the great centre of Christian belief, and some Christian thinkers,
while they had in their own minds rejected the theory of the atonement, dared not go into
their pulpits and say it was a hideous lie, an insult to the Almighty, the cause of the sin and
sorrow of the world. A definition of orthodox Christianity had been given by Herbert
Spencer, the greatest philosopher England had ever known, and he would defy any
Christian to find fault with any clause in it or say that any part was not accepted by the
Christian Church today. Spencer said that God created man without the power to avoid
sin; that he condemned to eternal perdition the whole race of men for doing that which they
could not help doing; that in order to avoid destroying the whole race for doing what they
could not help doing, He murdered His own Son for what he had never done. He (the
speaker) maintained that that so hideous, revolting doctrine was preached from the majority
of pulpits today, and contradicted from none. His faith in human nature was indeed great
when he remembered that the nations of the world had endured that abominable teaching
and yet had survived in their morality and ethics. There was no naked savage running wild
who would not be ashamed of such a doctrine as that. (Applause.)
That doctrine was a fitting one to be taught by those who spoke also of an eternal
and material Hell. They were told the doctrine of Karma was hard as compared with the
doctrine of Hell. Take the greatest preacher, perhaps, who had

--- 580

preached in England, who had gathered together the greatest congregations ever gathered
together, he believed, in England. Look at his definition of Hell, received with acclamation.
He imagined that on the death of the wicked man (and the wicked man was he who could
not pronounce the preacher's peculiar Shibboleth), his body was turned into a substance
somewhat resembling asbestos - (laughter) - in order that it might endure the most
unthinkable heat for ever and ever without being consumed. He said that that man would
feel as if his veins were filled with molten lead, every nerve throbbing with a torment
indescribable - and that went on for ever and ever. And they were told the doctrine of
Karma was hard! And yet they had the words, "God is not mocked," and "For every idle
word ye shall answer in the day of judgment." Did Jesus ever say there was any way of
avoiding the penalty of sin? any way of wiping out the results of any single deed or thought
except by meeting those results and living on through them like a man, and going into a
new life made wise by the lessons taught, made great by the pain endured? (Applause.)
Mr. Duncan asked what would they substitute for the personal Christ. They would
substitute a world full of personal Christs. (Loud applause.) Because the great Christ-Spirit
was in every man a guide and index for every man. The great Christ-Spirit was the voice
of conscience, which speaks forever, trying to make itself heard, longing to enter the door
at which it could only knock.
As man looked within himself for that light which was in every man, the "light that
never was on land or sea;" as they looked upward for that light and knew the Christ to be
themselves, and knew their power to reach to the Christhood, so the world shall be filled
with Christs, and then pain and sorrowing and suffering shall pass away forever more. Was
that unscriptural - unbiblical? "Know ye not that ye are gods?" "Know ye not that ye are
the temples of the Holy Ghost?" No, throughout the West we did not know our Godhood;
we did not know the infinite possibilities in front of us. We could see something of the path
we had come, but could not look forward to the future, so full of glory, radiance and power,
awaiting us, because of the god enshrined in every man. And Jesus Christ came not to say
"I am the Christ, follow me," but He came to say, "The Christ is incarnated in every one of
you - know ye not that ye are gods? The path I have trod you shall tread, the cross I have
carried is also for you, and the reward that awaits you is the same."
They were told the great story of the crucifixion, and they took it with the brutality of
the Western mind with literalness, and would not believe the great story had been told all
over the world, in every age, and at all times, which typified the experiences of the
neophyte in the Egyptian Pyramid, who would learn the secrets of the gods, and who for
three days and nights lay crucified on a cross of wood. On the third day the guardian priest
awoke him from his slumber, released him from the cross, and brought him down once
more among men, but more than a man - crowned with the knowledge of the immortal
gods, and with god-like power - a Christ amongst men, a Saviour amongst his people.
Was there anything derogatory to Christianity in showing that the Divine Life and the
way to accomplish the Godhood of man and the Christhood in man had been in the world
ever, always ready to declare themselves; that the Christ-Spirit in man was waiting to
declare itself, and if only men would rise up out of their dark self into the gladness and glory
that awaited them they would know that their godhood was not a thing of the far past, but
that the divinity of man even now awaits its claiming. (Applause.)

--- 581

Bro. Machell then gave a short address. He thought both speakers had pointed to
one thing - that the very heart and soul of all the teaching, whether of Jesus or any other
great world Teacher, was harmony, love and light, and that the law of life, when
understood, was a law of joy, of beauty, of harmony. In the work of the Universal
Brotherhood that idea manifested itself very strongly. He thought that in a great and
increasing degree Art in its widest sense would take the place from which it had been
dethroned so long - Art, not as an adornment to life, a superfluity, but Art in its highest and
widest sense, as the expression of the soul of humanity - expressing itself in harmony, that
harmony which was known to all thinkers and students of life to be the law, the very root-
law of health, moral, physical or mental. (Applause.)
The second day's public proceedings then concluded.

------------

QUEEN CHRISTINA AND THE BISHOPS

A Remarkable Address
(From our correspondent)

Madrid, Sunday Night

La Epoca publishes the reply of the Queen-Regent to the Address which has been
presented to her by the Bishops. The document exceeds even the programme of the
Burgos Congress in its demands for the re-establishment of religious intolerance. The
Prelates begin with very loyal expressions of adhesion to the present Dynasty and the
Regency, and pray God to grant to the Queen-Regent the necessary grace to lead the
nation in the paths of justice and religion. They then ask her Majesty to exercise her
influence upon the Governments to induce them to put a stop to the audacity of
Protestantism, which is opening churches and schools, and also to check the impious
press, which slanders the Episcopate, the clergy, and the religious Orders.
The Address goes on to request the Queen-Regent to repress the subversive
teachings of some of the Professors and to place all the Professors of the Universities,
institutes, and schools under the supervision of the Catholic religion, which is the State
Church. The Bishops insist upon the expediency of chastising for blasphemy, the
profanation of images and sacred emblems, the violation of the Sabbath and Saints' days.
The Message also lays much stress upon the necessity of refusing to Freemasons the
rights granted to other Societies. The Prelates say they are much pleased to have found,
in the Burgos Catholic Congress the opportunity of exposing the situation and expressing
the aspirations of the Church, which alone can act as an impregnable rampart against the
evils threatening humanity.
In a separate Message addressed to the Ministry the Bishops say they have never
refused obedience, respect, and submission to the Queen-Regent and King and the
Constitutional Government; but they have noticed with immense grief that no energy has
been displayed by the authorities in repressing the disturbances at Saragossa, Barcelona,
Valencia, and Castellon. They allege that the Freemasons had concerted to stone the
convents and insult the members of religious Orders, and

--- 582

they ask the Government not to allow Freemasons to enter Parliament, as they contributed
to the loss of the Colonies.
The Message concludes with the assertion that the Throne is threatened by
revolution when it could be strengthened if it rested, as of yore, on religion. These
Episcopal demonstrations are generally considered as an endeavor to keep in touch with
the feelings of the majority of the Catholics and the clergy; but no politicians of any shade
outside the Ultramontanes seem disposed to listen to this revival of intolerance.
The Queen-Regent's reply to the Address is couched in guarded terms. Her Majesty
says she is exceedingly grateful for the loyalty of the Prelates and the Church towards the
Dynasty. She notices the grievances set forth, and the wishes expressed by the
Episcopate in the name of the Catholics, but she very firmly and clearly reminds the
signatories that she can do no more than hand over their petition to her Constitutional
advisers and the responsible Ministers, who alone are competent, as they are certainly able
and willing, to consider such appeals.
-The Standard (London), Sept. 25, 1899.
-----------

PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT
A fund has been established for the free distribution of Brotherhood literature. The
fund to be equally divided in obtaining the following: -
1) The New Century Series: The Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings
2) The Universal Brotherhood Magazine
3) The New Century,
to be placed in the prisons in America, also hospitals, work-rooms, free reading rooms,
lodging houses, steamboats, and to soldiers and sailors.
This project is originated by Katherine Tingley, who has given great attention to it,
and she feels confident that it will be well sustained by all members of the
Universal Brotherhood and by all who are interested in Humanitarian Work.
Contributions to be sent to:
 J. H. Fussell,
Treasurer Propaganda Department,
144 Madison Ave., New York.
----------

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED.
J. H. C. .....$2.00
G. W. C. ........ $.51
Miss G. A. ......... .50
A. J. J. .......... .25
G. R. M. ......... .25

------------------------------

AUM
TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

"He who in any way reviles, impugns, or abuses the person or fountain from which
comes his knowledge, or the impulse that leads him to the acquirement of truth, is unworthy
of the name of disciple.
"It is one thing to have that knowledge which disciples have, but it is quite another
thing to be a disciple. The possession of the first does not infer the second."
- The Path, Vol. 112, p. 36

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIV February, 1900 No. 11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES

By Alexander Wilder, M. D.

X. - The Classic Period Continued - The Nineteenth Dynasty - King Sethi - Rameses the
Great

The Eighteenth Dynasty had failed to maintain its authority over the tributary nations
of Asia, and even over Northern Egypt. Queen Neten-Mut survived her husband
Horemhebi several years, and her symbolical representation, a sphinx or cherub, which
was sculptured on a monument, indicates that she continued in possession of the royal
dignity.
There followed a contention over the succession. The throne of Lower Egypt was
occupied by Ra-en-ti, and now the dominion of Upper Egypt was seized by Rameses I.
There are diverse accounts with regard to the lineage of this founder of the Nineteenth
Dynasty. He himself assumed to be a descendant of Amunoph I and Queen Nefert-ari-
Aahmes, but there exists good reason for supposing him to have actually belonged to
Lower Egypt and to the race of the exiled monarchs. His physiognomy was decidedly
Grecian, and his immediate successors differed distinctly in features from the Egyptian
kings. They also recognized the Asiatic divinity Sutekh among the gods whom they
worshiped, a fact that made them unacceptable to the priesthood of Thebes, which had
now become a powerful hierarchy in Egypt.
The Khitan dominion meanwhile came into power at the north of Syria, and included
all the neighboring nations from Kurdistan to the Archipelago as subjects and allies. At
times his influence extended to the hordes of Egypt itself, and the Seventeenth Dynasty is
described by Mariette Bey as "an offshoot

--- 584

of the Khitans, who inhabited the plains near the Taurus mountains, and were worshipers
of Sutekh." The Khalu or Phoenicians, the Rutenu or Palestinians, and the Amairu or
Amorites were subject to them. Sapuriri or Sapor was now the Overlord and king of this
Semitic-Turanian people.
Rameses had first the task to make himself supreme in both realms of Egypt. He
then led an expedition against the Khitans, to expel them from Palestine and Syria. It
resulted in a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between the two monarchs. Each
pledged himself to keep within the limits of his own possessions, and to abstain from
interfering with the other.
The reign of Rameses was short, probably not exceeding six years. He was
succeeded by his son, Sethi I, also designated by the royal and official titles of Ma-men-Ra
and Mene-Ptah. As the name of this monarch was similar to that of the divinity who was
proscribed in the later Egyptian worship as the Evil Potency and slayer of Osiris, it was
afterward generally erased from the sculptures, and that of Asiri or Osirei substituted. He
married Tuaa, the grand-daughter of Amunoph III, or, as some say, of Khuenaten. His
reign was characterized by great activity, both as a warrior and builder. Indeed, Baron
Bunsen considered him to have been the famous king Sesostris, whose conquests were
distinguished above those of other princes. Whilst, however, some identify this sovereign
with one of the Osirtasens of the illustrious Twelfth Dynasty, the general judgment has
decided that Rameses II was the person so distinguished.
The Shasu tribes and the princes of Khanaan and Syria had formed leagues to
establish their independence. Manthanar, the new king of the Khitans, it was affirmed, had
also repudiated the treaty which had been made with Rameses. The throne of Sethi stood
as on a mine of dynamite. Distrust at home and hostility elsewhere menaced him. He was,
however, prompt in action. In the first year of his reign he assembled his troops at the
fortress of Khetam or Etham, near the eastern boundary of Egypt. Thence he marched to
the migdol or high tower, and on to Buto or Baal-Zapuna. He then traversed the territory
of the Shasu-Idumaans without resistance, halting at Ribatha or Rehoboth in the "South
country of Palestine." The confederated tribes, however, had made a stand at the fortress
of Khanaana in the "land of the Zahi," or Phoenicians. The battle which ensued resulted
in a complete victory for the Egyptians.
Sethi next turned his arms against the Phoenicians themselves and annihilated their
forces at Jamnia. He followed up the campaign against the kings of the Ruthens or
Canaanites, and afterward marched against "Kadesh in the territory of the Amorites."*
The Khitan frontier was now open, and he led his troops into that country. The war
was continued for several years, after which a new treaty was formed.
Sethi returned home from his first campaign with a large number of pris-

-----------
* The name Kadesh, or K'D'S, signifies holy; hence, the sanctuary, a holy city, or
sacerdotal person. The place here mentioned is supposed to have been Ashtoreth
Karnaim, the city of the two-horned goddess Astarte.
-----------
--- 585

oners and a rich booty. He took the country of the Lebanon on his way. The inhabitants
had made no resistance, and he now employed them to cut down cedar trees for ships and
for masts to set up at the Egyptian temples.
He was met near Khetam, at the frontier of Egypt, where he had set out, by a large
multitude, the priests and chief men of Egypt. "They had come," we are told, "that they
might welcome the Divine Benefactor on his return from the land of Ruthen, accompanied
by a booty immensely rich - such as had never happened since the time of the Sun-God
Ra." He had "quenched his wrath on nine foreign nations, and the Sun-God himself had
established his boundaries."
The occasion was significant. The priests and nobles had need to be on good terms
with a king, whose power was so demonstrated, and Sethi had good reason to desire the
friendship of a sacerdotal order that might refuse funeral rites at his death, and uproot his
posterity. Accordingly he enriched the temple of Amun-Ra with his booty and the priests
in return chanted hymns of praise to "His Holiness."
"He had smitten the wandering peoples, and struck down the Menti; and had placed
his boundaries at the beginning of the world and at the utmost borders of the river-land of
Naharaina, and the region which the Great Sea encircles."
In the temple of Redesieh which Sethi built in the desert near the gold mines on the
way from Koptos to the Red Sea another record was made. It describes him as having
conquered the peoples of Singara, Kadesh, Megiddo, Idumaea, and several others which
are not identified. In short, he not only included the countries of Palestine, Idumaea and
Syria in these conquests, but they embraced the entire region from Assyria and Armenia
to Cappadocia, together with Cyprus and other islands of the Mediterranean. Mr. Sayce,
however, qualifies these reports. "It is difficult to determine the extent of Sethi's
successes," he remarks, "since like many other Egyptian kings he has at Karnak usurped
the inscriptions and victories of one of his predecessors, Thothmes III, without taking the
trouble to draw up a list of his own."
The Thuheni of Libya had taken advantage of his absence from Egypt to invade the
Lowlands of the north. They were fair of complexion and probably akin to the Pelasgians
of Europe. Thothmes had subjugated them, but they had since refused to pay tribute.
Sethi and the prince Rameses led an expedition against them and succeeded in reducing
them to subjection. The prince also conducted a campaign against the Amu tribes east of
the Nile with success.
Sethi anticipated changed conditions for Egypt, and began the construction of a long
wall on the northern frontier. It began at Avaris or Pelusium, and extended across the
isthmus to Pithom or Heropolis, where the lagoons began, which are connected with the
upper end of the Red Sea.
Sethi did not neglect the welfare of his subjects. He opened a canal from the
Mediterranean to the Red Sea, for commerce, and it made the land of

--- 586

Goshen fertile. He was also diligent in procuring ample supplies of water, and caused
artesian wells to be bored in the desert. In the poetic speech of the time, "he spoke and
the waters gushed forth." As every temple had its tank or lake, he placed a little shrine at
each of the wells to consecrate the spot and assure their maintenance. "Thus," says an
inscription, "thus did King Sethi do a good work, the beneficent dispenser of water, who
prolongs life to his people; he is for every one a father and mother."
Following the example of several of his predecessors, Sethi early contemplated the
confirming of his regal authority by associating his son with himself in the government. The
great historic inscription in the temple of Abydos describes the coronation of the prince.
"The Lord of all - he nurtured me and brought me up. I was a little boy before I
attained the government; it was then that he gave the country into my hands. I was yet in
the womb of my mother when the grandees saluted me with veneration. I was solemnly
inducted as the Eldest Son into the dignity of the throne on the chair of the earth-god Seb.
Then I gave my orders as chief."
"My father presented me publicly to the people; I was a boy in his lap, and he spoke
thus: 'I will have him crowned as king, for I desire to behold his excellence while I am
myself alive.' [Then came] the officials of the court to place the double crown upon my
head, and my father spoke: 'Place the regal circlet on his brow.' [He then invoked for him
a worthy career.] Still he left me in the house of the women and of the royal concubines,
after the manner of the princesses, and the young dames of the palace. He chose for me
[guards] from among the [maidens], who wore a harness of leather."
It could not have been for many years that the prince was left with his little troop of
Amazons. It was the purpose of Sethi from the first, both from affection and from policy,
to place his son actually in power. This is fully set forth in another inscription.
"Thou (Rameses) wast a lord (adon) of this land, and whilst thou wast still in the egg
thou actedst wisely. What thou saidst in thy childhood took place for the welfare of the
land. When thou wast a boy with a youth's locks of hair, no monuments saw the light
without thy command, no business was transacted without thy knowledge. When thou wast
a youth and countedst ten full years, thou wast raised to be a Rohir or ruler in this land.
From thy hands all buildings proceeded, and the laying of their foundation-stones was
performed."
Henceforth Egypt had a legitimate king. Sethi governed and the voice of Rameses
Mei-Amun gave full validity to his acts. The two made war together, and under their
administrations another building period began in Egypt. Thebes, from being the chief city
of a province or minor realm, had become the capital of the whole kingdom, and attained
to the height of its power and magnificence.
Wilkinson describes this period as "the Augustan Age of Egypt, in which
--- 587

the arts attained the highest degree of excellence of which they were capable." He adds,
however, the dark premonition, that as in other countries their culmination-point is
sometimes marked by certain indications of their approaching decadence, so a little
mannerism and elongated proportion began to be perceptible amidst the beauties of the
period.
The buildings which were begun in this reign were masterpieces, never equaled by
later structures. It had always been the endeavor of the sovereigns of the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Dynasties having Thebes for their metropolis that it should rival in splendor the
earlier capitals, Memphis and Heliopolis. Sethi was generous to the sanctuaries in different
cities of Egypt, but his most famous memorials were the temple of Osiris at Abydos, the
"House of Sethi" at Gurnah, and the Hall of Columns, in the temple of Amun-Ra at Thebes.
This latter structure was a hundred and seventy by three hundred and thirty feet in area,
and its stone roof was supported by one hundred and thirty-four columns, the tallest of
which were seventy-five feet high and twelve feet in diameter. Several of them have fallen
at different periods; nine of them in the summer of 1899. The walls are covered with
sculptures and inscriptions; those on the north side setting forth the conquests of Sethi and
those on the south the exploits of Rameses II.
The splendor of these buildings consisted in the profusion and beauty of the
sculptures, even to the hieroglyphic characters. Mr. Samuel Sharpe has explained the
general use of these symbols on the monuments by the supposition that papyrus had not
then been used for writing. Later discoveries, however, have proved this to be an error.
The tombs which have been opened of monarchs of earlier dynasties have been found to
contain scrolls. Prof. Ebers, also, in his romance, "Uarda," setting forth occurrences of the
reign of Rameses II, describes the "House" or Temple of Sethi at Karnak, on the western
side of the Nile, a school of learning only inferior to the temple of Hormakhu at Heliopolis.
Here were instructed priests, physicians, judges, mathematicians, astronomers,
grammarians, and other learned men.* The graduates received the degree of grammateus,
scribe or doctor, and were at liberty afterward, at the public expense, to prosecute scientific
or philosophic investigation as their taste impelled them.
There was also a School of Art, with regulations of a similar character, and likewise
an elementary department at which every son of a free citizen might attend.
The Memnonium, or, more correctly, Me-amunei, was a temple begun by Sethi on
the western bank of the Nile in honor of his father Rameses I. The pillars were modeled
to represent bundles of papyrus-reeds. The inscriptions in it have evidently been changed
to meet religious prejudice. The king is named Osiri, and Osiri-Seti - but the last name is
not that of Typhon. The building was dedicated to the deceased monarch Rameses I and
to the gods

------------
* The teachers, more than eight hundred in all, were priests; the general managers,
three in number, were styled "prophets." The high priest was chief over them. Every
student chose his preceptor, who became his philosophic guide, to whom he was bound
through life, as a client or clansman to his chief or patron.
------------
--- 588

of the Underworld, Osiris and Hathor,* as also to Amun-Ra and his group of divinities. The
death of Sethi took place while the temple was in process of construction; Rameses II
finished it and directed the inscriptions.
"King Rameses II executed this work as his monument to his father, Amun-Ra, the
king of the gods, the lord of heaven, the ruler of Ta-Ape (Thebes); and finished the House
of his father King Meneptah-Sethi. For he (Sethi) died and entered the realm of heaven,
and he united himself with the Sun-god in heaven, while this House was being built. The
gates showed a vacant place, and all the walls of stone and brick were yet to be upreared;
all the work in it of writing or painting was unfinished."
The temples of Abydos are interesting to us as aiding to unravel the tangled web of
Egyptian history. Here, it was declared, Osiris had been buried, and hence Nifur, the
necropolis of that city, was a favorite burial-ground, especially after the Twelfth Dynasty.
Sethi began the construction of two shrines, a larger and a smaller, as a memorial to his
ancestors. They were afterward finished by Rameses in most magnificent style, and
decorated profusely with sculptures and inscriptions. The names of both monarchs, the
father and son, were placed in each. In a smaller temple was set the famous Tablet of
Abydos, which they had dedicated to the memory of the predecessors whom they
recognized as genuine and legitimate kings of Egypt. The list begins with Mena and
extends to Rameses Mei-Amun, omitting the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Dynasties.
M. Mariette has discovered another Tablet in the larger temple, which is described
as being more complete. Amelineau has also been engaged several years in explorations,
and some of his discoveries throw new light upon Egyptian history and archeology.
Rameses II was now sole king of Egypt. He had chosen the city of Tanis or Zar for
a royal residence. It had a commanding strategic position, and had been the starting-place
of former kings upon their military expeditions. The Arabian tribes, the Idumaeans and
Amalakites, at that time held the country immediately beyond. Its Hyksos kings had
fortified the city and built temples there for the worship of Baal-Sutekh. It had an extensive
commerce by caravans from Arabia, and its harbor, like that of Alexandria in Grecian and
Roman times, was filled with shipping, bringing and carrying merchandise. Here the young
monarch erected temples to the guardian divinities of the realms of Egypt, Amun, Ptah and
Hormakhu, including with them the tutelary of the Semitic nomes, Baal-Sutekh. The new
temple-city, called Pi-Ramesu, was afterward supplied abundantly with statues, obelisks,
memorial-stones and other religious paraphernalia. The court was established here, with
its chief officials, Khartumim or soldier-priests,** and other functionaries.

-----------
* Hathor, the "mother," was in another phase the same as Isis. She presided, like
Persephone, over the world of the dead, as well as over love and marriage, for love and
death are closely allied.
** The Egyptian term khar-tot signifies a soldier of high rank. The "magicians" of the
Book of Exodus were khar-tots, and doubtless were of the sacerdotal order peculiar to the
city of Rameses. They are described as on intimate terms with the king, and not as vulgar
jugglers.
-----------
--- 589

[[Illustration: Rameses The Great]]

In the first year of his reign Rameses made a voyage to Thebes to celebrate the
Feast of the Advent of Amun-Ra to Egypt. It began on the thirteenth of September and
lasted twenty-six days. The king at the conclusion "returned from the capital of the South,"
says the inscription of Abydos. "An

--- 590

order was given for the journey down the stream to the stronghold of the City of Rameses
the Victorious."
His next progress was to visit the tomb and temple of Sethi at Abydos. A second
voyage was made accordingly, and he entered Nifur, the necropolis, by the canal from the
Nile. He found the structure unfinished, and the tombs of the earlier kings were dilapidated
from the very foundations.* Rameses immediately assembled the princes, the friends of
the dynasty, chief men and architects.** "When they had come, their noses touched the
ground, their feet lay on the ground for joy; they prostrated themselves on the ground, and
with their hands they prayed to the king."
Rameses addressed them with upbraiding upon the condition of the temples, tombs
and monuments. These required labor, he declared. Sons had not renewed the memorials
of their parents. ***
"The most beautiful thing to behold, the best thing to hear, is a child with a thankful
breast, whose heart beats for his father; wherefore," the king adds, "my heart urges me
to do what is good for Meneptah." He then recounted the kindness and honor that had
been bestowed upon him by Sethi. He had been set apart from his birth for the royal
dignity, and at ten years old had been crowned and invested with regal authority. "I will not
neglect his tomb, as children are accustomed to do," he declared. "Beautifully shall the
most splendid memorial be made at once. Let it be inscribed with my name and the name
of my father."
Orders were given for the repair of the tombs and for the building of the "most holy
place" of his father and the temple. Statues were carved and the revenues for the
maintenance of his worship were doubled. What had been already done in honor of Sethi
at Thebes, Memphis and Heliopolis was repeated at Abydos. Priests of the vessel of holy
water with which to sprinkle the ground were appointed, and a prophet to take charge of
the shrine. The inscription recapitulates a large catalogue of the services that were
provided, and Rameses concludes with an invocation.

"Awake, raise thy face to heaven, behold the sun, my father, - Meneptah,
Thou art like God ....
Thou hast entered into the realm of heaven; thou accompaniest the Sun-God Ra.
Thou art united with the stars and the moon,
Thou restest in the deep like those who dwell in it with Un-Nefer,
The Eternal One.
 Thy hands move the god Tum in heaven and on earth,
Like the planets and the fixed stars.

----------
* The bricks employed in Egypt for building were made of mud, held together by
chopped straw. Structures built of them could not last long without frequent renewing.
** Significantly, the priests are omitted. The Nineteenth Dynasty seems to have
largely omitted them from employments of State.
*** The rites to deceased parents and ancestors were anciently regarded as the
most sacred office of filial piety. The souls in whose care these offices had been neglected
were believed to suffer torment, and even sometimes to become evil demons, to obsess
the delinquents. It was therefore imperative upon the head of a family, the patriarch, to
marry and rear a son; to inter, cremate or entomb his parents; and at stated periods
present funeral offerings. The mother of a son was thus the good genius of a family. The
prophets and priests of the pyramids and tombs were set apart for the services, which at
Abydos had been neglected.
----------
--- 591

Thou remainest in the forepart of the bark of millions.*

When the sun rises in the tabernacle of heaven
Thine eyes behold his glory.
When Tum [the sun at evening] goes to rest on the earth
Thou art in his train.
Thou enterest the secret house before his lord.
Thy foot wanders in the deep.
Thou abidest in the company of the gods of the Underworld."

Rameses concludes the inscription by imploring his father to ask of the gods Ra and
Un-Nefer (Osiris) to grant him a long term of life - "many thirty years' feasts" - and promises
that in such case Sethi will be honored by a good son who remembers his father.
The inscription gives the reply of the deceased "Osiris-King," Sethi, assuring
Rameses of his compliance.
There is a whisper that the priests of Thebes had refused a place to Sethi at the
necropolis of that city. This may have been the cause of the unsolved question in regard
to his two sepulchres.
The tomb of Sethi, in the valley of the Kings, is described by Mr. Samuel Sharpe as
the most beautiful of any in Egypt. It eluded alike the curiosity of the explorer and the
cupidity of the Arab, till it was discovered by Belzoni. He found the paintings and other
works of art with as fresh an appearance as when the tomb was first closed. The entrance
was in the side of the hill. There was a dark stairway of twenty-nine feet, then a
descending passage of eighteen feet, then a second stairway of twenty-five feet and a
second passage of twenty-nine feet. This constituted the pathway to the first grand hall.
This was a room of about twenty-nine feet square, and its roof was supported by four
square pillars. A little way on was a second hall of similar dimensions; then a passage and
a smaller apartment, beyond which was a third hall of twenty-seven feet square. This
opened into a small room in which was the royal sarcophagus. It was of alabaster, and
around it were hundreds of little wooden images in the form of mummies.**
The walls of these caverns were covered with sculptures painted and highly finished,
and with inscriptions setting forth the fortunes of the disembodied soul. The roof of the
"Golden Chamber" is covered with pictures having special significance in regard to the
stars and their influence. In a little room at one side is an inscription representing a
destruction of the corrupt place of human beings. (Compare Genesis vi, vii.) Upon the
cover of the sarcophagus is a representation of the Great Serpent of Time borne by a long
procession of nude figures. The Serpent was conspicuous in a variety of characters in all
the Egyptian temples. In the tomb of Amunoph III is a procession of twelve snakes, each
on two legs, and convoluted like the other so as to produce the classic fret-molding.

-----------
* The Sun was supposed to ride every day in his boat through the sky, and so Sethi
is described as his fellow-voyager.
** The term mummy is from the Persian term mum, signifying wax. It originally
meant a body that had been inclosed in that material.
-----------
--- 592

The perfectness of these works far exceeds the later productions of the reign of
Rameses. This was probably because they had been begun by artists employed by Sethi
himself. The scenes which are depicted indicate a change of some kind in religious
sentiment, and exhibit a conforming to the worships of western Asia. There were depicted
in a garden the river which separated the dead from the living, the bridge of life and its
keepers, also the tombs of the dead with sentinels at their doors. The god Um-Nefer or
Osiris sits upon a lofty throne, holding the sceptre of the two realms, but wearing the crown
of Upper Egypt alone. Human beings are climbing the steps, and before him are the scales
in which their conduct during life is to be weighed. Beneath are condemned ones at work
like miners in the mines.
Funeral ceremonies and also the Initiatory Rites at this period consisted in part of
the Scene of judgment by which the condition of souls was determined. It is easy to see
that the descriptions given in the Aeneid of Virgil and other classic works, such as those
of the river Styx, and the souls of the dead coming thither to cross from this world into
Hades for judgment, the Kharon or ferryman, the Eumenides and other scenes, were taken
from the later rites and mythology of Egypt.
This tomb was not completed till the later years of the reign of Rameses, and there
had been significant changes made in the inscriptions, indicative of modifications in the
religious institutions. Rameses was a statesman rather than a priest, and he gave a license
to foreign worship that the sacerdotal leaders did not approve.
It became necessary for him at an early period to trust his fortunes to the arbitration
of war. Manthanar, the king of the Khitans, refused to abide by the treaties which had been
made with Sethi and Rameses I, and the tributary princes of Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine
had again thrown off the yoke of Egypt. The Grand Monarch of the Nineteenth Dynasty
was not the man to falter in exigencies or to hesitate about the employing of agencies that
were at his command. Heretofore the native peasantry and agricultural population of Egypt
had been regarded as exempt from military service. Soldiers were needed and Rameses
conscripted them for the war in Asia. He set out upon his first expedition in the second
year of his reign. The accounts of this campaign are meagre. He states that he conquered
everything in his way,* and set up memorial pillars at various places, setting forth his
triumphs. Where he was not opposed he erected monuments in honor of the tutelary
goddess Astarte or Anait. He penetrated as far as Kadesh on the Orontes, when truce was
agreed upon and he returned to Egypt.
The next year he directed his attention to the financial resources of his kingdom. He
held a council of the princes at Memphis, and obtained pledges of their support. "As soon
as they had been brought before the divine benefactor (euergetes) they lifted up their
hands to praise his name and to pray. And the king described to them the condition of this
land [the gold-bearing

-----------
* He is called Sesostris by the historian, a Grecian form of the name "Sestura," by
which Rameses was known.
-----------
--- 593

land of Akita in Nubia], in order to take their advice upon it, with a view to the boring of wells
on the road." A royal Scribe was accordingly dispatched to the region with the necessary
authority. Water was obtained in abundance, forming lagoons twelve cubits deep, in which
fishermen sailed their boats. "And the inhabitants of Akita made joyful music" and offered
thanks to the king "Rameses Mei-amun the Conqueror."
Again the dark cloud of war loomed above the horizon. The king of the Khitans had
formed alliances with the sovereigns of neighboring countries, not only with the princes of
Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and Arabia, and with the kings and peoples of Arvad or Aradus,
Khalibu or Aleppo, Naharaina or Mesopotamia, Kazanadana or Gauzanitis, Karkhemosh,
Kittim, Dardania, Mysia, Maeonia or Karia, Lycia, Ilion - all the peoples from the uttermost
ends of the sea to the people of the Khita. "He left no people on his road without bringing
them with him. Their number was endless, and they covered the mountains and valleys.
He had not left silver or gold with his people; he took away all their goods and possessions
to give to the people who accompanied him to the war."
He again challenged the king of Egypt. Rameses collected his forces, actually
depleting the fields and workshops to swell their number. Among his auxiliaries were the
Sardonians of Kolkhis. This campaign is depicted in fulsome language in the inscriptions
on the walls of the temples, and the prowess of the king is described as sublime, especially
in the heroic poem of Pen-ta-ur, the Homer of the Nile.*
Rameses set out on his second expedition, leaving the fortress of Khetam on the
ninth day of the month Payni, in the fifth year of his reign. He was accompanied by six of
his sons. The place of destination was the city of Kadesh, on the river Orontes. His route
was by the Path of the Desert, "the way of the Philistines," and the usual military road to
Palestine. A month later he arrived at the city of Rameses-Ma-Amun, in Zahi or Philistia.
At Sabbatanu (Sabbath-town) two Arab spies, pretending to be deserters and loyal to
Egypt, met the advance guard, with the story that the king of the Khitans had retreated to
the land of Khalibu, north of Daphne, in fear of the Egyptians. Immediately the various
legions of Amun, Phra, Ptah and Sutekh marched to the south of Kadesh, where they were
attacked by an ambush while unprepared and put to rout.
Rameses himself was on the western side of the river. "Then the king arose like his
father, Menthu, and grasped his weapons and put on his armor like Baal in his time. He
rushed into the midst of the hostile hosts of Khita

-----------
* Pen-ta-ur was a hierogrammateus, or scribe, of the Temple of Kurna, where he
had passed successfully through the different grades of Egyptian scholarship. He is
described as "a jovial companion who, to the disgust of his old teacher, manifested a
decided inclination for wine, women and song." He had the honor, in the seventh year of
the reign of Rameses, to win the royal prize as the composer of this poem. We have a
copy in a roll of papyrus, and its words also cover the whole surface of the walls in the
temples of Abydos, El Uksor, Karnak and the Ramasseum of Abusimbel. It was translated
by the Viscount de Rouge, and several versions have been published in English prose.
Prof. Ebers has made Pentaur the hero of his Egyptian romance "Uarda," using the license
of the novelist to make him the successful lover of Bent-Anat, the king's daughter, and
otherwise sadly confusing history.
-----------
--- 594

all alone; no other was with him. He found himself surrounded by twenty-five hundred
pairs of horses, and his retreat was cut off by the bravest heroes (mohars) of the king of
the miserable Khitans."
"And not one of my princes, not one of my captains of the war-cars, not one of my
chief men, not one of my knights was there. My warriors and my chariots had abandoned
me, not one of them was there to take part in the battle."
When Mena, the driver of the royal car, beheld the pairs of horses around him, he
was filled with alarm and terror. He implored the king to save himself, and thus to protect
his people. The intrepid monarch replied to him encouragingly and then charged as with
desperation upon the foe. "He rushed into the midst of the hostile hosts of the king of
Khita, and the much people with him. And Pharaoh, like the god Sutekh, the glorious one,
cast them down and slew them."
Evidently the very numbers of the enemy by being crowded upon one another made
them powerless before him. "And I," says Rameses, "I, the king, flung them down head
over heels, one after the other, into the water of the Aranta."
When he charged upon them the sixth time he says: "Then was I like to Baal behind
them in his time, when he has strength, I killed them, none escaped."
When the evening had come and the battle was over, his army, the princes and
others, came from the camp and beheld the carnage. There lay the last combatants of the
Khitans, and the sons and brothers of their king, weltering in their blood. Rameses was
severe in his reproaches. "Such servants are worthless," said he; "forsaken by you, my
life was in peril; you breathed tranquilly and I was alone. Will any one obey him who
leaves me in the lurch, when I am alone without my followers, and no one comes to me to
reach out his hand? .... My pair of horses, it was they that found me, to strengthen my
hand. I will have their fodder given to them in my presence, when I am dwelling in the
palace, because I have found them in the midst of hostile hosts, together with Mena, the
captain of the horsemen, out of the band of the trusted servants of the palace who stayed
near me."
The battle was renewed the next day, and was little less than a massacre. "He killed
all the kings of all the people who were allies of the King of Khita, together with his princes
and senators, his warriors and horses."
One of the scenes represented in the sculptures at the Hall of Columns at Thebes
exhibits the king standing in his car pressing forward into the thickest of the fight. He drives
the enemy over a bridge, one of the earliest on record, and one of the opposing kings,
vainly resisting the onslaught, is drowned in the Arunata. The city is stormed and prisoners
taken.
The Khitan monarch, it is recorded, asked a truce, and a council of officers implored
Rameses to grant the request. Evidently the victory was not decisive, despite the
testimony of the hieroglyphics.

--- 595

"Then the king returned in peace to the land of Egypt. All the countries feared his power
as the lord of both worlds. All the people came at his word, and their kings prostrated
themselves to pray before his countenance. The king came to the city of Rameses Mei-
amun and there rested in his palace."
This, however, by no means terminated the hostilities. The Khitans had not really
been conquered. They were able to continue the war. The kings of many cities refused
to submit to Egypt. In the city of Tapuna or Daphne, in Mesopotamia, where Rameses had
set up two of his statues, as master, the rulers and populace continued hostile . Finally he
led an army into Naharaina and reduced them to subjection.
The inhabitants of Palestine were also restless. Finally, in the eighth year of his
reign, he invaded the country, captured the principal fortified towns, "placing his name
there," and made prisoners of the kings, senators and men able to bear arms. These were
made to submit to indignities; they were beaten, their beards were plucked out, and they
were afterward carried away captive into Egypt.
In the eleventh year Rameses made a campaign against Askalon. A long and fierce
resistance was made, but the city was captured and sacked. Warlike expeditions were also
undertaken against the negro tribes of the south and a multitude of prisoners was taken
and reduced to slavery. These expeditions are fully depicted on the monuments: The
"king's sons" leading forward the men before the god Amun-Ra, "to fill his house with
them."
About this period there was another general migration of peoples, such as had
occurred every few centuries with almost mathematical regularity. Warlike tribes moved
southward and westward, supplanting or mingling with the former populations, and
disturbing whatever equilibrium had before existed. This made a cessation of hostile
relations between Khita and Egypt of vital importance. The two countries had wasted their
energies in conflict which brought no permanent advantage to either. Manthanar, the king
of the Khitans, having been assassinated, his brother Khitasar, who succeeded him, sent
ambassadors to Egypt to negotiate a treaty. They brought with them engraved on a silver
tablet the text of "a treaty of friendship and concord between the Great Prince of Egypt and
the Great King of Khita."* The monarch introduces the proposed negotiation with a
declaration of personal esteem. "I have striven for friendly relations between us," he says,
"and it is my wish that the friendship and concord may be better than what has existed
before, and never broken."
Upon the middle of the tablet and also on the front side of it was engraved the
likeness of the god Sutekh, the Baal of Syria and Northern Egypt. The male and female
gods of each country are also indicated as "witnesses of these words," and the
denunciations added that whoever shall not observe the terms of the treaty will be given
over with his family and servants to their vengeance.

------------
* The adjective "great," which appears here and in other ancient documents, denotes
that the monarch so designated was a "king of kings," lord over tributary kings and princes.
Up to this time Egyptian records describe the kings of Khita, as they do other hostile
princes, by such epithets as "leprous," "vile," "unclean;" but they ceased it from this time.
------------
--- 596

Unconditional and everlasting friendship is solemnly pledged, and the treaties which
had been made between the former kings are renewed. Each king promised not to
overstep the boundaries of the other, even if anything should be plundered. In case an
enemy invaded the dominions of either, and he made application to the other for help, the
call would be answered with a sufficient military force. Fugitives from justice fleeing from
one country to the other were to be put to death as criminals, and the servants of either
king escaping into the territory of the other must be returned for punishment. But if any
inhabitant of either country should migrate to the other, he also must be delivered up and
sent back, but his misconduct should not be punished in any way; neither his house, his
wife or children should be taken from him, nor should his mother be put to death, nor
himself suffer any penalty in his eyes, on his mouth, or on the soles of his feet. In short,
no crime or accusation was to be brought against him.
This treaty was ratified at the city of Rameses in the twenty-first year of the reign of
the Egyptian king. It put an end to the contest that had so long existed for supreme power
in the East, and left the two kings at liberty to deal with affairs at home, and with hostile or
refractory princes in regions contiguous to their dominion. The amity thus established was
more firmly cemented by closer relations. Thirteen years later the king of Khita visited
Rameses in his capital, bringing his daughter, and she became the wife of the Egyptian
monarch.
In conformity with the custom of ancient times, as is now the usage in Russia, still
an Oriental country, the bride, being of a different race and worship, abjured them, and
received a new name, Ma-Ua-Nefera.*
This alliance is mentioned in inscriptions in the temple of Pisani or Ibsambul, in
Nubia, bearing date in the thirty-fifth year of his reign. On the walls of that sanctuary was
depicted a glowing description of the battle of Kadesh, the famous poem of Pentaur, and
likewise a conversation between Rameses and the demiurgic god Ptah. This divinity
belonging to Northern Egypt, and closely allied in his worship and personality to the Semitic
divinities, as well as to Osiris and the Apis, was highly esteemed by the king, and Khamus,
his favorite son and associate, was high priest in the Temple at Memphis.
The divinity relates the favors he has bestowed on the king, regal power, booty and
numerous captives.
"The peoples of Khita are subjects of thy palace. I have put it in their hearts to serve
thee. They approach thy person with humility, with their productions and booty in prisoners
of their king; all their property is brought to thee. His eldest daughter stands forward at
their head, to soften the heart of King Rameses II, a great and inconceivable wonder. She
herself knows not the impression which her beauty has made on thy heart....

------------
* The nuptials of Rameses, on this occasion, seem to have been literally described
in the forty-fifth Psalm. "Kings' daughters were among thy honorable women; upon thy
right hand stood the Queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider; incline
thine ear; forget also thy kindred and thy father's house; so will the king greatly desire thy
beauty; for he is thy lord, and worship thou him."
------------
--- 597

Since the time of the traditions of the gods which are hidden in the houses of the rolls of
writing history had nothing to report about the Khita people, except that they had 'one heart
and one soul with Egypt.'
The reply of Rameses is characteristic. He tells the god that he has enlarged the
shrine at Memphis inside the Temenos or walled inclosure of the temple, that he has
provided for the thirty years' jubilee festivals, and caused the whole world to admire the
monuments which he has dedicated to him. "With a hot iron," he adds, "I brand the foreign
peoples of the whole earth with thy name. They belong to thee; thou hast created them."
The temple was literally a stone cut out of the mountain. Not without hands,
however; but who the architect was, who planned the work, who performed it, all are alike
unknown. Rameses filled Nubia with temples and towns commemorating his name, but this
sanctuary dedicated to the Great Gods of Egypt, Ptah, Amun and Hormakhu and to
Rameses-Meiamun himself, surpassed all in magnificence. It is richly embellished with
sculptures, and its entrance on the East was guarded by four colossal figures, each with
its eyes fixed on the rising sun.
Mr. Sayce makes the disparaging statement that Rameses cared more for the size
and number of his buildings than for their careful construction and artistic finish. He
describes the work as mostly "scamped," the walls ill-finished, the sculptures coarse and
tasteless. But he adds, "Abu-Simbel is the noblest memorial left us by the barren walls and
vain-glorious monuments of Rameses Sesostris."
Rameses has sometimes been compared to Louis XIV of France. A picture of him
from the colossal figure at the temple in Abu Simbel gives him features resembling those
of the first Napoleon, but there is ample reason to presume that the artist greatly disguised
them. The sculptures representing Sethi and Rameses disclose a considerable
resemblance. There is a strong resemblance in their features, and Rameses, though
possessing less energy and strength of character than his father, had a more sensitive
temperament, a wider range of taste and greater inclination toward peace. The latter thirty
years of his reign were generally without war. He left the reputation of a great soldier and
a warlike prince behind him; nevertheless, his tastes and career were more in analogy with
those of the Grand Monarque. Like that king he had an ardent passion for building, and
his Court was thronged with scholars and men of talent. His chief achievements were
those of a reign of peace; the great wall of five hundred miles to protect the inhabitants of
the valley of the Nile on the East from the incursions of the Amu and Shasu, the Suez
Canal, the new cities, innumerable buildings, excavations, obelisks, statues of colossal
dimension, and other works of art with which he adorned his dominions.
Nevertheless, the glory of Egypt was now waning, and a period of decline had
already begun.

------------
---598

MAETERLINCK
By A. N. W.

Mysticism is a word that is associated in our mind with the name of Maurice
Maeterlinck, for his writings are full of the mystery of life; he has bridged the mystic gulf of
self-abandonment and brought back harmonies from that other shore - sad music, that yet
has a soothing cadence, an insistent and haunting refrain of longing and expectation.
In an age of realism, when the full light of reason and science is turned on every
problem, either social or mental, to be a student of the inner life, to be meditative, to be, in
fact, a mystic is to merit the title of decadent from the ordinary critic. Max Nordau has
classed some of our finest and most metaphysical thinkers as degenerates, including
among them such men as Wagner, Ibsen and Maeterlinck. Nordau, writing of Maeterlinck,
mentions him as "an example of utterly childish, idiotically-incoherent mysticism." Of his
poems he says: "These pieces are a servile imitation of the effusions of Walt Whitman, that
crazy American, to whom Maeterlinck was necessarily strongly attracted, according to the
law I have repeatedly set forth, - that all deranged minds flock together." He goes on to say
that Whitman was undoubtedly mad. "He is morally insane," he says, "and incapable of
distinguishing between good and evil, virtue and crime; he loves the murderer and thief,
the pious and the good, with equal love." This to Nordau seems "moral obtuseness, and
morbid sentimentality," which, he says, frequently accompanies degeneration. Speaking
of what he calls the "Richard Wagner Cult," Nordau says: "Wagner is in himself charged
with a greater abundance of degeneration than all the degenerates put together."
This is the light in which mystics appear to some of our nineteenth century scientists.
Nordau calls his book "An Attempt at a Really Scientific Criticism." But he does not
distinguish between mental and spiritual thought, and fails to follow the worker to a sphere
of action beyond the plane of our outer consciousness. Only when the veil of matter that
surrounds us is pierced can we get "the right perception of existing things, the knowledge
of the non-existing." What to the ordinary mind is inexplicable, is generally said to be
wanting in sequence and logic, and is, we are assured, the work of degenerate brains.
But the mystic is really the seer, and the interpreter of the mystery of life that closes
us in on every side and penetrates our every action and feeling. Once let the knowledge
of this mystery come between you and the ordinary everyday existence, and you never
again seem to be one of the thoughtless crowd that live only in the sordid life of the senses.
The real truth of life ever eludes our grasp unless we make a spiritual atmosphere around
us by constantly communing with the Higher Self. This great life, the divine life in the spirit,
is the magic source of all illuminations. The curtain that divides us from the light

--- 599

at times becomes transparent, and, in moments of great spiritual exaltation, seems as if it

was rent asunder, - then we know what is Truth.
Maeterlinck is deeply impressed with this sense of the unreality of our phenomenal
life; he says: "Our real life is not the life we live, and we feel that our deepest, nay our
most intimate, thoughts are quite apart from our selves, for we are other than our thoughts
and our dreams. And it is only at special moments - it may be the merest accident - that
we live our own life. Will the day ever dawn when we shall be what we are?"
Again he says: "What is there that divides us all? What is this sea of mysteries, in
whose depths we have our being?"
It is this knowledge of the intangibility of being, of the mystery of existence, that
makes life so full of interest; the dullest materialist must sometimes be penetrated with the
consciousness of this sensation, or chilled by the awe of a presentiment of a life beyond
death.
Maeterlinck calls death "The guide of our life," and says, "Life has no goal but
death." But this "goal," the end of life on this plane of consciousness, is the door to the
great mystery of all existence, the entrance to the greater life. Schopenhauer teaches that
man is nothing but a phenomenon, and ''that he is not the thing itself, is proved by the fact
that death is a necessity." Emerson says: "Soul knows only soul, the web of events is the
flowing robe in which she is clothed." This is also the teaching of Plotinus, who says: "If
body is part of us, we are not wholly immortal; but if it is an instrument of the soul, it is
necessary that being given for a certain time, it should be a thing of this kind - but soul is
man himself."
Maeterlinck is evidently a Neo-Platonist, and his work often shows evidence of his
study of Plotinus and others of that school. His writing sometimes reminds one of
Emerson's deep intuitive touch, though his ideas are not always so crisp and firm as
Emerson's, nor are they so sure of their mark, for there is occasionally in Maeterlinck a
touch of uncertainty as if he was still seeking light, and could not yet see clearly. There is
a sensitive and elusive beauty in his thoughts that affect one like the haunting of a forgotten
melody, or the fugitive reminiscence of a dream, so delicate, so difficult to retain, are the
suggested ideas. If we understand that our true life lies behind the veil, then the spiritual
thought, the mystic language, appeals to us: but if, on the contrary, we live in the ordinary
phenomenal existence, the mystic seems a dreamer, and his ideas visionary and deluding.
Maeterlinck often suggests thoughts, as music does, that no actual words can express.
The power of his dramas lies in their silent psychological action, the action of the mind. He
is indeed a quietest, to him life itself is the tragedy, and the more the inner life is unfolded
the more intense the interest, - "How truly wonderful," he says, ''is the mere act of living."
In the old Greek tragedies action was almost lacking; all the force lies in the
psychological effect, and Maeterlinck contends that the real tragedy of life is in these
moments of intense emotion, when the rapid flash of thought from
--- 600

soul to soul reveals the mystery of gathering fate, and conveys the subtle sense of
approaching joy or disaster, or, by the reverberation of keen emotion, discloses some
elusive sense or memory of prior existences. These are the elements that make life so
strangely interesting, so deeply tragic.
Maeterlinek commences his essay on "Silence" with these Words of Carlyle:
"Silence and secrecy. Altars might be raised to them for universal worship." "It is idle," he
says. "to think that by means of words any real communication can ever pass from one
man to another." He goes on to say that "if at such times we do not listen to the urgent
commands of silence, invisible though they be, we shall have suffered an eternal loss - for
we shall have let slip the opportunity of listening to another soul, and of giving existence,
be it only for an instant, to our own."
It is in silence we live all our soul-life, the true life. H.P. Blavatsky says: "Before the
soul can comprehend she must to the silent speaker be united and then to the inner ear will
speak the Voice of the Silence." In the autobiography of Madame Guyon, she dwells much
on the mystery of silence, and on the power of communicating with others in silence. She
says: "This speech in silence is the most noble, the most exalted, the most sublime of all
operations."
This "great empire of silence," as Carlyle calls it, in which all action has its birth, is
the kingdom of the helpers of Humanity, they who carry the burdens of the world, who bear
the weight of its sorrows and sins; these, Maeterlinck says, are "the salt of the earth, out
of the silence they convey to us ideas that are wafted across the mystic abyss of voiceless
thought. The awakening soul which has lain dormant for ages is at last struggling to arise,
perturbation and unrest prevail, while around us is a strange hush of expectation, as though
some mighty manifestation was expected." Maeterlinck feels this new wave of
consciousness which seems to envelop humanity; he says, "the last refuges are
disappearing, and men are drawing closer to each other, far above words and acts do they
judge their fellows - nay, far above thought, for that which they see, though they understand
it not, lies well beyond the domain of thought. And this is one of the great signs by which
the spiritual periods shall be known." Further, he says: "We are watched, we are under
strictest supervision, and it comes from elsewhere than the indulgent darkness of each
man's conscience. Perhaps the spiritual vases are less closely sealed now than in bygone
days - perhaps more power has come to the waves of the sea within us. We should live,"
he says, ''as though we were always on the eve of the great revelation; it must needs be
more beautiful, more glorious and ample, than the best of our hopes." Yet again he says:
"I have only to open a shutter and see all the light of the sky, all the light of the sun; it calls
for no mighty effort, the light is eager enough; we have only to call, it will never fail to
obey."
It would sometimes appear as if Maeterlinck had received intuitions of past
existences, although he does not distinctly say so. In the "Death of Tintagiles," these words
occur: "I do not think this is the first time I have

--- 601

waited here, my child [on the threshold of the Queen of Death], and there are moments
when one does not understand all that one remembers. l have done all this before: I do
not know when." Speaking of this "Queen of Death," he writes: "She lies on the soul like
the stone of a tomb, and none dares stretch out his arm. It is time that some one should
dare rise. No one knows on what her power rests, and I will no longer live in the shadow
of her tower."
These hints of the mystic are not to be despised, for the seer often dimly descries
the light ahead, that others cannot perceive.
In the book called "Wisdom and Destiny," Maeterlinck perhaps shows a clearer
perception of the universal life than appears in his earlier works. His Pantheism becomes
more pronounced. The union with the higher Self being accomplished, the true man
becomes conscious that he has become one with the Great Self.
This is "Universal Brotherhood," therefore, all knowledge, all sorrow, all joy becomes
his own. "Before we can bring happiness to others,'' he declares, "we must first be happy
ourselves, nor will happiness abide with us unless we confer it on others"; and again, "In
the soul that is noble, Altruism must, without doubt, be always the center of gravity, but the
weak soul is apt to lose itself in others, whereas it is in others that the strong soul discovers
itself." Here we have the essential distinction, "there is a thing that is loftier still than to love
our neighbor as ourselves: it is to love ourselves in our neighbor." "Let our one never-
ceasing care be to better the love that we offer to our fellows," and then, he says, "we can
count the steps we take on the highway of truth by the increase of love that comes for all
that goes with us in life.'' He also says: "It is easier far, as a rule, to die morally, nay even
physically, for others, than to learn how best we should live for them."
To live for others requires constant renunciation. "To forget self, to melt into the
universal life, that gives joy. In this forgetfulness of self can we at last taste happiness: in
losing all we find all. There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. This
courage we must cultivate now, to dare to he happy, to accept our divine origin, our divine
rights. We need courage to explore these unknown regions of happiness, to accept this
new Gospel of Joy.
The mystic follows strange and devious ways, guided sometimes by fitful gleams of
light. He gains the heights by rapid and swift ascents. Yet these paths often lead him to
the edge of frightful precipices, or he may lose himself in the stony mazes at the foot of the
cliffs, and so fail to reach the summit. Yet he has a sure guide within, the light in the heart;
while he trusts to that he cannot go far astray.
Maeterlinck in his beautiful essays expresses for us the thoughts we often have and
would give to others if we could clothe them in such significant and vivid words, but there
are many to whom this mystic language does not appeal, as Maeterlinck, quoting Plotinus,
says: "The discourse we hold here is not addressed to all men, but those to whom the
unseen is the real, the spiritual life is the only true life." To the elect, the appeal of the
mystic is not in vain.

-------------
--- 602

CHARACTER-BUILDING
By Herbert Coryn, M. D.
 Shall we build our own characters voluntarily, or wait to be compelled to do so at the
point of a bayonet:
"Building" may not be the right word. Is the character of a man the sum total that he
shows in life? Is it part of man's character to prefer an omelet to a chop? Character is a
differentiating thing. It is the character of the human species to think; we say that in
differentiating the human from the animal. In seeking a man's character we seek that which
marks him off from other men, not that in which he resembles them. So a man's character
is shown in those tendencies and powers in which he differs from all other living beings.
It is, therefore, in this way of viewing the matter, only the men of genius who exhibit much
character. In all that part of them which is not the genius-part, they resemble some other
man. The further down their natures you look, the more do they resemble other men; the
special keynote of character is only sounded during the hours of composition, or during
which they are manifesting whatever be the manner of their genius. At other times they are
as other men; at some of those other times they are also as the animals; to sum up all
these modes of life that a man of genius may exhibit, those which he has in common with
all other men, all animals, and even a few of the higher plants, into one mass with those
which are absolutely peculiar to himself as a man of genius, is to deprive the word
character of all important meaning in the study of man as a soul.
Attaching to it this restricted meaning, it may be clear on reflection that to speak of
the building of character requires some care and thought. Unveiling may be a much truer
word. There are moments of supreme trial when the limits of any man are temporarily
shattered, and he exhibits powers of mind, ranges of feeling, flexibilities and activities of
consciousness, of whose capacity he was never before suspected. These surely existed
as latent capability; the shattering of limits of mind and personality induced by the tension
of the situation, a shattering which we speak of as "forgetting oneself," permitted their
manifestation.
Therefore what we ought to mean by "character-building" is a gradual whittling away
of our own limits; doing slowly, because once and for all, what is done quickly and
therefore often impermanently, by some evoking situation. It is the removal of the veil that
shrouds the white statue. The man of genius can unveil his statue for a few moments in
part; but the winds of his own lower nature constantly blow it back across the marble. The
veil is not the lower nature, but the intrusion of it where it does not belong.
Let us look at the situation from above instead of below, from the character that is
veiled instead of that which veils it.

--- 603

Let us look at the brain as the field of conflict, and remember H. P. Blavatsky's
teaching about the cells of the body in her articles on "Psychic and Noetic Action." The
brain-cells are a keyboard, which will respond to any touch, from the coarsest impact of the
force of sensual desire to the most rarified breath of the divine airs. Madame Blavatsky
says this of all the cells of the body, but for simplicity we will try and understand it more
limitedly. While the high lights of the soul are upon the brain an exalted strain of
consciousness sets in, spiritual thought and thought-pictures and feeling. Wisdom begins,
insight into nature, comprehension of the divine, and the ability to express these in fitting
action, speech, music, form or color. The special state of the genius exists. But a single
wave from the lower nature will displace this divine player from the keyboard; the cells,
moving to a coarser touch, can no longer respond to the finer. Hate, lust, greed, anger,
personal sentimentality, hunger, jealousy, vanity, ambition, or that memory of former
occasions of any of these which is the equivalent of their reproduction - one of these will
at once throw the cells into a commotion in which the tenderer touch of the divine player
is totally lost. The veil has come over the statue; the man is once more only an ordinary
man; the chief of those things which marked him from other men has departed. The lower
nature is, so to speak, like a drunken servant, who comes into his master's room and finds
the harp yet throbbing to the delicate touch of the musician and proceeds himself to make
coarse jangling upon the strings.
To see the truth of this view of our own natures must afford much encouragement.
To think of our work as one of character-building is to suppose ourselves weighted with a
harder task than really exists for us. But the task is an unveiling, and the way to do it is to
think constantly of the waiting soul, full of all divine lights and powers. That thought will
help to expel any passion that may be blowing across the chords of life; it is an ascent to
a plane where those winds cannot come and from whence the brain may be safeguarded
against their breath; it is the "overcoming of the lower nature," an appeal to the "Warrior"
spoken of in "Light on the Path." Pursued as a habit, it leads on to victory after victory, and
soon brings about visitations for short but lengthening periods of that deep "peace that
passeth all understanding" into which the divine dove of wisdom can at last descend on the
soul.
I think the religions have made the path seem harder than it is, the reward too
deferred and indefinite, the heaven too inevitably transmortem. Every man has a Genius,
the genius has succeeded in letting the Genius speak; so has the natural leader of men;
so have all great reformers, altruists, philanthropists and teachers, if the names are
warrantably used. It is easy to remove here and there a hindrance bit by bit; to stop a fit
of irritation or anger; not to do a selfish thing; to make love dissolve separateness. There
is never a vacuum. Never for a moment can any lower motion be stayed, however
imperfectly, but what a higher, to that extent, comes on. The last peace and wisdom are
that much nearer.

--- 604

This view, that in each human being is a hidden Genius who has to wait for his
instrument, who, achieving the instrument, has to wait till the gross red fingers of the unruly
servant are tired for a few rare moments - is the reconciliation between the Darwinian
teaching, which only deals with the evolution of the instrument and does not even properly
deal with that of the servant - and the all-present traditions of a Golden Age. The Golden
Age was the Age when the souls were free, ere yet they had renounced freedom and joy
and glory and their Palace of the Burning Sun to become Lights of the Tabernacles of the
"men" of earth.
Two factors help the unveiling of the soul. Nature, as Karma, begins. She visits
penalty upon sin, upon selfishness, upon misuse of physical appetite. Then follows the
higher, and ultimately the sole, factor. This is the intense joy that comes to the personal
man when his soul is able to flood the brain and heart with its light. There is no joy like that
of serving life; a few of the ways of serving it are to help humanity; to manifest the
harmonies of life in poetry, color, form, or sound; to depict its ways in real drama; to study,
draw down, and combine its forces. This joy is the great incentive of the higher man, and
is itself a manifestation in him of the same life.
The souls of men are not alike, any more than blades of grass, or stars; though
perhaps up to a point the path of unveiling is alike. But when all the unveiling is done, and
a vaster Golden Age is come again, when harmony is come forth from its suspension in the
passing dissonance, then it will be seen that work is joy. For the only work, then, will be
one to which we do not now give that name, the divinest prerogative of life. The lines of
individual "work" diverge through time, whilst becoming grander. In the end to every soul
will be its own part, eternally individual, yet all uniting from over all the field of the universe
into one illimitable choral.
"Verily, the night is far spent, and the blackness that cometh before the dawn is well-
nigh ended."

--------------

"So that we have every warrant for assuming that the feelings will always be
associated with an I who feels them, and that this I will never cease to be our very selves,
although we may be made happy beyond all conception in finding that within that which we
feel and know to be our own ego-hood is also that of all humanity - of all that lives and
breathes.
"For this is brotherhood; to find within our own hearts all our lost brothers; to hear
in our own voice, the tone, the mass-chord of all humanity, and to feel that in the far-off
eons to come we may be able to include the entire manifested universe in one solemn
cosmic harmony that breathes its, and our, bliss in one great I-AM!"
- Jerome A. Anderson, Evidences of Immortality

----------
-- 605

A STRANGE MAN
Carl Jonas Ludwig Almqvist - Poet and Philosophy
By Ellen Bergman

It is said of Almqvist: "With winged steps he is gone in advance of his time, stirring
it with deep interrogations, prophesying its future with infinite hope."
He gives the fullest expression of the new-time consciousness, not only of that which
exists now at the end of the century, but also that which will come in the future.

[[Photo]]

HISTORLCAL SKETCH
In the library of his grandfather the child Almqvist was often seen lost in the studies
of manuscripts and books.
In 1820 he married a young girl, very poor and uneducated, who lived in the house
of his parents. With his wife and under another name, Love Carlsson, and in the disguise
of a peasant, he fled from the life of conventionality to that of nature, in order, as he said,
to "fashion his life in One straight way."
In 1830 Almqvist became the leader of Sweden's reform school and was soon
surrounded by a host of pupils, who for the first time were learning through his genial and
true human method of education that one can be happy in a school, that a teacher can fill
its halls with marvelous visions, and the soul with great thoughts. He was admired and
honored by his contemporaries, both as a genial and productive poet and for his
distinguished capability as a teacher.
In 1840 Almqvist was obliged to resign from his rectorship, for his very open,
sincere, and sometimes prophetic speeches and writings on religion, philosophy, art and
society did not accord with public opinion. In his school, too, he lacked the sense of order.
He then began work as a publisher of his own many writings, as a map-drawer, as a copier
of music, a proof-reader, copyist, etc., in order to sustain himself, his wife, son and
daughter. For a long time the Swedish Academy seemed not to know anything of his
pitiable circumstances. At last a bishop said to King Oskar I: "The greatest genius in
Sweden ought not to starve to death." This was followed by an appointment as "Regiment
Pastor," a name under which he is well known.

--- 606

In the month of June, 1851, Almqvist fled from Sweden, accused of falsification and
of murder by poison. His family never thought him guilty, nor did his true friends, amongst
whom was the great poet Runeberg. The guilty one seems to have been a jealous
housekeeper, who had tried to make the murdered man suspect Almqvist.
As the emigrant "Pastor Gustavi," he traveled in America's great towns, visited its
forests, Niagara, and places of note. In the year 1860 he returned to Bremen an old man.
There he lived under the name of Professor Westermann, content and peaceful, busy with
his books and papers. When he fell ill he was sent to a public hospital and there died and
was buried in the "Potter's Field."

ALMQVIST AS FATHER
His still living daughter tells of her father as follows: "My father would sit alone for
long at a time, serene and quiet, drinking coffee or smoking, and then his expression was
deep and meditative; but for us children, for our wishes and well-being he always was
awake. In his home life he often jested very wittily in a subdued way, but in society he was
modest, silent, and almost impossible. In small circles he set the people on fire. His
personality had an extraordinary fascination through his serene, deep intensity, and his
always vibrating passion for ideas, for the essential great whole. Trifle he treated as trifle.
He never made much of his person, or brought himself forward or posed. He was seldom
in a hurry, but would come serene and friendly from his work and take us children for long
outings. He spoiled us, but never permitted any license. He also was our best playmate
and friend. He did not like to see us idle, we always must work or play, but he detested
nothingness. He did not feign pleasure, he really enjoyed our pleasures, as we his. How
often, too, he went with us on different outings; we always were delighted, though he
sometimes for a long while would be silent. We forgot the silence when he waked up and
observed us. No one could tell us things so funny or so tender as he. When I was in a
boarding school in Stockholm, he used to take me and all my comrades during the hot
summer days on outings from our tiresome needlework.
"He always was wide awake for nature, and for different occupations. He would talk
with old men and women; they told him, as did people in general, their deepest secrets -
no one had such power as he of gaining confidence. We confided to him everything; he
always understood our feelings, though he never flattered our weaknesses. He never
waked our ambition or praised our progress, but told us that diligence was only a duty. As
a child, I wrote verses, but he never made anything of it. To write verses, he said, is a
token of the fulness of life, and we only ought to do so when we feel it irresistible and
impossible to withstand.
"His manners were so gentle that I never saw him impetuous, and therefore I
believed the world would vanish when he once told my brother, who really had failed, that
he was a veritable blockhead. My brother never had any real

--- 607

pleasure when separated from his father, - which is not usually the case with youths in
general. Only to be near him was for us both a fortune."

AS AUTHOR
His principal work is: "The Book of the Rose.'' It contains many of his writings, and
it is said of it that he therein seeks to "mirror all the world." It is at the same time, "tone,
color, fragrance, sorrow, joy, poetry, religion and philosophy." For Almqvist tones became
colors; colors, fragrancy; these give taste-sensation, like juicy fruits. If we desire to be
fully acquainted with him as an author his other writings must also be studied, as,
"Amorina," "The Monagrafy," "Mirjam," etc.

AS PHILOSOPHER AND ARTIST

He dreamed of a future, "when art contains both poetry, music and picture." In a
poem, "The Night of the Poet," he expresses his innermost feelings as to the ideal of art:
"During the darkness of night, in agony and almost a swoon, I heard a voice: 'Choose! -
If thou wilt be strong, choose the lot of the strong, which is strife and no rest. Against
everything thou wilt have to fight; nothing on earth wilt thou find without fault, and thou wilt
ever have to fight against and reform error. But if thou wouldst be as a lamb, come unto
me; then, wilt thou have peace, innocence and rest, with me in my home. I will embrace
thee, and thou shalt not be drawn away by separateness, or be torn by the deeds of
misery. 'Lord!' my soul answered and sank together - 'O that I could be a lamb as thou
savest!' 'All may be and do as It will.'" And the same voice told him further: '"Only
remember to stand on nothing, and to lean on nothing; for nothing can concern or touch
thee, and thou thyself canst possess nothing; but thou wilt obtain power over all things.
Thou canst not possess It, for thou shalt possess nothing and stand on nothing; but thou
wilt have the best of all power which is to play (sport).'
"At these words my head sank in a golden cloud, and I lost the universe. When I
awakened and arose I was glad. Art awakened anew within me, and robed in a white dress
I saw her, the sweet one. Dead was now death and only life lived for me. I heard the
thunder rise on the clouds, and the terrified vault of heaven spread its wings trembling over
the earth. I smiled and said: 'The lightning is beautiful.' The rain streamed in showers over
the land; all fell, melted and was drowned together. I was not wet. Tempests speeded
through the forests and over the meadows; the deer fled and men freezed through marrow
and bones. My hand was warm and I painted. Flowers I saw bud and fade. I painted.
Children I saw grow up into boys and girls. Girls flourished into maids, beautiful as the
flowers of life. I saw them grow old, wither and pass away. Boys I saw grow and become
men; I heard them talk prudently and keenly; then I saw them grow old, wither and turn
gray. I continued to be the same as I am and always was, - nothing. I only paint."
Almqvist is said to have been so dependent on the harmony of his sensations and
imagination that he liked to write different scenes with different colored ink, as black, red,
blue, complaining of not having ink in all colors. He also says that a poet seeks to speak
through symbols: ''Such inner meanings

--- 608

give joy and awaken a marvelous light in the soul. We understand the allegories of life if
we are of nature, as we live the true artist's life." "Great," he says, "we do not require to be
in order to be artists. We need only to look at life with glances of innocence as do little
children and artists. Then we live with the whole, we have a wonderful intercourse with the
universe: then we flourish in undisturbed union; then we celebrate the true worship of
God; then we offer roses to the Lord.'

HIS VIEWS ON SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Almqvist once said of prisons: "They ought to be considered as hospitals for the
soul, where only through mild expedients we should try to restore the health of the
convicts." In "Amorian," he makes an assault on the liberty of the will and sets "a sharp-
pointed sword on the most sensitive nerve of humanity." He was a mystic, a pantheist.
"The most sublime life," he said, "was to he unconscious as a lyre, whose strings God
touches. To be embraced by, to be hid in the whole, to let thought be lost, to be unseen
by oneself, to sink down in the unnamed silent ground. This is the highest power to heal
the soul."
To him all nature was endowed with soul: "The daffodils have freedom and thought;
the rubies, imagination, through which within their own natures they proclaim the purple
poem of the eternal." "The fragrances of the forests are astonished by the air, coming to
them from the flowers of the garden. The bird is the artist of the wilderness. The eagle is
a poem soaring on deep-gray, glittering wings, a poem of God; for God himself cannot
conceive of his own dark being, but has to discover it; therefore he puts his feelings and
thoughts before himself, and together they make the world. These changing objects are
the paintings; the painter behind the clouds paints in order to stand clear before himself."
Thus everything in nature for Almqvist is an expression of the divine. The "Fall of
man" through which existence is broken, was to him reason killing intuition, conventionality
confusing instinct. In a little poem, "Tears of Beauty," which Almqvist thinks crowns all his
poems, he makes a rough giant pursue an escaping nymph, - a drop of blood floats
together with a tear from her eyes, and this drop, which neither could rise, weighed down
by the dark blood, nor fall to the ground, lifted as it was by the clear water, is still hanging
and floating in space - and, "this tear is the world whereon thou livest, my friend."
Of religion he says: "Devoted leaders are needed to prepare the second advent of
Christ." "The second advent signifies the victory of gentleness, for man's best strength
from God is gentleness, which is love and intelligence. Gentleness can do everything,
fresh, orderly, cheerful, and peaceful." "Christ was the mediator only in the sense of
sacrificing himself for the good of the whole, and by fully revealing the nature of the life of
love."
Directing himself to God, he once said: "I love thy poor Son and thy other sons."
"In Ormuzd and Ariman," he confesses "that kindness even in the meanest garb is that
alone which can unite where everything is scattered, which alone can build up where
everything is destroying."

--- 609

In moments of deepest agony he utters about God: "I would prostrate myself before
It with all the powers of my being. I would love, I would be annihilated by devotion to It, by
inclination to It, by an eternal, unquenchable desire for It. I would die for It, that It may live."

AS REFORMER
His reformations of the world aimed at the christianizing of humanity. All must work
under simple natural relations: through the diligence and happiness of all, the evil man will
recover, and crime will starve to death by want of nourishment. In "Ariman" he lets the well-
meaning men in the most minute way regulate the state, the family, art, agriculture, the
towns. "They also with fatherly care and according to plan proclaim where and what kind
of roses are to grow, and in what forests nightingales must sing under penalties of showers
and thunder."
But "Ormuzd" fails, for though the flowers, animals and men, during die day,
obediently follow the thousand prescribed ways of happiness, beauty and success he
ordains for them; yet in the night a marvelous creature in a manifold changing form goes
around the world. Without plan, without design, without order, it came, it went, it worked
and succeeded. This mysterious creature upset all the plans of Ormuzd, both as regards
bodies and souls; it so acted that the inner beauty of their respective natures blossomed
in a sweetness before unknown. The real heart of things awakened where this wondrous
being passed by. Ormuzd noted the unknown in his big book as a "suspected person." But
the well-meaning Ormuzd himself was, the whole world around, a "suspected person," and
the great public that obeyed was not glad. "Men would have been more glad if they were
trusted to be a little good if they permitted themselves to bring forth in the light some fruits
of reason, force and goodness."
He also says elsewhere: "it is through crime that humanity is progressing, and the
virtue of every cycle of evolution has been the principal deadly sin of the preceding one,
and by it the most forbidden, which by all means possible, by argument and reasoning, by
all legislative power, it has tried to hinder; and this from a very natural cause, that every
mode of culture will defend its own life and seek to prevent its own death. The last truth
a human tongue can pronounce is: that the crimes of the world have carried the world
forward, or in general have caused something to be done. After this proclamation not much
is to be added. By no means am I talking of all crimes or vices - nor of most of them, nor
do I mean the small defects, the small vices, small sins, but that which in every time is
regarded as the greatest, the most consummate, the very deadly sin of the age. It is
usually this for which all the culture of the age shudders and trembles, as for its own
destruction. It is he who points out the gates through which the new cycle is to come, by
which humanity is to rise and to progress. Therefore Christ was crucified by the Jews,
while what he preached enlarged the borders of Judaism."
And further, he says: "No cycle of culture has existed on earth, where man did not
think crime against himself to be crime against God; and such sins, such

--- 611

vices, every art of culture has always judged the greatest, the most dreadful, the most
unpardonable of the age."
Thus he himself committed the greatest sin of his time.

VIEWS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN

Here he touches the most sensitive thought of his time, influenced by Swedenborg
and Thorild (a Swedish poet). Himself married, he probably lacked possibilities of being
happy. He was the same kind, tolerant, helpful man toward all; he neither felt deep love
nor hatred; therefore probably he was too impersonal for matrimonial happiness.
In a pamphlet, "What is Love?" and in a novel, "Permajouf," he treats of this
question. With deep grief he says: "Children come into the world without spiritual, true or
deep love between their parents, therefore the poor creatures are brought forth mean to
the very core of their being." Then he says: "We hang forgers, but whoever for a thousand
other reasons than love unites himself with one he does not love, and thus forms a useless
domestic circle - does he not commit a crime so great and with consequences so
incalculable, relating to both the present and the future, that it will result in more terrible
disasters than the forgers of millions?" And further: "Mutual happy love is as an electric
stream between souls. The solitary warm heart is deprived of light; the solitary luminous
head lacks warmth, but the electricity of love gives to the head warmth and to the heart
light." He regards man and woman as equal: "neither is above nor below; neither is a
monster below the other. Therefore woman ought to learn trade and to have full right of
self-sustenance in order not to be forced for her livelihood to commit the great sin of
marrying a man she does not love, and no man can be really happy if he is not loved by his
wife."
Almqvist looked with the eye of a seer on every question of importance, whether of
labor, peace, politics, etc. All his works will some day be published and then we shall have
opportunity for studying this very extraordinary man and do him justice.

------------

"For the only decree of Karma - an eternal and immutable decree - is absolute
Harmony in the world of matter as it is in the world of spirit. It is not therefore Karma that
rewards or punishes, but it is we, who reward or punish ourselves according to whether we
work with, through and along with Nature, abiding by the laws on which that Harmony
depends, or - break them."
- H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 643.
------------
--- 611

COLUMBUS
By Frank M. Pierce

Since the Fall of Man, when his soul became obscured and lost in his selfish
material personality, small-minded, narrow-visioned men have swarmed about the few
great world actors and intellects, fawning for favor through senseless laudation while
secretly and, when discovered, openly criticizing, slandering and pilfering such crumbs of
fame, reputation and notion as might be stolen from the master-builder's ample unguarded
store. As prejudiced historians, they have fathered upon the history-makers deeds and
words wholly beneath or beyond their field of action and thought. In jealousy and spite they
have robbed the dead lions' record of some noble thought or action, to enrich some
unworthy rival claimant, or upon a new challenger of destiny whose favor they would
secure. While among historians are found conscientious recorders of events as they
understood them, the fact remains that they have seldom if ever been prominent actors in
these events, and have been dependent upon fragmentary data and opinions of minor
prejudiced actors and observers. The great history makers have been too busy with their
herculean tasks to find time for recording their deeds or motives. It is therefore a fact that
written history is at best only a shadow of truth and must be brushed aside when at
variance with an intelligent summing-up of the results springing from the works of the great.
Those who have grasped great opportunities have possessed and been possessed
by great and lofty ideals, have, in fact, created ideals and opportunities and caused them
to manifest into practical use in and for humanity of the really great. Like gods, they
resurrect the dead past and lead it into useful action in the present. Leaving historians and
rival claimants to juggle as they like with the details of the life and work of Columbus, he
is too great, his self-created ideal and work too grand, the still unfolding results too
stupendous to permit of consideration from other than the most lofty standpoint.
Let us pass rapidly over the details of his early preparatory - otherwise practically
unessential - life, the sooner with him to contact his mission.
Born in Genoa about 1435, of reputable and humble parents, he derived dignity and
nobility from deeds, instead of known noble ancestry. Intensely fond of geography and
filled with love of adventure and study, he entered the University of Pavia, where he was
taught grammar, geography, navigation and astronomy. Living in a seaport, the boy
naturally looked to the ocean as the field upon which to satisfy his nature. In 1450 his first
voyage was made under his uncle, a bold, hard commander of squadrons, who did not
shun a fight if under garb of law and right. As a hardy, intelligent, observing mariner,
serving and commanding, he sailed the then known waters of the world, voyaging in 1477
a hundred leagues beyond Iceland. During this period piracy was openly allowed and the
holy wars were being waged against the Mohammedans. In the thick of this turmoil of war
and commerce Columbus found every opportunity to develop and exercise his natural, cool,
daring versatil-
--- 612

ity for endurance and command. In his early sea-faring life he became imbued with the
idea that the waters encircled the inhabitable earth, that there must be unknown inhabited
lands to the west. To such an extent had this idea become a part of the maturing man that
from the numerous renderings of the family name he chose the Latin form, because
"Columba is the Latin for dove," and that he would perform the mission of the dove in taking
light to a race on a western land who were in darkness. Who was this fellow to use such
language? Is it not an evidence of the re-embodiment of an old soul or knower, reflecting
on its new mind-mirror dim pictures of past knowledge to lure and urge on its instrument -
Columbus - to rediscover an old continent whose civilizations are now known to have
antedated and excelled the civilizations of Egypt and the East
In personal appearance Columbus was a striking figure; tall, well-formed, muscular
and dignified, face neither long nor thin, but finely shaped, fair complexion, high cheek-
bones, steel-blue eyes, light hair, turned to gray at thirty. In dress plain, in manners
amiable and courteous, commanding, almost dominating when aroused, brave, resolute,
speculative, while underneath was a sincere devotional nature natural to the man. No peril
could dampen his enthusiasm. In training, nature and circumstance everything pointed to
him as the chosen instrument to engage in voyages of discovery fraught with new and
untried dangers.
In middle life, happily wedding the fortuneless daughter of an Italian gentleman - a
well-known navigator - Columbus maintained himself and wife by making charts, globes
and maps, one of which was sold to Vespucius. These brought him fame as a speculative
geographer and mathematician, while he deluged learned men, church dignitaries,
prominent laymen of all nations and crowned heads to interest them in his projected
attempts to discover new lands.
Revived ancient fable tales of islands, and the vast submerged Antilla - Noah's
flooded world - in the Western ocean, stories of a returned traveler from China, of
Portugal's discoveries in Africa and of the Cape of Good Hope, suddenly raising that
country from the most insignificant into one of the most important nations, had fed and
excited the minds of many people to discover and occupy new regions in hopes of finding
fabulous wealth and booty.
Applying first to John II, King of Portugal - who was in the midst of new discoveries -
to aid him in his long cherished plans, Columbus was met with apparent sincerity, but after
his plans were revealed the king secretly sent a ship out on the route proposed by
Columbus, but they were baffled by storms and returned to ridicule the scheme. This
contemptible treachery greatly angered Columbus, and, because of the death of his
devotedly loved wife, he left Lisbon in 1484 in extreme poverty, due to his efforts in his
absorbing plans and in helping the needy. Impoverished as he now found himself, he
continued to aid his aged father. He never ignored a duty.
Undiscouraged by his first failure, unsuccessful attempts were made to interest the
king of England, his countrymen the Genoese, the Venetians and several Spanish
noblemen. Among the latter, however, one - the Duka Medina - Celi [sic] approved his
plans and was about to offer Columbus four ships, when he bethought himself of the
jealous temper of the sovereigns, the magnitude of the results in the event of success,
requiring the guidance of royal hands, and, restraining his impulse, he contented himself
and served Columbus and the world by writing to Queen Isabella, cordially introducing

--- 613

him to her attention. In terms as cordial Her Majesty requested that Columbus be sent to
her.
The world and with it the patient, courageous, indomitable Columbus had finally
reached a turning point, an epoch. The pregnant time and the man for the time had met
and clasped hands - not that the two were as yet completely fitted and in harmony with
each other - but the grip was never released until a new world was discovered, where
independent, liberty-loving elements, in the oppressed thought-bound nations of the earth
would find fit habitations, resources and scope wherein to evolve a new nation and a new
race.
On January 26, 1486, Columbus entered the service of Ferdinand and Isabella,
expecting within a short period that under the auspices of these joint sovereigns he would
be able to sail out into the unknown to seize his life-quest. But six long, weary years of
waiting, promises, disappointments, hope, almost despair, must intervene before the
dawning of the happy day, August 1492, when he should sail from the Port of Palos, out
into the perils of an unknown ocean, following an idea - or may it have not been an
inspiration?
At this point it is well to become acquainted with the sovereigns - especially Isabella,
who by her generous, self-sacrificing and timely aid had justly shared with Columbus the
honor and glory of his world-changing discovery.
Ferdinand, in person, was of middle stature, well formed and in carriage free, erect
and dignified, hardy and strong, clear-eyed, heavy eyebrows, high forehead, partly bald,
chestnut hair, expressive, well-shaped mouth, a ready, fluent voice. In temper even, clear
mind, grasping a subject at once, remarkable for his correct judgment of men - a hard
worker, devoted to his religion, plain and simple in his tastes, dress and diet. In Spain he
was entitled the wise and prudent; in Italy, the pious; in England, the ambitious and
perfidious. Such is fame!
The three ruling purposes in his life where the conquering of the Moors, driving the
Jews from Spain, and the establishment of the terrible Inquisition in his kingdom.
Unquestionably honest and sincere, is there not a great lesson, in the light of subsequent
and especially in very recent events, of honest effort wholly misdirected? He sowed the
tempest seed of intolerance, bigotry and horrible torture and foul assassination in the name
of religion, and the people and country he did so much to strengthen and glorify have
reaped the whirlwind of mental and spiritual degradation and finally national disaster and
humiliation at the unwilling but humanely compelled hands of the people who sprang from
the loins of Spain's discovery. In national and individual Karmic recompense a light must
go out from the same people to illuminate and redeem Spain.
Isabella, under the scrutiny and verdict of time, has proved to be one of the purest,
best and most beautiful women ever shown in the pages of history. Slightly under middle
height, delicately formed, beautiful, auburn hair, white skin, gentle, clear blue eyes,
extremely modest, dignified and carrying herself with such gentle stateliness that she
appeared tall; in character ingenuous, generous, devoted to Ferdinand and careful of his
fame, womanly in all things, active and resolute, as several suits of armor in the royal
arsenal in the museum at Madrid, won by her in battle, attest.
She gave close attention to the state affairs, ruling her separate kingdom - as did
Ferdinand - working in harmony. Except on the persecution of the Jews and the
establishment of the Inquisition, all acts were executed by both, under the seal bearing the
united arms of Castile and Aragon; meanwhile she gave much

--- 614

[[Illustration: "Columbus presenting his plans before the "learned" men of Spain."]]

--- 615

of her time to helping her people, succoring the wounded, disabled and destitute left by the
wars.
She sought strenuously to reform the laws to benefit the people. She was a patron
of literature, art and science, promoting the recently invented art of printing. Books were
admitted free of duty.
The spread of literature was greater during her reign than at the present day.
Earnest in her religious faith, still she was violently opposed to the expulsion of the Jews
and the establishment of the Inquisition, though in this she was powerless against priestly
opposition.
Her life proved the statement of an observing writer that "she would not uphold
bigotry at the expense of humanity."
Such were the characters of the two sovereigns with whom Columbus found himself
in contact. Ferdinand commands respect; Isabella was a soul with which the body and
mind were in such harmony that she brought out the best in those she contacted in person
or by act, and received not alone their respect, but their admiration, love, devotion and
reverence.
The time and conditions appeared favorable to the speedy realization of the long-
cherished hopes and plans of Columbus.
The marriage of the two monarchs had put an end to internal feuds and united the
Spaniards in one purpose, to conquer and break the domination of their common enemy,
the Moors. That fierce and capable people were then pent up within the boundaries of
Granada by the victorious encircling Spanish army. Columbus, as the guest of Quintinilla,
comptroller of the treasury, was brought into intimate contact with the most influential
people, and into easy touch with the sovereigns.
Columbus, "considering himself the particular agent of heaven in carrying out his
theory," was filled with enthusiasm, and greatly impressed the King by his firmness of
conviction, modesty and dignity of manner. But his caution forbade his espousing his
scheme, apparently so wild, until he could hear it discussed by a council of "learned men."
After some delay a council was convened, composed of an array of priests,
professors, science doctors, whose opinions - due to their avocations - were hard to
change or broaden. The priests - most opinionated and stubborn in their opposition - stood
on a literal translation of Scripture as the ipse-dixit to their opposition; for instance: "The
heavens are stretched out like a scroll." "The heavens are like a tabernacle spread over
the earth." "Therefore the earth must be flat." One of these astute theologians said the
idea of an opposite side or antipodes was impossible, quoting St. Augustine as follows for
authority: "To believe that there exist other inhabited lands on the opposite side of the
globe is to say that there are nations that did not descend from Adam; it would have been
impossible for them to pass the intervening ocean; therefore he who asserts this new thing
is discrediting the Bible, which declares that all men descended from one common parent."
While these then effective objections appear childish and ridiculous when presented to
intelligence either now or then, they serve as a proof and a warning to the thoughtful as
illustrative of that arrogant ignorance which for centuries has cloaked itself in priestly garb
and has had the effrontery to name itself, and pose as God's Vicegerent, to issue its Bulls,
Interdictions and Decrees.
Does not this same organized church-power stand today where it then stood -
opposed to progress, forcing ignorance upon the ignorant and careless by wrong
interpretations of the Bible, and blocking the discovery of the new spiritual

--- 616

world as it then did of a new material world, to which those whom it had oppressed and
persecuted could escape and find hope, peace and life? The reader should know that
essential truth as it exists in all religions is not referred to, but only the distortions presented
by those who seek to have men follow the form rather than the spirit of religion.
Now is the time, the vital necessity, for the Spiritual Columbus.
The scoffing, arrogance and objections were boldly and skillfully met by Columbus,
though he was constantly in danger of being condemned for heresy.
The continued war against the Moors, the breaking out of the plague, kept back the
decision of the council until the winter of 1490, when the sovereigns decided that the
armies should take the field, never to leave camp until proud Granada had fallen.
Columbus, worn out and disgusted by years of dilly-dallying, demanded a final
answer. Forced to act by this great but too modest mind, the learned body of sages (!)
finally decided that the sovereigns should not engage in such enterprises on such slender
and, to them, vague reasons as Columbus had presented.
Can we not see this great man - now scoffed at as a dreamer, an adventurer,
pointed at by the children in the streets as a madman - turn away and quit Spain in disgust,
and filled with contempt and disdain for those in places of power and influence? His
treatment would have embittered and shut in a less robust, fearless, indomitable and
experienced soul; but Columbus, tireless and persistent, started with his son on foot for
France to present his plans to the King. Arriving, faint with fatigue and hunger, at a
hospitable convent, three miles south of Palos, he applied at the gate for bread and water.
Met by the Prior, Juan Perez de Marchena - most fortunately a learned and kind man - he
was given food and rest. Meanwhile he had told his story to the good friar, who, being a
man deeply learned in geographical science, at once comprehended the plan of Columbus
and the importance of holding the honor, glory and rewards of the discoveries to Spain.
Columbus was through him brought for the first time into relationship with that
healthy force, the Practical Man, which, unconscious to itself, has always stood opposed
to intolerance and whatever fetters men and dwarfs the mind, because its daily life is
robust, broad, a restricted freedom, dealing with universals in a practical way.
Now and for the first time he found himself on the right road to success, backed by
a quality of force accustomed to brush aside the elements and natures inviting objections,
or learned or unlearned man's ignorance and lack of sense.
Such men were Garcia Fernandez, a practical scientist and geographer, and two of
his friends, the brothers Pinzon, two well-known, hardy, adventurous navigators.
Satisfied with the correctness of his plans, they offered to join Columbus in the
expense and effort to again enlist the aid of the Spanish Court. Columbus, at first reluctant
to allow the sovereigns any further opportunity in his intended expedition, finally yielded,
and Sebastian Rodriguez, a shrewd and trusty man, a pilot of Lepe, was sent to the Court
and gained easy access to Isabella through letters he presented from Juan Perez, formerly
the Queen's beloved Confessor. The good friar was at once invited to repair to the Court.
His eloquent and earnest pleading, seconded by the Marchioness of Moya, a favorite of
Isabella's, reawakened the interest she had never lacked in the plans of Columbus, and
she at once ordered him to be sent for, not

--- 617

forgetting in her good heart to provide the money for the journey of the now poverty-
stricken New World's father. He reached Granada at a most propitious time, just after the
fall of the great stronghold of the Moors and the surrender of Boabdil, their chief, thus
ending the fierce struggle of eight hundred years' duration.
Dejected and melancholy, but possessed of his great idea, Columbus viewed the
victory jubilee with indifference, almost contempt, as trifling in comparison with his mighty
purpose to discover a new world.
Meeting again the same progress-obstructing force in the person of the Queen's
Confessor, the Archbishop of Granada, who pronounced the terms exorbitant and
degrading, Columbus, with unyielding determination, again prepared to quit Spain and lay
his plans before the French King. Isabella, persuaded that the share required by Columbus
in the enterprise was too large, yet with unfailing confidence in his judgment and integrity,
offered him more modest terms.
Now, if never before, we see the real man. Columbus, poor, almost friendless, worn
out with many years of fruitless effort, disappointed and defeated at every turn, now with
a certainty offered him, of carrying out his cherished life-work, fully cognizant of this, he
refusing to demean his enterprise by accepting terms other than he had dictated, broke off
all negotiations, mounted his mule, and started for Palos.
This action was not taken through stubbornness nor false pride, but because he
would not permit himself to be tempted into undervaluing or accepting less than his just
share of the immense benefits accruing to whatever power should help him to secure them.
His determined decision and prompt departure produced the results which always
follow right, courageous action. Luis de St. Angel and the Marchioness of Moya, stung by
his abrupt departure and the irreparable loss to Spain, should he succeed elsewhere,
sought the Queen, and earnestly, almost reproachfully, urged her to recall Columbus.
The destiny of the world for unborn centuries hung upon this good woman's
decision. Will she prove herself great and good? Will she clear her pure mind from
fettering priestly advice and let her soul free to act as her intuition had constantly urged?
Yes; at last she saw the light, and, brushing all obstructions aside, she moved out, fired
with ardor, trust and determination, personally assuming the financial responsibility and
solemnly declaring that Columbus should undertake the discovery of a New World. In this
decision she proved her greatness far more than in her noble and willing sacrifice in
providing the means for carrying it into effect.
It was an exhibition of the soul overriding obstacles to its divine purpose. A soul put
to the test of a great opportunity for helping humanity, which, if improved, would prepare
it for greater future work when the fate of humanity should again hang in the balance.
She saw the light and followed. The national treasury was empty, but from the
plethoric reservoir of the ecclesiastical revenues an advance of three thousand crowns was
made on the pledged jewels of Isabella. With this and a sum equal to one-eighth of the
cost of the expedition, furnished by the great discoverer himself, the material means were
provided for Columbus to carry into effect and make manifest in material life his spiritual
ideal and purpose.
There is a great lesson concealed in the fact that the intuitive Isabella attended to
the material needs, while the intuitive, reasoning, executive Columbus supplied the ideal
and the plan which he executed.

--- 618

Articles were drawn up in accordance with the original demands of Columbus,

making him admiral for life in all possessions he might discover - viceroy and governor-
general over such discovered lands and continents. He was empowered to reserve for
himself one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones and metals, and all articles and
merchandise bought or bartered within his admiralty. He was also granted absolute legal
power in matters of traffic.
Passing the vexations experienced of fitting out the expedition, Columbus set sail
from Palos, Spain, August 3, 1492, in three small vessels manned by an impressed, almost
mutinous, crew of one hundred and twenty men, himself commanding the Santa Maria, the
Pinta and Nina commanded by the Pinzon brothers, whose assistance by work and
example entitled these more humble men to place and grateful recognition as great helpers
to Columbus in his enterprise.
Like every important transaction in his life, Columbus began this his unparalleled
achievement in a dignified and stately fashion. He proclaimed his motives and plans, his
purpose to carry the Christian faith into the unknown world, and the glory which would
redound to Spain from his discoveries.
Finally, after years of untold labor, trials, disappointments and sufferings which
would have paralyzed a less sturdy, resolute and determined man, this great, inspired,
soul-propelled discoverer had launched and entrusted his lofty enterprise and himself to
the Supreme Power in which he firmly believed, and that it could and would act through him
if he performed his whole duty with faith and trust.
Why weary ourselves and detract from such a character by recounting the inevitable
perils of the deep, the elements, and the greater dangers to be met in the ignorant,
superstitious, cowardly and evil nature of men? The meeting, contesting and overcoming
of all the obstacles are but incidents in the accomplishment of the great purposes of great
men.
On the sixth day of September, 1492, Columbus sailed westward from the Canary
Islands - the then western known limit of the great ocean, and the real voyage of discovery
began.
On Friday, October 12, 1492, the New World land was sighted. The admiral, as
Columbus was now called, supposing the newly discovered land was an extremity of India,
named the inhabitants Indians, but instead it proved to be, in fact, a new and unknown
world.
In the confusion of uncertain records of an unknown and unmapped land and ocean
errors could easily occur, and while some records claim that the land first sanctified by the
pressure of the foot of Columbus was Guanahani, now known as San Salvador, it is an
equally fair presumption to say that his first landing was made in the beautiful land-locked
harbor of what is known as Santiago de Cuba, a place again made historic by the
unparalleled deeds of heroism performed on land and sea by the flower of the new race,
to whom Columbus opened the door of the New World - deeds performed, not in lust for
land and power, but in the sacred cause of humanity - the cause Columbus himself served
- to give to a down-trodden people material, mental and spiritual food, from the same
intolerant, bigoted, non-progressive, organized power which for many years successfully
opposed and almost defeated the plans of Columbus.
"As ye sow, so shall ye reap." Surely "the mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind
exceeding fine."
The first act of this now triumphant, victorious general of peace was symbolically
grand and characteristic, in falling on his knees, kissing the earth and then

--- 619

returning thanks to God. He in his posture displayed self-abnegation, and in the after act
recognized and emphasized the relationship, unity and independence of the material and
spiritual worlds and life.
Every knee bent in reverence and every heart overflowed with thankfulness, some
for their deliverance from physical peril, others with the higher gratitude for the
accomplishment of a great purpose.
The picture presented was fascinating. The naked but comely, gentle and kindly
natives flocked about the strange white men with natural trust and curiosity, while
Columbus, dignified and becomingly dressed in scarlet, surrounded by his men, unfurled
the royal standard, and took possession of the land for his King and Queen. He then
administered the oath of obedience to all his officers and crew, binding them to obey him
as Admiral and Viceroy and representative of the sovereigns. The men now broke into the
wildest transports of joy, and, human-like, kissed and embraced the man they had but
recently thought to kill, begging favors and pardon in the same breath.
The Indian of today, his naturally noble qualities degraded and brutalized by the
white man's whiskey and treatment, bears only a physical resemblance to the gentle,
trusting natives whose hospitality and honest barter won the consideration and respect of
Columbus.
The admiral, searching for gold, reported by the natives to exist in abundance in the
island and adjacent lands, cruised around his first discovery and contiguous islands,
believing the while that he was among the islands in the Sea of China described by one
Marco Polo, a traveler.
Lured on by the golden phantom stories of the natives, Columbus explored and took
possession of many islands, winning the friendship of the natives by his just and kindly
treatment.

(To be continued)

------------

WHAT ROME TEACHES

(From "The American," Jan. 28th, 1898)

"In 1900 Rome will take this country and keep it." - Hecker
She boasts that religious liberty is only endured until the opposite side can be put
into effect without injury to the Roman Church.
"No man has a right to choose his religion." - Archbishop Hughes
"The will of the Pope is the supreme law of all lands." - Archbishop Ireland
"In case of conflicting laws between the two powers, the laws of the church must
prevail." - Pius IX
"We do not accept this government or hold it to be any government at all, or as
capable of performing any of the proper functions of government. If the American
government is to be sustained and preserved at all, it must be by the rejection of the
principles of the Reformation (that is the government by the people) and the acceptance
of the Catholic principle, which is the government of the Pope." - Catholic World.

------------
--- 620

RIGHT ACTION
By William Scott

"I establish the whole universe with a single portion of myself, and remain separate."
- Bhagavad Gita, Chap. X

All systems of philosophy postulate the basic homogeneity of the cosmos; and,
perhaps, all agree that everything in manifestation proceeds from the unknown Root; and
that all forms are but differentiations of that one Reality, from which separation is
impossible.
If this be so the right action of the differentiations would be a "mass chord," so to
speak, running through the whole. What constitutes harmony with that mass chord is the
question which all systems of ethics try to answer.
It is said that man is a microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm of which he is
a part. In man there is a correlating consciousness which marshals in harmonious order,
and directs to a common purpose all the smaller lives which compose his organism.
Keeping in mind the fact that all things are differentiations of the one, that correlating
consciousness in man must be part of the cosmic consciousness which binds together all
things in the universe into one organism. There is but one consciousness running through
all. Its purpose is its own progression, which is self-knowledge or wisdom. The action of
the consciousness to attain that object is the one law which directs all movement, and
harmony with that law is right action. When the cells of the body refuse to act in
accordance with the purpose of the correlating consciousness there is discord or disease.
The same thing takes place when the individual refuses to recognize the purpose of the
universal consciousness. He is then engaged in wrong action, and produces cosmic
disease.
As the consciousness of the individual is one with the universal consciousness its
purpose can be understood by concentrating upon the highest aspirations of one's own
soul; by listening to the "Voice of the Silence" and obeying its behests. At bottom they are
the behests of the Oversoul or The Self.
Hitherto we have too often looked outward to gain wisdom, and the result is that we
possess no exact knowledge except that of exteriors. Mathematics is the only
approximately exact science that we have, and, as at present understood, it deals only with
the outward aspects of things. Its three branches, Geometry, Arithmetic and Mechanics,
relate to the forms, numbers and motions of bodies. Mathematics may be fittingly called
the science or ethics of externals. The mathematician has no desire whatever to violate
mathematical law. He knows that nothing but disaster can result from doing so. He has
realized that mathematical law is synonymous with the law of his own being, and to that
extent his will has become identified with the will of the Universe.
But all things have interior as well as exterior aspects; such as the vital, the
emotional, the mental and the spiritual. If these interior aspects or princi-

--- 621

ples could be cognized with the same degree of accuracy that can be reached in observing
the forms, numbers and movements of things, we would have exact sciences or ethics of
Biology, Psychology, Spirituality, etc. And those who understood them would have no more
desire to violate their laws than has a mathematician to violate mathematical law, for they
would know that they were the laws of their own being as well as the laws of the Universe.
Their will on all these planes would be identical with the universal will.
When the will of the individual becomes identified with the will of the Universe he has
perfect free will, there being no other will to oppose. He has passed through the cycle of
necessity and attained freedom by practicing perfect obedience to the laws of his own
being, which is the same thing as perfect conformity to the universal will. Such a being is
a god.
The normal man stands half way between the animal and the God. This is why the
question of his free will is raised.
The animal being without the mental quality - the producer of selfish action, by
directing the individual will towards the gratification of selfish desire - may, from one
standpoint, be regarded entirely as the creature of circumstances; because it lacks self-
consciousness to enable it to select one course of action in preference to another. On the
other hand, it may be said to be a free being, for the will of the animal is identical with the
will of the Universe, but it is unconscious of its being the agent through which the cosmic
consciousness is manifesting.
Man, standing midway, has sufficient mentality or self-consciousness to enable him
to initiate action, but, through persistent ignorance, he lacks discrimination to discern his
union with the All; and mistaking his personality to be a thing separate and apart from all
others, he uses his intellectual powers to devise means to gratify the passions and desires
of that personality which he imagines himself to be. He thus produces discord between
himself and the universal consciousness, and brings upon himself pain and sorrow; and
imagines that he is the victim of adverse circumstances over which he has no control.
"Thou hast to learn to part thy body from thy mind, to dissipate the shadow and to
live in the Eternal. For this, thou hast to live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest
breathes in thee; to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in SELF." - (Voice of the
Silence.)
We forget that all forms are but the outward expression of the consciousness within.
We look at the form and hope to gain a knowledge of the soul. This is like looking at the
outside of a house with the expectation of becoming acquainted with the tenant. We must
first become acquainted with the consciousness which is our own being, before we can
hope to learn anything about the consciousness of another entity. If I know nothing about
the tenant that dwells in this house of mine, how can I hope to know anything about the
tenant of another house.
There are seven definite stages through which the individual passes before he
arrives at a knowledge of the Self within: - (1) He is interested only in the

--- 622

personality and spends his whole time contriving methods to satisfy its appetites; (2) He
begins to have a presentiment that there is something higher and nobler than mere animal
want, something that would make life grand and beautiful; (3) He takes definite steps to
find that something which he is sure exists; and the quest of the Holy Grail is commenced;
(4) Like King Arthur's Knights, he sets out on horseback to search for it in the external
phenomenal world, but his time is divided between the quest and the personality; (5) His
whole energy is devoted towards the quest, but he begins to suspect that the Holy Grail is
not to be found without and feels that it is within; (6) The interior quest is begun and
success is assured, for he obtains glimpses of the Holy Grail, and he then begins truly to
live; (7) Union with the SELF is attained and the spiritual eye is opened.
He then realizes the tie that binds together all that lives; that systems, suns, planets,
and men are cells in the universal organism, and that the Oversoul or the SELF is the
correlating consciousness. He sees that there are in the Universe senses and organs
corresponding to those of the individual organism, such as a heart, a nervous system, etc.
He feels the joys and sorrows of all that lives just as a cell in the body would feel and know
all that takes place within the organism were its consciousness raised to the plane of the
individual consciousness. He knows that every discordant jar caused by any individual in
the Universe is felt by that Self which is the root of all, just as the individual consciousness
feels every discord which disturbs the harmonious working of the cells, and that it is the
individual who causes the discord who is the one who suffers the most, as in the physical
organism it is the inharmonious cell that feels most the effects of its wrong action, and is
rejected if it does not cease to disturb the organism.
Among the various gradations of intelligence manifested by the consciousness which
ensouls the forms which we see around us, there is a continuous ascending scale of
degrees of development among the organs and senses from incipiency to perfection. For
example, the efforts of the sponge to produce circulation by expansion and contraction
seem to result from a conscious desire to produce a heart and lungs, for we see all stages
of circulation and respiration from that of the sponge to the perfected heart and lungs of the
highest animals.
Again, if we trace the evolution of sight it appears to be highly developed feeling.
The tips of the antennae of certain insects seem to become eyes. If we examine the points
of the horns of a snail with a microscope we will see rudimentary eyes there; and if we
watch carefully its movements we will observe that it does not have to touch an obstruction
in order to become aware of its presence. Between the incipient vision of the snail and
perfect sight we find all gradations of seeing. The same is true of all the senses and
organs.
At first sight the facts seem to indicate that the consciousness of the entity, as it
ascends through the different kingdoms, produces these senses and organs by continuous
conscious efforts until they become perfect and automatic. But

--- 623

on the other hand, do not the various entities variously express the powers and qualities
of that universal consciousness which exists in all things, and that the evolution of the lower
is in cooperation with the higher; man raising all below him, he himself seeking to become
one with the Self.
Consciousness is the one thing that should be studied, and first of all our own
consciousness; consciousness is the producer of all forms and all motions; all
experiences, whether pleasant or painful, are states of consciousness.
In the Universe of consciousness there are all degrees, from infinite ignorance to
infinite wisdom. There are no separate and distinct entities, but all are bound together by
the law of compassion or harmony, which "is no attribute."
"It is the Law of LAWS - eternal Harmony, Alaya's SELF; a shoreless universal
essence, the light of everlasting right, and fitness of all things, the Law of Love Eternal." -
(Voice of the Silence.)
It is only when this law is disregarded that the feeling of separation is produced.
Right action, then, is to keep ourselves in unison with this law; first, by attuning the
consciousness within to the divine compassion, and outwardly working with the great
Helpers of Humanity . Let us support them in their endeavors to clear away the
impediments that obstruct the course of the Divine Law.
"The more thou dust become at one with it, thy being melted in its Being, the more
thy Soul unites with that which Is, the more thou wilt become COMPASSION ABSOLUTE."

-----------

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do
the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first
lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably
the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.
 - Huxley, in Technical Education.

"A narrow stomach may be filled to its satisfaction, but a narrow mind will never be
satisfied, not even with all the riches of the world."
"To feel one's ignorance is to be wise; to feel sure of one's wisdom is to be a fool."
"Let every man first become himself that which he teaches others to be."
- Gems from the East.
-----------
--- 624

H.P. BLAVATSKY AND W.Q. JUDGE AS WE KNEW THEM

By Some of Their of Their Old Pupils

The attempt to write about H.P. Blavatsky and W.Q. Judge brings up a flood of
memories, and at the same time a sense of the inadequateness of anything that one may
write to portray even a few aspects of their many-sided characters.
To me W.Q. Judge was a friend indeed, a teacher and a guide. It was through him
that I learned to appreciate more fully Madame Blavatsky's absolute devotion to her
Teacher and the great movement for Universal Brotherhood; her unceasing and self-
sacrificing care for the infant organization, the Theosophical Society; and her courage and
wisdom in attacking the buttressed hypocrisy and materialism of the age. His devotion to
her and her work were unfaltering and true; he always spoke of her in terms of the deepest
respect and love, so that any one knowing him could not help but imbibe his feeling.
My first meeting with W.Q. Judge was like the meeting of an old friend, yes, more
than friend, for besides the friendship and love with which he inspired me, there was also
a feeling akin to reverence which I could not at first understand, but which in later years
became clear to me as he revealed himself more and more during the progress of the work.
As a friend he was the personification of kindness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness.
As a teacher he was clear, concise and direct. As a guide in applying the philosophy to the
personal life, he had the faculty of uncovering mental obstructions in the path of knowledge,
and pointing out the way clearly.
Many of his sayings to individuals have passed into aphorisms, for he understood
the use of words. One instance may be interesting and useful. A member was bewailing
to him the fact that certain prominent members who were attacking him would come to this
country and promulgate all sorts of misstatements which would befog the public mind and
injure the work. His quiet reply was, "Well, you cannot prevent people from doing the
things that they can do." A truism, but one which we need ever to bear in mind. The
bewailer saw the point immediately; it was - why worry about what others may or can do;
you have only to do the best you can and all that you can, and leave the results to the Law.
His fine sense of humor was used at times with telling effect in pointing out folly or
stupidity, but always without offense. The following example may serve to illustrate: He
had delivered a lecture on Reincarnation, wherein he explained the philosophy very clearly
and fully, and questions were asked for from the audience. One of the audience asked if
those living in the middle ages had reincarnated. Mr. Judge replied that it was quite likely.
This reply was followed by quite a number of pointless questions from the same individual,
to all of which Mr. Judge replied with great patience and endeavor to make

--- 625

clear. The questioner was not satisfied, however, and evidently wished to get a definite
statement as to one individual, for his next question was, "Do you believe that Mary, Queen
of Scots, is now reincarnated?" Mr. Judge said it was possible. Then came what the
inquirer evidently thought was a clincher, "Do you think that Mary, Queen of Scots, is in this
room?" Mr. Judge turned to the audience, and said in his quiet way, "If Mary, Queen of
Scots, is in the room, will she please stand up?" The audience which had become
somewhat impatient under the ill-considered and aimless persistence of the inquirer, burst
forth into laughter, and the questioner subsided. - Robert Crosbie
------------

We owe measureless debts of gratitude to H. P. Blavatsky - "who knew, who willed,

who dared." Her knowledge, poured out in living streams, floods the world today. Her will
has been a potent force from first to last - to combine and hold and quicken. Her daring
has vanquished forever in this new cycle the foes of ignorance and darkness. They are
beaten - and the scattered enemy have left the well-won field. H.P. Blavatsky, W.Q. Judge
and our third Leader have carried out the one great plan, the establishment of the
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures;
as one they have fought the great fight; as one they have rejoiced and suffered; each has
fortified and strengthened the steps of the other two.
Who can measure their boundless joy at the glad fruition? The Theosophical
Movement has become a resistless tide, which shall bear on its fruitful sweep "Truth, Light
and Liberation" to all creatures, and kingdoms and
spheres. - H.K. Richmond Green
----------------

"Let me say one thing I know; only the feeling of true brotherhood, of true love
towards humanity, aroused in the soul of some one strong enough to stem this tide, can
carry us through. For love and trust are the only weapons that can overcome the real
enemies against which the true lover of humanity must fight. If I, or you, go into this battle
from pride, from self-will, from anything but the purest motive, we must fail." - William Q.
Judge
---------

"Cut down the whole forest of lust, not the tree. When thou hast cut down every tree
and every shrub, then thou wilt be free."
"The heart which follows the rambling senses leads away his judgment as the wind
leads a boat astray upon the waters."
"As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break
through a well-reflecting mind."
- Gems from the East.
-------------
--- 626

"THE ETERNAL WITNESS"

By Sarah F. Gordon

One of the chief arguments for reincarnation is that all our knowledge, whether by
perception, reason or instinct, comes through experience. The effort of the Self to realize
itself or become self-conscious causes all forms of life. These self-created images are
illuminated in ever varying degrees, which are denominated states of consciousness, for
want of a better term of expression. The Self, therefore, appears diffused in a network of
manifestation, like the spider weaving a web in which it appears bound and imprisoned,
when at any time by withdrawing from its self-created environment its freedom is assured.
In all creatures is the Self which is all freedom, as all thoughts carried far enough reach the
same goal, viz., the Source.
Do we not at times willfully blind ourselves so as not to see the Light which silently
envelopes us, because of some desire not to know; and by resolutely closing the eye of
vision, a veil drops over us? Yet can we not be in total darkness, for in spite of our
wilfulness in the hidden depths of our being that Light shines, and sooner or later we shall
be forced to recognize its power. This is the Divine which controls and is never utterly lost,
for in every creature is the universal spark, and this can never escape ultimate recognition,
for has not every image the divine spark of life within its depths, the abiding reality?
Idealistic is all true interpretation of poetry, art, religion and philosophy. What is this
but image making, and from whence? These images are not dead. They attract and repel
each other and grow as they assimilate from the surrounding environment, and as they
draw life from their source; the Self penetrates them all and their destiny is assured. They
have an immortal origin, and, as usual, have their place in the Universe. It has been well
conceived that "behind the never-ending is the changeless, colorless, pure essence, the
Eternal Witness" - "in whom we live and move and have our being."

------------

BIRTH OF MORNING AND EVENING STAR

By Wenonah Stevens Abbott

Near the Falls of Minneha'ha

When our Michia'bo dwelt there -
Lay twin lakes of placid beauty.
Ghee'zis daily looked upon them,
Annemee'kee rumbled 'neath them,
Softening his "Bairn wa'wa"
Which boomed when 'neath Gitchie Gu'mee.

--- 627
 When Gushke'wau brought Nepah'win
Kabibonok'ka turned homeward
And Wabun' stole forth to watch them.
Came Dahin'da and Kwone'she,
Came then Jee'bi and Koko'ho
Wooing each the blue-eyed lakelets,
Which slept and dreamt and listened not.

When the Moon of Leaves came, stirred they;

In the Moon of Berries list they
As Wabun's voice called "Ona'way!
Nenemoo'sha, Nush'ka! Nush'ka!"
Minnewa'wa murmured o'er them
And "Mudway-aush'ka" answered they,
While old Nepah'win passed away.

Closer, closer then came Wabun',

As Noko'mis long since taught him -
Long ere Nenemoo'sha left him
Ere Chia'bo passed down from him
To dwell, throughout all the ages,
Until Pau'guk brought Pone'mah,
'Neath these waves of deepening blue.

Closer, closer still came Wabun,

Softly murmuring: "Minnewa'wa!
La Showain' neme'shin! Nush'ka!"
Dimpled o'er with love the lakelets
As Chia'bo rose from out them;
While Wabun' with him soared upward
Nenemoo'sha brooded o'er them
With her wings, so beauteous, shining.

Ghee'zis looked long for the lakelets,

Listened long for Mudway-aush'ka,
While Wabun' Annung' Osse'o
Oft at morn and evening smiled.
Where the lakes had been the prairie
Eve and morn called "Untahee', Moo!"
While above soared wind and water.

----------
Notes
Annemee'kee, thunder; Balmwa'wa, sound of the thunder; Chia'bo or Michia'bo, an
Indian messiah; Dahin'da, bull-frog; Ghee'zis, sun; Gitchie Gu'mee, big sea water, Lake
Superior; Gushke'wau, darkness; Jee'bi, spirits of the dead; Kabibonok'ka, the north wind;
Koko'ho, owl; Kwone'she, dragon fly; La Showain'neme'shin, "pity me;" Minneha'ha
laughing water; Minnewa'wa, the wind's love call; Moo, listen; Moon of Leaves, May;
Moon of Berries, June; Mudway-aush'ka, sound of waves on the shore; Nenemoo'sha,
brooding love; Nepahwin, sleep; Noko'mis, wisdom; Nush'ka, "look;" Ona'way, awake;
Osse'o, evening star, born of wind and water; Pauguk, death; Pone'mah, the Hereafter;
Untahee', God of water; Wabun', wind from the East; Wabun' Annung, morning star, born
of wind and water.
-------------
--- 628

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J. H. Fussell

"What is meant by the Cycle of Necessity?"

In the Secret Doctrine (Vol I., p. 17) the Cycle of Necessity is given as synonymous
with the Cycle of Incarnation. It is also stated that the pilgrimage of the Soul is obligatory,
this pilgrimage or cycle of incarnation being through all forms of manifestation, the soul
gaining experience in and passing through all successive stages of existence until finally
it attains the highest.
The expression "cycle of necessity" seems to convey preeminently the idea that all
life is under law, that in coming into manifested existence we do but carry out the law of our
own being. Having once started forth on its journey, the Soul is bound to the wheel of
existence until it shall have accomplished its whole course. But in no sense is this
necessity laid upon the Soul by any extraneous power, but is the expression of its own
nature and its own inner purposes, and however much to the personal man it may at times
seem as though he were here without his own volition or against his will, yet if he will look
deep enough he will find that the will to live is within himself and that, in fact, it is his own
inner will that keeps him in life.
If this can be thoroughly realized, then we can begin to look around and within to
discover the method and the purpose of existence and we shall begin to find that while
bound, we yet are free - free, because of the existence and controlling power of law. By
every thought, by every act, we weave for ourselves a small or great cycle of necessity, for
we thereby sow the seed of which we must reap the harvest. We are free in that we can
sow either good or bad seed and can thus hasten or retard our progress in the great Cycle
of Necessity. And herein is one of the great secrets of Life, that being bound by reason of
his own nature and will to the wheel of existence he can make that existence what he will.
At each moment the two paths are open to him, either to live for self or for others. - J.H.F.
----------

Is conscience an infallible guide?

It would be strange if it were not. Consider it as spiritual instinct, standing to man
as physiological instinct stands to the animal. The whole series of acts in the life of an
animal tends to the preservation of his powers. Nature works in (or as) him for her own
evolution.
Physiological evolution made man possible; through him can spiritual nature
henceforth sound her note of guidance along the further path of evolution, as through the
animal speaks the wise voice of his physical nature. And both voices are perfect guides,
each on its own plane.
It is the habit of man, on the one hand, to make subtle, half-conscious, and most
skilful misinterpretations of the divine voice (when not openly flouting it); and on the other
to mistake for it the distillations and rarefied vapors of his own desires. - G. N.

------------
--- 629

BIBLICAL TEXTS IN SUPPORT OF REINCARNATION

Old Testament - Job, xix-26; Isaiah, xxvi-I9; Ezekiel, xxvii-5, 6.

New Testament - Matthew, ii-14, 15; xviii-42; Mark, ix-12; Luke, ix-18; xx-36; John,
1-21; v-28, 29; ix-2; I Peter, 9-20; II Peter, iii-8, 9; Revelations, iii-12.

-----------

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE SKY WORLD.

By Pixy
The whispering gallery of the sky world is a wonderful place. It is [as if] fairies have
hung a magical curtain, woven from the colors of the great round tunnel, and across the
end of it nearest the earth the rainbow, and filled with patterns of all kinds. You might call
it a sensitive sheet of color. It contains globes and triangles and squares and stars and all
sorts of devious shapes. All the words that have been used in the cave of the air are
collected here, for after they have been heard the fairy to whom they are given doesn't care
to carry them around or pack them away like so much baggage, so they built the
whispering gallery, and as the words float into it they are attracted to the various figures,
each of which is lustrous with color, and as they pass through the figures they are changed
into human thought and reflected to the earth to be used by anybody who wishes them.
Besides this common stock of pretty thoughts they are always ready to send
specially prepared packages of thoughts to any one.
The palace of the Fairy Queen, who is the jolliest sylph in all the jolly crowd, is
beautiful beyond words, and you must really make the trip yourselves if you would
appreciate its beauty and convenience. It is built on a magical plan. It never contains less
than a thousand rooms, but it can never be overcrowded, for the bigger the crowd the
bigger the palace grows, and sometimes all the fairies of the air gather within its walls to
dance or banquet or play at games.
Next in importance to the palace is the home of the Fairy Mother, who conducts a
great thought factory. She has rooms upon rooms filled full of all kinds of nice thoughts,
and she is continually inventing new kinds, and all of them are free to all who want them,
whether men or fairies. She also keeps a picture gallery, in which there are photographs
of the minds of all the Earth people, showing how they are from day to day. Careful watch
is kept of this, and every day the fairies send to each person the kind of thoughts they need
to make them happy. But even with this close watch they cannot always help the humans,
unless the latter are willing to be happy, for while the fairies can

--- 630

send the right kind of thoughts, they cannot compel people to use them against their will.
Then we visited a sport factory, where new games are being invented.
All of the sky fairies are great workers, but they are all so happy that their work is
play to them, and they tell me that in all their history they have never had among
themselves the least bit of ill humor, though sometimes they are saddened by the troubles
human people inflict upon themselves.
We went to many other places, and it really seemed that we spent many hours of
time, but when Verita and Purita brought me home the clock was striking eleven.

---------

THE MAIDEN FISH-TAMER

(From "The Templar's Magazine," January, 187o.)

A few years ago I read in the newspapers that a little girl in the town of Hingham, in
Massachusetts, had tamed the fishes in a small lake near her father's residence. I will give
the facts as they occurred at the time, and in the language which I employed then, in giving
some account of them. Visiting the place for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of what
had been said, but arriving somewhat late in the day, I deferred the specific inquiries which
were the object of my coming till the next morning.
Quite early in the morning, passing through a long reach of woods, which was
without habitation, I came to the little girl's residence, which was near the small lake or
pond. Knocking at the door, and making such apology as I was able for a visit so early, I
remarked to the mother that I had come for the purpose of seeing the fishes over which her
little daughter was said to have obtained a remarkable control. Readily accepting my
explanations, she pointed to a place on the brink of the water, and said that her daughter
would soon go down there. I had not stood there long before a little girl, apparently anxious
not to detain me, came running down.
Seating herself on a rock near the shore, and looking into the mirror of the morning
waters, she called aloud to the fishes, calling them sometimes by the names of their tribes
and sometimes by particular names which she had given them. There was one, a large
one, in which she was particularly interested, which she called Cato. But Cato either did
not hear her, or was not in a hurry to come. She made an apology for the fishes, saying
that it was earlier than she had been in the habit of calling them, and that they had not yet
left their places of slumber. But, repeating still louder the invitations of her sweet voice,
they soon began to make their appearance. The smaller ones came first, and then the
larger ones of many varieties, and at last Cato, who was a sort of king and counselor in this
finny congregation, came among them.

--- 631
 Delighted with this renewed visit of their virgin queen, although they seemed to be
conscious it was rather early in the morning, they thrust their heads above the water, and
she fed them from her hand. And I fed them, also.
Observing something peculiar at a little distance in the water, I was surprised to see
two turtles making their way toward her. Her voice of affection had penetrated beneath
their dark, hard shells. And I noticed that they came with great effort and zeal, as if afraid
of being too late at this festival of love. As soon as they reached the shore one of them
scrambled out of the water and climbed upon the little rock beside her. She fed them both.
I shall not easily forget this interesting scene - this little episode of millennial humanity.

Oh, maiden of the woods and wave,

With footsteps in the morning dew!
From oozy bed and watery cave,
The tenants of the lake who drew,
Thy voice of love the mystery knew,
Which makes old bards and prophets true.

They tell us of that better day,

When love shall rule the world again;
When crimes and fraud shall pass away,
And beast and bird shall dwell with men;
When seas shall marry with the land,
And fishes kiss a maiden's hand.

The iron age has done its best

With trump and sword and warrior's slain;
But could not tame the eagle's nest,
Nor lead the lion by the mane;
With all its strength and all its woe,
There was an art it did not know.

'Twas fitting that a maid like thee,

In childhood's bright and happy hour,
Should teach the world the mystery
That white-robed innocence has power;
That love the victory can gain,
Which is not won by, millions slain.

Oh, man, if thou wouldst know the art,

The shattered world to reinstate,
Like her put on a loving heart,
And throw away the guile and hate.
A maid shall tell thee how 'tis done,
A child shall show the victory won.

------------
--- 632

MIRROR OF THE MOVEMENT

The New Year, 1900, for which we have looked with so much hope, is now fairly
begun, and the first day and many days afterward, witnessed such a stream of Greetings,
Declarations of devotion to the principles of Theosophy and the Universal Brotherhood
Constitution, and Loyalty to and Support of our three great Teachers, H. P. Blavatsky, W.
Q. Judge and Katherine Tingley, that it seemed as though a great song were being sung
all around the World and that we could catch the music of the Song of Brotherhood from
every race and every land upon the globe.
Greetings to the Leader were cabled from England, Sweden, Holland and many
parts of America.
From the letters received by Bro. E. A. Neresheimer, Chairman of the Cabinet of
Universal Brotherhood reporting the New Cycle Declaration Meetings, the following extracts
are given. These were received from every Lodge in the Country, but it is only possible to
quote from a few:

SEATTLE, WASH. - Our meeting was unanimous and spontaneous. We go forward

into the next Century, full of Hope that we may be worthy soldiers of our Leader in the great
fight against the Hosts of Darkness.
Dec. 31, 1899, F.I. Blodgett, Pres't U. B L. 100.

OAKLAND, CAL. - Count on U. B. Lodge 85, Oakland, for support, moral and
physical, in defense of the principles of our great Cause.
Dec. 29, 1899, Alfred Spinks, Pres't. U. B. L. 85.

JAMESTOWN, N. Y. - How glad every heart must be to respond to the request for
the New Cycle Declarations. It seems as though the very atmosphere was full of the joy
of all those who have had this opportunity and availed themselves of it.
Dec. 28, 1899, Julia S. Yates.

TACOMA, WASH. - Just a few lines to say that I mailed you today, a box of scrolls.
They are an armor-plate for our Leader and testify to what you already know - that Tacoma
shows a solid front.
The Ceremony last evening was most beautiful and impressive.
The Tacoma members are all workers. "No loafers need apply" is our unwritten law.
We don't shine in letter writing, but the Leader knows, and you know, that we will be on
deck when some others may be gone. Please enlist us with the "Old Guard," and when the
final struggle comes, call us to sacrifice.
Dec. 27, 1899, Fred G. Plummer, Pres't U. B. L. 116.

BOSTON, MASS. - We held a most inspiring meeting. Boston is solid, as usual.

Dec. 29, 1899, Robt. Crosbie, Pres't. U. B. L. 28.

SANTA CRUZ, CAL. - The Link is still unbroken, we are still in the work of the
Greatest Movement this world has ever known, and hope in the coming years of the New
Century to help in the work of "Truth, Light and Liberation" - rendering noble service to all
that lives.
Dec. 27, 1899, L.H. Littlefield, U. B. L. 19.

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STOCKTON, CAL. - We are all united here in purpose and thought and the work is
prospering.
Dec. 27, 1899, J.W. Rupert, Pres't U. B. L. 3.

NEW YORK, N. Y. - Never has such a meeting been held as on New Year's Eve,
when the members handed in their New Cycle Declarations. Every note rang true and
clear. We are united in purpose; strong in devotion; loyal to our Leader, and march
forward into the New Time, with joy in our hearts, rendering noble service to all that lives.
Jan. 1, 1900, J.H. Fussell, Sec'y Aryan T. S.

VICTORIA, B. C. - In a set of resolutions, unanimously passed by U. B. L. 87, at its

annual meeting, the members reaffirm their "Loyalty, Trust and Devotion to the Leader,"
and send Greetings to the Cabinet and to every Lodge of Universal Brotherhood throughout
the world. The Resolutions conclude as follows:
"Resolved, that we, for our Lodge and for ourselves individually, hereby place on
record our firm determination to ever remain true and faithful to the Cause of Universal
Brotherhood, to render it our unwavering service throughout the years to come, and to
defend and protect it with all our strength."
Signed by the Members, U. B. L. 87.

U. B. L. 2, BRISTOL, ENGLAND.
From the Members of the above Lodge to the President and Members of the Parent
Theosophical Society in America:
Dear Comrades. - We, the undersigned, most heartily echo the note of energy,
comradeship, and loyalty to our Leader and the Cause, so clearly sounded in your welcome
greeting of the 23d ult.
We feel that, united as we now are in one body, made strong through loyalty to our
Head and Heart, all the "fiery darts" hurled at us will fall powerless and that, ere long,
thousands of comrade souls who are seeking the Light will find it again and be "saved."
"With heartiest greetings to yourself, dear President, and to all our Comrades in the
Land of the Coming Race, and with joyful hope for the New Century which is dawning, We
are, Eternally yours,
Signed by the Members of U. B. L. 2. (Eng.)

WILKINSBURG, PA. - Dear Leader and Comrades. - As the last moments of the old
year 1899 pass from us, we, the members of Lodge No. 58, send you greetings for the New
Year; trusting that your labor as well as ours and all, for the Great Cause of Universal
Brotherhood, may be prolific of even greater results at the end of the coming year of 1900
than of the year just closed and joined to the past Eternity.
 Dec. 31, 1899, Signed by all the Members, U. B. L. 58.

SIOUX CITY, IA. - We are happy to have had the privilege of making the "New Cycle
Declaration." Our meeting was a helpful one and our loving thoughts go out to the Leader.
May many loyal and devoted hearts give their glad service to the Cause of Universal
Brotherhood.
Dec. 26, 1899, Signed by the Members, U.B.L. 66.
------------

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN NEW YORK

On New Year's Eve we had an experience of one meeting following another from
8.15 p.m. to 3 a.m. The first meeting was a public one. The Aryan Hall was crowded,
many not able to find seats. H. T. Patterson was chairman. Short

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addresses were given by J. H. Fussell, by H. T. Edge and H. Coryn, two of Mme.

Blavatsky's old pupils; W. E. Gates, of Cleveland; C. Thurston, of Providence; Miss
Bergman, of Sweden; C. L. Carpenter, and Mrs. C. F. Ober, of Chicago.
Following this meeting was held the first regular meeting since its reorganization of
the

H.P.B. LODGE, No. 10, U. B.

The Leader opened the meeting by welcoming the new President of the Lodge, Mrs.
Vespera Freeman. It was an enthusiastic meeting and many of the members and visiting
members spoke. It was unanimously decided to send a letter of greeting to all Lodges of
the Universal Brotherhood. The Lodge has entered upon its new cycle of activity under the
most favorable auspices, and the devotion of its members is a promise of a wide sphere
of Brotherhood activity in the future.
The third meeting was the New Cycle Declaration meeting for all the New York
members; this lasted until the birth of the New Year. We regretted much the absence of
our President, E. A. Neresheimer, who was in Europe, but he was remembered and a place
kept for him.
----------

MAGNUM OPUS
The Power of the Great Work, culminating this year at Point Loma was told in that
Master Proclamation, in Symbolism given to the people of the earth by the Great Helpers
of the Race.
Supreme events are fittingly portrayed in Symbolism. This hour bears witness to the
"Magnum Opus" for the people of the Earth and all creatures. The consummation of ages
of devotion to bring Truth, Light and Liberation has found its being on the Point of Light at
last.
Truth comes not as a stranger, or as an astonishment, but as belonging to us - a
heritage. The quest for Truth is not a vain search, and it is not at all strange to find that the
problem of life is well solved and known, and all that is required is to extend the
Proclamation by active service in the philosophy of life for it to be known far and wide.
Then, when this is known, first in thought and afterwards in action, the immense work will
be straight before us. A work which is at once a splendid achievement and a delightful
occupation filling to the utmost all the noblest desires of the heart.
The doubts and anxieties of the world are destined to shortly disappear and
speculative theories of every conceivable absurdity and disorder will cease.
This will be an intense relief to the common heart, an immense burden thrown off,
and the joy of childhood will assert itself. The great work will be commenced - be born.
There is something indescribably invigorating in this great work of Universal
Brotherhood. It makes one joyous and buoyant, which, of course, is strictly scientific, for
it is the true outlet of the cosmic life force. At every whole-hearted act we take a plunge
bath in the elixir of life, and so at each new effort, a new energy and deeper power for
service is found. - T. W. Willans

--------------------------

AUM
TRUTH, LIGHT AND LIBERATION

Would you paint a great picture, be a good man. Would you carve a perfect statue,
be a pure man. Would you enact a wise law, be a just man." - John Ruskin

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIV March, 1900 No. 12
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RUSKIN
By A. N. W.

Born in the early part of the century, John Ruskin was of those faithful souls who
have guarded the Lamp of Truth amid the rough storm of commercial upheaval, and the
dead calm of international prosperity; one who has never ceased in his endeavor to induce
his fellow-men to see this light, and let it illumine their work, of whatever nature or quality.
He was one of the torch bearers of the nineteenth century who has not feared to
cast the light he carried into the darkest phases of our civilization, his enthusiasm has never
flagged, his direct truthfulness has not faltered. Like one of the prophets of old crying to
the people to leave their idols and turn to the true god, he has ever proclaimed the highest,
the best and the noblest. "There is in man," says Carlyle, ''a higher than love of happiness,
he can do without happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness. Was it not to preach
forth this same higher that sages and martyrs, poet and priest, in all times have spoken and
suffered; bearing testimony through life and death, of the God-like that is in man, and how
in the Godlike only has he strength and freedom!"
His counsel of perfection is Ruskin's gospel. "For all noble things," he says, "the
time is long and the way rude. Patience and submission to the eternal laws of pain and
Time, and acceptance of them as inevitable, smiling at the grief, with heart of peace accept
the pain, and attend the hours; and as the husbandman in his waiting, you shall see first
the blade, and then the ear, and then the laughing of the valleys. But refuse the law and
seek to do your work in your own time and you shall have no harvest."
"A great idealist never can be egotistic," says Ruskin, "the whole of his power
depends upon his losing his sight and feeling of his own existence, and becoming a mere
witness and mirror of truth, and scribe of visions, always passive in sight, passive in
utterance, lamenting continually that he cannot completely reflect, nor clearly utter all he
has seen." Again he writes, ''I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do
not mean by hu-

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mility doubt of his own powers, or hesitation of speaking his opinions; but a right
understanding of the revelation between what he can do and say and the rest of the world's
doings and sayings." Such men have "a curious under-sense of powerlessness, feeling
that greatness is not in them, but through them, that they could not do or be anything else
than God made them; and they see something divine and god-made in every other man
they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful."
John Ruskin was born in 1819; he spent most of his childhood at Herne Hill, where
his father, a prosperous wine merchant, had purchased a house. Recounting some of the
advantages of his childish education he says: "Best and truest of all blessings I had been
taught the perfect meaning of peace, in thought, act, and word." Never, he says, had he
heard his father's or mother's voice raised in any question with each other, nor seen an
angry, or even a slightly hurt, or offended glance in the eyes of either; never heard or saw
a servant scolded, nor saw any disorder in household matters, nor had he any idea of
anxiety. In this way was preserved to him what he calls, "This priceless gift of peace." He
also received a perfect understanding of the nature of obedience and faith, he learned to
obey every word of father and mother, simply as a ship her helm. Nothing was promised
that was not given, nothing ever threatened that was not inflicted, and nothing told that was
not true. "Peace, obedience, faith, these three for chief good, next to these the habit of
fixed attention, with both eyes and mind, - this being the main practical facility of my life,
but," he goes on to say, "I had nothing to love."
This want of love was deeply felt. He pathetically relates that his parents were to
him "in a sort, visible powers of nature, no more loved than the sun and moon." So this
little being spent an isolated childhood, though so carefully trained and anxiously watched.
Still he was happy, living in a world of his own creation. Anne Richie (Thackeray's
daughter), writing of the childhood of Ruskin, says: "Almost every child has some natural
glamour and instinct of its own, by which the glare of life is softened, and the first steep
ways garlanded, and eased, and charmed. We call those men poets who retain this divine
faculty all their lives, and who are able to continue looking at the world with the clear gaze
of childhood. Such a poet was Ruskin if ever man was one."
Ruskin was entered at Christ Church, Oxford in 1837, his parents having set their
hearts on his going into the church, but though that was not to be, he has ever been a
teacher, and a preacher of the church not built with hands. The great Universal
Brotherhood of men acknowledge him as one of the teachers who have been sent by those
who know, for he has ever upheld truth, and declaimed against falseness. Ruskin
describes the first sermon he ever preached, he remembers himself as a very little boy,
thumping on a red cushion before him, saying, "People be good!" This has been his theme
ever since. After taking his degree at Oxford, he began to ask himself what his work in the
world was to be. What should he do so as to be of the greatest help to his fellow

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men? and soon after this, on publishing the first volume of Modern Painters, he seemed
to feel where his power lay, and to understand the message he had to deliver. It is the
right- understanding of the work he has to do, that often constitutes the success or failure
of the worker. Speaking of his time he says, "I must get on to the days of opening sight,
and effective labor, and to the scenes of noble education which all men who keep their
hearts open receive to the end of their days. That he has kept this open heart all through
his life, is very apparent, as one perceives how his earlier ideas and criticisms are modified,
and often altered for broader, wider views of life and art.
Writing of Modern Painters, he says, the second volume was not meant to be in "the
least like what it is." Going to Italy to revise his first impressions of art, he found much to
see that had before escaped him, and much that he had already seen that was viewed
through a different medium; his gaze was now profounder, his insight deeper. Writing of
his life in Italy at this period, he says: "Serious, enthusiastic, worship and wonder and
work; up at six, drawing, studying, thinking, breaking bread and drinking wine at intervals;
homeward the moment the sun went down." This was the sort of life our poet and seer led
while he was putting his noble thoughts into words.
It is about this period that Ruskin seems to have come under the influence of
Carlyle, whom he speaks of as one of the three great masters who had helped to form his
character, the others being Tinteretto and Turner, the first having died two hundred years
before, while Turner was still in his prime. What Carlyle thought of Ruskin is shown by a
letter he wrote to Emerson about this time. He says: "There is nothing going on among
us as notable to me as these fierce lightning bolts Ruskin is copiously and desperately
pouring into the black world of anarchy all around him. No other man in England that I
meet has the divine rage against iniquity, falsity, and baseness, that Ruskin has, and that
every man ought to have."
Ruskin's intuition and vivid imagination, when brought into combination with his
capacity for work, and his great love of nature, were not to be exceeded. "An entire
delight," he writes, "was in observing without being observed; if I could have been invisible
all the better. I was absolutely interested in men and their ways, as I was interested in
marmots, and chamois, and trout, the living habitation of the world, the grazing and nesting
in it, the spiritual power of the air, the rocks, the water; to be in the midst of it, and rejoice
and wonder at it; this is the root of all that I have usefully become." This extract shows his
sympathy with all creatures, all that lives, from the elements up to man: all life he saw was
but part of the One Life, that divine essence that throbs through the universe.
All architecture Ruskin held embodied certain stages and crises of the human
evolution. "The Seven Lamps" was written to show that "certain right states of temper, and
moral feeling, were the magic powers by which all good architecture, without exception, had
been produced." In the Stones of Venice, he endeavors to prove that the Gothic
architecture of Venice sprang from, and

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displayed "a state of pure faith, and of domestic virtue, and that its renaissance architecture
rose from a state of concealed national infidelity and domestic corruption."
Everything had for him a moral and a meaning. He loved to dwell on things as they
should be, rather than as they are. "In these books of mine," he says in Modern Painters,
"their distinctive character as essays on art is their bringing everything to a root in a human
passion, or a human hope." Ruskin has many wonderful thoughts on color harmony and
symbolism. In Deucalion we note this passage: "In these natural relations of color the
human sight, in health, is joyfully sensitive, as the ear is to the harmonies of sound; but
what healthy sight is you may well suppose I have not time to define, - the nervous powers
of the eye being dependent on the perfect purity of the blood supplied to the brain, as well
as on the entire soundness of the nervous tissue to which that blood is supplied; and how
much is required through the thoughts and conduct of generations to make the new blood
of our race of children, it is for your physicians to tell you when they have themselves
discovered this medicinal truth, that the divine laws of the life of men cannot be learned in
the pain and death of brutes."
Writing on the symbolic meaning of colors, he tells us that "Or, or gold, stands
between the light and darkness as the sun who rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course,
between morning and evening. Its heraldic name is Sol, and it stands for the strength and
honor of all men who run their race in noble work, whose path is as a shining light.
Purpure, or purple, is the kingly color; it is rose color darkened or saddened with blue, the
color of love in noble or divine sorrow, borne by the kings whose witness is in heaven, and
their labor on the earth. Its stone is Jacinth, Hyacinth and Amethyst." "You hear me tell
you this positively and without hesitation," he says, "what these things mean, but mind you
I tell you so after thirty years' work, and that directed wholly to the end of finding out the
truth, whether it was pretty or ugly to look in the face of." He goes on to tell us that he has
found that "the ultimate truth, the central truth, is always pretty, but there is a superficial
truth, or halfway truth which may be very ugly, which the earnest and faithful worker has
to face, and fight, and pass over the body of, feeling it to be his enemy, but which a
careless-seeker may he stopped by, and a misbelieving seeker will be delighted and stay
with gladly."
Of symbols he says: "It is perfectly true that every great symbol, as it has on one
side a meaning of comfort, has on the other side one of terror; and if to noble persons it
speaks of noble things, to ignoble persons it will as necessarily speak of ignoble things."
Again he says, "Under all these heraldic symbols, as there is for thoughtful and noble
persons the spiritual sense, so for thoughtless and sensual persons there is the sensual
one, and can be no other. Every word has only the meaning its hearer can receive." "The
symbols can only reflect to you what you have made your own mind, what you have
determined for your own fate."

--- 639
 Ruskin has recorded that he perceived very early in life the deep sanctity of nature,
from the least object to the greatest. Nature he seems to view as a great entity which
caused him a feeling of intense awe mixed with delight; it was as if he recognized a vast
being - a Planetary Spirit - causing an indefinable thrill, indicative of an entity beyond the
normal human ken, but recognizable by one who can ascend into the higher realms of
vision. "It is not in the broad and fierce manifestations of the elemental energies," he
writes; "not in the clash of the hail, or in the drift of the whirlwind, that the highest
characters of the sublime are developed. God is not in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but
in the still small voice."
Ruskin is one of the most eloquent writers on the beauties of nature that England
has produced, and sees plainly that every form of life is simply another medium through
which the divine manifests; "this life that passes through form after form," he says, "from
rocks, flowers, trees, animals, culminates in man - man within whom the divine essence is
able to function - and returns to God who gave it." And again he writes, "Nature worship
will be found to bring with it such a sense of the presence and power of a great spirit as no
mere reasoning can induce."
Some years ago Ruskin wrote an article in a current magazine on the "Nature and
Authority of Miracles." In this paper he says he thinks it impossible to know what are the
laws of Nature, and also impossible to determine if the laws so called by man are absolute,
or if they are not amenable to other forces of which our finite intellect is not cognizant. "I
know so little," he says, "and this little I know is so inexplicable, that I dare not say anything
is wonderful because it is strange to me, and not wonderful because it is familiar." He
implies that it is the abnormal that often gives the key to the normal, as the momentary
flash of the lightning illumines the landscape. It is not the uniform forces, but the rare ones,
that put us in connection with those divine powers which we know encircle us, though our
corporeal eyes are not yet able to view them. Spiritual influence has ever been intermittent;
in other words, the medium is not always able to transmit the light, and then occur those
periods of spiritual darkness when there is no "open vision," no power to reflect the light.
So Ruskin seems to say that what are called miracles, though superhuman, need not be
supernatural. It is indeed true that the laws of Nature are far too vast for our interpretation;
we may be quite sure that those laws, did we know them, are absolute and eternally fixed,
but with our limited knowledge how can we tell what is a law, or what its limits are? When
we can lay claim to true wisdom, when our intelligence is illuminated by the light of divine
insight, then, perhaps, we might venture to say if the laws of nature extend to the marvels
we sometimes call miracles, and if they are not the outcome of some law of which we are
now ignorant.
The bond that unites us to our fellow men, "the electric chain by which we are darkly
bound," is a subject of deep thought for our philosopher; in unity he perceives the strength
of the race for action. He says, "The love of the

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human race is increased by their individual differences, and the unity of the creature made
perfect by each having something to bestow, and to receive, bound to the rest by a
thousand various necessities, and various gratitudes, humility in each rejoicing to admire
in his fellows that which he finds not in himself, and each being, in some respect, the
complement of his race." And again he says, "There is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor
any creature but it is capable of a unity of some kind with other creatures. The unity of
earthly creatures is their power, and their peace, the living peace of trust, and the living
power of support of hands that hold each other and are still."
"It is good," says Ruskin, "to read of that kindness and humility of Saint Francis of
Assisi, who spoke never to bird, or cicada, nor even to wolf, and beasts of prey, but as his
brothers, and so we find are moved the minds of all good and mighty men." Ruskin, who
felt this brotherhood with all that lives, was much drawn to St. Francis. He tells a story of
his own life while in Rome which might be mentioned here as typical of this brotherhood.
He was in the habit of giving alms to the poor he met in the streets, and among these he
was especially attracted, by his beautiful and sad expression, to a begging friar, who stood
on the steps of the Pincio. This man generally received a gift from him as he passed. One
day the grateful beggar endeavored to kiss the hand of his benefactor, who, drawing his
hand away with sudden impulse, bent down and kissed the beggar's cheek. The next day
the poor man called at Ruskin's house to offer a gift, which he said was a relic of St.
Francis d'Assisi, a small portion of rough brown cloth, that had formed part of the saint's
robe. Ruskin then remembered that he had once dreamed that he was a Franciscan friar,
and in this way he was led to make a pilgrimage to the convent of St. Francis of Assisi,
where he first saw those frescoes of Giotto, which he found more beautiful than anything
that Tintoretto, whom he had so much admired, had produced.
Was it, perhaps, St. Francis himself, who, in the form of the beggar, led the master
to the shrine where he found what so delighted him? At least it shows that the love of all
beings, the seeing the divine shining through the lowliest of creatures brings its own
reward, and whoso gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones hears the refrain,
"Ye have done it unto me." So he who has such power to penetrate into the heart of things,
into the life of the crystal, nay, even that in the commonest stone, or bit of stick, he has also
power to see that the divine spirit of harmony and life permeates all men.
Deucalion, which Ruskin calls "A collection of studies of lapse of waves, and life of
stones," he dedicates to Proserpine and Deucalion, "because," he says, "I think it well that
young students should first learn the myths of betrayal and redemption and the spirit which
moved on the face of the wide first waters as taught to the heathen world, and because in
this power, Proserpine and Deucalion are at least as true as Eve or Noah, and all four
incomparably truer than the Darwinian theory. And in general the reader may take it for a
first principle both in science and literature, that the feeblest myth is better than the

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strongest theory; the one recording a national impression on the imaginations of great men
and unpretending multitudes; the other an unnatural exertion of the wits of little men, and
half wits of impertinent multitudes."
Speaking of the tendency to burlesque everything, so prevalent in our time, Ruskin
says that it is the "effervescence from the putrid instincts which fasten themselves on
national sin, and are in the midst of the luxury of European capitals, the mocking levity and
gloom being equally signs of the death of the soul; just as contrariwise, a passionate
seriousness, and a passionate joyfulness are signs of its full life." He goes on to say, "It
is to recover this stern seriousness, this pure and thrilling joy, together with perpetual sense
of spiritual presence, that all true education of youth must now be directed. This
seriousness, this passion, this universal religion, are the first principles, the true root of all
art, as they are of all doing, and all being. Get this vis viva first and all great work will
follow."
Ruskin defines the difference between religion and superstition in the following
passage, "Superstition," he says, "is the fear of a spirit whose passions are those of a man,
whose acts are the acts of a man, who is present in some places, not in others, who makes
some places holy, and not others; who is kind or unkind, pleased or angry, according to
the degree of attention you pay him, or praise you refuse to him; who is hostile generally
to human pleasure but may be bribed by sacrifice of a part of that pleasure into permitting
the rest." This, he says, "whatever form of faith it colors is the essence of superstition. And
Religion is the belief in a spirit, - to whom all creatures, times, or things are everlastingly
holy, and who claims all the days we live, and all the things we are, but who claims that
totally because he delights only in the delight of his creatures; and because, therefore, the
one duty they owe Him, and the only service they can render Him, - is to be happy. A spirit,
therefore, whose eternal benevolence cannot be angered, cannot be appeased; whose
laws are everlasting, so that heaven and earth must indeed pass away if one jot of them
failed; laws which attach to every wrong and every error a measured, inevitable penalty;
to every rightness and prudence an assured reward; penalty of which the remittance
cannot be purchased; and reward of which the promise cannot be broken."
This sounds like an exposition of the Law of Karma. Ruskin goes on to show us the
effect of this true religion on Art, and the baleful influence of superstition. "Religion" he
remarks, "devotes the artist, hand and mind, to the service of the Gods; superstition makes
him the slave of ecclesiastic pride, or forbids his work altogether in terror or disdain.
Religion perfects the form of the divine statue, superstition distorts it into ghastly grotesque.
Religion contemplates the Gods as the lords of healing and life, surrounds them with glory
of affectionate service, and festivity of pure human beauty. Superstition contemplates its
idols as lords of death, appeases them with blood, and vows itself to them in torture and
solitude. Religion proselytes by love, superstition by persecution. Religion gave granite
shrine to the Egyptians, golden temple to the Jew, sculptured corridor to the Greek, pillared
aisle and frescoed wall to the Christian."

--- 642

Ruskin tells us that there is only one way in which we can assure good art, and that
is "to enjoy it." If what is false or second rate appeals to us, we shall only get that. He says
"No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort, a great thing can only be done
by a great man, and he does it without effort." Of all the greatest works we do not say,
"there has been great effort," but there has been great power here. This he adds, "is not
the weariness of mortality but the strength of divinity." But, he thinks the man of genius is,
as a rule, more ready to work than other people, and is often so little conscious of the
divinity in himself, that he is apt to ascribe his power to his work, and has said when asked
how he became what he is, "If I am anything, which I much doubt, I have made myself so
merely by labor." This was Newton's way of speaking of himself, and Ruskin thinks that
it would be the general tone of men whose genius had been devoted to natural sciences.
Genius in art, he thinks, must be more self conscious, "It is no man's business
whether he has genius or not," he continues, "work he must, whatever he is, but quietly and
steadily; and the natural and unforced result of such work will be always the things God
meant him to do and will be his best. No agonies nor heart rendings will enable him to do
any better. If he be a great man they will be great things; if a small man, small things; but
always if thus peacefully done, good and right; always if restlessly and ambitiously done,
false, hollow, and despicable."
Ruskin speaks of the men who have made art their profession, and says that they
are not generally happy men; the reason, he thinks, is that "they are expected, and
themselves expect, to make their bread by being clever - not by steady or quiet work; and
are therefore, for the most part, trying to be clever, and so living in an utterly false state of
mind and action." What is the artist's true function? What his real work? Ruskin believes
that that work is a religious one, that the artist has power to give reality to forms of faith,
and truth to ancient myths and histories, by giving visible shape to them. The art of any
country, he says, is the "exponent of its social and political virtues."
Speaking of the morality of art, he says, "So far from Art being immoral, little else
except Art is moral; life without industry is guilt, and industry without Art is brutality; and
for the words 'good,' and 'wicked,' used of men, you may almost substitute the words
'makers,' or 'destroyers.'" The true workers, he says, "redeem inch by inch the wilderness
into the garden ground; by the help of their joined hands the order of all things is surely
sustained, there is no hour of human existence that does not draw on toward the perfect
day."
One of the most popular of Ruskin's books is "Sesame and Lilies." It is divided into
two parts: "Sesame, or King's treasuries," and "Lilies, or Queen's gardens." Under the
former heading he has much to say to us of books and how to read them.
He tells us of "Bread made of that old enchanted Arabic grain the Sesame, which
opens doors; doors not of robbers, but of Kings' Treasuries." He says this food for the
mind, this power we all have, of becoming conversant with the

--- 643

thoughts and feelings of great and divinely taught men, is given us through books. All
books, he tells us, "are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour and the book of all
time." "The real book is written when the author has something to say which he believes
to be true, and useful or helpfully beautiful," and this he must say as clearly and
melodiously as he can. "He would fain set it down for ever, engrave it on rock if he could;
saying 'this is the best of me,' for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, and loved, and hated,
like another, my life was as the vapor and is not; but this I saw and knew." He goes on to
say that books of this kind have been written in all ages by great thinkers; that we have the
choice of all these, and that life is short, - then speaking of the possibilities of this short life
he says: "Will you go and gossip with your housemaid, or your stable boy, when you may
talk with Queens and Kings! Do you long for the conversation, of the wise? Learn to
understand it, and you shall hear it. But on no other terms; you must, in a word, love these
people if you are to be among them. No ambition is of any use."
If an author is worth anything, we cannot get at his meaning all at once, for while he
says what he means, he cannot say it all; the deepest thought is hidden away and given
as a reward to those who seek long enough. "No book is worth anything which is not worth
much, nor is it serviceable until it has been read and re-read and loved and loved again,
and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it as the soldier can seize
the weapon he needs in an armory, or a housewife bring the spice she needs from her
store."
Of education, Ruskin says it is not "the equalizer, but the discerner of men." So far
from being instrumental for gathering riches, "the first lesson of wisdom is to disdain them
and of gentleness to diffuse." He thinks it is not yet possible for all men to be gentlemen,
as even under the best training some will be too selfish to refuse wealth and some too dull
to desire leisure, but even that might be possible, he says, "if England truly desired her
supremacy among the nations to be in kindness and in learning," and he continues, "above
all, it is needful that we do this by redeeming the people from their present pain of self
contempt, and by giving them rest." We ought, he says, to aim at an "ideal national life,"
when none of the employments shall be unhappy, or debasing in their tendency.
Speaking of the Theatre and the Museum as means of noble education, he says:
"Dramatic and Didactic Art should be universally national, but the museum is only for what
is eternally right and well done according to divine law and human skill; the least things are
to be there, and the greatest; but all good with the goodness that makes a child cheerful
and an old man calm; the simple should go there to learn, the wise to remember." Ruskin
spent some of the best years of his life in endeavoring to show the beauty and excellence
of Turner's work; he then had perfect faith in the power of great truth, or beauty to prevail,
and take its rightful place. But he found, or seemed to find, that his time had been wasted,
and what grieved him most in this disappointment was the discovery that the most splendid
genius in art might be allowed

--- 644

to labor and perish unknown, "that in the very fineness of this art there might be something
rendering it invisible to ordinary eyes." That was the first mystery of life revealed to him.
But he goes on to tell us that the more his life disappointed him, "the more solemn
and wonderful it became;" it seemed as if "the vanity of it was indeed given in vain, but that
there was something behind the veil of it which was not vanity." He saw that the failure,
and the success in petty things, that was worse than failure, both came from "an earnest
effort to understand the whole law and meaning of existence, and to bring it to a noble
end;" and he came to see that all enduring success in art, or in any occupation, comes
from a solemn faith in the advancing power of human nature, however gradual; and in the
promise, however dimly apprehended, that the mortal part would be swallowed up in
immortality. Ruskin speaks of Turner as "a man of sympathy absolutely infinite, a
sympathy so all-embracing," that he knows of "nothing comparable to it but that of
Shakespeare." Contrasting Turner and Millais, he says: "They stand at opposite poles,
making culminating points of art. They are among the few men who have defied all false
teaching, and have, therefore, in great measure done justice to the gift with which they
were entrusted." So Ruskin gives out his gospel of Love and Beauty. To him the Artist is
one of the chief mediums through which this message reaches the people. The function
of the true artist is to be a seeing and a feeling creature, an instrument, so sensitive, so
tender, that the most evanescent expression of things visible shall not escape him, and the
invisible also shall so affect his work that the soul of it shall be understood by those that
look on it; his place is neither to judge nor to argue, but to gaze, to perceive both what is
visible to the outer vision and that inner sight "which is the bliss of solitude."
Let us all cultivate this artistic vision and endeavor to attain to this fount of joy and
beauty, that might be such a power wherewith to aid Humanity. All literature, all art, should
be studied with the view of gaining power to help those who have not this knowledge. It
is this power over the illiterate, the unhappy, which is in the truest sense "kingly," and this,
the "only one pure kind of kingship," enables one to guide and raise others not so endowed.
All true education should be used first to obtain this kingship, this divine power over
ourselves, and, through ourselves, over those around us, who need our aid. Ruskin
recognizes in all his works the idea of humanity advancing through long ages to a state of
perfection; and that this natural evolution can be hastened by the mutual aid of each
individual, when banded together in a strong phalanx. Already those of clear vision discern
signs of a change, a new influence is abroad, occult powers are working, and there seems
to be a presentiment in the hearts of many that a new era is dawning, when all men will
indeed be brothers.

--------------
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THE SPIRITUAL THREAD IN OPERA - " FAUST"

By Elizabeth Churchill Mayer

"It is the artist's lofty mission to shed light on the depths of the human heart." So
speaks Schumann, himself an artist, in one of his Davidite articles.
The true artist is born into this life with a soul attuned to the Beautiful. We use this
term not in the modern superficial meaning, but in the manner of the old Greeks, implying
that which is perfection, harmony and completeness in the man, as well as in the universe.
Such minds are the flower of humanity. Existence would be a cold, lifeless thing,
like the earth without its sun, were it not for these creative souls, the poets, painters,
sculptors, writers and musicians, who are continually bringing into objective form one or
another aspect of the Beautiful.
So well did the ancients understand the laws of well-being that the study of the
Beautiful, in its deepest sense, was an important part of their education. Plato advised that
music and gymnastics be the two first essentials acquired - music to produce harmony and
equilibrium of character, which is soul expansion, and gymnastics to develop strength and
symmetry of form. These ideas were carried out to a great extent in their dramas, which
were intended to educate the masses. By impersonating gods and goddesses they really
partook of their substance, and called out in themselves spiritual powers which were
godlike. "What a man thinks that he becomes," is an axiom running through all the ancient
religions. Could the operas and dramas of today be interpreted by actors equally
conversant with the true philosophy of life, the thought of the world would be changed as
by magic. They would become in reality true priests and priestesses of their art.
Victor Hugo says: "It is in the theatre that the public soul is formed." The picture
that the stage presents today is somewhat appalling. I fully believe that many a one takes
up this profession with a lofty purpose, but finds himself unable to sustain that purpose
under the mental pressure of the race, which has a morbid craving for novel diversions.
Sooner or later the artist inevitably succumbs and becomes the common-place puppet of
the public. The work of regenerating the stage and drama will be the mission of some
strong and lofty soul, fully conscious of his purpose, who dares to do what he knows to be
true.
Let us carry our thought into the operatic world. Many of the best masters of music
have found extreme difficulty in getting desirable material for their operas. This was the
reason why great Beethoven never wrote but one opera, "Fidelio." Gluck and Mozart drew
much of their inspiration from Greek mythology, which offers abundant resource. Strangely
enough, one of the most popular operas with the matter-of-fact public of the present day
is a

--- 646

mystical one, "Faust." We refer to the opera whose music was written by Gounod over
forty years ago. Doubtless the two foremost reasons for its great popularity are these:
because it deals with the most human, if one of the deepest problems, connected with
humanity, and because it has a musical setting that could not be surpassed in its treatment
of the subject. True, as now given, the opera of "Faust" is merely a fragment from the
complete tragedy of "Faust." For a thorough comprehension of the opera one should read
Goethe's entire poem.
Coupland styles this masterpiece of the great German poet as "the mystery-play of
the nineteenth century." Founded on the Faust and Magus legends, opportunity was open
to Goethe to weave around the characters of the drama all his deep knowledge of alchemy,
philosophy, mythology and mysticism. The character of Doctor Faust reveals the evolution
of that most complex of all problems, the soul's growth and final "birth into beauty."
A few days before his death Goethe wrote Von Humboldt: "More than sixty years
ago the conception of 'Faust' lay clear before my youthful mind." The first part was
completed in 1775, but the second part was not finished until the year 1831. Thus the
experience of a genius' lifetime was woven into the poem. It is quite evident that Goethe
was a strong admirer of and believer in ancient Greek philosophy. In the second part of
the poem, founded on the Magus legend, he reveals a clear insight into what were termed
the "Mysteries."
To fully grasp the meaning of the work one must also be a student of this ancient
philosophy.
It would seem that Goethe had planned that this poem should be performed like
Aeschylus' plays as a trilogy. He also covers his meaning in much the same way as
Aeschylus did by personifying as nature-spirits, etc., the powers which work in man's
nature. It is a marvel that this great work has not been dramatized into successive parts.
Given under proper management and interpreted by students competent to understand and
bring out the true beauties hidden therein, a series of most unique, instructive and beautiful
performances could result.
The opera of "Faust" is slightly changed from the original work. Many of the wittiest,
most caustic and significant conversations between Mephistopheles and Faust are omitted.
The "Prologue in Heaven" furnishes the clue to the poem - indeed, without it, much of the
meaning would be obscured. Some of the translators omitted it because many considered
it impious. As, however, the modern mind labors under no such delusion, a brief synopsis
of the Prologue is subjoined. The quotations are from the translation by Anna Swanwick.
The Lord is giving an audience to some of the angels, who have charge of the
several spheres of the Universe, and amongst them is Mephistopheles. He evidently does
not have an audience with the Lord very often, and expresses his pleasure in this manner:

"Since thou, O Lord, approachest us once more,

And how it fares with us, to ask art fain,

--- 647

Since thou hast kindly welcomed me of yore,

Thou see'st me also now among thy train.
.........
Of suns and worlds I nothing have to say,
I see alone mankind's self torturing pains.
Better he might have fared, poor Wight,
Had'st thou not given him a gleam of heavenly light;
Reason, he names it, and doth so.
Use it, than brutes more brutish still to grow."

Upon hearing this, the Lord asks Mephistopheles if he has nothing but blame to give
- if nothing ever does seem right to him on the earth. Mephistopheles answers, "No,
everything is in miserable plight." The Lord then inquires whether Mephistopheles knows
his servant, Faust. "The Doctor?" says Mephistopheles, contemptuously. He is rather
cynical about Dr. Faust's being a servant of the Lord, and points out in a flippant manner
Faust's ambition and selfishness. The Lord replies to this:

"Though now he serves me with imperfect sight

I will ere long conduct him to the light."

Mephistopheles then wagers that he can lead Faust away from the Lord. The Lord
allows this, saying, "that so long as Faust lives on earth it is not forbidden Mephistopheles
to tempt him." "But," he adds, "after Mephistopheles has diverted this mortal spirit from his
primal source," and used all his powers to drag him down, that he will still be obliged to own
that a good man, even in the last depths of sin, will retain his consciousness of right."
Mephistopheles delightedly affirms that he can win the wager, and adds:

"Excuse my triumphing with all my soul,

Dust he shall eat, aye, and with relish take,
As did my cousin, the renowned snake."

The Lord answers:

"I ne'er have cherished hate for such as thee.

........
Ever too prone is man activity to shirk;
 In unconditioned rest he fain would live;
Hence this companion purposely I give
Who stirs, excites, and must as devil work."

Heaven closes, leaving Mephistopheles soliloquizing thus:

"The ancient one I like sometimes to see,

And, not to break with him, am always civil -
'Tis courteous in so great a Lord as he
To speak so kindly even to the devil."

Although this interview has been the subject of much discussion, to students of the
Universal Wisdom as expounded by Mme. Blavatsky and her successors there is no
impiety conveyed. On the contrary, it is pregnant with meaning.
When Lucifer fell to earth and endowed man with celestial fire, man became the dual
being we now see - one part constantly aspiring toward union with its divinity, the Lord, the
other caught in the mad whirl of the animal desires, becoming the devil, or the God in man
perverted.

--- 648

"The throne of Satan is the foot-stool of Adonai."

The tragedy of "Faust" can be taken as symbolical either of what occurs in the soul
of the whole human race, or in the individual only. For the sake of simplicity, we will
suppose the latter. Faust then represents a lofty soul, capable of wonderful achievement,
still chained to his lower nature. Until he is completely emancipated from those desires he
will have as his constant companion the devil, who is the synthesis of all that is evil in his
nature.
The play opens showing Faust a man about fifty years of age, seated in his dimly
lighted, narrow Gothic chamber. He is surrounded by shelves, hemmed in with dusty
volumes, worm-eaten and musty. Boxes and instruments used for alchemy and magic are
piled around in confusion. Faust is a man who has lived an austere, good life in the
abstract, and has an intellect cultivated to an abnormal extent - indeed, that is where the
danger point has been reached.
Discontented, restless, he feels that, notwithstanding his extraordinary knowledge,
there is yet something he fails to grasp, and what that is he cannot fathom. He concludes
to leave it all and take his own life. As he is raising a phial of poison to his lips he is
stopped by hearing the ringing of bells and a chorus of angels singing.
It is Easter night, and the music takes him back to his childhood days; his mood
softens, and he relinquishes the idea of death.
Faust's complex character, revealed later on, is well brought out in these lines which
he utters:

"Two souls, alas! are lodged within my breast,

Which struggle there for undivided reign:
 One to the world, with obstinate desire,
And closely cleaving organs, still adheres;
Above the mist, the other doth aspire
With sacred vehemence to purer spheres."

From this period the duality in Faust's Soul becomes more and more apparent. At
times the higher nature resumes its reign, then again he will be overcome by the most
torturing desires. He soon becomes a prey to his morbid reflections, regrets that he did not
die as he had decided, and in one great outburst of bitterness, curses the whole world he
has hitherto known. With that curse he shuts off the higher nature, the devil takes this
opportunity to appear, has no difficulty in making a compact with Faust, and from that time
never leaves him.
Faust reveals his reason for leaving a good, blameless life and taking up an entirely
contrary mode of living when he says to Mephistopheles:

"Vainly I have aspired too high;

"I'm on a level but with such as thou.
.........
Rent is the web of thought, my mind
Doth knowledge loathe of every kind.
In depths of sensual pleasure drowned
Let us our fiery passions still.

--- 649

.........
Excitement is the sphere for man."

The reaction has begun. A man possessed of an ardent, brilliant mind like Faust,
with lofty aspirations, cannot realize his highest possibilities by shutting himself away from
humanity and its needs. So long, as we are members of the human race we share willingly
or otherwise its weal or woe.
The world is held by desire. But what is the cosmic law of affinity or attraction in the
lower kingdoms becomes something very much more in man. He has the power to control
desire, to love what and where he chooses. But how little is this principle understood.
When desire is mastered by man, transmuted, and purified, he is raised to the plane of
Divine Love, the power which holds the universe. This "obstinate desire" as Faust terms
it, that has all these years been suppressed, but not conquered, flames out and takes
complete mastery of him for the while. He craves "to know in his heart's core all human
weal or woe," mad excitement, agonizing bliss.
Mephistopheles agrees to furnish him with the necessary experiences. As the
initiative he promptly restores Faust's youth by taking him to the Witch's Kitchen. Here
Faust is served with the draught which accomplishes the deed, and is shown in a mirror a
vision of beauty, Marguerite.
The devil would appear in a different guise to each man. Naturally Faust's devil
would be an astute, intellectual subtle entity made still more powerful by Faust's yielding.
Mephistopheles represents the constricted narrow, false-hearted extreme lowest limit of the
male quality in Faust - the antithesis to the divinity within, embodied selfishness, without
one iota of the Beautiful or the Spiritual heart-force. That lofty aspirations are still potent
in Faust is shown in his eager search for the Beautiful. His constant falling in love with
beautiful women is for the reason that they appeal to his heretofore undeveloped, tender,
sympathetic, intuitional faculties.
Goethe brings out very clearly throughout the poem that even Mephistopheles has
his limitations. He quite frequently has to call on other powers to aid him in his undertaking.
There are times when Faust completely leads and controls Mephistopheles, the latter
seemingly unconscious of it; though in the Tragedy of Marguerite, the guiding power is
Mephistopheles. Faust becomes inflamed with passion by the beauty of Marguerite,
Mephistopheles adds fuel to the flame, brings about a meeting between them, suggests to
Faust how to win her, and throughout plays his part untiringly. At times the purity and
innocence of Marguerite appeal to the better qualities in Faust's complex nature, then he
suffers bitter pangs of remorse and struggles to break the connection between
Mephistopheles and himself. He feels the guiltiness of bringing harm to such an angel. But
Mephistopheles' wily insinuations are yet too strong for Faust, and he yields.
The first meeting between Marguerite and Faust occurs at a village dance. Faust
sees Marguerite passing along on her way to church. The gaiety of the peasants showing
the pleasures and delights of youthful love afford a striking

--- 650

picture as a contrast to the religious purity of Marguerite. This scene reminds one very
forcibly of the one in "Zanoni," where Glyndon is tempted to break his vows by being drawn
into a peasant's revel - although the motives of the two characters are unlike.
The sound and rhythm of dance music act as a maddening exhilarator upon youth.
Gounod caught the appropriate musical setting to this opera and this waltz of the villagers,
which is heard repeatedly through the opera, has a very peculiar effect. The sensuous
music of the love passages between Marguerite and Faust is almost too realistic. The
thrilling majestic music of the prison scene, and finale, make a fitting climax to the work,
uplifting the auditors to a higher plane.
Under the instruction of Mephistopheles, Faust becomes a very clever wooer, and
soon Marguerite has become entirely under the influence of his magical powers. What
happens now to Marguerite need not be lingered over. It is her misfortune to suffer the
saddest of all tragedies which can occur to a woman. Unable to stand the scorn of the
villagers when the truth becomes known, and, broken down by remorse at the death of her
brother, who is killed by Faust, she becomes insane and kills her babe.
Faust is ignorant of the horrors Marguerite is passing through, for he has been
enticed away, with little difficulty, by Mephistopheles. They attend a wild night on the
Brocken, Walpurgis Night. In the midst of the revels Faust sees the phantom shape of
Marguerite in such utter despair and woe, that his nobler qualities are once more aroused
and he resolves to return and save her.
Mephistopheles, alarmed for his safety, and fearing that he may lose this Soul, by
virtue of a noble deed, tries to dissuade him from going. Faust remains firm and the devil
has to yield to the stronger Soul.
 Faust finds Marguerite imprisoned, awaiting her execution, a total mental wreck. He
is unnerved at the mischief he has wrought. After much pleading he makes her understand
that he has come to take her away, and as she is about yielding to his wishes, she
discovers Mephistopheles is with him. Her aversion to Mephistopheles is so great that the
shock restores her reason. She refuses to go with them and appeals to Heaven for aid.
Mephistopheles cries, "She is judged." A voice from Heaven says, "Is saved." As Faust
disappears with Mephistopheles, a voice from within is heard calling to Faust.
This Tragedy of Faust is one that must appeal strongly to the hearts of men and
women. It sounds the deepest, saddest note in the whole gamut of experiences. So long
as men are dominated by desire and women remain negative to their own powers, just so
long will this old story be played in the minor key.
Marguerite represents the type of womanhood which has been the product of the
dark cycles. A beautiful, simple-minded, undeveloped woman. Pure at heart for she
shudders whenever Mephistopheles appears as Faust's companion. Still the devil
influences her in several instances, notably so in feeding her vanity by the present of the
jewels, and again when he works on her emo-

--- 651

tions in the church scene, by depressing her with remorse to the extent that she becomes
insane. Yet selfishness never dominates her as it does Faust. If Marguerite had been
Faust's equal or superior in culture and intellect, she would have become his inspiration
and guide, her influence ultimately killing the devil in Faust.
But woman must have raised herself to a knowledge of what she is, wherein her true
power lies, before she can preserve the true equilibrium which should exist between man
and woman. And the work before woman today is to study, to analyze, and to understand
her emotional, psychic nature in order that she may master and control it.
When this is done and the union with her higher intuitional faculties is accomplished,
then her spiritual Soul will envelope her like a mantle of light, she will fulfill her destiny, and
become the living epitome of the Beautiful. But until this has come about as a natural
process for all, the majority of women will continue to suffer and learn from experience. A
great shock is sometimes necessary to awaken the sluggish soul, and this happened to
Marguerite, her true self became the conqueror and she died with the glory of divinity about
her.
The Opera closes leaving us with rather vague notions as to Faust's future. But the
second part of the poem completes the history of this remarkable character.
That Goethe fully intended the higher type of woman to be represented, as the
necessary complement to Faust, is shown in the second part, which is based on the old
Magus legend. Faust conjures up the phantom of Helena, the most beautiful of women,
falls in love with her, and from that union springs the child Poetry.
Helena representing the highest type of the Beautiful, is uninfluenced by
Mephistopheles, he loses his power over Faust, for the latter has ascended to an advanced
sphere of action. He gradually loses his vitality and soon ceases to be much more than an
automaton.
Ultimately Faust loses Helena, who is the phantom only, not the reality, and
discovers the real purpose of life as he is about to die. He realizes then that "man is made
for man," and that "all efforts must be glorified by consecration to the service of humanity."
The vision of Marguerite, now become a purified saint, greets Faust as he dies, and
bears him upward, while the Mystic Chorus sings:

"The Indescribable
Here it is done.
The woman-soul leadeth us
Upward and on."

The majority of the enduring Operas contain something more than appeals to the
mere appreciation of the beautiful music, fine singing and acting, and gorgeous stage
embellishments. And that something is the underlying, mystical thread that is in reality the
Soul of the Opera.

-----------
--- 652

WHY THEOSOPHY IS OPTIMISTIC

By Hjolmar

What Optimism hopes, Theosophy foresees. Its philosophy is the warrant of

Optimism. A book which deserves more reading than it gets thus sums up the keynotes
of this philosophy:
"There are three truths which are absolute, and which cannot be lost, but yet remain
silent for lack of speech.
"The soul of man is immortal, and its future is the future of a thing whose growth and
splendor have no limit.
"The principle which gives life dwells in us, and without us; is undying and eternally
beneficent; is not seen, or heard, or smelt; but is perceived by the man who desires
perception.
"Every man is his own absolute lawgiver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself;
the decreer of his life, his reward, his punishment."
Whoever takes those three truths fully into his life must necessarily be an optimist
by their warrant. The pessimist has partly or wholly failed to comprehend them, and so is
without that illumination which he might have - is not in touch with facts.
Perhaps the pessimist is always a man whose mind has run away with him. It has
either wrested, or reasoned, away from him his human-divine power of knowing such truths
as the above; or it has frightened him out of use of that power by making gloomy pictures
of his own past or future, or of the Universe. It is either fear, or the rank weedy overgrowth
of ratiocination, that makes the pessimist.
How does the soul know that it is immortal, not reachable by death?
As the sun is above the clouds, sees the clouds rise, veil him from the earth, and in
time dissolve in the clear air, himself remaining unaffected; so the soul - itself beyond and
above death - upon death, and that which is the prey and domain of death, looks down
untouched. It surely may claim to know that it cannot be subject to that which arises, reigns
and disappears in regions altogether below it.
 As soon as a man recognizes himself as a soul, he is of necessity a Theosophist
and an optimist, for he now knows his destiny and can confidently preach the "three
Truths." To understand the first two of these three requires almost no thought; whoever
will do so may begin to feel that they are true; whoever will let this feeling grow within him
will in time so thoroughly get hold of the joy in them that he will be able to look straight into
the eyes of another man, of however lowly intellect, and say to them with such conviction
as to inspire in that other a portion of his own now clear and undislodgable knowledge.
One burning match can ignite a boxful of others.

--- 653

"These truths, which are as great as is life itself, are simple as the simplest mind of
man. Feed the hungry with them."
"Life itself has speech and is never silent. And its utterance is not, as you that are
deaf may suppose, a cry; it is a song.
"Look for it and listen to it first in your own heart."
Perhaps men will go on "dispensing gloom" to themselves till they learn that they
need not, and that a little attempt daily to feel the actuality of the first two "Truths"
constitutes a self-dispensation of "glory."

-------------

THAT BOURNE FROM WHICH

By Edgar Saltus

As one who to some long locked chamber goes,

And listens there to what the dead have said,
So are there moments when my thoughts are led
To those thick chronicles whose pages close,
Epochs and ages in that same repose
That shall the future as the past o'erspread,
And where but memory may tend the dead
Or prune the ivy where once grew the rose.
And as there to me from their pages streams
The incoherent story of the years,
The aimlessness of all we undertake,
I think our lives are surely but the dreams
Of spirits dwelling in the distant spheres,
Who, as we die, do one by one awake.

[We gladly insert this beautiful sonnet contributed by the writer to the Universal
Brotherhood Path; its mysticism will hardly, we think, be misinterpreted. - Ed.]

UNFOLDMENT
 The caterpillar longs to fly,
And, sleeping, wakes to find the gain
Of wings show unimagined heights
Which their best flights attempt in vain.

So with aspiring human soul,

Unsatisfied with common things, -
Desire for growth is gratified,
But new wants come with golden wings.

- Lydia Ross

------------
--- 654

I CAN DO MUCH
By Corolyn Faville Ober

Modern pedagogy introduces the study of psychology into the curriculum of an ever
increasing number of its specialized departments, thus indicating the development of an
apprehension of the power of thought. Inevitably this must lead to recognition of thoughts
as things, and later to the knowledge of our responsibility as their creator. "My thought
children," the literati call their printed productions. "Our institutions are the outgrowth of the
thought of the nation," the students of political economy affirm, but we yet wait to be
vitalized by the realization of the vast thought progeny which surrounds us, each thought
a living entity eventually to become embodied in physical existence. Surely an appreciation
of this momentous truth will marshal the thought forces of the world into decisively opposing
lines, and we shall be compelled to choose with which side our powers shall be allied, the
imperative moment arriving for each of us with the knowledge of our true position in life as
"Thinkers," or radiators of thought force.
Let the imagination conceive of what must be the aspect of the limp, paralyzed and
stupid little thought-form that has been projected into space by the expression, "I can do
so little." Recall to mind that it is the law of all embodiments to follow magnets, and then
attempt to realize the inevitable career of such a negative and helpless imbecile. What else
could occur to it but that it should be drawn into the dark atmosphere of despair, increasing
the gloom with its depressing whisper of impotence, "I can do so little."
Shall the incarnate Soul, a centre of divine energy, whose mission it is to manifest
that energy until all that lives awakes to lofty possibilities of consciousness, be held back
by thought-creations such as these? Or shall the acceptance of a sublime ideal and clearly
defined objective point impel the counter declaration, "I can do much?" Charged with life
in proportion to the depth of the conviction, with energy of will and buoyant faith, a thought-
child of this order may become capable of angelic ministration. Penetrating the dark of the
world, it quickens into a glow the latent spark in the hearts of the discouraged ones and
inspires to new determination and consequent achievement.
The great question, then, for each of us is this: Shall we serve the world as master
creators of bright and helpful messengers, or shall we remain the slaves of our own
impotent thought-progeny?
Probably the task of imperial self-assertion, - not for self, but for her sex and for the
race, - is more difficult for woman than for man, centuries of restricted environment having
left inactive faculties that must once more be quickened into glad and confident activity;
but none who read the signs will deny that the hour is ripe for her to overcome the
hereditary sense of limitation, to redeem the time lost in her nap of ages, and to once more
assume the regal prerogatives of her office.

--- 655

Acting without the knowledge now in our possession, the women of the past century
have executed pioneer work upon which we who follow, if we appreciate our indebtedness
and our opportunity, shall build. A too careful examination can hardly be given to the
achievements of those who dared to insist, amid every sort of opposition, "I can do much."
Let us trace the effect along one of very many lines in the industrial world. Observe, for
instance, the elevation of the professional nurse from the style portrayed to us by Dickens
to the dignity of the present intelligent and efficient type; an example of what must
ultimately be accomplished in every department of commercial life. Within the memory of
the present generation those women who dared to conduct a millinery shop were
considered too disreputable for association with their helpless but respectable sisters. With
the courage of a true conviction, however, there were heroines who persevered until
countless channels of activity are now open, and multitudes are added daily to the list of
the self-sustained, each unit thus becoming more independently assertive, and each
unconsciously forcing the standards of quality to be raised.
Robert Ingersoll, when asked how he would change the government of the world if
he were God, replied: "I should make health contagious instead of disease." There is
abundant demonstration that it is already so in the fact just quoted, for it was the contagion
of a healthful impetus toward mutual helpfulness that, spreading rapidly uplifted the women
of the United States by the hundred thousand; and, crossing seas and continents, its
influence has also touched and raised the thought-power of our sisters in almost every
corner of the earth.
Endowed with the confidence born of a consciousness of her limitless capacity as
Soul; accoutred by her best knowledge of the reality and potency of thought-entities, the
woman warrior member of the Universal Brotherhood Organization must take her place
before the advancing hosts of women to hold before them a true concept of life and the
sublime grandeur of its meaning. Standing in the glory of a new born day, the generic
woman-soul must be permitted to proclaim through her, by thought and word and act, its
trumpet-toned announcement of a resurrection. Not on ears incapable of hearing shall the
blessed tidings fall; but aspiration shall be rekindled until, from the ranks of the rich woman
and the poor, the cultured and the ignorant, the strong and the disabled, the free-born and
the slave, the words shall reverberate like echoes, "I also can do much, for I, too, can
think."
Not one to whom so high a calling has been vouchsafed has excuse for inactivity,
and desire for membership with those who wear the badge of Universal Brotherhood is the
call. Henceforth equipment for such service must be the ruling wish, and for those who
desire to serve, the fields, by the first culture of the pioneers, are already fertile with
suggestion.
How may the lost arts and sciences be revived except by restoration of our efficiency
as workers? And will this efficiency appear again unless we learn to love our work as
artists should? Who that realizes, even faintly, the

--- 656

ever present living reality of Soul fails to apprehend the treasure everywhere concealed;
and who, perceiving it, comprehends not the simple method, by which it may be drawn
forth?
It is active interest all along the line that develops the untold wealth waiting dormant
in Nature's treasure-house; and such accomplishment, ascending plane on plane, it is for
us everywhere to achieve. Approach, then, ye women who hold woman's future in your
hands - approach the smallest task with holy reverence, and lose your sense of limitation
in the doing. The homeliest, the most insignificant of duties, must be accepted as a sacred
trust, and but awaits your living interest to develop possibilities far beyond your present
ken. Regard each effort, then, as an opportunity for the expression of the real self within,
and into it weave the whole life story, thus impressing all things of the present moment with
the ideals and possibilities of the next, and restoring the artistic and the prosaic to their old-
time, hand-in-hand companionship. The displacement of Nurse Gamp has been paralleled
by the disappearance of many another similar anomaly, and all still existing forms of the
old order must vanish before the "Thinker," whose intelligence shall raise every possible
vocation into the all-inclusive province of high art.
We who proclaim that there is little we can do are self condemned for lack of
vigilance in seeking opportunity. Even while we waste our force by giving utterance to the
impious words, "I can do so little," cries of distress doubtless are made within our hearing,
of which we remain unconscious because we have not given heed. Preoccupation with
personal concerns has dulled our powers of observation; otherwise we should know that
anywhere and every instant there is not only work for us to do, but work that must remain
undone until we do it. To shield ourselves behind the shabby old excuse, "I did not think,"
is now impossible. The imperative duty of the "Thinker" is to think, to remain incessantly
on watch, and to act the moment opportunity is perceived. Lives go astray; tortuous
iniquities exist; suffering remains unrelieved; poverty is left unaided; and souls sink into
oblivion whenever the "Thinker" forgets to think.
To prepare for action is assuredly as much our duty as to act. The first command
of any military drill - "Attention!" - is that which we most need, as the first requirement for
any sort of service is that we shall be alert. The hour strikes suddenly when we are called
upon to act, and those who prove their fitness are they who have discovered that fully to
realize present opportunity is the whole secret of power. Any situation may avail us as a
vital educator if we perceive our chance of preparation for mightier effort and more
trustworthy guardianship. The more phases of existence we have to pass through the
greater the insight we may acquire. The resourceful woman in emergency is always one
whom Goethe describes as having "seen something and lived something." Back of all
effective administration of affairs are the eons of experience through which the Soul has
gained its power. Why, then, shall we not transform and glorify events by our appreciation
of their profound signifi-
--- 657

cance? And why not learn to adapt ourselves to any condition in which the law has placed
us for our instruction until we become so wholly reconciled as to say of it, "For the sake of
all my brethren, I thank God that I am here?"
To those who insist that the enormous opportunities of the present time belong only
to a certain class of women, we must recall the magnificent work of the ignorant colored
woman, Sojourner Truth, during our civil war. At a mass meeting the news of repeated
reverses had so depressed the assembly that even the silver tongue of Wendell Phillips
appeared to be half paralyzed. Rising from her seat, Sojourner pointed her finger at the
orator and cried out, "Wendell, is God dead?" The effect was electrical. The courage of
all who were present revived and a resolute enthusiasm took the place of the previous
despondency.
The force of a deep conviction, in which was concentrated her whole life energy,
gave to a woman who was entirely unadorned by special gifts or acquirements, the ability
to arouse a vast and lethargic audience. A consummation far more glorious awaits us all,
for each may aid to reinvigorate the soul-consciousness which is to redeem the race. With
the duality of nature becoming ever more distinctly apparent, we cannot fail to comprehend
how inevitably the influence from the ranks of darkness reaches and absorbs us when we
are not actively co-operating with the powers of light. Whichever side we reinforce,
reinforces us. The world languishes for the incentive of a living faith. It perishes from the
disorders caused by prevalent low ideals. We must no longer permit ourselves to remain
in a negative condition, but spread a contagion of health by placing ourselves with absolute
assurance as a part of the army that makes eternally for righteousness and peace.
Persistently holding up its standards of purer, truer living, and recognizing the imperishable
treasure within the hearts of all, it is the queenly prerogative of the very least of us to
revivify the listless and the down-hearted by the sublimity of our faith in their limitless
possibilities of attainment.
Nor does so majestic a realization require always to be brought about by word of
mouth, or even by outward act. "As we think, so are we," declares an authority very high
indeed; for thinking, we learn to act, and acting, we learn to be. The new world which is
opening for the race requires the creation of a nobler type of womanhood. For this it is
primarily essential that we recognize ourselves as greater than any possible stress of
circumstances; that we grasp firmly, and nourish with every thought, the ideal of our
inherent wisdom and virtue, until all that is foreign to it shall die and fade away; and that,
self-centred, - through knowledge of the eternal truths of being, - we become so positive
an affirmation that our presence calls to all within the radius of its influence to awake and
share our light and power.
So may we illumine the world with the radiance of a self-conscious declaration,
"While life lasts in the body I can and will do much."

------------
--- 658

IN THE CONCRETE
By W. T. Hanson
 The path to the arcana of life lies everywhere. But can this mean that in all places
the way is equally defined and direct?
Man need not be governed by environment. He can always somewhat change and
in greater or less degree overcome every adverse circumstance. But is it not to give the
mind over to folly, to fancy that indiscriminate conditions best conduce to a chosen line of
work?
All the Lovers of the Race should know of Point Loma. Their interest in it is deep
and vital. Explanation, description and illustration will convey something of its import, but
little compared with the realization through actual experience of even a few months'
residence here. To the student merely the benefits are inestimable.
Take the picture of Point Loma as drawn by travelers to this region. In its light
consider the enlarged capacity into which the mind will expand - in which it will simply find
the breath of its life when relieved from the thousand and one depressing influences
inherent in the leaden atmosphere of towns, cities and localities, rife with the corrosive
emotions and diseased ideas now prevalent in human affairs. The possibilities of a mind
innately of an inextinguishable energy and steadfastness of purpose, and actuated by the
right motive, are enormous anywhere. But imagine what the same mind can conceive and
execute when surrounded by every natural encouragement instead of numberless infernal
incubi.
All accounts agree that the climate of Point Loma is not surpassed - nay, not
equaled - elsewhere on the earth. The evenness of the temperature the year round is
wonderful and the degree something surprising in its effects. While the orange and the
olive and, tenderest of all, the lemon, thrive to perfection (and the latter particularly must
have warmth), light winter clothing is always essential to personal comfort. The latitude and
sunshine on the one hand, the effect of these being tempered by the altitude and breeze
on the other, always operate to balance each other, so that the temperature varies but
slightly and appears so conducive to mental equilibrium as to incline one to imagine there
exists between the atmosphere and the mind some connection, some bond or
correspondence. Neither is it to be supposed that the equanimity is merely a descent to
an inane lethargy. The bracing freshness of the air does not permit such, and a tendency
to feverish activity is calmed by a glance at the great outlying Pacific, in its very bigness
discouraging to fretfulness. Somehow there is here a combination of the influence of the
mountain and the sea, which, like a chemical compound, possesses characteristics beyond
those of its elements. More favorable than all others mentioned is the sun. Under the
conditions existent here it does not appear possible to get too much of the sunshine. None
of the ill effects noticeable in southern countries generally, and in the

--- 659

warm season especially, are to be found. The liberating effect upon the student is
unquestionable. For the tired and worn it is an elixir. For those whose life currents have
well nigh burst their channels it is a reservoir of conserving power. For the worker it is an
unfailing resource of inspiration and courage and joy. It is enough of itself to make one
believe that the old sun worshipers knew not a little of the living truth.
The sunsets are marvelous. Adequate description is impossible. The expanse of
the entire dome of the heavens is frequently utilized for the effects. If one will vividly recall
the most brilliant and gorgeous and again the most delicate, dainty colorings he has ever
seen in the immediate vicinity of the declining sun and extend the picture over the arching
canopy in every direction from horizon to horizon, he may form some conception. And in
addition, for the final glory, the very air is diffused with a luminant iridescence, beginning
with a soft, roseate radiance, gradually shading with each moment through every hue to
a halo of loveliest purple, which serenely ushers in the quiet night. To experience it actually
is to entertain the feeling of a magical land so full of every beatify and joy that the very
atmosphere is aglow with their splendors, and that somehow, sometime, all these in all their
fullness are a heritage of human life and will enter into its everyday being.
Possibly, as powerful as they certainly are, the natural conditions of Point Loma
would not alone suffice to stir these emotions. In conjunction herewith much is also due
to the mythos of the place, and it is well understood now that myths are no dead things
relating to a distant and crumbled past, but have very potently to do with the present. This
the mere student may not rightly conceive, but the man of life knows it. And whatever
much Point Loma may afford to the student, for the man of life it holds and will give more.
Philosophy is good, but Life is better. Already at Point Loma there are people whose lives
are wrapped in practical action. They know of a Teacher who has philosophy to give, but
it is the philosophy of living, and therefore they also find in this personage the Leader who
is conducting philosophy into life.
Katherine Tingley has established here, the ordained international centre of the
Universal Brotherhood movement, many activities under various departments of the
organization. Some of these, and comparatively speaking all of them, are as yet in the
veriest germ. Fast maturing plans will soon inaugurate a wide range of operations on
appropriate scales. At present one of the interesting features is the International
Brotherhood League Colony, established during the great Brotherhood Congress held here
in April, 1898. The colony is not merely entertaining. It is in the highest degree instructive.
Any one connected with it by residence or close observation has had the inestimable tuition
of seeing philosophy in the abstract pass into concrete fact, and thus has been afforded
demonstrations in life as conclusive as any in chemistry scientifically made in the
laboratory.
The colony seen when the grounds were purchased and again now will tell the story
better than words. Just following the congress a number of rep-

--- 660

resentatives, for the most part comprised of prominent members and workers from all over
the world, immediately erected a large building in addition to the other houses already on
the grounds, and which is, indeed, a most unique structure. It embodies some of the very
essence of Brotherhood. At the same time they cleared the grounds of growth incident to
evidently a considerable period of neglect. In this state of regenerative thrift the place was
turned over to the colonists themselves, or rather the nucleus. These are all interesting
people, representative of many nationalities and every phase of life except the unintelligent
and shiftless; students every one, each with strong, decided ideas of his own. In their
characters, differences exist not merely of personal opinion, but racial idiosyncrasies,
climatic influences and the opposing colors of diverse religious or non-religious sentiment.
A radical change in the modes of living confronted them, what might be called self-denial
to undergo, work to be done, and with all a clearly defined perception that the moment one
preferred to do so he was, of course, perfectly free to withdraw if he chose. One common
bond united them - confidence in the Heart and Head of the organization and a perception,
though diverse conceptions, of the Principle of Brotherhood, an understanding of which to
that time, comparatively, was largely theoretical. Of course every natural circumstance was
favorable.
What they have accomplished shows the divine side of humanity. They require no
further reiteration that the real things of life are not to be understood, much less attained,
through intellectual gymnastics alone. The colony itself is its own sign. To be conversant
with its life is to be continually in touch with an inspiration. To be absent even for a short
time, to return, to behold on approaching, the plants, the flowers, the hedges, the lawn, the
fields now green with grain, the arrangement of the houses, almost, as it were, nestling to
each other, is to feel with renewed force the presence of order, intelligence, industry,
consideration, freedom, a buoyant light-heartedness, and especially if it be toward night,
when the lights are lit and close together twinkle cheerily, a delightful human feeling which
makes one glad that he lives to know it. It may be an old, old emotion coming to existence
again from bygone ages of purity and grandeur, but it also appears to possess a wondrous
touch which perhaps the children of earth have never felt before.
Something of this nature is in the atmosphere of Point Loma. The colonists and the
others in the Universal Brotherhood Movement have good ground for an active faith in the
near at hand rehabilitation of mankind, and the effulgence of living joy into the world.
This much almost before beginning. Of what, then, is it the forerunner? Who will
undertake to behold the larger future? Or, more to the point, who will lay hold of these
blessed and ineffable potencies, man's rightful heritage, available now to individual
aspiration, and marshaling them under the positive, dynamic will, usher them into general,
concrete life.

------------
--- 661

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THE PROTESTING CHURCHES

By Jerome A. Anderson, M. D.

There are moments in every man's life when he is forced to choose between the evil
and the good. Similarly, with larger organisms; there comes to them, too, a time where
they must choose - where their very existence as an organic body depends upon their
choice. The nation that makes the wrong choice goes down the by-paths of decay to
death. The Church or society must likewise choose wisely or perish.
Such a moment of choice has now come to the Protesting Churches of the West.
Protestantism must forgo its creeds, in this hour of world-peril. TOLERANCE must
be its motto and watchword. Tolerance for each other's beliefs and methods of worship;
tolerance even for warring creeds and dogmas. Then must come tolerance for other
religions and other faiths. With this will come a widening of spiritual horizons; higher
conceptions of God; a glad recognition that salvation for the human soul runs in broader
and deeper channels than they have hitherto dreamed; an ecstatic glimpse of the dawn
of Universal Brotherhood!
 All religions are one in essence - as the philosophy of Universal Brotherhood amply
demonstrates. Protestants must throw aside the unworthy fear of "infidelity," and examine
the evidence. Nor need they go outside their own Bible, although if they will, their hearts
will be gladdened by finding that Christ spoke truly when he said, "Other sheep have I
which are not of this fold." Mistranslations, misinterpretations, forged interpolations, have
so darkened counsel, that Christians do not recognize the sacred mine of truth which
underlies the Oriental allegory and exuberant metaphor of their Holy Book. Let them
search the Scriptures in the true spirit, and they will find therein indeed the words of
everlasting life.
It is to show some of these hidden truths that the latest Brotherhood Series - the
"Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings" - is being published. The essence of the Bible
is not to be found in any dead-letter interpretation - around which creeds and dogmas are
always built. The inner, spiritual meaning must be sought for, and this series will be most
helpful in this direction.
These inner truths are always the same in any Bible. They are eternal; they may
be concealed by words for a time, but the soul of man will never rest for long before it will
tear aside the deluding veil. Let the Protestants take advantage of the Pentecostal
outpouring which accompanies the new cycle, and open their hearts to higher truths, to
holier conceptions. Let them lift their eyes above and away from cramped and distorted
dogmas, and they will perceive that,

--- 662

truly, "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork."
They will cease to torture and slay because one calls Him "Brahm" whom they call
"Jehovah." They will recognize that God is One in essence, although He may be known
under a thousand names. The effect will be wholly good. Fear and hate are allied; when
we cease to fear God we will begin to love not only Him, but each other.

------------

PER OMNIA
By T. R. E. McInnes

I know not how nor whence I came -

I stand as one without a name -
Yet free and fearless I proclaim:
I am!

I know not to what bourne I go

Of Heaven's bliss - or Hell's dire woe -
But this one thing of all I know:
I am!

Nor Heaven nor Hell can utterly

 Disperse the root and core of me -
I will be what I will to be:
I am!

---------

HOLLOW NUTS

Not always doth performance run

Where Reason points the way;
And oft'ner is a deed begun
Ere Reason has its say.

So, Inclination taketh tack

Around all fields of strife;
So, men and women idly crack
The hollow nuts of life.
- R. H. Cheney
---------------
--- 665

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE AMERICAN FLAG

In a very interesting little book, "Our Flag," by R. A. Campbell,* the story is told of
the American flag, its origin, history and meaning, and the following extracts have been
made to show the author's interpretation and "mystic meaning" of the Stars and Stripes.
The book gives an insight into a phase of the history of the United States that is fascinating
and full of the deepest interest.
In a succeeding issue will be given the interpretation of the Universal Brotherhood
flag - the flag of the School for the Revival of Lost Mysteries of Antiquity - designed by
Katherine Tingley, and now used together with the American flag on the cover of the
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH.

----------
* Published by H. E. Lawrence & Co., Chicago.
----------

MYSTIC MEANING AND ESOTERIC INTERPRETATION OF THE NEW FLAG - THE

STARS AND STRIPES.
The flag of a nation should be the symbol of the ideal upon which the nation is
founded, and this must always be the ideal of manhood, as that ideal is conceived of by the
founders of the nation. This is true, because every possible organization among men is,
in accordance with the theory of such organization, in the form of a man. In other words,
every organization among men, so far as the principles and purposes, the operations and
results, of such organization is concerned, is simply a man who is in size the sum total of
all men in the organization, and who in form is the collated aggregates of their recognized
ideal man. The ideal nation, therefore, must be in the form of the ideal man - with all the
recognized characteristics of the ideal man as to rights, duties, purposes, methods of
operation and destiny. It naturally follows that one's conception of the ideal man simply
needs enlargement to constitute his conception of the ideal nation. When, therefore, one
has determined the appropriate design to symbolize his conception of the ideal man, he
has also found the appropriate design for the flag of his ideal nation.
The Stars and Stripes, as above described, are the appropriate elements for the flag
of our new ideal nation, because they are the complete and beautiful symbols of the
characteristics of the ideal man.
...........
All these forms of government have, heretofore, been organized upon the
fundamental false assumption that the man who is strong of arm or superior in the accident
of rank or intelligence has the natural or (as it is sometimes called) the Divine right to
dominate absolutely, for his own purposes, and by such methods as he may choose, all
other men who are weaker in muscle or who are less intelligent or less self-assertive; and
that consequently the masses have

--- 664

few, if any, rights which the one who is stronger or wiser is bound to respect. In short, the
principle of government has heretofore, been that might - whether of brawn or will - gives
the right to absolute and unquestionable domination; and that lighter physique or weaker
will is the sin that bears the natural penalty of abject and unquestioning servitude. Our new
National Government is founded upon the declaration, "All men are free; and every man
has an equal right to life, liberty and happiness." This is at least the negative side of
philanthropy; because it recognizes the equal rights of man as man - of every individual
man; and it impliedly suggests willing and chosen co-operation, instead of arbitrary
domination and enforced obedience.
Philanthropy looks at man in the singular number, and it estimates man individually.
Philanthropy aims to render man virtuous rather than obedient. It seems to lead man into
holiness rather than to inculcate obligation.
Philanthropy fosters intelligence rather than the impartation of traditional rules; and
it stimulates individual, productive usefulness rather than the enforcing of habitual, routine
drudgery. Philanthropy aspires to develop each man into a "king," who will purely and
wisely rule himself, and into a "priest," who will commune with the highest and make his life
one of practical purity. Philanthropy aims and endeavors to elevate and perfect humanity
by arousing, teaching and assisting each individual man to perfect himself.
Now the Stars and Stripes symbolize man, the philanthropic man, the man who is
aspiring to, planning for, and developing in all that renders him a more perfect human
being.
THE COLORS. - Red is the symbol of a man in the realm of his desires, his
impulses, his yearnings and his aspirations. As red is shaded and darkened it types the
sensual and the selfish nature in man, and it then symbolizes impurity, dishonesty, injustice
and tyranny. As red is tinted and lightened toward the more delicate shades of pink it types
tenderness, gentleness, affection tinged with weakness; and thus impractical
sentimentality. The clear red types that ardent and pure love which is at once kind and
courageous. It symbolizes that manly philanthropy which aspires to the greatest good of
the individual man, and thus of the entire race, and that will strive for that end regardless
of whether the path lie in the well worn highway, with consequent smooth traveling, or
whether it must encounter fatigue, opposition and temporary discomfiture.
White is the symbol of man in the intellectual domain, and it represents wisdom,
intelligence, knowledge, healthful imagination, clear intuition and correct thinking; and it,
therefore, symbolizes justice. Blue is the type of a man in the realm of his physical
existence and operation. It therefore refers to man's physical well being, his activities and
his productive usefulness - to his condition, welfare and success in actual development, as
manifested in the phenomenal world. The red and white, in alternate equal stripes, teach
that in all man's life and work the pure purpose and the wise plan must be equal factors;
and these factors must be co-ordinate and constant; that purity and intelligence are the
essence and form of every successful operation that finds its

--- 665

outworking and resulting effect in the blue field of man's practical life and manifestation.
The three red and the three white alternate stripes, that run the full strength of the flag,
symbolize the beautiful truth that aspiration and intelligence, affection and thought, purpose
and plan, will and system, must be the grand underlying, general and comprehensive
factors in the whole of every pure, true and useful life; and that this must be the case in
each of the three planes of man's life - the moral, the intellectual and the physical.
The seven short alternate red and white stripes opposite the blue field refer to the
particulars and details of man's life. The red stripe at the base of these seven and opposite
the lower margin of the blue field, signifies that every special purpose, plan and activity
should have a pure and philanthropic foundation; while the red stripe at the top alludes to
the special, superior and perfecting human quality attained by the individual, and through
the individual by the race, by such constant, loving, wise and useful endeavor. The short,
alternate, red and white stripes opposite to the blue field particularize the teachings of the
full-length stripes; that is, they announce and emphasize the idea that the special and
temporary purposes, plans and activities of every day's operations, like the grand
aspiration, theory and effort of one's life, should be pure, intelligent and effective - and at
the same time harmonious and mutually co-operative - on the three planes of will, intellect,
and experience; in short, that the ideal aim and object of the whole life of man should also
be the special aim and object of every particular subsidiary purpose, plan and act.
As the blue field symbolizes man in the realm of physical existence and productive
manifestation, the white stars therein will readily and beautifully symbolize the definite and
special attainments in which his ideal aspirations and his actual developments are fully
unified or harmoniously adjusted. The five-pointed star, one point up, symbolizes the man
whose philanthropic purpose is clearly and fully defined in a dynamic will that is intelligently,
absolutely and unchangeably determined. He who has a pure purpose which transcends
all others, an intelligent plan which includes all others, with an exalted and unswerving
determination that utilizes all minor operations, and who is devoting his whole being and
life to accomplish his grand purpose, is appropriately represented by the pentagram, one
point up.
The thirteen stripes, while they will for a long time - and perhaps always - very well
represent the number of colonies which unite their interests, their efforts and their
governmental destinies in the formation of the first independent nation in America, have yet
a very beautiful and a very important, and a much deeper meaning.
Thirteen is, according to the initiating instruction of the Ancient Magi, the number of
"Progress, Perpetuity and Perfection." There were twelve tribes of the children of Israel -
but Moses, the thirteenth, was the one who ruled and directed them all; or the Levites, the
priestly, and therefore the most honorable of them all, may be numbered as the thirteenth.
There were twelve disciples in the Apostolic College; but Jesus, its founder and
enlightener, was

--- 666

over them all, and he was the thirteenth. There are twelve gates to the Holy City of the
Apocalypse; but the grand avenue of Divine influx from above, without which the other
twelve would be only gates to eternal darkness, is the thirteenth. There are twelve signs
in the Zodiac; the sum total of them all is the surrounding firmament, in the centre of which
is the thirteenth, the illuminating and sustaining sun. There are twelve months in the year,
which, in their aggregate and union, form the year which is the thirteenth. All the ill omens
ever attached to the number thirteen are simply suggestions of the retribution which
overtakes those who profane that which is essentially sacred.
Thirteen as applied to man symbolizes the natural man whose instinctive and selfish
impulses are being regenerated into harmonious and co-operative perfection with his ideal
aspirations. It, therefore, symbolizes the actualizing of the ideally perfected family, church
or nation, which is founded upon and developing upon the grand truths of the Absolute
Fatherhood of the Divine and the consequent Universal Brotherhood of Man.
In short, then, the Stars and Stripes symbolize the man who, with a pure heart, clear
brain and working hands, is philanthropically, intelligently and successfully, step by step,
realizing his aspirations in developing continually into a higher and holier ideal, Divine
Manhood.
As the flag of our nation, the Stars and Stripes will symbolize a philanthropic
government founded upon these principles, administered in accordance with these
theories, and, therefore, accomplishing for its individual citizens, and thus through them for
the race, the glorious result of a perfected humanity - bound together in an ideal and an
actual Brotherhood of Man.
The American flag was, therefore, one of fifteen stripes and fifteen stars from May
1, 1794, until the next change, which took place July 4, 1818.
..........
The admission of new States into the Union again rendered the flag of fifteen stars
and fifteen stripes out of harmony with the number of States in the nation.
Congress appointed a committee "to inquire into the expediency of altering the flag
of the United States." On January 2, 1817, this committee made the following report:
...........
"The national flag being in general use, it appears to the committee of considerable
importance to adopt some arrangement calculated to prevent, in future, great or extensive
alterations. Under these impressions they are led to believe no alteration could be more
emblematic of our origin and present existence, as composed of a number of independent
and united States, than to reduce the stripes to the original thirteen - representing the
number of States then contending for, and happily achieving their independence - and to
increase the stars to correspond with the number of States now in the Union, and hereafter
to add one star to the flag whenever a new State shall be fully admitted.
............

--- 667

"The committee cannot believe that, in retaining only thirteen stripes, it follows that
they refer to certain individual States, inasmuch as nearly all the new States were a
component part of, and represented in, the original; and inasmuch, also, as the flag is
intended to signify numbers, and not local and particular sections of the Union."

MEANING OF OUR FLAG.

Alfred B. Street speaks of the flag in the following glowing terms:
"The stars of the new flag represent a constellation of States rising in the West. The
idea was taken from the constellation Lyra, which, in the hands of Orpheus, signified
harmony. The blue of the field was taken from the edges of the Covenanter's banner in
Scotland, significant also of the league and covenant of the united colonies against
oppression, and involving the virtues of vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The stars
were disposed in a circle, symbolizing the perpetuity of the Union, the ring-like serpent of
the Egyptians signifying eternity. The thirteen stripes showed, with the stars, the number
of the united colonies, and denotes the subordination of the States to the Union, as well as
equality among themselves. The whole was a blending of the various flags previous to the
Union Flag - the red flag of the army and the white one of the floating batteries. The red
color, which, in Roman days, was the signal of defiance, denotes daring, while the white
suggests purity. What eloquence do the stars breathe when their full significance is known!
- a new constellation, union, perpetuity, a covenant against oppression; justice, equality,
subordination, courage and purity."

--------------

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

By Francis Scott Key

Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does the star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
 On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam
Of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream.
'Tis the star-spangled banner; oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

--- 668

And where is the foe that so vauntingly swore

Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country they'd leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save
The hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and war's desolation;
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must
When our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, - "In God is our trust;"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

----------

NOTHING BUT FLAGS

By Moses Owen

A party of sight-seers were "doing" the State Capitol, at Augusta, Maine. Coming
to the elegant case in the rotunda in which are arranged the Colors which her regiments
carried so gallantly during the late Civil War, they passed it by with a cursory look - one of
the number remarking, "All that nice case for nothing but flags." That remark inspired the
following poem; and thus does unappreciative stolidity often arouse genius and make it
eloquent.

"Nothing but flags!" but simple flags,

Tattered and torn, and hanging in rags;
 And we walk benath them with careless tread
Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead
Who have marched beneath them in days gone by,
With a burning cheek and a kindly eye,
And have bathed their folds with the young life's tide,
And - dying, blessed them, and blessing, died.

"Nothing but flags!" yet methinks at night

They tell each other their tales of fright!
And dim spectres come, and their thin arms twine
Round each standard torn, as they stand in line.
As the word is given - they change! they form!
And the dim hall rings with the battle's storm!
And once again, through the smoke and strife,
Those colors lead to a Nation's life.

--- 669

"Nothing but flags!" yet they're bathed with tears;

They tell of triumphs, of hopes, of fears;
Of a mother's prayers, of a boy away,
Of a serpent crushed, of a coming day.
Silent they speak, and the tear will start,
As we stand beneath them with throbbing heart,
And think of those who are never forgot -
Their flags come home - why come they not?

"Nothing but flags!" yet we hold our breath,

And gaze with awe at these types of death!
"Nothing but flags!" yet the thought will come,
The heart must pray, though the lips be dumb.
They are sacred, pure, and we see no stain
On those dear-loved flags come home again;
Baptized in blood, our purest, best,
Tattered and torn, they're now at rest.

----------

AMERICA
By Samuel Francis Smith

My Country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
 From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.

My native country, - thee

Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,

And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break
The sound prolong.

Our fathers' God - to Thee,

Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light;
Protected by Thy might,
Great God, our King.

--------------
--- 670

OUR FLAG - PAST, NOW, AND FOREVER

By Ceilia Whipple Wallace

In childhood's sunny hours, with rare and sweet delight,

Our country's flag I saw by gallant hands unfurled,
And floating on the air - bright as a tropic bird
Beneath the June-blue sky, above our own home world.

The rocky wall of mountains 'round my village home

Seemed a strong fortress, a God-set and sure defense,
A rhythmic moving band of stalwart martial men,
Held in the circling arms of God's omnipotence,
Emblessed with power all wrong and evil to undo.
Beneath the waving flag of my loved native land,
With rapture swelled by childish and exultant form,
A bliss possessed me that I could not understand.
 There fluttered in the graceful folds of that bright flag
A mystic glory, like a shower of falling stars;
And, baptized in its rare, red rain of shining light,
I then and there became an armored child of Mars.

My perfect shield - the thrilling love of Fatherland

That stayed the poisoned spears aimed at my inmost heart -
Well was thou, then, the Fatherland of childhood days;
But, now, my dear heart's only shelt'ring one thou art.

My country's emblem, as thou waviest bright on high,

A blessed charge thou hast - o'er Freedom's sons to fly -
With stripes of Justice, and with stars of Love, unfurled,
Thou surely wilt, in time, enfranchise all the world.

-------------

THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE

By Edward J. Preston

O, glorious flag! red, white and blue,

Bright emblem of the pure and the true;
O, glorious group of clustering stars!
Ye lines of light, ye crimson bars,
Always your flowing folds we greet,
Triumphant over all defeat;
Henceforth in every clime to be
Unfading scarf of liberty,
The ensign of the brave and free.

-------------

EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES

By Alexander Wilder, M. D.

X. Rameses the Great - Meneptah - The Libyan Invasion - The Revolt.

The reign of Rameses lasted about seventy years. He had at first shared the throne
with his father, in consideration of his descent on the mother's side from the royal lineage
of Ra, the eponymous ancestor of the kings who were recognized as legitimate and of
divine authority. When the death of Sethi left him with undivided power, he continued to
pursue the former course of action. Egypt was then the umpire of the nations, and the
conquests of Rameses enabled him to add the title of "Victorious" to his official
designations. He had extended his dominion into the territory of the Khitans, in the north,
chastised the Libyans and their auxiliaries in the west, and subjugated numerous Ethiopian
tribes in the south. Multitudes of captives had been brought home in the various
campaigns and placed in laborious employments in different parts of the country. They had
been carefully distributed in groups widely separated from one another, thus obliterating
their national identity and preventing dangerous combinations. The extensive public works,
the temples, quarries and mines, were provided with laborers, and every department of
administration conducted with energy.
Yet, despite the "hard bondage" which was imputed to the Egyptian servitude, there
was great care to provide for the physical wants of the laborers. They were held strictly to
their work under the truncheons of vigorous overseers; they were not bought and sold as
chattels; and they enjoyed many privileges like those of the peasantry. Multitudes of them
preferred the "fleshpots" and the abundance of food that they enjoyed in Egypt more than
the blessings and attractions of an ideal liberty. It would seem that with all the drawbacks
of their servile condition, the captives in Egypt were treated with a mildness that was not
often found in other countries.
It is not to be supposed, however, that all ranks and classes of prisoners were
consigned to like conditions of servitude. They were often placed according to their ability
and mental qualities in positions of responsibility. Indeed, it has always been possible for
men in the East to rise from humble, and even from servile, employments to become
officials of rank, counselors of state, commanders of troops, and there are examples in
which they actually seized imperial power.
With these additions to the population, it has been estimated that more than a third
of the families of Egypt were descendants of Asiatic colonists. In the eastern canton of the
Lowlands they were most numerous. Language, manners, and even religion, the hardest
of all to change its forms, were modi-

--- 672

fied, and the Egyptian vernacular gave place more or less distinctly to Semitic terms and
forms of speech. Even the members of the literary class, the priests and scribes,
conformed to the new fashions of the time. Many were eager to forsake the temples for
service in the armies and civil employments. Pen-ta-ur, the private secretary of Amun-em-
ant, the Royal Librarian, was an example. He was perhaps the most brilliant, but he was
only one among a multitude of others.
In vain did the old teachers endeavor to arrest the progress of the tide that was now
sweeping away the former customs and notions. The new modes of pronunciation of
words, and the interlarding of speech with foreign expressions, and such as were in use
among the alien and mongrel population of Northern Egypt, gave them abundant
opportunity for sharp criticism, which they freely bestowed. An example of this appears in
a letter from a preceptor to his former pupil. "Thy piece of writing is a cargo of high-flown
phrases," he declares. "Their meaning may serve as a reward for those who seek to
ascertain what it is." "I know thee," the veteran instructor continues; "it matters little what
utterances flow over thy tongue, for thy compositions are very confused. Thou earnest to
me with a covering of ill-uttered representations, a cargo of blunders. Thou tearest the
words to tatters; thou dost not take pains to find their force."
He concludes his diatribe with equal severity: "I have struck out the end of thy
composition, and I return thy description. What thy words contain has remained on my lips.
It is a confused medley when one hears it. An uneducated person would not understand
it. Your utterance is like that of a man from the Lowlands, speaking with a man from the
Elephantina. But as a Scribe of the King thou art like the water employed to fertilize the
land."
In ancient times, the glory of the parent consisted in a multitude of children. In this
respect Rameses II was truly great among kings. It may also be added that he was a
tender and affectionate father. The temple of Abydos has preserved the names and
effigies of sixty sons and fifty-nine daughters; other records enumerate a hundred and ten
sons. He had three wives; the first, Isi-nefer, the favorite, called also Nefer-ari-Amun,
Mien-Mut, and the daughter of the Khitan king, who became the Queen in his later years.
By them he had twenty-three sons and eleven daughters.
Six sons accompanied him in the war against the king of Khita, and took part in the
battle of Kadesh. Khamus, the son of Queen Isi-nefer, was the best beloved, and was
associated with him in the government for many years. He took great pains to revive the
religious observances in the northern cities, which had fallen into abeyance under the
Hyksos and Theban rule. The worship of Apis had almost ceased, but he restored it to its
former activity. He held the positions of High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, Governor of
Thebes and General Superintendent of Public Worship. In these capacities he made the
preparations and regulations for the Festival of the Thirtieth Year. His zeal for religion and
the Sacred learning won for him great praise, but his indifference to

--- 673

political matters was distasteful to his father, who foresaw the eminent peril awaiting the
Dynasty. Khamus died in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of Rameses, and Meneptah, his
oldest surviving brother, became the colleague of his father. The monuments have also
preserved the names of the royal princesses Benat-Anat, Meriamen, Neb-taui and Meri.
It has been conjectured that Benat-Anat, who was the favorite daughter, was the daughter
of the Khitan wife; she was afterward herself a queen, but no more is known.
The astronomic knowledge indicated by some of the inscriptions of this reign was
quite considerable. On the ceiling of the Rameseum at Gurnah was an astronomical
projection of the heavens, perhaps representing the horoscope of the king. In the
accompanying description the dog-star is mentioned as rising in the morning just before
sunrise at the beginning of the year. This indicated that the true length of the year was
known, and it is certain that the priests of Egypt reckoned it almost exactly the same as
modern scientists.
A cloud often comes over the heart as the individual passes from the activities of
mature life into the shadow of advanced age. Many who had been loved are no more
among the living, and what is more sorrowful, those for whom we have cared and labored
repay with cold ingratitude. For it is not that which has been bestowed that promotes
warmth of sentiment in the many, but rather what is expected.
Such was the final experience of Rameses the Great. His active life had been
employed to sustain his dynasty and maintain the prosperity of Egypt. He was domestic
and even uxorious, and he was warmly devoted to his children. But those of them who
had, by reason of their superior age, been his most familiar companions, had died, and the
others harassed him by their bickerings and jealousies. His was a cheerless old age.
 The records do not treat of this, but the evidences at our hand have a speech of their
own. Rameses at the death of his father had been eloquent in word and act to display his
filial piety. With him it was religion, and the Tomb of Sethi in the valley of Bab-el Molokh
was a gorgeous palace hewn out of the rock and painted with all the decorations that could
have been seen in the actual abodes of kings. It was a monument of splendor and
affection.
No such manifestation was exhibited in regard to Rameses himself. "The tomb of
Rameses is an insignificant structure," Brugsch-Bey remarks, "and it is seldom visited by
travelers in the Nile Valley, who scarcely imagine that the great Sesostris of Greek legend
can have found a resting place in these mean chambers."
Of such a character was the last memorial of the Grand Monarque of Egypt, whose
glory had shone over the countries and whose honorary statues that were set up during his
lifetime had reached the dimensions of a colossus - so huge that modern mechanical skill
has shrunk from the attempt to remove them. Can it have been indifference or the bitter
feeling of a disappointed expectation that occasioned this conspicuous neglect? Perhaps
the priests of Amun-Ra had held over his body the Grand Assize of the Dead, and declared

--- 674

[[Illustration: "The god Thoth and Sufekh (goddess of History) writing the name of
Rameses II on the fruit of the Persea (Relief from the Rameseum) at Thebes."]]

him not deserving of funeral honors. For Rameses had not heeded their pretensions of
superior right to kings, but, like Jeroboam of Israel, had set up a distinct priesthood of his
own.
More likely, however, a crisis had occurred in the affairs of Egypt that required the
new monarch's attention in other directions. The Nineteenth Dynasty, itself an offshoot
from the lineage of King Nub and Apapi, had never been regarded with favor, but the
prodigious energy and statecraft of Sethi and Rameses had defeated any effort for its
overthrow. Each of them had forestalled it further by placing the Crown-Prince upon the
throne as a royal colleague, leaving no opportunity for dispute in the succession.

--- 675

Mene-Ptah, or Ptah-Men was the thirteenth son of Rameses II. His elder brothers
had died during the lifetime of their father - nobler and braver men whom he had survived.
He inherited the false and objectionable characteristics of his predecessors, but not their
genius or virtues. "He was neither a soldier nor administrator," says Lenormant, contrasting
him with Sethi and Rameses II, "but a man whose whole mind turned on sorcery and
magic." This, however, is a misconception arising from an improper rendering of a term in
the Bible.* He was pusillanimous and vacillating, and, like cowardly persons generally, an
oppressor and treacherous.
He came to the throne at an inauspicious period. Egypt was no longer an arbiter of
the nations. The vassal and tributary countries had cast off the yoke imposed by Thothmes
III and Sethi. The Khitans, a "Turanian" people had, after a long contest with Rameses II
with indefinite results, induced him to consent to a friendly alliance in place of suzerainty.
In the severe famines which about this time scourged the countries of the Levant the
necessity to buy grain in Egypt for sustenance operated to preserve friendly relations.
Wheat was shipped in abundance to the Khitans and peaceful intercourse was maintained
with the principalities of Syria and Palestine.
At the west, however, there was a state of affairs widely different. There were
frequent incursions from Libya and the northern sea-coast into the fertile lowlands of Egypt
till the inhabitants feared to cultivate the land. One might sow and another reap. The
weakness of the court of Tanis gave rise to general dissatisfaction, and the native princes
were at strife with one another.
Advantage was taken of these conditions to form a confederacy of several nations
with the purpose of conquering new homes in Northern Egypt. This alliance is described
in the inscription as consisting of peoples from "all the countries north of the great sea."
The whole number of invaders has been estimated at not less than forty thousand, and
they brought their wives and children with them with the purpose of settling in Egypt. The
chiefs had their thrones and the other paraphernalia of their rank; and the troops were
armed with bows and arrows and with swords of bronze and copper. There were also a
number of war-cars and a large force of cavalry.
They advanced as far as Heliopolis, sweeping over the Delta like a swarm of locusts.
The frontier towns were destroyed and the whole country was ravaged. "The like had
never been seen, even in the times of the kings of Lower Egypt, when the pestilence
(meaning the Hyksos rulers) was in the land and the kings of Upper Egypt were not able
to drive it out." The whole region was desolated, the fields were overrun and wasted, the
cities pillaged, and even harbors were destroyed. The invading force was finally
concentrated in the nome or canton of Prosopis, threatening both the ancient capitals,
Memphis and Heliopolis.

------------
* The Hebrew word translated "magicians" in the Pentateuch is hartumi, which the
Greek text in Genesis renders exegetes, or interpreter. Parkhurst supposes them to be
hierogrammateis or Scribes of the temple and court. The priests of Tanis seem to have
been called hartots or Khartots. But the term "magic" anciently implied all manner of
learning, and nothing objectionable.
------------
--- 676

The terror which was created was abject. "All the kings of Upper Egypt sat in their
entrenchments, and the kings of Lower Egypt were confined inside their cities, shut in by
earthworks and wholly cut off by the warriors from communication outside; for they had no
hired soldiers."
At this point the Libyan king offered terms. He demanded a treaty as liberal in its
conditions as the one between Egypt and the Khitans, and likewise wheat for his people
and a cession of land to colonize. It was plain that not only the realm of Lower Egypt was
in peril, but the fate of the Nineteenth Dynasty was itself in the balance.
Perhaps such a proposition to King Sethi would have been answered by an attack
without further parley. But another Meneptah was on the throne of Egypt, and had not an
army at his command. The princes of Upper Egypt refused their assistance, the king
temporized and acted on the defensive, meanwhile he sent recruiting agents into Asia to
collect an army of mercenaries. When all had been made ready, he assembled his princes
and generals, and gave them their orders to prepare for battle, declaring his purpose to
lead in the fray.
His courage, however, failed him. When the time for action drew on, he excused
himself on the pretext of a dream or vision in which Ptah had commanded him to remain
in Memphis, and let his troops march out against the enemy. The battle took place on the
third day of Epiphi, the eighteenth of May. The enemy hesitated to begin the charge, and
the Egyptian forces attacked them with the war-cars and infantry. "Amun-Ra was with
them, and Nubti (Seth or Typhon) extended his hand to help them." The battle lasted six
hours, when the Libyans were routed and fled. "Not a man of them was left remaining," is
the boastful language of the inscription. "The hired soldiers of his Holiness were employed
for six hours in the slaughter."
The Libyan king, when all was lost, turned and fled away, leaving his queen and
family to the mercy of the conquerors. Meneptah in the inscription declares that "the
miserable king of the Libyans stood full of fear and fled like a woman." Yet he had
commanded his men till the fortune of the day had turned against them, while the bragging
Egyptian was cowering inside the walls of Memphis.
The victorious soldiers hurried to the plunder of the forsaken camp, and then set fire
to the tents of skin and furniture. The catalogue of the battle enumerated among the killed
6,365 that were uncircumcised, and 2,370 circumcised; also 9,376 prisoners.
The generals did not follow up the enemy and the king hastened to disband the
foreign troops. They might, if retained in service, become as dangerous to him as the
Libyans themselves.
Such was the great battle of Prosopis. Once more Lower Egypt rejoiced at a
deliverance from invaders, which enabled the inhabitants to follow their pursuits in peace.
The officials of the royal court vied with each other in fulsome praises of the king, and the
inscription afterward placed on the inner walls of the Great Temple of Thebes,* sets forth
the invasion and victory with

--- 677

the exaggeration so common in oriental verbiage. "I made Egypt once more safe for the
traveler," the king is made to say; "I gave breath to those in the cities."
The subsequent history of the reign of Meneptah does not exempt it from imputation
of being inglorious. The principal redeeming feature was the brilliant array of writers
continuing from the time of Rameses that adorned the royal court. The monuments
preserve no record worthy of mention. It appears, however, that Meneptah sought to follow
the example of Horemhebi, the successor of Khuenaten, and make friends with the priests
of Thebes. The absence of the royal court in Northern Egypt for so many years had
enabled them to enlarge their power to actual rivalship with the throne itself, as the power
of the Bishops of Rome in later times became overpowering, by the removal of the imperial
capital to Constantinople. The account is given by Manetho, and preserved in a treatise
imputed to Flavius Josephus.
"This king** desired to become a beholder of the gods like Horus, one of those who
had reigned before him.*** The meaning of this statement is that Meneptah, copying the
example of Horemhebi of the Eighteenth Dynasty, sought initiation into the Secret Rites,
thus to become a theates, epoptes or ephoros, a witness and student of the higher
knowledge. This would bring him into close fraternal relations with the priest of Thebes.
He applied accordingly to Amenophis, the prophet of the Temple, who imposed the
condition that he should "clear the country of lepers and the other impure population." He
evidently meant the alien colonists and their descendants, whom the kings had introduced
into Egypt as captives in their military expeditions and dispersed over the country. It was
the practice, we notice in the inscriptions of the monuments, to designate all persons of
other nations "vile."
Manetho states that the king accordingly collected eighty thousand of these persons
and set them at work in the quarries in the region east of the Nile. Some of them were
priests, probably those who belonged to the temples of Rameses II. The prophet who had
counseled this measure foresaw the result of the harsh treatment, that it would bring
calamity upon Egypt, and committed suicide. This filled the king with consternation, and
he resolved upon a change of policy toward his unfortunate subjects. He set apart the city
of Avaris or Pelusium, which had been evacuated by the Hyksos kings, a city which had
been from the first sacred to the god Seth. Here they were permitted to make their
residence. After they had been there for a sufficient time they determined to set up for
themselves, and placed a priest from Heliopolis named Osar-siph in

------------
* The high priest of this temple was named Loi, or Levi. This name and several
others of this period have a striking Semitic flavor. Benat-Anat, the princess, has already
been noticed; her sister was Meriamen, or Miriam, and in the quarry at Silsilis is a record
of Phineas, a man of superior rank. Other examples may be cited.
** Josephus gives the name of the monarch as Amunophis. In the Chronicle of
Manetho it is rendered Amunenephthes, which, though read sometimes as Amunophis, is
Meneptah.
*** This sentence is quoted from a little work entitled, "Josephus Against Apion."
The writer affects to deny the existence of the kings Horus and Meneptah, whom he calls
Amunophis, and rails at the conceit of "beholding the gods," whom he sets forth as being
simply the ox, goat, crocodile and baboon. So gross ignoring of religious matters and
historic persons indicates either a reprehensible disregard of truth, or else that the work
thus ascribed to Josephus is not a genuine production, but only an irresponsible forgery.
------------
--- 678

command. He changed his name to Moses or Mo-u-ses. He promulgated an enactment

forbidding them any longer to worship the gods of Egypt, or to pay regard to the sacred
animals, but to use them for food and in sacrificing. He likewise directed them to build
again the walls around the city and put them in readiness for war. He also sent
ambassadors to Jerusalem, to the Hyksos princes, asking their help, and promising to yield
up to them the city of Avaris, and aid them to recover their former dominion. They
accepted his invitation and invaded Egypt with a force of two hundred thousand men.
Meneptah was filled with dismay. He hastened to assemble the Egyptian troops,
and removed the sacred animals to the royal residence. His son Sethi, a lad of five years
old, was sent to a place of safety, and he took his place at the head of his army of three
hundred thousand warriors. He did not venture to fight when the enemy advanced to meet
him, but retreated to Memphis. Then, taking the Apis and other sacred animals, he
retreated with his army and the multitude of Egyptians into Ethiopia. Here he became the
guest of the under-king and lived there in exile thirteen years. An army of Ethiopians was
sent to guard the frontier. The usual account is given of misrule, oppression and flagrant
impiety on the part of the invaders from Palestine. They are described as making
themselves more obnoxious than the former Hyksos rulers. They burned cities and
villages, it is affirmed, and likewise destroyed the statues of the gods, killed the sacred
animals for food that were revered by the Egyptians, and compelled the priests and
prophets to do this, after which they were expelled from the country. At the end of the
thirteen years predicted by the prophet, the Ethiopian army entered Egypt, bringing the king
and crown-prince, and drove the invaders into Palestine.
The later years of the reign of Meneptah afford us little interest. He designated his
son Sethi as Crown Prince of Egypt, and there were no further military achievements.
Nevertheless there was much dissatisfaction, and other aspirers to the throne were
watching their opportunity. A period of confusion was approaching, when the throne should
become a shuttlecock for ambitious chieftains to play with, till the man should arise to bring
order from the chaos, establish anew the sovereign power, and give Egypt another term
of greatness.

------------

"Whoever uses soft words to friends without sincerity, him the wise know as one that
speaks but acts not."
--------

"The chief object of the Theosophical Society is not so much to gratify individual
aspirations as to serve our fellow-men." - From a letter quoted in The Occult World.

-----------
--- 679

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J. H. Fussell

The following letter has been received with a request for answer of the questions
therein in the Students' Column:

As a student of Theosophy, permit me to ask the following questions:

1. What do Theosophist think of God?
2. Is there it God in Theosophy?
3. If so, what are the proofs that there is a God?
4. What are the proofs that the soul of man is immortal?
5. How can a man, poor, and utterly dependent upon a not Theosophicaly Society
[[sic]] be master of his own fate?
- J.H., Syracuse, N.Y.

Questions 1 to 4 may he taken together, but before attempting an answer it must be

premised that what is proof to one person is not necessarily proof to another, and
furthermore that the ultimate tribunal of proof for each man is himself. Also, it must be
mentioned that there are Theosophists who are adherents of all the great religions of the
world and that consequently there are many different ideas held in regard to God among
Theosophists, according to the philosophy or religion which each upholds. For Theosophy
does not consist in the acceptance of any set of formulae or beliefs, but rather and
essentially in living up to the highest that is in each. But on the whole Theosophists
generally agree in the recognition of the divinity, unity, sacredness and interdependence
of all life and the progressive development of all forms of life.
The first question is really answered in the above, that God or the divine is to be
found within man's own heart. This is the teachings of all the Saviors of humanity. The
proofs of the being and existence of God can be found only in the way pointed out by Christ
in the following words: "whoso doeth the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine;" and
in the words of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita: "Whoso is perfected in devotion findeth
spiritual knowledge springing up spontaneously within himself in the progress of time."
Neither the existence of God nor the immortality of the soul can he proved to any
one who has not developed within himself the power to perceive and recognize the divine,
or who has not awakened to a sense of his own immortality. The proposition is exactly
similar to that of trying to prove the glories of a sunset to a blind man or the transcendent
powers of the mind to a stone. The consciousness in the stone through long ages and
imperceptible degrees will develop through all the kingdoms of nature until, in the human
kingdom, the higher human perceptions are possible. But it must wait the slow course of
development for this divine unfolding to take place. So the man, incapable of recognizing
divinity and immortality, must wait the slow growth and development of another sense by
which these may be cognized, and the spiritually blind must wait the opening of the inner
eye before the sublime powers and destiny of the soul can be conceived.
In answer to the last question I do not think that to be really master of

--- 680

one's fate depends on being either in or out of a Theosophical or Untheosophical Society,

though certainly there is greater freedom to be found the nearer we are to the Truth and
the more our surroundings conform thereto. To be master of one's fate requires that one
shall be master of oneself and rule one's own kingdom of heart, mind and body. When this
is done, and the doing of it does not depend on outer conditions, then one's fate is molded
accordingly and one realizes that he is free indeed though chains may shackle hands and
feet.
- Orion
------------

WHAT IS THE REAL OBJECT OF LIFE?

In a long and interesting conversation with a friend who is an enthusiastic Club
woman and who claims among other advantages that Club Life and association will in time
bring about a feeling of true Sisterhood among women, the above question was raised. I
asked myself how many of these women, how many of all the people in the world, have
formed any distinct idea of what the purpose or Life is, or of what the end is toward which
they struggle with such effort and for which they alternate helplessly between happiness
and misery, joy and despair?
Only the Student of Theosophy, it seems to me, can find a satisfactory answer to
such questionings. It is probably true that Life itself through stress of overwhelming
disappointments, through heart-break and sore distress, forces a man to fall back upon the
hidden Truth which lies always at the center of his Soul so that he finds the Theosophical
answer for himself. This can only happen to one who is strong. The weak are crushed out
by such heroic treatment.
Study of Theosophy at once leads one to the sure understanding that the only real
object of Life is the evolution of the perfect man - one who has reached spiritual wisdom -
one who lives Brotherhood, who rays out from himself Love and Compassion for every
creature that lives, just as a perfect flower breathes perfume to everything around. Each
one gives in its own way and according to its own nature what it has for the world. Man
gives compassion; the Flower fragrance, and both are one. - V. F.
----------

"I am the same to all creatures; I know not hatred nor favor; but those who serve
me with love dwell in me and I in them." - Bhagavad Gita, Chap. ix

"Those who have the eye of wisdom perceive it [the Spirit], and devotees who
industriously strive to do so see it dwelling in their own hearts; whilst those who have not
overcome themselves, who are devoid of discrimination, see it not, even though they strive
thereafter." - Bhagavad Gita, Chap. xv

"The man of doubtful mind hath no happiness either in this world or in the next, or
in any other." - Bhagavad Gita, Chap. iv

-------------
--- 681

Childrens Department

A LETTER FROM "SPOTS"

Dear Little Buds and Blossoms:

The warriors of the Golden Cord of the Universal Brotherhood are very busy all over
the world sowing seeds of loving kindness to the people of the earth and all creatures.
Look at the picture and see how happy these little children are, out in the nature fields of
sunshine.
The buds and blossoms in which is entwined the golden cord, the cable tow of love,
make the pretty frame-work of this lovely picture, and all the little boys and girls who take
hold of this cord with their hearts, look just like these flowers. Look into the eyes of all the
children that are trying to love everybody, and see if it isn't so. Don't their eyes shine, and
aren't they just brim-full of joy?
I hope that some day there will be a cable-tow as big as the whole earth, so that
every little child in the world can take hold of it, and not one be left out. I shall be the
happiest little dog in all the world when that happens.
How I wish that all the little poor children, and sick children, and all the little children
who haven't much sunshine in their hearts and home could come out into these beautiful
green fields and make a picture like this. Wouldn't they soon get well in the fine, fresh air
and wouldn't their little hearts sing out with a great joy to be with the happy birds, the pretty
butterflies, the dear little lambs, the trees, flowers and sunshine! It just makes my heart
jump to think of it!
I hope that one of these days every city will have its great, big parks, where every
child can have a little play-house, and each a little garden-plot, where they can learn to be
industrious, to love the flowers and sunshine.
Of course, it would never do to leave out the dogs and pussies, and then the
children, the flowers and all creatures would all be just like one big family, working and
playing and being happy together.
I haven't told you anything about my little Cuban friends for a long time.

--- 682

[[Photo: Children's New Year's Festival, Macon, Ga. (Received through courtesy
of "THE NEW CENTURY")]]

--- 683

Well, they are the happiest family you ever did see. It would do your whole heart good to
see them and hear them. They have learned to speak English and do so many pretty
things. They want to be busy all the time, and you ought to see the lovely doll things they
make. They even make the dolls themselves, and chairs for them to sit on, and little beds
to sleep in, and a whole lot of more things that belong to dolls. And you ought to see how
big their hearts have grown. I think they always were big, buy they are bigger than ever
now, big enough to hold all the children, all the dogs, all the pussies and everybody and
everything that is on the earth to love.
Just suppose everybody in the world was like that: what a beautiful world it would
be. Well, I am trying very, very hard to help the world along and from what I sometimes
hear my Mistress whisper, she thinks I am doing very well.
Now, children, hold the golden cord firm; keep it stretched so that it will encircle all
the little children in the world and those, too, that are not yet born. Keep it ever in the
sunshine of your hearts, and when you are grown up, you will find the world much happier
than it is today.
I'm off to Point Loma, the garden-spot of the world, and how I wish I could take you
all with me. The little Cubans are going with me and some Lotus Home babies. You know
all of them cannot go at once, but by and bye I hope we shall all meet there.
With love to you all, good-by.
I will send another letter soon.
 - Spots

-----------

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

By Pixy

"To-night we will go down to the sea," said my fairy friends, "and we must prepare
you for the trip." Then Verita reached up into the air and pulled down a gorgeous suit of
glove-fitting clothes, woven from radiant sea-bows, so that the pressure of the water would
not hurt me, for you know light has a reflecting and resisting power of its own. After the suit
was donned she gave me a pair of magic boots, with which I could travel as fast as they
could, either on top of the water or underneath it, and then she held the daintiest kind of
perfume to my nose and the fragrance went down to my lungs and made them waterproof,
so that I would have no trouble about breathing while in the water.
When all was ready we slipped down to the beach and skipped over the water, past
the lighthouse and away out of sight of the land. Then we seemed to be in the middle of
a great basin of water, the rim extending high on every side, and right at that point we said
good-by to the air and sank below the surface. A great many fishes were attracted by the
light from my clothes and the pearl lights of the fairies, but we went so fast they didn't have
much chance to see who we were.

--- 684

It seemed hardly a moment until we were on the bottom of the ocean, with six miles
of water above us. There were hills and valleys and plains and mountains. Where we
struck ground again the soil was whitish and rather bare, but there was some shrubbery,
with rather heavy trunks, looking like trees that forgot to throw out branches and put all their
energy to getting as big around as they could. Then there were other plants that seemed
to be part fish, and the fairies told me that the blossoms on some of the plants did grow into
fish, and after they got big enough they broke loose from the stem and swam away. But
at that depth there was not so much life as higher up on the ocean bed.
"It is because of the quietness that the nymphs chose the very bottom of the sea as
a retreat for rest and revel," said Purita, "and here we are at the great palace of the sea
fairies," It wasn't a place where one would suspect there was a palace, unless he knew of
it before, for we were now at the bottom of a great chasm, the walls extending high on
either side, but before I had time to think much we went around a huge boulder and into a
flood of light which came through a beautiful triumphal arch. We were welcomed with the
sweetest, bell-like music you can imagine, and which made the water ring and tingle with
its sound. Then a multitude of mermaids swam to us singing a welcome, and they were
followed by the mermen, for in the sea the mermaids go first.
The nymphs sent messengers ahead, and when we arrived at the royal reception
room the Queen was seated her throne of brilliant green, surrounded by a host of courtiers.
After presentation to Her Majesty, which was not nearly so formal as presentation to a
human queen, my guides told her I would like to know all about the water world and its
people, and so the Court story teller came forward and this is what he said:
 "Floating around up in the sky there are great oceans of water, without any land to
make them muddy or to soak up and waste the water. We came from one of those oceans,
but most of our folks live there yet. Once our ocean bumped against the earth and a lot of
the water spilled out, and many of us came with it. Then, too, the water of that ocean
evaporated and some of the sprites go up in the vapor and slide down to the earth on
raindrops, so more and more of our people are coming here all the time."
This settles the question of the flood, for the nymphs came with it and remember it.
"The water sprites," he continued, "are always eager for adventures, and are
traveling almost constantly. It has been charged by humans that we were deceitful and
always trying to lure sailors to destruction, but this is not so. Our work is to keep the waves
placid and gentle, and to help people to be joyous and lively. But, like all beings on the
earth, we are affected by human thoughts, and when those thoughts are evil they
overpower us sometimes and compel us, against our own will, to cause storm and wreck."
The Queen of the Nymphs interrupted him and said I must carry a secret from her
to the Lotus Buds. It is a real secret, for no one can understand it except the Lotus Buds,
or some one in sympathy with them; and here it is:

--- 685

"Tell these children of the Earth, for me, that the future happiness of all the creatures of the
Earth is in their keeping, and if they will keep their minds pure and sweet then all the rest
of humanity and all the other kingdoms will be compelled to think good thoughts, and when
all envy, ambition, avarice and passion shall have disappeared the people of the sea can
mingle with the children of earth and air and fire in completest harmony. They are the
masters, we the servants, and although humanity compelled us to rebel against the wrongs
inflicted, we would far rather have good masters and render the homage of love. Tell the
children that they have it in their power to help the mermaids and mermen to become
conscious servants of Truth."
-----------

[[Photos: "Gathering shells on the beach at Point Loma, Cal."; "Pampas Grass,
Point Loma, California"; "Group of delegates to the Universal Brotherhood Congress at
Brighton, England, October, 1899."]]

--- 686

[[Illustration: "An Ideal Theosophical Family, Jonkoping, Sweden."]]

Every week brings good news from Sweden, reports of work, new activities, new
applications for membership, two batches recently received within the month numbering
20 and 14 respectively. We feel the ties between the comrades here and those in Sweden
are very close and we know that all the comrades will rejoice to make the acquaintance of
Mr. and Mrs. Karling and their family, to whom we send Greetings and through them all the
members of the Universal Brotherhood in Jonkoping. A recent letter from Bro. Karling
states that he and Mrs. Karling have begun International Brotherhood League work among
the young people, especially among the working young men and women in Jonkoping. Mr.
and Mrs. Karling have charge of a large training school for practical work, of about 300
pupils, and thus have a wide sphere of influence.

------------
--- 687

MIRROR OF THE MOVEMENT

The following report from Macon and the accompanying picture have been received
by the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH through the courtesy of The New Century:

THE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL AT MACON, GA.

Following the suggestion given in the New Century, the Macon International
Brotherhood League workers had a New Year Festival for the Lotus Group, the Boys'
Brotherhood Club and the Industrial School.
In spite of bitter cold, unusual in this section, by seven o'clock in the evening a
goodly number of boys and girls were assembled in the reading room, the doors of the
large hall being kept mysteriously closed. Curiosity and expectation ran high, the children
standing on tip toe and trying in every way to catch a glimpse of the next room whenever
one of the grown people had to pass in or out.
At last the strains of the "Lotus Home March" were heard, the doors were thrown
open, and all marched in, the children leading. The platform at the end of the hall had been
draped from ceiling to floor with yellow and festooned with garlands of pink flowers, and in
letters of gold ran the legend, "Life is Joy - 1900."
Outside the world was covered with snow, but within it was summer and sunshine.
From the centre of the drapery extended a golden horn, upon which all eyes were fastened.
The programme began with music, after which President White greeted the children, then
more music, which was enthusiastically applauded - the best violinist in the town having
come to play for us. The children were then told that the exercises following would be
symbolic, the platform, with its color and brightness and hope, and raised above the rest
of the floor, representing the New Century, into which each could step as his name was
called, and which held great things in store for all who would make the effort when the
opportunity came. And as behind all matter is spirit, so tonight the spirit of the new century,
though unseen, would manifest. Then through the golden horn was heard the spirit of the
new century proclaiming, "Helping and sharing is what brotherhood means." This was
vigorously applauded. "Life is joy" - more applause.
Then came the names, and as each was called and the owner stepped forward and
up to the platform, a present, tied up in gay tissue paper and ribbons, fell from the horn to
a padded table beneath. As the children received their gifts they took their stand in the
New Century around the Leader's picture. There was great fun, the little ones screaming
with delight as some one's package would occasionally bounce from the table to the floor.
When all present had responded to the call, the accompanying photograph was
taken and the formal exercises declared at an end. Then out of the various parcels came
neckties, collars, belts, work bags, dolls and tea sets, and books, fairy tales and stories of
mythology, books of adventure, and picture books for the very little ones. On each was
written the child's name and an appropriate motto. It was a jolly evening. Refreshments
were served and the children danced and played till nine o'clock came, when with shining
faces they departed, feeling, we believe, that "Life is joy."
- The Lotus Superintendent

--- 688

Portland, Ore., Dec. 24, 1899.

DEAR LOTUS MOTHER:

As we have been informed of the vast importance of the old members contributing
what money they could give, from the heart, to the "Great Cause," Universal Brotherhood
Organization, and having such money reach "Headquarters" before the close of this year,
we, as the Lotus Group, of Portland, Ore., "The Coming Workers," respond also to that call,
sending you inclosed, New York exchange, payable to E. Aug. Neresheimer, amount $10,
to be used in whatever fund or direction you deem wisest.
We might say that the bulk of this remittance is the proceeds from an entertainment
given by us with the idea to contribute the amount made to the "Cuban Fund," but placing
our full confidence in "Lotus Mother," we cheerfully and willingly adopted the suggestion of
our superintendent to forward as much as we could from our treasury to you, to be used
in whatever fund or whatever work you thought best.
We also wish to add our warmest, purest and most loyal greetings to "Lotus Mother"
and her co-workers, who stand beside her, ready and willing to serve her in her noble work,
and to wish the "Great Cause," Universal Brotherhood, a happy, happy, prosperous New
Year, and that the new century will find us "standing at attention," with our hearts full of
hope and confidence, welcoming the dawn of the Golden Age, when Universal Brotherhood
will be lived as taught by the noble Organization of which we are a part. Lovingly your
Buds. Signed by twenty-seven Lotus Buds, ages from 3 to 13 years.
-----------

A delayed report of an entertainment given by the Boys' Brotherhood Club and New
Century Guard at Los Angeles shows the interest that is being awakened in the young
population of the city. The boys have good talent among them, and there is every promise
of their making their club a great power for good.
From all the reports of the New Century Guard and the Brotherhood Clubs it is very
evident that the boys realize that a great opportunity rests with them, and their enthusiasm
in maintaining their clubs and the interest that they show of their own accord in the
principles of Brotherhood is one of the marks of the dawn of the new era.
---------

ANOTHER CUBAN CRUSADE

Active preparations are now being made for sending a large quantity of supplies for
relief of the still poverty-stricken inhabitants of Santiago de Cuba. These supplies of food
and clothing have been received from all parts of the country, nearly all of the U. B. Lodges
being represented. Through the Boston Lodge, Messrs. Grinnell Manufacturing Company,
New Bedford, Mass., donated 1,263 yards of cotton goods for dresses for women and
children, which were made up by the members. Through the Chicago Lodge a donation
of 50 barrels of crackers has been contributed by the National Biscuit Co., manufacturers
of the "Uneeda biscuit."
It is impossible to understand from public reports the widespread destitution that still
exists, in spite of the great improvement already begun in the condition of Cuba. As is so
often the case, much of the worst suffering and want does not become known, and many
of the most worthy people, gentle, refined and educated,

--- 689

suffer only in silence. But the work of our Leader, Katherine Tingley, in Santiago last year
has brought her in touch with these people and enabled her to learn of these most worthy
cases. And through Sr. Emilio Bacardi, the ex-Mayor of Santiago, and Signorita Antonia
Fabre, who came with our Leader to America and with her has visited many of the cities
of the United States, and also Sweden and England, she has been able to reach out to
these people and to help them.
These supplies will be shipped to Cuba on the Ward Line steamer sailing Feb. 22d,
and on March 1st Senorita Fabre will return, to her native country for a short time as
America's representative of the International Brotherhood League and will distribute the
supplies with the assistance of Sr. Bacardi.
On March 12th will be held the first anniversary of Cuba's Liberty Day, founded by
Katherine Tingley, president of the International Brotherhood League, and proclaimed as
such for all time by Sr. Bacardi, the then Mayor of Santiago. The children will assemble in
the Plaza del Dolores in Santiago, and already are making great preparations for the
festival. The Lotus Buds of America will send to the Cuban children a beautiful banner, on
which will be inscribed in Spanish: "From the Lotus Buds and Blossoms of the International
Brotherhood League of America to the children of Cuba."
----------

The S. R. L. M. A. Prospectus will be issued Feb. 17.

Preparations are being made to commence cutting the stone for building the Temple
at Point Loma. There will be erected a music hall, a factory at the I. B. L. colony, an office
for larger work of the Universal Brotherhood, and other buildings.
On Feb. 8 a party of Cubans left New York for the Cuban colony at Point Loma, also
some children from Lotus Home in charge of Miss Isabel Morris, who rendered such noble
service among the sick and dying at Montauk Camp and as one of the workers of the
International Brotherhood League at Santiago de Cuba.
The Aryan Theosophical Society of New York is preparing to erect a lasting
memorial to the memory of W. Q. Judge and H. P. Blavatsky at Point Loma.
---------

Commencing in January and extending over four meetings, a debate was had upon
Theosophy and Christianity - "Which is more adaptable to the needs of the times?" - at the
Sunday evening meetings of the Universal Brotherhood, 144 Madison Ave., New York. A
shorthand report of the debate is given in this, and will be continued in the next, issue of
the magazine.
(This has been held over till next month for lack of space.)
 The main subject of the meetings at the present time is "Theosophy and the Bible,"
which is evoking a great deal of interest. There is always a good attendance, and at the
close of the address very intelligent questions are asked from the audience. - J. H. F.
-------------

LODGE ACTIVITIES.
The reorganization of the H. P. B. Lodge, U.B., No. 10, has inaugurated the most
delightful lodge meetings ever held - such is the general verdict. It is an unwritten rule that
every member called upon to address the meeting must do so, and so harmonious is the
atmosphere that it is rare indeed for there to be a refusal. Another unique feature which
has proved to be of great value and interest is the

--- 690

resume of the thoughts given out by the various speakers and forming part of the minutes
of the meetings. In doing this the names of the speakers are not given, and the reading
forms a fitting prelude to the consideration of the new subject.

INDIANAPOLIS, U. B. 83. - We hail the dawn of brighter days for the Movement.
We should realize fully that we must stand firm for Truth, Justice and Love - there is no
middle ground! We must go forward if we would not hinder. We are all loyal supporters
of the Universal Brotherhood. There is not a disaffected or disgruntled member in the
Lodge. We keep the light burning in the window for discouraged souls to find the path to
Truth, Light and Liberation. - G. W. Strong, President.

MALDEN LODGE (Mass.), U. B. 114, holds public meetings on Sunday afternoon.

We are located near the boundary line between Malden and Everett, two great centres of
population, and so feel that from our central position we have a great opportunity of
rendering service in the work. Our youngest brother, David Ayers, has materially increased
the circulation of the magazine and the New Century by his persistent and well-directed
efforts. Our Lotus Group has always been a success and keeps up its good record. -
Chas. D. Marsh, Sec'y.

Brother Seth Wheaton, one of the oldest and most faithful workers at St. Louis, Mo.,
writes: "The force proceeding from our Leader is a two-edged sword, especially affecting
those who are near her. To the pure in heart a beneficent blessing, but to the impure and
selfish a 'stumbling block.' For this cause I am not surprised at the few failures which have
occurred, and am thus able to regard them with sorrow for the poor, deluded ones, but
without the least concern as to the Movement or the wisdom of our Leader. Loyalty, faith,
trust, are alone to be counted worthy of consideration."
The Pacific Coast Committee report of Lodge work on the coast is enthusiastic and
shows the steady progress being made along all lines of activity. The Boys' Brotherhood
Clubs are making fine progress, and from the work among the children and the young
people is arising a great hope for the future.
---------
FOREIGN REPORTS

Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 1, Australia, Nov. 21, 1899.

U. B. Lodge, No. 1, Sydney, Australia, continues with unabated zeal its efforts to
awaken the hearts of this sunny land to the reality of our victorious movement. Our
meetings are energetically and enthusiastically carried on right through the hot summer
months as on the dreariest and wettest days of winter.
Our Sunday evening lecture, as advertized in the New Century, is our public weekly
event. But our I. B. L. addresses every Wednesday also bring good audiences. Since
Brother T. W. Willans returned from the great Congress at Point Loma things have been
going at high pressure pace. The change in him and the wonderful power with which he
spoke, and the positive freedom with which he poured forth an endless stream of
broadening and convincing truths was at first well-nigh paralyzing. But this spirit, this new
power, was catching and invigorating, and in a short time our members have nearly all toed
the line and given addresses from their hearts most successfully, where before they
couldn't read a paper. All de-

--- 691

partments of our work are in a state of energetic health and progress. The History Class,
for members only, every other Friday, has become our study class, and is conducted on
the camp fire lines by Brother Willans, Dr. Wilder's papers on Egypt being the special
subject. The Lotus Class continues to grow in the loyal hands of Mrs. Willans.
Recently three ship loads of the New South Wales contingent of soldiers left for the
Transvaal war, and we sent parcels of the New Century and UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD MAGAZINE, and the following copy of letter received from the
commanding officer at sea speaks for itself:

"Transport Ship Kent, at Sea, Nov. 2, 1899.

"From the Officer Commanding N.S. Wales Troops,
"To THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD:
"On behalf of the officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men of
the N. S. Wales contingent proceeding on active service to South Africa by the transport
ship Kent, I beg to thank you for your kind donation of one bundle periodicals.
- George L. Lee, Major Commanding Troops, S. S. Kent."

We have had some peculiar storms here lately, including earthquake shocks near,
but the atmosphere is cleared and a glorious brightness has succeeded.
- Alf. A. Smith
--------

The following are a few of the greetings received from the members of U. B. Lodge,
No. 1, Australia, by the Leader. It is impossible to give them all, but the same spirit of
devotion and loyalty runs through all.
"With what joy we enter on the new century now that Truth, Light and Liberation is
assured for humanity."
 "I hail with pleasure the new day, and send fraternal greetings to the Leader and her
coadjutors in the noble cause of Universal Brotherhood."
"Gratitude and love for Truth, Light and Liberation - Joy!"
"Success to the U. B. this new century. Full love and devotion to our dear Leader."
"In this the dying hour of the old century I want to put on record my love and
devotion to H. P. Blavatsky, W. Q. Judge and Katherine Tingley, and my heart's devotion
to the Great Cause to which they have so unselfishly and grandly devoted their lives."
"Continued prosperity to Universal Brotherhood, happiness to its members, joy to
all the world, and my heartfelt love to our beloved Leader."
"Joy in many, many hearts, brotherhood in the air, freedom for the human race - all
these priceless possessions and many more, your imperial gift to a helpless world. All I
have of love and gratitude to yourself and the Cause, for they are one, I give."
----------

Halifax, Eng., Jan. 19, 1900.

The Lotus work here is amazing! We could have a class every night of the week if
we had but more workers.
How many million copies of Jan. U. B. P. are you printing? We'll want them all. Our
beloved Eri will see Freedom after all. - E. M. White
---------

The January issue of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD PATH was twice the usual
size, and the manager of the Theosophical Pub. Co. states that he has not been able to fill
all the orders.

--- 692

Universal Brotherhood Lodge, No. 1, Cardiff, Wales

Lodge members working steadily and with great zeal. The Lodge is solid. Weekly
meetings of the I. B. L. are held in the Lodge rooms. A woman's sewing meeting has been
started, the object, to prepare clothes for war-relief work. In the Lotus group a great growth
is noticeable, from twelve to forty-nine in seven meetings. This increase will necessitate
a division of the group in the future into two sections. On Dec. 1st a children's festival was
held in our rooms. Fifty-five children took part, dressed in white, as at the Brighton festival.
The first part consisted of Lotus songs and marches and the second part of tableaux.
There was a large audience of the parents and friends of the children. The Boys'
Brotherhood Club has also been active. Meetings for drill and debate are held on
Wednesday evenings, and at the open meeting on Dec. 6th a magic lantern entertainment
was given. - Emily Tilley, Pres.

January 22, 1900

We have decided to take a house for our new quarters at Brixton. It will enable us
to do so much more work. This new move has opened up enormous possibilities,
especially with regard to the children and women's work. A painting class has been started
for some of the older Lotus Buds - from natural flowers. Close contact with the flowers
does help them so much. The Saturday Lotus Group has now been divided, young ones
in the morning, elder ones in the afternoon. The U. B. meetings are continued as usual;
Boys' Club doing well, Girls' Club the same. We are getting steadily deeper into the stream
of work. Some of our members' papers have been fine. - Jessie Horne

Liverpool, Jan. 13, 1900.

The members here (Lodge 4) feel increasingly the Joy of Living and participating in
the work. All goes on well, and the harmony and devotion are grand. - H. Milton Savage

U. B. Lodge No. 2, Bristol, England

We have two Lotus circles every week - one for the "tiny buds" and one for the
bigger ones, with good attendance. A Girls' Club has been started which some of the
mothers also attend. In our meetings of the club we begin with one of the Brotherhood
songs, after which the girls beg to be taught sewing, then more singing, followed by
physical drill to music. We exchange ideas and read a short story while the sewing is being
done. - Edith Clayton

The H. P. B. Lodge meetings at 19 Avenue Road are growing all the time. - Sydney
Coryn

Stockholm, Sweden.
A Boys' Club was started here Nov. 18th. We are very happy to have been able to
start this work in Stockholm, and we have the best expectations for the future. The thought
of the great work, and especially of the importance of the work among the growing up
generation, strengthens our interest, and we try all in our power to fulfill our duty. - W. Von
Greyez
----------

--- 693

WAR AND BROTHERHOOD

At the usual meeting of the International Brotherhood League at 17 Working Street,
on Sunday evening, the question, "Is War Consistent with Brotherhood?" was considered.
It was said that there was a continual struggle going on in every man and race, between
fear and valor, the old and the new. The war spirit was one of those great forces playing
through mankind which in an unbrotherly age became perverted and manifested as
international strife and bloodshed. But it was in itself a good force. Let the spirit of
brotherhood take possession of a man or a people, and the war spirit would be deflected
into its proper channel; men would devote that energy which now is expended in Jingoism
and lust of foreign conquest to the conquest of their own lower natures, and a nobler type
of humanity would rise up. - South Wales Daily News.

London, Jan. 9th, 1900.

There seems to be quite an awakening of the consciences and Higher Selves over
here, to judge from the more frequent newspaper notices of matters which the
Theosophists have been trying to inculcate. These notices are more in harmony with
Theosophical ideas than ever before, so that it would seem that "European thought" is
being "leavened" and gradually "rising" to a more wholesome and higher plane of thought
and tolerance. Conservative bigotry is receding more and more into the background, and
"Brotherhood" is more freely and frankly acknowledged a necessity to "civilized" nations.
Reincarnation is also gaining hold on men's minds, as will be seen from the following: In
a barber shop I go to usually one of the assistants spoke thus to a customer last week:
Customer: Have you been long in London? Do you like it better than Italy?
Barber: I no am Italy. I comes from Turkey, but no am a Turkey. I likes you
England vera mooch great. Turkey he no good. When I dies, I come back agen, and be
borned English; be great man; cause all English great mans.
Probably he was a Mohammedan, but conversation did not go far enough to learn
it. "Theosophy" he had never heard about, so far as could be gathered then, but next visit
will be utilized for further conversation and inquiry. - Rudulph
---------

A MASONIC BROTHER
A Free Mason whose life corresponds to the teaching of our ritual, who studiously
observes all that which it enjoins, who practices all of its obligations, to such a one a
Brother may in confidence repose. The counsel of a Brother who will assist us in our need,
and remember us in his devotions, we may be sure will be divested of every selfish
consideration, and to his bosom we may confide the trials and the difficulties incident to our
struggles in this life. His breast will be a safe repository of all that be receives, and to him
may be intrusted with safety such confidential communications of an honorable nature as
we would only impart to one who felt a real interest in our welfare.
A true Brother is more than a friend. He is bound by the golden chain of love, and
in prosperity and adversity, in all the trials of life, remains not only firm, but sticketh closer,
and the rivets are more firmly forged in misfortune, in distress and danger; yea, he will fly
to rescue his Brother in the hour of peril, even though his life should be endangered
thereby.
A true Brother may not only be intrusted confidentially with the secret communings
of our own breast, but he will defend his Brother from the aspersions of malice, hatred or
jealousy, in his absence as well as in his presence.
These are all points which the bonds of fraternity and close relation of brotherhood
naturally and constitutionally exact.
The design of Free Masonry is to improve, elevate and exalt the members of the
fraternity, so that they may adorn the temple of the living God. This life is but an initiatory
probation.
There is a world beyond, in which higher degrees are in reserve - in which

--- 694

higher mysteries will be unfolded - but man's duty here on earth is to live a life of purity in
conformity with the teachings of Free Masonry, and then when the gavel of the Supreme
Grand Master shall call us away, death will have no sting, and we will advance onward in
our progressive mission to the unseen world, knowing no fear, no danger, and we will enter
the mansions of light in God's eternal world, and continue our labors throughout an endless
immortality, seeking for more and more light from the exhaustless lamp of wisdom of God
the Father. - Masonic Advocate. [Italics mine, Editor.]
---------

MASONRY IN CUBA
R. W. Remigo Lopez Describes a Visit to the American Lodge in Havana.

Havana, Cuba, Oct., 18

Editor Masonic Standard:
Dear Sir: - I arrived in Havana last Thursday and was surprised to see in the paper
that an American Lodge was about to be instituted under the Grand Lodge of the Island of
Cuba. I at once went to the office of the Grand Secretary, Senor Aurelio Miranda, with
whom I afterward went to visit Havana Lodge, and found it to be the first English-speaking
Lodge on the Island of Cuba, composed of some of the most energetic Masons that could
ever come together in any part of the world. Brother E. W. King hails from the State of
Texas, and holds the important office of W. M. Brother William B. Knight, S. W., hails from
the State of New York. Brother George N. Rowe, J. W., hails from the State of Texas, and
Dr. Henry Dejan, Secretary and Representative to the Grand Lodge, almost indispensable
on account of his perfect knowledge of the Spanish language, hails from the Republic of
Chile. The Lodge was duly consecrated. Brother Calixto Farjardo, G. S. W., acting R. W.
G. M., addressed the Brethren as follows:
"W. M. and dear Brothers of Havana Lodge: I feel much regret in not being able to
express myself more fluently in your language, to praise the acts done by you, and
consummated in this day's work. I wish to congratulate you first upon your success in
bringing your Lodge within the constitution of the Grand Lodge of the Island of Cuba and
installing it within its jurisdiction. Your enthusiastic membership portend much honor and
pleasure to the Cuban craft. I congratulate you upon your membership and your
earnestness; I trust that your Lodge may soon be a Masonic beacon that will cast Masonic
light throughout the Island of Cuba and help to strengthen the ties of friendship and
brotherly love between the people of the United States of America and the people of the
Island of Cuba. In conclusion, permit me to invoke the blessing of the Great Architect of
the Universe for the prosperity of your Lodge, yourselves and your families, and for the
prosperity of all the Grand Lodges of the United States of America." - Masonic Standard.
---------

SAN DIEGO RAPIDLY INCREASING BUSINESS.

San Diego, Jan. 27. - The increase in the import and export business of the harbor
is shown in a short report made to the Chamber of Commerce by Collector Bowers. The
exports of 1898 amounted to $249,441, and those of 1899 to $2,631,599, while the imports
of 1898 were $142,106, and of 1899, $1,501,588. These figures show an increase of
$2,382,158 in the exports and $1,359,482 in the imports for a single year. - San Francisco
Bulletin, Jan. 28, 1900.
-----------

--- 695

CHARTERS REVOKED
 Since the formation of the Universal Brotherhood the following charters have been
revoked: 1898, Syracuse, N. Y.; 1899, Lewiston, Me.; Toronto, Canada; Hot Springs. Ark.
A new Lodge has been formed at Auburn, Me., and the Hot Springs Lodge has been
reorganized.
---------

SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF ANTIQUITY.

For information relating to the School for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of
Antiquity, excepting financial matters, address Frank M. Pierce, Representative of the S.
R. L. M. A. Donations to the Museum and of books to the School Library should be
carefully packed and addressed to Rev. S. J. Neil, Assistant Librarian, Point Loma, San
Diego, Cal.
- Frank M. Pierce,
Representative of S. R. L. M. A.,
144 Madison Avenue, New York.
---------

DO NOT FORGET THIS.

The Secretaries of the U.B. and the E. S. are pleased to acknowledge the influx of
stamps in response to the following notice. We are glad to see even this sign of
helpfulness:
If every letter sent by members to Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue, New York,
contained one stamp or more, many hundred dollars would be saved to use in
other needed work. Do not stick the stamps to letters, SEND THEM LOOSE. Comrades!
do not forget this. - Editors
---------

PROPAGANDA DEPARTMENT.
A fund has been established for the free distribution of Brotherhood literature. The
fund to be equally divided in obtaining the following:
1) The New Century Series; The Pith and Marrow of Some Sacred Writings.
2) The Universal Brotherhood Path.
3) The New Century.
To be placed in the prisons in America, also hospitals, work-rooms, free reading rooms,
loading houses, steamboats, and to soldiers and sailors.
This project is originated by Katherine Tingley, who has given great attention to it,
and she feels confident that it will be well sustained by all members of the Universal
Brotherhood and by all who are interested in Humanitarian Work. Contributions to be sent
to: J. H. Fussell, Treasurer Propaganda Department, 144 Madison Ave., New York.
---------

MONTHLY REPORT OF CONTRIBUTIONS.

J. L. $1.00 E. M. K. $2.00
E. R. 1.00 R. P. .50
Anon 1.00 C. K. 2.00
A. J. J. 1.00 R. C. K. .75
-----------

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATION

"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ,

Each age, each kindred adds a verse to it."

UNIVERSAL Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Humanity is an organization

established for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures.
This organization declares that Brotherhood is a fact in nature. The principal
purpose of this organization is to teach Brotherhood, demonstrate that it is fact in nature
and make it a living power in the life of humanity.
The subsidiary purpose of this organization is to study ancient and modern religion,
science, philosophy and art; to investigate the laws of nature and the divine powers in
man.
This Brotherhood is a part of a great and universal movement which has been active
in all ages.
Every member has the right to believe or disbelieve in any religious system or
philosophy, each being required to show that tolerance for the opinions of others which he
expects for his own.
The Theosophical Society in America is the Literary Department of Universal
Brotherhood.
The International Brotherhood League is the department of the Brotherhood for
practical humanitarian work.
The Central Office of the Universal Brotherhood Organization is at 144 Madison
Avenue, New York City.*

----------
* For further information address F. M. Pierce, Secretary General, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York.
----------

THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE *

(Unsectarian)

"Helping and sharing is what Brotherhood means."

THIS organization affirms and declares that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, and its
objects are:
1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their true
position in life.
2. To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal Brotherhood
and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for humanity.
3. To ameliorate the condition of unfortunate women, and assist them to a higher
life.
4. To assist those who are, or have been, in prison, to establish themselves in
honorable positions in life.
5. To endeavor to abolish capital punishment.
6. To bring about a better understanding between so-called savage and civilized
races, by promoting a closer and more sympathetic relationship between them.
---------
* Address all inquiries to H. T. Patterson, General Superintendent, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York.
--------

THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD

HOW TO JOIN
The Universal Brotherhood welcomes to membership all who truly love their fellow
men and desire the eradication of the evils caused by the barriers of race, creed, caste or
color, which have so long impeded human progress; to all sincere lovers of truth and to all
who aspire to higher and better things than the mere pleasures and interests of a worldly
life, and are prepared to do all in their power to make Brotherhood a living power in the life
of humanity, its various departments offer unlimited opportunities.
The Organization is composed of Lodges, and is divided into various National
Centers to facilitate local work. The whole work of the Organization is under the direction
of the Leader and Official Head, Katherine A. Tingley, as outlined in the Constitution.
Any person endorsing the principal purpose of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
may apply to Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue, New York, for membership in the
Universal Brotherhood Organization or any of its departments.
Three or more persons may apply for a Charter to form a subordinate Lodge.
For all information as to fees, dues, etc. (which differ in each country), address
F. M. Pierce,
Secretary General, Universal Brotherhood,
144 Madison Avenue, New York, City.
----------

FORM OF BEQUEST TO SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF

ANTIQUITY
"I give and bequeath to the School for the Revival of the lost Mysteries of Antiquity,
a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the Laws of West Virginia,
and incorporated thereunder on the 28th day of May, 1897, the sum of ........... Dollars,
to be paid by my executor hereinafter named, exclusively out of such part of my personal
estate not herein otherwise specifically disposed of, as I may by law bequeath to
educational institutions, and I hereby charge such of my estate with the aforesaid sum, and
I direct that the receipt of the President and Secretary of said corporation holding such
office at the time of the payment of this legacy, shall be sufficient discharge of the legacy."

Note: - The above should be inserted as one of the clauses of the Last Will and
Testament of the person desiring to make a bequest to the Corporation. The validity of the
bequest will depend upon the strict compliance by the divisor in drawing and executing his
Will and fixing the amount of his bequest in accordance with the Statutes of the State in
which he resides and his estate is located. The amount bequeathed by any person should
not exceed the proportionate amount of his estate which the laws of his State allow him to
give to an educational institution, and the formal execution of the Will containing this
bequest should comply strictly with the Statutes of the State of his residence
Any one wishing further information regarding the School for the Revival of the Lost
Mysteries of Antiquity may apply to F. M. Pierce, Special Representative, or H. T.
Patterson, Sec., 144 Madison Avenue, New York.

------------

[[International Brotherhood League, cont'd]]

7. To relieve human suffering resulting from flood, famine, war, and other calamities;
and generally to extend aid, help and comfort to suffering humanity throughout the world.
It should be noted that the officers and workers of the International Brotherhood
League are unsalaried and receive no remuneration, and this, as one of the most binding
rules of the organization, effectually excludes those who would otherwise enter from
motives of self-interest.
None of the officers hold any political office, the League is not connected with any
political party or organization, nor has it any political character; it is wholly humanitarian
and unsectarian.
----------

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA

THIS Society was formed in 1875 under the name of the Theosophical Society, by
H. P. Blavatsky, assisted by W. Q. Judge and others; reorganized in April, 1895, by W. Q.
Judge under the name of the Theosophical Society in America, and in February, 1898,
became an integral part of Universal Brotherhood Organization.
The principal purpose of this Society is to publish and disseminate literature relating
to Theosophy, Brotherhood, ancient and modern religions, philosophy, sciences and arts.
Its subsidiary purpose is to establish and build up a great world library, in which shall
be gathered ancient and modern literature of value to the great cause of Universal
Brotherhood.
----------

SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF ANTIQUITY, AT POINT

LOMA, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.
ALTHOUGH American in center, this school is international in character - "a temple
of living light, lighting up the dark places of the earth."
"Through this School and its branches the children of the race will be taught the laws
of physical life, and the laws of physical, moral, and mental health and spiritual unfoldment.
They will learn to live in harmony with nature. They will become passionate lovers of all
that breathes. They will grow strong in an understanding of themselves, and as they gain
strength they will learn to use it for the good of the whole world."
----------
THE ISIS LEAGUE OF MUSIC AND DRAMA, OF THE ART DEPARTMENT OF
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
THE Isis League of Music and Drama is composed of persons carefully selected by
the Foundress who are interested in the advancement of music and the drama to their true
place in the life of humanity. Its objects are:
(a) To accentuate the importance of Music and the Drama as vital educative factors.
(b) To educate the people to a knowledge of the true philosophy of life by means of
dramatic presentations of a high standard and the influence of the grander harmonies of
music.
Headquarters: 144 Madison Avenue, New York City, and at Point Loma, San Diego,
California.

-----------------------